El Quarto Dia - Tuesday

Neighbor pig

Jack here!

"It's a Colin-y over there!" That's how we started a hilarity-filled game of Taboo tonight, with some Bardian wordplay from Lauren Keane, resident wordsmith.  Our two Habitat leaders/translators are both named Colin, LOL.  [Ed. note: the editor of this blog is not sure of the word "Bardian," but appreciates the sentiment.  The editor is also not sure why two men named Colin receive an "LOL," but perhaps our readers get it.] I could have quickly replied with a string of Arabic curse words, which I learned today from Wiam while on the work site, but I didn't.  Other highlights of the day include:

• I got crushed in a brutal game of mini-soccer against David (one of the son's of the woman's whose house my group worked on)
• I stabbed Davis in the eye with a shovel covered in sand. (He still has one eye.)

• I got arrested by David and Dennis (younger brother) several times.  They have water pistols. 

• 
  

• 
  
• I learned how to start a fight in Arabic...very useful. 
• We completed three "courses" (layers) of cinder blocks on the house and hammered more stupid holes in stupid blocks. [Ed. note:  The editor of this blog appreciates this sentiment as well.  While this bullet point sounds grumpy, no one really complained. We worked hard and with little complaint, but those cinder blocks--especially the special earthquake-proof kind known as U-blocks--were an exercise in patience.  We made 3" x 3" holes in the blocks so they could be threaded onto rebar.  Our tools to do so included a 'chisel' that was rebar with the end pounded into a flat, pointy, chisel-like shape and a hammer.]  

• After work, we explored Salamá a little, getting some strange looks as we walked down the road on the outside of town.  We finished the day with a steak dinner and a competitive game of Taboo. All in all, it was a very fun, but tiring day, and we all slept well.