A Mississippienne in Yankeeland
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Okay, so I've stayed awake all night! Me, Wanda and Andrea went out and found 3 marines in Jacksonville who came to the beach with us. Andrea took off with Mike from Albany, New York and totally got her mack on. Wanda disappeared with John from Oxford, Mississippi and we spent most of the morning looking for her, only to find the two of them sleeping in his sports car outside our tent.
As for me, I walked off with Dave from Ohio, and we strolled down the beach, hunted for shells, and generally chatted it up. Finally we climbed atop the lifeguard tower and watched the sunrise.
Robyn finally came dragging in with a huge hickey on her neck. Uh huh uh huh uh huh!
Friday, June 25, 2004
On Wednesday, me and Wanda drove out to Myrtle Beach while Robyn prowled around looking for "Dawson's Creek" sets. After relaxing in the sun, we drove back and went out to some clubs where we partied with some drunk Englishmen who tried to talk us into joining their roadtrip to Florida.
Yesterday we picked up Andrea and hung at the beach all day. Then I went to a performance of "Twelfth Night" at a park. The actress playing Fabian whispered through the whole play, but Malvolio was hilarious.
Crawling in bed was a trial. As I laid down, I yelled out, "Wanda can't find her phone, rednecks have stolen all my underwear, and Robyn couldn't get laid if her life depended on it." Robyn then responded with an enthusiastic "Yeah baby! You know it!"
We're going home tomorrow morning! Nooooo!
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
After an exhausting 8-hour drive, I'm finally in Wilmington! We started out Sunday evening and made it to Richmond, VA before stopping for the night. We arose bright and early (2:30pm) on Monday and finished the ride, arriving at KOA Wilmington and setting up our tent before hiting the beach. It was so beautiful, just the crash of the waves and the pebbles beneath our feet and the sailboats cruising in the distance.
Afterwards, we went downtown looking for trouble, and discovered a little park where a scene in "Dawson's Creek" had been filmed. Robyn was so excited she made me act out the scene with her (I was Pacey, she was Andie) and in general she thoroughly geeked. Wanda had wandered off and we found her macking on some Dutch marines at a bus station. We immediately crashed the party and found ourselves surrounded by tall blond Dutch gods, all of whom were drunk, horny, and sleep-deprived. They were all recently arrived from Iraq and were in Wilmington for some war-games type stuff. They flirted pretty shamelessly, and one, Dion, declared, "If you come to Holland, I fuck you all!" We thought about bringing a couple of them back to the tents with us, but their bus showed up.
Rise and shine! It's Tuesday morning, Robyn is watching "Dawson's Creek" again, and we're about to start another fun-filled day.
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Yesterday was the big Promenade build, followed by a picnic with the alumni. Later today I'm leaving for North Carolina! Very very excited. Yay me!
My team has some funny nicknames for each other. As follows:
Sasha: Soccer, Salsa (see entry below).
Jessica (me): Sicaja (courtesy of Rose).
Rose: Eyesore (courtesy of me).
Marcos: M-Dawg.
Sara: Sara Bear.
Travis: T-Ravis.
Jacque: Yakkity.
Friday, June 18, 2004
Baltimore's Thomas Johnson Elementary now has a new playground. I mulched, weeded, and made little tile decorations for the outdoor classroom. I made a flower, an abstract, and wrote the word "JOY" in tile set in concrete; Jacque made a palm tree, and Sasha a turtle.
Today was the first day of the Ten Year Anniversary Celebration. We met with some of the alumni Corps members today at a party held in a ballroom. Sara also announced she's leaving our team. I don't want her to go, but I've been expecting this. She's got Megan and a whole nother life waiting for her; Americorps wasn't making her happy.
Just a couple of days till North Carolina!
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
I'm back in Perry Point after an exhausting and boring drive from Hartford. I slept on Chris most of the way down and we were both afflicted with an awful case of car butt. Last night was a whirlwind of unpacking, reuniting with friends, and eating. The houses are so hot! Lots of random thoughts and preparing for our trip to North Carolina.
Tomorrow, bright and early at 6:15am, we're heading to a school in Baltimore to work with KaBoom! an organization that builds playgrounds. Then the Ten Year Anniversary is coming up, and the current Corps members are going to be rebuilding a promenade with former Corps members from years past. Should be fun!
Monday, June 14, 2004
Last night me and my teamies visited our Habitat VISTA Debbie's house and watched "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King". Since the movie goes on for approximately 10 hours, we got bored and started riffing on it MST3K-style.
[Legolas slides down the oliphaunt's trunk, looking very clean and well-groomed]
JACQUE: Do you often find yourself battling fierce Orcs in dank caverns? If so, use Elf-Away for all your hair-styling needs!
[Sauron's tower crashes to the ground]
ME: [pretending to be Sauron] I will always love you Sarumaaaan!
[Gandalf crowns Aragorn]
ME: [pretending to be Gandalf] I hereby dub thee Princess Aragorn.
[Arwen steps out from behind her screen and approaches Aragorn]
DEBBIE: ...And behind door #2, your bride!
ME: Good thing he didn't pick door #3, the giant lawn gnome.
[Arwen and Aragorn smile at each other and kiss]
DEBBIE's DAUGHTER: Her crown is prettier.
ME: That's okay. He's prettier.
On side note, today is our last day in Hartford. Fire 3 is heading back to Perry Point tomorrow morning, bright and early. I get to see my friends, yay me!
P.S. One of Eagle 7's members, Bryce, has an lj.
Saturday, June 12, 2004
I may have a job in FRANCE! In FRANCE! *jumps up and down* Nothing's set yet, but a lady has offered me a position as an au pair for her family. Wow!
Oh, and I completely forgot to talk about my trip to Rhode Island! Okay, so we rode into the beautiful organic farm Urban Edge and met up with Fire 7. I saw my buddies Andrea and Mary and my roommates, California and Carrie. Much squeeing commenced. Me, Mary, California, and Tori then rode into Providence to attend a Support Our Troops rally. Very stirring, I got all choked up. California saw a cute soldier she wanted to talk to and we had to chase her all around Providence looking for him.
Anyway, the next day (we slept in stiffling hot cabins, oh my goodness!) I rose bright and early and joined my team on the organic farm. A 4th-grade group came, and me and Mary taught them how to properly bury sunflower seeds. We also grazed on the fresh veggies. Yum!
Marcos had a dream me and Chris got married and had children. That scares me. "Yeah, I could see us with kids," I said. "Our Baby Book would be full of stuff like Baby's First Joint and Baby's First Grateful Dead Concert." Hah!
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Yesterday was definitely one of the greatest days of my life! One of our Habitat co-workers, Enzo DeDominicis, invited Fire 3 to a pool party at his house. We arrived, hot and sweaty from a long day's work, to discover Enzo's magnificent pool (and hot tub!) was located behind his million-dollar mansion. He fed us genuine Italian food and the over-21 folks sipped Coronas. We splashed around in the pool, jumped on his trampoline, and partied till 9pm. By the end of the day, we were begging Enzo to adopt us.
While me, Rose and Chris relaxed in the hot tub with him, Marcos called a friend in California and said, "Guess what I'm doing? Chilling out, drinking a Corona, in a millionaire's hot tub with 3 hot babes. Yes, life is good."
Tonight, at our team meeting Alyssa told us that we're off on Friday for Reagan's funeral. "It's a day of mourning," she intoned solemnly. A huge smile broke onto Sara's face and I whispered, "Don't smile! We're supposed to be sad." So she covered her mouth and whispered back, "Just pretend the smile is upside down!"
Robyn reserved our camping grounds in Wilmington, SC. Go us!
Saturday, June 05, 2004
After work today in Farmington, me and Chris and Jacque and Travis went swinging on vines behind the Habitat House. Tarzan yell! The best part was that we got Enzo to swing with us. :) Tomorrow we're leaving for Rhode Island to visit one of the teams there. I should be seeing Andrea, California and Carrie. Yay!
No one on this damn team knows who anyone else is. Alyssa calls me "Jacque" and Jacque "Jessica" half the time. At least twice a day I have to stop myself from calling Sasha "Sara". And Chris once leaned over to me and called out: "Hey, Sara!"
I ignored him, assuming he was speaking to someone else. He got this really annoyed look on his face, as though he were thinking, Doesn't she even know her own name, geez!, rolled his eyes, and repeated, "Sara! Hey, Sara."
"My name's not Sara!" I said. "I'm Jessica, silly." I still don't know how Chris could've mixed us up. I'm taller, with long fair hair. Sara is smaller, with short dark hair. No resemblance.
A list of names poor Sasha has been called:
Sara
Soccer
Salsa
Sacha
Shasha
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Yesterday I rode all over Hartford on the buses, trying to get all my paperwork together for a passport. I think I finally got it all done, though! I'm hoping to get a job in Turkey (Istanbul, preferably) as an au pair, and I'll need a passport.
Today, we discovered someone had broken into our Habitat site on Risley street. The thieves made off with almost an entire stack of pressure-treated wood. What kind of thugs steal from Habitat for Humanity? I wish I could sit them down and show them my hands. I used to take good care of my hands -- my nails were always trimmed and polished just so, the cuticles clipped and shaped, the skin soft and moisturized. Now my hands are dirty and scratched, covered with calluses, because of all the hard work I put them through on Habitat five days a week.
I wish I could show those thieves my hands
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Hi there! So I made it safely home from NYC and have just been chilling out in Hartford. Last night Fire 3 found out what our new project will be -- we're going to work on an organic farm about 20 minutes outside Boston! Not too bad, IMHO.
Central Park was so green and beautiful, despite all the rain. We found this great little fountain overlooking a lake. Rose, Travis and Dogson took off their shoes and splashed around in it, but you couldn't have paid me enough to get in. We also walked across Brooklyn Bridge at 1 in the morning and looked out over Wall Street and the rest of the city. How magical!
