TGIF!

Wow what a long week we've had! Haha, I think it's because we had such a nice, long Thanksgiving Break. Those four days were much needed... but it made it just that much harder to get back to the cold, wet, dirty work at the Garden on Monday!

This week we laid down about 1000 burlap coffee bags on a hill near the front of the Garden, stapled them down with wire hangers (bent into the shape of staples) and then covered the coffee bags (which serve as a weed barrier) with woodchip. I drove the Gator down and pitchforked woodchip from this giant pile into the back of the Gator and then drove it back up and dumped it on top of the coffee bags, at which point people on the team used rock rakes to spread the woodchip along the side of the hill. Picking up the woodchip was a lot of fun because you get to drive the Gator, but it's also extremely tiring because you are doing so much lifting the entire time! This project is definitely giving me a good workout! I'm loving it.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent in the back of the Garden, at the dump pile, where tons of brush and branches had been dumped over the past few years into one giant mess. Our job was to organize it all into big heaps so that they could be burned. And the dump pile was located right next to the Garden's poplar forest, which obviously is not meant to be burned down. So we had to pull and drag all of this dead brush away from the forest and pile them into big heaps. Oh, and on top of this, it was pouring rain the whole time! So it was wet, dirty and cold... basically it was not very much fun. The team morale definitely hit a low point on Wednesday, but we pushed through it and were rewarded by some sunshine Thursday afternoon and then a beautiful day today.

Today we were in the Wetlands area of the Garden, using hedge trimmers to cut down spirea bushes along the edge of the water and using a string trimmer to level some overgrown grasses along the path. We also used loppers to cut down thicker branches and also to cut down blackberry bushes (those things have viciously sharp thorns!!). We used weed wrenches to pull the blackberry bushes out of the ground, too. And once everything was cut and done, we raked it all up into one big pile next to the Wetlands and burned it all away! It was actually quite nice today, just because it wasn't very dirty and it was warm and sunny today. Relatively warm, anyway... it was about 50 if I had to guess!

Yesterday I found out via phone call what our next project is. We'll be going to Coachella Valley in Southern California! It is about two and a half hours east of LA and two and a half hours northeast of San Diego. And it's about an hour southeast of Joshua Tree National Park! We'll be building homes for unprivileged families and will also be doing afterschool programs with kids from the area. It is a pretty awesome project for our 2nd Round!! After the dirty, cold, wet environmental work we're doing up here in Oregon, we'll be enjoying some comfortable 70 degree weather in sunny southern California! The team (and obviously myself) is pretty excited! So whereas now we're 9 hours north of Sacramento, next Round we'll be 9 hours south! I think it's pretty perfect though, because southern California is hands down the best place in our region (aside from maybe Hawaii) to spend the winter!! So we'll be spending January and February down there.

This weekend two of the girls from my team are going out to the Oregon Coast with two local guys they met here in Silverton. Two other girls on the team are going up to Portland on Sunday to watch the Steelers vs. Ravens football game (one is from Pittsburgh and the other is from Baltimore!) The rest of us will be relaxing here in Silverton (maybe making a trip to Salem and perhaps taking a hike over at Silver Falls) and enjoying our free weekend. Although I think some people on the team are volunteering in Salem at the food bank tomorrow.

Speaking of meeting local people, I've met quite a few here in Silverton, and I have already decided that I want to come back in the summer to visit them! Pretty much everyone I have met, actually, I've met at the local coffeeshop downtown (where I am currently sitting because we get internet here, haha). The owners, Monte and Michelle, are super friendly and I could spend all day talking to Monte because he has so many stories to share! I've also met the barista, Taja, who has shared inside info on all the cool things to do in town for people our age (namely, there aren't all that many, haha). I've also met Raelynn, who is this incredibly friendly woman who is turning 36 next week and who I've hung out with on several occasions. Her friend, Lory Ann, is 51 and is definitely the spunkiest 51 year old I've ever met! She has so much energy, she's awesome to be around. Just this past week (the other day, actually), I was over at Raelynn's house and we had cake and coffee and chocolate and Lory Ann gave me a free haircut, which I think looks absolutely fantastic! A picture of the two of them at Safeway is just above (Raelynn is on the right). We went to Safeway and got the cake there before headed back to Raelynn's house. It was such a good time, and I have decided that I need to come back in the summer when the weather is nice to visit them.

Okay, well to wrap up, things are going pretty well here in Oregon. Just one more week til we return to Sacramento. That will be so weird! Then a few days after that I'll be flying back home to Philadelphia. That's weird too! But it will be great to see family and friends. And I think I may even have a get together with some of the other team leaders in NYC over break because we're all from the East Coast!

Happy Thanksgiving Break!

It is so nice to finally have some downtime! Right now I'm sitting in the Cafe Earth coffeeshop in downtown Silverton (this is where we usually go to get internet when the internet in the house isn't working), sheltered from the endless rain that we are graced with here up in Oregon!

Thanksgiving yesterday was quite nice... a bunch of us drove into Salem for the afternoon and sat in a coffeeshop so we could use the internet. Everything--even McDonald's--was closed!! Understandably, I guess, haha.

After our afternoon at the coffeeshop we came back to our house, got ready for dinner, and then headed over to the Oregon Garden Resort for a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner buffet! Originally, the parents of one of the girls on my team had made reservations for us there (at $25 a person), but when the Resort found out we were going there for Thanksgiving dinner, they offered it to us on the house since we were doing work for the Garden. It was such a nice gesture!

Eight of us were at dinner last night because two people on the team went home for Thanksgiving. I envy their opportunity to be home and see family and friends for the holiday, but given the exorbitant cost of plane tickets, the relatively short four days of break we have, and the fact that in three weeks I'll be going home anyway, I decided to just hold off and wait until Christmas break to go home. Two of the women on my team went over to Salem, rented a car, and are headed up to Seattle for the next few days. They'll be living on somebody's couch using this website whose name eludes me (it's a website where if you are travelling, you can connect with people who wouldn't mind hosting you at their house and showing you around). So right now it's six of us here in Silverton, and two of us (me and Dan) are here in the coffeeshop. Three at at the house, and one is at the house of an elderly lady he met last weekend, who invited him over for dinner at her house tonight.

This weekend should be pretty great. It will be filled with movie watching, book reading, hanging out, eating, and the occasional work session. Right now I gotta go though... Dan and I are headed to the Resort to check to see if we have any mail, and then we need to find a place to get the left windshield wiper of our 15-passenger van fixed... it isn't working, so if it rains (which it does OFTEN here in Oregon), we can't see through the windshield!

Okay, I'm out. Hopefully will be back later to write more and post pictures. We'll see if the internet in the house is feeling like working tonight, haha.

Stinky Stuff!

Because we're working with manure!! It smells pretty nasty, and unfortunately, because it is raining and because we are shoveling it and planting things in it, it gets all over us! Yuck!!

Actually, we just finished our manure project, and that is definitely a good thing. It was pretty smelly, haha. We had to transplant grasses which were at the bottom of a hill and spread them throughout the entire side of the hill by splitting them in half, digging up the back half, carrying them to a hole (which we had previous dug in the ground), putting them in the hole, and then covering up the plant roots with manure and dirt. We did this for about 450 plants. And add in the fact that it was rainy, cold, and slippery (because of the copious amounts of mud that develop when it rains), it was quite an adventure! Haha.

The work at the Garden is pretty tiring (and dirty, and wet, and cold!), and now that we are embarking on our third week of work here, we are definitely starting to feel a little bit on edge. As always happens with teams, some disagreements and frustrations will arise, and that time is now for us. Some people feel like they are working harder than others. Some people feel that others are not being considerate. Some people are doing their chores while others are not. Etc, etc, etc. And as the Team Leader, it is my lovely job to get that all sorted out.

I really love being the Team Leader, though, and I am not really worried about the team. According to Tuckman's Model of Group Formation/Dynamics (not sure which it is, haha), every team goes through five stages:

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

Right now we're hitting the Storming phase, and to get over this hill we need to communicate, sort out conflicts, and the like. As the Team Leader, it is my responsibility to make sure the team is running smoothly, everyone is having a good experience, and that the work is getting done. It's really interesting, actually, because the people on my team are so different and have pretty different backgrounds.

The breakdown in age goes as follows:

18: 1
19: 0 (he just turned 20)
20: 2
21: 1
22: 2
23: 2
24: 2 (including me)

So as there is a huge amount of development, growth and maturity that happens between 18 to 24, people don't always see eye to eye. But the idea is that people communicate with each other so that misunderstandings don't happen. However, when THAT doesn't happen that's where I come in!

I've had lots of talks with people on my team and have helped people see the other side of whatever issue they are having with other people on the team, and I think it's been pretty useful, actually. It's been quite a learning experience for me, too.

I also have learned that while I don't get stressed out every easily, when I do get stressed out, it is NOT a good situation! Haha. When stressed, I definitely don't manage my nonverbal communication very well, I don't think clearly, and I don't work with other people nearly as well! That's an area I need to work on. Luckily, I very rarely get stressed (only when everyone else around me is really stressed about something that concerns me), so it's not an overwhelming challenge.

...

As for what we've actually been doing though! Last week, we worked in the Amazing Water Garden (which has a bunch of reflecting pools... it's quite pretty) removing unwanted brush on top of a stone wall and then tilling the soil so that it can be planted with new plants. We also spent a good portion of the week working on what the horticulturists at the Garden call "ATM Hill." It's the hill where we've been digging holes and transplanting grasses. Really, really tiring work! Other than that, we bent wire hangers into staples to use to hold burlap coffee bags in the ground (it will serve as a weed liner on a hill near the front of the Garden), worked the burn pile (making a big fire into which we threw unwanted brush), used hedge trimmers to cut spirea bushes around the Garden's Wetlands area, drove Gators to and from the burn pile... and lots of other cool stuff!

For now though the coffee shop where I am at is closing, so I think it's time to go! I'll finish this post and add pictures later! Or maybe I'll just write a new post. But for now, toodles!

Week 2 at the Oregon Garden!

Well, we are almost finished with work week number 2 at the Oregon Garden! Fun stuff. Stuff we've done this week included:

- Clearing blackberry bushes (they are vicious!) and using the string trimmer to clear brush on a hill near the front of the Garden

- Creating a burn pile near the back of the Garden and throwing brush cleared from other parts of the Garden into the fire

- Using hedge trimmers (one looks like a chainsaw and the other looks like a lance) to level and trim spirea bushes around the Wetlands area of the Garden

- Cutting and bending wire hangers into staple form for later use in stapling burlap coffee bags into the ground (to serve as an anti-weed liner)

- Raking all of the trimmings from the hedge trimmers onto the path and taking them down to the burn pile in Gators

- Transplanting native grasses from one area of ATM Hill next to the visitor's center to other areas of the hill (smelly, smelly stuff since this involved using manure as fertilizer... oh and it was absolutely exhausting cause it involves exorbitant amounts of digging!)

We've been doing a nice variety of work, and it's cool because we get to cycle people through different jobs so no one gets bored or tired. And being the Team Leader is a lot of fun because I get to work all the different jobs and check in with folks to see how they are doing. Our work also provides me with lots  of time to chat with everyone on my team and learn more about them as people. Recently, actually, we have been joking about all of our idiosyncrasies. It's funny because a lot of us are starting to pick up on other people's habits and then take them on as our own. Funny how that happens when you're spending a lot of time with other people.

Good stuff!

Portland (this past Saturday)

Well our first week here in Oregon was pretty great. Despite the fact that for all but one of us, this is our first time in Oregon, we are really loving it here! The town of Silverton has definitely grown on us, and it's weird to think that we've only been here for a week and a half... it feels like it's been much longer than that!

This past Saturday we went to Portland to check out a city that many of us had heard many great things about but to which we had never been. We got brunch at this place called the Daily Cafe and then headed over to Saturday Market to do some local shopping for trinkets and souvenirs. I took a little detour however and spent some time over at the REI, where I quickly found some waterproof gloves (the primary reason I went there) but subsequently spent an hour trying on different waterproof jackets. I found this really sweet jacket (the REI Shuksan) that I was seriously considering purchasing but ended up leaving at the store because it cost $300, and I didn't (and still don't) need a jacket enough to qualify such an expense!

In Portland we also spent a considerable amount of time at Powell's World of Books, perhaps the largest bookstore in the country (or so they claim). You could spend a week in there and there would still be areas you'd never see! Luckily, the areas of the bookstore that I tend to inhabit--psychology, self-help, and Eastern Religions--were all together, so I didn't need to go through the store in search of other areas of interest of mine.

One thing I like about Powell's is that they sell new AND used books, which is awesome because all of the books I ended up buying were used and cost considerably less than they would have if I had bought them new. For example, I bought a hardcover book called "In Praise of Slowness" that when new costs $25 but at Powell's I purchased it for $7. Pretty sweet deal. The other books I bought were "The Art of Friendship," "The Art of Conversation," "FISH! For Life," and "The Paradox of Choice." Good, good stuff!

Afterwards we walked around the city just a little bit and then stopped by this place called Voodoo Doughnuts, where they sell these weird and exotic doughnuts of all different types, shapes and sizes. We got a few boxes for the whole team and enjoyed them on the way home.

We had dinner back in Silverton at the local bar, Mac's, and I ran into someone I had met in Silverton last weekend at the coffeeshop, and she introduced me to her friends, both of whom work at the local hospital. It was pretty funny, only because every time I go to Mac's (or the coffeeshop), I run into someone I met before and end up meeting someone new! I am feel pretty home in Silverton already!

So that was our day in Portland. Quite a bit different from Silverton, but a pretty cool place nonetheless. The team and I are thinking of heading up there again sometime after Thanksgiving, because then the Christmas lights will be up and we'll be able to explore other parts of the city that we didn't get a chance to explore this time around.

I'm loving Oregon!

Stuff I'm Learning in Oregon! (written Monday, November 8, 2010)

Today was our first day of work! It was pretty awesome but pretty challenging. Our task today was to construct a path leading from the Oregon Garden Resort down across a green lawn to the Axis Fountain (one of the fountains in the OG). It basically consisted of using shovels to shovel 4 inches of dirt along the future path, which is about 5-ish feet wide. Then we load the dirt up in to Gators (little 4-wheel drive trucks) and drive the Gators down to the dump pile. Once we get all the dirt out of there (we got about half of it done today) we’ll lay some cloth covering and then lay down woodchips for the actual path. We’ll do that tomorrow! Today was quite an adventure… here are some lessons I learned today:

Although it might not seem like a great idea when you think about it (or when you first wake up), waking up to do 5:45am PT is a blessing in disguise. It is hands down the best way to start the day!

8-hour workdays spent shoveling dirt around all day are long and exhausting! We only did half a day today and it was pretty brutal. But we are going to be so super strong by the end of this round, it will be awesome.

The work is much more enjoyable when you play games! We played this game where we pick a letter and then we go around the group and everyone has to name a movie starting with that letter and if you can’t name a movie then you’re out… so for example, we picked “M” and people went around with “Mulan,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Men in Black,” “Man with the Golden Gun,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Monty Python,” etc.

Weather in Oregon is unpredictable. Seriously, the only predictable thing about it is that it is unpredictable! It will be sunshine and blue skies and then twenty minutes later you are caught in a downpour. And then once you have scrambled for shelter and gotten all your raingear on, it’s sunny again. Funny stuff, seriously. As a general rule of thumb: always have your raingear with you. We learned this the hard way today!

The upside to the perpetual cloudiness and showers in Oregon is that when they finally clear you are treated with gorgeous rainbows. At least one awesome rainbow per day, I’d say!

As the Team Leader, managing work progress and effort is something I will be learning a lot about this year. It’s a tough balance to find between getting the work done and maintaining team morale… especially when everyone is working in the rain shoveling muddy dirt!

I need to eat constantly to sustain my energy levels… snacking on 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a day seems to be sufficient, haha.

The best way to get work done is to get work done and have fun at the same time!

Driving a Gator is a ton of fun. It’s like a little car with no seatbelts and even though you’re only going like 10 miles an hour it feels like you’re speeding!

The most effective way to dig a shovel into the ground is to stick it in and then jump on it. It’s a lot of fun, too!

Wearing wicking synthetic baselayers can be a lifesaver when you get caught in a downpour without your raingear on!

I really don’t mind being dirty. As long as I’m not the only one, haha.

Even days that are cold, wet and muddy can be a blast.

And it’s much easier to have fun doing tough work when you’re with other people!

Oregonians are some of the most friendly, likeable people I have ever met!

Welcome to Oregon! (written Sunday, November 7, 2010)

Hello from Oregon! It’s been a really long time since I posted an update… I was really afraid this was going to happen… so there are a lot of new things to talk about!

So in no particular order:

1. Yes, I’m in OREGON! It’s awesome here… I’m here with my Team, and we’re staying in this little town of 7000 called Silverton. It’s a pretty quaint little place. We love it here!

2. Also, I have a TEAM now! Last time I wrote, I was talking about my Pod, which was a pretty awesome bunch of 8 individuals. My Team has 10 people on it, so it’s a bit bigger than the Pod, but it’s definitely not any less awesome. The picture on the right? That's me and my team right after we built our team box (which we put in our van to hold supplies and stuff).

3.  After two months, we’re finally done with training! I know last time I posted, the Corps Members had just arrived, but we went through a whole month of training with them. I’m really glad to be done with training… it’s nice to not have to spend most of your day in a classroom, haha.

4.  Our first day of work is tomorrow, and we’re doing work at the Oregon Garden, a botanical garden in Silverton, OR. It’s an hour south of Portland. It’s looking like it will be a pretty awesome project!

5.  No longer are we living in the dorm-like buildings in Sacramento… now we’re living in a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom (eek) house with a kitchen, dining/living room and den. There’s no internet here though, so I have to go to a coffee shop in town (only a 5 min drive) in order to get internet. Minor inconvenience aside, the coffee shop is awesome and I definitely don’t mind going!

I feel like there are a ton of other things to update about, but for now I think this will do. Let’s talk about the town of Silverton!

I was actually a bit apprehensive about living in Silverton at first, only because it is such a small town. There are 7000 people in Silverton, so after Sacramento, this place is TINY! There is one stoplight in town, I think… and when we went on a tour of Silverton our first day here, it took all of 10 minutes to walk around town haha. Coming here, I was pretty worried that there would be nothing to do and that we would be isolated and bored… but that doesn’t seem like it will be the case, which I’m very happy about.

Pretty much everything in Silverton is local and quaint, and it’s pretty awesome even if it’s really small, haha. We’ve eaten at a few restaurants here, and all of them have been pretty fantastic. We had brunch at this place in Silverton called O’Brien’s yesterday morning, and the pancakes were seriously so big that they covered the entire dinner plate they were served on!! The picture on the right is from our brunch there.

I think my favorite thing about Silverton though is the people. Everyone here is so incredibly friendly and easy to talk to. I have had at least two conversations with strangers here in Silverton that were over an hour. It’s awesome! There is this guy Monty who runs this Green store (about sustainability) that has a coffee shop in it (and wireless!) and he is just the most fun guy to talk to. When he talks to you he is always smiling (even his eyes), and it makes it hard for you to do anything but smile, too. People here are so friendly, it’s not to be friendly back. And they seem to love living in Oregon. Which makes it hard to not love spending time here!

So things are pretty awesome up/over here in Oregon. I’ll write more about the Oregon Garden tomorrow once we’ve had our first day of work (a picture of the Amazing Water Garden area of the OG is to the right). I am thinking it will be pretty sweet. I am really excited about this project!

And I’m really excited to work with my team. I think we’ll have a lot of challenges this year but so far I have been very impressed by the people who have stepped up to mentor and lead the rest of the group when they need to. As a Team Leader, my goal is to make sure everyone on my Team is being pushed and is growing and getting as much out of the experience as they can, and that can be a tough responsibility. But so far I’ve been loving being a Field Team Leader, and I am VERY much looking forward to growing and improving my Team and myself these next 9 months!

Corps Training Institute!!

Whew! Finally have some down time to write in here!

So Corps Members arrived last Thursday and wow was that a busy day! Each of us Team Leaders was assigned a Pod of 8 Corps Members, who we've led through CTI training sessions starting Friday morning. We all called our Pod members the day before they got here just to check in with them and make sure their flights plans were all okay, and then we met our Pods officially for the first time Friday morning. It was really cool--my Pod has people from all over the country: one from CA, MI, WI, AR, MA, MD, IL, and NY. They are a really great bunch, and over the past few days we've gotten to know one another, sitting together during training sessions and having meals as a group each night.

Our days (except Sunday) have been jam-packed with training sessions, and it is quite a tiring experience. But it's a lot of fun, and it's been a thoroughly positive experience thus far! Training sessions get a bit dull, but after a day of training you really come to appreciate your few hours of free time in the evening.

Friday night we all played Capture the Flag, which was a blast. Saturday we watched the Sandlot and had a baseball-themed dinner for 300 people (CMs and TLs). Sunday nothing was planned, but a lot of people went into Sacramento for the day (myself included) and explored the city. I sat in a coffee shop with two of the other TLs and we worked on getting some of our paperwork done (of which we have a lot!). Sunday was also the date of the "pack test," which is where CMs applying to be on Fire Management Teams (FMT) power walk 3-miles in under 45 minutes... with a 45-pound vest on!

Yesterday was a long day, mostly because we all had to get up at 5am (instead of the usual 5:30am) for PT Baseline! Baseline is the fitness assessment conducted several times a year where you do as many pushups as you can for 2 minutes, as many situps as you can for 2 minutes, run 1.5 miles as fast as you can, and then do a sit and reach to see how flexible you are. It was really cool to watch because people are really giving it their all and I think it's awesome to see people pushing themselves.

So Pods are just temporary teams during the first week in training... everyone will get their permanent teams tomorrow night at Team Reveal! The other TLs and I are planning a scavenger hunt where all the CMs start out on the football field next to the dorm buildings and then are given clues where they sort themselves out into units and then teams. And then each team has to follow their set of clues for the scavenger hunt in order to find their Team Leader! I'm going to do a photo scavenger hunt, where they will be given a picture and have to find that place on campus. Once they get there, there will be another picture waiting for them, and they have to go to that next place. That will continue until the picture is one of the license plate on the back of my 15-passenger van, and when they find the van they'll hop in and we'll all get frozen yogurt off campus! I'm pretty psyched.

But today while I have some free time I need to go out and run a bunch of errands... need to go to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the ingredients for tonight's dinner (my Pod is cooking chili), need to take pictures for my photo scavenger hunt, need to get the pictures printed off, need to check out the frozen yogurt place to see what the ambiance is going to be like... and then if I have some time after all that, I will take a nap!

So that's all for now. I have lots more to write about but I need to take care of the aforementioned errands during my free time today. I'll be sure to put up pictures soon!

Move In Day!!

Whew what a long day today! It's almost eleven and I am so ready to go to bed. This morning we all got up early for 80's PT and spent the rest of the morning getting everything ready. Then, from 10am until 9pm it was nonstop!!

When the Corps Members arrived on campus (shuttled from the airport by some other Team Leaders), they went through "in-processing," which consisted of getting their name tags, room keys, an orientation to campus, and giving us copies of their paperwork. I was at the paperwork station, which was hands down the most hectic! Here's what we needed:

Proof of citizenship (one of the following):
1. Passport
2. Birth certificate
3. Social security card (with copy of state-issued photo ID)

License and driving record (if they want to drive a government van during SPIKE travel)

Proof of education completion (one of the following):
1. High school diploma
2. College degree
3. College transcript

...it was nuts because people brought different things, and I had to sort through each person's paperwork to figure out what it was that they had, ensure that they had brought everything they needed to bring, and then copy what needed to be copied while not copying what they had already brought copies of. OH, and then afterwards, I had to file all of it, alphabetically. And what took a long time was that each person's paperwork was not filed in the same place... education stuff was filed in one mega folder, citizen ship stuff in another, and then driving stuff in another. And while each folder had a separate pocket for each letter of the alphabet, within each of the pockets, the papers had to be alphabetized.

So... this was a very arduous process for each person, and even though we had three people manning the station it was a huge challenge to collect and sort and copy and file everything, and ALSO make sure that they had given us what we needed. And there was also an intimidatingly long line at our station too, just because it was the longest station of the bunch!

After in-processing, we had a quick opening ceremony where all of the Team Leaders were introduced via slideshow and then we had some safety tips for getting around campus. Finally, we had dinner, which was a very simple yet satisfying spaghetti dinner.

And once dinner was over, it was back to the dorms to run our hour-long floor meetings discussing rules and policies and all that jazz.

So I probably met like 100 people today and I don't remember most of them but I'm sure as time goes on I'll pick up one everybody's name. I had a lot of great introductory conversations with people today and think I accomplished my goal of making people feel welcome. I try to go out of my way to pull in those people who don't immediately click with everybody else, and it's satisfying to get them included in the group too.

Okay, well I am exhausted (again), and have to get up at 5:50am tomorrow to go running with some other Team Leaders at 6am. Tomorrow is less busy than today but that definitely doesn't mean it isn't busy! Campus sure is different with 300 more people here now. Whew!

PT with Richard Simmons

So this morning for our last PT of Team Leader Training, we all dressed in 80s garb (at least, did our best to) and did a workout video with Richard Simmons. So ridiculous! It was pretty hilarious though, and it was a nice way to start the first day of Corps Training Institute (CTI). Even though we had to be up and moving at 6am (and as a result many of us only got 5ish hours of sleep), I think it was worth it. Corps Members arrive in 3 hours!

The Corps Members are Coming!!

...tomorrow!! Well, actually technically today because as I am writing this the clock just turned midnight. We've been running around nonstop today getting campus ready for them and in 10 hours they will start to get here!

I really should have been in bed two hours ago for a full night's sleep, but there has just been way too much to do today! I actually meant to get up at 5:45 this morning to go running with some of the other Team Leaders at 6am but I slept in until 6:43! Haha, I can't believe waking up at 6:43am is sleeping in for me now.

Today I made door decs (little name tag things that you tape up on the door... see picture at right) for my 8 Pod members, typed up their schedule for the next week, typed up welcome letters for each of them that I set on the desks in their rooms, spent 3 hours trying to get the printers to work so that I could print the aforementioned things out, did laundry (running my clothes through 3 perm press cycles before they finally got dry), tried unsuccessfully to fax a copy of my driver's license to Colorado State for a tuition refund (the fax wasn't working for some reason so I will check again tomorrow), went to a training session and a meeting, then had dinner out at The Old Spaghetti House in Sacramento with the other Team Leaders for an end of TLT dinner. Busy busy day!

So I'm pretty exhausted, but all my work is done finally! At least, the work I have for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a whole nother adventure and there will be a whole new to do list. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

Okay, well it's definitely time to go to bed now because I have to get up at 5:50am for 6am PT in the morning. More to update once the Corps Members arrive!

Life in the Redwood Forest (Written Wednesday, September 29, 2010)

Okay, so I haven’t been too great at coming up with a blog post each night but I guess I’ll settle for a post every two days, which considering my past track record I think is pretty good, haha.

Tonight is our last night at Camp Mendocino… how time just flew! So as I said in the last post, on Monday we did work with firewood and I got to split some wood with an axe. It was pretty sweet. We also saw a black scorpion at the bottom of the truck bed (I don’t think I wrote about that last time actually haha) and that totally freaked us out and made us paranoid about carrying all of the wood for the rest of the afternoon haha. It made the experience even more enjoyable though!

Yesterday we did trail work with the Gold Unit. It was the same project the Blue and Silver Units did on Monday, and it involved clearing the brush and low hanging branches along a trail since they made hiking the trail overly difficult. It wasn’t particularly difficult, since we in the shade most of the time and there were a bunch of us on the project. The most challenging part, however, was GETTING to the part of the trail where we needed to do work: we had to hike probably a mile and a half UP the trail, and when I saw “up” I mean to say that it was seriously steep!! By the time we got to our actual work site, we were all already hot, sweaty and tired!

The trail work we did involved lopping small low hanging branches and bushes and using handsaws to cut the bigger ones. We always have to be wearing proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) at all times on the work site. So for all the work we’ve done here in Camp Mendocino, that means hard hat, safety glasses and work gloves. Combined with our green and khaki uniforms, our PPE make us look pretty legit, haha.

Last night we had a sweet campfire (actually now that I think about it, we’ve had sweet campfires every night so far), toasted marshmallows, and made s’mores. Then some of the other TLs and I went out to a clearing in the woods to stargaze for a while before going to bed.

This morning we didn’t have any PT, so I got to sleep in until 7:30! Let me just say, NEVER thought the day would come when waking up at 7:30am was SLEEPING IN. I legitimately felt GROGGY this morning when I woke up because it was so late! I’ve decided that I really actually enjoy waking up at 5:30 in the morning and doing PT at 6 because it is a GREAT way to start my day! I just need to make sure I get to bed by 10pm haha.

Today we did more trail work, but with the Blue Unit instead of the Gold Unit. I’ve discovered I love trail work because it’s pretty much like hiking, except you’re doing work to make the trail better. The woods here are simply gorgeous, so I don’t mind at all spending all day in them. I remember thinking at one point how awesome it was that right then, I was walking on a trail in the middle of a redwood forest in California!

After work today, some of us TLs went on a short hike to the Big Tree, which is the largest redwood on Camp Mendocino’s property. It takes fourteen people to reach around it! It was a cool hike and I got to have some great chat time with the other TLs. After getting a few pictures by Big Tree we skipped stones on the river right next to it for a while before heading back for dinner.

So… that’s been the trip so far. It’s been great! The Corps Members arrive in just 8 days, and if you ask me, it’s way too soon already. While the other TLs and I have spent pretty much every waking minute of the past 4 weeks together, it just doesn’t seem like it has been long enough at all! The other TLs are a great group and I have really connected with a lot of them. It’s been great!

Tomorrow we will return to Sacramento and return to “normal” life. Then this weekend most of us TLs are headed to Yosemite for an awesome weekend of hiking as one last hurrah before the Corps Members arrive next Thursday!!

Camp Mendocino! (Written Monday, September 27, 2010)

Well, I realize I didn’t post last night, but to my credit, it was a pretty busy day! Yesterday we left Sacramento and drove 4 hours to Camp Mendocino, a camp for the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco. It’s located deep in the woods way north of San Fran (and Sac). It’s actually quite beautiful here… although it can get kinda creepy at night since it seems like horror movies always happen in the woods in the middle of nowhere late at night, haha.

What are we doing here? Well it’s me and the other Team Leaders here at Mendocino, and we are on a “mini-SPIKE” project. SPIKEs are projects that we will go on with our teams this year that take us away from Sacramento. They are usually 6-8 weeks long. Mendocino is a “mini-SPIKE” for us TLs because we are only here for 4 days (until Thursday), and it is a preview of sorts for how real SPIKEs are going to play out.

We got here yesterday and had a big campfire last night with all 35 TLs sitting around it and just hanging out. Oh, and there’s no internet here… so I’m typing this on my laptop on Microsoft Word. There’s limited electricity here, and since we’re staying in open air cabins (which means that there’s no door and no windows… only flimsy mosquito netting over the openings) there is no place for me to plug in my laptop. Or recharge my camera batteries. So we’ll see how this plays out, haha.

Anyway! So we our work here at Mendocino consists of 3 projects: trail maintenance, firewood, and bathroom demolition. We’re organized into our 4 units (Blue, Silver, Gold and Green) and each unit was on a different task. My unit (Green) did firewood today. It was pretty sweet, albeit TIRING. We split wood (I used an axe to split logs for the first time today!), carried the wood over to a wood shed, and then stacked the wood inside the shed. It was a good team activity and we did it all day, so it definitely pushed us physically. The other units did the other two projects, with Blue and Silver doing trail maintenance (which they said was really tiring since the trail was on a steep incline) and Gold doing the bathroom demolition. I think my unit will have a chance to do the other two projects in the coming days so I am excited to get more experience doing this outdoorsy work!

Right now most of the other TLs are sitting around a campfire on the womens’ side of camp (our camps are split with the men in one set of cabins on one side of the dining hall, and the women in the other set of cabins on the other side of the dining hall). I was thinking about joining them (right now I’m in the dining hall, where we had dinner a little bit ago), but after talking to a fellow TL who is sitting here at a table with me, I’ve decided I’m going to hang out here in the dining hall for a little bit longer because we both need to work on our ILPs (Individual Learning Plans… it’s definitely been a challenge to learn the myriad 3-letter acronyms ubiquitous in NCCC).

So I think I’m going to call it a night for this post. I’m going to work on my ILP (which basically outlines our goals for the year) and then walk over to join the other TLs by the campfire (although there are 7 of us here in the dining hall, a good fifth of the group).

It’s lights out at 10pm and then curfew at 11pm, to make sure we get a full night’s sleep in order to be up and running (literally) for PT (physical training) tomorrow morning at 6am. And then it’ll be breakfast at 8 and then at 9 it’ll be a long day of more work. I’m guessing tomorrow Green and Gold will be doing the trail work, which I’m pretty excited about. It’s a 2 mile hike uphill to get to the place we’ll be working at, and then we’ll hike back down for lunch at noon and then at 1 hike back up to do more work on the trail. And then hike back down before dinner, which starts at 5pm.

I’ll write more on life here at Camp Mendocino tomorrow! It’s quite beautiful here, and I’ve been taking pictures, so hopefully I’ll be able to include some pictures with these posts when I get back to society and internet. ;-)

Life as a NCCC Team Leader! (the First REAL Post)

Okay, so where do I even start?? Well, maybe I can start off by saying that I am finally in California! Well, I have actually been here for the past 25 days, and let me tell you, they have been 25 SUPER-packed days. It's hard to believe that I only arrived here 3 and a half weeks ago!

I'm one of 35 Team Leaders (TLs) here at the Pacific Region Campus of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). All of us left our pre-NCCC lives to come spend 11 months leading a team of 18-24 year olds in some life-changing service work! We'll be doing projects in areas such as Infrastructure Improvement, Environmental and Energy Conservation, Urban and Rural Development, and Disaster Relief (that's the biggie). Each project is about 6 to 8 weeks long, and our projects will be in CA, OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, UT, NV, AK and HI (those last two are more rare though!). We'll be traveling to our project sites via 15-passenger van (or plane for AK and HI) and while on each project, we'll be living in the community in an apartment, community center, church basement, etc. If you've ever been on an Alternative Break (for those of you who are college students), it's pretty similar. Except NCCC is a 10-month experience!

Right now, we're in the latter half of our month of Team Leader Training (TLT). It's a pretty intense process... it's similar to RA Training (which I've been through 4 years of) except it's a bit more hardcore. Here's a typical day for me:

5:30am - Wake up bright and early (well, at least the early part!)
6am - 7am - PT (physical training)
7am - 8am - Shower, eat breakfast, get ready for the day
8am - Noon - Training sessions
Noon - 1pm - Lunch
1pm - 5pm - Training sessions
5pm - 6pm - Change out of uniform into regular clothes and relax a bit (oh yeah, we have to wear uniforms!)
6pm - 7pm - Dinner
7pm - 10pm - Hang out time (which usually means watching a movie, playing board/card games, checking Facebook, reading, or sitting around and chatting... this time is also often used to take care of homework and various TL assignments)
10pm - 5:30am - SLEEP!!

So days are pretty busy, and because I rarely make it to bed right at 10 (it's usually closer to 11 because I like to have a late night snack), my nights tend to be pretty short, but all in all it's been a pretty great experience so far. The other TLs are a pretty awesome bunch, and I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them the past 3 and a half weeks. Even though 5:30 is pretty early, and despite the fact that I never really liked running in the morning, I absolutely LOVE getting up before the sun rises to do PT because it energizes me for the day! Plus I get to watch a beautiful sunrise every single day!

Well, I'm going to bring this post to a close by saying that life out here in California is busy but good right now. There is a TON of stuff I still want to write about, but I'm trying to avoid making this into a book, so I'll just put that stuff in other posts. ;-)

Oh hey there! (a Disclaimer)

Well after wavering back and forth on whether or not I would start a blog, I chose to start one (obviously!). I’ve had mixed success with blogs in the past so I was a bit hesitant to make the commitment this time around, but after consulting several friends and reading the friends’ blogs, I’ve decided that keeping a blog to record this year will be a useful thing for both other people to read as well as for myself to look back on after this year is done. And given my atrociously bad skill at keeping in touch with family and friends who are not physically where I am… I sincerely hope this blog will keep the people in my life aware of what’s going on my side of the country/world even if they aren’t actually there.

I’m thinking I’m going to make the initial commitment of writing for 20 minutes each night, just to make sure I’m capturing a little something every day and also to avoid a lengthy lack of posting, which in the past has led to me putting off posting on my blog knowing that when I DID finally decide to post, it would be a monumental undertaking that would eat up more time than I was willing to spend. And hopefully when I actually write each post I can avoid those super long sentences like the one right before this one. I don’t think many of you would enjoy reading those at all, haha.

So here’s to posting for the next 10ish months. The program goes until July 27, 2011, so if everything goes according to plan (which we all know it never does), this blog will end up as a cherished compilation of 10(ish) months of my experiences, thoughts, perspectives, and feelings. So let’s blow this popsicle stand.