Boo!

This is a picture of our housing. We live in the new part, the ghosts haunt in the red shutter, old part. We are staying in General Lafayette's quarters in Valley Forge. Supposedly his ghost haunts the house. The last AmeriCorps team said the water turned on by itself and doors open randomly. Noises also come out of the basement. Creepy! I love it. The house is really nice with lots of rooms. It's definitely the best housing we've ever had. There are also 4 snakes that live on our doorstep. The biggest one has one eye, he's Jack. We start repairing the trails by Valley Creek tomorrow. I'll try to keep you posted, but I have to drive to Panera Bread to use the internet.

Zoo

Christina, L.A., L.A.'s friend Eric and I went to the D.C. Zoo yesterday. It was great. The weather here is perfect and the baby elephant and panda were adorable. We also went to the National Geographic museum to see a display on The gospel of Judas. It was very interesting. They can prove that the gospel was written at the time of the 4 we all know, along with Mary, Peter and Thomas. We'll I'm going to be late, If I don't stop posting and start packing my stuff. See you later!

Foster Diaz and Mozambique

David and I had a blast looking at dogs online the other day. I found this adorable mess: Foster(daizer) or as I like to call him, Diaz. Foster Diaz is a 3 year-old Boston Terrier that has juvenile cataracts and was left alone all day by his previous owner with nothing to do. To alleviate the stress caused by loneliness, boredom and diminishing vision, Foster developed some peculiar coping habits. He began drinking massive amounts of water and developed seizures. Unfortunately, David doesn't want a "screwed-up" dog. I told him that even if he doesn't want him, he's naming the dog he does get Foster Diaz as a homage. (that is an actual picture of him. If you live close to MN, and you want to adopt Foster Diaz click here for his information.


On to Mozambique. My sister participated in the global village at Heifer international in Perryville, AR this weekend. It is a program where normal citizens can spend a few nights living in a simulation of a third-world country. If you don't know Christy, she is great, but doesn't like camping, more or less camping in a simulated Mozambique. Anyway, she calls me and professes the horror of her stay in the global village. "I was in MOZAMBIQUE; we ate cornmeal and vegetables, it was awful. The highlight of my day was when 4 of us split an apple and an orange. We worked all day and ate CORNMEAL!" It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. If you too would like to stay in Mozambique, or many other impoverished countries for that matter click here to visit heifer ranch's website.

National Arboretum

My team visited the Arboretum yesterday. It was lovely. I have the weekend off, and we head to Pennsylvania on Monday.

EWWW^10

I had the unfourtunate opportunity to clean the RA kitchen in my hall for weekly cleaning. After a fun game of "find the smell". I discovered that someone decided it was easier to hide you dirty dishes than wash them. I know we live in Anacostia people, but it's not the third world, there is running water and soap. Earlier this year, I was informed that my standards of cleaning might be too high! As a result of careful contemplation and 4 hours of cleaning with bleach, I have resolved to NEVER AGAIN live with a large group of 18-24 year-olds. I know that moving in with David will provide quite the cleanliness challenge, but he can't be as bad as these guys!

HOME SWEET HOME!

I am so overjoyed to be home! I guess I never thought I'd call my tiny room, in what used to be a nursing home, Home, but that's what it's become. It's also so good to see everyone back in DC. I miss Habitat and House 1, but having my own room is priceless. Our last night we all went to George's in Baton Rouge. It was one of the most fun nights I've had since I started this program. My team has recently acquired two new teammates, Nick Hull and Salil Gabale. We're happy to have the extra help and company. As soon as I can, I'll send you a picture of the two newest members of our "family".

How much do I love this job?

We finished the Blitz build today. 14 house are significantly started and at least 6 are almost completely done, garden, flag, mailbox and all. I got to witness 4 house dedications where, at each one, someone thanked NCCC. How is it, that 30 NCCC members can get together, plan and set up building sites for 14 houses and 2 weeks and 350 kind-hearted volunteers later, 4 families have homes? This is what I do for a living. I built houses for 14 families. I served food to people in the wake of a hurricane. I gave kids that haven't ever had anyone give them the attention they needed,the attention that they needed. I rebuilt the homes of rural families affected by hurricane Rita, and now, I get to head to Pennsylvania to build hiking trails that will always be there for anyone to take a walk on. I have the best job in the whole world.

P.S. I also get to sweep so hard that the head of the broom falls off, see above picture.

The houses that House 5, House 1, Red 6, and 350 other volunteers built!

Parting is such sweet sorrow

I had a wonderful break. David and I visited LSU, the campus and faculty seem great. We went to the huge outlet mall, and I bought a pair of Roos for 19 dollars, (you remember, the shoes with the zipper pocket). We drove to New Orleans to look around and visit the Contemporary Arts Center. We parked the rental car in the church parking lot and slow-danced to sad, country songs at 11 pm. This week has been practically perfect. The only thing that was not perfect was someone repeatedly banging on the Motel 6 door at 6 a.m. saying "Crystal, I know you're in there." despite being told 3 times, that, "NO ONE NAMED CRYSTAL IS HERE!" We are both a little stressed out by our constantly changing lives that always seem to keep us apart. If only our career goals would slow down long enough so we could actually have a wedding. We're either counting on Spring Break or early May, before my internship. We might be able to squeeze it in.

This is what stress about graduate school looks like:

Check out that Habitat tan line. Oh yeah, my whole head is really brown.