Southward Bound

I have no internet access so I apologize in advance for a lengthy update

 (if it comes to that).

Location: Alabama.

Time: Spring Break

Program: Alternate Spring Break - working with Habitat for Humanity to build a house in Decatur, Alabama.

 

After writing most of the forthcoming paragraph I realized it was pretty out of context hence the info blurb above.

 

And the stage is set for Kat's first adventure down south!

 

Moment 1:

I was sorting clothing today at the Christian something or other volunteer building after finishing work on the habitat building (the acronym was CCC). It really brought me back to my Key Club days - but that's beside the point. This woman comes up to me and ask

s, "What's your name? Where are you from?" just like she's asked the three girls before me.

I respond automatically "I'm Kat and I'm from San Jose, California!" with as much chipper as 

I can muster after sorting clothing out of black bags for three hours.

But this time instead of answering with "Oh, my third cousin twice removed used to live there" or "That's a beauuuuuutiful place" she says,

"Really? You don't look like you're from California."

After a brief pause on my side I respond, "Oh yeah, I'm definitely not tan anymore after being in Boston for a year."

She walks away. So I guess I have no place of origin. I never did get to ask her where she thought I should be from, maybe I should have.

 

Moment 2:

I went to mass for the first time, it was a lot of sitting down, standing up, and singing.

Oh and we held hands at the end - which just reminded me of the alcoholics anonymous meeting I went to (for research!!!)

 

Moment(s) 3:

I live in a mansion. Mr. Kissam also has a house in Oahu, one in Hawaii, and one on Myrtle Beach. The house I'm staying in is 2 floors, 20 rooms and expanding to a third floor. This man is related to the Vanderbilt family - their library is modeled after the one in the Vanderbilt mansion. But he is also genuine, funny, knowledgeable, kind, hard-of-hearing and fatherly 

(er, grandfatherly - he insists on taking pictures of us doing everything).

 

 Our collaborative meal and one of my favorite moments of the trip

Moment 4:

Went to a gorgeous house by the riverside to speak with International Baccalaureate (oops) Program students at the local high school. Out of the 300 students in each class 

only 14 or so will take the IB program. Thus you see the same 14 people in all your classes. I don't know how well I could take that. When asked how awkward relationships got between two IB students the kid (I never did ask for his name) responded "we're smart enough not to do that kind of stuff." Brilliant.

 

Moment 5:

Everyone around here gets married in college. Or before college.

Ok ok, almost everyone.

 

Running Moment 6:

Food I've eaten- cereal with banana (8), grits (1), hush puppies (2), biscuits (6), chicken (3), pizza (9), sweet ice tea (4), cajun catfish/shrimp (2), bread pudding (1), pie (3), brownies/chocolates/cake (21), cookies (7), beans (3), hot dogs (2), chips (9), something potatoes (6), BBQ (2), slaw (4), and pasta (4)

That's literally my week's worth of food.

Let's play the guessing game - how much did I gain in Alabama?

 

 Original Southern Style Chips! 

5x the calories of normal packages of snacky goodness!

Sudden realization:

I have a month of school left - then it's time for finals. My freshman year is over already? Are you kidding me? There's so much left to do - to learn. I'm ready for the summer, not ready for what lies beyond that. Tired of school work, not ready to leave school.

 

Moment 7:

Went to a Rotary club meeting. Totally betraying my Key Club/Kiwanis roots. For some reason I feel like the Kiwanians treated me more like an adult when I was a high school key clubber than these Rotarians treated me as a Harvard student. We got a piece of chocolate with the Rotary Club logo on it though, pretty cool.

 

Moment 8:

Low density plastic sheets don't turn white when you tear at them - high density ones do. Touring a recycling plant that was the most interesting tidbit of information that I actually paid attention for.

 

Slow dawning:

I can make a calendar of each of the Harvard Houses (12 - 1 per month). Can't you just imagine something like that selling at the coop for $14.95?

I would be pretty awesome.

I'm so lazy.

And tired.

And the deadline is tomorrow.

Waking up, er trying to wake up before 7:30 is pretty much impossible for me. I thought I was doing pretty well waking up at 8 am every day, but apparently any time before that is a complete fail for me.

 

Moment 9:

As I was leaving the Kissam's house, Bill Kissam's granddaughter, Emily, came up to me and gave me a hug. Her voice was soft as she told me "I'm really going to miss you." I realized no one, or rarely anyone says that. Maybe as we grow older we become more accustomed to detachment.

I felt sad leaving that house thought, it was really good times.

Bad lighting and time stamps preserve memories well.

I'm not complaining.

Finally:

Would you rather - have someone smash both of your soul mate's collar bones every three years or from this moment on have all the music you ever hear be (screeching) screamo music?