New places, new policies and new training

Howdy! (If you’re questioning my bizarre salutation, don’t worry, it’s not permanent; I’m simply embracing the western lingo ;) )

So much has happened! I’ll start where I left and go from there.

Two weekends ago I volunteered to help with a St. Patties’ Day Dinner. That’s seriously all I knew going into it, and I was a little leery of what I was signing up for – St. Patties Day doesn’t exactly go hand in hand with volunteering. Drinking, yes. Helping others, no. But once I got there and talked to our POC (point of contact, I wish I remembered her name, she deserves better than my forgetful memory!) I was put at ease. It was a St. Patties’ Day themed dinner to support a church’s charity, the Lazarus Foundation.  They own homes and let people who’ve lost everything stay there while they rebuild their life. It was a charity dinner, everyone was happy to be there and I had a lot of fun. The Irish dancing and dinner they let us eat wasn’t too bad either!

That weekend I also made a trip to San Francisco. It truly is a beautiful city. One of our friends almost didn’t make it – she didn’t get up on time, but it worked out because we pounded on her door (to the dismay of her neighbors) and caught our train and bus in the end. Something we saw on the way really shocked me: a 12-year old boy was sitting blindfolded in the middle of the road, wanting to end his life. My friend approached him (that same friend who almost didn’t make the trip,) saying it wasn’t worth it and that he needed to move. He seemed really scared because it wasn’t difficult to convince him to go home. It was terrifying though – what would’ve happened had he not listened? What would’ve happened had we not been running late and not happened upon him? It’s spooky how things work out. I hope that boy is ok.

Now normally I’d share the pictures I took there, but unfortunately I am not today. Trust me; I’d love to share with everyone. However, there’s a strict no-photo policy here on campus and I’m not about to risk getting my camera wiped clean because someone saw me holding one. Once I get a good computer with good internet access and am not afraid of walking around with my camera I promise I’ll upload so many photos (of Sacramento and San Fran) you’ll never want to see another one again. I took pictures all day. Sadly we didn't make it to the Golden Gate Bridge, but now I have an excuse to go back later on!

After San Fran’s adventure we graduated from our CTI (core training institute) on Monday and then we went through a three day course in basic FEMA training. It was a really basic overview of the organization and its job positions, but I learned a lot because I knew nothing about how FEMA operates (apart from the need of being FEMA flexible.)

All that weekend we traveled southwest through the scenic Rockies (well we actually skirted the southern ones, but they were still wicked awesome) and the desert to arrive at this training base Sunday afternoon. I’m one of 4 drivers on my team so we rotated in 2 hour shifts (an AmeriCorps NCCC rule) and drove no faster than 65mph (when you get passed by semi-trucks, you know you’re driving a government vehicle) the entire way. I always feel incredibly lucky when traveling, and even though I was a bit sleep deprived (well actually a lot, it even triggered a couple of nasty migraines) this time was no different. Beautiful mountains, good laughs with the team, great music and seeing the desert in person for the first time, what more could a person ask for in life?

When we arrived here at the base, everything seemed awesome. Maids to clean the bathroom and make our beds, a pool to swim in, a dining hall (no more cooking dinner!); it was like walking into Neverland. However, thanks to a few of my more immature classmates (nobody from my team,) our freedoms were ripped away before we’d recuperated from our travels enough to enjoy them. There was popcorn throwing, chicken playing with vehicles and dangerous biking had so now we can’t walk anywhere alone, we must be in uniforms all day, curfew is at 9PM instead of 10PM, and we’re not allowed to leave base (unless you have a great excuse and permission from a team leader.) I feel five years old walking around in lines, and it's tough always having to walk with others when we have precious little personal time as it is. And to add on to that, my team’s honeymoon period has ended. There has been snapping, tears, whispers, all the ucky stuff. I knew it would happen, it was inevitable, and I know that it’ll make us stronger but with everything added together, it’s been a long week.

Happily (well unhappily for poor Ian,) I got a mini-vacation this past Thursday. He needed a driver to take him to the dentist, our TL, Jessica, told me to take him and lo-and-behold, I got to sit in a waiting room by myself! It was superb. And then we went to fill his prescription and during the 30 min wait, I got to walk around a K-Mart alone. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that people down here are indeed much warmer to strangers than back home. Plus I picked up some dryer sheets to throw in my boots at night and they now smell wonderful :)

Yesterday was also a good mental health day for all of us. It was a day off and they organized a trip to the Carlsbad Caverns for us (I’m still lamenting not being able to share these photos!) It required a lot of walking (to Christian, Diana and Aleia, we rocked that 75 story hike up!) but it was nonetheless really neat. As Ansel Adams (the first photographer of the cavern) perfectly put it, the caverns are “something that should not exist in relation to human beings. Something as remote as the galaxy, as incomprehensible as a nightmare and beautiful in spite of everything.”

Today we began our job-specific training. I now know a bit more about what I’ll be doing as a public assistance specialist and in the next few days I’ll hopefully become knowledgeble enough to make a good difference in the field. We’re still waiting at the edge of our seats for word on where we’re headed after this. They joke that they’ll tell us once we load up the vans and are ready to pull out which isn’t too funny but they really can’t help not knowing. Our assistance is in demand and they’re having difficulty determining who has the most need. But they’ll have to decide in the next week unless they intend on having trained FEMA workers sitting around inactive so it's getting close!

That’s all for now, I’ll be back when I can!

The end of the beginning

Hello again!

Things sure have been busy here! The past two weeks have been filled with training, team-bonding and more training. They've covered everything from disaster psychology to food planning so that our time serving will go easier. During our free time we're often coordinating our next meal or catching up on sleep since the 5:45AM PT sessions really wear down on us. The PT has been paying off though because our second baseline was yesterday morning and everyone I talked to did much better than the first time. I managed to add 10 push-ups and 15 sit-ups to the 2 min allotted for each exercise and I dropped 1.5 minutes during my run! My new goals are to improve my push-up form and run 1.5 miles in 13:30 (meaning I'd be running a 9 minute mile which I haven't been able to do since before migraines appeared in my life).

I'm officially in my new team: I am a proud member of Green Machine 3!! How they knew my favorite color was green, I don't know, but I'm loving it ;) My teammates are great and I cannot wait to work with them this year. During my last blog, I lamented the loss of my pod-mates. (Oh, how I wasn't the only one! Our campus director even discussed "the curse of the pods" during a community meeting.) But we're still friends and I'm headed to San Francisco with a few of them tomorrow so that'll be a great reunion and I'm confident that we'll always be there for each other, even if we're not literally in the same state.

With the assignment of our new pods, we were also given our official role as FEMA workers. My team is dedicated toward public assistance; we'll be the ones assessing the damage to public buildings and we'll also have a hand in the coordination of temporary public facilities that are set up to keep things running in the interim of the disaster and the completion of buildings. I don't know much more at the moment, but I expect to in the next couple of weeks.

The reason I'll know more soon is because next Friday we are leaving sunny Sacramento (although I'm technically in McClellan) and driving down a city in New Mexico (I've forgotten the name darn it) for our FEMA training. All I know is that there are a lot of rules there: if we don't have both our IDs upon entrance we're sent home, if we take a picture we're kicked out and we were told that if we open the wrong door (ie one marked "authorized personnel only") then we're never seen again...I'm sure that's just a scare tactic, but it's worked because I'll be sticking to the herd while there! It'll take 3 days to get there (I'll be one of the drivers since I passed my driving test) and we'll be there for 10 days. After that, we'll get sent to help somewhere, possibly straight from New Mexico. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they tell us where our project is before we leave for FEMA training so I'll have an idea of what weather to pack for, but if not I'll just be FEMA flexible :)

Let's see, what else?! Team positions: I've been selected as the PT coordinator of my team so I'll be responsible (along with my comrade, Jessie) for submitting a work-out plan once a week and leading group exercise. I'm excited for it because I have a lot of knowledge from my swimming and rowing past that I'll get to share plus there's the challenge of always being in a new place and needing to be creative with what we have. I also have another team position as an environmental liaison along with my teammate, Mike. We'll need to make conservation plans before we go on projects and we'll set goals for our team that we'll assess after projects to see how environmentally friendly our team is being. Both jobs require a decent amount of organization and paperwork, but I'm up for the challenge!

Funny story time: my room has some very peculiar plumbing. Last Sunday our shower was dripping at a quick rate and when I went to twist the handle more off, more water started pouring out! Two hours later, the problem mysteriously fixed itself. Then last Monday our toilet decided to keep flushing. It probably flushed for 30 minutes straight before it stopped. A repairman showed up a few days later and said it was a whole-building-shut-down fix so, but I think they're waiting until we all leave so it'll be less inconvenient for everyone. Such trouble my bathroom is causing!

I can't think of much more for the time being. This coming Monday is our official induction in to AmeriCorps NCCC which will be really cool. Our time in CTI (core training institute) is over (along with the mandatory name-tag wearing rule) and we'll be moving on to some more training before I can actually get out there and do some good. In the meantime I'm working as hard as I can to learn everything they teach us so that I'll be ready to serve who-knows what in who-knows-where in less than a month!

Until next time!

A temporary week with permanent memories

It wasn’t easy getting here. Fitting everything inside the duffel bag they sent was terrifying. One bag with one carry-on for 10 months, multiple seasons and unknown destinations is really hard to pack. Somehow I managed, but getting home is going to be another story because they gave us uniforms and I’m not sure how to make it fit without a shrinking spell! Travel day was a long one because my flight left at 6AM meaning I had to be up around 3AM to get out the door and at the airport early enough to get through security and wait forever (I'm finding that happens a lot here: hurry up and wait.) Upon arrival, we got our rooms and temporary teams (called pods), had time to settle in and pick up the odds and ends we didn’t bring with us and had a general dorm rules meeting. Us east coasters were exhausted, so we went to bed around 8PM here (don’t forget I gained 3 hours flying across time zones!)

Wednesday was quite busy: up at 6, classes all day, learning to be 10 minutes early to everything, a benefits/opportunity meeting, fittings for uniforms, an overview of what physical training is and so on. They’re keeping us busy but its necessary work so that we’ll be well oiled teams by the time we’re out in the field helping others.

Thursday was an even earlier day; we got to wake up at 5 to do our baseline physical training (PT) test. I managed 42 push-ups in 2 min, 63 sit-ups in 2 min, and a mile and a half run in 16:12. They’ll put us in categories based on ability and next Tuesday we’ll begin PT Mon-Thurs mornings. We had a van driving course in the morning and in the afternoon we only had a physical (drug and TB test) so our team leader, Susan, had us decide on a meal plan. We had $170 to spend on 4 days of meals. Three of us, Josh, Reese and I, were given the reins of dinner each night and that evening we shopped for everyone. We did quite well budgeting, even managing to sneak in a cookie purchase at the end!

Friday was quite interesting. We had an introduction to what it is we’ll probably be doing. Now, this can change (we’re taught to be FEMA flexible!) and nothing’s 100% official, but word on the street is that at least half of us will be headed to help with Hurricane Sandy relief. There are still 10,000 people without electricity and countless others with their lives and livelihoods in shambles. After that presentation I was intimidated by how much work there is, but oh so ready to get out there and help out. Also, the different job opportunities were explained and based upon our preferences and abilities, our permanent teams will be formed (we’ll get them this Tuesday.) In the afternoon we had seminars on how to deal with the media, details about our health plan and something else that’s written down somewhere. Lindsey (my roomate) and I managed to miss dinner by arriving 30 minutes after it started (we'd gone on a run) so they were nice enough to get us a Hot & Ready. Then, that evening, we had duty. We walked the grounds, cleaned common rooms and ensured that nobody was visibly intoxicated. What a long day, and I sure did sleep well!

On Saturday Lindsey and I had wanted to go on the organized trip to the Capitol. However, the spots had filled up quickly so we weren’t on the sign-up list. Luckily a few people who signed up decided they were too tired or whatever to go so we got to go anyways! It was great. Old Sacramento is straight out of a western movie (excluding the tourist shops) and the Capitol was quite stunning. We even managed to walk along the riverbank for some time. What a success!  

That evening, we had our first team dinner. The funniest thing was when Susan (our team leader) suggested we bring out the cookies we bought for dessert, only when the cookie container was brought out, half were eaten! At first we couldn’t figure out what happened, but one by one almost everyone owned up to having snacked on them throughout the day! After, we decided to watch this low-budget movie about AmeriCorps NCCC called I Didn’t Come Here to Die. It was a horror, and the ending was so bad it was funny but the team bonding was great.

It’s going to be really tough to leave these guys. We hadn’t even met a week ago, and now I don’t want to be separated from them. But if they hadn’t done these temporary pods, may I wouldn’t have ever met my pod-mates. Here's to a couple more days of good laughs and time off (we get President’s Day off) and then we’ll have our permanent teams. Until later!

P.S. My posting will be sporadic because I need a team leader in the computer lab when I’m using it and they’re quite busy. So please be patient!

Greetings

Hello!

          I suppose an introduction is in order since I’ll be posting on here for the next 10 months about my experiences with AmeriCorps. I’m 22, a Michigander, an avid reader, a recent college graduate (Biochem and French double major), a swimmer, a sufferer from migraines and extremely optimistic 99% of the time. I’m sure there’s more to me but that’s a start :)

          I’ll be headed off to Sacramento, CA next Tuesday where I’ll live for a month at McClellan Park (previously an air base) getting trained. After that, my group of 10-12 members will get sent off on a mission (they call it a spike) to help with disaster relief. We won’t know any details about our spike until right before we leave. Once we complete our duties of that first spike, we’ll return to Sacramento and get another assignment. We’ll have a minimum of 3 spikes throughout the 10 months of service. The AmeriCorps NCCC members are all aged 18-24 and relocate from their homes during the service opportunity. My program is specifically dedicated to disaster relief (it’s in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA].)

          Besides giving us the opportunity to help others and giving me the excuse to travel, AmeriCorps NCCC will pay for my room and food as well as a small living allowance. Additionally, contingent upon completing 1,700 service hours, I’ll receive an educational grant that I can use for graduate school up to 7 years from now (paying off student loans is also an option, but I escaped undergrad debt free.) I’d like to say thank you, U.S. government, for these wonderful benefits.

  One of the assumptions that people make when they hear I’m going to volunteer is that they think I was a college dropout or can’t find a job. However, neither of those is true; I graduated w/honors and was working in an internship that was challenging and rewarding with wonderful bosses who were working to keep me on for as long as possible. However, my heart’s desire is a career in Public Health where I’ll be able to help protect people from the toxins in our environment and discover better ways to help prevent disease. I've always loved helping others, whether it was simply helping do the dishes at home or volunteering to deliver food to home-bound senior citizens in Detroit, so I've known for a while that I want to spend the rest of my life serving others (but not in the “Would you like fries with that?” sense.) In order to pursue my dream of working in the Public Health field, I want this volunteer opportunity under my belt to help prepare myself for the needs of the public. There’s a lot of need that I’m currently ignorant of, and moving across the country to help others is a sure way to educate myself as well as show graduate schools that I’m very serious about helping others.

  I’m a little nervous about leaving my family and friends for such a long time; I commuted to college and have always lived at home except for when I studied abroad in Paris, France for 6 weeks (feel free to check out my blog about my travels in France: http://mesadventuresenfrance-hmgerr.blogspot.com, it's in English unlike the title, I promise.) But I'm even more excited for this grand adventure that awaits me, the friends that I will make and the people that I’ll be able to help. In four days I’ll be in sunny California instead of snowy Michigan. I’m so thrilled; it's like I’m holding my breath before I take the giant plunge!

Until later!