Casey's First Day Recap

Day 1 of the build is over. The weather is insanely hot and humid, we are supposed to count our fluid intake during the build day, and today I drank 4.5 liters between 8am and 3pm. The work is hard but satisfying, sometimes I think the local artisans are just humoring us by letting us "help" with tasks that they certainly do much better and faster. But Chris Stearns's lessons on plastering walls are paying off in spades and I also have been practicing the Ghanaian art of the head
carry. Basically, I am transporting large metals basins of mortar on my head between mixing site and house. I am down to needing only one hand on the basin to carry, but maybe by the end I will be able to do the casual hands-free version that every Ghanaian seems to have been taught as a child.

The reviews from the last team were right, the food is amazing. Our cooks Regina and Nancy served up scrambled eggs with scallions (along
with beans and hot dog pieces) for breakfast, lunch was rice with sweet tomato sauce, carrot and onion salad, and fried plantains. Yum. Dinner was roasted spiced chicken, more rice with tomato stew, and potatoes.

I'm also happy to report that I have been downing my share of orange
Fanta -- which, if you've ever had the European version that they serve here, is worlds beyond the American crap, and Savanna cider. Erin will particularly appreciate that last one, I think she is the only other person I know who would prefer to drink South African cider over water.

The team is coming together slowly. We have a huge age range from 24
to 73 on the build, so we are trying to find common ground in whatever we do. Our trip leader is one cool cucumber and his "trust the process" mantra helps us all. We also learned to say the phrase "wawa" when things are a little screwy, which stands for West Africa Wins Again. Sadly, this kind of wawa doesn't come with Shorties or Icees.

The only real tribulation I have right now is that water pressure is a
mere trickle here in the hotel and my hair is ohhhh so long right now. And we weren't kidding when we named the blog the Mortar Diaries... we
were literally covered in the stuff by the end of the day. Luckily, after a day on the build site, a 30 minute cold-water hair washing process seems downright indulgent.

Long, even hotter day tomorrow, so I am off to sleep, tucked into my tent of mosquito netting.

-cas

Pics from Steven's Phone