Journal Entry 13 - Hands on Gulf Coast, Biloxi, Mississippi

Today was possibly one of the hardest and longest days of the trip so far. Today was the official day of Mold and demolition. We all had to wake up really early to leave by 8:00AM.

We packed up the van and the PT Cruiser. We drove 30 minutes to Moss Point. We stopped at a brick house with a huge dumpster in front of it. We then suited up in Tyvek suits, gloves, ventilators, and goggles. We got to work, removing debris, furniture, moldy insulation, trash, and everything and anything in the house and garage.

I can say this was the hardest volunteer work I have ever done. I was so tired, even after just 5 minutes of work, I would be out of breath. I helped a lot with clearing debris, small items, and the garage.But, I feel a bit disappointed in myself for getting tired so much and so fast.

After 3 hours, we finally finished and headed back. We then decided to sing in the car. Well, at least Kyle and I decided to sing some Leona Lewis and some "Celebration!" The ride home was pretty fun, actually.

When we got back, we all decided to immediately shower. I came to the showers, and Devon led a sing-a-long.

We then had lunch. I ate so much food! I was in food heaven! Anyway, we went to the church next door for a reflection and Active Citizen workshop. Both were well put together today. We even had a chance to play the Hand Slap game!

After that, we had some free time to just play the solitaire games on the bench inside Hands on. Then, dinner was served with a round table activity where we could ask questions or just give some ideas.

Then, the funniest things happened. We had conversations about TV shows and guilty pleasure TV shows, like CASH CAB!, What Not to Wear, and Deadliest Catch! Then, Kyle cracked a joke about him being the "Deadliest Catch" which cracked Brittany up, which then caused me to laugh hysterically with her.

Then, we were all served a great big helping of brownies and ice cream. It was sooooo good!

Afterwards, we walked over the the church across the street for a bit of Diversity and Sociual Justice Workshopping.

We talked about Diversity, Social Issues, and did Claim Common Ground. Of course, that activity is always intense, bit I definitely like it with better group processing as well. But, it was what it was. We did get to go around talking to people about the issues.

After, we walked back for some reflections, even though it was already 10:00PM. We did a game of flash to talk about what we did for projects (either Blitz Build or Mold) and how it went. Then, I bridged the two groups feeling of disconnect with affirmations of the entire team as a whole, regardless of the split.

I hope the reflection went well. We didn't take as long, but I'm sure we could have had better reflections. However, it was late and we had to talk softly.

Afterwards, some of us stayed downstairs to talk about random things. Eventually, Ashely stayed downstairs talking to Kyle, and I went on the computer to chat and check my emails.

I then came upstairs to journal, and now I'm going to probably sleep. I'm so tired, but tomorrow should be easier with Voter Registar.