Friday, October 23rd (continued!)
After returning from our service project at the school on Friday, I headed out to the soccer field to play Ultimate Football. I've been trying to do some sort of PT (physical training) everyday, and ultimate football is face-paced, so I can get a lot of running in without realizing!
After dinner, a group of us walked over the the bar/restaurant across the street from campus to hang out with the night. They have lots of pool tables and space to hang out, and it's nice that it's close to our dorm.
This is a picture of me, Megan, and Katherine at 4 G's Restaurant.
After returning from our service project at the school on Friday, I headed out to the soccer field to play Ultimate Football. I've been trying to do some sort of PT (physical training) everyday, and ultimate football is face-paced, so I can get a lot of running in without realizing!
After dinner, a group of us walked over the the bar/restaurant across the street from campus to hang out with the night. They have lots of pool tables and space to hang out, and it's nice that it's close to our dorm.
This is a picture of me, Megan, and Katherine at 4 G's Restaurant.
These are all of the girls at 4 G's -- Fire Unit is highly represented!
Saturday, October 24th
Today was National Make a Difference Day, so naturally, my team and I set up a service project for the day. We worked with another team at "People House," which is a low-cost counseling center run out of a huge, old house. We performed a variety of maintenance projects, such as painting, hanging dry wall, washing windows, etc.
I spent the day outside, which was awesome because it was 65' and sunny. I raked leaves in the front yard, picked up construction debris around the house, and even mowed the lawn!
I wish I would have taken some before and after pictures of our work. I need to work on this! I usually get so busy at work sites that I forget to take pictures and then I have nothing to show for my hard work. Oh well, we got a lot accomplished and it was a really great day.
When I got home, I went outside again and played a short game of ultimate football. After dinner and showering, I headed into downtown Denver with a group for the night.
We sat in a local park downtown for a while, and then headed to a few bars. Navigating the public transportation system was much easier than last weekend, and I had a lot of fun.
Here's Megan and I at an Irish Pub we stopped at -- please notice our friend, Ross, to our right. He's a graduate of Western Michigan University!
Today was National Make a Difference Day, so naturally, my team and I set up a service project for the day. We worked with another team at "People House," which is a low-cost counseling center run out of a huge, old house. We performed a variety of maintenance projects, such as painting, hanging dry wall, washing windows, etc.
I spent the day outside, which was awesome because it was 65' and sunny. I raked leaves in the front yard, picked up construction debris around the house, and even mowed the lawn!
I wish I would have taken some before and after pictures of our work. I need to work on this! I usually get so busy at work sites that I forget to take pictures and then I have nothing to show for my hard work. Oh well, we got a lot accomplished and it was a really great day.
When I got home, I went outside again and played a short game of ultimate football. After dinner and showering, I headed into downtown Denver with a group for the night.
We sat in a local park downtown for a while, and then headed to a few bars. Navigating the public transportation system was much easier than last weekend, and I had a lot of fun.
Here's Megan and I at an Irish Pub we stopped at -- please notice our friend, Ross, to our right. He's a graduate of Western Michigan University!
Sunday, October 25th
You would think that after a busy week, two service projects, and a night out on the town that I would spend Sunday relaxing. However, living in a dorm building with 200+ people means there's always something going on.
Sunday afternoon, I hopped on a bus to Golden, Colorado with a group of friends and headed to tour the Coors Brewery. It was very cool. The entire tour was free, and it was very well done. We walked through the self-guided tour listening to small radios that looked like phones. At each exhibit, we entered the number posted on the wall and the recording explained our surroundings.
Here's a picture of Megan and I at the entrance to the brewery.
Halfway through the tour, we passed through the "Fresh Beer Room." We were given a small sample. Here's me standing next to a wall of flowing beer!
At the end of the tour, you head into the Coors Lounge where you can enjoy up to three complimentary 10oz. beers. They had Blue Moon, Harvest Moon, Coors, Coors Light, and Killian's all on draft. 
Here's a picture of our entire group on and stairway of the Coors Lounge.I am in the very top left corner!
We stopped into a local pizza place to grab dinner before leaving Golden, CO. We encountered a few problems navigating the buses home, and actually didn't arrive back to campus until almost 10pm! However, it was another adventurous day, and I'm glad I tagged along.Monday, October 26th
Today we changed temporary teams again. We are all getting anxious to find out our permanent teams so we can begin bonding. We had a couple different trainings today: Media Relations and Service Learning/Project Development.
During the media training, we learned the appropriate things to say when being interviewed (and also what not to say.) Something interesting: I am NOT to refer to myself as a volunteer. Because I receive a small stipend for my service, I am a "member of a community service organization," not a volunteer. Small details like this were good to know.
Service learning and project development training was pretty long, but it was nice to talk about service learning and how important it is. Once we establish permanent teams, everyone has to choose a role to play on their team for the year. One of these roles is the "service learning initiator," which I really hope I get!
After training, we had PT as a unit. We did tons of push-ups, crunches, up-downs, and walking lunges. Ugh! Then I ran the "baseline" (1.5 mile run) with a group of girls. I am getting a little better at running up here, but the elevation and hills still kill me!
After dinner, I went to Yoga Club, which was a nice way to relax and stretch out after a long day!
Tuesday, October 27th
Today we had Fire Unit service project day! My team went to the Food Bank of the Rockies, which is a member of the Second Harvest Gleaners national non-profit!
I volunteered to be part of the painting crew. I assumed we would be painting walls; however, it turns out our job for the day was to scrape, scrub, sweep, tape, and then paint the white sections of the floor. Eee! It was a hard project. I spent most of the day crawling around on my hands and knees with a bucket and a rag. However, at the end of the day, it was great to see the progress we had made.While my team of six were painting, the other 30 NCCC members were working on the assembly lines packaging boxes of food to be trucked all over the Denver area. Below is a picture of their workspace.
It was fitting that we had our "media training" the day before, because when we arrived at the food bank, we were informed that "One Republic" (a pop/rock band) would be stopping into the warehouse to do a photo shoot. We got to meet them and take a group photo with the band! Unfortunately, we're still working on getting the rights to this group photo. Hopefully it will come as an addition to this entry later!If you want to hear a popular song by One Republic, check out this link.
At the end of the day, I was proud of how much we accomplished. Here's me with one of the many sections of white line that I helped paint.
When we got back from the food bank, most of us were sore and tired. I had a lazy night around the dorm and went to bed early.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Everyday is still another great, adventurous day! I am having such an awesome time and experiencing so many new things! I can't wait to get out on SPIKE and explore another community.**
I have my netbook now (which is awesome!) so I hope to blog more frequently! I miss you all at home, and I can't wait to visit over Christmas!
You're really having some new experiences! I can't wait to hear about the food bank. Read Sara Miles book, Take This Bread, when you have a minute or two.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it was the beer that made it hard to navigate back??
ReplyDelete