06-May-2024, unbelievable, we are already in week 7 with the bamboo building now. We still have quite a bit to do and I was hoping to have another great working week, just like the previous one; Mr. Madé and I were on fire. But it was not meant to be I guess; this week has not been as fruitful. Mr. Madé had been absent most of the time and I pretty much did all the work myself. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind working alone and I do it often. But the thing that annoyed me are promises by Mr. Madé that he did not keep. I could surely have used the help. The thing with working together is, we complement each other. The work pace doesn’t just double up but with two people it goes three times faster.

Mr. Madé is a great guy and a hard worker, but I guess this week he had many other things going on. A pity and a learning point for me; it is sometimes difficult to have clear communication and to come to an agreement, especially when there is also a language barrier. It is easy to misunderstand each other.

Monday – Working the entire day putting Pelupuh tiles down on the roof. Without any help the progress is slow but I do manage to get a few rows installed. Not nearly as much as I hope but at least there is progress. Especially keeping those the long plastic sheets (underneath the tiles) straight and aligned during installation is hard but doable.

Effective working time on the roof: 6 hours.

Tuesday – The previous week I enjoyed taking every other day off, so why not do it again. A Padel class in the morning, working on my computer in the afternoon (doing the video edits) and a yoga class in the evening. A simple but fun day with a combination of exercise and “work”.

Wednesday – Not a very good day for my stress levels. The last weeks Mr Madé managed to pull a lot of disappearing acts and today was also full of empty promises. The morning starts out nice; Mr. Madé has a ceremony at his house temple and invited me over to try some local food. Although I preferred to get straight into work, I didn’t want to be impolite either so I followed him to the temple for some home cooked food. A very kind and welcoming gesture and I appreciated his efforts.

The morning is spent trimming the lower edges and when the new supply of Pelupuh arrived, I continued tiling in the afternoon. I managed to finish both of the tips but there was not enough time to install the ridge. But like I said I also had some stressful moments today and I was screaming on the inside. Not only the empty promises from Mr. Madé were getting on my nerves, but nothing was going the way I wanted. Pelupuh tiles keep falling off the scaffold (scaffold being very unstable). I dropped my tools several times, a box of nails all over the floor and every time I had to climb back down to pick it up myself. All of this in combination with nobody handing me the Pelupuh tiles as I am standing on the roof makes it really challenging; both physically and emotionally. Today is not my day and it took me a while to recollect myself and get back to work.

On a positive note; I notice I am gaining more confidence walking on the shaky and dodgy scaffolding and on the roof. I am not as scared anymore as in the beginning.

Effective working time on the roof: 8 hours.

Thursday – Not working on my bamboo house but I have been helping Ayu by painting her new office.

Friday – Not Mr. Madé helping me, but in fact his father. Also a very kind man but does not speak any English. We communicate in very broken Indonesian but we manage. This man is old but still works hard and climbs on the scaffolding like it’s nothing. I don’t expect nor ask him to work hard but I am grateful he is there and give me a hand while I do all the hard work; installing more Pelupuh tiles. Today I finally manage to get that ridge on. It is a real challenge to balance and walk on that ridge but fun at the same time. I only slipped once, but was easily able to catch myself. But slipping off only once is an achievement in itself, given the stunts I pulled off on top of that roof. I was never in real danger though because I was also wearing my climbing hip-harness for extra safety. All the hard work and impossible positions completely exhausted me by the end of the day. so much so that I have a headache for the rest of the evening, but I am happy with the end result. It is worth it.

Effective working time on the roof: 8 hours!!!

Saturday – a day of rest; something I definitely needed.

Sunday – After my yoga class at 7 a.m. I drive straight to Belega for a couple of hours of work. The previous days have taught me not to expect too much, and even completing one small tasks during the entire day should be considered a win. It turns out to be a very productive day and because it went so well I worked quite late. While Mr. Made is cleaning the lower part of the house; spraying it with bleach, I get myself ready to climb on top of the roof. Walking and balancing on the roof while strapped in the harness is fun. I feel safe and secured and I am able to walk on the roof without any scaffolding around me. The bleach clears all the black mold in an instant and it was starting to look great. Then as Mr. Madé is installing another arch, I am still on top of that roof. This time I am applying a coat of varnish and the son of Mr. Madé is helping me to refill the spray container every few minutes. This is very helpful and significantly speeds up the process. By the end of the day, the house is clean and shiny! Not completely finished yet but it is already looking amazing. Only a few small tasks to be done next week.

Effective working time on the roof: 3 hours.

The timelapse video of the week:

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