Only About a Week Left in the Big Easy

Where has the time gone? My team and I leave to drive back to Denver in a little over a week. It doesn't seem possible that we have been here for almost a month. It seems strange to think that I will be home in two weeks. I have been asked what I am looking forward to when I go home. Besides the obvious of seeing my lovely family and friends I can't wait to be in a bedroom with only one person and not having to worry about hitting my head on the ceiling in the morning when I sit up in bed. I look forward to sleeping in, taking hot showers when ever I want, having ample kitchen space, but most of all I dream of eating what ever I want when ever I want. You don't know what you will miss the most until you have to go with out it for a month.

I am enjoying our project immensely. Rebuilding Together is a amazing organization to work for. A lot of the people we are working with are fellow AmeriCorp members but are working under State and National. A couple of them were either TLs or CMs last year, so they understand more were we are coming from. They also have interesting stories about their experiences in the NCCC. The painting I was doing on the outside of a house on Hollygrove is finally done. This past week I moved onto another house and got the chance to work with some new RT people, Sarah (the House captain) and Joel. Both of whom are fun to work with. Instead of painting I was able to put my training of power tools to use even though I had to relearn how to use some of them like the chop saw. Wednesday was the first day I was at the new house and I measured and installed base board with Ellen using a finish nailer. I also learned how to install hard wood floor. I thoroughly enjoyed smashing the nailer so that the nail would penetrate the wood and floor. It is a great way to release your frustration. On Friday I was showed how to cut quarter round and base board using a chop saw. Because I was doing my own cutting I was now involved in the whole process of installing base board in the house. I measured, cut, installed, and then caulked the cracks between the wood and the wall. I have found that power tools can make you feel powerful and I want to learn how to use more of them. Who knows what I will be doing next week, but I know what I would like to do.

As far as enjoying myself outside of work, I really liked my Thanksgiving this year. Three teams, Earth 4, Water 4, and Water 1, got together to eat a fantastic feast on a tight budget. As the Food POCs for our team Pat and I decided to cook stuffing since we were also cooking a Turkey, make cranberry sauce from a can, and a sweet potato casserole. There were several logistical problems with this idea. First, the only person who had ever cooked a turkey went home for thanksgiving. Our second big problem was the lack of cooking space and oven capacity of our kitchen. Somehow Ellen and I were the ones who ended up cooking most of the food our team brought to the dinner. Amanda cooked the sweet potatoes but we cooked the turkey and made the stuffing. After having a slight problem defrosting the bird and reading up on the best ways to cook it we ended up producing a great tasting turkey. The rest of the food was really delicious and I was surprised by the amount of food we had. The spread at the table looked like a Thanksgiving meal you might have with your family. There was mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin and apple pie, roles, salad, stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes and maybe more that I can't think of, but it was all really good.

We had Friday off so a group of us went to the outdoor French Market in you guessed it the French Quarter. We spent the afternoon walking around looking at vendors and buying good food. That night I went with about five other people on my team and we saw the movie A Christmas Carol in 3D. The movie was good and the first movie I have seen in 3D but I think parts would be to dark and creepy for young kids even though it is PG. On Saturday I went to the "down town" part of the French Quarter with Ellen, who had not come with us the day before. We walked around in a historic district that had some beautiful homes along with walking through the french market. Last night a few people want to see the movie New Moon, but I didn't have any desire to see it so Pat and I went to see Brothers. It turned out to be a much better movie than I was expecting. It portrayed what I think is a realistic view of PTSD and the effects of war on a family. Tonight I am chilling at the house literly because we jsut got two space heaters about an hour ago. There are only three of use here which makes it very quite. I am taking sometime to myself which is greatly needed. Tomorrow I would like to do some more exploring around the city and laundry which is starting to pile up. As a side note I have added a lot of new photos to the Project One photo album and hope you enjoy!