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work it out

So today was the first official day of PT. PT is our physical training that happens four times a week during CTI (the next four weeks of training). I woke up at 5am and had to muster at 5:20. (Muster = meet at an agreed upon location and make sure everyone on my team showed up). Then we walked over to Holmes Field and stretched on the nice wet grass. Did I mention that the sun didn't even rise until after PT was over? So we worked out for an hour in the dark, which is actually kind of cool because we were literally working out under the stars. But it also kind of throws me off. The work-out wasn't too bad, because I am in a lower level, the poor people in Group A got their butts kicked, but they asked for it, right?

After I finished PT, I got ready for my day full of American Red Cross Training. We learned CPR and First Aid stuff and now I am officially ARC certified, which is exciting. So if anyone out there is choking, you know who to call...

Last Wednesday we got our permanent team assignments, I'm in Green 5! I love my Team Leader and I'm bonding pretty well with my teammates, we're all so different-it's awesome to be brought together by one common goal (to get things done!). I feel horrible for not updating this more, especially since I have had some free time, but I've really gotten into reading my books.

This past Saturday was National Make a Difference Day, so of course, we had a huge volunteer day. I worked at a "green space" that is home to the neighborhood water well and used to be basically a trash dump. Three years ago a few of the people who lived around it decided to petition the state to clean it up. The community members planted trees and built a path, but the upkeep has gotten tough, so thy've been letting it slide a bit. Our job was to weed around all of the trees and move mulch from huge piles to go around the trees. It was rough work, but we got it done, with help from Silver, and a touch of help from Gold 4. Then all three teams went to help out at another green space down thee street doing the same thing. While we were at the first green space, a man came up to Liz (my teammate) and I and asked us who we were and what we were up to. He lived across the street and came over often to pick up garbage that might be strewn about. It really helped motivate us to work harder when we realized how many people used that green space, either just to look at, or to walk their dogs through. We told him our whol AmeriCorps story, and he lectured us on the awesomeness that is Bermuda Grass...aka a weed that we were trying to get rid of. We are supposed to keep track of how much work we do and call that "Quantifiables," but I'm not sure on the exact amount we agreed on, but it was a lot. That was a rough day of work, but a very good bonding experience for my team.

Each member has the option to have a special position on the team, I think I am going to try to be the CAPper, which is basically the person who goes out and recruits people to do AmeriCorps. I would have to book events  wherever I am on spike and then go to them and get people interested. It sounds like a lot of work, and it will be, but it also sounds like a really fun time.  I am also, just for CTI (the next four weeks), the Evaluations POC (Point of Contact). Which means that I get to ask everyone what they thought about the training and then input everything online for AmeriCorps. And yes, I do volunteer too much.... Some more goals of mine for this year, #1 if you do 100 ISP (Individual Service Project) hours (the required amount to graduate is 80), you get a pin and certificate, so I'm going to shoot for that. Also, if you write out your personal goals, and then accomplish them, you can earn a Bronze Congressional Award for Service. So that one actually isn't much more work. I'm actually a bit sad because if I was a month younger I'd be able to keep going and work for the Gold Award (I can still work toward the Silver one after I finish AmeriCorps, and I might). So I have pretty high aspirations for this year, and a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm totally prepared for the challenge.

But it's 10:30pm and I need to be up in 6.5 hours for PT again. Who needs sleep when I have such high aspirations?

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