Rain, rain, go away...come again another day! Today is very murky, damp, and dark outside. To this date it has been the coldest and ickiest day since our stay. We have been very fortunate with our weather and it staying warm consistently...well at least until today. The last 3 days have been in the average of 75-80 degrees and pleasant. Those beaches surely feel good laying down on without wind and the cold. The beginning of a tan has begun on my arms and face and it feels very different considering in Illinois people do not get tan until the end of May where it starts warming up and the shorts come out. Here it is a very different story and I love that aspect.
We are almost half-way through with our oyster project and it is kind of sad because all of the team is loving it here and doing the tough, grueling work. We sweat everyday in the heat and feel our bodies getting more toned. From this experience I am a whopping 195 lbs. Almost down to my goal weight of 190 by the end of the SPIKE. I weighed myself in the Goodwill store yesterday because I was in NEED to see if there has been any improvement. Guess there has been some, not the way I wanted...but I will just have to eat even more healthier.
Ok...now time for the fun part...detailed day-by-day update on all I have done the past week. You will see it surely has been a hard, painful and busy week that all began Tuesday which was the preparation for the things and tasks we will be doing this up and coming week...
SUNDAY
- went to Easter sunday at 11:00 AM with teammate Stan and Shannon from another Raven group, while we were there we spent a couple minutes helping the little kids find the easter eggs scattered along the lawn across the street
- Stan and I discussed we will be going to that church every Sunday at St. Xavier's over in Brunswick, GA...takes about 25 minutes to get there and a nice easy ride
- after mass, I went on a 45 mintue bike ride to start off my PT for the week...very peaceful, got many hellos from the campground folks as well as the Jekyll Island population on my route, everyone seems to be so friendly which is nice...surrounding yourself with positive people day in and day out really makes you feel good inside.
- Raven 3 team meeting to discuss some important issues
- head down to the beach which is about 4 miles from our cabins with some team members and lay and work on getting our tans
MONDAY
- last day our 4-day Spring Break they gave us, some stayed (about 6) and the others left elsewhere...one went to visit her band friends in Savannah, one went to North Carolina to visit her brother, another went to visit and stay with her husband that had road tripped from Indiana and the husband is planning on staying in the campground area out back tenting for the next week and a half
- we had to make the best of it so some of us decided to go to Driftwood Beach which is walkable distance from our houses, spent a couple hours laying down in the sun
- I went on another 45 minute big ride into town to check out what else is on the Island, discovered there is mini golfing, driving range, couple restaurants and bars, and several more fun outdoor things
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The next days from Tuesday-Friday were pretty much the same so instead of individually describing each of those days, I will pick out the most important things and tasks we did during those days as a whole. First of all, we pretty much all those mornings either bagged oyster shells to get them prepared to bury OR we unloaded oyster shells from trailer beds onto the beach we are working on. It mixed up from day to day. Unloading the oyster shells from the trailers got difficult from time to time, but everyone dug deep and was able to carry them with no problems or complaints. Sometime we did the assembly-line technique to transfer the bags from the bed to the beach...when that didn't work we reverted to lifting them individually. There are 10 of us so that meant each of us transporting 100 bags from the huge pile located about 50 feet from the beach and placing them along the shoreline to be picked up in 2 boats and driven to the muddy waters. This week was all high tides which meant that low tides would be coming later in the day/night and we can't plant and bury the bags in high tide. Our sponsors drove 2 boats to the shore and we hoisted bags into, roughly about 100 each trip, and took them to the 20 destinations along Beach Creek (our area we are concentrating on building the artificial oyster reef). On one of those days myself and 2 other teammates drove with Daniel and Courtney to Savannah to bag and load up more shell (shell that was pre-bagged and gotten from oyster roasts, restaurants, and other places). On that day we transfered about 1,000 bags amongst the 5 of us. I found a little gardner snake in the pile that freaked me out...but that is another story within itself :)!
I failed to mention that along with the oyster bags we have been lifting palettes into the boats to be dropped off in the 20 spots. It reminded me of the days of working in Dad's warehouse and the word "skidifying". The palettes purpose are to be wedged into the mud and the oyster bags placed on top. Approx 25 bags can fit on one palette. Starting tomorrow, which represents that all this week will be low tides during the morning and afternoon...we will be kayaking and canoeing to where the bags were thrown and begin the planting. Getting muddy is what we will be doing this whole week. It is going to be a blast. This is sinking mud and they gave us mud walking training on what to do when you do get stuck...very cool! But being able to kayak and canoe is amazing in itself. We are all super stoked! It uses your upper body and a great work out. I have such amazing Ameri-Corps friends that my friend April that happens to be back in Perry Point with her SPIKE, actually sent me down an extra pair of pants for the project. You get cut up very bad from the shells once you are in it. Along with the cuts and scars, comes the aches and pains in the back from constant bending down. I am hurting in those areas badly. Plus the effects of possibly getting dehydrated if there is going to be consistent 80 degrees on the lake. Anyways, she did me a HUGE favor because careless me didn't think twice about it and packed 2 pairs of shorts instead of both pants. To think that I needed that blows my mind because I should have went over a check list prior to departure. My thoughts were...warm weather + work= shorts...but obviously that equation doesn't work too well being in the situation I am in. Thank God for friends like April that are considerate and able to do favors for others.
So basically in a nut shell and I am trying to explain is...all of next week we will be digging up holes at low tide and taking the already bagged oyster shells and placing them onto the skids and placing them in. The goal is to plant about 1000 bags each day amongst the 14 people that are helping. Bring on the mud!
Along with the strenuous working with the oyster shells, we recently got involved with working at this aquarium place called Tidelands. We do service work over there for them if we have left over time during our work days. We feed the sea animals and clean their tanks and do whatever the lady wants us to do. Since it is teamed up with the University of Georgia, it is not considered ISP hours which is unfortunate. We have found other places to get those hours from. One being Habitat over in Brunswick and another place is this Sea Turtle Center on the island about 10 mins away. We got the tour of the Sea Turtle place this past Thursday and learned more and more about the life of the turtles. A very nice 1.5 hour tour. We then asked if there is any additional help they needed and they responded back if we wanted the chance to help them out every Sunday from 2 PM-6 PM and like flies on meat...our team quickly shook our heads and barked back a boisterous "yes"! We are actually heading there later in about an hour to help out. It should be fun. As for Habitat we will be getting ISP hours helping them every Saturday for roughly 6 hours each time. Yesterday was our first time and we got to shingle a house, look for shiners, and also some nailing. Very fun and yet exhausting. It is brutal being on top of a rough in 80 degree heat with black paper, papering the roof for 4 straight hours! Overall, a great experience and it prepares us for any future Habitat SPIKE projects. A side note, I am super sore from our team's PT that was set up by Lauren, PT coordinator, as she worked us really hard yesterday. We are planning on having a team PT session 2 times a week to keep physically fit.
Exactly 26 days left! So as you can see...this has been a very hectic and busy week. We are getting a lot of these weeks and hope the fun continues these remaining 4 weeks. Bugs are still biting, but we are hoping with the cool weather today it will shoo them away for good. Every other day it seems they come out. Anyways, kayaking and canoeing this week and many more hours! I will keep you posted same time, but next Saturday. I was very busy yesterday running around doing too many things at once and ended up passing out early. I will be on my game this coming Saturday though :) Until next time...have a great week!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Week 1 on Jekyll Island
It has been exactly a week since my last update and BOY...has it zipped right by. More and more these days are getting faster and faster. Here we are on the eve of Easter 2008 and Raven 3 has been at beautiful Jekyll Island for nearly one week!! INSANE! So much work/tasks has been accomplished within that time frame. Like I did last post, I will break down day-by-day and detail what our team did during that time trying to recall as much information as I can and fill you people in on how amazing this AmeriCorps experience has been...
SUNDAY (Mom's 53rd Birthday)
- before we leave from Skidaway we have a team meeting and team building exercise set up by our "team trainers" (Stan and Joni)
- we count and compare how many gnat and mosquito bites we have on our legs and arms
- Raven 3 leaves for Jekyll Island and arrives in at around 3:00 PM
- find out that we are living in cabin type housing, which by the way are amazing and once I get around to it I will start posting pictures of our housing on here (if I can find out how to do it)
- I am living in the house with all 3 of the guys on the team, I get my own room AND have privacy!
- we quickly find out that most of our cell phones do NOT get service in our neighborhood area, so it might be difficult to call when only having 0 to 1 bars.
- All are eager to find out what orientation will be about and ready to get back out in the working field.
MONDAY
- we wake up at 8 AM and get ready for the day, arrive at Brunswick, GA for our orientation with sponsor Ashby.
- Ashby shows us around the G.E.O.R.G.I.A. center and where she works, get introduced to a couple office members
- she takes us out onto a shrimp boat where we ran into boat captain, Ashley, and got the tour of this gigantic boat
- after a good 2.5 hours of walking around and learning about the Brunswick oyster headquarters, Daniel (our other sponsor) took us to a shell recycling center where there was a big heep of dead shells sitting in a pile.
- for the next 2 plus hours, our solid-10 man squad bagged oyster shells...the total at the end was 515! We now have the record for most bagged shell in a 2 hour span...YEAH US!
- to celebrate our awesome and fast-pace working job, our Service Learning team members arranged a tour of a marine aquarium where then we got to see sea turtles, sharks, alligators, and other creatures
- Day 1 comes to an end...and we were all muddy, smelly, and cut up
TUESDAY
- today was a day of LOTS of driving in the van
- 1st we drove to Skidaway Island to load 2 more oyster shells into a trailer, went back into the muddy waters during low tide to collect all the PVC piping and rebars from the water to bring with us back to Jekyll. We had a pretty sweet assembly line process that seemed to work, I was in the water pulling the stakes out of the muddy waters and when Team Leader Andrea told me, I switched with her and heaved several of them onto the shore line where another teammate was waiting to hand to the trailer. My rotator surely felt that one on that day!
- we got cleaned up and power washed ourselves (that thing is super powerful, i got cut on the finger from touching it...oww!)
- then we headed to Savannah to the Bamboo Farm and collected all the stalks we sized down from the week before
- we then drove back to Brunswick and unloaded the trailer and bamboo
- i drove a leg of the trip and ended up passing out right when we got back to our houses...a good and long 10+ hour day!
- not much activity other than driving to and from the locations, it is roughly 2 hour drive from Jekyll Island to Savannah
- we find out at night we are getting a new teammate, a kid from the same Raven unit as us
WEDNESDAY
- woke up around 8 AM to begin the day and doing more oyster bagging/unloading to our Beach Creek site
- began making the cement for caking it on the PVC piping, rebar, and bamboo sticks (this means we are going to stick them in the mud so that the new oysters can cling to them and begin mating which in affect will get rid of the pollution in the water and have a more attractive eye to the public and help the economy with tourists
THURSDAY
- today we went back in the morning to the shell recycle area on Jekyll and cemented more PVC, rebar, and bamboo.
- myself and Zac teamed up and sawed down the bamboo to the correct size which then was later cemented to use for the oyster testing once we set them up in the next coming weeks
- we loaded a couple more trailer loads of oyster shells and took them to the Beach Creek site (I can surely feel that I am getting stronger in the upper shoulder region and lats from carrying these bad boys everyday!)
- in the afternoon our Raven 3 team went to work for a couple hours at another aquarium/critter location down the road, it is an organization that is sponsored by the University of Georgia.
- they put us to work by cleaning the tanks, re-making the beds of various turtles and snakes and other animals, defrost and clean up the freezer, and do some office/paper work
- I chose to do the office work because all the other jobs were taken...my main tasks were to make copies of a half-dozen paperwork items and type and put together a brochure. I was given the information of what to put in it, all they said was think of a creative way to make this...I have the final product that I kept for my portfolio.
- the group was nice enough and gave us free t-shirts and a nice ice cream treat, very nice people, we definately are thinking about going back during one of our off days or rainy days and getting some ISP hours for sure!
- we get the news that the new teammate will be arriving to our squad this coming Wednesday
FRIDAY
- today is the 1st day of our 4-day spring break, a third of us went out to work more and get direct service hours, another third went away for the break, and the final third went to relax on the beaches in our area
- I chose the last third and went to the beaches and kicked back and layed down...a tiring week deserved some alone time, the sun was shining brightly and I think I might have gotten burned
SATURDAY
- another day to relax and kick it...I went for a 1 hour plus bike ride with teammate Nicole to scope out the island better, found a mini golf place, discovered a place to rent Surrey's, and soaked in some more sunrays!
- came back and met up with the AmeriCorps team from Brunswick and they came to 2 more beaches with us and we played some frisbee and football (it is nice seeing people and groups every once in awhile...we don't want to feel too secluded)
SUNDAY
- HAPPY EASTER!
So...there you have it...a detailed outline of hos this past week went. I am going to try and sign onto the internet once every 3 days or so. We have this tourist campground place near our cabins that has WiFi that I have been taken advantage of...so when we get back at night from our worksite, I usually swing over to this location and check up on things...INCLUDING March Madness AND the beginning of the MLB season, Cubs opening day= 8 days away! It is too bad I will be away from baseball in the sense of watching games because there is no TV close to us, unless you drive to a restaurant or somewhere in town. Oh well! Definately a sacrifice!
Hope you enjoy this little brief update on how things are going. Starting next week (on tuesday since we have our spring break) we will be paddling canoes and kayaks and planting the dead oysters into the muddy waters and beginning the process! It is very exciting and loads of fun. Our team was thinking about investing in parachute pants to wear over our Ameri-pants to cause less of washing our clothes...make sense? I think so! We are allowed to only wear black pants...YIPPEE!
Anyways, Happy Easter to you all again. More updates will come throughout...so I will try and keep you posted! Remember and be happy and smile :)
SUNDAY (Mom's 53rd Birthday)
- before we leave from Skidaway we have a team meeting and team building exercise set up by our "team trainers" (Stan and Joni)
- we count and compare how many gnat and mosquito bites we have on our legs and arms
- Raven 3 leaves for Jekyll Island and arrives in at around 3:00 PM
- find out that we are living in cabin type housing, which by the way are amazing and once I get around to it I will start posting pictures of our housing on here (if I can find out how to do it)
- I am living in the house with all 3 of the guys on the team, I get my own room AND have privacy!
- we quickly find out that most of our cell phones do NOT get service in our neighborhood area, so it might be difficult to call when only having 0 to 1 bars.
- All are eager to find out what orientation will be about and ready to get back out in the working field.
MONDAY
- we wake up at 8 AM and get ready for the day, arrive at Brunswick, GA for our orientation with sponsor Ashby.
- Ashby shows us around the G.E.O.R.G.I.A. center and where she works, get introduced to a couple office members
- she takes us out onto a shrimp boat where we ran into boat captain, Ashley, and got the tour of this gigantic boat
- after a good 2.5 hours of walking around and learning about the Brunswick oyster headquarters, Daniel (our other sponsor) took us to a shell recycling center where there was a big heep of dead shells sitting in a pile.
- for the next 2 plus hours, our solid-10 man squad bagged oyster shells...the total at the end was 515! We now have the record for most bagged shell in a 2 hour span...YEAH US!
- to celebrate our awesome and fast-pace working job, our Service Learning team members arranged a tour of a marine aquarium where then we got to see sea turtles, sharks, alligators, and other creatures
- Day 1 comes to an end...and we were all muddy, smelly, and cut up
TUESDAY
- today was a day of LOTS of driving in the van
- 1st we drove to Skidaway Island to load 2 more oyster shells into a trailer, went back into the muddy waters during low tide to collect all the PVC piping and rebars from the water to bring with us back to Jekyll. We had a pretty sweet assembly line process that seemed to work, I was in the water pulling the stakes out of the muddy waters and when Team Leader Andrea told me, I switched with her and heaved several of them onto the shore line where another teammate was waiting to hand to the trailer. My rotator surely felt that one on that day!
- we got cleaned up and power washed ourselves (that thing is super powerful, i got cut on the finger from touching it...oww!)
- then we headed to Savannah to the Bamboo Farm and collected all the stalks we sized down from the week before
- we then drove back to Brunswick and unloaded the trailer and bamboo
- i drove a leg of the trip and ended up passing out right when we got back to our houses...a good and long 10+ hour day!
- not much activity other than driving to and from the locations, it is roughly 2 hour drive from Jekyll Island to Savannah
- we find out at night we are getting a new teammate, a kid from the same Raven unit as us
WEDNESDAY
- woke up around 8 AM to begin the day and doing more oyster bagging/unloading to our Beach Creek site
- began making the cement for caking it on the PVC piping, rebar, and bamboo sticks (this means we are going to stick them in the mud so that the new oysters can cling to them and begin mating which in affect will get rid of the pollution in the water and have a more attractive eye to the public and help the economy with tourists
THURSDAY
- today we went back in the morning to the shell recycle area on Jekyll and cemented more PVC, rebar, and bamboo.
- myself and Zac teamed up and sawed down the bamboo to the correct size which then was later cemented to use for the oyster testing once we set them up in the next coming weeks
- we loaded a couple more trailer loads of oyster shells and took them to the Beach Creek site (I can surely feel that I am getting stronger in the upper shoulder region and lats from carrying these bad boys everyday!)
- in the afternoon our Raven 3 team went to work for a couple hours at another aquarium/critter location down the road, it is an organization that is sponsored by the University of Georgia.
- they put us to work by cleaning the tanks, re-making the beds of various turtles and snakes and other animals, defrost and clean up the freezer, and do some office/paper work
- I chose to do the office work because all the other jobs were taken...my main tasks were to make copies of a half-dozen paperwork items and type and put together a brochure. I was given the information of what to put in it, all they said was think of a creative way to make this...I have the final product that I kept for my portfolio.
- the group was nice enough and gave us free t-shirts and a nice ice cream treat, very nice people, we definately are thinking about going back during one of our off days or rainy days and getting some ISP hours for sure!
- we get the news that the new teammate will be arriving to our squad this coming Wednesday
FRIDAY
- today is the 1st day of our 4-day spring break, a third of us went out to work more and get direct service hours, another third went away for the break, and the final third went to relax on the beaches in our area
- I chose the last third and went to the beaches and kicked back and layed down...a tiring week deserved some alone time, the sun was shining brightly and I think I might have gotten burned
SATURDAY
- another day to relax and kick it...I went for a 1 hour plus bike ride with teammate Nicole to scope out the island better, found a mini golf place, discovered a place to rent Surrey's, and soaked in some more sunrays!
- came back and met up with the AmeriCorps team from Brunswick and they came to 2 more beaches with us and we played some frisbee and football (it is nice seeing people and groups every once in awhile...we don't want to feel too secluded)
SUNDAY
- HAPPY EASTER!
So...there you have it...a detailed outline of hos this past week went. I am going to try and sign onto the internet once every 3 days or so. We have this tourist campground place near our cabins that has WiFi that I have been taken advantage of...so when we get back at night from our worksite, I usually swing over to this location and check up on things...INCLUDING March Madness AND the beginning of the MLB season, Cubs opening day= 8 days away! It is too bad I will be away from baseball in the sense of watching games because there is no TV close to us, unless you drive to a restaurant or somewhere in town. Oh well! Definately a sacrifice!
Hope you enjoy this little brief update on how things are going. Starting next week (on tuesday since we have our spring break) we will be paddling canoes and kayaks and planting the dead oysters into the muddy waters and beginning the process! It is very exciting and loads of fun. Our team was thinking about investing in parachute pants to wear over our Ameri-pants to cause less of washing our clothes...make sense? I think so! We are allowed to only wear black pants...YIPPEE!
Anyways, Happy Easter to you all again. More updates will come throughout...so I will try and keep you posted! Remember and be happy and smile :)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Off to beautiful Jekyll Island...sunny skies and waist deep of MUD!!
This is definately a first time posting 2 in one week. Thanks to my trusty teammate Zac and his ever faithful wireless internet, I am currently sitting outside of one of the buildings on Skidaway Island (to be exact...the Aquarium of the Marine Extension Service, where there are tons of awesome marine animals, sharks, and sea turtles). Ok now to talk about this fast and rapid first week at the Skidaway Island...if some of this sounds repetitive I apologize but I will try to go in great detail what has occurred (with a little help from the teammates of Raven 3)...Bare with me and hang on...
Sunday
- team grocery shopping at Walmart
- we as a team went on a 2.5 hour hike through the forest nearby, I took some wicked pictures of it that will be posted soon
- prepared for the orientation Monday
Monday
- teammate Zac goes to doctor because of terrible fever, runny noise, access coughing throughout the night (made it hard for roommate Bill to sleep :( )
- met our sponsors: Daniel, Alan, Courtney, Angela, Bob, Tom, and many more
- had orientation of the island, types of tasks we were assigned to do, learned about the Adopt-A-Wetland program
- took the hazardous and waste training online test...now we are certified!
- we are all getting excited and stoked about getting our hands dirty
Tuesday
- went on a boat ride with Bob and learned what trawelling was. Basically its casting a huge net out into the lake and trying to suction as much activity and fish you can gather. We waited a good 10 minutes for everything to gather. First round we only caught anchovies and little fish, but the second round we caught squid, puffer fish, seahorses, and bigger fish...much more affective round for sure. The things we did catch were used to feed the animals in the aquarium.
- went to a location called: Priest Landing and bagged several bags of oyster shell getting them prepared to plant into the mud for mating at Jekyll Island
- put in a solid 8 hour day...and we were SPENT!
- at dinner though, myself and fellow CAPper Lauren performed a practice presentation in front of freshman boys and girls. They were there on a 3 day, 2 night visit learning about marine-life. All these kids were interested in oceanography of some kind.
Wednesday
- back out to Priest Landing as a group to bag more oyster shells for the first part of the morning up until lunch time, we cleared a huge pile of oysters and loaded them in 2 trailer loads of bagged oysters (each trailer had appox. 300 bags)
- in the afternoon we helped out fellow sponsor, Harry, and fixed up a gravel pathway. We helped make it smoother and less gravel-like because handicap people were struggling getting through it. We basically filled over 280, five gallon buckets of gravel. The pathway lead into the nature walk hike. They were all very pleased. Half of us did the gravel and the other half picked up and raked all the spanish moss and access debris from the trees in the grass to spice up the place a bit
- after the day ended, Harry rewarded us with a nice BBQ dinner and it was yummy!
- Lauren and I start preparing with Power Point a presentation so it makes it easier for us to communicate with the high schools and universities about AmeriCorps. Our job as a CAP is to go out and present to at least 3 different locations over our SPIKE and recruit people to join. It shall be tons of fun
Thursday
- started work at 7:30 AM and climbed into the muddy banks and pulled out PVC piping and rebar from the shore...
- afternoon we drove over to Bamboo Gardens and cut down bamboo stalks that were interfering with a private property on the other side of the fence. Also the bamboo is going to be used for the Bamboo Festival coming up in a couple weeks
- team meeting at Starbucks to talk about our team roles and how we are progressing so far
Friday
- Painted Savannah Green and attended the parade for a couple hours and took several pictures
- the whole group drove to it and saw some pretty awesome floats, an estimated 400,000 people were in attendance!
Saturday
- today we went on a nice, pleasant boat ride with Daniel to Cabbage Island and to Tybee Island to collect oysters for the roast later tonight
- we spent until 12:30 collecting 3 bushells filled and brought them back. I caught some pretty sweet shells on the route.
- in teh afternoon we bagged shell Day 3...over 300 or so bags in roughly 2 hours. Not too shabby!
- came back and cleaned up for the roasting of oysters and they were DELICIOUS! First time with them and they slid down the throat.
- preparing and packing for Jekyll Island and doing the last bit of laundry
- sending out roughly 50 letters to Ameri-friends and hoping to receive some back :) (I love getting mail!)
- will get the address to Jekyll Island tomorrow and update you all!
That is the detailed update on what has happened this week. We roughly worked 40 hours in all and there was a lot of dirty jobs and tasks we did but it payed off. I feel I am losing weight and gaining some muscles :) Nothing to complain there...ALTHOUGH one negative about this whole experience is the ammount of GNATS that are swarming around here every part of the day. It seems as if I have chicken pox on my legs and arms from them. What do I do? I am still smiling and keeping in touch with my Ameri-friends and not trying to cause any drama or anything. So far so good, we like to work and there will be plenty more of it on Jekyll. Time to plant those bags and make the place a better tourist attraction as well as a cleaner and enjoyable place.
Another update will come mid-week or so once we get situated in Jekyll! Thanks for taking the time to read! Until next time...have a great week!!
PS. Congratulations Mitchy and my new brother-in-law Ben!
P.P.S. Happy 53rd Birthday Mom! I miss you
Sunday
- team grocery shopping at Walmart
- we as a team went on a 2.5 hour hike through the forest nearby, I took some wicked pictures of it that will be posted soon
- prepared for the orientation Monday
Monday
- teammate Zac goes to doctor because of terrible fever, runny noise, access coughing throughout the night (made it hard for roommate Bill to sleep :( )
- met our sponsors: Daniel, Alan, Courtney, Angela, Bob, Tom, and many more
- had orientation of the island, types of tasks we were assigned to do, learned about the Adopt-A-Wetland program
- took the hazardous and waste training online test...now we are certified!
- we are all getting excited and stoked about getting our hands dirty
Tuesday
- went on a boat ride with Bob and learned what trawelling was. Basically its casting a huge net out into the lake and trying to suction as much activity and fish you can gather. We waited a good 10 minutes for everything to gather. First round we only caught anchovies and little fish, but the second round we caught squid, puffer fish, seahorses, and bigger fish...much more affective round for sure. The things we did catch were used to feed the animals in the aquarium.
- went to a location called: Priest Landing and bagged several bags of oyster shell getting them prepared to plant into the mud for mating at Jekyll Island
- put in a solid 8 hour day...and we were SPENT!
- at dinner though, myself and fellow CAPper Lauren performed a practice presentation in front of freshman boys and girls. They were there on a 3 day, 2 night visit learning about marine-life. All these kids were interested in oceanography of some kind.
Wednesday
- back out to Priest Landing as a group to bag more oyster shells for the first part of the morning up until lunch time, we cleared a huge pile of oysters and loaded them in 2 trailer loads of bagged oysters (each trailer had appox. 300 bags)
- in the afternoon we helped out fellow sponsor, Harry, and fixed up a gravel pathway. We helped make it smoother and less gravel-like because handicap people were struggling getting through it. We basically filled over 280, five gallon buckets of gravel. The pathway lead into the nature walk hike. They were all very pleased. Half of us did the gravel and the other half picked up and raked all the spanish moss and access debris from the trees in the grass to spice up the place a bit
- after the day ended, Harry rewarded us with a nice BBQ dinner and it was yummy!
- Lauren and I start preparing with Power Point a presentation so it makes it easier for us to communicate with the high schools and universities about AmeriCorps. Our job as a CAP is to go out and present to at least 3 different locations over our SPIKE and recruit people to join. It shall be tons of fun
Thursday
- started work at 7:30 AM and climbed into the muddy banks and pulled out PVC piping and rebar from the shore...
- afternoon we drove over to Bamboo Gardens and cut down bamboo stalks that were interfering with a private property on the other side of the fence. Also the bamboo is going to be used for the Bamboo Festival coming up in a couple weeks
- team meeting at Starbucks to talk about our team roles and how we are progressing so far
Friday
- Painted Savannah Green and attended the parade for a couple hours and took several pictures
- the whole group drove to it and saw some pretty awesome floats, an estimated 400,000 people were in attendance!
Saturday
- today we went on a nice, pleasant boat ride with Daniel to Cabbage Island and to Tybee Island to collect oysters for the roast later tonight
- we spent until 12:30 collecting 3 bushells filled and brought them back. I caught some pretty sweet shells on the route.
- in teh afternoon we bagged shell Day 3...over 300 or so bags in roughly 2 hours. Not too shabby!
- came back and cleaned up for the roasting of oysters and they were DELICIOUS! First time with them and they slid down the throat.
- preparing and packing for Jekyll Island and doing the last bit of laundry
- sending out roughly 50 letters to Ameri-friends and hoping to receive some back :) (I love getting mail!)
- will get the address to Jekyll Island tomorrow and update you all!
That is the detailed update on what has happened this week. We roughly worked 40 hours in all and there was a lot of dirty jobs and tasks we did but it payed off. I feel I am losing weight and gaining some muscles :) Nothing to complain there...ALTHOUGH one negative about this whole experience is the ammount of GNATS that are swarming around here every part of the day. It seems as if I have chicken pox on my legs and arms from them. What do I do? I am still smiling and keeping in touch with my Ameri-friends and not trying to cause any drama or anything. So far so good, we like to work and there will be plenty more of it on Jekyll. Time to plant those bags and make the place a better tourist attraction as well as a cleaner and enjoyable place.
Another update will come mid-week or so once we get situated in Jekyll! Thanks for taking the time to read! Until next time...have a great week!!
PS. Congratulations Mitchy and my new brother-in-law Ben!
P.P.S. Happy 53rd Birthday Mom! I miss you
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Skidaway Island for 1 week,then Jekyll for 6!
Well...here I am posting yet again another blog. I finally found the time and the internet access to post something. I noticed it was the right time to because a lot of things have happened since the last March 3rd posting. Where to begin? Where to begin? I have no idea, but hold on for the ride, I will try to explain what has been going on...
First of all, all of last week was basically trying to pack everything and get all of my uniforms and supplies packed to load the van. We finished up our last bit of training this past Tuesday as the fire fighting training ended and the people that got chosen for chain saw training arrived back to Perry Point. It felt glad and relaxing to be done and we were given about 2 days to say our goodbyes to the close friends we formed in the first 5 weeks. Three groups deployed early on Thursday while the remaining 25 teams left on Friday morning. I took it upon myself to make little notes and wrote letters to the people I was closest to and taped little blow pops on them. Each card said something different and it came from the heart, some even got a little teary-eyed, and I explained to them before I gave it that it might sound a tiny bit cheesy. It was surely difficult to say goodbye to them.
I probably stayed up to at least 4 AM those 2 final nights making the deliveries of cards and also hanging out with them before our departure. But we all came to an agreement to keep in touch through either calling or Ameri-mail. Ameri-mail is defined as sending snail mail to the friends you have and writing their name and team number which then will be Fed-Ex back to Perry Point and then sorted out accordingly. Then the staff members place the letters into another Fed-Ex box and send to the proper teams. I hope to be getting LOTS of mail from people when the time comes. I have already started hand-writing and printing off newsletters for the friends.
We packed up the van the night before and stored our extra clothes and junk into sheds outside of the houses. I think I overpacked as it seemed my 2 bags were overflowing to the max! I needed my Dad to help me since he is Mr. Consolidate Packer!! I should have picked up some tips before I left Dad...haha. I managed to get what I needed, but am really worried about the amount of things I will be gathering from now until 13 weeks when we head back to Perry Point. Our team is not transitioning back up to headquarters. Instead we are transitioning in Jackson, Mississippi with the other Georgia and gulf teams. From there we are going to be stationed we think somewhere on the Gulf. Hopefully down in Florida so I can visit my aunt, uncle and cousins! That would be ideal :) Friday morning, we loaded the last bit of things and headed on our drive. Once again, it was surely difficult to say goodbye. We left approx. 8:30 AM and got to the hotel in Florence, SC at 9:30 PM with several stops on the way. One of those stops was to eat dinner at teammate Lauren's brothers' house for grilling and snacks. Very much appreciated and definately saved us food money! We had to switch drivers every 2 hours. I took the 12:45 to 2:45 shift and absolutely loved it. Bring on more driving! I get more and more excited when the opportunity arrives. We have a total of 5 drivers on our team. Thanks Mitchy for encouraging me to become one!
Continuing on with the journey...when we got to the hotel, we spent the night with 2 other teams. It was kind of a calm and tiring night because of all the driving. BUT...i found out that I FINALLY have cell phone service! I was super stoked. So if you want to get a hold of me, please call :) We woke up the next morning at 10 and headed back on the road for Day 2 of driving to Skidaway Island. What a great smell when we sniffed that fresh Georgia air! It felt nice because the weather was great. Around 65 degrees when we pulled up to the Marine Extension Service! You can't go wrong with that. After getting out with cramped legs and stiff backs, we unloaded the van into our dorm-like rooms. I happen to share a room with teammate Stan that is connected another room where teammate Bill and Zac are staying. We all share a bathroom. Not too big of a room, but doable for a week. The 6 girls on the team are sharing rooms as well. They are all close to each other, so if we want to talk to each other we can walk 3 steps and see them. Not too shabby.
Now onto the real work...Monday we had our orientation with our sponsors. Our main sponsors are Daniel and Alan. Both are really cool and have great personalities. We had a slide show presentation about the program and what type of tasks we will be performing while we are here. Tons of excitement was running through the air after the orientation. We are all looking forward to getting our hands dirty. Today, Tuesday, we actually got to do a hands on project with bagging shells. Oysters had to be placed into netting bags and we did that for the whole morning and afternoon. At night time Lauren and I got the chance to do our CAPping responsibility and talked to fellow campers (14 and 15 year olds) that were on the island getting hands-on experience with the marine life. It was considered an informal CAPping event. Our next step is to contact high schools and universities in the area and speak to those audiences. Obviously these kids are a couple years younger than the required 18-24. Hopefully our great speaking skills and persuasion will convince them to joining. Lauren and I are excited to actually get out into the field. My personal goal was during this SPIKE to improve my public speaking and oratory skills. We have to at least 3 CAPping events in the next 6 weeks! More jobs to come this week on Skidaway Islands. Then Sunday we leave for Jekyll Island for the remaining 6 weeks where we will be doing similiar jobs. We will be living in cabins when we get to Jekyll, which means the housing will be a lot better. I will be taking pictures of both living conditions and will post them either here or I can email them to each of you. I feel bad for the other teams because some are living in tents, some are in teepees, and others are sleeping in much worser things than us...we kind of have it MADE :) I feel very fortunate for it.
Anyways, I am looking forward for this coming Friday, March 14th because it is the St. Patrick's Day celebration and parade. It is considered the 2nd biggest event celebrated in the US. We are going to be apart of it and actually get the day off. I will take pics of that event and post. We are going to do a team get together and go.
Well...that is all I have so far. Hope it is long enough for you all. There will be more to come as we continue to get more projects. A lot is planned out and in store for us, we are just awaiting to see what it is and keep getting excited. The sponsors are glad and really thankful we are here helping. Bring on the mud, the dirt, the sweat, the tears...and ESPECIALLY those oysters :)! Until next time...take care
PS. Happy early Birthday Mommy! (you must be and feel really holy since it happens to fall on the same day as Palm Sunday)
First of all, all of last week was basically trying to pack everything and get all of my uniforms and supplies packed to load the van. We finished up our last bit of training this past Tuesday as the fire fighting training ended and the people that got chosen for chain saw training arrived back to Perry Point. It felt glad and relaxing to be done and we were given about 2 days to say our goodbyes to the close friends we formed in the first 5 weeks. Three groups deployed early on Thursday while the remaining 25 teams left on Friday morning. I took it upon myself to make little notes and wrote letters to the people I was closest to and taped little blow pops on them. Each card said something different and it came from the heart, some even got a little teary-eyed, and I explained to them before I gave it that it might sound a tiny bit cheesy. It was surely difficult to say goodbye to them.
I probably stayed up to at least 4 AM those 2 final nights making the deliveries of cards and also hanging out with them before our departure. But we all came to an agreement to keep in touch through either calling or Ameri-mail. Ameri-mail is defined as sending snail mail to the friends you have and writing their name and team number which then will be Fed-Ex back to Perry Point and then sorted out accordingly. Then the staff members place the letters into another Fed-Ex box and send to the proper teams. I hope to be getting LOTS of mail from people when the time comes. I have already started hand-writing and printing off newsletters for the friends.
We packed up the van the night before and stored our extra clothes and junk into sheds outside of the houses. I think I overpacked as it seemed my 2 bags were overflowing to the max! I needed my Dad to help me since he is Mr. Consolidate Packer!! I should have picked up some tips before I left Dad...haha. I managed to get what I needed, but am really worried about the amount of things I will be gathering from now until 13 weeks when we head back to Perry Point. Our team is not transitioning back up to headquarters. Instead we are transitioning in Jackson, Mississippi with the other Georgia and gulf teams. From there we are going to be stationed we think somewhere on the Gulf. Hopefully down in Florida so I can visit my aunt, uncle and cousins! That would be ideal :) Friday morning, we loaded the last bit of things and headed on our drive. Once again, it was surely difficult to say goodbye. We left approx. 8:30 AM and got to the hotel in Florence, SC at 9:30 PM with several stops on the way. One of those stops was to eat dinner at teammate Lauren's brothers' house for grilling and snacks. Very much appreciated and definately saved us food money! We had to switch drivers every 2 hours. I took the 12:45 to 2:45 shift and absolutely loved it. Bring on more driving! I get more and more excited when the opportunity arrives. We have a total of 5 drivers on our team. Thanks Mitchy for encouraging me to become one!
Continuing on with the journey...when we got to the hotel, we spent the night with 2 other teams. It was kind of a calm and tiring night because of all the driving. BUT...i found out that I FINALLY have cell phone service! I was super stoked. So if you want to get a hold of me, please call :) We woke up the next morning at 10 and headed back on the road for Day 2 of driving to Skidaway Island. What a great smell when we sniffed that fresh Georgia air! It felt nice because the weather was great. Around 65 degrees when we pulled up to the Marine Extension Service! You can't go wrong with that. After getting out with cramped legs and stiff backs, we unloaded the van into our dorm-like rooms. I happen to share a room with teammate Stan that is connected another room where teammate Bill and Zac are staying. We all share a bathroom. Not too big of a room, but doable for a week. The 6 girls on the team are sharing rooms as well. They are all close to each other, so if we want to talk to each other we can walk 3 steps and see them. Not too shabby.
Now onto the real work...Monday we had our orientation with our sponsors. Our main sponsors are Daniel and Alan. Both are really cool and have great personalities. We had a slide show presentation about the program and what type of tasks we will be performing while we are here. Tons of excitement was running through the air after the orientation. We are all looking forward to getting our hands dirty. Today, Tuesday, we actually got to do a hands on project with bagging shells. Oysters had to be placed into netting bags and we did that for the whole morning and afternoon. At night time Lauren and I got the chance to do our CAPping responsibility and talked to fellow campers (14 and 15 year olds) that were on the island getting hands-on experience with the marine life. It was considered an informal CAPping event. Our next step is to contact high schools and universities in the area and speak to those audiences. Obviously these kids are a couple years younger than the required 18-24. Hopefully our great speaking skills and persuasion will convince them to joining. Lauren and I are excited to actually get out into the field. My personal goal was during this SPIKE to improve my public speaking and oratory skills. We have to at least 3 CAPping events in the next 6 weeks! More jobs to come this week on Skidaway Islands. Then Sunday we leave for Jekyll Island for the remaining 6 weeks where we will be doing similiar jobs. We will be living in cabins when we get to Jekyll, which means the housing will be a lot better. I will be taking pictures of both living conditions and will post them either here or I can email them to each of you. I feel bad for the other teams because some are living in tents, some are in teepees, and others are sleeping in much worser things than us...we kind of have it MADE :) I feel very fortunate for it.
Anyways, I am looking forward for this coming Friday, March 14th because it is the St. Patrick's Day celebration and parade. It is considered the 2nd biggest event celebrated in the US. We are going to be apart of it and actually get the day off. I will take pics of that event and post. We are going to do a team get together and go.
Well...that is all I have so far. Hope it is long enough for you all. There will be more to come as we continue to get more projects. A lot is planned out and in store for us, we are just awaiting to see what it is and keep getting excited. The sponsors are glad and really thankful we are here helping. Bring on the mud, the dirt, the sweat, the tears...and ESPECIALLY those oysters :)! Until next time...take care
PS. Happy early Birthday Mommy! (you must be and feel really holy since it happens to fall on the same day as Palm Sunday)
Monday, March 3, 2008
One more thing to add...
I totally thought I had told everything but I forgot to say that I have lost nearly 13 pounds since being here on campus. My weigh-in for my physical was 213 lbs. As I have been doing PT and working out more and going to the YMCA with also eliminating sugar drinks and watching what I eat, I am now down to 200.5 lbs!! I am almost under 200 for the first time since senior year of varsity baseball. I am fitting more comfy in my pants and jeans, and even with my t-shirts. I could not believe it. I weighed myself today at the YMCA and was shocked. My ultimate goal is to be down to 175 before AmeriCorps ends. Guess if I keep trying I will be surely on my way. Do the math....losing 13 pounds in less than 4 weeks is equivalent to how many TOTAL lbs in 10 months? Too late for me to do that math...I will let you figure that one!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Do I REALLY leave for my 1st SPIKE in 4 days?
WOW! Talk about time flying! I have been in Maryland for nearly 5 weeks and it seems I just arrived from the airport. Zipping right by is the correct term for the AmeriCorps experience so far. I am sorry if it has been over 2 weeks since my last post...finding freetime away from training, service projects, and ISPs is very difficult. I guess these next couple days will be spent hanging out with the close friends I made from other groups. It will definately be sad to see them depart :( But I realize I have a great group of teammates that will make this experience a memorable.
I had written previously a very descriptive post telling what happened with day to day things I did but it got deleted some how. So instead of fretting about it, I will attempt to tell you in paragraph form instead of bullet points. Beginning with my constant attendance to the church service they have in the VA chapel. Me and 4 other friends walk from our houses (about a 1.1 mile walk to) and attend during this important part of the liturgical calendar. It is fun going with the group...we all bond and mesh very well. We do not know who else is Catholic from the Corps. We really have not had that much time to broadcast it and announce it. Easter is just right around the corner. And I thought about that and this will be the 1st Easter I am going to miss with the family. No Easter egg hunts in the yard this year...
Monday of this past week we: had a community service meeting in which a team plans and puts on a show for the rest of the NCCC-ites about AmeriCorps things and whatever their creative minds can lead them. Eventually all teams are supposed to run a meeting. So that was first in the morning...we later then broke off and learned about our team roles in detail. My role for Raven 3 is a CAPper. A CAPper's main responsibility is to be the recruited of the program and go out to colleges and high schools or special festivals or galas to talk about AmeriCorps and be very convincing about people wanting to join. In our remote Georgia area, Lauren (the other CAPper) and I have found roughly 10 places within 30 miles of our island that we are going to be calling and finding out if there is a time to go in and give a presentation. I love that I received the position because public speaking is something i love and communications was my major. Lauren and I surely can't wait to put it to work and have a good time in the process. Also today I received my 15 passenger van driving license. I passed, I succeed, and I am one heck of a driver :) It is quite fun but a HUGE liability. The little piece of ID fits comfortably in my wallet. We will eventually have 3 other drivers but they have not taken the 'rookie driving test' but that will happen fairly soon since we leave in 4 days! EEK!
Tuesday was when we broke into our groups to work on the briefing power point and start planning for the team brochure. Two things that took awhile to do, but are done and are done 2 dyas before the due date. I got a library card from the Perryville library. It is pretty cool because in my mind it is much more cleaner and better than the Crystal Lake library. Lauren and I got our section done and added it to the power point...we SOOO rock! Tuesday also consisted of more informational meetings discussing the trip. Found out we will be traveling 2 days since the vans can't travel for more than 8 hours in a day. We are teaming up with 2 other teams and spending the night in a hotel. I am not sure what leg of the 2 hours I am going to drive. Pref. the 1st shift so I can have that possibility of passing out and napping.
Wednesday we had to sit through another team community meeting at the Minker firehouse...and quite shocking this was a very entertaining and funny meeting. The team performed short AmeriCorps commercials making fun of the phrase..."green on a gray is not ok". If you are confused by that statement it basically means that no green (also known as the TL and staff members) can't have anything to do with the gray (the Corps members) in any way. This rule was enforced after the class of 13. They outlawed it because their were several people getting too close which was effecting their work ethics and concentration. Silly? Of course it is...so time to lay down the law. At the end of the day, our team accomplished the briefing portion of the power point. We will smooth sailing and WAY ahead of the other groups. Later afternoon we practiced for Induction. Tonight was also "Corps" night at the Revendezoux which is basically a social gathering in the Perry Point area. It was nice because it is difficult to see friends you are close with when things and scheduling is all messed up. I tried to talk and chat with several people who I became friends with and basically said, "Do not lose touch when we leave!" I plan on keeping in touch with many of the people I have talked to including some of the TL's who are awesome.
Thursday we got INDUCTED and are official members. It feels good. The induction had 2 speakers, a TL singing the national anthem, and a speech from the Program Director. Overall, and exciting day because people were smiling, cameras were flashing, and pledges were being memorized. I was each other those minus the picture taking since my camera is spazzing and won't work. I am relying on my teammates to share the pics and tag them on facebook so then I can then tag them on here. Went to the YMCA after Induction and did some lap swimming and hit up the sauna and hot tub to get rid of the aching muscles. I weighed myself at the end of the work out and noticed I am down to 202! HOORAY. Instead of gaining I am losing. That is 11 lbs since my physical. Not too shabby. If I can average that every 3 weeks, I am well on my way to my 175 lb goal for my ideal weight. I believe and KNOW I can do it. Slim and trim are the key words.
Friday was a light day of a training/meeting in the morning to talk about program development and what goes on behind the scenes. We broke off and my Unit and the Badger Unit sat for 3 hours as these 2 staff ladies were talking about housing, budget, and learning what is expected in the program. In the afternoon the team got together for last finishing touches on the power point. What the power point basically breaks down to is: a collection of information gathered by the 9 of us to learn what is around and what is Skidaway Island has to offer. What can we do to help Skidaway? Can we make an impact? (if you have the moment ya'll should check out Skidaway Island, GA...very pretty!)
Saturday I signed up for an ISP opportunity and we took a van to Baltimore to work and pull up invasive species and posion ivy and other weeding type activity. It went well, we ended up getting 8 hours. We worked from 9-3 in a park where we worked hard for the 6 of us that showed up. Others bailed and were too tired to wake up at 7:45. With that 8, at that point I had 7.5 from last week. I got those hours with half my team and a couple people from others as we traveled to Fort Delaware to make padded hangers for costumes to be hung on. The costumes are ere used to dress the part represent during the historic walk. Fort Delaware was a military base and they offer hikes and tours of the location. The costumes need somewhere to hang so they gave us the sewing job, I prefered not to sew. So what I did instead was cut the fabric in the shape of the hanger to then hand off to the other 8 people to sew. We had a good assembly line going with that one. We were also fed lunch and dinner...double PLUS!
Sunday, I unfortunately missed morning mass, but it was for a reason...Happy 4th Sunday of Lent. I went on another ISP with my team and a few other people to an American Legion building in Havre de Grace, MD. We worked for 4.5 hours mending up the house, putting tile on floors, painting walls, removing dry wall, etc. They fed us lunch even, super nice for starters and secondly they didn't have to but they did and they fed 22+ boys and girls. Time went by fast. I was in charge of the floor tiling. Tons of fun. I learned alot. I used a razor similiar to Dad's and it reminded me of the warehouse days and being back there. After the event, I would roughly have 20 or so hours for ISP which is pretty good considering Michelle only had like 5 by the end of her first round SPIKE. I am beating you sis :)
So...all in all from what I mentioned it seem to be a busy weekend with tons of smal and busy-work type jobs. Training is officially over and it feels so relieving, Don't get me wrong, training was a blast and I certainly picked up on several new ideas. Things I forgot to mention...I might be applying to be a teacher in Summer of Service Program in the Summer. The basis of the job is if I end up getting the position, I would be transfered down to the Gulf and be in charage of a team of ten girls/boys ages 14-17. It is basically an AmeriCorps for them. It should be interested and something that really made me think. I love kids and it would def be something to consider. I will be getting pictures of the times so far, but I am awaiting on a couple people to actually put them on and tag them through facebook. Next post I will send pictures of the events I have gone on, the house, and other awesome things that have taken place. Finally there are many nice people here as I mentioned before...so nice that one of my friends is knitting me a matching hat to go with my already beautiful scarf AND my teammate Nicole is making me a bracelet which I can not wait. We actually have team bracelets that our TL made for us. Like I said...we ROCK!
Well that is all I have. If you have any questions, comments or concerns just let me know. Once again another late night trying to play catch up with several small things. Dan signing off...until next time...keep checking from time to time. I will def. have another one up before I leave Friday for our trip. God Bless to you all...and keep in touch...I hope you did not forget how to use a pen and paper :)
Danny signing off..."Caw caw" (the sound of the Raven 3 call)
PS. Mary= congrats on making the soccer team, I am very proud of you. Keep your head up and continue working hard!
Mom and Dad= I have had the chance to watch a couple American Idols and my picks to click for winners are: David Archuletta for the guys and then that one girl who performed last, I can't remember her name...
Dad= since I have sorta been watching it Dad, does that make me legit for the American Idol bet?
Mitchy= once I have a phone that I can actually dial and receive calls I will call you and fill you in more (that goes also for whoever is reading this)
Abby= hey girl. I miss you! Hang in there, hang in there until I get back!
I had written previously a very descriptive post telling what happened with day to day things I did but it got deleted some how. So instead of fretting about it, I will attempt to tell you in paragraph form instead of bullet points. Beginning with my constant attendance to the church service they have in the VA chapel. Me and 4 other friends walk from our houses (about a 1.1 mile walk to) and attend during this important part of the liturgical calendar. It is fun going with the group...we all bond and mesh very well. We do not know who else is Catholic from the Corps. We really have not had that much time to broadcast it and announce it. Easter is just right around the corner. And I thought about that and this will be the 1st Easter I am going to miss with the family. No Easter egg hunts in the yard this year...
Monday of this past week we: had a community service meeting in which a team plans and puts on a show for the rest of the NCCC-ites about AmeriCorps things and whatever their creative minds can lead them. Eventually all teams are supposed to run a meeting. So that was first in the morning...we later then broke off and learned about our team roles in detail. My role for Raven 3 is a CAPper. A CAPper's main responsibility is to be the recruited of the program and go out to colleges and high schools or special festivals or galas to talk about AmeriCorps and be very convincing about people wanting to join. In our remote Georgia area, Lauren (the other CAPper) and I have found roughly 10 places within 30 miles of our island that we are going to be calling and finding out if there is a time to go in and give a presentation. I love that I received the position because public speaking is something i love and communications was my major. Lauren and I surely can't wait to put it to work and have a good time in the process. Also today I received my 15 passenger van driving license. I passed, I succeed, and I am one heck of a driver :) It is quite fun but a HUGE liability. The little piece of ID fits comfortably in my wallet. We will eventually have 3 other drivers but they have not taken the 'rookie driving test' but that will happen fairly soon since we leave in 4 days! EEK!
Tuesday was when we broke into our groups to work on the briefing power point and start planning for the team brochure. Two things that took awhile to do, but are done and are done 2 dyas before the due date. I got a library card from the Perryville library. It is pretty cool because in my mind it is much more cleaner and better than the Crystal Lake library. Lauren and I got our section done and added it to the power point...we SOOO rock! Tuesday also consisted of more informational meetings discussing the trip. Found out we will be traveling 2 days since the vans can't travel for more than 8 hours in a day. We are teaming up with 2 other teams and spending the night in a hotel. I am not sure what leg of the 2 hours I am going to drive. Pref. the 1st shift so I can have that possibility of passing out and napping.
Wednesday we had to sit through another team community meeting at the Minker firehouse...and quite shocking this was a very entertaining and funny meeting. The team performed short AmeriCorps commercials making fun of the phrase..."green on a gray is not ok". If you are confused by that statement it basically means that no green (also known as the TL and staff members) can't have anything to do with the gray (the Corps members) in any way. This rule was enforced after the class of 13. They outlawed it because their were several people getting too close which was effecting their work ethics and concentration. Silly? Of course it is...so time to lay down the law. At the end of the day, our team accomplished the briefing portion of the power point. We will smooth sailing and WAY ahead of the other groups. Later afternoon we practiced for Induction. Tonight was also "Corps" night at the Revendezoux which is basically a social gathering in the Perry Point area. It was nice because it is difficult to see friends you are close with when things and scheduling is all messed up. I tried to talk and chat with several people who I became friends with and basically said, "Do not lose touch when we leave!" I plan on keeping in touch with many of the people I have talked to including some of the TL's who are awesome.
Thursday we got INDUCTED and are official members. It feels good. The induction had 2 speakers, a TL singing the national anthem, and a speech from the Program Director. Overall, and exciting day because people were smiling, cameras were flashing, and pledges were being memorized. I was each other those minus the picture taking since my camera is spazzing and won't work. I am relying on my teammates to share the pics and tag them on facebook so then I can then tag them on here. Went to the YMCA after Induction and did some lap swimming and hit up the sauna and hot tub to get rid of the aching muscles. I weighed myself at the end of the work out and noticed I am down to 202! HOORAY. Instead of gaining I am losing. That is 11 lbs since my physical. Not too shabby. If I can average that every 3 weeks, I am well on my way to my 175 lb goal for my ideal weight. I believe and KNOW I can do it. Slim and trim are the key words.
Friday was a light day of a training/meeting in the morning to talk about program development and what goes on behind the scenes. We broke off and my Unit and the Badger Unit sat for 3 hours as these 2 staff ladies were talking about housing, budget, and learning what is expected in the program. In the afternoon the team got together for last finishing touches on the power point. What the power point basically breaks down to is: a collection of information gathered by the 9 of us to learn what is around and what is Skidaway Island has to offer. What can we do to help Skidaway? Can we make an impact? (if you have the moment ya'll should check out Skidaway Island, GA...very pretty!)
Saturday I signed up for an ISP opportunity and we took a van to Baltimore to work and pull up invasive species and posion ivy and other weeding type activity. It went well, we ended up getting 8 hours. We worked from 9-3 in a park where we worked hard for the 6 of us that showed up. Others bailed and were too tired to wake up at 7:45. With that 8, at that point I had 7.5 from last week. I got those hours with half my team and a couple people from others as we traveled to Fort Delaware to make padded hangers for costumes to be hung on. The costumes are ere used to dress the part represent during the historic walk. Fort Delaware was a military base and they offer hikes and tours of the location. The costumes need somewhere to hang so they gave us the sewing job, I prefered not to sew. So what I did instead was cut the fabric in the shape of the hanger to then hand off to the other 8 people to sew. We had a good assembly line going with that one. We were also fed lunch and dinner...double PLUS!
Sunday, I unfortunately missed morning mass, but it was for a reason...Happy 4th Sunday of Lent. I went on another ISP with my team and a few other people to an American Legion building in Havre de Grace, MD. We worked for 4.5 hours mending up the house, putting tile on floors, painting walls, removing dry wall, etc. They fed us lunch even, super nice for starters and secondly they didn't have to but they did and they fed 22+ boys and girls. Time went by fast. I was in charge of the floor tiling. Tons of fun. I learned alot. I used a razor similiar to Dad's and it reminded me of the warehouse days and being back there. After the event, I would roughly have 20 or so hours for ISP which is pretty good considering Michelle only had like 5 by the end of her first round SPIKE. I am beating you sis :)
So...all in all from what I mentioned it seem to be a busy weekend with tons of smal and busy-work type jobs. Training is officially over and it feels so relieving, Don't get me wrong, training was a blast and I certainly picked up on several new ideas. Things I forgot to mention...I might be applying to be a teacher in Summer of Service Program in the Summer. The basis of the job is if I end up getting the position, I would be transfered down to the Gulf and be in charage of a team of ten girls/boys ages 14-17. It is basically an AmeriCorps for them. It should be interested and something that really made me think. I love kids and it would def be something to consider. I will be getting pictures of the times so far, but I am awaiting on a couple people to actually put them on and tag them through facebook. Next post I will send pictures of the events I have gone on, the house, and other awesome things that have taken place. Finally there are many nice people here as I mentioned before...so nice that one of my friends is knitting me a matching hat to go with my already beautiful scarf AND my teammate Nicole is making me a bracelet which I can not wait. We actually have team bracelets that our TL made for us. Like I said...we ROCK!
Well that is all I have. If you have any questions, comments or concerns just let me know. Once again another late night trying to play catch up with several small things. Dan signing off...until next time...keep checking from time to time. I will def. have another one up before I leave Friday for our trip. God Bless to you all...and keep in touch...I hope you did not forget how to use a pen and paper :)
Danny signing off..."Caw caw" (the sound of the Raven 3 call)
PS. Mary= congrats on making the soccer team, I am very proud of you. Keep your head up and continue working hard!
Mom and Dad= I have had the chance to watch a couple American Idols and my picks to click for winners are: David Archuletta for the guys and then that one girl who performed last, I can't remember her name...
Dad= since I have sorta been watching it Dad, does that make me legit for the American Idol bet?
Mitchy= once I have a phone that I can actually dial and receive calls I will call you and fill you in more (that goes also for whoever is reading this)
Abby= hey girl. I miss you! Hang in there, hang in there until I get back!
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