Week 3 in Farmington

Here we are, entering week 3 of work in Farmington!  I'd like to begin by sharing a few photos of the team's living arrangements and work area so that you may have a somewhat accurate visualization of the wonderful adventures that Water 2 is having here.

 

A view of the front of the club building, there is a small park to to the right, a large, often goose filled playing field behind the camera, and a conveniently located, reasonably priced movie theater next door on the left.

 The main floor and game room directly inside (obviously not during club hours).

 My sleeping space in the Education Room. Each morning the team packs up their bedding and sleeping pads and hides them away in our closet as they cannot be out during club hours.  We were originally supposed to be sleeping on cots but it was too much of a pain to set them up and take them down everyday so we've settled for sleeping pads on the floor.  However, developing back and hip aches are inspiring a reconsideration of the cots... so stay tuned to see how this intriguing situation turns out!

Ah, yes, the lovely closet space that the whole team stores alllllll of our belongings in!

Anyway, that's the club for you, here's some info on the project.  We started our work with various United Way non-profits in the area last week. I'm working at the Echo Food Bank with Dani every morning for 3 hours sorting through the many boxes of food donations.

I enjoy spending the morning there, we are mostly just working by ourselves right now so we listen to our iPods and get lost in organization zone and think about all this food we could be eating if we weren't on an Americorps budget...

I have to tell you guys that Idaho potatoes are ALL OVER the place in there and I have a strange pride about it... It's a helpful reminder that the place still exists, home sweet home!

Since we've started our individual morning jobs, our schedules have gotten much more consistent and I feel like things are starting to come together lifestyle wise.  Dani and I have a large break in the middle of the day in between the food bank and when the kids arrive at the club so I've been able to use that time to get outside and run and explore a bit! The exercise and the familiarity with the area that I'm developing has helped my attitude and moral for the project and I'm much more excited to be working in this community.

Life at the club with the kids is getting more fun as well.  We're all getting more familiar with individuals and the staff.  It's cool to have kids look forward to seeing you everyday!

It turns out I won't be doing darkroom photography here, so that was kind of a bummer, but I'm still going to be doing photography lessons with digital cameras.   The club has a book with a full curriculum for varying levels of photography so I'm using that for ideas and activities.  I'm excited to do my first lesson using cameras tomorrow!

Water 2 is also helping to organize and initiate a recycling program here at the club.  Farmington has only recently developed residential recycling but a lot of the kids seem to be very aware of it already so it's very exciting! The Club has purchased several containers that we will be decorating with drawings from the kids inspired by the concept of recycling and going green. We had the kids do the drawings today so hopefully we'll be able to get the bins decorated and in use very soon!

Finally, basketball season is officially upon us here at the club! My 2nd and 3rd grade co-ed team, the Dragon Force, had their first game tonight and I think we're off to a good start.  The kids have so much energy and enthusiasm for the game, or life or something, and it's wonderful! I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to coach and hopefully show them how fun basketball can be!

Still Alive!

Don't worry everyone, I haven't abandoned my blog, I've just neglected it for an extended period of time... But all of that's over now, story time must resume.

Although I don't wish to write about the past three months in one post,  I feel that I can't completely skip over my experience at Camp Ferncliff in Little Rock, AR as it was an amazing project and a wonderful time.  In a nutshell, our team managed to demolish a cabin, route signs for trail-marking, repair the Shady Chute (a large and speedy tube slide), and build a multi-layer deck that overlooks one of the lakes at Ferncliff.  Some highlights of this project include driving a backhoe, tractor and gator, using power tools on a daily basis, hiking camp trails, canoeing and paddle boating, and the discovery of Depression Fireworks just to name a few. Below is the link to a video/slideshow that I made as a reflection of my time there, as well as a shot of the team on our completed portion of the deck.

--> Ferncliff Video


And now, after a lovely two week Christmas vacation in Boise and one week back in Denver with the pals,  Water 2 has moved on to its second Spike project at the Boys and Girls Club of Farmington, New Mexico! We had a one day drive from Denver Saturday and even had time to stop at the fascinating land of reptiles known as Colorado Gators where we held baby alligators, pet giant turtles, and observed piles of crocs and gators lounging about.

 We are living on site this round, inside the boys and girls club, and since we arrived on a Saturday night we had the place to ourselves for the first 48 hours or so.  We took full advantage of this situation by running around with all of the fantastic athletic equipment in the club's gym including scooters, basketballs, dodge balls, and lightsabers. Here's a couple shots of Jeff and Chris in battle...

We started working with the kids this week and so far it's been really fun! My teammate Erik and I are each going to be coaching our own 2nd and 3rd grade co-ed basketball teams as well as sharing a 4th and 5th grade girls team starting next week. I'm very excited to test out my coaching abilities and be back in the basketball community! I've also been asked to start a photography club/teach lessons with the kids. The building has its own darkroom and printing supplies so there is potential for some really cool lessons in film and printing if we can get it all going! The rest of the team will be organizing projects and activities around their personal interests as well to share with the kids.  There is so much potential for creativity and fun that it is almost overwhelming!

Since we'll only be working with the kids from 3 to 6 everyday we'll also be doing projects in the mornings and evenings with some local non-profits through the United Way, though the specifics are still unknown.

We've had a great start to the project and I'm very excited for the next two months!