Second Week

This week has been off to a busy start. Yesterday, we worked construction with Felix and Pablo again and finally finished the house! We were so excited. It took us most of the day but we put up all of the walls, installed doors, windows and put on a roof. We are not quite as skilled at construction as Felix and Pablo; we learned that in the time it takes for us to hammer down one nail, Pablo can hammer done at least four. Still, it felt really great to see the project from the start to the finish. Even though the house is pretty basic, it is a big step up from the family's previous house. It just felt really good to be able to see the final product of all our labor. It was nice to see that we made a tangible, real difference in someone's life.

Once we finished work we went to the Bodegona in town to stock up on groceries. The bodegona is part grocery store, toy store and dollar store; needless to say, it holds a strange mix of items. It seems to always be packed and just walking through it is a stressful activity. We learned that it is hard to find basic, "normal" food so we've had to settle for Mucho Nacho chips, large jugs of orange juice that tastes like Sunny-D and cartons of eggs that are sold by the 30. We also had a hard time finding yogurt that had not expired the day before. But don't worry Mom and Dad! We've found plenty of good food to eat and have been doing quite well.

Today we started a new construction project in the town of San Pedro de las Huertas. We loaded multiplte truck loads with supplies to start laying the floor tomorrow. The house will be built in a more populous area than the last one which should make for quite a different experience. As we were unloading the supplies, we noticed that the family had a very cute rabbit in a hanging cage. We were immediately attracted to it and started oohhing and ahhing while the family laughed- it was their dinner for tonight! We spent the rest of the morning making wall panels. We started comparing different common sayings (like "liar, liar, pants on fire") in each of our languages with Felix and Pablo and by the end of our time with them we were in stiches. It feels nice to actually be able to joke around with them and truly understand each other. We felt like real friends, friends that will last for a while. I think it made us all feel a little bit more comfortable in this foreign country.  More later! Hasta Luego!