One new thing I learned in New Orleans was about Brad Pitt’s project to build sustainable new houses in the lower ninth ward. I thought it was cool because it addresses not only the problem of the ruined homes, but also a cause of the hurricane that helped to destroy them.

This week at the urban farm nat talked to us about service and volunteering. He said he would rather have employees than volunteers because he felt that employees would be more committed to working at the farm long term and doing a good job short term. I think that this is a good ideology to have because in the real world we will more often be employees than volunteers, so being a good employee is something that we must learn to perfect. To me, the difference between service and volunteering is that volunteering is short term–I can volunteer to clean this dishes or tutor kids for an hour—and service is more long term–one can serve their country in the army or as president, for example. This distinction became clearer to me after my second day at work last week. The first day was good. I had plenty of energy before and after and didnt lose motivation. But each day got harder as I began to understand how much work each day required and that the next few would be exactly the same. It was much harder to be motivated the last day of the week than the first, and for that reason I felt much more accomplished after 5 days of work than I did after 1 or 2, and not because I had accomplished more, but that I had committed more time to the cause. I hope that by continuing volunteering after the mini term, that I can serve Schenectady and the wherever I live next.