Appalachiaship - Let's play some kickball, Neon!

Exactly one year ago I was at Almost Heaven, West Virginia for my first Appalachia experience. Back then, I was awed by the beauty at the Appalachia Region. A year later, I still can't get enough of it! Last year, Appalachia made me fall in love with the people in SJU, this year, they made me wanna just stay in school forever so that I can keep meeting awesome people :)

This trip to Neon, Kentucky has been nothing but great (though I would appreciate if God would give us 48 hrs a day so that I could catch more sleep!) Thanks to all those hard work, toiling away, digging holes, cleaning up at the demolition sites, burning wood and staying up late every night for countless Mafia games, I'm officially sick now =p

So we left school on Friday night, drove for 3 hrs, got a ticket from the cops and got lost on the way before stopping by a Church for the night. We continued our journey the next day at 5am and we finally reached Kentucky at 12pm! :)

The weather was great when we arrived at Neon. Sunny day - we could never ask for more! James and Lisa decided to to some tanning on the roof of the van. We call it vanning. That's how we rule.

While the others were busy settling down at the Homes, a bunch of us went grocery shopping for the entire group. I lovvvvvvvveeeeeeee doing grocery shopping! I can never get enough of the sense of satisfaction after picking out the best and cheapest product.
We just stood around and hogged the entire lane coz we couldn't decide what the get...

We had 4 carts - so much that we had to form a human chain at the check out line :)

Ok, just so you know, appalachia experience means hard work + no proper food for the entire week. That entails peanut butter and jelly sandwhich every day! GOD, I got so sick of eating sandwhich everyday I quit eating it for the last day =p Anyway, this is us making sandwhiches for the day :)

We had to reuse the doggy bag for the entire week. UGGH. that's how much we were on a budget. NO WASTAGE!

So while standing around waiting for our hiking trip, I took a picture of the boys. Cute!

This is Mary, the only girl I knew in the group before the trip :)

At the park, the boys just couldn't keep their hands off the poor tree and left their mark!

Mark and James. I love them!

Emily, the first love of my life for this trip :)

Apparently, Kentucky's water is pretty unsafe. Water not suitable for swimming, wading and skating. hmmmm..... what about washing hands? lol

Part of my hiking group. God, i love Nicole's face at Eric!

Eric, nice shot!

Later in the evening, we tried to form a human pyramid. I was naturally the choice to be at the top.

Still trying...

Too bad we didn't manage to get a picture of the pyramid because I could only hold it at the top for like a millisecond =p

Prom picture with my first love :)

Prom picture, take two!

Jeff, my bag buddy and my secret affirmation buddy!

And this is some random picture with us sitting on the van...

Evening time entails Mafia game, shower, dinner, coloring, writting notes and talking to each other. I chose to color a picture of Little Mermaid. Jimmy picked out the picture for me, so I dedicated the picture to him and gave it to him at the end of the trip :)

Alrighty, on the second day, we were down to business! I was sent to the Little Shepherd Site to help build foundations for the dressing room.

Team Diggers!

At last, we started to dig after standing around for like 45 mins. Gosh, the ground was the hardest ground ever. So many huge rocks (we like to call it pebbles actually to encourage ourselves to work harder), and tree roots were growing all over the place. I swear I could have uprooted a tree if we were to dig more holes.

This is Sarah Carroll - Scarroll for short. She's my twin for the day! Yeay to orange shirts :)

When it comes to lunch time, we were all so exhausted that we just laid there. One thing for sure, I don't like tanning under the sun, that's why I was the photographer.
I picked the shade to take a quick nap =p

Lunch break was followed by a little adventure. We hiked up the mountain and we found the legend- (wait for it!) -ary abandoned tunnel that leads to Virginia, the neigbouring state. Isn't that awesome?!

Explorers for the day

Mark wanted to get into the hole. Oh boy, he is absolutely insane.

Anyway, after lunch break,we continued to toil. I was in charged of this hole. God, digging has never been so difficult. Look at the picture below and you would understand why. There's this stubborn piece of tree root that hindered my digging progress.

And when we finally got part of the root out, it looked like preserved chicken meat -_-

Dan the man :) He's always so dirty at the end of the day.

But no one can beat Haley. She looks like a homeless kid. haha.

Oh jeff buddy!

Finally, mission accomplished! The hole is dug :)

Dan as dirty as ever again.

I want to say that I'm clean because I don't go around putting dirt on myself. Anyway, this is our lunch picnic at the park on the second day :)

Ann with her nice butt.

Emily looking serious here.

Finally when we dug all the holes, it was time to fill them with cement. How lame can that be?? U dig holes only to have them filled up again.

I almost dropped the wheelbarrow. opps. Notice also that my jeans were wet, but I didn't pee in my pants ok!

Laying on the ground again at the end of the day. We were that exhausted.

Day 3 - we had a day off which was awesome! Volunteers don't have to work on Wednesdays :) We did some shopping at the local art store, and then drove 1 hr out of town to bowl as well.

Now remember when I said that Emily was the first love of my life during this trip. Jimmy would be the second love of my life :) He's the coolest kid ever I've ever met. He lives on a duck farm and he like country music, most imptly, he likes Brad paisley as well!

Bowling alley.

Oh yeah, I was second with a score of 113 :)

On Thursday, the fourth day, they didn't need as many people at the Amphitheater site anymore, so I (the girl power) was transferred to the demolition site. God, you should have seen the pile of rubbish and rubble left behind. Our job was the clear up the place and burn the wood afterwards. How nice -_-

Me with my helmet which says "Sledge".

Guys trying to break the wood apart.

Burning of wood afterwards. Tsk tsk, we're contributing to air pollution, but apparently in Kentucky, no one cares =p

Scarroll, me and Megan watch on as the fire burns...

Fourth Day evening - this is the mafia couch! Before we left on the fifth day, I took a picture of the place we were living at. This is where we have all our precious memories - the common room :)

Katie, who is skinnier and prolly weigh less than me, tried to carry me. God, what was she thinking about?!

And this is Perry, my affirmation buddy :) He's been through a lot in life and he is a strong man ...

Lastly, a bonfire and cigar smoking as a traditional wrap-up activity!

Right now, I can't wait to celebrate my bday with my new-found friends:) Happy 21st to myself!

Snowball fight

I'm starting to enjoy the perks of studying in a country with 4 different seasons. When it's winter time, you get to play in the snow while it's still pristine white :)

Now that is me trying to get into a snowball fight. It was girls team versus guys team. So obviously we ladies tried to gather as much snow as we could.

Poor Mary, she got thrashed by two guys.

Migs looks so excited right here. Perfect picture for an advertisement, I think.

Aww... Dan hurt his fellow comrade =p

And this is me trying to block off the oncoming snowball.

When we played football afterwards, one of the strategies was to have me run around in circles with the ball. I wonder why?? That's why I looked so confused here =p

This picture ought to be censored...

At least this is better and more decent.

Both Jess and I getting ready for our group picture with Sally!

Picture with Sally now :)

And finally, here's a picture of our pathetic, unhappy snowman. lol.

Fellow Pisces-ian - Teresa's Bday

March babies - What can I say about them?

Let's just face it, March babies are the awesomest people on earth! hehe, coz I'm also a March Baby :) So on Friday, a bunch of us went out to celebrate T's bday. The weather was surprisingly nice out as compared to today's harsh temperature - negative 9 celsius. Uggh. Annoying right.

Anyhow, this is Amanda, my roomie. I thought she looked really pretty that day :)
Needless to say, the Asians in the group looked gorgeous as well. DUH.

There were 16 people in our group on that day. Despite making a reservation at the restaurant before hand, they just couldn't fit all of us at one table, so we were split into two big groups. Bummer :( 8 of us were placed at this uber small corner and Carmen had to literally crawl out to go to the bathroom. Haha.

Carmen getting ready to crawl under the table=p

Both Migs and I decided to share a huge plate of pasta. Low on budget. JKJK. That plate of pasta was my second dinner in 2 hrs ok! But the restaurant had some silly "No-sharing" policy, so in the end, we had order a ceaser salad as well.

Ahh....only my friends would do silly things like that. Oh boys.

Ok, so while we were waiting for the train to come, we decided to camwhore again!

I think I look out of place here. Everyone's making silly faces and I'm smiling. Well, kinda smiling actually... since I stuck out my tongue =p

I'm not sure why Dan doesn't like to smile in pictures, but I'm definitely sure about one thing though: it's not like he doesnt' like to take pictures with me, coz I know he lovessssssssssss me! :) He even offered me his coat, since it was cold.

Group snapshot (not exactly group, since not everyone is in it) before the train arrives.

And another silly picture of us!

Jo wanted to take a really quick picture with me and she looks really demonized here.

Now that's better :)
Train ride back :)

When we got back to SJU, all 16 of us tried to squeeze into my tiny apartment. It's not that tiny after all since all of us managed to sit comfortably in the living room :) Mary made this cute cake which was awesome. I wish I could bake like her so I can fatten up myself with sugary stuff before I go back in May, and then I could surprise my mummy again with my extra blubber =p

Cake in the form of a fish.

Group picture without everyone in it again, which brings me to the story behind the next picture. I was standing on the chair when I took this picture, and fidgety me tried to move. So I stood at the edge of the chair and before I knew it, I slipped and fell! No one could react fast enough coz they were all gaping at me - I was falling at a rate of 0.0000000000000000001 km per hr. LITERALLY. They say I defied gravity since my fall was slow-mo. lol. And that explains the next picture. I was trying to keep my cool by squatting on the chair after that.

Finally! :)

Day classes are canceled, offices are closed.
Monday, March 2, 2009: All day classes are canceled and all administrative offices are closed. No decision has been made regarding evening classes at this time. Be sure to check back for more updates throughout the day.
(updated 3/2/2009 @ 7:45 AM)

I am officially declaring the awesomeness of snowday! The last time they cancelled classes on a Wednesday, I wasn't affected at all, since I don't have classes on Weds, but it's finally my turn to enjoy this privilege! Today is the best day of all in history. yeayness :)