Project Update- Not gonna finish by Christmas...

The goal had been to finish by Christmas.  Well, that didn´t quite happen.  Weather forecasts were wrong, contractors didn´t send enough men, materials didn´t arrive, Matthew didn´t plan well enough, a whole slew of things happened to inhibit our completion before Christmas.  It was an overly lofty goal, and so now we are still working.   We have started with strawbales and things are exciting there!  It has been a great learning process for all of us with the straw bales....but the word is out in Southern Chile and everybody wants to build with straw now!

Here are some photo updates:

It looks as if we have around one month remaining of work.  The workers are getting a bit tired it seems.  Interesting how one bad egg can impact a whole group of workers....we have one bad egg who complains all day long and his attitude has spread a bit.  

Well, it is the middle of the day and I´ve finished my office "to-dos" so it´s back to the field I go.  

Merry Christmas!

So the best Christmas present ever is when your Dad and sister tell you that they´re coming to visit you in Chile. Nice, eh?  December 24-December 31

Gotta know more, gotta know more, gotta know more....

TWO THOUGHTS:
1.) Knowledge is an interesting thing.
2.) A well thought out life is an interesting thing.

1.) I LOVE to learn.  Since being in Chile, I have been disciplined to learn about personal health, biblical theology, global economics, AutoCAD computer softward, Spanish, world religions and worldviews, and construction technology.  Knowledge is endless in this world.  However, yesterday I began to think the following thought:  "Why do I want to know so much?"

The answer came to me clear and simple:  PRIDE.  Uff, what a monster.  Essentially, the more I know, the more I can put myself above other people intellectually based on my "hoard" of personal knowledge.  Gross, huh?

So, here we go.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 says, "Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge.  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.  But the man who loves God is known by God."  All knowledge is futile compared to the knowledge that comes from God´s love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2 says, "If I speak in the tongues of mena and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."  All knowledge is futile compared to the knowledge that comes from God´s love.

Often times my mentality to learn overtakes my calling as a Christian so much that I forget to love people.  A good grasp of scripture helps us love people to answer hard spiritual questions.  I well versed world-view helps us to love people by understanding situational circumstances that they have had in their lives.  The list goes on.  But it seems that it is easy to get so caught up in academia (yes, even in spiritual and theological academia) that we forget to love people.  Such has been the case in my life.

2.)  Now, for a well thought out life.
Romans 9:2-3 says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race..."

Paul is well thought out in his life, and he sees the reality of the lost.  "Great sorrow and unceasing anguish" has Paul, due to the realities of sin and hell for nonbelievers.  It appears that we as Christians fail to think through life deeply because the implications are great.  The implications require a life change, and a radical life change at that.  Seems as if we would rather not think things through so that we can remain content.

That we may have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in thinking about the lost people that don´t know Christ Jesus as their Savior....

Project Update- Finish by Christmas!

The last time I had a project update was two weeks ago.  We are well advanced from where we were at that time.  This project is incredibly interesting and it is continuously one challenge after another.  So far, the biggest challenge has been the material supply of wood.  At the beginning, my lumber yard was literally the forest next door, and my mode of transportation was a pair of oxen.  Lately, my wood supply has been an unsorted pile of wood that has sat outside for the last two years.  This means that every 2x4, every piece of wood needs to be dimensioned to size so that we have standardization.  If any wood will be seen post-construction, it needs to be passed through the planer to cut away the nasty gray weathered skin on the wood.  Transportation is one pick-up truck shared by myself and 6 other workers around the resort.  

Here are pictures of our advancements:

Straw bales arrive tomorrow, and yet again, we find ourselves with a new and uncharted series of challenge.  I´m thankful for the good attitudes of the workers and their willingness to tackle new things.

The goal is to finish the project  by Christmas.  It is a hefty challenge, but with good coordination, teamwork, and long hours we can make it happen!

Carne Asado- Part 2

There are two small houses in this project.  Thus, the workers fully leveraged everything they had to weasel out two carne asados out of the project.  Given that the actual asado of the first one was not very Chilean and that the maestros never really got to party the way they wanted to, I gave in.  This time, I participated more in the killing and cleaning of the lamb....everything except cutting the jugular.  Next time I´ll do it all!

Enjoy the photos (taken at the site of the construction project):

Project Update- GT Publication

One of the thoughts I had before coming down was to use this project as PR for Georgia Tech to show that they are having global influence in all industries.  While I was in the States, it seemed as if the Institute had no interest. However, now they seem to be overly interested, and the project may perhaps be featured in the March/April issue of the GT Alumni Magazine.  The following pictures were some taken to send to GT:

Project Update- Carne Asado!

There is a tradition in Chile when houses are built.  The tradition is that when the rafters begin to go up, there MUST be a Carne Asado in celebration.  Carne Asado literally means "Barbecued Meat."  So the people get a lamb, skewer it on a big stick and roast it over the open flame.  This first picture is of the branch that the workers put on our house to "call for the asado."

Then of course, we had to have some meat to barbecue.  And why would you buy a lamb when you can just go get one from free in the pasture?

It was my first time killing and cleaning an animal to be eaten like that, and what a rich experience it was.  I pulled the lamb to the tree and hung her up.  I thanked the lamb for giving her life and also thanked the Lord for giving animals to us that we would have food.  As soon as we had her hung in the tree, it was as if she understood that she was going to give her life, and she quietly submitted.  Incredible.

Health Kiosk- Start to Finish

Some of you know that for two months during my time here in Chile, I was simply waiting for the money to arrive so that the construction project could start.  During that time, I had ample time to dabble in various subjects, and was looking for things with which to fill my time.  A friend of mine works with the Cliffs Preserve (same company I work with) in a non-profit, community development role.  He had a project that was to provide two local schools with small kiosks that would sell healthy food to the children instead of chocolates and potato chips.  He asked me if I wanted to head up the project.  Thankful for something to do, I readily accepted.

I spent time learning AutoCad software and managed to put together the following design:

After I put the design together, it was time to build.  The first three days, we had group building, with the help of the workers here in thie Cliffs Preserve:

And then this week hit and it was time to turn in the Kiosks.  Esteban and I worked HARD and long.  Monday night, I worked from 10:30pm until 7:00am.  Tuesday night from 8:00pm until 11:30pm, and Wednesday night from 10:00pm until 4:30am.  Check out the sweet roof:

We turned them in on Thursday:

This was a GREAT project for me.  I'm gaining confidence in my skills to design and build things, my knowledge of new tools and machinery, and also the ability to delegate and lead teams to the completion of a project.  

Escape 101

I am my father´s son.  I love to work.  This means that I get a lot of things done, because when I work, I work hard and long.  However, it also means that I work to the demise of relationships, of my own health and well-being, and often times, of my own productivity.

I am learning how to balance my life and that it is ok to take breaks.  My friends down here are good about hounding me to take time off.  Last weekend, I took the day off on Friday and escaped to a town in central Chile called Pucon.  Pucon is famous for it´s still active volcano.  We went so that we could climb the volcano, see the lava in the open caldera at the top, and then slide down the snow covered slopes.  However, it rained the entire weekend and so we couldn´t go to the top.

So instead of climbing the volcano, we chose HydroSpeeding.  HydroSpeeding is essentially whitewater rafting without the raft.  It is illegal in the United States for danger.  It was EXCELLENT.  The times during the calm of the river, I was able to look around, and we were floating down a beautiful river with clouds rising from a rainforest in South America.  I felt like I was in a dream.

Anyways, in order that you see a bit about HydroSpeeding, here is the video that our guide took of us going through the river.  We look like little ducklings following their mother!  Enjoy at the link below :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0N_0JnFkg

Q: Can an old dog learn new tricks? A: No

We take many things for granted in the United States.  One of those things, especially in Construction, is standardization:  Construction members are placed every 16" or 24", coverings come with dimensions of 4'x8', and insulation is sold in dimensions to accomodate the spacing and sizes of the construction members.

Standardization is a difficult word here in Chile.  Insulation comes in sheets that are 19.6"x39.3".  That makes stud spacing difficult.  Wood sometimes comes in traditional US dimensions and other times in antiquated Chilean dimensions.

Here are a few examples of problems that we've had with maestros:
1.  Floor joist spacing.  I left one day to gather materials, and I came back to see that all the floor spacing was different.  See photo below:

2.  The round trunks that go below the floor joists are called "durmientes."  I worked with a chainsaw to cut one side so taht we had a flat working surface on which to work for the floor joists that sit on top of it.  I have spoken several times with the carpinters about how to put the log with that side up, but they insist on putting it down, which means we have to chisel out for every beam to level our floor.  (Also see photo above)

However, old dogs do know some good tricks, and I have learned already this week some good things.

1.  I've learned about subterranean plumbing installation. (See below photos)

2.  I've learned about Chilean foundations: (see below photos)

So, life is filled with lessons, and the best we can do is keep learning.

Construction Progress

Below are a few photos of the construction progress.  We started building last Wednesday around noon.  We had great weather for the first four days but since we have had rain and cold weather.  Today the weather did not allow us to work at all.

This is the site as we were beginning construction.  Not a more beautiful place to work in the entire world!

 Here commences the series of photos to show progress.  There are two small houses that neighbor each other.  In the future, they will be connected by a domed greenhouse.  Hope the pictures make sense.  Fun to see progress anyways...