Yup

So its been another week, and the work has been pretty heavy. 12 hour days for no pay even for the best of intentions wears on you. Tomorrow gonna be there bright and early at 5a to pour the roof, the old fashioned way (mixing by hand). Spent the last two days framing it out. The scaffolding of which I will post some pics, I have mentioned was sketch before. YUP! I was up there clipping some reebar (sp.) and it broke, only fell about 6 feet so not too bad, just some scrapes from the metal. Drew more blood from scratching my hands on the bailing wire the past few days anyway. To say the least I made extra sure that the styrofoam roof that the concrete gets poured on was nice and sturdy before walking on it to put in the light fixture boxes. Although its always funny when people you know get hurt and they aren´t in serious shape so you can laugh, I always enjoy it so you can have this one on me*

After this roof is done the water filtration people from the US will be here monday to install the equiptment so I think i´ll get a bit of a break from the work for a while which will be nice. Talking about going to Antigua for a week to a language school which I would really like to work out. I am good with highs and by´s, things I need, am pretty good at knowing all the tools and other words related to building stuff, and can understand the gist of things now, but it is hard with the speakers that I am around. They don´t have good grammar so things I pick up aren´t necessarily right, and also they don´t know words that should be common. For instance I used the word propane, then propano to ask if they were out. Since its what they cook with you would think they would know the word but they just looked at me sideways. I looked it up in my dictionary today and sure enough propano is the word for propane. Pizza was another one that the mom couldn´t get when we were talking about popular food people eat in the US. They are missing the boat on grilled cheese sandwiches. Annunciation is at an all time low, they shorten alot of words like we do, which is understandable, but its funny when I´ll use the same word they do and they don´t know what i´m trying to say. Also I have noticed that the parents, now that they know I know what they are saying they have started to speak in Quetchaquel, which is the indiginous language down here. Either way its getting better.

I think I will add a few things that the super sensitive, easily offended ¨in touch¨ people who are trying to make America a big crib would enjoy some of these things that are very common in Guatemala:

Public Urination- Anytime anywhere pretty much, I am not surprised at all anymore to turn around at work, the market, on the way to work, on the way home, seeing a guy taking care of business

No Peta or Bob Barker- Dogs are not spayed or neutered and are everywhere¡ mostly trying to procreate. I always like to laugh that one of the hot spots is at the Mormon Church which is right next door to Alpha Omega and quite visible from the roof of the building we are working on. Its really nice and well mowed and made of all the nicest material, and of course the prime spot for canine adultry. Also dogs are not cared for and all scared, I´ll save the details for the those with weak stomachs, but most have probably been to the third world and know what I´m talking about. I did get a new job this week though...Throwing rocks at dogs that come onto the property and try to mark territory and disturb the kids and such. I miss on purpose, sometimes.

Breast Feeding- THis is one that I have heard alot about the past few years in the US, and frankly it wouldn´t be that big of a deal for me if just a bit of discression was used. Im talking about the middle of the mall food court, at church, in the market right behind the merchandise, you name it. No blankets and no qualms at all. I also love it when someone like say an uncle or other family member will come and pat the baby on the head and talk goo goo gah gah while the kid is feeding.

Children in the back seat- Nope, looks like Brittany Spears would be alright in Guatemala. Always held in the arms in the front seat, or sitting on the middle console, sometimes breast feeding. And I will add that driving is WAY safer in the US. You thought candadians and teenagers were bad? At least they´ve had TSE and had to pass a drivers test.

Food Storage- It is very common to take something like a soup or rice or noodles off the the stove, set it on the floor for the night and serve it again the next day. Its kind of the school lunch philosophy where one day there will be meatloaf then there will be spaghetti, then hamburger gravy (which I used to love!) Except usually on the third day here its served cold. I guess it wouldn´t be that big of deal if there weren´t a ton of flies all over the place. Of course I haven´t gotten sick yet so...maybe ýou´re all just germ conscious.

Thats enough for now, I have a another big friday night of going to bed by 9 as long as dinner is by then. Big day tomorrow though, might get a pizza after work. Also they said they would take me to the city to go grocery shopping one of these days, so I´m pulling for some Mac n Cheese.

*I do know that there are people reading, even though no one comments. Don´t worry I´m not offended even though that desiese perez hilton gets like a couple hundred a day. I might have to start spelling words wrong, or talk about sales at crate and barrel. Either way I´ll keep writing, because truth be told I really don´t have anything better to do.