Moving our Projects Along

1.14.19

Our party for Sticky was quite fun and was topped off with flan instead of cake, in honor of his trips to the Brazilian Amazon, where flan is a much more common treat than cake of any kind.  We put candles on the flan and struggled mightily to light them, because we don’t have any matches, lighters, or anything else.  We’re not even going to tell you how we lit them, because it might make you worry . . .

Along with our little party, we also did another long reflection about our time in the forest and our time here in Puerto Rico.  We found lots more metaphors and thought things through in different ways, finally coming to the conclusion that we are very, very blessed to be here.  

The morning was actually a bit chilly, which was quite a surprise.  The breakfast crew had to get up to make eggs at 6:30, and it was a bit of a challenge to get out from under the blankets.  By the way, the coffee ratios were RIGHT today, but that’s because Jesse laid down the law and started measuring things last night to declare the proper mode of making DIRT coffee.  We got the message.  

Our bus was on time but we weren’t as punctual as usual.  We finally all got our acts together and got to our respective worksites. Things were cranking.  In fact, it felt like we all arrived right in the middle of a huge task (even though work didn’t start until we got there).  That’s actually a good way for things to feel, as we love a sense of urgency that what we are doing really needs to be done.  We all felt that way today.  

One of our sites actually switched houses and moved its operations across the street from its original assignment.  There were all kinds of specialized projects involved in the new house and the new partner/homeowner was friendly and happy and easy to work with.  The group there got to make use of power tools in a way that hasn’t yet happened for our groups on this trip.  We were all very excited about this moment arriving, whether or not we were assigned to that site.  Hannah in particular was fully invigorated by this new phase of our work relationship with SBP. 

At another site, we realized that there are many jobs that need to be completed this week, so we might actually grab a few workers off of other sites to make things go smoothly. One of the jobs there is to install a tile floor, which all of us want to learn how to do.  That’s the site with the dog named Chispa, which, if you say it fast souns like Cheese Puff. Angel was convinced for the first few days that the dog was, in fact, named Cheese Puff and was quite startled to learn that she was incorrect.  

At the third site, our group cranked up all of the steps required to be able to paint the entire exterior of the home in one day.  That day is going to be tomorrow.  So that house, too, is considering piling lots of people onto that site to bang out this job as quickly as possible.  We have decisions to make.  Tonight. Before we go to work tomorrow.  

In order to fast forward the whole house-painting job, we decided to invest in a pressure washer so that we are not held up by the schedule of the agency with which we are working. Also, pressure washing is fun.  So everyone on that site got a spin at working miracles on the concrete walls as we washed the last remnants of Hurricane Maria away before putting on a fresh new coat of paint.  

Whoever wasn’t pressure washing was involved in a very competitive soccer game with our young friends at the site: Ropniel and Giondi.  The boys divvied up the people they knew to make things interesting, but got seriously surprised by newcomer Jenny’s impressive soccer moves.  

We came home and everyone hit the beach.  The waves were big but no one lost any clothing items this time, so that counts as a successful outing.  We won’t share the details about who lost what clothing items and how before today, but we will say that we have learned that the water gods sometimes take offerings that are due to them whether or not they are freely given.  

Lots of people did laundry this evening, and we are getting better at managing the water, the soap, the wringing, the hanging, and the managing of what has already been washed before.  Laundry can become a real problem on these trips but so far we haven’t suffered any really terrible maladies.  Our world doesn’t even smell too terribly (usually) so that’s a victory too.  

As the video team started to get its project going, we got our food from San Isidro, which included a huge array of root vegetables that we can barely identify, some meat for those who eat it, avocado slices for everyone, and some really, really, really hot hot sauce.  

One by one people took a bite of food that included the new hot sauce offering and the room quickly divided into two kinds of people: those who shrugged it off as not that different from other hot sauces and those who looked like they needed immediate medical attention.  The people in this second category appeared to go temporarily mute, perhaps because their tongues were overly affected by whatever was going on with that sauce. The first group laughed hysterically at the second group, especially because it was clear that they would soon recover.  Once everyone recovered, a series of dares convinced people to take spoonfuls of hot sauce like they were doses of cough syrup.  And even though dares are stupid, it was all pretty fun.  

We then kicked into our reflection circle, led by Kresha of Team Picante.  She asked us to respond to the question: “When did your ‘I’ become ‘we?’” We heard a number of examples of when different team members found their connection to the collective.  Some focused on our house and when it changed from just being some house to being “our” house.  Some talked about the worksites and how we function together. Some spoke of little moments together on the beach, in the yard, or in the bus where we all just felt safe and like we each belong.  We talked about how different things are here than in other contexts where we have functioned in groups. We truly believe our closeness will last. And we hope that we will be able to create similarly close relationships in future groups by using the same approaches that got us to this point.  

And we got to recognize not just one but two of our beloved teammates as new members of the Order of the Purple Bike.  We began with Hannah.  As noted above, she had huge breakthroughs in the realm of power tools today. All of the old DIRTies know how empowering it is to get some meaningful grasp of how to use tools, especially when you need them to solve problems on your worksite. We all noted that Hannah seems like she’s an old DIRT vet already, even though this is her first trip.  She does all of the jobs that are left undone, keeping an eye on the entire context to ensure that things that need to happen actually do happen.  We don’t leave a lot of messes (either literal or figurative), but when anything is left messy in one way or another, Hannah is right there to get things cleaned up. We celebrated her infectious laugh and her incredible work ethic.  Congratulations, Hannah!

We also decided to induct another new member: Paul Jordan.  Paul is a vet from last year but this year, he is a whole new person.  He has an amazing new beard, but it is the least of the changes we have seen in him.  He, too, is an excellent team member who is constantly completing jobs that are left dangling.  One reason that Paul does a lot of cleanup jobs is that he is the tallest one of us by far, so he has to do everything that none of the rest of us can reach. Additionally, this year he is our main ambassador to the children of Puerto Rico, which has earned him the name “Tio Pablo” (Uncle Paul).  He has an endless capacity for play and he still manages to work harder than most of us (who are all very hard workers!).  We are very fortunate to have Paul among us.  

Tomorrow we will have a full day of really important work at all of our sites.  We can’t wait to show you how things are going.  Thanks again for checking in!

After a long day of work in Loiza, Alex relaxes at the beach taking in the beautiful view. 

Hope leading a yoga session as the day comes to a close.

Sofia stands on her head during the yoga session; I don’t know how she does it!! 

The work site at Ana’s house required tile to be laid in the living room by gluing the tiles to the floor. 

Getting so caught up in the moment that our group forgets to take pictures during the day so we must take a photo. 

Wildlife in Puerto Rico is unpredictable and beautiful. 

Sarah putting some primer on the window fence!

Filling some holes in the walls with some plaster!

Putting on finishing touches on the fence!

Oops…Got a little messy at work today! Sarah shows off her newly primed hands while at the work site.

Yoga activities on the beach after a tough day at work. 

A beautiful photo of our beach that we’ve been going to almost every afternoon. Some good Loiza Beach vibes.

The beautiful man named Tio Pablo with paint on his mustache. He is our newest purple bike member! 

A friendly dog found shade to sleep. We encounter so many wonderful animals on our work sites. 

Playing with lanterns and long exposures. Shout out to Nil’s camera skills!