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.