Today is the last full day of construction. Everybody is scrambling to get as much done as we can. We’ve taken on a larger scale project than we anticipated but also have done more work than we had anticipated. The reclamation of the rice shed is completed. One crew is working on getting as much painting done in the classrooms as possible. Others are fixing furniture, hanging shutters and installing hardware on the doors. Raymond Chew and I are finishing the playground.
The construction of the new classrooms has moved right along but the building is far from finished. The roof has to go on, the walls have to be cemented and the floor has to be laid. Then there is painting and finishing. We are funding the project but the locals have to finish the construction.
Building in the part of the world is challenging. You can say that just about everything is available but it is not necessarily readily available. There are roadside shops that have hardware and building supplies but the inventory can be the most amazing and confusing collection of assorted stuff that you can imagine. It can be difficult to find what you want yet there are hundreds (thousands?) of items that are old and dusty that you can’t imagine how they ever ended up in the store’s inventory or why anybody would ever want them. I do find it fascinating. What gets really amazing and confusing is that you will sometimes ask for something (even with an interpreter) and will be told they don’t have it because they really didn’t understand what you were asking for. Later you will find it in a pile underneath a shelf and everybody goes “yea”, like “of course we have that.” It’s a challenge, but a fun challenge.
The rice shed (classroom) that we restored. It was termite infested and the floor was was rotted to the point that it was dangerous. New floor reinforcements were placed and new floor was installed. The walls were covered with new bamboo matting. The building is old but we have probably given it at leas 10 more years of life at a minimal cost.
Tonight we went to “Aria” probably the finest Italian restaurant in Laos. It was nice. The menu was good and the food was well prepared. Decent wine is pricy in a place like this. Overall though, things are comparatively cheap. Three of us racked up a bill of about $75 which is huge in Laotian standards and cheap just about anywhere else in the world.