Round 2: Biloxi Mississippi [Part One]

October 29 - December 17
Once arriving to Biloxi, my team and I discovered that Biloxi is a "miniature Las Vegas" of the South. The strip where our housing was located was full of casinos and resorts. It was definitely vibrant and showy to say the least. We noticed as we pulled up to our housing that we were going to be living right across the street from the GULF! That's right, the beach was literally at our finger tips! The only thing int he way of my team and the beach was a simple four laned road! Talk about being the best housing location yet!! My team and I had been told by previous groups to not go into the water in fear of receiving staph infectsion, so I'm very sad to report that I enjoyed the water from afar. For sleeping quarters, we lived in dorm styled rooms. Each room had eight bunk beds and a bathroom that consisted fo two stalls, two sinks and two showers. The only thing I was worried about was the fact that the beds were a little too soft for my liking. Oh well, I quickly realized that I should have focused on being thankful that I didn't have to sleep on an uncomfortable cot for two months! For food, we had a tiny kitchen that was located in the Casey Center which was a big room where the church probably held weekly meetings. The only drawback of the center was that there wasn't a comfortable area to "lounge". We either had to lay around in our bunk beds, sit on chairs in the center, or sit at picnic tables outside.

Each week we worked Monday through Friday and had the weekends off. The majority of our time was spent working in two homes. One home was a home that was going to be used to house volunteers once in the interior renovations were completed. My team and I installed insulation, dry wall, mudded, textured, and painted the walls. I spent the majority of my time mastering the skill of mudding. More or less you mud by spreading a thick putty like substance along the taped seams of a wall where the two pieces of dry wall meet. It sounds like an easy process but it takes a lot of patience and a lot of skill.

The other home that my team and I spent a lot of time working on was at the house that was built from start to finish by Hope CDA (organization that we were working with). When the house is complete, the house will be used as a rental home for individuals that in the process of finding permanent housing in the Biloxi area. The Hands on Gulf Coast team of people began working on the house back in August. Once my team and I arrived in Biloxi, our main task was completing the interior work. I spent the majority of my time painting and tiling and bathroom and kitchen floors. I practically painted every surface in the home including walls, window trim, ceilings and doors. By the end I was a professional at cutting in around the ceiling and corners without making any mistakes. I also had the opportunity to tile the kitchen floor by myself after only having instruction on one floor prior to the kitchen floor.

Overall each home that we worked on provided a great work environment. Our supervisors at each of the homes taught us each task with much detail and gave us enough room to complete each task. I never felt like they were peering over my shoulder waiting for me to make a mistake. I believe that they truly had confidence in the skills that we obtained throughout the weeks. I definitely feel confident in teaching others the tasks that I was educated on while working in Biloxi.

PT time was definitely enjoyable while in Biloxi. We had many of our sessions on the beach. A favorite for my team was soccer while a least favorite was trying to run on the sand. Goodness it's definitely a work out that's for sure! We also tried a game of basketball on one of the local courts. Surprisingly this theatre girl really enjoyed basketball! Granted I didn't exactly know what I was doing most the time, but I at least found myself having a lot of fun!