Trip Update: Days 4 and 5

Parents: All is well and we've begun working in the township of Kurland Village (we'll be renovating and rebuilding homes here until Friday). A lot of tough, dirty work for the kids but they've managed really well. Fun group dinner at a restaurant on the beach tomorrow night...so that should be a nice break. Sorry we can't get any pictures up with this post but expect some on the next one. Best, Chris & Amy.

3/14 - Briana

Today was our first day working in Kurland. We were up bright and early and on the road before 9AM. We spent the morning getting oriented in the house that we’ll be refurbishing. Fyna, the elderly owner of the house, and was really anxious about letting us make changes. She milled around the three rooms smiling nervously at us as we moved her furniture outside so we could start working.

We began by scraping paint off the walls of the kitchen and the main room. We proceeded to brush and sand the walls, both inside and outside. A corner in the kitchen is completely blackened with soot from the stove, and cleaning this area was a challenge today – It’s going to be one of the toughest and most important tasks of the week.

Samer soon became good friends with the guys in charge of our construction, Glenn, Graiwin, Shane, and Hetley. We worked to the sounds of an eclectic South African radio station that played everything from Phil Collins to British pop. At the end of the day when we were putting Fyna’s belongings back in her house until tomorrow, it was tough to realize that no matter how clean and beautiful we can make her house after we scrub and paint, almost all of her furniture is still going to be falling apart. We still have lots of work to do, but today was productive and a great start.

After we came home and took some much needed showers we ventured into the Plett Bay village where we indulged in yummy gelato. Back at Rocky Road, we sat down to a feast of roast chicken. Right now, we’re lounging around a fire in the porch area and Rocky is showing us awesome magic tricks. Everybody has been sleeping and eating well! I know my parents worry about those simple things. Pat and Jonathan moved into a room in the house last night, opting out of their rustic tent accommodation for fear of creepy crawlers.

We miss everybody at home but we’re having tons of fun. Hope all is well over there!

3/15 - Pat

Hi everyone (Mom especially)! I hope everything is going well in the states. Today was our second day of work in Kurland Village. We’ve gotten a ton of stuff done, and we finished the day by painting the first coat of red paint onto the outside of the house. Most of the work today was dedicated to covering the ceiling with a layer of cement, which sadly fell into the eyes of one Haley Deluca (luckily she’s fine). The ceilings and the walls of the kitchen are pitch black because of the wood burning stove that’s been in the home for decades, so when the cement dries we’ll make the walls an earthy orange.

We finished at around four o’clock and everyone rushed to the showers. The most difficult part of the day was trying to scrub the cement and paint off of our faces, arms and legs. I still have globs of the stuff on my hands and shins, and tomorrow I should be covered in even more red paint. Samer, Clem, and Anthony went back to Kurland and played some rugby. During the practice with the local team, Anthony was doing push-ups when his chest smooshed into some fecal matter; so for the remainder of practice the Kurland players referred to him as “poo-poo.” We think the nickname will stick.

We had some really good Tagliatelle with fish and mushroom sauce, which we ate by the fire pit. Tomorrow we’ll have dinner in Plettenberg Bay after we finish working on the house.

Wish us luck!