Wrapping it up in Austin

We ended our work at the JFO in Austin. I don't think any of us were sad to see that office for the last time. Our supervisors gave us the entire weekend off, Saturday AND Sunday, which was amazing. On Saturday we played another Denver team in frisbee and won. Afterwards we went to the Cathedral of Junk in Austin, which is this huge structure a guy has made in his back yard out of random junk he collects. I will put a link up to pictures once I upload them. It was pretty incredible.
On Sunday the team went to San Antonion to see what we could see there. It is a pretty interesting (and very touristy) city. We saw the Alamo and walked along the man-made river where there are a lot of shops and restaurants. Sunday night we went out to the Spider House (where we go a couple times a week) and hung out with friends, including one of my friends from high school, Amihan, who is home in Austin on her Christmas break.
On Monday we had to go into work to pack up our desks and get out processed. Our supervisors gave us Christmas goody bags and were sad to see us go. Monday afternoon a few of us went downtown to explore and eat at this delicious restaurant called the Kerby Lane Cafe. Afterwards I came back and slept for an hour or two and then our entire team went out to dinner. At the end of every project we get money to go out to dinner as a team, so we got a free and delicious meal. We did Secret Santa gifts when we got back to the hotel. I had Dani and got her a little texas cook book and a texas cookie cutter, both of which I purchased at the Alamo gift shop. Joe had me and gave me an assortment of fruits and vegetables which I think he got at Walmart. It was pretty cute. After that we went back to Spider House with some friends who came up from Galveston on their way back to Denver.
Today (Tuesday) we volunteered with Habitat for Humanity doing demolition. We spent most of the day ripping sheet rock off the walls and ceiling and tearing out insulation. We found a couple geckos that were hibernating in the walls and were pretty sleepy looking. I put one of them in my sweatshirt pocket to warm him up because I felt bad for taking away his hibernating place. Once he was warm he got pretty active and started crawling around. My friend asked to hold him so I picked him up by his tail to give him to her. Apparently geckos have the ability to detach themselves from their tails, which is what this gecko did. I had both it's moving tail and moving body stuck to my pants which totally freaked me out. It was a pretty traumatizing experience.

Tonight it's packing up and tomorrow we drive to Amarillo and then to Denver on Thursday. I can't believe this first round is actually over. We found out that our next project will be local. Only two teams from Americorps stay local. We will most likely be in either Denver or Boulder, but we could be anywhere in Colorado. I will write more when I find out what our actual project is.

surprise!

This past weekend a team from Galveston came up to visit us. One of my favorite friends in Americorps, Adrienne, is on that team, as well as a lot of other fun people. They stayed in our room Friday and Saturday nights, which made a total of about 8 people sleeping in the hotel room, which was snug. It was really amazing to see familiar faces, especially such fun ones. We took them out Friday night and on Saturday we all walked around down town and went to a cool cafe and the Austin Museum of Art. It was a really amazing surprise.
On Sunday four members of my team woke up at 7 to go volunteer in the woods for the day. The other 5 members of the team dropped out last minute, so it was a small (but mighty) part of Fire 6 that showed up to meet a man named George and help him clear trails. We spent 8 to 9 hours sawing down branches and clearing brush, which was exhausting but a refreshing change from office work. During the first hour though, I got a call from my dad saying that my great uncle Holmes died, which was unexpected by me. He was a really great guy and I can't thank him enough for providing me with my high school education which completely changed my life. Each project that we do has a final portfolio, including a dedication to someone, and my team is going to dedicate this project to my uncle.
Monday our team drove down to Galveston and saw some of the destruction affecting the people we are calling every day. It didn't feel that bad to be after having worked in New Orleans after Katrina....It seemed like a lot less houses were damaged. There were a lot of really bad looking buildings and houses though that were hit really hard. We left Austin around 7, got there at 11, then left Galveston around 4 and got back to Austin around 9. It was a long day, but it was cool to see what it was like down there as well as seeing more friends who are stationed down there.
Tuesday I had the day off and just relaxed, and then Wednesday until today I've been working. Work has pretty much been the same. We're working on getting the queue down, but the last 200 cases or so are all really difficult ones. The queue has been the same for the past week or so because we keep getting about 50 out a day, but then that same number is also coming in every day, so that is frustrating.

I am going to put links to some pictures I've taken over the past couple weeks here below.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026912&l=1537b&id=10300564

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026935&l=438df&id=10300564

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026957&l=59354&id=10300564