👷 Concrete Mixing & Pouring Footers For Our Cambodian Dream Home 🏗️
Our new house project is still moving along, and now we are mixing concrete for pouring the footers and columns that will be the first floor.
🪖 Soldiers & In-Laws 👷
Lately our construction has consisted of three brothers-in-law because my nephew-in-law left to pursue a training program offered by a factory soon to open here in Cambodia. With only three folks and a lot of concrete to be mixed and poured, we decided to hire a couple of infantry men from the village to help for a few days. They gladly laid their weapons down to earn a little side income on top of their government salary.
👷♀️ The Wife Joins In
My wife has been helping when possible here and there, and I occasionally come out to check on things, but as we have very limited funds, my time is better spent online trying to earn more funds so we can keep this whole project steaming ahead. Besides, I have a bit of a construction background, and things are done so differently here than what I am used to, so I know I would only get in the way, frustrate everyone, and slow things down.
It is actually kind of nice to hire someone to do something for you in life, a privilege I've rarely had in life, In the USA mechanics, veterinarians, craftsmen, and other skilled workers are so expensive compared to my income that it was always cheaper to do things myself, whether it be fix my car or even do amateur dentistry and surgery on my own dog. In Cambodia I can earn enough in a day to cover the labor costs of two in-laws, not enough to fully fund the project, but it stretches our meager savings a little more.
We've stolen quite a bit of rock from the roadside, probably at least $100 worth by now, but I've lived here for nearly 15 years without having a chance at residency, citizenship, even basic rights that Khmer citizens have, and through the years I've given the government thousands of dollars in visa fees and corrupt unnecessary permits, paperwork, etc., so I don't feel guilty for taking some rocks to build a house on land I'm not even legally allowed to own in my own name.
🚧 Not A Bad Construction Sight View ⛰️
Recently my wife and I went to the Chinese depot to ask about a concrete truck coming to pour our foundation slab and second floor. Our conversation with the Khmer workers had us guesstimating it to be around $1,000 USD for this. That's a pretty big hit, but there are only a few more big expenses left before we're building with supplies we already have on hand.
I realize we are building a home for a cost that may be a few months salary in many countries, but for my wife and I, this modest 12mx6m home represents our entire life savings. I guess you can assume we're both not university graduates, but hey, we have survived life this far and managed to obtain land in a place with the best view I've seen yet in Cambodia. We might not have had financial success in life, but we've had many other types of success. Tomorrow morning we drive 45km to the town where we'll seek permission to build a second floor, so stay tuned.......
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Cool... I hope this all works good out 👌🤗👌👌 and what you think when all this home be ready 🤗👌🦊☕
Unforeseen circumstances are the norm here, but I do hope it works out and we see this through.
Just not lost hope ... and hold head up :)
You must be killin' it out here!
@thekittygirl just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @justinparke.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/2 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
Concrete and bricks are the norm here, both rural and urban, but of course our location is unique and remote. Here we have access to wood at 1/5th of market prices, but it's all illegal and harvested here in the wildlife sanctuary. Of course the wood in the more urban areas is likely from these places too, but it's filtered through the black market and has a paper trail and receipts.
The bigger problem is that the wood here is not aged, so it warps and shrinks. People chop and build immediately, so things have to be cut really thick to prevent splitting, warping, etc. The Wildlife Alliance has all but shut down the wood cutting here, so it's just too complicated to use too much wood in construction. It has to be delivered in the middle of the night as if it were hard drugs or something.
I knew about the illegal harvesting of wood, but didn't know they failed to let it age first. It's amazing how different things are in other parts of the world! 😂
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Yay! 🤗
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@justinparke You are most welcome
I hope that your house project will be completed quickly and perfectly so that you will be safe and comfortable when you are at the house project that you are building now, friends, and I pray that it will be easy and quickly completed, friends, for the house project that you are building, right?
Yes it will be our personal house, the second floor I mean. The first floor we intend to make bathrooms, showers, and a small cafe/reception area.
I admire your wife a lot, she is so very hardworking, she has been helping since the house project began. I hope the project well.
I will be so excited when we are living in the new place, but for now it is stressful for both of us.