Saturday, June 9, 2012
painting, painting, and more painting
hello everyone!
I haven't written since the very beginning of this project, and now it's the end! We only have 3 more days of work, 1 day of cleaning and packing, and then we're off to Flagstaff, or as people around here call it, "Flag". We're definitely going to be leaving with mixed emotions though---this is the most welcome we've ever felt coming into a community. People here have been so gracious and so thankful for our work. There are always thankful people anywhere we go, but I think because we are the first team that Yuma has had, they were extra thankful.
So, as you can probably guess..all our work hours have been spent painting the downtown canopies. As of Friday I think we've officially finished somewhere around 12 buildlings?? I'm thinking that when we leave we may have completed around 15 or so. Walking down Main St., you can definitely notice the difference we've made!
We're still not used to the heat...or getting up so early! We kept thinking that eventually we'd get into a decent sleep schedule and then it wouldn't be such a big deal, but we were wrong..we just can't get ourselves to go to bed..so we ALWAYS end up tired the next day. Oh well, only 3 more days of it! On the plus side, we've had so many free meals and cook outs and tours from different organizations in the city. This past week, my teammate Katy and I were also interviewed on a local talk show radio station in Yuma..they gave us the chance to talk not only what we were doing here in Yuma, but also what projects we've done and we got to describe Americorps NCCC in a little more detail. People around here have definitely not heard of it, so I'm glad we're spreading the word! :)
Other than work, we've been spending time at the river, we got to kayak one evening! We also got some free archery lessons...we have free passes to the Aquatic Center which is a good place to go hang out and cool off. Oh, and the people of age on my team got to check out one of the casinos nearby, the Cocopah Casino, owned by the Cocopah tribe...it's small, but a lot of fun! It's a good thing we don't have much time here or much money, we'd probably be at that place more often! Hahahaha
On Friday we head to Flag. Even though I'm sad to leave Yuma, I am getting a little tired of painting everyday, and I'm excited to check out Flagstaff! Everyone here tells us how much we're going to love it there! It's going to get cold camping at night though, it's been getting down into the 30's! Yikes! Good things the tents are small and we have to snuggle together! Like any project, I'm eager to find out more details and really understand what we'll be actually doing. You just never know what to expect when you first get in! I'm thankful that our sponsors will be providing us with passes to the YMCA though...there we will be able to work out, shower, use wifi, and we're even planning to charge our phones! Even though we're camping, I don't think we'll be super primitive camping...so that's good :) We'll see how it goes!!
48 days until I graduate from Americorps NCCC. Holy. Crap. I cannot believe that it's almost over, and the thought of leaving some of these friends that I'm used to seeing everyday literally makes my stomach hurt. We all gathered and befriended each other, only to be thrown back all over the country after 10 short months. It is so weird! Sure, there be a couple of friends that I'll keep in contact with, maybe visit a few people...but there's just so many other people that I've gotten to know and truly care about..and I'll probably never see them again. So so so sad. On another note, I am really getting eager to go home too, weird huh? I've never felt such extreme polar opposite feelings about something. But, especially since it's summertime now, I find myself getting homesick more often. There's just nothing like summertime at home! I'm ok though, I just keep focusing on what I'm doing now, because there's not much time left. Anyways....I hope everything is well for everyone at home. I'll be home soon!!! :) :)
Abby
xoxo
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Yuma!!!
Hello everyone!!
So far we've had a tour of the city along with a lot of safety training. And yesterday we started the outdoor work bright and early at 5 am! Yikes! But this way, we were off between 1 and 2...which is when the hotteset part of the day really starts. Lucky for us, the area we're working in is right next to the riverbank beach thingy! It's the colorado river, and I've already been in it twice! And there's a nice sandy beach and everything..it's wonderful! Also, after memorial day we'll be able to go to the aquatic center after work as well, so there are plenty of ways to keep cool.
The objective of this project was kind of hazy for a little while, but I think I got the idea now. There's an old "downtown" part of Yuma that at one time was very popular and very attractive, and it's kind of died down...other malls have gone up, the city has grown, and the cute, quaint downtown area suffered--now the buildings are run down and have paint peeling off of them. Apparently, at some point a long time ago, the city decided to buy the canopies of all the buildings on the downtown strip. Anything protruding from the face of the building that provides shade is now owned by the city. So, we're working for the City of Yuma/Parks and Rec to help fix up these canopies a bit. Hopefully, a little life and a little color will help bring people back into the area. The first business we started on is a fitness center...it has a huge canopy with huge pillars, and were painting it blue and tan..honestly, I think it's going to look pretty neat! So far they have 12 businesses lined up for us, but we may get even more than that. I wasn't sure how much it would actually help, but even after one day I can see that this is going to be beneficial. While we were working, we had so many people come up to us and thank us. For the most part the city is pretty aware of us and what we're doing here, which is neat. The city council people think we are just amazing, and have really tried to spread that word about us and hook us up with neat things. Apparently they were supposed to get a team last year, but the team got pulled to work on disaster, so they've literally been waiting on us for a year! We have various businesses that have offered to feed us breakfast or lunch on a given day, and yesterday a sweet old man invited us across the street to his restauarant called "Lutes Casino" and gave us all free pops. I think people take pity on us when they see us working out in this heat! We don't mind though :)
For example, we're getting free passes to the Aquatic Center when it opens, on June 1st we're going on a kayaking trip down the Colorado River, we've already received a free tour of the Historic Yuma Territorial Prison, we might get to set up a tubing trip down the river, and we can schedule anytime an archery lesson. Oh, and if we want we can golf for free at the golf course we live right next to. Pretty sweet, huh? And honestly, we're thinking that more opportunities will probably arise..the people here are pretty wonderful. I think Yuma is definitely a secret that people don't know about.
As you can probably tell, I'm pretty excited about being here. I'm thankful that we're in such a welcoming community, and I know it's going to be hard to leave. This is a split project, so we're only here like 4 more weeks and then it's off to Flagstaff. We'll just have to get as much as we can done while we're here!! Hope everything is wonderful at home:)
xoxo
Abby
I've been in Yuma now for 3 full
days, and I never would have imagined what a neat city this is!! Honestly,
everyone on my team is surprised. Yuma definitely has the stereotype of just
being a "desert town' that is just too hot and nobody wants to go to. But
it's a really neat town with lots of cool stuff to do. Yes, it's hot. But the
local people here talk about getting acclamated and everything and then it's
fine. It's mostly a dry heat, except for like 2 months of the year--July and
August. Basically, they suffer through 2 months of "hell" for 10
months of paradise. I'm not sure if I consider it paradise yet...it pretty much
is going to get to the triple digits for the entire time we're here, and
anytime I go outside I want to jump into a pool--but I'm getting used to it :) Another thing I love is that it's definitely a city, big enough to have everything you need...but it definitely still has a small town feel, which amazes me because the populations is almost 90 times Fort Recovery's!
So far we've had a tour of the city along with a lot of safety training. And yesterday we started the outdoor work bright and early at 5 am! Yikes! But this way, we were off between 1 and 2...which is when the hotteset part of the day really starts. Lucky for us, the area we're working in is right next to the riverbank beach thingy! It's the colorado river, and I've already been in it twice! And there's a nice sandy beach and everything..it's wonderful! Also, after memorial day we'll be able to go to the aquatic center after work as well, so there are plenty of ways to keep cool.
The objective of this project was kind of hazy for a little while, but I think I got the idea now. There's an old "downtown" part of Yuma that at one time was very popular and very attractive, and it's kind of died down...other malls have gone up, the city has grown, and the cute, quaint downtown area suffered--now the buildings are run down and have paint peeling off of them. Apparently, at some point a long time ago, the city decided to buy the canopies of all the buildings on the downtown strip. Anything protruding from the face of the building that provides shade is now owned by the city. So, we're working for the City of Yuma/Parks and Rec to help fix up these canopies a bit. Hopefully, a little life and a little color will help bring people back into the area. The first business we started on is a fitness center...it has a huge canopy with huge pillars, and were painting it blue and tan..honestly, I think it's going to look pretty neat! So far they have 12 businesses lined up for us, but we may get even more than that. I wasn't sure how much it would actually help, but even after one day I can see that this is going to be beneficial. While we were working, we had so many people come up to us and thank us. For the most part the city is pretty aware of us and what we're doing here, which is neat. The city council people think we are just amazing, and have really tried to spread that word about us and hook us up with neat things. Apparently they were supposed to get a team last year, but the team got pulled to work on disaster, so they've literally been waiting on us for a year! We have various businesses that have offered to feed us breakfast or lunch on a given day, and yesterday a sweet old man invited us across the street to his restauarant called "Lutes Casino" and gave us all free pops. I think people take pity on us when they see us working out in this heat! We don't mind though :)
For example, we're getting free passes to the Aquatic Center when it opens, on June 1st we're going on a kayaking trip down the Colorado River, we've already received a free tour of the Historic Yuma Territorial Prison, we might get to set up a tubing trip down the river, and we can schedule anytime an archery lesson. Oh, and if we want we can golf for free at the golf course we live right next to. Pretty sweet, huh? And honestly, we're thinking that more opportunities will probably arise..the people here are pretty wonderful. I think Yuma is definitely a secret that people don't know about.
As you can probably tell, I'm pretty excited about being here. I'm thankful that we're in such a welcoming community, and I know it's going to be hard to leave. This is a split project, so we're only here like 4 more weeks and then it's off to Flagstaff. We'll just have to get as much as we can done while we're here!! Hope everything is wonderful at home:)
xoxo
Abby
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Round 3= Complete!
Hello everyone!
I am so sorry for the lack of posts. We didn't have wifi at Marycrest..and when I did make a trip to get internet, I would get so side tracked on other things instead of posting a blog. :/ But for now I'm on campus for a solid week of internet usage :) That's always good news.
Round 3 at Marycrest Assisted Living Center was nothing short of incredible. For a project that over the past few years wasn't very populat with the Corps, we sure had a good time. I think we owe part of that to how fantastic my team leader Steve was. He has some positive energy about him that is just so contagious, you can't help but be enthusiastic right along with him! Don't get me wrong--since we literally do everything together we all witness each others' bad moments, but we definitely made things a lot of fun. I think we even rubbed off on the staff a little bit about having a positive attiude--saying things like "it's all good", or "it's a great day!"...sounds cheesy, but it really makes a big difference.
After working in the kitchen, I mentioned to Steve that I really enjoyed doing that and I wouldn't mind doing it everyday, as long as I would have some time every now and then to participate in activities and things too. I started working every breakfast shift from 7-10 am. Then from 10 to 11 I would get to chill and just go hang out somewhere, find an activity that the residents were doing or just hang out in the lobby and chat with them. Then, I also worked every lunch shift from 11-2 pm. I really liked getting to work in the kitchen, it pretty much guaranteed that I got to see almost all of the residents twice a day! I also really liked the kitchen staff and got to be good friends with them, it turned into a pretty good routine for me. At least 1, maybe 2 of the kitchen workers are even going to come to our graduation at the end of Americorps! (Marycrest was only 9 miles from our campus) Beza and Steve also worked in the kitchen during those shifts, while the rest of the team was scattered out doing painting, carpet cleaning, activities with residents, gardening, weeding, etc. Sometimes members of the team got to go on "outings" with the residents--to Target, Walmart, bowling, the movies, etc. Those were always exciting days too.
While the structure of days were hectic, and we had schedules to follow, some of the best times of the day for me was when I would just take a second and hang out with a resident one on one. I met a man named Guy Blankenship, and it turns out he ran the Iditarod 9 times! In fact, his room looks like a museum. For such an antisocial guy, he really took a liking to our team and invited us in multiple times to tell us stories and let us look at his stuff. Another guy I liked to spend time with was named John. He was in a wheelchair, and was pretty hard to understand. It was apparent he had had a stroke, because half of his body was pretty useless. But one time he commented, "sometimes I just want someone to talk to". He was a happy guy that liked to sit outside in the sunshine. I'd sit out there with him for short periods of time and here about the days when he lived in the mountains. About halfway through the round, he started showing up for mealtimes walking with a walker!! I was so proud of him, and he is so determined to get better. He told me that there was a time where he couldn't even sit up or talk, so where he was at was a huge accomplishment. Amidst the team's tearful goodbye on Friday morning, I gave him a big hug and told him to keep on working. He promised he would. Our team had already promised that we'd be back to visit in July after 4th round, and I told him that by that time he better be dancing because I want to dance with him! He thought that was absolutely hilarious! Little bits of conversation like that that I have had with so many of the residents are what I'm truly going to miss.
Another really neat thing is how many of those residents just wanted to take care of us, it was almost like having 50 grandparents! They'd tell us not to work too hard, they'd come out and give us a root beer or a piece of candy. They'd compliment us on our work even if we totally knew we were struggling. And honestly, the same thing goes for the residents in the other building--adults with disabilities. A resident named Vickie moved in about 3 weeks before we left, she really liked us and decided she wanted to crochet us all hats. So she taught another resident Nicole how to do it, and within a week we all had our own hats, and no two were the same colors.
This project had so many highlights. One of them was the first ever Marycrest Talent Show that we put on for the residents. It took place on a Wednesday evening, and we had about 15 acts in it. We had to really hype it up to get some of the more difficult residents to go, but it turned out spectacular. We invited all of the other local Americorps teams and the ones that were in Boulder to come, and that alone was like 60ish people. We had a HUGE turnout of residents, and some of their families even came! The total was something like 140 people, but the room's capactiy was only 102! Some residents performed acts of singing, playing instruments, showing off artwork, and Corps members performed different acts as well. My entired team did a singing/dance number to "My Girl", and I did a separate act with a girl on my team named Lauren--we did the Macarena while hula hooping! We got a huge cheer for that...so much fun! The next day, so many residents were complimenting on how wonderful the show was, one residents stood up at breakfast and asked everyone to give us another round of applause. It was so cute! That was definitely a night to remember.
Another highlight was a side volunteer opportunity that we did for the Denver Health Foundation. They had a "Nightshine Gala" fundraiser which included a cocktail hour, big fancy dinner, a live auction, and an Earth, Wind and Fire concert!!! We helped set up, usher, and assist with the auction, adn then we got to watch the concert for free! Right in front of the stage on the dance floor! Given that E, W, and F is Steve's favorite band, he was like a little boy the entire night. That was yet another night that I will never forget. Our team had such a blast!
Leaving Marycrest was so hard. I'm not sure if it was harder than the others, or if I was just emotional about it. I think that it's just really wearing on me to get to know people so well, and then to just get ripped away. Everytime at the end of a project I feel the same way---I feel SO fortunate to meet all the wonderful people I do, but I get so pissed off that I have to leave them. I know that I will continue to meet new people, but that doesn't heal the hurt of leaving the people that I've just become good friends with. And of course, I add them on Facebook, I have their phone numbers..but sometimes it's just hard to keep things going. Our lives keeps changing and inevitably people lose touch, it just happens. All I can do is just really hold tight to the memories I do have with these people, and pray for the best for them in the future.
The same can even be said for the shuffle team that I was just on at Marycrest. I thorougly enjoyed getting to know Lauren, Henry, and Steve. I lived with them for two months, we got pretty close. And now, as much as I'm eager to get back to my original team, I can't believe I have to leave them! Such a rollercoaster.
So, after this week of transition, I will be heading to Arizona back with my original team! Half of the project will be spent in Yuma living in a Civic Center, and the other half will be spent in Flagstaff camping!! I am SUPER excited. This is unlike any project my team has had so far, and we could not be more excited. I'll fill in with more details later this week, because things are still fuzzy and this blog is SO long. Keep it real ya'll
Peace & Love
Abby :)
I am so sorry for the lack of posts. We didn't have wifi at Marycrest..and when I did make a trip to get internet, I would get so side tracked on other things instead of posting a blog. :/ But for now I'm on campus for a solid week of internet usage :) That's always good news.
Round 3 at Marycrest Assisted Living Center was nothing short of incredible. For a project that over the past few years wasn't very populat with the Corps, we sure had a good time. I think we owe part of that to how fantastic my team leader Steve was. He has some positive energy about him that is just so contagious, you can't help but be enthusiastic right along with him! Don't get me wrong--since we literally do everything together we all witness each others' bad moments, but we definitely made things a lot of fun. I think we even rubbed off on the staff a little bit about having a positive attiude--saying things like "it's all good", or "it's a great day!"...sounds cheesy, but it really makes a big difference.
After working in the kitchen, I mentioned to Steve that I really enjoyed doing that and I wouldn't mind doing it everyday, as long as I would have some time every now and then to participate in activities and things too. I started working every breakfast shift from 7-10 am. Then from 10 to 11 I would get to chill and just go hang out somewhere, find an activity that the residents were doing or just hang out in the lobby and chat with them. Then, I also worked every lunch shift from 11-2 pm. I really liked getting to work in the kitchen, it pretty much guaranteed that I got to see almost all of the residents twice a day! I also really liked the kitchen staff and got to be good friends with them, it turned into a pretty good routine for me. At least 1, maybe 2 of the kitchen workers are even going to come to our graduation at the end of Americorps! (Marycrest was only 9 miles from our campus) Beza and Steve also worked in the kitchen during those shifts, while the rest of the team was scattered out doing painting, carpet cleaning, activities with residents, gardening, weeding, etc. Sometimes members of the team got to go on "outings" with the residents--to Target, Walmart, bowling, the movies, etc. Those were always exciting days too.
While the structure of days were hectic, and we had schedules to follow, some of the best times of the day for me was when I would just take a second and hang out with a resident one on one. I met a man named Guy Blankenship, and it turns out he ran the Iditarod 9 times! In fact, his room looks like a museum. For such an antisocial guy, he really took a liking to our team and invited us in multiple times to tell us stories and let us look at his stuff. Another guy I liked to spend time with was named John. He was in a wheelchair, and was pretty hard to understand. It was apparent he had had a stroke, because half of his body was pretty useless. But one time he commented, "sometimes I just want someone to talk to". He was a happy guy that liked to sit outside in the sunshine. I'd sit out there with him for short periods of time and here about the days when he lived in the mountains. About halfway through the round, he started showing up for mealtimes walking with a walker!! I was so proud of him, and he is so determined to get better. He told me that there was a time where he couldn't even sit up or talk, so where he was at was a huge accomplishment. Amidst the team's tearful goodbye on Friday morning, I gave him a big hug and told him to keep on working. He promised he would. Our team had already promised that we'd be back to visit in July after 4th round, and I told him that by that time he better be dancing because I want to dance with him! He thought that was absolutely hilarious! Little bits of conversation like that that I have had with so many of the residents are what I'm truly going to miss.
Another really neat thing is how many of those residents just wanted to take care of us, it was almost like having 50 grandparents! They'd tell us not to work too hard, they'd come out and give us a root beer or a piece of candy. They'd compliment us on our work even if we totally knew we were struggling. And honestly, the same thing goes for the residents in the other building--adults with disabilities. A resident named Vickie moved in about 3 weeks before we left, she really liked us and decided she wanted to crochet us all hats. So she taught another resident Nicole how to do it, and within a week we all had our own hats, and no two were the same colors.
This project had so many highlights. One of them was the first ever Marycrest Talent Show that we put on for the residents. It took place on a Wednesday evening, and we had about 15 acts in it. We had to really hype it up to get some of the more difficult residents to go, but it turned out spectacular. We invited all of the other local Americorps teams and the ones that were in Boulder to come, and that alone was like 60ish people. We had a HUGE turnout of residents, and some of their families even came! The total was something like 140 people, but the room's capactiy was only 102! Some residents performed acts of singing, playing instruments, showing off artwork, and Corps members performed different acts as well. My entired team did a singing/dance number to "My Girl", and I did a separate act with a girl on my team named Lauren--we did the Macarena while hula hooping! We got a huge cheer for that...so much fun! The next day, so many residents were complimenting on how wonderful the show was, one residents stood up at breakfast and asked everyone to give us another round of applause. It was so cute! That was definitely a night to remember.
Another highlight was a side volunteer opportunity that we did for the Denver Health Foundation. They had a "Nightshine Gala" fundraiser which included a cocktail hour, big fancy dinner, a live auction, and an Earth, Wind and Fire concert!!! We helped set up, usher, and assist with the auction, adn then we got to watch the concert for free! Right in front of the stage on the dance floor! Given that E, W, and F is Steve's favorite band, he was like a little boy the entire night. That was yet another night that I will never forget. Our team had such a blast!
Leaving Marycrest was so hard. I'm not sure if it was harder than the others, or if I was just emotional about it. I think that it's just really wearing on me to get to know people so well, and then to just get ripped away. Everytime at the end of a project I feel the same way---I feel SO fortunate to meet all the wonderful people I do, but I get so pissed off that I have to leave them. I know that I will continue to meet new people, but that doesn't heal the hurt of leaving the people that I've just become good friends with. And of course, I add them on Facebook, I have their phone numbers..but sometimes it's just hard to keep things going. Our lives keeps changing and inevitably people lose touch, it just happens. All I can do is just really hold tight to the memories I do have with these people, and pray for the best for them in the future.
The same can even be said for the shuffle team that I was just on at Marycrest. I thorougly enjoyed getting to know Lauren, Henry, and Steve. I lived with them for two months, we got pretty close. And now, as much as I'm eager to get back to my original team, I can't believe I have to leave them! Such a rollercoaster.
So, after this week of transition, I will be heading to Arizona back with my original team! Half of the project will be spent in Yuma living in a Civic Center, and the other half will be spent in Flagstaff camping!! I am SUPER excited. This is unlike any project my team has had so far, and we could not be more excited. I'll fill in with more details later this week, because things are still fuzzy and this blog is SO long. Keep it real ya'll
Peace & Love
Abby :)
Sunday, March 25, 2012
2 weeks down, already!
Hello all!
Another week has successfully gone by, I honestly can't believe how fast this entire year with Americorps is going. We just figured out yesterday that we are about 4 months from graduation. 4 months!! I'm not sure where the first 6 months went, but I can't believe everything's moving so fast. I guess that's what happens when you're constantly busy, changing things up, and having fun!
So this week was a little more structured, which is relieving. But it's still laidback enough that as long as you get certain things done, there's time to go just hang out with residents. The downer is that we worked approximately 12 hour days...so we pretty much put in 60 hours, and that's not counting whatever additional hours we work on the weekends. Don't get me wrong, the work is not difficult at all, but just being "on" all the time is exhausting. I think our team leader Steve is going to work to get those cut back down a little. We need 1700 total hours to graduate, but we're all way ahead of the game so there's no need to torture ourselves working so much!!
As I get more and more familiar with the staff and residents, I get more comfortable as well, and the days get easier. I get more used to the diagnoses and my patience has definitely improved. Sometimes, peole are just having a bad day, and they may snap at you, but it's nothing to take personal. I also really like when I get residents involved in whatever activity I'm running at the time. There's certain residents that are toughies and sort of have a bad attitude about things, but when you get them interested in something it's really rewarding. Getting people to participate who usually choose not to is great!
My team leader and team continue to be awesome. We're still doing Insanity, and it is still kicking my ass, but I like to think that I'm getting in better shape :) If nothing else, it's definitely making me sweat! We all went to watch the Hunger Games movie that came out on Friday too, so that was a fun time. I continue to have such a good feeling about this round, I just know it's going to be great!!
On another note, 12 more days until I get to visit home! woooohoo! can't wait to see everyone! :)
xoxo
abby
Another week has successfully gone by, I honestly can't believe how fast this entire year with Americorps is going. We just figured out yesterday that we are about 4 months from graduation. 4 months!! I'm not sure where the first 6 months went, but I can't believe everything's moving so fast. I guess that's what happens when you're constantly busy, changing things up, and having fun!
So this week was a little more structured, which is relieving. But it's still laidback enough that as long as you get certain things done, there's time to go just hang out with residents. The downer is that we worked approximately 12 hour days...so we pretty much put in 60 hours, and that's not counting whatever additional hours we work on the weekends. Don't get me wrong, the work is not difficult at all, but just being "on" all the time is exhausting. I think our team leader Steve is going to work to get those cut back down a little. We need 1700 total hours to graduate, but we're all way ahead of the game so there's no need to torture ourselves working so much!!
As I get more and more familiar with the staff and residents, I get more comfortable as well, and the days get easier. I get more used to the diagnoses and my patience has definitely improved. Sometimes, peole are just having a bad day, and they may snap at you, but it's nothing to take personal. I also really like when I get residents involved in whatever activity I'm running at the time. There's certain residents that are toughies and sort of have a bad attitude about things, but when you get them interested in something it's really rewarding. Getting people to participate who usually choose not to is great!
My team leader and team continue to be awesome. We're still doing Insanity, and it is still kicking my ass, but I like to think that I'm getting in better shape :) If nothing else, it's definitely making me sweat! We all went to watch the Hunger Games movie that came out on Friday too, so that was a fun time. I continue to have such a good feeling about this round, I just know it's going to be great!!
On another note, 12 more days until I get to visit home! woooohoo! can't wait to see everyone! :)
xoxo
abby
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Week 1 of Round 3 complete!
Hello...!
It's been quite an interesting week...and by interesting I mean: fun, scary, boring, exciting, funny, weird, uncomfortable. All in all, I think it went well. We arrived to Marycrest (only 9 miles from campus) Monday morning. We got our stuff settled into our "house", which is really an old abandoned office building on the Marycrest property. Everyone has their own room except Caroline and I share. I really don't mind at all though...it's like having a sleepover with one of your best friends every night! :) Anyways, after we got settled in we went and had lunch in the cafeteria in the Serenity building. There are two parts of Marycrest Assisted Living: the Serenity building is for senior citizens, and the Harmony building is for adults with disabilities or traumatic brain injuries (TBI's). Monday afternoon they didnt have anything for us planned except for "teambuilding" so Steve (my new TL!) took us to Jumpstreet! Which is a place filled with rows and rows of big trampolines! It was soooooo much fun! Then we went out for ice cream..Monday was a fantastic day.
On Tuesday we started in with our orientation. It was long, but necessary. We learned the different things that they wanted us to work on. We're going to develop 3 internship positions for Marycrest, which is pretty neat. They also talked to us about common diagnoses for the residents who live at Marycrest. They range from diabetes, to schizophrenia, to dementia, to epilepsy. They talked about how important it was for us to be aware of the disabilities and things, but they also challenged us to get past those things so we could really get to know the person. Wednesdays was still orientation stuff, and by Thursday afternoon they had us "out on the floor". We didn't have a specific schedule, but it was more just interacting with residents and just getting to know them. It was a little uncomfortable, but really exciting once we started getting to know the residents. They're a lot of fun! Each on of them is so interesting and has such good stories, it's all about taking the time to listen to the stories. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience..many of the Harmony residents are hard to understand, especially if they've had a TBI or stroke...there is even one man who is mentally brilliant, but is not so brilliant physically. He communicates with a computer that he types on (very very verrrry slowly) and then it speaks for him! This project is definitely about what we make of it. I feel extremely lucky that I have an AMAZING team leader this round. On Friday morning he started playing hte piano while we all sang, we had residents coming out of their rooms and out singing with us and one lady was even dancing!! I think as long as we have a good attitude and keep remembering to have fun, this project will be wonderful!
Now for the scary part of my week. On Friday evening Caroline and I were driving back from Walmart..and as we're cruising along about 3 or 4 blocks to go left in our trip we get hit from behind by a car in a high speed car chase!! He rammed into us and kept going, and then like 8 cops flew by him and continued chasing him. Luckily, one of the cops turned around for us. Caroline and I started freaking out, I called Steve (TL), and he came and helped us with everything we had to fill out. Besides the police report, we also have to fill out lots of other stuff because it's a government vehicle. It was EXTREMELY scary when it happened, but now that it's over and everything was fine we thinks its sorta neat that we were involved in a "high speed car chase"! hahahaha
So, there's still a few things on the weekends that Marycrest has requested help with. We're not techincally required to do it all but a few extra hours each weekend is appreciated. It kind of stinks cuz you totally feel bad if you don't go, but that's ok. Today (Sunday) we went and played bingo with them for awhile, it's nothing too hard. Some of my other teammates helped out yesterday with serving breakfast, lunch, and helped out with the St. Patty's day party. But, I went to downtown Denver to celebrate the holiday! Talk about crazy! Denver really goes all out for it. They have a HUGE parade. Supposedly it's the biggest St. Patty's parade west of the mississippi river. I thought that was pretty cool. The bars had lots of specials, and it was BEAUTIFUL outside. I'm glad I got to experience it all!
This week, things are going to be a little more structured. For example, tomorrow I am scheduled to work on the "volunteer programming" all day, but of course I can participate in resident activities as well. Tuesday I am scheduled to work with maintenance, which might mean painting, or working on a zen garden, or whatever. Wednesday I think I'm in charge of doing all the activities for the residents. With that being said, there's still going to be weird, awkward down time that you really don't know what to do with yourself. But really all you have to do is find a resident sitting somewhere and just chat with them. Or ask a staff if they need help with something. It's really laidback, and I really like it! Once again, I feel like my TL is who really helps me get motivated about this project. It's definitely stuff I'm interested in anyways, but he helps out a lot too. The team has a couple of downers on it, but every team does honestly. So you just learn to roll with it! :)
Oh yea, another thing...Steve had us start on Insanity this week! It's a workout video that is INSANE. It literally kicks our asses every night. Of course it's not mandatory, but Caroline and I have been doing it each night with him anyways because we've been talking about needing to get in shape! Aaaaand Steve is going to start getting up early and making either fruit or vegetables smoothies for us each morning. I'm getting so healthy (minus my candy addiction). Hopefully I can keep up with a semi-healthy lifestyle from now on...we'll see!
Well I think that can be the end of my rambling. We dont have WiFi in our housing, so Mcdonald's is the closest place to get it. I'll try hard to keep posting at least once a week though!! Hope all is well for everyone at home.
xoxo
Abby :)
It's been quite an interesting week...and by interesting I mean: fun, scary, boring, exciting, funny, weird, uncomfortable. All in all, I think it went well. We arrived to Marycrest (only 9 miles from campus) Monday morning. We got our stuff settled into our "house", which is really an old abandoned office building on the Marycrest property. Everyone has their own room except Caroline and I share. I really don't mind at all though...it's like having a sleepover with one of your best friends every night! :) Anyways, after we got settled in we went and had lunch in the cafeteria in the Serenity building. There are two parts of Marycrest Assisted Living: the Serenity building is for senior citizens, and the Harmony building is for adults with disabilities or traumatic brain injuries (TBI's). Monday afternoon they didnt have anything for us planned except for "teambuilding" so Steve (my new TL!) took us to Jumpstreet! Which is a place filled with rows and rows of big trampolines! It was soooooo much fun! Then we went out for ice cream..Monday was a fantastic day.
On Tuesday we started in with our orientation. It was long, but necessary. We learned the different things that they wanted us to work on. We're going to develop 3 internship positions for Marycrest, which is pretty neat. They also talked to us about common diagnoses for the residents who live at Marycrest. They range from diabetes, to schizophrenia, to dementia, to epilepsy. They talked about how important it was for us to be aware of the disabilities and things, but they also challenged us to get past those things so we could really get to know the person. Wednesdays was still orientation stuff, and by Thursday afternoon they had us "out on the floor". We didn't have a specific schedule, but it was more just interacting with residents and just getting to know them. It was a little uncomfortable, but really exciting once we started getting to know the residents. They're a lot of fun! Each on of them is so interesting and has such good stories, it's all about taking the time to listen to the stories. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience..many of the Harmony residents are hard to understand, especially if they've had a TBI or stroke...there is even one man who is mentally brilliant, but is not so brilliant physically. He communicates with a computer that he types on (very very verrrry slowly) and then it speaks for him! This project is definitely about what we make of it. I feel extremely lucky that I have an AMAZING team leader this round. On Friday morning he started playing hte piano while we all sang, we had residents coming out of their rooms and out singing with us and one lady was even dancing!! I think as long as we have a good attitude and keep remembering to have fun, this project will be wonderful!
Now for the scary part of my week. On Friday evening Caroline and I were driving back from Walmart..and as we're cruising along about 3 or 4 blocks to go left in our trip we get hit from behind by a car in a high speed car chase!! He rammed into us and kept going, and then like 8 cops flew by him and continued chasing him. Luckily, one of the cops turned around for us. Caroline and I started freaking out, I called Steve (TL), and he came and helped us with everything we had to fill out. Besides the police report, we also have to fill out lots of other stuff because it's a government vehicle. It was EXTREMELY scary when it happened, but now that it's over and everything was fine we thinks its sorta neat that we were involved in a "high speed car chase"! hahahaha
So, there's still a few things on the weekends that Marycrest has requested help with. We're not techincally required to do it all but a few extra hours each weekend is appreciated. It kind of stinks cuz you totally feel bad if you don't go, but that's ok. Today (Sunday) we went and played bingo with them for awhile, it's nothing too hard. Some of my other teammates helped out yesterday with serving breakfast, lunch, and helped out with the St. Patty's day party. But, I went to downtown Denver to celebrate the holiday! Talk about crazy! Denver really goes all out for it. They have a HUGE parade. Supposedly it's the biggest St. Patty's parade west of the mississippi river. I thought that was pretty cool. The bars had lots of specials, and it was BEAUTIFUL outside. I'm glad I got to experience it all!
This week, things are going to be a little more structured. For example, tomorrow I am scheduled to work on the "volunteer programming" all day, but of course I can participate in resident activities as well. Tuesday I am scheduled to work with maintenance, which might mean painting, or working on a zen garden, or whatever. Wednesday I think I'm in charge of doing all the activities for the residents. With that being said, there's still going to be weird, awkward down time that you really don't know what to do with yourself. But really all you have to do is find a resident sitting somewhere and just chat with them. Or ask a staff if they need help with something. It's really laidback, and I really like it! Once again, I feel like my TL is who really helps me get motivated about this project. It's definitely stuff I'm interested in anyways, but he helps out a lot too. The team has a couple of downers on it, but every team does honestly. So you just learn to roll with it! :)
Oh yea, another thing...Steve had us start on Insanity this week! It's a workout video that is INSANE. It literally kicks our asses every night. Of course it's not mandatory, but Caroline and I have been doing it each night with him anyways because we've been talking about needing to get in shape! Aaaaand Steve is going to start getting up early and making either fruit or vegetables smoothies for us each morning. I'm getting so healthy (minus my candy addiction). Hopefully I can keep up with a semi-healthy lifestyle from now on...we'll see!
Well I think that can be the end of my rambling. We dont have WiFi in our housing, so Mcdonald's is the closest place to get it. I'll try hard to keep posting at least once a week though!! Hope all is well for everyone at home.
xoxo
Abby :)
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Shuffle round!!
Hey all!
So we just finished up our "transition week"---which is the week in between rounds that we take care of tying up the loose ends from the previous round, and prepare for the next round. This upcoming 3rd round is "shuffle round", which means that we all get shuffled around with new teams and new team leaders. I didn't think it was going to bother me much, because I was kind of ready for some new faces. But today, as people were packing and cleaning their rooms, my original team (Earth 3)..somehow kept ending up together in one room. We are all so sad to leave each other! Luckily, it will make reuniting with each other for 4th round that much better. I'm also really excited about my new team leader! He is just sooo chill and laid back, he doesn't get too worried about things. I think he's going to be great to work with.
The past week was really nice, I got to spend time with my two closest friends who are not on my team...my roomate Riley and the girl across the hall Jess. The three of us are pretty much always together when we are able to be. I also really enjoyed seeing some other familiar faces that I hadn't seen in two months!! Of course there was the typical drama going around about all of the juicy stuff that happened over round 2, but that just adds to the fun :) And of course, myself and the other members of Earth 3 all kept managing to gravitate towards and find each other..it's so weird to explain, but when you spend so long with only those handful of people you just get so used to it! So anytime I couldn't find anyone or was bored I would just go in search of Caroline, or Katy, or Jeremiah..just anyone from Earth 3 really. It's pretty ironic how we talk about needing a break from each other, but end up going back to them anyways. What a cute little Amerifamily :)
So I got to thinking about all the nifty little skills I've learned while I've been here. Not the traditional things that you learn in Americorps like leadership, teambuilding, tool safety, yadda yadda..these are the cool things.
1. crocheting
2. hula hooping (like tricks and stuff!)
3. survival bracelets
4. FANCY friendship bracelets
5. belaying indoor rock climbers
6. cup stacking
7. chinese jump rope
I'm sure there's other things too..but that's a good start. I'm becoming such a well-rounded person here, haha. But really, it's so neat all the things you learn just by being around so many people!! I'm really starting to appreciate the diversity.....because even if we're all not "friends" with each other, we definitely have a kind of "in it together" attitude about everything, and that really gives you a sense of belonging.
Well tomorrow, I'm getting up bright and early for spike travel. But for me, that just means my team is traveling 9 miles down the road! The Marycrest Assisted Living Center is housing us though, so we won't be so isolated in our dorms!! I'm excited to see what this new adventure brings, and just eager to gain even more experiences :)
Abby
So we just finished up our "transition week"---which is the week in between rounds that we take care of tying up the loose ends from the previous round, and prepare for the next round. This upcoming 3rd round is "shuffle round", which means that we all get shuffled around with new teams and new team leaders. I didn't think it was going to bother me much, because I was kind of ready for some new faces. But today, as people were packing and cleaning their rooms, my original team (Earth 3)..somehow kept ending up together in one room. We are all so sad to leave each other! Luckily, it will make reuniting with each other for 4th round that much better. I'm also really excited about my new team leader! He is just sooo chill and laid back, he doesn't get too worried about things. I think he's going to be great to work with.
The past week was really nice, I got to spend time with my two closest friends who are not on my team...my roomate Riley and the girl across the hall Jess. The three of us are pretty much always together when we are able to be. I also really enjoyed seeing some other familiar faces that I hadn't seen in two months!! Of course there was the typical drama going around about all of the juicy stuff that happened over round 2, but that just adds to the fun :) And of course, myself and the other members of Earth 3 all kept managing to gravitate towards and find each other..it's so weird to explain, but when you spend so long with only those handful of people you just get so used to it! So anytime I couldn't find anyone or was bored I would just go in search of Caroline, or Katy, or Jeremiah..just anyone from Earth 3 really. It's pretty ironic how we talk about needing a break from each other, but end up going back to them anyways. What a cute little Amerifamily :)
So I got to thinking about all the nifty little skills I've learned while I've been here. Not the traditional things that you learn in Americorps like leadership, teambuilding, tool safety, yadda yadda..these are the cool things.
1. crocheting
2. hula hooping (like tricks and stuff!)
3. survival bracelets
4. FANCY friendship bracelets
5. belaying indoor rock climbers
6. cup stacking
7. chinese jump rope
I'm sure there's other things too..but that's a good start. I'm becoming such a well-rounded person here, haha. But really, it's so neat all the things you learn just by being around so many people!! I'm really starting to appreciate the diversity.....because even if we're all not "friends" with each other, we definitely have a kind of "in it together" attitude about everything, and that really gives you a sense of belonging.
Well tomorrow, I'm getting up bright and early for spike travel. But for me, that just means my team is traveling 9 miles down the road! The Marycrest Assisted Living Center is housing us though, so we won't be so isolated in our dorms!! I'm excited to see what this new adventure brings, and just eager to gain even more experiences :)
Abby
Friday, March 2, 2012
Round 2 complete!
Well, I did it. I lived at a Boys and Girls Club in Farmington, New Mexico for 2 months. Every once in awhile I have a really strange feeling and I'll catch myself thinking, "what in the hell am I doing?! I live, work, play, eat, do EVERYTHING with 9 random people from across the country. Right now I'm in a random town in New Mexico scraping scotch tape off of windows, or running around with a hula hoop as a car, or begging some kids to get down from the tree, or knocking on a random apartment to survey a 90 year old woman, or having a jump rope contest with a bunch of 7 year old girls, or trying to make a 14 year old boy understand why he has to follow the rules too..... How did my life end up here?" I've been having these thoughts ever since training the first month back in Denver, I definitely had them in Joplin, and of course I've had them here. It really makes me stop and think.
I'll tell you what, it's pretty awesome though.
It sounds cliche, but I'm really starting to understand the idea that life is made up of a bunch of experiences and different interactions with new people. It's a neat thing to be aware of, because then you can really start to appreciate each thing you do. In general, this is a really sad town. The Native American, Hispanic, and really all the populations are living in EXTREME poverty here..there is just sad story after sad story. In fact, on my last day at The Club I was proofreading a 5th grader's composition about what she learned from an assembly at school. The assembly was about meth use and all the negative affects it has. In the composition, the girl pretty much tells her story about how her dad used meth, began beating up her mom, screamed at them, basically went crazy. She used exact quotes of things that he said and everything...then I started thinking about her and her little sister who is only 7 but has some SEVERE problems. I can only imagine what all went on in that household. These are the types of things that you hear stories about, but when you have a personal connection with the children invovled and you can put faces with it, the story becomes so much more real. Unfortunately, this is the reality for the majority of the kids that I got the honor to meet while I was here. I can only hope that I made some sort of difference in their lives.
So my point is that inspite of the bad circumstances here, I've met some amazing people as well. I got the chance to learn about so much while I was here, it's weird to think about how 2 months before this I was uncomfortable being the minority in a room full of Hispanic and Navajo kids. And I can say the same thing about being in Joplin. The people that I met there are just as incredible. It makes me so happy to know that there are such good people all over the country. I think that it happens too often that people are SO hesitant to trust people or are SO paranoid about something bad happening that they start to believe that in general, people are out to get them. or that in general, people are bad. I am not saying that we should be careless, because of course bad things happen. But when we just assume people are bad or deceiving and we stop putting effort into trying to get to know people, we deprive ourselves of all those wonderful people out there. It's like we don't maximize the potential of our lives. Ok sorry, those are just my deep thoughts of the day/past 2 months.
Anyways....we leave tomorrow morning. Early. It's so weird to be leaving, we're so comfortable here. We thought we'd get to see the kids to say goodbye today, but they had a snow day and the club closed too. So we were pretty upset about that. There were definitely a lot of kids that didn't even know we were leaving. On another note, I can't wait to be back in Denver!! It's sooooo fun to be reunited with all of the other teams again. The campus is just buzzing with news and gossip during transitions weeks..and of course lots of partying. Everyone just gets so pumped to come back!! I also am excited for the next project at the assisted living center in Denver! I think it will be a lot fun. I'm a little nervous about the new team but I'll actually be with 3 of my teammates from this team anyways..so thats pretty neat.
So...March 6th marks the halfway point of the entire Americorps program. So basically, I've made it halfway. And looking back, it's sort of just like a huge blurr! I cannot wait to see what the second half brings!!! :)
xoxo
Abby
I'll tell you what, it's pretty awesome though.
It sounds cliche, but I'm really starting to understand the idea that life is made up of a bunch of experiences and different interactions with new people. It's a neat thing to be aware of, because then you can really start to appreciate each thing you do. In general, this is a really sad town. The Native American, Hispanic, and really all the populations are living in EXTREME poverty here..there is just sad story after sad story. In fact, on my last day at The Club I was proofreading a 5th grader's composition about what she learned from an assembly at school. The assembly was about meth use and all the negative affects it has. In the composition, the girl pretty much tells her story about how her dad used meth, began beating up her mom, screamed at them, basically went crazy. She used exact quotes of things that he said and everything...then I started thinking about her and her little sister who is only 7 but has some SEVERE problems. I can only imagine what all went on in that household. These are the types of things that you hear stories about, but when you have a personal connection with the children invovled and you can put faces with it, the story becomes so much more real. Unfortunately, this is the reality for the majority of the kids that I got the honor to meet while I was here. I can only hope that I made some sort of difference in their lives.
So my point is that inspite of the bad circumstances here, I've met some amazing people as well. I got the chance to learn about so much while I was here, it's weird to think about how 2 months before this I was uncomfortable being the minority in a room full of Hispanic and Navajo kids. And I can say the same thing about being in Joplin. The people that I met there are just as incredible. It makes me so happy to know that there are such good people all over the country. I think that it happens too often that people are SO hesitant to trust people or are SO paranoid about something bad happening that they start to believe that in general, people are out to get them. or that in general, people are bad. I am not saying that we should be careless, because of course bad things happen. But when we just assume people are bad or deceiving and we stop putting effort into trying to get to know people, we deprive ourselves of all those wonderful people out there. It's like we don't maximize the potential of our lives. Ok sorry, those are just my deep thoughts of the day/past 2 months.
Anyways....we leave tomorrow morning. Early. It's so weird to be leaving, we're so comfortable here. We thought we'd get to see the kids to say goodbye today, but they had a snow day and the club closed too. So we were pretty upset about that. There were definitely a lot of kids that didn't even know we were leaving. On another note, I can't wait to be back in Denver!! It's sooooo fun to be reunited with all of the other teams again. The campus is just buzzing with news and gossip during transitions weeks..and of course lots of partying. Everyone just gets so pumped to come back!! I also am excited for the next project at the assisted living center in Denver! I think it will be a lot fun. I'm a little nervous about the new team but I'll actually be with 3 of my teammates from this team anyways..so thats pretty neat.
So...March 6th marks the halfway point of the entire Americorps program. So basically, I've made it halfway. And looking back, it's sort of just like a huge blurr! I cannot wait to see what the second half brings!!! :)
xoxo
Abby
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