Mini spike day 3

Today we had to get up and pack all of our things up because another NCCC group was coming in to work for the weekend. We packed the van, cleaned the building, and waited for the next group to come before we headed out to the worksite. Unfortunately, they got stuck in the snow so we waited a little longer than we would have preferred. We all just wanted to start work for the day. We finally left without them and headed toward the house.

Nahant Marsh Education Center is right in front of railroad tracks so almost every time we would go to or from the job site we would have to wait at least 15 minutes for a train to pass. Sometimes, the train would be stopped blocking the tracks so that took even longer. Thankfully our team is getting used to each other so sitting in a van hasn't been and issue yet. We will see how the opinion changes throughout the months.

At the worksite, I started working in the living room where my teammates took out the ceiling. After all our tools were set up, which I've learned, usually takes quite a bit of time if your working will skilled carpenters, which we are. :) I worked on this for the whole entire day. Other jobs that my team members started/completed were, tearing out the toilet, tearing and scraping the shower/glue, tear drywall down on the stairwell, scrap, clean and started painting a bedroom upstairs and ripped down shelves and wiring in the barn. Wow! After writing all that, it just hit me how much we did today!! Amazing at how much you can get done with so many people.

After lunch the other team was done with orientation and "unpacking" so they came to the job site. We worked with them for about an hour to give them an idea of what each position did and then Cedar 6, my team, headed back for debriefing with the sponsor. After that, we headed back to campus with me driving the van!! Scary I know, but we made it back safe and sound. Of course we had to stop at the worlds largest truck stop for some caffeine and a potty break!! Let me tell you, this place is huge! Rumor has it, they have a movie theater, barber shop and a chiropractor on the upstairs level.

Fun things that happened:
-I saw several people wear carhartt overalls and my sponsor even wore the fashionable jean overalls. I'm thinking of adopting the carhartt look... :)
-Every time we would try to leave the project site, the van wheels would start spinning in the snow. Even with all the weight of people, it still wouldn't get enough traction. Surprisingly we only had to push the van out only once.
-The cots we slept on were so loud, every time someone would move, it sounded like we were rolling over on a huge price of bubble wrap!
-We played 2 truths and 1 lie. It was really fun to get to know my team more and listen to their fun and crazy life stories.
-Our job site had a gorgeous view of the Mississippi River and a blue bridge.

This spike has really brought my team together and I can't wait to start on our next project. It is going to be so nice to be able to complete our projects and see the final results of our hard work. Prayers for being able to make it through our last week of classroom training.

Love and miss you all!!!