The Perks

There are some downsides to being in AmeriCorps NCCC, but occasionally you get a project with enough perks to make up for them. This is one of those projects.

 

Perk 1 – FOOOOOOD

We have been fed more than I have ever been fed in my life. Our sponsors often bring food for us for lunch and we’ve been taken out to eat several times. The amount of food that has been provided to us by our various sponsors has been incredible. And it’s not just run of the mill food. It’s GOOD. We’ve had BBQ’s thrown for us and have been invited to 2 different Rotary Club meetings with delicious food. We’ve been invited over for dinners and taken out to eat. It has been simply amazing.

Dean cooking for us.

  

Perk 2 – Tours

 

We have been able to tour places that not many people get to tour. We’ve seen old missions that are generally closed to the public. We got to tour the Border Patrol Office. We went to Kartchner Caverns State Park. We got to tour Native Seeds Search farm. It’s been a lot of touring and a lot of learning. This weekend we got to explore Mexico (after being taken out for brunch of course)!

Mission tour

 

mission tour

 

mission tour

Perk 3 – Housing

The housing on this project has been simply amazing. We’re staying at Hacienda Corona where there is a lovely pool and lots of fun stuff to get into. We get to feed the horses watermelon rinds and drive by cows everyday. It’s been quite an adventure living on a ranch. A ranch where John Wayne used to stay no less!

 

Perk 4 – SWAG

Upon our first day here one of the community sponsors provided us with a lot of awesome SWAG. They gave us thermal water bottles so we would always have cold water, sunscreen, bug spray, first aid kits, lunch boxes, and all sorts of other stuff. We also received pins from The Rotary Club and from Santa Cruz County. As usual I’ve been enjoying the copious amounts of free stuff.

The Hottest Summer That Ever Was

So as I am working here in Nogales and the surrounding area sweating I have been thinking about the epic stories I will tell my children and grandchildren about the hottest summer I ever lived. You think I exaggerate the heat but it has been highs of 100 all week, next week it’s suppose to get up to 106. It’s dry heat yes but doing manual labor in it is still excruciating. The heat here is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It melts things in the van and it will easily burn you if you touch anything that has been out in it.

Sweat stained shirt

It’s been a lifesaver having a pool at our housing and we’ve been taking advantage of it daily. We are doing our weekly PT in the pool playing catch or swimming around. It’s really the only way for PT not to be a miserable experience in the heat. 

Lounging by the pool

 

Old Mine off the trail we’re building

This week we are working with Santa Fe Ranch building trail and a campsite for them. They are an awesome working cattle ranch who have started a non profit as part of their ranch that gives children and people with disabilities a chance to experience the outdoors. The people are great and really interesting and it has been a blast working with them, but it doesn’t make the heat any better. Also we get to see lots of cows everyday.

 

Shade I built for people to escape the brutal heat.

As of this week I have been living the same cycle as the sun. I go to bed around 8-9 and rise around 5. We start work at 6, which sounds miserable but being off and in the pool by 2 is a nice perk. Also since we are now on PST it’s nice to actually be working about the same schedule as Dalen.

Excitement all around!

Ok, long time no talk again. But lots of exciting things have happened since we last spoke. Exciting thing #1: I got ENGAGED!!, Exciting thing #2: I GOT A JOB!!! Exciting thing #3: New Round, New Project, New Town, New Sponsors! Exciting thing #4: I went to the Grand Canyon!!

Engagement:

Well during the last week at West Generation I decided it was time to take a break and head back to NC for a bit (I decided this way before week but ya know).  While in NC I spent loads of time with friends, family, and of course Dalen. We were planning to go backpacking (at which point Dalen was going to propose at sunrise/sunset) but the weather was just dreadful: cold, raining, gross. So we decided to post-pone the trip and instead to go up to Asheville and walk around the city and then maybe go for a day hike. After sloshing around in the city all day I had really hoped that Dalen had forgotten the whole part about the day hike, but he hadn’t. He wanted to go up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and since it was his birthday weekend I was at his will. We drove around on the parkway and as we drove I was becoming more and more certain he wouldn’t want to hike in this crap… until he did. As we hiked up to the top of Craggy Gardens the weather got worse and worse until the wind was blowing the rain sideways. Of course at the summit there was no spectacular view and only clouds. There was however an open air structure where we took shelter from the rain and where Dalen proposed. It wasn’t perfect but it was totally ‘us; and I of course said yes. 

Job:

I recently accepted a job at Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte working in family services. It’s an AmeriCorps National position (I just can’t get enough of national service I guess). I will be working with families to help them apply for habitat homes in addition to networking with other agencies in Charlotte to help recruit new families. I am really excited about spending another 10 months of my life serving those in need.

New Round, New Project, New Sponsors:

I traveled from Denver to Nogales, AZ last week and began to work with University of Arizona Co-Op Extension. Basically they asked for us to come work here in Nogales and tons of organizations have reached out for help that they need. So far we have worked with The Boys and Girls Club, The Anza Trail Coalition, and the rest of the team has worked with Santa Cruz County. Each organization has different work for us to complete and it’s fun working with different people each week and doing different tasks. At the Boys and Girls Club we cleared trash and helped prepare an outdoor area that hadn’t been usable before to be ready for summer camp. This week we have been working with the Anza Trail Coalition to help them do work at a trailhead they are developing as well as painting for them.  Overall our sponsors and the town of Nogales has been SO welcoming and amazing. We’re basically in Mexico so the food has been great too! The next few blog posts I’ll talk more about the work we’re doing (PROMISE!)

Grand Canyon:

So Viviana, Meaghan and I decided we should take advantage of the facts that: 1. It was a 3 day weekend, 2. We’re in Arizona and 3. That I am 25. So, we rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon! It was a great trip after a little bout with a stomach flu that Viviana and I soldiered through on Friday night. Saturday we drove to Sedona and spent time gazing at the beauty that it beholds and then went to slide rock park which is an AWESOME swimming hole if you’re ever in Sedona. It was crowded but it was worth it. The park makes a natural water slide in the red rock and has lots of area for swimming, and cliff jumping! After drying off we continued our journey to Flagstaff where we were to camp on Saturday and Sunday nights. On Sunday we woke up bright and early to head out to the Grand Canyon. There really are no words for its massive beauty. We spent the day on the rim trail on the south rim just gazing at the beauty of it. After we had seen all we could possibly see in one day (we were there from about 10am-7pm, definitely our 25 dollars worth) we headed back to Flagstaff to tucker out. On Saturday we woke up early and decided to stop by Montuzuma Castle on our way back to Nogales. It was a really cool place with cliff dwellings.  After all that we got back to Nogales in time to unpack and relax a bit before starting in back to work. All in all I would say it’s been a very good month since I’ve written. 

Pictures to come when better WIFI is accessed!!

Why working at WGA is the best way to see Denver

Two Words: Field Trips.

With all intensives 2 field trips are generally scheduled per week in order to allow the kiddos to get out of the classroom and really see the field that they are interested in. So due to this, I have gotten to see a lot of Denver and the surrounding area. This blog post is dedicated to that.

Cool places I’ve seen in Denver thanks to DPS.

NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab):

We got to go both to the NREL facility as well as to the NREL wind turbine testing center which is very beautiful and very top secret. At the wind turbine testing center, ex NFL Panther’s (yes the kids made fun of me for about an hour after I told them I was a Panthers fan) football player Sean Tufts talked to us about energy. After hearing about wind turbines we headed to NRELs main campus. At NREL the kids got to do experiments and learn about renewable energy. The place was actually really cool looking and the welcome center was really cool.

Colorado State University:

CSU was quite a hike from WGA… about an hour and a half to be exact. But, I had never been to Fort Collins so I looked forward to seeing it. The campus was pretty big and it was like any other college campus I’ve ever been to… really pretty. Green grass and big buildings. We got a tour of the engineering department led by same gendered tour guides which was neat. All the labs were super cool and they were doing a lot of awesome experiments and designs. For a brief moment I had the desire to become an engineer, then they went over the course catalog and I quickly remembered why that was never on the radar.

Hat Creek Energy:

We went here to learn about oil. The most impressive thing about the whole thing though was the building this business is located which was beautiful and also the awesome collection of bronze art work including one by Remington. All the bronze in the collection were old west in theme. It was really quite an impressive collection. So we got to learn about art, engineering, and the Gates Family (no, not THAT Gates family).  Oh, and they bought us pizza.  All in all it was a good day.

University of Colorado – Boulder:

Boulder is one of my favorite places I’ve visited yet during my AmeriYear, so obviously I was stoked about going again and seeing CU Boulder. The campus was absolutely beautiful and there was a lot going on. It made me miss college a lot. We introduced the kids to the perks of college including: tons of free stuff, free on campus art museum, and the world of promotional awesomeness. During our day at CU Boulder there just happened to be every middle school boys dream on campus: beautiful girls selling Play Station as a brand. These girls led us back into what was probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen. A small concert hall full of play stations. The kids went nuts. After all that excitement we actually had places to go, including a tour of the engineering department. This engineering department was even cooler than CSU’s. They had all sorts of little interactive and experiments to play with. It was a lot of fun.

JUMP STREET:

 

So my kids earned all their classroom points and we got to go to jumpstreet. Jumpstreet is this really awesome place with tons of trampolines where you can jump around. They also have a dodgeball court with trampolines where you can throw dodgeballs at your students heads. While this wasn’t the most educational of trips, I have been wanting to go to jump street since I first came to Denver, so it was kind of a dream come true!

ISP not to be confused with ICP

So during our service term with AmeriCorps NCCC Corps Members are required to do 80 hours of Independent Service Projects. Luckily for us based in Denver this includes the possibility of volunteering at Rocky Mountain Village (RMV) an Easter Seals camp in Empire, CO. RMV is a place where during the summer children (and adults!) with disabilities come for a week at a time to come to camp. However, since it is not yet summer (as the weather keeps reminding me during it’s cruel Monday/Tuesday snows each week) the camp holds respite weekends during the winter months. Respite weekends usually consist of kids coming to camp in order to give their loved ones some time to relax. However, the weekend we were volunteering was a different type of weekend which was called Talking with Technology. For this weekend all the kids who came up had just recently received a new device which they can use to talk. The weekend was all about assimilating the family to these new talkers. So not only were there 8 kids up at RMV there were 8 families. So we got to spend the weekend with brothers and sisters and moms and dads in addition to the children there. It was a weekend full of great fun. There was dress-up, arts and crafts, an ice cream party, a talent show, and my favorite part of the weekend, a chance for all the kids to do the zip line. 

Now most of you should know how much I love Experiential Education considering I spent 4 years in undergrad working for Venture doing just that. I love the idea of pushing yourself  out of your comfort zone and growing through that push. So, you can imagine how it was to watch kids with disabilities go down the zip line. Some kids were able, though wheelchair bound, to use their arms in order to climb up the wall and zip down. For those unable to climb up, the opportunity was not lost. The kids were still able to experience the thrill of zipping down the zip line after being pulleyed up to the top. The look on the kids faces as they zipped down was something that I won’t soon forget. It was such a look of happiness and joy. To be able to do something they had never done before and experience it was something to behold. It was such an awesome thing to see.

Beyond the zipline, the atmosphere at RMV is magical. The staff there is awesome and it is clear that they really love what they do. It’s refreshing to see people who really do love their jobs and thrive at them. It was also a great experience to share with my shuffle team and I think it brought us closer together. We bonded over our mutual love and attachment to the children and the camp. We had a really great time and were able to “Leave our Mark”, quite literally in the camp directors home.

Unfortunately not all ISPs are so lovely… like when you get to one and they tell you ‘just stand there’ but what can I say, it got me my last 30 minutes of ISP hours and  some free SWAG. My enthusiasm for my task and my pouch of free stuff can be seen in the picture below.

Truffle Shuffle Round

So here I am in Denver. It’s so nice being local and on campus because we know our ways around the city and where things are, how public transit works, the whole sha-bang. Also the weather in Denver in the spring is proving to be quite AMAZING. (Though it is suppose to snow 4-8 inches on Tuesday, in this way it’s very similar to NC weather back and forth). This round is shuffle round so the team has been switched up quite a bit. I am still on the lovely Sun 1 with Sargento my Team Leader. Also Viviana and Felix ended up on our team as well. In addition we have a lot of very awesome people joining us from other teams. Our project right now is working in a school as teacher assistants. We basically sit around all day telling 8th graders to get to work while they ignore or curse at us. But I swear we are making a difference! It’s only been a week but the kids are really starting to connect with the team. For my time at the school, I am working in an intensives calss. Intensives are kind of cool because they are the way that the school teaches their students about future potential job opportunities. The kids are in these intensives all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays at which point we go on field trips, visit college campuses, and have guest speakers. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday the students are in their intensives until lunch and then after lunch have rotations in Math, Reading, and PE. During these rotations I work with students in a math program on the computer called ALEKS. What this usually entails is me telling students to focus on their classwork rather than all the other stuff that is more interesting on the internet than math.  The intensive that I am working with has to do with Energy and renewable energy. We went to NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab for those in the know) and we got to do all sorts of cool experiments and learn about renewable energy.  We’re also going to be hearing from an Ex Panthers player next week who now works in renewable energy (what a small world!) That’s about all that’s new on the job front. Otherwise, I have been exploring Denver more and more. I went hiking several times and went to a Rockies game last night! It’s been really great being in this beautiful city. I’m definitely going to miss it when I’m gone. 

 

 

 

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.

To Make a Long Story Short…

I travelled back to Denver. Hung out in Denver for about a week doing not much.

Then… I got on a plane and travelled to Philadelphia where we got ‘snowed in’ by the snowpocolypse and spent 3 days trapped in a hotel. Gin Rummy and Settler’s of Catan were played, TV shows were caught up on, sleeping was had. It was a rather nice relaxation for working disaster.

So that catches us up to two weeks ago I believe. So Monday the 11th we arrive in Staten Island. We get a little time to explore our new home, pick our rooms and unpack.

While Basketball Court in a home seems cool… If you decide this for your home make sure it’s soundproof. Put the Piano down there too!

We were living in the Parish Hall of a Moravian church which was really nice because we had a basketball court and a huge kitchen to cook in and most importantly a gigantic graveyard to explore.

Located at the stairwell… just in case ya know zombies come to attack from the graveyard you’re living in.

Interestingly enough Dalen, my teammate Meaghan and I discovered that the fences in the graveyard had spikes on them, you know the kind to keep people out of places… but the spikes were pointing inward. We all decided it was probably just preparation for the zombie Apocalypse which is good news for just about everyone… Everyone except people who live in the

The location of the scary ghost encounter. Also where I slept for week. The day after this we got cots… so don’t feel too bad for me 😉

graveyard. So on our first night Viviana and I are just snoozing away and I decide that I can’t sleep and finally as I’m getting back to sleep Vivi closes the window and wakes me up at which point I notice that our door is open. I point this out to Vivi and panic ensues.

I scoot my sleeping pad over close to Vivi, we put a chair infront of the door and we grab our pocket knives and prepare for the ghost/robber/zombie who is definitely outside of our door.

After exploring our home, it was into the city for a training. Unfortunately we did not realize the training was IN the city… as in in the middle of Manhattan. So we drove around for about an hour looking for a parking place for the big ole’ 15 passenger van. It was awful. The next day was more training in the Rockaways which were hit pretty bad by the storm. We learned how dangerous  mold is and how to wear our respirators. Important stuff.

All suited up in our Tyveks and Respirators

Then the real work began. We suited up in our Tyvek suits and respirators and were ready to begin work. Most of the work included scrubbing mold all day, there were a few days of ripping up flooring too which was a nice change of pace. All the homeowners that we talked to were so grateful for us to come help them. It was really amazing how thankful they were after they had lost so much and it had been so long since the storm. It would be easy for them to be angry, but they weren’t. After 2 days of officially working, I got a lovely ‘surprise’ valentine’s day gift delivered to me. Dalen is much better at describing this (http://wdalenrice.blogspot.com/2013/02/nyc-part-1-staten-island-glory.html) than I am. However, this (and the work I’m doing in New Jersey and fun I’m having in New York) will have to come in a later post, Dalen’s description will have to do for now!

Flexible from the F to the E.

It’s true what they say in Americorps – NCCC… the only constant is change. Looks like our time in Arizona will be cut a little short.  I was enjoying the nice warm weather and the hard work that trail building entails. However, it was decided that Sun 1 would be heading to New York to do disaster relief from hurricane Sandy. I’m looking forward to being able to experience this type of service and to help people who are in desperate need of help, but I am going to miss the warmth and welcoming that was Arizona. This past week here in Arizona has been really great. We got to work on the trail some more and we got to have an ‘enjoy the trails day’ which meant lots of hiking around where we hadn’t been yet. We also got to go to breakfast with the Rotary, have dinner with the people from Parks and Rec.

 

I also got to experience the awesomeness that is Pickle ball.  I think I found a new hobby in Pickle ball, it’s a lot like tennis but much easier. With tennis I get so irritated at how bad I am that I can’t move on to improve my skills, with Pickle ball I have a sense that I can improve so I actually enjoy the game.

So tomorrow we’re back on the road to Santa Fe and eventually back to Denver for a week until we head out to New York. Updates to come!