Dirty Jobs

Today a possum (possibly cat) jaw bone fell on my face. It was just another typical day under trailers putting up insulation… and by typical I mean I was under a trailer on pallets in 4 inches of standing water with garbage, animal feces and possibly human feces. I was minding my own business ripping down some insulation that another group had left up and out of nowhere something swings down and hits me in the face. Totally like in a haunted house. Now at the moment of the attack on the face I really didn’t know what had just hit me since the visibility under a trailer is not the greatest. So I slowly turn around and notice that it is this…

GROOOOOOOSS! (I don’t know why Meaghan is touching this with her bare hands. Sick)

Yes. That was swinging from a string into my face. I proceeded to scream and yell and then throw it out from underneath the trailer. I took a few deep breaths and went back to work. About a half hour later I hear something fall onto my pallet so I put my ungloved hand (I was nailing and it’s easier to hold a nail without a glove on) onto whatever had just fallen on my pallet and it’s the JAW. I squeal and throw it out again freaking out that it was a different one. Upon confirmation with my teammate I found out that he indeed threw the jaw unto my pallet. But it’s ok because later that day he sat on a dead mouse and heard its back break. You know what they say about karma.

Vivi and I give our official thumbs down to working on pallets in standing water. And to possum bones of course.

But, at the end of the day I can only take a nice sigh of relief in knowing that today was my last day under those disgusting trailers and that no matter where my life leads me that I can likely say I will never be back under one ever again, at least not one in New Jersey on a Superfund site crawling in human feces, animal skulls, and bugs. So never try to one up me with your disgusting job because you will not win. Unless you’re Mike Rowe, who gets paid much more than my AmeriSalary. 

Oh, and when going under trailers is becoming too much, God gives you a snow day… here are some pictures from our snow day snowball fight on Friday. 

Where did I leave off?

So, Dalen came to Staten Island to surprise me for Valentine’s Day. While he meant for it to be a Nicholas Sparks-esque surprise, he is really terrible at keeping secrets, and I am really awesome at figuring out surprises so I knew he was coming before he got there. It was really nice for Dalen to be in Staten Island with me. For one, I had my own personal exploring partner back, and also he had a room with a bed rather than a cot. So all in all I won. We spent a lot of time that he was here working with World Cares and a lot of time hanging out with my team, and a lot of time in transit either walking or riding. However, all this time we got to spend together, so we were both very happy.

Luckily for us I got an unexpected day off on Dalen’s last day in town. So we were able to go to Manhattan and see the sites. We got NY pizza with Dalen’s old NCCC friend, went to time square and central park where we had a photo shoot with Meaghan. But mostly we just walked and explored. The only downside was the freeeeezing cold wind (oh and Dalen’s duffle bag he was having to carry around everywhere we went). The southerner in me will never like the North East in the winter.

Dalen left that Monday after exploring the city and it was back to work for me. We worked for a couple more days with World Cares doing mold suppression and ripping out floorboards and then it was time to move on. I’m glad that our location changed because Staten Island had begun to constantly remind me of Dalen which made me miss him a whole bunch.

We came to New Jersey where we are currently installing insulation under trailers. It’s not glamourous work. At the end of the day you are itchy, your eyes burn, and your hands and knees are bruised crawling around all day. The plus side is getting an ab work out on the job as you strain to staple plastic up over insulation. In addition to the otherwise lacking appeal of being under a trailer, the smells that exist in such a place are phenomenally awful. Many a dead animal has been found, many a different type of fecal matter (human, cat, dog, possum) has been accidentally touched, and some sort of container full of putrid smelling liquid has been removed. All in all I will not be too upset to be telling Jersey goodbye. The only downside of course is leaving the quick access to NYC.

Being close to the city has been amazing. I have had the opportunity to explore the city that could always be explored more. I got to see my first broadway show (being a theater nerd for years, this was extra amazing to me). I also got to visit some friends and family while up here which is always a nice thing to get while in NCCC. So overall I am happy to have had this experience, but in all honesty I am ready to be in the warm NC sun for a week after we complete our service here.