{"id":46,"date":"2011-01-24T09:13:34","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T16:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=46"},"modified":"2011-03-01T11:53:58","modified_gmt":"2011-03-01T18:53:58","slug":"great-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"Great Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we left our meeting with the school officials here in Laos last week, the only hint that a new school was about to be constructed was these beams.\u00a0 We were told that the supplies would be delivered early today and that the members of the local community would\u00a0dig the trench needed for the foundation footers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis is another angle of the beams.\u00a0 The school did not have enough money to continue or complete the project until our team stepped in to help.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis is a former rice shack\u00a0that is being used \u00a0as the 4th grade classroom.\u00a0 The support beams have termite damage, and there are holes in the back wall big enough for a child to fall through.\u00a0 The school has outgrown its capacity, and they had to use this shed in order to have enough space.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWhen\u00a0we arrived this morning, we were happy to see members of the community\u00a0 busy digging the trench.\u00a0 We were so excited that we were off to a great start.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe bricks arrived, and here we all are\u00a0 unloading them.\u00a0 More trucks of bricks came later in the afternoon.
\nThe locals have made nine groups – one for each day of our construction project.\u00a0 That gives us the opportunity to work with many different people.\u00a0 They are as enthusiastic as we are.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis shows the\u00a0piles of bricks ready to be used for the start of the foundation.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTeam members are learning how\u00a0we are to lay\u00a0the bricks for the foundation.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTwo layers of brick have been set, and the next step is\u00a0rebar.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWe are getting ready to pour the concrete to enforce the foundation.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWe are smoothing down the concrete.\u00a0 I have actually done this before in Romania, and\u00a0 I felt like a pro!<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWe were going to re-enforce the rice shack,\u00a0but once we got in the building, \u00a0we realized it was not safe at all. This shows how much damaged wood we had to remove before reconstruction can begin.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe principal and PTA wanted us to create a playground.\u00a0 After finding a suitable location, we started\u00a0developing a plan and measuring out the dimensions.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThese are the holes for the beams that will be the jungle gym support.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThese are some of the children after we taught them to play\u00a0the game “Duck, Duck, Goose.”\u00a0 They are the ones who will benefit from our project.\u00a0 Aren’t they cute?<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nSomehow I found time to toss the frisbee around with some children.\u00a0\u00a0 When we first tossed the frisbee to them, some of the children ran from it because they didn’t know what it was.<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we left our meeting with the school officials here in Laos last week, the only hint that a new school was about to be constructed was these beams.\u00a0 We were told that the supplies would be delivered early today and that the members of the local community would\u00a0dig the trench needed for the foundation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}