My Summer - Aaron Jurell Sarmiento

The best part of summer was when I worked in downtown Oakland on a house. The work consist of taping and mudding, painting, sanding, flooring, and putting sheet rock onto the walls. The reason why I say this was the best part of summer was because I learned how to do these things but also was helping a family member in need. I started working in mid July; my aunt actually hooked me up with the job. Once she asked I immediately took the open opportunity to work with her. The first day of work we had training, it was basically the instructors giving us a brief summary about what we are about to do. I really was excited and interested in what we were going to do so I was already tempted to do the real thing. That wasn’t until the next week after training. Once I got my hands on the mud knives I went straight to work. Throughout the month we were making major progress and I was so happy how good we were doing. It’s pretty hectic because my aunt needed to move in before summer ends. So we were working at a race against time, which made the work really hard and worth working hard for. I don’t think I would ever forget the time I was drilling screws into the sheet rock. Man... I never drilled in so many screw holes in my life. My shoulders and actually my whole right side started cramping. There was a point I thought I was done and my aunt said I missed a spot and looked up. And then there was the ceiling… we had a good laugh about it, I was already done with but hard work pays off and I grabbed that ladder and knocked out that whole ceiling in an hour. That was one of the most hardworking experiences I had due to hands on work. Once I finished I was so relieved, tired, happy, sore, but happy. Satisfied with the progress and walked out the door with a smile on my face, and a sore arm. What a great day that was. Once we got done with all the screws in the sheet rock, we also got done with taping and mudding, and sanding. Coming into the end of the month of July