Generations
Day 4, Generations.Today was a roofing day. I like this day, my favourite place to be is the roof and there is yet to be a build I am part of where I have not been on the roof. I don’t know if it’s the tar that is impossible to get off, or the scratches you acquire all over your legs from the plywood and shingles, or maybe even it’s the cramped hands and sore wrists you have by the time you are done hammering hundreds of 1/2 inch nails in, something about it is just appealing to me.Emily, Leah, Sarah and myself (Deryn) made up the roofing crew, I was sort of the leader since I knew how to do everything where as the other girls had only been on the roof once before, or in Sarah’s case not ever. We worked great together and it was more of a team effort than anything. We did the first 3/8 rows before lunch and then got right back up there after lunch to keep working on the roof. When we finished it would be time to leave. We did nothing but work all day, while the boys stood around a lot (claiming to be working) and spent at least the last 30 minutes of the day watching us and heckling us from the ground.In the end, I think we did a fabulous job with really no mistakes. I think Emily hit her fingers more than she hit the nails but other then that… oh wait, there may have been an incident involving the leftover piece of shingle and some wind, but no one was injured.
During the day Ponchito’s dad stopped by, it was really cool because he is the man that started the volunteer ambulance organization we were building for. This team of volunteers which Ponchito is now the head of and whose son, Noe, is a part of the team of paramedics. It is just amazing to see how it has evolved over the generations and hopefully it continues to grow and be a huge help to the people of this community.After our day of work we got come home and scrapped the tar off our legs and got ready to go out for tacos! We went to Smokeys and La Taqueria Diferencia, they are really close to each other so you could eat at whichever you wanted, or both if you’re the boys. Then the girls got ready for Zumba! Definitely can’t move my hips like those Spanish chikas. But we got sweaty and had a blast, it’s too bad it only lasts an hour!~ Deryn, a School of Leadership student living in Mexico
Thursday was our last day of building and consisted mainly of spreading and smoothing skim-coat on the walls. We had a late start and then spent the day filling all the corners and cracks with cement, of course there wasn’t much to do so we got off track a few times. Onesimo (our Mexican friend helping on the worksite) and I got in minor water fights all day (whilst being yelled at by people working to get to work) and were generally not productive, it was a great day. I decided to end the day dumping water on Onesimo and then running to the van as it drove off, I got him nice and soaked and then ran off. However, we realized that we had taken all the drills and they needed one for the door. When we got back Onesimo was waiting with a bucket but got more water on himself than me. A great end to a great day.~ Colin