Day 1 - ASB 2005

Saturday
March 5, 2005

Last time I attempted to keep a written record of an exciting week-long trip, it lasted for about oh...2 days. I was in a similar spot then as I am now: at the beginning – except then I was sitting on a plane in the middle of a 9 hour flight to Barcelona. Now I’m riding in a mini-van cruising on I-40 embarking on a 24 hour trip to Brownsville, Texas (it should really take 19.5 hours, but with stops, it will add up to about 24 hrs)...and no matter what anyone says, that’s pretty close to the border of Mexico (5 minutes to be exact), so in my book we’re goin to Mexico. We’re gonna be spending 2 days in Matamoros, Mexico, so I do get to actually say I went to Mexico for Spring Break – but that mindset kind of defeats the spirit of this trip.

Let me explain...

First of all, I’m goin on this trip through ASB – Alternative Spring Break. It’s a campus organization that arranges for about 500 students to spend their spring breaks working on specific service projects throughout the United States (this year including sites in Guatemala and Mexico). The site I’m going to will immerse us into the issues of "poverty, immigration, childcare, and unemployment."

[Bathroom break]

We got off at the wrong exit, but I was dying for a bathroom break, so we all stopped at a gas station. Random request of the day: an 80 year old guy didn’t have his ID and the cashier lady wouldn’t sell him alcohol. So the guy asked Sumeet to buy it for him.

Now we’ve been on the road for about 3 hours and we just passed over the Mississippi River into Arkansas. Upon Nader pointing out a Mosque on the side of the ride, Sumeet's reply: "yeah, that’s definitely very mosque-ish."

Okay, as I was saying before about our ASB site. We’re gonna be working on dilapidated houses and constructing new ones. That’s the extent of my knowledge of what we’re gonna be doing.

I know that where we’re going is not gonna be the most beautiful place...it won’t be exotic and colorful...but it will be different. It’s important to see another part of what life is like for other people. I’m sure I’ll leave this experience feeling much more appreciative of what I have. Plus, this is a segment of society I want to work for and serve in the future...so whatever goes down will be eye-opening and valuable.

There’s a total of 12 of us making this trip down to Brownsville. 4 guys, 8 girls. That’s gonna be interesting with the 2 bathrooms we’ll be sharing in the morning. We’re split into 2 mini-vans...I’m in the "bonding" van – i.e. the van w/o the DVD player.

[haha...snoop doggy dog "rollin down the street smoking…sippin on gin ‘n juice..." haven’t heard that in forever.]

Not much bonding happenin yet...it’s still morning and not much of us got sleep last night. I stayed up all night with Danny & Erica – we all had to be up around 5am and if we slept, we’d never wake up. After they left my room, I stayed up watching a movie till 5am...one of those "strange, make you think, not sure what’s really happening in the movie because reality and fantasy are so mixed" kind of films. It had an important message though...one of those "exciting, keep you on the edge of your seat" kind of films that eventually has a moral to all the maddness - the realization that beauty exists and it always will, through all the horror and old age: "siempre, siempre existirá la belleza." The film was in spanish which made it all the more appealing to me. (Lucia, Lucia - directed by Antonio Serrano - based on the novel "La hija del canibal" by Rosa Montero).

Okay, enough for now...more later.

[Dispatch! Africa sounding song – haven’t heard it since Pikesville]

Lion King sing along!

New artists to check out:
Dave Barnes – great voice!
Ben Harper
Soul Miners Daughter
Jack Johnson
Gavin Degraw
Matt Works

Quotes of the day:

“Yo, fish are birds” – Jon

“Road trips are like life…the first hour is really long, but each subsequent hour becomes a small part of the big picture” – Dave gets philosophical

“I’m awesome in the mornings” – Kelly (said 3 sec. before almost running into a pole)

“hey! Asparagus!”
“dude, it’s celery!”