Me, Erin, Megan, July, Mae.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Leaving for the woods!
So tomorrow I'm moving to the woods for a month. We received our tents on Friday and it took us over an hour to figure out how to set them up. I think we're good now, but we'll see. I'm super stoked to go camping though. Here is one last picture of the girls of Green 5 before I leave with no electricity or cell phone reception for a month!
Me, Erin, Megan, July, Mae.
Me, Erin, Megan, July, Mae.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
South Los Angeles
I realize that I haven't updated this blog in over two months, but it's better late than never. The last two months were spent tutoring children in South Los Angeles. My daily schedule was pretty interesting so here goes:
PT (Physical Training) from 6-645 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We would either run up and down our street or do yoga and stretches in the living room. There were some scary dogs that would bark and chase us down the street, which was in some ways an incentive to run faster. Most of the neighbors were pretty friendly actually and said hi to us on their way to work.
After PT we had a little over an hour to get ready for the day. That consisted of making breakfast and lunch and showering. We had one bathroom for 10 people. Intense. At first we thought 5 minute showers would suffice, but we ended up running out of hot water halfway through the lineup, so we settled on 4 minute showers.
Our team was split up between two different elementary schools: Marvin and 61st. 61st School was 2.5 miles away and the 4 people working there walked or skateboarded to school each morning. I worked at Marvin Elementary School, which was a 30 minute drive without traffic, but this is LA so there was always traffic.
The site supervisor at Marvin was awesome. During the morning we were in charge of designing after school enrichment programs for the students in the CYFC (Children Youth and Family Collaborative) program. This work became tedious when we spent 3 hours each day doing it, so after the first 2 weeks or so, we were able to go assist in the classrooms. I went to a 3rd grade classroom for an hour every morning and assisted the teacher with checking the student's fluency levels. I had a stack of passages of various reading levels and I would time each student for one minute to see how many words they could read. The teacher explained to me that this standard for reading ability is rather new and mostly only used in inner-city schools. It was really rewarding to see how so many of the students advanced 2 or 3 reading levels just during the time I spent in their classroom.
After our lunch break the four members of my team and I went to a 2nd grade classroom. Each of us was paired with a 2nd grade boy that was at risk for being held back. We had 1st grade workbooks to help the students with and it was really sad to see that most of them were struggling with that work. I was paired with a boy named Alex who had a great personality and always made me laugh. One of the last days I was working with him, he was playing with a pair of earplugs and I asked him why he had them. He told me his teacher gave them to him so he could sleep at night since he sleeps next to a window and hears gunshots outside every night. Hearing stories like this from the kids put life a bit more into perspective.
After assisting in the 2nd grade classroom for an hour, the after school program began. Our supervisor pretty much gave the four of us AmeriCorps members free reign to structure the program the way we wanted. There were about 60 2nd-4th graders in the program divided between 3 classrooms. The kids adored us and after 2 days some of the girls began calling me "mama". I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it was still cute. We helped them with their homework for the first one-two hours and then we led an enrichment activity.
Snack time was always fun. We had all of the kids sit quietly at picnic tables outside and one student was chosen to pass out snack. I have never heard so many creative lies for why they deserved more than one snack. My favorite was when they had crumbs from graham crackers all over their face and they'd claim they were never given any. Play time outside was pretty fun. I usually played house with the girls. It was a much different game than I remember. It was pretty common for them to say someone died, they'd fall on the ground, and the next minute grandma was alive and running around again. This game is what provoked the girls to begin calling me mama.
There is one girl in particular that I really bonded with. This girl made me cards every day and I would usually have to threaten that I wouldn't accept any more cards until her homwork was done. I now have a stack a foot high of cards she made for me. For an 8 year old her maturity was incredible. She walked home by herself after school, vacuumed, did the dishes, made dinner and went to sleep by herself. She told us that if her homework wasn't done before she got home, she would get in trouble. This was a common story from many of the students.
At 530 we would drive to the other elemetary school to pick up the rest of our time and get back to our house by 630. Two people were in charge of cooking dinner each night which was usually at 8pm. All in all, the days were rather long, but I looked forward to seeing my kids everyday.
The last day we spent at the elementary school was really moving. Almost all of the kids in the after school program cried. It was awesome to see how much of an impact we really made in the kids lives. Many of them just needed a stable role model to be there for them each day and I'm glad I was able to provide that for a short period of time.
Next week we leave to go camping for one month at a YMCA in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I'm excited to be in such a pretty area, but I will definitely miss not having electricity again. We'll be trail building and repairing cabins which sounds similar to the work we did in Catalina. As with anything this year, it's all an experience! Thanks for reading, I realize this is rather long. I miss everyone SO much!!!
PT (Physical Training) from 6-645 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We would either run up and down our street or do yoga and stretches in the living room. There were some scary dogs that would bark and chase us down the street, which was in some ways an incentive to run faster. Most of the neighbors were pretty friendly actually and said hi to us on their way to work.
After PT we had a little over an hour to get ready for the day. That consisted of making breakfast and lunch and showering. We had one bathroom for 10 people. Intense. At first we thought 5 minute showers would suffice, but we ended up running out of hot water halfway through the lineup, so we settled on 4 minute showers.
Our team was split up between two different elementary schools: Marvin and 61st. 61st School was 2.5 miles away and the 4 people working there walked or skateboarded to school each morning. I worked at Marvin Elementary School, which was a 30 minute drive without traffic, but this is LA so there was always traffic.
The site supervisor at Marvin was awesome. During the morning we were in charge of designing after school enrichment programs for the students in the CYFC (Children Youth and Family Collaborative) program. This work became tedious when we spent 3 hours each day doing it, so after the first 2 weeks or so, we were able to go assist in the classrooms. I went to a 3rd grade classroom for an hour every morning and assisted the teacher with checking the student's fluency levels. I had a stack of passages of various reading levels and I would time each student for one minute to see how many words they could read. The teacher explained to me that this standard for reading ability is rather new and mostly only used in inner-city schools. It was really rewarding to see how so many of the students advanced 2 or 3 reading levels just during the time I spent in their classroom.
After our lunch break the four members of my team and I went to a 2nd grade classroom. Each of us was paired with a 2nd grade boy that was at risk for being held back. We had 1st grade workbooks to help the students with and it was really sad to see that most of them were struggling with that work. I was paired with a boy named Alex who had a great personality and always made me laugh. One of the last days I was working with him, he was playing with a pair of earplugs and I asked him why he had them. He told me his teacher gave them to him so he could sleep at night since he sleeps next to a window and hears gunshots outside every night. Hearing stories like this from the kids put life a bit more into perspective.
After assisting in the 2nd grade classroom for an hour, the after school program began. Our supervisor pretty much gave the four of us AmeriCorps members free reign to structure the program the way we wanted. There were about 60 2nd-4th graders in the program divided between 3 classrooms. The kids adored us and after 2 days some of the girls began calling me "mama". I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it was still cute. We helped them with their homework for the first one-two hours and then we led an enrichment activity.
Snack time was always fun. We had all of the kids sit quietly at picnic tables outside and one student was chosen to pass out snack. I have never heard so many creative lies for why they deserved more than one snack. My favorite was when they had crumbs from graham crackers all over their face and they'd claim they were never given any. Play time outside was pretty fun. I usually played house with the girls. It was a much different game than I remember. It was pretty common for them to say someone died, they'd fall on the ground, and the next minute grandma was alive and running around again. This game is what provoked the girls to begin calling me mama.
There is one girl in particular that I really bonded with. This girl made me cards every day and I would usually have to threaten that I wouldn't accept any more cards until her homwork was done. I now have a stack a foot high of cards she made for me. For an 8 year old her maturity was incredible. She walked home by herself after school, vacuumed, did the dishes, made dinner and went to sleep by herself. She told us that if her homework wasn't done before she got home, she would get in trouble. This was a common story from many of the students.
At 530 we would drive to the other elemetary school to pick up the rest of our time and get back to our house by 630. Two people were in charge of cooking dinner each night which was usually at 8pm. All in all, the days were rather long, but I looked forward to seeing my kids everyday.
The last day we spent at the elementary school was really moving. Almost all of the kids in the after school program cried. It was awesome to see how much of an impact we really made in the kids lives. Many of them just needed a stable role model to be there for them each day and I'm glad I was able to provide that for a short period of time.
Next week we leave to go camping for one month at a YMCA in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I'm excited to be in such a pretty area, but I will definitely miss not having electricity again. We'll be trail building and repairing cabins which sounds similar to the work we did in Catalina. As with anything this year, it's all an experience! Thanks for reading, I realize this is rather long. I miss everyone SO much!!!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
You know a storm is going to be bad when it is given a name
The past two weeks have been crazy. We're currently living in a hotel, but I'll get to that in a moment. Last week we worked with the facilities crew which is mostly in charge of road maintenance. We were able to partake in the annual bison census which involved driving around the island for 8 hours and stopping to count all of the bison we could spot. The crew were divided into about 6 different teams, each responsible for a different section of the island. Most of the roads on the island are dirt and I have never been off-roading for such a long period of time before. My team spotted 47 bison, while other teams that had the shoreline counted only 2 or 3 bison. One bison came close enough to our vehicle that I could have pet it through the window, but I refrained. That was definitely my favorite day on the island thus far. It was really nice that our team was split up, and we got to learn more about the island and the individual facilities' crew members that we worked with.
The wind is intense on the island and last week we were all woken up to what sounded like our tent collapsing. We remembered that we had left our laundry out to dry and we all ran out frantically with our headlamps to grab our clothing that was strewn all over the campsite. The joy of camping.
Monday morning it started raining so for work we drove around the main roads to make sure they were safe and that there wasn't too much debris in the roads. In the early afternoon we drove by our campsite to see how it was holding up in the rain and realized it was pretty destroyed by the wind. Our whole kitchen was torn apart, the pantry that contained most of our food, dishes and silverware had opened and plates were strewn everywhere. The grill was sliding down the hill and the canopy covering the kitchen had broken apart. The canopy on the guy's cabin had blown away and there was a hole that allowed water to seep in. I have a short video of what the campsite looks like when it was destroyed, but I'm unable to upload it now, so I'll try again later.
We were warned that the storm this week was going to be pretty intense so our sponsor was prepared to have us stay in a hotel for the remainder of the week. We are SO lucky about this. We were given 5 hotel rooms for the 10 of us and I have never appreciated heat and electricity so much. The last few days we were able to get in a few hours of work before it started raining again, but it has been raining all day today so we didn't have work and who knows what will be in store for us tomorrow. There's always something exciting in the Americorps world. There is another campsite that was not as badly damaged by the wind, so we will be moving there later tonight or tomorrow. Our sponsor says she's never seen a storm this big in Catalina and she's lived here for 30 years so we're very happy to be out of our tent and in a room with real walls.
Next Friday we head back to Sacramento for a week before heading to our next project! We'll be moving to Central Los Angeles (Compton/Inglewood) to work with an organization tutoring and mentoring K-12 students for 2 months. I'm really excited about working with people again, especially tutoring students. I was initially disappointed to be staying in socal for another round, but living in central LA will definitely be a different experience than anything I've ever had before. We'll be living in a three bedroom house attached to a Lutheran Church which sounds pretty spacious in AmeriCorps standards.
I hope everyone in CA is safe from the storm! Miss you all!
The wind is intense on the island and last week we were all woken up to what sounded like our tent collapsing. We remembered that we had left our laundry out to dry and we all ran out frantically with our headlamps to grab our clothing that was strewn all over the campsite. The joy of camping.
Monday morning it started raining so for work we drove around the main roads to make sure they were safe and that there wasn't too much debris in the roads. In the early afternoon we drove by our campsite to see how it was holding up in the rain and realized it was pretty destroyed by the wind. Our whole kitchen was torn apart, the pantry that contained most of our food, dishes and silverware had opened and plates were strewn everywhere. The grill was sliding down the hill and the canopy covering the kitchen had broken apart. The canopy on the guy's cabin had blown away and there was a hole that allowed water to seep in. I have a short video of what the campsite looks like when it was destroyed, but I'm unable to upload it now, so I'll try again later.
We were warned that the storm this week was going to be pretty intense so our sponsor was prepared to have us stay in a hotel for the remainder of the week. We are SO lucky about this. We were given 5 hotel rooms for the 10 of us and I have never appreciated heat and electricity so much. The last few days we were able to get in a few hours of work before it started raining again, but it has been raining all day today so we didn't have work and who knows what will be in store for us tomorrow. There's always something exciting in the Americorps world. There is another campsite that was not as badly damaged by the wind, so we will be moving there later tonight or tomorrow. Our sponsor says she's never seen a storm this big in Catalina and she's lived here for 30 years so we're very happy to be out of our tent and in a room with real walls.
Next Friday we head back to Sacramento for a week before heading to our next project! We'll be moving to Central Los Angeles (Compton/Inglewood) to work with an organization tutoring and mentoring K-12 students for 2 months. I'm really excited about working with people again, especially tutoring students. I was initially disappointed to be staying in socal for another round, but living in central LA will definitely be a different experience than anything I've ever had before. We'll be living in a three bedroom house attached to a Lutheran Church which sounds pretty spacious in AmeriCorps standards.
I hope everyone in CA is safe from the storm! Miss you all!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Greetings from Catalina!
Driving from Sac to Long Beach was an adventure in itself. Every 2 hours we have to switch drivers and “safeties” (the person sitting in the passenger seat). It ends up taking quite a bit longer to get places. We got to our hotel in Long Beach and all 10 of us went in with Tonye (our TL) to check in. The look on the lady’s face was priceless when we told her that all 10 of us were staying in one room with double beds. She was a bit confused but didn’t try to stop us. It was about 8pm once we settled in and we still had to go grocery shopping and we were looking for a store that sells food in bulk. The nearby Sam’s Club closes at 830pm and opens at 10. Our ferry ride is at 10am Tuesday morning and we had no food and no way to get reasonably priced food once we got to Catalina. We sweet talked our way into allowing Sam's Club to give us permission to shop at 7am which is generally only open for business members.
Tuesday morning we went to Sam’s Club and got the majority of our groceries for 3 weeks. We realized we didn't have a current Sam's Club membership upon check-out, and once we paid for that and took all 450 granola bars out of their boxes to save room, we missed our 10am ferry. The combination of luggage, groceries and 10 people in a 15 passenger van is a ridiculous site. We took the next ferry at 2pm, but it was still unfortunate that we missed it and didn't arrive to our campsite until dark. We somehow had to bring all of our stuff to the ferry; what a ridiculous sight. Here’s a picture of some of our stuff on the ferry.
Tuesday morning we went to Sam’s Club and got the majority of our groceries for 3 weeks. We realized we didn't have a current Sam's Club membership upon check-out, and once we paid for that and took all 450 granola bars out of their boxes to save room, we missed our 10am ferry. The combination of luggage, groceries and 10 people in a 15 passenger van is a ridiculous site. We took the next ferry at 2pm, but it was still unfortunate that we missed it and didn't arrive to our campsite until dark. We somehow had to bring all of our stuff to the ferry; what a ridiculous sight. Here’s a picture of some of our stuff on the ferry.
Our accommodations are actually pretty nice at the camp. There are two cabins, one for girls, one for guys. There are 8 beds in each so we have plenty of space. There is a wooden floor and sturdy canvas around the tent so you almost feel like you are inside with the exception of heating. We have two showers, one of which is an outdoor shower which is really awesome at sunset. We have a full kitchen with refrigerator and freezer and hot water, so there’s not much to complain about.
This past week we spent working with the Fox Recovery Program. The Catalina Island Fox was almost completely wiped out by canine distemper about 9 years ago so the conservancy created a breeding facility to bring the population up. Now that the population has flourished, the fox pens are no longer needed and are really overgrown and the brush is a fire danger. We removed wires and camera equipment from the fox pens and cleared brush for the last 3 days. We have found a few rattlesnakes and we wear snake chaps when trudging through the brush. Daylight is short on the island and it’s a mad rush after work to be sure that we have enough daylight to do PT and start a fire for warmth.
This past week we spent working with the Fox Recovery Program. The Catalina Island Fox was almost completely wiped out by canine distemper about 9 years ago so the conservancy created a breeding facility to bring the population up. Now that the population has flourished, the fox pens are no longer needed and are really overgrown and the brush is a fire danger. We removed wires and camera equipment from the fox pens and cleared brush for the last 3 days. We have found a few rattlesnakes and we wear snake chaps when trudging through the brush. Daylight is short on the island and it’s a mad rush after work to be sure that we have enough daylight to do PT and start a fire for warmth.
Home.
Bison are everywhere
So far Catalina has been awesome! Every night we have a campfire after dinner (both to stay warm and also for entertainment). There is a nearby park with a playground which we visit on a daily basis. We have been given 2 vehicles to use to drive to and from work and we were lucky enough to be able to use them to drive into Avalon last night for my birthday. We found live music and that was all I needed to be happy! It was definitely strange to spend my birthday clearing brush in 80 degree weather, running up and down mountains for PT and having carrot cake (that's the only kind the convenience store sold) around a campfire. 
My team at the fox recovery pens after work one day. I suppose our view of the mountains and ocean is nothing to complain about!
PS I don't get cell phone reception at our campsite, but will try my best to keep in touch when I get back into Avalon on the weekends! Without electricity or cell phone reception it's hard to remember I'm only an hour from home, but when we listen to the radio on the way to and from work everyday we hear the traffic update on the 405.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Back from Break
Exciting news: I’m going to the university of Minnesota pharmacy school next fall! I found out that I was accepted 3 weeks ago, but now it’s official that I’ll be moving to the Twin Cities at the end of August! My good friend in AmeriCorps, Mae, found out that she was accepted to law school in Minneapolis the same week as me and it’s exciting times for both of us!
Another winter break accomplishment: I talked about NCCC so much that 5 friends said they are applying for next year.
Upon returning to the dorm from the airport this afternoon I found that half of the floor that I live on was flooded. Luckily it is not the half I live on, but there is furniture in the hallways and laundry room.
I’m back in Sac for the night and will be driving down to Long Beach with my team tomorrow morning. We will be purchasing all of our groceries for three weeks before we take the ferry over to Catalina Island on Tuesday morning. This should be interesting. As far as I know, the first week we’ll be working with biologists to save foxes that are endemic to Catalina. I’m hoping to develop a passion for animals this week. I also have a headlamp and approximately 6 books so I will hopefully be able to survive without electricity for 3.5 weeks.
I will hopefully give an update when I go into Avalon (the only town on Catalina) every once in awhile, but until then, email/facebook me your address and you will receive a postcard! :)
Another winter break accomplishment: I talked about NCCC so much that 5 friends said they are applying for next year.
Upon returning to the dorm from the airport this afternoon I found that half of the floor that I live on was flooded. Luckily it is not the half I live on, but there is furniture in the hallways and laundry room.
I’m back in Sac for the night and will be driving down to Long Beach with my team tomorrow morning. We will be purchasing all of our groceries for three weeks before we take the ferry over to Catalina Island on Tuesday morning. This should be interesting. As far as I know, the first week we’ll be working with biologists to save foxes that are endemic to Catalina. I’m hoping to develop a passion for animals this week. I also have a headlamp and approximately 6 books so I will hopefully be able to survive without electricity for 3.5 weeks.
I will hopefully give an update when I go into Avalon (the only town on Catalina) every once in awhile, but until then, email/facebook me your address and you will receive a postcard! :)
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