Had kind of an easy morning with a late, leisurely breakfast since some folks were still jet-lagged. Food is abundant, lots of cheeses, bread, yoghurt, cereal, hard boiled eggs, sliced veggies and some sort of sliced sausage (like lunch meat), coffee, tea, juice.
The group is starting to cohere. There are only three married couples, two pairs of women, and two single women who just met and are now BFFs since they are rooming together. The American girls gave us an orientation about the community and then we took a walk around, up the path to Valea Screzii, the tiny village where the first through fifth graders go to school and there is a church, a tiny general store, and not much else. I got these spiffy shoes to wear indoors so I wouldn't track in the mud. It has been pouring rain all day and the dirt path along which the various homes and buildings are built is basically a muddy creek.
My indoor shoes since I couldn't wear flip flops with two pair of socks
We each have assigned chores and Charlie and I were assigned to help with lunch prep, but since we were out touring we hardly did much. Then we ate again! Then we met again to discuss the various projects and activities we want to do. We have pretty much decided to all work on finishing the two top floors of an unfinished building which will become a house for the teenaged girls. There is no such thing as a plan or an inspection, and these places are treacherous and filthy. The three men are pretty handy and will complete stairs, landings, railings, baseboards, and door frames. Some of the women (including me) will make curtains, others will paint. We measured all the windows and found some old bolts of fabric, disgustingly dirty, stained, and dusty. Cut one piece from each to run through the wash to see if they would clean up enough to use. Most of them came out reasonably clean, so depending upon what our carpenters come up with for hanging them we'll get to work tomorrow.
The group is a lot of fun to work with though we are all chiefs, no braves. In spite of that we got ourselves organized, and are hopeful we'll have something accomplished in two weeks. I can't help but think every group is reinventing the wheel.
The big disappointment today is that we had no opportunity to interact with the kids. There are a total of 120 and we've seen them coming and going to school. Only about 60 are here alone. Others are with their (mostly teenaged) mothers or with foster families in the surrounding villages.
3552 steps (do I get extra credit for many of them being stairs?) 1.5 miles Hope the rain stops so we can be out and about more
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