Up On the Roof...not anymore



Big Blue, our home and work.



Hello readers.  I am in Hattiesburg, Mississippi y'all now.  It is hot as hell and to be quite honest, I haven't complained too much, yet.  We are here working with R3SM and are getting adjusted quite well.  Since I last posted we have met our sponsors and have gotten our feet wet in Big Blue's construction project.  Let me give you a little run down on our sponsors.  Miss Sheila is our main sponsor.  She is an ex-colonel and runs her company as such.  She told us that she would meet with us once a week and discuss our progress in the project and just to catch up with our team.  She is tough, but I feel some people on our team need someone that is as tough as Miss Sheila.  Darryl is our site supervisor and works with us everyday.  He seems to really enjoy the job we are doing with him and loves the house completely.  He is teaching us all different things everyday and is really helping us learn about construction.  He is hilarious and jokes around with us all day.  We were told that by coming here we could build the second floor, or most, of the second floor of Big Blue.  When we arrived, we found out that the plumbing and the electric work is not done yet.  Due to this little problem, we are at a kind of stand still for the process of the house.  We have been doing little odd jobs such as painting, sanding, random touch ups, some floor work and cleaning.  These jobs have kept us busy, but we are really looking forward to what we will be completing by the end of this round.

Tuesday was our first day of work here.  We got an orientation to R3SM in the morning from Miss Sheila and then got into work right after.  Our team put together saw horses where we can do some work on.  It was a pretty easy way, but a good way to adjust to the new project.  

Wednesday morning we woke up at 5am for PT because our new work hours are 7-3 due to the HOT HOT heat of the day.  Everyone got up for PT without a fuss and we all were working out pretty hard.  It was about 5:25 and then we heard a loud hissing noise.  I thought we were going to have to move because of sprinklers coming on, but boy was I wrong.  We looked over at the parking lot where our van and the other van was parked that we picked up from Maryland.  There was a man going from our hissing van to the other van, when he then made that van hiss louder.  This individual was slashing our tires, right in front of us.  We all immediately ran into the house and called 9-1-1-.  The police came quickly, but nothing could be done because the man was gone.  It was a nice wake up call for us to be safe around our house.  The tires eventually got fixed on both vans, but it took some time.  Jamie and I painted an island in our beautiful kitchen.  Delta 4, another team from campus,  was here before us last round and they completed the first floor.  We got to paint the island because of all of the work that Delta 4 did, the island wasn't completed.  Tuesday I worked on this with Jamie and we got it done and it looks good, if I do say so myself. 
We were all just amazed all day that we witnessed a man actually do something like that to our vans.



The blue island in our kitchen.

Thursday found me doing more painting on the house.  We found out on Sunday, Father's Day, that David on our team became a father.  He took a personal day because it was National Go Skate day and he is an avid skate boarder, so we took it upon ourselves to surprise David with a baby celebration.  We went straight to Walmart after work and bought blue balloons and baby outfits and cute baby stuff for David and his son, Leyek.  He is adorable, the pictures look exactly like David and we are all so happy for him.  We have a nice roof area of the house that past teams have used as a place to escape and it has a great view of the sunset.  We went up there after the baby celebration and sat and watched the sunset as a team.  I was singing Up On the Roof by the Drifters the whole time.  Apparently a neighbor saw us because we found our Friday that we aren't supposed to be up there and we are banned, for the rest of spike! Awesome.

Friday was our last day of work for the week.  Friday marked 12 days straight of work for River 10.  We were exhausted.  It kind of dragged and seemed to go slowly.  I was on painting duty of a staircase for the day.  We ended work and literally did nothing for the night. 



Another major room we are working on, both bathrooms.



One major room we are focusing on.



Saturday we woke up at 9:30 for PT.  BIG mistake.  In Hattiesburg Mississippi, y'all at 9:30 am it is already 92 degrees and hot.  The run, workout, and sweat killed me.  I literally will never wake up again and do PT at this time.  We all lounged all day in the AC in our bedroom until the girls all went shopping.  I didn't spend a dime and I am proud of myself.  I instead tried on gorgeous lime green heels for the girls while they were dress shopping.  We got back and a few of us went down the street to the Boom Boom Room, a local bar.  Apparently the man, Benny, who owns it loves AmeriCorps and gives us a large all you can drink discount.  It will come in handy when I am not saving money for a weekend trip like I am for next weekend.  Today was used as a literally relaxing day.  This whole weekend and week I have really done myself some serious service by watching Laguna Beach, Newlyweds, and SVU all the time.  No big deal. 

Tomorrow starts a new work week, with hopefully some new work for me!  I love Hattiesburg and it is a lot of fun.  This weekend a couple of teammates and I are going to New Orleans to visit some friends from other teams.  I am so excited.  Can't wait actually.  Until then I will work hard and enjoy Big Blue and the hot hot heat of Hattiesburg.  Have a good week!