First Official Weekly Blog Post

        Aight guys, so here it is! My first weekly post. I hope you all will enjoy it, but i'll go ahead & tell you that right now we're just in the process of training & will be for the next 2 weeks or so. Once we get deployed on SPIKE these posts will be more exciting & with more information. But, anyway....here goes.

       This whole week has been full of classes. An overview if you will of what to expect from Americorps & what they expect of us. And it also consisted of team building activities & things that allowed us to get to know our team better. Saturday the 17th we did what is called "Community Mapping". We drove to a neighborhood where there was a Boys & Girls Club & we looked around the neighborhood to see what we thought the needs were, where resources were, any libraries or hospitals around? etc. etc. etc. Things like that that allow you to help the community better. We also took a campus tour. Later that day we got our physicals done & took a drug test.

        Tuesday the 20th was spent doing driver training all day. So it was kinda boring in a sense that we sat in a van all day, but at the same time, it was pretty cool b/c we had plenty of time to talk & learn about each other. After we got back from training me & 4 other Corps members played this card game called "President". One of the rules that the "Prez" at the time made, was that we had to go to the room of extra clothes & put something on if we ever answered a question that was directed towards us during play. At one point, we even had to skip down the hall to the room. It was quite funny, to say the least. An overall great day even though we didn't do much.

         Aight, so Wednesday the 21st I started my day off as usual....waking up at 6:45 AM for a shower, bfast, & then meeting my unit at 8:00 AM, this time in room 101...but the cool thing about this morning (literally), is that I woke up to the ground COVERED in snow!!!

During the morning we had "Media Training", which basicly just meant that they wanted us to be prepared on how to handle the media if & when they approach. They didn't want us to be caught off guard. They even told us how there have been several teams to have met famous people in the past...such as Willie Nelson, Brad Pitt, Bill Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Matthew McConaughey (sp?) etc. etc. etc. It was pretty sweet to know that people like that have actually shown up to our project sites before to see what we're about and to thank us for our work. Afterwards the TL's (Team Leaders) had a "game" for us set up. They had little puzzle pieces w/our names on them lying on a table. We were suppose to find our name & then take that piece & proceed to search for other people that had the other pieces that formed a puzzle. Those that had the missing pieces ended up being our new team members for the next week. So, now by this point I have my new team....my 3rd team since i've been here.....Water 1 now.....After all that we had dinner & then watched "The Office" in the lobby & then played a 14 man game of "Catchphrase". And afterwards me & 6 others played a game of "Phase 10". I taught a few how to play & they beat me lol .....but it was a blast anyway. :)

         Thursday the 22nd we had another fun day full of classes!!! The classes consisted of these topics: 1) The "Pledge" of NCCC & the "Big Picture" of National Service. 2) The Ed Award. 3) Awards (National) & College Credit Opportunities. 4) And about EO (Equal Opportunity). These classes literally took all day w/a few 10 minute breaks thrown in and a lunch. After the classes our entire unit (Water) had PT. We got in a big circle & did random exercises, & then we ran/walked the baseline (1.5 miles). Afterwards was dinner & then Pat, Avi, & myself watched the British show "Dr. Who" which i've never seen until then but I loved it!

          Friday the 23rd was the first day we actually did a project. All teams, in all units, went to a middle school. A few teams hung out with 3rd graders &helped with their reading. Others talked to some students about NCCC & the rest of us (what I did), spent the day building a running/walking track for the school. What was really cool is that they allowed the 8th graders that wanted to, come & help us. Each NCCC member hung out with kid. I got this really cool young girl named Meg. We got to know each other pretty well & that was fun. For lunch, they provided pizza & we also got to chill with the kids during lunch. This project took most of the day. Afterwards I did laundry, ate dinner & then played ping-pong with Pat & then Phase 10 with Jessica & Pat. Tiring day, sore arms & legs....but nothing compared to what's to come!

            Saturday the 24th our entire unit (Water) had a project where each team would rake leaves at an elderly or handicaped person's home. Which was pretty fun to do. My team had been assigned 6 houses & it took us until about 12:30 or 1:00PM to do them. We came back to campus & a little later Pat & I went to town & he wanted to get some "souvenir" things....so we got those & then found a coffee place & just chilled there for a while. When we got back we ate dinner with Jessica  & then we went to downtown Denver & walked to this pretty sweet coffee shop place called "Paris On The Platte". It was awesome...we got some pretty cool Chai Tea & just sat there talking until about 11:00PM. It was such a great night just hanging out with two really cool people.

            Sunday the 25th (today!) I had plans to go out again today but they fell through. So I ended up having a pretty laid back kinda day. Watched some football, played pool & foosball...I went down to the laundry room & hung out with Monique playing cards while she waited on her laundry. She taught me a new game called "Spit" which was a ton of fun! I even showed her a few cards tricks haha. Later I hung out w/friends playing taboo & then WATCHED them get facials lol...I want to stress the WATCHED part haha.

I have more pics on FB. So if you'd like you can look at my page. It was such an amazing week getting to know so many great people. I've already made some great friendships & its only been a week.

I don't know what God has in store, but I know it's great! I'm on God's timeline He's not on mine. He proved that to me this past week. I know God will use me here. And in a way, I feel like He already has. "My time is up, I thank you for yours." God bless!!!