The Concrete Fiasco

Yesterday with the work crew was very productive with quite a few small pours being completed and the framing on the main patio moving ahead nicely.  We did however have a small non-meeting of the minds; a sort of minor, low-grade Cold War between the Americans and the Ukrainians.  As an American who sympathized with the points being made by the Ukrainian folks (plus being the only American who understood much of the frustrated discussion in Russian), I was sort of in the middle, trying to mediate between the 2 camps.  

Basically the problems stemed from the pouring of a new concrete floor in our main workshop skladt (which just means storage).  The work team brought a professional concrete guy who deemed that in order for the front of the slab to be as thick as he wanted it, the back needed to be about 7 inches thick.  Upon seeing the mass of this section, every Ukrainian present was astounded by the wastefulness of, to paraphrase Andrey, "putting a gold floor in a nasty block workshop."

After this opinion made its way around to everyone on staff it quickly became a divisive issue that broke down along national lines.  I really saw both sides of this; the Ukrainians see the camp on a daily basis and are more than aware of the financial issues that face the HopeCenter.  To use vital resources for such a unnecessary project was unthinkable.  On the American side, one must only have heard the tome, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right."

As with many disagreements, the initial problem stems from miscommunication.  While the HC staff knew how much money was on-hand for the work team, the Americans were fully willing to finance what they considered necessary overages.  These issues were sorted out and all is proceeding very well.

Today, one of my favorite guys Vitalik decided that his work shirt was just too plain so he gave it a personal touch.  This drawing was all done with a permanent marker.  I am trying to think of an idea to have him draw for me before he leaves.  Any suggestions?