And I do apologize...

It has been more than a week since I last blogged, and much has happened. The school now has a cement floor raised 2 feet above the ground, a tin roof, and 20 desks to fill it. It may not sound like a lot, but let me tell you, it took a lot of work.
The floor
I don't know the perimeter of the school, but its pretty big, and it took a lot of sand to raise it 2 feet up. To get the sand we dug the ground up near the school. The holes are real big, and real deep. And when it rains, they will be ponds. And when the rain stops, they will be mosquito factories... We carried the sand in baskets from the holes to the school. The kids helped a lot with this. "Buon" they would scream as they hurled their baskets at my feet. I would give them three big scoops "Muy...Bee...Bi" and then a tiny fourth scoop "Buon!" They thought it was great.
It took us 5 days to get the level high enough with the sand. The next step was the cement. And since cement dries, we had to do the entire floor in one day... We started at 8 am as we always do, had lunch at noon, came back at one, and worked until 9pm... Yes, 9 pm. My job was to mix, and then shovel the concrete... I did that for 10 hours.... I still can't straighten my pinky... But we got the job done, and it was fun, because around 7 everyone came out to watch. It was like a party. A very tiring party... With lots of cement, sand, and gravel...

The roof-
The roof was done by the village cheif and a few other skilled workers. They were like monkeys, climbing, swinging, and laughing the whole time. It was pretty incredible to watch.

The Desks-
It took us 3 days for the desks. I had a lot of practice with sawing, and I can almost cut straight. Although, it is getting harder and harder to stand upright. Everything I do, (carrying sand, shoveling, sawing, eating, sitting)is done slouched over, and my lower back is getting P.Oed. But enough complaining. What was fun about sawing is that it provided ample time for christmas carol singing. Travis, who I call Hatch (because he is really good with a hatchet) doesn't like to sing, and Clarke, whom I call Nibbs, (She nibbles at her food) has to be in the christmas spirit, and so... It is mostly just me, singing away and loving every minute of it. Nibbs does like to sing Frosty the SNowman, but we can't remember all of the lyrics...

Here are some of my thoughts about the last week or so:
- There is no need for steel-toed boots, or hard hats while doing in construction in Cambodia. In fact, there is no need for pants either. We wear sandles to do the job, and on our heads we wear soft hats, for the son. I do wear pants, but many of the locals walk around with towels rapped around their waists. And there hasn't been a single injury yet. (Knock on wood)
- Cereal! We have cereal, and oh it is good. Smacks, Honey Bunches of Oats, Special K... There aren't words to describe how good it tastes.... But oh it is goood.
- Milk! Yes! And it is so good... Was so good. You see, instead of a fridge we have a big red cooler. To make it cold, you put in ice. Well, the water that makes the ice is not clean water, and the ice itself is dragged around some pretty nasty places. The ice melts and the cooler is filled with this gross water. In the cooler is our milk, and the cap is loose, and the water goes into it, and our milk is contaminated. And I pour the milk into my bowl of cereal, and I can tell that it has been contaminated, but I have to try it. I take one bite, ONE bit, and it is gross, but I swallow. What is one lowsy bite going to do. Hatch wanted me to eat the rest, Nibbs forced me to dump it... Well, one lowsy bite can do a lot. I have been sick now for two days. I woke up in the middle of the night after eating the contamined bite shivering uncontrollably. I couldn't fall asleep. When I did sleep it never lasted more than 10 minutes, and every time I woke up, my fever was worse, and my stomach was getting more and more ready to rid itself of the evil milk. I prayed that I would get better. This is not the way I want to go home. IN the morning I felt better, though really hung over. I took some advil, and rested during the morning shift, and by the afternoon I was back to sawing. And I thought I was good, better, but oh no, no sir. We came to Sihanoukville today so to use the internet etc. I was fine all morning, and then I got sick, and it wasn't any fun. Nibbs is sick too, sicker than I am. She stayed at the Bungalow. Í'm going to surprise her with the lyrics to Frosty the Snowman...
- My first haircut by someone other than my mom! This is huge for me, and my mom. It was a pretty enjoyable experience. He gave me side burns. Yeah, I'm pretty fly now.

I have much more to tell you, but Hatch is getting impatient. So long for now!