I made a little progress in the computer world today. I got in touch with some knowledgeable people who might be able to help me fix New Hope's email troubles that have been plaguing them for some time. We'll see.
So the ceiling contractors are installing the frame in the dining room (where we had to put extra trusses to handle the extra weight.) Like this:
I did some rough calculations using the density of mortar (they pour the ceiling on the wire mesh) , and the whole ceiling when it is finished ( the room is 28 x 50) is going to weigh more than 15,000 lbs. *jaw drops*. It could be as much as 18,000 if you include the finishing plaster. I think we underbuilt the trusses.....
April 1st
Well, I accidentally cut off my leg today. Har, Har, april fools.
We had a feast at dinner tonight, because there is a team of high schoolers here from an MK school (that's Missionary Kid to the uninitiated :-) )in Moscow. So the quality of food goes up a good bit when teams are here.
By the way, a feast consists of fried potatoes (sort of like roast potato), chunks of beef in a sauce, fried vegetables (including broccoli!!), chipati ( like a cross between Indian nan and a thick flour tortilla) salad (with milk cheese and salad dressing!) and a watermelon, bannana and pineapple fuit salad.
We also had a good time on sunday night: we had popcorn and hot chocolate and played charades with friends, ugandan and muzungu. It was actually quite tricky coming up with phrases that would be universally known. At first the other teams clues were waaaay easier than the ones that we were getting, so to level the playing field a little I wrote down "transubstantiation" as their next clue. Amazingly, James got Ellie to guess it correctly. I should have put "reverse osmosis"
Working in IT is interesting. The problems are less clear, and much less solvable than building a roof. "John, we're having email trouble. Some emails don't send." That's like saying "Doctor, my leg hurts." Anyway, I think I might know why that is happening after a bit of research today. Some things are easy, like helping Nancy find a website to price heavy equipment. Some things are hard, like downloading a 244 Mb printer/scanner software and driver package for 2 hours, getting halfway through and someone turns the computer off, losing the file. I still live by my IT mantra "Google is your friend." If ever you don't know how to do something, usually someone out there has had the exact question you have, and have gotten a good answer to it and posted it in a forum. (that you can find using Google.) It might take some time, but it'll save you paying someone $80/hr to fix it. Plus you dont' get all dirty like when you try and fix your car. ;-)
It was funny when Ellie and I were talking with the Zimmermans (a couple that just came on staff and are staying the banda next to ours for the time being) , and were explaining what we've been doing here. I explained that I had originally signed up to do IT stuff, but ended up spending 2 months doing construction. "Oh, so your background is in computer science." Um, actually, I have a spanish degree. Confused looks all around. heh/
Time is getting close for us to leave New Hope. We leave here two weeks today. Some friends and family have offered to help pay for us to go on a safari, which would be really awesome if we can fit it in. As I've said, I sort of feel bad taking off and leaving the IT guys in the lurch (them having expected me to work with them for 2 months) , but I might only be in Africa once, so I figure if the opportunity presents itself....
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