Sun7oct
Off while the team enjoyed church, wine cellar, boating, the spa… a full and relaxing day overall.
Sat6oct
A working day with the team and families, sheathing the roof and carrying on with “ground crew” activities, followed by bowling and a pizza dinner with the team. Nice!
Fri 0ct5
On deck with the group, working with a split staff today as Levi travels to Budapest to pick the injured team member’s partner while I remain on site, following through with tasks already in process and gearing up for a run at beginning to sheath the roof on Saturday. With a 400 sq meter surface to cover, this will likely keep the roof crew in OSB and screws for the remainder of their stay!
Progress … facia boards almost complete, about 30% of first run of glue/net has been applied, vent holes are being drilled and more. A productive day…
In and behind the scenes… transportation to hospital facilities an hour away and working through the Medex/insurance process pose opportunities to creatively marry expectation and reality so all needs are met for both team and staff.
Thu4oct07
All in all, fortuitous timing for a “day off” for the team to assimilate the injuries and reset, after a fashion… and we as the staff needed the time to arrange, arrange arrange…. to make certain our injured "guest" is taken care of as well as the team itself, no small feat when the former is in a hospital 50 km away, and the latter is touring Gyula, 60 km away!
Always an adventure, in this case a rather intense one for all in squaring away transportation, medical insurance, language/translation and other concerns… capped by a surprise call from Budapest to let us know of a supposed student team coming Saturday (not on our schedule)…. the latter fortunately an error… whew!
Staff days off will come at the end of the month (half serious, half joking here), “running as fast as we can” pending weather and volunteer availability to get the row house “dried in” to facilitate interior work as the climate grows cold/blustery.
Expectations... with a member of the group in the hospital about an hour's drive away, the group seeks someone could/would drive a team member there and back each day to be with her, believing that in the HFH "circle" here this would be a simple task. Would that it were so! Working out transportation/lodging/coverage/phones/translation for an extended period in this situation brings home the realization that adventures are one thing, but when challenges arise we often revert to what we know, in this case tending to think North American in a Hungarian world (the latter a place where buses are the mode of transportation, fuel is expensive, time precious for a stretched staff (the hospital is 2 hours away roundtrip). All are/were glad to help, aware we’re “not in Kansas any more”, with an eye towards how best to utilize available resources/options available here. In the end, all worked its way through… kudos to the team, their hospitalized member, and the staff for hanging in!
Wed3oct07
Progress: Insulation installation (say THAT fast 3 times [laughing]) is complete, mud/fiberglassing continues, facia board installation is underway, roof shimming/planing is completed, and 2 new tasks added: drilling 10mm vent holes in top plates/demising wall blocking for moist air passage to the attic space, and laying out the water seal for the floor to prevent wicking of moisture from ground and concrete into the units. The latter involves fusing substantial lengths of tar paper to one another using a propane torch.
“Break a leg” may work on the stage, but… we experienced a major accident on site today, the first on any HFH site I've been on. A GV team member lost their balance and fell from a step ladder while backing out the 10” long drill bit used for creating vent holes in the blocking and top plate. The surprise of the fall and the short distance to the very unforgiving receiving surface (the unit’s concrete floor) were contributing factors... no time to react and protect. Hairline fracture in the left arm and a severe enough break below the left knee to require surgery… OUCH! The post-op process will keep them grounded in Hungary well past their originally intended departure. The team itself will be here through October 12.
As the news-bearing messenger between the hospital and the group last night, observed empathy/caring/the desire to connect in full play. We humans are astounding speculators; through empathy and other means, substantial gaps sometimes arise between what is said and what is heard as we seek to help/support/understand (I feel safe in expounding; as a fellow human, I have done my fair share of this over time [smile]). Always an adventure, yes?
Little things… received the neatest "gift" yesterday biking to the work site. One of the family members, Aniko, and her son Rollie, age 4 were en route to school. Rollie saw me from across the street and shouted "Hallo, Sheila!"... the first greeting directly from one of the little ones since I've been here (they tend to be fairly shy)… touched my heart and elicited a few happy tears... wee moments like these are the best! Also saw and exchanged greetings with more Hungarians en route that I knew than on any other day I can remember since arriving here, even one helmeted gent on a scooter that clearly knew me even though I did not recognize him! The magical side of small town life, even in a foreign country [laughing]
Tue2oct07
A replay of yesterday as the team begins to achieve a rhythm and work flow for a full day with all at their established tasks, and a ground crew prepping facia boards with oil to prevent bugs and worms (aka weatherproofing), followed by a first coat of stain. These boards will be installed along the rafter tails as a base for the sheet metal flashing and gutters at roof edge, and will also provide a solid level “line” for laying out the OSB sheathing on the roof.
Mudding at ground level and shimming on the roof continue….
Mon1oct07
First day on site with this new team, catching stride as they are introduced to the myriad of tasks currently at hand, one of them an exterior version of mudding and taping as we might view it in the US/Canada, in this case overlaying the foam insulation boards with mud or “glue” and fiberglass mesh/net that is embedded in the glue, strengthening the exterior insulation and creating the “foundation” for finishing plaster and painting that will complete the exterior wall next spring. It’s a bit like putting up wallpaper, with the “glue” as the paste, the net as the “paper”, and the smoothing process to embed the mesh in enough glue to allow for sanding to a smooth, seamless finish. It’s messy, labor intense, requires a fair bit of artistry, and is kinda fun (definitely easier than drywall mud/taping!). Note: To create texture and designs, thinner versions of the insulation can be cut into shapes and covered much the same way, providing a lightweight and inexpensive means of “decorating” housing exteriors versus using tile, stone or brick.
A team on the roof planed and shimmed rafter pairs to a contiguous level in preparation for sheathing the roof in OSB, and a pair of intrepid souls from the team planed and trimmed rafter tails around the house to prep for hanging facia boards. Remaining team members worked on finishing the insulation base for the “muddy” team…
Re the weather… Indian summer has arrived… Mornings are cool enough for 2-3 layersoof clothing, transitionaing to T-shirts and tank tops by noon, and often shorts as well. Leaves are turning, and the village is filled with the scents and sounds of autumn... burning leaves mingled with the scents of freshly cut grass as lawns are put to bed for the season, regiments of bicycles in racks along school walls (conspicuously absent in summer months), flocks of birds calling encouragement to one another as they continue migrating south to Africa, school children laughing and talking morning, noon and early evening as they walk to and from school, and gaggles of university students around town. The ambience of Szarvas often reminds me of Orchard Lake/Lakeville MN and growing years there... very cool. Fall colors are primarily hues and shades of gold and light orange, with bright red accents here and there in the ivy/vines cloaking many homes in the neaighborhood(s).
An interesting aside... one of the couples on the current GV team originally hails from St. Louis Park, MN, so they are very familiar with the surrounding area. It's an amazingly small world; what are the odds that you would meet people from your own area in a group of 16 people who've flown halfway around the world to work in a country you yourself had never really entertained being in? All the more intriguing when this is not the first but the fourth or fifth time we've had folks from the midwest wince I've been here, specifically from the Twin Cities and/or Chicago. Who knew? It's the little things [smile]
Sun30sept
Our final GV team for this calendar year arrived Sunday night… as with all before them, as a group they have their own unique style and personality, and promise to be great fun.
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