What a first day building !!!!

Hi again,

Monday dawned and we were up bright and early (5am !!) to prepare or our blitz build. It's a very strange sensation loading up with sun cream at 5am in the dark ! but we were very glad of it as the day wore on. We left the hotel (under Police escort !) at about 6.15 and arrived at the site at about 7.15 am. The site is huge. We will build 82 houses on the site in the next week. The 82 commorates the King of Thailand's 82nd birthday, on December 5th 2009. Team Belfast, along with 3 new friends, Catriona, Ciara and Sonia from Habitat in Dublin were assigned to house Number 18, where we gathered to meet up with our House Leader and some other volunteers who joined us. We also met Sarika, who will live at Number 18 with her son and daughter. Sarika worked along with us all day.

The initial layers of blocks had already been layed and our task was to mix the sand and cement to 2 different consistencies, one for the pointing / grouting (the toothpaste !) and another (the New England Chowder or porridge) to pour on the next layers of blocks. We set about our tasks and were soon grouting and pointing, as well as laying the next layers of blocks. This was a tricky job, needing spirit levels and plumb bobs to ensure a perfect wall every time.

Some vounteers from Sri Lanka and Napal joined us and our neighbours on the next house are from Canada. The site is an absolute hive of activity from very early on and the whole operation is run with military precision. However the most striking aspect of today, apart from the sheer scale of the build, was the heat. It was phenominal. One of our American volunteers, who seems to be regarded as something of an expert by his colleagues, estimated that it hit 93 degrees this morning. I certainly wouldn't argue. I don't think I've ever been as hot.

In the afternoon, some of us moved to a different house across the street, number 25, to even out the labour a bit ! And we continued grouting - now that we are experts ! The Leader of house 25 is Gina from Miami, who was very welcoming and the crew were mostly Americans.

We worked very hard today and the heat made it that bit more interesting !!! However, we did very well. We completed as much as we needed to, to keep the houses on track and most importantly we survived the heat to build another day !!

Here's the rest of the 'Island of Ireland' team at dinner, Sonia from Dublin, Ciara, originaly from Newry and Catriona from Waterford. Tonight was very quiet ! Dinner at the hotel and an early night ready for more of the same tomorrow - 5am will come around very quickly !!

Will check in again tomorrow - connections permitting,

Kate.