This morning (Friday) I woke up early, excited for today's Service project! We would be painting the apartments that Praksis provides for refugees and their families. I was just ready to do something really hands-on. When we finally made it to the houses after stopping for paint, I was glad to get to work. I was so excited to learn the other two groups were working at Peter’s house and our two groups would be painting at Samira’s apartment. I asked Maria (one of the Praksis workers) how to say "you are beautiful" in Greek. I probably murdered the pronunciation and I have no idea how much Greek she actually knows, but I wanted so badly to tell Samira how special she is. She looked up at me and just smiled. I hope she understood.
Her family's apartment was bigger than I expected with a living room, one bedroom, one bathroom, and good size kitchen. But it wasn't in the best shape- there was mold on some of the walls and other things that we couldn't fix. This made our job difficult because we aren't professionals, just volunteers who were eager to help. But we did what we could. I was in the bedroom. First we had to strip the walls of the old paint. Oh did I mention our limited tool selection? We had almost nothing to work with but our hand. Thankfully the man of the house found a scraper that we used to chip and peel the paint off. But that was only 1 tool to go around a room of about 8 workers. So I just used my finger nails. Then I realized I could use the other paint chips to push up underneath the paint on the walls to lift it up so I could peel it off. We got through this step pretty quickly by passing around the tool for the hard-to-reach places. Then we started to mix the paint. This was definitely a trial-and-error process until we found the best consistency. I started at the bottom and just worked my way around one and a half walls. People have commented several times at the lack of height on this trip- we are pretty much all short. And the wall were pretty high. So we improvised since we didn't have ladders and put people on top of other people's shoulders. It was actually fun since I got to be one of the ones painting from up on Kaitlin's shoulders! But the painting itself was actually very difficult. Some of the old paint wasn't completely off. So every now and then, old paint would come off onto the paintbrush while putting new paint on the walls. It was frustrating but not as bad as the situation in the kitchen where mold was all over one wall, ceiling paint was chipping and falling, new paint was peeling and falling off the walls. It was a disaster. The other two groups were at an apartment down the street. They finished a couple hours before us. One of our problems was too little and too tight a space as well as too many people. All the furniture was in the middle of the room, so we had to maneuver around each other and all the stuff in the room. I tried to stay positive but everyone's attitude slowly turned to frustrated and helpless. We felt like we had just made everything worse. I'm sure the family was just happy to have a fresh coat of paint but it looked awful in our eyes. Everyone was just defeated. Everyone was covered in paint and dust. We tried our best to get to a stopping point so we could clean up our mess. The other group had been waiting a long while for us to finish. By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted and upset with ourselves. The pizza party wasn't much of a party. The other group had gone ahead and eaten because they didn't want the pizza to get cold. So when we got there, our group just ate in silence, reflected on our work at the apartment.
I did my best not to complain or feel defeated. I know the family was thankful for our help. We just wished there was more we could do. The best part of the day though was seeing little Samira one last time as we were leaving. She was on the first floor balcony of another apartment. So I reached up and grabbed her little hand. I was sad knowing that this time was actually the last time I would get to see her because it was our last day working with Praksis. But surprisingly I didn't cry. I just smiled and said goodbye. While walking away, I kept turning around waving and blowing her kisses. All of the frustration with painting didn't even matter to me any more. I tried to remember what Maria had taught me to say. But all I could do was smile. I think, at least I hope, that was enough.
Although it was a long, hard day it was a good conclusion to Service Week. It is so important to reflect on everything we have learned and experienced this week from lectures, discussions, and field work. I haven't been keeping up with my journal like I wanted to, but my blog is helping me remember everything. We have our first journal essay due on Sunday. This will be a great way to gather all my thoughts and feelings.
Earlier this week during the our Power of Giving lecture, we made our Bucket List. One of the things I listed was "jump". At that time I didn't know what this applied to because I had already put myself down as a NO for bungee jumping. But I guessed it would maybe apply to other things like cliff jumping or even a metaphor for something else. Today on the ride to Athens, Robbie went around the bus with the final list for the Corinth Canal bungee jump. Twice he passed me and I gave him my same answer- NO! Every time the subject came up in conversation I would get a sick feeling in my stomach and I would start sweating. I watched a YouTube video on my phone- bad idea. Almost everyone else was signed up and excited and nervous to go. I thought to myself, "I can totally live with myself knowing I didn't do it. I don't even like roller coasters. Free falling scares me. I will be fun to just watch." Robbie came by me one last time. Kaitlin could see the internal struggle and uncertainty in my face. She yelled "Jenna wants to jump! Sign her up!" Robbie looked at me and told me this was my last chance to put my name down. I couldn't believe it, but I said okay. A few people around me clapped and cheered. I felt sick to my stomach. Tears were welling up in my eyes. "What have I gotten myself into?" On Friday May 28th, 2010 I will be throwing myself off a bridge 260 feet tall into a canal! Talk about stepping outside (or off) of my comfort zone. Ahhhh!
AHHHHHHHHH!
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