Today we had our first work day. Starting at 6 AM, we wake to the morning birds and the rising sun illuminating the fields and rice paddies. We were served a wonderful, home grown breakfast before leaving to the school. Then, on a one hour bus ride, we passed by villagers and townsfolk alike. Once arriving at the school, me and Maya were tasked with picking up the paint and electrical elements. Concurrently, Aarush and Layan had the opportunity to serve the school kids lunch.
Once we arrived back at the site, we went to the nearby church for Lunch. A brilliant display of fruit, salad, snacks, Thai dishes, and pound cake.
After lunch, we got to work with the contractor, painting the outside and inside of the First Aid Room with primer. Tomorrow's task will be to fully paint the walls a beautiful sky blue. During our work, we were presented with fresh coconut smoothies to help beat the heat. It was then that the staff asked us to provide them a name for the new building. We decided upon AMALA, an abbreviation of all of our team members names meaning hope and desire in Sanskrit and Hebrew.
After our work ended in the evening around 4:30 PM, we planned to head back to our stay location. However, the normally one our drive back became two as we took stops to view flooded rice paddy fields and a local market.
Arriving at around 6:30 PM, we feasted on a wonderful fresh dinner. All tired, we scrubbed off the paint from our faces and enjoyed the sunset as we relaxed our way to sleep.
Check out our next update on Day 3 of construction!