I spent some time at a shelter for women, most of whom suffered from abuse. Across the street is a strip club. Below is a liqour store and next door is a Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meeting place. Irony, anyone ( Read more... )

I leave today for Syracuse where it is a beautiful 11 degrees, stopping in Maryland 25 degrees to watch my cousin's lacrosse game. (Tailgate!) It's so awesome to be getting out of here for a little while, but I've only got one more weekend in the city before I leave, and I'm spending those Friday and Saturday nights at a women's shelter, then ( Read more... )

I still don't know for sure where I will be sent at the end of the month, but if everything goes as planned, my team will be deployed to southwestern Ohio for disaster relief. Yeah, I didn't know there was a disaster there either. Flooding or mudslides or something. Anyways, we get the cool part of Disaster Relief - needs assesment, which is ( Read more... )

So I have been working at my new project for a week, and I love it. I spray a highly toxic chemical on the floor, wait five minutes, don my surgical mask then scrap away the crap buildup from the floor. Cough, rinse, repeat. It sounds like hell, but our whole team is loving life. Over the next four weeks, we'll be painting, building, tutoring ( Read more... )

So, today was Martin Luther King Day, which is a day off for most people, but Americorps chooses to celebrate what would normally be a sleep in day by making us all work 12 times as hard. They coordinated this huge community day, wherein around 700 volunteers renovated 6 local schools, painting, cleaning, beautifying, and fufilling MLKs message of ( Read more... )

Oh back at the village. My New Years Resolution: let nothing get to me. My team has had so much drama I want to share it. So, Americorps can drug test anyone whenever they want, and five "random" people are selected this month. If you test positive you are automatically out, no exceptions. The Loophole: a corps member can self-refer, admitting ( Read more... )

I am leaving TONIGHT, Departing 9PM layover in Las Vegas 10pm-1am, arriving in Washington at 7:15am. I'm definately glad I got to have a break, but I don't think I'll be homesick anytime soon. Becca, I love you so much, I don't deserve a friend like you. In the meantime, I'll be renovating a homeless shelter in Washington, then I don't know, but ( Read more... )

I slept through my alarm for the first time in about 3 years this morning. It was glorious.
New motto: learn the shortcuts but take the scenic route.
Other new motto: life is too short to hang out with people you don't like.
I wish I knew what other people thought. I wish I didn't care.

I made it home, so cool. I went to the beach today and called my team, all of whom are in places such as Chicago, Maryland, and Kentucky to tell them I was working on my tan. The response was universal: I hate you. I'll call them tommorow and complain about sunburn. Didn't realize how much I missed driving by myself. Somehow, driving the 15 ( Read more... )

I'll be home to the warmth in 2 days! I'm going to go to the beach on Christmas Day, then come back here and rub it in everyone's faces. It's been really cool catching up with all the gossip and seeing how everyone has changed. Two teams have gotten addicted to knitting, because they were stuck in the middle of nowhere and had nothing else to do ( Read more... )