Home > Monday, September 24, 2007

Am I Ready To Be Done Yet?

Tomorrow commences the last week of our AmeriCorps service year. I think about the work we’ve been doing, the roof that we’re decking and all that I’d like to accomplish before we leave. Even with the best intentions time is running out, I don’t know if we’ll be able to finish. I guess the roof is one more thing that helps make the reality sink in—One week left.

Our Tuesday through Saturday work week got cut short a day because the new NCCC Denver and Perry Point teams have been delayed because of the hurricane in the Gulf. Duane wanted us working Monday through Thursday next week in order to get an extra day to show the new teams what we know.

While I took a “Life After AmeriCorps Day” on Tuesday to plan some of the traveling I will do after graduating, everyone else finished the sheathing on Farmsite. On Wednesday we worked with Sam in the warehouse moving all the tools into one container and organizing the free-for-all room. It was obnoxious but necessary work that took up the entire day. Someone managed to get the forklift stuck in the mud which provided a nice little diversion of our work as we tried all sorts of techniques to free the forklift. Eventually we got it out.

When the hurricane hit Texas it rained us out of a good days work on Thursday. We started out Thursday morning on Farmsite but hadn’t even snapped the chalk line to mark the first row of decking yet when the dark clouds rushed in and we were forced to take shelter from the rain.

We waited a good half an hour before we were told to go back to Beauregard where we did odd jobs like replacing the grips on the stairs, cleaning showers and bathrooms, taking screws out of the bunks that had been taken apart from the old Camp Hope and scrubbing mold off the bunks. It was the longest day ever. As soon as work was over Che and I went for a long walk in the rain.

On Friday Mother Nature surprised us with pleasant weather even though the forecast had predicted rain again. We were out on the roof at Farmsite putting up decking with four awesome volunteers. Despite all of the challenges of trusses not lining up right, we figured out how to make this work, which is half the fun anyway. Seriously, there is nothing better for an NCCC trip to overcome obstacles like warped trusses. We went home that night with the promise of a good weekend, our last weekend in Louisiana.

 All in all it was a normal work week. Joanna and Orlando had a ton of respirators and personal protective equipment to clean and papers to file for their reception jobs. They might get to work with us this last week once the new teams get trained in their positions! Jared actually got to do some physical work with us on Wednesday when we were all moving stuff around in the warehouse.

We missed Leann who took her personal days this week to look for after AmeriCorps opportunities in the New Orleans. The volunteers were amazing this week: Paul from Denver, Paul from Wisconsin, Henry from Boston and Samantha and David from New York. I really enjoy the volunteer community down here.

Today is absolutely beautiful. The humidity is down to 38% this weekend which makes a world of difference. It’s warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze. In the very first blog I wrote about only having six more chances to get free Indian food on Sunday nights and now, six weeks later, it looks like we are finally going be able to go tonight! But for now we will enjoy the rest of our last Sunday afternoon in the Parish.

- The Tribe