10/19/22 (Wednesday)

My favorite day of class so far! We first had a hands-on plumbing lab with Lou where we got to construct our own WOM (water organizing module), followed by an electrical lab with Nels in which we got to practice wiring a switch, outlet, and light bulb. For me, the hands-on activities really help solidify the learning.

After class, we headed back to the U2 job site. Today, I cut glass bottles for the first time. My classmate and I had to forage for clear bottles in the sea of bottles that were kind of just strewn about the site. We probably cut close to 80 bottles. Some of them cut easily; others fractured due to the thinness of the glass or the shape. We were ultimately trying to get three inch end pieces that would then be taped together by another pair of classmates and ready to be used as a brick.

It struck me how quiet the saw was when I first turned it on, then how LOUD it was when the glass made contact with it. My ears couldn't take it, so I threw in a pair of earplugs (already had safety glasses on). Going to exercise more caution next time in terms of wearing a mask, though. I did not wear a mask the entire time (started off without one, as no one mentioned anything aside from safety glasses, and honestly, it didn't really occur to me until later on...) and was absolutely covered with glass dust by the end of the day. Needless to say, my mask will remain on the entire time next time around.

We also took my SUV around to the transfer station with Nick, who showed us what to look for in terms of bottles we could use for bricks. We packed up the 4Runner with 3 milk crates and 2 cardboard boxes of glass bottles and headed back to the site. Got an impromptu tour of the Greater World neighborhood on the way over, too, which was pretty cool.