The last chapter

The end is near! The end of AmeriCorps, that is...not the end of the world, which ironically was supposed to happen this past Friday night at midnight...hmmm, big surprise...it didn't! Anyway, it's been a fun last week here in Vicksburg, hanging out with friends, lounging by the pool, going out to eat, and watching movies. I am super excited to start the next chapter in my life, starting out with a road trip back to Maine with my mom, Jonny, and Nate :) They leave Monday night to come down here for my banquet on Wednesday night, and graduation on Thursday! Yippee! I think it's funny that I am the only one on my team who has family coming to the graduation, and I am from one of the furthest states! What can I say, my family rocks 8-) I am sad to be leaving so many good friends, but we have tons of great memories and will hopefully stay in touch with all of this new age technology, as well as I am planning on a huge road trip to visit everyone I know in different states after I get my license this summer ;)
All I can say is that I am very thankful for such a great AmeriCorps experience and I have learned so many new things and experienced so much more than I ever would have if I had just stayed in my little Maine bubble forever, so I am really glad that I chose to jump so far out of my comfort zone for once! But on the other hand, I am really ready to just be home! I think that 10 months is the perfect length for an experience like this, for me anyway, because I don't know if I could have gone any longer being so far away from home, my friends, and my family, but I did need to be away for awhile to grow and learn as much as I have.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama in a Nut Shell

I haven't had internet access the past couple of weeks, so I apologize for the lack of updates...I will try to fill you all in on what I have been doing, but I might miss some things since it has been so long! My team and I headed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to do relief work from the F5 tornado that destroyed Tuscaloosa and where we worked in Holt. My team was there along with 3 other AmeriCorps NCCC teams from the Vicksburg campus, so sometimes we got to work with them and other times we just worked with our own teams. For the most part, my team was stationed at the Holt Relief Center, located in the middle of the worst-hit community from the tornados. We were basically in an old car garage that was still standing, but had 2 sides blown off by wind. It served as a distribution center for the community and by the time we left Alabama it was actually the only distribution center still up and running. It started out as a small project run by a family from Talladega, Alabama, but grew every single day and the woman who started it, Lorinda, was interviewed by CNN, Times Magazine, and many more impressive news sources. They really appreciated our team helping out and gave us a lot of responsibility to head up different areas of the center, so Neva and I were in charge of preparing meals and serving people who may not have eaten in days. We worked with the Salvation Army, led by an awesome guy named Kevin, who was always optimistic, uplifting, funny and kind to us, while also expecting us to keep up the pace and work hard with little to no breaks during our 12 hour work days. It doesn't sound like hard work to stand in one spot and scoop food all day, but let me tell you...my feet and back were killing me at the end of the day! We got to interact with a lot of people who had lost everything in the tornado...some people came to us with literally only the clothes on their backs, so we would show them around, get them some new clothes, toiletries, water, food, shoes, and other essential items. All of the things at the distribution center were donated by amazingly generous people, other organizations, and businesses. We also had about 20 other volunteers work with us each day through Samaritan's Purse, and some people came as far as Miami, FL, Texas, and other places far away just to help out for a couple days. It is truly amazing to see how close a community can get after such destruction hits. I encountered so many thankful people for just the few items we were able to provide for them and was so amazed by how they could still smile, laugh, and be thankful when they had just lost so much.
I could go on and on, but I will save some stories for when I am back home and can tell you all in person!
My team is back in Vicksburg now, we got here last night and have today off to kinda settle back in and rest before we get working on potential flood relief type work here. I can't believe graduation is in only 10 days! I am so excited to be heading back home to Maine!

Disaster Relief #2

My team has been called to disaster relief in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We will be heading out bright and early tomorrow morning and will probably be there until the end of the round (May 18th). Also, Mollie's composite team was called to disaster relief in TN, so she won't be joining us :( Today has been a crazy day, but I don't think anyone on my team is really that surprised about having to leave...it's mostly just a bummer because we feel like this would have been the best round, had we been able to stay and complete our project! But our help is needed elsewhere, and Alabama is really messed up from all of the tornados, so we must lend a helping hand...it's what we do!

Where In the World Is Brittany Bourgeois?!

My team has been all over the place lately, so I'm sorry for not updating sooner! First of all I would like to thank everyone for helping me make my surprise visit home so spectacular! It was a complete success and I had such a great time seeing everyone :)
My journey back to NC was interesting because my flight was supposed to get in at 11pm as it was, but it was delayed so I didn't get in until 12:30! Eric picked me up at the Greensboro airport and we got lost getting back to the house, so we didn't get in until 1:30am...thankfully we just got to stay here for the night and then head out to meet our team at 6:30 the next morning, instead of driving straight there and getting in around 4am...so that was nice! The next day we met our team at a warehouse, where we helped them organize and fold clothes that were donated by people in the area and will be shipped to Good Will and Salvation Army stores.

Then after work we got a tour of the area that was totally destroyed during the tornados...it was crazy and so sad how many homes were not standing anymore, but just a pile of rubble by the side of the road to be picked up by the city and thrown in the dump.

My team had some stories about meeting families that survived and I wish that I had gotten to meet some of the people they talked to, but I was also thankful for being able to be home for Easter. The next day of disaster duty also happened to be our last...we were back at the warehouse folding clothes (and we got to keep anything we wanted! So naturally I acquired two purses, a clutch, two pair of high top sneakers, and some shirts and pants...most of them were brand new with the tags still on too!) which wasn't too bad, I actually kinda like that kind of organizing work, but we only stayed for the morning then we were cleared to head back to Greensboro! I guess the community was picking up where we left off and we weren't really needed there anymore, which was a good thing, I suppose. Of course, Habitat was ecstatic to have us back, which was also my prediction when we left, I told them we would be back soon! So we worked with Habitat on Friday and Saturday, Saturday was a fun day because Drew, Norah and I got to be site supervisors at a house doing painting, but only 1 volunteer showed up haha, that's okay, it was still fun! And now it is Sunday, my team's first day off in nearly two weeks! Also, Mollie is re-joining our team again on thursday, which we have dubbed, "Cinco de Mollie!" and we are very excited to have her back!

And of course a shout out to my mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

25 days until I officially graduate from AmeriCorps...can't wait to be back home with everyone! Love you all!

Disaster Relief

My team was called to respond to the tornado damage in eastern NC (Bertie County, about 3 hours from Greensboro) today, so we will have to clean and pack up everything tonight to be ready to head out at 7am. We are all kinda bummed because we really enjoy this project, but we understand that in AmeriCorps you have to be flexible! It will be an experience I am sure, seeing all of the destruction from a few days ago and trying to get it all cleaned up quickly so we can get back to our project in Greensboro! Although most of my teammates and I are bummed to be leaving Habitat, we are happy that we can offer our help to those who desperately need it right now.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

We ended our work week working on the crawl space some more, which was kind of a downer compared to working on the roof, but we were in the safest place during a crazy thunderstorm that hit...instead of a tornado! That is one scenario where I prefer a thunder storm! Saturday night the boys and I went to The Idiot Box comedy club, which was really fun! Then we went to a local pub, Natty Greens where I got a delicious chocolate raspberry cheesecake! Then we walked the mile home, but I was in shorts and it was pretty chilly! Sunday I slept in until about 11:30am, to try and make up for having to get up at 6am all week...and then we went to a Greensboro Grasshoppers minor-league baseball game at 4pm. It was a great day for a baseball game, nice and sunny, but not too hot, and the stadium was really new and clean and we had great seats for only $8! Now that is something that we on the AmeriBudget can really afford :) I also met up with my college friend who I played bball with freshman year at Gordon, Meredith!

She goes to grad school at Duke, which is only like 45 mins-an hour away, so it was great! She had never been to Greensboro before and she got to meet my team and we got to catch up, which was really fun :) Today we volunteered at Greensboro Urban Ministry, the boys were serving food in the cafeteria, Norah and Alleigh were sorting food in the food bank, and Neva and I were sorting and folding clothes in the clothing store portion of the building. It was a really cool place, and we are signed up to volunteer there every Monday so thats cool. I had such a bad sore throat last night that I wasn't able to sleep much, and this morning it was even worse, so standing up, folding clothes for 4 hours was kinda tough for me...but I think on a day when I am feeling better it will be really fun!

No Time for Lunch!

Today we worked on finishing the roof, because there is supposed to be a big storm tomorrow (but hopefully not!) We worked so diligently that we didn't even stop for a lunch break! Yup, that's right...we worked 9 straight hours today up on the hot roof! Crazy, I know! But we did manage to finish by the end of our work day :) And yes, I did get up on the tippy top of the roof!

It was actually really fun! I got a funky sun burn on the tops of my knees, but other than that it was a really great day! Oh and I was randomly picked for the monthly drug testing, so I had to go to a place in the morning to pee in a cup haha I wasn't worried about the results of the test, but having to pee on demand freaked me out, so even though I can normally pee anytime, I chugged a bottle full of iced tea before going in, so I could actually fill the cup :-p haha sorry, that's probably too much information! Anyways, it was an interesting and exciting day! I also just had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Mexico (how appropriate!) with Nate's cousin Amanda and aunt Deborah! It was really fun and we chatted a lot about traveling and the different places we have been...it was a wonderful night!

Raising the Roof and Bringing Down the House!

You would all be so proud of me today! I actually got up ON the roof and put on some shingles and it was actually really fun! I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would and even felt safe up there, thanks to the scaffolding I helped put up :) I also discovered that I am really good at roofing! We had to stop roofing mid-afternoon because it was so hot and sunny that the shingles were getting all hot and sticky/melty, so I moved into the house to demolish a wall and then bust down some cupboards! It was really exciting...I never thought that I would have the strength to knock down a wall...but it's actually easier than I thought! I also got my muscles working before I got up on the roof, by carrying heavy packages of shingles up a really tall extension ladder onto the scaffolding...that was super intense! I never would have done it, except that one of our site supervisors, Matt (who is 6'8 who bears a striking resemblance to Michael Phelps, but gets really embarrassed when anyone mentions it) didn't give me a choice! He told me to go get some shingles and carry them on my shoulder...I was like "okayyy...to where?" and he said "up the ladder" and as terrified as I was, it seemed like I had no other option, so that's what I did! He kinda chuckled after like "I can't believe she actually fell for that and is doing it!" But I don't know him well enough yet to read if he was kidding or not, so I joined the boys in carrying the shingles up the ladder! I made like 6 loads and then had to stop...those things are heavy! And on top of that, climbing a ladder up to the roof with only one hand is even more scary! Also, my shoulder is really sore and tender right now, because I don't really have broad shoulders so there was a lot of weight on only a little bit of bone! Anyway, the weather has been beautiful, sunny and in the 70s lately, so I don't have much to complain about! The only thing I can think of is that my finger nails have been getting so dirty lately and I've been wearing gloves, so I don't know how that is happening! Neva, Norah and I have come up with an idea to paint our finger nails a dark color (I chose purple, of course) so that we at least won't have to look at the dirt! I have also been getting a great AmeriTan on my arms and back of my neck! Woo!

Nate Visits Greensboro!

Where to start!? First of all, the craziness with the budget and everything was such a stressful time for my time and me especially! If the budget wasn't passed (or if AmeriCorps wasn't IN the budget), we would all be sent back to campus in Vicksburg to pack up and leave...immediately--And Nate was coming that same evening! I was freaking out because I thought that we would be sent back to MS that morning, and Nate would be in NC that night, with a hotel room and rental car and I wouldn't even be able to see him :( But thank goodness everything worked out and I got to spend the weekend with him! His flight got cancelled due to weather in Newark, so I got to spend an extra day with him, which was also really great! We drove around and hit up all the free things in the area, the Botanical Gardens, Bog Garden, National Military Park, and then went to the movies twice, to see Source Code and Hanna (both were really good but pretty intense!) We also went out to eat a lot (of course) and we even got to go out with his cousin who lives in Greensboro one night! It was a wonderful visit and really nice to see a familiar face from home.
As far as work goes, I absolutely LOVE working for Habitat and all of the awesome people we are working with! We have been setting up lots of scaffolding to do roofing (I have yet to actually get on the roof...I spend my time being on the set-up crew instead!) and we even cleaned out a crawl space under a house one day....we found lots of spiders and dead rats...gross! But our site supervisor, Richie wouldn't let me out of the crawl space job, since I got out of going up on the roof :-p Our housing is great, I'm still getting internet and we are currently eating dinner that a local church brought for us and watching TV, so life is good :)

It's always an adventure when I'm around...

The end of transition in Vicksburg was pretty good, we had a "fish fry" one night and it was supposed to be outside, but was moved to the gym due to a downpour. The gym had no power, so it was a nice romantic candle light dinner...and there was really good sweet tea! After the dinner ended, it was about 7:30pm and as we headed outside to our dorms across campus, something felt strange...it was randomly bright and sunny and looked like it should have been about 3 in the afternoon...not after the sun had set...but it had stopped raining, so I was happy...that was, until I heard people talking about "the calm before the storm" and how that is the exact weather/sky right before a tornado! Ahhhh! No worries though, we didn't end up having a tornado to my knowledge...thank goodness!
So we packed up our 15p van and a dodge mini van (we were psyched to get a mini van rather than a huge cargo van or truck this round) yesterday morning and started out on our 12 hour drive to Greensboro, NC. With AmeriCorps and the Government vehicles we can't drive more than 10 hours a day, so we drove 8 yesterday and stayed in Atlanta, GA at a (not so) Quality Inn, where we ate dinner at Chipotle (delicious fast-food Mexican) and then went to see Tangled (for the second time) at a cool $2 theater! It was a great night. Today we finished off the trip driving 4 hours through GA and South Carolina, stopping at Pizza Hut for lunch, where this one was unique and had a $5 lunch deal with a salad, bread sticks, cini-sticks, and a personal pan pizza! We stopped again in Lexington, NC about 30 minutes from our destination to switch drivers one last time, when I managed to lock the keys in the van! Ahhhh I didn't mean to...I didn't know that the keys were still in there, but everyone else was inside using the bathroom, which was where I was headed, so I didn't want to leave the van unlocked and available for anyone to steal! Alleigh had left the keys in the cup holder, thinking that I was staying in the van...simple mistake....but leading to an adventure, of course! So we called GSA (the government version of AAA) and a guy came in about 30 minutes and busted in and got the keys for us...so it wasn't terrible, but kinda funny! The team was in good spirits saying that "something had to go wrong, otherwise it would have been a boring road trip!" That made me feel a little better!
Anyways, we finally arrived in Greensboro at 4:31pm and got a tour of our sweeeeeet housing...with get this...INTERNET and CABLE!!! MY computer even gets the internet, so it is amazingggg! YAY! The only downer is that we are sleeping on cots...not beds, but no biggie. We are also in a really awesome area and there are so many shops and cool things to do! We ate dinner at Zoes Kitchen, an adorable little place that is kinda like Panera, but even better! I got a half of chicken salad sandwich and a piece of chocolate cake :) We are also super spoiled because our sponsors told us today that they have churches lined up every day of the workweek until we leave to bring us dinners every night! Crazy! We are really excited that this round is off to such a great start....totally opposite of our last round! It's really a great change!
Also can't wait to see Nate in T-minus 3 days! Wooo! It's also supposed to be in the 70s-80s down here this week...yay! Sorry you New Englanders are all still getting snow! Ahhh!

Sunny Saturday

It's a beautfil 75 degrees out today and it just happens to be a Saturday so we can actually be outside to enjoy it! I slept in til about 10:30 today, which was a-ma-zing to finally sleep past 6am for once this week! After waking up, I went for a walk with Mollie and a couple other friends for PT and then laid by the pool for a few hours, taking a break to walk to Sonic to take advantage of their Happy Hour 2 for 1 slushies! Until today, I had forgotten how it felt to be warm and it seems like we haven't gotten to see the sun for months, so it really is a beautiful day! Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, so I will most likely have the same routine of sleeping in and heading to the pool...oh, how I love weekends :) Monday will be spent cleaning the van again, cleaning our rooms, and packing up for our last round! We head to NC on Tuesday, stopping in Atlanta to visit with Mario's family, and staying in a hotel, because we can't drive more than 10 hours in one day with the government vehicles. I'm pretty excited about the hotel! I love hotels! Then we complete our journey and arrive the next day at our 4 bedroom, 2 bath, brick house in a perfect central location, seemingly only 10 minutes away from anywhere we would ever want or need to go. Then we have 2 days of orientation before starting to actually work on Saturday, then Nate will be visiting me for that first weekend! Yay! I'm really looking forward to this upcoming week!

Basline PT

Yesterday morning was another early one, having to be up and at 'em for 6am! Wooo! I got 42 crunches (same as last time?), 41 pushups(more than last time), and my motley crew of Mollie, John, Colin, and Neva finished the mile and a half run keeping a consistent jogging pace and crossing the finish line at 16:11, which is 4 minutes slower than my last time, but pretty good considering we were just jogging! Overall I was happy with my results and didn't make myself feel sick over it being so consumed with competitiveness, so all was well :)

Job Fair

It's good to be back here in Vicksburg, catching up with friends and whatnot. We had a busy first day, as soon as we got back on campus we had to clean our van, turn our tools in, and then have our debrief of round 3. After doing all that, we had lots of free time yesterday and today we had the option of either going to work in the cemetery or to a job fair in Memphis...I chose the latter, no big surprise haha. The only bad thing was that we had to wake up at 4:15 to get there by 10am! When we got there, we were expecting a really big event, but there were only 15 tables at most, and none of the businesses appealed to us, so we basically stood around for a little over an hour and chatted with other AmeriCorps people. We then were set free to go anywhere in Memphis, as long as we were back on the road by 2pm, so my van went to the National Civil Rights Museum so some people could check out the free outdoor part, and then we went to Central BBQ. Overall, it was a great day, because we just hung out and I spent the 8 hours in the van snoozing, so I was really glad that I didn't have to work in the cemetery all day! Now I am currently in the computer lab, having a "blogging party" with Colin, who I also tricked into helping me out with my taxes online, because part of his last round was helping people with taxes, how perfect! Haha, I got them done and owe $0 as well as will get $0 back haha. I'm probably going to head to bed soon, because we have PT baseline tomorrow at 6am...blahhh, but Mollie, John and I have already decided that we are not going to make ourselves sick and nervous about our times, and instead we are going to jog at a pace that will keep us warm on the predicted 45 degree morning, while also not breaking a sweat haha I'll let you know how that goes...
In other news, Nate has booked his flight, rental car, and hotel to come visit me my first weekend in Greensboro, NC!! Woohoo! I'm so excited! He is so amazing for being so kind to come and visit me 3/4 rounds! Hopefully his visit will help cure some of my homesickness!
Love and miss you all!

Wrapping up the Memphis Experience

Today we are cleaning and packing up our humble abode in preparation for heading back to Vicksburg bright and early tomorrow morning. It’s mostly sweet and only a little bit bitter this round, but we did have a wonderful send-off thank-you dinner last night put on by the 5 board members of ArkWings, and they also gave us free t-shirts, which made me happy to end on a good note J I haven’t been blogging much lately, so let me fill you in on what exciting events I haven’t shared yet: last weekend the team and I went to the National Civil Rights and Rock ‘N Soul Museums, which were really interesting and also kinda sad. We got to walk through the Lorraine Motel, where MLK Jr. was shot and killed, and see the hotel room he stayed in, and also another part across the street where the shooter was…and the most interesting part is that they don't actually know who the shooter was! 

It is still an ongoing investigation with a lot of conspiracy theories. There are a lot of “coincidences” that seem like if even one of them was different, MLK wouldn’t have been shot and killed on that day. For example, they changed his room to one on the balcony, when his original room number wouldn't have been visible from the shooter’s window across the street, and that morning, extra security teams were randomly called off…among other strange things, that I had never really known about. My team and I couldn't stop thinking about what had really happened and why, was it the FBI? The Military?

The weekend before last, we went to Elvis’ home, Graceland, and got to see his amazing house, the Jungle Room, collection of extravagant cars, his private planes, and his gravesite. I hadn’t realized just how huge of a star Elvis really was until I got the full experience at Graceland. He came from a poor family and worked really hard to give his mom and family money and nice things, because he knew they deserved them. He also gave a ton of money to charities and one day bought 24 Caddys and gave away 23 of them! I gained a huge appreciation for Elvis and the extravagant, intense, and charitable life he lived.

As far as work has gone, I planted a lot of flowers and flower bulbs over the past week…it was fun! I was never the gardener of the family (that was Aleena), so I really had no idea how to do any of it at first, but Neva and Mollie taught me well!

For our last day of work with the Wolf River Conservancy, one of our sponsors, Keith, took us out for a day-long canoe trip along the Ghost River portion of the Wolf River. 

There were 9 of us and 4 canoes, so I was the lucky one who got to ride in the middle of the canoe and not have to paddle! Keith was steering in the back, and Norah was paddling in the front. I felt safe until Keith kept having us stop so he could cut down tree limbs that where kind of in the way of the river trail…he was standing up for like 15 minutes at each tree, sawing limbs down right over my head! I was pretty nervous that they would hit me, but he said “they won’t hurt that bad if they hit you” so I then got even more nervous! Haha, none of them ended up hitting me, thank goodness! We also found a lot of floating trash and bottles along the way, so we stopped to pick them out of the water, almost tipping over a few times, and successfully filling our canoe to the brim with garbage…it was really gross sitting there, trying to enjoy the nature, but being surrounded by trash! A lot of the bottles had Bible verses in them, like it was a church group that purposely threw the bottles down the river! That’s crazy and pretty hypocritical, claiming to love God and your neighbors, and destroying His creation at the same time…Anyways, since we were picking up so much trash (it ended up being 5 garbage bags full/250lbs!!), we didn't get to stop to have lunch until 2:30, so everyone was starving! And of course, there were no bathrooms, so I was the only one who was anti-peeing in the wilderness, so I held my pee all day long…quite impressive, considering I probably have the smallest bladder on my team! And pretty unhealthy probably, but I think I’ll be okay! So we finished the 8 mile canoe trip around 6:30pm, and none of us fell out or even really got that wet, so it was quite a successful adventure! And we even got work hours for it since we cleaned up the river as we went J

Snake Sighting=Office Work!

Lately all we have been doing was cutting down privet here at ArkWings and with the Wolf River Conservancy at a place called the “Lovitt Woods,” which I have re-named the “hatitt woods” because I despise that place! First of all, it is 45 minutes away from where we live and behind a Lowes hardware store, so we have to park behind Lowes and walk 15 minutes on a slanted, muddy path to even get to the privet area! (This is the same area that was flooded last week and made my feet soaking wet all day). Second, there is so much privet (way more than the people in charge thought there was) that it is completely overwhelming just being there, and third…there are copperhead SNAKES that live there and we have spotted one out sunning itself one day…needless to say I was so freaked out I could hardly move and was no help the rest of the day, being so paranoid that I now have a new job working in the Wolf River office with Neva while the rest of the team is so brave to continue on with the snakes. Nothing much exciting has been going on other than that, except that we got our assignment for next round and we will be doing Habitat for Humanity in Greensboro, North Carolina! I am really excited for our next round and love working with Habitat so it should be awesome! Another cool thing is that Nate’s cousin who I have never met and he rarely sees, also lives in Greensboro, NC, so if Nate is able to plan a trip down to visit me, we can also hopefully visit with his cousin! Basically where I’m at these days is being excited…excited for this round to end soon, excited to see my other AmeriCorps friends from different teams back in Vicksburg for a week before we head to NC, and excited for our final round! I am really thankful for AmeriCorps and the experiences I have had, finding out the jobs I love (construction) and the jobs I could do without (cutting privet), getting to experience living in different states, and making connections with so many amazing non-profits. Although I am still kinda scared to enter “the real world” when I return to Maine, I am also excited because I have had some real experiences, training, and have developed so many helpful new skills to prepare me for a future job. 

Written on March 9th (Aleena's Birthday!)

This past weekend my team and I went to the Memphis Zoo! It was fun, even though I had been there before with Lynelle and it was absolutely freezing! I was wearing two sweatshirts and mittens and was still cold…so some of the animals weren’t really out, but we got to see the giraffes so it was all good J

Work has been very “blah” lately. We have been ripping numerous amounts of newspapers and magazines to make papercrete while we have been at ArkWings, and then when we work with Wolf River Conservancy lately we have been cutting down privet, the world’s most annoying overtaking plant there is! To while we were on our way to the little island/peninsula place where we cut the privet down, there was a huge river flowing through our path! There is usually a small stream with a makeshift bridge made out of brush to cross on, but since it had rained a lot this weekend, it was flooded…which was so bad until I realized that my rubber boots that are made large enough to wear sneakers in, had a hole in them so my foot, sock, and sneakers got SOAKED! It was so annoying! All morning I had to work with a wet foot and then go through the whole process again on the way to lunch, on the way back from lunch, and when we were done working, so needless to say, but feet were freezing by the end of the day and all I wanted to do was buy a new pair of sneakers and take a hot hot shower to make me feel better! But we had to do PT first…and then I showered, and as far as my sneakers go, hopefully they will dry out eventually (probably not anytime soon though!) and then maybe I can wash them? My only saving grace was that on my way back from lunch I found a dollar on the ground! There was no one else around who it might have belonged to, and it was just $1, so I pocketed it and took it as a small blessing from God, letting me know that He doesn't completely hate me! Haha. Oh, and speaking of God, today was the first day of lent, so most of my teammates and I have chosen to give up junk food of some kind. I am giving up sweets, which includes all candies, ice creams, desserts, etc. EXCEPT for fruity things that can also be considered semi-healthy. Oh and I am not giving up flavored coffees…that would just be too much, considering it’s how I stay warm at this chilly Starbucks while I get internet!

Also, today I announced to my team that I am finally feeling homesick. I say finally, because I had been doing really well being away from everyone back home, but today is Aleena’s birthday and Zac’s knee surgery for his torn ACL/MCL, Jonny’s birthday is coming up, and Nate’s sister-in-law Lisa is expecting a little baby girl soon, so there is just so much more going on at home that I would like to be around for rather than being here in Memphis where the newness and excitement has warn off from this project and we are all just ready to move on!

On another depressing note, I guess The House has passed the idea to cut all National Service organizations, like AmeriCorps…which would be a total bummer and I hope that it doesn't actually happen, because not only is this an amazing program overall (even though I have been negative lately), but the jobs I am looking into when I get back to Maine are all AmeriCorps State jobs working with nonprofits that wouldn’t exist! I just can’t imagine this program not existing! It is such a good experience and I mean come on, we work for hardly anything! Why would they want to get rid of cheap, well-done labor?! Anyways, hopefully this won’t happen, but it is something we are all kinda worried about now. 

Reading, finally!

The other day we actually got to read to some 4th graders! We went to the school during the school day for once and split up into small groups to read to the kiddos. Mollie, Neva and I were with 3 cute little 4th grade girls and we took turns reading a page then passing it to the next person to read. It was pretty fun to actually read with them and they seemed to really enjoy it too! They even gave us all big hugs afterwards, thanking us :) It was rainy all day today, so we stayed in the house and ripped up newspapers and magazines to make papercrete blocks with and since we were doing this in the house, we decided to watch some movies to help pass the time...it was great! We got to rip paper and watched 3 movies all day...can't complain about that work load! Hopefully we will be done with the outside privet and ivy cutting soon, since it is getting warmer (the trees are already starting to bloom!) and that means that the poison ivy and SNAKES will be coming out soon...ahhhhhh!
Anyways, I am really missing home right now....I am really enjoying my team this round (like all the other rounds) but I feel like I have experienced enough of Memphis and am ready to move on to another project/state to check out some other nonprofits and learn some more skills...but oh well! We listed our projects for next round today and put Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama in our top spots...so hopefully we will get to experience a new state next round! I will let y'all know as soon as we find out!

Brick Factory

Last week was spent experimenting with “papercrete” bricks, which are bricks made out of paper, concrete, and sand. It is supposed to be a more “green” way of building something, but our sponsors are not sure which recipe is the best with the materials we have, so we have been playing around with different amounts of each ingredient. It was pretty fun, and once we find the “perfect mixture” we will make a lot of them and hopefully get to build something with them?! Mollie, Mario and I also did a recruiting event at Briar Crest Christian School yesterday, which was awesome! We found out when we left that it was the school that Michael Ohr (The Blind Side) went to! That area of Tennessee is so nice! It was a really wealthy area with huge mansions all around and there were at least 3 Hummers, 6 new Mustangs, and a whole bunch of other really nice cars parked in the parking lot. We were only there for about 30 minutes, but there were a handful of students who seemed interested, so that was good. Today we planted a bunch of trees all day, and there was a ABC news camera filming us for awhile, so we might be on TV! Over the weekend, since I was actually with my team this time and not with a visitor (bittersweet), we went out to dinner at Olive Garden one night, and to the movies another night, which was really fun! We saw The Eagle, which was super gory and lots of battle scenes, but it was okay, because Channing Tatum was in it! Haha We also got our list of projects for our final round and we will be putting them in order soon…the ones I’m interested in are in North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia…so we shall see what we get! 

"Cousin's Weekend"!!

Lynelle arrived in Memphis on Friday, but unfortunately I had to work all day and volunteer at an auction that night, so I couldn’t actually see her until Saturday evening after we finished work. Some of my teammates dropped me off and came in to meet her and then we met up with them again (a couple hours later because of slow taxis!) for dinner at Huey’s in downtown Memphis. We were starving when we got there, so we devoured our food as soon as it came! After dinner with my team, Lynelle, Alleigh, Eric and I continued on to Beale Street for the night. It was really fun, but exhausting! We ended up sleeping in until 1pm the next day! We took a cab downtown again and walked around during the day, had a late lunch at Hooters and then went to see the Ducks at The Peabody Hotel (if you don’t know what this is, it is actually a pretty big event and I don't think I can describe it well enough, so you might wanna Google it! Haha) After seeing the ducks, we went to the Rock ‘N Soul Museum and learned about Elvis and the importance of music in Memphis’ history. When we got back to the hotel that night, we realized that we were finally getting kinda hungry again after our late lunch, so we asked the lady at the front desk about ordering-in options and she told us about Marlowe’s Restaurant. Apparently Marlowe’s has a sweet deal where if you are staying in a local hotel (which we were), they will pick you up in a FREE PINK LIMO and bring you to the restaurant for dinner, then bring you back to your hotel after dinner! That deal sounded too good to pass up, so of course we took it up! The other cool thing about that was that the restaurant was on Elvis Presley Boulevard, so we passed Graceland and his private plane and all that cool stuff, so the driver was giving us some fun facts about Elvis and Lynelle and I both developed a new appreciation for The King and his “new to us” attractive looks. The next day we got up early(ish), before noon anyway and went to the Memphis Zoo! We spent a good 4.5 hours there and got to see lots of awesome Giraffes, Pandas, Elephants, miniature horses, and other cool animals! That evening we ordered in some Dominoes pizza and watched The Bachelor! It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend vacation/visit with Lynelle! I had such a blast! Thanks again, Nellie! Miss y’all and love you even more!

P.S.- this title comes from my team who was so excited to meet and hang out with Lynelle that they dubbed that weekend “Cousin’s Weekend” weeks before her arrival :0) 

Valentine's Weekend!

This weekend has been fantastic already! Friday night we went across the border to Arkansas (which I like to pronounce: “R-Kansas” haha) to go to Wal*Mart, because there aren’t really any near by to where we live. Most of my teammates, including myself had never been to Arkansas before, so it was a very exciting experience! While at Wal*Mart, Mollie, Neva and I bought some sweatshirts for only $2.50, some awesomely cute socks, and I also got a much needed new water bottle for $2.50. After our Wal*Mart adventure, we continued on to Baskin Robins to get ice creams, because I had never been to one before. It was truly a night of “firsts” with going to Arkansas AND Baskin Robins! It was fun, and then we continued the fun into Saturday with picking up trash along one of the roads in our nearby community for the morning (reading to the kids got cancelled again because of the weather! L) I could not believe how much trash there was on the side of the road…it was amazing to me that people can just throw trash out their windows and on the sidewalk without feeling guilty at all! In the afternoon, Mollie and I worked on making some signs for Arkwings and then in the evening we went to the Memphis Roller Derby! It was so exciting! I had never even heard of roller derby’s until the movie Whip It with Ellen Page came out a couple years ago. It was a very exciting night, watching crazy brute women roller skating around, shoving each other onto the ground so they could pass each other and earn their team points. The two teams we saw play were the PrissKilla Presley’s vs. the Angels of Death. The PrissKilla Presley’s won…they were super intense! I would best describe this event as punk-rock concert meets hockey, because of the intense crowd that was there, cheering whenever there was a “fight” or someone being shoved down. It was entertaining for sure, but definitely not my kind of sport!

Nate came to visit on Sunday evening! My team wanted to meet him, and vice versa, so we I bought some pizzas and we headed over to the hotel when he got there to hang out for awhile J Nate was super tired since he hadn’t slept in over 24 hours, but he was still awake enough to be friendly and meet my team, which was nice! It was so strange to me that they didn't all know each other, because I tell Nate about my team and my team about Nate, so it seems like they all know each other, but now they really do! Yay! Monday was a super nice and sunny day, about 60 degrees here in Memphis, so Nate and I took a cab into the city and walked around all day. The city was so empty that I felt like we had it to ourselves! We ate lunch at a pub called the Flying Saucer, which is known for having like over 100 kinds of beer on draught. We got some delicious nachos and Nate tried out a couple of their beers, but I stuck with the diet coke myself J After that we walked down Beale street (mini version of Bourbon street but way smaller and safer with their main focus being on BBQ and music than bars and clubs). We then made our way to the other side of town to the Civil Right Museum, which we didn't go in, but saw the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his last moments…it was really sad, but also really remarkable to be standing right there, where history was made. We finished the city tour with a walk by the river, oooo-ing and aaaa-ing over the beautiful mansions along the way, also thinking how funny it was that in places where there isn’t access to “ocean front property,” there are really nice houses with views of the river. We hit up Starbucks before we headed back to the hotel, and while I was inside using the restroom, Nate was outside chatting with Gino, a homeless man who walked right up and asked to join him at his table and chat or awhile. He was a really nice guy who knew a lot about the city and it's history. He had some neat stories he shared with us and then we went out separate ways, but the irony of it all was that Nate and I had just been talking about how he should find a homeless person to give his drink to, because they had messed up his order so they gave him both drinks…and then Gino walked up! He said he wasn't thirsty right then, but he took the drink anyway, saying that his mama always told him to “waste not, want not.”  When we got back to the hotel, being Monday night, we ordered another pizza and I made Nate watch The Bachelor with me (he was a good sport!) and Michelle, the crazy girl on the show, got kicked off…finally! So it was a great day and night J

Tuesday was a short day, Nate having to leave in the afternoon, so I went to the airport with him to hang out a little longer before having to say goodbye (which is always really sad! Ahhh I hate that part!) and then I took a $40 taxi back to our house and hung out for the rest of the day, waiting for my team to get back from work! But I was glad that I took that day off, because they were pulling ivy off trees allll dayyy long and I know that my arms would have fallen off if I did that! Haha. Today we spent the morning picking up trash that businesses have been dumping at a United Way property that is coincidentally right next door to where we live (they didn't know that until we got there! Haha). We filled up an entire dumpster in only a couple of hours, so we have to go back to finish tomorrow after they bring us a new dumpster! Our afternoon, after getting Top’s BBQ from United Way as a thank you, was spent back at Arkwings, painting the bathroom some more and working on the Arkwings Signs with Mollie again. Let me tell you, those signs sound way easier than they are to make! 

Snow Day!

This past week has been a cold one! We got 4 inches of snow yesterday, which around here is enough to stop everything because they don't have plow trucks to come out and take care of it like we do in Maine! It was okay with us though, because we got the afternoon off and went to the laundromat to finally do some much needed laundry! It was a fun adventure, and took forever, because we had to drive so slow. As you can guess, our work days with Wolf River Conservancy were cancelled too, so we couldn't work on the trail at all this week :( Instead we were back at ArkWings doing more painting and cutting ivy off of trees with loppers, which are now my least favorite tool ever, because they KILL my arms and weak little wrists! My arms are STILL sore two days later! Crazy! We have been continuing to work out at Rhodes College, it is so much more convenient than trying to work out in our little livingroom or running outside in the freezing cold! Today we also started making some bat houses, since they love bats down here 'cause they eat all the mosquitoes...ewww! The bat houses are pretty cool actually (I'll try to remember to take a picture tomorrow) because they are so stinkin' skinny! It is hard to believe that about 200 bats will be able to live in there this spring...guess they like to cuddle! I have just noticed that I am kinda all over the place with my blog and using lots of exclamation points tonight, which is partly due to the fact that I am drinking my traditional white chocolate mocha latte and partially because I am trying to remember and catch y'all up with everything we have been doing this week...haha
Anyways, love and miss everyone of y'all so much! I am super excited for my visitors (Nate and Lynelle) to be coming soon! And good news...the weather is supposed to be getting warmer! Woohoo! Nellie, it might be up in the 50-60s while you are here!!

Tree Planting!

The last portion of this week’s work has included painting the bathroom in the main house and helping the Wolf River Conservancy out with a big tree planting volunteer day. It was freezing out, but we still had over 100 volunteers come out and plant 3.000 trees in only two hours! I was really impressed with the number of people who still came out, despite the cold weather conditions, and with how fast they all worked (Probably because they wanted to stay warm)! My job was to sit at the sign-in table, which was awesome because I got to chat with everyone that participated!

They were all really nice and chipper, even though I’m sure they would have rather been at home curled up on the couch with some hot cocoa! Since the event only lasted a half-day, we came back to the house and worked on making Capping calls to schools in the area and on our resumes. I am realizing that it is really difficult to fit my whole AmeriCorps experience into a few lines in resume form…we have done so many different things and worked with so many different organizations! But it is also very exciting to me that I will actually have something more than just working basketball camps on my resume!

Last night we were invited to watch the Super Bowl at Dr. John McCall’s house (he is the founder of ArkWings). They have a beautiful home and it was really nice of them to invite us over for a bit! They got Central’s BBQ for us and even made us banana splits for dessert! It was a great time with great food, that’s all I can really say since I didn't really care about either team in the Super Bowl this year, so I have to admit I didn't really watch much of the game! 

White Chocolate Mocha Latte

Tuesday- Due to a correct prediction of rain all day Tuesday, we stayed “home” and worked with ArkWings instead of working on the trail with Wolf River Conservancy. Mollie, Norah, Alleigh and I repainted the bathroom in the main house a new cream color to cover up the other bright, gross yellow color there was. The room was not well ventilated at all, so we all got kinda woozy from being in there painting all day, but we recovered and feel better now! Yesterday was a sunny, but colddddd day here in Memphis. It was below 30 degrees and there were actual snow flurries falling out of the sky in the morning while we worked on laying another 5-ton layer of gravel on our new trail. We got done a little early due to exhaustion, coldness, and about a 2-ton lack of gravel that they need to order for us to be able to finish next week.

Mollie and I cooked dinner last night and it was a hit! We made breaded chicken strips, tator tots and salad, which everyone said was really good…yay! I told Nate that I am getting better at cooking and learning some recipes that I can use in my “life after AmeriCorps,” which he responded happily with “okay then, one day after you get back you can cook all of my meals for me!” That idea makes me very nervous, but we shall see how it turns out!

Today we worked at ArkWings, raking leaves from all 10 gardens around the house all day in the cold weather! We were super-bundled up though, so we didn't freeze too much!

I also wanted to take this time to clarify that I do actually like this round’s project, even though I seemed annoyed in my last blog haha. It’s just a long round and its been really cold while we’ve been working outside, so I think I’ve been slightly more negative in my reporting back about what we do each day, but trust me, I am still loving the AmeriLife and learning a lot! And not having internet at our house has opened me up to the life of Starbucks and all the amazing hot drinks they serve here…right now I am sipping on my new favorite beverage, a white chocolate mocha latte J So the mini road trip to internet a few times a week is totally worth it!

Oh, and we have been working out at the gym at Rhodes College here in Memphis. It is a beautiful little private Christian school that reminds me a lot of Gordon, but the campus is even nicer! All of the buildings are the same old stone on the outside and really nice and modern looking on the inside…I will try to take some pictures sometime so y’all can see! It was an adventure the day we had to go to their security office to get IDs so we could use the gym, because the printer machine broke while we were using it…but they were really nice to us and now we have awesome Rhodes College photo  IDs! I don’t know why I have such a fascination with photo IDs, but I just love them! Maybe it’s because I don’t have my license yet, so I feel the need to overcompensate with other photo IDs? Haha 

Ladder Danger

Ok so here’s a quick update for the rest of the week:

Thursday and Friday were spent repairing more things at ArkWings. Mollie and I helped repair and paint the fence, and we visqueened the porch area and started to visqueen an area in the barn…but we were stopped because Mario was up on a 20 foot ladder leaning against the wall in the barn, reaching for the highest beam on the ceiling to prove to us girls that the ladder was “safe” because we were all refusing to go on it, when the ladder slipped down the wall and Mario fell along with it, landing with his feet stuck in and under the heavy ladder. Gahhh he is okay now, just a little sore, but it was so scary and stupid, really, because we had tried to tell the lady in charge that it was a bad idea, but she insisted that she was a safety person and knew what she was doing…yeah, righttt. The whole rest of the afternoon we were all fuming about the whole situation…but we have to move on, and at least no one was seriously injured…and my point about lack of safety was proven haha so we will no longer be using those crazy ladders! Besides that excitement, we went to read to the kiddos on Saturday morning, but none of them showed up! L So we were stuck “practicing” reading to each other, which was entertaining, but ridiculous at the same time haha.

Last night Mollie, Drew, Mario, Eric and I journeyed out to find an Applebees to get dessert after dinner, but the first one we found was packed and there was nowhere for our huge 15 passenger van to park, so we followed the GPS to a different one, but it didn't actually exist, so we searched for a TGIFridays instead. We ended up finding one in the middle of the busy city, parallel parked the van, and then they told us it would be an hour and a half wait…at 10pm! We couldn't believe how busy all the restaurants were so late at night! So we ended up traveling about an hour total to end up at a Denny’s with the slowest service I have ever experienced! We were JUST about to give up and walk out, when our food was finally served 45 minutes after we ordered! Andddd, it was not busy at all there…we saw the workers all sitting at one of the booths in the corner chatting with each other rather than working…annoying! They finally started working when a man showed up, who we are assuming was their manager, though! 

This morning (Sunday) we all ended up sleeping in til about noon! Crazy! And now we are all at Barns & Noble using the wireless (which I keep getting kicked off of…ughhh I need a new computer I guess!)

Oh, here is a list of things that are annoying the team currently (myself included):

We still have no cable, internet, or a working dryer…all of which we were told by ArkWings that we would have upon arrival…it wouldn’t be such a big deal that we don't have these things, except for the fact that we were expecting them when we got there…

Trail Blazing Part II

Yesterday we blazed a trail and today we put gravel on it to complete it and make it look more official. We only worked a couple hours this afternoon there, and finished the job! Our site supervisor, Chris was really impressed, yet again, and told us that we were the most impressive AmeriCorps team to work with him yet! Woo! We were a little delayed working there today because of the weather. It snowed all last night, so we worked here at ArkWings this morning, where Mollie and I started to build some shelves that we will hopefully finish tomorrow. This afternoon was actually really sunny and beautiful!

It was a nice change from the gloomy wintery weather we have been having here lately! 

Oh, we also have a german shepherd living at our house now! We somehow always attract cute stray dogs!

Memphis Bound!

Wednesday- We left campus around 8am and headed to Memphis. It was a good 4-hour ride through farmlands the whole time until we got there, too! The day wasn’t over when we arrived, either; because then we had orientation when we got here that seemed to go on forever! Our work schedule this round is working with the Wolf River Conservancy on Tuesday and Wednesday and ArkWings (the organization where we live) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We have another round of Sunday/Monday off. We had more orientation things on Thursday, including a site visit to the Ed Rice Community Center where we met with the director. He was one of the most amazing people I have ever met! Ossie is a 61 year old, extremely fit black man who looks no older than 35. We were all shocked when he told us his age! He told us about his childhood and how his mom only made it through the eighth grade and his dad was in jail for killing a man. He told us that he grew up, persevered through all of those trials and tribulations because of people like us (working with AmeriCorps) and that if people like us weren’t in his life, cheering him on and telling him that he can succeed, he wouldn’t have made it as far as he did in life. He grew up became a lawyer, but after a little while of that he decided that wasn’t what he actually wanted to do with his life, so he quit and started doing service work and volunteering at hospitals and ended up being the director of the community center. He had so much authority and respect from everyone playing basketball there that day, that he walked into the gym while they were playing and asked them to come sit down so he could introduce them to us. Everyone complied and sat down quietly, immediately…it was so surreal! I felt a little embarrassed, having all of these balers in their 20s stopping their pickup game to hear about us, but they were all really nice and seemed to enjoy meeting us and hearing about AmeriCorps. Meeting Ossie that day was exactly what I needed to remind me why I am doing this program, to serve others and hopefully inspire and give hope to some other people along the way. We worked around our house and the barn and other various places on the 17 acres we are living on where ArkWings is. Mollie and I put knobs on all of the cupboards and put towel racks in both the boys and girl’s bathrooms. We were quite proud of ourselves! Saturday was another orientation, but for a reading program we will do every Saturday we are here with 4^th and 5^th graders at a local Memphis school. I am really looking forward to getting to meet some cute little local kids and hopefully making a difference in their lives and just having fun getting to know them! Our first official weekend here was spent being lazy and relaxing, trying to stay warm with this cold weather and snow we have been getting lately! I really thought I left all that in Maine! We watched lots of movies and played some board games…it was a good team-bonding weekend! So that brings us to Tuesday, where we started working with the Wolf River Conservancy and commuted over an hour to blaze a trail in the rain! Woo! Exciting, haha. It was very cold, but we got to leave shortly after lunch, so it wasn’t completely unbearable!

                                                                   (old trail = erosion!)

I have also received some very exciting news lately that Nate will be visiting me February 13^th-15^th for Valentine’s Day! And Lynelle will be here to visit the following weekend, Feb 18^th-22^nd! I am so excited!!! February is going to be such a great month! I am seriously so blessed to have such amazing people in my life who make time and spend money to come see me wherever I am…it really means a lot to me, so thank you! 

“A day ON, not a day OFF” MLK day part II

For MLK day, my team volunteered at a children’s shelter. We split into 3 groups and worked on cleaning out a trailer, organizing the attic, and taking wallpaper down in one of the bathrooms. I was in the latter group, scoring the wallpaper and using a steamer to help pull down the old pieces and get the room ready to be painted. My specific job was to get the higher-up pieces, since I was the tallest one in there at the time. Cindy, the lady in charge of the shelter, also had me doing some random jobs because of my height, like changing out light bulbs. Glad I could be so helpful based on my height haha. The following couple of days of transition in Vicksburg were used for van cleaning, packing, and saying goodbye to friends from other teams for yet another SPIKE. 

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

Friday was MLK day around here in Vicksburg. We all went to the gym for special presentations in the morning and listened to some awesome guest speakers about MLK and the huge difference he has made in all of our lives. One of our speakers was the son of MLK's secretary and he had lots of old letters and pictures from MLK to his mom that he shared with us, it was pretty neat. Another one of our speakers was the youngest Freedom Rider in Jackson, being only 13 at the time and thrust into the civil rights movement (and into jail with MLK multiple times). He also shared some amazing stories about MLK and times back then. Our last speaker of the day was an 88 year old white man who was a journalist in New Orleans at the time of the Freedom Riders and MLK. He worked for a more liberal newspaper and didn't agree with the KKK/white supremacy, so he had an interesting perspective and even though he was white, his life was threatened many times. All of the stories we heard were really inspiring and all of the speakers told us multiple times that if MLK was here today, he would be really proud of us (AmeriCorps), which made me feel really good about what I am doing and dedicating these 10 months to service. Monday we are working with a children's shelter for the MLK day of service, so I will fill y'all in on that later!
This morning I got up early and volunteered at the "Chill in the Hills Vicksburg 10k walk/run" with about 30 other AmeriCorps members. It was tough getting up early, but totally worth it! I took people's info when they got done the run, congratulated them, and handed the into off to the runners to get it all ready for awards inside. After the original race, there was a 1 mile fun run for kids, and I got to place a medal around each of their necks when they finished :) They were all so adorable! We also got to meet and get our picture taken with Patrick House, the winner of season 10's Biggest Loser, who is from Vicksburg! It was really neat to meet a TV star and local celebrity :)

I think it's funny that we are next to him in our huge AmeriCorps parkas...it looks like I need to be on the Biggest Loser myself! Haha

After all of the races were over, we headed inside for some homemade southern chili and raffle...where I actually won something! A lovely candle :) 

Woohoo! It was exciting for two reasons: 1. I never win anything and 2. they pronounced my last name correctly! 

The Icy Mullet

Yesterday's weather here was sunny and mid 50's, but when I woke up this morning there was ice on the ground, people scraping off the vans, and even SNOW in some paces on campus!

Yes, it is only 30 degrees down here today and it is COLD! I thought that I had left this wintery weather mixture in Maine, but I guess I was wrong! Depending on how much people freak out down here about this crazy weather pattern, we may not have any trainings tomorrow...which I would be okay with :) OH I forgot to mention that this round, Norah and I will be Co-Assistant Team Leaders (ATLs), which means I will have more responsibility than just the average team member...I don't really like being in charge and having to tell people what to do, but having another "partner in crime" will be better, and I don't think I really have to worry about my amazing team doing anything crazy that I will have to deal with!
In other news, yesterday was a slow-paced Saturday...I was with a handful of friends driving around trying to think of fun things to do in the Vicksburg area and we weren't having much luck...we tried going to the mall, which ended up being like going back in time to the 1970s...to a mall with only a few stores, Elvis music playing the whole time, and only about 13 other people in the entire mall. We kept ourselves busy for a good 20 minutes "racing" coins and watching Drew and Rob in a "hurricane simulator" that blew their hair around, and supposedly went up to 80mph, but they didn't believe that to be true. We left there and headed to Wal*Mart where Rob so generously sacrificed his beautiful hair for our entertainment while getting a MULLET! The hair dressers didn't know what it was, so we had to Google it for them and show them a picture hahaha they thought it was hilarious and it took both of them to complete the task, as well as them taking pictures with their phones to show all their friends! Needless to say, it made the day amazing and we were all very grateful for Rob's sacrificing his hair for our entertainment!

We ended the night with a nice, huge dinner at El Sombrero where some other friends joined us and there ended up being about 20 of us at one huge table in the middle of the restaurant! Good times. :)

Holiday Break

I didn't update my blog over break, because I was too busy actually SEEING all of my favorite people back home! It was wonderful to be back in Maine, where it actually felt like Christmas with pretty, white SNOW on the ground :0) My first full day back home started with a dentist appointment, Christmas shopping, hair appointment, watching the last quarter of Zac's basketball game, and then back to my house for an Ugly Sweater Party! It was quite an eventful day. It was awesome to be around all of my Maine friends again, catching up and enjoying each other's company--it was like I never left, we just picked up where we left off.

Christmas Eve was spent with Nate's family, it was so nice to see them all and see how big 3 year old Owen has gotten while I've been gone! He was impressing me with his iphone knowledge, since I can't even seem to figure them out! After that, Nate joined my family at Penny Memorial United Baptist Church for the Christmas Eve Candle-light service, which was really nice. I was glad that Nate got to experience one of my family traditions :) Then we all headed out to Richmond, where we got to open and wear our traditional matching pajamas, this year they were tye-died by Aleena, Nate and I :)

Christmas day was full of seeing family and good food! We started out being woken up by Jonny around 8am in Richmond where we opened presents and then had brunch. We then headed into Augusta to Lynelle's house for dessert and catching up with that crew :)

Next we headed over to the Whitcomb Hotel (haha) for Mandy's birthday and hung out with them and ate some more yummy food :)

After that we headed to the Cooley's household, a family tradition for years. It was nice to see them again and I got to meet the new babies of the family! Kristi's son Noah and Tim's daughter Claire :) They were both super-adorable! The last stop was of course to the movies where we saw True Grit. It was a decent movie, and yes, another family tradition!
Tuesday night trivia was booked solid when I got there to get a table, which I couldn't :( so Heather, Beth, Amanda, Emily and I went to Heather's house and had a Girl's Night instead!

The next big adventure was roadtripping to New Hampshire with Nate to visit the Bourgeois side of the family, starting out with going to Nana and Pepe's house in Rochester. We sat and chatted there for awhile, while eating some yummy snacks and opened some presents, including an awesome framed picture of my brother, Shaq slam dunking in his Celtic's uniform! Then we headed over to the restaurant in Meredith, it was such a beautiful drive around lake Winnipesaukee!

Once at the restaurant, we met up with my dad, uncle Michael, and uncle Jerry, chatted, and ate some delicious italian food! It was awesome to see everyone!
One day I helped Nate buy a new car! He had been stressing out about it for awhile, so we researched some options one morning, and by the evening, he had purchased a 2005 Audi that we both loved!

New Years Eve, a few friends and I went to Slate's restaurant in downtown Hallowell for a nice classy dress-up dinner and then hung out at my house until midnight, then went to bed! Haha I feel like I am too old to stay out too late these days :-p

My last excursion over break was a mini roadtrip to Massachusetts, where Nate and I stayed in an awesome hotel in Lexington with a full kitchen in it! It also had the best continental breakfast I have ever had! We checked into the hotel, took a nap since Nate had worked all night, and then headed over to Krista and Leah's apartment in Marblehead for dinner :) We ordered some great food and watched The Bachelor, needless to say, it was an amazing night! The next day, all my friends were working, so Nate and I went to see Tron Legacy in IMAX 3D at Jordan's Furniture, which is way more than just a furniture store...it is a true experience!

 It was a great movie, I loved it! Then we window shopped at the Burlington Mall the rest of the day and got "shot cakes" which are the world's best invention...ICE CREAM filled CUPCAKES!

They were soooo yummy!!! After walking through the entire mall without buying anything, we figured we would quit while we were ahead and headed across the street to Barns & Noble where we got coffees and read magazines. We ended the evening at North Beverly Roast Beef, a Gordon College favorite and met up with 10 of my closest college friends! It was awesome! We totally took over the place like it was a private party, and all caught up and laughed with each other for a couple hours...it was awesome!

My last day home was of course spent wiping tears off of my cheeks, having a really hard time saying goodbye to my family, friends, and home in Maine. It was an awesome two weeks home, but it still didn't seem like enough time! My mom, Jonny, and Nate dropped me off at the Portland jetport at 4pm to head back down south. It was so hard to say goodbye, but once I got on the plane, I reminded myself that I really do enjoy the south and everything I'm doing with AmeriCorps, so I should be happy to head back down and get back at it, doing good things and serving others instead of just selfishly hanging out with friends at home...actually doing something with my life. I got back to campus in Vicksburg after midnight and went right to bed, since the next day I started right back up at 8am! My team had our briefing for our next round project in Memphis, and it actually sounds really awesome! We are working with Wolf River Conservancy and Arkwings, living in a mansion for a couple weeks until we move into a cottage, and basically having different little projects every week! We are all really excited about this round now that we have more information on it!