Wednesday morning brought about our second full work day at the FAF farm. Each of our four groups made significant progress on our projects yesterday and we set goals to accomplish throughout the day over breakfast and coffee. We were all very ambitious in our goals and forgot to remember the cardinal rule of designers “it will always take longer than expected.” With that being said, we all learned how to go with the flow and worked through the design issues that presented themselves throughout the day. 

Emily and I have thought all along that our cornhole/ladder game that we created to take to play with the children in Igaria would take a day max. We were very very wrong. Our day was spent painting the remaining two sets of boards with 4 coats of paint that preferred to be absorbed into the wood. In the creative spirit we decided to give these two white sets the “shaby chic” look and call it a day. In our spare time, we also cut apart a pallet board, sanded it down, and created one of our chairs for the entrance way. It will be really excited to paint and stain the set of chairs and see how they look in the house!

Caitlyn and Robin discovered the joys of hand chiseling wooden signs for the project house and the vegetable washing house. As the grains of the wood changed in direction so did the duration of their chipping. After a solid few hours of chipping away they moved closer and closer to finishing their signs. Bella, Ali, and Chelsea were also able to put patience into practice with their mural design. Water dripping and intense blending of coffee berries slowed the progress of the group, but the mural looks awesome so far and it really makes the space come alive. Misplaced paint brushes and little scraps of sand paper had Whitney and Jennifer spending a lot of TLC with their pallet boards for their sofa and shelving unit. All and all, our group has really learned to let problems happen and we have found that there is something beautiful about team problem solving. We are also in Brazil… so I don’t think we really have anything to complain about! 

Over another ridiculously delisious dinner, we all laughed about our minor frustrations and gushed over the lemon grass tea with organic honey that we have all become obsessed with. It will be imperative that I plant some lemon grass in my backyard once I get to the states and it will be impossible to leave Brazil without attempting to sneak this honey back over the boarder. Our night came to an end after watching the Corinthians (a Sao Paulo team) win their futbol match and advance to the next round of the tournament. We will be able to watch the next game in Sao Paulo and that will be incredibly exciting! With full bellies and incredibly optimistic spirits, we headed off to our separate casas to rest up for another big work day ahead of us. 

So far I have loved this experience and cannot wait to see how all of our projects come together in the coming days!