Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Manual Labor, Macaroni Grill & Yreka
Gold 1 just arrived back in Sacramento from Portland. When we first drove to Portland we did it in one day…but this time we took two days. We ended up staying at a pretty nice Best Western Hotel in Yreka (why-reek-ah), CA. Yreka is an absolutely beautiful small mountain town. It is right by Mt. Shasta which is the 2nd tallest volcano in the US. We walked around their small town and ate at a nice semi-tacky place called Grandma’s House.
Our last week in Portland was tiring but fun. We attended a housing dedication for our Borthwick site, continued working on both Borthwick and Wasco, dug a rain trench for a house in New Columbia, helped at the Habitat office and we started to organize the Habitat storage unit. Basically a LOT of physical labor…on top of physical training in the morning about every other day.
We did find things to do in Portland on our days off. For instance, Portland has a HUGE Saturday market downtown that is open everyday until Christmas Eve where many of the local artists come to sell their products. There were so many booths ranging from knit hats to jewelry to wooden sculptures. Did we mention before that Portland’s public transportation is one of the best? We are now MAX (light rail), bus, and streetcar experts. The city is set up in zones; if you stay within one zone then your light rail ride is free!
Portland is a really great city…no tax, beautiful mountains, clean streets, hardly any ‘shady areas’ of town, amazing places to visit, not far from the ocean, great public transit, very liberal in general, artsy people, very environmentally friendly, and an overall safe city where you don’t feel like you’d get mugged. On the downside…they have a set city limit that you can’t build houses/businesses beyond so as the population grows more people are crammed into the city limits; that means prices for houses are HIGH (even when you aren’t downtown). A decent looking 2 bedroom/2 bath house would start at $300,000…and that is still a small house. Typical 1 family homes are being phased out and duplexes, town house, apartments, and condos are coming in. Even though it is nice that you don’t have to pay sales tax on anything, funding for public schools is almost non-existent. Locals told us how many schools have to fundraise just to be able to stay open. It also rains…a lot! We hear it is just the season we are in…but nonetheless it still constantly rains. One local told us that the rainy season is from October to June.
On our last night in Portland, the owner of the Macaroni Grill franchise treated our entire team to a complimentary dinner: appetizers, entrees and desserts! We all dressed to the nines…at least with what clothes we had. When can you order absolutely anything off a menu and not even have to look at the price?
We are now on Holiday break! Check out the blog in January for our next update.
Love,
the Amandas
Our last week in Portland was tiring but fun. We attended a housing dedication for our Borthwick site, continued working on both Borthwick and Wasco, dug a rain trench for a house in New Columbia, helped at the Habitat office and we started to organize the Habitat storage unit. Basically a LOT of physical labor…on top of physical training in the morning about every other day.
We did find things to do in Portland on our days off. For instance, Portland has a HUGE Saturday market downtown that is open everyday until Christmas Eve where many of the local artists come to sell their products. There were so many booths ranging from knit hats to jewelry to wooden sculptures. Did we mention before that Portland’s public transportation is one of the best? We are now MAX (light rail), bus, and streetcar experts. The city is set up in zones; if you stay within one zone then your light rail ride is free!
Portland is a really great city…no tax, beautiful mountains, clean streets, hardly any ‘shady areas’ of town, amazing places to visit, not far from the ocean, great public transit, very liberal in general, artsy people, very environmentally friendly, and an overall safe city where you don’t feel like you’d get mugged. On the downside…they have a set city limit that you can’t build houses/businesses beyond so as the population grows more people are crammed into the city limits; that means prices for houses are HIGH (even when you aren’t downtown). A decent looking 2 bedroom/2 bath house would start at $300,000…and that is still a small house. Typical 1 family homes are being phased out and duplexes, town house, apartments, and condos are coming in. Even though it is nice that you don’t have to pay sales tax on anything, funding for public schools is almost non-existent. Locals told us how many schools have to fundraise just to be able to stay open. It also rains…a lot! We hear it is just the season we are in…but nonetheless it still constantly rains. One local told us that the rainy season is from October to June.
On our last night in Portland, the owner of the Macaroni Grill franchise treated our entire team to a complimentary dinner: appetizers, entrees and desserts! We all dressed to the nines…at least with what clothes we had. When can you order absolutely anything off a menu and not even have to look at the price?
We are now on Holiday break! Check out the blog in January for our next update.
Love,
the Amandas
Friday, December 14, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Portland...rainy days are not a myth
December 4, 2007,
Well we have survived our first week of work, PT, consecutive rainy days, and living in a house of 13 people! The week has been very exciting in which we have learned how to construct a roof, how to deconstruct the roof after we have made a serious, but correctable, mistake, and how to navigate through the city on their public transportation system.
The team has also been busy having been given team positions. The grocery POC’s have had to work hard in shopping for the team twice a week while sticking to a tight budget. However, our team has bought enough wedges of cheese for, as Holly says, “a small army of rats to take over China with.”
During this week, half of the team also volunteered at the Jingle Bell run for Arthritis in which we were able to stand outside while cheering on all of the participants of the race. After the run, the organizers learned the budget that we are living on and they donated 200 granola bars (which is a drawer-ful), 100 bagels (which is a freezer-ful), and more than a dozen bottles of water and Gatorade.
Gold 1 has also been given the opportunity to work at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore which gives the low-income families of Portland a chance to shop for many of their home needs while sticking to their own financial plan. It has been interesting working here since it has allowed Gold 1 to learn more about the community that Habitat for Humanity serves.
XOXO
Addie
We posted more pictures...
---> More were added to this album
---> Here is a new album
Well we have survived our first week of work, PT, consecutive rainy days, and living in a house of 13 people! The week has been very exciting in which we have learned how to construct a roof, how to deconstruct the roof after we have made a serious, but correctable, mistake, and how to navigate through the city on their public transportation system.
The team has also been busy having been given team positions. The grocery POC’s have had to work hard in shopping for the team twice a week while sticking to a tight budget. However, our team has bought enough wedges of cheese for, as Holly says, “a small army of rats to take over China with.”
During this week, half of the team also volunteered at the Jingle Bell run for Arthritis in which we were able to stand outside while cheering on all of the participants of the race. After the run, the organizers learned the budget that we are living on and they donated 200 granola bars (which is a drawer-ful), 100 bagels (which is a freezer-ful), and more than a dozen bottles of water and Gatorade.
Gold 1 has also been given the opportunity to work at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore which gives the low-income families of Portland a chance to shop for many of their home needs while sticking to their own financial plan. It has been interesting working here since it has allowed Gold 1 to learn more about the community that Habitat for Humanity serves.
XOXO
Addie
We posted more pictures...
---> More were added to this album
---> Here is a new album
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Portland!
Gold 1’s Phase 1 is underway in Portland, Oregon!
So much to say…
It took 12 hours to drive from Sacramento to Portland. Just imagine all 13 of us in a van with lots of stuff. We all got very cozy on the drive, napping on each other and braiding hair and sharing blankets to keep our feet warm.
There is one more team just outside of Portland and there is one in Seattle so the 3 teams caravanned together along with a cargo van stuffed full of our equipment and belongings. The drive was long but great! This part of the country is beautiful to drive through. The mountains were amazing! If you check out the pictures, you can see the volcano that we drove by on our way up here.
We arrived at our house in Portland (at last!) in the late evening. It was perfect, the city lights were on and the skyline was absolutely breathtaking! Our house is in a trendy yet safe area not too far from downtown. A block away is a major road with a bunch of coffee shops and locally owned stores. We sometimes get free wireless from one of the cafés…which is how I’m posting this. We have a small 2 story house with 3 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, garage, and 1.5 baths. We are a little cramped for space but we’ll get by. There wasn’t any furniture, dishes, or a shower curtain…so we had to find our own. We brought army cots from Sacramento along with a random assortment of dishes. In the past few days we have been visiting the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and Goodwill to find random furniture and kitchen supplies. In the last couple of days, we've gone from an empty house to one furnished with a couch, 2 folding tables, and about 15 random chairs that we got for free…yay! Habitat is going to demolish our house after we leave to build more homes for families…so we can do with it what we want. We’ve removed closet doors to make more space and we have be nailing holes in the wall like no other to hang our coats and equipment.
Our work with Habitat for Humanity started bright and early the day after we arrived. We are working on a duplex that has most of the framing finished. The whole team has done a variety of construction work so far: digging post holes for the porch, installing hurricane supports, using a variety of saws, roofing, removing nails, installing rat runs…the list goes on. One of the houses is going to belong to a 11 person family (2 parents, 8 kids, 1 grandma) and the other house is going to a single mother, her 2 kids and a nephew.
Another interesting note to add is that it has rained every single day so far…and it will probably rain every single day until we leave! It just rains lightly off and on…just enough to become annoying when we are trying to build a house outside. At least we were issued a rain coat and pants!
--> Check out pictures here!
So much to say…
It took 12 hours to drive from Sacramento to Portland. Just imagine all 13 of us in a van with lots of stuff. We all got very cozy on the drive, napping on each other and braiding hair and sharing blankets to keep our feet warm.
There is one more team just outside of Portland and there is one in Seattle so the 3 teams caravanned together along with a cargo van stuffed full of our equipment and belongings. The drive was long but great! This part of the country is beautiful to drive through. The mountains were amazing! If you check out the pictures, you can see the volcano that we drove by on our way up here.
We arrived at our house in Portland (at last!) in the late evening. It was perfect, the city lights were on and the skyline was absolutely breathtaking! Our house is in a trendy yet safe area not too far from downtown. A block away is a major road with a bunch of coffee shops and locally owned stores. We sometimes get free wireless from one of the cafés…which is how I’m posting this. We have a small 2 story house with 3 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, garage, and 1.5 baths. We are a little cramped for space but we’ll get by. There wasn’t any furniture, dishes, or a shower curtain…so we had to find our own. We brought army cots from Sacramento along with a random assortment of dishes. In the past few days we have been visiting the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and Goodwill to find random furniture and kitchen supplies. In the last couple of days, we've gone from an empty house to one furnished with a couch, 2 folding tables, and about 15 random chairs that we got for free…yay! Habitat is going to demolish our house after we leave to build more homes for families…so we can do with it what we want. We’ve removed closet doors to make more space and we have be nailing holes in the wall like no other to hang our coats and equipment.
Our work with Habitat for Humanity started bright and early the day after we arrived. We are working on a duplex that has most of the framing finished. The whole team has done a variety of construction work so far: digging post holes for the porch, installing hurricane supports, using a variety of saws, roofing, removing nails, installing rat runs…the list goes on. One of the houses is going to belong to a 11 person family (2 parents, 8 kids, 1 grandma) and the other house is going to a single mother, her 2 kids and a nephew.
Another interesting note to add is that it has rained every single day so far…and it will probably rain every single day until we leave! It just rains lightly off and on…just enough to become annoying when we are trying to build a house outside. At least we were issued a rain coat and pants!
--> Check out pictures here!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wrapping up CTI
It's really here! CTI has felt like 5 of the longest weeks of our lives. As you can see from all the pictures, we had a great time on work projects, playing on campus, and while we were at Camp Mendocino. And now, it's the last day of CTI and we're getting ready to head out to Portland!
In just a few minutes, we're going to meet up to get our rain gear to prepare for a rainy winter in Portland. We've had our briefing, and we're getting really excited not only our project, but also all the social and service opportunities that appear to be available for us once we get to Portland.
We're going to be living in a 3 bedroom house with one bathroom. (9 girls and one bathroom? how are we all going to survive?) But we will, and our unit leader promises that we'll come out of this experience a much tighter and stronger team.
Tomorrow is induction, and i'm sure there will be pictures to follow.
Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you in Portland!
In just a few minutes, we're going to meet up to get our rain gear to prepare for a rainy winter in Portland. We've had our briefing, and we're getting really excited not only our project, but also all the social and service opportunities that appear to be available for us once we get to Portland.
We're going to be living in a 3 bedroom house with one bathroom. (9 girls and one bathroom? how are we all going to survive?) But we will, and our unit leader promises that we'll come out of this experience a much tighter and stronger team.
Tomorrow is induction, and i'm sure there will be pictures to follow.
Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you in Portland!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Camp Mendocino
--> Check out Camp Mendocino pictures here
--> Check out Camp Mendocino Individual Flying Squirrel pictures here
--> Check out Camp Mendocino Individual Flying Squirrel pictures here
Sunday, November 4, 2007
A Destination! Yes!
After much waiting, and for some team members, a great deal of scheming, we finally know the location of our first Spike! (Spike being the word used for a project that happens away from campus.)
Some schemers on the team decided that we'd go to Montana for trail building, while others hoped for something tropical. A few more were hoping to go to New Orleans, or other places in the gulf.
But the one place that none of us ever thought about was...
Portland, Oregon!
We'll be heading to Portland on November 26th, arriving on the 27th. On Wednesday, November 28th we will start work with the Portland chapter of Habitat for Humanity, seeing the full cycle of building the house over the weeks that we are there. We'll get to hand a family their keys.
As for where we're living, all we know so far is that we will be in a 4 bedroom house. More information on exactly where and what the house looks like and what the sleeping arrangements will be is to be provided to us soon.
Our fearless leader did play a bit of a trick on us when revealing our location: After commissioning us to bring all the necessary items for a Red Bag to one location, including winter gear, we saw our TL walk around the corner in full rain gear (picture a full suit of bright yellow) and snowboarding gear. Everything from the helmet to the boots.
At this point, half the girls screamed, including a loud "Oh my gosh, we're going skiing!"that was heard all over campus. This statement led to a lovely amerirumor that we were in fact going skiing. But after succeeding in tricking most of us with his deceivery, he gave in quickly and revealed that in fact we were going to Portland, where it never gets below 40 degrees.
As we go through the rest of CTI (Corps Training Institute) and learn more about what happens next, we'll be sure to keep you updated.
And expect another picture post soon with some amusing pics from our scavenger hunt in downtown Sacramento!
Some schemers on the team decided that we'd go to Montana for trail building, while others hoped for something tropical. A few more were hoping to go to New Orleans, or other places in the gulf.
But the one place that none of us ever thought about was...
Portland, Oregon!
We'll be heading to Portland on November 26th, arriving on the 27th. On Wednesday, November 28th we will start work with the Portland chapter of Habitat for Humanity, seeing the full cycle of building the house over the weeks that we are there. We'll get to hand a family their keys.
As for where we're living, all we know so far is that we will be in a 4 bedroom house. More information on exactly where and what the house looks like and what the sleeping arrangements will be is to be provided to us soon.
Our fearless leader did play a bit of a trick on us when revealing our location: After commissioning us to bring all the necessary items for a Red Bag to one location, including winter gear, we saw our TL walk around the corner in full rain gear (picture a full suit of bright yellow) and snowboarding gear. Everything from the helmet to the boots.
At this point, half the girls screamed, including a loud "Oh my gosh, we're going skiing!"that was heard all over campus. This statement led to a lovely amerirumor that we were in fact going skiing. But after succeeding in tricking most of us with his deceivery, he gave in quickly and revealed that in fact we were going to Portland, where it never gets below 40 degrees.
As we go through the rest of CTI (Corps Training Institute) and learn more about what happens next, we'll be sure to keep you updated.
And expect another picture post soon with some amusing pics from our scavenger hunt in downtown Sacramento!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Gold Pictures
Hunting for our Team Leader...
Get to know you games during Hands of Peace training.
Malai ready for duty!
Gasp! An open van!
Our first van ride!!
Make a diffference day begins!
The whole team with our sponsors at Soil Born Farm at the end of a great work day
More info on Soil Born Farms and what they do can be found at their website: soilborn.org
The first time our team made breakfast for ourselves! The food was excellent, so a success, i'd say!
Friday, October 26, 2007
We're a Team!
2 days ago, after much waiting and anticipation, the teams at Americorps*NCCC Sacramento were announced. We on Gold One had to crawl under a dumpster, do math by white lightning, and sing the Golden Girls theme song on our first crazy adventure together to find our team leader.
Thus began the beautiful story of Gold One and our fearless leader, Malai.
Here's to an awesome year together serving our country and Getting Things Done!
Thus began the beautiful story of Gold One and our fearless leader, Malai.
Here's to an awesome year together serving our country and Getting Things Done!
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