The end of round 2

I’m writing my team leader application. I am applying to AmeriCorps NCCC for another year. I know that I am capable of taking on this role, especially after I complete my term. I just hate filling out applications and often wait until the last minute.

It’s been quite sometime since I’ve updated. (I wrote this one before I wrote the last one and then posted them out of order, but any who).The Community Center Toy, Food and Clothing drive went well considering the obstacles we faced along the way. We were able to collect clothing toys and food for the kids of the community center and the center will distribute them to the families who will benefit from them.

We’re leaving soon. Thursday, April Fool’s day. Part of me wishes that it would be a giant April Fools that we’re leaving at all. I really like it here and I really enjoy this project. This space has become really special to me for some reason and I will be sad to leave my beautiful construction paper mountains. I hope that one day I will be able to live in a place this gorgeous.

I’ve learned a lot during this spike.

I’ve enhanced my construction abilities including: how to shingle a roof, how to install door knobs, how to paint, and how not to paint, how to dig trenches, how to rip up trees with out anything but gloves, how to frame a house, how install towel racks and toilet paper holders, and how to frame a door.

I also learned some unexpected things, like: always check your shoes for beatles, dogs have the ability to turn your day around, when playing games with kids always follow their rules (it’s more fun for them), if you draw something for one kid you will have to draw it for at least three more, always wear safety glasses when painting over head, appreciating what you have is often times better than chasing what you don’t, sedimentary mountains will crumble under your finger tips if you cling too tightly, having access to the internet is not as important to me as I initially thought (although watching Lost is still high priority), completing monotonous tasks is a good time for to listen to books on tape and lectures, walking through the desert at night is often more fun than walking through a city late at night, and finally fear can only hold you back.

I am forever grateful for this place, for this experience, it is in many ways defining for me as a person.

Reflection Round 2

Dear Mecca,

You’re beautiful. I love looking out over your construction paper mountains and sandy desert landscape contemplating the next step and often wondering what the baby burning factory actually burns. I don’t know if I will find a place more peaceful, and I’m not sure that I want to. I enjoyed our time together and I appreciate all that you taught me about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. It was here that I learned that what is important to me in my life isn’t money or status but the adventures I go on and the friendships I make a long the way. It was here that I realized that love is less about finding someone to spend the rest of your life with and more about cherishing your friends, your family and yourself. It was in you I realized that happiness isn’t something you buy it’s something you find within yourself, and sometimes within others; within the simplicity of coloring a picture for a seven year-old friend. Thank you, Mecca for dispelling stereotypes, for helping me to overcome fears, and for allowing me to realize my next step.

I want to say that I will come back to see you again, but I find that to be unlikely. I hope to visit you. I hope to be able to show people your beauty, but at the same time I don’t want anyone to come in and try and change you. I don’t think that you need to be updated or fixed. I think in a lot of ways you’re perfect the way you are. Which leads me to possibly the most important thing that I learned from you: that sometimes it is more rewarding to appreciate things, and people the way they are then to try and change them into something else. I will forever remember our time together. I will remember your cool desert nights, and that time I stood on a roof without fear. Thanks.

It's been busy around these parts.

Another few weeks in Mecca have come and gone. I have started to hit a groove with the work we are doing and am starting to adjust to my new living arrangements. I still enjoy the work I am doing; I imagine that there isn’t much that will change about that. I really love building houses and physical labor is somewhat thrilling, it’s certainly more exciting than paperwork. For the most part, I’ve been having really great conversations at work with the people on my team. I really enjoy being able to hang out with them and getting to know these people better.

Last week we started working on our Community Service Day project. We’re helping the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition with a Toy Food and Clothing drive for the children of the Paseo de Los Heroes Community Center. I’m hoping that our efforts will benefit the children of the center and they will have safe toys to play with. The majority of the games and toys here are broken or missing pieces. I would like to give them something that they can play with. I want them to have incentive to come here and play. I’d rather them be here where it’s safe as opposed to home alone or hanging out with the wrong crowd.

If you’d be interested in sending in Toys, Canned Food, or Clothing you can mail it to:

Coachella Valley Housing Coalition

45-701 Monroe Street, Suite G

Indio, CA 92201

In other news, I went to LA this past weekend and visited my friend Trish. She showed me around town and we went to Disneyland. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my short vacation away from all things AmeriCorps. I love what I do but it was nice to have a break from it all. We’re back at the worksite now and we’ve been putting some finishing touches on some houses. I installed door knobs this morning, but most of last week I dug irrigation trenches and leveled the ground. The week before we were clearing lots. I’m not sure which I enjoy more, leveling ground or ripping up trees and getting cut up by tumbleweeds.

Note to the public tumbleweeds have angry thorns like roses but meaner.

Also, we found out our next project we will be going to New Orleans staying in Camp Hope. We’re going to work with the Recovery School District. This job will have a lot of different tasks. I’m looking forward to a Gulf project more than I had expected but I am not happy about being there in the summer, which seems very likely. We will be there for Jazz fest and for that I am thankful.

Well it’s dinnertime and we have our mid-site visit tomorrow from our Unit Leader so I have to go back and help clean.

Sorry it’s taking so long for me to update. My mind has been elsewhere lately and I find it frustrating to write about what’s going on here. I enjoy the work but I’m not always happy, which is to be expected. I’m doing my best to stay positive.

Week 1: Mecca, Ca

We finished our first week in Mecca, Ca. I'm outside of the community center on my laptop. I'm lucky enough to be in walking distance of Internet, for that I am thankful. To my right I can see a mountain range, behind me is another and in front of me is a palm tree farm of sorts. I'm astounded by this place. California is so foreign to me still. I find it strange that palm trees are grown in view of mountains. Perhaps because I've always associated palm tress with tropic Florida it's confusing to me to find a palm tree farm in the desert. The days are warm but the mornings and evenings are temperate. This place is beautiful; I am trying to burn the scenic images into the deepest parts of my brain so I will be able to capture the essence of this place forever. I hope that years from now certain sounds and smells will push forth these images into my mind so that I will be able to return to this state of myself even if only for a brief moment.

I really enjoy the work I am doing; I climb up and down ladders with drills and paintbrushes all morning and I play with kids in the afternoon. I truly have the best of both worlds right now. I constantly find myself asking God, “why me?” in a way that I haven’t before asked him. “Why am I this lucky? What have I done to deserve the good that you’ve put in my life?” These questions are followed, quickly by “thank you” and “please don’t take this away from me. I love it”.

I want to break down the rest of this entry into 4 parts: Traveling, Orientation Day, First week of work, and Community mapping.

First: Traveling.

We left Sacramento early Monday morning, some how we managed to fit 20 pieces of luggage and 9 people into our 15 passenger van. It was a cramped drive but the view was gorgeous. California lucked out in the scenery department. It has everything from mountains to beaches, to farms, to valleys, to plains. It’s unfair really. As per NCCC regulations, we stopped every 2 hours to switch drivers and I took those moments to stretch, breath and capture the scenery on film. The drive itself was relatively uneventful, aside from finding a Louisiana Soul Food Kitchen and Chinese food shop attached to each other in Bakersfield, and arriving in our small 4-bedroom apartment in Mecca. Our rooms are divided 3-3-3-1. It’s frustrating to look at the person who has a bedroom to them self as I and another teammate sleep on cots. I’m more bitter than I should be considering I have a cot to myself to sleep on, and some of the kids down the street from me don’t even have that much. (Sometimes I wonder if I had less stuff, I’d have less to gripe about). Anyway, we went to dinner our first night here at this burger place that boasted it made the world’s best burgers. The burgers were good, but not world famous.

Part 2: Orientation day

We spent all day Tuesday with the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition learning about the organization that we are working with, we were able to meet John Mealey, the executive director of the CVHC. Then we were given a tour of the houses and apartments that were built by the CVHC. The complexes were really nice and I was very impressed. Wolff Waters, the last affordable housing complex they completed was probably my favorite. Of course this is the baby of the CVHC, it’s built in an upscale community so it had to fit in with the rest of the area. This is not to say that the other projects are not top notch, it’s jus that Wolff Waters was a 90 million dollar project and it looks like it was a 300 million dollar project. It’s that nice. I really enjoyed being able to tour the homes and facilities that the CVHC has provided for the Coachella Valley community. The other interesting thing about Wolff Waters is that the keys to the van were locked inside while the van was still running. We had to wait for AAA to come get us out of the jam, but not before we tried to unlock the door ourselves using a stick and lanyard technique. It may have been possible to achieve it if we had more time. I have captured parts of this fiasco on film. The person who locked the keys in the van uttered no apologies, but I’m sure they were embarrassed enough. I would have been, but I also probably would have laughed it off and told everyone about my silly antics. It was definitely an incident that won’t be forgotten on Blue 4, as now we are a lot more cautious to remember the van keys. The rest of orientation consisted of more of the same.

Part Tres: First Week of Work.

Our days are very similar but never the same. We get up every day and leave the house at 6:45; we arrive at the site a little before 7 and are assigned tasks. This week alone: I’ve helped remove a chain link fence, installed steel frames, and cut steel pieces to install, I’ve painted, I’ve moved sinks, I’ve installed closet doors, towel racks and toilet paper holders. By Siesta my Scapula is burning, well the muscles underneath my scapula. I’m tired sweaty and covered in dirt. It’s amazing. I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy working with my hands. I’ve built things before, and felt great satisfaction in my accomplishment but I feel fulfilled almost at the end of the day. In the afternoons, I play soccer and jump rope, and hang out with the kids at the community center, and the evenings I spend studying for the GRE. It’s so beneficial for me to not have a TV, but I am starting to feel claustrophobic in our 4-bedroom house. The room I share with three others is half the size of the room I have on base. It’s tiny, but I know that this is good for me. The best part is that whenever I start to feel claustrophobic all I have to do is walk outside and inhale the beauty that surrounds me.

Part Cuatro: Community Mapping

This weekend my team had the opportunity to explore more of our surrounding area. One group went on a mission to hike up a mountain while another group went to find materials to build a shelf. I stayed in and tried to download lost. I am ¼ of the way through my download that has been active for 4 hours or so. I’m hoping to have this download finished by the time the 5^th episode airs. At least I will have transition to catch up on my show. I did go into town today to pick up the shelf builders, they were over by the main part of town and we were able to see the local market and the recycling center. We also drove by a different community center, which has a Rock Band game night February 18^th. I’m excited to get to do some more exploring on my own two feet. The mountain climbing group made it half way up the mountain before turning back. I think that they’ll try again next weekend, perhaps on an already completed trail. I’m not sure though. I look forward to our adventures as they continue here in Mecca, Ca.

All Packed and Ready to Go

It's 6:32 right now in Sacramento, Ca. The Saints are winning the Super Bowl and I'm upstairs in the computer lab trying to entertain myself. I didn't sit through any of the game this year because I was busy trying to pack, also I don't really care about football, and there were no traditional Super Bowl snacks. I mean what is a Super Bowl party without pigs in a blanket and my mom's famous chips con queso recipe which she stole off the Velveta Cheese box. I just can't convince myself to do it. Although, I do have to say I hope the Saints win. It would be great for their community. Nothing brings together a city like a big win be it Football, Basketball, or Baseball. *

I'm excited about arriving in Mecca, Ca but I'm not so much excited for driving 10 hours packed in a 15 passenger van like sardines. I'm hoping that we will be able to pack effectively and that there will be enough room for me to wiggle my toes. I'm planning on wearing my steel toe boots mostly because I don't have room to pack 'em. Wearing steel toes and working all day sucks but wearing them while driving them sucks harder. I'm complaining a lot about this trip and I think a lot of it is because currently I can see many of the flaws in others and myself. I'm concerned for a lot of things that might happen over the course of these next two months. I'm also excited for the potential a big blow up could bring. I don't know I think maybe I'm just looking at the worst in things instead of the best in things.

I've been isolating myself a lot more lately, and I'm kind of concerned as to why. I can't pinpoint what is making me want to turtle up. I'm generally a very outgoing person, often in the middle of everything and very much want to be included. But recently, I've forgone outings and gone to bed early. Perhaps, I'm getting sick, perhaps this past month has been emotionally draining and I'm not feeling up to exerting more energy than what is absolutely necessary.

I do still believe in this program and am very happy about my actual work. I think it does make a difference, some projects more than others. I'm just blah right now. Possibly because I'm exhausted from packing. I hate packing and it doesn't get any easier no matter how many times you move.

I guess that's all. See you in Mecca?

Sara

*The Saints won, my friends in New Orleans are probably having a blast right now.

The evolution and soon to be absence of the internet

I'm in the computer lab typing this because the wi-fi has been out in my building for weeks now. Fortunately, I have access to internet despite that. It's funny how the internet has become such a necessary part of my life. I was introduced to the world of computers at a young age. My brother was an engineer by nature and my family was fortunate enough to be able to afford new electronics almost as soon as they came out. I went through almost every AOL upgrade and free demo cd available. I was in chat rooms talking to strangers before Chris Hansen knew how To Catch A Predator. In high school, I used internet sources to navigate my way through essays, and basic research. In College, I joined Facebook shortly after it started, and was in awe of my cousins wisdom of purchasing Google stock. I used internet sources for every research paper, and project. I even used it for papers where I was specifically told to avoid the internet. It's grown so vast and rapidly over the years and the progress that technology has made is amazing. I look forward to watching the future of the internet and technology as it grows and develops but hopefully not into some futuristic dystopian kind of way.

I've been thinking about this because very shortly I will be leaving my easy access to the internet behind. I will be living in a community where internet is not a priority to the majority of people who inhabit the community. Possibly more accurately, it's not an option to have in their homes. I find that for someone like myself who has so many questions the internet has been a crutch for me to be able to find answers to. I recently acquired an iPhone in order to ease the tension of being sans internet. However, it's no substitution for my computer. Also, I will not be able to catch the final season of Lost as it airs. I really enjoy that show, but at least I will be able to see it eventually.

Strangely, I'm looking forward to the challenge of not having access to the internet at all times*. I think it will be beneficial to me, to be without it. I have found that lately I have isolated myself more and more. I think it is crucial to unplug from the net and tap back into the world around me. There is so much sensory pleasures that I've missed out on due to the time I've spent indoors staring at a black lit screen.

I anticipate the challenge and possible metamorphosis that Mecca, Ca has to offer me. I'm excited about the things I will learn, and hyped about the people I will meet.

Sara
*I realize that I now have an iPhone but my network coverage isn't fantastic where I'm going. So, it's likely that I won't have my cell phone or internet to isolate myself on, in the 4 bedroom apartment that I'll be sharing with 9 other people.

Goodbye WJUSD and Hello CVHC

We finalized our project with the Woodland Joint Unified School District. I’m both saddened and relieved to move on to our next project. I will definitely miss the students and staff of Woodland, High School. I’m not so sure I will miss tutoring. Although it was rewarding, tutoring had enough frustrations that I could live my entire life never showing a student how to simplify polynomials or write a slightly better than mediocre essay. I do, however, love working with youth, just not academically. I keep emphasizing this, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s because I do slightly enjoy working in education. It’s rewarding in some ways, but I don’t want to be a teacher. I think that teachers are important they’re necessary and they need to receive more recognition for their work. But, I do not want to spend my life in as a teacher; I have too many frustrations with education in the U.S. and I can’t imagine my life trying to work within that system. Instead, I want to work around the education system.

This project solidified my desire to create my non-profit. I feel that there is a strong need for an organization that encourages teachers to incorporate more creative projects in their curriculum. Students need to be given a chance to grow exponentially in every way possible. A way to do this is to allow students to be more creative, give them the opportunity to shine in areas that aren’t wholly academic and encourage them to have fun while doing it. Hopefully, my non-profit will come to fruition sooner than I think, but it seems to be a very distant dream.

For now, I have to focus on the present. This week is transition, the other teams are back and campus is over run with corps members. It’s nice to have everyone back, but I’m also feeling as if my space is being invaded. I do look forward to being able to hang out with friends for this next week as we participate in cross training, give presentations on our respective projects and discover more about Life After AmeriCorps. This week will most likely go by quickly as there is a lot to do, and it’s hard not to focus on what’s next.

I spent a good majority of my day today looking up Independent Service Project Opportunities in Mecca, Ca. I found about 3 pages worth of potential organizations and events to work with while my team is in Mecca, Ca for the next two months. I am hoping that my team will be able to participate in several of the events, and really become involved in the community. I’m hoping during my time in Mecca, I will be able to update at least once weekly. If I am unable, I will continue to write and post the updates whenever I get internet.