DRC 41 We are continuing to work at Disaster Recovery Center #41 in Staten Island. I am no longer a trainee because I completed my task booklet with a specialist. They had us pair up with specialists and once we completed our task books we paired up within our Ocean 7 team. Now we are working either in pairs or by ourselves. There are no lone 120-160 survivors coming in every day, but rather 60 or so.
Housing and Team Life We have been living in an extended stay hotel in Queens which is an interesting experience because we are actually housed in the same hotel as some Sandy survivors that are still displaced from their homes. We are seeing survivors in a new setting rather than just in the Recovery Centers. I'm really enjoying cooking for my team. I have made some pretty awesome fried rice as well as omelettes.
Farewell, Lizz. Today Ocean Seven said farewell to our lovely friend and former teammate, Lizz. She decided to leave the program a week ago and is excited to get back home and start volunteering with animals as well as go to college in the fall. Our team didn't expect this because it was so late in the game, but we realize that some environments are stressful for some and because of that stress you are not able to function properly. As a volunteer, we must remember that it's important to take care of yourself as well as the survivors, and when you are put in a stressful environment and aren't demonstrating self-care you begin to realize that you can't take care of anyone else and the stress just grows from there. Hopefully Lizz will find her corner of the sky back home. We wish you the best, Lizz!
Getting Ready for Transition Our time left here in NYC is coming to an end. We will be sad yo leave this place, but excited to start a new adventure. We head back to our Mississippi campus in two weeks, and we will be stopping to explore Washington D.C. for a day!
SNL Because this weekend was virtually going to be our last weekend here other than next weekend (and we have stuff planned) my teammate Nateanna and I decided to try and get Saturday Night Live tickets. It is tradition that for every live show of SNL that people line up outside of the studio and wait for a chance to get in. And yes, it is not guaranteed. We got to the line at dinner-time Friday evening, stayed out all night in the freezing and wet weather, but made it until 7 when they hand out the tickets. There were about 100 people ahead of us, but we chose to try for the dress rehearsal. We were numbers 61 and 62 and we made it past security and to the elevators, but they stopped letting people in when we were 8 people away. It was a close one! But the experience was well worth it. We got to meet cool people, find shelter (we found some cardboard boxes and packing material) and sleep on the street. The host of the show was Justin Timberlake and he bought us all pizza and soup, but there was also others handing out free food and hot beverages. I might try again the next time I'll be in NYC.
Here's a link to a video of the standby line, but we weren't as crazy as those in the front!
http://www.today.com/video/today/51098467#51098467
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