Is has not fathomed me that our 1st round SPIKE is nearly over...7 days is the countdown and it seems like yesterday we just were packing up the 15 passenger Pippy Pompeo and arriving to Skidaway Island. But now as the project is coming to an end, I think it is time to move on. And moving on means heading to New Orleans and living in the Camp Hope house for the next 6 weeks.
Before we get excited and anxious about leaving, there are still things on Jekyll Island left to do. We still have more mud days, 2 Earth Day Celebrations to help at, bagging more oyster shells on Skidaway Island, AND having the finale with the oyster and shrimp roast which is going to take place a week from today. We are even pushing our travel date to next Saturday just so we can have the roast and chomp down on yummy cooked oysters. Being around them has really grown on me and they taste delicious. We are in the stage now of planting used toilets, PVC pipes, bamboo stalks, and bagged shell in 3 specific destinations where there is hard substrate mud. The sponsors picked the spots out and we just follow their lead. I am getting better and better at canoeing and it feels good. Thanks Mom for the tip on making a "J" motion in the water to turn, helped out greatly AND I taught the team a tip. The Earth Day's are tomorrow and we are working at 2 of them. I am heading to Savannah along with teammate Zac and sponsor Daniel. I am going to be doing a formal CAPping event at a table while I am there which should be fun. The other teammates will be on Jekyll Island helping the Georgia Sea Turtle Center with their arts and crafts for the kids that come. Zac and I are getting 'direct service hours' and the others are getting ISP...confusing...yes? I sure think it is!
Onto the detailed days and what we actually did this past week...
SUNDAY
- worked at the Sea Turtle Center for 4 hours doing more crafts preparing them for the Earth Day; I worked on unstapling booklets, tracing carapi on brown paper bags, and making sea turtle masks
- PT bike ride for 30 minutes around the island. Found out that the circumference of Jekyll Island is 14 miles
MONDAY
- woke up early and arrived at MAREX (Marine Extension Center) in Brunswick and stay there all day; we were working on cutting and sizing down 10 foot PVC pipes in half, then we tried cement variations and cemented nearly 1,000 poles
- we were prepping them to plant in the mud on Beach Creek
- tiring day for sure and very warm outside, it hit the 80's today
TUESDAY
- beginning of the morning began with Lauren and I CAPping event at a community college for a couple hours, the event was a job fair and we were trying to spread the word to them; a bad turn out that is for sure...ended up talking to about 50 students during the time of the fair
- came back to the team at MAREX and helped do more PVC pipes
- teammate Stan ends up tearing an AC in his shoulder joint
- a couple of us went to Walmart after the day ended and teammate Nicole gets a haircut and cuts it super short; it is amazing the number of females in AmeriCorps cutting their hair shorter...it has been about 5 so far. Last year the number was around 25!
- we then had a team meeting to discuss plans for our community meeting we are putting on for 22 other AmeriCorps teams during transition. That shall be exciting and very funny
WEDNESDAY
- woke at 7:30 and headed to MAREX for Day 3 to knock off the previous cemented PVC pipes to only re-do the mixtures and cement them again, talk about repetitive work!
- I was in charge of hand sanding down the pipes making them grittier
- when the hand sanding sheets didn't work, we then used the electric one and it made it easier BUT i was definately feeling it in my forearms and shoulders. Hope I am getting stronger :)
- began working on CAPping events in the New Orleans area and hoping to find some contacts before other teams do
- teammate's Zac celebrates his 19th birthday BUT he was sick all day and didn't work...too bad that is the way to celebrate a birthday
THURSDAY
- knocking cement off at MAREX all day as well as cementing and sanding happened today. We just could not find the correct mix of sand, cement, and lime that would work and would not peel off so quickly, when dried the other mixes seemed to peel right off.
- finally found out the correct combination and cemented roughly 900 PVC pipes
- went with a couple teammates after work to play BINGO and it reminded me of days in college
FRIDAY
- today was a very busy and physically draining day, we loaded boat loads of toilets, oyster bags, oyster shell, and palettes and took them to Beach Creek during high tide
- planted those items during low tide in 3 different spots of the creek
- canoeing was a blast and really is growing on me, but it was very tiring and I am SPENT!
So there you have it. Detailed as much as I could remember from the week. Tomorrow is the Earth Day's and am leaving at 7 AM to go to Savannah. I can't wait to just relax and lay down from such a busy week. Looking forward to the next week with what is in store and finishing the SPIKE project strong! I am starting to smell New Orleans!! I can't wait. Transition is coming up and seeing all the close friends I formed during CTI and before we left will be fun to catch up with them. I have tried my best to keep in touch with them from Ameri-mailing and calling (let alone having no service on the island, hoping that changes).
More to come. I will definately be posting one more blog before transition. Stay tuned and stay classy. Off to bed now so I can be that early bird in the morning and as I head to Savannah! Thinking about you all and praying for you (or in Ireland it is "ye"). Goodnight, and goodluck!
PS. That is insane about the earthquake hitting in Illinois this morning (04-18)...what are the odds of that?
