Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
It's Back, and Better than Ever
I'm back from New Orleans, and I had a great trip. So many great stories to tell.
One cool thing about the trip was that from what I understand United Saints (the organization we worked with down there) is similar to OO in how it is operated with a few administrators, some long term volunteers and some short term volunteers, so I got to see a little bit about how that worked. I am sure OO will be much different, and I will be in the long term volunteer position rather than short term, but it was cool.
So many stories to tell. Our team did a special project on the last day. We cleared an area and put in benches and planted grass and flowers and painted a mural. It was pretty sweet. On the first work day, Monday, we worked on painting a house but around lunch time there was a shooting nearby so we went on lockdown and cleaned the church.
when we were getting ready to go out, Dave asked a few of us to help move some of Rev's boxes. so first the four of us drove over to the street of the Rev's new house and waited for a while before the Rev came with his uncle a little ways down, where the house actually was. we played whiffle ball with a kid named Montgomery while we were waiting. Then we looked at a little of the house and left to get some boxes. We found out we had to get empty boxes, and then go to the old house and pack them. Then we ate some pizza before moving the boxes to the new house. Dave took the three of us out to ice cream after it was all done and we went into the nice ice cream place with no shoes and work clothes and decided to be more conspicuous by doing a bollywood dance. Anyway, by the time we got back to the church it was about 6 hours later or something. Pretty crazy day.
We worked on several projects, including painting a house, building and painting a fence, cleaning out a shed, sanding caulkind and painting stairs, etc. When we werent working we went into town several times. We went to the lower 9th ward one time where the levy broke and everything was pretty much destroyed. It is basically barren now, other than a few dilapidated houses and a few new ones along with weeds and scrapwood and such. Igor stepped on a nail there and so we had to find a place for him to get a tetanus shot. That was a long ordeal as well, because the first place we went to wasn't going to workout so we went to another place which didn't work out and then another place that referred us to another place that had moved. Throughout all of this we got lost several times, making it take longer. Finally Nik and Igor dropped us back off at the church while they went back to one of the places and got in about 40 minutes later.
Other times we hungout with the volunteers both in the French quarter and around the church and stuff. They were pretty sweet, including Marcos, Daryl, Leann, Cory, Dave, Andre, Jessica, Adam, Chet, anybody else I might have missed.
The drive back was also an adventure with tornadoes in Arkansas and pouring rain from there to Michigan. We had to stop for about .5 hours for the tornadoes and then got back on the road. We dropped Nik off at her home in IL, Mitch and Emily in Grand Rapids, Kristen near Grand Rapids, and Igor in Lansing, ending with Michelle and I making it back to Mount Pleasant about 24 hours later.
Yup, there's probably more. I have photos (4 albums) on facebook. Feel free to take a gander.
One cool thing about the trip was that from what I understand United Saints (the organization we worked with down there) is similar to OO in how it is operated with a few administrators, some long term volunteers and some short term volunteers, so I got to see a little bit about how that worked. I am sure OO will be much different, and I will be in the long term volunteer position rather than short term, but it was cool.
So many stories to tell. Our team did a special project on the last day. We cleared an area and put in benches and planted grass and flowers and painted a mural. It was pretty sweet. On the first work day, Monday, we worked on painting a house but around lunch time there was a shooting nearby so we went on lockdown and cleaned the church.
when we were getting ready to go out, Dave asked a few of us to help move some of Rev's boxes. so first the four of us drove over to the street of the Rev's new house and waited for a while before the Rev came with his uncle a little ways down, where the house actually was. we played whiffle ball with a kid named Montgomery while we were waiting. Then we looked at a little of the house and left to get some boxes. We found out we had to get empty boxes, and then go to the old house and pack them. Then we ate some pizza before moving the boxes to the new house. Dave took the three of us out to ice cream after it was all done and we went into the nice ice cream place with no shoes and work clothes and decided to be more conspicuous by doing a bollywood dance. Anyway, by the time we got back to the church it was about 6 hours later or something. Pretty crazy day.
We worked on several projects, including painting a house, building and painting a fence, cleaning out a shed, sanding caulkind and painting stairs, etc. When we werent working we went into town several times. We went to the lower 9th ward one time where the levy broke and everything was pretty much destroyed. It is basically barren now, other than a few dilapidated houses and a few new ones along with weeds and scrapwood and such. Igor stepped on a nail there and so we had to find a place for him to get a tetanus shot. That was a long ordeal as well, because the first place we went to wasn't going to workout so we went to another place which didn't work out and then another place that referred us to another place that had moved. Throughout all of this we got lost several times, making it take longer. Finally Nik and Igor dropped us back off at the church while they went back to one of the places and got in about 40 minutes later.
Other times we hungout with the volunteers both in the French quarter and around the church and stuff. They were pretty sweet, including Marcos, Daryl, Leann, Cory, Dave, Andre, Jessica, Adam, Chet, anybody else I might have missed.
The drive back was also an adventure with tornadoes in Arkansas and pouring rain from there to Michigan. We had to stop for about .5 hours for the tornadoes and then got back on the road. We dropped Nik off at her home in IL, Mitch and Emily in Grand Rapids, Kristen near Grand Rapids, and Igor in Lansing, ending with Michelle and I making it back to Mount Pleasant about 24 hours later.
Yup, there's probably more. I have photos (4 albums) on facebook. Feel free to take a gander.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Break
Well, I have a break now. I am done with school for the year. So, from today until Saturday I don't have much going on. Yeah, about one and a half days. Saturday I work and then go to Louie, which will be sweet. My roommate Mitch is going too. Then I will come back and pack up and go home and then pack up and go to the DR for eleven weeks or so.
I am really excited about the summer and glad to be done with school. However, I am ready to just be in the DR and not doing all the prep stuff and everything. Oh well. Death is a part of life. That doesn't really have anything to do with it, just so you know, so you're not racking your prain for possible ways that it could connect, although there are some you could think of.
Anyway, I am hungry so I think I will eat before going to His House.
By the way, soccer is a good way to have fun and stay in shape, so if possible, get some friends who like to play soccer everyday. Some people from His House have been playing almost every day lately, and I have joined them most times. It's fun. On the other hand, if you like cheesy movies and don't necessarily want to stay in shape, get friends who like Bollywood movies (That's the India version of Hollywood in case you didn't know). First of all, they are really cheesy. Second of all, most of them are over three hours long. Fourth of all, people have been watching them at our house quite frequently lately, too.
Triple peace. Duga ruqa
I am really excited about the summer and glad to be done with school. However, I am ready to just be in the DR and not doing all the prep stuff and everything. Oh well. Death is a part of life. That doesn't really have anything to do with it, just so you know, so you're not racking your prain for possible ways that it could connect, although there are some you could think of.
Anyway, I am hungry so I think I will eat before going to His House.
By the way, soccer is a good way to have fun and stay in shape, so if possible, get some friends who like to play soccer everyday. Some people from His House have been playing almost every day lately, and I have joined them most times. It's fun. On the other hand, if you like cheesy movies and don't necessarily want to stay in shape, get friends who like Bollywood movies (That's the India version of Hollywood in case you didn't know). First of all, they are really cheesy. Second of all, most of them are over three hours long. Fourth of all, people have been watching them at our house quite frequently lately, too.
Triple peace. Duga ruqa
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