Christmas is over... Bah humbug

So Im back in Arkansas, and have recieved the fabulous gift of a laptop. I've been busy with family and busy with friends, namely David. I'm in Little Rock right now, and I'm having a blast. It's so good to be back home. The break is too short. My camera still has dust particles living inside of it so I can't post many pictures. I'll leave you with a couple and Merry Christmas break.

I miss you so much my heart glows red

I really miss you! That's all I can say. I want to come home now. It's been a long time coming. I'll be in LR the 22 then I go home through the 26th, then I am in Little Rock until the 1, then I"m home through the 6th then I leave the 8th. So many friends, so little time. Jed is back home and doing fine, as is PJ.

What do you want for Christmas, enourmous girl?

So We had an ISP this weekend where Christina dressed up as Santa and people brought thier pets to take a picture with her. This raised money for the Humane society and provided me with endless hours of entertainment involving Christina getting clawed on the neck by crazy dogs and having her beard eaten by crazier ones. One particular dog a pug named "peanut" had on a jingle bell santa wreath. He ran in place as if on a treadmill and stuck his entire head into the plastic fishbowl that had doggie treats in it.. It was hilarious!

OH how I miss you Aqua Teen

SNOW, too bad I look like I live in poland in 1940

keep on keepin on

I know I know, I haven't done a blog entry all week. Sorry guys, I've been working at least 56 hours a week and this week I'm clockin' 60. The project we are on has been crazy and time consuming, it also feels like we never get anything done. By the time we actually start something meaningful, something that reminds me why I signed up and gave 10 months of my life away, (painting a clinic for low-income children, remodeling a school room, painting 40 doors for another school, planting trees in a park, etc.) we end up either not finishing it and leaving half the work undone, or not even starting at all. Most of our time is spent handing out a survey, with open-ended questions which, as any psychology/sociology major knows, are particuarly useless when gathering mass data. We walk door to door to these buisnesses and first round, made sure they were there, second round looked for new ones, third round asked for phone numbers, fourth round called to make sure phone number and address were correct, fifth round hand out a survey? I don't know about you, but I'd be sick of these "americorps kids" coming into my buisness, taking up my time, and never buying anything. Through this project we have shown the community of Adams Morgan that we never finish anything we start, and we go about gathering information in the most annoying, time consuming, way imaginable, and then apparently all our work is for nothing because the survey isn't condusive to statistical analysis and even when I ask the owner for the phone number and address, etc. I have to double check by calling them. All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Anyway, I think that helps explain the teams unrest.

At a meeting last night, Christina burst into tears and uncontrollable insane laughter stating "I left starving people in New Orleans to hand out a survey? A SURVEY?!!!!!!" At this point we all went a little crazy too laughing and realizing the ridiculousness of this project. I felt like you could have put us into a scene in One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and we would not have been at all out of place. To top it all off, 3 week-old baby Jed has viral pneumonia and is in the hospital hooked up to IV's and an oxygen machine, so be thinking about him and my sister.

On a good note it snowed here and it was beautiful. We also got to go into work late one day! Our next project is disaster relief again, but I don't know where. After that we are going to Cleveland to build houses for Habitat. I"m really excited. Hope all is well

You better watch out!

So I know this is awful, but I'm going to post it anyway. I was shopping with some friends and walking down the street yesterday when we notice a person we met on Disaster Relief. We yell his name and he turns around to reveal some stellar shades and one hell of a black eye, not to mention some scrapes and brusies on his face. "what happened?" we asked. Apparently he was walking down the street dressed as Santa when a car full of thugs stopped, and beat the crap out of him. Talk about Bah Humbug!!!!!! Merry Christmas Washington, DC.

You drive me crazy

Picture this: pick out 10 of your coworkers. Imagine living, eating, sleeping, working with these coworkers 10 hours a day for a month straight with one day off, one vehicle, and one audio system. I can say with much confidence that the strain is significantly weighing on team 5. You start to go a little crazy. Things that you used to not be bothered by become HUGE issues. Fights break out over what time of day physical training will be held and if tag can actually be considered "physical training." Feelings get hurt, people go bezerk, and spending 10 hours a day scraping stickers and graffiti of of street signs in 20 degree-windchill weather isn't helping matters, besides, long-underwear worn under stylish BDU-government-issued pants (made is prison ;)) makes you look kinda fat. I've had several people stop me on the street and ask me "what did you do." insinuating that only a juvenile delinquent would be scraping off stickers and political posters. Four members of the team are out with "the black plague" which is what we like to call the pink-eye-bronchitis-sinus-infection-flu concoction New Orleans served our way. (you think I'm exaggerating, unfortunately I am not). Yesterday I had to drive because Nick accidentally ran into a parked Beamer (isn't that how it always goes). The first day I actually drive in serious DC traffic happened to be the lighting of George Dubyah's Christmas tree, so it took us 2 hours to drive 10 miles. It was fabulous.
Can't wait for Christmas, and 2 whole days off in a row. WHOO HOO Sunday and Monday baby. Who'd of thought 2 days would actually be a vacation?
P.S. Lucero is playing in Baltimore , but I can't find a ride since no one brought their car. POOOOO!

The big easy

Hey guys,
I finally made it back to DC. New Orleans was amazing and heartbreaking and awe-inspiring and everything else you could imagine it would be. I saw a lot of destroyed homes. People there don't have gas, electricity, and sometimes water. I was put on Emergency Response Vehicles (ervs) and handed out anywhere from 600-800 meals a day. I had clients start to cry on me; I got asked out on dates by crazy New Orleaneans, and made a lot of friends with the Red Cross volunteers. My team also had a blast on Bourbon street and scooping endless vats of carrots into foam containers. Yum. It's been a little crazy around here since 6 teams just returned from Disaster Relief, and most of them are deploying to a spike location. We get to stay in DC. I'm excited about the Christmas lights and decorations that will surely be up in the nations capitol. I'll actually have email and blog capabilities for the next 3 weeks and then I'm back in Arkansas!!!!!!!! I'll be home the 21st through the 8th. I can't wait to see everyone and update you periodically with much funnier, less rushed blog entries. I love you guys!

Vanessa and Lucy sleeping on Nick G. at the internet cafe (our only day off)

Hard Rock Cafe, New Orleans

Christina, Bentucky, Kat, me and Amar on Bourbon Street

NEW ORLEANS!

Hey guys,
I have about 15 minutes on the internet, but I needed to update everyone before I get back to DC. I have been working on one of 34 American Red Cross emergency response vehicles serving food. It looks like an ambulance but it has a food serving window where we hand out hot meals and water. Several locations in New Orleans are without power and running water. People have nowhere to live, more or less, cook and eat. The kitchen I work out of served it's 1,000,000 meal yesterday. This is the first time in Red Cross history that a kitchen has served this many meals. The Red Cross borrowed 300 million dollars this past week to cover the insane expenses they are aquiring. Today is the first day I've had off and I got to check my email, and see a picture of my new nephew!!!!!!! That's right PJ had a C-section on Wednesday and has a beautiful baby boy. Alex Jedidiah, Jed, is the newest member of my family and we are all happy he's here. I'll be glad to take a hot shower when I get back to DC, but in the meantime I'll be saving the world and that makes it worth it. Give a shout out to David if you see him. He's in the Little Rock area. Can't wait until Christmas, I miss you guys and want to hear everything that's going on with you. Props to Arkansas, for providing all the Southern Baptists (about 20 new ones a week) that come on down to Louisiana and make 20,000 meals a day at 3am. REPRESENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had ice cream in the park.....with weird sunglasses

David just loves to make a perfectly nice picture crazy

David and I making silly sculpture pictures, and David and Mark

New York New York: check out our cool shades

ADIOS!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey guys. I'm really really really busy so I'll keep this short. I had a great time in NY visiting with David and his friends, Mark, Carlin, Erin, and Olivia. We saw a lot of art and a lot of runners (NY marathon was this weekend) and a lot of vegan food and homeless people. I'm posting pictures! I found out today, that tomorrow, I'm leaving for New Orleans. The area is without electricity, running water, internet, and has limited cell phone usage. I'm trying to get everything in order so I can leave for the airport at 4:30 am. I probably won't be able to post, and maybe not even call, but you're all in my thoughts. Hope everyone is well. I'll talk to you again soon!

My team leader Nick with his "grandma"????

where my girls at? TEAM 5 best day ever!

Salil "ghost bonging"

Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!

These masks would definitely scare me in the dark woods.

Happy Haunted Hayride

Trapped hiker

"help, my leg is stuck under this tree."

Hey guys,
I know it's been awhile. I worked 56 hours last week and made 100 dollars. Go federal government..WOOHOO! Class XII was officially inducted into AmeriCorps NCCC on Saturday. We had a good time and a few tears (come on, you know I'm a crier.) My family sent me a fruit basket that was really sweet. Saturday night I went out with 11 other girls to a club that wanted to charge us $18 to get in and $5 for a miller light in a 12oz cup. You do the math. Cassie talked them down to 10 bucks a head and $5 for a miller light was out of the question. We just ended up dancing a lot to classics such as "I like big butts." Saturday 26 of us loaded up for an independent service project in Virginia. Every year around Halloween, Caledon state park holds a haunted hayride to raise money for the park. We were part of the event staff. We had to dress up as various characters along the hayride, and the park charged 5 bucks a head to go through it. It was a blast. We actually got 10 hours of service work and free pizza to scare people! My job was to be a hiker that's leg is stuck under a tree. I plea with the hayriders to pick me up, I just need to cut my leg off in order to go. (I'm a little drastic..and crazy) The person hiding behind the tree then proceeds to squirt the hayriders with a water gun, simulating the incidental blood squirting from my leg. Other people had to pretend to be frankenstein, shipwrecked ghouls, that kid from the ring coming out of the well, scarecrow/jack-o-lanterns mixed in with fake scarecrow/jack-0-lanterns, so as to freak out the unassuming hayrider. They ended up raising about 1500 dollars! We had a lot of fun. I'm posting a few pictures........enjoy!

Marvin Gaye Park

Hey guys, Yesterday and the day before my team spent all day working on a park in the DC area. "Washington parks and people" paired with other sponsers is working to change the park's name to "Marvin Gaye park". Marvin Gaye grew up near this park and it is said that it inspired many of his songs. The park's previous name was Heritage park, also known as Needle park; last year they found 7,000 hypodermic needles when they cleaned. My group, house 5, cut down trees with hacksaws and drug them out of a ravine, chopped branches, and cleared brush all day Friday. Saturday we planted and mulched several trees to improve the area. Some of the other teams picked up trash, fixed up a community center, and planted grass. The neighborhood around the park has one of the highest percentages of children in the DC area. We helped make them a safer, greener place to play. I was proud of my team, they all worked thier butts off. It was nice to see all the work we got done.

I'm going to apply to the Clinton school of public service masters program for the Fall. If you are in NCCC they will double match my ed award, making it free. It's only a year and a half, so I'd get a free masters in a short amount of time. I figure if I like what I'm doing now so much maybe I should just get a masters in it. Here's a magazine article and a picture.

From USA Weekend
In the nation's capital, a steady, chilly rain accompanied more than 200 Make A Difference Day volunteers as they put finishing touches on a reclamation effort that began almost 5 years ago. Among the accomplishments in the Watts Branch Park area: A night club where Motown singer and D.C. native Marvin Gaye once performed transformed into a community center, landscaping at an outdoor amphitheater, trail improvements and mulch at the base of 1,000 trees. "It was the worst part of the worst park in the capital, the most crime-ridden park," said volunteer organizer Steve Campbell. "This is a dream come true."

Katrina

Okay, I"m just going to warn you, this entry is upsetting. If you don't want to read about a first hand account of hurricane Katrina, stop now.

Today during training, a man who had survived hurricane Katrina spoke to us. He lived near the French quarter with his three cats. He walks with a cane and had just had just been released from the hospital from a recent surgery when he heard the storm was going to hit. Most people just thought the storm was really an empty threat, like the way people are always saying one of these days an earthquake is going to break off a piece of California. New Orleans had been through dozens of hurricanes that sounded this bad, none of them had done this. He said there wasn't any information on the news about what people should do and by the time the rains hit, the day before the storm, the 3 ways you can get out of new Orleans were already covered in water. This flooding happened every time it rained, making the roads virtually impassable, and besides, he didn't have a car.
When the hurricane actually hit, it looked like the Wizard of Oz outside. He saw tree limbs broken like twigs and at one point, a car blew by. When it stopped late at night, the entire city was dark and there was no water or electricity. The next day a grocery store opened the doors and told everyone to take whatever they needed. He grabbed a case of baked beans, and ended up having to eat them for a week. That same day, the looting began. People stole guns and while he was shut up in his house he could hear numerous gun shots throughout the day. Through his window he saw 2 thugs beat up an old lady with a baseball bat to steal the gallon of water she had. Looters were hunting down cops and opening fire. Three days after the storm, THREE DAYS, some people showed up in a government vehicle. This was the first time he came out of his house only to find people dead in the streets including a woman and her baby in a pile of rubble.
The took him to the convention center where he met a woman who had climbed on her roof with her elderly mother, her 8-month-old baby and a 16 oz bottle of water. They waited on her roof for 4 days when she turned around and her mother was gone. In her haste to find her mother she accidentally dropped the baby into the water. In five seconds she lost her mother and her child but she waited on her roof for 4 days for someone to help them.
After a week, he got on a helicopter and was told he would be taken to Washington D.C. After he got here, he called a man who was helping animals in houses and apartments and trying to reunite them with their owners. The man called him back and told him he had found one of his cats, simba, and had arrangements to send the cat to D.C. Animal planet is airing a show about reuniting Katrina victims with there pets and this man is in the episode on the weekend of Thanksgiving.
He told us he was glad we were going to help, and that New Orleans was a great lady, and that we should take care of her for him.
As you can imagine, I was in tears. I just didn't really understand what had happened there. It seemed so simple, like they should have just left, and that yeah, people were looting, but no big deal. To hear him talk about it, really changed my perspective on the whole thing. I just wanted to share it with you.

More Amerikids

Saturday night out with Afton, Pete, Tara and Joe

Amar eating a french frie in all his vegetarianess

Adam, Me, Anne, Amar, Lisa and Christina at the national Gallery of art

Hack hack

I try to blog, I really do. We get up at 5:30 every morning but our training last until 10pm. I can't even sleep, so now I have bronchitis. That's right, I'm sick again, surprise surprise. I still have to attend 15 hours of training, but I had 10 minutes so I thought I'd update you. One of these days I'll have some pictures. I'm planning on not going out on Sunday, so look for new stuff then. I have a lot of catching up to do. Love you guys.

P.S. did you know that when geese fly together, if one of them gets sick two fly down to help the goose until it dies or gets well and then they rejoin the flock? Aren't geese sweet!

project assignment!!!!

I just wanted to let everybody know that on Nov 8th I get shipped out to help with the gulf and on the 28th I come back to work with a non-profit here that helps organize other non-profits. I will be working with the Red Cross, but we're not sure where or what will be doing. David is coming to New York Nov. 2-7th, which happens to be during my early Thanksgiving break (since I have to work on Thanksgiving) so I'm going to see him. I"m really excited, but I'm also really tired and I have a lot to do today. I just thought I'd keep you updated.

Too busy to sleep

Hey guys,
Once again, I apologize for not updating, but any time I have to post, I'd usually rather be sleeping. I will be home for Christmas break from Dec 21-Jan 8th. I should be in the little rock area at some point to get my tooth put in.
Besides the million things we do a day, after training, even if I worked 47 hours a week, I would still be short on the 1700 service hours we have to earn in 10 months. 80 of those hours have to be independent, so if you know any good non-profits in the area, I might be able to earn some hours from them. I also am an R.A. so I have to keep up with the duties that go with that. On each team we are assigned specialty roles and those involve a lot of planning and homework too. On top of it all I am doing physical training 5 days a week, working on career goals, and trying to visit the entire east coast on the 14 dollars a day we get paid (19 if you include our food allowance). I don't know how I'm going to fit it all in.
We had to run 1.5 miles this morning do as many push ups and sit ups as we could and then we went on a 9 hour scavenger hunt in the city. The team picture below is one from the FDR memorial in the D.C. mall. It's really beautiful. There are quotes from President Roosevelt and the First Lady etched into walls of stone. This weekend I actually had time to grab a couple of beers, but it took so long to get to the bars in Georgetown, that the trip was 4 hours. I'm getting used to the metro system and I'm making some good friends. After 12 am the bus stops running to D.C. village where I live and drops you off about 2 blocks up a hill. The police call that hill "murder hill" so you can imagine why anything after 12 requires a cab ride. Unfortunately, the cab drivers won't go to Anacostia unless you get in and close the door and then tell them. It makes them angry, but once you're in they have to take you. I can't believe I live in a place that cabs won't go. Tomorrow is another full day so I think I'm going to go to bed. I love you guys, except for you anonymous, you're hateful and stupid.

Ashur, Aunt Chandle met Larry this weekend

My friend Anne, we go jogging together

A quote at the FDR memorial

House 5.....my americorps team minus 1 member

Finally

Well, I don't have much time to post anymore, because I'm scheduled from 6am-9pm or later I feel like everyday. We are all going camping tomorrow and Saturday, so I can't write much. I’m also using my 45 min lunch break to type right now. I guess I'll eat cereal.
I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m really happy here. Sitting in meetings everyday has made me realize that I have finally found what I've been looking for. Everyone knows me as a devout cynic, constantly pointing out the negative in things, because I've become so jaded. Everyday, I'm surrounded by a multitude of individuals who believe in the human condition, striving to make the world a better place. When you are doing this on your own, like I was at the Center, you get discouraged. Sometimes it feels like you are the only person who cares. I’m almost moved to tears at the prospect and relief of the service we will be doing this year. When we all come together I am so inspired. There are 117 people who have taken a chance to help someone. We will each complete and exceed 1700 hours of service work. Americorps NCCC class XII will complete over 821,000 hours of work this year alone. I feel the cynic in me disappearing and a new, encouraged, positive person coming out. I know this sounds so ridiculous, cliché and cheesy, but I mean it. I feel like I started out wanting to help, and had almost completely given up on the idea. I know now that when I am done with this program, I will be a better person for it, and the world (I know, it's silly) will be a better place because of it. I just had to get that out. I'd also like to give a shout out to Bill Clinton for making this program work. NCCC wasn't actually started until 1994 thanks to our native Arkansan. Sorry to be so serious, but I'm really glad I chose to go through with this. Thanks to David for encouraging me to apply as well. I miss you guys and hope all is well. OH yeah, I’m an RA now. Pretty funny, I realized that there is no way around me being the 24 year-old that encourages everyone to do there part, so I might as well wear the uniform. I promise I’m not some brainwashed crazy; it’s just love at first sight.

Village people

So I'm here, D.C. village!!!!! I was a little nervous at first but I come to realize that it's just a hybrid of summer camp and freshman year....with hard labor. I'm excited and I'm scared. My roomate is really young, but she's sweet. I'm in the only 2 person room; and I"m trying to get one of the 2 remaining R.A. positions. I now understand why having your own room is so important. You spend 24 hours a day with people, a little privacy is cherished here. I have a little dorm room and my little community shower and kitchen. It's like minton hall. ( except not so gross) I've also been told that when I'm on projects, I most likely won't have internet access, but I'll have my phone. I"ll try to find a library or something somewhere to let you all know where I am. I'm sure I"ll enjoy this next year serving President Bartlett and our great country. ( a girl can dream, can't she?)