Trusses, fork lifts, and games

Today marked our one week anniversary working with HfHMGC ( Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast). And what a week it was. On our job site we destructed enough walls to have 10 miles of boards or 4,800 boards. Destroying boards would be loads of fun, but these are walls that were built by HfH volunteers during a blitz build last May. Unfortunately, the floor plans changed after the blitz build, leaving hours of hard work gone to waste. Luckily we are done with destroying walls and pulling nails and get to start new projects next week.

On Friday, we were given a break from wall destroying and got to work on houses. Our project site is in a new subdivision. HfH has to build 19 houses by December and 28 houses in total for this subdivision. If they don't make their deadline, they will lose a lot of funding from a company. Right now they are a month and a half behind. In effort to catch up, they let us work on the houses on Friday. I lucked out and was allowed to work on assembling the trusses for a house. Trusses are the triangular frames for the roof of a house. I had to climb up into the trusses, which were wobbly, help pull the trusses from the ground up, then hammer them into the proper spot. I was working with Jamie, a Habitat employee, who was a monkey on the trusses. Being up there was like being on a wobbly balance beam wearing steal toed boots, hammering nails, 12 feet in the air for 5 hours. It was awesome!!! To end the exciting work week, I learned how to drive a fork lift.

As if our work days weren't long enough, our evenings were jammed pack with fun and exciting activities. We spent Sunday on the beach soaking up the sun and trying to get rid of our ridiculous farmers tans. Monday night we had a team meeting and service learning. Then the rest of the night was devoted to field games. We played capture the flag, football, red light green light, miniature tanks, statues, kick the can, sharks and minnows, and even ghosts in the graveyard. I haven't played those games since grade school, and now I remember why gym class was so much fun in grade school. Tuesday night I finished a 1,000 piece puzzle. My team is divided on puzzles. Half of my team thinks puzzles are the most tedious time passers around, while the other half loves them. We had a YouTube party on Wednesday night and a movie night on Thursday. Then on Saturday night, we went out to eat at a Thai restaurant and played an amazing game on monster energy drink pong (the only reason I am still awake, despite getting up 19 and a half hours ago).

Good Night and Good Luck,
Catherine