MULAN – Friday 7/23/10

We are Mulan; a team of seven!  In total we come with 10 years of experience.  Unfortunately seven years worth of that experience is in only one person – our fearless  leader, Paul.  The other six of us have experiences ranging from 2 years (Adriana, Andy, & Danielle), to “newbies” (Jenna, Katie & Zach M.).   What we lack in experience we certainly make up for in enthusiasm & determination.

We have been charged with the following duties:

• Lay new sub-floor and carpeting in the living room
• Repair wall panel in kitchen

But being the intrepid adventurers that we are, we also took on the following tasks:

• Remove wall panel in the living room
• Remove panel in the bathroom & put green board over existing doorway between the bathroom & bedroom.
• Begin footing for front door decking

Here are a few words from Mulan…

Paul – This is a unique ASP.  I have another wonderful crew.  I have 2 excellent co-Leaders & hard working youths.  We poured piers for a front porch.  This was a new experience for me.  We were able to divide and conquer the sub-flooring in the living room & walls for the bathroom.

Adriana – Very happy to report that I am officially NOT a “newbie” this year!  But that means I will have to step up the very little “game” that I have!  We were fortunate to have most of our jobs indoors, so we were protected from the sun and rain, BUT the heat still managed to find us.  Its always a wonderful experience at ASP, but my favorite part has to be everyone coming together as a team.   Adults, teens, people who may not have had the chance to meet; maybe not even talk to each other, but they talk and plan and accomplish great things together on ASP.        

Zach M. – This was a really different experience for me, I learned a lot of construction things, while still having a lot of fun.  Flooring, the use of a Shale bar (VERY fun) and how to pour cement.  Avoid getting cement on your gloves.  You’ll thank me for that piece of information.

Jenna – My ASP experience was very exciting.  I was very surprised to see how different it is from where we live.  I had no idea that a few states away things could be so very different.  It was definitely fun to meet all these new people.

Katie – I believe that 4-Square will be an Olympic sport.  Bound Brook will field a team and Katy Goodson WILL be the Team Captain.  I learned that 3 people working in a trailer bathroom are 2 people TOO many (yes, you will thank me for that advise).

Danielle – I found this ASP easier than last year.  Less challenging would be a better word.  Maybe its because I am not a “newbie” or maybe its because I didn’t have to do any “under-pinning” this year.  This year still required a lot of effort because we still needed to get the job done OR as much as possible in this week.  I really liked the fact there were a lot of “newbies” this year.  It gave me a chance to meet new friends.

Andy – It was great seeing the expression on John’s face (our family’s son) when he talked about playing horseshoes.  I learned to tread lightly when installing sub-flooring (you WILL thank me for that piece of advice too!)