Today was Habitat for Humanities and I was extremely excited. We were on the bus and on our way, 30 minutes later we are in the middle of a very rich area and a mall. Our bus driver pulls to the left and says its right behind the buildings. We said, there is no way we are in the right spot. He insisted that this was the address. It turned out SAS had given the wrong address to the bus driver.Once we finally arrived we knew we were at the correct place, there was nothing built on the site. It just had piles of cement blocks. In my mind I thought they would just have us hammer a few things here and there and the "professionals" would do all the work. I found out quickly we were the "professionals". So, we put on our yellow hard hats and were handed gloves and sent off to start building this house. They had us bring them three wheelbarrows full of sand and someone else got the hose and someone else opened up the bag of cement and poured it all on top of each other. We were all handed shovels and were told to start mixing. It was so beyond hard. They made it look so easy. My back was on fire within three minutes of mixing it. We needed the cement blocks closer to where we were going to be building the house, so we mad a line of 7 people and one person would stand on the fence so they could reach the pile of cement blocks and hand it to me. Then I would bend my knees and swing the block from the left side of me to the right side of me. We used this swinging method because they said it was less wear on our bodies and back. I could not have imagined doing it the other way because every bone in my body hurts between skydiving and building a house. Haha, it is well worth the pain! As we started to build up the walls I was taking the cement and patching the holes. I also was handed a two liter soda container that had been cut in half with some type of finish in it and was told to paint the windows. After that we decided to all write our names on a piece of paper and we put it in between the cement blocks so my name will always be in that house. It was pretty exciting. I felt kind of important. =) When I returned from painting the windows they had already put two windows in the house. We were told to take the paper from the cement bag and roll them up and stick it in the holes to protect the family from bugs and spiders. I wonder if in America we use paper from a cement bag to do this or do we have some expensive method? I will go with the expensive method. LOL
It was now tea time. The lady, that we were building the house for, made us some bread, jam and tea. I did not have any tea but the bread and jam were delicious. Our break was now over, it was time to continue to build this house. We got 8 layers done with wiring in the house and windows. We continued moving cement blocks and mixing cement. Lunch came quickly, we gave the three works some of our lunch because they were not going to eat. After lunch we were all pretty dead and very sore by now. We continued finishing what we were suppose to get done. Semester at Sea has 4 other groups that are going to finish the house. I have asked the guy to send me a picture when it is all done. I am so excited, we built it from the ground up. It was amazing leaving there with four walls and windows and a door. When I was looking at what we had accomplished, I noticed a huge problem! So I got the site manager and asked if the right side was missing a window? Sure enough I was right! The lounge room did not have a window we messed up! So a different group is going to have to tear down that part of the wall and put the window in! That would have been one dark lounge room if I would not of notice that! Everyone was like great call! Thank goodness you were here.
We headed back to the ship and I jumped in the shower and then headed over to the mall to get internet and buy a few things I have been needing. It was the best feeling ever sitting in the mall!
Today is October 5th and I woke up at 6am, got ready and went up for breakfast. I wanted to head back over to the mall and call Daphne on skype and talk to my aunt and mom. I also wanted to upload more pictures for everyone since I heard everyone was asking my mom about pictures. It is now 9am and I need to head back to the ship and get ready for the aquarium. Emma will be back at 10 from her home stay, I have my home stay tonight! I will be updating you guys as soon as I am able to write a blog. Love you guys!
The aquarium was extremely cool. I saw tons of different types of animals that are normally not at an aquarium. I did not realize how much I adore penguins! They can swim so fast, I thought they swam really slow! I guess you learn something new everyday. I got all of the stickers I need and postcard for my scrapbook. I am all done with shopping for South Africa. I am about to leave for my home stay! Emma had an amazing time, but I am nervous because she says it is rude not to finish your food. So she told me not to eat to much before I go. I am really nervous because I am an extremely picky eater. I think I can stomach anything but fish!!!!! I cannot do that =/ Wish me luck!
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