Project 4

Well, I have been in Henryville, IN for the past month and a half, and there's is only two weeks left after this week is done.We are helping out with an organization called March 2 Recovery, an organization that is helping the town and surrounding areas clean up from a string of tornadoes that his the area on March 2nd. Keeping track of the volunteers, who needs help where, what needs to be done first, and filing it all so it stays on record. It's been really busy. The program has volunteers from all over come, even from Hawaii and Alaska. Even though I asked for most of the week off, it is still going to go by fast, I bet. It already has, I barely remember what we were all doing in September. The team has been divided up into doing different things during the day. Someone is always at the office, helping out there, and then there are two people always working in the kitchen area to help with the food for volunteers. And then there is construction work to be done. I have been doing all three. I really do like the construction stuff the best. I learn a lot from that. In September the guys and I helped build a handicap ramp at one of the houses, and another day some of us had to get into hazmat suits and masks to tear down a moldy old ceiling. The two days i was doing that was long. I don't know who said it could get colder, but it is. I'm glad I have such a warm sleeping bag to snuggle into. It was a real good day when my parents shipped me some warm clothes. Now I have real good snuggle stuff. I like it in my sleeping bag, snuggled up with my teddy bear. It's almost graduation time, i'm gonna have to seriously start figuring out what I'm gonna do when I get back home. My volunteering at the children's hospital is all set up for me to pick that up. But i also need to figure out how 'Im gonna make money, Mom and Dad aren't gonna pay my cell phone bill forever.

Omaha Adventures

Well, the project in Omaha is almost done. We were working with Habitat for Humanity here. It was good. We didn't do much with construction or building, but it was a good four weeks. The first week we worked more on the houses and painting some them, but after that we worked on the soil grade at other Habitat homes. We filled in a bunch of sink holes in various parts of the city, and added a couple of window wells to some of the houses as well. No water is getting in any of the houses I worked on. I kept asking our supervisor if I was doing the soil thing right, and he kept saying yes, so today I stopped asking him. When I drilled one of the holes for a window well, he double checked my hole to make sure it was empty and stuff, and that was okay, he did it, and then he said, 'of course it's empty, you did it kym," it was funny. I always feel better when something I'm not sure about is double checked. We are headed to Henryville, IN, next week to start our round 4 project. Our housing will be in an old two-story fire house. That is really cool, we will have wifi, we are getting passes to the YMCA, and I think we have a television there too. It's crazy. We will be helping out with recovery from the tornado that hit earlier in the year, but there are so many things that need to be done, that the team will be split up a lot, so I don't fully know exactly everything that we will be doing. That is Round 4 already. My service with NCCC is almost over, and it is NUTS!!! I can't believe I only have 7 weeks, then me and the rest of the team will be on camopus for closure, wich is only about 2 and half weeks long. It's going to come so fast!! For those of you read this and are curious, I graduate On November, 14th, at 6:30 PM!!!

Transition

Well, we arrived on campus last Friday night. It was supposed to be Saturday, but the hotel we were supposed to stay at got all their reservations confused. We ended up driving straight to Vinton that night. It was a hectic night, we all switched rooms because of FEMACorps, and now i'm living in cottage. My room door doesn't lock, so I need to put in a work order for that, and the laundry room is one, upstairs, and two, has more washers than dryers. At least in Rice I could always had time to do my laundry. I'm still roommates with Kate though, which is pretty cool. I'm also room mates with another one of my AmeriCorps friends as well, which makes it okay. Last night David and I went to the Iowa state fair. I ended up getting an overstuffed giant piggy for one of the games we were playing. I tried climbing a rope ladder, it looked easy, and it is easy, my body just didn't want to do it, even though my mind did, I went up one rung, and then I fell onto the inflatable cushion below it, I guess I'm no longer a gymnast anymore. We didn't find a place to stay at until 1:00 in the morning, everywhere was booked. The next time we go out for the weekend, I think I will make some reservations. It was a good time though. I'll be on campus until Friday, then I am headed to Omaha. My team and I will be working with Habitat for Humanity, Tuesday through Saturday. What will be cool is that Mom and Dad are gonna come and visit me over Labor Day weekend, so we can go to the zoo, and have some fun. Once my four weeks in Omaha are done, I will be heading straight for Henryville, IN, to work on our fourth round project. I will be very busy all the way up until November.

Youngstown, Ohio

It took the team a day and a half to get here. Oak 1 is the farthest team from campus now. We are helping out with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development. WE are cleaning out vacant lots and homes. Last week was busy, and so was today. I am here for 3 more weeks, then we are off to Vinton again for a couple days, then heading to the second part of Project 3 with Habitat for Humanity in Omaha Nebraska. I am looking forward to that, I have wanted to work with Habitat for a while. The time is coming sooner and sooner to figure out what to do once this is over, I am still thinking of being a support team leader in NCCC, but I am not fully sure. There is just so much to think about, and it is still a ways off, but also just around the corner. Why is life so hard??

5 Months

Well, I am done with the first half of AmeriCorps NCCC, these last 5 months have gone by really fast. It is really hard to believe that it is the middle of 2012 already. I have had fun so far, living in the Forest for 6 weeks, and staying on campus for 2 months. Tonight I am leaving for home because summer break has started. I can't wait to get home. My mommy is picking me up today around 5:15 PM. It will be so good to see her. I also can't wait to see my Daddy either, and all of my other friends back home!!! I have become good friends with someone here, which is good. It is important to make strong friendships, they will last longer, and help you get through the hard things in life, and he has had plenty of hard things in life, I'm just glad we are friends, so he has an upside to look at now. I went to the Cracker Barrel not that long ago. I had fun. It was my first time there, and my friend who took me kept embarrassing me cause I kept acting like a 5 year old at Disneyland I guess. I also acted the same when we went to Dave and Buster's as well. That was my first time there as well. It was super fun. I won 500 tickets, so I was able to get a big yellow teddy bear. I named it Sunshine. Working at Tanager Place was pretty amazing. They made sure we had snacks every week, and always made sure we were doing okay, and had what we needed. It was more of a painting job than much work with the children, but at least once a week we all had a chance to play kickball for the last hour as part of our workday, and that was with the kids. Those days were fun. I am going to start packing up all my stuff, and get ready to bring it all home. I might leave a few things here, but I am not sure. I don't want to forget anything when i am ready to comeback, and I also don't want to bog down the car that is comeing to pick me up to terribly, although I think I should face reality and realize that I have to much stuff, and that I am going to bog down the car that picks me up. At least my Mommy will be in it. I can't wait to see my Mommy and Daddy, and my brothers and everyone else back home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

25 years

The round two project my team is doing is a split project again. It is divided into 2 months, and we are staying here in Vinton for both of them. It is a nice change. Internet access everyday, and cell phone service, but I really miss the forest. During the month of May we have beworking with the Vinton Parks and Rec Department. We have been cleaning up from the windstorm that hit the town last July, and helping get the pool ready, and cleaning park in the town. Next month we will be working at Tanager Place in Cedar Rapids, which is a place that works with youth. It will be cool. Also a nice switch from working in the sun all day, I think, that I;m not really sure on, I guess. So, in about 10 days I'm gonna be 25 years old. It came to me, and it was like, what am I going to do with myself after this is done? I'm just an unsure person. I am thinking of going to Wadena MN to get a massage therapy degree, and a third option is working in Alexandria MN with the AmeriCorps Vista program. Sometimes I just don't know. It can be very hard to make these decisions. I just don't know, there are a lot of uncertainties.

Chapter 2

Well, my team and I have been back in Vintonfor about a week now. It has been pretty good. There was the three days of transition, which I don't remember much of, but it went well. Oak 1's second project is a split project. For the month of May we are working with the Vinton parks and rec department. It is mostly clean up. There will be a couple different times when we will be planting trees. So far, the only bad thing is the weather. As interesting as Iowa might be, if its always this humid, I won't want to live here. Thursday and Friday were so hot because of the humidity. I wad really tired so many different times this morning, the afternoon wasn't that much better. I hope the humidity will go away soon. I was sad leaving the forest. I did get some poison ivy, but only in two or three places, and i didn't really break out in it, just a couple red bumps. So that was way better than some of my other team members. Ticks were the other major problem. I think only three actually bit me, otherwise any ticks I found were crawling on me. I really enjoyed sleeping in the tents and staying in the middle of the forest. I will miss kyaking too. I really enjoyed that. And it is wonderful to do if you want to go in the lake, but not get totally drenched. I am looking forward to owning one in my future. Well, all done for now. Until next time!!!!

The End of One Adventure

Well, I have only one week left here in Southern Illinois. It has been a blast. The team has had its ups and downs;but in the end everything turned out okay.After our first week here in Illinois, we lost a team member. It was a sad time that he decided he needed to leave us. We told him we would miss him, and as a team brought him to St. Louis to see him off. The second week we started trail building. Over these past 3 weeks we built over 1000 feet of trail in the Shawnee National forest. We switched tent buddies weekly, and made our supper over a propane oven. We had mound fires in the evening, and played Uno by lantern light. It wasn't just the 10 of us though, a worker at the Forest who is a Vista member was with us. He made our camping and trail building experience even more enjoyable. It was great getting to know him, along with the rest of my team better. I don't feel so distanced from them anymore. There are still space issues, but it is nowhere near so bad as it was at the beginning. It's all a time thing. I enjoyed my time staying in the tents, and I am sad to be leaving. I like trail building also, although, I don't think it's something I want to do everyday. It was difficult to stay in the campers on the weekends. Alternating beds in their for 6 girls is hard, and that is really where the personal bubble problems happened. The first night, it was a pain that the boys just pounded into the trailer to get food at 8 because they did so in such an obnoxious way, I felt like I was disrespected, but that was a one time thing, and there has been no trouble between anybody, so it's all good. This is our last week, and we will be staying in the campers, working at the ranger station in Jonesboro. On Thursday or Friday we will be leaving for Vinton IA again. This time it will be a long stay because my next round will be there, and in Cedar Rapids. Oak One will have the whole campus to ourselves. I really hope we get the stuff so we can play laser tag, or dart tag all over campus. That would so rock!!!

Time Flies

So, my team and i have been camping for two weeks now. I am currently living in campers and tents. The week before, my team and I worked on clearing up the Shawnee National Forest in southern IL, from a tornado that hit the area a week before. Last week we stayed in the campers. Monday through Thursday we slept in tents in the middle of the wilderness part of the forest. It was fun sleeping in the tents. On the weekend when I'm in the camper, I go kyaking for PT. It's fun, I'm glad I learned. Last Saturday the team went to St. Louis. I had a blast. Sandy and i went to the top the arch, took some good pictures, and headed back down. The Arch is taller than Space needle, and the stainless steel is like an inch and and a half thick, if that much. It was cool. After the team meeting, Sandy and i went to find a place to eat. The Culinaria was way coil. It is a market, a resteraunt, and a bar. I had so much fun, I got a burger, and a canoli for desert. Yum. These last 5 days the team and i started clearing out brush to construct a new trail, which is what we want. We started building ground for the start of it. It's not a terrible experience, I just wish it were a little cooler. I'm learning how to all sorts of tools. I think most all of us are still unused to the now showering thing for 5 days in a row. When we head back to the trailer for the weekend, that's all we think of. We don't really care about ticks or poison ivy anymore. We are living in a forest. Those two things are inevitable. So is mud, mud is covering the first half of our hike to where we camp in the woods. What is crazy, is that there is like four weeks left of this round. That's really not a lot if time. It goes by so fast, but it feels like it has been such a long time. I feel like I've been living in the camper for longer than two weeks. Time definitly flies by!!!

Round 1

Well, today starts off the next 6 weeks or so. I will be leaving for Spike number one in the morning. I can't wait. We'll be sleeping in tents in the middle of the forest. It will be exciting. Today though me and my team stayed here at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving school. We helped clear out muck from window wells, and picking up other peices of garbage on the grounds. It is 8:11 PM, central time, and i am finally getting to rest for the day. I don't think I will stay up reading tonight. Tomorow the team is headed to Davenpirt Iowa, for three days to help the staff there clear up invasive species. At the end of the week the team is headed for Jonesboro Illinois to help the Shawnee National Forest with trail restoration. We will be camping in Iowa, but I am looking forward to the work and time we'll be spending in the forest. Tonight was packing night. It took me three different times to pack the red bag, only to realize I forgot to put important stuff in it, like medicine and toothpaste. Well, my personal bag is stuffed. I hope I know how to do it better next time!!!!!

Little Spike, Big Spike

Our mini spike has finished, and it was a blast. There were some hard times for me, but the good times were too many to consider this project bad. We worked in a children's museum. Itvwas great, the museum was inside a mall in Coralville IA. On breaks we could stretch out by walking around in the mall. On the last day the snow decided to come down really thick. Some of the team went out to play in it. I stayed in the mall, I don't want to play in the snow when I don't have the right stuff. Our team painted, and made a bunch of different gift bags. I was sad when we had to leave, the museum was way cool. It had flight simulators, and a small train exhibit, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. Our first day back on campus from our mini spike was busy. The team did a debrief, then did some PT to make up for missing yesterday's. After the game of ultimate frisbe, we had disaster training all day. I didn't get any actual rest until 7, because once training was over each team was given clues to figure out where our first spike will be. I had no idea what was going on, I heard one thing, and then everybody in the team started running. I was confused. Then I heard one of my team memberes shout muster spot when i asked where they were going now. They said muster spot. That is where we found out where we will be going. I'm headed to Illinois in a week and a half, and I won't be back till April!! I look forward to it, we will be camping in tents under the stars. That will be awesome!!!

.... Three Weeks Later....

Well, I have been here for three weeks now. That's crazy!!! I've been busy doing so many things. I started to on the responsibilities of my two rep roles, yearbook rep, and media rep. I keep my phone turned off durring lectures, but dieting the activities I've been taking pictures. Today's training involved service learning projects, and tool safety. I took a lot of pictures when my team did the hands on part of tool safety. After today, I can definitly say I am getting more comfortable with my team-mates. Yesterday, one of them was saying about how I am gonna end up rotting my teeth, I managed to get a POP from the vending machine. Today another team mate helped me with using the the tools today. I feel better about him know, which is good. I'm the media rep for my team, and I'm trying to write a press release about the mini spike we will go on on Wednesday. It's not necessary to do one for this mini project, but stephanie suggested that i do one to practice. I looked at the sample in the media pack I was given, and i think I did an all right job. It unbelievable, on the 12 I will be leaving Vinton for my very first service project!!!!! CRAZY!!!!! :P

Week 3 has landed

Well, tomorow starts week three of training. I find it hard to believe that I have only had one week with Oak 1. It seems like I've been here for much linger than 2 weeks. I'm slowly starting to get more comfortable with my team, and others in Oak 2, we share the same kitchen, and dining room. I tried to make enchiladas last Friday, but people used the tortillas that were supposed to be for the dish used them for wraps. How can I be the only one who sprang't like wraps? My cooking partner and i had to improvise and make a sort of tacos salad. It really wasn't that bad. I got my shots taken yesterday, and took a drug test. The test turned negative, so that's good. Of corset it is good, it means I can stay in Americorps. We were trained on how to do individual service projects, and so I started to see what I might be able to find. I got a hold of the historical society, and they replied saying they would love to help me if they can. I'm gonna check with my team leader when I get the chance. Hopefully I can do it. That'd be cool, I can try and get to work in the history area. Today I'm just relaxing, letting everything rest. I'll be busy this week, I volunteered to work on the team brochure, and it's due on Friday. Hopefully when i set out to seriously work on it, I won't have internet problems like I did today.

Busy

Oh my goodness. Today was a busy busy day. I'm glad it is done. I woke up at 5 this morning because Oak1 had team training in Iowa City, about an hour away. It was team training trying to get around obstacles, and problem solving activities to help us get to know each other, and bond. We were there all morning. There was about an hot break, then I changed into my physical exercise clothes, and the team went to go over about why and what NCCC and physical training. Then we headed to the gym for some warm UPS, and endurance exercises. I did better than i thought. I can do 22 pushups in a minute, (no, not on my knees), and 7 sit- ups in a minute. The situps are low, but I'm glad I could do 7, because these are situps, where you actually should situp. In middle school a sit up qualified as lifting my head off the ground. Busy day. I'm glad it is done. Now I'm just waiting for supper, hamburgers.

Oak1 Day 1

Today was our first full day with our permanent team. I am in Oak one. We have the biggest team on campus, there is 12 of us. I was a little scared yesterday about the members on the team, but after our ride through Vinton, Cedar Rapids and coming back I'm glad these people are my team members. I look forward to hanging out with them more as the year goes on.

First Saturday

Well, I have been here for four days, and everything has been going pretty good. It has been harder to do this blog thing than I thought. The computershere don't have the right updates or something. I figured out how to get to this on my cell phone or ipod though. It has been a lot of meetings and paper work. Of course it has, there is like 240 of us they nerd to keep track of. We started cooking in ouryteam kitchens today, and that was fun. Lunch was simple, sandwiches. After lunch the turkey meat was gone. We started super at 4 though because there were shuttles going into Cedar Rapids. Two of the pizzas were thin crust, and folded up while cooking. There were only two or three of us there at the time, an while it still had a few more minutes, we didn't want it to fold up any farther. The other three pizzas were stuff crust. I went to our kitchen so we wouldn't take all the tools from the other team, and there was Ben, checking on those three. I'm afraid I accidentally burned my left index finger. I was holding a dish to put the pizza on, and my finger got to close to the grill in the oven. I bought some burn ointment when I went into town at 5:30. It started to hurt more than i thought. It feels pretty good now though, so no worries. When i got back I put on my sweats and a long sleeve shirt and played chess pieces with 4 other people. It's spoons, except we had chess pieces, not spoons. Then our game changed to catch phrase, and our circle kept getting bigger and bigger. I think they are still playing it. I can here them in my room. Oh well, I'm going to bed now.

Day 2

Day 2 of Americorps NCCC. I woke up pretty early for muster, then there was breakfast. Today was mostly about rules an stuff today. After lunch I went to Alco with a couple of other girls. It was good, they are pretty fun to hang put with. We hang out a lot. I hope we still have a chance to hang out after we are all divided into our permanent teams. This weekend there will be a shuttle to cedar rapids, and i'll take on of them. There's only so much I can spend, and Alco is very much like a Pamida. Though my blanket from there was 40% off. I'll write when I can!!!

Iowa/ Final Goodbye

My parents and I left home this morning at 9:30. We stopped in Fergus Falls to visit my brother for a quick bite, and so I could see him one more time before I leave, and then we hit the road again. About 7 hours on the road and down to Waterloo. I read and slept on the way down. Pretty boring tip. WE made it to the Comfort Inn, and had a good supper at Chapalas with my cousin and her family. We are back at the hotel and now waiting.
   Check in is almost 12 hours away. It's cool, and scary at the same time. I will get to meet everyone new, which is cool. I really can't wait to meet my team members and who my room mates will be. I've lived with my parents since I was born, so I don't really know how the whole room mate thing is gonna go. One brother didn't have much luck, but my other brother did. Tomorrow morning I will say my last good bye, and that is too my parents. I will really miss them. They have done so much for me throughout my not so smooth childhood. From ear infections, multiple times of stitches, and being sent to the emergency room twice in the same weekend for two different things, and the last medical issue cancer. They have been so supportive of me and are excited for me, but I am going to miss them so much. I love you Mom and Dad!!!!

...2 days left...

Everybody in the Americorps group says the countdown has begun, or has hit the single digits. It will come when it comes. And since I will be leaving in two days I am getting nervous. I am afraid I am going to pack to much, but I go through everything I plan on bringing, and they are very needed items. I guess I'm just worried. A friend of mine told me the other day I worry to much.

I am in a good conversation with one of the people who will also be in the same class as me, and I really can't wait to meet him. He seems like a really cool guy. I'll just have to wait to see what the others are like. I'm a bit of a loner, so they might have to take pity on me, and come to me first. I'm always nervous when I meet new people.

The begining..

So, when I was accepted into Americorps NCCC in November or October, I was ecstatic. Something to look forward to after I'm done with school, especially since I didn't get the experience I wanted at MSUM. They had a couple good teachers, they just didn't teach what I wanted to know with the History degree I was trying to work toward. I told my parents that I would be based in IA, and they were all for that, but if it were in a different state, I don't think I would have been able to join. Everybody who has been told seems to be happy for me, so that only encourages me to keep to it, even if it will be a hard 10 months. I can't wait till I start!!!