Hello!
Here's our blog from Monday:
Sunday
"Tomorrow, your group can put insulation in the kitchen, and some brave souls can venture down into the crawlspace and fix the insulation under the house."
Oh, good. Crawlspace. If there's ever something that you don't want me to reach, just mention that word, and I won't go anywhere near it. Luckily, he said "some brave souls" so we'll probably just get the boys to do it. Phewf!
Monday
Sent one of the boys into the crawlspace. Didn't hear from him ever again. (Oh well, more food for us!)
"Who wants to join Omar down there?"
You know, how bad could it be? I went over to survey the area. This little rectangle door, about the size of a small doormat, slides over to reveal a dirt tunnel. Pieces of insulation hang down like spider webs. A small light flickers somewhere off in the distance.
Not a chance. This is how horror movies begin. Stick several people in a cramped space underneath a house, and next thing you know, a serial killer unleashes some airborne toxin, or a pack of wolves decides to have an afternoon snack. I think I'll play it safe out here in the backyard.
After Omar convinces three others to join him, however, my curiosity starts to burn. How do they all fit in that little tunnel? What are they doing down there? How far away are we from the hospital again? Just to put things in perspective, there's no phone service for miles at our worksite.
"Hey, could someone pass us the insulation? You'd have to crawl halfway to give it to us," squeaked a muffled voice out of the crawlspace.
Who, me? Sorry, I'm busy…petting the dogs. Watching the cow on the mountain (no joke!). Keeping an eye out for the 400-lb pig next door (unconfirmed rumor). You know, the usual.
All right, fine. I'll just crawl in halfway, toss them some supplies, and crawl back out. No harm done. But let's be honest. At this point, the journalist inside me is itching with excitement. Photo opportunity, here I come!
I secure my facemask, put on some lab goggles straight out of Bill Nye, and climb in headfirst. Darkness. Dirt. Presumably tarantulas. My life flashes before my eyes. Then, I see a light. The tunnel starts to slope downward, creating more space between the floor and the ground beneath the house. I can get up on my knees! I finally spot the other four "brave souls" hanging out in the spot directly underneath the kitchen. At that point, the tunnel expands, and everyone can almost stand at full height. This wasn't what I expected at all. In fact, it's not so bad.
Okay, I'll just take a few pictures, and crawl back out before the rats have a field day. But after spending some time down there, I get used to it. I figure if you're going to go all the way to Virginia to do some community service, you might as well go all out. I grabbed some extra tools and got to work.
The four members and I (now dubbed the mole people) pulled out big pieces of insulation out of a hole the size of a drive-in window. We wedged it into the ceiling (and by ceiling, I mean the ground below the kitchen floor) and then got pieces of wire, secured them around the insulation, and stapled them to the wood. The whole process is entirely doable, especially for a group of beginners like us. Doing this half-sitting, half-lying under a house can get a little tricky though. That's how the move, the Insulator, was born. Stay tuned for our workout video. It comes out April 1. The space underneath the house greatly varied in height. So, in some places you could stand, and in others you would be sandwiched between the floor and the ceiling.
The verdict? We finished the remainder of the work that had to be done underneath the house in one day! I was so proud of our team, especially the three girls, including myself, who never expected to wind up underneath a house, but who ended up loving (almost) every single minute of it. A wasp the size of my face emerged out of the woodwork at one point though, and we spent a good hour squirming around, screaming. Talk about bonding!
All jokes aside, I'm so happy that we got a chance to work on this project. What I love most about ASB is the opportunity to do something I never, in a million years, thought I would do. You get to step out of your comfort zone, get down and dirty, and feel great about it afterwards. I can't wait to continue working on this project all week. We've met the family and they're a great bunch of people. I've never been able to see the real impact of a community service project firsthand, so seeing their faces light up after seeing the progress that we've made fills my heart with joy.
Only downside? You should have seen how we smelled/looked after crawling out of underneath the house. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.
One of our lovely participants also turned 21 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL TOLLIVER! We celebrated (alcohol-free, of course!) at a local restaurant with some of our new friends from South Carolina. Fun fact: we were playing catchphrase the other day, and one of them had to describe "Truman the tiger". Her attempt? "Uhhh…it's a president, but also an animal…I have no idea what this is."
-Veronica Polivanaya
Thanks!
Veronica
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