See Ya Later Tears

It's "see ya later," not "goodbye" that was said today.

I'm home now. Back in good old Michigan. AmeriCorps is OVER. Graduation was this morning, and I flew home in the evening.

Here are the range of emotions I felt today:

Excitement: I really had a hard time sleeping last night due to excitement about graduation the next day. I woke up at 5 am, like a good little AmeriCorps girl, and checked out of my room.

Accomplishment: Sitting at the graduation ceremony, hearing all the speakers talk about how we have all made this country a better place made me feel proud for possibly the first time in ten months.

Sadness: Saying goodbye was terrible. Tears were everywhere I turned (because they were mine, clearly). I gave Katherine a big hug and then I lost it. I hugged all my team members, and tried not to look too many in the eye. We all know that there is a distinct possibility that we may all never see each other again.

Freedom: Taking off my uniform at the airport had so many feelings attached to it. I felt free. For the first time in ten months I could make my own decisions, I could wear my own clothes, I could leave when I wanted to, I don't have to answer to ten other people! It had a liberating effect.

Pure joy: I have not stepped foot in Michigan in seven months. Christmas was the last time. This was definitely the longest I have ever been away from home. Landing at the airport, I was almost brought to tears. I have come home after months serving the country. It was just a wave of joy that came over me, and I am very happy to be home.

If I can get through ten months of AmeriCorps NCCC, I will be able to get through anything.

See ya later,

anne

To Infinity and Beyond!

I have officially 3 days until my departure from AmeriCorps NCCC. It's pretty difficult to fathom. I haven't realized that I won't have to wear a uniform to work anymore (well, a lame one at least), or that I won't have to make my bed everyday for fear of room inspections. And, worst of all, it hasn't hit me that I may never see any members of Blue 6 ever again. Of course we plan to have reunions and visit each other, but in reality, that often goes no farther than a plan.

Luckily, we are all attempting to soak in the last bits of each other while we still can. Last Wednesday we ended our 5 day road trip from New Orleans to Sacramento with a few stops on the way. We went and saw Billy the Kid's gravesite, visited the magnificent Grand Canyon (I do not know that guy in the picture, but I wanted to capture his stance), and threw in a little Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and Big Tree State Park in the end. We definitely chose the more exciting route on the way back. Good move team.

Since we've been back, there have been several meetings with packing and cleaning squeezed in the middle. Yesterday, we had a "celebration of service" which consisted of picking up trash around an elementary school. I wouldn't exactly call that a celebration... But we had a delicious lunch and a pool party after, so it wasn't too painful. Oh and today was the Hard Corps 5k run that I participated in. I did relatively well despite the heat radiating from the concrete jungle we ran around, aka McClellan Air Base.

Now, all we have are a couple meetings, final room inspections, an awards banquet, and a graduation ceremony. At 2:30 on Wednesday, I'll be heading back to the mitten to continue on with my life. I wonder how that's going to turn out...

I plan to jot down my final thoughts the day I get home (hopefully I remember), so stay tuned.

<3 anne

So I'm Never Going to Attempt to Write a Blog Again...

I think I tried starting a diary several times when I was young, and failed. Then I tried a journal for vacations. Then I tried the futuristic "blog." And guess what, even with the fun gadgets technology has brought us, I still can't regularly write anything. You'd think I would learn this by now...

Anywho, St. Bernard Project is coming to an end. That also means AmeriCorps is coming to an end. Yes, July 28, 2010 is my date of graduation. "HOLY COW" you might say. "It's been ten months already?" you may also say. What's going on in my mind, however, is a little more complicated. I have started wishing my days away, which is bad, bad. I really am not digging this project. There's just something about it, which I can't pinpoint. And this week, I have been separated from my team member plumbers and it's just me, the plumbing assistant Doug, and a volunteer from central Florida. We ride around in a small red truck together. It's less than adorable. It also probably doesn't help that I got a taste of my real life this weekend when I visited my man for the holiday weekend and it was wonderful! I just am really looking forward to my real life!

Then on the other hand, I'm starting to realize I may never see any of my teammates again. I will be miles and miles away from them, and when is the next time I'm going to be in the Northeast United States? I mean really, who goes to New Hampshire for fun?? (JUST KIDDING all you New Hampshirians on my team) But, as I was discussing today with someone, my whole life will be full of meeting people, forming relationships, and then moving on. I just need to take what I've learned from all of these people and carry on.

Also, the fact that I still don't have a job or health insurance after July 28 is a bit worrisome. I'm sure it will all work out, but I'm trying to enjoy the comfort of AmeriCorps as long as I can. I don't have to pay rent, utilities, health insurance bills, or worry about finding a place to live or clothes to wear! But I guess it's what makes life exciting, right? RIGHT?? I'll keep telling myself that.

Alright well, next Friday, the 16th is our date of departure. Then we have a five-day road-trip back to Cali, and then a week of transition, and then I'm off to try out the real world once again!

I will write one more with my closing thoughts of the whole experience.

So, until next time,

anne

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell everyone, I'm in my fourth project now!

So it's been over a month. Hopefully not too many of you missed my banter...

We ended Green Light two weeks ago with a bang. I designed the annual report, a two by three foot lovely poster for a tabling display as well as two logos, one for 10,000 people in New Orleans, and Buy Green Give Green. Both are currently being made into t-shirts and Andi (the boss) is going to send them to me asap. Yay! They may also use my skills in the future, so stay tuned.

Now for our last and final project! We are working with St. Bernard Project (www.stbernardproject.org) in St. Bernard Parish, which borders New Orleans. To get downtown is about a 30 minute drive. Not too bad, but it does steer us away from spending way too much money. As for the organization, they do housing reconstruction for people whose houses were destroyed during the hurricane. So we don't build houses, just gut them and redo the insides. The primary candidates for the program are usually disabled individuals, elderly, or families with young children.

Each of my team members have different roles including, site supervisors (leading volunteers), electricians, office assistants, warehouse assistants and me... a PLUMBER. Yup, that's right. I'm working on my butt crack exposure as we speak. Abby, Earl and I (both are on my team) plumb together. Today was our second day and luckily our work is relatively laid back and quite interesting because the heat is pretty unbearable. I seriously have never sweated so much in all 23 years and 358 days in my life. If you didn't catch that, my birthday is next Thursday. Happy birthday to mwah!

Back to plumbing. SO, my boss is Tony, and his assistant is Doug. They are two interesting guys. I'll tell you about them another time. For now, I will give you the highlights of the day:

-donned a yellow, plastic Tyvex body suit and army crawled underneath the house (there is about a 2.5 foot gap between the ground and the floor of the house) and nailed in hot and cold water pipelines across the house.
-learned how to install water lines inside the house.
-watched some sweating and soldering of copper piping.
-climbed into the rafters in the attic and drilled holes through the ceiling with the "hole hog"
-sweated so much I looked as if I jumped into a pool. And I am NOT exaggerating. My entire shirt was a different shade of grey.
-walked to the Dollar General down the street four times to use the bathroom/bask in its glorious air conditioning.

So that's the rundown of the day. I'm essentially a plumbing apprentice. I must go though. It's dinnertime.

I promise I will do more writing.

Anyway, have a wonderful June week!!!!!!

<3 anne

P.S. 50 days until AmeriCorps is done! Not that I'm counting...

Yay! New Orleans!

Well, it's true. I do love New Orleans. It's amazing what two and a half weeks of direct communication can do for a relationship. The people are wonderful, the weather is lovely, and the food is fantastic.

This past weekend was epic. Saturday night went downtown to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. WOW. Everyone, please listen to their album/go to one of their shows. Then on Sunday, we went to Jazzfest 2010, the New Orleans music festival that has been going on since the 70s. The highlight of the day was seeing The Dead Weather (in the picture to the left with Jack White on the guitar) and the rain. The last song started getting really intense and just then it started pouring. Awesome. Rain is quite enjoyable when you plan for it. I also stopped by and danced at the gospel tent, and then rounded out the night with the Neville Brothers. Some true Louisiana, New Orleans funk. Pretty great.

On the work front, Green Light is great. Always changing, always unpredictable. We do different things all the time. As of this week, I have several new individual jobs, in addition to the regular phone calling, data entry, installing and education. I am now designing an annual report for them, as well as a volunteer newsletter regarding places to see around the area, and then I'm in charge of redesigning tabling event displays. Tabling means setting up those tables where someone stands behind it and hands out brochures and talks about the organization. My job is to organize it so there are different tables for different audiences, as well as updating all displays and information to make Green Light look "cool" and professional. So yes, this all keeps me very very busy. Bernie (the program manager) told me I might be the busiest AmeriCorps member they have had in history. I'm not sure if that's a title I really want...

Now comes a more exciting part (as if my life couldn't get more exciting right now). Due to the disastrous oil spill, we have been given some side projects. Now, of course, we would all rather there never be a reason to have to be deployed on disaster relief, but this does make for a more interesting week. Today, we worked with a food bank that serves the entirety of southern Lousisana to package up boxes of groceries for fisherman who are losing their catch. This weekend, I found out about an hour ago, we have been asked to go to the Mississippi coast to clear off beaches before the oil comes. I guess it's easier to clean oil off sand than debris on sand. I will let you know how it all goes. We may have more side projects as the oil hits the shore. What a man-made disaster. Way to go humans.

I will soon let you all know more about my Southern adventures. Until next time.

anne

The Southern Chapter

Well, as far as I'm concerned, the South is awesome. Laid back, chill (that one's for you Dan), and extremely friendly. New Orleans is a great city. I would have to classify it as a small big city. It really isn't that huge, maybe 400,000 in population. According to wikipedia, it is a mere 350 square miles, compared to Detroit's 1, 295 square miles of urban area. Then again, Detroit is a monstrosity...

Back to Green Light. This past week we have been doing mostly light bulb installations around the area. People sign up with Green Light to have us come and change all their light bulbs, then we go around to their houses and change each one.

I will now present to you "Stories of CFL Installees," a small sampling of people I have met:

Sister Teresa, the smiling nun:
Blue 6 trekked across Lake Pontchartrain two days in a row to meet up with this wonderful woman in Covington, LA. Our first day, we had to meet the nun in a Domino's parking lot to discuss light bulb installations. Yeah, never thought I'd say a sentence like that. She then took us around to homes in her community that were in need of light bulb changes. Many of the homes were extremely low income. It was poverty many people would never know existed beyond the main street. Hopefully they now have a sense of how they, too, can help save the planet without having loads of moolah or being friends with Al Gore, while saving money on their electric bills.

Swamp Man:
We then ventured out later in the week to the swampy bayou, about an hour away from NOLA. There, was a home on stilts right next door to alligator country. An adult son and a father lived there with three adorable doggies. After we installed, and after the son picked flowers for us, he took us to his dock to try and stir up the gator that lived in the water near them. Unfortunately, there were no gator sightings that day, but he told us about his days as a swamp tour guide, and then some of the affects of Katrina. He went north during the storm, but when he came back, the big tugboat next door was on top of a roof of a house less than a mile down the road. Crazy.

The Great Swimmer:
Later that day, we came upon an older man's home whose son lived next door. While we were installing, he told us how when Katrina came, he stayed despite all the warnings. His house filled up with water up to his chest and he had to swim to his son's house (who was gone at the time) and he lived there on bottled water and canned goods for 15 days by himself. He then went around showing us all the water marks around the house and the water damage to much of his furniture. He's definitely a tough cookie.

Some people might think that people need to get over Katrina and stop expecting sympathy, but I don't think it's sympathy they want. I think they just want to tell their story, and most of them are amazing stories. We're happy to hear them.

That's all for "Stories of Installees." Until next time.

Anne

NOLA! NOLA! NOLA!

Picture: This was on a sidewalk in Baton Rouge, LA, where we stopped for lunch during our roadtrip.

Hey everyone!

My blogs are really becoming few and far between... Oops. Well, as many of you know, Friday, April 16, 2010, Blue 6 arrived in New Orleans, LA. The five-day road trip went by with very few wrong turns. It was pretty smooth sailing. I was able to drive everyday, so it made it much more enjoyable. I can now add New Mexico and Texas to my list of states having spent the night in! I have to admit, though I hear rumors about Texans being, let's say, extroverted, it's a beautiful state!

Our apartment is in Mid-City which is, you guessed it, in the middle of the city. It's recently renovated with wooden floors and granite kitchen countertops. The only thing missing is furniture... We have a table and a chair. We all sleep on army cots that double as couches! How convenient. It's two bathrooms, one shower. So far, it hasn't been much of a problem. We shall see.

Saturday, unfortunately, despite being told we would have the day off, we had training from 9 to 5. This was somewhat irritating because I invited Dan in town for the weekend and he ended up walking around by himself all day! I felt pretty bad, but we both knew it was out of our control. Luckily, he's a big boy and found ways to entertain himself. Not too hard when you're in an awesome city! So, that was Dan, now for the AmeriCorps Saturday. Our boss's name is Andreas, from Switzerland. He's this hip-looking middle-aged man with a curly grey fro who rides a scooter around. He came to the city in 1993 and founded GreenLight New Orleans in 2006, after Katrina. The office is this bright, old, purple house with turquoise shutters. The right side of the house is where Andreas lives, and the left side is the office. (Doesn't have much of a scooter commute now does he.) Now Bernie is the program manager who is 26, very energetic, and used to be a science teacher. He was our trainer all day. We learned that the basic goals of GreenLight is to reduce energy usage in the city while decreasing electricity bills for low-income houses and educating the public regarding climate change and saving the planet. We learned how to train volunteers for installing lightbulbs, as well as how to enter and search for information in the computer database. Happily, it was all pretty interesting and we were able to take a few breaks, so the day went by quickly.

Today, Dan and I had the whole day together, so I went and showed him my office and then had lunch at this sweet Mediterranean restaurant on the corner called Lebanon's Cafe. Then we walked around the Carrollton area (which is where the office is) and checked it out. There's a main street with some sweet stores and restaurants. It was nice to walk around a non-tourist-infested area! Then we had some gelato and drove back to my apartment and took the streetcar to City Park. It's a giant park in the city. Clever name, I know. The Louisiana Museum of Art is located there, and it has a free sculpture garden which was awesome. There was a giant safety pin by Claes Oldenburg. Awesome! And then we sat on the grass near a pond. There are few better ways to spend a Sunday!

Tomorrow we have more training. It's Earth Day week (as well as Mom and Dad's anniversary!) so GreenLight is super busy.

So far, this place is awesome. Already I definitely feel more on my own rather than in AmeriCorps. It's a nice change.

I hope everyone is doing well!

<3 anne