Salkehatchie

So, this will be my last post for about a week.

Why, you may ask?

Well, I will be unable to access a computer, or the Internet, and will have very limited phone access.

No, I am not going on a top secret spy mission, or to the moon, or anything like that.

I'm going to Santee, South Carolina. For those of you from SC, you know Santee is off of I-95 about 90 or so miles outside of Charleston. For those of you not familiar, Santee is in the middle of NOWHERE. Corn. More corn. Power plant. a few trees. Some open fields. etc.

So why am I going there, of all places?

Well, every summer I go to Santee to work on houses. I work with a program called Salkehatchie Summer Service (insert page here: http://www.salkehatchie.org/). Salkehatchie is a program where teens, young adults, and adults of varying construction experience get together throughout SC to repair homes of the less fortunate. These are home of people who may be facing financial, health, or other issues and do not have the means to make vital changes to their home. This can include anything from roofing to flooring to fixing foundations to repairing or building porches to plumbing to electrical work. We've seen it all. Houses burned from electrical fires. Homes destroyed by storms. Homes that do not have electricity, running water, or even a bathroom.

I started working with Salkehatchie the summer before my freshman year of high school when I was 14. I learned about it through my church (Salkehatchie is a Methodist service project, but is open to anyone of any denomination or walk of faith but is deeply rooted in the Christian faith) and went with a bunch of friends in my youth group. We went to Piedmont (another part of SC) that year and had a good time, but the following year I couldn't go to the same camp. I asked one of my former youth ministers with whom I was still very close what he recommended that I do. He told me to go to Santee and meet Joe and Kathy Jo and Tommy (the camp directors). He also told that was where he felt the most at home. So that summer, I went by myself to Santee. I didn't know a soul. I was 15 and felt very out of place without my friends. But Matt (my former youth minister) was right. I felt at home at Santee. I felt like I was supposed to be there. And I've made lifelong friends since starting at Santee. Now, going on my 6th year at Salkehatchie and my 5th year at Santee, I'm an assistant site leader. I keep in touch with a good number of the campers and site leaders throughout the year. And I'm ready for another amazing week. Each summer that I go to Salk, I seem to learn a new set of skills. My first year, I knew how to hold a hammer and that was about it. Now, I know how to do a whole lot of construction thanks to my years at Salk and with Habitat for Humanity. I've done roofing, siding, painting, porch building, plumbing, electrical work, built and outhouse, fixed foundations, put in multiple sets of windows and doors, and a whole other list of things that I can't even remember. I run a saw better than most of the guys (not to brag, but I'm serious) and do as much damage to a nail with my little 12 ounce wooden hammer than the big macho guys with their fiberglass killers.

But aside from all that, Salkehatchie is a really great project, and I'm glad to continue to be a part of it.

If anyone has questions for me about the program or you want to get involved, feel free to ask me!

When I get back, I will be posting about my week and some of the things that went on, along with some pictures...possibly. :)

Have a great week everyone!! Catch ya on the flip side :)

Sí, toco la guitarra...pero sólo un poco.

Instead of writing about the interesting occurrences and craziness of the 4th of July and post-4th that have been taking up most of my time lately--because let's be realistic here, it only mattered if you were involved--I'm going to write about something kind of exciting going on. I've started playing the guitar. Now, mind you, I haven't played the guitar since 7th grade when I was taking an exploratory music class at my middle school (I went to a School of the Arts for visual art, but each semester you were in a different "exploratory" that way you could see the differences in each of the core arts). So this is very different for me. I've always had a knack for music though. I played piano for about 4 or 5 years until I really got into soccer, and I've been in different music choirs since I can remember. Guitar has always been a struggle for me though. That month of guitar in middle school was anything but fun for me. I was terrible. I could never get my fingers on the right frets or the right strings and it was just bad. But, I'm trying it again. I'm using my mom's guitar from when she used to play. It's been sitting in the garage for a while collecting dust after it took a brief hiatus elsewhere. It's not anything fancy and probably not worth more than 20 bucks, but I really like it. Once I get a good picture of it I'll put it up on here. I'm not really sure why all of the sudden I'm wanting to take up guitar. I feel like I've wasted a lot of my summer not doing too much. I've been working for the most part, visiting friends from SC and Georgia when I can. I haven't been able to start my Spanish novel like I wanted but hopefully that will change in the next few days. I'm getting ready to go to Salkehatchie for a week (but that's a discussion for another post) which will provide some much-needed distraction from a lot of what's going on in my life. But I need a different escape. Something I can work on a little bit at a time and see some progress. So, I can't very well take my piano to college this fall, but you can bet that my guitar will be one of things traveling with me to Athens in August. I guess I could argue that I love acoustic music and love listening to my friends play guitar (the ones that will play in front of me anyway) and I kind of want to see if I can do it too. We'll see how it goes though. I just hope it's not one of those things that I get into for a while and then lose interest in. Because let's face it, I totally want to be like every other college student that learns guitar in college...

Slip N Slides Are Not Just for Children

So as the title may imply, even adults can enjoy Slip N Slides. However, these are not the nice Slip N Slides we all remember having as a kid. You know, the ones with the smooth tarps and the nice big pool at the end...Yeah, not so much.

Try just a bunch of regular blue tarps held together and tied down with stakes and bags of potting soil, a hose held under a skateboard (that we tried to use as an awesome inventive way of going down the tarps but failed miserably), and baby oil. Lots and lots and lots of baby oil. Try that, and you will have one of the best days ever. Plus your skin will be incredibly smooth afterwards.

I did this with a few friends of mine today, and it was a blast. We've done it a few times, and each time seems to outdo itself. What's even more fun is tackling someone as they're running down the tarps...which then turns into a brutal wrestling match and dog pile...except everyone is too slippery to hold on to. It's just an awesome thing to do. Try it. Seriously. Right now. No, I mean it. Go find some tarps and some baby oil and some water.

Happy (early) 4th of July everyone!!