November/December in the South

I'm really bad at this apparently. But luckily I haven't been up to too much anyway. Since the last post at work I helped to organize our Christmas Party. I had the pleasure of calling around 100 parents to find out what their children wanted for Christmas, then go shop for about 90 of them (about 6 hours at walmart and $1,000 later). It was kind of fun, but stressful at the same time. So that was most of my month of November at work. Then I was able to go home for Thanksgiving :) it was so nice to be there I didn't want to go back, but then I realized I would be back in 3 weeks anyway (now it's only 3 days away!!!!!) Had a fantastic Thanksgiving and got to see a bunch of people and had a nice time relaxing (I needed a little break).

I was able to go to the Portland Tree Lighting
and see the lovely Whitney and Beth :)

Once I got back it was go go go to get this Christmas Party ready. Good thing I'm such a master shopper and wrapper! My silly useless skills have come into play (maybe not as useless as I thought)!! yay!! The party went really well, we had the largest attendance in the history of their Christmas Parties so that made me feel good that my hard work to get people there worked! And we had a bunch of food, a step team from Boys and Girls Club (not to be confused with Big Brothers Big Sisters like it always is), a gospel rapper, and a ShutterBooth, one of those photo booths that you get to take 4 pictures and it comes out on a strip, so the Bigs and Little were able to get some pictures taken to take home :) everyone really enjoyed it. And then we handed out the presents apparently the fastest and smoothest they ever have before (I am good when it comes to organization as well) I don't have any pics of the party yet but I'll try to remember to post some when we get them...can't promise anything cause we all know my memory is completely awful....

BUT as for fun stuff this weekend we had our Ugly Sweater party with all of the VISTAs

Yay for ugly sweaters!

Then we headed to downtown Greenville which is 30 minutes away and a much bigger city than Spartanburg and this is the first year they have had an outdoor skating rink. So of course I was in my element and only the best skater of the group! Everyone was shocked that I live down the street from a pond that I can walk to and take my skates to and skate as much as I want to (Which I miss a lot...maybe next year).

Ice Skating in downtown Greenville,SC

Last night I went to karaoke, but the thought of getting up on the stage terrified me...that's a fear I have to work really hard on before I even DARE get up there and sing. I can barely sing in front of a couple people let alone a room full of people...although I like to sing, I don't want anyone to hear it but me...

And last but not least! Friday at 7pm I will land in good old Portland, Maine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait. Sad thing is it might my last time there until I leave in August....we'll see if I can really last that long, it'll be a test for me for sure. But I will be home for over 2 weeks and leave on Monday, january 2nd. SO if you wanna hang out, let me know, I will be carless most of the time and don't have a lot of definite plans, just play it day to day! I cannot wait. 2 1/2 more days in this office. Then off on another plane! I should have gotten frequent flier miles a while ago...oh well. Happy Holidays to all and see you Mainers in a couple days!!

Halloween Weekend and Such

Hello! Been fairly busy lately which has been good.  A few weeks ago I got to go to an amusement park normally called Carowinds, but on weekend nights they decked it all out with haunted mazes and everything scary and called it Scarowinds.  I had a lot of fun, but...I now get sick on rides...and that's no fun.  The first thing when we got there we went on a roller coaster called the "Intimidator" (for those of you who have been to Six Flags in MA, it is similar to the Superman (now Bizzaro) roller coaster.  So it taked you up 232 ft. and you go down about an 80 degree drop and go around 80 mph on this roller coaster. Love it.




The Intimidator



Shayne, Snoopy, Veronica, myself, woodstock and Andy at Scarowinds



Margaret, Nicole, Me, Veronica, and Kaitlin



We attempted to go apple and/or pumpkin picking, but it turned out it was too late for either.  So we just spent some time walking around Niven's Apple Farm

Nicole, me Liz and Veronica on a tractor at the farm!

Veronica, Margaret and I enjoying our walk in a park (obviously we're taking a break from the walk)

Had a pretty laid back weekend last weekend, didn't do much, enjoyed the beautiful South Carolina fall weather.  Veronica and I attempted to drive to the mountains to be leaf peepers, but as we were getting to the pretty part of the mountains, my car decided to not go 70mph anymore but decides it won't go anymore than 50mph, smell awful, and sound awful. So we were about 5 or 10 miles from the next exit, but I decided to turn around then cause who knows what the heck the car was going to decide to do.  It made it back, a week later its still running, should probs get it checked out but...well..lets face it, I'm lazy and don't want to know the diagnosis.



This past weekend was the weekend to celebrate Halloween! We started by volunteering at a local Zombie Crawl.  Don't know if I have talked about the Artist in Residence(AIR) program here in Spartanburg, but there are 4 artists who are given a place to live and room to work on their art, and they are here for a year to work with the community and introduce and promote art.  So we've become friendly with the 3 current AIRs and they were the ones putting on the Zombie Crawl so we thought it would be nice to help them out a little bit.  I had gone in earlier on Friday to attempt to help them set up (I'm not all that creative, but can follow directions).  Later on we went early to become zombies and take our places to help out.  People came and paid money to support the AIR program and in return we provided a bloody wardrobe (I was helping at the dressing room area) as well as zombie makeup and a video as to how to become and act like a zombie.  After that we (in the cold rain) started to march down to downtown Spartanburg and had about 50 zombies overtake downtown (kinda freaky).  We at one point went up to a building that was having a get together (all fancy shmancy) and went up to the glass doors moaning like zombies until the security guard came out and told us we have to leave.  We stopped by the local Hub-Bub Bookstore and had someone do a zombie reading.  Afterward a dance party was had and it was a good time.



Kristi, Shayne, Liz, Veronica and I "attempting" to be zombies...



Zombie crowd listening to the reading at the bookstore downtown



Vistas as zombies!

Veronica, Me, Liz, Shayne, Andy and Kristi in front of the fountain downtown
(it is supposed to be pink for breast cancer awareness...just happens to look like
blood for the zombie crawl!)

Me and Veronica's awkward zombie prom picture

Zombie attack at a fancy party (note security guard coming out to shoo us away)

Then on Saturday night we all got together (Vistas) in Greenville at the home of two ex-Vistas and had a potluck and went downtown Greenville to celebrate Halloween!  Greenville is about 30-40 mins west of Spartanburg and is a bigger city.  We had a bunch of delicious casseroles and cider and desserts before heading downtown

Me (Rapunzel), Kristi (artist), Nicole (Black Swan), Veronica (TopGun dude), Shayne (Cat), Andy (punk),
Kaitlin, Liz and Margaret (Skittles) at the potluck

Then we headed downtown to a bar called the Velo Fellow which was really neat.  There were 2 dudes playing some sweet 90's tunes and we all just sat around and talked for a while.

Me, Nicole and Margaret at Velo Fellow



Then we headed to a place I honestly never found out the name of for some dancing (until 2am...) I've been staying up way too late these past couple weekends, but it's all for the sake of fun! And Sunday I was able to relax in my bed for 90% of the day. Love those days!

Rapunzel and Skittle dancing!

The side affect to dancing for Rapunzel...she lost her hair..

"Put your hands up!'



Punk and Rapunzel havin a good ole time

So that's my past couple weekends wrapped up into a blog post.  No plans coming up anytime soon.  Just a countdown to home! 18 days! Can't wait, I am definitely in need of a break. Well..that's all I've got for now...send me Fbook messages or emails if you want to comment and can't comment on here! Love to hear from people and how much they enjoy my blog! I'm keeping up with it for those of you reading, so let me know who you are! :) <3

Life in the South

Hello!  My time here has improved a lot.  I have been busy every weekend and had something to do on of the two weekend days.  I went to the International Festival they had which was a smaller version of Epcot at Disney.  In a park they setup a bunch of tents and a bunch of countries had a display in them.  Then they had the food section which was awesome because there were so many options to choose from!  I ended up having food from Laos, chicken on a stick and egg rolls (delicious) and then for dessert I went to Bethlehem for some baklava!  Nom nom nom.  But it was a fun experience all together!  It's neat that in Spartanburg all these people can represent all these countries. 

We then got together and watched football.  It is so interesting that I am getting into football a little bit.  I don't mind watching it because it's a good way to get together with people and socialize.  So Saturdays we tend to watch some college game and it's fun to just get together and bring food and hang out.

On Friday night there was an event called Auction for a Cause in which different non-profit organizations recieve the profits made from this event.  It was really nice to get out and be surrounded by the community members.  There was delicious free food and a silent auction followed by a live auction.  I was tempted to go for the 4 disney world passes but I figured I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend right now...

This weekend I'm going to an amusement park that is open till midnight and it's all Halloween themed and scary stuff everywhere, but I'm very excited to finalyl go on a roller coaster! I've been dying to go on one for the longest time.  And then we're going to go on a hike the next weekend.  And then the next weekend is Halloween weekend and I'm going to help at a zombie crawl on Friday and probably go out Saturday night.  I still have no idea what I'm going to be so I could use some help if anyone has any ideas!!! 

But I thought I'd update you on my life.  It's been packed with fun cultural things and I'm enjoying myself! AND I got talked into flying home for Thanksgiving and will be home November 18-26!  My boss was nice enough to let me have the week off since there won't be much going on here in the office.  SO keep an eye out for me around that time and let me know if you want to do anything!  I won't have a car so that will be kind of annoying but we'll make it work!   

The reason I am writing this while I'm at work is I'm observing a parent/child interview and don't want to look creepy listening in so I am looking busy by typing a whole lot.  :)  Hope all is well, if anyone wants to send mail-

Annie Cavallaro
1465 Grant Circle #11
Spartanburg, SC 29307

More than welcome to send me a nice little letter :) I always love surprise mail.  Love to all.  <3

Spartanburg, SC

Well hello! Long time no talk! I didn't think blogging would be interesting while I'm here, but I realized that you people still want to know what's going on with me!

So I've officially been here for a month.  I had flown down to Atlanta for training, then flew to Spartanburg to partially move into my new townhouse.  After another training on Monday I flew back home to Maine to finsh up some loose ends and to get my car.  I took a 2 day journey driving from Maine to South Carolina.  For the first part of the trip my brother Brian and his girlfriend Lindsay were with me and I was able to drop them off in Maryland near DC, spend the night and continue the journey on my own from there.  It was a long drive simply for the fact that the air conditioning in my car doesn't work and I was driving through the south.  But I made it.

So now that I've been here for a month I'm getting a lay of the land.  Have some good friends who are VISTAs here as well.  They all work at different non-profit organizations around Spartanburg.  I live with another VISTA and two others live in the same townhouse complex, so that's convenient.

At first the job was slow going and there wasn't much for me to do.  With this job I am recruiting volunteers, interviewing them, interviewing parents and children and making those matches.  So a lot of the work I can only learn by seeing them happen first.  So now I am able to go out to college fairs and recruit volunteers on my own, I can now interview a volunteer on my own, I can now interview parents and children, so the work is starting to pick up.  It was just earlier thi week that I had seen my first interview with a parent and child, and it is heart wrenching.  It definitely made me realize why I'm here and doing what i do because these kids are in situations that aren't their fault and just need a positive role model in their lives.  So I'm enjoying the job somewhat, sometimes it can be slow if there isn't much to do but I try to keep myself busy!

As for my social life here in SC it has been going really well.  We've generally found a lot of things to do that are fun and cheap.  This past weekend I did something that I neeeeever would have everdone before.  I went Contra Dancing.  We drove out to this middle of nowhere place, were surrounded by college kids as well as older adults and you learn the basic moves, then similar to line dancing learn a specific dance, have a partner that is a stranger and get to know them by sweating on them and getting very very dizzy spining in so many circles.  But I had a great time and talked to strangers (that sounds bad, but was a good experience) and went out of my comfort zone and became comfortable with it.  A couple weeks ago we also decided to go test out the local "dance club" Rome.  It was quite interesting, a great place to go if you really enjoy dancing to techno music and have creeps around you at all times.  But once again was a good experience to have.

I have gone to a couple events downtown that they have including "Music on Main" and "Jazz in the Square" which are just music shows downtown and being able to enjoy music and the downtown area.  Coming up this week we are going to the Greek Festival which i am so excited to eat me a Gyro! And next weekend is their International Festival, so we've got a lot of cool culture activities to do around here and keep us busy.

So that's all I have for right now, but thought that I'd update as to what my last couple months have been like and it was pointed out that I should keep up with it even if this work isn't as exciting as what I was doing last year.  So.  I will try.  Adios.

The End.

Well.  This is it.  Last day in AmeriCorps NCCC.  It has been such a fantastic year, but I'm also so ready for it to be over.  Had a nice week off, really just sat around most of the time relaxing.  Some of the people on my team and I were able to go to a water park, which was nice and relaxing, some of us went to an open mic to see my teammate David perform, that was really good. 

Kelsey, Brandon, Greg and I out downtown

This week has been dragging on, everyone came back and we had our transition week to finish everything up business wise.  Yesterday was fun, we had our "AmeriLympics" which was essentially a field day!  We did trivia, frisbee golf toss, classic relay races, name that tune, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and feats of strength.  Our team, although not the best at everything, should have won for team spirit.  It was nice to come together and have fun.  as a team we won the name that tune and frisbee golf toss (we had 50 throws in 10 minutes while 2nd place only had 34...we were awesome...) So that was a fun day.  Then at night they had a banquet for us off campus at a really cool venue called Mile High Station.  We had some delicious dinner and sat through some awards, but it was extra fun cause we got to dress all fancy.  I stole a bunch of pictures below from Mary and Kiera cause they are just so darn good!!


My team Fire 6 at AmeriLympics



Waiting in line for Classic Relay Races



Ya, I'm crab walking, jealous!? (My body hurts real bad from this)

 

Emma and I being cowgirls



Love this picture of Emma, Mary and I at the banquet

<3 Fire 6 (I have the blue fingernail polish on)

Fire 6 at the banquet

Not the whole team, but such a good picture! Everyone looking all snazzy

Mary and I as Woody and Jesse

Love Love Love this picture :-D

So today we have been busy running around tying up loose ends and finalizing everything.  Mom got in a couple hours ago but is doing her own thing getting the car/relaxing at the hotel, and we'll do dinner tonight.  Then tomorrow is graduation where we have to wake up at 5:30AM!!!! gah it's going to be painful to wake up that early.  Then we are busy bodies till graduation at 10am and then everyones being booted off campus at 12noon.  Mom and I are going to go to the county fair after graduation tomorrow.  And in the 2 days we're here we plan on going to Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks and just wander around 16th St mall!  Then we'll be home midnight Monday and I'll be home through the next Monday and then again the 16-19 of August! 

Can't believe this is all ending. Everyone's so busy packing, but me being me I've been done packing 2 days ago and cleaned this morning...so I just get to relax waiting for our last meeting then off to dinner!!  I am going to be very said to say goodbye to some people, and can't wait to not have to deal with some peoples crap anymore!  I am so ready for my next journey.  It's exciting but I don't think I've fully realized that this time next month I will  be calling South Carolina home.  Just the simple fact that I'm perfectly ok with moving to SC shows how much I've grown this year and will continue to as I'm on my own in the South for a year!!  I hope my next journey after that is exciting as well.  This year has shown me that the possibilities are endless, especially at this age when I can really do anything I want/go wherever I want.  I can always come back to Maine if things don't work out.  But until then I want to explore new options and new places.  GAH I am just so darn happy with life right now and it was a long journey to reach this happiness...rough long journey but I am perfectly happy with where I am right now.  Ecstatic to come home in 4 days and so ready to move on!!! Will update how Mom and I's vacation goes! (It will be amazing I already know it!)

Leaving Tuscaloosa

Well, I've been awful with this blog.  But for good reason.  We were so busy this month! But we met such amazing people and can't even explain how amazing the people of Tuscaloosa is. 

In other news as I'm sure you've all heard that I found out Friday that I recieved a position as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Spartanburg, SC!  I've been looking into the organization for a while and figure this is a great way to be able to get a foot in the door!  AmeriCorps VISTA is different from what I'm doing now in that I won't be traveling, and I won't be in a group of people.  I will work for one year with that one organization with the same benefits that I have now.  I got this position after another girl who they accepted before dropped out.  They originally chose her over me because she lived in SC already, but I was their first call!!  So the past weekend has been crazy cause everything has been last minute and I had to get them answers to difficult questions about relocating within hours and I had a huge breakdown.  Originally they wanted me to go to a training in Atlanta from August 8-11 and then be in Spartanburg for August 15 for a training and begin on the 16th.  That was way too soon for me, I was realizing I would be home for 4 days before I had to pack up and drive all the way to Atlanta and be in Spartanburg for good.  Then they told me that that training was full and I had to go to the training in Ft. Lauderdale from the 16-19 which worked out better and gave me more time at home! Then today as we were traveling from Tuscaloosa to Little Rock I got a call that I was accepted into the training in Georgia and they needed to know in an hour how I wanted to get there! So I had a huge freakout again, but in the van with 4 of my teammates directly witnessing it all...So thanks to my lovely mother we slowly but surely came up with a plan that I think is going to work out perfectly.  I am going to get home at midnight August 1 (technically 2nd) fly either August 7 or 8 to Atlanta for training the 8th-11th, then fly/train to Spartanburg for a training on the 15th.  THEN I am paying for myself to come back home to really get myself together and have 4 extra days at home.  They were nice enough to give me an extension of my start day and I'll leave Maine again driving leaving the 20th to start the 22nd.  I figured this all out today...rough day.

So basically what I think I'll be doing with BBBS is to help find mentors for the children (Bigs) and interview them to get an idea of what kind of child they would be a good match with.  Along with that I would be giving presentations about the organization.  I am extremely excited for this new adventure!  And I already have a roomate and a townhouse about 10 mins from downtown Spartanburg.  I am lucky that Spartanburg has a really good community of VISTAs and helped me find my roomate who is also going to be a VISTA.  Lucky. 

So Tuscaloosa was absolutely amazing.  I can't believe how far they've come in almost 3 months and am very proud to be able to say I helped.  I am definitely hoping to be able to go back and help out more later on, I'll only be a 6 hour drive away!  So the work we ended up doing altogether was debris removal (hot yet rewarding), working at relief centers (a lot of organizing and hanging clothes but got to meet a lot of the people affected by the tornado) and assessments of the houses in the whole city which was cool to be able to see the path of the tornado and the difference it makes having trees in your yard or not.

I was very sad to be leaving, we got so many compliments as to how much we really made an impact on their community and that was so great to hear how much of a difference we made.  I feel so good about our work there even if it was only for one month.

So now we are on our way back to Denver where we get a week off to do...well...nothing! pretty excited about that! Don't have any plans yet, just going to let them come to me!  And the next week we round everything up and graduate on the 29th. My mom is coming for the graduation and we're going to stay in Denver and extra 2 days.  I'm very excited to be able to show her around Denver!

I'm exhausted...don't know what else to write about right now but maybe I'll try later while I'm in Denver!

Tuscaloosa

Helloooooo! Sorry haven't posted in a while. I've been exhausted, one night I almost went to sleep at 8:45....thats too early...ANYWAY So. Left on a Sunday, got to Tuscaloosa on my birthday.  My birthday was alright, not what I'm used to.  We got into Tuscaloosa around 12:00, got to the church we are going to live in and it is amazing.  The area around us got hit pretty bad, but the church is still standing and doing amazing work to help the community.  The team decided to get right to work when we got here, so my birthday was spent helping others.  At night we had some dinner and then went out for frozen yogurt to celebrate.  Not how I would have spent it if I were home, but it's ok, there will be plenty more!

So we are staying at the Forest Lake Baptist Church in their basement area, which is really nice, there is a kitchen, game room (pool table ping pong etc that we can actually use), a couple of classrooms and a bathroom.  The people that take care of us here, Debbie and Kyle are an amazing couple, probably in their 60s I'd say? We.Are.Spoiled.  They provide us with all of our food, and cook dinner for us...they are amazing.  We have showers that are in a trailer, sounds trashy but they are soooo nice! air conditioned and everything.  There are people from a church in Texas that drove it up here and they stay and hand us towels and...get this...do our laundry! I feel so bad being as spoiled as we are, but I understand that these people just want us to be taken care of.  I couldn't ask for better facilities than what we have.  Although there is always a downside...so we aren't the only ones living here, last week there was a group of 9 living here that consisted of some teenagers, lets just say they weren't very wary of our being there.  They were loud in the morning and dirty, but we dealt with it.  There are also 2 big groups of around 20 that are staying elsewhere, but eat with us, so they show up at 7:30am all loud and everything because they are teenagers as well and then are here at lunch time being loud and dinner as well...but we only have to deal with it till Monday! Then after Monday it's all ours except the nice couple that is with the shower trailer!

Turns out we are here the rest of our project, so another 3 1/2 weeks, we leave on July 19th for Denver.  So the work we have been doing has been a lot of things.  I worked a lot the first week with the Salvation Army.  I worked in the distribution center where they provide families with essential needs (food, hygiene prodeucts, cleaning products etc) and I became sort of a go to person there and would train new volunteers coming in on how to fill carts, make food bags, how to arrange things etc.  It was nice to be relied on and trusted and kind of be in charge again, I've missed it.  I loved it there the people there are amazing.  I also worked one day at their Canteen where they provide the community with a meal.  Other days we have helped with debris removal, which consists of going to houses (which are mostly debris now) and helping to clear trees, debris etc.  A big part of what we are doing here is helping the city with assessments of the houses.  So we go around to houses with sheets that we need to provide information such as how many walls are standing, if there are trees laying on the houses, if there are trees or stumps left in the yards etc and we provide them with information on free debris removal.  The past 3 days I have been working here at the church where they have a relief center which is a lot like what I did at the Salvation Army. 

So I've gotten to interact with many many community members that have been affected.  It has been very emotional and intense since we've been here, but I think we are slowly getting used to handling these situations.  The people we help at the relief centers have been helped by FEMA and are so very grateful to us and the time we are giving to help them get what they need.  I can't even put into words how awful it feels to look around this city and see all the destruction.  You can be on one street where one house is completely gone, and across the street another house looks perfectly fine on the outside.  The tornado was a mile wide and went right through the city.  I don't know who knows or not but Tuscaloosa is the home of the University of Alabama which is HUGE on their college football around here.  Everyone is so proud of their state, their college and their city.  It's amazing to see the work that has been done in just 2 months time, but it is going to take a very long time to fully recover.

Intense stuff.

Sorry if I've blabbed on too much and have made no sense, but it's a lot to handle and hard to explain everything I'm feeling and doing.  We have been working 6 8 hour days so far, which I guess normally on disaster we would be working 12 hour days, but for right now it's just been 8.  But I've been so exhausted when we get home, it's emotionally and physically draining but is one of the most amazing things I've done in my life.  I am so proud to be able to say that I have helped with a disaster and have supported so many community members.  I'll probably read this later to find out that it makes no sense....but that's ok...you might get the general idea....

One month to go! Can't wait!  I foudn out that my application is under review for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Philadelphia, so I'm hoping that falls through and I get an interview and get it!  Otherwise my plan is to just come home and figure it out from there! Who knows!

just to give you an idea of the destruction I'm surrounded by...

This is Forest Lake that is one block down the street from the church

Heading to Alabama! (After just getting to Big Bend)



(wrote this post on Saturday 6/11 day before posted)

Holy Moly. It’s been an interesting week! We left last Wednesday from Houston to come to Big Bend National park. It was a long ride (2 days) but it was nice to sleep in a real bed for once! And the nice thing about traveling is we get enough money to go out to eat for dinner the nights we get wherever we’re going. So we ate at Chili’s in Del Rio, TX on Wednesday night. We arrived in Big Bend late afternoon, we had to stop in Alpine, TX which is 2 hours away from Big Bend because that’s where we have to do all our grocery shopping, which would occur every 2 weeks, so we got a whole lot of food!!!!

It is absolutely GORGEOUS here! Where we staked our tents is in the Chisos Mountain Basin. The view is absolutely breath taking! I made a video of a tour of where we live, it won't load on here but send me an email if you want me to send it to you (dont know if it would work then either) ACav_614@yahoo.com

So I set my tent up so in the morning when I open my tent the view is indescribable. I feel so relieved and stress free when I’m here, I get to sit in a hammock and listen to the birds singing as the wind blows me back and forth….love it.



So, I am living an exciting, crazy life right now and I love it. This is exactly why I came into AmeriCorps to get over my fear of change (definitely conquered that) and to make a difference in the world. Love it. Love you guys. Couldn’t do this without your support!!!!!

My Tent

Hammock I got to lay in!

My view from my tent!

On Friday we had the day off but our sponsor wanted us to go explore and see other parts of the park that we may be working on. We went on an early morning hike on the Lost Mine trail which was a 2.5 mile hike up to the top of a part of the mountain. I have another video if you want that one too!



Me on our hike



The team on our hike

I am very proud of myself and my newly gained hiking abilities. In the beginning of AmeriCorps it took me foooorever to get through a hike, now (still with a fair amount of struggling) I am able to keep up with everyone just making sure I take enough breaks and drinking enough water. This hike was perfect because the sun was rising on the other side of the mountain so we didn’t have to worry about sunlight until we hit the top! I’m extremely excited to be able to come back to Maine and discover parts of it I’ve never seen before by going on hikes! I want to buy myself some nice LL Bean hiking shoes, and a hydration pack and be on my way!

We were also able on Saturday to go to Hot Springs in Big Bend National Park which runs into the Rio Grande and we were able to go swimming in it! It was amazing, I loved to sit in the middle of the river and have the running water hit me, it took a lot to stay still but was so relaxing!  Pretty cool to be able to say that I went swimming in the Rio Grande though!

The team in the Hot Spring

Oh, you know, just hangin out in the Rio grande, NBD

The team hanging out in the river!

Jumping into the river!! note: in the background=Mexico!

So Friday night was the most interesting moment here. We have no service internet or phone where our tents are, but through the park there are spots that you can get some service. So our team leader Kiera went to go call to check in with Denver. We got a notice that we may be going on disaster relief. The deal with disaster relief is you can be sent at ANY time and have to be prepared to pack everything up and leave the next morning if they need you to. We knew we weren’t going to be sent while we were In Houston because technically, we were already doing disaster relief work. So once we left Houston our ranking on the disaster list went way up. So we finally on Friday night got confirmation that on Sunday the 12^th we would be departing Big Bend to head to Tuscaloosa, Alabama where they were devastated with a tornado a couple months ago. Currently there are two teams in my Fire unit that are there and have been helping by working in distribution places handing out essential needs to people, cleaning up debris, placing tarps on roofs, etc. We will be working with an organization that is not FEMA or Red Cross but a Baptist church group. We will be helping in distribution centers, possibly more tarping, but also I’m really hoping to help out with a volunteer coordinating project they are getting started. They want to start up a case work project that will be long lasting so they need to start early to keep it going. I am so excited to be able to help out with something like this. These people lost everything and just a small gesture is going to help them tremendously in the long run. It will be amazing to be able to say I was a part in the initial stages of recovery. It will take a long time to fully recover, but my small part will pay off in the long run.

So, 4 days ago we were in Houston. Then we traveled about 600 miles west across Texas to get to Big Bend. Here we are 4 days later heading right back where we came from to go past it. Kind of a pain in the butt, but here in AmeriCorps you are to expect the unexpected!! The way I see it, I get to sleep in a bed for 2 nights in a hotel, eat food from a restaurant, and will have not worked for 6 days….sounds good to me! I am sad to be leaving Big Bend, but as of right now this project is only for 2 weeks, then we will assess the project and see if we need to stay longer. If we are done in 2 weeks I’m hoping we’re able to come back to Big Bend and actually do some work for them!! In Tuscaloosa we will be living in a church and then moved to an elementary school I guess, so I only had to sleep in a tent for 3 days for now, which I actually haven’t minded and am beginning to actually enjoy!!

Cool thing about this whole travel deal, we leave Sunday to go to Stephenville (?), TX then on Monday travel to Jackson, Mississippi, and then Tuesday only have a 4 hour drive to get to Tuscaloosa, which so happens to be my birthday!!!!!! Pretty cool to be spending my birthday in Alabama! Although when we get there I guess we’re having our orientation right away so we can start right up on work on Thursday! But it’s ok, the other 2 teams will still be there until Thursday, and 3 girls from my shuffle round team in Arizona are on those teams so I’m excited to hopefully be able to see them when we get there and hope they can help me celebrate my birthday!! This will definitely be a birthday I won’t forget!!

I am currently writing this from this lovely view of a hammock so that in the hotel tomorrow night in Stephensville, TX I can just copy and paste it for you lovely people to read!! And….it just started raining which I guess it hasn’t done for 10 months!!! But I’m under a tree and am pretty well protected for the moment. It smells so friggen good…the rain that is…

Houston

Hello!!! So we've officially been in Houston for over a week now.  We live in a church's recreation center basically, we have two of the classrooms we sleep in, have a nice almost industrial size kitchen and there's a gymnasium right next to our rooms.  We live in Bellaire, TX which is a part of the Houston Metropolitan area.  We are so close to downtown there are so many things to do around here.  It's a really nice area we live in, we drive down the streets and there are so many gorgeous houses but then all of a sudden there are old houses in between them they look so out of place.  We are working with an organization called Neighborhood Centers Inc. and we are working with them on their project to replace temporary tarps on roofs that have been damaged since going up from Hurricane Ike.  So we go in and simply nail down tarps over the old ones.  Not so simple.  Originally they saw us doing 90 houses in the 10 working days we had here.  We had a very breif training and the guy who trained us worked for the government so couldn't even walk on the property....So it took us 2 days to complete the first house we did.  So we had to come up with a new game plan which now sees us finishing 2 houses per team (2 teams) a day if we're lucky.  I really like the work, it is just so darn hot and humid here.  I'm getting used to it but today I had to take a sick day because I have a humungous migraine!  I still have it but I'm sure I'll be fine to work tomorrow!

Me showing the men how it's done!

Last weekend we went to check out the museum district, I thought the natural science museum was free, turns out its $15 friggen dollars to get in!!! So instead we walked around Hermann Park which is GORGEOUS and I want to go back for a picninc.  its a fun little area that has paddle boats and a train that goes around and the zoo is right next to the park (which I want to go to before we leave).  Tuesday night some of us went to the Houston Astros game against the LA Dodgers and that was a lot of fun.  So i really like it here so far, its just so humid, so I decided to cut off 5 inches of my hair! Hated to have to do it but it was necessary

This weekend we have a 3 day weekend (thank you Memorial Day).  No set plans, might go to a park for a picnic and there may be some fireworks and music for Memorial Day celebrating!  And we're here in Houston until June 8th and to be quite honest, I don't know if we have an address to send mail to...the day we got here the organization was told they had a week to move out of the building they were in...so I don't know that they are there anymore...but as soon as I know my next address I'll let you know! We don't know exactly where we'll be going, Big Bend is still the plan as of now but we could be sent to a lot of places due to these crazy disasters happening! could be Missouri, could be Alabama, I could be heading back to Arkansas! Who knows!  But as soon as I know I will post it, I will try to get better with the picture thing, I'm just not good at remembering to take dang pictures!!! Hope all is well! <3

Denver yet again!

So, this past week has been pure craziness.  We'll get to that in a bit.  When I last posted I had two more weeks in Arizona.  One weekend we took a drive up to Phoenix after our second community build.  On the way to Phoenix we drove up South Mountain.  On the mountain are buildings the CCC built back in the 30's-40's.  The CCC inspired for NCCC to be created. They were the Civilian Conservation Corps (we are Nationa Civilian Community Corps).  They were men who needed work during the great depression, and any money they made was sent back home to their families.  They are the ones who built the Red Rocks Ampitheater out here in Colorado (if you've never heard of it/seen it before look it up, pretty cool) So anyway, they also built these shelter buildings on South Mountain and we were able to drive to one and check it out.

My shuffle team at a CCC building on South Mountain

Another cool thing about the mountain is it completely overlooks the city of phoenix with the mountains in the background.  After South Mountain we headed to the State Capitol in Phoenix.  We were there on a Saturday and it was like a ghost town near the Captiol.  Kinda creepy.  No one was walking around at all, but I bet it's crazy busy during the week!  But there is a park there with a lot of statues and monuments dedicated to different things.  Afterward we spent the night in a hotel, the girls were going to go downtown and check out a bar, me being silly little me left my ID in my jeans pocket...back in Casa Grande...so I decided to try to get in anyway, it was a no go.  So I just called it an early night and went to bed early.  The next day we got to go to a Diamondbacks game against the Cubs.  It was a lot of fun, I've realized though that when I go to a sporting event, I don't watch the game, I just enjoy the atmosphere and people watching!

On the mountain we ended up building 10,062ft of brand new trail on Casa Grande Mountain! Our original goal wast 9,250ft so we beat our goal.  There are two trail heads that we were trying to connect (one on the North end one on the South end).  The goal of 9,250ft was how much they thought it would take to make that connection, that guess was off by about 2,500 ft...oops, so we weren't able to finish the connection, but still built a whole lot of trail! There are some of our supervisors that offered to go out and finish the connection for us so that they can officially open the trail in the fall!  This project overall was fantastic.  The sponsors that took care of us did an amazing job and are such amazing people! I am definitely going to miss that community as well, they are so kind and welcoming! 

So on our way back to Denver we stopped at the four corners which was pretty darn cool.  They have a little market surrounding the four corners in a square.  I went to go look at the jewlery stand of one guy and he goes "welcome to New Mexico!" I did a turn around and didn't realize as I was walking around I was walking in different states! Haha, I remember when I thought it was cool to be in two different time zones crossing the Arizona/Nevada border at the Hoover Dam, but being in four states at once kind of beats that for me!  We stopped in Colorado for the night and my Team Leader Ashley was telling me about this "Composite Team" they were putting together.  What that means is there is a whole new project for this round where they are pulling 6-7 people from all the units, now keep in mind I really only know the people in my own unit (Fire Unit) which is only about 70 people of 280 people, so 1/4 of the people.  The project was described as starting and helping with a summer camp for kids in Center, Colorado (3 hours south of Denver, middle of nowhere) It is an agricultural town and is 75% hispanic.  These kids don't get to get our and do much so this program would help them tremendously.  Me being me and having the interest in working with kids that I do, I applied by writing an essay describing why I should be chosen.  Once again me being me the next 3-4 days I was regretting it on and off because I really wanted to be with my team, but I really wanted to do this as well. In the end I let it go and figured things would work out as they should.  3 people (including myself) on my team applied for it.  By the end I was really not wanting the project and think I made it known to those who needed to know.  In the end the other 2 people from my team are on this composite team and I am staying with my team.  I am so relieved, I felt I really wanted to end this whole adventure with the people I started it with.  And I am very excited about my project now after hearing all the amazing stories from the people that were there for their last project. 

For the first part of our project (Leaving Monday-June 8th) we will be in Houston, TX replacing tarps on roofs of houses as disaster relief from Hurricane Ike.  After that it is all up in the air as to what we are going to be doing because it is disaster season.  We have two teams from the Fire Unit leaving tomorrow to head to Alabama to help with relief from the tornadoes (or was it flooding there? too many disasters happening I blend them all) by gutting houses and/or serving food.  There is a good chance due to our location in Houston that we could get called on Disaster at anytime!  So who knows, I could end up going to Big Bend National Park, or to Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, I have no idea.  This is a great thing about this program.  Before, I was afraid of change and didn't handle it very well.  But being constantly faced with instant change here I have learned to deal with it and have grown a lot.  If I do end up going to Big Bend it will push my limits which is why I came here, to grow.  We will be in the middle of now where with no cell phone/internet service.  We will be camping in tents for 6-7 weeks.  I will be peeing and pooing outside most of the time.  Like I said, push my limits to the max, but I'm excited for it!

So that's been my crazy week at a glance!  This program is amazing, but ever changing and I have to be on my feet at all times! Once again I'm bad with the whole picture thing but I will try to post some soon before I have no internet!!  I'll try to update as much as possible, but not much goes on so I do these larger posts to include more fun and interesting things! Byeeee

Spring Break

Hello all from sunny Arizona once again! Just got in last night from my spring break being home for about 5 days!  It was a fantastic and much needed break.  I took a red eye last Tuesday night into Boston and took the Concord bus up to Portland on Wednesday morning.  I got to see a bunch of family and friends while I was home and that was much needed.  It's so funny the things you don't appreciate until they are taken away from you.  The ocean was one of those things for me.  Last time I was home for Christmas I didn't see the ocean except once the very last day I was there on a crappy rainy day I went to Spring Point for a walk, but it wasn't the same.  This time I made sure almost everyday to at least stop somewhere to peak at it for a minute.  I was able to go to all of the typical spots, Bug Light, Spring Point, Willard Beach and Portland Headlight.  I was able to take a nice long walk along Willard Beach to Spring Point, down to the lighthouse and watched the sunset.  Although I was freezing my butt off it was so worth it.  But being here in Arizona surrounded by nothing but desert....it makes me really appreciate where I grew up and that for 20 some years I grew up less than a mile away from the ocean.

So I'm pretty sure I accomplished most of what I intended while I was home.  Saw most of the people I wanted to see, ate most of the food I wanted to eat, and definitely got the relaxation I was in need of (and alone time).  My goals for food were to get a chipper from Red's (got 2 while I was home), pazzo and Italian from Amatos (was there 3 times while I was home), eat Thai food (there is litereally none in this city unless you make your own), eat some delicious Otto pizza (was able to introduce my mom to the best pizza in Portland), drink Margaritas and have some delicious food (with two of my best friends, you can't go wrong)...and last but not least eat some darn lobstah!  I'm usually not a big seafood/lobster person but once again when you are away from something (yes they have them here, but there's no way they are even close to Maine lobsters) you crave it and want it pretty bad.  So for Easter dinner we had some lobsters, potato salad and corn on the cob, just a little taste of summer...it was delicious.  So it's kind of silly a lot of my main goals involved food, but I didn't cook a single thing at my house while I was home. 

So I originally had a flight scheduled for Monday morning to leave Portland at 6am (barf) and from there I would have had 2 layovers before getting back to Phoenix (double barf) but on Sunday night at 10pm I got a call telling me that my Portland flight was cancelled.  At first she told me they had me rescheduled for a flight on Tuesday (the day I had to be back to work) and I was like...mmmmm nope.  So she asked if there was anyway I could fly out of Boston and that it would be a direct flight on Monday, it left at 4:30pm and got into Phoenix at 7:15pm, luckily my ride was originally planning on picking 3 of us up at Phoenix at 6pm so I was able to have them hold off, and I get this direct flight rather than stopping 2 places along the way!  Also I was able to sleep in instead of waking up at 4am! So all things considered it was a fantastic change for me! Other than having to get down to Boston, but what's another $30 in the long run?? 

So I made it back here right on time, got back to my housing, was happy in some ways but dreading it in others.  But we only have less than 2 weeks left here.  Including today we have 6 work days left! Crazy!  We work on Saturday for another community build and then have Sunday and Monday off and then we're outta here Friday and get back to Denver on Saturday!  We hopefully (if it gets approved) will leave Saturday afternoon to head up to Phonix for the night, explore Saturday and go to  a Diamondbacks game on Sunday! That should be a fantastic time!  And Monday we plan to go to the Casa Grande Ruins, and make some tyedye tshirts! 

Oh! On my bus ride up from Boston to Portland last Wednesday I got a call from my Team Leader because it was the day we were to find out our final projects!  It turns out we got my last pick....I think quite literally my last pick of 21 projects....for 3 weeks we will go to Houston and be working on roofs of houses that need repairing from hurricanes and such.  Then after that we take the long trek to good ole Big Bend National Park...now if you don't know where that is, take a looks-e-poo on a map...middle of nowhere on the mexican border Texas.  We will be camping in tents...with no cell phone reception...no internet...and who knows what the showering situation is like...but in the end I think this is exactly what I need.  A little kick in the butt and push my boundaries.  There we will be doign general trailwork, species removal, just general park chores I suppose, I don't really know to be quite honest!  BUT I will indeed have an address for anyone and everyone to send me anything and everything their hearts desire.  Will accept anything while I am stuck in the middle of nowhere!!!!!!  

Well first day back today, we have a meeting with the City staff so we have a late start, but I've gotta go get to it!  Wish me luck, it's going to be 88 degrees today, but by Thursday it'll be about 100....yes I am semi-complaining about the hot weather...I'm spoiled, sorry.  

Byeeeeeeeeee!

Crazy Weekend in Arizona!

Ok people. This weekend was pretty interesting and long.  Friday we found out that if the government shut down, we would have to pack up everything and head back to Denver (which is a 2 day trip for most people) until the government came back up.  This was a good test as to how much I've grown being in the program because the old me would have FREAKED out and packed and worried and stressed over everything.  I ignored everything everyone was saying about it, I didn't pack, I just knew that it was out of my control and when someone told me we were leaving, I'd pack and do it because that's what I would have to do.  So officially at like what, 9pm we found out we were in the clear and that didn't surprise me at all.  So I'm glad to know that being in a program like this where I should be expecting the unexpected at all times I'm a much calmer and more collected person.  Pretty excited.

So because we didn't have to start trecking back to Denver we had a Community Build planned but, hmm it rained and was only 55 degrees here!!!! So we left at 6:45 am to go see if it was still happening or not, a 30 minute drive later we were told that it had been cancelled.  On one hand I was pretty bummed because I loved doing the last community build, but on the other hand after such a long day Friday I think most everyone was excited to have the time off! So we had a full weekend because otherwise we would have only had Sunday off!  So I went and spent most of my day at Starbucks (after a 2 hr nap of course) and was able to finally catch up on some shows! LOVED Grey's Anatomy...but anyway....then we went on our weekly fast food adventure this time to In & Out burger...wasn't impressed but I don't think i was in a mood for gross unhealthy fast food that night!

Sunday was fantastic, we had a trip planned to go to the Sonora Desert Museum which is just west of Tucson.  I love love love these kind of museums!  It is partially a zoo and has a bucnh of different displays about everything about the desert!  I will put pictures up on facebook the next time I go to Starbucks cause the internet is too slow here to do anything with them!  After that we went searching for some lunch and we found this absolutely delicious Greek restaurant named "Opa!".  They thought we were University of Arizona students and said we get free fountain drinks, so we took them up on that, and then they brought out a plate of pita with hummus and tziki!  Just like mexican restaurants give you chips and salsa for free! We were pretty excited by all the free things we had been recieving!  Then my friend Louise order flaming cheese, i forget what the cheese is called but the table next to us ordered it, and they bring the cheese out on this huge platter, and then set it on fire in front of you and it makes a huge flame! So that intrigued her enough to buy one and it was absolutely delicious.  Then I order a gyro cause I have been craving one ever since I was eating one in Morocco in Epcot at Disney World last August.  It was soooooo good and hit the spot.  It was a great price too so I would definitely go back there if I were ever in Tucson again!  Then we went down to an area with some shops and walked around, and it's a very cool area with a bunch of bars, coffee shops, thrift stores, I would also love to go back there too!

So as you can see it was a busy, exhausting, and exciting weekend for me!  And today we got back up on the trail and the temperatures are slowly rising, we had 79 degrees today, 84 tomorrow and should reach 92 by Friday!  I'll get all nice and tan for those of you that I see in almost one week!!!  And I had a crazy realization that I get to eat as much Red's as I please when I come home and I can't wait to bite into a chipper!! NOM and I've got all my meals planned out so I can go to my favorite places, Amatos, Otto, Margaritas, Thai food, possibly Clambake if they're open, and of course Red's! SO excited.  But for now I'm going to go relax in the sun!  Will add pictures soon!

Arizona Contd

Hello. So. Been doing a lot of trail building since I last wrote.  As of today we have built 3623 feet of new trail!!! Over half a mile, it's crazy to know what 10 people can do (especially in this heat!)  Since I last wrote we obviously worked during the week on our trail, but on the Saturday before last we had what is called a Community Build in which people from the community come out on a Saturday and help to build a different part of the trail than what we work on during the week.  I got to work with a troop of Boy Scouts that were 12-14 years old, I had a great time, luckily I have experience working with kids and was able to with help from their scout leaders keep them on track and we made some pretty darn good trail!!

The weather has been amazing here, obviously.  Last Friday it got up to 97 DEGREES! AH! it was so hot, but we've been starting our days earlier (6am, can you believe it?!) so we can try to beat the heat and not be out in it for too long.  It's nice when we do that cause then we get out at 1:30 and are home by 2:30 and it's like having a whole other day off!!!  I have some pretty interesting tan lines right now from our boots, shorts and tshirts but I'm hoping to even those out by the time I come home! Speaking of!  I booked a flight to come home for Easter weekend!  I'll be taking a red eye flight into Boston and get in at 11am on that Weds before Easter, and will be leaving bright and early Monday after!  So, if you wanna see me let me know!  I'll be around all day mostly Weds and Thurs if anyones available!  Otherwise I'm pretty jam packed busy.  

I am so exhausted.  We just had a 3 day weekend in which I napped a lot, so having to go back to work today killed me and it's not even 9:00 yet and I'm ready to pass out!  Our living situation is still going well!  Excited to sleep in my own bed rather than an air mattress but I'll take this air mattress over one of those cots anyday!

This weekend we have another community build on Saturday and Sunday we are taking a trip down to Tucson, so I'm pretty excited about that!  And we just found out that the last weekend we are here we get to go to a Diamonbacks game up in Phoenix!  That'll be fun too!  I'm glad we get to travel and see more of the state!

 I can't think of much else to talk about, but I have some pictures to share so you can get an idea of what I do for 8 hours a day!  Love to all!



Girls night out getting margaritas in our fancy new glasses!



What I get to do day in and day out. That's my big butt in the middle.



Team Fire 8 in Denver the morning we departed for Arizona!






This cactus is called a cholla(pronounced choy-ya)
It is bad. Stay away. It will stick to you and it will hurt.
And yes, we are surrounded by them all day!



Part of the awesome trail we get to build everyday!



My team minus Louise (she was sick this day) on our first day
getting ready to head up to the mountain!  We look this hot all day, don't worry! ;)