Most of our project takes place at Olivewood Cemetery. This past week we cleared out alot of stumps and brush to make room for a new fence and to improve the road near the new entrance. After several days of landscaping we got a dumpster and took a half day filling it with the organic material (branches mostly) to be removed. We still have several piles to be removed and hopefully will be able to this week. We also have removed nearly 20 bags of trash from the site. The cemetery has more land overgrown and unable to be seen than it does area cleared. There is a big ravine created by runoff from the nearby warehouses which has created a hole that is opening graves. We were told to be careful and watch out for bodies that have become unearthed. I love being outside everyday and the work really makes me feel good. The very first day I think I impressed my team at how much of a beast I am. I would go off on my own and return every once in a while carrying a huge pile of trees that I cut down. No chainsaws either, just handsaws and loppers. Very physical. The hardest part for me is being the responsible adult in charge all the time. I'm always dealing with some kind of housing issue (cold showers, fridge not working, oven not working, etc) as well as being the worksite supervisor. It's been really draining. I love it though.
Sent from my iPhone
Monday, January 24, 2011
The first two weeks in Houston were amazing! I love my team. Everyone is so enthusiastic about the project it's such a positive experience. The team is also really benefitting from living together, it's been so good for us and I wish we could have been on spike for our first round. Anyway we spend everyday outside in warm Houston sunshine and do physically demanding tasks that fill us with a sense of triumph, like pulling up stumps using shovels and cutting trees using hand saws. The progress we've made in just a week has been really rewarding! Well I'm going to go watch "H I Met Your Mother" with the team. It's raining and I'm ready for a relaxing day off!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
On my way to Houston
R1: Done
Round 2: Begun
Today was our second day of spike travel. We drove from Amarillo, Texas to Dallas, Texas. A trip that ought to have taken place entirely in Texas. So you can imagine my surprise when we stopped at our first gas station and I was informed that we were in Oklahoma. It went a little something like this:
Me: Hmm...I think I'll pick up a Texas postcard to send to my grandma. Yeah! That'll be nice, I bet she'll like that! ::Walks over to post card rack:: Hmmm...I wonder why all these postcards are for Oklahoma...Why would a Texas gas station sell Oklahoma post cards?
Gas Station guy: Uhh...you're in Oklahoma ("you idiot" he was thinking loudly).
Me: WHAT!?!? HOW DID WE GET TO OKLAHOMA!?!? ::Purchases post card and walks out to truck:: Uhh...we're in Oklahoma...
Jen: Haha, yea Katie, okay.
So today's trip was about 2 hours longer than needed.
Today during the trip I said: "I want to go bowling"
Then my phone rang. It was Noel. She said: "Guess what!?! Our hotel is right next to a bowling alley!! BTW, where are you?
Me: Oklahoma
Noel: Yea right, where are you really?
Me: ...
Needless to say I schooled my teammates in a quick round of bowling (181)
Tomorrow we are arriving in Houston where we will begin a two month project working for the Houston Volunteer Initiative restoring the Olivewood Cemetery. Not only will we be doing landscaping and beautifying but we will also be working with archeologists once or twice a week.
Round 2: Begun
Today was our second day of spike travel. We drove from Amarillo, Texas to Dallas, Texas. A trip that ought to have taken place entirely in Texas. So you can imagine my surprise when we stopped at our first gas station and I was informed that we were in Oklahoma. It went a little something like this:
Me: Hmm...I think I'll pick up a Texas postcard to send to my grandma. Yeah! That'll be nice, I bet she'll like that! ::Walks over to post card rack:: Hmmm...I wonder why all these postcards are for Oklahoma...Why would a Texas gas station sell Oklahoma post cards?
Gas Station guy: Uhh...you're in Oklahoma ("you idiot" he was thinking loudly).
Me: WHAT!?!? HOW DID WE GET TO OKLAHOMA!?!? ::Purchases post card and walks out to truck:: Uhh...we're in Oklahoma...
Jen: Haha, yea Katie, okay.
So today's trip was about 2 hours longer than needed.
Today during the trip I said: "I want to go bowling"
Then my phone rang. It was Noel. She said: "Guess what!?! Our hotel is right next to a bowling alley!! BTW, where are you?
Me: Oklahoma
Noel: Yea right, where are you really?
Me: ...
Needless to say I schooled my teammates in a quick round of bowling (181)
Tomorrow we are arriving in Houston where we will begin a two month project working for the Houston Volunteer Initiative restoring the Olivewood Cemetery. Not only will we be doing landscaping and beautifying but we will also be working with archeologists once or twice a week.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
PT and Project Prep
11/10/10
Today my team played football for PT. Probably the most awesome game of football I’ve ever played. Its great being on a team where not only the best players are passed the ball! My PT coordinator (who was QB) mentioned to me that he was trying to pass to everyone. Because he’s awesome.
For project prep today I drove my team to the library and they all got library cards, and I checked out some books about No Child Left Behind, for a Service Learning discussion. The school that we are going to be working with was restructured after they failed to make proficiency, and since the restructuring is doing great, and have hosted several Americorps NCCC teams, which have also helped improve the education there.
Today my team played football for PT. Probably the most awesome game of football I’ve ever played. Its great being on a team where not only the best players are passed the ball! My PT coordinator (who was QB) mentioned to me that he was trying to pass to everyone. Because he’s awesome.
For project prep today I drove my team to the library and they all got library cards, and I checked out some books about No Child Left Behind, for a Service Learning discussion. The school that we are going to be working with was restructured after they failed to make proficiency, and since the restructuring is doing great, and have hosted several Americorps NCCC teams, which have also helped improve the education there.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
The Nerd Herd
Since the last post (nearly a month ago) much has occurred. I have not posted on the blog for various reason. I could not talk about my project in a public forum because until yesterday it was kept secret from the Corps Members. I couldn't really talk about Corps Members because 1. Confidentiality, and 2. We switched temporary teams every week. I will admit that for my last two temporary teams I did drop the teambuilding ball, because I no longer saw the point in teambuilding a team that ultimately would disband. However today I teambuilt the crap out of my CMs. I will talk about my CMs here, using names minimally, and often just referring to whole team activities.
First I will admit that I have the ultimate nerd herd. (Yasi's team is a close second, however in the Pokemon duel they have challenged my team to they will be destroyed). My team has the nerds. As a nerd myself this is not an offensive term. Nerds.
For our first round we are going to be a local team, working at the Garden Place Academy helping classroom teachers, and running an after school homework help. We will be tutoring students one-on-one, and possibly teaching larger lessons. After talking to my team yesterday and discussing our project, our team, our goals for the round and for the year and our viewpoints in general my team was so pumped and enthusiastic. I have never seen a team so pumped for a local project. I am so proud of my team and pumped that they are so awesome. I have been waking up early every day since teams were announced full of excitement and energy because my team is so great!
Today was our teambuilding day. It was fabulous. We spent time at the park we discussed dreams for the year, did a team charter, talked about service learning and set up a KWL (know, want to learn, learned) chart, and had a one-on-one conversation. For the one-on-ones I drifted from pair to pair as each teammate sat with a teammate they felt they knew the least and tried to find as many things in common as they could. During the year I want to have one-on-ones with all my CMs at least once per round, if not once per month. And at least this first round I want everyone on the team to have a one-on-one with everyone else. We also spray painted team t-shirts (Patrick sprayed his running shoes red). And Hannah got bit by a squirrel.
We went to Subway for lunch where we discussed our Project Prep Packet, and worked on filling it out to get ready for our brief on Tuesday. Not the most exciting thing to do, but now we do not have to worry about that Monday. Then we headed to the Denver Art Museum, which had free admission because it is the first Saturday of the month.
After returned to campus, and exchanging stories with the other TLs my CM, Corwin texted me to come over and play Munchkin. (Nerd alert). So a few of my nerds started our nerdy game night, and were quickly joined by nerds from other teams, and from other units. Now I've got nerds who want to be called for future games, and want me to arrange shuttles to nerdy game stores. (All of a sudden I'm a nerd girl socialite). Corwin wants to organize a Firefly RPG (role playing game). Yasi's team wants to fight my team in a pokemon battle, much of my team cant wait for the project round to start so I'll bring my super nintendo system over to their dorm, and I'm hoping that I've explained well enough that we cannot form a nerd clique and that we often will have game nights with non-nerd games like "Cranium" and "Bananagrams." Leave a comment if you have nerdy or non-nerdy suggestions for team and me.
First I will admit that I have the ultimate nerd herd. (Yasi's team is a close second, however in the Pokemon duel they have challenged my team to they will be destroyed). My team has the nerds. As a nerd myself this is not an offensive term. Nerds.
For our first round we are going to be a local team, working at the Garden Place Academy helping classroom teachers, and running an after school homework help. We will be tutoring students one-on-one, and possibly teaching larger lessons. After talking to my team yesterday and discussing our project, our team, our goals for the round and for the year and our viewpoints in general my team was so pumped and enthusiastic. I have never seen a team so pumped for a local project. I am so proud of my team and pumped that they are so awesome. I have been waking up early every day since teams were announced full of excitement and energy because my team is so great!
Today was our teambuilding day. It was fabulous. We spent time at the park we discussed dreams for the year, did a team charter, talked about service learning and set up a KWL (know, want to learn, learned) chart, and had a one-on-one conversation. For the one-on-ones I drifted from pair to pair as each teammate sat with a teammate they felt they knew the least and tried to find as many things in common as they could. During the year I want to have one-on-ones with all my CMs at least once per round, if not once per month. And at least this first round I want everyone on the team to have a one-on-one with everyone else. We also spray painted team t-shirts (Patrick sprayed his running shoes red). And Hannah got bit by a squirrel.
We went to Subway for lunch where we discussed our Project Prep Packet, and worked on filling it out to get ready for our brief on Tuesday. Not the most exciting thing to do, but now we do not have to worry about that Monday. Then we headed to the Denver Art Museum, which had free admission because it is the first Saturday of the month.
After returned to campus, and exchanging stories with the other TLs my CM, Corwin texted me to come over and play Munchkin. (Nerd alert). So a few of my nerds started our nerdy game night, and were quickly joined by nerds from other teams, and from other units. Now I've got nerds who want to be called for future games, and want me to arrange shuttles to nerdy game stores. (All of a sudden I'm a nerd girl socialite). Corwin wants to organize a Firefly RPG (role playing game). Yasi's team wants to fight my team in a pokemon battle, much of my team cant wait for the project round to start so I'll bring my super nintendo system over to their dorm, and I'm hoping that I've explained well enough that we cannot form a nerd clique and that we often will have game nights with non-nerd games like "Cranium" and "Bananagrams." Leave a comment if you have nerdy or non-nerdy suggestions for team and me.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
super huge biceps and job excitement!
9/16/10
Yesterday I joined the YMCA. Today I tried their taekwondo class. Needless to say I now have somewhere to go after work on Mondays and Thursday. It was a really ego-boosting experience to be at that class. And I think I really impressed the other students. Yesterday I did the “Body Pump” class with some of the Americorps girls (which was a whole body weight lift class) and today my arms are super sore, but not much else.
Yesterday we were issued our government cell phones and laptops. I set up a very professional voice mail which says my name and that I’m a team leader and leave a message ect. (Nothing about dragons) however by my voice I sound about 8 years old. Oh well.
Today we learned about project work and our different duties while out on spike. Today made me really excited for this year. I cannot wait until we find our our projects, meet our teams, and get to work!!
Yesterday I joined the YMCA. Today I tried their taekwondo class. Needless to say I now have somewhere to go after work on Mondays and Thursday. It was a really ego-boosting experience to be at that class. And I think I really impressed the other students. Yesterday I did the “Body Pump” class with some of the Americorps girls (which was a whole body weight lift class) and today my arms are super sore, but not much else.
Yesterday we were issued our government cell phones and laptops. I set up a very professional voice mail which says my name and that I’m a team leader and leave a message ect. (Nothing about dragons) however by my voice I sound about 8 years old. Oh well.
Today we learned about project work and our different duties while out on spike. Today made me really excited for this year. I cannot wait until we find our our projects, meet our teams, and get to work!!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
My Shirt is Green
Yesterday was day one of Team Leader Training. Mostly it was a rundown of the schedule for the next month, and filling out some in-processing paper work. Nothing too exciting. We are starting to get to know everyone, doing a few introduction exercises. Everyone seems very nice, very excited about Americorps and extremely energetic about life. Its so much fun so far. When we introduced ourselves we had to say our likes and dislikes, so I told everyone that I like reading books about dragons, eating burritos, and riding bikes. Then I sat down and Noel yelled "What do you dislike?" And I drew a blank and couldn't remember anything that I dislike. So I yelled "Noel!" and everybody laughed. At the end of the day Noel, Liz, Yasi and I visited Melissa and Alisha in their new apartment, very classy space for some classy ladies. Melissa is working for Habitat for Humanity in Denver, and Alisha is working at the local United Way. Alisha says the United Way is currently handling all the phone calls that come in about the Boulder fire, people volunteering to help, people wanting to make donations, etc. and that their are beyond swamped trying to handle all the phone calls, so we may get the opportunity to do some volunteering with her.
This year I have not only a few year long goals, but a personal challenge for myself every month. September is no fried food month, which theoretically shouldn't be too challenging for me (ok I cheated at home and ate the eggplant parm at Rosemary's Labor day picknick) because most things that are fried are meats (which I don't eat anyway) but the cafeteria has some form of fried potatoes at every meal (and while usually disgusting they do make a mean tater tot).
As far as long term goals go I have a list:
1. Be able to run ten miles without having to stop to walk. (The most I did last year was 6)
2. Be able to run 1 mile in under 8 minutes (The last time I recorded a mile it was 8:50)
3. Create a to do/to see list for each place my team visits.
4. Apply for a job with Outward Bound.
5. Do a different monthly challenge each month.
6. Learn to knit (I can make the inside part of a scarf if someone else starts and finishes it for me)
7. Watch for the opportunity to do a Relay for Life with my team.
8. Try to find different classes in communities that offer a free beginner session, like yoga or different cardio dance fads for my team to try out.
Well thats all for now. I have to go drink alot of water so I dont get pee shy for today's drug testing!
This year I have not only a few year long goals, but a personal challenge for myself every month. September is no fried food month, which theoretically shouldn't be too challenging for me (ok I cheated at home and ate the eggplant parm at Rosemary's Labor day picknick) because most things that are fried are meats (which I don't eat anyway) but the cafeteria has some form of fried potatoes at every meal (and while usually disgusting they do make a mean tater tot).
As far as long term goals go I have a list:
1. Be able to run ten miles without having to stop to walk. (The most I did last year was 6)
2. Be able to run 1 mile in under 8 minutes (The last time I recorded a mile it was 8:50)
3. Create a to do/to see list for each place my team visits.
4. Apply for a job with Outward Bound.
5. Do a different monthly challenge each month.
6. Learn to knit (I can make the inside part of a scarf if someone else starts and finishes it for me)
7. Watch for the opportunity to do a Relay for Life with my team.
8. Try to find different classes in communities that offer a free beginner session, like yoga or different cardio dance fads for my team to try out.
Well thats all for now. I have to go drink alot of water so I dont get pee shy for today's drug testing!
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