Life in the FLL: Construction

While  Beth is talking about what’s in the house, I thought a quick post about what is going on outside the house might be of some interest.

Yes, that is a picture of our house now.  Who needs scaffolding when you have bamboo poles that stretch 3 stories?  Who needs screws when twine can tie them all together?  The construction process here is crazy (from my perspective).  The 2^nd floor of our house (that would be 3^rd floor in the US) is under construction for our landlord.  Almost all of the brick work and window framing is done.  The inside concrete plaster is finished, so now comes the fun part: the outside plaster.

First though, there are 3 ladies who porter all the sand and bricks and rock up to the top.  How you say?  Well, they carry the bags of sand on their heads up 3 flights of stairs!  Then they carry 8 bricks at a time…also on their heads up 3 flights of stairs!  Most of the time, they do this without no hands!! (I know, lots of !! but did you just read what I wrote?!?)  Then, the other workers mix all the sand, concrete, and rock by hand; throw it into a big bowl-looking thing; and carry it over to the plaster guy who slings it against the wall.  Then another guy comes through and smoothes everything out so that it looks all nice.  Here’s the problem, when they sling the concrete against the wall, it doesn’t all stick.  Some it falls all the way to the ground so be careful where you walk.  We’ve been told that all this work will be done by May; maybe yes, maybe no.  Either way, they have to get it done before monsoon hits, otherwise the walls might come tumbling down and we sure don’t want that.

Here’s another picture of how they hold up the concrete both before and after the “pour” it.  Craziness!