Sorry Everyone,
This lack of availability for blogspot (it’s blocked by the blocker at the Boys and Girls Club) has caused me to be a terrible blogger. It’s been about 3 weeks since I last wrote so I will try my best to mention everything even though it may not be in order.
I’ve already told you about Flint and the crime that has gone on. We witnessed a robbery and had our gas stolen right out of our 15 passenger van but it did not stop there. Someone broke into the fitness center at the Boys and Girls Club which houses an Xbox & a Wii which were both stolen. Neither one of them were recovered which leaves the Boys & Girls Club without. This isn’t the first break in they had however before all that was stolen was ice cream.
One weekend half the team went to Longway Planetarium and went to 2 Laser Light Shows. We saw Radiohead and Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon. This was my first laser light show so it was pretty cool.
As a part of our service project we worked with our sponsor at local Food Drives that he supports. In the course of 2 days we handed out over 30,000 pounds of food to the local community. With these two food drives it really affected me at the point I could feel tears building up. At the beginning I did not realize it because I was busy filling boxes and moving food items but towards the end when we were running out of food and people were walking away with only boxes of microwaveable popcorn, grits, or nothing at all it started to break my heart. We had already helped out when we first arrived in Flint with the Boys and Girls Club for their food drive except the atmosphere was different. Those requesting food pulled their car into the parking lot and we loaded the food in their vehicle and they never even left the car. They both accomplished the same thing by providing food to those in need however the interaction was greater and seemed more personal.
On Good Friday a few of us went to Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth is a German town located 20 miles north of Flint. The first stop we made was at Bronner’s the world’s largest Christmas store. My mother would have loved it and if we ever traveled to Michigan you bet my dad and I would be tagging along. Who knew there could be that much Christmas stuff. We stopped into the numerous fudge shops located on the main stretch as well as the Cheese Haus. We stopped in a few of the shops in the outside mall area and I found my new addition to my Coozie collection… the WOOZIE! The Woozie is a Coozie for… you guessed it… Wine Glasses. Even though Wine is not my first choice it’s a collection and the Woozie is the perfect addition.
Our time in Flint is coming to a close and we have our last four days of work this upcoming week which means a wicked busy week ahead. On top of our regular work day from 8am-5pm we now have tacked on paperwork, finishing up our independent service projects for this round, packing, and cleaning up our housing.
Tomorrow marks the last day (YAY!) that Amanda and I are required to go grocery shopping as we are the grocery shoppers for this round. I am not a fan of grocery shopping especially with a group of people when you have to shop for a group of 9.
All this talk of leaving Flint and I forgot to tell you what our next few weeks will bring. On Friday April 29th the 9 of us from Cedar 4 will pile ourselves and our luggage into our 15 passenger van and begin our journey back to Vinton, Iowa. We will be in Vinton for a week for more trainings (including Chainsaw training for me!), debriefs, and briefings, and a chance to see some familiar faces that we have only seen through facebook and skype these last 6 weeks. Now what’s next for Cedar 4?
SOUTH DAKOTA!
Cedar 4 will be driving 12 hours from Iowa to Hot Springs and Scenic, South Dakota for a total of 8 weeks. We leave on May 5th and head back to Iowa on June 30th. The towns are much smaller (even smaller than Nantucket) one even has a population of 87 (just slightly larger than my graduating class at NHS). We will be building nature trails in the local parks, removing invasive species, building boardwalks, and even demolishing some old buildings. Our laundry will be 9-30+ miles away depending on which town we are in and will be without cell service and internet for 8 whole weeks… imagine that. I am really excited to head to South Dakota especially since we will be surrounded by nature and be able to go out exploring during the warm months. We are not too far from Mount Rushmore and only about an hour north of Nebraska which leaves opportunities to explore.
Due to the lack of internet blogging again will be somewhat difficult so it may be a while in between posts but I will definitely update it on my travels to New Hampshire and Vegas.
That’s all for now!
XoXo
-Katy-
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Interesting week
Hello all!
In the last week we finished up at Centerview which was the apartments for the elderly that were in much better condition then the first building we were in when we first arrived. Since we finished we went back to KMS to continue working on the disastrous apartments. It's really surprising what a coat of paint will do to an apartment... Looks somewhat brand new!
Cedar 4 got to experience Flint MI early this week on separate events. On Monday we saw two people rob a house of all it's armor from the windows and doors to sell it. Our sponsor called the police on them and they were already aware and knew who they were. As soon as they heard the sirens they took off only to return later with an empty truck to fill it up again.
On Tuesday morning it was my turn to drive to work. Getting into the van I noticed our gas cap was open so I tightened it back up and closed the door. After starting the van I found the gas gauge to be at 3/4 of a tank which was odd since we filled it up the night before... Someone had hopped the fence and stole our gas right out of the tank.
yesterday I found out that my grandfather passed away early in the morning... He lived a good 95 years and is now at peace with Nana. The service will not be until later which is great since I won't be able to make it home until July. Her is a
Few pictures of him.
RIP Gramps!
XoXo
-Katy-
In the last week we finished up at Centerview which was the apartments for the elderly that were in much better condition then the first building we were in when we first arrived. Since we finished we went back to KMS to continue working on the disastrous apartments. It's really surprising what a coat of paint will do to an apartment... Looks somewhat brand new!
Cedar 4 got to experience Flint MI early this week on separate events. On Monday we saw two people rob a house of all it's armor from the windows and doors to sell it. Our sponsor called the police on them and they were already aware and knew who they were. As soon as they heard the sirens they took off only to return later with an empty truck to fill it up again.
On Tuesday morning it was my turn to drive to work. Getting into the van I noticed our gas cap was open so I tightened it back up and closed the door. After starting the van I found the gas gauge to be at 3/4 of a tank which was odd since we filled it up the night before... Someone had hopped the fence and stole our gas right out of the tank.
yesterday I found out that my grandfather passed away early in the morning... He lived a good 95 years and is now at peace with Nana. The service will not be until later which is great since I won't be able to make it home until July. Her is a
Few pictures of him.
RIP Gramps!
XoXo
-Katy-
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