Completion of Round 1

Well I'm back in lovely Perry Point, which means Round 1 has been completed. This past week was a hectic week to say the least, on Monday we held a dinner for the staff which was really nice and just an overall nice thing we were able to do to thank them for what they had done for us. We also had a ton of things to just wrap up, we completely finished all the cabins (well except 36 but we don't count that one), finished the patio around the main mess hall, and wrapped up all the loose odds and ends. It's definitely weird to say that we're done with our first round, AmeriCorps is just flying by quicker than could be expected. It was hard to say goodbye, especially to Paul who really was just a fantastic site supervisor. All I know is we accomplished quite a lot this round and are excited to accomplish just as much next round in.....CAMDEN.

Here's some pictures!

Mineral Springs

Finished patio

Finished cabin

Our mark

And so we begin the final week of First Round

    Well we are almost done with our first spike project, which means the past six weeks have just flown by in a blur. This week was good, we accomplished quite a bit. We started on the patio in front of the Mess Hall and are over halfway done on it, and it looks awesome. It was a lot of manual labor, but it was a nice change from all the measuring that has to be done with the ceilings and the trim. Speaking of we got all the boards in so we'll be able to finish cabins 34 and 35 on Monday. We also put up and painted the ceiling in cabin 33 and will be able to put the side panels up on Monday. It's really just a shock that we really only have five work days left and they won't all be full days due to the fact that we have to do a service learning thing on Wednesday and then most likely Friday will be a travel day since we're so far from Perry Point.
    This upcoming week is going to be quite busy, we've got a lot to finish before we leave. Plus we're doing a dinner for the staff on Monday, have our day of service tomorrow, and overall just have a lot to complete before we leave.Needless to say I really want to know where we're going on our second round project. We still don't know and it's driving me crazy. I'm hoping we find out tomorrow or Monday.
    This weekend has been quite relaxing though, Bueller came and picked me up and I've spent the weekend with her in Pittsburgh. It's just been really nice to be with someone from home and to have a bit of alone time (and internet and tv). Anyway I'll update when I have time, until then!

Photo Dump

Cabin 33, redoing the ceiling.

Working on the chimney

The team with Paul!

I don't really have time for a text update, all I know is we've accomplished quite a bit so far this week and I will have a text update for everyone on Sunday!

Here's some pictures.

Today was fantastic. Gorgeous weather.

Matt and I at the alumni event

Ella and Josh

Pirates game

PNC Park!

Most of the girls :]

One Month....done.

    Oh how weird is it that we have officially been at our first round spike for a month, and have been part of AmeriCorps for two months. The time is literally speeding by at a ridiculous pace. This week was good we have one more piece of molding to put up in one of the cabins to have to 100% finished. We're also almost finished with a second cabin, and are about to get started on the molding in a third to finish it. This week involved working on staining cabin shutters, some of the beds in one cabin, putting up molding in two of the cabins, and finished the ceiling in cabin 35 along with a few other things. I also did a trail foot bridge survey which involved some hiking on my part. We also got to go to Pittsburgh last night for Alumni interactions, so we were able to get a tour of the Pittsburgh project which is an excellent organization helping grade school thru high school students. We then went out to a restaurant called Permani's (probably misspelled) where you get these huge sandwiches that have fries and cole slaw on top of them (totally tasty).
   This week has been stressful to say the least with the budget issues that have been occurring, yesterday was just a very on edge day because we had no idea what was going to happen. I am happy to say that we our at least guaranteed another week thanks to the stop gap that was passed. Oh the stress of being a government employee.
   Well we only have two weeks left on this spike, it's about to be jam packed. We're going to a Pirates game tomorrow, will probably have all 3 cabins finished within the next week, are doing a burn in the next two weeks, have some ISP's planned, and overall just get to finish out our first round project strong which I'm pretty pumped about. I don't have many pictures, I've been slacking. But here's one with our site supervisor Paul, who is absolutely fantastic. Til next time!

End of week 3

   Week 3 is finished, which means we are now halfway done with our first spike. Weird. This week was a lot of the same work except for the fact that we legit almost have an entire ceiling done. It's basically awesome I'm pretty pumped that we have so much done. We also painted another ceiling and will be getting started on our third tomorrow. I also went back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to help our CAP members get some people signed up for AmeriCorps. Our team also started doing some work on the Wetlands trail at Raccoon Creek, cutting down brambles and making a new path. Which means I was attacked by pricker bushes....evil things.
   We went to Pittsburgh on Saturday which was ridiculously nice, we went to the Strip District. It's an outdoor market similar to Eastern Market in Detroit just much larger. Got some sushi, went to Station Square, and then went to Ross Park Mall for some shopping. Today a few of us went to the Maple Syrup Festival, for some very tasty unlimited pancakes. It was cool, incredibly popular which I wasn't expecting but it was a nice day out.
   This upcoming week should be awesome, we're doing a burn thing on Tuesday. The weather looks fantastic for the week. We're going to a Pittsburgh Pirates game on Sunday and may actually have free tickets to go on Friday for opening day. This also means we may have a chance to be in Pittsburgh and stay there, or at least I can possibly if Bueller is free.
   Only downside, the screen on my blackberry just broke. I may cry.
Here's some pictures.

Hunter being awkward in the middle in the Burgh

At the Maple Syrup Festival

Ella and Kiera got their faces painted.