Non-Conventional Spring Break Part 2

So I left off in the middle of the first day. I planned to do a two-part series but as off now this will be a trilogy (trilogy always sound cooler... LOTR or Star Wars pop into mind but especially LOTR... despite some people not being as crazy about it as I am). We drove for 10 hours the first day (some of us slept for most of it except the few brave, albeit a bit crazy, ones) until we arrived in Savannah, Georgia. There we would eat dinner at Wendy's across from the Holiday Inn Express (the first of many fries for me during the week and frosties for everyone else). Then we would explore the city and go in search of the bench in Forrest Gump. After 30 minutes of walking around the city and exploring various parks we came to the conclusion that we had just failed at finding the bench (How many Georgetown students does it take to find a bench? Clearly more than 10). After that we went to the hotel to sleep for the last time in 6 days in a bed (we would be roughing it for the week but I had a Hispanic moment and referred to what I was doing as "roughing up"... big difference!).

The following day we would drive again for 10 hours with our usual pit stops. We stopped in St. Augustine to go to the beach for an hour (our only trip to the beach during our entire week in Florida was just for an hour... we are totally non-conventional!). In one of our pit stops I found postcards (which I had to send for the Tombs for 99 Days). I was so indecisive that I got two so I decided to send one to the poor people stuck in the RHO during spring break (the postcard was off an old lady on the beach with three young shirtless men around her saying which stated "Too busy to write") and the one for the Tombs was one which had a picture of an alligator and at the top it said: "Up close and personal" (this would actually be quite relevant later in the week where we did see alligators). So I was excited about getting my Tombs postcard on the second day and pumped to send it right away (stay tuned to this story because it will last for a while). Then after more sleeping and a lot more driving we finally get to Immokalee. We get to the community center and find out it is actually a very nice place (although we still had to sleep on the floor). I was also resigned to not having a computer for a week but then I suddenly see that they have 12 computers in a nice computer room (so much from being totally disconnected from everyone at Georgetown but I still could accomplish of not texting anyone... it was hard the first two days but then I got used to it... believe it!). We went to the park to have a BBQ (this park is relevant later on). The first day we played spud and it took us about 30 minutes to light the fire. My hands ended up full of coal (we took a picture where I was supposed to look scary with my hands full of coal but it was blurry when I saw it a week later and just thought to myself: "So much wasted potential"). We also found out one of the freshman girls was married (I am a senior and nowhere near to that stage and was immensely impressed... after all you do not expect freshman to be so mature). After that revelation we would go back to the community center and some of us would play bananigrams (I suck at it... Ironically a couple of people would play scrabble with each other from different cars in their i-Phones). This would commence the not sleeping enough because we would have to wake up at 7:30 every morning when we to bed (or sleeping bag) way past midnight.

Our first full day in Immokalee was packed. First we went to meet with those that provide legal services to the poor people of Immokalee (I would slowly find out that the area surrounding Immokalee is responsible for 75% of the tomato production of the United States during the winter months). After that we went to Ave Maria University. There the tour guides would be really nice and give us free drinks at the coffee shop (aka their Uncommon Ground... those Corpies on the trip have corrupted me). They would also give us a one hour tour and free lunch despite the fact that we were just tourists and not interested in transferring (at least I am happy being a Hoya despite the loss against Ohio University... why are we cursed against all these Ohio universities?!?!). I was impressed by all their Catholic stuff but Georgetown is the place for me now. As we would leave Ave Maria University I would notice I lost my postcards (I become so disheartened but it was for the best because I believe the group became one with my 99 Days postcard search... by the final couple of days that would be one of my main concerns but this matter is to be continued). After Ave Maria we would then go to the CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers... they are a non-profit organization which protects the tomato growers). There we would have the misfortune of meeting Tasha (our keyword for her). Tasha is in charge of the student-CIW relations where she has worked since last November. We can also called her Tash Tash. I believe she can be the next Ke$ha with a change from Tasha to Ta$ha. Despite being a hippie who lives in Immokalee I could see her coming out in 2 years waking up like P. Diddy, with Gucci sunglasses, pedicures on her toes and trying to get a little bit tipsy (despite the fact that we gave her many nicknames they were not out of love). I also have an adaptation of Tik Tok for the situation in Immokalee but I thought it would be insensitive to write it down (it involves "tomatoes on my toes"). We would listen translate to what one of the leaders of the workers would say and I immediately disliked her because she cannot translate (I wanted to stand up and tell her that I can translate). I have still not decided whether she was just bad at Spanish or had some alternate agenda (because I realized that everyone in Immokalee has their own agenda and everyone made me doubt eveything I will go with the latter). After that we would take a tour around the area and see the trailers where they lived (I still am undecided whether they are truly treated badly in their housing situation or they decide to do this so they can actually send more money back home). Then we would go back to the community center and sleep (maybe sleep only after a couple of hours because we never slept... except those drivers because they need to sleep and not kill us with their reckless driving).

This is taken much more than expected. This might be more than a trilogy (goodbye LORT... I will miss thee).

Immokalove to be continued!