Memphis

Hmm, let's see--a team blow up, Max coming back, sent on a disaster assignment, finally we were sent to our project, got poison ivy--let's just say that it has been a very eventful past month.  Two days before Max came back, there was a team blow up with half of the team basically blaming me for a lot of things.  It ended with me walking out of the meeting crying.  I talked with Ana (our temp team leader), then in the next couple of days I talked with our Unit Leader Justin saying that I wanted off the team or I would go home.  It was basically a climax for me, Justin decided to leave me on the same team.  Max and I have talked about it several times and I feel that staying here will work.  The day that Max came back, our team was sent on a disaster assignment to Jackson Mississippi as a result of Tropical Storm Isaac hitting the gulf coast.  We worked long hours helping the Red Cross manage a shelter in Jackson.  After a week, the shelter was closed and we were sent to Gulfport Mississippi to help the Red Cross with mass distribution of supplies.  Basically, we were unloading tractor trailers and loading up Emergency Response Vehicles.  The Red Cross was having a hard time trying to figure out how to best use us, so after three days of getting the run around, we were sent back to our regular projects.
I am currently in Memphis Tennessee working with the Vollintine Evergreen Community Association (VECA) mostly doing yard work.  Hence the poison ivy, I figured out that in large quantities I react to poison ivy.  Thankfully I finally went to the doctor and got some medicine to help heal it.  We are staying at Pilgrim House Hostel in Midtown Memphis and I have really enjoyed staying at the hostel and meeting people from around the world.
Our next (and last) project is a split round where we will be working with Habitat in Kentucky and with a childrens camp in Mississippi.  Both of the projects heavily involve construction, so I am happy about that even though it was not my first choice.  Our first choice was the Florida Keys working with Habitat, but that project was given to a different team.  All in all, I have been mostly enjoying my experiences this year and seeing how much I have stretched myself but I am also looking forward to whatever adventures are in store for me next.

Round 3-Hattiesburg

So, a lot has happened since I left Tuscaloosa.  Since so much has happened, I'll start with the good news first.  The project that I am working on right now (I will be here until the end of August) has internet where we live.  We are also working in the same building as we are living in.  It is a 10,000 square foot house that is being restored and converted into volunteer housing.  We are working in Hattiesburg, a small college town in southeast Mississippi.  I went and explored some of downtown this morning with my team leader and one of my team-mates.

I was very sad to leave, I miss all the great people that I worked with at Habitat and the amazing homeowners!  I truly enjoyed my time in Tuscaloosa and will probably find my way back there some day in the near future.  We came back to campus for a few days of training, then our summer break started.  I decided to stay on campus during break, which was a good and bad decision. It was good because I was able to work over break and get some independent work hours out of the way, but it was bad because I just needed to get out of the AmeriCorps environment and I wasn't able to.  One of the other bad things that happened right before break was that one of my team mates was sent home from the program.  Cellus had become a good friend of mine and I miss him very much.

During break, when I was not working, I ended up watching all of the Harry Potter movies.  It was nice to just chill for a while.

The day before we were supposed to leave for our project, we found out that our team might be called for a disaster in Florida.  But another team's project fell through, so they were called up for the disaster instead.  Then the morning that we were leaving, Max was called for meetings all day.  We found out later that afternoon it was because the staff was pulling him from our team temporarily, at least we all hope that it is temporary.  They pulled a corps member from another team and promoted her to be our new team leader.  All in all, it has been a difficult past couple of days for our team--missing two of our team members.