I have been in St. Louis for about a week and a half now and its been a great time already. My apartment is a bit dank and dirty but my roommates are all good guys and we've been having a blast. My only real complaint is that we have some tenants who do not pay rent. Im referring of course to the mice and spiders that call our apartment home. Luckily most of them are in the basement which is far away from my humble second story bedroom. We do have a nice park right across the street and are within walking distance of a ton of young people bars. I feel like I've been here for a month already. Its hard to imagine that our job hasn't even started yet. Some of the second year Americorps St. Louis members planned a few events around the city to help the ERT(emergency rescue team) and education members get a chance to meet one another. On Sunday Sept 11 several of us ERT members joined a group of over 200 volunteers from around the city to help restore a historic African American cemetery that has been completely overgrown. We spent several hours taking down weeds that were over my head and clearing away debris from gravestones. We made a lot of progress in the short time my group was there but there was still a lot of work to be done. Here is a pic of me and Kayla with our weed wackers!
On Monday our group took a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. It was a beautiful day, however, I was unimpressed by the zoo itself. They didn't even have polar bears! That's the best part of the zoo... We did get to see some other cool animals but overall it didn't stack up. I guess i'm just spoiled by the Henry Dorley Zoo in Omaha NE. I did get a chance to meet a lot more people, especially those on the education team.
On Tuesday we loaded on some buses and took a ride down to the St. Louis Arch and the city botanical gardens. The gardens had a bunch of really cool statues including this interesting head structure.... thingy.....and yes I did climb inside it and stick my head through the eye hole. The gardens were right downtown surrounded by the St. Louis skyline. It made for a really striking visual.
The Arch itself is right on the Mississippi River and overlooks the city to the west. Hence its name "Gateway to the West" On the east across the river is Illinois and infamous East St. Louis. Our small group decided to pay the toll and go up on top of the arch to check out the view. Five of us loaded into a small four foot by four foot bubble elevator with no windows and no room to move then shuttled 630 feet up to the top of the arch. At the top was a short hallway with windows on either side for viewing. The arch is the tallest structure in the city and the skyline look great from up above. This video give an idea of what I am talking about.
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