Personals

Last week, the photojournalist was looking for ideas for our next entry for the Common Ground, the NCCC newsletter that generally is just for the rest of NCCC to read and appreciate. But i thought that these might be amusing even if you don't know my team. Anyone want to guess which one's me? (I didn't write it)

Gold 1 Love Connection

Lonely Portland team seeks other adventurous colors and numbers for dates and general merriment in New Orleans. Must be able to handle all of this…

WSM interested in clogs, plate-tectonics and uncontrollable laughter. Looking for a special man to sweep her off her feet, literally, and carry her to the construction site each morning. Must be burley, tattoos optional.

MSW likes thrifty fun and spooning, beaches okay, forests and mountains RULE! Call 919-475-6921 ask for Rufus.

WSW loves photography, installing doors and long walks on the Oregon coast (probably the Gulf coast too). Seeking fun ISP buddy…or maybe more. Must love grey shirts, being the safety and eating Eggos.

WS endless supply of chocolate donuts and candy. Not interested in sugar-free or artificial flavorings.

WSM blessed with a slight touch of sarcasm seeking Cypress tree loving man who stays out late but hates mornings. Must be cool with a 30 gallon fish tank filled with shaving cream.

WSM fresh on the market ATL with rockin’ abs enjoys sarcasm, drinking maple syrup and spilling nails. Searching for a sensitive man with a beard, 2 legs, and at least one arm. Must be willing to move to Vermont.

Do you like to ask a lot of question when talking, and then answer them yourself? Well, I do. Do you think your team hates you, but actually doesn’t? Well, I do. Are you looking for a short team leader, who talks excessively? If so, you are in luck! Seeking a TL to spend some quality time with (maybe at Camp Hope, PHASE 2). Grey shirts need not apply.

WSW enjoys flooring, yoga, people that share her name and Thai food. Interested in a crazy late-nighter who knows the hard streets of New Orleans. Prefers someone who is warmer than her Ameri-sleeping bag. Commitment not necessary.

W seeking ride to New Orleans to join her Ameri-boo.

M seeking sunshine and a long run. Should be able to understand jibberish and historical tangents based off of nothing. Ladies must enjoy being pampered and purpling. Polygamists need not apply.

WSMultipleMen loves laughing, telling long detailed stories and driving sticks. Searching for men ages 18-?, she’s not picky. Bonus points if you are from Wisconsin, have a beard, majored in ministry, love Jimmy Buffet and the color green.

MS eco-friendly city that produces great bread.

WSM with positive upbeat attitude interested in chipping out your teeth with a tiny, tiny hammer. Enjoys ending her day with hot chocolate and a sweet romantic love story, seeks same. Requires man who can read maps and find her Ameri-hat.

See someone you like? Mail Gold 1!

Bye bye Oregon

It was really hard, heartbreaking even, to say goodbye to Portland this morning. As we drove out of the city, the sun was rising on the left over the mountains, and to the right were the lights of our lovely city. Portland was amazing. I'd have to say that this is my best winter ever, as far as both weather and my enjoyment of it. I'm still taking in all the experiences i had there, so i'm sure you can expect a steady trickle of blogs over the next few days.
After a lovely 11 1/2 hour drive, we're back in Sacramento now. I think i have friends who are around here, and there are some people i will want to see soon enough. But tonight, i was quite content to be with my teammates, and now i'm going to bed. It feels like i must be crashing out early, but it's 10:30 and i've been up since 5:30. The last few days, i've been pushing and staying up later no matter what time i had to get up, wanting to get every last drop of the experience out, trying to make the most of every day.

Saying goodbye to the guys at Habitat was sad. It all feels so final. But for me, i suppose i've just added another corner of the world where i will miss people and wonder if they are missing me.

Passing out now... more tomorrow.

too busy living life

The last couple weeks have been awesome. We've done lots of stuff to make the most of our time here and see all that this city and Oregon have to offer. Yesterday we went to the Oregon Coast, which was beautiful. it was a perfectly clear day and it was amazing. we had dinner at the portland city grill, which is on the 30th story and had a great view of the city. we had sushi at this place where it's typical to wait 2 hours to get in, but once you get in and get your food, it's completely worth the wait. Last week we worked a ton and had meetings every night, and it felt like the longest week ever. But maybe as a result or to balance that, this weekend felt pretty long too. I did lots and had a great time. I hung out with teammates who i don't usually hang out with, and was able to really enjoy my time with them.
I'm pretty sad to be leaving Portland. I don't know when i'll get a chance to get back here, and i don't know if i'll ever get a chance to live here again. But while i've been here, it's been great. I wanted to make the most of it, because we've got a big change coming. Going from living in a metropolis to living basically in the middle of nowhere. To be honest, i'm pretty nervous about going to New Orleans and living at Camp Hope. Relatively speaking for this program, i've had a lot of luxuries (the city) and a lot of freedom to come and go as i please. It's definitely something i will miss.

Pictures!

Time flies

"We only have 12 days left here in Portland"~said by a fellow NCCCer at the worksite on saturday
Now it's 10.
It feels like we only just got here, and I'm starting to finally get into a sort of groove with this job and this city. Met some nice people, Almost got some theatre stuff happening... And now it's winding down. I have to have some final reports for this project finished by midweek. Next weekend we're going to seattle, because it's only 3 hours away, and how can i not go see it when i'm so close?

And since i haven't updated in a while, here's a week in review:
Last Sunday i went to the L Word premiere with one of my teammates. It was cool, it was a fundraiser for HRC (Human Rights Campaign) and it was fun to know that i had friends going to different premiers in different cities the same time i was going in mine. The after party wasn't bad either :)
Monday we went to the falls at Columbia River Gorge. It was amazing. So many beautiful waterfalls, so many great hikes. When we got to the top of a few of the falls, it was snowing! I wish we'd had more time to spend, i would have liked to do the longer hikes. With any luck, i'll be back in this area again and i can.
Tuesday thru saturday was the work week, of course. I spent the week, along with half of the team, doing things like reorganizing the Habitat storage shed and the garage at the office (which was a lot more fun than it sounds) and doing a few 'warranty' projects on older houses. There was a house built 8 years ago where half of the porch roof shingles were stapled on instead of nailed down. So we had to take them all off and then nail them down row by row. It was a fun easy project, and it was nice to look at the end of the day and see what we'd done, to have a finished product. But it was also frustrating to know that this house wasn't completed correctly in the first place, and they've had half their roof sliding off for the last few months until we went out and fixed it.
The next day, we went to complete the handrails of a porch on another house. When we got there, we discovered the frame of the hand rails was there, and pieces of plywood had been put up temporarily because the individual vertical posts (which have a name that i can't remember) had never been put in. I asked again how old this house was, it was 9 years old! They completed this project 9 years ago, and just never went back to finish the porch. How do you do that!? It's pretty appalling. The habitat office has had a complete turnover since that era, and now these are just papers that are filed and processed and then we go out and fix things. None of the people in charge now were around then. But it's still appalling to me that such neglect could happen. How can you say you're providing people with decent homes when you don't finish them?
Saturday was one of my teammates' 21st birthday, so we went out. I've never gone out for someone's 21st when it was intended to be a wild and crazy party before. And i actually wasn't even going to go. And then i agreed to go for one drink, and a few of us were just going to get a ride back in the van. But the van came to pick us up about 10 minutes after it left, and we had only just gotten our drinks. So 2 of us agreed we'd just stay to finish our drinks and then go... Yeah, that didn't happen. There was a private party happening in the back room of the bar, and we crashed it. Our birthday girl met the birthday boy, he got super excited and said of course we were all welcome in his party. We met a few people and ended up going to a different bar with them and stayed out dancing til 2 am. So much for being tired....
Yesterday, we went to the Rose Garden and Pittock Mansion. It was a beautiful clear day and we'd heard the views were great. It was awesome! We got to see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier! I tried to get some pictures, i'm not sure yet if they'll turn out. I'll post a couple if they did.
Last night, after walking miles and miles up and down hills i was exhausted and fell asleep at 7. I woke up at 9:30, ate dinner, read for a bit, and went back to sleep til 7:45 this morning. I guess my week caught up with me.

And now it's monday again, i'm going to spend my day doing laundry and reading and hopefully not too much else.

We're Back!

It's nice to be back in Portland, in this tiny little house. As soon as we started getting close to the city, it felt good, it was like coming home. It's sad that we're only here a few more weeks, but i've got a renewed energy to do as much as i can in the time that we're here.
The sky is blue, which means it's probably cold out today. I haven't been out yet, but I'm excited about sunshine!
We're working tomorrow, then we've got our regular weekend on Sunday and Monday. I'm going to try and get in touch with a friend from college about meeting up this weekend, and she's given me a contact with a friend of hers who i'm going to do some theatre work with. I've missed it.

It'll be good to get back in the swing of things. It was nice to be home with family, and i had a blast in Chicago, but i've had enough sitting around to last me a while.