Aches and Holes

I was sore. I went to the dentist yesterday. I got two cavities filled. They cost about $50 each. That is a lot more than I was hoping to pay.

I am sore. I played soccer the past two mornings with the locals and it turns out I’m using some muscles I haven’t used in awhile but it actually makes me want to keep playing. I know from previous experience that it doesn’t stop hurting every time unless you do it often enough that your body gets used to it.

I will be sore. I have more dental work that needs done. 

I’m very thankful that unlike most other people I know here, I haven’t had some sort of stomach bug in the past month. I got sick once this past month and I “got over” it relatively quickly. I still cough stuff up all the time but I’ve gotten used to that. The good news is that it’s completely fine to spit on the street here.

Speaking of streets, they are putting in new sewer lines in our area. This is quite an interesting process to see. I’ll be sure to put some pictures online later today. Basically they start by digging a trench down the middle of the street. The key to this is that they don’t use equipment to do it. They do it with the resources available. In this circumstance it’s mostly labor. So they crack the road with a stake and four people hitting it with sledge hammers. Once they have the top layer cracked apart they have to get through about three layers of red brick. They use pickaxes for this. After that there is just silt all the way down. For the silt they use tools that are a short handled hoe/shovel combo. They dig this trench about 10 feet deep and straight down on the sides. It ends up being about 4-5 feet wide. Then they use tripod hoists to lift the pipes into place. They cover this all with a sand material. I’m not sure what they will do when they are done. They might go back and remove the sand and do something. I’ll have to let you know when I find out.