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!