happy tofurkey day
We went to Holy Rosary church in downtown Galveston to do orientation for our new project. Instead of needs assessment, we're working with The Jesse Tree, a non-profit organization that tries to organize and unite the services offered by ministries, medical providers, and federal and state social service programs and offer them to clients as a sort of one-stop shop. It's a neat solution to a big problem. As it eliminates a lot of leg work for people, it's incredibly busy, which makes for happy corps members. Since their main office was completely ruined by the hurricane, they've set up shop in the courtyard of a small elementary school, cramming everything into a couple of classrooms.
It's a bare bones operation, but everyone is full of energy and committed to offering whatever resources they can as directly as possible. They wasted no time divvying up our team into the various projects they run concurrently and I spent all day doling out fresh vegetables to whoever needed them. It was so gratifying to help people so directly and a refreshing change from the DRCs, where people come away with vague application status updates and papers signed, hoping that help is on its way. One woman even got out of her car to give me a huge hug. The rest of the team was hard at work stocking the food pantry, taking in clients, doing data entry, and manning the phone bank. I am really excited that there's a strong need for us here and that we're working with an organization which provides realistic, direct solutions.
After that, we had lunch by the beach along Seawall. It was my first time appreciating that we have the Gulf of Mexico at our doorstep and I naturally hunted for pretty shells and sea glass. I felt like I could really breathe. When we came back, I went out for a run within the camp and ran out to as close to the fence as I could get. There is a point where the generators become more scarce and you can't quite hear them if you stand in an in-between place. I could see miles of caramel grass and the sky was covered with thick pink clouds. I blasted the music on my phone and sang loudly, enjoying being alone here for once in Tent City.
I want to relearn Spanish. Actually, I need to. There is a huge population of Spanish-speaking families in Galveston and I found myself needing to bust out the dregs of my high school Spanish over and over. I can't describe how frustrating it was to instinctively want to speak in Japanese and be reminded again how useless it is in terms of what I'm doing with my life. I loved my major as an academic pursuit, but at least I can tap into my years of language study and hopefully pick up Spanish relatively quickly again. I still can't tell if I have a natural knack for them, but I enjoy learning languages and I'm confident that I know how to efficiently stuff them into my head if I'm disciplined enough. My friend Jen is going to help me and I'll try to get my hands on a book somehow.
I'm getting it that AmeriCorps doesn't really give you skills or answers. It gives you problems and more often than not, not enough information or tools, but you find yourself dying to solve them anyway and realizing that you've got more or less what you need to do it. That direction and confidence, if nothing else, is what I treasure most because I need them badly and came here looking for them.
Tomorrow we're going to the Turkey Trot, a big marathon in Houston, to do some volunteer work and cheer on some of us who are running in it. After that, another possible stint at a soup kitchen, followed by a big Thanksgiving feast at good ol' Camp Tarmac. Fingers crossed for Tofurkey.
Tentative goals for the year:
-Match my skills to my interests and translate that into a job/career
-Learn Spanish
-Bench press 45 lbs.
-Run 1.5 miles without stopping
-Learn lace knitting
-Be myself
It's a bare bones operation, but everyone is full of energy and committed to offering whatever resources they can as directly as possible. They wasted no time divvying up our team into the various projects they run concurrently and I spent all day doling out fresh vegetables to whoever needed them. It was so gratifying to help people so directly and a refreshing change from the DRCs, where people come away with vague application status updates and papers signed, hoping that help is on its way. One woman even got out of her car to give me a huge hug. The rest of the team was hard at work stocking the food pantry, taking in clients, doing data entry, and manning the phone bank. I am really excited that there's a strong need for us here and that we're working with an organization which provides realistic, direct solutions.
After that, we had lunch by the beach along Seawall. It was my first time appreciating that we have the Gulf of Mexico at our doorstep and I naturally hunted for pretty shells and sea glass. I felt like I could really breathe. When we came back, I went out for a run within the camp and ran out to as close to the fence as I could get. There is a point where the generators become more scarce and you can't quite hear them if you stand in an in-between place. I could see miles of caramel grass and the sky was covered with thick pink clouds. I blasted the music on my phone and sang loudly, enjoying being alone here for once in Tent City.
I want to relearn Spanish. Actually, I need to. There is a huge population of Spanish-speaking families in Galveston and I found myself needing to bust out the dregs of my high school Spanish over and over. I can't describe how frustrating it was to instinctively want to speak in Japanese and be reminded again how useless it is in terms of what I'm doing with my life. I loved my major as an academic pursuit, but at least I can tap into my years of language study and hopefully pick up Spanish relatively quickly again. I still can't tell if I have a natural knack for them, but I enjoy learning languages and I'm confident that I know how to efficiently stuff them into my head if I'm disciplined enough. My friend Jen is going to help me and I'll try to get my hands on a book somehow.
I'm getting it that AmeriCorps doesn't really give you skills or answers. It gives you problems and more often than not, not enough information or tools, but you find yourself dying to solve them anyway and realizing that you've got more or less what you need to do it. That direction and confidence, if nothing else, is what I treasure most because I need them badly and came here looking for them.
Tomorrow we're going to the Turkey Trot, a big marathon in Houston, to do some volunteer work and cheer on some of us who are running in it. After that, another possible stint at a soup kitchen, followed by a big Thanksgiving feast at good ol' Camp Tarmac. Fingers crossed for Tofurkey.
Tentative goals for the year:
-Match my skills to my interests and translate that into a job/career
-Learn Spanish
-Bench press 45 lbs.
-Run 1.5 miles without stopping
-Learn lace knitting
-Be myself