{"id":75,"date":"2016-01-13T18:55:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T02:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shannonigans.com\/?p=75"},"modified":"2016-03-27T12:58:06","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T19:58:06","slug":"bob-the-builder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shannonigans.com\/?p=75","title":{"rendered":"Bob the Builder"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 13, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello all,<\/div>\n

Just a bit about the work project here.\u00a0 We’re a few hours southwest of HCMC now in a town called My Tho, down in the Mekong Delta area.\u00a0 We’re rebuilding a home for a family of four.\u00a0 The entire project will take between four and six weeks, depending on weather and other inconveniences, so unfortunately I won’t be able to see the finished abode.\u00a0 I have, however, seen quite a bit of concrete in the past five days.\u00a0 We have no mixers (besides our shovels), so we’ve spent many hours carrying buckets of sand (4) to mix with 1 bag of cement (50 kg) and 7 buckets of rocks, and enough water to make it into a nice cementy slop, which we then shovel into buckets and pour into our rustic cement forms.\u00a0 We’ve built the foundation footers and walls and just Friday began laying some bricks.<\/p>\n

Our Vietnamese builder has chosen the name Bob (many of our helpers here either choose a Western name or go by the translation of their Vietnamese name to avoid hearing us butcher the pronunciation), so we spend all day with Bob the Builder.\u00a0 He’s quite a prankster and especially loves to toss water on some unsuspecting worker and then gesture at the tin roof under which we’re working and say “Mua?\u00a0 Mua?”\u00a0 (“Rain?\u00a0 Rain?”)\u00a0 He’s like a kid in that the joke never gets old, and he always laughs the longest and the hardest.\u00a0 He also loves to pretend to eat the rocks.\u00a0 Bob has a few helpers who don’t speak any English (Bob knows a bit), and I’m now able to\u00a0recognize the Vietnamese words for measuring tape, hammer, nail, wood, water, and rocks.\u00a0 And of course, “NO!” which Bob shrieks at the top of his lungs and then holds his belly and laughs.\u00a0 He also loves to say “Bob Number 1!” and if we do something wrong, he’ll say “Bob number 1, you number chin-chin” which means you’re number 99.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ah well.\u00a0 The work is back-breaking and the humidity is stifling, but it is really fun.\u00a0 The three other volunteers are all from Australia and we all get along very well.<\/p>\n

As we\u00a0walk through the streets of My Tho to and from work, people stare and look curiously at the dirty\u00a0Westerners, and sometimes\u00a0someone will shout a “hello!” to us.\u00a0 When we say hello or\u00a0xin ciao in response, they\u00a0erupt in smiles and laughter.\u00a0\u00a0I suppose it’s like when you roll down your window to moo at\u00a0cows in a pasture…\u00a0you don’t really expect a response, so when\u00a0one actually acknowledges and\/or answers you, it’s\u00a0a\u00a0bit of a\u00a0thrill.\u00a0 Ummm, not that I ever moo at cows while driving.<\/p>\n

We have our evenings and weekends free, and we’re now getting past the exhaustion and going out to eat and see the nearby pagodas at night.\u00a0 Today (Saturday- greetings from the future!) we took a boat tour of a few islands in the delta, which was a nice break from the hard labor.\u00a0 Hard to believe I’ve already been here a week and a half.\u00a0 I hope this finds you well.<\/p>\n

\"Starting <\/a>
Starting point- first we had to partially dismantle this shelter, which is where the new place would go. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Neighborhood <\/a>
Neighborhood kittens checking our concrete work <\/div> <\/div>
\"Building <\/a>
Building the rebar structures to into our concrete footers and pillars <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The ladies were very attentive and always bringing us fruit and snacks, insisting on pinning my hair back out of my eyes, bringing me hats to wear when it was sunny. They were very kind and friendly. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lochy <\/a>
Lochy and Bob making plans <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Then <\/a>
Then came the bricks! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"...lots <\/a>
…lots of bricks <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"33\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lochy <\/a>
Lochy does his best to break the brick-carrying record <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I <\/a>
I will say I got very good at mixing concrete. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"38\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"41\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"This <\/a>
This is the state of the house when I had to leave to catch my next group. <\/div> <\/div>
\"On <\/a>
On our days off we’d take tours and visit local spots. This beekeeper insisted we put our fingers into the comb to taste absolutely fresh honey. When we hesitated, he said, “Vietnamese bees are like the Vietnamese people: small and friendly.” <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"20\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"22\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n
\n

Back to Vietnam 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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