Building our own House

It's been quite a culture shock for me with building a house. My experience growing up was walking around the neighborhood in the evenings with my dad going into unfinished houses and guessing which room was which. Dad would teach me about how to tell, plumbing, size of room, window size, etc. I would think about going to one of those open houses, eat the cookies provided and look around the house seeing if it was the one to move into. I never dreamed I would have to design the house and decide where the foundation was put on the land!

People keep asking me what I always dreamed my house would be like. "I have no idea" is my reply. And truly I never thought I'd be building my own house. Little girls in the states dream about their wedding day; about the flowers, the dress, the decorations not houses.

The builder, Crunchy is his nickname, walks me through the house and asks me if everything is where I wanted it. I shake my head...I really don't know and for that matter don't care. I will make do with what has been given, just like I watched my parents do in the house I grew up in. If they didn't like a wall there...take it out. If they wanted something bigger...put it in. I think with the way I was raised I will be fussing with the house even when we designed it ourselves.

What I'm most excited about is my neighborhood. The property is set in the quiet side of "town". When people are in village they say, "I'm going to village" to see our property. Let me explain. The village has a few shops along the main road, a primary school, and a bore hole. When people who live near that "city center" say they are going to go to our property they say "going to village" because compared to that area our house is in village, and I love that! You can hear the cow down the way rustling through the brush, the man on the bicycle coming down the road, and don't forget the baby goat bleating for his mother.