Laying Tile

This week we've been laying tile. I've been glad to have a chance to learn how to do it. I knew it wasn't really that difficult, but I've never had a chance to learn before. Now that I've done it for a few days I'm even more glad that I am an electrician. You can only stay on your knees for so long before you turn into a hobbit. As evidence, you'll notice that in this picture Johannes isn't wearing any shoes. There is no logical reason for this, except that he is turning into a hobbit. (On a sidenote, his official title is head groundskeeper. I keep wanting to call him groundskeeper Willy, but I know he wouldn't get it. If you aren't a Simpson's fan, you won't get it either, so never mind.) We are using these special concrete tiles because David and Janis like the look, and they are cheaper. But they are significantly more difficult to install, because the sizes and thickness are not consistent. This causes the lines to not be perfectly straight, but I don't think that Africans know what a straight line is anyway. It seems like everything in this city is built by "eyeballing it". We are running a little behind schedule so I think that we are going to hire a professional tiler to finish the job so that we can move on to other projects in the flats.