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!

Surprises around every corner...

Day 17: It’s been a long time since I last updated, but I have been quite busy! This past weekend I went to visit the wonderful Mississippi Elser clan. It was really nice to get away from campus for a couple days and relax. They fed me really well (as uncle David always does with some sort of protein, but aunt Jackie made really great potatoes too!) Aunt Jayne and I went for a long run on Sunday morning, which felt great but was pretty difficult for me and aunt Jayne kicked my butt. We all went on the boat on Sunday morning. It was so nice to just lay in the sun and swim in the warm but refreshing water!

Monday and Tuesday of this week we traveled to the Warner-Tully YMCA to camp and do a series of hands on training. Monday we arrived at 8am and immediately jumped into a full day of training.

1.Low ropes course. We spent 2 hours working as a team completing a series of team building activities. It was a very telling display of our team dynamic and the challenges we may face in the next 10 months. Our team seems to be full of impulsive and over confident people. At times it was frustrating to see our team fail at many tasks instead of being patient and coming up with a plan about how to accomplish the task well.

2. Trail blazing. This was really difficult but fun. The camp was adding a mountain biking trail so we were asked to clear the path for more preparation of the trail. We worked with some fun tools including: fire rakes, joe blades, loppers, and axes. It was extremely hot and muggy, but really satisfying to see the progress of our work.

3.Power tools. We were taught how to use all the different saws that we have to use (saws all, skill saw, table saw, etc) We then did a whole lot of nothing for 2 hours except tear down and put up a wall of the pool house, and sweating like crazy.

4.Roofing. At the end of the day we began to learn about how to put up shingles, but shortly after it began to downpour. It was a bummer to not learn how to roof because that is most likely what we will be doing on our first project.

We were stuck in the rain for about an hour. The power went out and we ate dinner in the dark. Once the rain stopped we set up tents in the mud and walked out to a clearing in the middle of the woods where we put on skits about training and tried to start a bonfire with wet wood (it was a failure.) It was extremely hot to sleep in the tents, but we made it through.

On Tuesday we had a less strenuous and more fun. Although it was wet and hot, we were excited to get to work.

1.Painting. We worked some more on the pool house painting the rafters, trim, and touching up the walls. We were able to wear our sweet coveralls! I have to admit it’s pretty hot in them though, despite the fashion statement you make ☺

2.Low ropes course. We did another series of team challenges that showed more personal challenges than team struggles. We had a few people get really frustrated at the challenge of not being the most physically fit. I hope that in the future we will be able to take into consideration the thoughts of others and support each other when one of us feels week.

3.High ropes course. This was the BEST part of the whole trip. It started raining as we were walking over there, but it was still so fun being so high in the air. Right as we all finished it began to downpour again and we rushed to take cover in one of the cabins. I haven’t done a high ropes course in a long time and it was fun to get across from tree to tree. And of course the zip line was great!!

Overall it was a fun couple of days, but we all were very exhausted and ready to get out of the rain and home. Once we got home I cooked tacos and we ate dinner while having a team meeting. We found out our specialty roles for the next 10 months. I will be a Project Outreach Liaison (POL) which will involve me planning community events on each project as well as putting together resources for Individual Service Projects (ISPs.) It is going to be a challenge, but Alyse (my team leaders) asked me personally to do it because she didn’t see anyone else on the team being able to do it, which was pretty flattering. I also am not supposed to tell anyone this, but I am going to post it here. Alyse also asked me to be the Assistant Team Leader for this round of projects. She chooses one person per project round to be the ATL, so I feel honored to be chosen first. She said that she thinks that I will be a great support system and leader on our team. ☺

As for today, we had PT early this morning and had Red Cross disaster services training all day, which was pretty boring. I was nominated by several people in the room (they started chanting my name, ugh) to be the shelter manager for our simulated shelter setup. When the exercise was over, our trainer told us that in the 4 years that he has been teaching this course, this was the best simulation he had ever seen. I felt proud to be the head of directing the activity and that it went so well.

We have PT early tomorrow morning and I am already exhausted, so I am going to go to bed!

OH! Other GREAT things to mention: got the most adorable dog today! Happy birthday dad! Burmese Mountain/Golden Retriever mix ☺ ☺ Welcome to the family buddy! Also, we found out that we are going to New Orleans next weekend for the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It will be fun and very moving to be there.

Ok, that’s all!

Jump in, head first!

So last weekend John, Jilisa and I jumped out of an airplane. This was the perfect beginning to what will be an amazing, yet scary adventure for me. Yesterday I began to think about how a year ago, the Americorps was only an idea to me, but now it's a reality. I am leaving in 48 hours for 10 months, to do something I have always wanted to do, in places that I may or may not have been before. I am excited, scared, anxious and curious for what's ahead. And I know that the bitter sweet feelings I have are only attributed to the wonderful people that have already come into my life. I can't wait to meet all the new people that will come into my life in the year ahead.

I have so many hopes for the next 10 months, but am trying to go into this experience without any expectations because I know that there are so many things that are unknown. I'm goin' with the flow.

So here's to new beginnings and fresh starts!