On Monday morning my side of the cabin woke up at 6 AM. We were supposed to be completely ready to meet our carpenters (our experienced leaders for the week) by 7. I was disappointed in my fellow females when I saw how many of them brought unnecessary amounts of makeup and hair products and appliances. Seriously? We were going to be doing construction. Not trying to win a beauty pageant. Nobody really cares much at all about how you look. I think it's an addiction.
We split ourselves into two groups: landscaping and roofing. Landscaping sounded more interesting, but very few people were gladly volunteering for roofing so I joined the roofing team. Our carpenters didn't arrive until 7:30. We had been warned that people in Appalachia don't operate on strict schedules. The truth of that statement quickly became apparent. It was nice to work around such laid-back people. Our carpenters were named Boone, Ivan, and Bill. Boone was the head guy, and he loved to play tricks on us. I think Ivan may have had a slight mental disability, but he was very sweet. Bill (who we later nick-named Bad-Ass Bill) was only eighteen, but he was described by the owner of our host organization as a "carpentry genius" and he deserved that title. The first thing we noticed about our job site was that there were chickens everywhere, and that they liked to call all day long. I didn't mind, thanks to my extended exposure to non-stop rooster crowing in Colombia, but some of my classmates quickly became irritated by the birds.
Our first task was to get the 60 lb. packages of shingles from the front of the house to the top of the roof via a ladder behind the house. The girls carried the shingles to the ladder - or rather Charity and I carried them to the ladder (and managed to cut ourselves on them) with occasional help from the other girls who couldn't carry the packages alone. Once we got the shingles to the ladder, the guys got them on top of the roof. A few of them took turns hoisting the shingles over their shoulders and carrying them up the ladder. At the top, another guy would drag the bag off of their shoulders (the ladder guys had scarlet, shingle-burned necks by the end) and carry it to the peak.
At one point, Boone decided it would be fun to put a rubber snake under the shingles to see if any of us girls would squeal in terror. At the time, only Charity and I were carrying shingles, and it didn't bother either of us at all. Finally some of the other girls decided to help. Sure enough, when the shingles were lifted, squeals erupted. It took one girl several seconds to realize that it wasn't real, even after it was clear that it wasn't moving anywhere. With permission from Boone, I stowed the snake in my pocket for later pranks.
When Charity cut her knee open on some shingles, we discovered that one of the vans didn't have a first aid kit and that the other did... but Mrs. Rivet had locked the keys inside. I don't know how we finally got them out, but eventually we did, and Charity got her band-aid. It was a shallow cut, but it just wouldn't stop bleeding for a while.
By this point, the prep work was over and we were ready to get up on the roof and get to work. First we had to nail 2x6 boards under the angled edges of the roof. This involved reaching over the side of the roof to hold the 2x6 perpendicular to the roof and flush with the edge. While reaching over, we had to be sure to keep our weight about 1.5 feet away from the edge because there was nothing supporting the roof until that point (if that didn't make sense, I can draw a diagram sometime). That part made even me nervous, and I have an unnatural lack of fear of heights and falling.
Next we nailed in drip guards along the edges. I got to do quite a bit of that because it didn't make me at all nervous. After that, we were ready to begin the actual shingling. Unfortunately I didn't wear gloves. The resulting blisters have been seen on Facebook. Fortunately I did remember sunscreen. I managed to avoid sunburn altogether.
Once lunch time rolled around, we realized that all our sandwiches were with the group at the other work site. I went with one of the teachers and a few others to go rescue our sandwiches and bid good-day to all my friends at the other site. I only talked to one or two people at my site, so it was nice to see the others.
After lunch we went right back to work. By the end of the afternoon, I was one of the best novice roofers. Upon our return from the sandwich site, Mrs. Rivet had given her keys to one of the girls so she wouldn't lose them. Well... the girl lost them instead. We spent several minutes looking for the keys before discovering that Boone had found them on the ground and picked them up partially as a prank and partially to make sure that they weren't truly lost.
We made our way back to the cabins. Much to our delight, we discovered that the running water had been restored! Showers for all!
Shortly after returning, I set out for the rock formation with some of the guys. I didn't know they were going. I found them there when I arrived. My hopes of peace and solitude were ruined, but at least the guys weren't at all obnoxious. I still got my peace to a certain degree. Atop the rock were all sorts of lovely lichens and mosses as well as some stubborn beech saplings growing out from between layers of the rock. The view was nice, too. When I first climbed up, I used the same method the guys had used. It didn't work to well with my über short legs. Once on top of the rock, however I found a crevice I could fit into that led to another small opening in the underside of the rock. Once I dropped through that hole, I easily walked out from beneath the rock without even having to stoop. It wasn't too hard to climb back up either. It was perfect.
That afternoon I decided to be a good student and work on some calculus. That was pretty much the only homework I did for the entire week. I probably should've done more, but it was nice to have a break from school for a few days.
We had a nice, simple spaghetti dinner outside in the cool spring evening. Following dinner, Courtney and Anna decided that yoga would be a fun idea. I reluctantly joined them. We went behind the girls' cabin to avoid awkward looks from out classmates. Unbeknownst to us, someone was washing dishes right in front of the window on the back side of the cabin. Mr. Muchmore was amused by the contrast between Courtney's yoga and the pitiful attempts of Anna and me.
We lit a campfire as the sun began to set and roasted marshmallows. Campfire + marshmallows = a delightful combination. As the fire began to die down, we headed inside for the night.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Appalachia Part I: Sunday
If I post then entire account of my Appalachia trip at once, I won't get around to finishing it until at least a few weeks from now. Instead, I'll post it in chunks - one for each day of the trip.
On Sunday Courtney picked me up from church early. When we arrived at school, I helped Leah's dad pack the vans. We make an efficient packing team. Unfortunately, the people were packed awfully close, too. My van had nine people and eight seat belts. I got to sit in the middle of the back row. Aside from a few panicky moments early on, I was surprised to find that I didn't have a serious problem with the crowdedness.
We arrived at our cabin at around 6:00 or 7:00, thanks to the unnecessarily extended stops and the late start. The girls' "cabin" was very nice (depending on your definition). It was hardly a cabin, really. It was all clean and new and polished will real mattresses and Perggo floors... but temporarily with no running water. The view out the door was absolutely gorgeous. I'll have a picture of it up on Facebook eventually. The girl's cabin was partway up a mountainside and hemmed in by ridges on three sides. On one of these ridges was an interesting rock formation that begged to be climbed. Maddy went along with me all the way to the top through thorns and brush. Thanks to my short legs, I couldn't find a way up the rock at the time, but Maddy did.
Before leaving for dinner and grocery shopping, us girls went down to the valley below our cabin to see where the guy were staying. I preferred their cabin. They stayed in a historic cabin with low ceilings, unfinished walls, and furniture from the 70s. It was rather dim and somewhat grungy, but it had a nice, homey feel full of character and warmth that the pristine girls' cabin lacked.
After we had all loaded back into the vans, we headed out to Pizza Hut for dinner. From Pizza Hut, we went to Food City to do our grocery shopping for the week. Emily and I were sent to the produce department, but we were distracted for several minutes my some delightfully scented candles. There were so many different smells to test! Later on, some of my friends and I met up in a freezer aisle and decided we were tired of shopping for the time being, so we sat down and played charades instead. It was much more fun.
When we were done at Food City, we finally returned back to the cabins at roughly 9:00 or 10:00. I could see the stars clearly. I only know two constellations, but I found them effortlessly. Ursa Major and Orion's Belt seemed huge up there! I hadn't seen them clearly since October, so I'm not sure if the perceived size discrepancy was due to season or elevation. I did not admire the stars for long because I did not want to feel obligated to pretend to associate with my more boisterous classmates who were outside at the time.
On Sunday Courtney picked me up from church early. When we arrived at school, I helped Leah's dad pack the vans. We make an efficient packing team. Unfortunately, the people were packed awfully close, too. My van had nine people and eight seat belts. I got to sit in the middle of the back row. Aside from a few panicky moments early on, I was surprised to find that I didn't have a serious problem with the crowdedness.
We arrived at our cabin at around 6:00 or 7:00, thanks to the unnecessarily extended stops and the late start. The girls' "cabin" was very nice (depending on your definition). It was hardly a cabin, really. It was all clean and new and polished will real mattresses and Perggo floors... but temporarily with no running water. The view out the door was absolutely gorgeous. I'll have a picture of it up on Facebook eventually. The girl's cabin was partway up a mountainside and hemmed in by ridges on three sides. On one of these ridges was an interesting rock formation that begged to be climbed. Maddy went along with me all the way to the top through thorns and brush. Thanks to my short legs, I couldn't find a way up the rock at the time, but Maddy did.
Before leaving for dinner and grocery shopping, us girls went down to the valley below our cabin to see where the guy were staying. I preferred their cabin. They stayed in a historic cabin with low ceilings, unfinished walls, and furniture from the 70s. It was rather dim and somewhat grungy, but it had a nice, homey feel full of character and warmth that the pristine girls' cabin lacked.
After we had all loaded back into the vans, we headed out to Pizza Hut for dinner. From Pizza Hut, we went to Food City to do our grocery shopping for the week. Emily and I were sent to the produce department, but we were distracted for several minutes my some delightfully scented candles. There were so many different smells to test! Later on, some of my friends and I met up in a freezer aisle and decided we were tired of shopping for the time being, so we sat down and played charades instead. It was much more fun.
When we were done at Food City, we finally returned back to the cabins at roughly 9:00 or 10:00. I could see the stars clearly. I only know two constellations, but I found them effortlessly. Ursa Major and Orion's Belt seemed huge up there! I hadn't seen them clearly since October, so I'm not sure if the perceived size discrepancy was due to season or elevation. I did not admire the stars for long because I did not want to feel obligated to pretend to associate with my more boisterous classmates who were outside at the time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)