TGIF!

Wow what a long week we've had! Haha, I think it's because we had such a nice, long Thanksgiving Break. Those four days were much needed... but it made it just that much harder to get back to the cold, wet, dirty work at the Garden on Monday!

This week we laid down about 1000 burlap coffee bags on a hill near the front of the Garden, stapled them down with wire hangers (bent into the shape of staples) and then covered the coffee bags (which serve as a weed barrier) with woodchip. I drove the Gator down and pitchforked woodchip from this giant pile into the back of the Gator and then drove it back up and dumped it on top of the coffee bags, at which point people on the team used rock rakes to spread the woodchip along the side of the hill. Picking up the woodchip was a lot of fun because you get to drive the Gator, but it's also extremely tiring because you are doing so much lifting the entire time! This project is definitely giving me a good workout! I'm loving it.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent in the back of the Garden, at the dump pile, where tons of brush and branches had been dumped over the past few years into one giant mess. Our job was to organize it all into big heaps so that they could be burned. And the dump pile was located right next to the Garden's poplar forest, which obviously is not meant to be burned down. So we had to pull and drag all of this dead brush away from the forest and pile them into big heaps. Oh, and on top of this, it was pouring rain the whole time! So it was wet, dirty and cold... basically it was not very much fun. The team morale definitely hit a low point on Wednesday, but we pushed through it and were rewarded by some sunshine Thursday afternoon and then a beautiful day today.

Today we were in the Wetlands area of the Garden, using hedge trimmers to cut down spirea bushes along the edge of the water and using a string trimmer to level some overgrown grasses along the path. We also used loppers to cut down thicker branches and also to cut down blackberry bushes (those things have viciously sharp thorns!!). We used weed wrenches to pull the blackberry bushes out of the ground, too. And once everything was cut and done, we raked it all up into one big pile next to the Wetlands and burned it all away! It was actually quite nice today, just because it wasn't very dirty and it was warm and sunny today. Relatively warm, anyway... it was about 50 if I had to guess!

Yesterday I found out via phone call what our next project is. We'll be going to Coachella Valley in Southern California! It is about two and a half hours east of LA and two and a half hours northeast of San Diego. And it's about an hour southeast of Joshua Tree National Park! We'll be building homes for unprivileged families and will also be doing afterschool programs with kids from the area. It is a pretty awesome project for our 2nd Round!! After the dirty, cold, wet environmental work we're doing up here in Oregon, we'll be enjoying some comfortable 70 degree weather in sunny southern California! The team (and obviously myself) is pretty excited! So whereas now we're 9 hours north of Sacramento, next Round we'll be 9 hours south! I think it's pretty perfect though, because southern California is hands down the best place in our region (aside from maybe Hawaii) to spend the winter!! So we'll be spending January and February down there.

This weekend two of the girls from my team are going out to the Oregon Coast with two local guys they met here in Silverton. Two other girls on the team are going up to Portland on Sunday to watch the Steelers vs. Ravens football game (one is from Pittsburgh and the other is from Baltimore!) The rest of us will be relaxing here in Silverton (maybe making a trip to Salem and perhaps taking a hike over at Silver Falls) and enjoying our free weekend. Although I think some people on the team are volunteering in Salem at the food bank tomorrow.

Speaking of meeting local people, I've met quite a few here in Silverton, and I have already decided that I want to come back in the summer to visit them! Pretty much everyone I have met, actually, I've met at the local coffeeshop downtown (where I am currently sitting because we get internet here, haha). The owners, Monte and Michelle, are super friendly and I could spend all day talking to Monte because he has so many stories to share! I've also met the barista, Taja, who has shared inside info on all the cool things to do in town for people our age (namely, there aren't all that many, haha). I've also met Raelynn, who is this incredibly friendly woman who is turning 36 next week and who I've hung out with on several occasions. Her friend, Lory Ann, is 51 and is definitely the spunkiest 51 year old I've ever met! She has so much energy, she's awesome to be around. Just this past week (the other day, actually), I was over at Raelynn's house and we had cake and coffee and chocolate and Lory Ann gave me a free haircut, which I think looks absolutely fantastic! A picture of the two of them at Safeway is just above (Raelynn is on the right). We went to Safeway and got the cake there before headed back to Raelynn's house. It was such a good time, and I have decided that I need to come back in the summer when the weather is nice to visit them.

Okay, well to wrap up, things are going pretty well here in Oregon. Just one more week til we return to Sacramento. That will be so weird! Then a few days after that I'll be flying back home to Philadelphia. That's weird too! But it will be great to see family and friends. And I think I may even have a get together with some of the other team leaders in NYC over break because we're all from the East Coast!