This morning, we were woken from our sleep by the ridiculously loud roosters living underneath our sleeping area. Dazed and confused, we stumbled outside to a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, jam and toast, fried bananas, pineapple, and hot chocolate. Straight after breakfast, we began to finish off the houses. We started by continuing to shovel sand, stones, cement and water to make concrete for the floors. Other people formed lines to pass the buckets of concrete to the houses, so they could add the finishing touches to the floor. After we had all packed up and washed ourselves, we sorted out our donations and placed them on a table for the village elder to give to the families. Then Izzy and Dario spoke to the villagers about how happy we all were to have built the houses for the community, and how grateful we were for their hospitality and kindness. Then we gave them the extra $1500 that we had raised so that they could construct extra water tanks and more water pipes and filters, so that they could store more water in preparedness for the dry season. Then the villagers expressed their gratitude for what we had done for them, and we bought some gifts that they had laid out for us. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes, and boarded the bus, for a five-hour long bus ride to Chiang Rai. During the trip, we sang many songs, such as the school hymn, Waltzing Matilda, Bicycle Race, the National Anthem and Yellow Submarine. Upon our arrival to the hotel, we all had showers, and then left for a fantastic night market, in which we bought many gifts that ranged from watches to shirts and wooden ornaments. Overall, the early morning work was tough, but extremely rewarding, as we were able to see the difference it made. The bus trip and night markets were both great, and so far the Big Experience has been fantastic.
Lawrence and Dario
