Friday, March 6, 2009
BLOG BY ADRIAN
FROM THIS PAST FIRST DAY OF SATURDAY I REALLY DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT NOT UNTIL ME CHRIS JOSH CLAY AND PORTIA WITH THE BEST BUDDIES OF THE WORLD SUCH AS JESSE RICHIE JORDAN TRAVIS ASHLEY EMMIE HONORA ALICE AS THE BEST AND FUUNEST OUT GOING FUN PEOPLE TO BE AROUND FROM THE GOOD TIMES TO THE BAD TIMES WE STILL HAD THE GREATEST TIME FROM MY EYES WHERE WE WORKED TOGETHER ON A PROGJECT FOR PEOPLE THAT IS LESS THAN US TO JUST HAVING FUN WORKING WITH EACH OTHER ON HELPING TO ME AND MY LIFE THIS IS THE GREATEST WEEK EVER FROM GO CARTS ON BEATING CHRIS TO COOKING FOOD ONTO WATCHING CHRISES MOUTH GET SET ON FIRE FROM THE SPICES AND HOT SOUCE GOING INTO THE EGGS ONTO GOING TO KROGER AND BUYING FOOD YEP THIS IS THE GREATEST WEEK OF THE YEAR SO FAR EVEN WHEN WE WENT HIKING IN THE MOUNTIONS IN GATLINBERG MAN I JUST CANT WAIT TO GO NEXT YEAR SO TO RACHEL TO BEN AND HIS CREW I ADRIAN L EWING THANK YOU WITH THE BEST BUUDDIES OF THE WORLD FROM VANDERBILT YOU HAVE MADED MY WEEK THE BEST WEEK EVER
The best week ever by: Chris Trevino
If I had to describe the best week ever, it would be this week in Knoxville. This week is the best week I have ever had. We have had loads of fun on this trip, getting to know each other in a different way than you can imagine. There have been arguments and there have been good times. Earlier this week a friend of mine named Adrian cooked me some eggs and did not tell me they had hot Tabasco sauce and I almost drank a whole carton of orange juice because of him. We had a go-kart race and we had two partners. It was me Adrian, Alice Kim, and Ashley. The winners of both races were Alice and I. Adrian, Alice, Ashley, Emmie, Honora, Laura, Jessica, Travis and everyone else on the trip are very cool. I had a great time and I am going to get my revenge on the egg incident that my friend Adrian did to me. THE END
More Awesome Pictures!!
Check out some more great pictures on our group site!
We are having a GREAT last night here, and are very sad to have to leave. Enjoy the photos!
http://photobucket.com/bestbuddiesspringbreak2
We are having a GREAT last night here, and are very sad to have to leave. Enjoy the photos!
http://photobucket.com/bestbuddiesspringbreak2
High's and low's... they are unavoidable (Post by Alice)
The girls headed out to a thrift store and once we made it there all of our burdens were released. What a blast we had there!!! All of us found awesome dresses for under $5 some were even $1.98!! We came back to the center and the boys were all gone. Whoohoo~ We ate left overs, cookies 'n cream ice cream with peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, and pretzels dipped in frosting. We got changed into our "new" dresses and left to head over to Kroger and Walgreens. We picked up a couple more groceries and bought make-up and nail polish. We got plenty of flattering remarks from everyone. Jeanne asked everyone she met, "Do you like?" It would catch people off guard and they would ask her to repeat it, but she was too excited! She stared at them with huge innocent eyes and I would repeat to the person, "She wants to know if you like her dress." Jeanne and all of us got tons of complements.
We braided each other's hair (or styled it some way), put make up on each other and wore bright pink lipstick. We had a dance party and created a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." We showcased the dance to the boys when they returned for the evening. This morning I drove Ashley to the Greyhound station at 6 a.m. Ashley has an interview for a summer placement this afternoon and had to get back latest this morning. We've definitely missed her today.
My all time highlight of yesterday and today, besides the service projects we did, was attend the live shows of Bella Fleck (Thursday at noon) and Hackensaw Boys (today at noon). We had a great time!!!! Both shows were free and it was a lovely break. Music can be so therapeutic!!!
Tonight we are having tacos for dinner to be prepared by Clay, Josh, Adrian, Chris, Jessi and Emmie. We can't wait for dinner even though we stopped by for soft serve icecream cones a few hours ago... This has been, overall, an amazing trip. We love our buddies SO MUCH and we love all the people that helped us make this trip possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I can't believe our trip is coming to an end!
Best Buddies love,
Alice
We braided each other's hair (or styled it some way), put make up on each other and wore bright pink lipstick. We had a dance party and created a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." We showcased the dance to the boys when they returned for the evening. This morning I drove Ashley to the Greyhound station at 6 a.m. Ashley has an interview for a summer placement this afternoon and had to get back latest this morning. We've definitely missed her today.
My all time highlight of yesterday and today, besides the service projects we did, was attend the live shows of Bella Fleck (Thursday at noon) and Hackensaw Boys (today at noon). We had a great time!!!! Both shows were free and it was a lovely break. Music can be so therapeutic!!!
Tonight we are having tacos for dinner to be prepared by Clay, Josh, Adrian, Chris, Jessi and Emmie. We can't wait for dinner even though we stopped by for soft serve icecream cones a few hours ago... This has been, overall, an amazing trip. We love our buddies SO MUCH and we love all the people that helped us make this trip possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I can't believe our trip is coming to an end!
Best Buddies love,
Alice
post by portia typed by Clay
i miss cathy and i miss some friends and i miss my boyfriend and i miss my family. I am having fun and Richie is a good friend and i miss my dad and grand parents and my cousin. I picked up some dirt and rake the leaf and i have a fun time volunteering with kids. adrian is a good friend.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
DEAR ADRIAN AND SHE LOVE BARNEY ON THE T.V. AND WERE A GIRL DRESS AND
PINK UNDER WHERE AND SHE EAT DOG AND CAT FOOD AND SHE PASS GAS AND
TONIGHT AND THE BED AND SHE DRINK DIET CHEERY COKE AND FOR TO GO BED
AND GOOD NIGHT AND OLD LADY AND WATCH BARNEY ON THE T.V. AND LAZY
GIRL AND JESSI AND GOOD NIGHT HNAND OLD LADY AND JORDAN IS A PRETTY GIRL
AND ASHLEY IS A CRAZY GIRL AND MC DONALD FOR ICE CREAM AND PORTIA
AND THE TENNESSE AND THEY WON RICHIE IS A PRETTY GIRL AND SHE WATCH
BARNEY ON THE T.V. YES AND GOOD NIGHT AND OLD LADY
SHARMANE SHE IS A PRETTY GIRL YES ''OK'' AND A OLD LADY
TRAVIS SHE WATCH SESAME STREET FOR CHRISTY.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Post by Clay
DEAR SHARMANE AND WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND JORDAN IS A PRETTY GIRL YES
AND SHE LOVE CLAY TON HOLLEMAN SIRCY AND SHE LOVE ME AND LOVE BIRD.
AND GOOFY DOG AND SHE EAT DOG FOOD AND CAT FOOD. AND SHE IS A CRAZY BOY
AND WE NEED AND THEY NEED TO WAKE UP AT 6:45 - 7:30 AND DON'T TO BE LATE
''OK'' YES JESSI AND SHE IS GOOD DRIVER. AND ADRIAN IS A PRETTY GIRL AND OLD
LADY YES SHE IS AND LOVE BIRD.
AND SHE LOVE CLAY TON HOLLEMAN SIRCY AND SHE LOVE ME AND LOVE BIRD.
AND GOOFY DOG AND SHE EAT DOG FOOD AND CAT FOOD. AND SHE IS A CRAZY BOY
AND WE NEED AND THEY NEED TO WAKE UP AT 6:45 - 7:30 AND DON'T TO BE LATE
''OK'' YES JESSI AND SHE IS GOOD DRIVER. AND ADRIAN IS A PRETTY GIRL AND OLD
LADY YES SHE IS AND LOVE BIRD.
The trip so far... posted by Alice
Dearest readers,
I'm not sure where to begin. This trip has blown my mind. I am one of the drivers and the theme song for my minivan has to be "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. Portia knows all the words and I get her to belt it as I chime in as often as I can. We have mini dance parties whenever we can. I'm proud to say that I've become a much better dancer since the start of this trip. Jeanne has become my ultimate dance teacher. :)
After today Jeanne believes that Jordan has magical powers to lock the side windows of the minivan. I will one day admit to her that I have control of all the windows from the drivers seat. But for now, we'll keep it on the "down low."
Tomorrow we'll be back to doing service after an amazing day off spent in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Wish us luck!!!!
Peace and love from Knoxville,
Alice
I'm not sure where to begin. This trip has blown my mind. I am one of the drivers and the theme song for my minivan has to be "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. Portia knows all the words and I get her to belt it as I chime in as often as I can. We have mini dance parties whenever we can. I'm proud to say that I've become a much better dancer since the start of this trip. Jeanne has become my ultimate dance teacher. :)
After today Jeanne believes that Jordan has magical powers to lock the side windows of the minivan. I will one day admit to her that I have control of all the windows from the drivers seat. But for now, we'll keep it on the "down low."
Tomorrow we'll be back to doing service after an amazing day off spent in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Wish us luck!!!!
Peace and love from Knoxville,
Alice
Off to Gatlinburg by Travis
Wednesday morning was our "sleep in" day. We all took our time getting up and completing our morning routine of chaos and fun filled showers and breakfast. Shortly after, we headed to Pigeon Forge, a "touristy" type area outside of Gatlinburg, TN. Pigeon Forge is packed with hotels, restaurants, arcades, and all types of fun stuff. We walked around, going in and out of shops until finally settling down to eat lunch at a small Italian restaurant. After an awesome lunch we loaded up the cars and headed to the Smoky Mountains. We hiked for a while, taking plenty of breaks and pictures. Eventually we were all pretty worn out and headed back down the mountain to continue with the rest of the evenings activities.
Once back in Pigeon Forge we decided we'd give go-carts a shot. In my opinion it turned into one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip thus far. All the college students paired up with a buddy driver and went a couple rounds on the track. It was amazing to see how awesome the buddies were at driving go-carts. Afterward we hung out in the arcade next to the track until heading to Sonic for ice-cream.
All in all today was an awesome day. As a college student I already find myself constantly re-evaluating my opinions on what the buddies can and cannot do, and how amazing they really are. I can't wait for the rest of the week.
Once back in Pigeon Forge we decided we'd give go-carts a shot. In my opinion it turned into one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip thus far. All the college students paired up with a buddy driver and went a couple rounds on the track. It was amazing to see how awesome the buddies were at driving go-carts. Afterward we hung out in the arcade next to the track until heading to Sonic for ice-cream.
All in all today was an awesome day. As a college student I already find myself constantly re-evaluating my opinions on what the buddies can and cannot do, and how amazing they really are. I can't wait for the rest of the week.
Tuesday afternoon
Tuesday afternoon during free time, a group of us went to the Sun Sphere, an exhibit in Knoxville from the World's Fair in 1982. (See pictures of the golden sky-scraping tower.) We took an elevator up and were able to see out to the mountains! We had a lot of fun in the World's Fair Park, rolling down the huge hill and enjoying the sunny afternoon.
Later, we went to Mt. Zion Church's after school program and participated and assisted with the programming. We first played games for a while, meeting different children. Then, we took part in their classes, which were Dance, Bible, and Health. It was great to get to see another after school program where Americorps members work and our buddies got to see more ways that Americorps members serve communities around here.
We came back at night, hung out, and made Breakfast for Dinner, full of fancy eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, fruit salad, cinnamon rolls, and more. The cooks had a lot of fun making the big meal, and those of us not cooking played Duck Duck goose, sang songs, and played other games. We had some more crazy dance sessions, making up our own dances and using moves learned from the after school program, and continued with the Life Map activity. We really got to know people so much better, with Adrian opening up more than ever before and others chiming in, asking questions, and really enjoying the bonding experience. We hung out late into the night, and got to sleep in Wednesday morning!
Later, we went to Mt. Zion Church's after school program and participated and assisted with the programming. We first played games for a while, meeting different children. Then, we took part in their classes, which were Dance, Bible, and Health. It was great to get to see another after school program where Americorps members work and our buddies got to see more ways that Americorps members serve communities around here.
We came back at night, hung out, and made Breakfast for Dinner, full of fancy eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, fruit salad, cinnamon rolls, and more. The cooks had a lot of fun making the big meal, and those of us not cooking played Duck Duck goose, sang songs, and played other games. We had some more crazy dance sessions, making up our own dances and using moves learned from the after school program, and continued with the Life Map activity. We really got to know people so much better, with Adrian opening up more than ever before and others chiming in, asking questions, and really enjoying the bonding experience. We hung out late into the night, and got to sleep in Wednesday morning!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Post by Portia
I am having fun down here and I made lots of friends and the yard work I've been doing and helping kids and tap dancing today and being with my best buddies really makes me happy. I'm glad I came down here and being with my buddy Emmie and I am so happy I'm in Best Buddies program. I miss my boyfriend and I am having a great time! And I've been drinking coffee! (I had never had coffee before!)
Post by Adrian
I am having fun. I am having a really good time and a lot of fun down here! Being around with kids is a new experience besides doing yard work and also helping people. And I would love to come out down here and do this again and the next time there is an opportunity to do it. So far, that's all I can think of.
I was good at pulling the grass and bushes and Knoxville being around kids.
I was good at pulling the grass and bushes and Knoxville being around kids.
Post by Clay
DEAR BEN AND THANK YOU SO MUCH AND TODAY IS TUESDAY MARCH 3, 2009 AND
I LOVE TO WORK AND WITH YOU SO MUCH AND I GREAT TIME AND WITH YOU TODAY
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH AND I AM SO MUCH AND SO HAPPY AND WITH YOU!!!!!!!
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PIZZA AND COOKIES AND WATER .
I LOVE TO WORK AND WITH YOU SO MUCH AND I GREAT TIME AND WITH YOU TODAY
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH AND I AM SO MUCH AND SO HAPPY AND WITH YOU!!!!!!!
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PIZZA AND COOKIES AND WATER .
Post by Will
I am glad I came. I got to be with the Metro Parks team here. We enjoyed being here, and I kind of like hanging out with little kids. Hanging out with my friends, and my hope for the future for spring breaks is that more best buddies could come here. And that's it!
Monday night and Tuesday morning
Monday afternoon we went to Virginia Avenue Church's JustLead program, an after school program where Americorps volunteers serve. We got to meet the children, help them make homemade pretzels, and played heads up seven up. It was interesting to get to see that part of town and meet the children of the Western Heights area of Knoxville.
Earlier in the day, one of the rental vans got a flat tire. It turned out to be a great experience for some of our buddies to experience how to fix this problem! Portia and Clay went with Jordan and Alice to Firestone, which is contracted with our Enterprise rental vans, and helped out. Portia tried coffee for the first time!
After volunteering with the children, we came back to the Emerald Youth Foundation's community center, our "home base" and got ready for dinner! One of the three dinner-cooking groups got it all ready and the rest of us hung out in the game room. The group, consisting of Portia, Sharmane, Will, Jordan, Alice, Jeanne, and many other helpers cooked a fabulous Italian meal. They made chicken parmesean, spaghetti, caesar salad, and homemade garlic bread!
After dinner, we had a great song session! We got out the Best Buddies song books and everyone sang along to songs we all knew! Country, campy, pop, etc. Everyone sang along, played on drums or guitars.
Then, we moved onto the Life Maps activity, an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) tradition that was brought to Best Buddies Spring Break (BSB). Life Maps is an activity in which each participant on the trip will have the opportunity to share his/her life story, speaking for as long as he/she wants and sharing anything he wants to. Our activity started off very emotional and then ended in uncontrollable laughter. We all bonded listening to some of our friends' life stories, and also had a great time with the activity as well.
Tuesday morning, we went back to Beardsley farm to work on our parking lot project! We began with playing a game around the fire, and then headed over to the parking lots at CAC. As you can see from the pictures, we uprooted many trees and bushes and cleared 3 plots completely ready for us to plant in! Josh worked on cutting down trees while Richie, Adrian, Alice, Clay, Jeannie, Honora, and Portia worked on uprooting grass. Jordan, Will, Christy, Travis, Chris, and I worked on getting bushes out of a plot with "loppers" and Emmie, Sharmane, and Ashley cleared a plot full of little plants to get ready to install our edible plants!
After a few good hours of working in the sun, we had a visit from Del Ray Zimmerman and his co-worker Malia! Del Ray is a coordinator of Volunteer Tennessee, the umbrella organization that organzes Americorps and other service endeavors in the state. He was a pivotal figure in the founding of this trip, and it was great to have him out on the site and meeting our buddies and helping out.
We had a great pizza lunch and some FABULOUS impromptu dance/song sessions. On the walk from Beardsley farm to our parking lot, the boys and girls sang back-and-forth Disney songs; in the parking lot after lunch, a huge dance session including Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, and Brittney Spears was going on. There is no stop to the fun here, no matter how cold it is outside or how tired everyone is from the day's work!
I have not stopped getting comments, every moment of the day, that include, "I'm really having such a great time," or "Please make sure I'm on the list for next year." Everyone is so grateful, as am I, for the fabulous activities and friendships on this trip. We look forward to an exciting afternoon today!
Earlier in the day, one of the rental vans got a flat tire. It turned out to be a great experience for some of our buddies to experience how to fix this problem! Portia and Clay went with Jordan and Alice to Firestone, which is contracted with our Enterprise rental vans, and helped out. Portia tried coffee for the first time!
After volunteering with the children, we came back to the Emerald Youth Foundation's community center, our "home base" and got ready for dinner! One of the three dinner-cooking groups got it all ready and the rest of us hung out in the game room. The group, consisting of Portia, Sharmane, Will, Jordan, Alice, Jeanne, and many other helpers cooked a fabulous Italian meal. They made chicken parmesean, spaghetti, caesar salad, and homemade garlic bread!
After dinner, we had a great song session! We got out the Best Buddies song books and everyone sang along to songs we all knew! Country, campy, pop, etc. Everyone sang along, played on drums or guitars.
Then, we moved onto the Life Maps activity, an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) tradition that was brought to Best Buddies Spring Break (BSB). Life Maps is an activity in which each participant on the trip will have the opportunity to share his/her life story, speaking for as long as he/she wants and sharing anything he wants to. Our activity started off very emotional and then ended in uncontrollable laughter. We all bonded listening to some of our friends' life stories, and also had a great time with the activity as well.
Tuesday morning, we went back to Beardsley farm to work on our parking lot project! We began with playing a game around the fire, and then headed over to the parking lots at CAC. As you can see from the pictures, we uprooted many trees and bushes and cleared 3 plots completely ready for us to plant in! Josh worked on cutting down trees while Richie, Adrian, Alice, Clay, Jeannie, Honora, and Portia worked on uprooting grass. Jordan, Will, Christy, Travis, Chris, and I worked on getting bushes out of a plot with "loppers" and Emmie, Sharmane, and Ashley cleared a plot full of little plants to get ready to install our edible plants!
After a few good hours of working in the sun, we had a visit from Del Ray Zimmerman and his co-worker Malia! Del Ray is a coordinator of Volunteer Tennessee, the umbrella organization that organzes Americorps and other service endeavors in the state. He was a pivotal figure in the founding of this trip, and it was great to have him out on the site and meeting our buddies and helping out.
We had a great pizza lunch and some FABULOUS impromptu dance/song sessions. On the walk from Beardsley farm to our parking lot, the boys and girls sang back-and-forth Disney songs; in the parking lot after lunch, a huge dance session including Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, and Brittney Spears was going on. There is no stop to the fun here, no matter how cold it is outside or how tired everyone is from the day's work!
I have not stopped getting comments, every moment of the day, that include, "I'm really having such a great time," or "Please make sure I'm on the list for next year." Everyone is so grateful, as am I, for the fabulous activities and friendships on this trip. We look forward to an exciting afternoon today!
Monday, March 2, 2009
The beginning of the trip!
Best Buddies Spring Break 2009 has started off to a great success! After a great car ride, despite the rain, we arrived at the Emerald Youth Foundation community center to play games, hang out, and order pizza. We had a fun night of playing basketball and hanging out.
On Sunday, we hung out in the community center, went grocery shopping, and then traveled to Jefferson City, Tennessee to Carson Newman College. There, we joined in with Carson Neman's Best Buddies chapter for a basketball tournament! Our teams, the Heat and the Spurs, were very successful. We were joined by Carson Neweman's varsity basketball team!
After the basketball tournament, we drove back to Knoxville and went to the Vanderbilt vs. University of Tennessee women's basketball game! It was a really cool experience, with thousands of people there to cheer on the lady vols. We had a great time cheering on the commodores, although we lost :( We came right back to the community center after a long day, got on our air mattresses, and went to sleep!
Today, Monday, we had an exciting day of volunteering! We started just before 8am at the Beardsley farm, a place that grows edible plants for people in the surrounding community to use for food supplies. We started by building a fire to keep us warm, and then we used wheel-barrows to move loads of dirt down to a few plots to turn them into edible gardens. After we did four gardens, we put up a fence so that ducks would have an area to be safe in around a pond. We also worked on digging out areas in the parking lot of the CAC (Community Action Council) to make those into edible plant gardens as well! In just one morning, we have done so much good for the community. We had lunch at CAC and now we are back relaxing at the community center. This afternoon we will volunteer at the youth afterschool program and we are cooking an Italian dinner tonight!
On Sunday, we hung out in the community center, went grocery shopping, and then traveled to Jefferson City, Tennessee to Carson Newman College. There, we joined in with Carson Neman's Best Buddies chapter for a basketball tournament! Our teams, the Heat and the Spurs, were very successful. We were joined by Carson Neweman's varsity basketball team!
After the basketball tournament, we drove back to Knoxville and went to the Vanderbilt vs. University of Tennessee women's basketball game! It was a really cool experience, with thousands of people there to cheer on the lady vols. We had a great time cheering on the commodores, although we lost :( We came right back to the community center after a long day, got on our air mattresses, and went to sleep!
Today, Monday, we had an exciting day of volunteering! We started just before 8am at the Beardsley farm, a place that grows edible plants for people in the surrounding community to use for food supplies. We started by building a fire to keep us warm, and then we used wheel-barrows to move loads of dirt down to a few plots to turn them into edible gardens. After we did four gardens, we put up a fence so that ducks would have an area to be safe in around a pond. We also worked on digging out areas in the parking lot of the CAC (Community Action Council) to make those into edible plant gardens as well! In just one morning, we have done so much good for the community. We had lunch at CAC and now we are back relaxing at the community center. This afternoon we will volunteer at the youth afterschool program and we are cooking an Italian dinner tonight!
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