Hey you all. Here I am once again for another update that has become WAY overdue! It has been nearly 2 weeks since last update and I figured to catch you up on the latest. One word to describe these last 2 weeks would be: overwhelming!! Yet I enjoyed every minute of it, beginning with the last week of work for 1st Round Jekyll Island SPIKE to traveling to Jackson, Mississippi for Corps Transition all the way to 2nd Round stint in Camp Hope, New Orleans. Tons and tons of events went down during that span and getting the chance to catch up with everyone at Transition was a great time. It was amazing that we had been separated from other groups for over 7 weeks...it definately did not feel like it was that long, but time is a flying! We have been in AmeriCorps for over 3 months now and it just seems like yesterday we were all packing the airplane and heading to Perry Point, MD. As we entered the month of May we have nearly a month or so until Summer break and Mid-year! INSANELY lightning quick this journey has been.
Ok...enough with the stalling and onto the detailed goodies. How I will operate this shindig is break down in paragraph format the overview of what happened the last week of our 1st SPIKE and then from there do a day-by-by detailed bullet point summary from this past Monday to the current day...hang on people :)
Last work week of 1st Round was a blast! It consisted of wrapping up the artificial oyster reef, throwing live clams into the creek, placing bamboo and PVC piping in 9x9 traps in 3 destinations on the creek, AND ended with yet again another oyster roast. First, the team and I continued building the reef by loading mesh shelled bags and palettes to the places along the banks that needed more planting. After all the bagged shell was thrown out during high tide, the total of bags in Beach Creek reached a whopping 10,000+! It was incredible that so many bags had been planted in the last 6 weeks and our sweat and tears being laid out in the humid, scorching Georgia sun. Physical work of the project was rewarding because it made us work out of our comfort zone and made us more toned looking. A lot of us overcame obstacles in the mud and other places that we thought we could never have done. Secondly, during the last week we were given 5,000 bags of live clams to throwing into the creek. We rode out in the Skiff boat with our sponsors and began unloading them and hoisting them into the blue, clear skies. On Wednesday of that week a couple that worked for the Brunswick Newspaper made a visit to check out our project. They wanted to write an article on what we were doing in the local area. The female journalist talked to me and 3 other teammates about the program, project, organization, location, etc. The photographer was photographing action shots of us carrying the bagged shell to the boats as well as hopping onto the boat and getting shots of the creek. Four Raven 3 teammates and I rode on the boat the first shift to dump half the load of clams. Sponsor Alan Power shouted to us to take a Sharpie marker and write down your name, a wish, or a moment onto the clam to throw in. The photographer happened to be sitting right next to me on the boat and actually captured a picture of my wish on my clam, which read "World peace". I ended up writing a couple more wishes, but that was my so-called "funny" wish that I wouldn't have thought anyone would see...more for laughs than anything. Because of that wish I wrote, the picture he took was then published in the following morning's Brunswick Newspaper. I was happy! Our whole team was glad that we had some media people come visit us. Our team goal before the project was to get on TV...and we indeed did that by making it onto the Brunswick News Channel as one of their top stories for Thursday April 24th. It was awesome to accomplish that goal and the team and I were ELATED! Next day, was back in the mud planting PVC and bamboo poles into the mud for future testing. These had substances like lime and concrete on them that would attract oysters. It was sad that it was our last day getting muddy because we had grown accostumed to it over the last 7 weeks. We enjoyed muddying up the clothes and being sandy! All mothers love their children getting muddy...right? :) Anyways, back to the final work week...on Friday we had to construct 36 PVC piping crap traps for the MAREX organization using high toxic fumes and electric saws. It was hard labor but rewarding once again. We got back early afternoon on Friday and got prepared for the 2nd and final oyster roast our sponsors were having for us. Not only was it an oyster roast, but it was a blue crab roast, a shrimp roast, and basically a potluck of several other yummy food items. It was a gathering of about 25 people celebrating the final day before travel. I never knew how delicious oysters and sea food really was. It is like that Dr. Suess book..."try it Sam I Am, I know you will like it Sam I Am!" We got the chance to see a slide show of pictures throughout the 1st round journey and then got a chance to see a sneak peak of our team's community meeting music video that Stan had edited. Very funny! Head sponsor Alan was so grateful of what we had accomplished in the last past weeks, he presented us a goody bag to take with us on our long van ride the next morning. Very thoughtful of him. Next day came and we loaded up Pippy Pompeo and headed on our way. During that week we had been working on ideas for the Corps community meeting we were asked to put on. Also teammate Joni was accepted to go to Vermont on the Dream Team building treehouses and clearing forest trails. Only 9 members got selected. Congrats Joni!
We were on the road again at 11:30 Saturday morning heading to Transition in Jackson, MS. It took us 11 hours to get there with all the stop and go's and the driver changes after every 2 hours and of course bathroom breaks. We arrived in Tuscaloosa, AL and spent the night in the hotel with 2 other AmeriCorps teams. We only had 4 hours more to drive and we were at Jackson. We left for Jackson on Sunday morning and off we went to get acquainted with old CTI friends and people you kept in touch with during first round. Overwhelming indeed!
SUNDAY
- arrive to Jackson, MS and get flooded with friends hugging and catching up; hectic set-up when we got there and very unorganized
- worked more on the team community meeting preparing for Monday and getting in front of 300 people
- I was then on that night preparing myself for my Summer of Service crew leader interview that took place on Wednesday
MONDAY
- delivered the community meeting and it was a HUGE hit, a lot of compliments from the staff, TL's and especially friends and corps members
- we were told ours was the best community meeting out of the 4 previous ones
- team collaborates and gets prepared for the 1st Round project de-brief to present to upper staff
TUESDAY
- in the morning we had our de-brief and it went very well, we were pleased on what happened
- began and tweaked up our team's brief for 2nd Round Camp Hope
- got the chance to catch up with all my home slices and peeps which was nice to see how their projects went
- the hotels were very nice and the beds/showers were very comfortable; my roommate and I got along which was nice
WEDNESDAY
- worked and finished briefing Power Point and were confident
- I had my crew leader interview and it went fairly well, I think I did well...I find out soon if I get the positions; a lot of the questions dealt with conflict and how I would lead a team of all African-American, low income children
- the program will take place in early July and will last until early August, how interviews broke down were 35 potential crew leaders and only 30 made it
THURSDAY
- performed the briefing for Camp Hope
- got packed for the van ride to New Orleans
- said goodbyes to people that left early, it was sad once again to see people leave but knowing we have a mailing system to keep in touch is GREAT!
- we had a going-away last dinner for Joni at a Thai restaurant
FRIDAY
- loaded the van and scooted on out to Camp Hope; had a team breakfast to officially say goodbye to Joni...it is going to be sad to have a teammate short this round
- arrived to Camp Hope at around 4 PM and got the grand tour of the facility
- we are currently living and sleeping on bunkbeds and it is communal...about 9 guys are in the room now and they are all AmeriCorps members from other teams, we got fortunate
- in the Camp Hope house there are hundreds of other volunteers and AmeriCorps teams from other campuses
- later after getting situated, some of the team either went down town to Bourbon St. or saw a movie, I headed down to tourist capital of the world...loads of fun!
So...there you have it! Now you know why these weeks have been overwhelming! But of course all positively and happy things that occurred and more to come. The latest update on what is happening these last 2 weeks. We have internet and computers here so I will be posting like I was before (once a week). It was just a hectic last couple days and I am so glad it is over with and the weight is off the shoulders. We don't know what is in store for us here at Camp Hope. All we were told that for the 1st two weeks we are going to assist at the Jimmy Carter Build. We excited :)! More to come on how the project goes this round. We start work on Monday and are eager! I can't wait. Until next time...you stay "classy" viewers!
