TEXAS, here I come!

Saturday, November 7th

Today we had our first official "team bonding" day. We began by going to lunch at Old Chicago (our team-leader's treat!), and then we headed to Englewood Skate City for an afternoon of roller skating! It was a lot of fun -- I hadn't been since I was probably 12 years old!

Here's my whole team before we began. Too bad I was trying to tell the guy "hold down the button" -- otherwise, it's a really cute picture!

Back row, left to right: Tim, Jared, Marty (our team leader) Ross, Joel, Mackenzie

Front row: Meg, Elizabeth (another team leader in our unit, not my team), Amanda, Me, Jamie, Kelly, Mary

Look at those hot skates!!!

(Jared, me, Mackenzie)

After an afternoon of skating, we headed back to the dorm. After dinner, the majority of fire unit headed out to downtown Denver for once last night-on-the-town. It was great to spend time with everyone before we all head out on SPIKE!


Sunday, November 8th


Today was a VERY lazy day! Megan and I slept in until (get ready for this) 12:30pm. YIKES! Part of the problem is that the heater in our room doesn't work, so it's generally around 62' F, which makes it incredibly difficult to get out of bed! We tend to lay around talking for awhile when we don't have to be somewhere right away.


After lunch, we went for a run with a couple of other girls, and then I spent the majority of the afternoon reading and just hanging out around the dorm.


There's really nothing else to say about this day! Pretty uneventful, but a much needed break from all of the "going" I've been doing!


Monday, November 9th


Today was, by far, the most difficult day of training to sit through thus far. We had Red Cross: Responding to Disaster training in an auditorium ALL DAY. Putting 250 of us in one room and making us watch video clips and powerpoints for eight hours is NOT a good idea. I assure you, crosswords, sudokus, hang-man, and tic-tac-toe all made an appearance! I felt like I was back in school. The worst part was, this was the training we were supposed to have on our snow day a couple weeks ago, so since then we have had multiple Red Cross trainings that were supposed to follow this initial one. But since the order got reversed, most of the information discussed we had already talked about in our other Red Cross trainings. Pretty redundant -- oh well.


The positive of the day was that at 7pm we had our Talent Show! I couldn't believe how many talented people we have on our campus! People did stand-up comedy, impressions, sang, played the guitar and piano, danced, whistled songs, belly-danced...it was awesome! I might consider digging out my tap shoes for the talent show at the end of the year. There are a couple girls on my hall who said they would dance with me. We will see if that actually happens!


Tuesday, November 10th


Today we had more SPIKE prep. We checked out cots, sleeping bags, and cooking supplies for our trip. We also completed our "Project Brief Packet" and prepared for our project briefing in the afternoon.


The "briefing" is a formal presentation where each time has to present their SPIKE prep. to staff members. This includes our travel plans, emergency team positions, PT plans, media relations plans, recruitment plans, service learning goals, health and safety information, etc. Mostly, it's just to make sure that we are prepared to leave and have all of our "ducks in a row." Ours was at 3:30pm, and it went really well. We all had to wear our "AmeriTuxedos" -- don't worry, not actually tuxes, but we have an outfit that's considered "formal wear." It consists of our black pants, steel toed boots, and white AmeriCorps polo shirts (tucked in with belts, of course!).


I'm sure I will have pictures to come soon! We also have to wear this formal-wear to induction tomorrow!


After dinner, I had a pretty low-key night around campus. Some members of my unit bought smores supplies, so we had a small bonfire in the firepit on campus and roasted marshmallows for a while. Then, around 8pm, I headed to sit in the sauna with a couple girls from my unit. Since it's SO COLD in my dorm room all the time, I look for any excuse to sweat! Nothing else too exciting happened for the evening. I watched a movie in my bed and fell asleep!

Wednesday, November 11th

We had today off for Veteran's Day. Again, Megan and I slept in pretty late (until 10:30am this time) and then made our way to breakfast. It was a beautiful, sunny day outside, so we took blankets outside and lounged in the grass until it was time to leave for our ISP.

We planned to do ISP hours (Independent Service Project -- we have to accumulate 80 hours to graduate in July) with some other members of the water unit at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore of Denver.

The HFH ReStore is basically a "Home Depot" type store of donations. Sinks, cabinets, tubs, trim, lighting, paint, etc. are all donated to the ReStore, and then HFH sells these items at a very reduced cost, and then 100% of their profits goes to HFH home building projects.

We actually got to work outside all day, trimming bushes and axing out a large, dead tree. It was really nice to be out in the sunshine! I wish we would have taken before and after pictures (or any pictures at all!). I always forgot when I'm working to bring my camera. I'll work on this!

We worked at the ReStore from 2-6pm, and then came back in time for dinner on campus.

Thursday, November 12th

WooHoo! Two days until we leave for SPIKE! I am ready to get somewhere WARM. I am sitting here at my computer freezing while I type this update!

Today we have one-on-one meetings with our team leader, Marty, throughout the morning. Mine isn't scheduled until 10:40am, which is why I have time right now to quickly make an update. 1:1's are just short 20 minute chats so that Marty can get to know us better.

After our 1:1's, we have lunch and then a Community Meeting at 1:30pm. This will be the last time our Corps meets to discuss issues before we take off for SPIKES.

Then tonight Megan and I plan to spend the majority of the evening packing and cleaning our room. We were issued large red AmeriCorps backpacks, and we are only allowed to bring our red bag and one other small bag. This will make packing pretty interesting!

Well, this is all I have for now. I need to run to the basement and check on my laundry. I will hopefully be able to update when I arrive to Texas sometime on Monday morning. We are staying our first night in Selina, KS and our second in Dallas, TX.

Thanks for reading! Hope all is well!