Oh, I DO remember how to log into this thing

Dear blog readers- if there are any of you left…

I realize there is a huge gap in my postings. I blame much of that on the desert. But since leaving Agua, I have tried to sit down and write. Honestly I have! But now too much has happened and it’s overwhelming to try to document it all. Let’s just say I lived in the desert, did some awesome things, saw some cool nature, said goodbye to a teammate, and found out I’d be living in Hawaii for 2 months.

Going from sand to Sacramento was quite a transition and since most of the corps members had already decided to hate my team due to our luck in project placement, I spent most of the time designed to take a breather from my team crammed in our little dorm rooms watching movies or rehashing our wonderful time in the desert. The morning of March 8^th couldn’t come fast enough! Good-bye California, hellooooo Hawai’i! We're staying at Camp Mokule'ia on the north shore of Oahu!!

I love the island way of life and I’ve only been here a week and a couple days. Everything is even more laid back than you’d think it would be and I’m really appreciating the rich traditions and culture of the land. Our first day of work we did a ropes course to build our team more and learn Hawaiian values. Our second day I went into the jungle in Hauula to harvest wood to build our tent cabin homes with Catherine and our sponsor David… and then we learned that although this place is a beautiful paradise, it comes with a price- instant panic . We got back that night and Catherine and I were done. As Marybeth said- it looked like we lost our souls. Carrying heavy 4 by 10s that were about 14 feet long ¼ of a mile up and downhill through some rain and curtains of mosquitoes for 7 hours took a lot out of us. So when 8 pm rolled around we were in bed… that’s when Abby got off the phone and announced to us that there had been an earthquake in Japan and we were under tsunami watch. Watch- no big deal, I’ve been in hundreds of tornado watches and nothing has ever happened. No worries. But then our other sponsor, Manu, came in and said we should probably pack an evacuation bag so that when we heard the sirens we could go. No point trying to sleep now- Green 2 was all a-tizzy with excitement and fear. By 10:30 we heard the sirens and crammed into the van with some campers that didn’t have a vehicle and headed to the higher ground. Some people- Manu included- fled to the mountains, our home for the next 11 hours was Waialua High School’s cafeteria. We had MREs, coffee, animal crackers, and a continuous news channel as well as the knowledge that if anything horrible was to happen we could be relocated on the islands or even possibly sent to Guam or Samoan islands because they're a US territory. The big waves were supposed to hit Oahu at 3:21 am. But it came and went and nothing really happened… 4 am, nothing. 4:32 am, nothing. We weren’t released to return to our home until 9:30 am. It was one of the longest, exhausting and most frightening 28 hours of my life. No one can really explain how or why we weren’t hit as hard as expected but the west coast was. But I’m not asking any questions. I’m taking a page from my Hawaiian brothers and sisters and thanking the Sky Father and Earth Mother for protecting us and asking them to watch over the families and people who were touched by the tsunami.

We got back from the high school and we were 2 hours late for our work day. AmeriCorps doesn’t stop for natural disasters! We started work on our tent platforms- leveling the uneven ground to place the uneven cement trapezoids and try to level the warped wood that had been sitting in the elements of the jungle for 10, 15 years. But we did it! It took us almost 5 days but we finished it- two 14x16 foot platforms raised 2 feet off the ground, each with a 6 foot canvas tent and an outrigger set up for the rain fly. Not to mention hand-sanded wood floors just feet away from the beach. I’m so proud of Green 2. I know that if we can do all that with the reused materials we were given and drills that died every 10 minutes we can handle anything Habitat for Humanity on Kauai can throw at us.

This week was artist week. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet 5 very famous Hawaiian artists and watch as they and their group of 10-18 year old aspiring artists transformed the chapel wall into a beautiful mural. A truly talented bunch. They allowed us to sit in on their discussions. I have never seen the space that was to be painted and the stories and thought put into the painting and then been able to check on the process over a span of 3 days. And if my phone would allow me to upload the pictures to my computer, you’d be able to see them. But it won’t, so you can’t. Sorry.

The scenery here is beautiful, of course. It’s all so perfect it looks fake (like the new picture on my blog background-- what we saw on our first day!). There are rainbows everyday, whales along the horizon, and sea turtles on the beach.  The locals are wonderful and so willing to share their history and language and embrace our eagerness to learn.

Words I have learned:

Octopus- He’e

Finished- Pau

Porch- Lanai

Good food- Ono kine grindz

Pregnant- Hapai

Ocean side- Makai

Mountain side- Ma uka

Thank you- Mahalo

Tradition- Mo’olelo

A plant that thrives along the shoreline and what surrounds our tent cabins- Naupaka

Bird as well as the name of our sponsor- Manu

This weekend is Taylor’s 21^st birthday celebration! Right now we're in Hale'iwa for the internet cafe and a birthday dinner (because today makes it official- a new drinking buddy on the team!) We go to Pearl Harbor in the morning and then we’re catching a bus to Honolulu and staying in a hostel on Waikiki beach. So excited to get out and explore the island a bit on my own and buy Taylor a shot!

I will try to make blogging a some-what regular thing again- maybe a post a week, but I make no promises.

Farewell, for now. I'm off to see the desert!

So sorry my blog has not been at the top of my list. I've been busy!

Chicago was a blast. Got to hang out with all my favorite cousins who hadn't gotten to see me since last year.  Took lots of pictures, drank lots of wine, ate lots of food, and laughed a whole bunch. I was so glad to enjoy some cold weather before shipping off to the desert for 2 months. Although, if you ask me, there wasn't enough snow, I was thrilled it snowed all day Christmas Eve.

Now back to reality- back to AmeriLand and the Ameri way of life. Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day. We have all-corps PT, project cross training (where we get to sit and ask questions to the team who just left the project site we're headed to and then they get to ask us questions about the reject we just left that they're heading to), give a briefing on our Round 2 project to the NCCC staff, have a team dinner at the Mongolian BBQ with our step team (our TL's boyfriend is also a TL here on campus... we're like the Brady Bunch!). And in all that down time, we have to pack and make any last minute scrambles to Wal-Mart, Target or the BX to collect needed items. And load the van Tuesday night.

I don't know how often I'll be able to update the blog, if I can do it at all. The people I've talked to who have been to the project site said yes there is a wi-fi signal but it might as well not exist. So... we'll see how that goes.

I wish I had more time to tell you what I did over break but there's just so much to do before we leave! It's going to be a 10-12 hour drive south, starting at 4:30 am on Wednesday morning, packed like sardiens in a 15-passenger van. But we lucked out and we now have cargo support... which we're sharing with another team on the drive south! But at least all of our personal gear plus two 8-10 people tents, a 2 person tent, 3 ground tarps, a canopy tent, 12 extra sleeping bags, 7 3-inch foam sleeping pads, and 12 extra sweatshirts won't have to be crammed in the 15-p with us! YAY!

So just to give you an idea of where I am and where we're headed-

Can't wait to see the mountains and the stars and the coyotes! It's going to be hard work- 4 days a week, 10 hours a day of hard manual labor under the hot sun. But I think it will be fantastically different from anything I've ever experienced. So for now, goodbye interwebs! I shall miss you but will learn to be entertained in other ways. Got a few travel games for Christmas to take with us... Anyone got any good book recommendations I can pick up before Tuesday night?

A little something before winter break

Things I have learned from my time at FC Joyce:

- When first introduced to silly bandz I thought they were simply ridiculous, but have since learned they are a fantastic bargaining chip

- Second grade girls LOVE to play ring-around-the-rosey

- If you pull out a camera to take a picture, kids will stand as close to the lens as possible

- Always be ready for a sneak-attack hug… or just a sneak-attack attack

- 6^th grade girls are the keepers of all the gossip (according to them, Brett and I were boyfriend and girlfriend)

- According to students, your name for the first week or so is “AmeriCorps”

- There are so many rules to the game of four square

- Kids are smarter and hear more than you think they do, of course it’s always concerning things they don’t need to know

- The more outrageously bizarre your behavior, the more awesome they think you are

- You can do so many things well, but what will stick out the most is your ability to color inside the lines on a coloring book page

- There will always be a pencil that needs to be sharpened (and sometimes it’s broken on purpose)

- … or a mistake that needs an eraser

- … or a math problem that needs explaining

- If a student can reach into your pocket, they will and sometimes leave things for you to find, or take things for you to realize it’s missing much later in the day (like a cell phone)

- There’s no need to take it easy when playing tetherball with an 8 year-old, they will beat you no matter how hard you try

- You will leave school with about 500 new best friends!

- I have a lot of 8 year-old pen pals, thirty to be exact

- Our celebration video is up on Youtube thanks to Catherine!

my 4th grade friend Esly

Some of my playground crew

Taylor's and my afterschool tutoring group (you can almost see Taylor under all the kids on the left)

My buddy Ezra

My bestie Little Dominique

It was fantastic to have my pod 7 friends back, if only for a couple days. I’d forgotten how much I laugh when I’m around them. I’ve missed them so much! But no matter, I’ll be seeing Ashley at some point over the break and I get to meet her family! And I’ll get to see my family! Even more of a yay!

On Wednesday night we had brisket. Real, honest to god, Texas brisket from Rudy’s! Mom and Dad (in their infinite awesome-ness) air-shipped it to me! The teammates did it all up while I was in meetings and surprised me with a table full of balloons, a huge singing birthday card, cupcakes and presents! A Justin Bieber calendar, my own jar of Nutella, window gel stickers, and a confused panda puzzle! J.Biebs is totally going on spike with us for the next round! I had to teach my teammates how to build a brisket sandwich with WHITE bread, dill pickles, and bbq sauce with a side of potato salad. YUMM! G2 thanks you, Mom and Dad!

The last day at school was so hard. My kids surprised me with thank you letters and one of the girls got me a little desk jar with a sunflower on the front. She told me it was for pens AND pencils! Oooh, multi-tasker! They told me after school they had been planning on it for 5 days! 5 days! That’s an eternity for 8 year olds! I’m going to miss my babies so much but they’re right down the street. Hopefully we can go visit them every now and then during transitions.

a little bit of reflection..

The end of round 1 is in sight and none of us are looking forward to it. In all the paperwork we've filled out there is a column for "pluses" and "even better ifs", all our EBIs are- we want more time! 6 weeks of school and only 21 days in the classroom because of holidays and parent-teacher conferences. Even in that short amount of time we've bonded so closely with the kids. There's not a kid I don't look forward to seeing each day... but I know I have my favorites, as I'm sure every teacher does, who will stick with me.

I think the most frustrating thing to see in this project was how the school system is set up. In pre-k they're learning their letters and sounds. In kindergarten they should be able to read some simple words and by 1st, reading little reader books. But most of the kids don't go to preschool so they're already starting out a year behind. By the time they get to 2nd grade they're so ticked off and annoyed about being behind and the teachers singling them out that they turn away from education. They've been told so many times that they're not meeting the expectations and then they give up. So many of these kids are so smart and can do the work when I'm standing next to them. They can show me how to do everything and explain it to me, but as soon as I walk away they get the road block up. I understand that when they act out they’re just seeking attention in any form because they’re parental relationship leaves something to be desired. That is why I’m so glad that for some time, no matter how short it was, we were there to provide stability for them. Keep them responsible for their learning, homework and behavior. And give them a new friendly face to go to school for every day.

This week I stood on my own in the classroom. We had a sub who was basically a babysitter with a sheet of lesson plans. She just passed out papers to a math section the class hadn’t learned yet and then sat down at the desk while the class went crazy with complaints. So I had to take charge and teach. I taught my kids how to estimate measurement and then how to actually take measurements. I taught them how to do paragraph editing and refresh them on their letter writing skills. We read aloud, played word games and reviewed spelling words. We did art crafts and journal writing. And after all that, I went out to recess and ran around the black top with them. I love the way a kid’s mind works when playing. We were on the playscape and they all decided that I was It. So I had 4 girls on each arm pulling me around and around because, obviously, we were in a tornado. It had sucked me up and when I was done spinning in the middle of the storm, it spat me out and I was the “un-dead person” and they all had to run away from me screaming. My little girls love to balance along the edge of the playground box or play ring-around-the-rosey. I still don’t understand the fun of that game, but I think I have run around in a circle about 500 times because of it. All my boys like to play basketball or pretend they are panthers and chase the girls around growling at them.

I can’t believe it’s already time for us to leave the school. It seems like we just walked in the door for the first time to chants of “hey, AmeriCorps! Hi, AmeriCorps!” like it was our name. I feel like we’ve had a successful first round. We left our mark on the campus and on kids. Hopefully they’ll grow up and remember their AmeriCorps helpers from grade school and be better people because of it.

Round 2 announced

This was our first full week at school and I think it went by faster than the previous 3 day weeks had. But I did get some great pictures of the kids! Plus it was Catherine's birthday week so we had to do something special.

So anyways- on to finding out round 2. Thursday night after dinner, Abby told us to clear the table because we needed to solve something. She placed a huge sheet of butcher paper on the table with a word scramble on it. Clues about AmeriTools we had learned about (McLeod, loppers, chainsaw, etc) and some of the letter spaces were circled. We had to fill in the blanks and then unscramble to letters to figure out our project. Turns out we are going to be in the county of San Diego. As far as I know, the place we're staying in is Agua Caliente, just outside of Julian, CA. There are natural (supposedly mystical healing powered) hot springs we can use.  We will be working on historical restoration, trail maintenance and camp site enhancement. We will be living in a one room house that sleeps 10... and we have a team of 12. So we'll be taking tents with us too, just in case. Agua Caliente is apparently right on the edge of the desert so the days are fantastic work conditions now (because it's "winter") and the nights can be in the 30s. Because of our location we will not have cell phone reception but there will be access to wi-fi. Hope to find out more soon.

For right now, we're scrambling to get everything done for the end of round 1. Trying to finish team position tasks, compile our portfolio, plan for winter break, get some ISPs done, and just in general do our regular work is a lot to do. Tomorrow is my first ISP! I've signed up for 3 before and they've all been cancelled due to rain. And, even though it's raining right now and supposed to all tomorrow, the event will still happen. It's the California International Marathon and apparently it's a big deal. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

And now, some pictures of my kids--

Today I felt accomplished

So I teach 2nd grade but I spend an hour in the RSP classroom (found out it stands for resource specialist program... basically a trsting center- a quite room away from the busy classrooms to give more one-on-one time for the kids to learn better). I've been assigned to 4th grader Brian to help better his reading skills. He comes in from recess and I read a book to him while he follows along and then he reads the book to me while I follow along. We go through the 100 high frequency word flash cards with words like "was, as, their, were, this, said, which". When we first started 3 weeks ago Brian only knew 47 words, didn't know too many of his letter sounds, and was iffy on his vowels. Now there are only 2 words he has problems with and that's only because he says what he thinks it should be instead of seeing the letters in front of him. I got tricky on him yesterday and changed the order of the flash cards because I realized he has memorized them.

I tell him he can take as long as he wants and he can sound the words outloud because it's just him and me. When he struggles and gets frustrated, I've taught him how to break words like "together" down into more manageable words or how to sound them out. I find myself saying a lot of the things I remember my mom saying to me when I was in elementary school- "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" or the rule about the silent E and how it reaches around to poke the first vowel so it can talk and say its name (see mom! I was listening!).

But I think the best thing was when the two RSP teachers who usually work with him came up to me this afternoon and told me how great he was doing. He shows up on time for our little lessons. He pays attention (which apparently he talks back a lot, gets up and walks around, or gets off task easily... I've never had that problem with him) and they actually notice an improvement!

I wish we had more time with the kids. Our last day is December 14 but their last day of school is the 17. I see a lot of random visits for those last 3 days.

Happy Turkey Day! I now give you permission to listen to Christmas music!

You can definitely tell the holidays are upon us. It's like suddenly California got the memo that, to most people, cold weather goes hand-in-hand with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since Sunday it's been overcast and cold. And I mean COLD. Wind that cuts right through you no matter how many layers you're wearing and just in case that wasn't enough, a rainstorm to soak through your clothes. When packing to come here I didn't bring a lot of long sleeved things because I figured I'd have no need for them. Well I have since learned there is a BIG difference between northern California and the rest of California.

School was out of session all this week for the kids' Thanksgiving holiday so we had to find other places to fulfill our workday hours. We went with Silver 2 (which is our step team because our TL Abby is dating their TL Josh) to the American River to remove red sesbania.

This is an invasive plant species that grows its seeds in pods. There are 7 seeds per pod (little nod to pod 7!) and at least 20 pods per plant. So we pulled the plants and bagged the pods to be completely removed from the waterfront to make sure they wouldn't take root.

We learned what a real day's work in AmeriCorps really felt like- not to say that keeping thirty 2nd-graders in line isn't work... but the repetition of bending down to pull a plant up by the root and all the muscle action that goes along with it- let's just say we all slept very well that night and actually got to be outside for a work day!

For the ones that had really deep roots we used that bright orange tool in Baby Brett's hand

Green 2 and Silver 2 on lunch break

Tuesday was probably the best day. My team has been very lucky and it makes me very nervous to think what will happen when this luck runs out. We didn't have to work in the rain at Mendo and instead got to help set up a haunted house. We got Abby as a TL. Our team gets along very well... which most other teams don't. We got an amazing first project. And Tuesday our work day back at the riverbed was cancelled due to rain- they were calling for flash flooding. So we started the day in the 947 (my dorm building) lounge watching Finding Nemo with Silver 2 while the TLs tried to find something for us to do. All the other projects we could potentially do would have only taken like 30 mins for 24 people so that was out. Instead we went to 923 (the Big room) to make hand Turkeys:

Crafting!

And watch Crash for a diversity building day.
If you're wondering what that symbol in the middle of my hand turkey is, it's the official Green 2 logo:

After the movie and some discussion we went over to the supply depot building to help Handy Andy and AmeriMurph get everything counted and organized. Maya and I cleaned off rain boots and then were assigned to sleeping bags. We had to unroll all of them, check the zippers, check for rips and then roll them back up and categorize them as good, minor problems, or donate. 90 sleeping bags later and I never want to roll up another sleeping bag again!

Wednesday was another lucky day. We went to a California Park reserve to clear more invasive species- weeds and thistles- along a hike and bike trail. It was a cold day but we finally got to work together as just a team. We're usually separated in different classrooms so we were so excited to be on a job site just the 12 of us. We played games to make the time pass and when it came time for a bathroom break we had to pile in the van to drive to the other end of the park, where there was a playscape! So we got to play on the slides and swing sets.

So much fun! And as an added bonus, StepTL Josh brought us cookies and coffee on our lunch break!

During one of our breaks we played Ha-Ha

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving. I felt so accomplished for it being a day off. I woke up, showered, watched some morning TV and had breakfast all by 8 a.m. on my own! Marybeth and I headed over to the kitchens in 943 to help prep for the big meal. I was in charge of the turkeys- we named them Tom (~25 lbs), Theresa (~23 lbs), and baby Tony(~17 lbs). 3 turkeys for what turned out to be 70 people. I also helped make the mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and oversaw the making of the gravy and stuffing. We had quite a spread (but sadly no rutabagas)- cooking Thanksgiving dinner in 11 different kitchens certainly makes things a lot easier!

Sadly, that's sparkling cider... not chamagne 

Friday I finalized my Christmas plans. Originally I was going to stay here on base and maybe go explore wine country or possibly Canada with a couple of the girls on my team but they were bought surprise plane tickets home... which happen to be in the Chicago area (Naperville, Lincolnshire, and Elgin)- a place I haven't visited since last Christmas. So after a quick chat with the wonderful parental units, it was decided I would go to CHICAGO!!! I'm so excited to get to see the Illinoisey family again and see all my AmeriFriends who've been away on spikes, living in yurts and tents and whatnot. There's talk that we might knock out some ISP hours at a soup kitchen or a coat drive or something.

Today we took the 15-p into downtown Sacramento just to get off the base and return some library books. We wandered around the historic downtown area and then went to the Wesfield mall. It's a HUUGE open-air mall so we'd be walking through and all of a sudden it'd be raining and then dry and then raining again. But we did see something else that isn't too common in a mall:

I don't know if you can see all that well... but it's a fraking Hyundai dealership- in the mall! Across from the Verizon store and a Starbucks. Need a new car to go along with the caffee? California is a very interesting place.

Back to school on Monday. And hopefully I'll take lots of pictures now that we got the principle's approval to photograph the kids.

Oh and just as a little side note- look what I saw around the corner from Temple Cafe, Josh:

What did you do to end up on the Naughty list?!