Leaving :(

It is hard for me to describe the mood this morning. Although we are all excited to be spending the rest of today together we are still in a somber mood. We are about to leave this school that we have called home for a week. We have met amazing people whose strength and resolve has inspired us. Most of all we became a family who works hard and plays hard. We just said goodbye to our Ameri Corp leader, Mary who became one of us this week. It was tough to say goodbye. If only we could pack her in our suitcase we would be complete.

Last night we had a three hour reflection where we exchanged notes about each other and gave each other awards. At the end of the night we all agreed what we had become and what this experience was to all of us was purely magic. We started this journey as strangers and we all became great friends. Yesterday was our most emotional day. Our plan to go to Bolivar island got derailed by the rain, so we ended up gutting an elderly woman's house. The door hadn't been open since the storm. Oddly enough yesterday was the 6-month anniversary of the storm. The smell of the mold and the refrigerator was enough to make any one pass out. Our team worked hard to get everything out of the house. It was easier to gut then to deal with the emotional toll of taking this woman's entire life out of her house and putting it on the street. There were photographs, stuffed animals, and shoes and everything else that makes up a life. It is hard to imagine that even 6 months later some houses haven't been open. Needless to say it was our most emotional day so far, but an experience we would never change.

This blog is an inadequate place to express my gratitude for everyone on this trip. From Steve and Candace from CCI and Mary from Ameri Corp, thank you for giving us the best experience of our lives.

-Lauren

Talented!

Hey Ya'll

Another exciting day down south. Unfortunately we have all started to realize that tomorrow is our last work day. We can't believe this journey has ended so fast. We just left a reflection where everyone expressed their gratitude for each other. We have truly had an amazing crew (including our adopted emersonian and AmerCor leader, Mary) who worked very hard this week and laughed along the way. It is hard to imagine we were once just numbers on an application and now we are all close friends.

Today we worked at a warehouse in Texas City that will be converted into a food bank. The food bank will serve the community for years to come and be a safe haven in case there is ever another storm. Although scrapping glue off concrete was a physical challenge, we all knew the importance of our work.

However, our lunch break was spent practicing for the site-wide talent show. Our team did a musical interlude about our week here. Everyone either had a sound or word that we coordinated to enter and leave and various times to sound like a harmony. Lets just say we rocked the house.

Tomorrow we are taking a ferry to Bolivar to do some beach cleanup. Hopefully the sun will be out so we can work on our tans for one last day. Till then....


-Lauren

Demolition Derby

Hey Ya'll,

Today was a very active day for the emersonians in Texas. We started out with a very early morning. We left the site at 7:30am to travel to a local head start program. We spent our morning playing and teaching pre-k children in the area. Most of the morning was actually spent outside playing catch, soccer and hide and go seek with the kids at a local park. Needless to say we were tired by the time we rolled back to the site for lunch.

After a quick lunch and a change of clothes we traveled to a house around the corner for some demo work. We split into teams to attack the interior of the house. We managed to rip out a bathtub, sink, shower, tile flooring, dry wall and nails in only a few hours. Even though we were indoors the sun was beating down on us so a shower after the work day was welcome!

After dinner and a very nice reflection we headed to our favorite southern places, SONIC and WALMART.

We also played a rousing game of Apples to Apples.

I lost but Laura won.

Tomorrow we are headed to a warehouse to prep the walls for paint. The warehouse will one day be home to a long term soup kitchen for the residents on the island. Till then....

What color are your jeans now?

Hey ya'll,

We just got back from a day by the beach. The weather was perfect, but the work was hard. The entire team traveled about an hour and half to surf side and small beach community that had a lot of damage from the hurricane.

We spent the day along with a group of junior high kids (who out painted us all day) paining the outside of the city hall. Yesterday scrapping and today painting, wow we have come full circle.

The before and after of the hall was staggering because the once dull brown trim is now a vibrant green. Although we left before the hall was completed we have full confidence in the junior high to finish the job.

We stopped at the beach for our lunch break and after work today to blow off some steam and enjoy the rest of the day.

Tomorrow I see kids in our future. Till then...

First Day of Work

Hi Ya'll,

Today we went out for our first day of work on site. We were split up into two groups to go to two sites.

One group of 6 of us went to a home and painted the interior of a house for an elderly woman. We painted the walls and ceiling with primer, and worked with two other volunteers who were older and had been doing disaster relief for 15 years.

After working hard all day, the group went to the beach for some fun in the sun for about 20 minutes before heading back home.

Another group of the rest of us went to a different home and scraped paint from the exterior of a home near our home base. We discovered soon after arrival that this would be a difficult task as the paint was tough to get off with the scrapers we were given. We met the supervisor of the site, Allen, and we told us a little about the group, UMCOR that he was affiliated with and told us he was grateful to have us there to help out.

After a long day in the sun, the group went on a tour of the island and the devastation on the bay of the island. For many I think it was tough to see how badly the island was hit and how serious the devastation was.

Both groups met up back at the home base, showered up, and ate dinner. Afterwards we played a little Bananagrams and had our reflection. During our reflection we talked about how we were feeling and played a game that allowed us to get to know each other better.

Looks like we will be making a long trip to do some more painted tomorrow. Talk to you soon!

-Lauren

Arrival and Sunday Fun

Hey all,

The Texas ASB group landed safely Saturday evening and successfully drove an hour to the site. With a stop at Sonic, of course. After a quick site orientation and tour of the facility we dragged our suitcases to our bed and fell asleep.

The site is very large and there are over 200 other ASBers with us this week. The most challenging part will be the showers, which are located in a converted big rig with 16 showers for each men and women.

On Sunday the troops rallied earlier then they would have enjoyed. At 7 am we started taking showers and eating breakfast.

We left the site around 9:00 am and headed back up to Houston to visit NASA and the Houston galleria.

At NASA we took a tram ride to see mission control and the world's largest rocket. (It was really big) After spending a few hours learning about space we headed to the country's 5th largest mall for some free time. There was an ice skating rink and waterfall on the mall's grounds.

We left the mall and headed back to Galveston where we stopped for food at a Tex-Mex joint off the highway. Yummy!

We arrived at the site and had a quick meeting with our AmeriCorps leader, Mary who will be with us for the entire week. It looks like everyday we will have a new site and a new challenge.

Tomorrow looks like painting and scraping. More to come tomorrow....

-Lauren