Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tamalada
Part of my AmeriCorps NCCC requirements for
graduation are to complete 80 hours of independent service hours (ISP’s) in
addition to the 1700 hours of service we complete as a team working for our
project sponsors. This past round my team was able to complete close to 25 of those hours.
We spent a day volunteering at a local high school Tamalada. The students were attempting to set a world record for most tamales made in a day. Students from neighborhood elementary and middle schools also came to made a few tamales as well. Here are some pictures from the day.
Big Lou's
My teammates and I demolished a 42 inch pizza this past round. We made a stop at Big Lou's in San Antonio and filled our bellies with a delicious pepperoni and mushroom pizza. I personally stuffed my face and finished a single slice. No small feat when a single slice is equivalent to a 10 inch pizza.
Sea World
Have I told you guys my sponsors this past round were awesome? Well, they definitely should win an award of some kind.
Mark and Peggy were constantly bringing us treats and surprises. The one that's going to take the cake was a free, behind the scenes, trip to Sea World. No joke, you guys, it was amazing.
We went on a Wednesday when the park was closed to visitors, so we had the entire place to ourselves. Well, minus a few workers who were being busy bees working away. We had a tour guide who took us around and was so knowledgeable about the park and the animals. It was freezing out, but I was so interested in everything I didn't even notice.
Our first stop for the day was the Killer Whale tank. There were trainers busy working with 2 of the whales and one came over an chatted with us. He brought the whale he was working with over and did some fun tricks for us. He also stayed and chatted with us and answered our questions for 20 minutes or so, another trainer came over and chatted as well. He had been there for 18 years, since the park opened! Our tour guide told us later that never happens, that the trainers took time to come over and talk with us.
Next up was the penguin tank. We got lucky on our timing and they were feeding when we were around so it was fun to see that.
The other big highlight from the front of the park was the Bottle Nose Dolphin area. The dolphins are in an open tank and visitors can try to pet them. Since we had a smaller group and there was no one else around many of my team members were able to touch them. I didn't get that lucky, but I did get splashed!
The behind the scenes portion of the tour was awesome. We got to check out a tank of sting rays. Our guide let us put our hand in the water and sting rays then would swim right underneath and touch us. There was a tank of baby sharks and our guide caught one and put it in a smaller tank so we could tough it, too. It felt almost like a fine sandpaper.
After our tour, Mark took the whole team out to lunch at a fun Tex-Mex place. Laura and Melinda even got serenaded! They definitely spoiled us this round.
Mark and Peggy were constantly bringing us treats and surprises. The one that's going to take the cake was a free, behind the scenes, trip to Sea World. No joke, you guys, it was amazing.
We went on a Wednesday when the park was closed to visitors, so we had the entire place to ourselves. Well, minus a few workers who were being busy bees working away. We had a tour guide who took us around and was so knowledgeable about the park and the animals. It was freezing out, but I was so interested in everything I didn't even notice.
Our first stop for the day was the Killer Whale tank. There were trainers busy working with 2 of the whales and one came over an chatted with us. He brought the whale he was working with over and did some fun tricks for us. He also stayed and chatted with us and answered our questions for 20 minutes or so, another trainer came over and chatted as well. He had been there for 18 years, since the park opened! Our tour guide told us later that never happens, that the trainers took time to come over and talk with us.
Next up was the penguin tank. We got lucky on our timing and they were feeding when we were around so it was fun to see that.
The other big highlight from the front of the park was the Bottle Nose Dolphin area. The dolphins are in an open tank and visitors can try to pet them. Since we had a smaller group and there was no one else around many of my team members were able to touch them. I didn't get that lucky, but I did get splashed!
The behind the scenes portion of the tour was awesome. We got to check out a tank of sting rays. Our guide let us put our hand in the water and sting rays then would swim right underneath and touch us. There was a tank of baby sharks and our guide caught one and put it in a smaller tank so we could tough it, too. It felt almost like a fine sandpaper.
Sting Rays
Here is our tour guide catching the shark!
Some other fun pictures from the day.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
End of the Round
Round 1 is finished! My team made it through. Our last week was a lot of fun, albeit a little scattered.
Monday, Melinda and I were able to help our decorating the big white house for an event that was held on the property. Melinda is a HUGE Christmas fan so this was a highlight for both of us.
Tuesday we were spoiled and got the day off to go to Sea World.
Wednesday we did some independent service hours at a Tamalada.
Thursday I did some trail scouting with Max and Ben. It was fun to wander around in the woods again looking for neat places for a mountain bike trail.
On Friday Max and I were in charge of helping Mark, Peggy, and those on the Land Heritage Institute board get ready for the Holiday Heritage Fair the next day. We hooked up trailers, got the hay rides ready, set up some tables. One of the neatest things was helping set up the Chuck Wagon. We pulled it out of the barn, and I mean we literally pulled it out. Max and Mark rolled the wheels and I pulled from the front. I got to climb inside and pull things out and set up the canopy on top.
Saturday was our last day of work and the 2nd annual Holiday Heritage Fair. We woke up and were bummed to find it was pretty cold and looked like rain. We just bundled up and got to work. Nick and I were in charge of driving to the closer intersections and putting up signs, it took us the few hours before the event started. Once people arrived we had a few scattered tasks each. A few of us helped with kids games for awhile. They had a "cow" set up and we had fun pretending to rope it. Then it was my turn to sit by myself at the front gate and direct people in. It was awfully cold and I was glad I had a truck to sit in the back of when it started drizzling. I also had Daisy, our dog friend who comes to visit hang out with me.
Sunday we knew our time was dwindling so we tried to get some more fun stuff in. A few of us took a truck and went to Tower of the Americas in downtown San Antonio. It's basically a space needle, we took an elevator up and walked around. Not sure if it was worth the $10, but fun nonetheless. Then we had a going away dinner at Mark's office downtown. He's President of an architecture business and has the coolest office.
Monday was full of packing and cleaning after a 5 hour service project at Haven for Hope, a local homeless shelter in San Antonio. We worked in the kitchen making and serving breakfast. I was in the dish area for awhile and the people were so nice. I got so many thank you's when I took their trays to clean them.
Tuesday we took off for Lubbock for the night. Full day of driving. Wednesday we headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pretty neat place, I was able to wander around downtown for a bit and got some sweet new mittens. Had team dinner at a neat place called Atomic Grill. Thursday we drove back to Denver and it was fun to see Paul and all of my friends from training. We had enough money left over were were able to go to a nice restaurant and celebrate the end of the round. Wahoo.
Friday we had a day of meetings and that brings me to today, Saturday. The day I come back to Minnesota for Christmas Break.
My shuttle left campus at 5 this morning. I arrived at the airport and sailed through security by 6 am. That leaves me plenty of downtime until my 9 am flight to take advantage of this free wifi and update this blog!
Sorry posting has been so sparse, but as you can see, I'm a busy woman!
Monday, Melinda and I were able to help our decorating the big white house for an event that was held on the property. Melinda is a HUGE Christmas fan so this was a highlight for both of us.
Tuesday we were spoiled and got the day off to go to Sea World.
Wednesday we did some independent service hours at a Tamalada.
Thursday I did some trail scouting with Max and Ben. It was fun to wander around in the woods again looking for neat places for a mountain bike trail.
On Friday Max and I were in charge of helping Mark, Peggy, and those on the Land Heritage Institute board get ready for the Holiday Heritage Fair the next day. We hooked up trailers, got the hay rides ready, set up some tables. One of the neatest things was helping set up the Chuck Wagon. We pulled it out of the barn, and I mean we literally pulled it out. Max and Mark rolled the wheels and I pulled from the front. I got to climb inside and pull things out and set up the canopy on top.
Saturday was our last day of work and the 2nd annual Holiday Heritage Fair. We woke up and were bummed to find it was pretty cold and looked like rain. We just bundled up and got to work. Nick and I were in charge of driving to the closer intersections and putting up signs, it took us the few hours before the event started. Once people arrived we had a few scattered tasks each. A few of us helped with kids games for awhile. They had a "cow" set up and we had fun pretending to rope it. Then it was my turn to sit by myself at the front gate and direct people in. It was awfully cold and I was glad I had a truck to sit in the back of when it started drizzling. I also had Daisy, our dog friend who comes to visit hang out with me.
Morbid side story: While I was at the front gate, Daisy wandered into the road and got swiped by a truck. I think she may have broken a leg. She hobbled home.
Sunday we knew our time was dwindling so we tried to get some more fun stuff in. A few of us took a truck and went to Tower of the Americas in downtown San Antonio. It's basically a space needle, we took an elevator up and walked around. Not sure if it was worth the $10, but fun nonetheless. Then we had a going away dinner at Mark's office downtown. He's President of an architecture business and has the coolest office.
Monday was full of packing and cleaning after a 5 hour service project at Haven for Hope, a local homeless shelter in San Antonio. We worked in the kitchen making and serving breakfast. I was in the dish area for awhile and the people were so nice. I got so many thank you's when I took their trays to clean them.
Tuesday we took off for Lubbock for the night. Full day of driving. Wednesday we headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pretty neat place, I was able to wander around downtown for a bit and got some sweet new mittens. Had team dinner at a neat place called Atomic Grill. Thursday we drove back to Denver and it was fun to see Paul and all of my friends from training. We had enough money left over were were able to go to a nice restaurant and celebrate the end of the round. Wahoo.
Friday we had a day of meetings and that brings me to today, Saturday. The day I come back to Minnesota for Christmas Break.
My shuttle left campus at 5 this morning. I arrived at the airport and sailed through security by 6 am. That leaves me plenty of downtime until my 9 am flight to take advantage of this free wifi and update this blog!
Sorry posting has been so sparse, but as you can see, I'm a busy woman!
Monday, December 5, 2011
This Weeks Update
I am back to trail crew this week. This morning we spent some time scouting out
a mountain bike trail to add to the existing Medina River Greenway Tail System. Where we are in
Texas is awfully flat so it was difficult finding a fun path for biking, but we
did our best.
In the afternoon I was sent out to our first trail to do
some more work. The path is cleared, but
not exactly level. My job was to use the
tractor with a plow attachment on the back to break up the land for another
tool to come in that will be able to do the job.
Yes, they trusted me out alone in the woods with this big tractor. Are they nuts?!
Oh, and in other news, Texas was freezing today. No, we don’t have snow, but I wanted a fuzzy
pair of mittens all day long.
Cowboy Boots
I am the proud new owner of a beautiful pair of cowboy boots. This past weekend the ladies on the team
headed to a Hat and Boot store to get ourselves some new kicks. We all gravitated to the same pair and three
of us ended up walking out of the store with matching boots. We may have spent close to an entire paycheck
on them, but they sure are beautiful.
Oh, and saying I spent almost an entire paycheck on them
doesn’t seem so bad when I remember that I make three times less than minimum
wage.
Jack in the Box
I had my first Jack in the Box experience this past
weekend. The food was your average fast
food quality but the ordering experience was something else.
Has anyone else heard of automated ordering? Where did this come from?
I navigated my way through the touch screen ordering system,
slid my $2 into the slot, and next thing I knew a worker had my cheeseburger
ready for me.
I wonder if it will catch on?!
Friday, December 2, 2011
This Week's Project
This round Sun 3 is working simultaneously on two projects. Part of the group is trail building, what I was doing last week. The other part of the group is working on building the deck for the house we're living in.
This week I was on construction crew. Joe, the site supervisor the the construction crew is a Texas native, and a Native American at that. He is full of interesting stories and we have quite a few story breaks in our days. It's really interesting to hear a bit more about his culture and life in Texas. It's also fun to learn a bit about construction!
This week I was on construction crew. Joe, the site supervisor the the construction crew is a Texas native, and a Native American at that. He is full of interesting stories and we have quite a few story breaks in our days. It's really interesting to hear a bit more about his culture and life in Texas. It's also fun to learn a bit about construction!
Below are Ben, my team mate and Joe discussing the next step in the deck construction process.
My Team Leader, Nick, working on something. We've been spending our days on ladders.
Texans are awfully proud of Texas. I don't get it.
We're getting there. At the end of today we had all of the beams up on the roof.
Believe it or not, but I was actually up on this ladder with a nail gun nailing in beams most of the week.
This week I learned all about framing, beams, supports, and hip joints. Come July when I am jobless let me know if you need anything built!
My Digs
This round Sun 3 has been blessed with top notch living conditions. Qualifications for this include a dishwasher, on site laundry, more than one sleeping area and more than one shower for the entire team.
The only drawback is the lack of real beds, and that is easily manageable. Below you will see my lovely cot and sleeping bag. It's not too terribly uncomfortable, it just squeaks a bit when I move around.
Well, I guess there is another drawback. Recently my TL Nick and I seem to have become allergic to our housing. We've both gotten kicked in the rear end by allergies and are finding it quite annoying. It's also irritating my lugs a bit and making my asthma kick in a bit. Good thing I got an inhaler refill before I arrived in Texas. The other day we made a trip to the Wal-Mart allergy medication aisle and picked up some allergy buster nasal spray. Holy moley, it's an all natural spray made with chiles and my nose BURNS when I use it. It works though, clears my sinuses right out.
Sun 3's Private Concert
Jim played us a few of his songs. We heard some real cowboy songs and they told us a little about Texas history. Overall it was a fun night for Sun 3.
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