R&R (Roofing and Relaxation)

Today at Habitat, Josh and I were promoted! Instead of tedious caulking and painting, we got to install metal roofing on one of the homes. It was the perfect day for roof work (before the wind started gusting in the afternoon). We worked with Chad (a volunteer who has been with AmeriCorps for 2 years and has visited New Zealand, Antarctica and a bunch of other cool places). We had a good team and got the roof done by the end of the day. It was awesome to get down and see the almost-finished product of the house we started just a week prior!

This trip has got me thinking about how great it would be to volunteer full-time. There are so many fantastic differences from a real 9-5 job - you get to meet amazing new people every day, everyone is happy when you show up, your efforts are always appreciated, you can change jobs and learn something new mid-day, you work with people who are excited to be there, your 'boss' is super supportive when you screw up. If only more employers would take a page from the book of volunteer management, employees would feel more appreciated and maybe even be psyched to come to work every day! 

After work on Saturdays, the crew and some of the regular volunteers gather for beers on the tailgate. We were invited to join and had some interesting and lively conversations over cans of Busch. 

Later, Jesse and his wife invited us over for drinks. We chatted about volunteer coordination, non-profit management and Jesse's struggle to define his position at Habitat. His wife, Moira, is sweet and smart and their house has a fun, cozy vibe. Bonus: Moira was cleaning out her shoe closet and I left there with a pair of great Doc Martin motorcycle boots!


I hope we were able to impress upon him how much his passion and energy are appreciated on site and how vital he is to the program. His work is a real balancing act between pleasing volunteers and supporters, training staff, marketing and, most importantly, building homes. A 10-year veteran of Habitat, he seems to have learned to pull all this off and still end the day with a smile!

That Just Happened!

'A man fired several shots on the south steps of the Texas Capitol on Thursday afternoon, minutes after one lawmaker said he entered his office acting strangely. Nobody was injured, officials said, and the suspect was quickly apprehended.' (from the Austin Statesman, 1/21/09)

Because today was such a GORGEOUS day (75 and sunny), we decided to forgo deconstruction and do a walking tour of the city. We started at the Capitol Building Visitor's Centre around 1:30pm. The receptionist casually mentioned that the Capitol Building was closed today, due to an 'event.' Niaeve tourists that we are, we wandered out on the grounds, strolling along, taking pictures, barely noticing the cops on bikes and news vans around the building. Come to find out, from a random passerby, there had been a shooting on the steps of the Capitol Building less than an hour before! Crazy huh? And we walked into several nearby businesses and NO ONE mentioned this to us. Austin-ites are definitely chill... even when it comes to random shootings in the middle of a sunny Thursday afternoon.

Botched assassinations aside, we had a GREAT day! We toured downtown and saw some neat architecture and landmarks including The Driskill Hotel (where the bartender of 28 years took pictures of us with bull horns), St. Mary's Cathedra, not the governor's mansion (it was under construction). Afterward, we hit up Whole Foods for free samples and the Tiniest Bar in Texas for $1 margaritas. Then we strolled through a little gallery of photos commissioned by Jamie Lee Curtis and down to the park by the lake. We sat on a bench and watched people and their dogs run by, stalk squirrels, etc. People who stalk squirrels are weird folks! ;)

We made it back to our hotel for a drink a the FREE happy hour (tamales, nachos, goldfish crackers, wine, beer and a live band on Thursdays!). And had more than enough time to eavesdrop on this crazy guy selling this girl on joining his Skidmark Underwear business. Sounds like a real winner - maybe we'll join that bandwagon!

Construction and Dedication

After Friday's torrential downpour, we slogged through the mud this morning with 40-50 Habitat volunteers, moving trusses to top off a new house frame. I have to say, Austin Habitat knows how to jump start a crew at 8am on a Saturday morning! They had a breakfast spread of egg tacos, potatoes, coffee... and one homeowner even made a pineapple upside down cake! After the Project Manager divvied up the day's tasks and pointed out the lead volunteers, we were off to a running start.

Three Habitat homeowners worked along groups of volunteers from Exit Reality and the Dell Children's Medical Centre on the 4-5 unfinished homes on our street. There was another big group on the next street over and we found out that Habitat had built 24 homes in this neighborhood in the past year.

We worked a tiring, but fun 7-hour day with first-time volunteer Chris (a new Austin-ite and recent world traveler), tar papering the frame and putting in windows. He shared some stories about his trip to Asia, South America, Australia and gave us some tips for New Zealand. Oh, to be 23 again, without a care in the world except growing student loan debt...

At the end of the day (when the sun was finally starting to shine!), we joined the AmeriCorps crew and Project Manager (Jesse Porter) for a dedication the home we'd hung blinds in on Wednesday. A young woman and her 4-year-old boy became the proud new owners of a brand new 2 bedroom/1 bath ranch. There's no telling the hardships they've faced up to this point. But her family, new neighbors, a couple dozen volunteers and the President of Austin Habitat were on hand to welcome her into a hopeful and bright future. Today was a good day! :)

Like A Modern Day Robin Hood… with a Crowbar

Today was our 1st full day in Austin and our 1st day working at Habitat for Humanity. Down here, they have deconstruction going on 4 days/week as well as construction on W, F and Sat and the Re-store. 

For deconstruction, Habitat puts in bids on demolition projects all over the greater Austin area. Deconstruction is MUCH slower with them than with competing companies because Habitat workers try to salvage as much of the appliances, furniture and building materials as they can. Then they sell everything in the Re-store and the profits go back into building houses. The benefit to the customer is that they get a tax break on everything salvaged. The benefit to the environment (and our children’s children) is that 60-80% of the old building stays OUT of the landfills. Pretty cool system!

We decided to do Habitat down here because we’d worked a bit with the team in Monroe in December and really liked it. We quickly discovered that tearing down a house can be a lot more dangerous and exhausting than caulking and painting! From 8am-3pm, we were either up on the roof, tearing off boards and kicking in sheetrock or down on the ground cleaning up the giant heaps of lumber. Luckily, there was a team of 8-10 college-aged AmeriCorps volunteers there to help out. Great to see kids using their powers for good, instead of wasting their energy dancing and partying ‘til dawn (although, I did that and I turned out ok)!

The home we were demolishing was in a uber-well-to-do neighborhood on the west side of Austin with amazing views of the city. We were demo-ing it for the neighbor who bought the lot to expand his mansion. I quipped that we were like Robin Hood - taking from the rich to give to the poor (only, with crow bars and permits)! In fact, we later found out that the house being demolished belonged to President LBJ's wife, Lady Bird Johnson, in the last years of her life. Maybe we'll look harder for historical artifacts when we're there next week!

So, after working on the roof all day, I’m beginning to think that Josh’s fear of heights is 1) all a big lie or 2) cured. I wouldn’t call him ‘agile’ on the rafters, but he didn’t fall through the ceiling or burst into tears once! My theory is that all the stunts I’ve pushed him into since we’ve been married have helped him conquer his fear. In the business (of behavior analysis), we call this type of treatment ‘flooding’ – where you inundate the patient with the particular object/experience they are afraid of until the fear response no longer occurs. So, forcing Josh to do crazy things like zip-lining, snowboarding and roofing doesn’t make me a bad wife. Instead, it makes me a GOOD behavior analyst! Someday I am sure he will thank me for it… ;)

Doing Downtown San Antonio (with a local and 2 temporary transplants)

We ventured into downtown San Antonio on Saturday, but not before filling up with a hearty brunch of local Mexican flare! Veronica, Dat and Lorenzo met us at the Blanco Café (a bit north of town) so Josh could get his chorizo fix. This restaurant was definitely authentic – with homemade flour and corn tortillas, super spicy green sauce on the table and a dozen ala carte taco choices. Veronica ordered the Barbacoa so we could each have a taste… and waited ‘til we ate it to school us on the origin of the mystery meat! Josh had the chorizo and egg plate and I had Caldo de Pollo (super good chicken soup). Yummy and cheap!

After brunch, we stopped to check out a festive bakery in the heart of downtown (lots of colorful pastries, sugary sweets and free samples!) and browsed a gallery of shops with standard Texas souvenirs (shiny silver crosses, brightly painted pottery, ponchos, etc.). Then we headed to the Alamo, which is a surprisingly small building, smack dab in the middle of town. Again, there was a video to refresh your memory of 5th grade history. We strolled around the manicured grounds and Veronica introduced us to the haunted history of the Alamo and the city. 

Travel tip: If you’re going to San Antonio, everyone says to visit the Riverwalk. It is a nice area for a stroll (even though the river was drained for clean-up while we were there), but there are mostly chain restaurants along the river. Make sure you check with the locals if you want to get some good grub in the city!

On Sunday, the sun finally came out of hiding and Josh and I made another trip to the south side of downtown. We found a great place to walk along the river in the historic district – tons of gorgeous southern mansions being renovated. We visited the home of the Pioneer Flour mogul, C.H. Guenther and strolled through La Villita (a slew of little shops and galleries).

Mission San Jose – Religion Dominates 1000 Years of Culture

Although the Alamo is the most famous of the Spanish missions in Texas, a short drive south of San Antonio lies one of the largest and most historically preserved – Mission San Jose. This stone-walled encampment housed up to 350 Native Americans at a time, all convinced by the Spaniards that living and working at the mission, adopting Catholicism and sacrificing their age-old traditions would bring them safety and prosperity.

The quest of the Spanish missionaries to bring Christianity to the native Texans was not purely altruistic, however (those sneaky Catholics!). They needed a quick way to colonize the area so that the French couldn’t claim it for themselves. What better way to stake your claim than by pretty much enslaving the nomadic people of the area and teaching them to be ‘Spanish citizens’? And, because many of them are sick and dying from some miserable new diseases (brought over to the New World by you know who), they’ll probably take you up on your offer of safety, medicine and ample food. Too bad it took over 100 years for you to give their land back (split up in bits and pieces), after 70% of them died from small pox anyways (even after learning Latin and praying to a new Lord).

Can you tell I’m a little bitter? Overall, visiting Mission San Jose was very eye-opening, though. They have a great little movie and diorama that give you the history lesson. And they’ve reconstructed the church, rectory, dorms, etc. so that you get a sense of how people lived. It would be interesting to talk with some of the descendants of the tribes who were housed in the missions – I wonder if any of the traditional stories or rituals have endured.

I would call Mission San Jose a ‘must-see’ if you visit south Texas!

San Antonio is below freezing – but the people are so warm!

We arrived at our hotel/motel/non-Holiday Inn last night and went out for Mexican food. Pretty good for a diner behind the grocery store, 20 minutes outside the city. (Heck – when they hand out homemade tortilla chips before you sit down, who can complain?)

Back at the hotel (after too much Mexican food), we made the same resolutions we make every couple weeks. Let’s eat less, eat healthier, exercise more! This is sooooo do-able! We’ve done it before, we can do it again! We’ve just never tried it on vacation, in a place where Josh could easily find chorizo for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This morning, we were up at dawn, running shoes on, facing down the waffles, pastries and little peanut butter tubs at the continental breakfast, ready to brave the unseasonable temps and 20mph winds. On a tip from the desk staff, we drove to the nearby medical complex for a trail run and a wrong turn led us into ‘domestic deerville’. We came up on a heard of 10-15 deer wandering through a residential neighborhood! They were everywhere – traipsing the roads, lounging on the lawns, and strolling right up to front doors. We thought this had to be a crazy, 1-time-only event. Michigan deer don’t gather in the suburbs, a half mile from the highway to graze! We later learned that Texas deer are much more lax and generally live in harmony with their Greater San Antonio human friends. Who knew?!?

After the deer encounter… it was time to find the park and start running, in the miserable cold and wind. This has got to be the worst winter weather South Texas has seen! Lucky for us, I’ve adopted this whole ‘marathon of friendship’ (MOF) idea. (I’m trying to be more open and engaging with people we meet.) When I noticed that a warm, cozy, spa-like fitness centre was located right on the running track, I decided to stop in and ask for free 1-day guest passes. Two hours later… we walked out with 5 treadmill miles under our belts and week-long free passes! Hospitality does shine down here! We’ve since tried out their heated lap pool, sauna, steam room, showers and mouthwash. J

So, over the past few weeks, I’ve been reaching out to San Antonians on couchsurfing.org (hip social-networking website where you can meet locals willing to host travelers or show them around town). Fast forward to Thursday evening… My MOF pays off again and we’re invited to watch the big UT/Alabama game with a fellow couchsurfer. We’re sitting around the dinner table with Veronica, her neighbor and 2 high school foreign exchange students (1 from Germany who she’s hosting, and his friend from Italy). What?!? How cool is that? Veronica was born and raised in Texas, went to UT San Antonio and even made us authentic flan (which I declined and Josh only accepted a tiny sliver, due to the above mentioned resolutions)! It doesn’t get more authentic.

All in all, a good first (albeit chilly) day in the Lone Star State!