Choose another map, showing:

• USA (west)
• North America
• Transatlantic
• The World

Other entries in Denver

Teams, Projects, Assassin, Hiking, Children

Last Friday had the MOST nervous anxious energy possibly ever. It was an awesome day because all day we spend building a shelf unit with our teams. My team worked really well together and we made some great shelves. Haha. I was having trouble getting the screws in at first, but then Kevin helped me and I was able to do it the rest of the day. It was really nice. Cheese alert: I hope that that kind of teamwork can continue the rest of the year. Also on Friday, everyone in Fire Unit started playing assassin. So, everyone got a clothespin with someone else’s name on it and we had to “kill” the person who we had by clothespinning them. Then, we get the person they had and it continues. The whole day it was total paranoia about someone killing you or hiring a hitman to get you, etc. (I’m still alive too!) On top of that, everyone was freaking out about who would be on our final teams and where our project would be. I was so jumpy!! I mean, these are the people I’m going to be spending the next 9 months with! That’s nuts. And our first project! There was so much tension in the air. Hoping you’d be on a team with certain people and not on a team with others. Haha. Friday was a nuts day.  FINALLY, after our shelves were done, we went up to Room 500 (fifth floor, no steps. Not fun. Even after going there every day, I still am not used to it) to get our teams. Everyone was given a strip of paper with a clue on it as to where our team leader was “hiding” and we had to find our team leader. Lindsey is my team leader! She had been my team leader a couple of other times, so I am really excited! YAYYY FIRE 3! I think I have an awesome team too. I’m super excited. Then we learned where we are going for our first spike (project)! MISSISSIPPI! Our project is going to have two parts to it. The first part we are going to be in Gulport (right next to Long Beach, MS which means I can go to another Long Beach!!!!!!!!!!!) doing several things. We’ll be conducting door-to-door housing and community assessment surveys from Katrina damage and recovery (which I’m really excited about because I liked going door-to-door in Denver doing those waivers for the graffiti removal), helping with rebuilding (physically) the community, and tutoring in schools on rainy days. We’re going to be living in a church. We actually had a chance to meet with one of the bigwigs of this project, and he made me a little nervous because he kept saying how we should attend worship services at whatever church we want blah blah. I don’t think so. Then, after about a month I think, we’ll be moving up to Whitfield (near Jackson). We’ll be living in log cabins in the woods on State Hospital Grounds and rebuilding trails and ropes courses that they use mostly for rehab (mostly for mental patients and substance abuse patients),  to my understanding. Should be SO cool. I’m really psyched because we’ll be able to do a couple different projects on one spike. And plus my one other experience in Mississippi was awesome. It will be so interesting to be living in the Deep South! Crazy! Also, spring break New Orleans to meet some of my friends on other teams that are gonna be in the Gulf Region! I’m really excited about that because I have a bunch of friends (crazy how well I’ve gotten to know people in the 3+ weeks I’ve been here, right?) who are gonna be down there too who I’m gonna miss.  Saturday. Went hiking in Boulder! It was amazing! It was so so so pretty and it was super nice out and I love hiking. We went out for pizza as a team which was pretty fun too. The afternoon was so wonderful though. Just being outside and hiking is really quite amazing. I want to go back next weekend, maybe see the town too before I head south. Sunday. Volunteered at the Denver Children’s Museum. Also, AMAZING! As part of AmeriCorps*NCCC, we have to do 80 hours of ISP (independent service projects). So another girl and myself set up that a bunch of us would go to the Children’s Museum for the day. We had no idea what we would be doing but children are great, so it couldn’t be bad, right? We got a van and Fi drove. It felt a bit like the first time that you drive without your parents in the car. It was funny and it felt like we were trying to escape or something. So we got there and we were basically given tasks to do (different rooms to hang out in – like arts and crafts, this room that kids can build things, different playscapes, etc.) and told to do it! At first we were like uhhh what are we supposed to do? A few of us got bubbles and chalk and went outside and played with bubbles and then kids came out to play too. It was so fun I love bubbles! Talked to some interesting parents who were asking about our program too. The kids were so cute. We kind of felt a little creepy because we didn’t know at first how much we could interact with them, you know? I spent most of my day outside or upstairs in the arts and crafts room. Made some pinwheels, roses, helped the kids with painting, etc. It was so fun!!! If I ever have a project in Denver, I definitely want to volunteer there more often J  Let’s see, what else in this super long entry. Went out to dinner last night downtown at this pizza place that I would say was not bad. In New York it would be not amazing, but it was decent enough that I liked it J I’m such a snob haha.  There was this bar-type thing next door to the pizza place that we went to after for a short while and the only way I can describe it was sexy and trippy. There was this soft trance music playing and translucent walls with lights that shone through them. There were booths that were almost complete circles except for a small opening and they were super tall and red. There were things hanging from the ceiling. Oh man it was really cool. So that was fun.  On each team, every member has at least one role. I’m going to be a “CAPPER” and the “Media Rep” for FIRE 3. For CAPPERs, we recruit people. We set up tables and give our information and pens (like college fairs!), so I’m really excited about that position. As the media representative I have to do something with press releases, have contact with the local media, I think, like newspapers and stuff, and be aware when there is news media around, etc. I’m a little more foggy on that job but it should be fun too! I CAN’T BELIEVE I AM LEAVING FOR MISSISSIPPI ON MONDAY! That is totally nuts to me. I ALSO can’t believe that I’ve only known these people here for less than a month and I am such good friends with some. This whole thing is like a strange time warp. Like, it feels like we have been here FOREVER. It feels like ages ago when I didn’t wear cargo pants and fleece vests! Haha. I’ve really only been here for 3 full weeks. 3 weeks! That’s it?!? It’s such a hard concept to fathom. Even weirder that so many people here that I would call my friends I’m not ever going to see really. I think it’s really sad. I’m a little bitter about it, to be quite honest. I feel like we don’t even do that much during the day, but this is the absolute longest 3 weeks of my life, possibly ever. I’m having a really great time, but I also am getting antsy to actually get out there and do what I had come here to do. That being said, I’m so excited about our project! I really can’t wait. I wonder how the drive out there will be because we have a 15 passenger van, 1 cargo van, and 10 people that we have to get to Mississippi! We can only drive max of 65 miles per hour and 8 or 10 hours of driving time a day. So…it’ll be a long journey. I’m so exciteddddddddd!!!!!!!  

Add to del.icio.us Add to reddit