The one where I come back 987 years later

So this is awkward. You all must have forgotten that I have a blog.... trust me, I have too. Since I've last written, two AmeriCorps projects have come and gone and I have 11 days until graduation. Why did I top writing you ask? There is hardly ever any free time in this program so when those precious moments come, I am way too lazy to actually do anything productive. My first blog post I warned all of you that I would get too lazy. I know myself too well. So since I last wrote, I have had a project in Twisp Washington, North Cascades National park, and Sandy Oregon. If I wrote everything about these projects, we will be here for 52 days so I will just show some highlights and all of that jazz.

TWISP WASHINGTON
Washington is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The people there are just as beautiful. The South and the Midwest are known for having friendly folk but Washington should for sure be in the running. In Twisp, I never had a bad interaction. It's the kind of place where everyone just waves at each other. People would come up to us while we were working and thank us for our service. Seriously, the people from Washington, especially Twisp, are incredibly delightful. So what did we do in Twisp service wise? We did/ learned a lot! If I'm being honest, I was not crazy about a lot of the work we did in Twisp but what I liked about it was that we did a lot of different things so it didn't stay monotonous. Here is what my work week looked like in Twisp.
   
     Monday: My group would head to RedShed which is a non profit farm that grows food for people      in need. We would do all kinds of mini projects in the garden like weeding, making beds, turning        beds, making fences and a lot of stuff. I ended up really liking it!

 The view we had while working at Redshed was AMAZING!!

The part of Blue 5 that worked at Redshed with our site supervisors Kelly and Lee and the amazing dog Arlo!

     Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: These three days of the week, the whole team would work together at        Twisp Works doing different carpentry and landscaping projects for the buildings on the campus.        this were the days I was not particularly crazy about. Landscaping consisted of a lot of weeding          and raking which were two tasks that could get very monotonous. I also was not crazy about the          carpentry either. I probably would have liked it better if I thought I was good at it but alas, it was        not my calling. On the other hand.... I LOVED when we did demolition work. It's a lot easier to          not mess up when you are taking something apart then when you have to build it.

Demolition Crew!

Lucas made some FINE signs (they were also really heavy)

Our finished work. As a team we removed all of the siding, made the wood good to use again, and put it all up. Pretty good for unskilled labor I'd say

     Wednesday: My favorite day of the week! Half of us got to work at classroom in bloom which is a gardening program with kids. We got to work with Kindergartners, first graders, and third graders and do different things in the garden. We also got to serve at the outdoor club, an after school program in which we took kids on hikes and played outdoor games. I wish I could show you some of the awesome selfies we took with the kids but I have a feeling their parents would not be too fond of me posting pictures of their children for all to see.

I got to plant my first tree at Classroom in Bloom! (It was an aspen, thanks for asking)

So yeah, that's basically Twisp for ya. Shout out to all of the wonderful people who we worked with. YA'LL PROVIDED FOR US!!

The hikes in Twisp were INCREDIBLE!

Sun Mountain

We got to blow glass.... I did awful

Our housing!

Easter Sunday

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON

So we were only here for 10 days but it was so awesome it deserves it's own paragraph. We did different things like help start a new garden, clear defensive space to prevent the spread of wildfire, shadow at the outdoor school, and build some trail. This place was absolutely beautiful and the mountains were huge and the color of the water was indescribable. We got to camp right by this beautiful river. The best part? All of our food was provided and it was a great time to be alive because the food was delicious.

 The view from right outside of my tent

This was a hot mess, but so fun

Corban giving the plants literal TLC, he played them "Waterfalls"

SANDY OREGON

This is the project we most recently finished. We camped for six weeks but the bright side is that we were close to Portland. I love camping, but doing it for six weeks sucks. Like, where am I supposed to put all of my stuff. Also, why does my stuff have to be all wet? Also, I am literally always hungry. I guess the good thing about camping makes you grateful about the little things.... like a bed or water that doesn't taste like fish or a toilet that I don't have to walk 5 hours to get to. As for the work, we basically started a new garden and worked with youth, nothing to exciting but I hope we made some kind of impact.

If you're ever in Portland, PLEASE GO TO POWELL'S BOOKS

Mt. Hood, man it's good stuff

When camping in the rain, one must laugh to keep from crying

They hate me for making them take lame pictures

And just like that, we have 11 days left in AmeriCorps and to be completely honest, I am so excited. I am going to miss Blue 5 so much but I am so excited to see my family and friends and to see a Kansas sunset! Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others!!!!! 

The one where with the snow chains

Hello everyone!! I keep apologizing that I keep skipping weeks and stuff but honestly, I don't even feel sorry. I am literally always tired but alas, I am well. We are in Twisp Washington and it is super great so far but we just got here so more on that next week. Here's how our last little bit o' time in Sacramento went. 

WE FINISHED TAXES!!! While it was actually the call center I wasn't a fan and I liked taxes, it was still nice to finally not be in an office all day and be not be separated from half of my team. Our last day of work our wonderful project sponsors for VITA (who we did tax assistance with) as well as the call center took us out for a lovely lunch at a restaurant on a dock by the river and to the train museum! Shout out to Diana and Bob for being wonderful people! Blue 5 loved working with them!!

 Our last day at work in Sacramento!!( Photo creds to Kendra)

A group of us spent our last weekend of the project in Lake Tahoe California/ Nevada ( shout out to Page, Lucas, Ben, and Kendra!) The trip was an absolute hot mess. We had troubles with on car rental, the snow was crazy, we had purchase snow chains even though we didn't really want to..... even though the weekend should have been absolute crap, we had a GREAT time!! Tahoe was absolutely beautiful and it was fun to explore and we're definitely planning on coming back when it gets warmer!! I'm just going to post pictures from Tahoe because it's Easter and I'm going to go eat a poop ton of food with my team! Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others!

Snow chains!!

 

My first time in Nevada!!

The one where I lose 10 pounds of my hair

EYOOO!! Here I am still in Sacramento and still doing taxes and still working in the call center. It seems like our days in the call center are endless but alas, we see the light at the end of the tunnel for the end of our project is near! We also found out our next project but you all know the drill NO ANSWERS UNTIL THE END!!

Blue 5 was actually surprised that we actually like taxes more than the call center. Everyone at the call center is really nice (there is actually a receptionist that every member of our team is in love with and want to take with us everywhere) and we really like our site supervisor Bob, but scheduling tax appointments has gotten very monotonous and there is no challenge to it anymore.

James, Kendra, and I getting our tax calls on POINT

I honestly do enjoy doing taxes for people with low income for free. It's nice getting to interact directly with the people that I am helping. Not very many AmeriCorps teams get to do that. It feels very rewarding and it's a great challenge that I never thought I would be able to do. We also do little odds and ends jobs like walking around a delivering flyers which is a nice substitute to working in the call center.

James, Kendra, Corban, and Jesse

I thought I wasn't going to have fun staying in Sacramento but we have found some great ways to entertain ourselves. A group of us discovered Folsom lake which is a really pretty spot to hit up if you're ever in Sacramento. It was too cold to swim but it was really nice to walk around and sit by the water and actually see mountains again. ( For those of you who don't know, Sactown is actually pretty flat)

Folsom Lake

A couple of us from Blue 5 (shout out to James and Ben) went to San Francisco to meet up with some friends from the teams (shout out to our friends from blue 6 and blue 7!) We went for 2 days and had a great time. The weather was beautiful the whole time and I really didn't spend much money which is an added bonus. It was super fun to get to hang out with people from other teams and since we spent the whole weekend there, I feel like we got to explore a lot of San Francisco.

We found an absolutely beautiful cathedral. It was 93762% more beautiful inside, but I won't bother posting pictures but the wouldn't do the building justice.

 

Any city that you go to (especially SanFran!) you will learn that if you just walk around and look hard enough, you can find plenty of free things to entertain you. We found this nice little free art gallery!

The weather in SanFran was absolutely wonderful so we were perfectly content with sitting by the beach and enjoying being outside

If you are cheap as I am, I would recommend San Francisco international hostel. The prices were really reasonable and they had free breakfast and wifi which is all I ever need in life. 

 Our second day in San Francisco was spent in China town and Pier 39!

OKAY!! I suppose I will make the big announcement now. I'm guessing everyone is sitting at the edge of their seats. I am confident in the fact that everyone has not slept because you have been waiting to find out where blue 5 is going next. For our round 3 project blue 5 is going to... DRUMROLL..................................................................................................................................

 

 

 

TWISP WASHINGTON!! I am super excited because I have never been to Washington before! I also have never been to Oregon before(which we obviously have to drive through to get to WA) We are going to be doing some really awesome stuff too! I believe we are going to be doing a week of trail work (back to our roots!) After that, we are going to be doing some infrastructure improvement projects on a CCC bunker with stuff like painting and light construction work. We are going to be doing some landscaping projects for a CCC(civilian community corps, not to be confused with AmeriCorps NCCC) and my favorite part, we are going to be educating and working alongside youth in some gardening of organic foods! Gardening and working with kids were both things I wanted to do so I am super pumped that I get to do both at once! We are staying in a nice 4 bedroom bunkhouse with a kitchen and bathrooms so we all  feeling lucky. Just a week and a half and we'll be done with this project, a week of training back on campus, and then we'll be on our way to Northern Washington! CAN'T WAIT! Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others!!

http://www.activelynorthwest.com/fitness/active-adventure-winthrop-and-the-methow-valley/