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.