So today I met with the Engineer Officer for the Nyanga Council. The reason for this meet was to ask him about surveying the site. The map I was given by the office is less than desirable and didn’t really tell me anything. So I asked if either they could survey the site OR give me the equipment to let me survey the site. He was more than happy to have me survey the site (and a few others) and he would give me the equipment. I met with his staff member in charge of surveying and he showed me the equipment. It looks like it’s from the 60’s or 70’s but luckily other than a computer screen and buttons not much has changed. So he loaned me a worker and off we go to survey the site. I had drawn out the points (28 in all) that needed to be done, which also included the existing building which had never been surveyed (which explains why the foundation has cracked down 2 walls and the floor has separated). So at 2pm this afternoon, I went and picked up the equipment and took it to the site with 2 helpers and Willie (my colleague and local support). I set up my equipment and looked through the lens and … the equipment was off, and not just a little bit but WAY OFF. So we started surveying the existing building and it was harder than I thought it would be, and also my eyes just wouldn’t focus, so between the 4 of us, we scrambled through and finished!!! After this was complete, Willie said “My GPS has geodetic elevations on it, we can put it at each corner and check the work”. So I’m going to use this as my back up and hopefully between the 2 we won’t be far out. I know this doesn’t sound very technical or precise but TIA. The 2 staff the council loaned me thought I was a genius (and I’m not going to tell them otherwise). So this was a big step in the project and the drawings can now go to council for approval. Day 2 of surveying was all calculations. I want to ask a question to anyone reading this, why would contour maps and elevations in a country that is metric, that was “owned” by a metric country and has never been an Imperial country use Imperial heights for elevations??? It makes things complicated AND means that I had to do calculations twice after realizing I made a HUGE mistake and did everything metric. This also means that the drawings will be in metric AND imperial so that no one gets confused. Maybe they had an American come to Nyanga and survey the entire area and then leave and no one bothered to check the work. This also means that the site plan has become a mess of numbers that on one but me is going to be able to read! Between the drawing and the math my brain has packed it in and some changes to the site plan needed to be made. Now I’m starting all the engineering drawings, which I’m expecting to be really exciting, stressful and I’m probably going to want to pick up a drinking habit more than once during this process but it’ll be a good learning experience and that’s what it’s all about right?!