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
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
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