hi mom.

Well well well...not only is today one of the best days of the year (daylight savings time. duh.) but it's also the date that marks 18 more days left of the program. 18 more days. Team leader Tony asked me to remember the 18th day of the program...What a whirl wind year this had been...to say the least. I am currently in Birmingham, AL working with Habitat for Humanity and the three weeks prior to this the team was once again in New Orleans working with the Alliance for Affordable Energy. Habitat is pretty self explanatory and widely known but the Alliance is a small non-profit that works with the energy companies and homeowners to reduce the cost of living. Since the hurricane they have switched gears and are better educating homeowners on the importance of energy efficiency and getting them involved in making their homes energy efficient. Its a small organization with a lack of funding but the staff was great and we definitely learned a lot. I think it's safe to say that this last round has been by far the best in terms of the work being done. These two organizations, while very different, have been great to work with and really utilized the team - making our experience that much more worthwhile. I have learned so much in the past two weeks while working with Habitat...Roofing, J-Channeling, (an awful pain in the bum) framing, siding..etc. I have also learned the words to the same 15 country songs that get played on the radio everyday - that of which i am ashamed... 

I've decided to just give a run down of everything that has happened (in no specific order, of course)

1. We lost our trusty van Mable and gained Boufford. he's huge. 

2. We live in a dungeon in the supposed ghetto and almost go carbon monoxide poisoning our first night (not really) and some fear we will get rickets. (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Rickets)

3. We spent a total of 21 weeks in New Orleans probably making us candidates for citizenship.

4. There were no hurricanes for the last 3 months in New Orleans but there might as well have been because it rained everyday. We did a lot of cloud and water funnel watching. 

5. I am finished with all of my hours! 1,700...yowza.

6. We've become professional acoustic ceiling tile installers..and paint scrappers. both of which are pretty dangerous. As professionals we found different ways to use those tiles...such as cleaning up a flood on the second floor because of a lack of brooms/electricity and to add traction in the mud when Mable got stuck for 4 hours (don't try it at home)...we also painted them to make Camp Hope look stunning...and as weapons when fighting with each other. who knew they were so versatile. 

7. The Girl Scouts in New Orleans aren't as nice as the ones in Ohio. cajuns are feisty, that's for damn sure.

8. I got me a pair of boat shoes but didn't get the chance to wear them when we took a 6 hour ride/tour (which was supposed to be three...sound familiar?) of the mississippi river gulf outlet on a fishing or crabbing or clamming (who knows) boat owned by a man named george - we think we was nice considering we couldn't understand a word that was coming from his mouth. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River-Gulf_Outlet_Canal 

http://www.mrgomustgo.org/

9. Wiring a house isnt as fun as it looks but, using a giant drill is pretty fun once you show it who's boss.

10. We went to the Civil Rights Institute which was really awesome and educational. Birmingham has a lot to offer..i think most of us wish we could have spent more time down here!

11. The cockroaches in New Orleans like to eat people food and snuggle in bed as much as my dog. neat. oh and apparently astroturf is the knew hard wood floor or tile in kitchens though again, i wouldn't try it at home because cockroaches like the feeling of it one their feet/toes/legs/gross.

12. You can lower the cost of your heating and cooling bills simply by spending days in your unbearably hot attic stapling up the thickest tin foil ever. and insulation is still really itchy especially when it gets blown up your AmeriShorts. yuck. (check us out!)

That's really all i can think of right now. We've got 5 days of work left which brings mixed emotions (I didn't know I had those until last night when I realized that in 18 days I'm not going to be going on a 3 day vacation and it will be a long time until i see some of the people i have shared every memory with for the last 10 months...how depressing) I couldn't be more excited to go home but I know i will miss these people and these crazy experiences (don't tell anyone is said so) It's been real and it's been fun. it's been real fun. But a new chapter awaits and i can't wait to begin it, whatever it may be. 

New Orleans...second time around

I've been scolded because i haven't updated this sucker in a while so here it goes. The past month has been a whirl wind of traveling, business and saying goodbyes and hello's. We made our fourth and final trip (thank. goodness.) up I-95 from Gainesville to Maryland at the beginning of the month to head out for mid-year break. I made my appearance where necessary..Hudson and Chautauqua. It was a really relaxing week..an opportunity to clear my mind and regroup. Those 12 days flew by and before i knew it i was back in Perry Point doin' the same 'ol stuff. It was a week of very mixed emotions...not wanting to be in MD and kind of not wanting to come back to New Orleans..I took up breathing exercises and motivational reading...(what has my life come to?...yikes) After silly job fair in DC, a day of trash pick up in Baltimore and a directors brief the team found ourselves, once again, packed to the gills in trusty Mable en route to New Orleans. We stayed over in town outside of Charlotte, which was really out of the way but that's irrelevant now..The team finally made it to Chalmette, LA last Sunday not knowing what a crazy week we had ahead of us. 

Chalmette is in St. Bernard Parish which is a neighbor to New Orleans Parish. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to get to the city. We are living in bunk rooms in a church and basically found out how spoiled we have been for the past two rounds...now we actually have to share the place with other people. geez.  Our actual project is working with the St. Bernard Parish Gov. helping rebuild Camp Hope. Camp Hope was one of the first volunteer housing sites built after Katrina. There have been two Camp Hope locations which were funded and basically run by Habitat for Humanity...this is no longer the case. Habitat is no longer funding the new Camp so the Parish stepped in and is taking over. The new location needs a lot of work which is why we are here. 

That's our main project...which we have yet to really get started...

Last week we found ourselves leading about 1,000 Lutheran youth (and there annoying parents) in trash pickup and cemetery painting. Every three years there is a ginormous conference for Lutherans ( or something) This year they packed up from all over the country (mainly the Midwest) and came down to the city and were basically a pain in the butt. Our project was painting in 4 different cemeteries and trash pick up around the Parish...

Let me explain..because of the location of New Orleans people cannot be buried underground. So, the cemeteries consist of giant above ground tombs. When Katrina hit the water level around where we were working was about 25 feet (to the top of a standard utility pole) when that happens...things tend to want to float...and they did. Coffins floated out of their tombs...tombs floated out of their cemeteries and it was really a hot mess...(In the cemetery i was working at there were coffins that were found 20 miles away.) Its basically the last thing anyone would think about when a disaster like that happens but we came in and (tried) to save to day. During the three days we worked we used about 30 gallons of latex paint (all white) and only finished painting about 20 tombs. Its going to take a lot more work to finish it but to even get the ball rolling was a big help. The high schoolers complained and so did the parents. And it seems to be the case that the sun never shines in the Midwest (i thought it was just Ohio) and bees don't exist. It was an exhausting week but everyone was very appreciative of the work we were doing. (oh, and no one got swept away when the torrential down pour occurred or when the two water spouts [tornados?] touched ground...phew)

It's crazy to be back here again...but i am pretty excited about this round. Our sponsor, Crystal, is great and the project should be fun. Cross your fingers about hurricane season...i forget my life jacket at home. 

check out those vests.

conrad loves GPSing road signs!

this is what we work with everyday...what an expensive little bugger

.

our doublewide and Mable = heaven.

see, we work. in the pouring rain while getting attacked by mosquitos

the wild conrad does work.

roof frame of a bird blind (not for hunting..) we built. thank you.

conrad and crystal love nature walks.

gator.

gator.

badger 4.1 loves the days inn and route-95

Street Signs Are Complex.

Day 21 of Round 2: We have gotten into a groove in terms of our new project...finally. Our sponsor, John,  is awesome. He is an AmeriCorps NCCC alumni...so he knows the drill. We are working with the Public Works department of Gainesville helping them take inventory of their street signs = we walk around all day with fancy GPS systems recording every sign we see. Now, for those who arent so hip to the signs...there is a lot more to say, the average STOP sign than you think. For example...the material: is it engineer grade? or prismatic material?..both having different reflectivity... (so drivers can see them at night..) There are many different sizes of signs...24x24?..9x30?.. And the poles they are stuck to? Yep, is it 10ft or 12ft? U-channel or square? So...all of that junk has to be recorded and we are the suckers that got the job. It's actually not that bad, we get to spend the entire day outside - allowing me the perfect opportunity to work on my super sweet suntan and who doesn't love a good 6mile walk everyday? Apparently Gainesville loves their weekends because they recently moved to 4day/10 hour work weeks meaning on Friday's we will be working with the Nature Department...i think tomorrow we are building a roof for a bird viewing house? We'll see how that goes. 

Our housing is actually quite spacious. We are living in a double wide in a park called Boulware Springs...there is 15 miles of trail behind our house and a natural spring with turtles. Gainesville gets all of their water from natural springs and it was one of the main reasons the University of Florida built their campus here. The spring that is behind our house is nasty so, no swimming but one of the weekends we are down here John is going to take us to some springs that we can swim in and float on. One of the trails from our house leads to a pretty radical places called Payne's Prairie...which is a wildlife preserve. On Monday we went an walked the trail hoping to get a glimpse of wild horses, alligators, bison and many birds. The only thing we spotted was a ton of giant stinky alligators..and baby alligators! Everyone escaped with all of their limbs. (i'll post some pictures) The only downfall to our housing is that we had to bring all of our own furniture = cots. I hate cots. Cots hate humans. I got an early birthday present though!..a fabulous air mattress! (thanks mom & dad) 

So far things are going pretty well! This is a great project and we are pretty bummed we are only here for the month of June. Gainesville has a lot to offer in terms of history and things to do. I'm definitely looking forward to taking advantage of that and just have a good time! (John is pretty big into making sure we have fun too so, it shouldn't be a problem!) 

Peace&Love

this is the uh...only good thing that came from being in Kissimmee...

Psych.

I am here writing this in Perry Point after a wonderful weekend spent at home. Why am i in Perry Point? Well...it all started when we went to our first day of work for the Nature Conservancy and they informed us that we were unable to work until further notice...Why you ask? Legal junk...more or less. We soon found out that the legal junk could not be resolved so we packed up. Said peace out to Chucky and started our journey back to Maryland. Yep. Another two days in our trusty van..(recently named Mable..because apparently that's the thing to do, name the team van) Luckily for me i was able to get dropped off at the airport on Thursday and headed home! 

It was really great to get away and have a short break from everything! I had a hard time returning but here i am...back with the team...minus three. There was flooding in W. Virginia so, a team of 16 headed out there today to do disaster relief for around 2weeks. Three of the sixteen were two of badger 4's corps members and our team leader. We're down to 5 and it's a riot. We found out today that the 5 of us will be heading BACK to Florida (yep..go ahead, laugh) tomorrow or Thursday to work with for the city of Gainesville. We will be doing GPS data collecting around the city..also known as geocaching. People do that stuff as a recreational activity. We are doing it for our job. It should be interesting...we don't really know much more...except for there's the possibility of tubing down a river. 

We were warned from the start that being a part of NCCC is all about being flexible...and here was our biggest test of that. Sometimes it's frustrating not knowing exactly what we will be doing and when we will start working again but things happen and we just gotta go with the flow. yo.

Chucky the Alligator is our neighbor...

We made it Florida on Friday. It's hot. We left Maryland on Thursday and began our 2 day excursion. I've spent more time in that van than i ever want to...and it's only the second round. We spent a night in S.Carolina in the middle of nowhere only to show up to our new housing..which just so happens to be...in the middle of nowhere. For our directors brief(part of pre-round prep) we showed a really nice picture of what was THOUGHT to be our house...come to find out its the offices of the Nature Conservancy. Silly us...for the next 6weeks we will living in a double wide...which is actually bigger than our last house. Hearing the reaction of the team when we drove up was priceless though. We met Dan..who works for the Nature Conservancy (who we now work for) and he showed us around and let us know that the only things we needed to watch out for were...ahem..: every single type of poisonous snake in the USofA, poisonous spiders, bobcats, ticks, scorpions, the two gators that live in lake in our front yard (Chucky and Chica...they are only 10ft & 12ft - no biggie), ferrel hogs (there is a hog catcher living in a FEMA trailer)...and well i'm pretty sure the list went on but i my attention span is pretty minimal these days. I don't know what i feel more comfortable with, that speech or the "if you hear gun shots..hit the deck" speech by our last sponsor. Oh AmeriCorps. 

We live and will be working on the Nature Conservancy's Disney Wilderness Preserve. No, we aren't working for Disney... The preserve was established in 1992 as an offsite mitigation project to basically make up for all of the damage that occurred to the wetlands when the Walt Disney Resorts and various other sites were developed. There is a law in florida that when someone wants to develop over wetlands they either have to find another location to move the wetlands or find and preserve existing wetlands. Our orientation is on Monday but when talking with the sponsor during transition we found out that we will be doing a lot of herbicide treatment to invasive species, different species removal and relocation (in terms of plants such as maidencane, saltbush, cordgrass...yea i don't know what those are yet) and trail widening/restoring. No one on the team has really done this type of environmental work before so it should be a pretty educational experience for all of us. One of the coolest things about this round is that we only work four days a week...3day weekends will be glorious (Cocoa Beach is only an hour) 

We have only been here for a couple of days and have already come to realize that our entertainment is minimal....Yesterday we took a walk to the office which only took us two hours (from our house)..but we saw a turtle and some wild turkeys!  The walk also allowed us to refill our water bottles because well..drinking sulfur water isn't very legit..which is what is spit out to us from the showers and the faucets. We have a volleyball net. And a frisbee. And while we thought there was wireless in the office...it proved to not work yesterday so i am sitting at a Panera about 20 minutes away from home typing this. This round will definitely be interesting. We have a chance to actually spend some time with each other since we had a difficult time doing that in New Orleans. SPF70 will most likely become my new best friend since i already got fried. I am definitely excited to get started and am hoping to really make the most of my experience here and am looking forward to maintaining a positive attitude. constantly. hah. PEACE&LOVE!

Wrappin' up...

So, it's our last day in New Orleans. It's been a fun run but the entire team is definitely ready to bust a move outta here and head to our next location. We found out last week that we will be heading to Kissemmee, FL! We will be working with a branch of Disney doing environmental conservation work. It sounds like its going to be a lot of hard work but should be pretty rewarding! We havent gotten into all of the nitty gritty details of the project yet because right now we are working out this rounds project debrief (we have to give wrap up presentation to the directors and staff upon our return to perry point)

We finished work on Friday..which was pretty exciting. The past few weeks still consisted of a lot of painting and random carpentry work. A couple of weeks ago the team traveled to Baton Rouge for a night to work on a home. It was nice to get away from the United Saints project...not to mention we got to stay in a really nice hotel...(that bed sure beat the air mattresses we have been sleeping on for the past 8 weeks..) This past week i spent my time in the tool shed and running tools to projects in some pretty sweet cargo vans. We got a lot of work done for United Saints and everyone is pretty sad to see us go. Luckily another team from the Denver campus will be arriving in a few weeks to TRY to fill our shoes...(doubtful) We got pretty close to all of the people here so, its going to be sad saying goodbye.

Over the past two weekends we volunteered a Jazz Fest. Selling $65 tshirts is a pretty boring and ridiculous job but we got to get into the festival for free which was pretty radical since the price for a one day pass is $50...lots of money being made. I got the opportunity to catch a few minutes of Dave Matthew Band, Earth Wind and Fire, Etta James, Neil Young, Avett Brothers...and a few others. Etta James was by far the best...Neil Young is old. Unfortunately i didn't get to see Ben Harper (my all time fav) because i had to play a rousing game of kickball....i don't want to talk about it. We also go a free t-shirt and some kind of cooler bag contraption. Badgers love free tshirts.

Our entire team finished all 80 of our Individual Service Project (ISP) hours...which is pretty huge. We were the first team done and Travis was the first Corps member done. Apparently there is rumors circulating that we get a pizza party. woo. Having all of our hours done is a pretty fortunate thing - we basically get some of our freedom back.. free time on weekends and after work! 

We have a long drive tomorrow and Wednesday. We will be staying in Perry Point for about a week and a half before we leave for FL. I have no interest in going back there but it will be nice to get a break from living in a 3 room house with 9 crazy humans. 

This has been an awesome first round. I got the opportunity to meet a ton of great and interesting people and learned a lot about the history and culture of New Orleans. Our team has learned a lot about each other and while we dont always get along or see eye to eye..we are all that we've got so we had and will still have to learn to live with one another.  I also learned a lot about myself and know that everything i learned here and had to deal with during these 2months will make me stronger....or so i hear. 

Conrad being the bomb

Sweet drumming(..and huge guns..ha!)

This is Buck...the United Saints mascot! (His little lady friend just had puppies...what a pimp.)

Rollin' and Brushin'

It's been a busy busy but productive and great two weeks! If anyone is in need of a paint job..interior or exterior..holler at me. I have perfected my brushing skills whether it be on the exterior of a Methodist Church or the interior of a renovated home (i guess it all really depends on what you consider "perfection") That's what all of my work days have consisted of except for a few scattered projects such as hanging drywall(yikes..) and maybe another that i can't really remember right now.
Big John(he's like 7 feet tall..no joke) is a master painter who came to United Saints 1st St Recovery from California as a volunteer. He took it upon himself (along with a lot of help from Sherwin Williams and volunteers) to repaint the church that the organization is headquartered in. He selected me to be on his team when he saw me on a 24foot ladder changing light bulbs in the multi-purpose room...(I guess Jill's fear of heights skipped me!) So, i've been working with him a lot - it's been a lot of fun and a great learning experience but, i think i'm ready to dabble in a few other things...
Last Saturday was some anniversary for Hand's On New Orleans, one of the biggest relief organizations down here (I worked with them when i went to Biloxi, MS) So it was a day of service and a big celebration after. I helped clear/clean out a garden that will grow fresh vegetables for a local restaurant. After working, a big meal was served and a local high school marching band played (the dancers sure knew how to shake it...that's for sure) We also got a free t-shirt. It's purple!
For one of our service learning projects the team went to go see "Trouble the Water" at a local "theater". The movie is a first hand documentary about the events of a Hurricane Katrina- a woman and her husband found a video camera about a week before the storm and documented everything from days before the storm, during the storm and returning to their neighborhood two weeks after and realizing no one had even inspected the houses yet. It was a huge reality check of why we are here and why the city is the way it is today...such an eye opener! It was nominated this year for an Acadamy Award - didn't win though, I definitely recommend renting it!
Today part of the team went to the Rhythmic Roots and Green Ability Fair to work and spread the NCCC word. While we didn't get a huge response in terms of people being interested in the program, it was a great day to spend outside listening to an African drumming group and a 7 piece brass band! It's been raining all week so having today to spend out in the sun enjoying awesome music and the company of great people was a real treat!
It seems as though all of the days are running together - i find that i like it much better not knowing what day of the week it is or the date. We have been here for three weeks now but it seems way longer! I'm sure once these 8 weeks come to a close it will feel like we just arrived the day before! We still don't know where we are going for second round..but hopefully it will be announced soon!
PEACE&LOVE!

travy cleaning out a house fire.

julie at john harrison's house.

our corner.

mikal(a long term volunteer) painting john harrison's house.

paintin' the sign on the side of our house.

the team. somewhere.

21902 to 70113

So, we made it. And here is a run down of my life from 3/6 -3/11.

Friday-Saturday:

We were the last of 14 vans out of the neighborhood - badger 4 apparently loves stuff. We had to repack and leave some essentials that didn't fit in the van behind..such as the blender and the rice cooker. After getting pretty lost past Baltimore we finally got on the road and made it into Knoxville around 9. Slept. Got up. Left. Ate. Drove. Ate again. and finally made it into New Orleans. We settled into our little volunteer house - we have a kitchen, living room, and 2 bunk rooms. It's a tight space but it works! We then met with our project sponsor Daryl...who is a young guy that came down to New Orleans from Minnesota right after Katrina hit..volunteered for a bit. left. and then came back and started up United Saints 1st Recovery. The organization is run out of a Methodist church and that's were all of our meals and meetings are. (We eat communal meals...a guy name Chris is a great chef and fills up our belly's with delicious treats everyday! gumbo, soup, jumbalaya...etc.)

On Saturday night the team went down to the French Quarter and Bourbon St. It's pretty wild now because of all the "spring breakers", but it was fun to check out the scene. On a side note: The carriages that transport the young and old in love are not pulled by horses but by mules. And they will not stop for anything...especially a six-piece band followed by team Badger4 who crashed a wedding party's processional march through the streets. 

Monday-Thursday:

It was a long hot week. Everyday in 80's - needless to say my farmers "tan" is coming along nicely. There are a multitude of projects that we can pick to work on everyday. A lot of the houses that we work on weren't necessarily greatly affected by the storm but need a lot of help nonetheless. United Saints is big into redeveloping the community of Central City (where we are located) We are currently working on a few houses, painting the church, handing out food and some other random projects. I did a little bit of everything this week. On Monday i painted a sign in front of our home. Tuesday: Handed out bags of food at an organization called Angel Food. Here people can come in once a month and get a pretty big bag of food for free. Wednesday: Painted at John Harrisons's house (whatta nice fella!) Thursday: Worked at Mr. Masons house. He bought us delicious shrimp, oyster and sausage Po Boy's (sandwiches). yum. Everyday after working and dinner we went to the New Orleans Mission. We helped serve dinner to those that were spending the night there. It was a pretty awesome experience and we will definitely be going back in the weeks to come. 

Friday-Sunday:

In the summer a fleet of vans and trucks drove over to Texas for Ike relief. For some reason or another they did not drive all of the vehicles back to Perry Point so about 16 of us from 4 different teams from New Orleans and Lake Charles,LA (4hours north/east of NO) drove out to Austin to pick up those vehicles and bring them back. It was a long and rainy drive. At least we packed and dressed for the weather. WRONG. We all sported shorts and t-shirts in the sweet 40 degree weather. Typical. We got to see the city on Saturday - it was pretty cute. Maybe i will return when it's not so cold.

This week there are A LOT more spring break volunteers coming to work for United Saints. About 45 more than last week. It should be pretty interesting to see how much we get accomplished and how we all get fed. I have taken a lot pictures of projects and where we are living so i will put those up asap. So far things are stupendous!

And we're rollin'...

Thought i would share with ya'll a picture of my team. We got some today in our fancy black&whites(our formal uniform) but we all looked subpar. (Conrad, Tony, Gina, Me, Travis, Crystal, Julie, Chase and Randi. Good lookin' Badger 4)

The directors brief is over. I've been inducted. And my red bag is packed. CTI(Corps Training Institute) is officially over. By around 8am tomorrow morning we will have begun our 18hour journey to New Orleans. HOLY. MOLY.

Our directors brief was FLAWLESS. We had to give our 20 minute presentation that breaks down our entire project to Dave Beech (the deputy director) and a few other important people. They were extremely impressed with what we presented (one of the best they've seen)...Tony was pretty happy! The few days before the directors brief were pretty stressful - so the entire team was pumped to have that weight lifted! 

This morning we got "inducted" as the official ClassXV of the Atlantic Region of *NCCC.  The coolest part of the ceremony was that three local Civilian Conservation Corps vets came and were inducted into the newly established Atlantic Region Hall-of-Fame. the CCC was established by FDR in 1933 as a part o the New Deal. *NCCC holds the same values and principles as those of the CCC - there's a long history of behind this program and the importance of what myself and my fellow corps members will accomplish this year was really put into perspective today. Pretty neat. 

Like i said, tomorrow we will be leaving bright and early. We will drive for about 9 hours to Knoxville, TN..spend the night and then continue on Sat. for another 9 hours until we arrive in New Orleans. We will be leaving behind snow and 35 degrees for sun and 75 degrees. not to shabby.

I. Can't. Wait!!!! That's all. 

ISP-Camp Wabanna

A requirement to get all 1,700 of our hours is to do 80 of our own - this is called ISP (individual service project) On this particular ISP a group of 15 of us went to Camp Wabanna in Edgewater, MD..(southern Maryland passed Annapolis) During the winter the camp is a conference center and it doesn't really look like a camp at all (mom and jane, you would like all of the big old buildings!) They were pretty grateful when they got the call from us because there was A LOT of work to get done! In the main lodge they redid a lot of the rooms - so we came in a did some of the finish work...cleaning the floors, doors, sanding, painting, etc...along with some other random tasks that needed to get done! Lucky for us, this weekend there was a conference for men or something so, we got fed lunch and dinner! Here are some pictures...

Michelle had to sand and clean the floors of some unfinished rooms...she's my roommate :)

There was a crew cleaning some of the finished rooms. This is Chase..he's my teammate AND from Cincinnati!

More housekeeping..

sexy...

Windows needed to be sanded and then painted. This crew is sanding!

And this is Levi painting!

Jill informed me that it would be appropriate to make a glossary of all the AmeriCorps*NCCC acronyms. We'll see.... 

Camp Pecometh

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Camp Pecometh!

Conrad and myself finger dancing. Duh.

The trusty hunk-o-junk that we used to move all of the wood from Point A to Point B

One of those pairs of boots belongs to me. Hot.

These are some of the cabins the campers stay in. Kinda creepy, kinda cute.

Buddy! He was a mad man on that tractor!

Conrad was pretty lonely working with that crazy machine all of the time. It was used to grind up the tree stumps. Whatta hunk!

We just got back to "the Point" after an exhausting few days! We were wrong when we thought we would only be painting, that's for sure!...Buddy (the camp man) had 11, 50yr. old trees cut down for us to haul away. Yikes. I spent most of the trip hauling away molding cypress and white oaks. My guns sure are sore. The coolest part is that we hauled all of the logs, branches, trash...etc. in one day. We busted our butts! Today we had to help the paint crews finish up their jobs. They painted the dining hall and two "houses". It was a lot of work and because we weren't exactly working with our own teams, I was given the opportunity to work with new people and personalities...something i definitely learned from. I tried to keep my spirits high and remember that because of our help the camp had a larger budget to help under priveledged kids come to camp for free!

It's officially time to buckle down and start preparing for our first SPIKE! We have a lot of work to get done this weekend before our Directors Brief on Wednesday (a 30min. presentation about our project the team has to give to the "top dogs" of our campus) and the many little tasks that need to get done before we leave!

nola.

BIG NEWS. We finally found out that my team, BADGER 4! along with 4 or 5 other teams will be traveling south to N'AWLINS (new orleans) for our first SPIKE project!!! We will be working there until around May 6 = 2 MONTHS! We will be working with an organization called UNITED SAINTS <-- check it out! There is a lot of prep that the team has to do before we leave. But more importantly: today, Monday Feb. 23 was officially the LAST day of formal training! (finally...!) 

Tomorrow we leave on a Mini-SPIKE. We will be heading about an hour and  a 1/2 south to fix up (paint...repair things..) a summer camp. There will be 2 other teams going with us...so hopefully we get a lot done! The project will last for 3 days and after that its back to Perry Point to prepare for our departure on the 6th! 

We recently found out our individual team roles. Myself along with anotha fella, Conrad, will be the CAP (Corps Ambassador Program) Reps. We are pretty much the cheerleaders/mascots of the team and AmeriCorps*NCCC. For each project round we have to set up 3 different times in which we go out to the local community and promote the program. It should be really fun, considering Conrad has already made up a song to play on his guitar! The other role that i was assigned to is the Assistant Team Leader (ATL). The job is to help out TL TONY and if by chance he needs to leave the project, i step in as the TL. I'm pretty pumped that i was given this awesome opportunity! 

I couldn't be more excited to get out and start doing what i came here for!..SERVICE! Training was an essential part to what is going to happen in the next 9 months but i think we are all ready to go out and get things done! I haven't done a lot of research about our project just yet but from what i know it sounds pretty awesome and we will be doing some great work!

...we will miss mardi gras by a week...  :-)

Power Tools.

Training is in full swing and I couldn't be more anxious to go out on our first Spike! (project) In the past few days I have managed to get myself certified in CPR and First Aid (i'm pretty sweet at splinting and slinging) Tuesday and Wednesday found me learning about and getting certified in Disaster Relief..which basically means I can now help start and run a shelter...(it was kind of a review for me because for a bit there 11 Pratt St. Athens, Ohio was a shelter..or hostel. ha.) Today was the MOST important day in training. BLACK AND DECKER UNIVERSITY. Yep. That's Right. I got myself trained in power tools. Drills, saws and nails guns GALORE.  Not only did i get trained in power tools but i had to sport my steel toed boots while doing it. That is surely a sentence i never imagined myself saying. 

Tonight Team Leader Phillip Anthony Smith...TONY..is taking our team out for dinner. He's buying. Whatta guy. Our team dynamic is hilarious. After a week we are already pretty comfortable with each other. There are a few crazies, some shy guys and a few inbetweenie weenies. (Mom & Dad, Tony keeps asking me where i came from and if he will ever get to meet you fine folks...i guess i'm a "crazy"..) We still havent found out where we are being sent to for first round but I. CANT. WAIT! 

One thing that is pretty cool that i havent mentioned is the fact that we get free access to the YMCA. They have an awesome weight/cardio room and a pool. Tony tries to take us a few times a week. I have definitely been taking advantage of that and i can now run 4 miles. in one day. without stopping. whoa. 

I will try to post some more pictures soon! OVER. AND. OUT.

Who's in the House?

Badgers in the house! We Ready. We Steady. You know we lead the way! ooooo

So...that's our unit cheer. I'm a Badger 4. --Here is a little information incase you are unaware of this extraordinary creature Badger

There are three units - wolves, ravens and BADGERS. In each unit there is about 6 or 7 different teams (Badger 4) My team leader is TONY. He was actually a Badger4 corps member last year so he knows what we are going through, which is a great thing. He is really enthusiastic and appeared to be speechless (and awfully tired) when we found out our teams yesterday. There are 8 folks on my team : 5 ladies and 3 gentlemen. We have a great range of personalities and i'm exited to get to know everyone. 

Yesterday officially started our training. Physical Training. At 5:30AM. All i'm sayin' is that i am going to be darn good at the side straddle hop (known to regular people as the "jumping jack") and AmeriCorps squats. oh, and counting and lining up. OOOOBOY. We also started our in-class training. It's going to be a long month but the 9months of projects will definitely make up for it. We arent really sure what the rest of our schedule is going to look like. Going with the flow is a huge part of this year which i think i've already mastered. 

I officially decided that my life long dream of being on Supermarket Sweep has been shattered...Not only because i'm pretty sure it doesn't even exist anymore but because grocery shopping for 7 people is stressful and not something i plan on doing ever again..willingly.

 Side note: Thanks Mama...for feeding my belly for 20 years. 

So far my expectations have been exceeded..and it's only been a week! I'm meeting so many great individuals and i can already tell its going to be a fantastic year with so many unforgettable experiences. 

I will leave you with THIS

PEACE&LOVE

This is my temporary team (until monday) in front of some old lighthouse on the Susquehanna River

This is the view at sunset from my front door..it's okay to be jealous.

This the awfully humble abode that i will be residing in for the next 4weeks.

I Shower in a Clawed Tub.

Current Time: 7:30 AM.

Current Status: SHOWERED.

Yep. This is my new life. Waking up early AND showering. Rumors are that when on SPIKE (see glossary at the end...seriously) showers may or may not be hard to come by so i am taking full advantage of the clawed wonder in my bathroom. ANYWAYS, I'M HERE! and ALIVE! Its day four and today i have to pack a lunch (that's really all i know about what is going on today) I live with 6 other girls in well..a dump. Luckily our house has all of its windows and a stove. The water leaks got fixed! And the little piles of dead critters have been Cloroxed. There is a pretty good age range in the house (24, 23, 22, 19) and one girl is even from Hamilton, Ohio (nope, she doesnt know Uncle Paul) We have found out what UNIT we are in: BADGERS. We don't find out what TEAMS we are in until Monday. Cross.your.fingers.

Yesterday i basically found out that i am: TB, fetus and cancer free! VICTORY! We had our physicals. It was special. We also had a our first house meal! We made pasta, chicken, salad and broccoli. We no longer eat in the giant group of 136 because we got to go shopping! Each week we get about $150 as a house. It will certainly be interesting. 

I will post some pictures up here so ya'll can see and be jealous that my front yard is a body of water..also known as the Chesapeake Bay (or maybe the river that intersects it)  

So far everything is great! and i look DAMN good in a uniform! Peace&Love!

SPIKEs are when we leave the campus to do our projects. 

UNITS are the larger groups comprised by teams (Badger, Raven, Wolf)

TEAMS are the small groups with 8 corps members and a team leader. 

Here I Go...

Hanna Hopkins- Class XV
AmeriCorps NCCC
PO Box 209
Perry Point, MD 21902


T-Minus five hours until I officially embark on this GIANT adventure and the only thing i feel confident about is the address that was provided for me...3 months ago (except it said something along the lines of "Jane Doe"....not Hanna Hopkins)