Long van ride and trail blazing...we look good





Today is the end of day 2 in Lorton, Virginia.  We are blazing a trail.  Not too sure if anyone reading this has ever done such a task, but it is HARD.  Before that, we had an exciting road trip to get through before we got here.  We left Vicksburg on Monday after an awesome week of transition work, laying at the pool, and catching up with familiar faces we missed.  Monday came quick.  We got in the van at 8am to depart for Virgina.  Monday we drove 8 and 1/2 hours to Knoxville, TN.  We stayed the night in a hotel to wake up at 5:45 to leave at 6am on Tuesday morning.  We drove 9 hours Tuesday.  I can honestly say that we live in a beautiful country.  I really know why Bobby's advice to me was to not fall asleep in the van.  The mountains were amazing and the land everywhere is nothing like I have ever seen before.  My team was probably sick of me saying how beautiful it was, but it was amazing. 



Our home.



Tuesday we arrived in Lorton at Mason Neck State Park to meet Mark, the ranger.  He took us to the James House where we live.  It is LITERALLY amazing.  On the bay, tons of beds, 5 bathrooms, a huge kitchen, a long dining room table, and a plethora of seats in the living room.  It is unreal.  The girls took the room with 4 beds so we can just be with each other all hours of the day.  We unpacked a bit and threw on PT clothes and went right to work.  After that van ride, PT was not fun. 



After day 1. Gross.



Wednesday we got to get right to work.  Mark said we would have orientation, but his orientation was here are the tools, go at it.  We did just that.  We are blazing a 1.7 mile trail from scratch.  It is attached to another trail that is made of rock and already a path.  Our trail is made of dirt and we are blazing it with just our tools and our strong muscles.  It is hard work.  I love it.  We blaze the trail and stop where there are hills to make it even with the ground.  Making it even is called making a bench.  It looks like somewhere you could stop and sit, so it is called a bench.  After day 1 I can say that I haven't sweat this much since my last hockey game of high school.  Sweat was dripping off my face and we all smelt horrible.  I haven't loved such physical labor so much in my life.  We all came home and were starving.  However, we did PT again because the PT coordinator on our team (me) is hardcore.  After PT we got to eat Terrell's favorite soup, Hobo soup.  It was spicy as all hell, but so good.  The best part of dinner was the fact that we all sat at our table and ate together.  It was a nice day as a team that ended with dinner and movie with each other.

Today was day 2 on the trail.  Same work as day 1.  Lots of sweat, LOTS.  Oh and I got my first encounter with snakes.  I nearly died.  Not died, but I am that afraid of snakes that I was looking all around for the rest of the day.  3 nice big black racers.  They're not venomous, no worries, but they were large.  We ended the day with another nice family dinner made by Sam and I.  All sweaty and a mess again, we looked DAMN good.  Now we are at Caribou Coffee house using their free WiFi and having coffee. 



River 10 building benches.

 The work we are doing is so awesome.  I couldn't be happier.  After leaving my friends again in Vicksburg for spike 2 it was nice to come to work that is so fun and fulfilling.  At the end of the 2 days we have worked, we have been a mess, sweaty, tired, and so happy with what we are doing.  We live in great housing, have awesome work to do, and are getting along as a team better than we ever have before.  River 10 is thriving and loving all we are doing. 

This weekend is a long weekend and I get visitors! We also have an all day ISP at a strawberry festival.  I can't wait to see Katie, Caroline, Kristen, and Robyn.  We are going to enjoy the weekend catching up and hanging out.  I need the comforts of home a bit, it has been a LONG time since I have been home and I am kind of feeling it now.  I feel like I am so close to home, yet so far away, so this weekend will be a nice touch of home.  I miss everyone! That's all from Lorton. 

Goodbye Memphis, Hello Mississippi y'all

I am back in Mississippi y'all.  But before I explain transition aka hell week, there still is lingering information about Memphis.

Our last two days of work were Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Tuesday we worked in a community garden.  We were elbow deep in poison ivy, weeds, and trash.  We worked with people who live in this particular part of the community that are trying to be rehabilitated back into the community.  Fun conversation.  I was in charge of weed whacking, or weed eating as the south says, for the day.  I did that until I almost threw the weed whacker across the garden because the string kept falling out of the bottom.  I don't have a temper at all.  But then I did some nice vine removing and enjoyed the day.  We ended our community garden clean up with PT at the local college.  Wednesday was a big day for us.  We did our last day of window installing.  We all know how much I love this project.  Our last day with Marky Mark, sad story.  He loved working with us, so we were sad too.  We successfully installed our 14th window putting the final count of window blocks installed up to 800.  Yes we installed 800 glass blocks using 1,800 pounds of mortar.  I couldn't be more proud of our team for these numbers.  It was a fun project and a new skill that I learned and am really proud of.  Maybe 10 Thomas will get new windows, who knows. 

Thursday was our very last day in Memphis.  We got up early and did some PT.  I decided to have the team run the greenline which we helped clean and make beautiful for the last 6 weeks.  I used this run as a time to look at our hard work and reflect on the last 6 quick weeks in Memphis.  I couldn't believe the work we had done on this site and all of the work sites for that matter.  The run really helped me take in the hard work I have put in with my teammates and all we have gone through to get to the last day in Memphis.  All from having awesome days as a team, losing two teammates, and now adding a new teammate Isiah, having horrible days, laughing together, working as a team, and really enjoying the city of Memphis in general.  After the run we had a lunch with our site supervisors.  This was a great way to recap what we have done with all of the sponsors.  They told us the impact we have made on the community and their lives.  We felt like we really were loved in the city.  Kirbster, that saint, said a nice thank you to us and a goodbye.  He is the cutest older man and I will miss him a lot on our next project.  The rest of Thursday was used to pack, clean the entire hostel, and the van.  We also decided that we were going to start a tradition on the team to have some sort of cooking contest.  This round was a bake off.  I was on a team with Beste, so naturally our team name was the Dream Team of Christine (that is both of our names).  We made unreal almond croissants, and these amazing cookies.  She bakes on a regular basis and I don't so I learned.  I will be baking from now on.  We did not win due to Sam making the all time classic, apple pie.  It was the best pie I've ever had so she deserved it.  The best part was we got the hostel staff involved and they were judges.  They took it so seriously, so serious that they made ballots and used calculators to really keep score.  It was a fun night for our last night in Memphis.  I am going to miss Memphis a lot.  I fell in love with the city and the people in it.  Who knows, maybe life will take me back to Memphis someday, it is that awesome.

Friday we departed at 7am and drove back for 5 hours.  We got back to Mississippi y'all around 1:30 and honestly, we all were so excited.  Everyone was screaming all day seeing their friends, lots of hugs and stories.  Saturday we were grocery shopping and we had a ton of money left over from spike.  Since the budget closed Sunday, we got to each get 25$ to ourselves to buy whatever we wanted.  You would have thought we were told we could buy out Walmart.  Sam and I combined our 25 to make 50 and went to town.  Since our budget is usually $4.75 a day each to eat, we bought BRAND food instead of off brand.  The Americheck we receive goes fast and so does our food money.  We make do, but I'll tell you, Sabra hummus, real bacon, and yogurt has never tasted so good.  Everyone was finally back on Saturday and it is so nice to see the friends I missed for the last 6 weeks.  Saturday was also Rachel's birthday which made the day even more exciting for her to get back so we could celebrate being back and her birthday with Kathy the bartender.  We all did just that, for sure.

This week is pretty much hell for us all.  Constant classes, refreshers, paperwork, clearance, briefing, and debriefing meetings all day, all while trying to catch up with our friends we missed.  However, we got to see pictures of both of our housings for next spike in Lorton Virginia and Hattiesburg Mississippi y'all and they are AMAZING.  In Lorton the pictures I share someday won't do it justice, I know.  The back porch has like 10 rocking chairs with a view of a bay, 2 grills, 4 and 1/2 baths, 7 bedrooms, 2 floors (something different for the Conceison clan so I am excited), it is on the bay, and 10 minutes from work in the state park.  In Hattiesburg, our housing is great, too.  Its a big blue house so it's name is Big Blue.  We stay on the bottom floor and saw pictures of the construction we will be doing on floor 2.  It needs work, but River 10 is ready.  We are very excited to be leaving and blazing a trail in Virginia and doing hard construction on Hattiesburg.  It is going to be hot, sweaty, and tiring.  I. CAN'T. WAIT.

I am really enjoying my time in AmeriCorps and I can say I am genuinely happy.  I have met some of the goals I set for myself in February and I can feel a change in me already.  Some days this program brings you down and you don't want to do a thing, but I can say there are more days where I enjoy the people, activities, and spikes and that makes me happy.  I know now that it was worth the year and a half wait to finally be accepted to serve.  I hope home is good, I miss it sometimes and obviously my Thomas street peeps a lot.  I will post pictures when we get to Lorton next week.  We depart Monday at about 7am for our 17 hour drive to VA.  Should be the definition of F-U-N in a 15p for 17 hours.  We stop in Knoxville, TN for a night in a hotel then continue on.  We should get there Tuesday to start our work week then I GET VISITORS that weekend!! Can't wait! 

That's all I have from Mississippi y'all. 

Just a refresher...my address is:
Christine Conceison Class 18B
AmeriCorps NCCC
2715 Confederate Ave.
Vicksburg, MS 39180

We get letters and cards forwarded to us on spikes and if our housing allows deliveries, packages.  In case anyone has any looming mail they want to send me.

Countdown to Vicksburg...

So when I last left you, we were going to be constructing a green house at a community garden.  Instead of constructing the green house, we just completely cleaned the entire garden from head to toe.  It was a complete mess before we started, but when we finished, it looked amazing.  I wow'ed everyone with my photography skills by taking these two pictures...



Before.




After, same spot.


Anyway, for the remainder of the weekend, I relaxed.  Having two days off randomly on a Sunday and a Monday are great.  I just can't wait to be a person next spike and have real weekends.

Tuesday, back to the grind.  We FINALLY woke with the rising sun for PT.  We did not sleep through alarms or fake sleep so we didn't have to get up.  We did it.  We ran a good 2.4 miles and did another stellar workout made by the PT coordinator, me.  We then worked on the GreenLine with the Kirbmeister.  He is still so cute.  We did clearing the trail for a half day on one of the hottest days to date in Memphis.  I, per usual, used the large power clippers because I am still jacked and awesome.  We ended the day at noon and had a discussion with a man in town who works for a non-profit to learn the ropes of the housing system of Memphis.  It was interesting.  Our team went back to the hostel and did a reflection on diversity.  It was interesting to see what our team thinks and how we work together.  Once that was over, we had a cookout with all of the people who ran the ArtWalk.  It was awesome.  We went over positives and "even better ifs" of the whole event.  We were praised for our hard work again and ate a ton of free food. 

Wednesday we worked at Memphis Heritage clearing a storage unit in the Memphis Convention Center.  There were chairs from an old theatre that we had to organize in an old, dusty, probably asbestos filled room.  We, again, got free food.  Score one for River 10.  Once done with that, we headed back to the hostel where me and 4 other teammates got ready to head to the Red Birds minor league baseball game.  It was Wet Your Whistle Wednesday at the ballpark and we did just that.  Real fun to be one of probably 20 fans supporting the local young guys.  Go Red Birds!

Thursday, we rose with the rising sun to do PT.  And let me tell you, the sun came fast.  We all struggled through a workout and thankfully we were doing windows at First Congo so we didn't have to leave.  On this particular day, I successfully installed one full window and took out one full old window.  It was HOT as all H-E-Double hockey sticks.  But, I have come to realize, I love to sweat.  I don't mind the heat that much anymore.  Just gotta keep telling myself that.  Before dinner, our sponsor Michael came to have a reflection with us.  He brought along Professor McGowen from Rhodes College whom we had a reflection previously with.  He is such an interesting man.  We discussed our time in Memphis with Michael and gave him some feedback that he can use with the team coming here next round.  Good stuff.



A finished window with art work.


Friday we were back at the windows.  I put in 2 windows with Sam.  We all were kind of low this day so it was good I felt productive.  Not too much else to say about Friday except  that we are glad it ended.  Saturday we got to go into an alleyway in the VECA community to do some cleaning.  Every site supervisor on this day kept telling us that there were copperhead snakes everywhere and that we needed to watch out.  My anxiety was at it's full capacity over hearing the word snakes.  Needless to say, I raked the most careful I ever have before.  Garnet, the saint, was in charge of us for the day.  Since it was 92 degrees she said she wanted us to work a half day.  We ended at 11:30 where at this time, she bought us a HUGE lunch.  It was awesome.  I love free food. 

One good thing about Friday was that we got our project application to review for Lorton Virginia! The project sounds unreal.  We will be working and living in the national park where we will be blazing the trail.  Our house is going to be AMAZING.  It is a mansion overlooking a bay in the park.  There are 18 beds, a full kitchen, a grill, decks, and the best description ever, there are 8 toilets.  Not 8 bathrooms, 8 toilets.  Weird phrasing.  I will be utilizing each toilet at some point.  It will be the biggest house I probably have and ever will live in in my life.  I can't wait for this project and to be in a new location.  AND I can't wait for Katie, Robyn, Caroline, and Kristen to come visit that first weekend! I am more than excited. 

Anyway, Tuesday starts our last work "week" here in Memphis.  We work Tuesday and Wednesday and that's all she wrote for the city of soul.  Thursday is going to be used for cleaning, packing, and having a huge dinner with every site supervisor, hostel staff member, and our team (which is now down 2 team members).  We travel back to Vicksburg Friday and will be there by 5pm and I am SO EXCITED! I miss my friends from other teams a lot and I am ready to see them all.  Let's hope they're ready for me.

ALSO, shoutout to Dad-z on this one, today I went to Barnes and Noble.  Yes, a book store.  I was told I would love the book, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."  I had that and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" in hand, found a comfy chair, and read the first 30 pages of each.  I decided to BUY the wallflower book.  I took it home and read 100 pages.  I am a new woman. I will be reading the other book on spike 2.  Check. Me. Out.

Well that's all from Memphis.  I really miss everyone from home and I hope everyone is doing well.  Hi Paul, so good to hear from you, bro. 

Holla.