Justin, the FSU intern and a former Casas intern, was called upon many times to come and help his team with projects at the site. Emma and I started calling him "Bubble Master" after he came and fixed our chicken wire bubbles.
On Tuesday, in the kitchen, I was making chicken pot pie for dinner. The crockpots left on low all day had turned it into chicken soup and I had to do some fast kitchen chemistry to thicken it up. As I was working on that, I forgot about the cans of biscuits that I had been opening and it exploded! Biscuits hit the wall, the sink and the floor and scared Kayla and Zach, my kitchen helpers. They had been busy creating a double boiler out of two skillets and a steamer to melt white chocolate for dessert! Having Michigan Tech along to help with some of those kitchen challenges always proves to be a success!
Cassie and Emma have declared that this wasn't a "real" Mexico trip. Mitch borrowed cots from Casas for all 39 of us (a Mexico trip first!) and most people were showering every night (also not usual!) A few of us held out and didn't shower until Wednesday, just so that it would feel more like a real Mexico trip, but Mike P. declared that he was fine with a fake trip and was perfectly content to shower earlier.
Juarez has speed bumps along the main roads to encourage people to stick to the speed limits. Usually they are marked, but Ferris Team 2 found one the hard way when Jared, our build leader, missed one and hit it hard with his truck. We had just enough time to slow down a little and not hurt the van too much, but all of us were glad that it was on the way OUT to the worksite and not on the way BACK with full bladders.
Justin and Cassie, who are now "real friends" since they worked on the house together, have taken to teasing each other like a brother and sister would. After one exchange, Justin told Cassie, “I can’t believe you think that low of me!” Cassie replied, “Well, I do think you’re short.”
On the way to the Casas compound to meet our Casas representatives on Monday, Mitch missed a left hand turn and we wound up going through the security checkpoint at Fort Bliss, the army base here in El Paso. The guard found it highly amusing to have 3 fullsize vans come through the checkpoint and the students enjoyed Mitch's running commentary to himself and random comments over the radio as we traveled.
Megan started bringing a hammock to sleep in on the trip a couple of years ago. Last year, Jon followed suit and brought one and this year, we had a rainforest of Michigan Tech hammocks. They all swung back and forth in the breeze of the guys snoring and seemed to be a popular hangout spot for everyone. Watching Jon crawl into his mummy bag and then get into his hammock was the nightly entertainment!
Reminiscing about former alumni and Mexico trips gave Jason, Seth, Mitch, Jon, Baleigh, Kate, Jared, Joe and Scott a great chance to laugh on Monday night while the students were playing games. It was really fun to hear all of the crazy stories of students who have come on the trip and made a lasting impact on the staff here at Casas (in good and funny ways).
The students are done with their tasks here at Casas and they did an amazing job. They didn't even complain about washing the rocks (it's like lawnmowing in MI - just an accepted way of life here in sandy, dusty Texas). They're going through the store now and then I think we're headed to the church for showers before we go to dinner with the Casas staff for our annual post-Mexico feast. I think they're all getting excited to spend a few days just chilling in the vans and sleeping, but none of us are really excited to come home to snow. We're liking the sunshine and 70 degrees here!
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