I am now about a month into my new VISTA position as a Member Outreach Coordinator at Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA). I can’t believe it has been this long since I last posted, but the last couple months have been packed full with packing to leave and then unpacking and trying to get adjusted to being back in MN and away from my Ameri-family. It's been a rough transition and really hard to get used to not being surrounded by tons of people my age.

Hmm… what has happened since I reached that Three weeks left mark in New Orleans? Well, Lousiana wrapped up very fast and the heat never let up. One of the best weekends was a trip I planned for 9 of us to rent cars and drive to Jackson MS so visit our the great Abe Wallace (he was on my team but had to leave a few weeks into our last Spike because his mom got sick. It was such an amazing day and I think a highlight for many!! I also got the chance to see my aunt and uncle twice while being in New Orleans which was amazing. They are such wonderful people and it was a great chance to be with family down there.

We were on our way to Denver and our last SPIKE travel experience which was really sad. I was very excited to get back to Denver and see the rest of the corps members to catch up before leaving them all. The weeks in Denver went very fast from what I remember. It was full of paper work, equipment turn in, packing and cleaning, along with fitting in fun things with each other. I don’t really remember at the moment what fun things I did… I went to an open mic night with some ladies, enjoyed the park next to our campus, went to Boulder to visit one of my supervisors from my two months with Open Space and Mountain Parks which was a ton of fun to see him. My parents and sister came on Saturday (we got back to Denver the Saturday before) which was very exciting. We went to Boulder where I showed them our house we lived in, went on a hike and did some shopping around Pearl Street. Sunday we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park which was beautiful…we were in the car most of the time but saw tons of beautiful views and got a lot of pictures. We drove the “Peak to Peak” route which is all up in the mountains and so breathtaking… we pulled over A LOT to say the least. Monday I had stuff going on so they went to Vail and then we went to Thai Basil with my cousin Eve which was a lot of fun… I really love that restuarunt and can’t wait to get it once I get back to Denver someday. Americorps NCCC has really opened up my variety of food I have eaten and like to eat. I have tried things I had barely heard of which was awesome.

Tuesday oh Tuesday… Graduation Day. Well, they woke us up at 5 in the morning to get us out of our rooms. So after very little sleep we were off the breakfast with the last of our bags. Once we got sick of sitting in the cafeteria we all moved out to the lawn under the trees to take a nap/or at least try to. After some relaxing in the grass it was off the graduation rehearsal and lastly the big event. It was so surreal to be sitting in the audience watching people cross the stage… not realizing this was the end of this experience. After graduation we were all forced to say goodbye and disperse within about 15 minutes. It was FULL of tears and pictures of us looking like crap since we had all been crying so hard. Driving away from the campus and that life was so hard and strange. Not knowing the next time I will see any of those people and knowing that I will never be with them as a group for a long period of time ever again. A long weekend is probably the most chunk of time we will ever see one another. A lot of these people have come to be some of my best friends and it has been really hard not having them across the hall or next door anymore. Thank goodness for the phone and internet!

I am really enjoying my new job... it's an Americorps VISTA position so it's August to August. I don't mind that fact one bit because I hope to move back to CO shortly after... that's my plan as of now! I am learning A TON and the ladies I work with are very helpful and want to give me as much as experience as they can which is amazing. I never thought I would get to learn as much as I already have and it's only been a little over a month. I only had about 3 days off before starting this job so it hasn't been the smoothest of transitions but it's getting there. I didn't realize it would be this freaking hard to be back here. Taking it one day at a time. I really love being able to be with my family and go to my cousin's soccer games... I can't wait until they play each other in high school varsity soccer as seniors. Should be a blast (it's in October). This job is also helping me get over my fear of calling people I don't know! haha I'm totally not comfortable doing it but welp here goes nothing :-) I am doing everything from social media, volunteer management to planning events and setting up/running online and silent auctions. Wowsers I am so thankful for all this year is going to teach me.

I am already planning a trip to meet up with these five girls from NCCC who I became very close with (Megan, Catie, Kristy and Shannon) for this Spring. We're thinking about heading to San Diego, where Kristy is from, and camping on the beach or even just staying at her house. I plan on going to Denver hopefully soon to see some of my loves that moved out there. I am also already very excited for my teammate and really good friend Beth to turn 21 (Kelly and I are planning on going to Austin for it) however, it's not until January 2011. I miss my roomie Molly and my whole Water Three family so much. They are all such amazing people and I can't wait to see them again. It's just so hard with everyone being broke and getting settled into the next chapter of our lives.

Well until next time,

Love,

Nicole "Misses Americorps NCCC class 16" Burg

Songs I have been listening to on repeat for a while (I only listed the slow ones):

"To Know Love" Little Big Town (My song of all songs :-)

"God Gave me you" Dave Barnes

"Home" Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Three weeks from TODAY

Ahhh we start our road trip home three short weeks from today... so bitter sweet and mixed emotions. So excited to regain my freedom and be home; but SO not excited to leave all of these amazing people not knowing when I will see them next. Eek.

Well, this past week and a half for week I worked with DECON the rest of last week and this week Beth and I thought we signed up to do exterior painting but ended up doing very little painting and mostly lead removal from a house site. We had to vacuum so many tiny peices of lead from the dirt and on the concrete. Then we washed this toxic stuff over the concrete and pushed it into the grass with a broom, followed by some weed control. It has been a pretty low key week but not very exciting at all.

Thursday night/Friday morning a bunch of us went to the midnight showing of Toy Story 3 which was soooooo good. It was pretty darn scary and I can't imagine a little kid seeing it. I highly reccomend it though. It was really fun to get to go to the midnight showing too. Then Friday during the day we did an ISP at the Children's museum where we worked at the different exhibits, I worked on getting the arts and crafts ready for Saturday's Father's Day at the Museum which was pretty relaxed,

Friday one of the guys that is an Americorps for Rebuilding Together had a little get together so a bunch of us went there which was fun. Then Saturday I finally got to hang out with my Aunt and Uncle!! It was so fun and wonderful, I really hope I have enough time to do it again. It was so nice to be with family and get away for bit, all while getting to see the sites with them. We went to Bravo! a wonderful Italian restaurant which was delicious, then got to ride a street car and Auntie Zulma showed me where she lived at one time and where she liked to hang out. I got some Roman taffy from this horse drawn carriage stand and then it was off to see Uncle Mark's office building. It is right on the river and has a great view. Then we walked down to the River Walk which is a shopping mall type thing on the river with a lot of restaurants (we got some delicious ice cream :-)). Then sadly it was time to be dropped off, but I plan on hopefully having another day with them.

Sunday Beth and I went to church at THE CHURCHS NAME which is the beautiful big basilaca in Jackson Square. After lunch a handful of us went on a walking tour of the Garden District and learned about the different massive homes. We saw Eli and Peyton Manning's childhood home where their father lives, along with John Goodman's house. On John Goodman's fence there was a note left from a delivery service written to "Mr. Goodman" which was pretty neat.

Nothing too exciting so far this week, but tomorrow we are going to the Barnum and Bailey circus which I am really excited for. I have never been to a circus... atleast I don't think I have haha. I don't know how I feel about the animals being caged and all but I wanted to experience the circus.

I can't believe we leave 3 weeks from today!! It's so insane that my ten months are almost already over. WOW has there been so many amazing and tough experiences throughout it all but dang I don't regret anything about joining this wonderful program and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone 18-24!!

Well, time to clean a little!

Love,
Nicole Marie Burg

Time for a new chapter

Well, I have really been neglecting my poor blob and so I have so time to make up on here. Partly I blame not having enough time because by the time we eat dinner it's sleepy time and I hate losing any time from that. I also blame my darn computer who's "N" key doesn't work the best and it is missing the "L" one... well more like I have yet to put it back on so with two keys missing this would have been a very interesting post.


This round since I posted last:

I spose you could say I am getting used to the heat, more so getting used to the fact that by 8:30 a.m. I will be dripping sweat and at times covered in dirt. As for work I have worked in "DECON" which is the area that collects old wood/bricks/windows/doors and sells them back. Working with that team means moving a lot of stuff, cleaning bricks, shoveling dirt, pouring cement, building things, just random things they need done around their yard. Last week Kristy and I volunteered to install these historical plaques on people's homes throughout New Orleans. We were banking on that entailing us driving around in the air conditioning listening to music and putting up plaques. Well with this place being so organized... Monday we were told there was only one to be hung that we would be painting the outside of a house for the week instead. DANG what a change of plans haha, I kind of enjoyed painting (as long as it was in the shade, since last week the heat index was up to 110 ICK). The extension ladders were pretty intimidating and I only went on the 28 foot one once, I stuck to the 20 and 16 foot ones plus painting on the ground, someones gotta do it right?! :-) I was able to somewhat fade my arms farmer tan so that they are less drastic, although I have now gained a boot/sock tan. It's pretty bad: a severe line from tan to white (kinda looks like my dad after a summer of golfing) I'm kinda excited to give him some competition for worst tan :-) Well Thursday we were able to hang the one plaque which was supposed to only take about a half hour, but we were not giving proper instructions and we also didn't know what we were drilling into. This lead to us driving fifteen minutes back to the warehouse twice, so all in all the thirty minute job took us about 5 hours (not our fault by the way!!) It made for a really funny story!! Oh and not to mention when we arrived for the first time the homeowner and another lady were waiting for us and mentioned how we were both female, how they were expecting some guys. BULL CRAP!! haha Then they took pictures and watched us on our first try of putting it up, talk about pressure, thankfully they were unable to meet us back at the house after our first of two trips back to the shop. That was last week, an interesting one to say the least.


This week I am working with DECON again, which is ok. The day goes by pretty fast for the most part and we are basically working in our back yard if we could call it that so we are able to come home for lunch and to use the bathroom and such. We are switching off working every other Friday with the other team here so it's our turn this week which is VERY exciting!!


Fun things we have done during the weeks but mostly on the weekends:


Beth on my team lead us in a walking tour of the French Quarter which was a lot of fun because we were able to interesting facts about different houses and buildings. I think we saw about 35 different places. After eating my first Poboy for lunch (a catfish one) we walked right into a protest against the oil spill and BP, which turned out to be on CNN.com so that was pretty crazy.


We went to a New Orleans Zephyrs baseball game last week which was a lot of fun. It's like the Saint Paul Saints but for down here, it's kinda weird how they don't have an MLB team.


We went up to Baton Rouge for a crawfish boil. It was pretty fun, quite the experience.


On Saturday a few of us went to an Irish pub to watch the US/England game which was a lot of fun but a little too packed for Melanie and I so we left the guys there and went to a more low key bar. Reminded me of how much I miss soccer!! Like wow I miss it.


We also did some service learning a couple Fridays ago: we went to see the levees (where the barge broke through it), Musicians Neighborhood thing which is a neighborhood with really fun colored homes where mostly musicians live, the Brad Pitt houses where we were lucky enough to go in one of the homes and hear the story of the first guy to move back to the lower 9th.


I went to see Sex and the City 2 the other day. A couple guys went to the A-Team and I wanted to see my movie so I went by myself and it was AMAZING. It was such a great get away from being around so many people and reality as a whole.


Other than those things we have mainly been hanging out, enjoying our last few weeks together with each other.


I GOT A JOB!!! YAYA I am so excited for the next year of my life and I feel so lucky to know what I will be doing after this NCCC ten months is over. WOW I still can't believe my ten months is coming to an end. Joining this program and couldn't believe how long it was going to be but wow has it flown by. Anyways I GOT A JOB :-) It's an Americorps VISTA job with MAVA in Maplewood, MN. MAVA is the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration and I will be the Member Outreach Coordinator. It's kind of a long description of what MAVA is so you can go the website and check it out for yourself!! It's a year job with regular work weeks which I have never had before so that will be really nice. The ladies who work there seem very nice and I am so excited to start. I have training August 3-6 and I graduate NCCC July 27th so it will be a very short break, but I am so thankful to have a job lined up. I am so excited to get my foot in the door and experience with nonprofits because that is what I have found to be what I would like to do in the long run. Plus something with volunteer coordinating so this will give me a lot of wonderful experience.


I plan to save some money by living with my wonderful parents :-) and then hopefully move out to Denver after this next year is over. That is my plan as of now but who knows what will happen. All I know is I am so ready to have my ability to drive to Target in my little green Honda with the sunroof open and K102 blasting, without having to ask for permission!! I can't wait to go out on the lakes and up to the cabin every weekend!! I can't wait to see my family and friends and Bailey bunny and Macers!! I don't want to have to say goodbye to my Ameri-friends and family!! I can't wait for my brothers wedding!! I can't wait to have my own room back with my big bed!! I can't wait to NOT be dripping sweat the second I walk out the door!! I can't wait to be back in MNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

I hope to get to see Auntie Zulma and Uncle Mark VERY SOON!!!

We leave NOLA 4 weeks from Thursday so I am going to try not to look to far ahead and enjoy this all since I know I will miss it when it's over.


LOVEEE
COLEY BURG

Humidity, Heat and more Humidity

WOW the temperature down here in New Orleans is insane!! Like the second I step outside no matter the time of day (unless it's like 10 at night) I am instantly covered in sweat. Apparently a couple of days ago the heat index was 100 degrees... in the shade!! GROSS!! Especially when we are moving big boards and bricks outside in it.

We have officially been in NOLA for a week, we are working with Rebuilding Together a nonprofit that has branches all over the country including MN. I like it so far in the way that each person on my team gets to stay at the same project for the whole week, that way we are more able to finish a task. I have been working with "Decon" this week. Decon is the deconstruction team which is newly added to the organization. They take donations from people or clean out homes being demolished in order to resell or make new things out of the material. Monday and Tuesday I worked with a couple other people on my team making donation runs... well the same house that had a ton of bricks/doors/windows/tubs. We made numerous trips from the Decon yard to the house and back loading and unloading the goods. Yesterday was one of the most strenuous days I have had in a long time; Kelly and I loaded and unloaded thousands of bricks along with many other things in the heat and wow was it tiring. But I am very thankful because I had an interview today (crossing my fingers) for a VISTA position after NCCC so I decided to take a Life After Americorps day. We get two throughout the year and three personal days and I have yet to take one. So, I thought what the heck. I got to prep for the interview, relax and catch up with some people from home which was wonderful. I am going to see if anyone o my team wants to do PT today at a park so I can get out of this house and go for a lovely walk in Audubon Park, which is beautiful.

Saturday we went to the Bayou Boogaloo, which was a festival type thing with music, food and booths of art, clothing, jewelry (kind of like an art fair). Then at night we went to Olive Garden for my bday which was great... although I never seem to eat as much with anyone but my sister. I guess no one else downs ten bread sticks so I don't feel like I should!! haha Then Sunday we slept in and relaxed, then went to Audubon Park which is very beautiful with lots of trees and a lake thingy with about a 2 mile walking/biking trail. It surrounds a golf course and is across from the zoo which we are planning on going to soon. I hope to go to that park today as I said earlier.

We live in a two story house on the second story, the office to Rebuilding Together is downstairs. Our house is bright green with purple doors (I'll try to put more pictures up soon), it is right next to the salvage store ad warehouse which is nice if you are working there for the week... decon is also across the street from the warehouse. We live in a pretty unsafe part of New Orleans so we are unable to walk anywhere which makes me feel kinda trapped at times, not being able to go for a walk around the block to get away. There is a large fence with razor wire o top of it to protect us which reassures me but also wish we were in an area that the fencing was not needed. It is such a huge change from being in Boulder with tons of space and surrounded by hiking trails.

There is so much to do down here so hopefully that will keep me busy and content in the heat. I am getting really excited to come home and enjoy what will be left of the summer on the lakes. I miss that so much, my cabins, the lakes, all my friends and family. Bahhh only a couple months then this will sadly be over. I try not to think about it too much cause I have such mixed emotions. I can't wait for my brother's wedding, to see my other brother and Nicole's house, and not to mention Macers and Bailey. But most importantly my family (both immediate and extended) and friends. Well, time to convince the team it's a good idea for them to go back into the heat to head to the park :-)

Love,
Coley Burg

Back with the Water Three family

The last week in Boulder was amazing, such a great ending to a wonderful round. We were scheduled to work Monday and Wednesday. We worked Monday with the FEMP crew again so that was awesome, then Monday night was crazy windy all night long and was still whistling in the morning. We were suppose to do invasive species removal (med sage) which we all dislike with a passion but with the 50+ mile per hour winds we were able to do exit interviews with our amazing supervisor Craig, hang out at the library (where I was able to apply for a couple jobs) and go to a tour of Eco-Cycle (the recycling in Boulder). Then Wednesday we got the chance to go out birding with one of the best birders in the country and then on a hike in the afternoon. We saw amazing sites with breathtaking views. We were even able to see most of the Continental Divide from a distance. Thursday was used for cleaning of the house, which included being pampered with amazing pizza and pop. Thursday night we went out with our supervisors which was very enjoyable. Our last day in Boulder was spent getting ice cream and heading up to the little mountain town of Nederland up a beautiful drive of winding road, then Megan and I headed to Pearl Street for the last time. Friday morning was a little more hectic than we had planned for due to the flooring guys coming an hour early. But, we were able to be out by 9 and headed to the farmer's market and a flea market of those moving out from CU Boulder's graduation. I was able to try these amazing dumplings... I have tried so many new foods while being here in Americorps.


Transition week is always fun/boring/long/short. haha It always seems to go by very slowly and we think it's because most of the time we are wasting time before our next not very interesting meeting. Thursday we got free tickets to the Rockies game which was a lot of fun, we were upper deck behind home plate which was good since we were under an awning and it was raining pretty hard the whole game. They went into a rain delay halfway through the 8Th inning so we thought that was our cue to head back to campus. Paul and I were able to go to dinner Friday which was a lot of fun to get to spend time with just him. Saturday I did a lot of researching jobs, cleaning, laundry and a short nap. Last night we went out to Thai Basil was mine and Melanie's birthday. We both were born on May 20th but she is a year older... we were planning on going out in New Orleans together since her team was supposed to be living a few houses down from us. However, they got called to disaster relief in Mississippi from the flooding so they are going straight there and don't know how long they will be there for. We are hoping it will only be a few weeks so we still have time to work and play with them in NOLA.

I am VERY excited to get to see my aunt and uncle who live right out of New Orleans... I don't get the chance to see them much so it will be wonderful to be so close for a few months!! I have making progress with the job applying and am just waiting to see what happens while looking constantly online. Welp, it's almost time to start loading the cargo van for tomorrow so I better get going to double check I have everything packed I need. I am really looking forward to spike travel, the van relaxation, team bonding and staying in hotels. The heat and humidity is going to kick me in the ass for sure but I am looking forward to not having to wear/pack jackets and bulky things. Can't wait for this last adventure of my NCCC year... can't believe it's almost over... 4 days till my bday!!!

Miss and love MN
Coley Burg

April 29th 2010

This week has been awesome, everyday different and hard work. Before I get into this week I’ll do a little recap of last week…last week was a lot of ditches. We did ditches everyday. Part of the Silver Lake Ditch runs right behind our house so we hiked back there in order to fix a few areas that were leaking by adding a bunch of rocks and dirt. Tuesday we laid some seed stuff along one of the trails in order to make the soil better for growing vegetation. That was something different and kind of exciting because there were cows put in the area to “cut the grass” and when our bosses truck drove up they thought she was feeding them so twice they all came jogging towards us in hopes of food. I have never been that close to a cow before, wow they are big animals. Friday Megan and I had our first Capping event. We went to Fairview High School here in Boulder and talked to about 25 kids about Americorps NCCC, we figured about a third of them would actually apply, which was a pretty good number. We set up a table during their lunch periods in a common area and people would walk up to our table. We found it so interesting to sit and watch the kids in the hallways. It was like a movie, in many funny ways.

Last Monday we had training for this ISP we did with Climate Smart this past Saturday. We were put in pairs and given a rolling cart full of energy saving tools and supplies (drying rack, low flow shower head/hose nozzle, CFL’s and many more things). Then Claire and I were given a route of houses to go to. We went up to the door and asked if they were interested in this free service of changing out up to 20 light bulbs from old ones to new energy saving bulbs. Most of the homes we knocked on were not home, or not interested. We were able to go into one home of a very appreciative older couple. They were so nice and even gave us presents of frames with words in them. We were pretty discouraged before getting to their house, but they really made our day. What I thought was going to be nerve racking and stressful, turned out to be really fun.

Saturday was the light bulb volunteering and then Sunday Megan and I walked in the Boulder Earth Day 5K which was a lot of fun. I really miss being able to walk everyday, and the scenery was beautiful as it always is here. We then went to the Earth Day fair thing they had down town and were able to meet up and get lunch with some of our friends from the team that is based in Denver. After a relaxing movie afternoon at the mansion Paul and I went for a walk and then to The North Face store… my weakness to the max. I bought this really nice jacket that was on sale which I love. But, I also got a lunch bag and a laundry bag (I had neither) that were made out of old tents that were defective and factory mishaps. They are so awesome, and a dollar goes to a kids organization aimed at giving kids more knowledge about our natural world. They were also surprisingly really cheap (surprising coming from North Face).

And that brings me to this week…as of now I am sitting in my bed because we were planning on leaving at 8:15 but we woke up to it snowing so we aren’t leaving until 9 now. Crazy Colorado and its’ weather, yesterday after work we ran to the store and I was in shorts and now… snow!! This week has been a lot of hard work. Monday was one heck of a day. We worked with the IPM team removing Mediterranean Sage, which is what we did more of at the beginning of the project. We walked a few miles that day in our steel toes, with a shovel in hand and our back packs on… not to mention a mile back to the car up and down hills. The ground was also very uneven which made for people on my team to get blisters like whoa. Man oh man were we tired at the end of that day. Oh and we saw five rattlesnakes and one non rattle snake snake. Only one rattled because they said they were sleeping and sunning, so they moved slowly which made for a good view on our part.

Tuesday we built a rock wall made out of railroad ties, cement, all sizes of rocks and our sweat J. We carried the massive railroad ties, 60 pound bags of cement and all of the tools down the trail over and over again. It was another very tiring day, we even worked a longer day by choice in order to get the job done. The outcome was great and the wall will hopefully keep the expensive houses belong the ditch from getting flooded for ten years. So the soreness of our bodies continued. It was a beautiful day weather wise in Boulder which made it a lot more bearable carrying the 60 lb backs of cement on a trail for about a half mile over and over again. It was a great team bonding day that's for sure. I am going to miss people on this team so much next round when we go back to our original teams a week from tomorrow.

Yesterday was amazing, we FINALLY got to work with the FEMP team which works on forest restoration. They cut down trees and do controlled burns to control the size of the forest in Boulder. It was another beautiful day here and thankfully it was pretty high winds to keep up from overly sweating. We hauled a bunch of scrap, that they had cut prior to yesterday, into piles that we later hauled to the chipper which was so cool. It was raining wood chips and smelled wonderfully. We also cut down a bunch of smaller "only" 25 year old trees with hand saws and hauled those up to the road to be later chipped and returned to the forest floor. It was an amazing day, hard work but still a ton of fun. Not to mention all of us ladies were excited to work with the good looking FEMP crew... none as good looking as Paul thought :-) Jocie and I then made 5 amazing homemade pizzas for dinner with a dessert of course (they all know my sweets addiction). After dinner Michelle and I dropped people off at the Internet and YMCA before setting off to many different stores to find the perfect presents for our TL Daniel's bday tomorrow. I really like to plan these kind of things so I took it under my wing to collect to money and find the perfect gifts, which we were able to do. I love knowing that the present receiver will love their present and can't wait until tomorrow to give it to him and decorate the house.

Well, here I am... now at Barnes and Nobles since there is still snow on the ground we are not leaving the house until 11:30 to head to a tour of the National Center for Atmospheric Research which should be pretty interesting we hope. Then one of the OSMP staff we have been working with (Bob) is giving us a presentation at 1:30 and we are calling it a day!!! So wonderful, then tomorrow is Daniel's 24th bday so we are getting a cake and heading to dinner with him. After dinner most of the team is heading to Denver and staying in the dorms since Saturday we have the Walk MS volunteer day long event. It will be a long day but should be a ton of fun!!

Well, I need to use the rest of my Internet time to look at jobs, places to live, and canine friends.

Miss and love MN,
Nicole Marie Burg

p.s. I can't believe: I am almost 23, how amazing/challenging this experience has been, how fast it has gone by, it's almost time to head back to MN for an amazing Burg wedding!!!

April 25th, 2010

I still think its mighty crazy that it’s already 2010… can’t believe how fast life is moving. Especially this amazing experience, since it has only a few months left. Coming into Americorps I was nervous for being away from home for ten months, it seemed like such a long time. Now we are almost done with our third spike and finding it hard to realize it’s almost over. This last week was really hard in the sense that we are all really burnt out of the whole cleaning ditches job. I wish they would throw in some invasive weed removal, and when I am hoping for a day of weed picking you know it’s getting bad. I’m excited to be back with my original team, but love this one too. It sure will be weird heading back to Denver in July thinking we are back for another transition week then off again, just to realize that we are graduating and they are sending us home. I don’t want to think about not knowing the next time I will be seeing all of these people… my “Ameri-Family”. I just can’t wait to tell everyone I know about this amazing/challenging/life changing experience and recommend it to all.


Well, I'm not feeling the best... think it was the tacos for dinner. I'll be writing hopefully tomorrow then posting it next time we get to internet.


Funny/creepy things recently:

Today I was playing a whole lot of Tetris on Super Nintendo (I just may have played for a few hours…no regrets) and Max was going upstairs so I asked if he was coming back down and he said yes
So, naturally I asked if he would bring down my Blankie and phone from on my bed.
He comes back down with my phone and my whole bed spread… I laughed so hard I started crying. Haha I attempted to tell him in my hysteria that I meant my little Blankie and he was like “Oh, you mean your yarn?” haha he went up again and came back down with… so nice of him!! J

The other day Michelle saw these pretty “yellow flowers” which were, of course, Dandelions (I guess they don’t have those in NOLA).

When we were working on Thursday it was really bad weather outside and we were working in the afternoon in a ditch that was right beside many cows. The sky was really creepy, it was windy, raining off and on and can’t forget about the cows. To of course we began talking about scary movies. I'm not a big fan of watching scary movies but we ended up watching The Shinning that night and then Identity yesterday afternoon. Well, Saturday night all of my teammates and I left either to drop people off or go out on the town. Well four of us stayed in a watched a movie. When we got back to the house Daniel was surprised to see me come in the door cause he thought I was upstairs since he kept hearing noises. SO CREEEPY!!!

lovelovelove
Nicole

Sunday April 18, 2010

It’s such a bummer I don’t get many chances to write these “blobs”. Well, I just got home from a wonderful hike on the path across the street from us. I have gone to the top before but dang it didn’t get any easier… It is such a beautiful day and on my few stops for water on my way up I turned around to take in the view and saw three groups of deer in three different directions of about ten deer each. It was breathtaking and makes me so grateful for this project even though at times it is very monotonous during the work day.

Last weekend was really fun when we went to the Rockies game. They lost in extra innings and we didn’t get to stay to the end because people came to the game for different reasons than watching the game and wanted to leave… lame. Also, we had to get the van back to Boulder by it’s curfew of midnight. The day was a little chilly and by the time we left the game it was mighty cold but it was my first MLB game in an open field and WOW it was amazing. With the mountains to the right and the cityscape in from of us, it made me even more excited to go to a game in the new Target Field. Friday Paul ad I went on a date to Old Chicago down on Pearl Street, he had never been and I was really craving pizza. It was really fun and nice to have some time with just us. Sunday a few of us went to and ISP with Ecocycle which is a nonprofit that focuses on recycling. We cleaned a park in this nice neighborhood, which was not far from an airport. It was constantly dropping sky divers so made for great entertainment. The rest of the day was filled with a wonderful nap and the gym/laundry and Internet.

This past week was a long one to say the least. Monday Paul Avi and I went to the Mexican restaurant right down the street from our house to watch the Twins beat the Red Sox… me in my Twins jersey and Paul in his Boston shirt which made it funny. We got to walk the water down on of the ditches we had been cleaning; which was an amazing experience, along with hard work. 1/3 of the team walked the water each day while the rest of us cleaned ahead of the water. I got to walk the water on Tuesday which turned out to be the longest and most intense day. We figured we walk about four miles with the water nonstop for 8 hours. We used pitchforks to remove the leaves and clogs of stuff from the water. During our day the ditch went where we hadn’t cleaned so it was a carpet of leaves, but it was neat because it was in the backyards of some VERY wealthy people living here in Boulder. We got to get very close to some of the biggest and most unique houses I have ever seen. We also climbed over bridges, fences to follow the ditch. One time Megan and I were in a backyard and had just ducked under a fence when we saw a deer within fifteen feet of us and were surprised it was by itself, to find out a few minutes later there were about ten other deer fenced in the yard we were working in and the one lone deer was trying to get back to its’ friends. Right after work a few of us went to REI to get a few things and I get a Bladder for my backpack which was the best 20 bucks I think I have spent in a very long time. I drink way more water now during work than I had before. The four of us who walked Tuesday were so drained that we all went to bed right after dinner to read and relax.

Wednesday was spent working, going to the gym/Internet making pizza, watching Meet the Deedles (a movie about P-Dogs) J and bedtime. Thursday was a rough day, our supervisor was in a horrible moods/it was really hot out/we had a lot of work to do. All of those things did not make very an enjoyable day at all, although we did get to feed and pet a horse and I played fetch with a dog so that was great!! After work the majority of the team headed to Denver for the training for the Walk MS we are volunteering at on Saturday May 1st for the whole day. The training was a lot of fun; we got Texas Roadhouse and our volunteer t-shirts along with meeting our crew leader. The day of the walk we have to be there at 4:45 a.m. and probably won’t get back to Boulder until around 7:00 p.m. It will be a long day but lots of fun and very rewarding. There is also a Wag MS and a Pooches Place which is where I will be any chance I can!!

Friday we went to the YMCA and then came home to shower and get ready. We headed back to the Y a little later for a free showing of Food Inc. which is a crazy movie. I had to look away for a lot of the animal parts and really think I am going to consider what I eat/might stop eating red meat and maybe someday become a vegetarian. I would love to eat only organic foods but it gets so expensive and that’s a problem considering the 13 dollars a day we make. From the movie we walked to Applebee’s for half off appetizers and when we found out it was BINGO night we were even more excited. Being it was a Friday night in Boulder it was pretty empty so our table of six won most of the games (I won once). Then we walked about a mile and a half to where the rest of the team was then took the bus home around midnight. It was a really fun night with the team.

Saturday was girl’s day for Megan, Ashley and I. We went to the Farmer’s Market then headed about twenty minutes to this amazing mall. It was so beautiful inside and had basically every store you could think of. I knew I didn’t need to buy anything but it was so great to be at the mall just shopping around. I didn’t end up getting much but it was a lot of fun. Megan and I went to see The Bounty Hunter, which was really cute. We came back for a relaxing night in at the house. And that brings me to now, after a hike, sitting on a comfy couch.

Today I think we are doing laundry and maybe the Y, then we are heading up to Nederland (a little town in the mountains) to eat dinner with a fire management team that is up there. Should be a good day, although we only have one vehicle due to the truck getting a flat tire last week which Paul put the spare on and then it got another one Friday so it had to be taken in and won’t be done till Monday (what a load). Haha so it may make it difficult to get around today.

I have been trying to figure out what I am going to do with my Life after Americorps but it is just so stressful. As of today I am thinking I will just be moving back to MN because it would be a lot easier. At this time in my life all I know is that I will be getting a dog where ever I am. Besides that I have no idea, which is scary and very exciting. I am just going to try to take in the last few months I have being in Americorps and try to not think about past that.

Update on next round: we found out last week that the teams that are down in NOLA this round got moved from their housing and are living in Camp Hope for now. They are not working as far as we know right now. This is all because of them having to leave work early due to gun shots and about 30 homicides with 7 being around their housing. People have also found a body at on of their worksites and someone was caught (on security camera) trying to break into what might be my house for the next two months. Due to all of that information we are not sure if we are even going down there anymore. But, we’re hoping they will just find us new housing so we are still able to help with the rebuilding effort. I probably won’t know until right when we are leaving what’s going to happen but I will write when I find out.

Love and miss all from home,
Coley

Living in a Boulder

April 8, 2010

Just got done eating and cleaning after dinner… today we worked on cleaning out the ditches with pitch forks, getting the pine cones/needles out of it. The ditch we have been working in this week is so beautiful I can’t even explain. Well I suppose it’s not the ditch but the surroundings. After work I was convinced to join most of my team in Hot Yoga. Which for starters I am SUPER inflexible and am not really a fan of yoga, let alone yoga in a room that is 95 + degrees. Oh boy was it an experience, one that I will not be partaking in ever again J. I am happy I tried it though and gave it a shot. This week we have been working on the longest of the ditches, clearing the bushes from around it/and in it. It is pretty repetitive but being surrounded by beauty and great company makes it worth it.

Last week we worked in fields pulling Mediterranean Sage with shovels. It was pretty mind numbing and the scenery wasn’t much but it was okay… kind of got to be a lot 3 days in a row but we made it. Thursday there were only eight of us since some people went home a day early. We worked in the mountains, on the side of the mountains I should say, hand pulling Murtal Spurge. This invasive species has the same effect as poison ivy on skin but worse so we wore long pants and shirts, protective glasses and gloves. A lady was pulling this weed in her yard and the milk of it got in her eye and she went blind for three days so it was kind of a big deal.

Thursday night I got to go home again… I had planned while in Texas to surprise my momma. It worked since she had no idea I was there and I just walked up from have a sleepover with big brother Dave. It was really fun to be home again and see family and friends. Friday after some running of errands my sister, dad and I took my parents boat out for the first time ever which was really exciting and a little chilly. Makes me sad to think about all of the fun that will be had on it this summer but glad I will be home for the end of boating season. Friday night I was able to go to a buddy’s house that had a lot of people over from high school which was really nice to catch up with a lot of people. I also did some shopping with my mom and sister Friday and Saturday but didn’t end up buying much. I think it was just nice being able to drive wherever I wanted whenever I wanted to. Sunday was wonderful; my dad’s side came to my parents and then I was able to head to my mom’s side so I was able to see most all of my relatives.

It’s so weird being home… kind of feels like what I am doing here is unreal/dream or something. I get home and not much has changed, making it feel like that is not where I am supposed to be, which is true because I am right where I belong. As always I am still trying to figure out what I will be doing after this experience and also where I will be. Who knows J… What I did find out is that my team next round will be in New Orleans doing rebuilding from Katrina. Not sure how I feel about that but I just have to deal with it. Since I will be there for two months I really hope I am able to see my aunt and uncle who live down there. It is going to be very hot, which I am not overly looking forward to but it will be fun to go swimming and stuff. Personally I like environmental projects better than construction (this round and my first round in AR). But, I am very glad I am learning so many new skills about housing. There is so much I want to do while still in Boulder that I have to start fitting in… so many amazing trails I want to hike.

I really need to go shower, from the gallons of water I lost during Hot Yoga. Tomorrow I think we are walking to the near by Mexican restaurant to sit on their patio and eat some chips and salsa, then Saturday we’re headed to Denver for a Denver Rockies game which I am so very excited for. It is supposed to be beautiful out that day so we are going to head there early, grill and hang out at a park before heading to the game. Then Sunday we have some ISP and then I am hoping to go on one of the many hikes around this beautiful city.

Love always,
Nicole Marie Burg

So, I have decided to write these blogs at night before I go to bed and since I don't go to internet daily the dates for the blogs will most likely not match the date above...

March 29th 2010

Got back to Boulder yesterday (Sunday morning) bright ad early from a sad but peaceful trip home for my wonderful Grandmother’s funeral. It was so hard going through all of it being so far from home and not with the family/getting to see her at the end. But, my dad made it possible for me to say goodbye to her over the phone which was SUPER hard but I am so thankful I was able to do so. My time home was spent mostly with family and a wonderful walk to Target (my fave place) with my good friend Ang. Under the circumstances it was a great trip home ad I am happy for my Grandma to be at peace ad in such a wonderful place up in Heaven.

Some amazing people o my team woke up extra early to drive to Denver to pick me up from the airport which really meant a lot to me. There is a pretty strenuous hike across the street from our house which four of us embarked on yesterday afternoon… it was so beautiful at the top ad well worth the huffing and puffing. The air here is so dang different than that of good ol MN. We were taking it all in from the top and relaxing when Ian turned around thinking he heard people walking and noticed the more than 20 deer walking less than 20 feet from us. It was such a breathtaking sight… they then starting, one by one jumping the barbed wire fence which was even more of a sight. Things like that make me want to live out here in a heartbeat. One of the fella on my team met someone during another one of his spikes who has a niece whom lives in Boulder. She and her husband threw us a BBQ last night which was so much fun and great food. They also had friends over who were all very nice and willing to help us with anything having to do with this area.

Today we worked throughout our yard to pick weeds and make it look more nice, followed by a great lunch at the house with Tetris and Top Gun. Did I mention our TL brought his Super Nintendo to the house with all versions of Mario and a few other awesome games, and then Danielle had her dad mail her another controller and some more games… one which is Tetris and Dr. Mario. Both of which are WICKED SWEET games. So we have two TVs set up next to each other; one with movies playing and one with Super Nintendo going. Pretty dreamy. In the afternoon we went out in the field and began our joyous job of removing invasive species (Mediterranean Sage) from the foothills. It was pretty boring since we don’t get to use music because we have to listen for the rattle snakes, but the surroundings are beautiful so that makes up for not having tunes. After work Megan and I ran some errands, dinner and then Max, Paul and I headed to the YMCA. Oh how amazing it felt to get to work out in a gym. I find it soothing and relaxing, a wonderful day to end to day. It opens at 5:30 in the a.m. so I’m thinking about suggesting we head in before work someday.

Overall, things are going great here these first two days back. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70’s and 80’s which means it will feel even hotter…EEK for this girl from the North. Well time for bed and a day of trying not to over heat tomorrow J

Love, Nicole

Loving Life in Boulder!!

I can't explain how amazing these first two days of round three have been. We left Monday morning ad it was really sad to say goodbye to so many people but we all couldn't wait for our VERY SHORT spike travel to Boulder ad the Ameri-Mansion. We drove right to the office and had an orientation of the organization (Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks) we are working with ad met out two supervisors (Craig and Kristen) who are amazing. After lunch we went on a beautiful hike and learned about Boulder ad the parks. There are prairie dogs everywhere!! They are soo freaking cute and I can't help but get excited every time I see one and I mean EVERY TIME... my team's going to get sick of that that's for sure :-) After the hike we went back to our wonderful new home and unpacked/showered and got ready for team dinner in down town Boulder (which is about 10 minutes from our house). Then bed time after watching some Planet Earth on one of our three t.v.'s.

Today we woke up ad were at work at 8... we learned a few more rules about the house and orientation of the offices ad getting mail and such. We worked on a water ditch (which is going to be one of our main projects this round)... we worked on clearing the brush from around it to get them ready to be filled with water. The one we worked on was built in the 1870's by horses and humans with maybe some shovels. It was really neat to learn about the water system here in Boulder since they have very little rain and get their water from up in the mountains. Which I ca see from my house might I add... no pictures yet due to camera problems but I'll get some up ASAP. Also we don't have Internet so we are at the Barnes and Noble in Boulder using theirs. So after we have a beautiful workday with a spectacular view and not a cloud in the sky we went on a hike that is just across the road from our house in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was beautiful and I can't wait to do it again.

My team is amazing and our project is going to be so amazing I can't even describe. The scenery every where I look is so beautiful and our housing is so wonderful. The only bad thing is going to be the "great" suntans we get from our t-shirts and shorts... ooooeee it's already starting :-) The house is even more than we expected: an amazing kitchen, huge living area with two areas of couches, 5 bedrooms and 3 baths with a creepy basement. There are two little upstairs areas which explains the two sets of stairwells. I live on the side with three bedrooms and a bathroom ad I share a room with Kelly who is on my original team too. Last night I didn't sleep overly well because I kept waking up and creeping myself out since it is such a large house... just getting used to all of the new noises. For dinner Kell and I made tator tot hot dish ad scotchies which were a hit for sure. I served the scotchies before they were hard, so they were still really gewy which is my fave, but all I could think about was when my mom would make them and not let me have one until they got hard. Sorry mama haha

There is so much room in this house for alone time which will be great to just sit and read or listen to music. Also there is a small creek on our massive amount of land that seems really nice to read and relax by... not to mention the foothills right across the street. The organization we are working for buys out houses of people who are unable to pay for their homes, or they allow the homeowner to pay little rent so they are able to stay and farm. So our house is one of their homes they bought and have kept up for us. They just put in a new water system, windows and got new pots/pans/silverware. It's amazing, if I haven't said it enough already. They already know our names and have really showed how much they appreciate us and it's only day two. We got these sweet sunglasses that are also safety goggles which are so cool and way better than the Americorps ones that are all scratched up. Well it's about time for us to head back to our humble abode but I will hopefully post pictures very soon and be able to write again this week.

Much love and missing everyone from home A LOT lately,
Nicole (misses home) Burg

p.s. SO EXCITED about momma mona and papa john's new purchase... a beautiful boat!!!! Can't wait to see it is real life!!!

Trasition week... Denver time

MADE IT... yup we made it back to Denver Saturday afternoonish along with all of the other teams. It is so wonderful to be back but has been a very busy transition week so far. Monday and Tuesday we were with our original teams doing debriefs and returning tools and such, then last night we switched to our shuffle round teams. I am now Water One (originally Water Three) for this round (third) in Boulder. We have been learning a few not overly good things about the "Ameri-Masion" but we will just have to wait and see. We do not have Internet or laundry in our house but that shouldn't be too bad since we are so close to Boulder which will have plenty of both I am sure.

These last few weeks I have been really stressing about what I am going to do after this amazing experience is over, since it is already more than half over. I really hate being away from my family not knowing what is going to happen at any time... however, I really feel like this is my time when I should explore and live somewhere besides good ol MN. Today we had our first corp wide "Life After Americorps Day". We had seminars we could attend throughout the day... I went to a nonprofit one and also one on financial planning which was very overwhelming but informative. After the seminars we were able to choose between about 8 different organizations we wanted to take a van to and learn more about. I decided to go to Project C.U.R.E. Which is a nonprofit that get donations of medical equipment and sends it to hospitals all over the World. It is a very awesome thing they are doing but sadly they only employ about 20 people, and have 10,000 volunteers... looks like a good thing to volunteer with. I really don't know where I will be a year from now and as exciting as that is it scares the crap out of me. I have semi looked at jobs around Denver but will also look into MN jobs.

Some parts of me just want to find an amazing job and go where ever that might be, as unrealistic as that sounds. I know in the long run I want to raise a family back in Minnesota and hopefully live there for the long haul... depending on jobs and such. Raising a family is NOT something I want to think about right now but I feel that I have to since being in the "big kid world" and having to decide where I want to reside come August and after my big brothers wedding :-) It's so crazy to think all that's left is me in my family to get married... but don't get me wrong I am in NOW WAY in a rush AT ALL. Stressing the NO WAY anytime soon.

I am loving being back in Denver and am SO PUMPED to be in the beautiful city of Boulder for two whole months!! Time to read and hit the hay... miss everyone from home lots and lots!!

Love mucho,
Nicole Marie Burg

Spike Travel Tomorrow

Today is our last day of work and they are having us stay back to clean the gym/bathrooms/kitchen that we live in. It is a pretty well needed cleaning session and I am very glad we get a whole day devoted to it. I got to mop the gym floor, did some majorly needed boot cleaning from all of the mud caked on it and now I am sitting in the Fuller Center office answering the phone for the lady who is usually here. Just sitting here makes me really hungry which is NOT a good thing :-) At the ISP we did on Saturday at the food bank one of the ladies told us about "Chicago" the musical which she is in at a local theater... she told us when her performances are but we will be gone for them all. We are very lucky because their dress rehearsal is tonight and her director said that we could come for free. It is going to be a great last night here in Orange, Texas.

Tomorrow we start another three days of spike travel, which I do not really mind. The day goes by pretty fast since we have to stop every two hours. I also really like to sleep in hotels so I am looking forward to that part of the trip too.

Well, I am in need of some food and water and am going to see if someone else wants to sit here for a bit. Can't wait to leave tomorrow bright and early, but will miss the weather and interns.

Love, Hungry hungry Nicole

Ameri-mansion

So, I got the details on the Ameri-Mansion in Boulder... it is two stories with two sets of staircases, 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a massive kitchen. There is also a ton of land which includes 2 hiking paths that but up to our land. I can't wait to be surrounded by beautiful scenery everywhere I look. It will be really odd having so much space to ourselves considering our last two spike housing situations.

Since the last time I posted I have learned how to mud (well sort of) I was only taught how to cover screw holes. Which I did a whole two story house of and WOW were there a lot of screw holes. Other than that it has been more painting and trim work for the most part... along with some applying tar to random spots on a leaking roof. I am really ready for something new and can't wait for what's to come in Boulder. I successfully have only added three t-shirts to my wardrobe which is a major improvement compared to the 15 plus between CTI and first round.

We went to the Museum of the Gulf in Port Arthur last weekend which was pretty cool... they really focused on Janice Joplin since she is from there. After the museum we went to Larry's which has been raved about to us from the different home owners about the buffet. Not many of us we're thinking about doing the buffet since it was a little over our budgets but then we looked at the spread and our minds were easily changed. The main reason I did it was to try to many different sea foods that I figure I won't have the chance to try back in the good ol Midwest. I had a BBQ crab, lots of shrimp in different forms, frogs legs and catfish along with many other delish things. Sunday a group of us went to pick up Paul from Houston since he went home for a week for a funeral. We met him at his aunt and uncles beautiful house and they fed us before heading to a mall. We were planning on doing some site seeing but used our time to run errands in a different part of TX.

This weekend the team headed to do some ISP hours at the food bank in Beaumont which we have worked at twice before. We packed 1.200 boxes of food for families in need which I really enjoyed. For lunch we went to this REALLY good pizza and pasta place, as you can see my love for food has not subsided, but it still doesn't compare to Frankies. If anyone back home feels the need to send me a piece in the mail it would be greatly appreciated. That or some Turkey jerky from McDonald's meats (teryaki)!! hehe Today was a perfect day of relaxing. We all sat outside and enjoyed the 60ish degree day with a cloudless sky... I even moved my air mattress out for a good days rest :-)

This week there are 70 volunteers so that should be interesting. Tomorrow morning is the only day they will all be here for breakfast since some of them are staying a the Malloy Center which is where they house big groups. The two people on my team that have to cook tomorrow have some fun ahead of them. Then the week is filled with final packing... which I already did for the most part... cleaning of our room and the vehicles and working Monday through a half day on Wednesday. I am getting really anxious to head to Denver but am loving the weather down here. Welp, time for bed for me...

Love,
Nicole

p.s. only four more sleeps on this air mattress!!! :-)

"Orange" you going to buy me a puppy?

Most of the team ready to celebrate Kelly's 21st

The gang in Galveston for birthday weekend

The beautiful view of the parade and ocean from our hotel balcony in Galveston

Paul and I on the Ferry into Galveston when we went as a team

Paul and I on the ferry

Water Three in Galveston

The Seawall that was built after the hurricane of 1900

The good ol van on the ferry

Where the water reached during hurricane Ike in Galveston

Boulder Bound Next Round

The rest of last week was very uneventful (well honestly I don't remember what I did so I am just going with nothing too cool). This weekend was very VERY relaxing and lazy, just what I needed. Sunday we played some four square in the parking lot on a beautiful sunny, warm day which was such a great start to the week. Monday we had off due the President's Day which was a plus for sure... got to sleep in a little, go on a walk and do some volunteering at a school supply place which was awesome. Tuesday three of us went to Roland's house to put up sheet rock which was challenging at first but we finally got used to it just in time to switch houses which was kind of a bummer.

Yesterday was a very important day... we found out our shuffle round teams and where we are headed next round. My first pick was Boulder and I GOT IT!!! I am so unbelievably excited for the project, the city and my wonderful team. There are five people from my team I am on now on my shuffle round team which is crazy along with three people from CTI (our training) that I am really good friends with. It it so wonderful and I couldn't be more thankful for how lucky I am. Boulder is such an amazing city and we are living in the "Amer-Mansion" which supposedly has three kitchens and more rooms that you can count... oOOOEeEeee I am pumped.

I can't believe we already leave here two weeks from tomorrow for Denver. We have three travel days and then arrive in Denver Saturday night, March 6th. Transition week is that Saturday until the next Monday, March 15th which I am pretty sure is when we head to Boulder. It is going to be such a beautiful time of the year in Colorado too. Speaking of times of the year... I think my "Clock thing" is very off. I keep thinking it's summer and I am in MN but then I talk to my mom back home and she says they just got some new snow and it's zero. Kind of sad I am missing a whole winter/snowmobiling season in good ol Minnesota but I guess I have a lot more to come.

Today is a day that the church has a dinner, meetings and such which means that we can't shower or make dinner. But the real problem is that there are little kids running around screaming and playing basketball right now as I type until wayy past my bedtime (which I like to go to bed by 9:30 or 10) :-) I talked to my dad on a Wednesday previously and he was like "What is all that noise?" and it was the little kids making all the racket.

I think this Friday there is talk of going line dancing which will be a lot of fun... but my good friend on the team Paul has gone home until Saturday due to family things so he will be missing out on it. On Saturday Paul needs to get picked up from the airport in Houston around dinner time so we are thinking we are going to drive the two hours in the morning to Houston and hangout there all day until we get him which will be really fun.

Between today and the last time I wrote I have hung a window, learned how to hang drywall, learned how to "cope" trim, and did a good amount of painting. I really enjoy painting and how relaxing it is. I am hoping to go to bed very shortly which will be before the kids in the gym even leave but I am very tired and my back has been bothering me so I figure it's for the best... plus I LOVE sleeping :-) I am going to try to add some pictures so I better get going.

Love lots,
Nicole

Tuesday TUESday TUESDAY

So, it's Tuesday... a group of us laid some tie flooring. It was the sap together kind which was VERY interesting... until we got the hang of it. We had to make it as tight as possible to make it seamless. We then helped the pastor here at the church we live in move, dinner and played some 4 on 4 basketball with the interns and a couple people on my team. Got kind of intense... I don't think guys are used to us girls being actually pretty good at sports (SUCKERS :-)). Monday the whole team was back at digging the 85 foot ditch, although there was one big problem, it had rained a ton and the ditch was still filled with 8 inches of water so they made us bucket the water out. It didn't take long to do that but the water kept seeping in and the mud was a lot harder to dig up. We almost got the ditch the right length Monday... just in time for it to down pour all last night... woohoo I'm sure we will be back to bucketing tomorrow. We are hoping we will be able to finish the flooring we started tomorrow but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Galveston this past weekend was a blast. It turned out to be the cities Mardi Gras celebration which included a lot of people and 3 different parades on Saturday. Our hotel was right on the ocean and the road that the parades were on which was perfect (I kind of thought of the ocean as Lake Superior or a large lake which was really funny). It was so beautiful out which made for the perfect Saturday away on our little mini "vacation". The weekend went by very fast but it was a wonderful success. We got back Sunday evening just in time to meet the rest of the team at a bar to watch the Super Bowl... me in my Vikings of course :-)

This weekend most of the team is headed to New Orleans for Mardi Gras but I look forward to having a very laid back weekend here in Orange. I have yet to be here relaxing at the church for a whole weekend so it will be wonderful. Especially not having to spend money or drive 5 hours back on Sunday. Tomorrow (along with all Wednesdays) we are unable to make dinner here so we are heading into town for dinner and a little shopping after PT of course...

Time for bed and what will hopefully be a good nights sleep!!

Pictures to come...
Love and Miss everyone from home lots
Nicole Marie Burg

moreeeeeeeeeeeee

Paul and I being silly at the ball.

So excited that I got to see Megan and Catie (their team is in New Orleans)

Abe, Ashley and I breaking for lunch

Paul really enjoys my company :-) while painting

Paul, myself, Kelly, Michelle and Ashley after our day of walking around New Orleans

Paul and I

Michelle, Kelly and I supporting the Vikes at Chili's against the Cowboys

BUsy BUsy BUsy

This last week and a half have bee very very busy. Last week was full of work, then PT, dinner and sleep. A group of four of us did a whole lot of painting of door and baseboard. Along with taking down and reassembling the doors. This week a large group of 8 (Mon-Wed) have been digging a 85 foot long, two and a half feet wide, about 2 feet deep trench for a large drainage pipe that will connect to the house. WOW is it a nice looking hole... not done yet but it has been raining all night and day so we weren't there today. Even though it has been a lot of hard work we have kept pretty entertained with random topics of conversation. Pretty interesting to say the least. Today Jess and I stayed here at the church and did a revamp of the shed and large trailer full of rusty nails and tools. It was pretty wonderful because on our lunch I was able to take a nap in my bed, which was very dreamy.

This week is "Birthday Week" for our team. There was three birthdays and two half birthdays throughout this week. I took charge and collected money for some presents and decorations, along with a cupcake cake. I love giving people just what they would want and was able to get the three birthday people wonderful gifts from the team. Tuesday was Kelly's 21st birthday so we made that extra special with waking her up with balloons falling on her and presents in bed. Today is Ben's 22nd birthday and Saturday is Ashley's 24th. Last night we went out to dinner at the Orange Seafood and Steakhouse as a team, we had cupcakes and they opened presents. It was a great success!! Tomorrow six of us are headed to Galveston, Texas to hang out for the weekend and meet up with Kelly's brother who is driving down from Kansas to help Kell celebrate her 21st. It should be a blast; I think I am most excited for sleeping in an actual bed and having a TV at my fingertips. We're not sure if we will hang around there for the Superbowl or head back here (I am SOOO jealous of my brother Davers and Sarah who get to go to Miami and the Superbowl!!! SO not fair!).

Last weekend we went to Galveston as a team and saw a LOT of damage still from Ike. We saw the Seawall that was built after a terrible hurricane in 1900 which was pretty interesting. Sunday a few of us headed to Lake Charles, LA to do some service hours at a soup kitchen which was a lot of fun. Then Paul and I headed to the mall for some birthday present shopping. I am having the time of my life and catch myself realizing that I am actually here right now doing this. It is such a wonderful opportunity and I can't wait to encourage others for join this amazing program. I know I will be friends with a lot of these friends forever and I am so excited about how amazing each and every one of them are. I try to take it day by day but the time is flying by and it's hard to think that in only 7 short months I won't be living with these people anymore.

Well, the next round of projects is "Shuffle Round" which means that we will be ranking the projects and put on random teams according to our interest. I can't imagine going through all of this without this team so it should be quite the experience. We think we will be finding out the different projects and even where we are going and our teams within the next couple of weeks... I get kind of nervous thinking about it but try not to think about it. None of us can believe we have called this gym stage home for already 4 weeks (half way done).

The rest of the team will be back soon and it is Jess and my day for breakfast and dinner so we have to go put it in the oven (tater tot hot dish)!! Made by a volunteer lady who has been cooking and baking for us all week which we are very thankful for. So excited tomorrow is Friday!!

Love,
Nicole

Louisiana for the weekend

We made it back safe and sound this morning at about 2:30 a.m. The weekend was a wonderful success and everyone had a blast. Our team had two rentals cars and the one I went it headed out Friday after work. We stayed at my friend Michelle's parents house right outside of New Orleans for the night and got up to explore the French Quarter and Bourbon Street for the day Saturday (fyi I was wearing my Favre t-shirt and got mixed reactions to say the least... there were some fellow Minnesotans who gave me a thumbs up and high fives... but majority were Saints fans of course but none got too mean). It was such an experience and I wish we would have had a ton more time. We walked around the shops and Michelle's parents took us out to lunch, then it was time to head to Baton Rouge to meet the a large group of our Amerifamily. People from two others teams in the area met us there and we ended up with 27 people staying at Michelle's house that she lived in when she attended LSU. There wasn't any furniture so it was perfect for all of our sleeping bags and "junk".

The ball was a ton of fun and quite the experience... I also have pictures from it but I have to figure out this whole camera card problem. Sunday we woke up, ate, cleaned and headed to New Orleans again to watch the Vikings/ Saints game down in the Big Easy. We had gumbo at Michelle's parents and watched the first quarter there before heading to a bar. Not THAT was an experience to say the least, the game was amazing which I'm sure everyone was watching it. But, imagine being a bar FULL of crazy Saints fans full of alcohol and being the only one in purple ad gold. We stationed our self close to a side door in the case of the Vikings winning for things getting too rowdy. We finished the horrible ending game and began our four hour drive back to Orange. The city was going crazy when we left with everyone honking and shouting things at each other. It was really cool to be in the city where a team won such a big game but would have much rather been in MN with us winning. The drive sucked a lot... not only was it four hours but we were all exhausted from the fun weekend. But, we made it back safe and sound and into our beds sleeping by 3:00 in order to get up by 6:00 for work... we were all struggling today a bit.

This week is full of new volunteers and hopefully learning yet some more skills. Today some of us did some taping for painting and then painted and did some caulking. This weekend we are taking a team trip to Galveston to learn a little about the storm and see the city. I am very excited for it and also excited to get to sleep in on Sunday since we are only going for the day on Saturday. Tomorrow for PT we are planning volleyball so that should be a blast. Well time to finish laundry in order to get my warm towel to take a much needed (most likely cold) shower and head to bed nice and early. Hope all is wonderful back home and everyone is dealing with the Vikes loss alright.

Missing home,
Nicole