Training Day 2: Hot Day!

Morning and Safety with Dawn
The Regular Volunteers
Scaffolding & Access Point
Roof Beams

Foundation Hold Down Bolts

OSB Ply Wall
Tool Shed
Dawn Power Box Demonstration

Erin Showing Power Tool Plug Ins

Saw Maintenance

Sidewinder & Worm Drive

Americorp: (Kenneth, Alex, Mary, Terrance, Erin, Me)

My Heavy Duty Tool Belt

Proud Bench Erin and I Made

Habitat House Tour

Stanford

Stanford Main Quad

Memorial Church

I can't believe how hot it was today, and still is. Dawn, our project manager for Redwood City and Erin from San Francisco spent the entire day training us. Starting off we met the experienced regular volunteers. I found out that volunteers are organized by the color hats they wear. Regular volunteers wear green hats, blue are for Americorp, red is for staff, orange are the families working to build their homes, and white are for day volunteers (the unexperienced ones.) There's so much, and holding onto every last bit seems impossible.

The Americorp from the San Francisco site and Peninsula were here in Redwood City for the day. We took a tour of a few of the homes all in different phases of being built, and learned construction safety and how to use power tools and cut wood with saws. Because the homes are all at different stages, this means I get to try everything from putting up walls to pouring concrete forms for unfinished garages. Working from scaffolding will be an experience, once I start doing that.

We all got our own tool belts and our own tools which include my hammer, tape measure, angle measurer and more. I've got a lot of getting used to it and know which leather pockets I put each of my tools. That and I've got to get longer shirts or something. The metal studs kept getting so hot and the belt kept rubbing my stomach over again. I don't need any callouses from my tool belt!

By the end of the day we had worked together to make benches. The entire time I had to keep wiping the sweat that kept pooling in my protection goggles making it impossible to see. Learning to use the worm drive saw was especially challenging and I can't wait until I can finally make a straight line. Driving in screws was hard too. My wrists are so wimpy right now and I have to work on making them hardier so that my screws go in straight. It seems hard to think for how long it took to build such a miniscule bench we will be expected to build 3 story homes!

Tonight was nice. Erin and I are gettting to know the neihborhood and we went to see a very sad movie at Stanford, Hotel Rwanda, and listen to one of the anthropology professors talk about his involvement in Rwandan rehabilitation effort. It's a strange feeling not being in school anymore and have evenings free to do whatever. It's nice.