My team finished our project in Biloxi, MS and we are now heading to our new project in Miami. We will be working with Habitat for Humanity again, but this time we are going to be leading volunteers. The week after we get down there, we will be leading two hundred volunteers in a BLITZ build. Blitz builds are rapid builds with lots of volunteers. We will be building 10 homes in two weeks, that's A LOT!! It'll be exciting to apply the skills we learned in Biloxi to our next project.
Unlike in MS, where we stayed at a volunteer camp, in FL we will be staying in our own home! We will be living in an unfurnished Habitat home. We get to cook, clean, and set our own lights out time. We are going to put our construction skills to the test and build ourselves a kitchen table and possibly bunk beds. Most importantly, we are going to buy a slip 'n slide for our backyard.
We will not have Internet in our house, so don't expect many updates.
Warm weather, here we come!
Catherine
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Back From Break!
After a two week winter break, Green 7 is back to work in Mississippi. My break was awesome, way too short, and very relaxing. My team flew in to New Orleans, LA on Sunday night and then drove to Camp Victor. We arrived back at camp around midnight. Luckily, we had Monday off to readjust to living with volunteers and general life at Camp Victor. We were greeted by 250 volunteers staying at Camp Victor for the week. This week's theme is "If ____ then _____."
If it's broken then fix it.
This week my team has been fixing odds and ends on the project site. Some of the fixings have been easy, while others have been 6 hour projects.
* Lindsey, Cassie, and I spent a day and a half rebuilding storage shelves for the boxes of nails, screws, braces, and other hardware. The shelves ended up looking very nice and weren't that wobbly.
* The gabble on one of the houses wasn't covered with siding quick enough. This caused the wood to bow in and out, resulting in a minor structural defect. Four of us were assigned the task of moving the gable about 2 inches to fix the bow. The task proved difficult, because the house was already finished. It took us the entire day, but we fixed the problem.
If you don't know how to do something then figure it out.
Since our team has some construction knowledge, our site supervisor has started assigning tasks and then letting us figure out how to accomplish the tasks. This often leads to simple projects taking a long time. So far we have learned how to
* build shelves
* install doorknobs
* build/install HAC vents
* build return vents
* frame closets
* and fix gables.
If you have it then share it.
The flu is going around our team. One of my teammates came back from break with the flu, and was nice enough to share it. So far it has taken two members of our team and with the close quarters, I have a feeling its not going to stop there. Sharing living quarters with 250 people is not nice when you have the flu. You can figure out the rest.
In other news, I played ultimate frisbee in the pouring rain last night and had a blast. There were 8 of us who played, allowing everyone to have adequate frisbee time. The latest frisbee injury, a fat lip. Note to self, don't use my lips to block a frisbee.
Cheers,
Catherine
If it's broken then fix it.
This week my team has been fixing odds and ends on the project site. Some of the fixings have been easy, while others have been 6 hour projects.
* Lindsey, Cassie, and I spent a day and a half rebuilding storage shelves for the boxes of nails, screws, braces, and other hardware. The shelves ended up looking very nice and weren't that wobbly.
* The gabble on one of the houses wasn't covered with siding quick enough. This caused the wood to bow in and out, resulting in a minor structural defect. Four of us were assigned the task of moving the gable about 2 inches to fix the bow. The task proved difficult, because the house was already finished. It took us the entire day, but we fixed the problem.
If you don't know how to do something then figure it out.
Since our team has some construction knowledge, our site supervisor has started assigning tasks and then letting us figure out how to accomplish the tasks. This often leads to simple projects taking a long time. So far we have learned how to
* build shelves
* install doorknobs
* build/install HAC vents
* build return vents
* frame closets
* and fix gables.
If you have it then share it.
The flu is going around our team. One of my teammates came back from break with the flu, and was nice enough to share it. So far it has taken two members of our team and with the close quarters, I have a feeling its not going to stop there. Sharing living quarters with 250 people is not nice when you have the flu. You can figure out the rest.
In other news, I played ultimate frisbee in the pouring rain last night and had a blast. There were 8 of us who played, allowing everyone to have adequate frisbee time. The latest frisbee injury, a fat lip. Note to self, don't use my lips to block a frisbee.
Cheers,
Catherine
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Home Sweet Home!!
I'm home, at last. The last week of work went by pretty fast. We were working in Gulfport along with volunteers from Kentucky. We hung OSB, moved a bathtub, carried 74 truces across a muddy mess, raised half of the trusses, got our van stuck in the mud, jump started one truck, and exchanged secret Santa gifts. We also helped set up and take part in 2 house blessings, for 2 families moving into their new Habitat homes.
After work on Friday, we drove to New Orleans and stayed at Camp Hope. There were about 6 other NCCC teams from Sacramento there. Both of my Sacramento roommates were there and we spent much of the night catching up. It was great to see the other teams, share stories about our projects, and predict what our next projects would be. After a brief nights sleep, it was off to the airport and then home.
On Wednesday night we had our Christmas party. After work, we went out to eat at Shady's. The food was delicious. And the best part was the couple that was sitting the next table over from us. The lady at that table came over and asked us who we were and why there were so many of us. We told her about NCCC and what we were doing. She couldn't stop thanking us for our service and then proceeded to tell us what was best on the menu. She gave us her business card and a list of other restaurants she thought we would like. About 15 minutes later, our waiter came out with three side dishes that none of us had ordered. The waiter explained that the sides were from the next table over. The couple had bought us three dishes of the restaurant's special Christmas dip. The dip was excellent. It not only tasted good, but it showed that people really do appreciate the work that we do.
Happy Holidays,
Catherine
After work on Friday, we drove to New Orleans and stayed at Camp Hope. There were about 6 other NCCC teams from Sacramento there. Both of my Sacramento roommates were there and we spent much of the night catching up. It was great to see the other teams, share stories about our projects, and predict what our next projects would be. After a brief nights sleep, it was off to the airport and then home.
On Wednesday night we had our Christmas party. After work, we went out to eat at Shady's. The food was delicious. And the best part was the couple that was sitting the next table over from us. The lady at that table came over and asked us who we were and why there were so many of us. We told her about NCCC and what we were doing. She couldn't stop thanking us for our service and then proceeded to tell us what was best on the menu. She gave us her business card and a list of other restaurants she thought we would like. About 15 minutes later, our waiter came out with three side dishes that none of us had ordered. The waiter explained that the sides were from the next table over. The couple had bought us three dishes of the restaurant's special Christmas dip. The dip was excellent. It not only tasted good, but it showed that people really do appreciate the work that we do.
Happy Holidays,
Catherine
Sunday, December 14, 2008
A winning ticket, snow, and 6 days till home!
The week is over, finally. We only have 6 days until we go home and I can't wait! Last week was a short work week, because it snowed for a whole 4 minutes and that is cause for the entire city to shut down. So, we got sent back to the camp to wait out the harsh winter storm. With our spare time we went out to lunch, then to the Boys and Girls Club. I now have 28 ISP hours!!
On Friday, we went to a new work site in Gulfport. Our goal for the day was to install all of the windows and deck the porch. We got neither done. The problem filled day started with us realizing that the windows didn't fit in the walls, they were to big. The only way to fix the windows was to use a circular saw and saw the window frames on the side and on the top. Brad, our supervisor was doing the sawing when he got a chunk of wood in his eye. He had to be driven to the doctors and took the rest of the day off, understandably. That left us with Aaron our AmeriCorps State member. He has about 6 months of construction experience, which is enough to get by, but not enough to know the answers to everything. He took over the sawing and sawed the sides and bottoms of the window frames. Then we went around and screwed all of the windows in. We had to screw at an up angle in order for the screws to hit wood. We screwed up, literally and figuratively. By screwing at an up angle, we bowed the windows causing them not to close. Then we realized that by Aaron cutting the bottoms and not the tops of the window frames, there was no room for the window sills. Major problem. To solve all of the problems, we had to unscrew the windows, remove the window ledges, cut the cripples, make new ledges, re-screw in the window and make sure it wasn't bowed. A normal window should take about 4 minutes to install. We spent 7 hours and we only got one window installed properly. We spent all day Saturday fixing our windows and installing another house of windows. It took 6 of us 2 days to install 14 windows...
Today, I hung around the Camp and then went grocery shopping with the team. I never knew how stressful grocery shopping can be. I truly feel people sweat the small stuff way too much. It truly doesn't matter what brand of bread we get. My new theory is that grocery shopping should never be done in groups larger than 2. Tonight, we went to the Seahawks Minor League Hockey game. The tickets were only $11 and it was a great game. The home team lost by 1 point, but there were at least 2 fights and one player was suspended from the game. To make the game even better, our TL, Nick, won the split the pot raffle. He won $194 from a ticket that cost him $1. Despite our begging, he did not take us out to dinner.
Tomorrow we have PT at 11am and then a team meeting to discuss the ridiculous amount of tension about ridiculously stupid and little things.
Love, Peace, and Happiness,
Catherine
On Friday, we went to a new work site in Gulfport. Our goal for the day was to install all of the windows and deck the porch. We got neither done. The problem filled day started with us realizing that the windows didn't fit in the walls, they were to big. The only way to fix the windows was to use a circular saw and saw the window frames on the side and on the top. Brad, our supervisor was doing the sawing when he got a chunk of wood in his eye. He had to be driven to the doctors and took the rest of the day off, understandably. That left us with Aaron our AmeriCorps State member. He has about 6 months of construction experience, which is enough to get by, but not enough to know the answers to everything. He took over the sawing and sawed the sides and bottoms of the window frames. Then we went around and screwed all of the windows in. We had to screw at an up angle in order for the screws to hit wood. We screwed up, literally and figuratively. By screwing at an up angle, we bowed the windows causing them not to close. Then we realized that by Aaron cutting the bottoms and not the tops of the window frames, there was no room for the window sills. Major problem. To solve all of the problems, we had to unscrew the windows, remove the window ledges, cut the cripples, make new ledges, re-screw in the window and make sure it wasn't bowed. A normal window should take about 4 minutes to install. We spent 7 hours and we only got one window installed properly. We spent all day Saturday fixing our windows and installing another house of windows. It took 6 of us 2 days to install 14 windows...
Today, I hung around the Camp and then went grocery shopping with the team. I never knew how stressful grocery shopping can be. I truly feel people sweat the small stuff way too much. It truly doesn't matter what brand of bread we get. My new theory is that grocery shopping should never be done in groups larger than 2. Tonight, we went to the Seahawks Minor League Hockey game. The tickets were only $11 and it was a great game. The home team lost by 1 point, but there were at least 2 fights and one player was suspended from the game. To make the game even better, our TL, Nick, won the split the pot raffle. He won $194 from a ticket that cost him $1. Despite our begging, he did not take us out to dinner.
Tomorrow we have PT at 11am and then a team meeting to discuss the ridiculous amount of tension about ridiculously stupid and little things.
Love, Peace, and Happiness,
Catherine
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Rain, rain go away.
It's raining and has been raining all day. Rain and construction don't go, so we go the day off!! Actually we went to the project site and did some caulking, but that only lasted an hour or so. Progress is going really well at The Trace. Last week Friday we had a block party to honor a Lutheran company called Thrivent. They are paying for the 40 plus homes that we are helping build. The block party itself was just a bunch of important people making important speeches and thanking other important people, but setting up for the block party was lots of fun. We got to set up the tent, put temporary tattoos on little kids, and direct traffic. It was also nice to have a change in pace.
Saturday was spent caulking houses and doing little odds and ends. We ended up on a different Brad's house. I spent the day fixing the trusses and putting support blocks in them. Then we put OSB and Tyvek wrap on the gable. The project should probably have taken us a few hours, but it took us the entire day. Regardless, me and two other people did it without the a lot of help or direction from the supervisor. That night we went to a bonfire at Jamie's (a HfH employee)house. It was really nice to socialize with AmeriCorps State members and Habitat staff. We were at the bonfire for a good three to four hours. Jamie's house is in a suburb of Biloxi. He has two huge hammocks hanging on his back porch. Once we were sick of the hammocks we went on this little path that led down to a lake. It as a sight to see, looking over the lake and seeing the moon and stars reflecting in the water was beautiful. We had to leave the bonfire at 11:30pm, because we had to have the van back at Camp Victor by midnight.
I slept in on Sunday, waking up at 10 am, a first in a very long time. Then a group of us went back to The Gulf Coast Rescue Mission and served meals for ISP hours. I really like it there. I've heard so many stories from people. I wish I could tape record all of their stories. The stories are amazing. I met a gentleman who went to college next to an Air Force base during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He said that one day they were in class and all of a sudden a siren went off and all of the Air Force men got up and left. If I only take away one thing from this project, it is the power of stories.
On Monday we went to the Boys and Girls Club and played with kids! I helped 7-9 year-olds with their homework and then we played on the playground! I played chase for about 2 hours and loved it. It was nice to be with kids again. The majority of the volunteers who come through Camp Victor and Habitat are middle aged folks who don't like to play tag or lava monster on the playground. I went back to there today and the kids were probably as excited as I was. Today I was helping two first graders or second graders read a short paragraph and answer questions about the paragraph. The one girl was struggling, but was able to sound out most of the words. Then she came to the word hairdresser and had no idea how to sound it out. So we broke the word up into "h...air...dress...er" and she got it. She was so excited that she was able to read such a long word. The boy was struggling to read and was growing very frustrated by the 5 sentenced paragraph, but we took it slow. Then we came to the word trash and again we broke it up "t...r...ash." He couldn't remember what sound "sh" made so I asked him what the teachers always say when the kids get to loud. After I said that, he had a big smile and knew the word. After homework hour, I played legos and built card houses, a perfect way to spend a rainy day.
Time to curl up in my sleeping bag and listen to the steady drip drip drip of the rain, raining inside Camp Victor.
Rumor has it, Mississippi could get snow tomorrow (meaning a few flurries).
Love, Peace, Happiness,
Catherine
Saturday was spent caulking houses and doing little odds and ends. We ended up on a different Brad's house. I spent the day fixing the trusses and putting support blocks in them. Then we put OSB and Tyvek wrap on the gable. The project should probably have taken us a few hours, but it took us the entire day. Regardless, me and two other people did it without the a lot of help or direction from the supervisor. That night we went to a bonfire at Jamie's (a HfH employee)house. It was really nice to socialize with AmeriCorps State members and Habitat staff. We were at the bonfire for a good three to four hours. Jamie's house is in a suburb of Biloxi. He has two huge hammocks hanging on his back porch. Once we were sick of the hammocks we went on this little path that led down to a lake. It as a sight to see, looking over the lake and seeing the moon and stars reflecting in the water was beautiful. We had to leave the bonfire at 11:30pm, because we had to have the van back at Camp Victor by midnight.
I slept in on Sunday, waking up at 10 am, a first in a very long time. Then a group of us went back to The Gulf Coast Rescue Mission and served meals for ISP hours. I really like it there. I've heard so many stories from people. I wish I could tape record all of their stories. The stories are amazing. I met a gentleman who went to college next to an Air Force base during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He said that one day they were in class and all of a sudden a siren went off and all of the Air Force men got up and left. If I only take away one thing from this project, it is the power of stories.
On Monday we went to the Boys and Girls Club and played with kids! I helped 7-9 year-olds with their homework and then we played on the playground! I played chase for about 2 hours and loved it. It was nice to be with kids again. The majority of the volunteers who come through Camp Victor and Habitat are middle aged folks who don't like to play tag or lava monster on the playground. I went back to there today and the kids were probably as excited as I was. Today I was helping two first graders or second graders read a short paragraph and answer questions about the paragraph. The one girl was struggling, but was able to sound out most of the words. Then she came to the word hairdresser and had no idea how to sound it out. So we broke the word up into "h...air...dress...er" and she got it. She was so excited that she was able to read such a long word. The boy was struggling to read and was growing very frustrated by the 5 sentenced paragraph, but we took it slow. Then we came to the word trash and again we broke it up "t...r...ash." He couldn't remember what sound "sh" made so I asked him what the teachers always say when the kids get to loud. After I said that, he had a big smile and knew the word. After homework hour, I played legos and built card houses, a perfect way to spend a rainy day.
Time to curl up in my sleeping bag and listen to the steady drip drip drip of the rain, raining inside Camp Victor.
Rumor has it, Mississippi could get snow tomorrow (meaning a few flurries).
Love, Peace, Happiness,
Catherine
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving Break!!
We had 5 days off, Thursday - Monday, for Thanksgiving. It was a break that was greatly needed. My feet did not want to go back into my boots, my body wanted to sleep past 5 or 6am, and my normal street clothes wanted to be worn. Now that Monday is approaching, I'm more than ready to get back to work and get things done for America.
On Thursday, turkey day, me and my teammates who were still here, went to The Gulf Coast Rescue Mission and served warm Thanksgiving meals to community members and volunteers. There were about 80 volunteers and we served over 3,000 meals.
I met a lot of great people while there. I met a person who worked at carnivals his entire life. He controlled one of those spinning rides. A good day for him was based on how many people threw up their cotton candy and hot dogs. His record was 34 people in one day. There was a family from Keesler Air Force Base with two kids. The kids, second and third grade, have already traveled all over the U.S. and have even lived in Japan. They showed off their language skills and counted for us in both Spanish and Japanese. We also met a group of college students from Denver. The leaders of their group have led over 9 groups down to the Gulf. We also met two TLs from the Iowa campus who are staying in Pass Christian, MS. Those are just a few of the people we met. The day was a great success. We served the less fortunate, were interviewed by the Sun Herald, ate a great meal, got ISP hours, and made numerous new friends. The rest of the day was spent eating pizza and watching Christmas movies.
On Friday we joined the masses and went shopping at several outlet malls. I had a blast and bought a sweater. Saturday was spent in the kitchen. We baked potatoes, banana bread, sloppy joes, tatter tots, and salad. It felt great to use a kitchen! Then on Saturday night we went to the Bellingrath Home and Garden. Bellingrath is a 65 acre garden in Alabama. Around this time of year they decorate the garden with over 3 million sparkling lights and over 835 displays. It was incredible. It finely felt like the holiday season had begun. Check out their website at http://www.bellingrath.org/. On Sunday Ali and I donated blood. The blood drive was held at a Starbucks and after giving blood, everyone received a free Starbucks drink. YUM!! Did you know that they take a pound of blood? We also got free t-shirts and bright pink band-aids. The rest of the day I slept, started a puzzle, and went with Renee to find her a new pair of shoes (with no success).
All in all this break was awesome. I had just enough time to relax and veg out, but not enough to get bored. Tomorrow will be filled with trips to the airport to pick up my teammates at various times throughout the day. Then its back to work on Tuesday.
T-minus 20 days until winter break.
Catherine
On Thursday, turkey day, me and my teammates who were still here, went to The Gulf Coast Rescue Mission and served warm Thanksgiving meals to community members and volunteers. There were about 80 volunteers and we served over 3,000 meals.
I met a lot of great people while there. I met a person who worked at carnivals his entire life. He controlled one of those spinning rides. A good day for him was based on how many people threw up their cotton candy and hot dogs. His record was 34 people in one day. There was a family from Keesler Air Force Base with two kids. The kids, second and third grade, have already traveled all over the U.S. and have even lived in Japan. They showed off their language skills and counted for us in both Spanish and Japanese. We also met a group of college students from Denver. The leaders of their group have led over 9 groups down to the Gulf. We also met two TLs from the Iowa campus who are staying in Pass Christian, MS. Those are just a few of the people we met. The day was a great success. We served the less fortunate, were interviewed by the Sun Herald, ate a great meal, got ISP hours, and made numerous new friends. The rest of the day was spent eating pizza and watching Christmas movies.
On Friday we joined the masses and went shopping at several outlet malls. I had a blast and bought a sweater. Saturday was spent in the kitchen. We baked potatoes, banana bread, sloppy joes, tatter tots, and salad. It felt great to use a kitchen! Then on Saturday night we went to the Bellingrath Home and Garden. Bellingrath is a 65 acre garden in Alabama. Around this time of year they decorate the garden with over 3 million sparkling lights and over 835 displays. It was incredible. It finely felt like the holiday season had begun. Check out their website at http://www.bellingrath.org/. On Sunday Ali and I donated blood. The blood drive was held at a Starbucks and after giving blood, everyone received a free Starbucks drink. YUM!! Did you know that they take a pound of blood? We also got free t-shirts and bright pink band-aids. The rest of the day I slept, started a puzzle, and went with Renee to find her a new pair of shoes (with no success).
All in all this break was awesome. I had just enough time to relax and veg out, but not enough to get bored. Tomorrow will be filled with trips to the airport to pick up my teammates at various times throughout the day. Then its back to work on Tuesday.
T-minus 20 days until winter break.
Catherine
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Camp Victor and the Trace
We moved to Camp Victor last week. Camp Victor is another volunteer camp located in Ocean Springs. We moved everything from Yankee Stadium over, with the exception of the huge pool table that we were unable to lift up into the truck. The rest of the week we were at the trace (our project site) working on a new house. Our site supervisors are Brad and Aaron. We are supposed to have the house ready for the subcontractors by tomorrow, but that may not happen.
We are literally building this house form the ground up. Last Thursday and Friday we made and put up walls. I've learned so much about construction. I now know what wall leads, hurricane straps, x's, xbx, and jk all mean. Then on Saturday we put up plywood sheeting. Sunday was our day off and we were back on Monday continuing our plywood sheeting and today we started to put trusses up and built a porch. There's lots to be done, but all we can do is work as fast as is safe.
On Thanksgiving, the 7 of us who are staying are working at a church distributing meals to anyone who comes. Supposedly this church has been doing this for an number of years. Since we are volunteering from 11-4, we will eat Thanksgiving dinner at the church. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. I think we may go to a mall or to the movies. Regardless of what we do, it will be nice to not have to put my steel-toed boots on and to sit down and relax.
Happy early turkey day,
Catherine
We are literally building this house form the ground up. Last Thursday and Friday we made and put up walls. I've learned so much about construction. I now know what wall leads, hurricane straps, x's, xbx, and jk all mean. Then on Saturday we put up plywood sheeting. Sunday was our day off and we were back on Monday continuing our plywood sheeting and today we started to put trusses up and built a porch. There's lots to be done, but all we can do is work as fast as is safe.
On Thanksgiving, the 7 of us who are staying are working at a church distributing meals to anyone who comes. Supposedly this church has been doing this for an number of years. Since we are volunteering from 11-4, we will eat Thanksgiving dinner at the church. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. I think we may go to a mall or to the movies. Regardless of what we do, it will be nice to not have to put my steel-toed boots on and to sit down and relax.
Happy early turkey day,
Catherine
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