NOLA, Ike Relief, Camp Orange, Round Two Reveal and More!

A long title for a long entry. I haven't written for a while, so I have a lot to talk about. Oh yeah, and I've gotten my assignment for my second round! However, I'm saving that for the end. Don't you cheat and scroll to the bottom - I'll find out.

So... Camp Orange... It's less than ideal. I think I can speak for everyone on my team when I say that we're pretty tired of tents, port-o-potties and shower trailers. There have also been some harassment issues with some of the non-AmeriCorps guys who live here. Not to mention, it's pretty obvious that security targets me and my teammates in a disciminatory manner when they enforce their policies. I don't know if it's because we're young or because we're not from around here, but they do it.

Still, things aren't terrible. We've got a (plastic) roof over our heads and food on our table, which is much more than I can say about most of the people that we're trying to help down here. As for work, sometimes it's boring and sometimes it's exciting. It's a lot of office work (phone calls and such), but when we get to actually meet the residents of southeast Texas, it's totally worth it. Even though we're not giving them tons of aid or anything, most people are extremely grateful, which eludes to the fact that they are in a lot of need. Here are some pictures of my teammates at work:

Above: Ryan, lethargic from too much telephone-ness.

Above: Lindsey, who couldn't be lethargic if she tried!

Above: Lawrence attempting to be Model-Lawrence.

But regardless of my job or my living situation, we only have one week left here in Orange, TX! Next weekend we are driving back up to Sacramento and that will be the end of Round One! I will be flying home to Chicago on December 21st and I will report back to Sacramento on January 3rd.

I'm definitely looking forward to being home for a bit. It'll be nice to eat some good food and see everyone whom I've missed so much. It's funny though - once I get back to Sacramento, it's going to feel like I've been away from Silver One for ages. That's how it felt when I went to New Orleans for Thanksgiving (hey, what a convenient transition...).

I went to New Orleans, LA (or NOLA) for Thanksgiving break! It was a great time. I went with Sarah and Katie L. from my team and Ryan and the two Kristens from Silver Two. We rented a van to get there and stayed at the Olivier House, which was incredible. The Olivier is an old house that's located in the French Quarter of NOLA about a half-block from Bourbon Street. It was very pretty and we got a great discount for being in AmeriCorps (actually, I've gotten quite a few discounts and free things for "wearing the A").

The room was really interesting and definitely had a lot more character than other hotels that I've seen. I've never seen a loft in a hotel before, that's for sure! I stayed with Sarah and Katie up in the lofted bed and the Silver-Two-ers pulled out the couch downstairs. Here - I'll post a video and a picture from the hotel:

Above: The view from the outdoor hallway. We tried the pool but it was way too cold that night.

Above: A short video tour of our room.

Since it was such an ideal place, it turned out that tons of AmeriCorps members were staying there for break! We even met some people from the Denver and Iowa campuses. It was a lot of fun to reconnect with a bunch of my friends from CTI and explore NOLA with them.

So while plenty of people did the Bourbon Street thing, I decided to explore on my own for most of the break. Obviously, I met up with them later at night, but I spent the vast majority of the weekend simply walking around New Orleans. I found some really incredible neighborhoods and architecture around the city, so I'm really glad I got away from the whole touristy thing.

Also, on our way back from NOLA, we stopped in Baton Rouge to meet up with my friend, Arrielle. She brought us to this great Latin restaurant. It was really nice to see Arrielle again, since the last time I saw her was up in Madison. We also got to drive through the LSU campus, which was interesting to see. Overall, it was an excellent trip!

And lastly, my new assignment for Round Two. I'll preface this by saying that this is only going to be for three weeks. You see, this first project in Texas was a disaster project and it ended up being shorter than the other non-disaster projects that teams have. Thus, they are giving many of the disaster teams short, three-week projects in order to allow the other teams to catch up to the schedule. This means that I am going to have a five-project year, which is atypical and pretty much awesome! I like it because it means I get to see more of the country and live in more places throughout my year of service.

So my next project... Erin, my TL, made us go on a scavenger hunt around camp to find out. We found a clue in the Christmas tree, which led us to a clue taped onto the side of a port-o-potty, which led us to a clue taped onto the towel lockers, which led us to the final envelope in the driver's seat of our van. Each envelope also hinted about our project. We figured out that we would not be going to California or Texas (which I was very thankful for), that we would be doing construction and that we would be working with Habitat for Humanity. Then, we completed our hunt and the reveal was complete:

My next project is in Lafayette, LA! We're working with Habitat for Humanity building houses. This project isn't perfect, but it's excellent and I'm happy with it. It should be better than my current project in a variety of ways (not to say my current one is horrible, or anything):

First of all, we're be living in a building (a church, to be precise). That's a good start. We'll have more space to ourselves, indoor plumbing (ooooh, aaaah), a full kitchen and other goodies like that. Here at Camp Orange we have a cooking staff that usually prepares the type of food you'd expect construction contractors to want (tonight we're having hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, etc.), so I am really looking forward to being able to eat healthily without spending my own cash at the grocery store.

The next project should also be better because I'll be able to get outside and do some work with my hands, for once. I spend too much time indoors here - I can even notice my skin getting lighter. I'm glad that I'll be able to get back outside and do something more tangible. Also, I really can't wait to learn about construction since I'm sure one of my remaining three projects will be construction oriented.

Lastly, I hear Habitat for Humanity is great to work with. Obviously, it depends on your specific sponsor, but a Habitat project is essentially the standard AmeriCorps project that all other projects are measured against. I do admit, however, that my current sponsors at Catholic Charities are super-nice and I think my whole team will miss them once we're gone.

I'm pretty sure that sums it all up. NOLA trip, new assignment, but currently just more Orange. I know I threw a lot at ya this time, so if you have any questions or comments PLEASE let me know. I may be horrible at keeping in touch with people at the moment, but that doesn't mean I don't want to!

Thank you so much for reading. I'm not sure if I'll be posting over the holidays (I'm considering a special in-depth team info post, though), so if I don't speak to you until I get back to Sacramento, have a good holiday season!

-Scott