Set Up Week

On Monday, our first official work day in the county, we split up into pairs with separate assignments. Torey (the returner on staff- this means he has already been on staff for a summer) and Jen (our center director, aka boss) started IHVs, known to non-ASP language speakers as Initial Home Visits. This is where we go visit houses that have turned in applications, meet the family, and look at the repairs that the family would like done to their home. Jacob and I (the first years, yay!) were supposed to explore the county and in the process complete a very long to-do list. The day started off badly, the hardware store that had been used in the past (and is very close to the center) was affected by the economy and is in the process of phasing out of carrying lumber. So we began our adventure of finding another hardware store that carried what we will need. Unfortunately, 2 days later, we are still in the process of figuring that out. After the hardware store, we went to the bank and everyone signed on to the checking account. Our teller at the bank was very friendly and helped us get started figuring out our hardware dilemma and helping me with suggestions for our culture night. We drove to all each border of the county in our process of exploring, our favorite place was Morefield's, this tiny country store that has bluegrass music on the weekends, our favorite part was the directions which were in true Appalachian style. The other two pictures are of the scenery we saw on our drive out to Morefield's. From what we've seen our county not only has mountains but also lots of beautiful rolling hills. Next we stopped for lunch at Mike's- a roadside BBQ stand and in the words of the sign, we "pigged out at Mike's" The rest of the afternoon was spent running errands, we drove to Boone to get things from Walmart and Lowes and then bought groceries at Save-A-Lot, where, coincidentally we saved a lot. We ended the day by cooking mac n cheese and hot dogs- yum yum and then reviewing the homes Torey and Jen had visited. Today we switched up the pairs, I was with Jen and Torey and Jacob were together, but we all did IHV's. Sadly I don't have time to write about today's adventures because I am going to bed :) sweet dreams everyone!