Day 7 - Friday July 10

On my fourth working day, Robyn and I woke up around 7:30 AM; we overslept a little. We quickly got ready and ate some oatmeal that Unika had made for us. There was however no need to hurry, since the taxi driver did not arrive earlier than 8:30 AM. We started the day by carrying some more sand to the same pile, but this time we also carried the stones to the same place. As we all moved the sand and stones with our shovels, buckets and our wheelbarrow we were just like the 7 dwarfs from Snow White. We then mixed the sand and the stones, added cement and water and started mixing. Even though it doesn't seem that difficult when you watch the local builders mix the cement, it is actually quite tough and really, really heavy. (Your back will soon start to hurt, trust me...) As soon as we had mixed the first bit of cement, we had to fill the buckets and carry them up the bathroom, where they would be poured into the molds to create the foundation for the roof. We did this a couple of times that day, because if you do it all at once, the cement will dry out and you will end up with a big pile of cement on the floor. We filled all the molds and let the cement dry. Meanwhile we got some lunch from Shelly. She made us some white rice and curry chicken which was a little bit more spicy than the day before, but I really liked it. She also made us some Milo which is similar to chocolate milk, but I prefer it over chocolate milk. After the lunch there was no more work for us to do, so we just made some fun, talked and relaxed (which I was actually glad with, because I was so full from the lunch hahaha). Around 3 PM we went back to the Projects Abroad office and got some supervised free time. We went to the shopping mall close by, where we went to the supermarket and the souvenir shop. I bought some snacks and drinks for the weekend and bought some souvenirs in the souvenir shop. My roommate, Robyn and I then went back to our host family where we first sat down in our room and talked about music, books and movies. Apparently, we had a lot more in common than we thought. We then had dinner together. Unika made us some pink salmon, white rice and green peas. This meal was just like any other meal that Unika had made for us, absolutely delicious. After dinner we stayed at the table for a little while and talked about friendships and relationships, to see our different perspectives about these subjects. We also talked about taking some Jamaican food back home. Because Robyn and I truly wanted to take some food home, to cook it for our own families and show them a bit of the Jamaican culture, but we were not quite sure what we could take home. Unika told us that we could take pretty much everything back home, since she had volunteers before who did so too. She told us we could take Ackee & Saltfish, breadfruit and all the spices and herbs we wanted. I was not totally sure about this, since at certain airports they can be really strict about taking food, and especially fish and fruits in your suitcases. I therefore decided that I first wanted to discuss this with my parents, since if I would take these foods back home and they would not approve of it at one of the airports, I would have to deal with it all on my own, and I was not sure if I wanted to go through all of that.

I was really tired by that time from the hard work we did that day and all my muscles were stiff and hurt a little. I decided to pack my back for Saturday, take a shower and crawl into my bed. Saturday we had to get up early and it would be a long day, so going to bed early, was definitely not a bad idea.

#Mixingcement #molds #supervisedfreetime #Jamaicanfood