Crack On!

Message from Kristian:
Hola Amigos,

"Yo soy compactadora muy bien." That´s what I said on
the Chilean news. Yes, the Chilean news. A news crew
- okay 2 people - came out to the site today to
interview some of us and the families. Of the
brigade, I´m the only one they put on tv... I took a
video of it with my camera so we shall see. I´ve
actually been taking a lot of videos in the hopes that
Danny will cobble them all together... hear that
Danny...

Lordy, it´s hard to be a jefa. We have to watch out
for people who are getting sick. We had a blow up
over the election... apparently we let a republican
get into the group (JP: but he is great). I had a representative from a
splinter coalition come talk to me about the coalition
wanting to break off during the R&R. On top of it
all... Una and I stay up until the wee hours trying to
figure out the team accounting... our only weakness as
co-jefas...give us a calculator and a stack of
receipts and we´re up until 1.30 adding and readding.

Our R&R was fabulous. We were at this wonderful B/B
in Villarrica where we could sit on the patio
overlooking the mountains and the gardens, drinking
coffee and playing cards. We trekked around lakes, a
smoking volcano and flopped in hot springs. One day
we visited a site where Volcan Villarrica erupted in
1971 and killed a village full of people in a wedding
party. It was creepy, and yet we still took pictures
of each other running across the lava away from the
volcano.

The work is going well. We´re working on 7 houses and
today got the floors poured for all of them. That
means no more shovelling rocks, no more wheelbarrowing
concrete and no more tamping. Although, I have
discovered tamping is a special skill of mine - yo soy
compactadora muy bien. Tamp on, sister. Tracy,
Terri and I are creating a group, Terri and the
Tampons... and why not?

Team dynamics are an interesting thing. Una and I
have a jefa conference almost every night behind
closed doors. Have I mentioned jefa means boss? When
things go wrong, I sometimes, in possible violation of
the jefa convention, consult with Alison, our Fearless
Backup Leader. To all yáll who manage or have managed
people, my hats off to you. Lordy. For the most part
though, it´s going well. It´s a good group and aside
from some people being neurotic and bossy or a bit too
long winded, we´re cool. Thankfully, we´ve got a few
people of little words to balance us out.

Okay, I think that´s it for now. I´ve done some
laundry... very exciting... and it´s possible that
there is another game of hearts going on upstairs and
I would hate to miss out.

Adios amigos,
Kristian