Day 2: extended

ok so yesterday in my post i mentioned an event that i said would NEVER be spoken of EVER again! that event is actually quite amusing once you think about it.

at the time of this mishap i was terrified, embarrassed, upset, and frankly just plain stupified. the mishap in question is the knocking down of a wall. yes i said knocking down of a wall and yes we were there to build walls!! ;)

as i had mentioned in my previous post John had given me the task of making grooves in the wet cement of the new walls. i was working on my 1st wall and John had showed my how to execute my task he had also told me that i could use either the ladder or a stack of blocks to reach the top. i opted to use the ladder because the blocks were too unsteady for my liking.

so here's exactly what happened: i put the ladder against the wall (no problem), i rested at the 5th rung (no problem), i started to make the grooves (no problem) and then it started; i saw the ladder slowly start to move!! yes, my initial reaction was "OH MY GOSH!!"...then i dropped my tool and started to jump off of the ladder. as soon as i took one foot off of the ladder the 6^x5<> wall collapsed!! THATS RIGHT!... collapsed!

i couldnt believe what had just happened: i had just knocked down a wall that a team of about 3 men had just built in a matter of 20 minutes. it was hard work, no doubt and the fact that i just wiped it all out was a huge disappointment. as soon as it happened i could feel my heart racing, my eyes got watery and it felt like everyone was looking at me.

i looked at John and the workers as well as the members of our team, that i could see. a look of astonishment came over John's face. i told him i was sorry, he said it was okay. i looked at the forman, vincente, i said "lo siento" (im sorry) and he said "no problemo" (no problem). George was there w. his handy camera ;) and Lisa was there for a shoulder to lean on. PB laughed it off. Scott laughed...to make me laugh. Josh just looked at me and said "only you kal." John said "now we'll teach you to lay brick and you can fix the wall!" :)...we all laughed.

that's it!...that's the event that i swore wouldn't leave Guatemala. now its on the world wide web. on the plus side, John told me they could fix it in no time and they did. George took pictures but they were lost (oops!) i wont ever forget that event...needless to say, the rest of the week went on without so much drama! ;)