Round Two wrapping up...

Hi!

We are wrapping up the project here in Greenwood, MS. After 7 weeks of surveying we are finally done. I think we did pretty well. Now we just have to hope that the data we collected will be of help when the board applies for their grant.

We are spending the last week doing a great deal of service learning. Today we spoke with Dr. Hudson, a longtime administrator at MVSU, who grew up in the Delta on a plantation and watched the area change over the years. He brought us to a place called Tallahatchie Flats where there are "authentic" shotgun plantation homes set up like they were in the 30s 40s and 50s. He talked about his experiences growing up and sharing a room with his five brothers. Then he brought us to the store where Emmit Till allegedly whistled at a white woman. He talked about his experiences the day after the story broke

I am hoping that by the time we leave here, my whole team has a better understanding of the way that slavery has left a lasting imprint on the Delta. I hope they all leave understanding the inequality that exists today and how it has been created and perpetuated throughout history. I think they will.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up Alex Haley's Roots and working on our presentations for campus. Tomorrow will be our last day at the Boys and Girls Club because we will be doing a service project outside the club at the nursing home with the kids on Wednesday. I taught the kids how to make God's Eyes on Friday and they LOVED it. It was really fun to do a craft with them and have something that they can take home and give to their mothers to put on the Christmas tree.

On Thursday we drive back to campus to start our transition. I just found out our next project today. More details about that later.

Miss you all! Can't wait to see you over break!!!

Love you,

Casey

Pictures

Working in our office

Scenery in Baptist Town

Spooney's BBQ in Baptist Town

home-stretch

Two-thirds of the way through our second SPIKE! I can't say it has been an easy one. I feel like I have spent the last month fighting for work, but not against anyone. It has been tough to work with a start-up. Our sponsors are very very nice and welcoming, but keeping 10 people busy for 40 hours a week was a bit of a stretch for this organization. We have finished surveying in the three target communities outlined for us in the beginning of the project. The week before Thanksgiving we went into our third area, GP, or "the hood" as everyone around here warned us. Things went really well in all the neighborhoods we surveyed. Hopefully the information we have obtained will help the board achieve their goal of starting a government subsidized HRSA health center in LeFlore County.

Although I greatly enjoy the community here, I am looking forward to finishing up surveying. It is definitely not something I hope to see in my future. Luckily, we have been met with mostly kind individuals. I am just running low on steam for trudging door to door in the cold and trying to get people to give us accurate information about their family's health status, health insurance and financial situation. I also am ready to change out of my green shirt and step away from being a team leader for a while. This project has tested me- trying to keep ten people busy at work all week doing a job no one really likes to do and without any outside supervision. The last few weeks I have been working with our sponsor, Unit Leader and projects department to find a second non-profit to pair with for the remainder of the project to beef up our hours. We have paired with the Boys and Girls Club in Greenwood. We will continue surveying everyday from 10am-3pm and then we will head over to the Boys and Girls Club to tutor and mentor the kids for a couple hours. We are down to our last couple weeks now.

I am looking forward to a nice long winter break at home! Thanksgiving was a bit of a teaser- I got to pretend for a couple days to be myself. I can't wait to relax in the living room by the fire for two weeks!

Miss and love you all!

Casey

Happy Thanksgiving

Home, Sweet Home...
I needed this. But it is a culture shock.

Survey

So Tuesday morning and afternoon we finally took to the streets with our survey. It went really well. Everyone in Baptist Town was super friendly and supportive. The only trouble we had was catching people at home. We are going to survey on Saturday to try to catch the people we are missing throughout the week.
After getting some surveys collected, we had the problem of how to compile the data. Our sponsor has no plan for this. So, as usual, it was my charge to figure something out. For now I have a few master spreadsheets for us to enter our coded data into (I also set up a coding method). I have no idea if it is anywhere near to the right way to do it, but it's all we got right now.
Today we technically have off. We spent thsi morning touring the Viking factory and headquarters- a corporation with a really interesting history rooted in Greenwood. It was the nicest factory I have ever seen/imagined. All their plants are fully air conditioned and have big windows lining the walls so that people don't feel trapped. Also, instead of bells and whistles when there are problems on the lines (out of parts etc), each team has a different song that plays. I know I would appreciate the little things like that if I worked there. Also they only have one robot- everything else is still opporated by real humans. They have a 99% retention rate- slightly amazing.

Anyways I am relaxing in my apartment now which is much needed. I might head over to the office later to examine our database and figure out the best way to compile this data. I really wish we were working with someone who is familiar with research!

Reasearch Methods

So, when we arrived at this SPIKE, we found out that the survey that was originally set for us to use was absolutely not going to work. It was a full social work assessment which was extremely long and intrusive and didn't even get at the main point of the project. We spent the last week researching and writing a new survey to use when we go out into the communities. The final goal is to get a new clinic in the area. The clinic will have a sliding scale payment method so that people can afford it. It could change life here, allowing people who have never gone to a doctor to now have a primary care physician. We will be collecting the data that will go into the grant proposal to fund the clinic. We finally finished writing, editing and practicing the survey tonight! Off to start our door-to-door adventures tomorrow... Wish us luck!

"Where, after all, do human rights begin? In small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of individual persons, the neighborhood they live in, the school they attend, the factory, farm or office they work in. Such are the places where every man, woman or child seeks equal justice, equal opportunities, and equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

New Home

For Letters:
Casey McCue- AmeriCorps NCCC
36901 County Road 507
Itta Bena, Mississippi 38941
Apartment #124

If you are sending packages- send them to:
Casey McCue- AmeriCorps NCCC
36901 County Road 507
Itta Bena, Mississippi 38941
Clubhouse

Mississppi: the hospitality state

Hello from Greenwood, Mississippi!
(...or currently more accurately Itta Bena, MS)

After an extremely busy, stressful and exhausting transition back on campus, we arrived safely in Greenwood, MS for our second SPIKE on Thursday afternoon. We may as well have landed on another continent! The Mississippi Delta is a completely different world than the Gulf Coast.
The first night here we were greeted with a reception hosted by the board of directors of our project. There was food and music and introductions all around. We then moved into our four 2-bedroom apartments! I have an apartment all to myself, and my corps members are living three to an apartment. We feel extremely spoiled by our new sponsors, they are doing everything they can to make us comfortable. After move-in we went shopping and each apartment acted as a little cooking group (leaving me on a very tight very lonely meal budget this weekend).
On Friday we headed over to our new office. The office is just an empty space in a strip mall with a few tables and some chairs. We are hoping to get some computers soon. We met with a man named Dr. Miller who, along with the famous Dr. Shirley, is the main brains behind this operation (to the best of my knowledge). He explained the big picture to us and how we fit in. The hope is to eventually implement a new structure of health care. The plan is modelled after the Iranian health care system. It is a three tiered structure. Tier 1 is a community health house with someone from inside the community trained to do some basic health checks and preventative medicine. At this facility the focus would be things like prenatal care, proper parenting, diabetes testing, blood pressure, weight and height checks, and proper nutrition. Tier 2 would be a clinic with a doctor and/or a licenced nurse practitioner who would handle things like the flu and strep. Finally people could be refer ed up to tier 3, the hospital, for more major and specific needs. The goal of the plan is to provide adequate health care across rural populations, switch American health care over from a curative focus to a preventative focus, and relieve some of the financial burden by cutting down on emergency services. In Iran, this system successfully eliminated the difference in health issues between rural and urban populations.
We fit into this plan as the so-called foot soldiers. Before any new health care plans can be instituted, data needs to be gathered and analyzed. We will be going door to door throughout Greenwood and surveying the population. We will also be administering diabetes tests and checking blood pressure, height and weight. We are also hoping to work with the Board and acting as a bit of a think tank, bouncing ideas back and forth. There is so much potential in this project. My team is so excited! I hope it works out and we can actually get something done for this community.
After our meeting, we headed over to tour the Greenwood Hospital and got to see all kinds of super cool equipment.
Next we toured the city of Greenwood, focusing on the areas we will be surveying. I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea how extreme the poverty was here. The city is just like the areas I saw in South Africa. There are dilapidated shotgun houses up and down the streets, some with no plumbing or electricity. The city is over populated and under-supported. The situation is the definition of absolute abject poverty. Families are on a cycle trapping them in this environment with little means or hope to get out or better their community. The most disturbing part is the white neighborhood not five minutes away. Just across the river, still in Greenwood, mansion after mansion after mansion lines the road, a sharp contrast from the neighboring black community. The difference in socioeconomics is based on years and years of institutionalized discrimination based on race and economic status stemming originally from the booming cotton trade in America's cotton capital, Greenwood Mississippi. After the tour, there was one worry I could not get out of my head: how is this community going to react to a bunch of white kids knocking on their doors and asking them extremely personal questions?

Luckily today we had a picnic in Baptist Town, the first neighborhood we will be working in. It was slow to start up, but after a little while some residents started to come out and meet us. The day ended up being extremely successful-people came out for hamburgers and hot dogs and got their blood pressure checked and were tested for diabetes. My team mingled with the adults and painted faces for the kids. The people who came out were wary of us at first but by the end of the picnic, I was feeling a lot better about surveying the community. They seemed to like us and many people ensured that they would get the word out for everyone to welcome us and treat us well.
So far every aspect of our stay here has been unbelievably positive. There is a great deal of work to do, but we have some amazing people supporting us and hopefully when we leave, the community will be a little better off than it is now. I hope that in some way we can empower and motivate the people of this community to step up and help make the changes with in the community that they would like to see. I also hope to start a partnership with AmeriCorps NCCC that will last many years. It is time for America to stop ignoring this population and start working in the right direction. It will be rough, but I hope that we can be part of the change for the better!

Stay Healthy!
Love you all,
Casey

Goodbyes

Hello All,

Once again, long time.  These last few weeks have been busy as usual!  I have been much happier lately, beginning with my parents visit two weeks ago.  I had an amazing time introducing them to my friends and team and showing them around our little town here.  Dad was hoping to kite, but the wind just wouldn't blow- of course it started as soon as he left and I have seen about 6 kite boarders a day for the last week.  I can't say I was too unhappy with the weather because it forced him to spend the whole time hanging out with me.  Mom and Dad joined the team working on a rehab house on Tuesday. We tore off a rotting roof and rebuilt it. It was nice to have my parents working along side me and seeing what I do.  After work they brought the whole team out to our favorite- sno cones! When my team wrote up their weekly progress report they said that working with Mama and Papa Nerp was the highlight of their week. I was sad to see them go and it took me a day or so to get over it.   

Since then, life has been really good here.  We have finally caught our stride on the work site and need very little instruction.  The team is working and playing together like a happy little family!  

Tonight is our last night at Camp Victor and I can't say I'm sad to go.  I will be sad to leave River 6, the team we have been living and working with this whole time. I am going to have an especially hard time separating from Sally. We are both trying to ignore the fact that we are leaving each other.  Her team will be in Georgia next SPIKE working in a swamp for the National Park Service. I just hope she has good cell reception. How am I going to get through this job without her?

Sally and I turned in our Project Completion report today- we compounded our quantifiable accomplishments and over the last two months our teams have:

-Worked on 21 new houses completing tasks including installing floor systems, framing, raising trusses, exterior sheeting, roofing, shingling, decking, shed building, siding, trim work, painting, appliance installation, interior hardware installation, detail cleaning and landscaping. that would -all of these added together would equal building 5 whole new houses

-rehabilitated 3 houses

-Landscaped 1.5 acres of land

-Served 24 families/ approx. 96 people

-worked with about 100 volunteers

My team learned construction- most of us came into the project barely able to swing a hammer, many didn't know how to use a measuring tape and now we are leaving proficient (or professional) at using hammers, chalk lines, measuring tape, speed squares, levels, miter saws, circular saws, table saws, jigsaws, drills, and nail guns! I am so proud of my team- they worked extremely hard and pushed themselves outside their comfort zone just about everyday. 

These last two months have been challenging but overall the good definitely outweighs the bad.

We are now all packed up and looking forward to our next SPIKE in Greenwood, Mississippi (may as well be a different country from here). I recently got some awesome information about our next SPIKE- we will be staying in four or five 2-bedroom apartments near Mississippi Valley State University and we will be cooking for ourselves! I don't think my team could be more excited about what we are doing and how we are living. I can't wait to have my own apartment for two months! 

I also just booked my tickets for winter break- can't wait to see everyone!

Love and Miss you all! 

Hello All!

Morale is much higher this week than I expected. We are living with 150 volunteers at Camp Victor, so there was definitely some anxiety going into the week. Luckily, we have been removed from volunteers for the most part on the work site. It isn't that we aren't grateful that people are volunteering, but it can get really exhausting. A group in, a group out- and they are all on their "vacations." I imagine it is sort of like being a Towny in a tourist town (but the town is all in one building with no real walls.)

This week Habitat has been struggling slightly to keep us busy, understandably with their large volunteer load. On Tuesday we did some landscaping and finishing up of homes in the community we have been working in the last month. Yesterday and today my team has been with a new supervisor who works on rehabbing homes. We painted and closed up the inside of a home. We are working all together as a team and in the A/C so that is keeping people happy.

Unfortunately, I am sick- the flu I think. Hopefully not h1n1! I took today off- though I still spent a great deal of time on paperwork. I did get to sleep for about 6 hours today so that helped. Sally bought me soup, gingerale and Green Goodness drink... Not sure how I will be doing tomorrow- but I have a meeting with my project sponsor so I hope I'm doing better. I really, really hope I am better by the time my parents visit on Saturday. I can't wait to see them!!!!!

We got more information on our next project and I am now very excited about it! My team is also excited. It looks like we are going to be able to do some great things where we are going. The project is with the Jackson Medical Mall Services which is a non-profit that rehabbed an old abandoned mall into a big medical hub for low income families. The project focuses on a low income rural population. We will be surveying houses for environmental health risks, writing proposals and then going into homes and fixing them. There is a lot of potential in this project! We will live in college dorms and eat in the cafeteria (yet another two months of cafeteria food- but at least it won't be the same five meals rotating every week). The only other draw back is that our work week is Monday-Saturday with only Sundays off! Hopefully we will see direct benefits on the community from our work, so the long work weeks will be worth while.

Here is some information regarding our new partner organization:
"The Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (JMMF) was established in 1995 with five main goals: to promote greater access to cost-effective, high-quality health care for central Mississippi; to facilitate integration of human service delivery with health care delivery; to stimulate economic and community development in the area surrounding the mall; to utilize health care delivery activities to enhance educational opportunities; and to build financial strength of the foundation to ensure future reinvestment in the community through economic development and job creation. To accomplish these goals, JMMF purchased and restored a largely abandoned shopping mall for use as a state-of-the-art medical facility, the Jackson Medical Mall (JMM), that would provide quality healthcare and other services to those in need, and would at the same time help revitalize the surrounding community.

Prior to establishment of JMM, many disadvantaged citizens in the Jackson, Mississippi area faced challenges rooted not only in their economically-depressed status, but also, as is the case in other areas of the state, they did not have access to a centrally-located medical and social services “hub.” Such a facility would ease the great burden of locating the relevant assistance/healthcare agencies and traveling to those diverse locations for much-needed social services and healthcare assistance. JMM has become a model in the nation of this type of facility, as its many health and social service “tenants” and community outreach and education programs offer an often life-changing “one stop” healthcare center for all regardless of age, gender, race, creed, religion or nationality."

Here is the work outlined in the JMM Americorps Proposal:
"The AmeriCorps team will engage in a number of specific tasks related to 1) identify households and individuals within the community who may benefit from the full range of health services provided by the PHC network, 2) engage household members in preliminary discussions regarding potential social determinants risk factors, 3) distributing educational and informational materials related to the new Greenwood PHC initiative, 4) conduct surveys with individuals and families to determine social determinant factors and residential environmental issues that may have an impact on the health of families, 5) identify environmental issues that may be easily resolved by general construction interventions of the Team, 6) engage in construction activities to be coordinated with families using materials donated by the sponsors, and 7) generate reports for future use by Greenwood Health House CHWs for more extensive follow-up surveys and data tracking. These AmeriCorps-assigned tasks are considered vital to the long-term success of the PHC initiative in Greenwood and its potential positive impact on overall health outcomes in the community."

Miss you All!!!! Love you!
Casey

Next SPIKE

My team has been assigned to "Jackson Medical Mall Services' in Greenwood MS (100 miles away from campus). I don't know much yet, but the project brief is as follows: "Conduct surveys with individuals and families to determine social determinant factors, and identify residential environmental issues. Engage in construction activities to be coordinated with families." Jackson medical mall services is a new sponsor which could prove to provide us with a great many opportunities as well as frustrations. This was one of our lower ranked projects (lowest ranked) but hopefully my team will turn it into something they love.

I will let you know when I know more.

Peace.

Spot of Tea

Greetings Everyone!
One more week down!
The week started with a visit from my Unit Leader (my direct boss). The visit went spectacularly- all my supervisors gave my team amazing reviews. I needed that feedback because I am really hard on myself here- I often lose sight of the good things I do and focus on all the little downfalls and mistakes. I am learning, though, to forgive myself the little things because it is impossible to be perfect- especially in a job like this. I am going to continue to work on that this week, because I am driving myself down with my own negative reviews.
So Neal visited and met with my housing supervisor, project supervisor, and site supervisor and found out that Sally and my teams are on top of their game. We also got a chance to vent to Neal about all the issues we have been having with our project. It was nice to have MY team leader around for a little bit. He also brought us out to lunch which was lovely!
The rest of the week went pretty well. My team has been striving to work better as a team. Now that we are more than half of the way through SPIKE, I have been trying to get them to focus on achievements as a group rather than personal achievements. I have a few very agressive workers, and a few people who are very timid. This leads to certain people always learning the new skills and getting the "good" jobs and others constantly searching for work. For a few weeks I concentrated my time on looking for work for everyone, and always asking site supervisors for more work, more work more work... but I am now concentrating more effort on getting the team to work together on this issue. It is going to take a while, but we are coming along. Team dynamic is fasinating.
We were back on Brad's team's site this week, so that helped me out greatly. His team is very helpful and I feel that we all work pretty well together.

This weekend, Alec (an STL on campus) drove down and picked up MaryMolly, Jordan, Sally and me and we all headed to Mobile, Al. We were planning on going to Bayfest a big music festival that takes over the city, but we ended up opting out of that because we were all so exhausted. It was still sooo nice to let my guard down and just be a person responsible for only myself for a night. We spent the day Sunday just slowly touring the city.

Today is Monday and I am avoiding work, though I probably should get started on some. I am not ready to give up my weekend relaxation yet. We got the new slate of projects for our next round and rated them. I will let you all know as soon as we har which one we get. I am very excited! Tomorrow is going to be hectic- we are observing World Habitat Awareness Day on the site, so that means 150 volunteers. There are also 15 new volunteers living here at Camp Victor starting tonight. It's going to be stressful! Hopefully it will drive my team closer together (with all the outsiders around).

If the rain stops, my team is going to go canoeing tonight so I am looking forward to that.
Also, my parents are trying to come visit this coming weekend which will be WONDERFUL!

I Do What I Do...

During training we did a free write entitled "I do what I do because...," since I have been struggling lately I thought I should revisit it and share...

I do what I do:

Because life isn't fair
because life's been too fair to me
because I don't deserve it (anything)
to serve my country
Because someone is relying on me
to make myself look good
because it is my responsibility.
To become an adult
to grow up
to grow
to become a better person.
To adventure.
To be the change.
For My Father.
To make people (myself) proud
to prove myself
To impress my sister.
For My Mother.
Because I can.
to escape the mundane
for the friendships
For My Team.
to learn
to learn about myself
To learn new skills
So I can fend for myself
For My Family.
(and for my future family)
to build my resume
to find my calling
because I love people
Because I love
Because of Africa
Because I was too cowardly for the Peace Corps
To travel
To live
In hopes of mattering
to be a catalyst
because I am good at it

For my home

For my friends

For the future

to explore

Because I want to push my boundaries

Because life happens on the edge of your comfort zone

To discover

Because I am lost and hoping to find
To live my dreams
To Improve
To Inspire

It's not easy being Green...

SIGH.

This week was hard. It's not easy being green.
The exhaustion and stress of SPIKE are catching up with me and much of my team. Added to all the regular issues of hard work, little sleep, no privacy and strict rules, we have had a pretty bad week of work. This week we were switched to a new site with a new team and a new task to tackle. We were put on siding a whole house. When we arrived on site on Tuesday morning, we were broken into groups and hastily directed to side different parts of the house, but given little to no guidance on how to complete the tasks. We were expected to use power tools we were not trained on and use materials with which we had no previous experience. Three of our main supervisors were off-site and unreachable. Remaining on site was one assistant supervisor who gave incomplete answers to questions and seemed extremely irritated by our need for supervision and support. Wednesday I was at my lowest when a CM and I spent a few hours and 9 different attempts to get one piece of siding cut and placed. I felt like a complete failure all day as a team leader and just as a person. As the team leader, I tried to communicate with the supervisor on site, but got pretty much nowhere. As the week went on, a few more supervisors and Americorps Directs were onsite and helping us out, but things didn't really look up until late in the week.
I am struggling with doing my own work on site, managing relations and directions from supervisors, handling unhappy corps members and finding things for people to do when supervision is not available. I had a bad week. I was so worn down that I found myself incapable of being a good support to my team when they needed me and rather than bringing the morale up, my poor attitude did the opposite.
On Friday, Sally and I met with our main project sponsor and were not terribly happy with the way the meeting went. I can't say I am feeling supported by our sponsor or my contacts on campus right now and that is making my stress difficult to bear. I feel like when I have an issue the general way it is dealt with is a big "well deal with it on your own, Casey!" After my meeting with my main sponsor, I returned to the work site and sat down with my main site supervisor (the amount of contacts I have is pretty confusing). I had a really good talk with him about supervision and direction and what my team needs. After straightening things out with him, the week started to turn up. Work on Saturday went really well, we split into two groups- one moved to a new house and built the flooring with about 15 volunteers from a nearby Navy base, and the other half of us went to the house we sided this week and worked on decorative trim. I caulked the whole house which allowed me to quietly work by myself and think all day. Much needed!
I also took Thursday of this week to do paperwork off site during the work day. Sally and I found an adorable brand new coffee house in Gulfport and set up shop for a few hours. The girl who works there brought us out about 10 fresh baked cookies, and I felt like a real person and not an Americorps TL Machine for a day. The point in going to the coffee shop during the work day was to cut down on the amount of work I do over my weekends, but I have already logged an extra 5 hours today and still have a team meeting to lead. I don't even know where my time goes. One of my CMs got on the wrong bus coming back to Camp after a weekend off- he was headed up to Memphis a few miles up before the driver announced his destination and my CM freaked out. He is currently walking a few miles back to the Greyound right now through who knows what part of town and I need to help him figure out how he can get back here. There are no more busses tonight. So I am a worried mother right now.

Yesterday was mostly a really good day. A few people from my team and a few people from Jordan's team met at a freshwater river with a rope swing and sandy beach and played around all day. It was really fun, except the current was pretty dangerous. One of Jordan's CMs was not the strongest of swimmers and got carried away by the current, I took off after him, and luckily a man down the river was able to help him stay afloat for a few seconds until he fatigued and had to let go to save himself. By the time I got to the CM the shore wasn't too far and we got ourselves safely tangled up in some bushes by the side (thank God we didn't end up disturbing a snake habitat). We climbed out and I sat with him a little while- he was pretty shaken up (as was I). I am so happy nothing terrible happened. What a scare!

I am really hoping for a better week coming up. We are back on our previous site supervisor's site which will be awesome! There's a big music festival in Mobile that a few TLs and I are going to go escape to this coming weekend.

I miss everyone! Hope you are all well! I hope my next entry will be more upbeat and fun to read.

Love. Peace.

Fake Thursday

I am exhausted. I have been daydreaming of going AWOL. Today was not one of my better days. I don't think I did anything productive on site today- we had very little direction and my entire team spent a lot of time trying to find something to do and being greeted with annoyance from our supervisors. But there are just days like this. They are in sharp contrast to our last two days which were exceptional. Today one of my CMs got really nausiated as soon as we got on site so before I got started on the house I drove her home to camp- a half hour each way. I was disapointed to loose my place with the job I was doing, but I am glad she got to rest all day. I am scared she may have the flu which seems to be going around the volunteer dormers. I am also feeling extremely weak and fatigued and am scared that I may be coming down with the flu as well. I am going to try to go to sleep very early and drink tons of fluids tonight. hopefully I can kick it before it gets me. I really just don't have time to be sick right now.
On a much more positive note my team has had a great week. Wednesday and Thursday (or as we like to refer to them "fake tuesday and fake wednesday") were incredibly productive on site. The cement blocks we started with last Tuesday have become a house and will soon be a family's home. This week we completed all the siding and passed our first inspection. We then put up trusses. I had an integral role in putting up the roof by helping to manage the pulling of the trusses. I probably pushed myself a bit too far physically while walking the walls (standing on top of wall frames) and pulling heavy giant wooden triangles- but it was well worth it. We got our whole roof up and sheeted this week. We also wrapped the house and began to bulid the front deck. My team was working like a well-oiled machine this week and that makes me incredibly proud. Even in the intense heat and sun people have been pushing themselves and one another.

I did one on ones with everyone from my team this week and pretty much forfeited any freetime I may have had. I am glad that I got to sit down and talk to everyone though. Things seem to be going very well for all of my CMs. I often feel like they have it more together than me, but I try not to let on. On Tuesday we watched a documentary called "Katrina: The Mississippi Gulf Coast Story." It was heavy. and long. But I think it was good for us to all see- a big reminder of why we are here. On Thursday we had a team poetry reading that was very interesting. Some people read famous poets, some read friends and family members' works and others read their own. I read a couple Saul Williams poems. I got to watch the season premier of The Office and Parks and Rec last night too- which reminded me of home and many of you!

I am incredibly homesick again this week. I have found that it is getting harder and harder to call people because I just miss you all more and more when I do. I sometimes lock myself up in my van to find some personal space because I can't handle my draining living situation. Then I think this could be the best situation I have all year and I start to spiral... But I know why I came and there are a million things I love about being here. I'm definitely not bored with my life, or feeling useless. Quite the opposite. There is a constant battle in my head between sanity and insanity, peace and chaos, confidence and insecurity. I constantly second guess my ability to do this job for an entire year, but when taken day by day it's just a job and just a sequence of todos that will surely turn into the best memories and lessons of my life. But sitting here listening to Fox News at top volume and someone's text message alert going off every 30 seconds while the table tennis paddles ping and pong the ball back and forth over and over I can't help but wish I were elsewhere- tucked into bed with my puppies back home on a Saturday morning or eating fresh veggies from mom and dad's garden- I sometimes even wish I was at the pool working! My old life seems like a different existence in a universe and time far far away. I sometimes even wonder who I am- how much of me is there and how much is here- and who will I be 8 months from now when I am set free back into the world to make new choices on where I want to be and what I want to do. But here tonight it's Fox News, paperwork and Walmart grocery trips. And how will I get enough sleep to wake up ready for tomorrow?

Hopefully the weather will be nice this weekend because we have a day trip planned for Ship Island- one of the "ten best beached in the U.S." although I am not sure who says so... Regardless it will be a day on the ocean side of the sound with Sally and Jordan and possibly even Patrick- so regardless it will be nice. I hope I can stay healthy for it.

Looking forward to a better day. Miss and love you all!
Peace!

There's no place like home... And everyone deserves one!

Hey everyone!

Thanks to Grandma for the package- we are loving the baked goods and candies! and to Raymond for the lovely letter.

So we just finished our first full week of work down here on the gulf coast and it feels great! As usual my life is super hectic, but I am starting to get used to the routine here. We wake up at 6am (lights on at camp everyday), pack lunches at 6:30 and breakfast at 7. On Tuesdays I have a meeting with our sponsor for our weekly assignment. We leave Camp Victor at 7:20 and head to Gulfport, MS to work on houses in the Connor's Garden community. Gulfport is about a 30 minute drive west of us along the coast. We take a half our lunch break around 12 and then work until about 4 and then drive home. We have PT three times a week after work, and team meetings, Service learning events and fun events in the evenings as well. We also clean up dinnner for the entire camp twice a week. Dinner is served at 6 with a prayer that more times than not makes a few of my CMs a little uncomfortable. There is always something going on here and I am generally busy until pretty close to lights out (if not after).
Our first day last week (Thursday) a couple members of my team built an entire porch, but the majority of us unnailed and re-nailed siding on a house that was improperly nailed by a volunteer group before us. It was a tedious task and we didn't have much direction from our site supervisor which was rough. Friday was better- we wrapped the house and helped get all the trusses up. By the time we left Friday afternoon, the box we encountered the first day was starting to look like a house!
This week we had two CMs stationed at the house we were working on last week while the rest of us moved down the street to start on a brand new house. The CMs working on the first house sheeted the roof with plywood and removed and rebuilt windows (there were some serious issues with this house!) The rest of the team started out with just the cement foundation on another site and in the course of three and a half days built up the entire frame and sheeted half of it! Friday afternoon a tropical storm rolled into the coast and has been lingering ever since causing severe thunderstorms on and off. Because of the storms we left work early on Friday and had all day Saturday off. I was fine with that because we stayed extra late on Thursday night and my team needed a break. We did paperwork and specialty role work in the morning on Saturday and then took the evening off.
In general things are pretty good here, but there is literally no personal space/time. We live in an old factory that was converted into a church camp. There are "walls" but they do not reach the ceiling so every noise made anywhere in the building can be heard just about anywhere else in the building. The lights are all overhead florescent and go on at 6am and off at 10pm. We currently have an 11pm curfew (which is ridiculous) because they don't think we can handle taking care of our own safety in this adorably quiet little town we live in. After lights out there is no talking in the main areas, but you can go to the cafeteria and talk because there are real walls between the cafeteria and the main space. The cafeteria is also super uncomfortable and only open until 11:45 when the lights are then turned out there as well. These rules apply to our weekends as well as our weekdays. All of these factors combine to leave all my CMs feeling pretty trapped and unhappy here. I am then dealing with feeling trapped and unhappy myself but having to act like I am happy and look on the bright side to try to lift their morale. Luckily, people are happy about our work and just the general idea of getting things done right now. I am also lucky to have an incredibly understanding, calm, cool and collected team.
I personally have been struggling a bit with the lack of personal space here, especially being in the team leader role. I never get a chance to let my guard down and I am getting pretty warn down. I am also extremely homesick this week and struggling with the loneliness of being around a big group of people with whom I have to keep a professional distance (though in different circumstances I would most likely become close friends with). I daydream about laying on my living room floor with the dogs and laughing with my family. This is what I signed up for and I was fully aware, but this week has just been a trying week. Again, in general I am pretty happy and am definitely grateful to be here. I am lucky to have Sally here at camp with me and try to get out for long walks or to grab a drink with her whenever possible. We have been able to meet up with Jordan and his team a couple times as well which has been nice. Last night we had a big bonfire in Bay St. Louis about 40 minutes away where two NCCC teams are staying with all three Biloxi teams and two Bay St. Louis teams- it was a huge party.

Today I have spent the majority of the day getting caught up on paperwork and posting pictures on facebook. Tonight I would really like to call some people back home, if I have time later. I have an orientation to Habitat at 5pm, dinner at 6 and then one-on-ones starting at 6:40 and most likely going until 8:30 or so. It's always hard to find a moment to get away, relax or get in touch with people at home. But please know that I am thinking of and missing you all so much!

Well I should get myself ready for one-on-ones. Check out the CTI pictures I posted on FB today, I am hoping to get some habitat ones up soon as well.

Peace and Love to All

For the next two months you can send mail to:

Casey McCue- Americorps*NCCC
Camp Victor Ministries
1515 Government Street
Ocean Springs, MS 39564

Ocean Springs

As usual, it has been a while since I last updated... Everyday is just so busy.
Last time I wrote I was getting ready for my team's clearance meeting. The presentation went wonderfully and of course we were cleared for our project. The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind- we did a couple service projects in Vicksburg, went to a local artist's gallery/studio/apartment for a showing/party, prepared for SPIKE (which involves so much more than I even want to begin to express), welcomed all the higher-ups from the corporation/government/community, were formally inducted into Americorps NCCC, closed down campus and moved to Biloxi!

I could go on for pages and pages and for hours and hours about each of those things, but I honestly just don't have the energy or time.

I am currently in Ocean Springs, Mississippi one mile from the ocean living at Camp Victor ( http://www.campvictor.org/ ). We started our work with Habitat for Humanity yesterday. At 7am we met with our project sponsor Jeannie for a couple minutes and then headed right out into the field. With little to no instructions we started in on our first house. Two of my teammates built a full deck in just one day! Others worked on building trusses for the roof and hammering the walls into the studs (which included un-nailing what the group before us improperly nailed). After work we ran down to the beach and did some exercises and then ran back to camp for PT. The food POCs made directed the cooking of dinner, so I did a little paperwork while I waited for my delicious tacos. We finally get a break from catering because Camp Victor is technically closed this week. We will be able to cook for ourselves for four days and then back to having no control over what we eat again for two more months.

Today I had a great day at work, my team worked really hard and we got half of a house wrapped, and got all the trusses up. It now resembles a house- complete with walls adn a "roof"! Hopefully next week we will get to continue on the same house a bit, but we will most likely be moved to another project. There is the chance that we will be framing a house which would be awesome. I am going to leave this SPIKE with so much construction knowledge I won't know what to do with it all. Can't wait! After work today we did a team reflection on our first couple days and our goals for the next two months and then I did some personal PT and ran back down to the beach and back. It was nice to get away by myself for a while. I love my team and Sally's team too (with whom we are living), but we are all CONSTANTLY together. There are no real walls at camp victor so you can hear everyone everywhere- even in the shower!
I am definitely looking forward to this long weekend coming up, hoping it will prepare me for my next couple months here.

Love to all of you- hope you are all well!

HARDCORE!

I LOVE MY TEAM!

One week until induction and departure for our first SPIKE and we are working hard.
Today we had our project briefing and my team rocked their first presentation to staff. We are organizing for Thursday's formal Clearance meeting. Time is running low and my stress level is rising, but I know it will all come together. Tomorrow we will do a project at the military park so we need to be ready for Clearance tonight. I have a lot to do, but luckily I have a team I can rely on.

We are Hardcore River Four, with only nine because we're so, so fine.

We don't accept commitments, only applications.

Hello World,
Thanks to Aunt Susy for the card this week! I don't have much to report on this week- just another long week of trainings. On Monday my CMs learned about a program called safe spaces through the Save the Children Foundation. Safe spaces is about creating a safe environment for children in disaster shelters to bring some normalcy to their lives and give their parents a chance to get what they need to get some things done. I really liked this training and hope that I get a chance to use it this year. In the afternoon my team split up and went to trainings on their specialty roles. Within each team every individual has specialty roles. There are five national roles: "vehicle, safety, tools,"-handles safety conserns and manages our 15p and tools for spike "Project Outreach Liason,"-searches out and fosters relationships with possible new sponsors "Service learning initiator,"-ensures the team is fully emersed in service learning relating to the project we are on and leads reflections, "Media rep,"- writes press releases and keeps the local media informed on what our team is doing, and "CAPper (Corps Ambassador Program)"- plan and execute recruitment activities. While my CMs were in specialty roles training I spent some MUCH NEEDED time catching up on paperwork and organization. On Tuesday we did an entire day of disaster training. I don't think anyone got much from this training. It was long and boring and everyone was fighting to stay awake. The fact that Vicksburg is so small is having a big effect on the quality of the outside trainers we are entering into contact with. I hope that next year many of these hang-ups can be rectified. Wednesday we were supposed to go off site for service projects, but the plans fell through so we worked on our campus. Some people did some serious trail clearing around our woods and the majority of my team spent the day painting inside. They did a great job and had a blast doing it!
Thursday was really fun! We had three hours of free team time in the morning. We decided to all cook breakfast together and had a delicious feast! After breakfast we worked on life maps. I did one-on-ones with everyone on my team throughout the morning. In the afternoon we had time with our units for three hours. Thursday was a really good day.
Friday we were supposed to go to the military park to do trail clearing and invasive species removal but the weather did not permit, so we did project prep and more trainings all day. Friday night I had the absolute worst CPR and First Aid training I have ever experienced. After their training we took all the CMs to another room and debriefed them on everything that was improperly taught.
Saturday a group of TLs went to Crystal Springs to do some camping. We hiked, swam, and ate delicious food around our great camp fire.
This coming week is a lot of project prep. Induction is next Tuesday, so this week we will be doing project briefings and clearance meeting with staff. Our first spike is getting so close!

Team Time

Hello All, I hope you are well.

First, to clarify some terms... the Sip is derived from MissisSIPpi, CMs are corps members, TLs are team leaders, TLT is team leader training, CTI is corps training institute and POC is point of contact. I think that covers the main acronyms I use on a general basis.

I think I last left off right before the big Team Reveal.... Last Friday at 7pm we sent our CMs on a big scavenger hunt to find us (their permenant team leaders). They were each given a few pieces to a puzzle, they had to find the other 9 or 10 people with the same puzzle as them and assemble it. On the back of the puzzle was their first scavenger hunt clue. Then at each place they were sent they received a clue about their TL, when they completed the hunt they had to find a support TL and tell them who they thought their clues were leading them to. If they guessed right then they were given a clue to where we were waiting. My team found me in the staff lounge at a big round table with a cake I baked them and ice cream. We had a little kick off to the team party and we introduced ourselves to each other.

The next day, I took my team out to town and got everyone a sno cone and we did some team building at the park. Many team leaders told their teams their first spike, but I made mine wait for what seemed to them to be FOREVER! On Saturday night, I did a project reveal. I had them do an "easter egg hunt" for popsicle sticks all over the classroom building. Once they found them all, they had to assemble the roof on a popsicle stick house Sally (my fellow TL who is going to the same spike as me) and I had made. Once assembled they could read what our project was written on the roof- HABITAT FOR HUMANITY- GULF COAST in BILOXI MISSISSIPPI! I am sooooo excited for my first project- and especially excited to be stationed with Sally who is one of by very close friends here. Our teams will be living together at the H4H Camp Victor and working together on site. We leave at the beginning of September and will be on spike for 2 months.

Sunday was one of the best days I have had in a long time. We went to a lake about an hour away for the whole day. Wade, a staff member, invited us to come out on his boats for the day. His wife, nephew, brother and he brought three boats and spent the day pulling us around on tubes, knee boards and wake boards. The day was gorgeous- clear and sunny. It was a much needed break from campus and the corps. It was one of those days that you just really feel like you are 100% alive.

On Monday, we had an all corps work day in Rolling Fork, Mississippi- home of Muddy Waters and the setting of Teddy Roosevelt's teddy bear story. The corps was split up across five or six projects. My team helped repaint a hospital. The town's reception of us was completely moving. They welcomed us with open arms and bags of homemade goodies. They had signs all over town saying things like "God Bless Americorps" and "We Love Americorps". I have never felt so thanked for service in my life. It was an extremely uplifting day, and a great way to get started as a new team.

The remainder of the week consisted of training after training. We had a few team meetings, and I am getting to know my team pretty well. I REALLY lucked out with my team and I sometimes wonder how I happened to be so fortunate with them. I have an extremely bright and motivated group of young people who are making themselves very easy to lead. I am loving watching the team meld into a cohesive unit as their trust in each other continues to grow.

On Friday the corps did the "baseline" 1.5 mile run and minutes of sit-ups and push-ups, the TLs motivated the CMs by all dressing up in neon spandex for the morning...

I spent this weekend attepting to get organized, and made some progress. I was on duty Friday night so I couldn't leave campus. Saturday night we crossed the border into Louisianna and went to an extremely sketchy dive bar but ended up having a blast.

I'm trying to get mentally prepared for beginning a new week... We have two project days this week which could be fun or stressful depending on whether the site is prepared for us. Friday night I have CPR and First Aid training until 9pm, which will probably be a challenge in motivating my CMs. There are three team leader birthdays in the next week and a half so to celebrate we are going camping next Saturday- I can't wait!!

Miss and love you all! Write to me!

CTI week one

Hello Everyone,

It has been a huge week for me, sorry for being completely out of touch. Before I forget, I want to thank Aunt Nancy and Dulcie for writing to me, it is so nice to receive mail!
I have been so busy that there’s no way I can remember everything. On Friday we ran shuttles to and from the airport picking up the majority of the corps members. Most of them were delayed at some point or had major turbulence, so we had some unhappy arrivals. Some members were delayed over night. Friday was a loooong day (the first of many) and I wasn’t done with work until well into the night.
Saturday we did in-processing with our teams all day, which was pretty chaotic. The arrival of 144 corps members turned this quiet little campus upside-down. Everyone had questions and problems and confusions and we are the first in the chain of command to fix and answer them. By Saturday night, I was already horribly exhausted and feeling like I was being pulled in a million directions.
Sunday we had a day of planned activities for the members, so I worked all day again. I got to sleep in until 9 which was AMAZING! We did things like run church shuttles, play ultimate Frisbee, football, ice breaker games, board games, run shuttles to Walmart, and sing karaoke. It was fun to see all the CMs getting to know each other all over campus. Sunday night was intense. First we had a girl pass out on the soccer field and we went sprinting from our fourth floor dorms down the stairs outside and across about 400 yards to find out that, luckily, she was alright. She fainted from dehydration and heat. Jordan the EMT took her to her dorm and made sure everything was okay. Immediately after responding to that emergency, we found out that six of our corps members were mugged and assaulted on their way walking back from town. Everyone is fine now, but it was an extremely difficult situation. One of my temporary team members was involved and had his wallet with all his Ids and credit cards in it. We are still looking into how to get him a new state ID.

Monday was relatively calm. We did more in-processing with our temp teams and I got to know mine a lot better. I adore my temp team, everyone is really laid back and easy to please. They all like me and it is going to be hard to be assigned permanent teams at this point.

Tuesday we headed to the southern cultural heritage foundation for an all corps training. This is the same site as our last service project with the convent. Our meeting was held in the very beautiful and interesting auditorium used in Oh Brother Where Art Thou. The team leaders were supposed to have an hour presentation to introduce ourselves to the corps members. We worked hard at putting together a cohesive presentation with songs and dances and interesting stories and icebreakers etc., but of course my favorite f-word was thrown around again. When we got to the auditorium we were informed that we would need to be FLEXIBLE and that they were breaking our presentation up. The communication between the staff and us was very poor and we weren’t told ahead of time when we were to be on stage. As TLs we were very frustrated with the entire day beyond our presentation. The times for lunch weren’t communicated to us, and when we came back from a unit TL meeting to pick up our teams, our CMs were asking us all kinds of questions we had no answers for. All in all we were very frustrated which lead to a long TL debriefing at the end of the day with our Unit Leaders and the Regional Director. Because of our meeting we missed dinner. I’d say Tuesday was a bit of a low point.
Tuesday night was a bonding time for TLs over our misery. Everyone was especially supportive of me because I was rather upset. Sophia even made me a card saying that she appreciates me which was so touching. I am so lucky to have such amazing coworkers around me. I am starting to get really sad about leaving them in a month to start our projects.

Wednesday we headed to Jackson in teams for our physicals. Physicals took forever. My team was at the clinic for close to five hours. Luckily I have just about the most amazing temp team ever and they are always happy to roll with the punches. I made a big time team leader mistake and left our boxed lunches at home expecting that we would be back on campus much earlier than we were. I let myself get talked into leaving them against my better judgment and regretted my decision. My poor team didn’t finish physicals until 3pm. Leigh-Ann, the counselor, awesomely saved the day for me by buying my team a pizza to hold us over until we got back to campus. After we got home and recollected I brought my team to the library and downtown so they could get some idea of where they are living. The whole day ended up being some great team building and Amerilovin’ leaving us all depressed that our teams go trough the great jumble this week and we have to break up. I love my team and they give me great confidence in my ability to do this job this year because they have all expressed to me that they do not want to leave my team. I feel so lucky to have such a positive group that meshes so well and has so much excitement about their year with Americorps. I finally feel completely comfortable with my role as a Team Leader here.

Thursday was even more team bonding while we did van driver training and just aimlessly drove around Vicksburg and the vicinity. I almost wish I hadn’t gotten the time to bond with this team because it is making me really anxious about who I am going to end up with on my permanent team. Will they like me as much as this team? Will they have as much group cohesion and harmony?
Thursday night River TLs met and had a long meeting where we went through all of our CMs and discussed their strengths and weaknesses. Neal will use the list to create our teams- something we are anxiously awaiting hearing about. We also were given our project assignments for the first spike, but I can’t share that with you until I reveal it to my new team this weekend. I can say I am SUPER EXCITED!!!!! I can’t wait to tell y’all about my team and soon to be project.

So it’s Friday and I am sitting in another training session for our CMs (one that we already had during TLT). I figured I would grab some time to get caught up with you and get some business done. We are having some serious internet issues on campus so I haven’t been able to check my email, post pictures or blog since the CMs got here. We have now opened the wireless router (that was already shotty) to the whole corps which means I pretty much never get an option to use it. When too many people get online the router disconnects and needs to be rebooted, but it is locked in an office so we can’t reboot it. So please be patient with me, I am thinking of y’all and I do enjoy hearing from you even if I don’t get back to you on time or even at all sometimes. I just figured out my hours and the conservative figure I calculated was 70 hours in 6 days, just to give you an idea of how long I am on for a day (and that’s not including breakfast lunch and dinner when CMs ask questions and need help.)
This morning we had our first all corps PT session lead by Neal. I ran around with a couple other TLs at 5:15 with an airhorn and a whistle waking everyone up- it was fun. Starting at 5:30am, about half of our PT session was dark and I couldn’t even recognize people’s faces. It was crazy to think back on how much of a day I had already had when we left for the Heritage Foundation at 7:30 am! For lunch I am taking my Temp team out for a big “goodbye,” and tonight after work we have our big REVEAL of or permanent teams. I am on pins and needles.

Well that’s about it for now. I miss you all and hope to hear from you all soon. Keep me up to date with the real world please!

LOVE YOU,
Casey

Reality Sets In

Hellllo everyone,

I am now the proud mother duck of 10 lovely foster corps member ducklings. The last couple days have been a trip. The campus has been in complete chaos as we tried to get last minute prep done for our CMs to arrive. We somehow pulled it together (for the most part) after a looooong day of work on Thursday.

Friday morning we were up early getting our vans safety checked and the dorms outfitted with all the necessary move-in preparations. I was a van driver and spent my day travelling to and from the airport with fellow TL Sanjoy. We would drive out to a furniture store near called Miskellys and wait for "the call up" to pick up a group of CMs from the airport. It was the best staging area ever- with a basketball court, a "theater," a cafe and a carousel! After we picked up the excited new corps members, we shuttled them home, gave them announcements and tried to facilitate some friendships. My last shuttle trip rolled into campus around 7pm and we rushed people off to dinner.

After dinner we had an extremely motivational all corps meeting lead by out Unit Leaders, and I got a MUCH NEEDED boost of energy before we ran a fire drill. Then I had my first ever team meeting with my temporary team. It felt good to finally have a team in front of me.

The corps member day ended somewhere around 9:30. Team Leaders were still on duty, walking the dorms, cleaning up and tying up loose ends. I realized after midnight that I was still in my uniform.

Today was even more intense. We had a full day of in-processing stations with our teams, and in true NCCC fashion, Flexibility was the word of the day. My day started off rough, but ended awesome!

I am warn out, but I am looking forward to this year. I am finally a real team leader. Off to my rounds.

Convents

(I tried to post this three days ago...)


Not a lot of time at all these days- we are getting ready for the Corps Members to arrive TOMORROW! But here's an article from The Vicksburg Post about our most recent project clearing out an old convent in Vicksburg for the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation:


http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/07/29/news/doc4a707a1b4cf40513255878.txt

Alec Rocks!

Hey Y’all!

I’m attempting to blog while I watch Blues Brothers in our common room, so there’s a chance things may be scattered. I am still having some difficulty with time management here. This week was less busy than last, but it still flew by. We started the week with a whole morning of unit time which was great! We drove all around the city and checked out the visitor center, the city park and the military park. We did team builders at each site and probably looked extremely silly jumping around and making dinosaur noises in our uniforms in public- great team bonding though. (Carrie you would have especially gotten a kick out of the whole scene). In the afternoon we had leadership training, where we examined our leadership style through the Myers-Briggs personality type inventory and the FIRO-B social interaction inventory. I wasn’t surprised by anything mine told me, and I felt a lot more comfortable with the idea that I will be leading a team soon. My Myers Briggs indicated I was an ENTJ. I was extreme on the extroversion scale- no surprise there. The thinker/feeler and judger/perceiver aspects were pretty moderate for me. No strong tendency either way. The FIRO-B basically showed that I am extremely social. Shocking! Then we made individual action plans for our year as Tls to check back with throughout the year.
Monday night Sally, Jordan and I went out to the one bar in town for some fried pickles and a turbo dog (yummy Abita Brew). It was nice to get out of the dorm.
Tuesday the water was out for the whole campus, so we had to travel all the way to the chamber of commerce for the bathrooms. We did more training on projects and service learning, and heard from a current NCCC sponsor- very informative. We also did a crisis intervention workshop. We were supposed to do a ropes course on Wednesday and prepare for it on Tuesday night, but the contract didn’t go through so instead we just got more power point trainings. WOOP!
Wednesday was transition training and more project training. Then we did yoga for PT in the evening, and then Sally and Jordan and I went for a run around the neighborhood to check things out. It was sooo hot still at 6:30 and the hills were killer! Wednesday night we went to Karaoke night at the local bar. This place is definitely a small town- every head turned when we walked in. It was a great time, we have some serious vocalists on Team Green.
On Thursday we learned how to drive the vans… I did a lot better than I thought I would- I actually really liked it! Thursday night was Trivial Pursuit night- my team won, but no help from me (it was mainly just Delta Dan the Man)
Friday we did a round table on Southern Culture with guest speakers from around Vicksburg. I learned all about the confederate flag and the history of the civil war. Then we were off to the one other bar for fried pickles and some beer. We saw real live young people out for the first time! I think there may have been a wedding or something… Then we hit the casino but I was good and only played the penny slots.
Yesterday I slept in and then went to the military park with a group of Tls, then we came home and played some soccer in the 100 degree heat.
That brings us up to date…. Corps members come on Friday, so this week is all prep for their arrival. We are working on door decs and dorm hospitality right now…
Miss and love you all!

Jordan, Noooooo...!

Hi Y'all,
I'm back to campus safe after a wonderful trip to New Orleans...

After a long, emotional training (draining) day Friday, I stayed home for the night while my buddies went out to see the new Harry Potter. I definitely needed the sleep and felt much better on Sat morning when we loaded up our cars at 9am. We took the (very) long way, but the length of the trip wasn't an issue because it might have been my favorite part with "hot seat" and tons of bonding. We arrived at Abita Brewery at 2pm, just in time for the last FREE tour & tasting. Abita is a very cool green brewery (that reminded me of Great Lakes) north of New Orleans. After a couple free delicious beers, we headed to a BBQ place and I got my favorite- pulled pork sandwich. the girls there also gave us two heaping plates of free ribs because we were so foreign.

We drove back over the causeway to our gorgeous hotel the Olivier. We had two suites for cheapo AmeriCorps prices and 15 of us piled in on beds couches and sleeping bags.

We quickly got ready and headed out for a fun night on the town with some good food, hookah, drinks, blues, singing, dancing, strolling (with open containers-fun!), and of course Beignets!
Then we had a night swimming party in the courtyard of our little hotel tucked away right around the corner from Bourbon street. I was so happy to sleep on a non-plastic bed.

In the morning we got some awesome egg, panchetta, and imported provalone sandwiches and yummy coffee at a cute little cafe by pirate alley.

After checking out of our hotel, we headed to fellow TL Mary Molly's house in uptown New Orleans. Her family gave us a warm welcome into their house. It was so nice to be in a home with real homey things, carpeting and non-white walls. They made gumbo and strawberry shortcake. MMMMMmmmmmmm!

That's NOLA in a nutshell, off to a meeting, so I gotta sign off. Pictures to come.

Getting Things Done

Here's the community pool... and my friends Sally, Kyle, and Jordan...

The community pool was fun, but some of the rules were silly. We had to pass the deep water test as adults, and there is no jumping in anywhere except the deepend. (We had a cannonball contest with the kids there.) hilarious. there's rest period for everyone (including adults) every hour- but I think it was only 10 minutes. There were only four lounge chairs and they were metal. strange.

PT started on Monday at 6am... it was fun. not much to elaborate on there. After PT we each did presentations on policies & procedures. Then the staff took over again for another full day of training. After work we loaded up the 15ps and headed about an hour and a half away to the boys and girls camp. We did a ton of ice breakers while we waited for our dinner- the kids loved them! After dinner we set up our tents and-- poof-- it was dark. Luckily, the pool was lit and we had a blast splashing around for a couple of hours. I taught some synchro and everyone insisted on playing marco polo (ugh). I forgot a towel and was lucky to have my buddy Heidi let me use hers. After showering at the showerhouse (so happy to have one!) I headed to the fire circle, made smores and socialized with the counselors. They told us their camp ghost story- which wasn't scary at all. I made sure to get away from the fire before the last "authority left" so as to not have to be responsible for it...

I wasn't tired yet so I went out on the dock and listened to another TL, Patrick, play the guitar for awhile until the "monster" from the ghost story came out from his cabin and started running around with his chainsaw (leafblower)- oh those counselors.

Waited out the attack then headed to my three person tent to attempt sleep.

this is the view from my tent in the morning^

On Tuesday I woke up at 5:45 to go canoeing before tearing down camp and heading to the mess hall for some grits. The day was devoted to service learning- more learning than service. We were broken into four groups for stations. Our stations were: 1. tools training and bench building (I didn't get to take part in the benches because it poured for a while), 2. Trail clearing, 3. dock maintenance and fish habitat restoration, 4. roof training. After a fulllll day of work we headed back to campus and I passed out.

Here I am clearing some trail^

We had PT again this morning and then supervisory training all day.

I am sure you want more info about camp but I am super exhausted so I am going to have to sign off now. I miss you all

the TLs and some staff that came with us...

**I was trying to upload a few more pictures but it is getting rediculously slow so I will have to try to add them later**

the park

I'm sitting outside at the park on citywide free wireless completing some training tests and thought I'd make a quick post. There's a cute little city park down by the yazoo with a big jumping fountain (like the one at tower city) that the kids run through and play in. there are murals depicting Vicsburg life lining the river. this is also where the community farmer's market takes place. Yesterday and today have been days of relaxation... nothing new to tell you about. It is opressively hot here and I am burning my fingers on my keyboard as I type this. It's probably time to close up my computer and head for AC. Later today we are heading to the community pool to take a dip.

P.S. the bugs have begun to infiltrate our living space... there are some BIG GUYS. I got stung by something in the middle of the night last night but couldn't find it. Also there was a cute little gecko running up the wall.
well my computer is probably going to break down soon. miss you all!

Address

Casey McCue- Class XV
2715 Confederate Ave
Vicksburg, Mississippi
39180

Y'all write me now, ya hear!