We can't believe that our house is so fantastic! Tings Construction wk #2

Wish you all could see how fast things are progressing here in Graça And please spare us for negative vibes such as: You just wait…  You don’t know about the bureaucratic civil servants… and similar stuff. When we did the same in Kathmandu 6 years ago we had 20 workers from India and an unknown numbers of ghosts and spirits involved in the constructions of Tings Kathmandu. None of them understood a word of what we said, and thought we were crazy when they saw Annette’s and the architects drawings. Add to that only 8 hours electricity pr day, water problems, cement providers that mixed sand in the cement to increase their profit AND an international Expat and NGO crowd what were bedding on how long we would last in Kathmandu… We made it – and consider ourselves as specialists in Chaos Management. We are not naive – we know that we will get a lot of problems with the constructions. But please allow us to be a little childish and enjoy life, when we have something to enjoy. Like these days where we see things progressing by the hour. What a joy [caption id="attachment_8985" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Demolition Day II: The first thing that meets us when we enter the door to the future ‘reception’ area is the light. The roof is GONE.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8983" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] We are only allowed to make our house as high as the house next door. So to get sufficient hight in the future attic rooms we have to break down the ceiling/floor between existing floors and then rebuild and add 2 additional floors[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8976" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] For the first time we get an idea about the view. When we add one more level, from to top floor rooms and the common area for hotel guests only (with guest kitchen) you will be able to see above the house opposite ours.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8981" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] For the first time we get an idea about the view. When we open Tings Lisbon the house will have 2 more floors.  So the top floor rooms will  will have the most fantastic view to the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte. And the common room with guest kitchen will have a beautiful view to the Tejo River from the hotel-guests-only roof top terrace.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8979" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Our friend Jesper, who lives in Lisbon and has followed our project since we moved to Kathmandu in 2009, came by to have a look. Fantastic to see his surprised look when he saw our future garden. When we’re so close to a project as with Tings Lisbon for so long time, you can’t help feeling a bit insecure now and then. So visits like Jesper’s and his unconditional positive feed back means a lot to us….[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8984" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The garden was still a mess when we left the house last night. But with the pace the workers have now the garden will be ‘cleaned’ up soon. The workers need  the space for the construction. Next visible change will be the scaffolding of the house…:-)[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8977" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Our architect came by with more official documents that MUST be available at the construction site.. one of these days we will get the official poster that show the municipality that we are allowed to break down the house (wonder if they have had people that have demolished houses illegally  – LOL)[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8987" align="aligncenter" width="999"] Our next door neighbour looked as if she had had visitors from MARS when we knocked on her door and handed over cakes from Centro Ideal  (A week ago CNN featured this legendary Graca Pastellaria) for all residents in the house. The noise and dust from our construction must be unbearable. So we felt that the least we could do was to show our concern… obviously people in Graça are not used to that.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8986" align="alignnone" width="1000"] On the way from our pastelaria we passed by Maria Pia Sport Clube – our local sports club – with new basketballs and new footballs for the kids. They have helped us with tables and chairs for one of our events in the house. We like them a lot and want to stay good friends with them (they have a fantastic and very cozy bar)[/caption]]]>