Life

I really like the quote "life is not about finding yourself its about creating yourself." And i do believe its true. The past few years I've set goals to "become the person I want to be." I think the hardest part about this year in Americorps was that i was starting to lose things thay are an integral part of who I am. I don't ride my bike, I don't do any taekwondo training, last round I only ate a burrito once! And I was living in a city with no trees or mountains (the geographical landscapes that I've decided are important to my life.) And by the end of the 8 weeks in Houston I was tired of it, and I couldn't wait to leave and just get away from my team and that whole round. Not because I didn't like them or the project (because i cherish my teammates, and the project was really interesting) but because I lost myself along the way. My identity came 2nd to the team identity. I was the team leader, and that was the sum of my existence. This round, in Arkansas, I'm recreating myself to be the person I want to be. This past weekend i had two goals: buy a bike, and eat a burrito. Mission Accomplished! Today I found a taekwondo school. Chad, the sign language interpreter we had for today over heard me mention that I did taekwondo, and told me about the school he teaches at. And so I went. And reclaimed a part of myself. It felt really great. I was helping a kid with his pattern that he's trying to learn, and by the end of it a bunch of the other kids had crowded around and we whispering that they thought I was pretty awesome. The instructors invited me back for the remaining month I'm in Arkansas. Yay! 

My project is also Amazing! Today we moved rocks to improve the West Summit trail at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. Theres a great view, the work is hard, but makes me feel strong, and the day moves quickly. I've started trailrunning in the evenings, and Hopefully when the weather improves I'll be able to do some yoga outside (not enough space in the trailer to do anything more intense than bending over...and even thats tough).

Project Start

Yesterday my team and I moved into our camping trailers at Pinnacle State Park. Or, as Patrick likes to say "Pickle State Park." The project start was delayed two weeks, so we have been working at Ferncliff Camp with Fire 9. The camp is an amazing facility, and we've been able to bike, and kayak, and hike, and use their recreational resources. At the site we've been doing a ton of maintenance projects, building gutters out of scrap metal, installing them on the cabins, building step up a slop, learning to weld to create laundry posts, installing a Kincade-esque rock path, and various landscaping tasks to make the camp look great.

Monday we'll start our work at Pinnacle with an orientation to the park, and then get working restoring the trails here.

A blog written on my phone while traveling in a van with my new team.

For a while we were in Oklahoma. It brouht back memories of last rounds' spiketravel when we ended up in oklaoma for no reason. I think we are supposed to be here this time. We are traveling to little rock, Arkansas where we will be trailbuilding at pinnacle state park. Unfortunately our housing isn't ready so for the first week we will be working with jourdan's team at ferncliff camp. Which should be pretty cool. My new team is awesome! Everyone is really enthusiastic about learning sign language and have picked up so much already! Right now as we travel they are learning and practicing! Last night was probably the most boric night of my life! Left alone in my hotel room I watched "how i metyour mother" until 1am, and drank terrible hotel coffee until I drifted off. I can't wait until my team gets used to me and actually wants to hang out with me. I think they're just not used to a team leader that wants to hang with their team  more often than not. I feel weird getting so attached to my new team but I'm habit a great time! While I hope all my permanent team mates are having a great time I don't want them to like their new teams more! When we reunite for 4th round I want them all to have missed each other (and me, obviously).