Mi Trabajo (My Job)

Today was my third day of work and I think I had a breakthrough with the guys I build houses with - one of them gave me a Pilsner (beer) at 9am...that has to be good :)

My first day of work they were all pretty skeptical of a girl working with them to build houses so I busted my butt to prove myself. It was pretty miserable though because we were laying the foundations for a few houses (small houses) so I was helping to create the cement mix manually. I now know that cement is made of sand, cement mix, rocks and water. And we were shoveling that mix into piles and out of piles to get it mixed up well and create ¨mezcla¨. It´s freaking heavy stuff and after two days of it I am already getting callouses on my hands from the shovel. The work is hard but I like getting to know the guys - they are very nice and I am definitely a novelty so they like to talk to me which is great practice for my spanish. Being with the guys is also fun because they expect me to join them in whatever they do. Yesterday - tired of waiting for the bus they all jumped into the back of a truck passing by and I rode with them. It´s definitely an authentic experience. Today, on my third day, there was a break from laying foundation and I scraped dried cement off of wood - very fun stuff. I generally work 8-12, which doesn´t sound long but it´s long enough for me :)

I know I owe pictures and I do have them, of the house, the family and working but I keep forgetting to bring my camera cord to the internet cafe. Poor excuse I know - I´ll send some out next time.