Left Ulaan Bataar Friday evening at 8:45 for the 14-hour overnight train trip to Erdenet, where we'll be doing our building for the next two weeks. The trip is only about 5 hours by car, but the roads are so bad it was deemed better to go by train.
Arrived in Erdenet early in the morning and checked into our "luxury" hotel ($8/night!!!). The women are living dormitory style in two rooms of four; then men similarly in a room of five. I, as queen bee, have my own room, but it's nothing to write home about: somewhat dirty, a low and lumpy bed that looks as if the customers are changed regularly, but not the sheets, and no hot water. My first shower was FREEZING, but I finally had to wash my hair.
After a quick breakfast of a greasy fried egg and a piece of bread, we headed right out to the countryside where our worksite is located. If this is all we're going to get for breakfast every morning, we're going to die of starvation!
Once out on the site, which is a vast, rolling plain, we met the homeowners for and with whom we're building these houses, as well as the Habitat construction forewomen and foreman. That's right, the head construction supervisor is a woman, the second in command is a woman and the third is a man. No one speaks English or Russian, so neither my English or limited Russian will do us any good. We do have one translator with us, so she's kept pretty busy.
Most of our first day on site, it rained like crazy, so it was a tough day. My task most of the day was painting badly carpentered window frames with paint that was really too thick to brush on. The tools are hopelessly inadequate as are the supplies. The tools I and others brought were received with GREAT joy. Thank you, Ann and Elliott, Becky, Jessica and others who made contributions. They're strutting around with their ACE hardware inch/metric measuring tapes like roosters after a roll with a hen, and the levels, plumb lines and other tools went into immediate use.
Uh, oh, my time's up. I've got to get to dinner.
More later.
Love,
Margo
3 comments:
There are a few things from the electronic age that are wonderful. Being able to "blog" is one of them! The lumpy bed may not matter after a day of manual labor but the food . . .
sangambayard-c-m.com
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