Roughing it in Texas with AmeriCorps

I’m writing from Porter, TX, where Shuffle Round’s Water 3 has spent the past few weeks doing analyses of the remaining damages done by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav to Liberty and Montgomery Counties. Whenever possible, we follow up these analyses by repairing those damages. This has included debris removal, the uncovering and subsequent recycling of a former boat that now resembled a pancake more than anything capable of traversing water, and installing FEMA blue-roofs.
These tough days at work are followed by our retreat to our base-of-operations – a spacious cabin dropped smack in the middle of the Texas woods. The cabin comes with all possible amenities, a full kitchen, two full bathrooms (lacking shower curtains (don’t worry, plastic tarps and staples will suffice)), canoes and a pond roughly the same size in which to row them, and, finally, an environment which may or may not be possessed. Our comforts are rivaled only by the number of stories we’ve acquired while ‘roughing it’, such as being chased by wild Chihuahuas, discovering it’s NOT wise to feed the horses, and how we learned to check for alligators in puddles prior to our splashing through them.
For everyone wondering why I’m now a part of Water 3, and not Water 5 as before, allow me to explain Shuffle Round. This is one of the special features of the AmeriCorps’ Denver Campus. Our ten month commitment is divided into four different projects. My first was spent in Austin, TX; my second in Louisiana; this is my third, in Porter; my fourth remains a mystery. Projects one, two, and four are spent with the original teams you were designated a part of (in my case: Water 5). Project three, however, you are divided into new teams. Back at campus you assemble, prepare team positions, and figure out the new team dynamics. You leave Denver with a new leader, new companions, new project, and with new experiences always just ahead.