Tuesday

40 degrees outside today and for half the team that's where we were - installing the playground equipment in the school grounds. Happily there was a tree and a pylon near where we were working that gave us some shade but it was hot work. It was also like putting together a 1000 piece jigsaw when you thought you were going to be doing a 20 piece jigsaw! The dismantling team had had to reduce the frame to much smaller peices than we thought and it was a challenge to work out from the pictures what went where. We also got a shock when we arrived and the Directort of the school suggested we install the playpark onto the tarmac surface. We would have need jackhammers to get through that! We were able to persuade her that, for safety reasons, we should install it somewhere softer. Locals asked us why we wanted to help this school - 'It's the worst school in the whole area' one said - 'All the more reason to help' them said Doug. Nuff said. The construction was mostly finished and we should complete it this morning.
The other team stayed a bit more local and sorted all the equipment for delivery and then started the deliveries later on. They visited a day care centre for disabled children (although some of the 'customers' were a bit older). The team were all struck by the sparse nature of the building. Basically, all the children were in one big white room. There was no stimulation at all and nearly all of them were just staring off into space. The staff were good people with little or nothing to work with and when they saw the materials that we brought, such as various noise making things like tambourines etc as well as visually stimulating things like the vortex (a tall pipe that's filled with water and small toys that swirls and stirs when the cildren a bid button on the floor, they were really excited. They knew that this would help the children to develop and to have fun.
Mark & Tim lost their room key and had to get another one made (not as simple as keycards in the UK!) and Chuck and Bobby keep getting into trouble form the Laughing Policeman. (We cannot always be as expressive as we would like, as the south Bulgarians especially take exception to shows of outward joy - I wish they would tell that to the delivery man who comes to the hotel at 5:30 AM every morning and shouts and laughs with the staff for half an hour!)
Need to go as the team have assembled ready for Wednesdays outings, more soon...