Thursday, September 30, 2010
building homes for a better future
It's been a busy week for River 6 this week. We finally started work with Habitat for Humanity yesterday and put up two new houses on our street, just today! We had at least 20 volunteers from Holy Cross church (the primary sponsor for these homes) come to the build today which was great! We also worked with several University of Louisiana AmeriCorps students work with us today, so it was fun to meet new people and work side by side with non River 6ers. I learned how to sheet trusses today, used a skill saw and a pneumatic hammer! I felt so bad. It was at times frustrating to be overwhelmed with the number of volunteers on the site in comparison to the amount of work there was to do, but as the day continued everyone had a job and place on the worksite. I'm excited to see the process of the house from the ground up because I have always been involved in deconstruction and rebuilding rather than new builds.
This past weekend I worked two days at EarthShare again and learned more about farming. It's so relaxing to just be outside in a pretty place, especially now that the weather is cooling down. Weeding and learning about organic growing from Robert, who is absolutely the most amusing guy I've met in awhile, is therapeutic and FUN!
Last weekend we also went out to dinner at a restaurant inspired by George Rodrigue's work. There were blue dog paintings all over the walls as part of his private collection. The food was delicious! Cajun inspired seafood and side dishes. Can't wait to go back or have more somewhere else. We have been hearing that Lafayette has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the country. It's great because there are many places to eat that are both local and yummy!
Today we found out where we will be going for next round! We will be traveling to New Orleans to work with Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit organization that repairs homes throughout New Orleans as result of Hurricane Katrina. We are SO excited to be going back to New Orleans. It will be a great opportunity for me to experience the city that I've visited but never lived in. Jilisa will also be coming to visit and I'm excited to show her one of my favorite cities! We don't have a whole lot of details about what we will be doing there or where we will be staying, but as soon as we do I will update!
Here are some pictures from recently! :)
This past weekend I worked two days at EarthShare again and learned more about farming. It's so relaxing to just be outside in a pretty place, especially now that the weather is cooling down. Weeding and learning about organic growing from Robert, who is absolutely the most amusing guy I've met in awhile, is therapeutic and FUN!
Last weekend we also went out to dinner at a restaurant inspired by George Rodrigue's work. There were blue dog paintings all over the walls as part of his private collection. The food was delicious! Cajun inspired seafood and side dishes. Can't wait to go back or have more somewhere else. We have been hearing that Lafayette has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the country. It's great because there are many places to eat that are both local and yummy!
Today we found out where we will be going for next round! We will be traveling to New Orleans to work with Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit organization that repairs homes throughout New Orleans as result of Hurricane Katrina. We are SO excited to be going back to New Orleans. It will be a great opportunity for me to experience the city that I've visited but never lived in. Jilisa will also be coming to visit and I'm excited to show her one of my favorite cities! We don't have a whole lot of details about what we will be doing there or where we will be staying, but as soon as we do I will update!
Here are some pictures from recently! :)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
From one home to another
Day 52: The past week has been CRAZY busy and exhausting, but so great! We drove back to Lafayette on Saturday and have been working since. Each corps member is required to work at least 80 hours of independent service hours called ISPs. I set up our first one this week working at a nonprofit organic share cropping farm in Lafayette called EarthShare Gardens. We did a lot of weeding, tilling and harvesting of vegetsables with the grower there, Robert. I am really excited about this ISP because learning about organic and supporting local farming is an important thing especially in the South where nutrition isn’t the best. Robert is amazing! So entertaining and passionate about what he calls his “hobby.” He spends over 35 hours working on the farm every week and owns his own printing company as well. Seeing him get excited about the different kinds of plants and the vision he has for the what the farm can become is inspiring. The first day we worked, a few of us went back to EarthShare in the evening and helped Robert with the harvest for the day. We brought home a 3-foot wide pot and 3 1-foot wide pots of vegetables and fresh herbs to eat and share with the neighbors. We were SO excited to have fresh peppers (bell, habanera, jalapeño, banana), cucumbers, squash (yellow and patty pan), eggplant (4 different kinds!), and okra. We made yummy baked and friend vegetables for dinner last night and they were delicious. I hope we can go back and work every weekend.
The last 2 days we have been split among a few different sites because Habitat is not ready for us to work yet. I took 4 of my teammates back to Acadiana CARES to work.
Yesterday Amber and I learned how to use an electric paint sprayer to paint about 175 ft of fence. It was super fun to just hang out and chat about life AND get a bunch done. I’ve realized that sometimes working in a small group or alone is really important, especially when you’re living with 10 other people.
Today the 5 of us worked most of the day on landscaping the front of an apartment complex at Acadiana. We moved about 50 wheel barrels full of dirt and planted over 70 bushes and trees. It was pretty exhausting, especially in the Louisiana heat. We worked the last few hours inside organizing some rooms and such. I can’t imagine how tired we will be after working for Habitat for 10 hours a day next week. The worst part about working long days in the heat is coming home and being forced to do an hour of PT. By 7pm I am ready for bed in order to be able to do it all over again the next day.
This whole experience is beginning to feel like normal everyday life, which is great and outrageous at the same time. I never thought that I would get used to this lifestyle. Our floorless, makeshift Habitat house in Lafayette feels more like home than ever, and this group of 10 individuals feels like my dysfunctional and unique family. We are all so different but I can’t imagine this experience without them. We are almost 2 months into this experience and at times it feels still so new. It’s strange.
Attached are some pictures from recent. Talk to you all soon!
The last 2 days we have been split among a few different sites because Habitat is not ready for us to work yet. I took 4 of my teammates back to Acadiana CARES to work.
Yesterday Amber and I learned how to use an electric paint sprayer to paint about 175 ft of fence. It was super fun to just hang out and chat about life AND get a bunch done. I’ve realized that sometimes working in a small group or alone is really important, especially when you’re living with 10 other people.
Today the 5 of us worked most of the day on landscaping the front of an apartment complex at Acadiana. We moved about 50 wheel barrels full of dirt and planted over 70 bushes and trees. It was pretty exhausting, especially in the Louisiana heat. We worked the last few hours inside organizing some rooms and such. I can’t imagine how tired we will be after working for Habitat for 10 hours a day next week. The worst part about working long days in the heat is coming home and being forced to do an hour of PT. By 7pm I am ready for bed in order to be able to do it all over again the next day.
This whole experience is beginning to feel like normal everyday life, which is great and outrageous at the same time. I never thought that I would get used to this lifestyle. Our floorless, makeshift Habitat house in Lafayette feels more like home than ever, and this group of 10 individuals feels like my dysfunctional and unique family. We are all so different but I can’t imagine this experience without them. We are almost 2 months into this experience and at times it feels still so new. It’s strange.
Attached are some pictures from recent. Talk to you all soon!
Friday, September 17, 2010
The forest is on fire...
The forest, the forest, the forest is on fire! So this week we had fire training this week. We have been back on campus for about a week, learning a lot in the classroom. Much of what we learned was about fire behavior, safety, and the policies and procedures surrounding forest firefighting. Although it was 32 hours of sitting in a classroom watching videos and looking at PowerPoints, it was really interesting.
Today we went to the Military Park a looked at 2 sites that will need prescribed burns. We hopefully will be helping with these during the 3rd Round of our projects. It will be really cool to get to burn some areas and implement some of what we learned in real life situations.
Today we also went back to the Military Park at sundown and watched the sunset from the top of a hill. It was so beautiful and fun to be with my team. We were able to see a different part of the park which was cool. This park is so incredible, I cant wait for my parents to come visit so that they can see it. Dad, you will eat it up! So many cool monuments to see! After that we went to this public water fountain in downtown and ran through it. It was just fun to hang out and relax a little bit after a long week of training.
We will be heading back to Lafayette tomorrow morning, so internet will be limited. We start work with Habitat for Humanity on Wednesday, but in the meantime we will be working with an organization I set up a project with called Earthshare Gardens. They are a nonprofit organic farming company that works with the community to educate about healthy agriculture and put together community gardens for organic farming. I'm really excited to work with this organization and can't wait to see the garden on Monday!
I'm hoping this weekend to get a bunch of work done in terms of Graduate School applications.
Talk to you all soon!
Today we went to the Military Park a looked at 2 sites that will need prescribed burns. We hopefully will be helping with these during the 3rd Round of our projects. It will be really cool to get to burn some areas and implement some of what we learned in real life situations.
Today we also went back to the Military Park at sundown and watched the sunset from the top of a hill. It was so beautiful and fun to be with my team. We were able to see a different part of the park which was cool. This park is so incredible, I cant wait for my parents to come visit so that they can see it. Dad, you will eat it up! So many cool monuments to see! After that we went to this public water fountain in downtown and ran through it. It was just fun to hang out and relax a little bit after a long week of training.
We will be heading back to Lafayette tomorrow morning, so internet will be limited. We start work with Habitat for Humanity on Wednesday, but in the meantime we will be working with an organization I set up a project with called Earthshare Gardens. They are a nonprofit organic farming company that works with the community to educate about healthy agriculture and put together community gardens for organic farming. I'm really excited to work with this organization and can't wait to see the garden on Monday!
I'm hoping this weekend to get a bunch of work done in terms of Graduate School applications.
Talk to you all soon!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Lack of internet=slow blog update
Day 35: I can’t believe it’s already September and I am over a month into this experience. Even after a month I feel as if I have already begun to see the significance of this adventure and the importance of our work as a group.
Even though we haven’t done much work so far, we have met some great people in this community. We had a discussion today about our expectations with working with Acadiana CARES as well as what we thought of the house and Lafayette. I started to think about my past experiences with service and realized that the AmeriCorps NCCC opportunity is a great way to experience a variety of different service areas. A majority of the work that I have done has involved disaster relief and local organizations, so being able to work in other communities and with organizations that are different from what I am used to is great.
This past weekend I spent time at home for Chris’ wedding and was surprised at how strange it was to be home, and how hard it was to readjust to real life. It also made me realize how much of an affect Amerilife is having on me. The people I have spent the last month with and the places I have been have become part of my home.
Day 37: So I was cut off the other day when I was trying to update my blog, so this is the continuation of that day. We have had two more days of work at Acadiana CARES, and I am thrilled with what we have done. The past 2 days I worked with John and Nate building 56 feet of fence. It was really great to learn how to do a new skill. Along the fence there were 2 large gates attached. We learned how to frame and cover these gates. I could go on and on about how to build fences, but I won’t bore you all with the details. It feels great to have a sense of accomplishment and to be able to see the progress you have made, especially when those who are supervising you are impressed with your work.
I’m learning that for the first time in my life I feel truly proud of what I am doing. This work is both meaningful to me as well as the communities I work with. It is something that I love telling people about. In college I felt many of the things I was doing were routine or mundane, whereas this experience is impacting my life directly; both good and bad.
Tonight we went out to dinner with the director of Acadiana CARES. He took us to a local Greek restaurant near our house and fed us more food than we could ever imagine. We talked with him about the organization and the population we are working with. It was amazing to hear how he and a few friends started the organization our of their cars in the 1980s and slowly built the organization to what it is now (receiving $9.6 million of grants every year.) I was awed at his knowledge about the HIV, AIDS, and substance abuse populations and inspired by his personal story of substance abuse. As sappy as it sounds, I hope that one day I feel the passion and interest in what I am doing as he does with his everyday job. This year will be a huge piece of beginning that process for me, and I am excited to learn more and more about populations that I have yet to encounter. As much as I felt I was cultured or desensitized to so many communities, I realize that I still have a lot to learn and experience. That’s why NCCC is so great. I will be able to develop both my physical, emotional, and mental skills and knowledge immensely over the next 9 months.
We leave on Friday for Vicksburg for FIRE TRAINING! I hope to be able to update a bunch over the next week as well as upload some pictures and such.
Day 39: It's Friday and we are back on campus. Thankfully we have internet and I can update. Below are a bunch of a pictures that I took over the last week. I hope you find them entertaining :) (For some reason they were uploaded in reverse order. I tried to show the progress we made this week on some of the projects.)
There are pictures of a 40 ft fence we built along with a 16 ft fence with 2 swinging gates, and my teammate Katie using the gas powered auger. SO COOL!
Even though we haven’t done much work so far, we have met some great people in this community. We had a discussion today about our expectations with working with Acadiana CARES as well as what we thought of the house and Lafayette. I started to think about my past experiences with service and realized that the AmeriCorps NCCC opportunity is a great way to experience a variety of different service areas. A majority of the work that I have done has involved disaster relief and local organizations, so being able to work in other communities and with organizations that are different from what I am used to is great.
This past weekend I spent time at home for Chris’ wedding and was surprised at how strange it was to be home, and how hard it was to readjust to real life. It also made me realize how much of an affect Amerilife is having on me. The people I have spent the last month with and the places I have been have become part of my home.
Day 37: So I was cut off the other day when I was trying to update my blog, so this is the continuation of that day. We have had two more days of work at Acadiana CARES, and I am thrilled with what we have done. The past 2 days I worked with John and Nate building 56 feet of fence. It was really great to learn how to do a new skill. Along the fence there were 2 large gates attached. We learned how to frame and cover these gates. I could go on and on about how to build fences, but I won’t bore you all with the details. It feels great to have a sense of accomplishment and to be able to see the progress you have made, especially when those who are supervising you are impressed with your work.
I’m learning that for the first time in my life I feel truly proud of what I am doing. This work is both meaningful to me as well as the communities I work with. It is something that I love telling people about. In college I felt many of the things I was doing were routine or mundane, whereas this experience is impacting my life directly; both good and bad.
Tonight we went out to dinner with the director of Acadiana CARES. He took us to a local Greek restaurant near our house and fed us more food than we could ever imagine. We talked with him about the organization and the population we are working with. It was amazing to hear how he and a few friends started the organization our of their cars in the 1980s and slowly built the organization to what it is now (receiving $9.6 million of grants every year.) I was awed at his knowledge about the HIV, AIDS, and substance abuse populations and inspired by his personal story of substance abuse. As sappy as it sounds, I hope that one day I feel the passion and interest in what I am doing as he does with his everyday job. This year will be a huge piece of beginning that process for me, and I am excited to learn more and more about populations that I have yet to encounter. As much as I felt I was cultured or desensitized to so many communities, I realize that I still have a lot to learn and experience. That’s why NCCC is so great. I will be able to develop both my physical, emotional, and mental skills and knowledge immensely over the next 9 months.
We leave on Friday for Vicksburg for FIRE TRAINING! I hope to be able to update a bunch over the next week as well as upload some pictures and such.
Day 39: It's Friday and we are back on campus. Thankfully we have internet and I can update. Below are a bunch of a pictures that I took over the last week. I hope you find them entertaining :) (For some reason they were uploaded in reverse order. I tried to show the progress we made this week on some of the projects.)
There are pictures of a 40 ft fence we built along with a 16 ft fence with 2 swinging gates, and my teammate Katie using the gas powered auger. SO COOL!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
River 6-ready to take on Lafayette, LA
Well, the moment we've all been waiting for! Round 1 has finally begun! We arrived yesterday afternoon in Lafayette, home to the birth of zydeco music and rich Cajun history. We are SO excited to be here. Currently I am sitting in the public library working on some things, but mostly just trying to feel better. I have inherited a pretty nasty head cold which just won't go away. Hopefully I can shake it by this weekend so I can dance and have fun with the family!
Our house is located at 132 Gilman Rd in a neighborhood dedicated to survivors of Katrina and Rita. We will be working just down the block on a Habitat for Humanity house, so it will be convenient and close to home. A Walmart Supercenter sits in our backyard, nice right? The house is a cute one-story home with 3 bedrooms with 4 bunk beds in each. It has 2 full bathrooms and a giant kitchen/living room area with 2 kitchen tables, comfy chairs and a TV. Lastly, it has a washer and dryer, and will need a little artwork and decor to make it homey. We are very impressed and excited to call 132 our home. The neighbors seem welcoming and enthusiastic about the work that we will be doing.
Over the next week we will be working not with Habitat but with an organization called Acadiana CARES which works with families and individuals living with HIV and AIDS. We will be doing some demo work on some houses that will be renovated. This is not definite, but most likely what our task will be.
On September 10th we will be traveling back to Vicksburg for a week of FIRE TRAINING! This may include controlled burns, chainsaw training, safety, etc. We will then return and start our work with Habitat. I am really excited to get to work and relieved to not be sitting in a classroom anymore. I'm anticipating some challenges and obstacles to overcome, but hope that as a team we can overcome them.
Pictures and more updates to come on Monday when I return from MA for Chris and Laurel's wedding!!!
Our house is located at 132 Gilman Rd in a neighborhood dedicated to survivors of Katrina and Rita. We will be working just down the block on a Habitat for Humanity house, so it will be convenient and close to home. A Walmart Supercenter sits in our backyard, nice right? The house is a cute one-story home with 3 bedrooms with 4 bunk beds in each. It has 2 full bathrooms and a giant kitchen/living room area with 2 kitchen tables, comfy chairs and a TV. Lastly, it has a washer and dryer, and will need a little artwork and decor to make it homey. We are very impressed and excited to call 132 our home. The neighbors seem welcoming and enthusiastic about the work that we will be doing.
Over the next week we will be working not with Habitat but with an organization called Acadiana CARES which works with families and individuals living with HIV and AIDS. We will be doing some demo work on some houses that will be renovated. This is not definite, but most likely what our task will be.
On September 10th we will be traveling back to Vicksburg for a week of FIRE TRAINING! This may include controlled burns, chainsaw training, safety, etc. We will then return and start our work with Habitat. I am really excited to get to work and relieved to not be sitting in a classroom anymore. I'm anticipating some challenges and obstacles to overcome, but hope that as a team we can overcome them.
Pictures and more updates to come on Monday when I return from MA for Chris and Laurel's wedding!!!
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