A breakthrough

2nd day back to work after my 4 day long Spring Break. After living in the Reserve for about a month, a vacation was much needed. I headed down to DC to visit my sister, Sarah, for a couple of days. I took the MARC (DC commuter train) from Perryville, MD (where my base is) into DC. It was super convenient because Sarah only lives a couple of blocks away from Union station. I went down with Caleb and Zack from my team and two other friends Cassidy and Matt. They all stayed at different locations, but were able to stash their belongings at Sarah’s house until their friends’ got home from work. The 5 of us had lunch at the Native American History Museum on the Mall (too expensive for a cafeteria but very good) then went to the Air and Space Museum. The crowds were getting pretty thick by 3ish, so we decided to stay outside and walk down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial stopping at the Washington Monument and WWII Memorial as we passed. Later that evening when everyone had parted ways, Sarah took me out for my birthday. We went to a wine bar on the Hill called Sonoma. After living on $4.50 a day for the past two months, there probably couldn’t have been a more welcome meal then a cheese course, free range Amish chicken and a couple fine glasses of wine.
On Saturday, Sarah and I went to the Arlington Cemetery. We wanted to avoid the major crowds at the Mall. It was so beautiful outside, we couldn’t be in a museum all day. All of the Cherry trees are in bloom and made a beautiful compliment to the thousands of symmetrical rows of graves. We also found a Lash. (Buried behind Joe Louis) We were about 99.9% sure they are no relation to us.
After today, we have 20 more work days left at the Reserve. I still have my poison ivy. While I was in DC it spread to my abdomen, sides, and lower back. We never really do the same thing every day. It’s nice because we are doing different tasks, but at the same time, it can be frustrating because we get our tasks finished faster than expected, then we have to end our work day early. This would be great in different circumstances. But we need to average a 40 hour work week to keep on track for the total number of hours we have to work during the year to qualify for our education award at the end of the program. Because we have been missing those numbers, we are now working extra hours after our normal work day. We have different little projects we can work on around the Reserve without the staff being here. For instance we are designing a rain garden from start to finish. So we have to start be figuring out, what exactly a rain garden entails, what native Delaware plants would work in it etc.
We are also starting to work at the local Boys and Girls Club for our ISP (VOCAB: Independent Service Project) hours. This afternoon/ evening I went with Meaghan and Caleb. I had such a great time with the kids. I have really missed working with people. My team mate John even commented on how much happier I seemed when I got back. I helped some kids with their homework when we first arrived. Then I was in the art room. It was neat because I got a chance to talk to the majority of the kids while doing something fun. We finished up the night in the computer lab. I would really like to go back as often as possible. I need more ISP hours for sure, but I just really loved spending time and helping those kids.
In Peace, Stephanie

Easter PS

Ameriblog 4.4
Today is Easter and I laid out for about an hour and a half tanning. It’s crazy to think just two years ago, I was stuck on the MegaBus for 10 hours because of a blizzard on Good Friday. My birthday was on Good Friday this year, and my team and I went to the beach. What a change! We had Friday off of work, so we decided to go down to Rehobeth Beach about 30 minutes from our estuary. It was a little cooler and windier by the ocean, but it was a great sunny day. We walked around on the board walk, sat on the beach and had some drinks. Later on when we got home, Zack, Meaghan, Caleb and I went out to Smither’s, basically the only cool bar in Dover…and they have karaoke on Fridays…so I was a happy birthday girl.
April 1st I got an early birthday present…poison ivy. Most of my team had already gotten it and I thought I had dodged the ivy bullet. On Tuesday, we did some invasive removal, so I must have made contact with it then. I have it on both of my forearms; big, ugly and blistering. I think I have it under control, I hope it doesn’t spread.
It rained for most of the week here. On Monday, we started a painting project in the DNERR offices and finished it on Tuesday. However on Tuesday morning Zack, Sadie, Maria, Caleb, and I went out in the rain to some English Ivy removal. This is when I think I got the poison ivy, but I also had a rain slicker, a sweat shirt, and a long sleeve tee on, so I am still a little bewildered on how I got it on my arms.
The rain stopped by Wednesday morning, and for the next two days we worked on projects around the St. Jones campus in Dover and at Blackbird. On Thursday up at Blackbird, Sadie, Zack, Meaghan, Caleb and I planted about 50 trees and bushes.