Spike Travel

I spent most of my time during Spike Travel in the truck, with only two other teammates at a time, which ended up being tons of fun. It was a fantastic opportunity to really talk about the project, and things like what we were going to miss the most (the people, and the sense of accomplishment and usefulness) and what we were going to miss the least (the rain, the mud, living on top of one another). We laughed, chatted, slept and marveled at the Rocky Mountains all over again as they came into sight.

But one of the most interesting parts of Spike travel for me was observing the differences in our team and our team dynamic since our first spike travel on our way out to Louisiana back in November. There was a similar air of excitement, of course, but of a slightly different sort. This time we were excited to be going home, to be seeing friends and family again, and to be returning to the familiar. It seemed, to me at least, to be a far less stressful and more celebratory brand of excitement. It’s amazing to me how much we changed as a team in the short month that we spent in Lafayette. During our initial spike travel, we spent the majority of our time being overly polite and extra conscious of one another’s personal space, awkwardly trying to figure out how to coexist, and constantly falling back on standard I-just-met-you conversation topics. This time, however, it was full of hugs, smiles, jokes and teasing, with some real conversation interspersed. And squishing all of us on and around one bed to watch a movie (Team America the first night, Inglorious Bastards the second) and generally invading one another’s space, eventually resulted in a very childish but extremely fun pillow fight.

Of course, it wasn’t until we got back to campus that I realized just how attached to these once-strangers I had become. Although I was thrilled to be reunited with friends I’d made during CTI, within a half hour or so of being separated from my team, I found myself missing them. Each time I passed a teammate in the hallway, I was overcome with the urge to hug them and tell them how much I loved them and missed them already, which I did. (They laughed, but complied). I knew coming into NCCC that I would end up close with my team, but I guess I hadn’t expected it to happen quite so intensely, quite so quickly. I think it’s fantastic.

So basically, in summation, Spike Travel = awesome, and I can’t wait for next round with my team.

~ Jo

One Down...

Wow. I can’t believe that our first spike has come to an end. Like most of the people in my group, I have been through a lot and I am so happy to have made it through. My biggest accomplishment to this day is to say they I have started something in my life and followed through with it. I have been afraid of that for a long time. If it weren’t for the 10 people in my life for this bumpy ride: Derek, Shiny, Ian, Jeremy, Christina, Jo, Jenna, Sarah, Leia, and last but certainly not least, Ashley, I would’ve had a far different experience. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This week was amazing! Lauren, our supervisor for the past couple weeks, put me inside to put up drywall on the ceilings. It was pretty awesome! I worked with a man named Abraham and he was pretty neat. We started in the living room, and then worked our way into the kitchen, followed by the hallways, then the bedrooms and lastly, the bathroom. It was such a confidence booster for me to have that chance to start that project in the house and be able to finish it before first round was over. GO ME! I also had a chance to work on putting up walls. I am so good; I can do dry walling in my sleep! I am a pro at using the drywall jack. It is a device used to raise big pieces of drywall up to the ceiling. I used one for three days! Today I was able to bring the jack over to Neil’s house and give the Job Corps group a demonstration on how to use it! That would easily have to be one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Working in construction was certainly a test for me because I normally wouldn’t be caught on a construction site. I had the chance to be involved in all stages of building a house, such as putting up frames of the house, assisting with numerous tasks such as blocking and cross-bracing, siding the house, and many other duties.

OH! I can’t forget about Miss Pat, Miss Courtney, and Miss Bertha. These three women deserved all of the gifts they receive in life. They have hearts of those that are so familiar in my heart. I felt very comfortable working along side these women and their families, and other numerous homeowners and volunteers this round. If Habitat for Humanity asked me to come again, I would most certainly do it again.

Tonight, Leia and Derek are cooking dinner and then we will be heading to the Job Corps appreciation ceremony. We worked with a great group of people from different Job Corps campuses this week and I loved the fact that we could all work together. We even got some of them interested in joining AmeriCorps NCCC! After that, I don’t know. Most likely some much needed sleep because tomorrow we have our trip to New Orleans to visit the levees and see Miss Pat’s former housing location. I say former because if I am not mistaken, she mentioned that it’s not there anymore. We are leaving back to Denver on Tuesday morning to arrive on Thursday. So long Lafayette, Louisiana, Happy Holidays, and see you in Tucson, Arizona for round two!

~ Shawn

Up on the “Ruff”

It’s hard to believe that we’re in the last week of our project! The week, for me, started out a little rough, but each day has gotten better. Yesterday was a pretty cool day. Sarah, Ian, Ashley, and I were able to work with Lauren up on the roof (or as Jeremy and I say the “Ruff”) laying the starter strips for the shingles. It was a little frightening to be working so close to the edge of the roof hammering the strips down. My mind was screaming, “this is SOOO not okay,” especially with the wind blowing against us, but I was able to get the strips in without any tumbles. Unfortunately, we were only up there for a short amount of time, since they wanted us to get back onto land and finish up the siding so we didn’t have two unfinished projects going on. Everyone’s spirits were better because the weather was so much nicer than on Tuesday. We were also able to go ice skating with Job Corps last night, which was a lot of fun! I had a blast skating; it seemed to brighten everyone's day a lot.

Today the group worked on finishing the siding on the house, which will hopefully be done in the next couple of days. Sarah, Ian and I started working on the siding in the back of the house. By the end of the day, some of the Job Corps members came over and helped us get the siding up. It was awesome to work with Job Corps in a closer capacity than we have in the past.

Tonight Habitat treated us to dinner and made us spaghetti, which was a lot of fun, and the food was fabulous. We got to meet and talk with some of the people who work in the Habitat office, which was neat since we only work with the people out in the field. We also had a team meeting, where we found out more about our next project. After six hours of training the first week, we’ll all be IRS certified to help qualifying community members with their taxes. It sounds like the project is going to be awesome, with a lot more fieldwork than we originally thought. We’ll also be working with ABCD, a community outreach program, where we’ll be able to lead some projects in the community. Every time we start talking about our next project, I just get more and more excited for it.

~ Jenna

Four More Days...

It’s just four more days on the job site. It’s hard to believe that we have been in Lafayette for almost a month. The houses that we have been working on are really coming along. The weather has not been kind to us. I think it says a lot about our team and others working on the site because we have not let the weather affect our work. We know that this isn’t about us but for the homeowners who have definitely shown their appreciation for what we are doing. On Monday myself, Jenna, Jo, Leia, and Ian went to do some of our ISP hours at a soup kitchen called St. Joseph’s Diner. It was a great experience. We worked along side a woman who had been volunteering there for 22 years, which is amazing.

Half of the team went to BRIDGE Ministry today for their scheduled day. From what I have heard it was a little crazy because the NBC documentary cameras went with for the first time so all of the kids wanted to be on TV. I go on Thursdays and I really look forward to working with the kids. Last week I helped an 8th grader write a paper on wetlands. I actually learned a lot. Then Derek and I played basketball with some of the high school kids. We also just found out that we will be going back to New Orleans on Sunday to take a tour of where Miss Pat (one of the homeowners) lived during Hurricane Katrina. She has only been back a few times since then and it will be nice to go back with her to see and hear more about what happened there. Overall, this first project is exactly what I had hoped for. The team is amazing and we are doing some great things. It’s an experience I will never forget and I can’t wait for the next project in Tucson.

~ Jeremy

A Good Week

The week ended on a good note. I spent most of Friday and Saturday working with Jenna and Christina on siding the front wall of Miss Pat's house. It was slow progress at the beginning, learning the basics of how to install it correctly. Every section had to be cut down to the right length and leveled perfectly before it could be nailed in. We had a couple of set backs but managed to get everything but the very last piece put in before we left on Saturday. The final panel was a huge frustration. All of the saws had been put away so we had to attempt cutting it with tin snips. It was a total disaster, because it was so cold outside the panels kept cracking and after ruining three in a row we decided it would make much more sense to wait until Tuesday, when we could use the proper tools.

Saturday night we went to the Job Corps closing ceremony. There was a slide show of pictures from the week and one person from each group spoke briefly about their experience during the week. We had Leia and Shawn say a thank you to the whole group on behalf of NCCC. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with two volunteers who had worked with us this week. They were a great couple from California who took their vacation to come to Lafayette and volunteer with Habitat. We all had a wonderful time getting to know them and really appreciated all the hard work they put in.

We're taking the weekend to unwind. Everyone is kind of doing their own thing, relaxing, and getting ready for our last week here in Louisiana.

~ Sarah

Oha!

Oha! It’s Leia.

So today was a lovely day. Unlike yesterday, today was rather sunny and very much less muddy. Despite the turn for the better weather-wise, today’s assignment was less engaging than yesterday’s.

Today, I began the day by creating templates for exterior siding corners. I worked with two volunteers from California and Ian, but I believe there was one too many people assigned to this project. We successfully finished the last three corners just a little after lunch. Next, I worked with Christina and Jo, correcting starter strips: metal strips located along the perimeter of the house mounted before siding. Christina and Jo had finished at least 85% of the correcting before I began helping them, so it didn’t take long to finish this project. Shortly after that our house supervisor, Lauren, assigned our entire team to assemble and attach siding. Again, I believe that there was one, or four, too many assigned to this project. Fortunately, I was able to “half-sing,” which is when you sing only half a song, many Christmas songs with the small group of people waiting for our assistance to be needed.
It was a fun day -- surprisingly productive, but not nearly as taxing as others. I left the worksite very happy.

I had to leave a few minutes earlier than usual, because I was scheduled to work at the BRIDGE Ministry afterschool program along with Derek, Jeremy, Shawn, and Shiny. We were running a little late from the get go, but was made worse due to the local police blocking streets. Though late, we were warmly welcomed and sent off to work. Derek, Jeremy and Shawn signed up to work with the middle/high schoolers, while Shiny and I signed up to work with the elementary kids. Shiny and I went outside to play dodgeball with the kids. It was fun; I hadn’t played dodgeball in a long time…but I was really bad so I only played a few rounds. After a few more rounds we all had snack and then shuffled inside. The elementary kids are broken up into groups and rotate stations. I can’t remember all the stations, but I do know that there are at least two (reading and homework) because Shiny and I were assigned different stations. It was interesting to see disparity in reading ability. There were a few kids who were very comfortable reading at or beyond their grade/age level, however there were many more who were noticeably below their reading level. It was almost painful seeing them struggle and their frustration because of it. I wish we had more than 15 minutes for each station and/or had smaller groups for more individualized attention. I wish I had more time to work with each and every one of them. It was a joy being able to spend even a little amount of time with each. I am very excited to return.

For the rest of the day: we had dinner, which was lasagna… I love lasagna. We had a team meeting. We did a service learning project, which was a “mad lib”…It was interesting…I’ve never done that before. I apologize for writing such a long entry for just one day, but I had to keep up with Ian’s multi-paragraphed entry. Cheers!

~ Leia

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Although most members of Water 4 were separated from any family on this holiday weekend, we still were able have a warm and homey Turkey Day experience. Late Wednesday night we crammed into “Hannah Van-tanah” (our 15-passenger van) and road tripped about two hours from Lafayette, LA to New Orleans.

On Thursday we met up with two other AmeriCorps NCCC teams and cleaned and finished preparing for a 40-person Thanksgiving Dinner. It was one for the ages. We had two turkeys, salad, vegan and regular mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato pie, green beans, deviled eggs, and more apple pie than an army could finish. My mouth is watering just reminiscing about it.

We set up a long table for everyone and it looked like a meal out of Hogwarts. We sat around the table and shared stories about how our projects were and how everyone’s teams were doing. It was great to catch up with friends who we hadn’t seen since our training in Denver.

We stayed in an awesome quaint and funky hotel only a stone’s throw from Bourbon Street. We spent the rest of the weekend exploring the area, checking out art galleries, eating beignets at Café Du Monde (and powdered sugar fights!), shopping around, trying the local cuisine (Po’ Boys galore), listening to endless Jazz bands and enjoying each other’s company. We did New Orleans the right way.

Today we got back to work… or at least we tried to get back to work. The rain started while we were sleeping and continued all day. The worksite was a mud pit. The only way to get from one side to the other was to glide and skate. Our Habitat for Humanity supervisors tried to give us work indoors and we did as much as we could.

A new crew of 30+ JobCorps volunteers also showed up and it was almost impossible to get anything done with the weather the way it was. We caulked some of the indoor woodwork and attempted to work on some of the siding. By the time lunch rolled around, everyone was shivering and trying not to get hypothermia. We did a quick clean up and headed home. Hopefully the weather will clear up for the rest of the week.

~ Ian