*Pictures at the end. If your eyes are tired, scroll down for the pictures!
What is the most important skill at the worksite? Speaking mason.
“Speaking mason” is a term coined by Grant, referring to your communication skills with the two local masons. Within the first week, Grant also gave them nicknames - King Mason and Bling Mason. Over the past weeks, we have been working closely with our masons, and learnt to speak a little bit of mason.
I am not the best at speaking mason, but here are some words you should know to speak mason at our worksite. A fair warning that the words are in incorrect Vietnamese, as the words are written phonetically.
Roy! = ok!
Usage: after the mason fixes the bricks, roy! means we can ho the bricks.
Ho! = concrete!
Example: “Can we ho this part?” “No, we have to get the roy!”
Ce ment! = cement!
Must be pronounced like french, dropping the t at the end. For those who are not familiar with construction, concrete is cement mixed with sand (to be explained later).
Ce-rue-uh = wheelbarrow
We don’t normally say it, but we did learn it!
Bai = spade
Almost always said with bae.
Bae = rectangular thing to put ho on
Example: “Can we get more bai and bae up here?”
Nuoc = water
Possibly the most important word after roy! and ho!, the amount of nuoc is crucial for making good concrete. We have also started using it as a verb (despite the fact that it’s a noun in Vietnamese), such as “Are we nuoc-ing it now?”
We also have a term called “Bling it”, referring to the method Bling Mason mixes concrete. This will also be explained later, but for the reference an example could be “Are we Blinging it now or does it need more nuoc?”
These words came from working alongside the masons, with the help of our amazing Vietnamese roommates who help to translate the more complicated instructions. King Mason has worked with the program for 5 years now, and is therefore very good at communicating with us via body language. The reason I have yet to memorize the words for “hammer” or “brick” is because we can sometimes guess when the masons need those and also because his signs for those two are very clear.
Our masons are amazing. When we arrived at the worksite, we had no idea what to do. We didn’t know how to mix concrete, how to lay bricks properly, what consistency the concrete had to be, how to work with the steel frames, etc. They taught us what we needed to know to help them best. When we lay bricks they fix it to ensure that the building will have the necessary stability and structure, and each work day they tell us what the work plan is for the day. The jobs at the worksite are divided into the following groups:
Brick Squad - moving bricks, loading and unloading them using a wheelbarrow (or more than one!). \
Concrete Team - mixing concrete, which looks like this:
What is the most important skill at the worksite? Speaking mason.
“Speaking mason” is a term coined by Grant, referring to your communication skills with the two local masons. Within the first week, Grant also gave them nicknames - King Mason and Bling Mason. Over the past weeks, we have been working closely with our masons, and learnt to speak a little bit of mason.
I am not the best at speaking mason, but here are some words you should know to speak mason at our worksite. A fair warning that the words are in incorrect Vietnamese, as the words are written phonetically.
Roy! = ok!
Usage: after the mason fixes the bricks, roy! means we can ho the bricks.
Ho! = concrete!
Example: “Can we ho this part?” “No, we have to get the roy!”
Ce ment! = cement!
Must be pronounced like french, dropping the t at the end. For those who are not familiar with construction, concrete is cement mixed with sand (to be explained later).
Ce-rue-uh = wheelbarrow
We don’t normally say it, but we did learn it!
Bai = spade
Almost always said with bae.
Bae = rectangular thing to put ho on
Example: “Can we get more bai and bae up here?”
Nuoc = water
Possibly the most important word after roy! and ho!, the amount of nuoc is crucial for making good concrete. We have also started using it as a verb (despite the fact that it’s a noun in Vietnamese), such as “Are we nuoc-ing it now?”
We also have a term called “Bling it”, referring to the method Bling Mason mixes concrete. This will also be explained later, but for the reference an example could be “Are we Blinging it now or does it need more nuoc?”
These words came from working alongside the masons, with the help of our amazing Vietnamese roommates who help to translate the more complicated instructions. King Mason has worked with the program for 5 years now, and is therefore very good at communicating with us via body language. The reason I have yet to memorize the words for “hammer” or “brick” is because we can sometimes guess when the masons need those and also because his signs for those two are very clear.
Our masons are amazing. When we arrived at the worksite, we had no idea what to do. We didn’t know how to mix concrete, how to lay bricks properly, what consistency the concrete had to be, how to work with the steel frames, etc. They taught us what we needed to know to help them best. When we lay bricks they fix it to ensure that the building will have the necessary stability and structure, and each work day they tell us what the work plan is for the day. The jobs at the worksite are divided into the following groups:
Brick Squad - moving bricks, loading and unloading them using a wheelbarrow (or more than one!). \
Concrete Team - mixing concrete, which looks like this:
Other jobs include working with the steel frame, building the wall, building and taking down the scaffold, etc. The first week or so was a lot of digging and moving dirt, which will be more obvious in the later pictures.
The magic recipe for concrete is 4 wheelbarrows of sand and 1 bag of cement. If we’re using reinforced concrete with the steel frames and the rocks, it’s a 1:1:0.5 ratio of sand : rock : bags of cement. We have 2 people shoveling it to another pile after dumping the sand, rocks and cement, and 2 people using the hoe to mix it. Harry and Katrina are MVP's for hoeing, and they have named themselves "Double Hoe Seven" for obvious reasons. After the pile is mixed, we make a hole in the middle, nuoc it, then go around shoveling the dry concrete outside to get it wet. The key is that you must shovel it just enough to not flood it but enough that all parts get moisture. This process is called “Blinging it”.
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Here is our progress so far:
The magic recipe for concrete is 4 wheelbarrows of sand and 1 bag of cement. If we’re using reinforced concrete with the steel frames and the rocks, it’s a 1:1:0.5 ratio of sand : rock : bags of cement. We have 2 people shoveling it to another pile after dumping the sand, rocks and cement, and 2 people using the hoe to mix it. Harry and Katrina are MVP's for hoeing, and they have named themselves "Double Hoe Seven" for obvious reasons. After the pile is mixed, we make a hole in the middle, nuoc it, then go around shoveling the dry concrete outside to get it wet. The key is that you must shovel it just enough to not flood it but enough that all parts get moisture. This process is called “Blinging it”.
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Here is our progress so far: