Halfway through!

Actually a bit over half. Strange, but then two months isn’t very long. Halfway through and switching schools after finishing the last one is kind of perfect! This one will definitely be more of a challenge but also more of the workout I am looking for, at least if the sun doesn’t get me first. […]

Beaches and building

Went to the most amazing teal Caribbean beach on Sunday. The water was totally clear and the sand was white. Tried to snorkel but not much to see, just water and sand. Monday we went back to work and I opted to do something besides paint. The last two days I’ve been putting together deck […]

Day off adventures

Saturday mornings we learn about how All Hands and Hearts projects are conceived of and managed, which was actually quite interesting, and then we had the afternoon off. First we drove out to a “blue hole”—a natural super deep swimming hole. The first part of the drive was quite sad, as it was through miles […]

One week down!

So glad the weekend is here! Basically every part of my body hurts, but that’s expected and a good thing! A team of four of us has painted nearly all of three classrooms that each has three smaller adjacent rooms this week. We primed and painted everything including ceilings and our arms are super tired, […]

Arriving in Marsh Harbour

After five days of quarantining in Fort Lauderdale to make sure we don’t bring Covid to The Bahamas, we are here! Extremely exciting hour-long plane ride in the tiniest plane I have ever been in, with the most incredible views of water that just got bluer and clearer and more beautiful the farther we went. […]

Bahamas Plans

I haven’t been a good blogger as of late–that is to say, I haven’t been writing anything here at all–but I hope to change that as things open up and more adventures are allowed. First off, I’m going to The Bahamas for nine weeks on a volunteering project! The project is through All Hands and […]

Hurricane Vacation

Record-setting monster hurricane Dorian almost paid us a visit! The original forecast was to hit basically exactly where we live as a 4, which would undoubtedly have been the end of our house (or at least of our roof and therefore all of our things, as the landlord hasn’t repaired the roof after the last […]

Portland college reunion

Took a quick trip to the opposite corner of the country to attend my 10 year college reunion last week. It was mostly fun and only moderately depressing. I was reminded of what a beautiful place Portland is, and what a beautiful campus my college has. In the words of the girl I walked to […]

Seeing friends

I’ve been really lucky the last couple weeks in having two of my best friends come to visit me. I was afraid that I’d be super grumpy and tired and not remember how to socialize, but I’m down to 15mgs of prednisone and the grumpy tiredness was minimal. After a while I felt like I […]

Things that happen on airplanes

First time out traveling alone after all the weirdness! What fun to be able to deal normally with public bathrooms, staircases, low airplane seats… Only a trip to Iowa, where it’s 30 degrees instead of 80 and covered in gray snow, but still good movement. The sound of car tires crunching snow outside in the […]