Resurfacing from AmeriLife

    AmeriLife consumes all.  Sorry it has been so long since I have written on here.  It is hard here because for the last two weeks I have only had one weekend day off. I also Don't have internet at the apartment and by the time I get back from work I am too exhausted to walk to a coffee shop.  I also wanted to apologize for not keeping in contact with everyone.  I am just so tierd after work that I don't have energy for anything and some nights we don't eat until 9.

   Lately I have been installing rain gardens in the rain, which is VERY muddy and working at the Buley Center with kids.  This makes for a very tiring day.  Also my team has been driving me a little nutty, which adds to my already nuttiness.  Anyway that has been what I am up to.  Pretty boring I know.  

    Yesterday I had my first karate class which was AMAZING. I am pretty sore but I LOVED it.  Be afraid, very afraid lol.  I miss you guys and will write more soon I promise.

Weird weather

    The weather here in Indiana is really weird. Yesterday the weather was beautiful all day. There were no clouds in the sky and it was the perfect weather. Then around 5:45 I looked at the sky and half of the sky was blue and the other half was dark as anything. Suddenly the wind went crazy and the rain was falling. It also probably dropper about 15 degrees. But I was a big girl and dealt with the storms well last night.

   Yesterday was our first day at work. First we went to Minnetrisa Museum to see their beautiful gardens.  We got a tour from the head horticulturalist.  The grounds are amazing they have 40 acers of land some is natural and some is beautifully made gardens.  This place was beautiful and I would love to go back there again.  I also would love to sit in the natural part and read on a beautiful day.  After that we went to the Buley Center and talked with Mrs.Mary who is the interem director and she got to know us and our abilities and interests.  Then the kids came and it went crazy.  Know one ever calmed the kids down so they were really wound up all day.  After being at school all day they needed some time to regroup but instead they sat and got talked to most of the afternoon.  People kept giving the kids long winded explanations instead of being quick with directions.  This project is going to be hard for our team because everyone has a different opinion about everything and people need to learn to not take things personally when working with kids and to work as a team because everyone has something to offer.  I am going to try and stand in the background and just see what people do because know one usually listens to my imput anyway.  But we will see what happens.  So yesterday was kind of crazy and we talked about it last night and we are going to go over things and ideas tonight at dinner which will help.

    Something that has been happening lately is that my team leader Shalyn and I are are getting along very well.  She is one of the only ones that is supportive about my fear of thunder storms.  She is also more willing to talk things out for me.  I feel like she is more of an alli now and on our side.  Shalyn is much more approachable than before and I like that.
  
   Today was a pretty awesome day.  We had the day off because it is election day and we work for the town.   We did an ISP today though.  We met our sponsor, Jason in the parking lot of our apartment at 9:30 which meant that we got to sleep in, that was great.  We followed him to a community garden a couple blocks from our apartment.  This is a different type of community garden then most.  In most community gardens each family has there own plot and they have to keep up with it.  This garden is different because no one has a specific plot and everything is for everyone and people just pitch in to help grow and keep up the maintenance.  It had rained last night so it was really easy to weed.  We weeded most of the day and it was very therapeutic.  We also planted broccoli and potatoes. I dug up some baby onions and ate them raw, they are very good.  It was beautiful outside and we got 5 ISP hours.  Then we went back to the apartment, relaxed, and did PT.  Currently I am at a coffee shop and then I will be going back to the house and relaxing.

   I found out today that I got approved to take off June 4 so I can have 3 full days with mom when she comes.  I can't wait for you to get here mom.  I have so many ideas of things for us to do.  I am so excited for you to be here.  Hope things are going well with you guys.

Sorry about being MIA

Sorry about not blogging lately. I have just been pretty busy lately. Since I last wrote I turned 24. I went out with my entire team and Cedar 4. I has a good time but I drank too much. Since then I have decided to stop drinking because no matter how much I drink I get sick. Also it doesn't draw me anymore. My teammates like to drink and like to get me to drink but I told them that I am no longer drinking.
I finished round 3 at Weed and Seed in Cedar Rapids finally. It was a long project that all of us were glad to see end. We had transition which was pretty busy. I had a bunch of meetings and trainings. It was really nice to see my friends that are on other teams. The people I was glad to see were my roommate Laura and my friend Laura. It turns out that my friend Laura from MA moved next door to me. But I had to put all of my things into storage which was a big production but I did it, thanks to the vacuum seal bags.
I forgot to tell you where I was going on my next project. My project is in Muncie Indiana which is about 60 miles from Indianapolis. I am going to be installing rain gardens. I will put a link connected to this that shows what rain gardens are and how to make them. I will also be working with the Roy. C Buley Center, which is a community center. There I will be at an after school program as well as planning and participating in a summer program.
I got to Muncie on Thursday April 29. We are living in the Daley apartments. For the 10 of us we have two apartments. They are in different buildings but the buildings are small kind of like condos. The apartment I am in is the 3 bedroom. The apartment has 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a bid kitchen, a porch/deck, a free washer and drier in the apartment, and AC. I feel spoiled. The other apartment is the same but has 2 bedrooms. Currently we don't have a T.V. cable, or internet but our sponsor is working on getting Comcast to donate 6 weeks of free Internet and cable. Another small down fall is that we only have 1 key to each apartment so we are trying to work that out.
Our first full day Friday our sponsor Jason met us at our apartment at 9:00 which met we got to sleep in. We went to a park and talked to he could get to know us and played some ice breakers. Jason is an NCCC Alumni from 2000. So he knows how the program works. After that he took us on a driving tour of Muncie and also had us tour City Hall and we walked around town. Then we went back to the apartments to eat lunch. After that he took us on a tour of the water sanitation plant. It was really nice to see that because it plays into us working in the rain gradens. Then we went to the Buley Center and got to meet the kids we will be working with.
The best part of Friday was that our Sponsor and people in the community threw us a welcome party. They had a place cater the food. The major and some other big wigs came to see us. They gave us a bag of goodies which included a reusable shopping bag, a insulated shopping bag, a water bottle, a small rain catcher, a Muncie T-Shirt, and a bunch of other stuff. But then they presented us with tickets to a day at the Indi 500 which is amazing and that day we are going ZZ Top will be playing music. Another thing they gave us is a day of kayaking and canoeing on the white river, then also gave us tickets to a cultural museum, lastly they are giving us a dinner at the Texas Road House. But the best part of that was that we got treated like people and not just an extra pair of hands. They were really excited for us to come and told everyone in the community.
That night a bunch of us went to a local bar and I had my last drink. The next day we went to a local farmers market which was really good. I went to target to get a couple things then hung out at the apartment. At night Amy, Sarah, Jacob, Jim, and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Celtics Vs. Cavs play off game. I had a good time and could'nt finish my meal. Some people went back and played games but Sarah and I went back to read and sleep.
This morning I woke up around 10 and had some breakfast. Currently I am at a local coffee shop/resturant using the internet.
So those of you that know me are familiar with my fear of thunderstorms, tornadoes and all that bad weather. Well the second night we were here we had pretty bad storms and I was shaking in my bed. Then last night there were tornadoes in Arkansas that were possibly coming towards Ohio Valley and Indiana. I was freaking out and my teammates were making fun of me. I don't know if they realize how scared I am of those things. But it is good to know that I have people back home to make me feel better like Mom and Lauren. I wanted to thank you guys so much for the support and dealing with me freaking out from miles away last night.
Well things are going pretty well. I am hopefully going to be able to update this once or twice a week. I hope you guys are all doing well. I love you.