Challenging Me
Everyone knows that if I am challenged, I will accept pretty much any challenge (that is probably a bad thing). Today, I was challeged, but the challengers didn't know that I knew that I was being challenged.
I woke up this morning with nothing to do. I was done with the administration of my surveys and I had nothing planned for the day. Then, I encountered a few friends who are "earth architecture" students who were going to their site which was 2 hours away by bike. They had an extra seat on a bike so I hopped on with both my camera and a really good attitude.
What my friends were doing was going to check on a "project" that their architecture teacher was working on. The project was basically the construction of both an "office" and a house which were both earthquake and tsunami resistant. The project was designed to empower and teach tsunami affected villagers how to rebuild their village so that it doesn't get knocked down again. It was a very cool project and something I was very glad to see. The project is being funded as an UNDP (United Nations Development Project).
So, this is where the challenge comes in. I get to the site and see the construction going on. There are people laying bricks, making cement, measuring and cutting things, fetching water, moving dirt, and doign any other task that could be associated with a construction site. The people working however, had no machines. Everything was done by hand! I was given the job of moving dirt from a dirt pile to the floor of the house that was being built. I was instructed by a villager to pick up the iron saucer of dirt that one man had filled up and put in on my head and then to walk to the house (a distance of about 100 feet) and pour the dirt out. At first the man filling the saucer only put a little dirt in (maybe 10lbs), but by the end of the day, he was putting at least 55lbs of dirt into this saucer. When I would turn my back, he would compress the dirt onto the saucer and continue to put more and more dirt on this freaking thing. It was unvelievable. This guy and all his friends watched me move this dirt the whole day, from 11am until 430pm. and they smirked the entire time. They were definitely trying to break me, yet they did not succeed, probably because I have been doing sit-ups anbd push-ups for the past month. Suckers. You wanna see how much I can handle? I'll show you.............
The whole day people from the village came up to me to say hi, they laughed at me and with me, and they were very welcoming. Someone also gave me a gift of two huge pieces of sugarcane (which I ate and which were amazing!). It was a great time and I enjoyed it thuroughly.
I am returning to the site tomorrow, wearing the same traditional garb (lungy) that the men wear and I plan on showing these guys that I shant be broken.......ever.
PS- I saw water buffalo and pigs in the city of Cuddalore today....that was a first.
PPS- I stopped for beers on the way home from the site and at the bar I took out my camera to take the "urine picture" that you will see in a second.....once my camera was out, all hell broke loose and everyone wanted their picture taken.
PPPS- I drank village water all day today and took a shower in stagnant water.
PPPPS- More happened at the site, but I am too tired to write more. Sorry.
I woke up this morning with nothing to do. I was done with the administration of my surveys and I had nothing planned for the day. Then, I encountered a few friends who are "earth architecture" students who were going to their site which was 2 hours away by bike. They had an extra seat on a bike so I hopped on with both my camera and a really good attitude.
What my friends were doing was going to check on a "project" that their architecture teacher was working on. The project was basically the construction of both an "office" and a house which were both earthquake and tsunami resistant. The project was designed to empower and teach tsunami affected villagers how to rebuild their village so that it doesn't get knocked down again. It was a very cool project and something I was very glad to see. The project is being funded as an UNDP (United Nations Development Project).
So, this is where the challenge comes in. I get to the site and see the construction going on. There are people laying bricks, making cement, measuring and cutting things, fetching water, moving dirt, and doign any other task that could be associated with a construction site. The people working however, had no machines. Everything was done by hand! I was given the job of moving dirt from a dirt pile to the floor of the house that was being built. I was instructed by a villager to pick up the iron saucer of dirt that one man had filled up and put in on my head and then to walk to the house (a distance of about 100 feet) and pour the dirt out. At first the man filling the saucer only put a little dirt in (maybe 10lbs), but by the end of the day, he was putting at least 55lbs of dirt into this saucer. When I would turn my back, he would compress the dirt onto the saucer and continue to put more and more dirt on this freaking thing. It was unvelievable. This guy and all his friends watched me move this dirt the whole day, from 11am until 430pm. and they smirked the entire time. They were definitely trying to break me, yet they did not succeed, probably because I have been doing sit-ups anbd push-ups for the past month. Suckers. You wanna see how much I can handle? I'll show you.............
The whole day people from the village came up to me to say hi, they laughed at me and with me, and they were very welcoming. Someone also gave me a gift of two huge pieces of sugarcane (which I ate and which were amazing!). It was a great time and I enjoyed it thuroughly.
I am returning to the site tomorrow, wearing the same traditional garb (lungy) that the men wear and I plan on showing these guys that I shant be broken.......ever.
PS- I saw water buffalo and pigs in the city of Cuddalore today....that was a first.
PPS- I stopped for beers on the way home from the site and at the bar I took out my camera to take the "urine picture" that you will see in a second.....once my camera was out, all hell broke loose and everyone wanted their picture taken.
PPPS- I drank village water all day today and took a shower in stagnant water.
PPPPS- More happened at the site, but I am too tired to write more. Sorry.
Construction Site 1
Construction Site 2
Urine
City I did Full Moon Walk In (See Temples?!)
Talking Robot at Full Moon Walk
posted by Jon at 11:19
6 Comments:
I don't know if they were challenging you, but they were certainly taking advantage of your being there! Dad was so impressed that the people from the med school called to check on your safety! Niki and fam are off to Iadaho for the week and we go to the beach and then NY next weekend. Leah and Jason r coming to spend a few days at the beach. We'll miss you and Ellyn. Sounds like maybe in the future summers you may be able to come again. Love ya.
Jon - you are an MSI going on MSII
Lesson - Your head was not built to carry a 55lb load - it promotes cervial disc disease because of the compressive forces- your cervial spine was not designed to carry that load. - Not to be done! Especially without gradually working up to it. TO prove that you could up the ante and carry 65 lbs would not prove that you are more of a man or cannot be broken - it would prove that you don't know what you are doing. The sequela of the event may not show up for years.It's a wonderful thing to help the less fortunate - and that's a good reason for doing something (and I am proud that you are doing those things) - Don't do it to impress people by what you can do, especially when it accomplishes nothing of any significance.
it seems like people are always excited to see you. but don't you ever experience any anti-american sentiment? do share. be safe.
your sistah,
leah
STEW COUNT DOWN:
2 DAYS!!!!
I like it! Good job. Go on.
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Very pretty design! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
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