First day of building

We finally started!

Jake and TJ struggled to get to sleep last night. It gets hot in the loft if we don't get the windows open early enough. Jake finally came down and slept on the couch.  He was sweaty...and he slept with a new blanket which meant he woke up with purple splotches.  Tim made the kids eggs and Krystal and I walked the kids to school.  It was the first day for TJ and Adam. We hustled to the other house to get picked up at 8:40.   Brooke, Reece and the Downeys made it in late.  Oscar showed up to greet us.  Patty and the Cameron crew are building with Julio and someone else.  Julio showed up in his Haley's comet t-shirt from last year!

We are building with Hector and Juan Jose.  They are brothers.  One has worked at From Houses to Homes for 10 years and one for 7 1/2 but this is the first house they've built together. 

We drove 40 minutes up to El Tejar in the back of a pickup truck...and I kid you not....we took a left into a cornfield.  Into the middle of a cornfield.  We are building right next to the camera crew (or the Cameron crew)...we prefer camera crew.

We started with one volcano, two volcanoes, one volcano to mix the concrete.  

Our house:

Lemus Subuyuc is formed by 6 members, this family live in a house made out 

with corrugated metal sheets, cardboard and dirt floor. The father is the head of 

this family, he works at a cloth factory earning around Q1700 per month. The 

mother is a housewife, she does not work. The two oldest children attend to 

school. They have two 1 year old twins a boy and a girl. They have all the basic 

services, running water, drainage and electricity.

MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY: 

Name Kinship Age  Grade 

Raul Lemus Oscar Father 34 None 

Maria Adelina Subuyuc Siquibache Mother 36 None 

Elmer Raul Lemus Subuyuc Son 12 6th Grade 

Byron Lemus Subuyuc Son 11 5th Grade 

Denis Lemus Subuyuc Son 1 

Genesis Lemos Subuyuc Daughter 1

They have a good sized lot in the middle of a cornfield.  They have a separate bathroom and a room to shower in.  Their house currently has steel with cardboard.  They have 2 beds in the mainroom.  The twins (18 months old today!) were sleeping when we arrived.  The boys were in school.  The mother made us some amazing homemade lemonade.  I hope she continues to do that.

I called the kids at noon to see where they were.  Lily said they were on the bus.  She didn't know where they were going but they were fine.  Jake called about 20 minutes after and said they were just sitting in the van...and I asked if the driver knew where they were.  Jake didn't know.  I asked if the driver was calling anyone.  Jake didn't know.  I asked if I should talk to the driver.  He said 'nevermind.  goodbye'.  The kids showed up about 20 minutes later.  Oscar had said he was going to have someone from houses to homes wait in El Tejar to tell the driver where to take the kids.  It worked phenomenally.  It's a great organization.

We found a tienda just outside the cornfield and got some coca cola's in bottles for 50 cents apiece.  Tim disappeared for awhile over lunch.  The kids showed up and inhaled the sandwiches we had made for them.  They blew up the soccer balls they had brought and gave them to the kids in the houses and then walked in to the village to give one away.  The boys said that the kid they gave one too was afraid of Adam.  I'm not sure why.....

The kids did go down and play soccer with the boys from our house.   They came back when they got thirsty.  They said the boys tried to get them to drink from a hose but they told them it would make them sick.  Or at least that's what they tried to say.  They aren't quite sure what they told them.  :)  Good that the kids were watching out for themselves. :)

Digging in the dirt was easy...the soil was crazy good....I guess that's what happen when you build in a cornfield!  Turns out that when we were walking around the holes we dug, that wasn't such a good thing.  We caved in more than one side.

The kids said they had a goodd morning at school.  Jake has a new male teacher...he said he's funny.  TJ has Jake's teacher from last week.  Adam said it was boring but he took pages of notes... 

We finished around 4..just as it started raining.  We helped mom take her clothes down that were hanging out and hopped in the back of the pickup to come home.  I think that might have been the kids favorite part.

We got dropped at our house and headed to the Bodegona again.  When you can only buy what you carry, a trip to the market becomes a daily event. :)  We walked to the house where everyone else was staying and Mayda made us dinner...and it was amazing as usual.  Fish tonight.

What was the most interesting thing you saw today?

Lily:  Their house.  Because it's interesting to see how different people live.  It was smaller.  It only had one room.  

Adam:  The cardboard on the inside walls.

Tristan:  How they lived. 

Ethan: Riding in the back of the pick up truck.

Was it different than you thought it would be?

Lily:  I thought their old house would be made of like rocks and bricks and stuff instead of carboard.

Tristan:  I thought they'd have a house made of bricks instead of steel and stuff.  I thought they'd have flooring.

Grace: Yes.  There was only one room.  The bathroom was outside...even if it's snowing you need to go outside.

What was different than you expected?

Jake:  That they had a tv.  I didn't know they had electricity.  I didn't expect two beds to be there.

Ethan:  Their soccer field.  It was just a big plain of dust.   The field was slippery.  We played with the two kids from the house with a ball we brought them.

What was the most fun thing you did at the house?

Jake: Played soccer with the kids from the house

Grace: The twins.  The kid at the other house didn't talk but we gave him a soccer ball.

What did you like the most?

Adam: Playing soccer.  They played about the same as us.  

Best part of today:

Krystal:  Having the 18 month old girl grab my hand.

Jenn: The drive on the way there

Alyssa:  Having the kids there in the afternoon...and maybe the amazing homemade lemonade she made us.

Tim: (Tim is so glad I am asking him these questions)  Watching the guy make bricks with his feet for 100Q for 3 days (roughly $13).  Or maybe the 1 1/2 lunch.