GOOBLE GOOBLE GOOBLE

Well Hello!

It's Dhara here! This wonderful title is dedicated to our wonderful team member BRITTANY. WE MISS YOU AND YOUR TURKEY NOISES!!! But also, the team was making fun of me for speaking Gujarati! They said I sounded like a turkey. :( Anywho, I have a lot to update you on! So much has happened since the last post. It feels like a month has gone by already! Everyday is an adventure but our team never seems to give up! It's absolutely amazing! On a side note, I realize that the photobucket site is not working. Here is the new link: www.photobucket.com/ewbguate

So since the last post, we didn't actually pour the wingwalls on Thursday because we weren't ready. This doesn't mean we are behind schedule, though! We are now pouring both wing walls tomorrow morning hopefully! If everything goes smoothly, that is! So for the past few days we have just been getting the rebar and formwork ready for the wing walls. I have added those pictures to the photobucket, so now you can go see them! We did run into some issues with the materials though this week. We found out on Friday that we ordered way too much aggregate. In a way it is good because we can use it as backfill but besides that we really just lost money! (The company doesn't refund) So we are working on selling some of it so we don't lose money! Since we met Ernesto, he has been a GREAT help! He is helping us sell it as well as Melvin. The other issue we faced in the past couple of days was regarding the formwork! I had let the community take control of the wood (bad idea), so I didn't really think we would be short! Well the community doesn't have any more trees to cut so we can get wood! This is where we had to figure out how to get wood for the super structure by MONDAY! It was only three days notice! Dr. Veness and I, called Ernesto and asked him if there was any lumber mills anywhere! He really helped us out! He sent one of his workers with us to go to one of the lumber mills so we could get all the wood we wanted for a Guatemalan price rather than a "gringa price." Gringa is what they call us Americans. Leonel, Ernesto's worker, was an awesome guy and we got it all done and figured out in three hours! Another success! We truly have hit a lot of potholes on this project and we've overcome every single one. I am so proud of my team they have stuck by me and helped me out in every single way they can! So now this leads us to the concrete pour tomorrow. It will be an early day tomorrow! We are leaving at 6:15 (that's when Chelsea and I wake up on a normal day). But I am very excited to finish the sub structure and move onto the super structure! Hopefully we finish everything before we leave! :)

Now the fun stuff!! We had a pretty awesome dinner last night at La Estancia. Ernesto is a great cook and Gary even got to help out! He made some great vegetables with pineapple in them!! Gary is a great cook as well! Everyone else enjoyed the chicken, which is a special of Ernesto. The food was great and so was the conversation. We really have an awesome group of people who are ALWAYS sarcastic. They are making fun of me as we speak but I am too involved in writing the blog to have a reaction. I can never tell when Rod and Gary are sarcastic so I usually think they are serious and I freak out because I am just like that but I am slowly learning their ways. Ben on the other hand is obviously sarcastic so I don't take it seriously. (which is good). Anyway back to my dinner information. We had a wonderful dinner conversation, everyone was cracking jokes. We even got to see Ernesto's home, he built it himself. It is three rooms combined: a bedroom, living room and kitchen! It is filled with crazy art! It's also very unique!!! We all enjoyed seeing it and it added the finishing touches to Brittany's going away dinner!! Tonight we just ate at the hotel and that is where I am writing my blog. But everyone is paying their bills now so I should go. I hope this has been a great update! Comment :) and visit the photobucket!!

Dhara