Air Force Day

On Monday the entire NCCC campus went to an Air Force base in Colorado Springs to do obstacle course team building stuff. We started out on the obstacle course, which was much harder than I expected. I don't know why I expected it to be easy, since it is part of training for Air Force members. We had to roll over logs and jump walls and lift ourselves up and over and under things. We all have very sore muscles today, but it was fun.
The second half of the day we did problem solving where we were put in simulation pods and given tasks to complete. There would be places we couldn't touch and certain tools we had to use to get our team over a 12 foot wall, for example. It was pretty hard, but our team seemed good at coming up with solutions, which usually involved starting with the smallest member of our team crawling up the back of the biggest member of our team (our team leader) and then going from there.
We came back home sore and tired, but I think we were pretty satisfied with what we did. Here are some pictures from the past two posts...

Rocky Mountain National Park and Roller skating

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026036&l=1674c&id=10300564

Boulder and the Obstacle Course

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026039&l=67cee&id=10300564

the weekend

On Friday my unit went to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike. It was really beautiful and there was snow as we got higher up into the mountains. My friend and I hiked up to "Cub Lake" and that was really pretty. After we hiked for a couple hours, we headed back to campus to find out our permanent teams, which was supposed to be at 4pm. We didn't get back til 6 though because of the traffic. Once we got there we were each given a piece of a puzzle and we had to find other people whose puzzle went with ours.
Once we got the puzzle together it gave us a license plate number and we found the van that corresponded with it. Our van driver, whose name was Elizabeth, was wearing a really creepy mask and we thought she was our team leader, but she wouldn't talk to us. Once we were all in the van she drove up campus around in circles until she switched with another van driver, who was Andi. So then we thought Andi was our team leader, but she dropped us off and left us with a note that we had to decode with letters corresponding to numbers. The clue said "roses are red, violets are blue, you should go to the third floor of walsh [our dorm]"
After we got to the third floor there was a note telling us to go to the bottom floor where we found Mike, our actual team leader. We met as a team and had dinner, where Mike told us we are going somewhere in Texas for our first project, and then we called it a night. On Saturday we went roller skating as a team, where I won a dance contest that I didn't even know I was in. They asked anyone who wanted to do the "cha cha slide" to line up on the line, and I went out with 5 of my teammates and about 15 little kids. I danced the whole thing ridiculously and then at the end they said they would announce the winner. I had no idea it was a competition, and was surprised when the woman skated up to me and handed me a "winner" ticket that I could trade in at the counter for a flashy ball prize. What a day.
On Sunday I went to Boulder with 3 friends and walked around Pearl Street before meeting up with my cousin Oliver. We all went to an Oxygen bar where two of my friends got oxygen, which was interesting to watch. Then we went up to the mountains for a hike and climed up some really high rocks and sat at the top. Afterwards we all got frozen yogurt. It was a really great weekend...pictures to come!

week update

So I realized I have not been very good at keeping up with this. There is not much to report though, because we have mostly been sitting in classrooms all day doing training for various things like van safety and cpr training. I am now officially certified to perform cpr and other emergency maneuvers. The woman who ran the cpr training was...difficult. She felt the need to add to her 7 hours of lecturing with personal anecdotes like the time her stepmother tried to drive her father who was having a heart attack to the hospital instead of calling and amubulance. She added that her father died and her stepmother got what she deserved. Whoa.
I had to go to urgent care on Wednesday because I was having chest pain for a couple days that was getting worse. I tried to see the doctor here but she said she couldn't evaluate chest pain, so I had to go to urgent care. They told me I had inflamed cartilage in my ribs or Costochondritis. I took ibuprofin for a couple days and it went away.
During the week we also did tool training and various team building activities. On Saturday we left campus at 6:15 to go to city park and build trails, which is what we trained for on Monday of last week. We got there and waited to get our team of 10 people to go start working, but they underestimated the number of people they were getting, so my partner and I never ended up getting a team. A bunch of the corps members who didn't get teams ended up working together. It was pretty cool to see all these huge piles of gravel turn into a trail in just a few hours. Afterwards there was some live music and really good mediterranean food. The mayor even came out and talked to all of us. It was about 85 degrees and sunny, which made it a nice (but pretty hot) day.
Sunday was gorgeous weather again and I spent the day laying outside and reading. My friend Jess Wurtz from Bryn Mawr who lives near Colorado Springs came to visit in the evening and we went to a bar to watch the Redsox game.
The week was kind of rough in terms of so much classroom time, and a few people are really getting on my nerves, but I also feel like I have made better friends this week. A bunch of us went bowling one night, and i went out to eat with some other people, so that has been nice getting to know people better.

Playground Project

A girl in my group took this picture of me during our playground project.



Today (Tuesday), my team did a project in Denver. We were assigned to a playground that needed to be filled in with wood chips. The best way to envision it is an in ground pool with a playground in the middle of it, two feet deep. Those two feet needed to be filled to the top. We ended up using 1700 cubic yards of wood chips (two tractor trailers' worth). The project manager didn't think we could get it all done today, but we finished in about 4.5 hours (with a lunch break in there). It felt good to actually get out and do something after spending so much time in the classroom in training. Tonight at 5 our team is playing another team in kickball and I am really looking forward to that.

Yesterday we went to a park in the morning to get trained for a project we are leading on Saturday. We are split up into pairs and are leading groups of 8 to 10 in building trails at one of the city parks. It should be pretty fun. Starbucks and Panera Bread are catering it, which I am also excited about.

Here is a link to my playground pictures if you want to see more.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025711&l=243ef&id=10300564

Rainy Weekend

On Saturday we went with the entire Fire Unit to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater to go hiking. It was beautiful and they have an amazing theater where a lot of really cool people have played. The theater is totally carved out of the rock around it. While we were there, there was some kind of fitness group running up and down the steps. I walked all the way up them once and was exhausted. each step is about 2 feet high. Some people from our group ran all the way down them, running all the way down one step and then down to the next level to run all the way down the next. In total, this was 3.1 miles of running. Intense. The hike was beautiful. I will attach the link to my pictures on facebook at the bottom of this post. Afterwards our group went to Denver and walked around and saw things and ate and drank things. I found a really cool bookstore (I love bookstores) and bought a few things. On Saturday night my roommate and I went to a Mexican restaurant/bar and watched the Redsox play and then went to bed.
Sunday was a our big awaited day off and a chance to sleep in, but I of course (with my excellent internal clock) was up at 7. Brunch on Sundays doesn't start until 11:30, and every day the past week I have eaten both breakfast and lunch by 11:30, so I was very hungry. After brunch my roommate and I went back into the city and walked around and some stores. We walked to the Civic Center where there is an enormous blue bear statue peaking into the building. This is also in my pictures. The entire weekend it has been really rainy and cold, so that is a downer. Especially because we were told that Colorado has the most sunny days of any state. Not anymore.

link to the pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025682&l=7c547&id=10300564

i dont know how to make it show up as a link, so you might have to copy and paste it into a browser window

the mountains

The mountains here are really beautiful, and the entire western skyline is consumed by them. Our cafeteria has huge windows all along the west side, so you can see the mountains when you eat, which are especially beautiful at breakfast which is around sunrise.
Last night I went for a run for the first time, to test out how my lungs were taking the altitude. They aren't taking it. It was pretty painful, but I got through it. Then after dinner there was a big soccer game with a lot of corps members and team leaders, which was really fun. I went to bed last night at the latest time so far...about 10:30pm.
This morning we had boot issue and I got a HUGE pair of steel toed black boots...an item I never thought I would own. They're pretty heavy and big and I am not personally looking forward to wearing them although a lot of people on my team were very excited. After boot issue we went to Aurora for physicals where I found out that I am negative for both pregnancy and drugs and that I can see and hear and don't have TB. Now we have a break until one when we have another training session. Today the weather is nice, it's about 65 degrees, but there is supposed to be a cold front coming in this weekend and it might snow. My roommate who is from Georgia and has only seen snow twice in her life (once when she was 3) looking forward to it. I am not : )

Americorps Uniform

So we got our uniforms and I have attached a picture of me in mine. They are...not the most flattering things, but it's nice to not have to wonder about what you will wear every day. We got two pairs of khaki colored pants, and one pair of black pants (which I am wearing in the picture). We also got two pairs of khaki shorts, two long sleeve gray t shirts, 3 short sleeve, a short and long sleeve polo type shirt, a belt, a sweatshirt, a vest, a winter coat, a bag, and we will be getting steel toed boots and winter hats soon. Oh! We also got khaki colored fishing style hats...which I am pretty sure I'll never wear. And an Americorps bandana. Awesome.

Last night a lot of corps members watched the debates in the lounge and then I went to bed pretty soon after that. These 6:00 days are killing me. This morning we had a meeting from 8am to 11:30am about the rules in the handbook, which was pretty boring and made my butt fall asleep. This afternoon we're getting a tour of the campus and possibly going to Walmart/Target as a team to get stuff we need for our rooms, etc.

Americorps NCCC Denver Days One and Two

Monday 10/6

Today started at 5:15 am Eastern time when I got up to leave the house by 6:15 and be at the airport by 6:45. I caught a 7:55 flight out of Boston and arrived in Denver at 10:30 am Mountain time. When I got to the airport I was greeted by NCCC team leaders and taken to a waiting area full of people and bags before we got on a bus about an hour later to take us to campus. Americorps is housed on the campus of Teikyo Loretta Heights University in Denver. It’s a pretty campus and you can see the Rockies clearly, as well as the sun setting over the Rockies, which I really like. Forgive me for this writing, because I am sure some of it will not make sense due to my brain shutting down hours ago.
When we got to campus, we were given our room assignments. My roommate is from Georgia, and we are getting along well so far, bonding over our miserable room. The room is about 12 feet by 10 feet. The two beds are each under a shelf and have to be pulled out to sleep on. Each bed takes up a wall. The third wall is taken up by our desks and the 4th by the door, the two closets and the sink. There are no dressers, so all of my clothes are in my desk drawers (there are two). After filling out some paper work and finding the main office, we ate some old pizza and did “in-processing” which consisted of more paperwork and getting our ID pictures taken. After that we were free from about 2 to 5:30. My roommate and I unpacked and took naps.
At 5:30 we met our team for the week. My roommate and I are both in the “Fire Unit” which is how they break up the 250 class members. Fire, Earth, Sun, and Water (Captain Planet, he’s a hero). Within each unit, there are teams of about 10 people, so we are “Fire 3”. During our 4 week orientation, we will switch teams every week. Once we had all our team members and team leader, we got in a van and headed to subway for dinner. At 7 there was a Fire Unit meeting where we met all the team leaders for the unit and played fun bonding games. Then we were freeee. There are 3 working showers on my hall of 80+ people, so that is going to be interesting. I am headed to bed for 6:30 breakfast and another full day tomorrow. I really miss my friends and family back on the East Coast and I am thinking of you guys all the time.

Tuesday 10/7

Today we were up at 6:30 for breakfast, after a cold night in the dorms. I went to be between 9 and 10 though, so I got a good amount of sleep. After breakfast we had a community meeting where we were formally introduced to all the staff and team leaders from other units. At 10, we had a meeting to set up our direct deposit for paychecks, and then we were free until 11:30 when we had lunch. I have to say I had very low expectations for the food, but so far it has been really good. Today for lunch I had chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, broccoli and raw spinach...some of my favorite foods. At 1, we have our uniform issue which means that after that we are only wearing our uniforms from here on out, which I am a little sad about. It's weird right now because some units have gotten their uniforms and some haven't, so as my roommate pointed out we are sort of like the sneetches. Some with stars on thars...and some not. I am not sure what is up for the rest of the day, but at 6:45 there is a meeting for people who want to play ultimate frisbee, so I am excited for that.