Bookshelves and Organizing

I started the week with work at the Public High School, talking to the principal and other teachers about the need for bookshelves, how we need a place to put extra books since we just received a generous shipment of used books from Virginia and Pennsylvania, and we need new, durable bookshelves in which to house the novels and picture books. Throughout a couple of agonizing conversations, I convinced the others of the need for new bookshelves, and my need for a companion to go to the city and help me buy lumber on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, I met my companion, friendly Mr. Cadano, a thirty-something guy with a huge smile, bowl hair cut and big gut, at the school waiting shed, and caught a jeep to town. We got there after an hour-long bumpy ride and we immediately met with a man at the front who took us to look at available hardwood boards, approximately 1 inch by ten inches wide, and 12 feet long. Sounds simple, but you'd be surprised. First of all, hardwood is taboo here. Since a moratorium was imposed in the 1970s on cutting any trees but those designated by permitted, licensed personnel, on any land, people have been afraid to buy, sell, even travel with quality lumber. Illegal logging is rampant, but it either goes on at night, or under supervision by people paid to not care. So anyways, it was weird to be buying this lumber first of all, but secondly, to find transportation back to my place in the countryside was going to be hard seeing as how everybody is afraid to transport lumber. I ordered 6 – 12 foot boards, enough to make 4 bookshelves for right underneath the chalkboard in the school library. I ordered, and then left Mr. Cadano with the clerk while I went out to see that the boards they chose were the right ones, and that they put them somewhere so that no one would steal the lumber before we came back. Seeing that everything was secure, I returned inside, there to wait at the receiving section, (an area 5 feet away from the ordering section (this is a small place)) where I would be awaiting my change, along with lumber, screws, metal brackets, and sandpaper. After about 30 minutes, the receiving clerk came back with a little box of ¾ inch screws, and another box of 1 ¼ inch screws. Now the clerk told me that if I bought my 100 screws in singles, the screws would cost 2 pesos apiece (4 cents), but if I bought them in 'gross' I would receive 144 screws for 95 pesos, a savings of about 2 bucks, so naturally I said yes. Well, my 'gross' purchase entailed a stockboy counting out all 144 screws for the next 5 minutes. When complete, he gave them to the receiving clerk, who proceeded to double check, counting out 2 boxes, 144 screws each. Around 35 screws into her 288 count, the receiving clerk received a phone call from her sister, talked about her husband for 10 minutes, then hung up. However, after the phone call and supposed urgent news, she had lost count, so she emptied the box again, and started counting. About 100 screws in, she found a flat head screw, the wrong type since I had ordered Phillips screws, so she had to find the correct box to return the screw to. The screw saga continues, but I'll just let it go and say it was mind numbing, putting it mildly.

After receiving my screws, sandpaper, receipt, and brackets, I went back outside where my lumber was laying, and Mr. Cadano exclaimed that something must be wrong because there were six boards.

"Well, that's the amount I ordered" I said.

Mr. Cadano: "I told the lady to just give us 5 pieces because it costs over 600 pesos ($12) apiece!"

Me: "Yes, but I told you we need 70 feet of wood, and if we only have 5 pieces, that is not enough wood, that is 10 feet short."

Mr. Cadano: "But 1 board is over 600 pesos!"

Me: "You wait here, I will go get one more piece of wood to build the bookshelves properly."

Mr. Cadano: "Agi!(Ouch!)"

Thus began another 30 minutes, from explaining that yes, I wanted 1 more piece of the same type of wood to the lady at the front desk, to ordering, to waiting again for the receiving section (just 5 feet away from the ordering desk) to answer phone calls, write down multiple receipts, and give me change.

I finally got all of the stuff, convinced a jeepney driver to take me and the wood back to Babatngon after a lot of haggling and 300 pesos, and had some neighbors help me haul it down our muddy lane by hand in the rain. I have spent the last few days building the 4 bookshelves, things have gone well, and they look pretty good, considering I have no hand tools, and am just using my new little hand crank drill to make holes for the infamous screws. I have never had to exercise so much patience for 6 pieces of wood, and I hope to never have to again. All this said, it has been so nice to smell fresh sawdust and do some manual labor for a change. The wood I have had to use is Lawaan wood, a reddish wood the shade of cherry with the grain of birch. It smells like Red Oak and sands like Mahogany. The experience of making the shelves has provided me with a great outlet for stress as well as the opportunity to meet several neighbors as I ask around to borrow a square from one person, a hand plane from another, a screw driver from another, and a saw from someone else. Various members of the family downstairs poke their heads up from time to time to check my progress, offer comments like, "Your saw not sharp" or "You now a carpenter?!"