Choi's Update

[BlackRose]

Fras! Heya buddy! Glad to see you remembered us here at LF. I haven't been on much lately or I would have said hi sooner. Hope things are well. They sound it so hope things stay well. Later dude.

[Junket]

Uncensored for your LF viewing pleasure. My second update.

I must tell you guys, I'm so jealous that I can't participate in the forums like I used to, I'm so tempted to start browsin' and replyin' again...ARGH. I guess I'll just have to try to make it up as much as possible over Christmas break. And I will be back come that break.

Enough fluff.

Read into what is a nothin' but a small taste of what I've been doin'.

- Choi

This is officially the second e-mail update from beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Mind you, I do say that with a tad bit of sarcasm. I'll tell ya, Charleston has it's own weather patterns, it's often hot and humid and can go from clear blue sky to dark and rainy very abruptly. Even when it does rain it rarely lasts very long. We are afterall right on the the coast, so that's probably all that needed to be said. To add to the sporadic weather, there are also plenty of mosquitoes and fire ants to go around. These little punks have colonies EVERYWHERE and they have a nasty bite. There have been many Corps members that have unknowingly planted their feet right on top of these mounds. I can't help but smile as I wiggle my toes in my oh-so-protective boots. Unfortunately these past few days I've been writing this update (I do it over a course of a couple days, it's hard to find time) the damn things have managed to infest my room, just today I put on a shirt only to find there were already occupants. Fun stuff. But not really.

Anyway, I don't recall if I explained to you guys what I've been doing in terms of work. Outside of team building exercises and such, for most of the weekdays I'm goin' through training to be certified by the Red Cross in such things as CPR, First Aid, Disaster Relief, and Mass Care. Actually just last week, for those of us who chose the position they took us out to a local state park to learn how to use chainsaws. It's not as easy as it looks. The most challenging aspect of it is just holdin' the saw for extended periods of time, not only is it heavy (depending on the size) but it's vibratin' like crazy. I should probably do some push ups. SHOULD.

Oh right the biggest highlight of last weekend which I've told some of you already, was that I went sky diving. That's right, I was involved in what I'd like to consider a controlled fall to the ground from 15,000 ft. I won't bother trying to describe the feeling, I'll just try to get the pictures developed and sent out to you guys as quickly as possible. Which may not be all that quick.

Project Update:

Unfortunately it looks like we'll still be in Charleston for our first major project, and it'll only be for a week. In comparison to the other team's projects, some of which are 6-8 weeks, ours is nothing. More specifically we're goin' to be helpin' out with an Octoberfest kind of festival, so seriously, it's nothing special. RUMOR has it that as a result of our short projects we might be some of the first to do disaster relief. But only time will tell. And it's not tellin' yet...

And here I draw this e-mail to a close, y'know this took me 3 days to write and 10 mintues to type. Oi...when I look over it, it doesn't seem like I've told you much at all. There's just too much to tell and so little time to do so. Well I hope you're all doin' as super as I am! Oh yeah, as a side note, my roommate might be leaving! But I'll save those details for the next e-mail. Man, never a dull moment around 'ere.

The one.

The only.

Choi. (Seriously I am THE one and only)

[shh!]

Isn't Oktoberfest considered first aid, Frasbee? Skydiving sounds bloody awful! Miss you though...

[Chlorine]

Frasbee---Skydiving!!! cooly dooly, you are havin' fun :-)) However, the bugs sound nasty.

[Tone]

Have you met any honies to try out all the things you've learned here on LF?

[Junket]

Have you met any honies to try out all the things you've learned here on LF?

It's a work in progress.

There's too many, I can't focus.

I couldn't tell you guys one specific chick I have my eye on.

And Shh, I'm surprised you haven't surpassed my post count yet, what's the deal?

[misombra]

it's so good to hear from you friz. glad everything is going good!

[Junket]

You guys are hearin' about it first.

If you read update #2 you'll know how disappointing my first project was, when one considers everything else I could've been doin' due to past events.

Well remember that rumor I was referring to?

About the people getting the short end of the stick gettin' to go be the first to do disaster relief?

Well it looks like it's true.

I was just informed by my teamleader that our second assignment will be to help tutor an elementary school in Mississippi from 10/27/05-12/16/05, so I'll be back on campus soon before I go back home for Christmas break.

That's the short version of it.

As of right now the tutoring is top priority, other possible tasks may include some direct relief (such as disaster clean up). For those of you who don't understand how tutoring kids in an elementary school is disaster relief; since the hurricane there's about 800 added students to the Jackson public schools. Here's the stats:

The school district is made up of 98% African American students (aka black). 85.2% of the students of Jackson Public schools are from economically "disadvantaged" (poor) families.

Now I'll tell you guys one thing.

I was dreading education projects. I'm not a huge fan of kids, and now I'm gonna be stuck in the lot of 'em. Not to mention, considering my entire team is white, we'll be the minority.

However, I can't help but feel kinda thankful that I get to do this. I'll definitely be stepping out of my comfort zone for this, and for that, I accept the challenge.

Importante!

I was gonna forward a picture gallery one of my team mates uploaded to kodak.com but the first two people I checked profiles for (Tone and 'Sombra) both "did not want to accept e-mails".

Come on guys, all I need is one of your e-mail addresses so you guys can pass the pictures along. So either post a reply with your e-mail address or e-mail me at [email]Frasbee@hotmail.com[/email] .

Choi signing out.

-fzzt!- (sound to signify the turning-offing of either a radio or television)

[Tone]

[email]tone_luna@hotmail.com[/email]

How do I change that option?

Sounds cool Choi - dude kids are great! I bet you'll have fun workin with them!

[Tone]

Some highlights:

[URL=http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fras16ff.jpg][/URL]

[URL=http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fras27ot.jpg][/URL]

[URL=http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fras39us.jpg][/URL]

[URL=http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fras48vw.jpg][/URL]

[Junket]

Well guys, overall it's been pretty quiet these past few days. Most of the teams have already shipped out for their first SPIKE project (projects which require the team to eat and sleep on or near-site) so the dorms have been pretty quiet.

I've been doing a few ISP's (Independent Service Projects) here and there. Just last night I was playin' the role of waiter at a non-profit banquet, ever heard of "March of Dimes"? It's some organization that saves babies lives or somethin'. Anyway, before that I was putting the roof on a house, and framing windows.

If there's one thing I love about AmeriCorps, it's just the sheer variety of work I get to do.

The weather is getting cooler down here, and today is beauuuutiful. Seriously it hasn't been so nice down here in a good while. Tomorrow (Tuesday the 17th) my team starts on the Charleston Garden Festival project. We'll be workin' there for a week, but it's close enough to base that we'll get to come back home every night. Home. It's kinda funny that's what we call it anymore. It's no Philly, but I'm growing a likin' to it. Despite the nasty mosquitoes.

Sorry this update took so long, I haven't been able to get on the computer for about a week. On the plus side this is a LF exclusive, not some rehashed e-mail, copy/past style. So feel special.

All of you.

I don't recall if I already mentioned this or not, but I definitely will be back home for Christmas and New Year's, I'm road trippin' it with some other people back to Philly so I'll be back fo' real for at least those two weeks. I might be on more frequently this week because there's nobody else around, but I don't hold me to it.

Is RSK still here?

I saw one of this "Goodbye" threads, and wasn't sure if it was an older one or a new one...

[shh!]

RSK left and came back again. I bet you are surprised.
:-D

[Illusional]

good to see that you're still alive.

raverboy

[shh!]

Nice pictures. I especially love the skydiving photos you posted in the gallery, Frasbee...

[Chlorine]

Frasbee----Sheer variety sounds good. Love reading your updates. Keep posting.