off to Mendo!

Well luckily California’s sunny sun decided to shine again. But somehow winter has settled in. it was 41 degrees during PT this morning! Do you know how much it sucks to sit in a wet field to do leg stretches in the morning when you can see your breath and the sun won’t be up for another 2 hours?!

I had some much needed pod time last night. I’ve really missed how hard I laugh when around Josh and Ashley. I don’t even remember what we were talking about but it was some much needed hilarity. I can’t believe there are only a couple more weeks and my pod people will be scattered. The boys are going to Portland, OR; Ashley’s going to Seattle, WA; and Shea’s going to Alpaugh, CA. After November 4 I won’t see them until December 16!!

So if you were following my Facebook, I said we were going to JR Cowan Elementary. Well… I got that wrong. We’re actually going to F.C. Joyce Elementary. Today we went to the archives to see the debriefing video from last year’s team who was at the same school so we could prepare for our briefing due next week. Basically the briefing is a statement to the NCCC staff that we know where we’re going, what we’re going to try to do, how we might do it, and a little bit about the neighborhood we’ll be in. the debriefing is pretty much the same thing. When we finish this project we’ll have to make one to document our progress in the community, what we achieved/had difficulty with, and what made the experience special.

Tonight we were also informed of how our first days will start. We’ll go in on the 4 or 5, meet with classrooms grades 2-6 and then we can decide which age group or which teacher we clicked with. Right now I’m hoping for grades 2 or 3… but that could always change once I get in there.

We had diversity training today. It was actually pretty interesting. These speakers, Jeff and Gin, have been working with NCCC teams for at least the last 5 years (they mentioned speaking to an NCCC team in Maryland before they were sent to disaster relief for Rita/Katrina… Annie??) They facilitated an activity called the Privilege Walk where everyone participating started in a straight line and he read off statements like “take one step forward if there were more than 50 books in your house growing up” “take one step back if you were ever made fun of for your age, gender, race, socio status, etc” “take one step forward if your parents ever told you that you could be anything you wanted to” “take one step back if you ever tried to change your appearance/ self to gain someone’s approval.” I was very interesting to look around after the 50 or so statements were read off to see where everyone had shifted to from the original straight line.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Mendocino. It’s about a 4 hour drive north but I plan on sleeping for most of it (bonus for not being a driver!). I’m pretty excited about it, but it’s going to be so much colder there than here. I think someone said the high at camp will be 40s! Burr! We went on a Target run to get some thermal under-roos and I got some actual under armor. It’s going to be so cold there that the TLs are telling us it would probably be unwise to shower… so I hope everyone enjoys the musk of dirty hippie! We’re going to have to get used to each other’s natural stink eventually, I guess! I probably should have bought some body spray. We also picked up our Halloween costumes but I won’t ruin the surprise! You’ll just have to wait until I get back from Mendo.

-Signing off until Sunday!

Round 1 announced!

Saturday was Make A Difference Day! We started off the day early because the kitchens were only open from 5:30-6:30. I seriously considered skipping breakfast until about 6 when it occurred to me that we’d be on a work site all day and I’d probably need to pack a lunch. There was a community meeting to remind us what Make A Difference Day is about and make sure we represent the A well, then off to the vans so we could go to our first min-SPIKE!

We started the day at Burbank High School helping to revamp their community garden. We were told the garden had been thriving about 10 years ago, but the lead teacher for the project retired and no one took over after she left. So this year a new teacher was hired on and eager to restart the program and that’s where we stepped in. Today was their big ground breaking. My team and Green 1 showed up to help. Green 1 worked side by side with the high schoolers to create garden plots where they once had been. My team got the power tools!

We were given a heap of wood, dimensions and a circular saw. My team divided into two groups to build two garden boxes. We trained for this!! It was so much fun. It felt so cool to walk up to the HS campus and the kids knew who we were and started cheering for AmeriCorps. I also discovered that I really need to work on my “30 second sell.” Someone asked my team who/what is AmeriCorps and everyone kind of avoided eye contact so I stepped up. I didn’t really know what to say and stumbled over my words but I feel I explained adequately. I just need to practice for next time. Apparently, the highlight of that part of the day was Dr. Oz showed up to talk to the students.

I had no idea who that is but throughout the day I learned he’s someway tied to Oprah…? Anyways, some of the girls on my team started freaking out and acting all fan-girlish trying to take pictures/video with their smart phones. We left before the mayor was supposed to show up and do a press conference. We had other things to get done.

We went to another end of town to a different community garden. This one was in worse shape than the last, way overgrown from years of being ignored, and it was starting to rain. A team had been there for about 30 minutes before we got there, raking grass, picking up trash, and digging drainage trenches.

TL Abby helping clear the garden bed

I think throughout the day a total of 7 teams showed up to get things done. It was a pretty good glimpse into what sort of projects we could expect and what kind of neighborhoods to expect it in. Because there were only so many shovels and rakes to go around, I spent most of the time picking up trash from the garden beds. I am now a professional at spotting glass mixed in with dirt and weeds. Who knew there could be so much glass in dirt! I just don’t understand it. When you drop a glass bottle on dirt does it really break into that many shards? I also discovered some other buried treasures. The garden fence’s integrity had been compromised by someone bending the bottom back to climb through. I found evidence that someone had been using the garden for purposes other than intended. Let’s just say I’ll think twice about unearthing a plastic bag that was obviously buried for a reason and thank God I was wearing my work gloves! After that fun little job was completed, I was asked to pick up brush. A few of the garden beds were already there before NCCC ever walked through the gates and the people using them would weed or scrap parts of their gardens and just toss it to the side of the walk way. Do you know how many spiders like to hide out in damp garden clippings?! I’m pretty sure some of them were black widows so every time I moved a clump of brush, I’d throw it down and quickly scan myself for little creepy crawlers. Not dead yet, so I must be ok.

Our team helped clean the majority of the garden and created one new plot and defined the lines of 3 others.

And that was it- our entire Make A Difference Day! We all piled back into the AmeriVan very wet, cold, tired and muddy with the promise of a delicious dinner out a Suzie Burger on the Govie Budget.

But a very suspicious thing happened on the way to the restaurant. We had a little team meeting to talk about things next week and who would get super-duper specialized trainings in HAZWOPER, chainsaws, Red Cross shelter simulation and Save the Children Safe Spaces. TL Abby was carrying a trash bag full of something and when we asked her about it she would smile and reply “oh, it’s just stuff for Murph” (another TL). We’d ask her about our project and she’d tell us she couldn’t say but she gave us a hint- we wouldn’t need our steel-toes or any other PPE (personal protective equipment).

So we had dinner (which was delicious) and she told us we had one more stop to make before we were done for the night. We ended up in the parking lot of the mall’s Barnes & Nobel where she told us we had 10 minutes to go to the Children’s book section and find our favorite book from when we were kids.

AmeriRumors were spreading that we’d be finding out our projects sometime this week and this made us even more excited! So we took off running, I’m sure 11 people charging through the front doors scared the B&N staff. At this point we could already guess we had an educational project. So we found our books and circled up and said why we picked what we did. There were so many good books but it also made me realize that so many kids aren’t growing up with the same books I did. So what book did I pick? There’s a Monster at the End of This Book! Starring Grover!! Apparently there’s a sequel called There’s Another Monster at the End of This Book with Grover and Elmo!

But I digress. When we finished talking about our books Abby announced to us that we had [drum roll please!]… an EDUCATIONAL PROJECT! We’re going to be teacher’s assistants in an elementary school about a mile away from Base! We will be there November 5- December 14! I couldn’t be more excited! I know it’s going to be challenging. Abby read off some statistics about the school to us- their dropout rate is about 43% and about 93% of the students live below the poverty line. Each of the people in my team will be assigned to a different classroom to work the normal school day and then we will help out with the after school tutoring program. A work day will start at 7 am and go until at least 6:30. AND Abby did the cutest thing for us- she bought us all lunchboxes for our first day of school!! We really are lucky. Our TL is so sweet and caring and our team is so awesome and cohesive!

Saturday was also my first night out on the town. The team and I went out for a celebration at grabbing a pretty sweet first project. We went to a hookah bar in downtown Sac on J and 21st. I had an amazing Turkish sweet mint tea and we ordered the Exotic Baklava and House Blend hookahs. It was so much fun to just hang out with everyone we had a good time just joking around and unwinding a little bit. We also got some belly dancing lessons.

We flagged down a cab. Well actually the 12 of us had to flag down two cabs and split into groups of 6… crammed in a regular sized cab. It was hilarious!

Baby Brett, Me, Will, Ton-o-Fun Taylor, Carly sprawled across us, and Mama Dom in front

Our cabbie claimed to be the cash cab and asked us trivia as we headed back to base but the night didn’t end there. Danny talked me into going to the local bar just across from Base, Harvey’s. So off to Harvey's we went... in the rain.

I really don’t know how to explain it other than a dive. Its max capacity is 49 people and $5 will get you this beer:

Back to the excitement about the project! My team is going to be one of seven teams out of all the Corps to stay in the Sacramento area for the first round. Which means at least 5 more weeks of living in the dorms. That means no steel-toed boots, no camping in the cold, and guaranteed cell and internet access! I’m super excited we got this project! I’ve always wondered if I could make it as a teacher. I know it’s not going to be a cakewalk but I know the work will be rewarding and those kids will teach me so much. I can’t wait to get started and know what I’ll be doing with them and what grade I’ll be working with!

Today (Sunday) was a lazy day. It was a day off and a rainy day. It started raining in the afternoon at our job site yesterday and didn’t stop until late this evening. I think I got so used to the sunny beautiful weather that when it was cloudy and gloomy it really threw off my mood. I felt in a funk most of the day and kind of grumpy. I hope sunny California returns to the status quo soon for the sake of those round me.

I finally got to rejoin with my pod people. We played a game of Clue and talked about our projects. Then I met up with my team and had dinner. Tomorrow is another day off as well as bed checks. Hopefully we pass this one. Did I mention we didn’t pass bed checks last week? Because these are government buildings and they’re basically being loaned to us, we have weekly bed checks on Mondays to make sure we're taking care of this privilege. Last week, our mirror was “goopy” (I still don’t know what that means), there was hair on the bathroom floor (if you looked hard enough there were 2 strands in the corner), and we had grass on the carpet (they do bed checks after we do PT in the field… of course we’re gonna have grass on us!!). So we knew they were grading pretty harshly so we super super-super cleaned! Then after we took all that time to make sure everything was nice and neat, we had a team game night in our room- 11 people in one dorm sized room! We played Life and Apples to Apples. My team laughs so much that most of the girls are starting to sound like we laugh the same.

For whatever reason Green Unit doesn’t have PT tomorrow morning—not that I’m complaining! I think my team was talking about going to the zoo if it’s not raining too much. And if it is raining we’re going Halloween costume shopping because we’re on duty Halloween night.

I’m still looking into flights home. I can’t decide if I want to fly home and spend 2 weeks in Texas or use that time to potentially complete 80-100 ISP (Independent Service Project) hours. I think it would be smarter/ cheaper to stay in California and get work done, but it might be boring too…

*insert creative title here*

Today was a wonderful day. I actually enjoyed running group! Of course, we didn’t do as big a route as we did last time but I think I was more focused for my bonus day off as soon as we finished. So I was hauling A to get to the end. I’ve also noticed that even though we’ve only been doing “real PT” for a little over a week now I’m so much more flexible than I was when I got here. We start of PT by doing stretches, 15 counts each of both sides: neck, shoulders, arms, quads, calves, hamstrings, back, and glutes. I remember when I was in dance at Westwood, I could cross one leg in front of the other and bend at the waist and lay both hands flat on the floor. A couple weeks ago I was lucky if I could make it past mid-calf. Now my fingertips almost touch the ground. I’m getting closer to my goal! And my jeans are starting to fit looser. I’m having to wear my AmeriBelt even in off hours to keep from mooning everyone. J

Had a great breakfast of a banana and toaster waffles but discovered we had no syrup. So what did I put on them? NUTELLA! My team is making fun of me for my new obsession. It’s their fault for introducing me to it! I love the breakfast time. One of these days I’ll remember to take my camera with me so y’all can see what my kitchen is like and the hilarity that ensues as we all try to make breakfast, pack lunches, clean up after ourselves, try not to be in someone’s way too much, and crack jokes. It’s quite a morning ritual.

After I was done with breakfast, I was done for the day! TL Abby had a grocery shopping trip planned to go to WinCo (like CostCo or Sam’s Club) so teammate MaryBeth and I went along to help. Oh. My. Gosh. Shopping for 12 people for breakfast, lunch, snacks, plus dinners where we take turns cooking for us and the other 12 people who share our kitchen was rough. Luckily, Abby’s been through this before and knows how much is enough and had a very long, organized grocery list and she would send MaryBeth or me to fetch certain items. I felt like we were the Dugger Family- we went in the 15 passenger van and we had two shopping carts and they were full! Imagine the looks we would have gotten if we’d been in full uniform- steel toed boots and all! I’m also fairly certain the people who constructed my dorm building put our kitchen on the 3^rd floor through careful and malicious planning.

Tonight my team/roommate, Dominique, is making stuffed bell peppers (we bought 24 each of red and green) for us and our kitchen mates. MaryBeth and I have volunteered to be pepper stuffers.

ALSO the boys and Shea come back from Mendocino in a few hours!!! Not that I’ll get to see them very much tonight because tomorrow is Make a Difference Day and I’ll probably want a lot of sleep. It’s a national community service day and all the teams are going to projects. Kind of like more mini- preparation for SPIKEs. I think Abby said we’ll be going to help construct a community garden and we’ll be working on it from 8-5. I’m very excited for it except for one thing- it’s supposed to rain tomorrow and we haven’t been issued rain jackets.

I got some other important AmeriErrands accomplished today, aside from the grocery shopping. I discovered that one of my loans has in fact accepted my forbearance request and the other one (stupid Wells Fargo) requires more paperwork and it can’t be done online. So I have to print it off, fill it out, and mail it in. Blah! What is this? The 1800s?!? I’m also looking into airfares to get home for Christmas. Our break is December 18-January 2 so we’ll see if I can find something affordable to get back to Texas.

you wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

The weeks are starting to go by faster. People are already talking about CTI graduation. There’s going to be auditions to sing the anthem at the ceremony and Baby Brett, Danny, TL Abby, and I are going to try out as a quartet!

Today doesn’t feel like it happened. I guess that means I’m getting more into the swing of CTI. We were supposed to have circuits but because half the corps was still gone at Mendocino we divided into groups and played “Help Me!” The game is: everyone lines up and the person at the front of the line calls out an exercise to do and everyone in the line has to do it. Meanwhile, the person at the end of the line counts off 30 high knee kicks (meaning one high knee from each leg= 1) and then yells out “HELP ME!” and the person from the front runs to the back to tag them out. We did 3 rotations of about 30 people. Some people would call out really hard ones like suicide runs or push-ups (which reeeally hurts on asphalt) and there would be a collective groan from the group. But other people would call out stretches and the guys standing next to me would yell out “that’s a friend-maker!”

Then we went to Anger and Stress Management where we learned to… manage our own and other peoples’ stress and anger. As I suspected, my group is pretty easy going. We don’t get angry very easily; most things in life are frustrations that can easily be dealt with. We did have to do a drawing of characteristics we exhibit when mad.

Green 2's ANGRY MAN/WOMAN

Maya and Baby Brett

Again, the roommates and I enforced supplementary quiet hours in our room because we had a break from 11-1. But I didn’t take a nap this time. I was too busy in the common room talking with one of the TLs, AJ, and eating pretzels with Nutella- my new favorite thing!! I can’t believe I didn’t know what Nutella was until 2 days ago. Pretty much everyone on my team is in love with it because it’s pretty much the best thing ever.

Back in class we learned the components of a portfolio. I’m actually really looking forward to it. Every round (project) we complete we have to fill out a portfolio about tasks accomplished, the community we came into, how our involvement helped, our daily schedule, the awesome things of the project and the EBIs (Even Better Ifs). These portfolios are used as a resource by our campus in case we have a repeat sponsor for that job site. They are also sent to our sponsors as a thank you for letting us help, home campus to keep other teams in the know of what we did, other campuses, and the National Office in D.C. Like I said, I’m really looking forward to writing them. Green 2 has decided we will collab on the writing effort and rotate who writes which section because the portfolio is due back the first day we’re home from the project.

Tonight Gold Unit came back from Mendocino. That means tomorrow Josh, Tucker, and Shea from Silver Unit will be coming home! I’ve missed them so much. It’s just gonna make it harder to know who to hang out with now that I’ve had all this bonding time with my team. I didn’t get to see Ashley as much as I thought I would this week. I think I only saw her like 3 times in passing.

Tomorrow is a technical day off for me, so I got big plans. I only have to wake up for running day PT and Baby Brett has already promised to make me an egg sandwich for breakfast. And I definitely have to do laundry. This whole changing clothes 3 times a day wreaks havoc on my laundry bag! After that, I’m done! It’s training day for team roles all day but my POC (point of contact) for SLI (service learning initiative- AmeriCorps is REALLY into acronyms) is out of town until November 1 so that’s when my training will be. Turns out that’s the job Annie had when she went through the Corps! Glad to continue the legacy.

PT FREE!

Today was a PT Free day! Huzzah! It’s amazingly wonderful the difference an extra hour of sleep has on a person. And thank god we did, because we had to use a lot of energy this afternoon. But I’ll get to that.

This afternoon’s classes were about team dynamics. We discussed emotional I.Q. The different components of it, the characteristics that make up that component, what we feel we possess and what we think we need to work on as individuals. I claim to have high Empathy and Social Skills and need to work on my Motivation, namely my Initiative… in that I really don’t have that much. After that we had another activity to define ourselves by animals:

-Owls- pensive, sometimes loners

-Wiesel- creative, can be considered untrustworthy

-Lion- loyal, aggressive

-Lamb- trusting, doesn’t voice opinions

-Fox(y)- aesthetically pleasing, crafty

-Chameleon- a mirror to its surroundings, in touch with emotions, can be too agreeable (can’t make decisions)

-Dolphin- focused on fun, easily distracted

-Ant- hard working, doesn’t usually delegate tasks

I categorized myself as a Chameleon although it was between that, owl and dolphin. But Debbie (our campus counselor who was running the session) said we couldn’t become hybrid animals. No Owleonphins! My team was kind of balanced: 5 dolphins, 2 owls, 1 lamb, 1 chameleon, and 3 ants.

So now for the thing that required a lot of energy. All we had written on our schedules was “community mapping” wtf? We were told right before we left for the excursion that it would be a Sacramento-wide SCAVENGER HUNT! Yess! The 7 teams of Green Unit were given a list of 22 tasks, and instructed to take pictures at each place and were allowed to use smart phones. And we were off!

We went all over Sacramento. Did a human pyramid on the lawn of “the place where Arnold Schwarzenegger does business” (Sac’s Capitol), caught a glimpse of the Mayor as we barreled into City Hall to get our free t-shirts. Found the public library and a drive in theater. Went back to the first place we ever saw in Sacramento (the airport). On the way to John Muir Park we discovered why they told us not to go through tunnels. They claim because they’re dark and you can’t see who/what is in there but we discovered the real reason- apparently they are a public bathroom and they smell TERRIBLE! We went to Old Sacramento and bought something at a costume shop, did the human knot in front of the entrance to the outdoor mall, and gave the thumbs-up in front of the Salvation Army. We did diamond push-ups in front of the sign for an indoor rock climbing wall, wore sunglasses in front of the Grey Hound Bus station, and did jumping jacks at the Light Rail station. Pictures to come as soon as Catherine loads them to facebook.

And I’d just like to say, I’m pretty sure no one has as much fun as my team does in the AmeriVan. If there was room to dance, we’d have a dance party every trip. We blast music and sing along. On the way back to base today we were listening to Love Shack and the two cars on either side of our AmeriVan were rockin out with us! I also learned today that I get car sick in AmeriVans. I was doing all well and fine while driving through the parking lot but as soon as we go out onto the load I felt dizzy and nauseous and MaryBeth said I turned really pale. I guess it was because I couldn’t see where we were going because as soon as I was in the front I felt fine. But yeah, learn something new. Me and the back seat of a 15-passenger van—no bueno.

Tomorrow I think is back to regular CTI non-interactive classroom-classes. Too bad because the last couple days have been the most fun! I know for sure tomorrow is Stress and Anger Management.

It's not easy being Green!

This morning was really hard. I thought the more I did this whole waking up early thing, the easier it would get. WRONG! Once again, the day started off with PT at 5:30. Running day. But because half the Corps is gone to Camp Mendocino we couldn’t do regular PT groups so thank god they gave us a some-what easy day. We just had to walk as many laps as we could around the field. My teammate Dominique had a pedometer and apparently we walked 1.5 miles in 20 minutes. I walk faster than I jog!

After breakfast and cleaning the kitchen, most of us had a nice afternoon break. Today was AmeriDriver’s Ed. And as I said before- no fraggin way am I driving a 15-pasenger van! So we had a break from 8-1. NAPTIME! My roommates and I decided to enforce supplementary quiet hours during that time. From there we had to trek across campus to the supply depot where we had an intro to the tools we could potentially be using on a job site and participate in a team building activity.

always keep tools in a Circle of Safety!

We built a box out of wood to keep in the van between the driver and passenger seat to keep things from rolling around. We were given a sheet of plywood, tape measure, dimensions, a t-square, a pencil, and a chalk line.

 I came to learn that I definitely do not want a construction project! I’m good with hammering and painting and simple things like that, but I’ve never been one for math. And after they let me have a turn with the skilsaw,

Danny was a wonderful teacher

 I REALLY don’t like power tools other than a regular power drill. I think I’ll definitely be opting out of chainsaw training later this week.

But our box came out totally awesome and we decided we’re going to decorate each side more as we complete a round (there are 4 rounds in a service year= 4 different projects).

Catherine and TL Abby

Our partially finished box! It won't be completely done until the end of the year!

After a wonderful dinner of vegetarian jambalaya cooked by our wonderful kitchen-mates, Green 4, my team wanted to do more team bonding. So we decided to go bowling.

 (Back to front, left to right) Carly Dominique, MaryBeth, Maya, Catherine, Danny, and TL Abby!

We had a blast. My team is so great and so willing to have fun and sing! We totally rocked out Disney style in the AmeriVan on the way back to the dorms. I actually did a little better than last time.

Actully broke 100 this time!

Haven’t looked ahead enough in the schedule to know what I’m doing tomorrow but I know PT is not involved! Wednesday is NO PT DAY (unless someone on the team is late for/ misses it MTuThF, but hopefully that won’t happen)! So that means we get to sleep in (which now means waking up at some point after 5:30) and muster at 7:45!

sorry, no pictures today

Of course this morning was fun. It was PT Circuit day! We started off with Star Hands (hold your arms straight in front of you flexing and contracting your fingers as fast as you can for 2 minutes. You’ll feel the burn!) and the rest of the morning was a blur of running and crunches. I do remember jumping around to the Cupid Shuffle which made it a little more fun.

This morning was the first group to leave for Mendocino so we got to watch tem load their AmeriVans as we ran laps around the dorm buildings. Them leaving means half my dorm is empty because we now live with Gold and Green (my unit) in one building and Silver and Blue in the other.

After PT, shower, and breakfast was the Hands of Peace workshop- an all day seminar about how to deal with each other peacefully. We started off with a name game because my team, Green 2, was paired with Green 4. We had to come up with adjectives about ourselves that started with the first letter of our name. Do you know how few adjectives there are starting with “k”?! From there we went into active listening where we paired off and person A had to talk to person B for 2 minutes about someone they admired/respected and person B couldn’t respond, and then switched. The next exercise: person A talked about a topic for 2 minutes and B could respond but only to further person A (no telling of your own story), and then switch. We discussed ways to give advice by splitting into groups of 3 where A would talk, B could listen, and C was the observer to give feedback. We played a lot of games, like Pattern Ball where a koosh ball was thrown into the circle and you had to remember who threw it to you and who you threw it to. We switched it up by going in reverse order, not calling out to the person you were throwing to, adding two other balls, and evoking a “Sacramento Shuffle” where everyone has to move to a different seat in the room. We also played “The Great Wind Blows” which is kind of like musical chairs but with no music. There is one less spot in the circle than people playing and the It person says “The great wind blows for…” and names a characteristic and everyone who fits the description has to get up and find a free spot. By far, the best game was Crocs and Frogs, a form of musical chairs. There’s one “it” person (the crocodile) who swims in the “water” (the floor) and all the others playing (the frogs) can swim around in the water until the music stops and you have to find a lily pad to stand on (a sheet of newspaper). If any part of your foot touches the water and the Croc sees it, he can tag you and you’re out. It was hilarious to see how many people we could fit on one unfolded sheet of newspaper and you really had to trust your teammates because, in one instance, my teammate Catherine held onto me so I wouldn’t fall in the water. So much fun!! We played the Tower of Babel where you’re told you will be given materials to build a structure but you don’t know what the materials are and once they are given to you, you won’t be able to talk to each other. My team decided to build a house. Turns out our materials were Tinker Toys. So we built a structure that could have been mistaken for a cube and then added the rest of the toys onto it. Haha it wasn’t quite what we had originally imagined, but it was fun.

The day was very entertaining and at the end of it we had to draft a team charter of ideas or characteristics that we promise to uphold. I don’t remember the specifics but I know we promised to GET THINGS DONE, respect the A, respect each other, and our number 10 rule was to Sing and be Jolly! I love my team. During the breaks of the Hands of Peace we had team sing-along and played telephone and guess that tune.

Tonight was my team’s first duty night. We had to clean our dorm building from top to bottom. Well not really, because there are cleaning crews to do the heavy-duty details. But we cleaned the common area, computer room, laundry room, lobby bathroom, and the lobby. Many hands make light work!

My friends Josh, Tucker, AND Shea leave with the Silver Unit tomorrow for Mendocino. That leaves just me and Ashley. What will we do?? We’re already going through pod withdrawals and that’s when they’re on the same AFB with us! What am I gonna do when they’re in a completely different part of the state!

Tomorrow is running day! Ugh. But the way the schedule is I just have to make it through PT, clean out kitchen and then I can go back to sleep until our Intro to Tools class at 1.

Rain rain, go away!

Not much to report today. It was a lazy day. Last night we had a sleep over in my friend's room. We made a pallet on the floor to watch Super Bad. I don’t remember much of the movie because I probably made it 20 minutes in. Next thing I know it was morning and Ashley, Shea and I were just one big huddle of blankets. We slept until about 9:30.

I had to take the walk of shame back to my room in the building across the street- I really hate living in a different building than all my friends! We met up to have lunch at the picnic table and just as we finished eating, it started raining! We’ve been here for a week and a couple days and I’ve seen nothing but beautiful blue skies and no clouds. It made me forget that there’s actual weather! After lunch we finally had some apart time. Or rather, I took some alone time from the group because they wanted to watch Blair Witch Project and other scary movies and I did not. So I stayed inside, because it was raining all day, and hung out in the TV room watching all the football games that were on: Falcons vs Eagles, Vikings vs Cowboys and then part of the Phillies game (yes, I know that’s baseball).

It really has been a rather boring day. Tomorrow is the first draft of people to go to Mendocino. Josh, Tucker and Shea, who are all in the Silver Unit, leave in the morning. I don’t know what Ashley and I will do for 4 days without them! Those lucky ducks don’t have to do PT tomorrow! I don’t know if tomorrow is a running day or a circuit day but needless to say, I’m not looking forward to it.

What to do with a day off

Yesterday was a day off! Yay! Slept in until 10… and I totally could have slept longer. I don’t know if I should take advantage of all the time I have right now and fill up my sleep tanks or see whatever I can around here. They’re telling us this is the most free-time to expect while in NCCC (which is kind of a joke when you’re going 17 hours a day) but at the same time, in a while I’ll be in Mendocino or on SPIKE which will automatically mean I have interesting things to see.

One thing I did see was… a TWO- STORY WALMART!!! Tucker, Josh, Shea, Ashley, and I had heard a rumor about one being around here. So we went to lunch at Panera and headed out in search of the mythical giant. It was kind of hilarious and quite a waste of space, as most Walmarts are. But we sure had fun on the escalators! There's a special one just for your cart!

Tucker's beautiful smoothie from Panera

It gets kinda crowded in the car. Good thing we like each other!

Two-story WALMART!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Josh and Tucker’s room watching The Office while we waited for Tucker to get out of NCCC van driving class. Reasons I didn’t want to be a van driver: (a) they’re huge! And I’m used to driving little cars now, (b) I didn’t want to have to parallel park it- I can’t even parallel park a regular car all that well, and (c) I didn’t want to drive on unknown highways in an unknown state, I get lost enough in Texas. Plus the added responsibility of having 9-12 people in the van. Nope nope nope.

When Tucker was finally out of class we went to In-and-Out Burger for dinner. Honestly, I don’t get the hype. I guess it’s kind of like WhatABurger for Texans. It’s such an amazing thing because it’s from our state. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the food and all, it just wasn’t the best burger I’ve ever had. It just wasn’t a WhatABurger. Le sigh.

On the way to our next adventure, Ashley decided we should play P-diddle. Don’t ask me why it’s called that, but the game is: whenever someone in the car sees a car with a head/taillight out they raise their hand, hit the roof and say “P-diddle!” the last person to do so has to remove an article of clothing. No one became completely naked, thank god, but it got rather dicey there towards the end, and we did have to cheat a bit to ensure that everyone was some-what covered. I only lost my shirt but thankfully I was wearing a tank-top underneath. From now on when we go out in Shea's car I'll be wearing a lot of layers!

It was pretty funny to get out of the car at the Laser X parking lot and have everyone scramble to put their shirts on. We had made plans to go laser tagging but after eating all that fast food we agreed it wouldn’t be the best idea to run around in a dark, smoky room. So went cosmic bowling instead.

Game 1 (I got 85)

Game 2 (I got 74)

 After our two games, we’ve decided that we kinda suck at the “sport”. And I had to go and mention that I was in a college bowling class at the beginning of our games. Lame-o.

Today I don't know what I'll be doing. It's a day off again so I slept in until 9:30. Like I said, the boys can't leave campus because they're on duty so... maybe do something outside-ish? It's so nice to go outside and just lay in the grass. No fire ants here! I guess I could just rest up for PT tomorrow morning. Defenitely going to bed super early tonight!

We're AmeriCorps. Get used to AmeriMoving

Oh. My. Gosh. This morning was ridiculous! The roommates and I slept in a little past the alarm- woke up at 5:05a for a 5:20a muster. This morning was PT running day. Not fun. But not as bad as I thought it would be. I know we jogged 1.5, possibly 2 miles. We did stretches, crunches, and push-ups as little breaks while we waited for the whole pack to catch up. It was so hard but we found running buddies and I made it through staying relatively close to the front-middle of the pack. Thank god only 3 more weeks of solid PT (= 12 days total, 6 days running)! One of our running leaders- who I like to say reminds me of a muppet because she so full of energy and pep- Colie told us that marathon runners don’t care about how close they are to the end of their run, or how far they’ve gone, or any of that. They mainly worry about how they look. So we need to keep reminding each other about how good we look! Then to keep us awake during stretch counts she had us count in angry voices, happy voices, and sad voices because everyone takes on such a boring tone to count to 15 twenty times.

Today was pretty normal. Lots of classes. Intro to Units, Alcohol Awareness, Life After AmeriCorps (I know! We’ve been here 7 days and we already have to plan for 10 months away!), Nutrition and Diet Planning, and giving feedback. For dinner my friend Ashley’s team was a fend-for-yourself and she didn’t want to eat by herself. So I opted out of my team dinner to go to the Burger King at the BX (base exchange) with her. Holy crap. The most food I’ve eaten since I’ve been here and the first fast food in a week! Ugh. I could feel it in my veins and oozing out through my pores. We felt so disgusting that we just had to lay out in the grass in the quad and try to digest.

After that stupid idea, we had to move into our permanent rooms. MASS CHAOS! Everyone had to pack everything out of their room and move it into the hall so we could have a TL do room checks.

With everything people brought PLUS the stuff we were issued the hallways were very crowded. Then we had to wait to get the ok to take our stuff out of the building into the parking lot.

More waiting while they let people move in by floor. But now I’m in my official room with 2 girls from my team: Dominique, 22 from Maryland and Carly, 22 from Michigan. We’re all beginning to warm up to each other. I know the team living is going to bring us more out of our Pods (pun!).

Our trip to San Fran has been cancelled.

The boys have duty on Sunday and aren’t allowed to leave campus. So we might be going into Sacramento (which we decided sounds like Sacra-Minnow if you say it fast enough) and hope we get some other weekend off to do some San Fran exploring.

I could not be more excited to sleep in tomorrow!.. until like 8 or 9 (woot!) and then out to lunch at Panera and In-and-Out Burger for dinner with the Pod People.

Green 2

Wednesday was an interesting night! We met up for catered dinner, not common around here. For the last few days campus has been buzzing with AmeriRumors that we’d be in our permanent teams by the end of this week. Suspicions grew when we had to stay in full uniform to report for dinner and attend a Community Meeting afterward (which are usually on Thursdays). When everyone had eaten the announcement came to get into Pod groups. AmeriMurph handed each of us an envelope, told us not to open it, and all 320 of us Corps members trekked to the PT field. When we got the order to open the envelopes, all we found was a piece of string- pink, white, purple, or black. Mine was white. I reported to my designated spot and we were told these were our units!

There are 7 teams on a unit and 4 units (Gold, Silver, Green, or Blue) in the Corps. We were told to circle up and the Unit Leaders handed everyone something with their name on it. I was given a small gift bag with a bottle of bubbles with the word “Head” written on the cap. There were 10 other people with bubbles and each had a different word on top- Scavenger hunt!!! We put the words together to figure out we needed to go to the kitchen on the 3^rd floor of dorm 947. In the kitchen was a clue telling us to find all the hidden toy mice.

On the bottom of each mouse was a word. All the words in order told us to go outside to the light pole in front of building 922.

There we found a puzzle of a map of the US. We put it together, flipped it over and there was a clue telling us to go BACK to dorm 947 but this time to the laundry room. On sheets of paper taped to the front of each washer and dryer were numbers that apparently called Sharon. Sharon read us hints to solve the next clue which turned out to be an AmeriVan license plate. We found the van, which was blaring music and had cards in each seat with our names on them. We all piled into our designated seats and out of nowhere popped our TL (team leader) Abby! After we were all buckled in (because safety chicken says “buk-buk-buckle up!”) we went for frozen yogurt and had our first official team meeting in the parking lot of the froyo shop. I really like my team. Somehow we’re all very musically inclined and very much looking forward to camping SPIKES (live-in project sites) where we can have fire-side sing-alongs!

Today was the first day in our official teams. How did we start the day? By waking up at 4:30 to meet for PT at 5:30, of course! For it being our first real PT it wasn’t all that bad. We did circuit training. So we started off at one station doing squats, moved to arm lifts (pushing non-existent weight above your head), leg thrusts, stretching, jazzercise, crunches, push-ups, then back to the first station. But the second time around each station was a little different- lunges, push-ups, glute-flex, stretching, jazzercise, cycles, skipping, jumping jacks and ended with more stretching. Fun, right?

Classes today were about Service Learning, Sexual Health and Wellbeing (it’s all about location, location, location- not on government property!), History of Service, and a Community Meeting. It was so hard to be apart from the Pod today. We kept texting or calling each other during breaks to meet up. As it turns out my team is not so delightfully sarcastic… yet. But I think we’ll get there.

The days sound like they go by so quickly in blog form but they seem to be so long. Because we’re up so early and finish so late one day really feels like 3. I still can’t really believe I’ve only been here for a week! Feels like it's been a month and CTI should be over.

We’re all off duty this weekend. So Ashley, Shea, Tucker, Josh, and I were thinking of going to San Francisco on Saturday or Sunday morning (we’d have to leave late Sat because Tucker has to be in the AmeriVan driving certification class).  Hopefully we can get there. I know cramming all 5 of us into Shea's 5-seat car for 2 hours will be a blasty blast! We still can't believe how quickly we've all bonded with each other!

Tomorrow we start running PT in the groups we were placed in according to our baseline time. Like I said- I left room for improvement… I think I’m the top of the bottom. We’ll see. Maybe it was strategery on my part- the top running group has to run 4 miles every 2 days!!

Oh! We were also told about Camp Mendocino today! It's a team building camp that's owned by the Boys and Girls club and they sponsor us to go there in return for us to beautify their camp. It's in the middle of Mendocino County which is in the middle of the Red Woods!!! I'm so excited to see a really fraggin huge tree! There are ropes courses and all sorts of trails and projects for us to work on. And because it's so far away from the city the stars are so bright! I don't get to go until almost the end of CTI. So I have plenty of time to get to know my team.

An AmeriUpdate

I don’t know how, but my computer will connect to the internet in the laundry room- so I’m not asking questions. A little re-cap for the last few days:

Friday was the urinalysis and immunizations. Just for the record- my drug and pregnancy tests came up negative, tetanus shots hurt, and a TB test looks like a mosquito bite.

Got outfitted with my AmeriUniform on Saturday-

2 pair khaki shorts                           1 fleece vest

2 pair khaki pants                            1 AmeriCorps hooded sweatshirt

3 AmeriCorps t-shirts                      1 set coveralls

2 AmeriCorps long-sleeved shirts   1 AmeriCorps parka/jacket

1 AmeriCorps long-sleeved polo     1 sleeping bag

2 winter beanie hats                        2 bandanas

1 pair work gloves                           1 belt

1 hard hat                                        1 AmeriCorps baseball cap

1 AmeriCorps fisherman’s hat       1 red bag to carry it all… if you pack it right

Sunday was our first day off. It was also the day of the pack endurance test to see who would qualify to be a member of the Fire Management Team (“FMT”, basically Corps fire fighters). So I slept in (until 7, that’s right! 7 am is deemed “sleeping in” around here) and went to go cheer my friends on as they walked 3 miles, within a 45 minute time frame while carrying a 45 pound pack. I’d like to think that because of my cheering everyone in that group passed. Then, my friend Ashley (from Elgin, IL) and I decided to walk around the city surrounding our lovely air force base to find a place to eat. Turns out- not the best town. It’s kinda sketch, even in the middle of the day. So we went to the BK Lounge with Tucker and Josh.

Monday was the PT baseline test. Do you know how fraggin hard it is to sleep through the night when you know you’re waking up to do push ups, sit ups, and running before the sun even comes up?! I won’t share my time for the 1.5 mile run/jog/walk or the as-many-as-you-can sit ups and push ups in 2 minutes. Let’s just say I left room for improvement throughout the year, but I didn’t do as badly as I thought I would. I did fall down during the run. I was on the last ½ mile stretch and I wanted to jog the rest of the way. Following the course, I crossed the street and went to get on the sidewalk and BAM! I guess I miss stepped it or I’m not used to wearing shoes that aren’t so tight on my feet like my Chucks, because I missed the curb and rolled onto the sidewalk. So now I have a bruise on my arm, scratches on my shoulder, and some road-rash on my lower back. AmeriBattleScares!

Monday also was our first day in our AmeriUniforms. And man! My AmeriPants are so baggy. But I guess I’d rather them be too big than too small. An AmeriUniform consists of khaki cargo pants or shorts (or if the shorts are too long, like they are on Ashley, “AmeriCapris”), an AmeriShirt, an AmeriBelt, and closed-toed/closed-heel shoes. Obviously it became a huge joke amongst the members of my pod to add “Ameri” to the beginning of every word we could. Our pod leader’s name is AmeriMurph and he told us where to get fitted for our steel-toed AmeriBoots. We take AmeriClasses and we were AmeriTired because of the AmeriRun. And at noon we ate our AmeriLunch with a side of AmeriPringles.

And yesterday and today were American Red Cross training days. Tuesday was CPR/ First Aid/ AED (automated external defibrillator) with the CPR AmeriDummies, and today was Disaster Response. The TLs (Team Leaders) are telling us that by the end of this 10-month program, if you add up airfare, food, shelter, the small stipend we get, and all the certification classes and professional lecturers, the government will have invested ~$40,000 on each NCCC member!

Yesterday was my first excursion from the base since we’ve been here! Ashley, Tucker, Josh, and I all piled into Shea’s car and went to GoodWill. Turns out there are a LOT of funny costumes there right now so, of course, we had to try stuff on!

Avaters! Tucker, Ashley, AmeriJosh

Shea-Squash

Cash Cab

Tucker says "you're fired!"

Ashley... is a bee-keeping witch?

And right now Ashley and I are in the laundry room of our building. She's 18 and this is her first time doing laundry by herself. So I'm teaching her the college way- everything in one load on cold!

So that’s a quick blurb on what I’ve been up to. I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to talk to anyone so much since I’ve been here. Even our off time is full or I’m so tired because we run like 16-18 hour days here! But FaceBook or e-mail, for now, is the best way to keep in touch with me because I can read it and hopefully respond quickly and it won’t interrupt CTI (corps training institution)!

And the results are in...

The day started at 5:30am. Katie? Awake? Before 11?! I know Mom is in shock.

I have a feeling my days are going to be so productive and we haven’t even really started doing stuff yet! I had wonderful breakfast of assorted melons, an untoasted bagel, and a hardboiled egg (honk!), made 3 news friends, created and posted on this blog, went to the store, and met with my pod (aka “muster”) all by 10. I had to go on a little shopping trip to the Base Exchange to get some necessities. The BX, as it’s called by those in the know (there are a lot of acronyms to learn in Acorps!) is like a Target or Walmart for military personnel and conveniently located on the Air Force base right across a field from the dorms. And, best thing- there’s no tax!!

The biggest thing on the schedule yesterday was definitely the urinalysis and immunizations. Just for the record- my drug and pregnancy tests came up negative, tetanus shots hurt, and a TB test looks like a mosquito bite. On to lunch! The weather is so beautiful here that when we were given our sack lunches everyone just picked a spot in the grass. Cool at dawn, mid 70’s to low 80’s in the day and as soon as the sun goes down it’s about mid 50’s again. That’s what I call ideal weather (perfect for when we start our 5am physical training)!

There’s so much to learn here. We had two classes yesterday to help introduce us to everything. We started with an intro to Policy (AmeriCorps laws) and a discussion of the projects that we might be doing and the states that we can probably plan to visit while on project. For those projects we will be placed into work teams and those will be permanent throughout the service year. That’s who we will live with, work with, eat with, etc for the duration of projects. But for the next few weeks (until they designate the Fire Management Team) we have been grouped into “pods”. And I must say I love my pod, #7. We’re delightfully sarcastic.

After classes, we had a bit of free time. They’ve been telling us not to get too used to all this free time. But for right now it makes it easy to meet people. There are common rooms with a pool table and VERY out of tune piano. Across the hall from that is the computer lab- where the connections can be a little spotty. But hey, I’ll take some internet over none at all! How quickly you can develop friendships when everyone is so outgoing and dorky because we’re all far away from home and ready to get into this AmeriCorps routine.

The main thing they stress in AmeriCorps is flexibility. The plans can always change and most likely will and unexpected things will happen and you will have to deal with them. That being said, the corps members- all like 300 of us- are divided into 2 dorm buildings. Mine is the one that didn’t have water almost all of yesterday. Oh life in the Corps!