Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Well today when I headed to the worksite I must say I was looking good. Dirty capris, a blue shirt with paint and grout on it, tall socks, work boots, and a lavender chitenge wrapped around me. Once again I am sure I brought joy through laughter to all who saw me. I did pray on the walk over that I would be willing to do whatever they asked and “do it their way” without hesitation.
I lose the chitenge, the two and half yards of material they wrap around themselves, when I enter the worksite. I got to grout the kitchen walls – floor to ceiling eight inch tiles and I was prepared to leave the gout on the wall. By the way the floor I did last week still has not been cleaned. I think they just keep walking over it and the excess grout wears off.
I was just grouting away when a man passed by with a rag and wiped a little grout off; I guess he was just checking my work. I told him if he would get me a bucket of water and his rag I would clean it all off. He did it!!! So now I was a happy camper.
Six hours later with a cut finger from a jagged piece of tile, pruney hands from the water, and aching arms from grouting above my head, I was ready to go home. Plus there was no place to go to the bathroom. It is all men and I knew that I could not go wherever it was that they went.
I told the boss I was leaving so he told another guy to finish. I know enough Tonga to know the guy did not want to do it. Since I had cleaned the tile as I went he thought he had to do the whole room. I guess the boss told him I had done three wall because the worker said, “No!” and then went to check it out himself. All I can figure out is that they have never seen someone clean as they go because he called several other guys to come and see. They were caressing the wall and I heard one say, “Wow!”. I asked if I had done it wrong and one said, “No, no it is wonderful.”
I did not press my luck by saying they could do it the same way and I would be glad to show them how. I just said “Thank you” and left.
God is good all the time.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Last week in town I purchased some snappy chitenge material ($4.00 for 5 yards) to have an African outfit made. A lady next door makes them by just measuring you. I told her I wanted an outfit that would make me look thin. She just laughed – it is so easy to bring joy. I showed her my material and she looked confused. She looked at me then at the material, so I figured she needed more material to make me look thin.
I had gotten two different patterns with the same colors that I thought were very complimentary, and by the way so did the students that saw my material. I told her I wanted the top out of one and the bottom out of the other. She put her hand over her mouth and her eyes got real big and said something to the fact that I must not do that.
What it boils down to is that you cannot put two large prints together. I asked if the Zambians would laugh at me and think that I was a clown. She said, “Oh no they would not laugh at you they would just think you were very funny.” The seamstress told this story I guess to everyone, so I am spreading the joy faster and faster.
The truth be know the Africans quite often put two different prints together that are not nearly a complimentary as mine, but I decided to stick to one pattern. I do not want to be the talk of the town.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Well one minute you have internet service and the next you do not, so I usually make a word document and try to seek it on the internet at the right moment. Today let’s chat a bit about the living conditions. We are staying in Choma, Zambia. I have asked several people what the population of Choma is and no one seems to know because people just set up housekeeping wherever they want.
Villages are not what you see in pictures 20-30 huts all close together in a community. There may be 3 here, 5 there, 1 a half mile in another direction, so they are scattered throughout the countryside. I am not even sure how they know who is in what village. Most of the huts we have seen this far are about eight foot square built from handmade bricks, about six foot tall with a peaked thatched roof and open places on maybe two sides for windows, and an open doorway; very dark inside. Sometimes they hang material over the windows and doorway, but not usually
We are staying in a somewhat regular house by ourselves Yippee! The floors are concrete, indoor plumbing, all the conveniences of home even a microwave. It has three bedroom and two baths and someone comes in two times a week to sweep all the sand up off the floors and do a few minor cleaning tasks. They sweep with a large handmade whisk boom all bent over. They do their laundry in a plastic tub and hang it on the line and guess what, so do we. No one has air conditioning and we really do not need it at this time of the year. All windows in all homes have bars on the windows; however, they say they almost zero hard crime. Stealing is their largest problem because people are starving.
Almost all houses have walls around them from thatched to eight foot high concrete brick. Many of the brick walls have barb wire, electric lines, or broken glass bottles embedded into the top block to prevent someone from climbing over. There is usually a swinging metal door across the driveway with a smaller pedestrian entrance door cut into the large driveway door. There is a small guard house, three foot square, with a guard that opens and locks the door for you. The house where the students are staying has this type of set up. Since Brad and I are on the World Hope Compound with four other houses, used as offices, we just have a guard that walks the premises at night. You never get to see the houses from the road just the roofs unless the driveway door has been left open.
Usually foreigners have cars – some German people run an orphanage (we saw two white girls at church and a man of 60 in town, but have not had a chance to talk with them yet), Indian people are doctors in town, a few Indian shopkeepers, and Americans from relief agencies; I have seen two or three Zambians with cars. There is public bus transportation, but we do not see them much. We see about 10 cars a day on the roads. In town which is about three blocks, on the same road, of shops we see more traffic; you can really call it traffic. By the way they drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver sits on the right in the car to drive.
Within the last year they got a supermarket, which is about the size of a Gap store in the mall; by no way a Wal-Mart. Very limited brands – only 5 types of cereal. Junk food consists of crackers, chips (fruit flavored chips, tomato chips – we like these the best, and other strange flavors), and a few candies which taste like cough drops.. They do not have the money for snacks nor do they like sweets. It seems like only the boys are losing weight, it isn’t fair. In the supermarket there is a guard posted at the door and you have to check your bags, backpacks, etc., but not your purse. There are one or two guards walking around inside the store also. Most of the shops are smaller than a classroom and offer a little bit of everything. In the very small all purpose stores the stock of items are behind a metal cage. You tell the shopkeeper what you want and he gets it for you.
Many vendors have small booths, 3 x 4 foot stalls right beside the sidewalk with a small stock of 5-10 items. Still other vendors lay their wares right on the sidewalk. Vegetables and fruits are sold the same way. Of course they follow you down the sidewalk asking you to buy something. We were looking for a Zambian umbrella and two guys ran in and out of stores looking for one for us. Then they charge American at least two times what it is worth, so you bicker.
Well that is about all for today. Once again thank you for your prayers.
Well one minute you have internet service and the next you do not, so I usually make a word document and try to seek it on the internet at the right moment. Today let’s chat a bit about the living conditions. We are staying in Choma, Zambia. I have asked several people what the population of Choma is and no one seems to know because people just set up housekeeping wherever they want.
Villages are not what you see in pictures 20-30 huts all close together in a community. There may be 3 here, 5 there, 1 a half mile in another direction, so they are scattered throughout the countryside. I am not even sure how they know who is in what village. Most of the huts we have seen this far are about eight foot square built from handmade bricks, about six foot tall with a peaked thatched roof and open places on maybe two sides for windows, and an open doorway; very dark inside. Sometimes they hang material over the windows and doorway, but not usually
We are staying in a somewhat regular house by ourselves Yippee! The floors are concrete, indoor plumbing, all the conveniences of home even a microwave. It has three bedroom and two baths and someone comes in two times a week to sweep all the sand up off the floors and do a few minor cleaning tasks. They sweep with a large handmade whisk boom all bent over. They do their laundry in a plastic tub and hang it on the line and guess what, so do we. No one has air conditioning and we really do not need it at this time of the year. All windows in all homes have bars on the windows; however, they say they almost zero hard crime. Stealing is their largest problem because people are starving.
Almost all houses have walls around them from thatched to eight foot high concrete brick. Many of the brick walls have barb wire, electric lines, or broken glass bottles embedded into the top block to prevent someone from climbing over. There is usually a swinging metal door across the driveway with a smaller pedestrian entrance door cut into the large driveway door. There is a small guard house, three foot square, with a guard that opens and locks the door for you. The house where the students are staying has this type of set up. Since Brad and I are on the World Hope Compound with four other houses, used as offices, we just have a guard that walks the premises at night. You never get to see the houses from the road just the roofs unless the driveway door has been left open.
Usually foreigners have cars – some German people run an orphanage (we saw two white girls at church and a man of 60 in town, but have not had a chance to talk with them yet), Indian people are doctors in town, a few Indian shopkeepers, and Americans from relief agencies; I have seen two or three Zambians with cars. There is public bus transportation, but we do not see them much. We see about 10 cars a day on the roads. In town which is about three blocks, on the same road, of shops we see more traffic; you can really call it traffic. By the way they drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver sits on the right in the car to drive.
Within the last year they got a supermarket, which is about the size of a Gap store in the mall; by no way a Wal-Mart. Very limited brands – only 5 types of cereal. Junk food consists of crackers, chips (fruit flavored chips, tomato chips – we like these the best, and other strange flavors), and a few candies which taste like cough drops.. They do not have the money for snacks nor do they like sweets. It seems like only the boys are losing weight, it isn’t fair. In the supermarket there is a guard posted at the door and you have to check your bags, backpacks, etc., but not your purse. There are one or two guards walking around inside the store also. Most of the shops are smaller than a classroom and offer a little bit of everything. In the very small all purpose stores the stock of items are behind a metal cage. You tell the shopkeeper what you want and he gets it for you.
Many vendors have small booths, 3 x 4 foot stalls right beside the sidewalk with a small stock of 5-10 items. Still other vendors lay their wares right on the sidewalk. Vegetables and fruits are sold the same way. Of course they follow you down the sidewalk asking you to buy something. We were looking for a Zambian umbrella and two guys ran in and out of stores looking for one for us. Then they charge American at least two times what it is worth, so you bicker.
Well that is about all for today. Once again thank you for your prayers.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Today was Mrs. Bhota’s, our cook, birthday. The students wanted to do something for her. We were advised on what to buy, nothing frivolous. We got a triple pot set 18”, 16”, and 14” with lids (these huge things that we would never use unless you are dining with extended family and making soup) and enough money to buy a large bag of nisma (She-ma), their staple food, which came to about $15.00. We gave her the pots and she was overwhelmed.
You do not often get a present on your birthday, especially from people you work for. She hugged every person, which once again there is very little hugging between genders. Then when we gave her the card with the money in it she did a little dance. The giver always gets the blessing. Later she told me that her children could not believe that we gave her so much. They said, “They must really love you.”
Thursday, January 22
We have traveled two to three days a week to go to more remote villages. After you leave the paved roads you start puddle jumping . These barely one lane terra cotta sand and dirt roads are a ride at an amusement park, especially on a bus. The driver’s helper would get out and use a broom handle to see how deep the water was -sometimes we went right through them, sometimes at an angle and we were sure the bus would tip over, and then sometimes we would go into the adjoining field. When we would get through an “iffy” one everyone would clap. On our last trip we couldn’t go through or around the water, so the bus driver got out with an axe and started chopping down trees, so we could continue. We, Americans, enjoyed it, but the Zambian women would get very anxious, pray, or call out for their loved ones.
We left early for a remote village to spend the day, almost a two hour bumpy ride. The people greet you by shaking hands and then into the church of a formal greeting where important people from the village, World Hope personnel, and of course the stars of the show, “the white family” are introduced and several give welcome speeches, prayers, and song. I really shouldn’t have said “stars” because a taxi driver at the hotel told Brad that most Africans think that Americans think they are “STARS” because of the way they act and expect to be treated.
Women cooked all day, goat, chicken (we cannot quite figure out the pieces), nisma, cabbage, and few things I am not sure of. We tried to help, but we are not real skilled at this type of cooking, so they laughed at us a lot. We are great at bringing joy to all the Zambians in this way.
While we were there we helped to build a piggery. The women form a line and pass the bricks down to move them from one place to the other while the men mostly watch. Women do most all the work while men do very little, especially in the villages. Women are still considered more or less property. It is changing in the towns and cities and in the churches where women are becoming more respected. (I have pictures that I am trying to send).
We didn’t really get much of the piggery done. We played with the children and interacted with the adults. Their favorite thing is to have their picture taken. Some have rarely ever seen themselves. Praise God for digital cameras. One old man wanted me to take his picture and when he saw it he looked down to see if it was true that he was wearing the same outfit that he saw in the picture. He kept pointing to the picture and then to himself and all I could do was nod and say, “Yes, that is you.”
We had a good time and even got some sun which will help us stand out even more. Of course no sun on the legs those are covered with our thrilling chitenges (sha tang a), the wrap around skirts that the thin Zambian women look so good in and then someone like me with no waist looks like a decorated column. They wrap and tuck, I wrap and pin.
Once again thank you for your prayers.
Today was Mrs. Bhota’s, our cook, birthday. The students wanted to do something for her. We were advised on what to buy, nothing frivolous. We got a triple pot set 18”, 16”, and 14” with lids (these huge things that we would never use unless you are dining with extended family and making soup) and enough money to buy a large bag of nisma (She-ma), their staple food, which came to about $15.00. We gave her the pots and she was overwhelmed.
You do not often get a present on your birthday, especially from people you work for. She hugged every person, which once again there is very little hugging between genders. Then when we gave her the card with the money in it she did a little dance. The giver always gets the blessing. Later she told me that her children could not believe that we gave her so much. They said, “They must really love you.”
Thursday, January 22
We have traveled two to three days a week to go to more remote villages. After you leave the paved roads you start puddle jumping . These barely one lane terra cotta sand and dirt roads are a ride at an amusement park, especially on a bus. The driver’s helper would get out and use a broom handle to see how deep the water was -sometimes we went right through them, sometimes at an angle and we were sure the bus would tip over, and then sometimes we would go into the adjoining field. When we would get through an “iffy” one everyone would clap. On our last trip we couldn’t go through or around the water, so the bus driver got out with an axe and started chopping down trees, so we could continue. We, Americans, enjoyed it, but the Zambian women would get very anxious, pray, or call out for their loved ones.
We left early for a remote village to spend the day, almost a two hour bumpy ride. The people greet you by shaking hands and then into the church of a formal greeting where important people from the village, World Hope personnel, and of course the stars of the show, “the white family” are introduced and several give welcome speeches, prayers, and song. I really shouldn’t have said “stars” because a taxi driver at the hotel told Brad that most Africans think that Americans think they are “STARS” because of the way they act and expect to be treated.
Women cooked all day, goat, chicken (we cannot quite figure out the pieces), nisma, cabbage, and few things I am not sure of. We tried to help, but we are not real skilled at this type of cooking, so they laughed at us a lot. We are great at bringing joy to all the Zambians in this way.
While we were there we helped to build a piggery. The women form a line and pass the bricks down to move them from one place to the other while the men mostly watch. Women do most all the work while men do very little, especially in the villages. Women are still considered more or less property. It is changing in the towns and cities and in the churches where women are becoming more respected. (I have pictures that I am trying to send).
We didn’t really get much of the piggery done. We played with the children and interacted with the adults. Their favorite thing is to have their picture taken. Some have rarely ever seen themselves. Praise God for digital cameras. One old man wanted me to take his picture and when he saw it he looked down to see if it was true that he was wearing the same outfit that he saw in the picture. He kept pointing to the picture and then to himself and all I could do was nod and say, “Yes, that is you.”
We had a good time and even got some sun which will help us stand out even more. Of course no sun on the legs those are covered with our thrilling chitenges (sha tang a), the wrap around skirts that the thin Zambian women look so good in and then someone like me with no waist looks like a decorated column. They wrap and tuck, I wrap and pin.
Once again thank you for your prayers.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hi from Africa
Sunday, January 18
We were divided into three groups; each attending a different church. Four students and I went to Shampande Wesleyan Church. The Zambians are not too concerned with time probably because few of them have watches, so when Sunday school started at 9:00 there were about 20 people there. By the time we ended at 10:00 there were 50-60 present. They just come wandering in one or two at a time without a care in the world. No one considered them late or really even notices. We studied Jonah 3 and it was good.
Here it is rude to rush to answer a question during a discussion because others may want to answer it and you would be denying them the opportunity to answer. It was difficult for us to know how much to talk because we did not want to be rude, but the leader would ask a question and no one would respond for several minutes. Also silence is expected here, unlike Americans who feel awkward when there is a pause. We have been told not to try to fill every minute with idle chatter. So there we were feeling awkward with the silence yet not wanting to talk too soon. So four of us answered one question and quit, but one student did not quite get the rules and kept answering. The leader finally said, "Let's hear from someone new."
Church service lasts from 10:00-12:30 or longer. Since the youth meet outside for Sunday school and the children meet in a different room at 10:00 they came into the church carrying their little brown wooden chairs and benches and placed them at the front of the church. The church is about the size of two school classrooms put together with long handmade pews on either side, so there is only a center aisle. Pews that would seat six comfortably were packed with 10-12 people. Since we were white and visitors they did not want to crowd us too much, so only put 9 on or pew. There were people standing in the back and on the front porch. There were 250- 300 people packed in.
The children’s choir, youth praise team, women’s choir, mixed choir, and a couple did some special music. Each of these choirs sang at least two songs with a few dances. They had a skit and a man gave a quite lengthy testimony then all the visitors stood, told a little about themselves and each person, couple, or group was given an individual official welcome by the church. Prayers, offering, and announcements were dispersed in between these things.
When they have group prayer everyone prays aloud at the same time, some sit, stand, kneel, walk in the aisle, etc. Even the children lift their prayers. It was very moving to see children on their knees praying the whole 5-7 minutes; however, long it takes. We joined right in – I liked it better than just listening to someone else pray. This all took 1 ½ hours then the children picked up their chairs and went outside for children’s church and the preacher preached for 30 minutes. The pastor preached in English while an interpreter spoke Tonga. Some of the songs were in English, some in Tonga.
Now here comes the fun - When church is over the people leave row by row, starting in the front. The pastor goes out first and the second person shakes the pastor’s hand and then stands next to him. The third person comes out and shakes the pastor’s hand and then the second person’s hand and stands beside him – this just continues. We were near the front so we shook about 50 hands and then we stood in line and shook the other 100+ hands – not all of the children came through the line. Every hand you shake you give a greeting to. When all is said and done there is a big circle out on the front drive/lawn. After the last hand is shaken people stay and fellowship for who knows how long. Our ride was there and we had to leave. It is quite the experience. We will be attending this church for the whole three months. Our cook, Mrs. Bhota, goes to this church, you could see that she felt special knowing the “white friends”. We really do stand out. Since it is winter in the states most of us are "glow in the dark" white.
Monday, January 19, 2009
I went to the school with Lindsay, one of our students, where she is doing her practicum with special ed. students. They were excited to see us back. They enter the room, one erases the chalkboard while the others sit quietly; some talk quietly. I waited until the headmaster was out of his meeting to give him some paperwork and then I walked home.
I had to go through part of the city; women are very friendly, but the men are not. It was about a mile+ walk. I was slightly nervous because they do not see white people just walking around the town, especially by themselves. I figured I was safe because it was about 9:00 am plus I had to walk by the security office and the clinic – just in case I needed help.
Everyone else had gone to visit AIDS patients. Once people know that you have AIDS your family, friends, sometimes the whole village shuns you. Consequently most people will not get tested until it is too late and are really sick. Most of these have caregivers that visit them once a week and bring them food.
I put on work clothes and went to the worksite where they are building a new compound for the offices and guests of World Hope. It was suppose to be done for us, but it still looks like it will be several weeks.
I went to offer my services – very prideful. I got to grout the kitchen tile. It was very difficult for me to do it their way. They use a 3-4 inch metal scraper with rounded corners. The concrete floor was unlevel partly because they have few tools and it is not considered necessary to be too level, and partly because they just mix up concrete right on the floor for other projects and they do not use it all. It hardens and they can’t get it all off. So in order to put the tile floor on level some places needed ½ inch of mortar and some almost an inch. So without a rubber float and just a metal scraper I had to get the grout into these deep spaces. I was quite the novelty for a while since women do not do this type of work.
Then came the true conflict – having to do it competely their way - which is course not the right way!! (according to a Harris girl) I was to put the grout down and then use the pointed tip of a trowel to make “perfect grout lines” which is nearly impossible on unlevel tiles and this scraped most of the gout out. After a few minutes of "discussion" – God spoke and an told me to change. It took everything I had in me – I compromise and used the rounded ends of my scraper-thing. With each scrape I said under my breath, “This is horrible – This is a mess” What’s wrong with them haven’t they ever watched HG-TV.
Then I asked for a bucket and rag to wash off the excess grout before it hardened and was told that they wait 2-3 days before they do that. I was appalled but asked them politely if they would like to inspect my work before I left.
So see you can teach an old dog new tricks. Then all evening I wondered if I got enough grout into the deep holes or if it sunk down after I left - I am not sure who would have the last laugh.
We were divided into three groups; each attending a different church. Four students and I went to Shampande Wesleyan Church. The Zambians are not too concerned with time probably because few of them have watches, so when Sunday school started at 9:00 there were about 20 people there. By the time we ended at 10:00 there were 50-60 present. They just come wandering in one or two at a time without a care in the world. No one considered them late or really even notices. We studied Jonah 3 and it was good.
Here it is rude to rush to answer a question during a discussion because others may want to answer it and you would be denying them the opportunity to answer. It was difficult for us to know how much to talk because we did not want to be rude, but the leader would ask a question and no one would respond for several minutes. Also silence is expected here, unlike Americans who feel awkward when there is a pause. We have been told not to try to fill every minute with idle chatter. So there we were feeling awkward with the silence yet not wanting to talk too soon. So four of us answered one question and quit, but one student did not quite get the rules and kept answering. The leader finally said, "Let's hear from someone new."
Church service lasts from 10:00-12:30 or longer. Since the youth meet outside for Sunday school and the children meet in a different room at 10:00 they came into the church carrying their little brown wooden chairs and benches and placed them at the front of the church. The church is about the size of two school classrooms put together with long handmade pews on either side, so there is only a center aisle. Pews that would seat six comfortably were packed with 10-12 people. Since we were white and visitors they did not want to crowd us too much, so only put 9 on or pew. There were people standing in the back and on the front porch. There were 250- 300 people packed in.
The children’s choir, youth praise team, women’s choir, mixed choir, and a couple did some special music. Each of these choirs sang at least two songs with a few dances. They had a skit and a man gave a quite lengthy testimony then all the visitors stood, told a little about themselves and each person, couple, or group was given an individual official welcome by the church. Prayers, offering, and announcements were dispersed in between these things.
When they have group prayer everyone prays aloud at the same time, some sit, stand, kneel, walk in the aisle, etc. Even the children lift their prayers. It was very moving to see children on their knees praying the whole 5-7 minutes; however, long it takes. We joined right in – I liked it better than just listening to someone else pray. This all took 1 ½ hours then the children picked up their chairs and went outside for children’s church and the preacher preached for 30 minutes. The pastor preached in English while an interpreter spoke Tonga. Some of the songs were in English, some in Tonga.
Now here comes the fun - When church is over the people leave row by row, starting in the front. The pastor goes out first and the second person shakes the pastor’s hand and then stands next to him. The third person comes out and shakes the pastor’s hand and then the second person’s hand and stands beside him – this just continues. We were near the front so we shook about 50 hands and then we stood in line and shook the other 100+ hands – not all of the children came through the line. Every hand you shake you give a greeting to. When all is said and done there is a big circle out on the front drive/lawn. After the last hand is shaken people stay and fellowship for who knows how long. Our ride was there and we had to leave. It is quite the experience. We will be attending this church for the whole three months. Our cook, Mrs. Bhota, goes to this church, you could see that she felt special knowing the “white friends”. We really do stand out. Since it is winter in the states most of us are "glow in the dark" white.
Monday, January 19, 2009
I went to the school with Lindsay, one of our students, where she is doing her practicum with special ed. students. They were excited to see us back. They enter the room, one erases the chalkboard while the others sit quietly; some talk quietly. I waited until the headmaster was out of his meeting to give him some paperwork and then I walked home.
I had to go through part of the city; women are very friendly, but the men are not. It was about a mile+ walk. I was slightly nervous because they do not see white people just walking around the town, especially by themselves. I figured I was safe because it was about 9:00 am plus I had to walk by the security office and the clinic – just in case I needed help.
Everyone else had gone to visit AIDS patients. Once people know that you have AIDS your family, friends, sometimes the whole village shuns you. Consequently most people will not get tested until it is too late and are really sick. Most of these have caregivers that visit them once a week and bring them food.
I put on work clothes and went to the worksite where they are building a new compound for the offices and guests of World Hope. It was suppose to be done for us, but it still looks like it will be several weeks.
I went to offer my services – very prideful. I got to grout the kitchen tile. It was very difficult for me to do it their way. They use a 3-4 inch metal scraper with rounded corners. The concrete floor was unlevel partly because they have few tools and it is not considered necessary to be too level, and partly because they just mix up concrete right on the floor for other projects and they do not use it all. It hardens and they can’t get it all off. So in order to put the tile floor on level some places needed ½ inch of mortar and some almost an inch. So without a rubber float and just a metal scraper I had to get the grout into these deep spaces. I was quite the novelty for a while since women do not do this type of work.
Then came the true conflict – having to do it competely their way - which is course not the right way!! (according to a Harris
Then I asked for a bucket and rag to wash off the excess grout before it hardened and was told that they wait 2-3 days before they do that. I was appalled but asked them politely if they would like to inspect my work before I left.
So see you can teach an old dog new tricks. Then all evening I wondered if I got enough grout into the deep holes or if it sunk down after I left - I am not sure who would have the last laugh.
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