Usually I don’t like Starbucks but…

For all of those who have lived in dorms, had roommates, or have experienced any variation of living with peers 24/7 you know how frustrating it can sometimes be. Especially if your room consists of four very uncomfortable cots, sheets as a wall, and dresser space as the floor. Therefore in reference to the title of my post, I LOVE Starbucks right now. For the Midwesterners reading this, I’ve always been a proclaimed Caribou snob. However, the Starbucks I’m currently at leaves me with small room for pickiness considering it is the SOLE coffee shop in Texas. In addition to that, it provides me with solid internet access and some much needed quiet/alone time.  I really shouldn’t be complaining because in all honesty the past few days have been heaven compared to the 15 hour ones we’ve been putting in lately. Though I was bummed to be spending Thanksgiving away from my family, for the first time ever, the church we are volunteering with made us a wonderful turkey day lunch that my team and I greatly enjoyed. Also, being away from my family made me truly realize how lucky I was to have them, as well as how much they mean to me. While I love being away from home and seeing new places, part of my heart will always lie in Batavia and the people I love. Cheesy much? Perhaps. But it’s true. Lately all of this reminiscing has led me to put some deep thought into what I want to do next year. So many opportunities have presented themselves, conservation in the Amazon, couch surfing in Europe, and I’m still only into my second month. Then there’s always college, the ever present factor on my mind. Is it so bad that I don’t want to tie myself down yet? I still want to see and do so much in the world, and for some reason I have a fear that once I go to college and graduate I’ll end up stuck somewhere. I can’t really define why I feel this way, I guess I’ve just seen it happen to others. I’ve been reading a book lately called The Essential Transcendentalists that really emphasizes self reflection. One of my (so far) favorite passages spoke of directing your eye inward and thus finding a thousand regions in your mind to travel and become an expert in. I’ve found that by doing this I sometimes end up with more questions than answers. Questions such as these are truly influencing me to ponder what avenues I will end up exploring in the coming years.

What I’m Thankful for, a little early

Well…today was rough to say the least. As if the whopping 1700 service hours we have to complete for Americorps is not enough, the program requires eighty additional Independent Service Project hours upon graduation. Initially this number may not sound too high, I scoffed at it upon entry to the program, but factoring in transportation and coordination they frankly are not that easy to get. For me at least, and I think I can say the same for many other Corps Members, completing our ISP hours has been a constant itch in the back of our minds since our first informational meeting that told us to get them done and to do it FAST. Why am I filling you in on all of this? Because today I am proud to say my team completed a 15hour ISP day. 15 freaking hours!! We woke up at 330 Am, to none other than Adam Volk serenading on his trusty guitar, and didn’t arrive back home until about 7 Pm. So if I seem a tad out of it in this post, its largely because I am. While todays work consisted of an inhuman amount of driving from town to town, we finally were able to see the fruits of our labor this past week. For the better part of our time in Texas we’ve been running to and fro food banks with various churches and dropping off Thanksgiving-esque meals to random locations. Today we re-visited all of these areas and discovered that the food we (okay I) had felt we were meaninglessly carting around actually had a purpose. And what was that purpose other than Thanksgiving dinners to all of those in need! Despite having to wake up at an ungodly hour, being abused by a drunk volunteer (I wont go into more details than that-he was not Americorps to all wondering), and dealing with some very prominent sexism in Texas when it comes to lifting heavy things (especially certain Turkeys), seeing the faces of the families receiving their meals made the stress of the day all worth it. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of “What I’m thankful for” Facebook posts, and to follow the trend I can tell you this troops: I’m thankful for a great team of people to work with everyday that sometimes, okay all of the time, isn’t afraid to yell at each other for being stupid yet still knows how to have fun. I’m thankful for a family that loves and supports me. I’m thankful for the fact that I grew up in a home constructed with more than twigs and some posterboard (yes there are houses in Texas made of those materials and worse). I’m thankful for great friends that I’ve made in the past month as well as the ones that I’ve had for a lifetime. Most of all though, I’m thankful that today I was able to make a small difference in the messiness that is our world. While I may not win a Nobel Peace Prize, today I feel content.

Also to make a certain guitar playing Peruvian feel important, I would like to let the world know that I did not in fact discover Bananagrams on my own but was introduced to it by the one and only Dan Farfan.

Fourth Day in The Lone Star!

Ok so long story short, I JUST wrote this beautiful, articulate, and just plain amazing first post and deleted it on accident because technology hates me. Especially Mac computers. Therefore I’m going to need to make this post short because my (wonderful) team is just about finishing our second official dinner together. We’re super cute, I know. For those who don’t know I’m currently working through Americorps in McAllen, TX (near SanJuan) and living in a sweet little home a few towns away in Harlingen. We’re pretty much 15minutes away from the border here, every night there’s a new drug cartel rolling through town shooting at things. Okay just kidding, that’s probably not funny but hey it’s really a possibility in this area. Did you know that the counties down here in Southern Texas are the POOREST in the United States? Never would’ve thought huh? At least I didn’t. So what is Americorps? I work with NCCC, a branch of Americorps (the best one might I add), and our main focus is on disaster relief. However there aren’t always enough disasters to be “relieved” so we also focus on energy/environmental conservation, rural and urban development, and any type of helpful infrastructure improvement. My team of ten, including our fearless leader Katy, was fortunate enough to land a disaster recovery project first round spike. Side note: throughout these posts I’m going to be using a fair amount of Ameri-lingo, so bear with me as I try to define everything for you. Rewind two sentences to the word SPIKE. NCCC members go on four long term spikes a year completing projects in the aforementioned categories. My team and I belong to the Southwest region of Americorps meaning we’re responsible for all of the Southwest states (duh) such as Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and good ol’ Kansas. Us down here in Texas are currently repairing/rebuilding homes affected by hurricanes Alex and Dolly as well as case management, which is just a fancy way of making filing sound exciting. Our activities thus far have consisted of running to food banks, dry-walling a house, and designing a brochure for our project sponsor (Faith Communities for Disaster Relief). After work today we also had the privilege of visiting the McAllen Border Control, apparently the largest border control center in America. Not only was it interesting, but I got to see a room full of bad ass guns. That’s a pretty successful day in my opinion. Before I go, heres a quick run through of my accomplishments in the past month:

-Was CPR certified! (that’s right, I can save your life now)

-Attended Zombiecrawl, YouTube it. That shits crazy.

-Joined a gym for $10 a month, and ran two miles yesterday. Who have I become?!

-Hiked up a gargantuan mountain in Boulder which is by the way one of the hippest places I’ve ever been, excluding the fact I really haven’t been to that many places

-Discovered Bananagrams (look it up, its a great game)

-Experienced Occupy Denver

-Visited the Columbine Memorial

-Built a trail at Red Rocks, grandiose protruding pillars of geological matter to which even the sky can hold no boundary (description courtesy of Adam Severance)

-Took a three day car trip to Texas and truly realized the meaning of the middle of nowhere

-Saw the slums of southern Texas that I hadn’t previously known about, it’s almost like a different country down here

Alright y’all that’s it for today! Hopefully I’ll be able to write again soon depending on who lets me borrow their computer as well as the shaky internet connection we may or may not be stealing from our neighbors. Shout out to my friends all over the country whether you’re in a call center, winterizing orchards, or pursuing your education!