Life of a Construction Worker (Part 3: The Real Game Starts)

It was the following morning; I woke feeling muscle pains in my back and thighs. I could see some mild skin irritation on my arms as well. Confident that my body can still take the challenge of construction work, I made my way to the site on time. Just like the day before, the working duration can be divided into four time slots. The first slot is 8 to 10am. Well, this is the most relaxing part of the day, with the freshness of morning air and ends with breakfast brought by the boss at 10am. The next slot is still bearable; everyone still has enough energy to counter the effect of temperature rise.12pm, the time which everyone labourer will be waiting for – lunch break. Most of them will only take a short time to eat and spend the rest of the 1 hour having some casual chats. The third time slot is the most agonizing. It was as though time as crawling for the hottest 2 hours of the day before the slot ended with a tea break at 3pm. The things turn better at the final slot when the temperature slowly reduced and the arrival of knock-off time at 5pm.

My day at work starts with clearing rumbles using a one-wheeled cart. Back and forth I went from the site to the dumping grounds. I picked up the rumbles by hand, each of them felt like a durian. Uncle Hu, who was demolishing the concrete floor, let me had a chance to try out the gigantic jack hammer. Again, it is much heavier than it seems.

Uncle Hu, with a Jack Hammer. Compared to the mass destruction he made with the pneumatic machine....

This is the miserable small hole that I made using the same thing.

However, I only manage to make a tiny hole on the floor. Everything went fine until the sun starts glaring fiercely at us.
Under the hot sun, I discovered that labourers have their very own way to reduce stress from the heat. Here are the Top 5 shouting phrases (all in hokkien) you can hear at a construction site when the sun is boiling everyone:

1. JUAK AR! ( hot ar)
2. SIBEH JUAK! (very hot )
3. PAI MIAAAAAA!! ( hard life)
4. BO HO THAN AR!! (not easy to earn ar)
   And when the sun is really pissing them off
5. LIN LAU HIAH EH!!! AN ZHUA ANI JUAK EH???!!!! (Your elder brother, why is it so hot?)
   

It was so funny that it kind of made me forget about the hot sun for a while. But little did I know that a harsh day awaits me?
As time goes by, my energy depletes faster. The rumbles seem to grow heavier. Soon, I take short breaks more frequently, but can only make less rounds of rumble disposal. I was wearing out. After making some rounds, I checked the time. WHAT?? Only half-an-hour has passed? But that felt like it has been an hour or so. Time passed really slowly. My body was burning. That’s I took the advice of the senior workers: “Ban ban lai, buey haio kin eh.” Working fast only drains me rapidly, and recuperating my energy will take a longer time. If I rest too long, it’ll appear as though I’m skiving. Work slowly and I only need short breaks. That’s when I learn to take things slow but steadily.
5 o’clock finally came. Oh my, am I the happiest person in the world? I reached with a whole body of aching muscle. My determination and perseverance is still there, but my flesh is really worn out. I’m not sure if my body will be in a good enough condition to work for the next day.