Another letter came today. (dated 31/12/11) So fun going to the mailbox and finding letters from Jaime! We all take turns reading the pages and passing them around. This one was quite long so I'll post it over a couple of days. Jenny"Happy New Year's Eve! Tomorrow is the beginning of a new year. Normally we get to wake up at 6:30 (sleep in!) but today it's 7:30. The reason for the extra hour is that tonight after tea we are going for a walk down the beach and we might get firecrackers!
Just standing here works up a sweat on your forehead. Doing work such as digging usually leaves you with sweat dripping off your cheeks and nose. I have a hard time making my sunscreen stay on due to the quantities of sweat and dirt/concrete.
I got given the job of wheel barrowing loads of concrete along the side of the hill. Each load is usually between 40 & 70kgs. Of the 10 or so that I pushed in the morning I only lost half of one because the person who was supposed to be helping me around a sharp corner forgot! So far that has been my favourite job followed closely by painting and moving clods of earth. Surprisingly (or not so!) these are also the most messy. It also doesn't help when you get a cramp in the top of your leg while standing half on a ladder and half on a step stool. Then when you half-fall/half-jump, you land in a puddle of grey paint!
We are almost finished the retaining wall and yesterday they started on the foundations of a fort. We have half-finished the concrete slab where all of their water tanks will go. Bill (from Australia) and Frank (a local man who is very involved with the children's home) seem to be happy with the progress we have made.
Two days ago we had the opportunity to go into Frank's village and paint their community hall. We got 2 coats on most of the outside done and we will be going back to complete the inside and the parts we didn't finish on the outside some time in the next few weeks. Half-way through the day, the boys all went out spear/spear-gun fishing. They caught 2 parrot fish after 2 1/2 hours. The women of the village provided us with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. The spread consisted of pineapple, paw paw, egg sandwiches, Fijian doughnuts, toasted tuna sandwiches, some slice with a gingery cake base and yellow jelly. The highlight of it all was the fruit juice! I don't even know what was in it but it was good!
Today we are going to town to buy our souvenirs. They said this might be our only chance to do sightseeing and souvenir shopping.
to be continued......
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