This young man is a carpenter's apprentice. The trades in Germany used to all have a specific outfit that the members wore so they could be identified. The carpenters have kept the tradition alive by requiring all apprentices to dress in the old "uniform" during the training. The costume is black corduroy pants, vest and jacket, white shirt, and broad brimmed black hat. Sometimes they travel from town to town with the sack of tools to train with different masters. Today must have been this guy's lesson on tiling.
We will watch the progression of one day's work. This is the house at 7:30 am. (May 29, 2009). They start at the bottom and work up so the tiles lay over top of each other. This way the rain can run off them without seeping underneath.
Here are the pallets of tiles that will go on our roof. All German roofs have clay tiles. Our old color was the simple red of clay. It looks like we are getting black this time around. The red on these tiles will be the underside.
Back of the house 7:30 am
I went to school for my exam and then came home for lunch. This is where they were at 11:30.
Notice the pallets of tiles supported on the roof - these are for the backside of the house. They also lay out bundles of tiles in stacks so they are almost in positions.
At 2:00 when I came out from grading to head back to the school, the front was almost done.
They had just started on the back at 2. Notice the guy in the white shirt just over the peak of the roof. He is grabbing tiles from the pallets we saw earlier and tossing them down to the guy at the bottom, who then places it and steps up to be in position for the next tile. These carpenters have great balance and can catch the tiles with barely a miss. They seem to catch the tile and snap it in place all in one motion.
