Notes from Underground
Journal excerpts from Alternative Breaks participant Christopher Ferreria , Revelle ’ 18 .
3 / 21 : This was it , the first day of service ! I felt excited as well as nervous to see if I can do something positive for the family we worked with . Today was the first day of hard , but rewarding service , but right now I feel confident that we did major work laying a foundation . The work will get harder as the days go by , yet this difficulty will just make the work more fulfilling .
3 / 22 : Our second day of service was way more productive than the first . We laid out the entirety of the ditch and made sure it had equal water flow throughout .
3 / 23 : We completed our work for our first homeowner today , finalizing the ditch by pouring gravel as well as polishing the rest off . The only questions / doubts that we had were : would it last and is it sustainable ? When we were back at the nonprofit I read a book called The Book of Virtues that really taught me lessons on self discipline , a topic I really needed to read up on .
3 / 24 : This day began our second project : the installation of handrails across the front porch of a house as well as on some stairs ( pictured right ). For many of us it was an introduction to the field of modern carpentry and construction . Afterward we went to a museum in nearby Oceana where we learned the rich history of the state and how its denizens have impacted the world .
" It was satisfying to know that we exceeded even our own expectations , and we wer e r elieved to know that we left with a finished pr oduct ."
3 / 25 : The end of service definitely felt like a triumph , and the journey to it was definitely a defining experience . It was satisfying to know that we exceeded even our own expectations , and we were relieved to know that we left with a finished product . That night we reflected on what we learned and what our favorite experiences were for the week . For me it was walking down the stretch of the finished ditch — it reaffirmed why I went on this trip and all the hard work I put into it .
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38 TRITON | FALL 2016