I kind of feel the need to soften the blow a little of the last entry. I don't hate volunteers and I'm not avoiding them. No one has accused me of either, but I think that I have come across as a little intolerable in my previous entry.
So I had a great weekend. On Friday, me, Nikki, John and Ervin went around Port Arthur and Beaumont a little. We did some thrift store rummaging. I got a great pair ofplaid shorts, a tube top, and a t-shirt. We then found this little shack that served some great barbeque so we stopped for dinner.
As I mentioned, New Orleans plans fell through and it doesn't really bother me. Instead, Nikki rented a car and we drove to Austin with John, Levi and Noelle (a girl from Wolf 4). The drive was about four hours. We got a little lost once we got to Austin and tried to find the hotel, but it worked out okay after driving around for a little while. The highway system in Texas is a little confusing. Google maps even finds it confusing -- every time we've taken directions for a location, we end up going in circles for a little. Texas must know that their highways are troublesome because every exit ramp is equipped with its own U-turn lane. It's incredibly convenient. Of course, I'm sure it's no big deal to have something like that since there aren't any tolls. Doing that in Jersey or PA would get expensive. You have to know where you're going when you drive around the Pennsyljersey area.
Anyway ... two other AmeriCorps teams converged on Austin for their spring break as well. They weren't Earth teams, but we knew a few people in them and it was nice to just hang out with some Denver people. We all went to dinner together at a place called Stubb's. It was apparently a famous barbeque joint, but none of us were impressed. After dinner, we all went down to Austin's 6th Street, which is their main strip. I have to say, Nikki is a bad influence on me. She, Noelle and I went off on our own and did a little bar crawl. We started off the night getting shots for each other. I drank more that night than I have in my entire life. Yeah, apparently I drink now? I don't know when I acquired a taste for it, because I'm pretty sure that I only went out three times during CTI and I only drank one of those times. Well, whatever.
We ended the night at a place called Nuno's, where there was an incredible blues guitarist named Jamie Krueger. I strongly suggest that everyone look up his myspace page, especially if you enjoy blues. His solos were awesome. And we were treated to a guest appearance by Pinetop Perkins, one of the last great Mississippi blues musicians. He's 95 and he was rocking out! It was a really cool experience and the music was great.
The next day, we decided to see the state capital, which was also located near University of Texas's Austin campus. So we spent Easter Sunday wandering around the little college town. We got some Tawainese food for lunch and there was a stellar vintage clothing store. Alas, I didn't buy anything, but there were some really cool items in there. There was a Church of Scientology along the main drag as well -- the first time I've ever actually seen anything having to do with Scientology in person. We also came across the campus's Hindu club celebrating Holi. There was colored powder everywhere. We really wanted to get in on it, but we had to drive the four hours back to Port Arthur in a rental car and we didn't think that Enterprise would appreciate it. It's a shame because it looked like a lot fun. I first learned about Holi when I was looking through National Geographic pictures online or something. It's the most beautiful festival, and it's one of the most amazing things that I've ever heard of. To celebrate the beginning of spring with bursts of color by throwing dyed powder over everyone and everything sounds like such a joyful experience. Truly one of humanity's highlights.
After all that, we made the drive back home. Along the way, Nikki pulled an abrupt u-turn so that we could appreciate some bluebonnets (the state flower of Texas) along the side of the road. It was a great weekend, but we also enjoyed finally arriving back to our mod. That night, I ended up watching Hook with a few of the Wolf 4 people.
The next day, I did grocery shopping. When we got back for lunch, the New Orleans crew had returned home. Harrison and Ervin also returned with a bunch of crabs; apparently they had gone crabbing that morning. They caught about fifteen so a bunch of the team enjoyed a fresh lunch. I had a sandwich. I wish that I liked crab and lobster, but I don't so ... more for them. I waited around for longer than I would have liked, but I finally got to do laundry. When we got back, there were suddenly a bunch of cots set up. Spring breakers. But this group seemed a little guy-heavy. It turns out that it's a group from the Air Force Academy. Cool! I had to text my dad. We also have a high school group staying here, with a social studies teacher and his wife. They're being a bit of a pain, but some of the kids are really cool. The Air Force guys seem pretty laid back so far.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to work with them today -- Earth 5 and Wolf 4 went to a different work site in Sabine Pass. We had one house to work on and it was mostly touching up and finishing. I personally had a little bad luck today -- every time I tried to do something, something was wrong with it or something set me back. We started out caulking all of gaps in the house, like along the baseboards and around the window sills. There were no caulking guns, just tubes of caulk (we had a significant supply shortage since we had only one trailer for most of the day). It was fine for a while, we just pushed the tubes up manually, using rods or paintbrush handles when the tubes got too deep to reach. Well, I was moving right along caulking around a bathtub when my paintbrush went right through the end of my tube and disappeared. Caulk everywhere (okay, stop with the jokes). I ended up just scooping it out of the busted end with my fingers so I could finish the job. Oy.
Next, we tried to hang some closet doors. But eventually, after trying to fix some errors that were made (by a supervisor!) and resetting the doors, the trim got so chewed up by the nails that we just decided to leave it for tomorrow (we were also out of trim). Finally, I moved on to cutting a hole in the laundry room wall so we could put a piece of sheetrock in and put some sheetrock mud up to smooth out the hole. Well, there was no sheetrock mud. Honestly! It was just one thing after another, a situation that was further aggravated by the fact that we twenty people were sharing about two hammers total for most of the day, and two air hoses for the nail guns. Sheesh. Hopefully we'll be better prepared tomorrow. It's kind of out of our hands, as Habitat is in charge of supplying us with equipment and materials. Still, the one supervisor today noticed how irritating the working conditions were today (not just for us, for him as well), so I think he's going to try and make things run a little smoother tomorrow. I'm actually not sure if we're going back to Sabine Pass tomorrow or not. Incidentally, Sabine Pass is the same town where the Creepy Park is.
Today was the day that we got a visit from the NCCC Denver director, Barbara Lane. Because things weren't so productive today, we finished early and she arrived just as we were cleaning up. But it was okay, we talked to her for a decent amount of time. She came back to the Y to see how we were making out with the living arrangements. And, to our surprise, she got us some cheesecake, ice cream sandwiches and popcicles for an after-dinner treat! That was a real treat. Dinner was great too, Nikki made turkey brats with sauteed peppers and onions. Tomorrow, I'm planning on making stuffed chicken breasts. I hope it works out okay, our kitchen situation isn't the most comfortable; but so far, the food has turned out to be pretty delicious and filling.
I'm debating as to whether or not I want to go to the effort of making a birthday cake next week. It'll be my 23rd birthday next Tuesday, but it will also be our TL's 21st. If I made a cake, I would go all out and do the fondant thing again. But I feel like that would be a lot of time, money and effort in less than ideal conditions. It's not like I'm baking at home, so I don't know how well I'd be able to pull it off. I'll think about it. We'll see. I might just become apathetic about it and not bother.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
"Hell is paved with good intentions."
Earth 5 has officially been in Port Arthur for a week now, working with Jefferson County's Habitat for Humanity in Beaumont. Things are going really well. We're all having really positive experiences, and anything that's negative doesn't bother us for very long.
New ASBs arrived Sunday evening and set up shop. When things began on Monday, we were having some difficulties with the site supervisors. Troy and Dave are pretty cool guys, they're really funny and they're definitely guys' guys. But their teaching techniques aren't exactly ideal for Earth 5's level of construction knowledge. They tend to teach through trial by error. And there were lots of errors at first. At one point, Wolf 4 (the Perry Point team that's here) had to tear down almost an entire wall of siding because some ASBs' measurements were off by two inches when they put it up. That was a waste of about $700. Eek. And that group got to take their last day in Texas to go to the beach and feel so satisfied that they had really accomplished something. Not quite, guys, not quite.
Later on in the week two other supervisors, Robert and Rory, came by the work site to help out. Those guys are awesome and their communication is significantly more helpful. On Wednesday, I helped Travis, Adrienne and Ervin start siding the back wall of one of the houses. We got all the way up to where the gable started before we had to stop for the day. The next day, we set up scaffolding so that we could side the gable. Once that was done, we had a little time to caulk the gaps between the siding and any deep nail holes. Yesterday, we painted the entire side and trim, which finally finished that side of the house. So the four of us, with a little help from M² (Mike) and John along the way, did the entire side of a house. It felt pretty awesome.
After spending two and a half days working on the side of a house (of which we became a little possessive, having put so much work into it), the difference in work ethic between Earth 5 and the ASBs/church groups quickly became apparent. The church groups were made up of a lot of teens, while the ASBs were obviously college kids. Their breaks were frequent, and their work could be substandard at times. I was on the phone with my dad at one point this past week and I actually vented about some of the volunteers' painting skills. One girl was just kind of flicking a brush across the siding. I had to control the impusle to go over to her and say, "Do you really think that's doing anything?"
More than once, I heard people comment that their work didn't need to be perfect since the Habitat house was better than what the Habitat families had before this. One girl showed up on her first day in a nice pair of jeans, a nice top and flipflops. I saw her at breakfast that way and all I could think was, "I hope she's going to change." When we got to the work site and she was still dressed that way, I couldn't believe it; what did she think she was here to do? During the week, John mentioned that some of the ASBs had told him that some of the AmeriCorps kids weren't being very welcoming, that we were always on our computers and there wasn't any fridge space for them. And yesterday, while painting, Nikki and I overheard some ASBs complaining about how "ghetto" their housing is. They live with us, in the modular at the Y.
Okay, so look: I appreciate that these people are taking valuable time out of their lives to contribute to providing housing for families that need it. It's particularly respectable that these college kids would rather spend their time building a house than blowing their money away in Cancun or Cabo. Thus, the title of this entry is probably a little harsh on my part.
That being said ... these houses aren't going to get built on their own and, while building with volunteers saves a significant amount of money, that doesn't mean that it's okay to take all the time in the world. Furthermore, the quality absolutely needs to be just as good as if it had been done by contractors -- just because it's a Habitat house doesn't mean that it can be substandard. Even if it passes all living inspection requirements, it shouldn't look like crap. These families deserve something that looks nice.
Secondly, we in AmeriCorps are here for a reason. This is not our spring break. The ASBs are here during their vacation. I'm sorry if we're not being welcoming to the ASBs while their here, but they are hardly a concern. Our first priority is doing good work on site. Beyond that, we have to worry about eating well, working out, spending time together as a team and any personal To Dos (laundry, email, banking, etc) that happen to come up. If there's any time left after that, maybe we'll use it to help the ASBs out. Don't get me wrong, we're not purposely alientating them. We chat a little, we're nice to each other. But Earth 5 and Wolf 4 are not the ASB Welcoming Committee. I'm also not your mother, I'm not going to hold your hand through this experience. You're adults. Act like it. Work hard, be responsible.
Besides, if I were an ASB, I wouldn't care. I wouldn't be spending enough time in Port Arthur to establish any significant relationships while I'm staying there. I wouldn't be bothered by not feeling "welcomed." A week is too short. As an AmeriCorps person, the ASB kids change weekly -- there's little time to get to know them and they're just going to blend into each other after a while. As long as I have my team, I'm content, they're all that I need.
Moreoever, we're living here for five weeks. The ASBs are spending a little less than a week at a time here. We need to be able to eat good meals for the duration of our stay or our health could suffer. I really don't think I'm being dramatic about it either -- doing construction every day and then eating ramen for dinner every night would probably influence the quality of our work. The ASBs can afford to eat mac'n cheese for a week and still be okay. They order pizza for lunch every day. Our food budget doesn't cover Little Caesar's. Besides, Earth 5 can't even get a fair amount of fridge space, Wolf 4 still has a little too much food (it's only the first week, we're working on a happy medium).
And finally ... we don't live in a ghetto. This area is not unsafe and the mod may be cheap, but it's not shoddy. Our living situation could be way more low maintenance than it is here. We have bathrooms and running water in the mods. So we have to go to the Y locker rooms to shower, so what? As long as we have a roof over our heads, we're doing pretty well for ourselves. When we walked into the mod, my first impression was positive and I'm glad to have this place to come home to every day after work.
Well, anyway, the ASBs left this morning. I slept in until they were all gone. I really don't want to be bitter about that group. Hopefully the next group will be provide a more positive experience.
Speaking of positive experiences ... Wednesday of this week was Nikki's 23rd birthday. While at work, one of the volunteer supervisors got her a birthday cake to have at lunch, which was really sweet. That night, most of both AmeriCorps teams went out bowling to do a little celebrating. That was a lot of fun, especially getting to spend a little quality time with Wolf 4.
This week we also started a little activity call "Hot Seat." Ervin came up with it and it's pretty awesome. We all wrote down questions that we wanted to ask everyone. Every night after dinner, one person is in the Hot Seat and they have to answer all of those questions. They've covered everything from "What cartoon character would you most like to wrestle" to "Who inspires you?" It's been a big treat so far, everyone looks forward to it and it's also helping us to get to know each other better. So far I think M², Travis, Nikki and John have gone.
For those who haven't heard, I've decided to not go to New Orleans for the four-day weekend that serves as our spring break. It was just going to be too much money and I couldn't find anyone to stay with (the people from Earth who were originally going to join me in a hotel decided to not go). For a little while, I was entertaining the idea of going camping with a bunch of Wolf 4 people, but those plans haven't really worked out either. So Nikki and I have decided to rent a car and spend the night in Austin. We're going to leave tomorrow and we'll be back around Sunday evening. It should be fun, apparently Austin is a great city. Nikki's dad said that it's his favorite out of all the cities he's been to in Texas. I'm really looking forward to it and it will thankfully be cheaper than spending time in New Orleans.
In other news, Levi and I sort of switched team roles. I'm now going to oversee the food operations (grocery shopping, mostly) while he'll be the PT coordinator. I'm glad we switched -- I wasn't doing so well as PT coordinator. I couldn't get the team to work out together very much and I was always concerned that I wasn't pushing everyone hard enough. Levi will definitely do a good job. And I already feel like I've got a grip on the food thing. I feel like such a mom about it, but I think I can handle it. It's funny because cooking at home was a bit of a chore for me and I didn't really enjoy it all the time. But now, I almost feel like volunteering to cook every night, I can't wait for the nights when I get to make meals. I've already made spaghetti and chili, both of which went over well. I'm hoping to do stuffed chicken breasts at some point.
I think that's everything. I'm off for now, we're going to rummaging at a Goodwill once Ervin gets back from taking some teammates to the car rental place so they can head to New Orleans for break.
New ASBs arrived Sunday evening and set up shop. When things began on Monday, we were having some difficulties with the site supervisors. Troy and Dave are pretty cool guys, they're really funny and they're definitely guys' guys. But their teaching techniques aren't exactly ideal for Earth 5's level of construction knowledge. They tend to teach through trial by error. And there were lots of errors at first. At one point, Wolf 4 (the Perry Point team that's here) had to tear down almost an entire wall of siding because some ASBs' measurements were off by two inches when they put it up. That was a waste of about $700. Eek. And that group got to take their last day in Texas to go to the beach and feel so satisfied that they had really accomplished something. Not quite, guys, not quite.
Later on in the week two other supervisors, Robert and Rory, came by the work site to help out. Those guys are awesome and their communication is significantly more helpful. On Wednesday, I helped Travis, Adrienne and Ervin start siding the back wall of one of the houses. We got all the way up to where the gable started before we had to stop for the day. The next day, we set up scaffolding so that we could side the gable. Once that was done, we had a little time to caulk the gaps between the siding and any deep nail holes. Yesterday, we painted the entire side and trim, which finally finished that side of the house. So the four of us, with a little help from M² (Mike) and John along the way, did the entire side of a house. It felt pretty awesome.
After spending two and a half days working on the side of a house (of which we became a little possessive, having put so much work into it), the difference in work ethic between Earth 5 and the ASBs/church groups quickly became apparent. The church groups were made up of a lot of teens, while the ASBs were obviously college kids. Their breaks were frequent, and their work could be substandard at times. I was on the phone with my dad at one point this past week and I actually vented about some of the volunteers' painting skills. One girl was just kind of flicking a brush across the siding. I had to control the impusle to go over to her and say, "Do you really think that's doing anything?"
More than once, I heard people comment that their work didn't need to be perfect since the Habitat house was better than what the Habitat families had before this. One girl showed up on her first day in a nice pair of jeans, a nice top and flipflops. I saw her at breakfast that way and all I could think was, "I hope she's going to change." When we got to the work site and she was still dressed that way, I couldn't believe it; what did she think she was here to do? During the week, John mentioned that some of the ASBs had told him that some of the AmeriCorps kids weren't being very welcoming, that we were always on our computers and there wasn't any fridge space for them. And yesterday, while painting, Nikki and I overheard some ASBs complaining about how "ghetto" their housing is. They live with us, in the modular at the Y.
Okay, so look: I appreciate that these people are taking valuable time out of their lives to contribute to providing housing for families that need it. It's particularly respectable that these college kids would rather spend their time building a house than blowing their money away in Cancun or Cabo. Thus, the title of this entry is probably a little harsh on my part.
That being said ... these houses aren't going to get built on their own and, while building with volunteers saves a significant amount of money, that doesn't mean that it's okay to take all the time in the world. Furthermore, the quality absolutely needs to be just as good as if it had been done by contractors -- just because it's a Habitat house doesn't mean that it can be substandard. Even if it passes all living inspection requirements, it shouldn't look like crap. These families deserve something that looks nice.
Secondly, we in AmeriCorps are here for a reason. This is not our spring break. The ASBs are here during their vacation. I'm sorry if we're not being welcoming to the ASBs while their here, but they are hardly a concern. Our first priority is doing good work on site. Beyond that, we have to worry about eating well, working out, spending time together as a team and any personal To Dos (laundry, email, banking, etc) that happen to come up. If there's any time left after that, maybe we'll use it to help the ASBs out. Don't get me wrong, we're not purposely alientating them. We chat a little, we're nice to each other. But Earth 5 and Wolf 4 are not the ASB Welcoming Committee. I'm also not your mother, I'm not going to hold your hand through this experience. You're adults. Act like it. Work hard, be responsible.
Besides, if I were an ASB, I wouldn't care. I wouldn't be spending enough time in Port Arthur to establish any significant relationships while I'm staying there. I wouldn't be bothered by not feeling "welcomed." A week is too short. As an AmeriCorps person, the ASB kids change weekly -- there's little time to get to know them and they're just going to blend into each other after a while. As long as I have my team, I'm content, they're all that I need.
Moreoever, we're living here for five weeks. The ASBs are spending a little less than a week at a time here. We need to be able to eat good meals for the duration of our stay or our health could suffer. I really don't think I'm being dramatic about it either -- doing construction every day and then eating ramen for dinner every night would probably influence the quality of our work. The ASBs can afford to eat mac'n cheese for a week and still be okay. They order pizza for lunch every day. Our food budget doesn't cover Little Caesar's. Besides, Earth 5 can't even get a fair amount of fridge space, Wolf 4 still has a little too much food (it's only the first week, we're working on a happy medium).
And finally ... we don't live in a ghetto. This area is not unsafe and the mod may be cheap, but it's not shoddy. Our living situation could be way more low maintenance than it is here. We have bathrooms and running water in the mods. So we have to go to the Y locker rooms to shower, so what? As long as we have a roof over our heads, we're doing pretty well for ourselves. When we walked into the mod, my first impression was positive and I'm glad to have this place to come home to every day after work.
Well, anyway, the ASBs left this morning. I slept in until they were all gone. I really don't want to be bitter about that group. Hopefully the next group will be provide a more positive experience.
Speaking of positive experiences ... Wednesday of this week was Nikki's 23rd birthday. While at work, one of the volunteer supervisors got her a birthday cake to have at lunch, which was really sweet. That night, most of both AmeriCorps teams went out bowling to do a little celebrating. That was a lot of fun, especially getting to spend a little quality time with Wolf 4.
This week we also started a little activity call "Hot Seat." Ervin came up with it and it's pretty awesome. We all wrote down questions that we wanted to ask everyone. Every night after dinner, one person is in the Hot Seat and they have to answer all of those questions. They've covered everything from "What cartoon character would you most like to wrestle" to "Who inspires you?" It's been a big treat so far, everyone looks forward to it and it's also helping us to get to know each other better. So far I think M², Travis, Nikki and John have gone.
For those who haven't heard, I've decided to not go to New Orleans for the four-day weekend that serves as our spring break. It was just going to be too much money and I couldn't find anyone to stay with (the people from Earth who were originally going to join me in a hotel decided to not go). For a little while, I was entertaining the idea of going camping with a bunch of Wolf 4 people, but those plans haven't really worked out either. So Nikki and I have decided to rent a car and spend the night in Austin. We're going to leave tomorrow and we'll be back around Sunday evening. It should be fun, apparently Austin is a great city. Nikki's dad said that it's his favorite out of all the cities he's been to in Texas. I'm really looking forward to it and it will thankfully be cheaper than spending time in New Orleans.
In other news, Levi and I sort of switched team roles. I'm now going to oversee the food operations (grocery shopping, mostly) while he'll be the PT coordinator. I'm glad we switched -- I wasn't doing so well as PT coordinator. I couldn't get the team to work out together very much and I was always concerned that I wasn't pushing everyone hard enough. Levi will definitely do a good job. And I already feel like I've got a grip on the food thing. I feel like such a mom about it, but I think I can handle it. It's funny because cooking at home was a bit of a chore for me and I didn't really enjoy it all the time. But now, I almost feel like volunteering to cook every night, I can't wait for the nights when I get to make meals. I've already made spaghetti and chili, both of which went over well. I'm hoping to do stuffed chicken breasts at some point.
I think that's everything. I'm off for now, we're going to rummaging at a Goodwill once Ervin gets back from taking some teammates to the car rental place so they can head to New Orleans for break.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
You might want to make a sandwich, this is gonna be a long one
I am kicking back in my cot at the YMCA in Port Arthur, TX. We made it. Now, to backtrack. Really, get comfortable, I have a lot of catching up.
I spent the remainder of Sunday packing and repacking, as I knew I would. I feel like I packed a little too much, but I think it might be okay now that I reorganized (more on that in a second). We left on Monday around 8 am and began driving to Texas. The caravan was made up of Earth 5's two Dodge Ram trucks (brand new), and Earth 4's van and cargo van (which carried our stuff as well). We drove for eight hours, with each certified driver doing a two-hour shift (the process is a little convoluted). Before we left Denver, we stopped at a grocery store to get breakfast -- bagels from the truck bed. For lunch, we pulled into a little rest area and made some sandwiches. The first night, we stayed at a Holiday Inn in Amarillo. Dinner was from a Popeye's Chicken near the hotel. I was a little disappointed -- I haven't had fast food in about five years. I feel like a recovering addict, I'll have to start my count all over again. I may not start it until AmeriCorps is over, though, because the next morning was breakfast at McDonalds.
The next day, we headed toward Dallas. For lunch, we stopped at another rest area again. Then came the fun part of the trip; we were given rather roundabout directions to a Holiday Inn Express. We actually lost part of the caravan for a good chunk of time on our way to Dallas. We were going to be early to the hotel, but we couldn't find it. I finally called 411 to get some more information on where it was located. It turns out that the Holiday Inn Express was no longer -- it was now a Baymont Inn & Suites, but Google Maps and many other places still recognized it as a Holiday Inn Express. Having found that out, I managed to get the phone number for the hotel and we finally arrived. For dinner, we had a smaller budget than normal so I managed to convince everyone (by being a bit of a brat about it, I'll admit) to go to Wendy's for their 99-cent Value Menu. It ended up working out well. We spent most of the time at the hotel hanging out in the pool and hot tub area.
Things are beginning to settle in though. The Spring Breakers left today, so we've reorganized the room where we're staying. I originally was just going to continue to sleep on the floor (it would hardly be the first time that I've done it), but I conceeded to a cot so that I can put all of my bags underneath it. This has helped me to feel like I didn't overpack as much as I thought I had. It's far more organized and clean looking. I should be able to maintain this arrangement for five weeks. Oh ... except that it's four weeks, now. Gosh. First week already gone.
Our first day of work was yesterday. We met our sponsor in the morning, Uliana. We also met a few of the guys who are construction supervisors. They took us to the work site, where we were immediately put to work ... so to speak. There were ASBs there with the Perry Point team, both already established in roles and responsibilities for building the three houses that are going up right now. Siding is really the only thing that's currently going on at that building site. There are other houses going up in a few other areas of Jefferson County, so we may end up going to those sites at some point. But yeah, our first day of work was a little awkward because there were too many hands at times. After lunch, I and a handful of others on my team had resigned ourselves to not getting our hands on any construction that day so we reorganized all of the matterials that were in the back of the site (scaffolding, siding, 2x4s, etc). I got very dirty. My boots were probably the muddiest out of everyone there. But I haven't been that muddy in a long time, it felt really validating. I kind of felt the urge to just play in it every now and then. Yesterday was also a little stressful because of a little drama that occurred during grocery shopping. But it was all resolved, so things are starting to smooth out. Our TL is the best, that's all I have to say. Dinner was really late last night, but Travis and Nikki made some awesome stir fry, with a ton of rice.
Today went much better. We were first on site, so we started working right away. We put up a bunch of siding on the side of one house for the first half of the day. We finished it after lunch and got started on part of the front of the house before we had to wrap things up. Then, we came back to the Y where everyone did their thing for a bit. I went for a run. I still need to map it out, but I think I covered a pretty good distance. There's a big neighborhood right next to the Y, so I ran all around it. The lack of hills, high humidity and being down at sea level helps of course. Our team rounded up at 5:45 so we could head out to a park for dinner. I had done a Google search to try and find some parks in the area that had outdoor grills because we wanted to do a cook out with burgers and hot dogs. I finally found a place that was a little under 20 miles away: Sabine Pass Battleground State Park. It was apparently the sight of a very short Civil War battle.
Well, you could have fooled me. We drove for a little while and I kept getting concerned that we were lost or we weren't going to find it. It also seemed that the more we drove, the more hazy and overcast it became. We were going on a picnic, it was inevitable that the good weather was going to disappear. It's Murphy's Law. Part of our journey took us right through the heart of Chevron's massive industrial refinery plant. It was creepy. When we got to the park, any aesthetic appeal that the place could have had was destroyed by the plant. The park itself was a little creepy too. There were still parts of it that were boareded up because of damage from Hurrican Rita. Still, we managed to get the grill going and feed everyone. We did burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and turkey burgers. I had a regular burger, a veggie burger and half a hot dog. Despite the intense creepiness of the area (I believe House of 1000 Corpses was referenced), we still had a lot of fun. The entire team can recite Forest Gump, particularly Harrison, who does an amazing impression of Forest.
I've noticed already that my team as a whole seems to be really good at taking things in stride and making the best out of less than ideal situations. Everyone has a great sense of humor, so that definitely helps us along. But things are never too negative or dramatic. Of course, it's our first week on spike. Give us chance to get to know each other and the Storming Phase will begin, right? Well, I hope not. No one seems to want to step on anybody's toes, so I think even if there is drama it will be dealt with constructively. *knocks on wood*
Speaking of knocking on wood ... my next concern that I need to address is finding a place to sleep for spring break. A bunch of people from different Earth teams are going to New Orleans for our extended weekend break that's coming up this weekend (it's only about a four hour drive from Port Arthur). I was originally going to go with several people and book a hotel room, but that kind of fell through. Now, I'm just willing to sleep on the floor of someone's room. I just need to find a willing unit member. Hopefully it'll come together soon because I would really like to go. If I stay home, it won't be a big deal. But I don't know the next time that I'll have the opportunity to go to New Orleans, so I would really like to attempt it now. We'll see what happens, I guess. If anyone has any contacts down there, let me know!
Okay. I think I'll be off to bed for now. I might be doing some ISP at the Y tomorrow morning, so I should get a little sleep.
I spent the remainder of Sunday packing and repacking, as I knew I would. I feel like I packed a little too much, but I think it might be okay now that I reorganized (more on that in a second). We left on Monday around 8 am and began driving to Texas. The caravan was made up of Earth 5's two Dodge Ram trucks (brand new), and Earth 4's van and cargo van (which carried our stuff as well). We drove for eight hours, with each certified driver doing a two-hour shift (the process is a little convoluted). Before we left Denver, we stopped at a grocery store to get breakfast -- bagels from the truck bed. For lunch, we pulled into a little rest area and made some sandwiches. The first night, we stayed at a Holiday Inn in Amarillo. Dinner was from a Popeye's Chicken near the hotel. I was a little disappointed -- I haven't had fast food in about five years. I feel like a recovering addict, I'll have to start my count all over again. I may not start it until AmeriCorps is over, though, because the next morning was breakfast at McDonalds.
The next day, we headed toward Dallas. For lunch, we stopped at another rest area again. Then came the fun part of the trip; we were given rather roundabout directions to a Holiday Inn Express. We actually lost part of the caravan for a good chunk of time on our way to Dallas. We were going to be early to the hotel, but we couldn't find it. I finally called 411 to get some more information on where it was located. It turns out that the Holiday Inn Express was no longer -- it was now a Baymont Inn & Suites, but Google Maps and many other places still recognized it as a Holiday Inn Express. Having found that out, I managed to get the phone number for the hotel and we finally arrived. For dinner, we had a smaller budget than normal so I managed to convince everyone (by being a bit of a brat about it, I'll admit) to go to Wendy's for their 99-cent Value Menu. It ended up working out well. We spent most of the time at the hotel hanging out in the pool and hot tub area.
Things are beginning to settle in though. The Spring Breakers left today, so we've reorganized the room where we're staying. I originally was just going to continue to sleep on the floor (it would hardly be the first time that I've done it), but I conceeded to a cot so that I can put all of my bags underneath it. This has helped me to feel like I didn't overpack as much as I thought I had. It's far more organized and clean looking. I should be able to maintain this arrangement for five weeks. Oh ... except that it's four weeks, now. Gosh. First week already gone.
Our first day of work was yesterday. We met our sponsor in the morning, Uliana. We also met a few of the guys who are construction supervisors. They took us to the work site, where we were immediately put to work ... so to speak. There were ASBs there with the Perry Point team, both already established in roles and responsibilities for building the three houses that are going up right now. Siding is really the only thing that's currently going on at that building site. There are other houses going up in a few other areas of Jefferson County, so we may end up going to those sites at some point. But yeah, our first day of work was a little awkward because there were too many hands at times. After lunch, I and a handful of others on my team had resigned ourselves to not getting our hands on any construction that day so we reorganized all of the matterials that were in the back of the site (scaffolding, siding, 2x4s, etc). I got very dirty. My boots were probably the muddiest out of everyone there. But I haven't been that muddy in a long time, it felt really validating. I kind of felt the urge to just play in it every now and then. Yesterday was also a little stressful because of a little drama that occurred during grocery shopping. But it was all resolved, so things are starting to smooth out. Our TL is the best, that's all I have to say. Dinner was really late last night, but Travis and Nikki made some awesome stir fry, with a ton of rice.
Today went much better. We were first on site, so we started working right away. We put up a bunch of siding on the side of one house for the first half of the day. We finished it after lunch and got started on part of the front of the house before we had to wrap things up. Then, we came back to the Y where everyone did their thing for a bit. I went for a run. I still need to map it out, but I think I covered a pretty good distance. There's a big neighborhood right next to the Y, so I ran all around it. The lack of hills, high humidity and being down at sea level helps of course. Our team rounded up at 5:45 so we could head out to a park for dinner. I had done a Google search to try and find some parks in the area that had outdoor grills because we wanted to do a cook out with burgers and hot dogs. I finally found a place that was a little under 20 miles away: Sabine Pass Battleground State Park. It was apparently the sight of a very short Civil War battle.
Well, you could have fooled me. We drove for a little while and I kept getting concerned that we were lost or we weren't going to find it. It also seemed that the more we drove, the more hazy and overcast it became. We were going on a picnic, it was inevitable that the good weather was going to disappear. It's Murphy's Law. Part of our journey took us right through the heart of Chevron's massive industrial refinery plant. It was creepy. When we got to the park, any aesthetic appeal that the place could have had was destroyed by the plant. The park itself was a little creepy too. There were still parts of it that were boareded up because of damage from Hurrican Rita. Still, we managed to get the grill going and feed everyone. We did burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and turkey burgers. I had a regular burger, a veggie burger and half a hot dog. Despite the intense creepiness of the area (I believe House of 1000 Corpses was referenced), we still had a lot of fun. The entire team can recite Forest Gump, particularly Harrison, who does an amazing impression of Forest.
I've noticed already that my team as a whole seems to be really good at taking things in stride and making the best out of less than ideal situations. Everyone has a great sense of humor, so that definitely helps us along. But things are never too negative or dramatic. Of course, it's our first week on spike. Give us chance to get to know each other and the Storming Phase will begin, right? Well, I hope not. No one seems to want to step on anybody's toes, so I think even if there is drama it will be dealt with constructively. *knocks on wood*
Speaking of knocking on wood ... my next concern that I need to address is finding a place to sleep for spring break. A bunch of people from different Earth teams are going to New Orleans for our extended weekend break that's coming up this weekend (it's only about a four hour drive from Port Arthur). I was originally going to go with several people and book a hotel room, but that kind of fell through. Now, I'm just willing to sleep on the floor of someone's room. I just need to find a willing unit member. Hopefully it'll come together soon because I would really like to go. If I stay home, it won't be a big deal. But I don't know the next time that I'll have the opportunity to go to New Orleans, so I would really like to attempt it now. We'll see what happens, I guess. If anyone has any contacts down there, let me know!
Okay. I think I'll be off to bed for now. I might be doing some ISP at the Y tomorrow morning, so I should get a little sleep.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
"It's not even like he's really cryogenically frozen. He's in a f***ing shed on dry ice."
I'm at Mile High Coffee one last time before I leave. Tomorrow, Earth 5 will finally be off to Beaumont, TX. Today will consist of a team meeting, packing and repacking.
We took our Wildfire exams on Thursday. I think I did well. I know I passed, I would have found out by now if I hadn't. So I'm officially a Type 2 Firefighter now. At least, I'm pretty sure there's nothing else we need to do after the baseline, the interview, the pack test, the classes, and the exams.
A part of the exam was successfully deploying a fire shelter. Fire shelters look like gigantic baked potatoes in tin foil. They're fiberglass and aluminum foil. They're not fireproof, but they're supposed to protect you from the extreme heat of being too close to a fire. Even though it was a drill, it was kind of nerve wracking. You only have about twenty-five seconds to ditch your gear, fully deploy the fire shelter and be inside it on the ground, with a water bottle, gloves and hard hat. The instructors were yelling the whole time to make the experience more intense. I was the first of my group in my shelter and, even though it's this bright green fake shelter, it was still a little claustrophobic and heart-pounding. The instructors would shake everyone's shelters while they were in them, to simulate the high winds that take place in a forest fire. Hopefully, we'll never have to deploy the real thing.
Because the area has had a lot of snow over the past week, our field day on Friday ended up being cancelled. So we sort of a had a free day. The TLs still had some leadership class to take that day, so they left us to our own devices with a few things to do. We have to have some unit time, some team PT and we had to get the vans washed. All of that ended up happening in a bit of a roundabout way. On Friday night a bunch of us went dancing in Denver. The first place we ended up was called The Tavern. I think it's my favorite night spot. They had an outdoor deck upstairs with space heaters surrounding the bar and the tables. So, even though it was thirty-something degrees and I was in just a halter top and jeans, I was doing great. I danced my butt off that night. Afterwards, our group split up because some wanted to go to a cowboy bar, and others wanted nothing to do with the country scene. Well, we found out later that they didn't really play much country music so we could have kept the group together. But it was no big deal. That night was so much fun. I can't wait to go out dancing again.
On Saturday, everyone was up and about around 10 am. We decided to try and make our way to the Frozen Dead Guy Festival in Nederland. Yes, the Frozen Dead Guy Festival (the title is a comment that TL Christie made while we were in Nederland). That was a lot of fun. We caught the bus to Englewood, took the light rail to Denver, caught a bus to Boulder and then finally caught a bus to Nederland. My team and another wildfire team will actually be staying/working in Nederland when we start our wildfire rounds, so it was nice to explore the town. The Festival was a lot of fun as well, quite interesting. Lots of hippie types in Nederland ... I guess lots of hippie types in Colorado in general, that's the general observation I've made over the past month. We wandered around for a little while. We watched the Coffin Races, which are akin to soapbox derby except a team carries someone in a coffin around an obstacle course. Shannon, Brittany and I broke off for a little bit. We went into a consignment shop where Brittany found some great cowboy boots and I got a pair of pants. They also had an art gallery there with some really cool works on display. They had Blaine Fontana's book there on sale as well, which was a treat to see. I didn't buy it but it's always cool to see his stuff.
Then Shannon and I broke off, listened to a local band for a little while. We bought the obligatory event t-shirt and postcards. Then we made our way to a bar, where we ended up getting two free drinks because they were out of the cider that I wanted. I never got to see Grandpa Bredo, but it ended up being a fun day just wandering around Nederland. It's a very cute little town. And dogs! So many people with dogs. It made me miss Jack.
We caught a bus back to Boulder, where we met for dinner with others from our group and some AmeriCorps people who were just in the Boulder area for the day. I had a great jalapeno and bacon cheeseburger in an attempt to clear up my sinuses (I've been nursing a head cold for the past few days). It worked for a little while. After dinner, we eventually made our way back to Denver and then back to Englewood, where we walked the 2.3 miles from the light rail to campus.
Once we got back to campus, my condition seriously deteriorated. I couldn't breathe anymore. Everyone wanted to go out one last time before we all leave on Monday. They managed to get me back into jeans and a shirt to go out. But I got halfway across campus before I turned around. I couldn't do it, I felt like crap. It's just a cold but the congestion always seems to really wipe me out. So I took a really hot shower and went to bed. This morning, I woke up and took another hot shower. I'm hoping that the worst is over and I just have to deal with sniffles for a few more days. We'll see. I have some Sudafed just in case. At least the next few days won't be too strenuous -- we leave tomorrow for Beaumont. Maybe the warmth and humidity in Texas will help as well.
I think that's about it for now. I'm going to head back to campus soon so I can pack a little bit before the team meeting and room inspections. I bought another duffle bag at Ross earlier today (there's a Ross here!) so I could have something smaller than my suitcase to bring to Texas.
Well, the next time I write, I'll be on the Gulf Coast!
We took our Wildfire exams on Thursday. I think I did well. I know I passed, I would have found out by now if I hadn't. So I'm officially a Type 2 Firefighter now. At least, I'm pretty sure there's nothing else we need to do after the baseline, the interview, the pack test, the classes, and the exams.
A part of the exam was successfully deploying a fire shelter. Fire shelters look like gigantic baked potatoes in tin foil. They're fiberglass and aluminum foil. They're not fireproof, but they're supposed to protect you from the extreme heat of being too close to a fire. Even though it was a drill, it was kind of nerve wracking. You only have about twenty-five seconds to ditch your gear, fully deploy the fire shelter and be inside it on the ground, with a water bottle, gloves and hard hat. The instructors were yelling the whole time to make the experience more intense. I was the first of my group in my shelter and, even though it's this bright green fake shelter, it was still a little claustrophobic and heart-pounding. The instructors would shake everyone's shelters while they were in them, to simulate the high winds that take place in a forest fire. Hopefully, we'll never have to deploy the real thing.
Because the area has had a lot of snow over the past week, our field day on Friday ended up being cancelled. So we sort of a had a free day. The TLs still had some leadership class to take that day, so they left us to our own devices with a few things to do. We have to have some unit time, some team PT and we had to get the vans washed. All of that ended up happening in a bit of a roundabout way. On Friday night a bunch of us went dancing in Denver. The first place we ended up was called The Tavern. I think it's my favorite night spot. They had an outdoor deck upstairs with space heaters surrounding the bar and the tables. So, even though it was thirty-something degrees and I was in just a halter top and jeans, I was doing great. I danced my butt off that night. Afterwards, our group split up because some wanted to go to a cowboy bar, and others wanted nothing to do with the country scene. Well, we found out later that they didn't really play much country music so we could have kept the group together. But it was no big deal. That night was so much fun. I can't wait to go out dancing again.
On Saturday, everyone was up and about around 10 am. We decided to try and make our way to the Frozen Dead Guy Festival in Nederland. Yes, the Frozen Dead Guy Festival (the title is a comment that TL Christie made while we were in Nederland). That was a lot of fun. We caught the bus to Englewood, took the light rail to Denver, caught a bus to Boulder and then finally caught a bus to Nederland. My team and another wildfire team will actually be staying/working in Nederland when we start our wildfire rounds, so it was nice to explore the town. The Festival was a lot of fun as well, quite interesting. Lots of hippie types in Nederland ... I guess lots of hippie types in Colorado in general, that's the general observation I've made over the past month. We wandered around for a little while. We watched the Coffin Races, which are akin to soapbox derby except a team carries someone in a coffin around an obstacle course. Shannon, Brittany and I broke off for a little bit. We went into a consignment shop where Brittany found some great cowboy boots and I got a pair of pants. They also had an art gallery there with some really cool works on display. They had Blaine Fontana's book there on sale as well, which was a treat to see. I didn't buy it but it's always cool to see his stuff.
Then Shannon and I broke off, listened to a local band for a little while. We bought the obligatory event t-shirt and postcards. Then we made our way to a bar, where we ended up getting two free drinks because they were out of the cider that I wanted. I never got to see Grandpa Bredo, but it ended up being a fun day just wandering around Nederland. It's a very cute little town. And dogs! So many people with dogs. It made me miss Jack.
We caught a bus back to Boulder, where we met for dinner with others from our group and some AmeriCorps people who were just in the Boulder area for the day. I had a great jalapeno and bacon cheeseburger in an attempt to clear up my sinuses (I've been nursing a head cold for the past few days). It worked for a little while. After dinner, we eventually made our way back to Denver and then back to Englewood, where we walked the 2.3 miles from the light rail to campus.
Once we got back to campus, my condition seriously deteriorated. I couldn't breathe anymore. Everyone wanted to go out one last time before we all leave on Monday. They managed to get me back into jeans and a shirt to go out. But I got halfway across campus before I turned around. I couldn't do it, I felt like crap. It's just a cold but the congestion always seems to really wipe me out. So I took a really hot shower and went to bed. This morning, I woke up and took another hot shower. I'm hoping that the worst is over and I just have to deal with sniffles for a few more days. We'll see. I have some Sudafed just in case. At least the next few days won't be too strenuous -- we leave tomorrow for Beaumont. Maybe the warmth and humidity in Texas will help as well.
I think that's about it for now. I'm going to head back to campus soon so I can pack a little bit before the team meeting and room inspections. I bought another duffle bag at Ross earlier today (there's a Ross here!) so I could have something smaller than my suitcase to bring to Texas.
Well, the next time I write, I'll be on the Gulf Coast!
Monday, March 03, 2008
Oh, no, we're not done yet ...
Hm! Let's see, what do I need to catch up on?
Oh, okay! So, the pack test was Friday. In order to be a part of the wildfire teams and actually work with the USFS (United States Forest Service), you have to pass their pack test: walk three miles with 45 lb. pack in 45 minutes. After lunch on Friday, all of the wildfire people piled into vans (my team got into two Chevy Tahoes, sweet!) and went over to a high school near campus. We used their running track for the walk. The majority of the group went in the first round. I didn't manage to find a vest in time so I had to wait for the second round. I'm not going to lie -- 45 lbs didn't feel any lighter than when I did my own test in my neighborhood back in ... November? December? Anyway ... so I got the vest on and I started walking. I walked for a while with one of the TLs, Christie. I developed a little strategy to the walk as well; on the straights I would just walk normally and take my time, but on the curves I would hunker down and try to lengthen my stride as much as possible. It was a very slow, tedious jazz run =) For my final lap (it took so long to get there), I took my time until the last straight, when I practically lunged the whole way. My time ended up being under 43 minutes. I probably could have pushed myself a little harder and gotten it at least under 42, if not shorter, but it wasn't a race and I wasn't out to impress anyone. We just had to pass. So that's what I did.
My weekend was pretty uneventful, unfortunately. A bunch of us were planning on going downtown Friday night but plans changed, so I got all gussied up for nothing and ended up going to bed around 10. Something similar happened on Saturday night, too. Boo.
I almost forgot! We had induction on Saturday. I am now officially an AmeriCorps*NCCC member. Induction wasn't too bad, it was a little like Temple's commencement. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. The girl who sang the National Anthem at the beginning messed it up a bit, I think she was really nervous (she looked it, I felt so bad). But when she started it again, we all joined in and sang along with her. It was definitely a moment. I don't want to read into it, but I think it demonstrated how committed we are to the program and to each other. We weren't going to let her flounder on stage, so we all sang together.
Another interesting thing to note: one of the speakers, who is involved in the program at the national level in D.C., is a Temple alum! That was cool to hear. I introduced myself at the lunch reception after induction.
At the end of induction, our UL Kevin concluded it by singing a song of his, "Lighthouse." Apparently, he wrote it for his wife but NCCC Denver sort of adopted it because he played it so much. All of the Earth members know it because it's on the mix cd that we all got from our TLs when we first arrived. It's in the style of Irish folk songs, something that Kevin is apparently very in to. Anyway, it was both incredibly amusing and touching because he would sing the chorus and all of us in the Earth unit would join in. There were more than a few times when I noticed members from other units looking at all of us with this look on their faces like, "How ... do they know this song? Did we miss something?" I must confess, I teared up a little. It was sweet.
On Sunday, I had an ISP scheduled. It was totally onions. Excruciating. Maria, Levi and I were supposed to host a table about disaster preparedness at the WalMart in Englewood. Bah. There was a table of stuff, we stood there (no chairs??) for a few hours. Caitlin and Rachel, who were supposed to come in for the evening, decided not to. I can't blame them, though -- Caitlin was feeling sick and Rachel had to pack because she was leaving on her first round the next day. I was scheduled to be there from 10 am to 7 pm but I left at 2:30 with Maria. Ridiculous. It was such a waste.
The rest of the night was okay. I went swimming with a bunch of the guys. I didn't even realize that there's a hot tub in the pool room, but there is. And it's right next to the door! I don't know how I missed it. Afterwards, Mallory, Sean, Brian and I hung out in my room and listened to music. It was our last opportunity to spend time with Mallory for a while, she was one of the teams who left for first round today.
Today was our first day of wildfire training. I woke up around 5:30 am because we had preliminary room inspections. Also, we were leaving for the training around 7:30 am, so there was a smaller window of time in which we could get breakfast. I practically inhaled my yogurt and granola before I had to run back to my room in order to get it inspected. I also got to say goodbye to a few more people before they left.
Training was torture. It technically wasn't bad. The information was interesting, if a little overwhelming; so much of it in such a short period of time and it's only Day 1! We learned some basic terminology today, related to wildfires and firefighting. We also learned about how weather affects wildfires and we began on how firefighters should be prepared.
But we spent eight hours just sitting still. Even in CTI trainings we got to move around a little. So many people were falling asleep. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little better. I think everyone knows what to expect now, so we'll all be getting to bed earlier and stuff. It was definitely intimidating, though, hearing about some of the experiences and some of the expectations. When they were talking about the physical rigors of it all, I immediately started revising the PT schedule for while we're in Beaumont. I'm sort of in charge of coordinating it and, while I'd like to keep things fun, I don't want our bodies shocked into shape when we start working in Nederland. I know it's not supposed to be easy, I'm not dumb, but I'm certainly concerned about not holding the team back physically, especially when wildfire starts. So we'll see. I'll probably alternate rigorous work outs and fun ones.
I think that's all for now. Oh, before I go ... I apologize for the amount of times "definitely" appears in this entry and this blog. I use it way too much. I'll work on it.
Oh, okay! So, the pack test was Friday. In order to be a part of the wildfire teams and actually work with the USFS (United States Forest Service), you have to pass their pack test: walk three miles with 45 lb. pack in 45 minutes. After lunch on Friday, all of the wildfire people piled into vans (my team got into two Chevy Tahoes, sweet!) and went over to a high school near campus. We used their running track for the walk. The majority of the group went in the first round. I didn't manage to find a vest in time so I had to wait for the second round. I'm not going to lie -- 45 lbs didn't feel any lighter than when I did my own test in my neighborhood back in ... November? December? Anyway ... so I got the vest on and I started walking. I walked for a while with one of the TLs, Christie. I developed a little strategy to the walk as well; on the straights I would just walk normally and take my time, but on the curves I would hunker down and try to lengthen my stride as much as possible. It was a very slow, tedious jazz run =) For my final lap (it took so long to get there), I took my time until the last straight, when I practically lunged the whole way. My time ended up being under 43 minutes. I probably could have pushed myself a little harder and gotten it at least under 42, if not shorter, but it wasn't a race and I wasn't out to impress anyone. We just had to pass. So that's what I did.
My weekend was pretty uneventful, unfortunately. A bunch of us were planning on going downtown Friday night but plans changed, so I got all gussied up for nothing and ended up going to bed around 10. Something similar happened on Saturday night, too. Boo.
I almost forgot! We had induction on Saturday. I am now officially an AmeriCorps*NCCC member. Induction wasn't too bad, it was a little like Temple's commencement. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. The girl who sang the National Anthem at the beginning messed it up a bit, I think she was really nervous (she looked it, I felt so bad). But when she started it again, we all joined in and sang along with her. It was definitely a moment. I don't want to read into it, but I think it demonstrated how committed we are to the program and to each other. We weren't going to let her flounder on stage, so we all sang together.
Another interesting thing to note: one of the speakers, who is involved in the program at the national level in D.C., is a Temple alum! That was cool to hear. I introduced myself at the lunch reception after induction.
At the end of induction, our UL Kevin concluded it by singing a song of his, "Lighthouse." Apparently, he wrote it for his wife but NCCC Denver sort of adopted it because he played it so much. All of the Earth members know it because it's on the mix cd that we all got from our TLs when we first arrived. It's in the style of Irish folk songs, something that Kevin is apparently very in to. Anyway, it was both incredibly amusing and touching because he would sing the chorus and all of us in the Earth unit would join in. There were more than a few times when I noticed members from other units looking at all of us with this look on their faces like, "How ... do they know this song? Did we miss something?" I must confess, I teared up a little. It was sweet.
On Sunday, I had an ISP scheduled. It was totally onions. Excruciating. Maria, Levi and I were supposed to host a table about disaster preparedness at the WalMart in Englewood. Bah. There was a table of stuff, we stood there (no chairs??) for a few hours. Caitlin and Rachel, who were supposed to come in for the evening, decided not to. I can't blame them, though -- Caitlin was feeling sick and Rachel had to pack because she was leaving on her first round the next day. I was scheduled to be there from 10 am to 7 pm but I left at 2:30 with Maria. Ridiculous. It was such a waste.
The rest of the night was okay. I went swimming with a bunch of the guys. I didn't even realize that there's a hot tub in the pool room, but there is. And it's right next to the door! I don't know how I missed it. Afterwards, Mallory, Sean, Brian and I hung out in my room and listened to music. It was our last opportunity to spend time with Mallory for a while, she was one of the teams who left for first round today.
Today was our first day of wildfire training. I woke up around 5:30 am because we had preliminary room inspections. Also, we were leaving for the training around 7:30 am, so there was a smaller window of time in which we could get breakfast. I practically inhaled my yogurt and granola before I had to run back to my room in order to get it inspected. I also got to say goodbye to a few more people before they left.
Training was torture. It technically wasn't bad. The information was interesting, if a little overwhelming; so much of it in such a short period of time and it's only Day 1! We learned some basic terminology today, related to wildfires and firefighting. We also learned about how weather affects wildfires and we began on how firefighters should be prepared.
But we spent eight hours just sitting still. Even in CTI trainings we got to move around a little. So many people were falling asleep. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little better. I think everyone knows what to expect now, so we'll all be getting to bed earlier and stuff. It was definitely intimidating, though, hearing about some of the experiences and some of the expectations. When they were talking about the physical rigors of it all, I immediately started revising the PT schedule for while we're in Beaumont. I'm sort of in charge of coordinating it and, while I'd like to keep things fun, I don't want our bodies shocked into shape when we start working in Nederland. I know it's not supposed to be easy, I'm not dumb, but I'm certainly concerned about not holding the team back physically, especially when wildfire starts. So we'll see. I'll probably alternate rigorous work outs and fun ones.
I think that's all for now. Oh, before I go ... I apologize for the amount of times "definitely" appears in this entry and this blog. I use it way too much. I'll work on it.
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