September 6th, 2014
Rise and shine at 6:00 am this Saturday morning on what would be my first day ever volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. Although I stumbled to the Keurig in the kitchen of my apartment in desperate need of a large coffee, I was incredibly excited to see what this day had in store for me and more importantly, to help out in the community. I was also really excited that many of my classmates volunteered to help out this weekend. What better way to get to know people than to paint walls and help build a house?!
As I stepped outside of my apartment, I became increasingly thankful that I remembered to bring some sunscreen and a plentiful supply of Gatorade and water. Although it was only 6:45 in the morning, I could already feel that today was going to be a hot one. I hopped in my friend and classmate Antonia's car and off we went!
When we got to the worksite (after stopping for more coffee and some awesome PJ's muffins of course), we saw a few of our classmates there already. After turning in our forms, we got quickly down to business and began the heavy labored filled process of leveling out the thick mud surrounding the house and making sure it was all leveled with the foundation. When I say "thick mud", I mean thick, dense, clay-like mud that looks much easier to move than it is. Needless to say, we do not have clay like this in Boston and I would definitely not need to be going to the gym for the next few days! Although it was hard work, it was great to feel like you were making a difference in people's lives and having friends around you while making that difference made the thick mud shoveling seem a lot more light (until the next day haha).
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| Antonia and I moving that "mud" (the heaviest most dense dirt in the world). She even did this with an injured ankle. What a lady! |
11:30 finally rolled around and we all went on lunch break. I felt as though I had never been this dirty and sweaty all of my life! Despite looking far from the cover of Vogue, Antonia, Todd and I decided that the call of Felipe's burritos was greater than the reality of our muddiness. We went to have some lunch and it was totally worth it!
When we returned, it was back to hard work until 5:30. It was a long and tiring day, but definitely well worth it to know that you made a difference and got a nice workout as well. I also learned that air pressure canisters hold pressure for a long time despite being turned off, as the nail gun hose went off into my eye during cleanup at the end of the day. It was one of those life lessons where you could laugh at yourself after (once you realized you still had two functioning eyeballs). All in all, it was a fun filled day with some amazing people all coming together to make a difference.
Here's to hoping the Patriots play okay tomorrow.
-Cait the Bostonian
