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Well hello there! I'm in an altogether spritely mood at the moment. You've all heard of snows days, but have you ever had a rain day? Yes that's right, when you live in a place that's prone to hurricanes, work is known to be canceled due to rain from time to time! And that's what's in store for me tomorrow. So that narrows down my actual work days to six (we actually have eight, but I've banked my personal days for a trip woohoo!), meaning exactly two weeks until we LEAVE FREEPORT, meaning exactly 27 days until graduation. Heck. Yes. Now all I have to do is survive the tropical storm that'll be hanging around us for the next six days and I should be good to go.

I've had a solid week. First off, THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my poll, whether it was through text, email, calling me, posting here, whatever, your insight has been very helpful. I'm pretty sure I've made my decision, so if I actually do get offered the job for Choice #2 this week, I'll know what my approach will be. Not telling till then though.

I must admit, I've grown to borderline love SOME of the kids here at the club. Despite my best efforts I actually find myself looking forward to seeing SOME of them on the days that I'm here. And ya know what's even more surprising? The kindergarteners are my favorite! See I really took a fast liking to the fourth graders back at the beginning, probably because we bonded over our shared disgust with the kindies as a species, but now it's like, bye bye friendship bracelets, hellooo tea parties. And ridiculously mature things being stated with speech impediments. And WIGGLINESS. They are so wiggly, the kindergarteners. So hilarious.

Was that just a whole paragraph about working here that didn't have an underlying complaint? It may have been.... Who knew.

So yes, I began to realize last week that I will definitely miss some of these kiddos, and that I will think about them from time to time once this spike is over. It was a heartwarming realization. After having a less-than-awful week, I managed to follow the excitement up with a more-than-outstanding weekend. My team leader set up a service project in Houston, and since it was so far away AmeriCorps agreed to put us up in a hotel for Saturday night. A whole bed AND cable? Awesome! So we spent a few hours volunteering at a really progressive inpatient treatment and rehab center for men in the Houston area, called it a day around 3pm, and made it back to our hotel in time to see the last depressing hour of the soccer match against Ghana. Ugh. Then after a dee-licious spinach pizza pie at a Mediterranean restaurant, I started making arrangements to meet up with a most ideal partner in crime, the one and only Anya Gersib. A gay pride parade was involved, along with a bar shut down and a rooftop view of the Houston skyline, in the making of a wonderful and memorable night with my dear college buddy. Oh and we got LADY GAGA fans! For REAL!

The next day our team-plus-Anya ate brunch at about the most picturesque cafe I'd ever seen, and then spent the afternoon perusing a couple Houston art museums. It had been so long since I'd submerged myself in art like that; I was overdue. Some of the works were just so against the grain it was uncomfortable...but in that good way that only art can make you feel ya know? There was one in particular, by Maurizio Cattelan, that stopped me dead in my tracks. As I had rounded the doorway to the next room of the museum, I was met with an enormous room with wooden floors and bare walls painted pure white. The contrast from painting-laden walls to this emptiness was enough to set me off-kilter, until I saw what the actual intention of the emptiness was. There in the middle of the floor, perfectly spaced and placed in alignment, were no less than twenty-five dead bodies underneath white bedsheets. The curves of the bodies, where the bedsheets folded and creased, gave way to an understanding of who were the kids, the men, the women (the pregnant women), the people clutching babies on their chests, and so on, amongst the dead. Even in walking right up to the bodies, there was no doubt that if I had a sudden fit of insanity I could rip off each and every sheet from these people and see who the really were. So imagine my shock in realizing that they were made of marble. MARBLE. Perfectly smoothed out rock made to imitate holocaust victims. Woofta. It was worth getting a scolding from the docent just to reach out and feel it for myself.

So I got my volunteering, my party, and my intellect on last weekend. Who could ask for more? And then this week has chugged its way along to what's going to be a ridiculous day off tomorrow, then it'll be FRIDAY (at which point I should have heard back from Choice #2), then another weekend with a trip to San Antonio and AUSTIN planned, and then FOURTH OF JULY! Then ANOTHER DAY OFF WORK! Then work, then A TRIP!! And then I LEAVE FREEPORT!! Safe to say we've reached the home stretch people.

Love you!
Miss Katie

Polllllllllllll!!!!!!!!

So I'm going to take some opinions here. I'm just curious what kinds of results I'll get:

If you were GUARANTEED the SAME benefits and pay for both, got to live in the AMAZING city of New Orleans for both, and naturally got to meet some really REALLY neat people at both, would you:

1. Spend 11 months of your life doing a completely random job that has NOTHING to do with your professional interests but that will probably give you some real-life-how-the-world-works expertise (house maintenance and repair, perhaps...) before you buckle down and start grad school?

or....

2. Spend 11 months of your life working in a unique area of your field of professional interest that you can't really get anywhere else and that would serve as a nice mental segue from roaming the country for the last year to grad school in 2011?

All responses are invited! Thanks :)
kt

Yay, dads.

This doesn't need to be a long post; you all know that dads are great. In my experiences working with kiddos it has become more and more clear what the product of an unstable home life can be. I don't need to remind you that if you have a solid male figure in you're life, you are lucky. I always gravitate to describing my upbringing as pretty normal, both parents still married and stable and whatnot, but we all know that that scenario is not the norm. So if you have a papa that you're proud of, that you look up to, I have two pieces of homework for you: 1. Do like I do and appreciate the rarity of your situation. 2. Call him right now!! :)

Love ya daddy dear!
kt

Ten days already?

I honestly can't say I have a lot to report on this guy. Oink oink weekend feels like it was FOREVER ago...these days are such a blur. I will have to admit, this week has been the first in a long time that I haven't been curious about the internet world every single day. To what can I attribute this lack of interest? Why, friendship bracelet making of course!!! Seriously I have created a monster virus that is sweeping the Boys and Girls Club. I can't stop making bracelets/necklaces/rings/bookmarks (yes bookmarks). It's to a point now where I'll be working in the art room and actually trying to convince the kiddles that yes of COURSE their dad would appreciate a bracelet for father's day! I should probably teach them so we can sit for the entire hour making bracelets, right? I have a problem; I accept this. But I have no interest in overcoming it anytime soon. So I guess this means if you have a hankerin for some jewelry made with love, holler at me.

Holler at me. Yes I said it. And I'm allowed to, wanna know why? Because I feel, in a most peculiar way, like I have been personally invited into the wild world of hood slang by the older group of kids I'm working with separate from the Boys and Girls Club. So there. This hardworking, honest, genuine group of seven 14 and 15 year olds collectively manages to teach me a new slang phrase every time I go out on a project with them. It's funny because I'm not that old, but seriously I can't understand half of what comes out of their mouths the first time. And they're always calling me, "Miss," regardless of what they're saying. "Yeah sure Miss, let's head to Buc-ees for lunch," "Naw Miss I can't say I agree with that," or my favorite from today, "Honestly Miss, I don't care one bit." I'm reallllly trying to push the simple "Katie" on them, but a decade and a half of training is making this request one that's nearly impossible for them to meet. So I've settled for Miss Katie. Fifteen year old kids are calling me Miss Katie. Bagh the south is hilarious. Anywho this group has been wonderful to work with and also, as previously mentioned, provides that out I need from Da Club every once in a while. So it's a positive situation across the board.

Another positive concept: Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!! We have no real plans this weekend but the beach will most definitely be involved. Okay more later.

kt

SIT DOWN AND COLOR A PICTURE!!!!!!!

Well lookie here it hasn't even been a week since my last post! You're welcome.

Oink oink weekend was exactly how I had imagined it: taking an entire two days to get to and from a town four hours away and making hi-larious and de-licious (and sometimes both!) stops along the way. I saw the world's third largest fire hydrant, naively spent $12 on a baked potato (it would've been worth $10 though), played on a castle park to preemptively burn calories, saw (and considered purchasing) the world's largest gummi bear (but went with a 1/2 pound of lethally mouthwatering fudge instead...), consumed FROG LEGS AND ALLIGATOR!!!!, had iced coffee and "Hummingbird Cake" while enjoying local art at the darlingest coffee shop in eastern Louisiana, ate an original beignet at another adorable Louisiana cafe (to which we were welcomed by the local attention-loving mutt), and, of course, sampled yet another town's version of seafood gumbo. Woofta. I may or may not have kicked my own butt in the gym today as retribution for my decisions over the previous 48 hours, but let me tell they were so very worth it. I must say I do love road tripping. And themed road trips? Go, to, bed! So much fun. Expect pictures (aka evidence) of all of our adventures soon.

Don't let this mislead you in any way, but even if this weekend hadn't been so blastastic I would have still loved the opportunity to get away from this stupid building for two days. So no, nothing's changed. I'm still miserable here. But here's something cool! I am assigned to take the 14 and 15-year-old Summer of Service group on Mondays, so today was my opportunity to get away from the Club and all that it implies (little kids, to name one), and work on a service project with these older-yet-still-young bucks. We went to a nearby bird observatory and build a boardwalk to prevent birders from sinking into the mucky mud after rain storms. Despite the horrific volume of mosquitoes and intense humidity, it was awesome! My group is really a fun bunch. I just remember hating those awkward years of my life so much that it's pleasantly surprising to work with such self-aware and mature little people at that age. And they're FUNNY. Seriously they are already comfortable enough with us to poke fun and even tease a little after only four days. It's cool to see; I'm looking forward to Mondays every week now. (And bonus: Yet another excuse to get away from this building! Woohoo.)

So....yeah I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe the regularity that is soon to befall Sun Three in the upcoming weeks will improve my currently dreary 'tude. Hang in there with me!

Miss ya!
kt

Solid source of dairy?

I have decided that goat cheese should be incorporated into my everyday life. Ignore the fact that a tub of goat cheese costs about what I make in one day on my paycheck; I will make this happen. As should you.

Okay love you!
kt

Another update from Texas!

Well hello again! As I type this I'm wearing my Justin Morneau Twins jersey in hopes that through osmosis it will help them beat Seattle. I have yet to watch a single inning of a game this season (cable? Pshhhh yeah right), but I've been finding myself putting on this jersey more and more these days...I think I have an itch.

Anywho it's been an interesting two weeks. Let me start with what I absolutely loved about the time since my last post: MY SISTER CAME TO VISIT ME!!!!! Yes that's right, this is the longest I've ever gone without seeing a fellow Mraz, and so a reunion, no matter the size, was overdue. We had such a blast. I must admit that I was already supercharged when I picked her up in Houston because it was the first time in almost six months that I got to drive alone in a car! And drive over 65mph? And back up without a ground guide? AND GET COFFEE AT THE PICK UP WINDOW?! It's amazing what becomes "the little things" over time. So just that span of four hours where I could go wherever my heart desired was extremely therapeutic for me. But the fun hadn't even started!

The first night Bets was here we came back to Freeport and she got to meet most of my teammates and Laurie, one of my sponsors from the Boys and Girls Club. Laurie had us all over for a Memorial Day Weekend barbeque so we got to meet her family and some of her in-laws. This lady is a hoot--I really look up to her. She reminds me in some ways of a certain mother of two blonde-haired kids I know.... So we got to enjoy a dock, some burgers, good conversation, CRABBING, some lawn games, etc. etc. etc...all the stuff that goes along with a bbq. Then we were off the the hotel where...drumroll please...A QUEEN-SIZED BED ALL TO MYSELF WAS WAITING FOR ME!!! Agh again it's the little things. But I couldn't spread out wide enough. This was a fair call from the cot I've been resting my head on at night these last few weeks.

The next day we set off for Galveston, TX. It's known to be far more beach-y (aka tourist-y) than Freeport and it was only and hour or so away, so it worked out nicely. So we bummed around all day at the beach, napped, ate a delicious yet extremely bizarre dinner that involved multiple strangers engaging us in awkward conversations, and then bar hopped around Seawall Blvd that overlooks the gulf. I can't get over how great it was to just go out on TWO peoples' agendas in a CAR and not have to worry about van curfews and all the other mumbo jumbo that goes along with this program. (Can you tell what the rest of my last two weeks has been like? Lol) So we had a blast, as we always do.

What day are we to now? Monday? Oh, the day we learned how to SURF?! Haha oh yeah now I remember. We spent two hours on Monday morning being taught how to surf by a charismatic sage by the name of Brian, and let me tell you we don't really suck! We actually picked up on it really quick. I'm confident that the next time I'm at the ocean I'll be able to rent a board and give it another go...I'll be riding tubes in no time. Following the lesson (which, may I add, went longer than we paid for because we were so much fun) we grabbed some grub then morphed back into beach bums. A shower, followed by the purchase of oversized hats, followed by a daiquiri, followed by a delicious dinner ending in a gorgeous sunset, and then a stop at our new favorite Galveston coffeeshop, Mod, later, we were pooped. We had a good night's rest and then set off for Houston the next morning. Betsy got to see where her clinical will be starting in August (a REALLY pretty area!) and we scoped out the area for what she can have for entertainment while she's there. Then it was time to say goodbye. It stank but it always does. Really if I had spent that weekend with any of my friends it would have been spectacular...just getting away from NCCC for a few days was unbelievable. But having my sees be the one to entertain me brought it to an entirely new level...I'm extremely lucky to have such a remarkable friend for a sister. :)

But despite the Powers of Betsy, my living situation right now is still pret-ty rough. Living here at the club is not the party I tried to fool myself (and all of you, ha ha!) into thinking it would be. Let's be realistic with ourselves. Having to pack up every morning and pretend that you don't, in fact, live in the exact building where kindergarteners chronically pee on the walls during the day is crappy. Waking up to sixteen mosquitoes going gang-style True Blood on me is frustrating. Being the first to the bathroom in the morning and flipping on the light only to be met with a group of oddly familial cockroaches is ridiculous (were they just conversing?).

But the deeper issue in all of this is my lack of control of the situation. In joining AmeriCorps it was understood that I had to relinquish most of the control I had over my circumstances. And so sleeping on an air mattress in a random church for a month was nothin. Having to allot at least 90 minutes round trip for YMCA visits, alright. What's that? I didn't get any of the spinach AGAIN? AND WE'RE DOING TAXES FOR TWO MONTHS?!??! AGH! But it's been fine. It has all been reasonable and fine and most of all...EXPECTED. But this living situation feels like a new low for AmeriCorps and it's really stressing me out. And you all know that I'm not a wimp. So this is the real deal. My team is resilient, but we all feel the same way. Now there's a sliver of hope that we get to move to another Boys and Girls Club building, so I'm really trying to rack up good karma the next couple of days to help that tip in my favor. Let me know if you need any good deeds committed anytime soon.

And despite our living situation I will say that the Boys and Girls Club as a project itself is...okay-to-legitimate. (Haha sorry I'm such a downer!) It'll definitely pick up once summer officially starts, because not only with the club be on a more consistent routine, but our other project will begin as well. Along with working at the club we're also going to be Team Leaders for the next five weeks, working with 14-17 year olds on two service projects a week. They'll be like a mini-AmeriCorps NCCC. So while the projects feels pretty unstructured and confusing right now, I'm feeling positively about things picking up next week.

Well okay, more updates later. To come: Maire, Cody, and Katie's OINK OINK WEEKEND through the bayou!

Miss you all, love you
Katie