Even More Pictures!

From a different camera, pictures of the group and the apartment (one of the worksites)

More Pictures

Pictures of the group

Some Pictures:)

Day 7: Last Day!

Last day in Alabama! A little sad but we're all pretty excited to go back home and enjoy the last week of winter break.

Wrapping up work today. The projects still have to be finished, but they were big projects. A week's worth of work made a pretty good dent though. We ended a little early today to go home and pack, but not before saying a heartfelt goodbye to the wonderful people who led us. Pictures to come? If I can figure out how to put them here. I'm sure it's not too hard but it's been a long week.

Some of us shopped and visited the infamous Tuscaloosan"Taco Casa." After a final night in the town we cleaned and packed and got ready for the 15 hour drive back. Leaving at 4:30am tomorrow morning, going to Nashville for breakfast, and maybe some other stops on the way back. It's been an amazing week :)

Can't wait to see y'all!

Day 6

More work today. Some people from the church brought us food. That was nice of them.

We had dinner at "Dreamland," a hole-in-the-wall kinda place that actually had really good bbq and banana pudding. Do those two normally go together? Good combination.

One more day of work left before the 15 hour schlep home.

I'm personally tired so my posts aren't going to be very long, but that reflects the...idk...arch of the trip. Does that work? Cool. Good night!

Day 5

Projects continue

After work, we ate at the house, saw the Alabama v. LSU basketball game (Alabama won this one too--roll tide!:) ), and got TCBY (Tasty Creamy Buttery Yogurt).

That's all folks.

Day 4

Just noticed that Day 1 and 2 are not in the right order. Oh well, that's why they're labeled!

Back to work! Same routine, people continuing to conquer their challenging projects.

Drywalling took a very long time, both putting it up and taking it down (which is some good, cheap therapy).

We met another group from Slippery Rock University at a volunteer house (which was surprisingly an adventure to find) for a spaghetti dinner and games.

Then back to the apartment to crash and chill as the week rolls on. Congrats again to Tuscaloosa for an exciting victory.

Good night readers! Even if you're reading this in the morning ;)

Day 3

First day of work! I'm writing this a day later because the past two days were so long and tiring, but still great!

Woke up at 6:30amish got breakfast, packed lunch, got orientated, and headed off to our sites.

Kendra and Andrew worked at the trailer of a lady named Ms. Mimms. They bought their neighbor's traile after theirs was destroyed in the tornado, but the work they bit off was a bit more  than they could chew, so United Saints is contributing some teeth.

Sarah and Kathleen stayed at the apartment to work, since the volunteer housing is not quite done yet. Putting up drywall, painting, sleeping in (jk :P)

While the previous four learned to put up drywall, Ingrid, Brodan, Janie, Jacob and Gaby learned how to destroy it, and the world goes round. We went to a highly active but at the moment severely damaged church that was so damaged that it needs to be gutted (basically get everything but the skeleton of the building out of there). This project is probably going to take the most effort, since it is a whole church that needs complete redoing. Lots of mold since a torn-off roof led to exposure to elements, so lots of mold, bugs, dirt, rubble, all that good stuff.

After work we cleaned ourselves and watched the game at "Mugshots," a nice grill establishment with a challenge (that remains untaken on this trip) that may soon be seen on "Man v. Food." But anyway, Alabama won. Half of us crashed at half-time while some stayed to see the city light up.

Long, workful day contrasted to a highly energetic night makes for a interesting post (or at least to this blogger)

Day 1: January 7th

January 7th marked the first day of the UW-Madison Alternative Break trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for tornado relief. Every day for the next week we hope to update interested readers about what's going on. We have an exciting week ahead of us..

The 9 of us met in the Helen C. White parking lot at 7am, where we divided our luggage and personnel between the two vans. 

We made a stop for breakfast about two hours in at a McDonald's in El Paso, IL. Two things interesting about the trip so far: how similar the United States seems as you travel down on the highway (lots of winter-browned grass), and how many franchises pop up literally everywhere. There is a McDonald's seriously like every five minutes. Isn't that crazy? You would think that each state would seem different. You know it isn't really that different but it's amazing how similar it is. When I was younger I had a puzzle of the United States. Illinois was green, but the state isn't all green. Neither is Wisconsin pink. Maybe that's just me :P

Anyway, we made another sightseeing/food stop in St. Louis, Missouri, where we saw the St. Louis Arch and ate at an Irish Pub called "The Dubliner." Apparently St. Louis is known for it's Italian food. Irish isn't really Italian but either way it was a fun stop.

We stopped somewhere in Arkansas for a place called "Memphis Best" so that's kind of a lie. How dare they! Just kidding. There was some fast food barbecue there, which was an alright dinner for a day stuffed from touristy food, which almost inevitably has to include a fast food franchise like McDonald's. McDonald's for president?

Next to Arkansas we drove through Tennessee. Memphis had quite the light show. Really pretty to see the lights at night.

Then Mississippi: a ride decorated with mucho forestry. At this point it was nearing midnight.

Finally  we landed at our destination in Tuscaloosa at about 2am. Everyone's very tired from a long and awesome day trotting our United Statesian square of the globe. We're sleeping in bunkbeds in two bedrooms of an apartment. Pretty nice accommodations. So far so good!

Day 2: January 8th

We slept in until 12pm the next day since the first day was so long.

We drove through the city and stopped at Little Italy for lunch for some interestingly flavored pizza. When in Rome…

The first orientation took place after lunch, where we learned about three projects for the week: restoring a disabled woman’s trailer, fixing an apartment bedroom, and gutting a severely damaged church.

We bought food and work supplies at WalMart and made dinner at night while playing games.

Easy, relaxing day before the work week.