Monday January 26,2015 - finishing up Topsoil Removal

A very dry and dusty day. It truly is the "Dry Season" here. I don't think it has rained since the end of December here. This is great for us - doing this earthwork is much more efficient with dry conditions. The timing is perfect.

The clinic footprint is being compacted (once without water, then once with water).  The area in front (parking/front drive) is getting cut down to the proper level. It will then be compacted as well.
- The next step will be the Fill and Compaction phase, requiring many truckloads (approximately 1,800) of Fill to be brought to the Site from a mine just east of San Juan. I hope this process will start in a week or so once we finalize agreements with the truckers, the mine owner and your friendly Dominican Government (even here permits are required!). As these loads are brought in, they will need to be leveled out with the grader and in thin layers so it can be properly compacted. 

Here is a video from this morning:

I am trying to go for some jogs (definitely not considered "run" speed :) ) on the road behind the property - here are a few pictures from that beautiful area. I think this will be a popular spot once we have a Guest House out this way ...

And finally, a late afternoon sun and sunrise.

  
  

A CAT kind of day here at the Site

We have had another delivery this morning from our generous CAT dealer here, so now we have a Compactor and a Skid Steer with Backhoe attachment along with the Loader and Dozer. I'd say we have a full house! We are trying to make the most out of their generosity by keeping these machines moving.
Here is a short video from this morning:

Hopefully a grader will show in the morning (not from CAT), and get the area ready for a bunch of fill. The fill compacts really well and will make a perfect gigantic footer for the Clinic building.

A different Culture

I've been very busy working with Frank & Eduard (our Engineer/Builder) working out daily logistics, construction methods, construction plans/details, negotiating with local truckers and mine owners, reporting/billing/tracking methods once the building itself is underway and we have this contract finalized with Eduard. It is complicated working a legal document out between our overly-detailed culture and this Dominican one that is so pleasantly simplified (in case you don't know me, I admit that I tend to look at rules and laws more as "guidelines"  - to a certain extent anyway - common sense is my base. This cultural difference shows up in general construction methods and techniques as well, so it is a rewarding challenge working things out. The bottom line is that I truly fell everyone involved has a quality built, completed Clinic as the same goal in the end. 

  But enough of the whining - Here are some fun things I've experienced lately:

1- A DR wedding - very fun and also very meaningful.  
   Fun = attending a DR wedding and being asked by the groom (right before the wedding started) to go get the pig for the meal after the ceremony. Quite an experience - truly a fire-roasted facility that beats Boston Market or Kenny Rogers! (see photo).

  

Running Laura's friends and family members around San Juan and even attending a wedding luncheon at Wellingtons family home (the groom).
   Meaningful = Very nice ceremony capped by the small remaining group of Laura's friends and SRI folks packing up the paper and other decorations away - nothing gets thrown out - it will be used again at another ceremony.  Once cleanup was done, With Kari's suggestion, we did a laying-of-the-hands on Wellington and Laura -  Nicole and Monchy then prayed over the couple - very cool.  And Wellington telling me he has a very good friend in me - honored.

2- Ever seen your Left Rear Tire pass you on the highway?
     Sorry, no photos, but quite an interesting morning on the way to the construction site: 
They were working Sunday, so I needed to set up the laser level for them ...passed a slow-moving pickup, picked up speed as the road narrowed to the two lanes, felt a shimmy in the tires, then a hop, look out to my left and see my Tire Passing me, Shooting by and off into the ditch on the other side of the road! About this time the left-rear slumped onto the pavement and we were scratching along on the asphalt - so I pulled over as quick as I could.  Wasn't 20 seconds that 4 to 6 Dominicans had stopped, asking if I was ok while two of them were looking for a tire off in the bushes across the highway! They got my jack out, found some chunks of concrete to get the truck high enough, took off a lug or two from the other three tires, bent the drum shield so it wouldn't scrape and got my wheel re-mounted!  Almost like a NASCAR pit crew!  
  So very helpful - people were slowing to see if they could help while this was going on - this is a culture where people help other people in need - helping is more important than their own schedules or destinations. Can you imagine this in the States - probably get cursed at for causing someone to have to slow down! 
Serving others, that's what Life should be about. 
God is good. 
Goodnight from the DR.
   

Video of Work this Monday morning at the Site.

Here is a video with an explanation of whats going on today at the Site.

A marvelous and big group of volunteers from Illinois are here working on many projects at the Site - A Kitchen, an eating area, material storage areas and the security wall. 

Meanwhile, the Dominicans are continuing to remove the topsoil from the building site with a Dozer, Loader and 4 Dump Trucks.

It Starts!

  The day has come, we have broken ground on the construction area - with a bulldozer instead of just a shovel! Yeah!!  
  What a fun day. Went to the site to see work underway earlier in the day than I thought the guys would start. Four dump trucks hauling the topsoil out of the work area.

Below is a time-lapse of shots today taken in the mid morning then later in the afternoon. Starting in Far Front Corner of the Clinic footprint.

  Introduced a Laser Level for them to use - a new device in these parts! So now instead of 3 guys stringing a long line across a graded area and checking along the length of it to see how they are doing cutting the dirt, one guy can hold the laser sensor on a stick anywhere and see how they are doing. Got a slow response, but alot of "Me Gusta"s once they tried it. Fun to help.

  Went to the Clinic for lunch and ended up giving a ride to 5 friends of Laura's - here for the wedding ceremony tomorrow. She is marrying Wellington, a great Dominican guy here with a large family! So the 6 of us followed Nicole to Wellington's family home in the Barrio near the CCED school (the 1,300 student school SRI started years ago). Walked to a guy's house who sells Larimar (?) jewelry so Laura's friends could see and buy some at a great price. Then Nicole got stopped by her new father-in-law (who is Barrio mayor) and resulted in us sitting-for-a-spell (proper DR cultural expectation), went inside his home for a cup of coca-cola, then ended up inviting him to the luncheon we were there to attend so he would allow us to move on!

  Treated to a great DR luncheon - con-con I think is what its called - sort of a corn meal pudding/bread with chicken, beans, avocado, salad, etc. Just great - the corn dish cooked in a huge pot outside for several hours with fire on top also - resulting in a layer of crispy stuff ("chin-chin" I think, could have it all wrong or backwards) - kinda like my family' "mush" we fry (and has me thinking I will try to fry up some of this con-con with some syrup ... I'm distracted... Any way, a really neat DR experience for sure being treated to a wedding luncheon in a DR family home. They had a large garden out back with all sorts of vegetables, fruits, herbs, chickens, cats, dogs, kids, etc. Quite an experience.



  Ended up helping deliver tables to the wedding site, then treated to a nice dinner at Jeff and Kamanda's along with Frank, Juanita and their two young children (Braegan shared her toys very well. :)
  A very nice way to end an unusual week. 

  Thanks again for your thoughts, prayers and support. 
  It's happening.


some closer shots also ..

Recovered and Gearing Up

Its been an interesting week!
Monday, Frank and I visited some local "mines" to determine where we will get the fill dirt required for the project - estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 cubic meters. Interesting to sit on the front porch of a mine-owners home and discuss the project, etc. The Dominicans are very polite with one another, and we seem to get some sympathy being associated with our Christian Clinic. We are putting together costs of this material from the different mines, some have equipment and simply dump the material into trucks, others only provide land, requiring us to bring heavy equipment to dig and load the fill dirt. 
Tuesday, started off as a normal day, working on the site drawing at home, then around 9:30 Dan stopped by to chat (This was no coincidence as you shall see). I suddenly had a very loud ringing in my ear followed by light-headedness and other issues. He decided it might be best to run me to the Clinic. The car ride caused me to lose breakfast, and upon getting to the Clinic Nicole was waiting with an EKG and Saline. I spent the day taking two bags of Saline and seeing how things went. A normal EKG (for me anyway) was good but after some discussion Dr. Canario's wife (a cardiologist) was working at a nearby office with an Echo machine. She saw no problems. An ER Doc here for the week then arrived back from a day in the Barrios and compared my EKG to one Dr Lystash did in December (email is great). Showed no change - reassuring. I knew this wasn't heart-related due knowing firsthand what a heart attack feels like, but I was worried due to a flash of sweating and the light-headedness. 
So after some persuasion I opted to stay at the Guest House for the night - glad I did. After being looked at by several doctors, things were looking ok with nothing too serious. Started some prednisone and another drug by mouth. Had a great talk with Stacy after we determined this must be an inner-ear issue and nothing more. Got nice messages from the family but wasn't feeling good enough to talk. Around 10:30 things went downhill - vomiting every 20-44 minutes and sweating a bunch with quite a fever. It was a long night. Laying still didn't seem to make any difference, getting up was about impossible, moving my head was bad also. Around 1am Dr. Jack Griffeth from Gainsville,GA stopped in to see how I was. He ended up rounding up two Saline Bags, started an IV and gave me some meds. This helped a bunch, almost stopping things. Around 6 he and Nicole upped my doses and allowed me to sleep pretty well for the next several hours.
Late morning things improved. With two bags of Saline and the meds I felt much better - still very dizzy but fine laying still. Spent the day resting. By that evening I could shuffle around a bit and even managed to get downstairs for a little. A dose of Valium helped me sleep and counteract the dizzies. 
This morning I awoke here at the Guest House like a typical day - almost anyway. Have felt better and better as the day has progressed. 
The site is staked off by the surveyors for grading to start, we have approval from the committee to start, and I hope we commence truly breaking ground tomorrow. Jeff and I set up a camera that we hope to use to let you see a very long (the next year or two)  time-lapse of the construction. See pictures below.

So each morning you awake, and even feel pretty good, stop and appreciate it. Our bodies are amazing complicated organisms created by God. Take care of your body and other people - for we are the Body of Christ. 

CAT 938 Loader

CAT D6 Dozer

January 2015 - Lets get to Work!

I am back in the DR.
  Stacy and I had a wonderful time with our kids, Amy's friend Ronnie and my parents up in Northeast area of the country over the Holidays. We rented a fantastic house at a very affordable rate and had fun exploring and experiencing a new place together.
It was rather odd dropping off everyone at different times, at different airports and finally ending up 5 hours from San Juan de La Maguana - alone. Not how a holiday to another country typically ends, but here I am, back in my rented home and deep into construction issues.
  We still have a final contract to work out between the DR version of Solid Rock and our Contractor/Engineer. This is an interesting process folding two cultures into each other in a legal document. Here it is a very simple agreement, in the US it is very complex and detailed agreement. I hope we meet somewhere in between at a point that satisfies everyone involved, or at least everyone is equally unhappy. 
  Today was very busy meeting with Dominican construction-related people in the area to further clarify the best way for things to happen with this project. Frank (my Dominican friend and our financial project manager) has terrific ties to the different trades here in San Juan and with him now being back in the country, it is fun to see his many excited friends and acquaintances from years ago see him back in the city. These people have been very helpful in clarifying our focus on the details of this project.
  We (my parents, Amy and Ronnie) arrived here Saturday after dropping Stacy at the airport. Showing them around the area, meeting Dan, Kari and some of the SRI staff, attending church and seeing a glimpse of a team staying at the Guest House was fun and I think meaningful to my parents especially (Amy is has been here twice and was excited to show Ronnie what this is all about). We then ran back to Santo Domingo and the airports (Santo Domingo and Punta Cana) with everyone leaving Tuesday.
  So I am settling in for real, knowing that this is truly the beginning of a long commitment here. I do feel like I am having a positive influence on where this project and its related work are headed, and that means a great deal to me that I am not just here to be here, but helping this be the most efficient project we can make it. 
  It is going to be quite an experience full of good times, some challenging times and gaining a lot of neat friends who are from a different culture and/or are very spiritually full - a great/positive type of person to be around! I look forward to becoming a positive part of the Body of Christ, interacting with others, trying to assume very little about them, growing in faith, and serving one another.  
  Thanks for keeping me and everyone here in your thoughts and prayers.

(Ha - I will post some pictures, but the internet is not real fast right now!!)  
Thanks again. Manana.