I'm trying to think of things to share and I really don't have much. This week is our last for CTI (corps training institute ... I know, right?) training, much to everyone's relief. Our team has spent a portion of the week going over our upcoming round in Beaumont. I found out that we'll actually be staying at a YMCA in Port Arthur, TX. Basically, we've just been assigning team roles/responsibilities and going over what to expect. We presented our project briefing this morning to Kevin, the Earth UL, and Ray. It was mostly a formality, they just want to know that we're prepared to go and that we have plans to accomplish everything that we've been assigned. Everyone is pretty excited to finally get going. The wildfire teams will be staying an extra week to do our wildfire training. Then, we'll all ship out on March 10th.
This past Tuesday, we did our first PT as a team. We did a variation on an Indian run, tossing a ball to the person behind us. Every time we dropped, we had to do 15 push ups. We had two drops within the first thirty seconds. After that, we had a smooth run. It was more fun than I thought it would be. We stretched at the end of the route, but no one was tired so everybody went for another lap. I can't really describe the feeling, but it's really great to see that we automatically push each other and support each other, even in little things like PT. I think we're definitely starting out well as a team.
We also had a few birthdays in the Earth unit, Adrienne (one of my teammates), Ronnie and Maria. I started the night off by joining a latin dance class that Andrew (one of my travelmates from the train) had set up. That was a lot of fun. Apparently, he had taught some swing at the ballroom dance class the night before. I was a little peeved that I missed it, but salsa was pretty similar so it was still a good time. Andrew was moving on to teach rumba when a bunch of us left for the bowling alley down the street, where Adrienne was celebrating her 23rd birthday. I'm happy to report that I actually had fun, and it's pretty much because of the bowling =) At first, the lanes were packed because it was $1-bowling night. I hung around in the bar for a little while with Nikki, Levi and a throng of AmeriCorps people, played a little pinball. At one point, Pat managed to get a lane so we jumped at the chance and bowled a game. I left around 11:00, just because I wanted to get some sleep, so I walked home with Sean and Levi.
Tomorrow, the wildfire teams have their pack test. We have to walk three miles in 45 minutes, carrying a 45 lb. pack. There are a few people who are unphased by it, but I know plenty of people (including myself) who are pretty nervous about it. If we don't pass it tomorrow, we have to bust our asses in PT during our first round so that we can work up to passing the test on our next (and final) attempt. Merh =\
I've been looking back over my past entries and I just want to take this time to say that I hope I'm painting a thorough picture of my time in NCCC. It's difficult to sort out what I should write about and what can be passed over. If anyone has any questions as they read or wants to know more, feel free to leave a comment and I'd be glad to expound on whatever strikes your fancy. For now, I'm going to start walking back to the dorms. Since we only had our project briefing this morning, we've had the rest of the day to ourselves. I walked down here to Wal-Mart to do some shopping (my moral fiber twinges with disapproval) and hit the library for some internet, as the campus internet is apparently down all over. I got my flag in the mail last night, so I'll probably spin. Hopefully, I won't be too rusty.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Earth 5!!!
Ahhh!! I'm sitting in Mile High Coffee (like every other Sunday) and "Dare" by Gorillaz is playing over their sound system! Haha. Aw, JSCG06. This place has an eclectic mix of music in my opinion. Last week, I heard BeeGee's "You Should Be Dancing" and No Doubt's "Just a Girl."
We got our official teams on Friday. I am now a proud member of Earth 5 (not to be confused with my first Earth 5 team, which was temporary). Ervin is my TL again, which is great. My team consists of Nikki, John, Adrienne, Harrison, Travis, Paul, Mike, and Levi (who, coincidentally, was on my first temporary team with Ervin).
The TLs divide us into teams by having every member write down an interesting fact about themselves. They took those facts and divided us into our teams. Then, on Friday, Buck and Trisha (Earth TLs) read out each fact and the person to whom the fact belonged was assigned a color. Before they started the activity, I had been feeling pretty anxious. I really enjoyed the group I had been in for the past week. There were a lot of great people on it and we worked really well together when we did our box-building activity. I was actually a little close to being upset by the whole experience. I was actually the first one called for my team, so I had to watch it develop in front of me. But everything turned out okay, I'm definitely satisfied with the people on my team.
Anyway, after we were separated into colors, we were given our first "clue" to find out who our TL was. We got a collage that we didn't really understand, but it took us first to the pool and then to the cafeteria. Our color was "balloon blue," which helped us when we saw the remnants of a blue balloon near a trashcan that was outside the cafeteria. It was popped, but we couldn't find a clue. We figured there was no other place to go but to Walsh Hall dorms, so we started walking in that direction. Then, we spotted balloons attached to a car in the parking lot. Everyone recognized the vehicle instantly: it was Ervin's pickup truck. There were a bunch of blue balloons in the bed of the truck that we popped immediately. Travis found a clue in one of them, which told us to "Go North" and "Look Left." North took us toward the dorms and we looked left where we saw Ervin with a blue balloon. It was a lot of fun that it's a shame the scavenger hunt was so short.
Once we gathered around Ervin, he gave a little talk and, at our request, he told us where our first spike is: Beaumont, Texas. We'll be spending an extra week here in Denver to do our Wildfire training and then we'll leave for Texas on the 10th.
View Larger Map
We're going to be working with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, and we'll be living at a YMCA with an NCCC group from the Perry Point, MD campus. We also found out that we'll be housing in Nederland, CO with another team for Wildfire. That team has almost all of the other people I've spent time with, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
After that, the entire campus was buzzing about who was on their team, who their TLs were, where their first spike was. Everyone is going to have an amazing time and all the spikes will definitely be great experiences, both to the communities and the teams. But some people definitely got lucky on their first spike. One guy I know, Pat, is going to Selma, AL. His team is staying in a house that's provided by a couple of sponsors who have arranged for a member of the community to cook for the team once a week. They're going to be doing Habitat projects and working with kids in after-school programs. One team is going to Key West. Another is going to stay at Camp Hope in New Orleans, which is the AmeriCorps*NCCC hub of Gulf Recovery operations. Whenever Anderson Cooper does anything concerning AmeriCorps, he's usually broadcasting from Camp Hope.
That night, everyone was so excited about their projects and their teams that everyone went out. After Joanna's birthday outing, I was pretty much 0-2 on going out and having fun in the process. So I decided to stay in, since it was also an ideal time to do laundry with everyone out for the evening. Still, it's a little frustrating. I don't always enjoy going out, I'm not into the bar scene. But staying in isn't always much fun either. At least I got my laundry done.
The next morning, our team woke up early to go on a hike together. We went to Chautauqua Park in Boulder and hiked Green Mountain. We started on the Gregory Canyon trail and then followed Ranger to Saddle Rock.
Toward the end we somehow were following the Amphitheater trail, but that doesn't seem to be on the map. Still, we made it back to the parking lot. We started the hike around 11:00 am and finished around 5:00 pm. The hike up was sunny and hot at times. We stopped right before we reached the top to have our lunch of sandwiches that we had bought in Boulder. When we reached the top, there was a marker that indicated 8,100 feet. Everyone took a bunch of pictures from the pinnacle.
The climb up was pleasant, if a little tiring. The decent was another story. It started out kind of fun. There was a lot of packed snow and some ice, so a few of us started out sort of skiing or surfing down it on our feet. Eventually, though, it became more difficult to maintain balance and stability. In all seriousness, that hike made me realize that we spend our entire lives taking for granted the comfort of walking on flat surfaces. Every time the snow cleared and it was a little flat, I could feel all of the tension leave my body. There were a few spots where some of us just sat down and sledded across the trail. That was fun, until I did it for one part of the trail and I did a somersault instead. Every so often, we would pause for the whole group to gather back up, and one of us would comment on how dangerous the hike had become. It really was the true meaning of treacherous.
As I said, we finally got back to the van around 5:00. We had to stop at Target for Nikki on the way home. We made it back around 6:40 and ran to the cafeteria to try and make it before dinner closed. Apparently, dinner was 4:30 to 6:30 though (not according to our CTI schedule! grr), so it was two bowls of Lucky Charms for dinner. Oh, well. All I really cared about at that point was getting out of my clothes and taking a hot shower.
All in all, our first day as a team was quite the experience. Things are gonna be good.
We got our official teams on Friday. I am now a proud member of Earth 5 (not to be confused with my first Earth 5 team, which was temporary). Ervin is my TL again, which is great. My team consists of Nikki, John, Adrienne, Harrison, Travis, Paul, Mike, and Levi (who, coincidentally, was on my first temporary team with Ervin).
The TLs divide us into teams by having every member write down an interesting fact about themselves. They took those facts and divided us into our teams. Then, on Friday, Buck and Trisha (Earth TLs) read out each fact and the person to whom the fact belonged was assigned a color. Before they started the activity, I had been feeling pretty anxious. I really enjoyed the group I had been in for the past week. There were a lot of great people on it and we worked really well together when we did our box-building activity. I was actually a little close to being upset by the whole experience. I was actually the first one called for my team, so I had to watch it develop in front of me. But everything turned out okay, I'm definitely satisfied with the people on my team.
Anyway, after we were separated into colors, we were given our first "clue" to find out who our TL was. We got a collage that we didn't really understand, but it took us first to the pool and then to the cafeteria. Our color was "balloon blue," which helped us when we saw the remnants of a blue balloon near a trashcan that was outside the cafeteria. It was popped, but we couldn't find a clue. We figured there was no other place to go but to Walsh Hall dorms, so we started walking in that direction. Then, we spotted balloons attached to a car in the parking lot. Everyone recognized the vehicle instantly: it was Ervin's pickup truck. There were a bunch of blue balloons in the bed of the truck that we popped immediately. Travis found a clue in one of them, which told us to "Go North" and "Look Left." North took us toward the dorms and we looked left where we saw Ervin with a blue balloon. It was a lot of fun that it's a shame the scavenger hunt was so short.
Once we gathered around Ervin, he gave a little talk and, at our request, he told us where our first spike is: Beaumont, Texas. We'll be spending an extra week here in Denver to do our Wildfire training and then we'll leave for Texas on the 10th.
View Larger Map
We're going to be working with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, and we'll be living at a YMCA with an NCCC group from the Perry Point, MD campus. We also found out that we'll be housing in Nederland, CO with another team for Wildfire. That team has almost all of the other people I've spent time with, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
After that, the entire campus was buzzing about who was on their team, who their TLs were, where their first spike was. Everyone is going to have an amazing time and all the spikes will definitely be great experiences, both to the communities and the teams. But some people definitely got lucky on their first spike. One guy I know, Pat, is going to Selma, AL. His team is staying in a house that's provided by a couple of sponsors who have arranged for a member of the community to cook for the team once a week. They're going to be doing Habitat projects and working with kids in after-school programs. One team is going to Key West. Another is going to stay at Camp Hope in New Orleans, which is the AmeriCorps*NCCC hub of Gulf Recovery operations. Whenever Anderson Cooper does anything concerning AmeriCorps, he's usually broadcasting from Camp Hope.
That night, everyone was so excited about their projects and their teams that everyone went out. After Joanna's birthday outing, I was pretty much 0-2 on going out and having fun in the process. So I decided to stay in, since it was also an ideal time to do laundry with everyone out for the evening. Still, it's a little frustrating. I don't always enjoy going out, I'm not into the bar scene. But staying in isn't always much fun either. At least I got my laundry done.
The next morning, our team woke up early to go on a hike together. We went to Chautauqua Park in Boulder and hiked Green Mountain. We started on the Gregory Canyon trail and then followed Ranger to Saddle Rock.
Toward the end we somehow were following the Amphitheater trail, but that doesn't seem to be on the map. Still, we made it back to the parking lot. We started the hike around 11:00 am and finished around 5:00 pm. The hike up was sunny and hot at times. We stopped right before we reached the top to have our lunch of sandwiches that we had bought in Boulder. When we reached the top, there was a marker that indicated 8,100 feet. Everyone took a bunch of pictures from the pinnacle.
The climb up was pleasant, if a little tiring. The decent was another story. It started out kind of fun. There was a lot of packed snow and some ice, so a few of us started out sort of skiing or surfing down it on our feet. Eventually, though, it became more difficult to maintain balance and stability. In all seriousness, that hike made me realize that we spend our entire lives taking for granted the comfort of walking on flat surfaces. Every time the snow cleared and it was a little flat, I could feel all of the tension leave my body. There were a few spots where some of us just sat down and sledded across the trail. That was fun, until I did it for one part of the trail and I did a somersault instead. Every so often, we would pause for the whole group to gather back up, and one of us would comment on how dangerous the hike had become. It really was the true meaning of treacherous.
As I said, we finally got back to the van around 5:00. We had to stop at Target for Nikki on the way home. We made it back around 6:40 and ran to the cafeteria to try and make it before dinner closed. Apparently, dinner was 4:30 to 6:30 though (not according to our CTI schedule! grr), so it was two bowls of Lucky Charms for dinner. Oh, well. All I really cared about at that point was getting out of my clothes and taking a hot shower.
All in all, our first day as a team was quite the experience. Things are gonna be good.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Definitely Not Onions
First of all ... I'm better. I called Norton's tech support. If anyone cares, they're sending me a CD version of the software so I can renew my subscription. Sunday was ridiculously melodramatic, so I'll spare you the rest. Things are better, that's all you need to know.
In other news ............... I made Wildfire! They posted the list today. I didn't find out about making it until late in the day because I had an ISP scheduled from 8:30 to 5:00. Speaking of which ...
Yeah, I had an ISP today. I scheduled it with Jeffco Action Center in Lakewood, Co. It strikes me as a one-stop-shop for nonprofits. They have a clinic, a clothing bank, a food bank, lots to help out those who need it. It was me and a few girls from my hall, Caitlin, Rachel and Maria. We spent the whole day organizing their "personal needs" storage. So, things like diapers, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, laundry detergent, school supplies, etc. You could barely walk through the room when we got there and by the end, the floor was almost totally clear and everything was separated and organized on shelves.
Before:
After:
I don't know if you can really tell from the pictures, but it was definitely an accomplishment. It was also quite successful as our first ISP. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we knocked out 9.5 hours in one day. Woo! For me, that means I've got 12.5 hours under my belt already. Only 67.5 hours left.
On the ride back to campus, I decided that ISPs and spike projects should be evaluated based on how it compares to the onion service project. Today was definitely not onions -- we kept busy, the work felt like it had value and it wasn't too repetitive or mundane. All in all, today was a good day.
In other news ............... I made Wildfire! They posted the list today. I didn't find out about making it until late in the day because I had an ISP scheduled from 8:30 to 5:00. Speaking of which ...
Yeah, I had an ISP today. I scheduled it with Jeffco Action Center in Lakewood, Co. It strikes me as a one-stop-shop for nonprofits. They have a clinic, a clothing bank, a food bank, lots to help out those who need it. It was me and a few girls from my hall, Caitlin, Rachel and Maria. We spent the whole day organizing their "personal needs" storage. So, things like diapers, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, laundry detergent, school supplies, etc. You could barely walk through the room when we got there and by the end, the floor was almost totally clear and everything was separated and organized on shelves.
Before:
After:
I don't know if you can really tell from the pictures, but it was definitely an accomplishment. It was also quite successful as our first ISP. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we knocked out 9.5 hours in one day. Woo! For me, that means I've got 12.5 hours under my belt already. Only 67.5 hours left.
On the ride back to campus, I decided that ISPs and spike projects should be evaluated based on how it compares to the onion service project. Today was definitely not onions -- we kept busy, the work felt like it had value and it wasn't too repetitive or mundane. All in all, today was a good day.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Onions
We had our first service project on Thursday as a team. We went to a food bank in Denver and sorted onions. No, seriously. It was our team plus another one. Okay, now try to stay with me for this next part ... We had five pallets. On each pallet were five stacks. In each stack were five sacks. Each sack consisted of fifty pounds of onions. Our job was to sort all of the onions into four onions per bag. We then re-sacked them with thirty bags per sack. We got there at 10 am, took half an hour for lunch around noon, and then resumed sorting and bagging until 4 pm. It sounds boring, but there was a rhythm to the process. And we spent a lot of the time talking and joking, so it was actually a lot of fun. I thought so. I would do it again; I'm sure it would get mundane after the first few days, but I venture to say that I'd prefer it to a desk job.
That night, I went out with some girls from the Water unit for an ISP. We went to a Metro State basketball game and handed out key chains for the Susan G. Komen foundation. It was simple, but also fun. The key chains were cool. So I've got my first few hours of ISP. I was supposed to have another one last night. Our group (an amalgamation of different units) were supposed to do something similar last night at a University of Denver gymnastics meet. But when we arrived, we found that the person who had all of the materials (pamphlets, key chains), still wasn't there and the other organizers didn't have her phone number. We got there around 5:30 and at about 6 pm, they told us we could head home. So I called the TL who was supposed to pick us up around 8. She came by and took a bunch of the group back to campus to try and make it to the cafeteria and get dinners for everyone before it closed at 7 pm. Unfortunately, they made a wrong turn on the way back. The rest of us were picked up a few minutes later by a TL from the Water unit. He stopped at a taqueria so we could grab dinner. I opted to just eat a sandwich I had back at the dorms; we had already gone out to lunch for Thai that day, so I wasn't really in the mood to buy more food. It was all quite an adventure. I'm most disappointed about not getting to do the ISP, I don't really care about missing dinner.
I'm going to be honest: right now, I'm surprised I'm being at all coherent. I arrived at Mile High around 9:45 and started the process of renewing my Norton (virus protection) subscription. It is still going on. At first, I couldn't even figure out what to do and tech support was being impatient. Normally, I can just click "renew" in the software. That didn't seem to be working (it couldn't find an internet connection ... what??), so I had to go to the website and purchase a download from there. The process was going along and I think I was almost done when my computer just shut down. It turned off, just like that. So that made me feel really anxious. I attempted to restart the process or resume it, but I'm not sure I've even done that. To make matters worse, I haven't really eaten anything all day as I left before breakfast. I was hoping to make it back to campus in time for lunch, but it's 1:15 now so I don't think that will be happening. I'll have to aim for making dinner instead. I'm eating a muffin now because I feel kind of lightheaded. I was attributing it to being so anxious about the whole Norton thing, but I know it's actually because I haven't put anything in my system besides a mocha. Every now and then I'll notice that my hands are shaking. This is just really stressful, and it's all so dumb. I don't want to be without virus protection because I know I'll be using unsecured connections frequently. I think what's really getting to me is the fact that I don't know what's going on and that makes me feel out of control. I can't just go to my dad and say, "Take a look at this." What's really messed up is that this whole process is bothering me so much, but I'm not phased by the prospect of Wildfire.
Okay, I think I'm going to head back to campus. I don't think I'm getting anywhere with the Norton thing. I'm going to call them and get some guidance from tech support. Hopefully, that will help.
That night, I went out with some girls from the Water unit for an ISP. We went to a Metro State basketball game and handed out key chains for the Susan G. Komen foundation. It was simple, but also fun. The key chains were cool. So I've got my first few hours of ISP. I was supposed to have another one last night. Our group (an amalgamation of different units) were supposed to do something similar last night at a University of Denver gymnastics meet. But when we arrived, we found that the person who had all of the materials (pamphlets, key chains), still wasn't there and the other organizers didn't have her phone number. We got there around 5:30 and at about 6 pm, they told us we could head home. So I called the TL who was supposed to pick us up around 8. She came by and took a bunch of the group back to campus to try and make it to the cafeteria and get dinners for everyone before it closed at 7 pm. Unfortunately, they made a wrong turn on the way back. The rest of us were picked up a few minutes later by a TL from the Water unit. He stopped at a taqueria so we could grab dinner. I opted to just eat a sandwich I had back at the dorms; we had already gone out to lunch for Thai that day, so I wasn't really in the mood to buy more food. It was all quite an adventure. I'm most disappointed about not getting to do the ISP, I don't really care about missing dinner.
I'm going to be honest: right now, I'm surprised I'm being at all coherent. I arrived at Mile High around 9:45 and started the process of renewing my Norton (virus protection) subscription. It is still going on. At first, I couldn't even figure out what to do and tech support was being impatient. Normally, I can just click "renew" in the software. That didn't seem to be working (it couldn't find an internet connection ... what??), so I had to go to the website and purchase a download from there. The process was going along and I think I was almost done when my computer just shut down. It turned off, just like that. So that made me feel really anxious. I attempted to restart the process or resume it, but I'm not sure I've even done that. To make matters worse, I haven't really eaten anything all day as I left before breakfast. I was hoping to make it back to campus in time for lunch, but it's 1:15 now so I don't think that will be happening. I'll have to aim for making dinner instead. I'm eating a muffin now because I feel kind of lightheaded. I was attributing it to being so anxious about the whole Norton thing, but I know it's actually because I haven't put anything in my system besides a mocha. Every now and then I'll notice that my hands are shaking. This is just really stressful, and it's all so dumb. I don't want to be without virus protection because I know I'll be using unsecured connections frequently. I think what's really getting to me is the fact that I don't know what's going on and that makes me feel out of control. I can't just go to my dad and say, "Take a look at this." What's really messed up is that this whole process is bothering me so much, but I'm not phased by the prospect of Wildfire.
Okay, I think I'm going to head back to campus. I don't think I'm getting anywhere with the Norton thing. I'm going to call them and get some guidance from tech support. Hopefully, that will help.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy VD! (Valentine's Day, get your head out of the gutter)
The library has internet! And I have an ethernet cable! Rapture!
So ... remember how I mentioned that the flu was going around? Well, "going around" turned into a text-book case epidemic. Like, we had to call the Denver Health Department. Roughly fifty to sixty AmeriCorps people out of 250-300 that are serving on this campus. Yeah. We secured enough donations of the flu shot (we got them yesterday and I actually decided to get one for once) as well as free prescriptions for TamiFlu for everyone. And there's apparently a TamiFlu shortage in Denver right now. How they pull these strings, but then can't get the internet hooked up in Walsh Hall dorms is beyond me. But, hey, I got my flu shot, I feel fine, I took my first dose of TamiFlu today. Things should be okay. I think the worst is over, anyway. It was kind of crazy, though. No one really realized how many people were sick until they called an unplanned "community meeting" (code for all-corps meeting, I felt like I was at a high school assembly again) to let us know what was going on and how things were going to be handled from there. When they said fifty to sixty people, we all were pretty astonished. It really felt like it happened over night.
Some day, we'll all look back and laugh; although, admittedly, most of us are laughing now. Apparently, we've also set some sort of AmeriCorps record.
Yesterday, we also had Unit baseline. Wildfire people had to try out as well, we didn't get a free pass. It was fine, though. 1.5 miles and then push ups and sit ups in a minute each. So, more running, less "ups." However ... I ran faster for the unit baseline than I did for Wildfire. I ran an 8:25 mile. AND, I did 30 push ups in a minute, versus my 28 in two minutes for Wildfire. WTF? My sit ups worked out to be half of what I did in two minutes, so that's fine. But seriously. What's wrong with me? I ran faster? Faster??? I don't even normally run faster than nine-minute miles. And now I'm running faster than 8:38?? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm just slightly baffled.
What else? Last night was movie night. I opted for Across the Universe on the third floor. Beautiful movie. Even if you don't like the plot, the visuals are pretty stunning. And Eddie Izzard makes a brief appearance, which was a treat. I love him. 28 Days Later was scheduled for the second floor; Buck, one of the Earth TLs, said that it seemed appropriate. Har har.
We had "Diversity" training a few days ago. The room was on the fifth floor of the main building. There were mirrors and ballet barres, so now I think I'm going to make the hike and sneak in to do some dancing. I may wait until next week, though, because I think there are still trainings and I don't feel like moving tons of chairs all over the place. Yesterday was motor vehicle stuff and today was tool overview. Nothing too exciting.
I'm feeling quite optimistic at the moment, though. I have ISP hours scheduled for three days this weekend. Tomorrow night, a bunch of Water unit girls are going to a high school basketball game to hand out flyers and stuff; I knew a girl and I signed up with her. Saturday night is doing a similar activity but at a gymnastics meet at a college in Denver. Sunday is off; I plan to spend all day at Mile High Coffee, uploading pictures and updating my damn Norton subscription, the connection on campus isn't fast enough to handle such things. Monday is Presidents' Day and I managed to organize an eight-hour shift for a few girls on my floor to work at one of the food banks in the area. So, by the end of the extended weekend, I'll have over ten hours. Wooo! Things are looking good.
Still don't know about wildfire. There were people who had to do make-ups. We'll hear about it some time next week.
Oh, hey. Someone leave a damn comment once in a while so I know that I'm not writing this to myself =) Thanks!
So ... remember how I mentioned that the flu was going around? Well, "going around" turned into a text-book case epidemic. Like, we had to call the Denver Health Department. Roughly fifty to sixty AmeriCorps people out of 250-300 that are serving on this campus. Yeah. We secured enough donations of the flu shot (we got them yesterday and I actually decided to get one for once) as well as free prescriptions for TamiFlu for everyone. And there's apparently a TamiFlu shortage in Denver right now. How they pull these strings, but then can't get the internet hooked up in Walsh Hall dorms is beyond me. But, hey, I got my flu shot, I feel fine, I took my first dose of TamiFlu today. Things should be okay. I think the worst is over, anyway. It was kind of crazy, though. No one really realized how many people were sick until they called an unplanned "community meeting" (code for all-corps meeting, I felt like I was at a high school assembly again) to let us know what was going on and how things were going to be handled from there. When they said fifty to sixty people, we all were pretty astonished. It really felt like it happened over night.
Some day, we'll all look back and laugh; although, admittedly, most of us are laughing now. Apparently, we've also set some sort of AmeriCorps record.
Yesterday, we also had Unit baseline. Wildfire people had to try out as well, we didn't get a free pass. It was fine, though. 1.5 miles and then push ups and sit ups in a minute each. So, more running, less "ups." However ... I ran faster for the unit baseline than I did for Wildfire. I ran an 8:25 mile. AND, I did 30 push ups in a minute, versus my 28 in two minutes for Wildfire. WTF? My sit ups worked out to be half of what I did in two minutes, so that's fine. But seriously. What's wrong with me? I ran faster? Faster??? I don't even normally run faster than nine-minute miles. And now I'm running faster than 8:38?? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm just slightly baffled.
What else? Last night was movie night. I opted for Across the Universe on the third floor. Beautiful movie. Even if you don't like the plot, the visuals are pretty stunning. And Eddie Izzard makes a brief appearance, which was a treat. I love him. 28 Days Later was scheduled for the second floor; Buck, one of the Earth TLs, said that it seemed appropriate. Har har.
We had "Diversity" training a few days ago. The room was on the fifth floor of the main building. There were mirrors and ballet barres, so now I think I'm going to make the hike and sneak in to do some dancing. I may wait until next week, though, because I think there are still trainings and I don't feel like moving tons of chairs all over the place. Yesterday was motor vehicle stuff and today was tool overview. Nothing too exciting.
I'm feeling quite optimistic at the moment, though. I have ISP hours scheduled for three days this weekend. Tomorrow night, a bunch of Water unit girls are going to a high school basketball game to hand out flyers and stuff; I knew a girl and I signed up with her. Saturday night is doing a similar activity but at a gymnastics meet at a college in Denver. Sunday is off; I plan to spend all day at Mile High Coffee, uploading pictures and updating my damn Norton subscription, the connection on campus isn't fast enough to handle such things. Monday is Presidents' Day and I managed to organize an eight-hour shift for a few girls on my floor to work at one of the food banks in the area. So, by the end of the extended weekend, I'll have over ten hours. Wooo! Things are looking good.
Still don't know about wildfire. There were people who had to do make-ups. We'll hear about it some time next week.
Oh, hey. Someone leave a damn comment once in a while so I know that I'm not writing this to myself =) Thanks!
Monday, February 11, 2008
One week down ...
After posting the last few entries, I feel the need to elaborate on some of the details about my experiences thus far...
As a member of the Earth unit, my unit leader is a guy named Kevin. He’s probably a little younger than my parents, he’s from Nebraska. He’s nice, but he’s definitely the kind of guy with whom you do not negotiate. My TL (team leader) for the first week(ish) was Ervin, from South Carolina. Also nice. Quite endearing, actually, and an interesting guy; he’s teaching himself banjo.
But today, we switched TLs (to get to know others, I guess?). I ended up with Allison. I don’t know much about her (though, it is only the first day), but all of the TLs seem nice, so I’m not too worried. My new group has Joanna, Chris and my roommate, Maddie. I’ll miss Ervin and our original team, though. Our dynamic was pretty hilarious, with Tish’s love of food and Greg giving Ervin a hard time. With any amount of luck, he’ll be my TL if I make wildfire. Of course, having said that, I’ve just jinxed myself.
Ugh, I tried to do my laundry last night. Mistaaaaake. First of all, people who arrived to the room after me were jumping on open washing machines before me. Lame. But that’s what I get for observing assumed unspoken proprieties. Anyway, when I finally got a washer I managed to pick the only one that didn’t have cold water hooked up to it. Yeah. When I tried to do a cold wash for my colored items, the water just didn’t come out. When I used the warm setting, it was hot. Sooooo … no rinse cycle. I ran both loads through the wash cycle twice to try and get all the soap out. Yeesh. On the upside, the dryers were pretty industrial. All of my heavy stuff was dry in about half an hour. That made up for all of the time I lost by washing my clothes twice.
Everyone has been getting sick. My throat feels a little sketchy, but I’ve been okay during the course of the day. Though I know that being out in the cold isn’t what gets you sick, I can’t help but suspect it aggravated a lot of immune systems because plenty of the people who tried out for wildfire are sniffling or worse. A chunk of people have the flu (rumor has it that a few are supposed to be on quarantine). Apparently, it’s quite the epidemic. I’m trying to be extra careful, as the one time per year that I get sick is usually in February. I will say that I’ve never eaten so healthy before in my life. I’m not a vegetarian, but the set up in the cafeteria is making it VERY easy for me. I had tofu twice today. And I chose tofu because I wasn’t getting the meat dishes, so I figured I needed to get some protein some how. It’s wonderful. I wish that I could always eat this way.
As a member of the Earth unit, my unit leader is a guy named Kevin. He’s probably a little younger than my parents, he’s from Nebraska. He’s nice, but he’s definitely the kind of guy with whom you do not negotiate. My TL (team leader) for the first week(ish) was Ervin, from South Carolina. Also nice. Quite endearing, actually, and an interesting guy; he’s teaching himself banjo.
But today, we switched TLs (to get to know others, I guess?). I ended up with Allison. I don’t know much about her (though, it is only the first day), but all of the TLs seem nice, so I’m not too worried. My new group has Joanna, Chris and my roommate, Maddie. I’ll miss Ervin and our original team, though. Our dynamic was pretty hilarious, with Tish’s love of food and Greg giving Ervin a hard time. With any amount of luck, he’ll be my TL if I make wildfire. Of course, having said that, I’ve just jinxed myself.
Ugh, I tried to do my laundry last night. Mistaaaaake. First of all, people who arrived to the room after me were jumping on open washing machines before me. Lame. But that’s what I get for observing assumed unspoken proprieties. Anyway, when I finally got a washer I managed to pick the only one that didn’t have cold water hooked up to it. Yeah. When I tried to do a cold wash for my colored items, the water just didn’t come out. When I used the warm setting, it was hot. Sooooo … no rinse cycle. I ran both loads through the wash cycle twice to try and get all the soap out. Yeesh. On the upside, the dryers were pretty industrial. All of my heavy stuff was dry in about half an hour. That made up for all of the time I lost by washing my clothes twice.
Everyone has been getting sick. My throat feels a little sketchy, but I’ve been okay during the course of the day. Though I know that being out in the cold isn’t what gets you sick, I can’t help but suspect it aggravated a lot of immune systems because plenty of the people who tried out for wildfire are sniffling or worse. A chunk of people have the flu (rumor has it that a few are supposed to be on quarantine). Apparently, it’s quite the epidemic. I’m trying to be extra careful, as the one time per year that I get sick is usually in February. I will say that I’ve never eaten so healthy before in my life. I’m not a vegetarian, but the set up in the cafeteria is making it VERY easy for me. I had tofu twice today. And I chose tofu because I wasn’t getting the meat dishes, so I figured I needed to get some protein some how. It’s wonderful. I wish that I could always eat this way.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Good grief ...
Oh my goodness, what a week it has been. Right now, I'm in the public library in Englewood, using their wifi. That was quite the ordeal. But I'll get to that in a minute.
I'm trying to remember where I left off. Training has been going well. A little boring at times, but at least there hasn't been any homework yet (yeah, thanks, I graduated, remember?). It's a shame that our temporary teams are going to break up soon, everyone wishes that we could stay intact. So, this past week consisted of driver tests (passed), physicals (drug test -- passed, duh; oh, and I'm not pregnant); and some unit time. Yesterday, we went for a hike at Roxboro state park. That was great fun. Last night, I went out around Denver with some girls I've met in my hall/unit, Nikki and Joanna. They're very sweet and funny, I love them. I am meeting a lot of great people, it just took me a day longer than everyone else, I think. The night was fun, but once again reaffirmed my aversion to the bar scene. Oh well. At least I gave it another try. It was quite an adventure getting back home, though. We took the second-to-last train back to Englewood, only to find out that there were no more buses running on our route at that time of night. So we started walking. It's two miles from downtown Englewood to campus. After we got about halfway home, a guy in our group flagged down a bus. Yes, a bus. The bus driver was a sub for the night and he took us the rest of the way up to campus for free. It was unbelievable.
Oh, so this morning was the wildfire baseline test for all who were interested. Nikki, Joanna and I tried out, as well as a few other girls we know and plenty of guys. We had to run a mile, and do as many push ups and sit ups in two minutes. My statistics are as follows: 8 minutes and 37 seconds for the mile, 56 sit ups, 28 push ups. I am by no means the best of the group, but I am also hardly the worst. So I am satisfied. I don't think I've ever actually done under nine minutes for a mile, so that's good. It was actually a really great experience, we were all really encouraging each other. It's a shame that some of us will have to get cut because I know we feel closer just for going through it together.
After we all swarmed the cafeteria for brunch, a bunch of us hopped on a bus and headed into Englewood's downtown (think Lansdale's downtown) to get some internet access. We went to the Mile High Coffee shop first, but eventually more people poured in and none of my webpages were loading (even though AIM was still working). So I crossed the street to the public library. I'm lucky I did it then because I was third in line to sign up for internet access and a library card. It's hardly like at home, but I'll take it. My only concern now is trying to renew my virus protection. I can't seem to do that.
Well, I would continue with the update, but the library is closing soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to get online more frequently than Sunday. I guess we'll see.
I'm trying to remember where I left off. Training has been going well. A little boring at times, but at least there hasn't been any homework yet (yeah, thanks, I graduated, remember?). It's a shame that our temporary teams are going to break up soon, everyone wishes that we could stay intact. So, this past week consisted of driver tests (passed), physicals (drug test -- passed, duh; oh, and I'm not pregnant); and some unit time. Yesterday, we went for a hike at Roxboro state park. That was great fun. Last night, I went out around Denver with some girls I've met in my hall/unit, Nikki and Joanna. They're very sweet and funny, I love them. I am meeting a lot of great people, it just took me a day longer than everyone else, I think. The night was fun, but once again reaffirmed my aversion to the bar scene. Oh well. At least I gave it another try. It was quite an adventure getting back home, though. We took the second-to-last train back to Englewood, only to find out that there were no more buses running on our route at that time of night. So we started walking. It's two miles from downtown Englewood to campus. After we got about halfway home, a guy in our group flagged down a bus. Yes, a bus. The bus driver was a sub for the night and he took us the rest of the way up to campus for free. It was unbelievable.
Oh, so this morning was the wildfire baseline test for all who were interested. Nikki, Joanna and I tried out, as well as a few other girls we know and plenty of guys. We had to run a mile, and do as many push ups and sit ups in two minutes. My statistics are as follows: 8 minutes and 37 seconds for the mile, 56 sit ups, 28 push ups. I am by no means the best of the group, but I am also hardly the worst. So I am satisfied. I don't think I've ever actually done under nine minutes for a mile, so that's good. It was actually a really great experience, we were all really encouraging each other. It's a shame that some of us will have to get cut because I know we feel closer just for going through it together.
After we all swarmed the cafeteria for brunch, a bunch of us hopped on a bus and headed into Englewood's downtown (think Lansdale's downtown) to get some internet access. We went to the Mile High Coffee shop first, but eventually more people poured in and none of my webpages were loading (even though AIM was still working). So I crossed the street to the public library. I'm lucky I did it then because I was third in line to sign up for internet access and a library card. It's hardly like at home, but I'll take it. My only concern now is trying to renew my virus protection. I can't seem to do that.
Well, I would continue with the update, but the library is closing soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to get online more frequently than Sunday. I guess we'll see.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Well, I’m signed up. Let the self-doubting begin!
I’m seriously interested in wildfire, I’m seriously considering it. The only things that I have doubts about are using chainsaws and how much my body can handle. I can eat protein bars for two weeks straight, sure. I can eat off of a truck (Jared and I had a chuckle over that one). I can wear the same clothes and not shower for two weeks. I can be in the heat, I can deal with the monotony of digging ditches for miles every day.
What worries me is that I am far weaker than I think I am. I know I haven’t gone on a run in a while. I haven’t worked out in at least a week. For as long as I’ve tried to be healthy and be fit, my upper body strength has never matched the rest of my body. In signing up for this opportunity and competing for a spot, I really feel like I have something on the line. Now I have to prove something. To who? I don’t know. To the people I’ve met? Well, I don’t know that it would affect their impressions of me; I’d hope that it wouldn’t, but in my mind I know I’d worry that it would. To myself? …I’m struggling over this question: Would I be disappointed with myself if I didn’t make it? I really don’t know the answer to that.
They said that personality counts, that the interviews mean something when they choose members for the wildfire teams. That’s great, I’m sure I can make a good impression. But I don’t want to be the person who got in on personality. I don’t want to be the weak member of the team, I do not want to hold back the team. And I think that there’s also this part of me that really just doesn’t want to be the weak girl.. I would really just find that humiliating.
I’m going to work out tomorrow. If I have to run outside, so be it. But I need to see what the thin air will do to me. Now, back in ’04 when I was here for DCI Championships, it didn’t do much at all. I didn’t get headaches, I wasn’t gasping for air, I wasn’t dehydrated. And we started with full rehearsal days as soon as we got there. The only thing I noticed was that I felt more tired than usual at the end of the day. So I’ll see where I stand tomorrow, I’m going to try and use the gym after dinner but before it closes, so that would be enough time for an hour-long run. Hopefully, I can do that two, three times before Sunday. I know that this athletic “cram session” isn’t going to do anything significant. But I would imagine that it’s better than just doing the baseline test cold. I say this, of course, with no evidence to support such suspicions.
As always, we’ll see what happens.
What worries me is that I am far weaker than I think I am. I know I haven’t gone on a run in a while. I haven’t worked out in at least a week. For as long as I’ve tried to be healthy and be fit, my upper body strength has never matched the rest of my body. In signing up for this opportunity and competing for a spot, I really feel like I have something on the line. Now I have to prove something. To who? I don’t know. To the people I’ve met? Well, I don’t know that it would affect their impressions of me; I’d hope that it wouldn’t, but in my mind I know I’d worry that it would. To myself? …I’m struggling over this question: Would I be disappointed with myself if I didn’t make it? I really don’t know the answer to that.
They said that personality counts, that the interviews mean something when they choose members for the wildfire teams. That’s great, I’m sure I can make a good impression. But I don’t want to be the person who got in on personality. I don’t want to be the weak member of the team, I do not want to hold back the team. And I think that there’s also this part of me that really just doesn’t want to be the weak girl.. I would really just find that humiliating.
I’m going to work out tomorrow. If I have to run outside, so be it. But I need to see what the thin air will do to me. Now, back in ’04 when I was here for DCI Championships, it didn’t do much at all. I didn’t get headaches, I wasn’t gasping for air, I wasn’t dehydrated. And we started with full rehearsal days as soon as we got there. The only thing I noticed was that I felt more tired than usual at the end of the day. So I’ll see where I stand tomorrow, I’m going to try and use the gym after dinner but before it closes, so that would be enough time for an hour-long run. Hopefully, I can do that two, three times before Sunday. I know that this athletic “cram session” isn’t going to do anything significant. But I would imagine that it’s better than just doing the baseline test cold. I say this, of course, with no evidence to support such suspicions.
As always, we’ll see what happens.
Settling in
Day Two has been going pretty well so far. Earth was the first unit to get their uniforms, so I’ve been ugly since before lunch. They’re comfy clothes, though, so I can’t really gripe too much. It’s not like I need to impress anyone. I kinda wish we had a little more flexibility with them; just little things like cuffing the t-shirt sleeves or wearing flip-flops with the pants. A part of me feels like writing to Project Runway and saying “Hey, uh … how about you redesign the AmeriCorps uniforms in one challenge?” I’m sure corps members would appreciate something a little less … generic. But, like I said, they’re comfy. And I get to keep my Surf necklace on, so that’s nice.
There’s a guy here who marched Cadets, I saw him in the Facebook group and I just met up with him a few minutes ago. His name is Jared and he’s very nice. He marched as a rook-out in ’05, I think. It’s comforting to have someone else in the organization who understands that background. He mentioned that there’s a WGI regional in Denver for a weekend that we’re here. As soon as I have access to the internet (apparently Walsh Hall just doesn’t have internet at all right now, grr), I’ll check that out. It would be awesome to get to see some winter guard that I’m not normally privy to. Oooh! Even more awesome would be to volunteer at the event and get a jump on my ISP (independent service project) hours. I volunteered for a WGI regional back home once, in Norristown. It was a two-day event, I just opened the doors at the edge of the gym and helped the guards get off the floor after their show. I got to see 40+ guards over two days and all I had to do was open doors. It was awesome. I will definitely have to look into that.
Other than that, I don’t have much to say. The wildfire team info meeting is tonight. I’ll be going to that. I think that I’ve decided to just give it a try and see what happens. If I make it, cool. It seems like the wildfire teams are really close-knit groups, so even if I don’t go to a ton of different places, at least the experiences I have will be memorable. And if I don’t make it, oh well. I’ll just be doing “normal” AmeriCorps projects. Either way, I’ll have some good experiences and I don’t think I’ll be haunted by the outcome of my decision.
There’s a guy here who marched Cadets, I saw him in the Facebook group and I just met up with him a few minutes ago. His name is Jared and he’s very nice. He marched as a rook-out in ’05, I think. It’s comforting to have someone else in the organization who understands that background. He mentioned that there’s a WGI regional in Denver for a weekend that we’re here. As soon as I have access to the internet (apparently Walsh Hall just doesn’t have internet at all right now, grr), I’ll check that out. It would be awesome to get to see some winter guard that I’m not normally privy to. Oooh! Even more awesome would be to volunteer at the event and get a jump on my ISP (independent service project) hours. I volunteered for a WGI regional back home once, in Norristown. It was a two-day event, I just opened the doors at the edge of the gym and helped the guards get off the floor after their show. I got to see 40+ guards over two days and all I had to do was open doors. It was awesome. I will definitely have to look into that.
Other than that, I don’t have much to say. The wildfire team info meeting is tonight. I’ll be going to that. I think that I’ve decided to just give it a try and see what happens. If I make it, cool. It seems like the wildfire teams are really close-knit groups, so even if I don’t go to a ton of different places, at least the experiences I have will be memorable. And if I don’t make it, oh well. I’ll just be doing “normal” AmeriCorps projects. Either way, I’ll have some good experiences and I don’t think I’ll be haunted by the outcome of my decision.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Denver, I am here!
Well! Where to begin? Okay, first … we finally arrived at the train station around 1:05 pm. Everyone grabbed their bags and piled into vehicles to go to campus. We arrived, went through check-in and in-processing. I got to my dorm, did the dorm check, turned all of my forms in for in-processing, came back and started unpacking. My roommate is nice, she’s from Maryland. They seem to be keeping the units together in the dorms because all of the Earth girls are in the same hall. Rosary, a girl I’ve been talking to online since I was accepted, is not in my unit, alas. But she is on the same floor, so that’s good. Hopefully we’ll see each other enough before we go on spikes.
Ah, spikes. We had our first unit meeting tonight and I am still undecided about the wildfire teams. Okay, so … the pros of the wildfire team: a great challenge, a great experience, killer resume piece, killer work out. The cons of the wildfire team: you spend most of your time training in Denver, you do one Gulf project like everyone else, but you don’t travel nearly as much. The pros of the regular team projects: variety of projects, variety of experiences, traveling a lot. The cons of the regular team projects: possibly maybe not as hard core as the wildfire teams (?), and it’s not the wildfire team. So, I still have no idea and tomorrow night is the mandatory meeting for if you’re interested. I’m seriously hoping that the meeting steers me in one direction or the other, because I really just don’t know. I know that I should have a good experience no matter what I choose, but I don’t want to choose something and then wonder “What if…?” for my entire term of service. I mean, I realize that I’m probably making too much of a deal about this, it’s not going to result in any negative consequences. Sometimes I really lean toward the wildfire team because I want the challenge, I want to ask it of myself. And then there will be a voice in my head that says, “Yeah, but then you stay in Denver and you don’t get to go anywhere and you won’t get other valuable non-profit experiences for your career.” I just don’t know.
Meanwhile, I’m adjusting well. I’m trying to stay positive. I didn’t dorm for all four years of college, so I wasn’t forced to spend time with classmates that I found less than engaging. Now, however … it’s really going to be a test of my personality. I’ve always been under the impression that I can get along with almost anyone and that I’m generally a people-person. But, this environment is definitely helping me confront any underlying prejudices that I may hold. And I do hold some, I know I do. We’re not talking racial or gender prejudices. I mean subtle aspects that make it very easy to be judgmental with another person. Little things. And, as much as I’d like to be completely honest about this, I can’t be specific because sometimes it’s totally random. The only thing that I’m aware of is a person’s educational background. I’ve been aware of it for a while, so I’m pretty good at tempering it (as in not writing someone off just because they didn’t go to/finish college). I think what’s most disturbing is that such things rear their ugly heads at all. Because, even though I don’t go opening my mouth and expelling all of my judgements, I’m disappointed in myself that I still think them. Even if I don’t validate them, even if I know such a judgement is completely irrational, the fact that they exist makes me feel like less of a decent person sometimes. But then, I suppose, I take this too seriously. “Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes. Doesn’t mean we go around committing hate criiiiiimes.” Avenue Q. One judgement that I won’t be lenient about, though, is grammar. I prefer to think of it as a pet peeve than a prejudice, but I can’t stand it when people don’t adhere to even the most basic rules of grammar and punctuation. I’m no expert, and I’m not asking anyone else to be one either, but use a period between sentences, for crying out loud. But, I digress …
So yeah. The only major things I’m dealing with right now is internet access and gym access. I don’t know if you noticed, but all of these posts showed up on the same day. That’s because I’ve been saving them in Word and publishing them when I get online. As of right now, I’m still nowhere near an internet connection. There is no wifi on campus, which is fine. But the Ethernet outlets are a little baffling, I can’t seem to get connected. Tonight, they said that the internet connection on campus is sketchy, sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s not. Greeeaaat. That’s fine, I just want access to the computer lab then. Well, they’ll let us know. Ooookay. I’m not addicted, but I was expecting a few important emails and I was hoping to keep the blog going.
Well, I also have free time after 7:00 pm every night, I’d like to use that time to go to the gym (since there’s about four inches of snow on the ground right now, so I can’t/won’t go running outside). Oh, they’ll let us know when we can have access to the gym. Oy.
Of course, Alan put everything into perspective for me: “Well, you’ve been there, what? Seven hours?” Whoops. That’s me, impulsive reactions.
Ah, spikes. We had our first unit meeting tonight and I am still undecided about the wildfire teams. Okay, so … the pros of the wildfire team: a great challenge, a great experience, killer resume piece, killer work out. The cons of the wildfire team: you spend most of your time training in Denver, you do one Gulf project like everyone else, but you don’t travel nearly as much. The pros of the regular team projects: variety of projects, variety of experiences, traveling a lot. The cons of the regular team projects: possibly maybe not as hard core as the wildfire teams (?), and it’s not the wildfire team. So, I still have no idea and tomorrow night is the mandatory meeting for if you’re interested. I’m seriously hoping that the meeting steers me in one direction or the other, because I really just don’t know. I know that I should have a good experience no matter what I choose, but I don’t want to choose something and then wonder “What if…?” for my entire term of service. I mean, I realize that I’m probably making too much of a deal about this, it’s not going to result in any negative consequences. Sometimes I really lean toward the wildfire team because I want the challenge, I want to ask it of myself. And then there will be a voice in my head that says, “Yeah, but then you stay in Denver and you don’t get to go anywhere and you won’t get other valuable non-profit experiences for your career.” I just don’t know.
Meanwhile, I’m adjusting well. I’m trying to stay positive. I didn’t dorm for all four years of college, so I wasn’t forced to spend time with classmates that I found less than engaging. Now, however … it’s really going to be a test of my personality. I’ve always been under the impression that I can get along with almost anyone and that I’m generally a people-person. But, this environment is definitely helping me confront any underlying prejudices that I may hold. And I do hold some, I know I do. We’re not talking racial or gender prejudices. I mean subtle aspects that make it very easy to be judgmental with another person. Little things. And, as much as I’d like to be completely honest about this, I can’t be specific because sometimes it’s totally random. The only thing that I’m aware of is a person’s educational background. I’ve been aware of it for a while, so I’m pretty good at tempering it (as in not writing someone off just because they didn’t go to/finish college). I think what’s most disturbing is that such things rear their ugly heads at all. Because, even though I don’t go opening my mouth and expelling all of my judgements, I’m disappointed in myself that I still think them. Even if I don’t validate them, even if I know such a judgement is completely irrational, the fact that they exist makes me feel like less of a decent person sometimes. But then, I suppose, I take this too seriously. “Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes. Doesn’t mean we go around committing hate criiiiiimes.” Avenue Q. One judgement that I won’t be lenient about, though, is grammar. I prefer to think of it as a pet peeve than a prejudice, but I can’t stand it when people don’t adhere to even the most basic rules of grammar and punctuation. I’m no expert, and I’m not asking anyone else to be one either, but use a period between sentences, for crying out loud. But, I digress …
So yeah. The only major things I’m dealing with right now is internet access and gym access. I don’t know if you noticed, but all of these posts showed up on the same day. That’s because I’ve been saving them in Word and publishing them when I get online. As of right now, I’m still nowhere near an internet connection. There is no wifi on campus, which is fine. But the Ethernet outlets are a little baffling, I can’t seem to get connected. Tonight, they said that the internet connection on campus is sketchy, sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s not. Greeeaaat. That’s fine, I just want access to the computer lab then. Well, they’ll let us know. Ooookay. I’m not addicted, but I was expecting a few important emails and I was hoping to keep the blog going.
Well, I also have free time after 7:00 pm every night, I’d like to use that time to go to the gym (since there’s about four inches of snow on the ground right now, so I can’t/won’t go running outside). Oh, they’ll let us know when we can have access to the gym. Oy.
Of course, Alan put everything into perspective for me: “Well, you’ve been there, what? Seven hours?” Whoops. That’s me, impulsive reactions.
"North By Northwest" this is not ...
As of right now we are traveling three hours behind schedule. Last night, our train got stuck behind a bunch of freight traffic. So now, ETA is about 10:15 instead of 7:15 am. Shucks, I wanted to be at the front of the line so I could get all of my check in over with. Oh, well. I imagine that airports are having delay issues too, what with the weather that’s expected to move across the Midwest.
So Chicago was a bit of a bust. Kevin showed up around 11:00 pm on Saturday night when the train stopped in Pittsburgh. I slept through the whole thing. When we got off the train in Chicago, we also ran into Andrew. As we were heading through the station, Maggie, Kevin and I separated from TT, TT’s friend and Andrew. We found a locker for our stuff and headed out into the city to find something to do. Well, we probably should have stuck with Andrew and TT. They went to the art museum. We walked around for three hours. We didn’t bother with going up the Sears Tower because of how cloudy it was. And nothing else was open! I mean, it was about 9:00 am when we got there. But, even by 11:00 am, restaurants weren’t open yet for lunch. Local eateries weren’t open, chain restaurants weren’t open. Nothing. In fact, some places were closed for the whole day. A word of advice: Don’t visit Chicago on a Sunday. I mean, even all of Lansdale is open on Sundays. How a major city could practically shut down every Sunday is beyond me.
So, after walking around the city for about three hours, we just said, “Screw it” and headed back to the station to get our stuff out of the locker so we wouldn’t have to pay for extra time.
While we were sitting at the gate waiting for the train to Denver, we saw a guy reading the AmeriCorps handbook. He turned out to be Nathan. And as we were boarding the train, a girl named Katie was in front of us, who also happens to be doing NCCC. Our group now totals eight members (but still, no one else is in the Earth unit, wtf?). So we all found seats together for the ride over. Everything has been pretty cool so far, minus being three hours behind schedule. Everyone seems to be getting along really well. Last night, Maggie, Nathan, Doug and I went to the dining car for dinner. I had a veggie burger, mmm! It’s been a while since I’ve had one, I forgot how good they are. So that was a treat. During dinner, we put Doug on the spot and had him explain some of the insider details about the NCCC experience. He admits that some things about the Denver campus and the Winter Cycle may have changed since he last served in 2005. But I think we all felt a lot better about what lay ahead after hearing what he had to say.
Ugh, we just stopped again. It’s 8:35 am. Ah, there’s apparently a freight train in front of us that’s “in trouble.” We have to wait for a relief crew to unstick it. I actually have no idea where we are right now. The last train station stop I recall seeing was McCook. I haven’t seen anything identifiable since then, no water towers with names or anything. Plenty of cows, a few small towns here and there (the kind that make a big deal about getting a traffic light at an intersection). The snow seemed to disappear for a while, but now it’s back, at least on the ground. After we left Chicago yesterday, we were riding right into a snowstorm around South Bend, IN. It was coming down really hard, total white out for a little bit. Right now, I actually can’t tell whether there’s snow approaching or if it’s just really foggy. (9:05 am – I just heard Doug say to someone that we’re in Colorado.)
Something amusing about our group of eight: it seems that almost everyone packed their cell phone chargers away in the bag that they checked for Denver. At least I’m not the only one who did it. A sign of things to come? Hahaha.
I’d really love to take a shower right about now. I’m not so desperate that I’d go outside and rub snow all over my body. But I would wash my hair in the sink if it were only large enough. Boo. I guess I’ll have to deal with greasy hair for the rest of the day. At least I clipped it up.
So Chicago was a bit of a bust. Kevin showed up around 11:00 pm on Saturday night when the train stopped in Pittsburgh. I slept through the whole thing. When we got off the train in Chicago, we also ran into Andrew. As we were heading through the station, Maggie, Kevin and I separated from TT, TT’s friend and Andrew. We found a locker for our stuff and headed out into the city to find something to do. Well, we probably should have stuck with Andrew and TT. They went to the art museum. We walked around for three hours. We didn’t bother with going up the Sears Tower because of how cloudy it was. And nothing else was open! I mean, it was about 9:00 am when we got there. But, even by 11:00 am, restaurants weren’t open yet for lunch. Local eateries weren’t open, chain restaurants weren’t open. Nothing. In fact, some places were closed for the whole day. A word of advice: Don’t visit Chicago on a Sunday. I mean, even all of Lansdale is open on Sundays. How a major city could practically shut down every Sunday is beyond me.
So, after walking around the city for about three hours, we just said, “Screw it” and headed back to the station to get our stuff out of the locker so we wouldn’t have to pay for extra time.
While we were sitting at the gate waiting for the train to Denver, we saw a guy reading the AmeriCorps handbook. He turned out to be Nathan. And as we were boarding the train, a girl named Katie was in front of us, who also happens to be doing NCCC. Our group now totals eight members (but still, no one else is in the Earth unit, wtf?). So we all found seats together for the ride over. Everything has been pretty cool so far, minus being three hours behind schedule. Everyone seems to be getting along really well. Last night, Maggie, Nathan, Doug and I went to the dining car for dinner. I had a veggie burger, mmm! It’s been a while since I’ve had one, I forgot how good they are. So that was a treat. During dinner, we put Doug on the spot and had him explain some of the insider details about the NCCC experience. He admits that some things about the Denver campus and the Winter Cycle may have changed since he last served in 2005. But I think we all felt a lot better about what lay ahead after hearing what he had to say.
Ugh, we just stopped again. It’s 8:35 am. Ah, there’s apparently a freight train in front of us that’s “in trouble.” We have to wait for a relief crew to unstick it. I actually have no idea where we are right now. The last train station stop I recall seeing was McCook. I haven’t seen anything identifiable since then, no water towers with names or anything. Plenty of cows, a few small towns here and there (the kind that make a big deal about getting a traffic light at an intersection). The snow seemed to disappear for a while, but now it’s back, at least on the ground. After we left Chicago yesterday, we were riding right into a snowstorm around South Bend, IN. It was coming down really hard, total white out for a little bit. Right now, I actually can’t tell whether there’s snow approaching or if it’s just really foggy. (9:05 am – I just heard Doug say to someone that we’re in Colorado.)
Something amusing about our group of eight: it seems that almost everyone packed their cell phone chargers away in the bag that they checked for Denver. At least I’m not the only one who did it. A sign of things to come? Hahaha.
I’d really love to take a shower right about now. I’m not so desperate that I’d go outside and rub snow all over my body. But I would wash my hair in the sink if it were only large enough. Boo. I guess I’ll have to deal with greasy hair for the rest of the day. At least I clipped it up.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Cross-country train ride! Part Dos
I am now on the train from D.C. to Chicago, by way of Pittsburgh. I’m not exactly sure why Maggie and I went all the way down to D.C. only to come back up to PA and go through Pittsburgh to head out toward Chicago, but whatever. We got to spend two hours in D.C., am I complaining? No.
Speaking of spending two hours in D.C., after Maggie and I got off at Union Station, we checked our bags for Denver and headed out to the National Portrait Gallery. We walked in, headed toward the hall of presidents and, there he was: Stephen Colbert. The portrait, of course (the person? Oh, if I could be so lucky…). There was a small but significant crowd, as well as a two-person camera crew interviewing people and getting footage of onlookers who came to see Stephen’s portrait. It was hilarious. After Maggie and I both took pictures, we went down to the featured exhibit: Katharine Hepburn. Oh, swoon, I love her. It was a very small exhibit, one tiny room of pictures, film posters and art of Kate. But it was wonderful. They also had her four (unprecedented) Oscars on display, and the red sweater she always wore in her later years.
As we were walking back to the station (no point in trying to do anything else, lest we end up being late), I felt a little weird, a little anxious. My last visit to D.C. was only about a month ago. But the difference this time is that I’m not heading home, I’m going away from it. It suddenly felt like I was standing alone and apart from everything around me. Not an empty loneliness, mind you, but it was slightly disconcerting.
Actually, I suspect the reason Maggie and I were sent down to D.C. was so we could sort of “collect” other NCCC travelers; we met another girl, Thúy-Tiên, while we were sitting at the station gate. I was originally under the impression that she would be meeting us in Chicago, but I must have misunderstood because she was there in the waiting area. She called me and was like, “Uh, Hayley? I think I’m sitting behind you.” Hehe. Also, while Maggie and I were waiting, we spied a guy in a gray AmeriCorps hoodie across the waiting area. We ended up falling in behind him as we had our tickets checked and boarded the train. I snuck a peak at his nametag – Doug. As of right now, he occupies the seat in front of mine. He’s a vet, he did the 2005 Winter Cycle in Denver. And he gave me an unexpected head’s up – my unit leader is apparently hard core. Oh, rapture. =) Psh, no big. As if I don’t expect to be faced with any challenges in this program. I’d prefer it sooner instead of later, I don’t want to settle into any bad habits.
This train ride is both wonderful and frustrating. Wonderful because of all of the things that I’m seeing out the window. Frustrating because I can’t really take pictures of those things. A moving train is not conducive to a clear photograph. It’s the little things, mostly. Deer grazing, a busted couch sitting out in the middle of a field; little things that make a community feel familiar to its inhabitants.
Speaking of spending two hours in D.C., after Maggie and I got off at Union Station, we checked our bags for Denver and headed out to the National Portrait Gallery. We walked in, headed toward the hall of presidents and, there he was: Stephen Colbert. The portrait, of course (the person? Oh, if I could be so lucky…). There was a small but significant crowd, as well as a two-person camera crew interviewing people and getting footage of onlookers who came to see Stephen’s portrait. It was hilarious. After Maggie and I both took pictures, we went down to the featured exhibit: Katharine Hepburn. Oh, swoon, I love her. It was a very small exhibit, one tiny room of pictures, film posters and art of Kate. But it was wonderful. They also had her four (unprecedented) Oscars on display, and the red sweater she always wore in her later years.
As we were walking back to the station (no point in trying to do anything else, lest we end up being late), I felt a little weird, a little anxious. My last visit to D.C. was only about a month ago. But the difference this time is that I’m not heading home, I’m going away from it. It suddenly felt like I was standing alone and apart from everything around me. Not an empty loneliness, mind you, but it was slightly disconcerting.
Actually, I suspect the reason Maggie and I were sent down to D.C. was so we could sort of “collect” other NCCC travelers; we met another girl, Thúy-Tiên, while we were sitting at the station gate. I was originally under the impression that she would be meeting us in Chicago, but I must have misunderstood because she was there in the waiting area. She called me and was like, “Uh, Hayley? I think I’m sitting behind you.” Hehe. Also, while Maggie and I were waiting, we spied a guy in a gray AmeriCorps hoodie across the waiting area. We ended up falling in behind him as we had our tickets checked and boarded the train. I snuck a peak at his nametag – Doug. As of right now, he occupies the seat in front of mine. He’s a vet, he did the 2005 Winter Cycle in Denver. And he gave me an unexpected head’s up – my unit leader is apparently hard core. Oh, rapture. =) Psh, no big. As if I don’t expect to be faced with any challenges in this program. I’d prefer it sooner instead of later, I don’t want to settle into any bad habits.
This train ride is both wonderful and frustrating. Wonderful because of all of the things that I’m seeing out the window. Frustrating because I can’t really take pictures of those things. A moving train is not conducive to a clear photograph. It’s the little things, mostly. Deer grazing, a busted couch sitting out in the middle of a field; little things that make a community feel familiar to its inhabitants.
Cross-country train ride!
Currently Reading: Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
As I write this I am on Amtrak from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. I received my train tickets on the 24th. On Tuesday, Alan and I went down to the Forrest Theater to see Avenue Q. Oh, it was so hilarious! I owned the soundtrack without ever having seen the show, and I’m glad I did. But there was so much more to the show than the soundtrack lets on. The best characters by far were the Bad Idea Bears. The show was really awesome, there were so many funny parts that I couldn’t possibly describe them without recounting the entire show.
Then on Wednesday night I got a call from Ervin. Ervin is a team leader for one of the wildfire teams and he called to let me know that I was going to be in the Earth Unit. What does that mean? Nothing in particular, it’s just how they divide everyone into groups, which will later be divided into teams. So I am in the Earth unit. There are also Fire, Wind and Sun units. The Earth unit has all of the wildfire teams, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the teams are wildfire teams. It’s just that they’ve put all of the wildfire teams in the same unit to keep them together, I suppose. When I first read about the different team designations, I made the comment “What are we, Captain Planet’s sidekicks? I hope I get a magical ring with this.” So now, everyone in my cell phone whom I know through AmeriCorps has/will have the Captain Planet theme song as their ringtone. =)
I spent all day yesterday packing up. The total damage is one rolling suitcase – with my sleeping bag and bike helmet strapped to it – and a backpack. Both are stuffed, but not uncomfortably so. After doing Jersey Surf for three years, I’m pretty capable of low-maintenance packing. Thank God for drum corps! =) As we were loading up the car, I decided to have my pillow and quilt shipped to me. I probably wouldn’t be able to fit them in lockers in Chicago and I’m not carrying them all over the city; that would be both strange looking and inconvenient.
I’m riding with Maggie, a girl from Cherry Hill, NJ, who is also doing AmeriCorps. We planned to leave from the same station on our travel forms and, sure enough, we’re traveling together the whole way to Denver. We’ll meet up with three or four more AmeriCorps people when we arrive in Chicago.
Maggie just told me that one of her friends offered her a word of advice for our Katrina projects: If you’re gutting a house, whatever you do, do NOT, under any circumstances, open the refrigerator. Good grief.
So I’m surprised I manage to eat my breakfast this morning, I’ve felt nauseous a few times. It’s nerves, I know. Things were finally sinking in a little last night that I was leaving. Even though I was packing yesterday, it still felt like a normal day. I didn’t do anything extraordinary. When Alan finally came over, we just hung out like usual. But every now and then my heart would jump or my gut would twinge. I was trying hard to act normally because I was afraid that if I got too nostalgic or sentimental, I wouldn’t be able to handle the trip. I’ve basically instead maintained the mindset that the trip will only last a week, two weeks, a month. So, in the worst times when I feel like I want to quit and hop on a plane, I can just tell myself “Just make it to the end of the week/month.” I’m sure it’ll get to be like aging out – before you know it, you’re on the field and saying goodbye to it all.
As I write this I am on Amtrak from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. I received my train tickets on the 24th. On Tuesday, Alan and I went down to the Forrest Theater to see Avenue Q. Oh, it was so hilarious! I owned the soundtrack without ever having seen the show, and I’m glad I did. But there was so much more to the show than the soundtrack lets on. The best characters by far were the Bad Idea Bears. The show was really awesome, there were so many funny parts that I couldn’t possibly describe them without recounting the entire show.
Then on Wednesday night I got a call from Ervin. Ervin is a team leader for one of the wildfire teams and he called to let me know that I was going to be in the Earth Unit. What does that mean? Nothing in particular, it’s just how they divide everyone into groups, which will later be divided into teams. So I am in the Earth unit. There are also Fire, Wind and Sun units. The Earth unit has all of the wildfire teams, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the teams are wildfire teams. It’s just that they’ve put all of the wildfire teams in the same unit to keep them together, I suppose. When I first read about the different team designations, I made the comment “What are we, Captain Planet’s sidekicks? I hope I get a magical ring with this.” So now, everyone in my cell phone whom I know through AmeriCorps has/will have the Captain Planet theme song as their ringtone. =)
I spent all day yesterday packing up. The total damage is one rolling suitcase – with my sleeping bag and bike helmet strapped to it – and a backpack. Both are stuffed, but not uncomfortably so. After doing Jersey Surf for three years, I’m pretty capable of low-maintenance packing. Thank God for drum corps! =) As we were loading up the car, I decided to have my pillow and quilt shipped to me. I probably wouldn’t be able to fit them in lockers in Chicago and I’m not carrying them all over the city; that would be both strange looking and inconvenient.
I’m riding with Maggie, a girl from Cherry Hill, NJ, who is also doing AmeriCorps. We planned to leave from the same station on our travel forms and, sure enough, we’re traveling together the whole way to Denver. We’ll meet up with three or four more AmeriCorps people when we arrive in Chicago.
Maggie just told me that one of her friends offered her a word of advice for our Katrina projects: If you’re gutting a house, whatever you do, do NOT, under any circumstances, open the refrigerator. Good grief.
So I’m surprised I manage to eat my breakfast this morning, I’ve felt nauseous a few times. It’s nerves, I know. Things were finally sinking in a little last night that I was leaving. Even though I was packing yesterday, it still felt like a normal day. I didn’t do anything extraordinary. When Alan finally came over, we just hung out like usual. But every now and then my heart would jump or my gut would twinge. I was trying hard to act normally because I was afraid that if I got too nostalgic or sentimental, I wouldn’t be able to handle the trip. I’ve basically instead maintained the mindset that the trip will only last a week, two weeks, a month. So, in the worst times when I feel like I want to quit and hop on a plane, I can just tell myself “Just make it to the end of the week/month.” I’m sure it’ll get to be like aging out – before you know it, you’re on the field and saying goodbye to it all.
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