Scooch....just a bit!

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We started today with the unique opportunity to meet with the communication specialist at the Mayor’s office in Moinesti, the location we are actually building in (Comanesti is where we are staying). We learned a number of things about the community, their vision for the future and how they are working to inspire the youth in their community. We were recognized by the community and received our own certificate as official friends of Moinesti!

Then we headed back for a full day at the work site...the normal painting, flooring, and trim, oh my! Dantes and Vasile did their best to get us going through out 4 work places (houses). We have earned their trust and teams were free to use the few power tools they have. The first day we had flooring issues with the floor being uneven in the first unit we put down flooring. Since, we have been using a plainer to level the floor before we put down foam and the flooring. Today during this duty, the planer blade broke....there is no Home Depot down the street....there isn't a limited supply of tools and we soon realized they have only 1 of everything....1 circle saw, 1 planer, 1 drill, 1 extension cord, 1 rake, on and on.....when a tool breaks, there are no backups. We ended up using a grinder to make due....it reminded us the tight budgets these groups work under and limited support they have to work.

At the beginning of the week, our partners with Habitat Comanesti disappeared during lunch and ate their bread and salt. As a team, we decided to buy them lunch and ask them to join us. The lunch area is tight for 14, let alone the full crew. So, ‘scooch’…just a bit is our way of eating side by side, shoulder to shoulder, uncomfortable in space, but comfortable in team spirit!

The good news is we got another load of fill and topped that off with a load of black dirt! Karin was psyched as well as her shoveling friends. Lillian the spokesperson for the family in house #1, was happy to see the dirt and excited that soon grass would be planted and it would feel like a real home. At the end of work today, we said goodbye to one of our partners, Dantes, as he will not be at the work site tomorrow. We enjoyed working with him, meeting his daughter at dinner last night and the patience and support he shared with our team!

After work today, we had the opportunity to go shopping in downtown Comanesti. For a subset of us (you’ll have to guess who), shopping consisted of aimlessly looking in one store and finding a local watering hole. We did pick up a few items, and made our way back for supper and a ‘night off’. This consists of slowly checking email, showering, eating dinner and hanging out with the team, continuing our bonding time.

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