Sunday, January 11, 2009

Victory!



Adam, Pepe and Noel finished the tall brick wall in Pepe's living room on Friday, before we left for Léon.
In the video, Adam talks about the accomplishment. It's his first wall and Pepe's ... well, no one knows how many Pepe's made. As a mason, he's built everything in houses and can't remember how many walls he's created.
Over the week, says Adam, they've learned to communicate well with each other and if they're not talking about cement and bricks, they joke or even ask political questions. Adam has also taken up buying tons of reggaeton CDs he hears on the job.
Adam also translates phrases in English. Pepe already knows a few: "How are you?" he asks, laughing.
On day five, the relationship is much different than the first time they picked up the crow bars to tear down the adobe.
"I have more confidence since we got to meet each other and know each other," says Pepe.
Communicating was not always easy, says Adam, but "Pepe is good at understanding my fragments now," says Adam.
When all else fails, they gesture.
Next week, the trio starts to replace the rotten wood on Pepe's kitchen ceiling.
"He's good help," Pepe says.

No comments:

Post a Comment