Beaver Nuggets are Delicious!

Saturday, November 14th

Not too much to say about a day of travelling! We left Denver at around 8:30am and arrived at our hotel in Salina, KS at around 5:30pm. We have two vans (one cargo, one passenger) and we take turns driving and navigating.

Here's me, Mary, Mackenzie, and Kelly in the van -- notice we have to wear "the A" even while travelling. We get LOTS of stares when we arrive in matching outfits to places like Subway for lunch.

It was nice because our hotel this first night had an indoor pool and hottub. Also, our lovely friends from Fire 3 were also staying at our hotel, so we got to relax with them in the hottub at night. It was nice after a long day in the car!

Sunday, November 15th

We left Salina, KS and headed to our second hotel in Dallas, TX. Nothing too exciting happened during our travels -- it rained nearly the entire day. I guess it was a good day to be in the car as opposed to out doing things.

Monday, November 16th

We left our hotel and began driving to our site in Freeport, TX. We had a few issues while driving -- for example, I was the first driver through Dallas in the morning, and our GPS got me all turned around. It would say things like "in 500 yards, stay left and go right--then, stay left." This was VERY confusing to me and my navigator, especially in a HUGE van in six lanes of traffic during rush-hour. Needless to say, we got on the right track after about 30 minutes and arrived at the Boys and Girls Club of Brazoria County around 3pm.

We met our site sponsors and some of the kids right away. I am so excited to work here. I don't have much to say about it right now (mainly because it's nearly midnight and I have to wake up early!) Hopefully sometime this week I can devote an entire post to talking about the B&GC and how I'm feeling.

Something exciting -- Bu-cee's Beaver Nuggets were a special treat given to us by our sponsor, Fay. They are similar to CornPops, but coated in caramel. We have all decided that they are delicious and might become our new addiction. Speaking of Bu-cee's, Audrianne, I WILL get there personally very soon to check out the bathrooms and report if what you heard is true! (For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, Audrianne commented that she heard Texas has these gas station/rest stops called Bu-cee's that have bathrooms nicer than some homes! I will investigate this and possibly post pictures! haha!)

Now, before I head to bed, here are a few pictures of the club and our living situation. We are very lucky to have internet, TV, three showers, a lots of space. It's going to work out great!

Below are some of my fabulous teammates after dinner (which Joel and I made -- chicken stir-fry, yum!). We have many small "diner type" booths in our kitchen, which makes us feel like we're eating in a restaurant. Maybe I will bust out some of my serving techniques for a special treat sometime soon!



Here's a picture of Tim cleaning up after Joel and I's wonderful meal -- don't worry, he wasn't really that upset about having to wash everything!



Here's another view of the kitchen!

Here's a picture of our bathroom. We have 3 toilets and 3 showers, which is really nice. (Some teams have only 1 bathroom to share). We found a bunch of stackable crates in a storage closet so we are able to keep our toiletries in the bathroom. This bathroom and another decent sized storage closet lock during the day, so we keep all of our stuff packed up while the kids are running around.

Here's a picture of the "game room" (which is where I am currently blogging from.) We have designated this area the common room. You can see the storage closet in the back left -- this is where we pile all of our bags, cots, sleeping bags, etc. during the day to keep them locked up. At night (like in this picture) we spread them out around the room so we can easily access our stuff. Also notice the pool table and the "theatre" in the bottom right -- we have a pretty nice set up!

Finally, here's a picture of my cot. We have our beds set up in the gymnasium at night. It's a bummer that we have to tear them down each morning, but I really don't think it's going to be that huge of an ordeal. Notice my awesome Alternative Breaks blanket that I made before leaving for AmeriCorps. I love it -- it makes me smile every time I look at it. It's made out of all of my old t-shirts from all of my AB/service trips in college.

Also notice Hugo (my teddy bear) on my pillow. Now, I know I am 23 years old, but Hugo is especially important today because Eric left for basic training today. I already miss not being able to talk to him -- 32 days until I can see him at Christmas! I began writing to him...I am going to try to write every day. His mom has been doing a wonderful job of keeping me up-to-date with where he is and how he's doing. I miss him a lot, but I am proud of him and can't wait until we can swap stories at Christmas!

Well, this is all for now, I am off to bed. Look for more info. about the B&GC to come soon! Goodnight!