So River 10 arried in Virginia last week on Sunday around 4. We drove 17 hours to get to Great Falls Virginia to work for Living Classrooms of the Nations Capitol Region. This sponsor is unbelievable. The classrooms are learning by doing based. There are three different sections of the classrooms, site based, school based, and shipboard. The last section has two ships that the organization uses to have classes go on field trips to learn about sea life. The other parts of the organization are used essentially for science field trips. The concept of the whole organization is awesome. Sunday when we arrived, we saw our lodge, which is perfect. We have 2 fire pits, a fire place, no internet and no TV. Perfect for me since I love everything it offers. We met Annie, who lives on site wtih us in her own home. We got aquainted in our rooms and made a nice fire, or what was supposed to be nice fire, outside.
Monday and Tuesday were orientation days for the classrooms. We met the entire staff and got oriented on the organization and what they offer. It was nice to meet the staff since we will primarily be working only with our housing and not in classrooms. We got to learn what each staff member does and how they run their respective parts of the LC-NCR. Monday was ended with our team climbing the rockwall that we have in our backyard so we could see what the kids have to go through. It was a lot of fun.
Tuesday we got to visit all 3 sites and we got the best lunch ever. I got an unreal sandwich which I ate in probably 3 seconds. It was fun to see a field trip take place at the site based program site. The kids were hilarious. Makes me miss subbing!
Wednesday and Thursday we got down to business. One of our major parts of this project is dealing with debris from the Drecho that hit Virginia in June. This is just basically, not just but thats the word I chose, it is basically a large wind storm that knocks trees down and creates a pleuthora of debris everywhere. And when I say pleuthora, I mean a lot. We collected 1,000+ pounds in these two days. We were dead Thursday night and we all have bruises to prove it.
Friday we got to participate in Debris Day that LC-NCR hosts for a local elementary school. Each of us were in charge of a group of kids to help collect trash and recycling from Kingman Island where site based work takes place. The day was fun and we got to interact with children who were energetic and loving picking up trash, go figure. You can convince kids to do anything!
This project sounded awesome to us UNTIL good ol Sandy started to climb up the coast. NOW we are currently in Albany, New York on disaster relief deployment! Yes, New York, not in our region and 3 hours from home. I can smell Massachusetts from here...anyway...we are working with Red Cross running shelters in the state of New York. Today was just our orientation day and we literally just got to the hotel an hour ago. We started our drive from Virginia at 4:30 this morning drove from Virginia, touched several states along the way and we are just finishing the day now. My team consists of Lannise, Terrell, and myself and we are placed in Fonda, New York. I googled it, 3 hours and 40something minutes from 10 Thomas...hint hint...
We will be running a disaster shelter for people of this part of NY and for the first at least 4 days of the storm it is a 24 hour a day operation for us. Lots of sleepless nights and lots of red bull slash coffee. I am ready. I am really excited to be doing this and to be in this part of the country, the best part of course.
Our team hasn't had a day off since Friday the 19th. We are working on about 4 hours of sleep right now and I am ready to take on the next 3 weeks of disaster deployment. Keep River 10 and River 8, the other team with us, in your thoughts! Actually, keep all my AmeriCorps friends in your thoughts, we are all doing a lot to get things done in whatever way shape or form that may be!
Thats all from the concrete jungle (or at least close to it). I am sure that the next few weeks will confirm for me that the smalles thing really can sure make all the difference.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Fall break and what not
Hello y'all! Since the last time I posted, I have done some fun traveling not involving work at all what so ever! Last week was our 10 day fall break. For the first half of break I stayed on campus in Vicksburg. I was with Sam and Tiffany so we pretty much did nothing. I slept everyday until 11 and watched movies every night. On Thursday the three of us woke up nice and early, hit up Enterprise, packed the little whip, and hit the road to Nashville! A nice little 7 hour road trip with two of the best friends ever. Awesome trip.
We arrive in Nashville at about 3:30-4ish where we got to meet Tiff's friend from home who we named Mo for the weekend. And shortly after we got to the sweet digs at the Ramada Inn, Jill came! Finally I got to see my best friend for the first time since August. Couldn't have been any happier than I was, UNTILLLL MaryKathryn came and brought Rachel with her! All in one weekend I was with my 3 best friends from AmeriCorps, my sister, and my best friend from home, PLUS we all made one more friend that weekend. Pretty solid crew. It was awesome how quickly we all became a little group of friends and clicked all weekend.
Allow me to give you some high lights of our weekend...
Thursday night I turned 24 at midnight, so we broke out the party hats that Mom sent, obviously. We gave one to the singer of the band and he sang me a great country version of Happy Birthday. Ringing in a new year of life. Three Nashville Predators were at the bar, one being Shea Webber. They are not friendly at all what so ever, but very nice on the eyes. It was nice to look at them, but not talk. Pretty successful night.
Friday was my actual birthday...we woke up and found a Dunkin' Donuts...after an HOUR of searching. Thanks to MK, Rachel, and Jill having conflicting GPS's on their "smart" phones it took a little bit of time. We lounged then hit Broadway Street to do some walking around and listening to some live music. It was a perfect day. We all went back to get ready to go to dinner. We went to a place called the Big River Brewery. My lord it was delicious. I got Mac 'n Chicken, my mouth just watered typing that. This meal along with some nice brewery beer was the best way to kick off the night. After that we went to a few bars, but ended up at Big Shotz, what became the greatest bar. Sam told the band it was my birthday so I got called on stage. The singer asked me what I wanted to hear them play and I said anything country. They came up with one of my FAVORITE country songs, Wagon Wheel. I was singing right along when he nudged me toward an open microphone. Yes, I sang live with the band, solo a couple of times, which obviously I have the voice of an angel, so it went really well. A literal cowboy pulled me off stage to "two-step" with me. He had a cowboy hat on, tucked in plaid shirt, and cowboy boots. He talked me through the steps, spinning me, and me spinning him. It was magical. Pretty much the highlight of my weekend. This was literally the best birthday I have ever had.
Saturday the whole crew went to do some site seeing, country style. We went to the Grand Ole Opry and took pictures outside since it costs $$$ to get inside. Saw my girl Carrie's picture everywhere, so it was a great success. We visited the hotel near there which was MASSIVE, and where I will me getting married someday, hypothetically speaking I get married. The day was great, wore my plaid shirt and fit right in. Saturday was our last night to go out and with the help of social media, we found out that Kellie Pickler was playing a show at the Hard Rock. We immediately went down and waited in line. It was a breast cancer awareness concert so we purchased pink bandanas at a near by store. We took a picture and I Tweeted it to her. Guess what happened?! She quoted the Tweet and responded to me! I am famous. People came up to us in line and asked if we were the girls with the bandanas...NO BIG DEAL. The concert was a bust and the Hard Rock sucks, so we left. We eventually went back to the bars and enjoyed ourselves, me a little too much.
Sunday I woke up with the dark to drive MK to the airport. I couldn't be happier that she came to spend my birthday with me. It was actually the first time it was MK and my friends, not me with hers and it was a lot of fun. She fit right in and provided a lot of entertainment for all of us. Her spending my birthday with me was the best present ever. We had to be out of the hotel by 12 so we packed up, drove Jill to stay another night and hit the road. Jill and MK, the dynamic duo the two of them are, were the BEST boost for the next 2 months of this program. I felt like I was missing home and they provided the little taste I needed. Our drive was long, but bed was great that night.
This past week was crazy. Getting things ready for Virginia. Unfortunately, we found out Jamie is leaving us. Tuesday she told us she got a real person job at home and was leaving the amerilife and our little family, River 10. I am going to miss her a lot since she was one of the best teammates anyone could ask for. Our dynamic will be a little different when we start our project without Jamie there, but we couldn't be more proud of her for the job she got and how successful she is going to be.
Our team takes off tomorrow to drive 17 hours and 40 mins to Great Falls, Virginia. I am really excited about the project and I can't wait to get started on 4th round. I can NOT believe it is 4th round already. It seems like yesterday I got in the 15p for the first time in February to come to Vicksburg. Fastest 10 months ever. I am excited to spend time with my team and enjoy being a family for one last round. It is hard to believe the next time we come back to Vicksburg it will be graduation week. Time is flying by.
That's all from me. I hope you enjoyed a little sneak peak of my birthday vacation! Thank you to all who sent me cards, gifts, etc for my birthday! Nicest surprises out there! Mail is the best gift anytime of year, especially around your birthday. Until next time!
We arrive in Nashville at about 3:30-4ish where we got to meet Tiff's friend from home who we named Mo for the weekend. And shortly after we got to the sweet digs at the Ramada Inn, Jill came! Finally I got to see my best friend for the first time since August. Couldn't have been any happier than I was, UNTILLLL MaryKathryn came and brought Rachel with her! All in one weekend I was with my 3 best friends from AmeriCorps, my sister, and my best friend from home, PLUS we all made one more friend that weekend. Pretty solid crew. It was awesome how quickly we all became a little group of friends and clicked all weekend.
Allow me to give you some high lights of our weekend...
Thursday night I turned 24 at midnight, so we broke out the party hats that Mom sent, obviously. We gave one to the singer of the band and he sang me a great country version of Happy Birthday. Ringing in a new year of life. Three Nashville Predators were at the bar, one being Shea Webber. They are not friendly at all what so ever, but very nice on the eyes. It was nice to look at them, but not talk. Pretty successful night.
Friday was my actual birthday...we woke up and found a Dunkin' Donuts...after an HOUR of searching. Thanks to MK, Rachel, and Jill having conflicting GPS's on their "smart" phones it took a little bit of time. We lounged then hit Broadway Street to do some walking around and listening to some live music. It was a perfect day. We all went back to get ready to go to dinner. We went to a place called the Big River Brewery. My lord it was delicious. I got Mac 'n Chicken, my mouth just watered typing that. This meal along with some nice brewery beer was the best way to kick off the night. After that we went to a few bars, but ended up at Big Shotz, what became the greatest bar. Sam told the band it was my birthday so I got called on stage. The singer asked me what I wanted to hear them play and I said anything country. They came up with one of my FAVORITE country songs, Wagon Wheel. I was singing right along when he nudged me toward an open microphone. Yes, I sang live with the band, solo a couple of times, which obviously I have the voice of an angel, so it went really well. A literal cowboy pulled me off stage to "two-step" with me. He had a cowboy hat on, tucked in plaid shirt, and cowboy boots. He talked me through the steps, spinning me, and me spinning him. It was magical. Pretty much the highlight of my weekend. This was literally the best birthday I have ever had.
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| The crew at the Grand Ole Opry. |
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| Very proud of my social media shout out |
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| Me and MK |
Our team takes off tomorrow to drive 17 hours and 40 mins to Great Falls, Virginia. I am really excited about the project and I can't wait to get started on 4th round. I can NOT believe it is 4th round already. It seems like yesterday I got in the 15p for the first time in February to come to Vicksburg. Fastest 10 months ever. I am excited to spend time with my team and enjoy being a family for one last round. It is hard to believe the next time we come back to Vicksburg it will be graduation week. Time is flying by.
That's all from me. I hope you enjoyed a little sneak peak of my birthday vacation! Thank you to all who sent me cards, gifts, etc for my birthday! Nicest surprises out there! Mail is the best gift anytime of year, especially around your birthday. Until next time!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
I have fallen in love with a city.
Hello readers. It has been almost 2 weeks since I posted last and that is because I have been prrrrrrretty busy. I am sure y'all are real upset about that...anyway...last week in NOLA.
The last week in New Orleans was pretty crazy. Monday we went to a home to muck and gut it and when we got there it was literally a poopy mess. There was legitimate poop on the ground. It was the worst home we have been in so far. We had to wear the tyvek suits again to sweat all day. Well for me and David, we didn't have to sweat all day. He left his chargers for his electronics everything at the distribution center so I got nominated to drive him to get his things. This conveniently came at the right time since we ran into our first HUGE snake in the garage. It was probably tiny, but in my afraid of snakes mind, it was massive. David and I got more than lost and it took all day to retrieve his things. We ended up taking a ferry to get from one side of the Parish to the other. Really weird. But all in all the day was full of driving. Kind of the theme of the week..
Tuesday was the best day I had in New Orleans by far. Sam, Rachel, Margaret and I decided to take a personal day/life after AmeriCorps day. We decided the week before that there will never be a time where the 4 of us are together in a fun city again. We took full advantage of that and took the day to relax and go downtown and shop/hang out. The day started with beignets, per usual. Again, they were delicious. We then walked around and did some shopping/found a place with cheap beer. After the one beer we found the world's best nachos and margaritas. Kind of the perfect combination. Once we finished that mess of food, we ventured to Frenchman Street to the French Market. Then we went to Magazine Street to go to the Defend New Orleans store. Really cool t-shirt store where I made my first and only purchase. I wear the shirt loud and proud. Apparently it is Taco Tuesday at a local place on Magazine, so the 4 of us plus Sam's friends who live in NOLA came to eat with us. Such good tacos. Honestly, this day was what I needed to really bring to light that I definitely love the city. I am actually in love with it. Maybe I will be heading down there sooner than I think.
Wednesday we woke up to a wonderful surprise; 5 slashed tires! How nice of someone! Not only did our team's van need to be in the shop for almost a week because of hitting a ladder on the highway, but now our truck had a flat. The other 2 teams vans had their tires slashed, our truck, and a truck of the non-profit that ran the housing we stayed at. Due to the tires needing to be fixed immediately, Sam and I had to stay back and drive cars around. So, much like Monday, I drove the entire day Wednesday. Here, an hour there, back to the work site, back to the housing, back to work, it was a lot. But what can you do. Just some sick people in the world. Anyway, I got to watch Modern Family and The Middle premiers that night, which was a laugh that was needed big time. That night I actually finished book #3 on the year! I am really proud of myself for what may seem like a little accomplishment, but if you know me, you know how hard it has been for me to read. Thanks to Kara for the great book! Looking for #4 for the fourth spike, any suggestions are welcome.
Thursday was our last day of work. We finished the home the team had been working on all week. I am glad we finished it and got to help this family with one of three homes they own. Thursday afternoon was spent packing until we had a service learning 3 hours with our sponsor, Jim. He lives in New Orleans and was here when Katrina hit. He took us around to the places in NOLA where Katrina hit the hardest. We saw the levees that broke and saw where they were rebuilt. It was amazing to see some parts of the city still not fixed from the hurricane. It was a real eye opener for me. Our team got to see the homes that Brad Pitt helped build. Kind of cool homes. It just made me really want to move to this awesome city. Hearing stories from a NOLA native really made me realize that the sense of community in this city is unlike any other city I have ever seen. It is amazing what people have gone through together. I love the sense of pride in homes and sense of pride in the entire city itself. I just have fallen in love New Orleans.
Friday was our travel day back to Vicksburg. Best part about it was, we used our travel money on PANERA. It has been since February that I have had a bacon turkey bravo. I was so happy. Since we got back to campus last Friday, my life has been stressful and a whirlwind of a week. Everything worked out positively for me, but I am taking full advantage of the weekend I am having currently. Yesterday I did an ISP with some people staying on campus for break. We got to go to "Happy Day" at the intermediate elementary school in town. This school is pre-K-3 and has 720 students. Each student is given a certain number of tokens to earn so they can enjoy a day outside doing fun events. It helps them practice positive behavior. It was a really cool concept. I got to play with these kids all day and sing and dance to Justin Bieber and One Direction with them. It was the best day I have had in a long time.
This week helped me realize that I joined the program for the right reasons and I am so lucky to have met the group of friends that I have here. I honestly have some people in my life here that will be in my life forever. I am on a team that was a team to begin the 10 months together and now we are a family. It is amazing how well we get along and how much we all love each other. My group of friends are the most supportive people of each other that I have ever met. We are all here for the same reasons and I would probably not complete the program without them.
Today is day 2 of fall break in Vicksburg. I am going to get a lot of job research done before Thursday when Sam, Tiffany and I get into a car and drive 7 hours to Nashville to meet Rachel for our little AmeriCorps vacation! I can't wait. Jill is flying down for the whole long weekend vacation and MaryKathryn decided spur of the moment to come join. I need that little taste of home for a few days and I couldn't be happier to introduce them to my friends from AmeriCorps. The south better get ready for the Conceison sisters taking over!
A lot of positives to look forward to for me, round 4 in Virginia with my family River 10, and my BIRTHDAY NEXT FRIDAY in a city I've always wanted to visit, and a new beginning at home in December! I need this kind of excitement in my life right now!
That's it for now, I hope everyone is doing well in the fall weather I miss so much. It will be weird not celebrating my birthday at home, but I am sure MK will fill that void for me. Can't wait to see everyone in 2 short months!
I am going to strategically place my address here... :)
Christine Conceison
AmeriCorps NCCC
2715 Confederate Ave.
Vicksburg, MS 39180
The last week in New Orleans was pretty crazy. Monday we went to a home to muck and gut it and when we got there it was literally a poopy mess. There was legitimate poop on the ground. It was the worst home we have been in so far. We had to wear the tyvek suits again to sweat all day. Well for me and David, we didn't have to sweat all day. He left his chargers for his electronics everything at the distribution center so I got nominated to drive him to get his things. This conveniently came at the right time since we ran into our first HUGE snake in the garage. It was probably tiny, but in my afraid of snakes mind, it was massive. David and I got more than lost and it took all day to retrieve his things. We ended up taking a ferry to get from one side of the Parish to the other. Really weird. But all in all the day was full of driving. Kind of the theme of the week..
Tuesday was the best day I had in New Orleans by far. Sam, Rachel, Margaret and I decided to take a personal day/life after AmeriCorps day. We decided the week before that there will never be a time where the 4 of us are together in a fun city again. We took full advantage of that and took the day to relax and go downtown and shop/hang out. The day started with beignets, per usual. Again, they were delicious. We then walked around and did some shopping/found a place with cheap beer. After the one beer we found the world's best nachos and margaritas. Kind of the perfect combination. Once we finished that mess of food, we ventured to Frenchman Street to the French Market. Then we went to Magazine Street to go to the Defend New Orleans store. Really cool t-shirt store where I made my first and only purchase. I wear the shirt loud and proud. Apparently it is Taco Tuesday at a local place on Magazine, so the 4 of us plus Sam's friends who live in NOLA came to eat with us. Such good tacos. Honestly, this day was what I needed to really bring to light that I definitely love the city. I am actually in love with it. Maybe I will be heading down there sooner than I think.
Wednesday we woke up to a wonderful surprise; 5 slashed tires! How nice of someone! Not only did our team's van need to be in the shop for almost a week because of hitting a ladder on the highway, but now our truck had a flat. The other 2 teams vans had their tires slashed, our truck, and a truck of the non-profit that ran the housing we stayed at. Due to the tires needing to be fixed immediately, Sam and I had to stay back and drive cars around. So, much like Monday, I drove the entire day Wednesday. Here, an hour there, back to the work site, back to the housing, back to work, it was a lot. But what can you do. Just some sick people in the world. Anyway, I got to watch Modern Family and The Middle premiers that night, which was a laugh that was needed big time. That night I actually finished book #3 on the year! I am really proud of myself for what may seem like a little accomplishment, but if you know me, you know how hard it has been for me to read. Thanks to Kara for the great book! Looking for #4 for the fourth spike, any suggestions are welcome.
Thursday was our last day of work. We finished the home the team had been working on all week. I am glad we finished it and got to help this family with one of three homes they own. Thursday afternoon was spent packing until we had a service learning 3 hours with our sponsor, Jim. He lives in New Orleans and was here when Katrina hit. He took us around to the places in NOLA where Katrina hit the hardest. We saw the levees that broke and saw where they were rebuilt. It was amazing to see some parts of the city still not fixed from the hurricane. It was a real eye opener for me. Our team got to see the homes that Brad Pitt helped build. Kind of cool homes. It just made me really want to move to this awesome city. Hearing stories from a NOLA native really made me realize that the sense of community in this city is unlike any other city I have ever seen. It is amazing what people have gone through together. I love the sense of pride in homes and sense of pride in the entire city itself. I just have fallen in love New Orleans.
Friday was our travel day back to Vicksburg. Best part about it was, we used our travel money on PANERA. It has been since February that I have had a bacon turkey bravo. I was so happy. Since we got back to campus last Friday, my life has been stressful and a whirlwind of a week. Everything worked out positively for me, but I am taking full advantage of the weekend I am having currently. Yesterday I did an ISP with some people staying on campus for break. We got to go to "Happy Day" at the intermediate elementary school in town. This school is pre-K-3 and has 720 students. Each student is given a certain number of tokens to earn so they can enjoy a day outside doing fun events. It helps them practice positive behavior. It was a really cool concept. I got to play with these kids all day and sing and dance to Justin Bieber and One Direction with them. It was the best day I have had in a long time.
This week helped me realize that I joined the program for the right reasons and I am so lucky to have met the group of friends that I have here. I honestly have some people in my life here that will be in my life forever. I am on a team that was a team to begin the 10 months together and now we are a family. It is amazing how well we get along and how much we all love each other. My group of friends are the most supportive people of each other that I have ever met. We are all here for the same reasons and I would probably not complete the program without them.
Today is day 2 of fall break in Vicksburg. I am going to get a lot of job research done before Thursday when Sam, Tiffany and I get into a car and drive 7 hours to Nashville to meet Rachel for our little AmeriCorps vacation! I can't wait. Jill is flying down for the whole long weekend vacation and MaryKathryn decided spur of the moment to come join. I need that little taste of home for a few days and I couldn't be happier to introduce them to my friends from AmeriCorps. The south better get ready for the Conceison sisters taking over!
A lot of positives to look forward to for me, round 4 in Virginia with my family River 10, and my BIRTHDAY NEXT FRIDAY in a city I've always wanted to visit, and a new beginning at home in December! I need this kind of excitement in my life right now!
That's it for now, I hope everyone is doing well in the fall weather I miss so much. It will be weird not celebrating my birthday at home, but I am sure MK will fill that void for me. Can't wait to see everyone in 2 short months!
I am going to strategically place my address here... :)
Christine Conceison
AmeriCorps NCCC
2715 Confederate Ave.
Vicksburg, MS 39180
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Round 3 coming to a close
This week in New Orleans...
This week was a little different for River 10. Monday was by far the best day ever. We all got up for work and got ready, but it was POURING here. Did the usual routine, put on my beautiful uniform, made some eggs, drank black coffee, you know the usual. As we were all about to get into Scooter, our 15p, Beste told us that work was...get this...cancelled. What this meant for us was we had a SNOW DAY! We deemed this day as a snow day because it was exactly like watching the news and seeing your school scrolling down teh bottom of the screen. So, Jamie, Chris, Sam, and I decided to brave the rain and head downtown. Our mission on this day: eat our first beignets of our time in NOLA. We went to Cafe de Monde and had coffee and beignets. It was quite honestly the best Ameri-snow day ever. On Monday afternoon we had 4th round project reveal. I can’t even believe it is 4th round already. We found out that we are going back to Virginia to Great Falls. We are going to be working with Living Classrooms of the Nations Capital Region. This non-profit provides a hands-on learning, job training, community service, and community development programs for students with diverse backgrounds with an emphasis on serving disadvantaged youth in at-risk environments. We are going to be doing a number of things with LCNCR. Our project consists of debris removal from the wind storms that hit Virginia in June which also includes trail upkeep on the site, bridge repair and invasive species removal, we will do indoor and outdoor repairs of the lodge at Camp Fraser where the Living Classrooms site is, we will do repairs to sleeping pavilions and outdoor classroom space, we will be creating a garden for educational usage, and last but not least we will be doing educational programming. The educational programming is something I hope I can do well in since it is planning a spring break plan for 4th/5th grade students who come to the camp for their break. We also get to create a park outreach program which brings students out into the park to do environmental education programs. Right up my alley. Although this wasn’t our first choice of projects, I am excited to be in Virginia for the fall. I get to feel the fall weather that I am really missing these days. It will be the little things that I will appreciate about round 4 since it is the last round of my service, can’t believe it.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were back at it. We spent the day at the distribution center handing out personal care bags to people who are still in need to supplies. It is kind of mind blowing that even two months after that some individuals are still in need of cleaning supplies and food. The distribution center has become kind of our second home in NOLA since the staff there now know all of us and we have been there so often that we can run the show. It does get kind of boring, but hey, it beats Lake City!
Thursday five of us went into a home and did some mucking and gutting. We had to tear down the ceiling and help clear the rest of the house out. This house wasn't so bad since a crew had been in earlier in the week and did all of the walls. We came in to finish the ceilings. Pretty simple and easy day.
Our van had a little tire issue, so he has been out of commission all week. Thank God for our tiny truck! Due to this little mishap, 3 of us had to go work with River 6 for the day. I enjoyed working with another team for a day. We got to work with their sponsor organization on their homes. I got to paint my fair share for the day. After work, a group of us went to Magazine Street to shop. Since I love shopping so much I purchased zero things. I may leave New Orleans with a t-shirt or two since well, we all know my usual outfit consists of a t-shirt at some point. I had a nice bowl of gumbo for dinner and we all literally came back to our housing and went to bed.
Saturday a few of us from each team got together to do an ISP. We spent the day working with Green Light New Orleans. This unbelievably cool non-profit was started after Katrina hit by the founder because he was on tour with his band. He came up with a pretty bright idea, if you ask me...har har...The concept behind the organization is to change incandescent light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lights. We got to canvas around to homes to ask each home owner if they wanted their light bulbs changed to the CLF bulbs. Each bulb will help the residents of New Orleans to reduce their carbon foot print and reduce the amount of money they spend on their bills. The bulbs also last for an extremely long time, much longer than the incandescent bulbs. The concept of the whole non-profit is pretty amazing. I enjoyed a sweet nap after the day and did the usual on our last Saturday night here.
I absolutely am in love with New Orleans. I love everything about the entire city. I am looking into non-profits down here for next year in hopes that maybe I can do another AmeriCorps program and live here for a bit. Blazing my own trail as Dad-Z likes to say. We will see...just a thought now. Anyway, this is our last week here and we are mucking and gutting in a neighborhood that needs some serious help. We are working with a Delta team that got sent here to help. It should be a good week. Friday we are back to Vicksburg for the start of transition for a week, then it is fall break. Fall break means, relaxing on campus, my birthday and NASHVILLE with some of the best friends and the best sister in the world. I can't wait. Big happy birthday to Pauly wog and Dad this week! Miss you guys! Again, pictures are taking way too long for my attention span...Hope y'all have a good week!
This week was a little different for River 10. Monday was by far the best day ever. We all got up for work and got ready, but it was POURING here. Did the usual routine, put on my beautiful uniform, made some eggs, drank black coffee, you know the usual. As we were all about to get into Scooter, our 15p, Beste told us that work was...get this...cancelled. What this meant for us was we had a SNOW DAY! We deemed this day as a snow day because it was exactly like watching the news and seeing your school scrolling down teh bottom of the screen. So, Jamie, Chris, Sam, and I decided to brave the rain and head downtown. Our mission on this day: eat our first beignets of our time in NOLA. We went to Cafe de Monde and had coffee and beignets. It was quite honestly the best Ameri-snow day ever. On Monday afternoon we had 4th round project reveal. I can’t even believe it is 4th round already. We found out that we are going back to Virginia to Great Falls. We are going to be working with Living Classrooms of the Nations Capital Region. This non-profit provides a hands-on learning, job training, community service, and community development programs for students with diverse backgrounds with an emphasis on serving disadvantaged youth in at-risk environments. We are going to be doing a number of things with LCNCR. Our project consists of debris removal from the wind storms that hit Virginia in June which also includes trail upkeep on the site, bridge repair and invasive species removal, we will do indoor and outdoor repairs of the lodge at Camp Fraser where the Living Classrooms site is, we will do repairs to sleeping pavilions and outdoor classroom space, we will be creating a garden for educational usage, and last but not least we will be doing educational programming. The educational programming is something I hope I can do well in since it is planning a spring break plan for 4th/5th grade students who come to the camp for their break. We also get to create a park outreach program which brings students out into the park to do environmental education programs. Right up my alley. Although this wasn’t our first choice of projects, I am excited to be in Virginia for the fall. I get to feel the fall weather that I am really missing these days. It will be the little things that I will appreciate about round 4 since it is the last round of my service, can’t believe it.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were back at it. We spent the day at the distribution center handing out personal care bags to people who are still in need to supplies. It is kind of mind blowing that even two months after that some individuals are still in need of cleaning supplies and food. The distribution center has become kind of our second home in NOLA since the staff there now know all of us and we have been there so often that we can run the show. It does get kind of boring, but hey, it beats Lake City!
Thursday five of us went into a home and did some mucking and gutting. We had to tear down the ceiling and help clear the rest of the house out. This house wasn't so bad since a crew had been in earlier in the week and did all of the walls. We came in to finish the ceilings. Pretty simple and easy day.
Our van had a little tire issue, so he has been out of commission all week. Thank God for our tiny truck! Due to this little mishap, 3 of us had to go work with River 6 for the day. I enjoyed working with another team for a day. We got to work with their sponsor organization on their homes. I got to paint my fair share for the day. After work, a group of us went to Magazine Street to shop. Since I love shopping so much I purchased zero things. I may leave New Orleans with a t-shirt or two since well, we all know my usual outfit consists of a t-shirt at some point. I had a nice bowl of gumbo for dinner and we all literally came back to our housing and went to bed.
Saturday a few of us from each team got together to do an ISP. We spent the day working with Green Light New Orleans. This unbelievably cool non-profit was started after Katrina hit by the founder because he was on tour with his band. He came up with a pretty bright idea, if you ask me...har har...The concept behind the organization is to change incandescent light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lights. We got to canvas around to homes to ask each home owner if they wanted their light bulbs changed to the CLF bulbs. Each bulb will help the residents of New Orleans to reduce their carbon foot print and reduce the amount of money they spend on their bills. The bulbs also last for an extremely long time, much longer than the incandescent bulbs. The concept of the whole non-profit is pretty amazing. I enjoyed a sweet nap after the day and did the usual on our last Saturday night here.
I absolutely am in love with New Orleans. I love everything about the entire city. I am looking into non-profits down here for next year in hopes that maybe I can do another AmeriCorps program and live here for a bit. Blazing my own trail as Dad-Z likes to say. We will see...just a thought now. Anyway, this is our last week here and we are mucking and gutting in a neighborhood that needs some serious help. We are working with a Delta team that got sent here to help. It should be a good week. Friday we are back to Vicksburg for the start of transition for a week, then it is fall break. Fall break means, relaxing on campus, my birthday and NASHVILLE with some of the best friends and the best sister in the world. I can't wait. Big happy birthday to Pauly wog and Dad this week! Miss you guys! Again, pictures are taking way too long for my attention span...Hope y'all have a good week!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Disaster relief 65.25 hour week...no big deal
So since the last time I posted, it has been one crazy week. We left Lake City, Florida and got to New Orleans last Saturday. We got here and had a real brief orientation of the housing we are staying at. We also learned that our project is all disaster relief in the parish's (a Parish how the city is split, not churches here people) that were most affected by Hurricane Isaac. Mucking and gutting homes along with distribution of materials here and there. We are working for a number of sponsors, but we are staying at Project Homecoming's volunteer housing. Pretty cool, all the girls are back in a room together which we have been oh so longing for since we haven't been together since last spike. Once we were situated we pretty much dropped our bags and got ready to go out. It kind of felt like the first night out freshman year of college. It is just nice to be in a city where we are not limited to Applebee's or a restaurant to go out to. We sure went out. NOLA is insane, but I love it. We are staying at our housing with another team, River 6, which also is great since we haven't seen another team since we left campus AND Rachel and Margaret are on their team. Pretty neat-o. Sunday was used as a day off and pretty much a recovery day. Much needed.
Monday was day one of work. We went to a distribution center in a local Parish that was affected by Hurricane Isaac. Our team put together personal care bags at a location where different churches come to give out to their parishioners. We did over 300 bags for the day. Jamie and I got to help a kitchen that was feeding volunteers clean out their area. Their kitchen is called Mercy Chefs and they travel to disaster areas to make food to feed volunteers. Debby, the head chef, told us that it is her duty to feed volunteers because without food for them, there essentially couldn't be any volunteers. Never until this day did I once think of how volunteers and first responders to disasters eat. Now I know. Sam, Jamie, and I got to work with another kitchen, The Chow Train. These people were the best. We pulled chicken for them so they could make enchiladas the following day. Once we had all of the chicken done, the whole team got in on the fun. We made about 30 trays of food for the next day, leaving the chefs to do the other about 40. Once we were done, they popped a tray of food for us in the oven. We did some good work. This lovely 12 hour day ended around 8ish.
Tuesday was September 11th which is a National day of service. We kind of got to work with River 6 for the day to do the national day of service together. We went into Slidell another town in NOLA. We worked on a house mucking and gutting the whole thing. The homes were under water about 2 feet. On Wednesday we got to go back to the same home to finish up cleaning the lovely mess we made. It literally took all day to sweep, vac, and mop the drywall we took down. Hopefully this helped the family who lives in the house to start the rebuild process.
Thursday and Friday we were back at a different distribution center. This place hands out food, drinks, diapers, and cleaning supplies. The line never ends. It is open from 9-4 and cars are constantly coming. Friday we actually counted that there were 317 cars that came from the late opening time of 12-4. I really enjoyed working at these places because we got to meet some of the people that the food and supplies were going to. Everyone is so thankful we are helping them and it makes me feel like the reason I signed up for the program is really coming full circle on this part of our project.
Yesterday we traveled to a different Parish to do some mucking and gutting of a neighborhood that was really devastated by the hurricane. The damage was unreal. The home we worked on had water 3 feet high on the second floor. That means the entire first floor was under water and up to 3 feet upstairs. We had to gut the whole first floor from the ceiling to the floor. We typically only do 2 feet above the water line on the drywall, but this house and neighborhood was that damaged. The awesome part about this neighborhood was that they go from house to house everyday and help each other out. They are rebuilding their neighborhood together and they all have an awesome sense of community. It was nice to work with about 25 neighbors and really help them speed recovery process up. We only worked a half day since it was our 6th day of work. 6th long day of work. 65.25 hours worth of work this week to be exact, no big deal though. I earned my night last night that is for sure. Let's hope my body can keep up with me this week!
Needless to say, River 10 is more than thrilled to be in NOLA. I personally love the fact we are doing real disaster work because Florida was kind of a bust as far as the work load. I signed up for AmeriCorps knowing the possibility of responding to a disaster would be high. I am so glad that we are helping out here because they need it. Talking to people while working and really hearing how happy we are that we are helping reassures me that even through some tough days, I am so glad I am doing this work. We have another 2 weeks of disaster relief here in NOLA and I personally am thrilled. The work days are long, but so worth it in the long run.
That's all I have for this long 65.25 hour week! Really looking forward to hearing about what our 4th round project will be. We should know today or tomorrow. Can't believe it is 4th round already! More to come next week from me in NOLA! Pictures are taking way too long for my patience, maybe next week!
Monday was day one of work. We went to a distribution center in a local Parish that was affected by Hurricane Isaac. Our team put together personal care bags at a location where different churches come to give out to their parishioners. We did over 300 bags for the day. Jamie and I got to help a kitchen that was feeding volunteers clean out their area. Their kitchen is called Mercy Chefs and they travel to disaster areas to make food to feed volunteers. Debby, the head chef, told us that it is her duty to feed volunteers because without food for them, there essentially couldn't be any volunteers. Never until this day did I once think of how volunteers and first responders to disasters eat. Now I know. Sam, Jamie, and I got to work with another kitchen, The Chow Train. These people were the best. We pulled chicken for them so they could make enchiladas the following day. Once we had all of the chicken done, the whole team got in on the fun. We made about 30 trays of food for the next day, leaving the chefs to do the other about 40. Once we were done, they popped a tray of food for us in the oven. We did some good work. This lovely 12 hour day ended around 8ish.
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| Just me and the debris from the house. |
Thursday and Friday we were back at a different distribution center. This place hands out food, drinks, diapers, and cleaning supplies. The line never ends. It is open from 9-4 and cars are constantly coming. Friday we actually counted that there were 317 cars that came from the late opening time of 12-4. I really enjoyed working at these places because we got to meet some of the people that the food and supplies were going to. Everyone is so thankful we are helping them and it makes me feel like the reason I signed up for the program is really coming full circle on this part of our project.
Yesterday we traveled to a different Parish to do some mucking and gutting of a neighborhood that was really devastated by the hurricane. The damage was unreal. The home we worked on had water 3 feet high on the second floor. That means the entire first floor was under water and up to 3 feet upstairs. We had to gut the whole first floor from the ceiling to the floor. We typically only do 2 feet above the water line on the drywall, but this house and neighborhood was that damaged. The awesome part about this neighborhood was that they go from house to house everyday and help each other out. They are rebuilding their neighborhood together and they all have an awesome sense of community. It was nice to work with about 25 neighbors and really help them speed recovery process up. We only worked a half day since it was our 6th day of work. 6th long day of work. 65.25 hours worth of work this week to be exact, no big deal though. I earned my night last night that is for sure. Let's hope my body can keep up with me this week!
Needless to say, River 10 is more than thrilled to be in NOLA. I personally love the fact we are doing real disaster work because Florida was kind of a bust as far as the work load. I signed up for AmeriCorps knowing the possibility of responding to a disaster would be high. I am so glad that we are helping out here because they need it. Talking to people while working and really hearing how happy we are that we are helping reassures me that even through some tough days, I am so glad I am doing this work. We have another 2 weeks of disaster relief here in NOLA and I personally am thrilled. The work days are long, but so worth it in the long run.
That's all I have for this long 65.25 hour week! Really looking forward to hearing about what our 4th round project will be. We should know today or tomorrow. Can't believe it is 4th round already! More to come next week from me in NOLA! Pictures are taking way too long for my patience, maybe next week!
Friday, September 7, 2012
On the road again
Hello y'all...quick post for a nice little update on what is going on with River 10. So this week we had the bare minimum work load. Florida has been nothing but awesome for us. We were living in a hotel, our sponsor bent over backwards for us, and we were in Florida, what more could you want? This is all great, however, AmeriCorps is not just for cool hotels and awesome gifts from sponsors. We are here to help others, and to be quite honest, we really weren't doing that much work here. We were told that 20-30 homes needed to be mucked and gutted from Tropical Storm Debby, however, there really weren't many homes. We did a total of 4, and that total is being generous. We did a significant amount of work in these homes and it is work we are proud of. Our disaster relief here in Florida was only supposed to be 30 days and today is the 30th day. We stayed the time we were supposed to, which makes us feel better. Yesterday we got word from campus that we have a new project assignment starting tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will get in the van and drive to New Orleans, Louisiana! I am SO excited. We will be doing some disaster relief from Hurricane Isaac. We really have no idea what we are doing while there except we know we are going to clear debris and muck and gut homes. When I know more, I will fill y'all in. I've only been to New Orleans for a weekend last round and the little taste of the city I got I loved. I am really excited to spend the next 3 weeks in such an exciting place, however, my bank account probably isn't as excited as I am. Let's see how that works out...
So tomorrow we are on the road again and moving to a new location. We have to keep reminding ourselves of the AmeriCorps F word frequently as we continue in this round, flexibility. Just go where the wind blows us/campus calls us and tells us where to go. Either way, we are leaving and excited for the next 3 weeks! Enjoy your weekend!
Tomorrow we will get in the van and drive to New Orleans, Louisiana! I am SO excited. We will be doing some disaster relief from Hurricane Isaac. We really have no idea what we are doing while there except we know we are going to clear debris and muck and gut homes. When I know more, I will fill y'all in. I've only been to New Orleans for a weekend last round and the little taste of the city I got I loved. I am really excited to spend the next 3 weeks in such an exciting place, however, my bank account probably isn't as excited as I am. Let's see how that works out...
So tomorrow we are on the road again and moving to a new location. We have to keep reminding ourselves of the AmeriCorps F word frequently as we continue in this round, flexibility. Just go where the wind blows us/campus calls us and tells us where to go. Either way, we are leaving and excited for the next 3 weeks! Enjoy your weekend!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Florida Living
Hey y'all. We are still in Florida safe from the terrible storm that Isaac brought. I am sure you all know how bad some of the parts of the south were hit by Isaac and if not, they were hit BAD. New Orleans and Mississippi are where most of my friends got deployed to for disaster relief because of this storm. They have been working pretty much 24 hours a day with occasional naps because they are helping Red Cross with shelter work. I give them all the credit in the world for being where they are and helping out. I've talked to a few of them from a few different teams and from the sounds of it, that part of the country is pretty bad. Keep those people and my amerifriends down there in your thoughts and prayers.
Anyway, back to our project. We worked all last week at Miss Thompson's home. We can say that it is about 98% finished. We gave her a new ceiling that needs finishing touches to be finished, a new floor that we are waiting for the rug to be delivered, and new trim on her walls. Her trailer is looking like somewhat of a home now. One of the major accomplishments of last week was turning on the faucet one day. Danny works daily with us and he had us look over as he turned the faucet. Miss Thompson has not had running water for the past two maybe three years. This was all before Debby hit Florida, but still, two or three whole years without an amenity we look at as a simple thing. She cooks outside on a "stove" if she isn't eating canned goods. She has made accommodations, but on this day, her faucet worked. Danny connected some pipes and she now has running water. We have been cleaning the sceptic piping for her and installed a washing machine. Hopefully when the water becomes crystal clear, she will have clean water for the time being. Pretty awesome to know that now she will have some sorce of water with a clean bathroom, a washing machine that works, and a faucet to clean and cook with. We worked at her house today, too to do some finishing touches on her door. We are now at a stand still with this home until the carpet that is being donated actually gets donated.
Unfortunately, coming to Florida, we were under the impression that there was going to be endless work for us. There is now an end in sight. Somedays we do not have sufficient work to do, but we find projects around homes to get each home complete. We are hoping that there are more homes (for work sake not their sake) that we can help fix. Either way, Florida is awesome, just the work is kind of slow.
This past weekend was so relaxing. Friday night a few teammates and hung out and did nothing. Saturday was beautiful here. I took advantage of the pool for the morning and then went down teh street to watch football for most of the day. Sunday was the same routine. I was at the pool all day with the sun, until some clouds came adn ruined my day. We did some laundry then I concluded the weekend days by watching countless hours of mindless MTV "reality" TV, which I had been watching all weekend. The Hills provided me with my dosage of drama and crazy girls for the next year. It was an awesome 3 day marathon of such a really intelligent group of people. Monday was Labor Day so we had the day off. We traveled to Jacksonville to go to the beach and to meet David, our teammates, new baby. Leyek is 10 weeks old and is SO CUTE. David got to go home for 10 days to be with him and he lives in Jacksonville. We got a nice meal cooked by his mother and step father after we went to Saint Augustine for the beach. The town of Saint Augustine is awesome. It is very old, the oldest town in the USA in fact, and has awesome beaches. It ALSO has multiple Dunkin' Donuts! I got my fix of Pumpkin Spice that I thought I wasn't going to get. Thank God, it was worth it. We are thinking of going back to Jacksonville this Saturday to repeat what we did yesterday, beach, baby, and sun bathe.
We are hoping work speeds up this week for us. Either way, I am still happy to be helping people. I've been thinking of things to do after AmeriCorps and hopefully I will find a job somewhere and enjoy what I am doing. Kind of stressful. I am really looking forward to fall break where I will be staying on campus for a few days then traveling to Nashville for 3 nights and 4 days with some friends from AmeriCorps and a few from home. Going to the birth place of my favorite genre of music to celebrate my 24th birthday that Friday! I can't wait.
That's all I have for now. I hope everyone had a nice first day of school, especially my favorite permanent sub, my favorite 5th grade teacher, my favorite senior in college and my favorite 5th grader. Crazy how time flies. Oh yeah, and my new favorite college professor father. I am sure the first day was good for you, too, Mom. Hope all is well with y'all!
Anyway, back to our project. We worked all last week at Miss Thompson's home. We can say that it is about 98% finished. We gave her a new ceiling that needs finishing touches to be finished, a new floor that we are waiting for the rug to be delivered, and new trim on her walls. Her trailer is looking like somewhat of a home now. One of the major accomplishments of last week was turning on the faucet one day. Danny works daily with us and he had us look over as he turned the faucet. Miss Thompson has not had running water for the past two maybe three years. This was all before Debby hit Florida, but still, two or three whole years without an amenity we look at as a simple thing. She cooks outside on a "stove" if she isn't eating canned goods. She has made accommodations, but on this day, her faucet worked. Danny connected some pipes and she now has running water. We have been cleaning the sceptic piping for her and installed a washing machine. Hopefully when the water becomes crystal clear, she will have clean water for the time being. Pretty awesome to know that now she will have some sorce of water with a clean bathroom, a washing machine that works, and a faucet to clean and cook with. We worked at her house today, too to do some finishing touches on her door. We are now at a stand still with this home until the carpet that is being donated actually gets donated.
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| Ceiling work. |
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| Drywall for ceiling |
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| Putting together ceiling |
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| Insulation for floor |
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| Parts of finished room |
This past weekend was so relaxing. Friday night a few teammates and hung out and did nothing. Saturday was beautiful here. I took advantage of the pool for the morning and then went down teh street to watch football for most of the day. Sunday was the same routine. I was at the pool all day with the sun, until some clouds came adn ruined my day. We did some laundry then I concluded the weekend days by watching countless hours of mindless MTV "reality" TV, which I had been watching all weekend. The Hills provided me with my dosage of drama and crazy girls for the next year. It was an awesome 3 day marathon of such a really intelligent group of people. Monday was Labor Day so we had the day off. We traveled to Jacksonville to go to the beach and to meet David, our teammates, new baby. Leyek is 10 weeks old and is SO CUTE. David got to go home for 10 days to be with him and he lives in Jacksonville. We got a nice meal cooked by his mother and step father after we went to Saint Augustine for the beach. The town of Saint Augustine is awesome. It is very old, the oldest town in the USA in fact, and has awesome beaches. It ALSO has multiple Dunkin' Donuts! I got my fix of Pumpkin Spice that I thought I wasn't going to get. Thank God, it was worth it. We are thinking of going back to Jacksonville this Saturday to repeat what we did yesterday, beach, baby, and sun bathe.
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| David and Leyek |
We are hoping work speeds up this week for us. Either way, I am still happy to be helping people. I've been thinking of things to do after AmeriCorps and hopefully I will find a job somewhere and enjoy what I am doing. Kind of stressful. I am really looking forward to fall break where I will be staying on campus for a few days then traveling to Nashville for 3 nights and 4 days with some friends from AmeriCorps and a few from home. Going to the birth place of my favorite genre of music to celebrate my 24th birthday that Friday! I can't wait.
That's all I have for now. I hope everyone had a nice first day of school, especially my favorite permanent sub, my favorite 5th grade teacher, my favorite senior in college and my favorite 5th grader. Crazy how time flies. Oh yeah, and my new favorite college professor father. I am sure the first day was good for you, too, Mom. Hope all is well with y'all!
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