Today was much cooler and windier than days one and two.
We did some touch up work on the walls and then built frames along the top of each wall for pouring concrete. Everyone had a rather slow morning; in my case, it was due to being tired and sore from the prior days.
Both houses are at the same phase. After lunch, our task was to mix a lot of concrete (all by hand - no electric cement mixer for us). Then to carry the buckets of concrete into the house and up to the crew that poured it into the frames on top of the walls.
We also placed the main cross beam - 6 inches by 12 inches by 15 feet. There is no crane to lift it, just people power. Most of the weight was carried by the Mongolians, with me doing part of the weight - I am the only one tall enough to reach that high. We got the beam in place only to find it was too long by about two inches. Rather than cutting the beam, Dorjo (the paid contractor and our supervisor) simply cut the cement and styrofoam block and two Mongolians and I moved the beam into the final position.
And materials were readied for our third house.
As we poured the concrete into the forms, we placed t-bolts which will be used to secure a wooden beam as a plate to nail the roof trusses onto.
After I finished pouring the last of the concrete, I asked Peter to take a couple of photos of me while I was still up on the scaffolding. They show how cloudy it was.
Then it was time for the long 45 minute ride back to the hotel for showers and a class on Mongolian language - but the class did not happen as the translator went with team leader Thai and Lara to the doctor's office. On our very windy work site, Lara had gotten dust and/or dirt and/or foreign matter into one of her eyes. We did have a slightly delayed team meeting to reflect on the day and about 7:45 we walked to Texas - a local restaurant recommended by Peter. It was surprisingly good service and good food. We may have to return there later.
We did some touch up work on the walls and then built frames along the top of each wall for pouring concrete. Everyone had a rather slow morning; in my case, it was due to being tired and sore from the prior days.
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| Another view of what we hope to achieve |
We also placed the main cross beam - 6 inches by 12 inches by 15 feet. There is no crane to lift it, just people power. Most of the weight was carried by the Mongolians, with me doing part of the weight - I am the only one tall enough to reach that high. We got the beam in place only to find it was too long by about two inches. Rather than cutting the beam, Dorjo (the paid contractor and our supervisor) simply cut the cement and styrofoam block and two Mongolians and I moved the beam into the final position.
And materials were readied for our third house.
As we poured the concrete into the forms, we placed t-bolts which will be used to secure a wooden beam as a plate to nail the roof trusses onto.
After I finished pouring the last of the concrete, I asked Peter to take a couple of photos of me while I was still up on the scaffolding. They show how cloudy it was.
Then it was time for the long 45 minute ride back to the hotel for showers and a class on Mongolian language - but the class did not happen as the translator went with team leader Thai and Lara to the doctor's office. On our very windy work site, Lara had gotten dust and/or dirt and/or foreign matter into one of her eyes. We did have a slightly delayed team meeting to reflect on the day and about 7:45 we walked to Texas - a local restaurant recommended by Peter. It was surprisingly good service and good food. We may have to return there later.
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