Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Last Day At Base
Today is the last day for my team to be at base. Early in the morning we will be leaving for Beaumont, Texas. In Beaumont we will be working with Habitat for Humanity of Jefferson County. Jefferson County, Texas was one of the places greatly impacted by Hurricane Rita. We will be working specifically to help rebuild houses for people still living in FEMA trailers. The construction of these houses will be a little different from those most people are used to, as these houses will be built on stilts. To get to Texas we will be taking a 15 passenger van on a four day road trip. Thankfully my team is only 13 people. I am one of the "lucky" ones that is allowed to drive the van. There are only five people certified to drive a 15p van. While driving we have to change drivers every TWO hours, and no one is allowed to drive more than four hours per day. Although four days is a long time in a van, I am excited to see all the places we will be stopping at.
To give you an idea of where in Texas I will be, here is a map:
To give you an idea of where in Texas I will be, here is a map:
Saturday, November 24, 2007
AmeriLife
My time here at the base is coming to a close. So before I go to other parts of the United States to lend a helping hand, I thought I would give more insight on my AmeriLife while living on base. As you are already aware most of my time was consumed with endless trainings and team meetings. But there is much more to the training session than that. It is a time when you meet a ton of amazing people and a time when you learn a lot about yourself (or in some cases become much more confused about yourself). Here are a few more pictures.
This is the base. The base contains buildings for trainings and there are dorm buildings.
This is the gas station across the street. If you live at base, Tower Mart is your best friend.
This is the open air mall downtown. If you walk through it, you can cross from downtown to old town.
This is the base. The base contains buildings for trainings and there are dorm buildings.
This is the gas station across the street. If you live at base, Tower Mart is your best friend.
This is the open air mall downtown. If you walk through it, you can cross from downtown to old town.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Community Service Day At Folsom Zoo
Every team has a full day of service in the community. My team and two other teams worked at the Folsom Zoo. We were all divided up into different projects. Some of the projects include breaking a giant rock, cleaning the coyote pin, building stairs, and working on cages. My project was improving the cages for the squirrel monkeys. After we worked we had a pizza party hosted by the Zoo. It was a lot of fun.
This is a picture of my team and the project sponsor.
Part of my team showing the rock that they were busting!
Team member playing in park before the pizza party.
This is a picture of my team and the project sponsor.
Part of my team showing the rock that they were busting!
Team member playing in park before the pizza party.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Time To CAMP!
Every year all the teams go camping in the Redwoods as a simulation project. Here the team will travel to an off campus location and do a service project. Each team is there for about two days. The drive to the Redwoods was amazing. We went through the mountains and we drove by beautiful lakes. The camps itself was gorgeous as well. The trip was long but well worth it. It did rain while we were there and we got very dirty. For our project we sorted through scrap wood, doors, and windows. We also moved shelves and burned unusable wood scraps. In addition to doing service we also did a lot of team bonding activities. One activity was doing a team skit or cheer. My team re-wrote the words to "I Will Survive." The girls sang while the boys did a crazy dance. It was hard to sing while laughing hysterically at the boys. Other teams did different things but ours was far superior. Hopefully I will find someone with a picture. We also played a game that is similar to the Newlywed Game. Of course my team won. We are just good like that. In addition the the amazing games we did a ropes course. The point of the course is to teach team work and goal setting. Some of the activities, okay most of the activities were difficult. We did Buzzing Circle (which had no rope involved), we then did an island game that I can't even begin to describe. Just imagine putting 13 people on a 2 foot by 2 foot square. The best/hardest/scariest was the high rope activity we did. It was a lot like walking a tight rope, but with ropes for us to hold on to and a harness. It was very intense and surprisingly every one on the team successfully walked across it. Yeah!
Fun and Games
While AmeriCorps *NCCC is about service, there are plenty of opportunities to have fun. The Sacramento location offers a wide variety of entertainment options including bowling, laser tag, shopping, and many more. Some members of my team and I went out to a place within walking distance of the campus. We all had an amazing time. I will be loading pictures soon, hopefully.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Location Location
After the hunt we had the big reveal. For those of you unaware, each team is sent to a location after the intial training to work on a service project. However, at the beginning of training we are unaware of where we will be going. So for three weeks every one is filled with feelings of hope and anxiety. So back to the reveal. My team will be going to Texas to work with Habitat for Humanity building houses. We will be there for approximently eight weeks. Most of the team was happy with the assignment, except for one girl that actually lives in the town we will be going to.
The Hunt Is On
As part of team bonding and getting to know Sacramento, we did a scavenger hunt. Our team leader was whisked away from us and we were given clues to where are team leader was. In addition to finding our team leader we also had to find a whole bunch of other things. One thing we had to do was collect five business cards. We also had to take pictures of things and of ourselves. It was a great time. After we found our leader, we got to look around the touristy part of Sacramento called Old Sac. It has a lot of interesting shops. My favorite is the candy store where you can have all the salt water taffy you can eat (while your in the store). There were tons of places to get candy, ice cream, and costumes. This is a picture of my team at "Push UpCity". Its an inside joke about physical training.
Team Stuff
Its been a long time since I have posted. It has been a very crazy time. Lots of classes, service, and tons of fun. I am officially a member of Red 5. Since being in a team we have already done a small project for Make A Difference Day. For this day, my team worked at an elementary school winterizing a community garden. When we arrived it looked like a mess. When we left it looked amazing. My team was so great that we got the entire project finished before noon and we were sent to another project site to help the other teams. Our next project was at an organic farm. The farm was very cool. They had hairy pigs, chickens, and dogs running around. Our specific project was to clean out an old house on the property. It was really gross in the inside. We saw a lot of crazy stuff on the inside. I wish I had pictures. Words cannot really describe it. Here is a picture of my team. Go Red 5!
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