Plastering and Leveling the Floor

Sorry to everyone for not updating our blog for the last week. We have been really busy. This last week we finished the electrical rough in installation in one of the flats, and we plastered the walls and leveled the floors. Next week we will start laying tile. I’ve really been learning a lot. We recently met a white South African who is a missionary to the local Tswana people. He has a construction background and has been helping us. He did all of the plumbing and he has been teaching Johannes and I about all of the rest of the South African construction. He used to be a home builder so he is a good source of information on everything from electrical to plaster to tile to….everything. He has really been a big help and he is teaching Johannes and I so that we can do it on our own next time. One thing I learned is that plastering is really, really, really hard work. I was very sore. The right side of my body is going to look like Hercules pretty soon, because everything I’ve been doing has been working out might right side upper body. I am really sore. I’ve learned that South African are pretty creative in making do with what they have. During the days of apartheid they were under a trade embargo so they got used to not being able to have all of the tools and parts and conveniences that we have in the States, so they make do with whatever they have. I learned how to make a clamp for the wood to hold the plaster to the wall. They make it out of rebar. It is called a "buzmon." (I'm probably spelling it wrong, but that is how it sounds.) I also learned how to fix a fan belt for a dryer with this special glue called q-bond. We’ll see if it works. In these pictures is Clemens, the missionary helping us, and Johannes and Sipho, our two groundskeepers. I also learned that the Afrikaans word for a helper or assistant is "handlonger." (Pronounced hondlonger) It literally means long hand or hand extension. I like that term. It makes sense.