We have two boys working on construction, Sebastián and Manuel, brothers ages 18 and 20. They are hard workers, although inexperienced. They are quick to offer assistance, and there are a variety of maintenance tasks they help us with as well. However, we are often surprised by their different way of doing things, which we usually categorize as bad ideas.
For example, we needed to get rid of some old rotting boards that had been stored for a while. We assumed we could donate them to a neighbor who could burn them in their cooking fire, because the firewood supply is getting scarcer here. But we heard a fire crackling and looked out to see an old wheelbarrow base on our driveway with the boards merrily burning inside! This was a bad idea because we now have a burned patch of paving bricks, but we laughed and admitted to each other that they surprised us again! And by the way, we did put a stop to the burning and gave the rest of the wood to our neighbor who seemed very glad for the donation.
