I'm Bringing Sexy Back

Today is the day I've been dreaming about for a long time now. It was the first day I put on my NCCC uniform, went out in to the Sacramento community and "got things done!".

Pod 18 had the good fortune of working with Sylvan Ranch on their community garden project for members of a local assisted living facility. There were so many things that made me excited about the day, but first and foremost, the accessibility of the garden! As part of the planning, the garden is being built to be used for people of all abilities! GET IT! Second, it's a totally volunteer project. Third, THE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING!

Our work consisted of leveling the grounds of the garden, filling in beds, digging trenches and laying burlap to prevent run off, and hauling and raking massive amounts of dirt! By the end of the day my back was killing me, I'd consumed 7 bottles of water, and there was dirt in places I'd forgotten dirt could go! But most importantly, I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Getting in there, getting dirty, pushing myself, and getting things done, always makes me feel so good! So the back, arm, and ab pain I'm currently feeling right now is more than worth it.

But perhaps what made the day more than anything, more so the amazing people we worked with, AND even more than Roger, the 11 year old the son of one of the volunteers who talked to us about Winston Churchill, conspiracy theories, and how to make mustard gas and napalms, was the brief conversation I had with one of the members of the assisted living facility.

I don't know his name, and in fact, we never actually "met". Instead, he watched us work outside his window for a while, smiled, waived overly-enthusiastically, and then said these brief words with a huge grin, "You're working too hard!" to which I said "Ahh it's not too bad! We take breaks!" and he responded even more excitedly, "keep up the good work!"

Seeing the smile on this man's face, and how happy he was to have a garden, really showed me just exactly what we're doing. It's going to make sitting through the next 3 weeks of training worth it. Sure it might be long days of power-points and information galore, but it will all be worth it when we can get out there and get things done again, and truly make a difference in community!

And so I'll leave you with some shots of the day.

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Your's in LFS

Winco Made Me Think

In my previous years of Girl Scouting, Residence Life, Greek Life, and Camping, I thought for sure I knew what it meant to shop and cook in bulk.

Then enters the Winco shopping trip with James, Rachel and my Pod Leader John.

Grocery shopping is always a challenge for me. There's the green hearted hippie in me that wants to eat organic, all-natural everything, use re-usable grocery bags, only purchase green-conscious non-food items, whole-grain, uber healthy everything. And then there's the "you ain't got no money" part of me who just wants to by the cheapest, most filling foods, and the products that will last me a life time. I'll admit when I'm shopping on my own money, I do tend to be green-phi-green. But when Uncle Sam is buying my food, I just don't see the justification in buying the free-range, organic feed, brown eggs when they cost 4 times the price, regardless of my personal or health beliefs.

I'm happy to report that Pod 18 will be eating a good variety of foods, some totally healthy, and some totally NOT. What surprised me the most however, was how UNDER BUDGET we were. Either we're going to starve or my penny pinching really paid off! Only time will tell.

But this shopping dilemma really hits home at something I've been grappling with all day. If listen carefully (or creep), you'll hear a fair share of corps members already talking about doing another year! Do I go with my heart, or do I go with what's practical? This idea has been in my head every since I applied and only recently did I throw that idea out the window. That was until today when we had an training session with our Assistant Program/Project Directors*. Larry* mentioned doing two years of NCCC, one as a corps member, one as a team leader, and then getting so used to doing various service projects that only coming back to NCCC felt right when it came time to make his career choice. Even though CTI is just beginning, I can already feel myself leaning the same way.

Sure, I love the idea of perhaps working with Habitat or City Year, both to organizations I highly considered. And I can never get rid of the Interfaith bug. But all my life I've done moved from sport to sport, activity to activity, club to club, etc. Sure there are things that a central to my identity and things that haven't changed (music, faith spring to mind) but if I really want to talk about constants in my life, the only real constant has been change.

My heart says eat green and follow your passion. My head says buy cheap and get on with your life.

Not sure which one is going to win.

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Your's in LFS

Paperwork, Pledges, and Predictions

I don't think I've signed my name more times in my life, and that's including applying to 8 colleges for undergrad.

Day 2 of CTI was all about information and paperwork. Safety standards, rules, meeting the staff, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. The highlight of the "information" part of the day was definitely finding out more about our Team Leaders that are currently deployed to American Samoa to aid in disaster relief! While the odds of NCCC teams going there are pretty slim, it is nice to know that the American Red Cross really DOES depend on NCCC members to "get things done!"

The last part of that sentence is the end of the AmeriCorps pledge. Unlike State, National and VISTA AmeriCorps, NCCC members do take this pledge verbally. In fact we recite it at every community meeting.

The AmeriCorps Pledge

I will get things done for America -
to make our people safer,
smarter, and healthier.

I will bring Americans together
to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy,
I will take action.

Faced with conflict,
I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity,
I will persevere.

I will carry this commitment
with me this year and beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member,
and I will get things done.

Sure, it sounds a little scary and cult-like to have a group of people reciting this pledge. But honestly, I believe in it. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. And more importantly, long before I got here, I singed documents saying I would make this pledge. In fact, every AmeriCorps does. It's part of the acceptance. So whether you're NCCC or not, we should all GET THINGS DONE.

NCC however takes things to the next level. Our training is longer, our work often times more intense, and the bonding, well, let's just say it's day two and I already love my POD! A little about pods. Pods are our temporary teams that we're placed in for CTI. Because the Pacific Region has fuel reduction teams, we can't be placed into our permanent teams right away since that test takes time. So we're in pods for now. Which I finally noticed is in alphabetical order. Needless to say, Pod 18 is where it's at. We are so excited about doing AmeriCorps that during our down time today rather than napping or shooting the breeze, we decided to get down and dirty and do our on PT, before we even had to. We hit the gym together and then went for a run! Great times and it's only day two.

But I'm rambling, and that's not the purpose of this blog. I do think it's important to know our day to day activities in order to understand where I'm at right now. The more people I meet and the more I learn about the year to come, the more I realize, this is going to be a great year! So much so, that I'm already more excited about the prospect of another AmeriCorps year than I am about enrolling in grad school. Which means, I've decided not to push it. If grad school is where I'm supposed to be in a year, it will happen. But right now, it's all about CTI and getting things done. And if that means grad school has to wait another year, I'm OK with that.

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Your's in LFS

In-processing

The big day finally arrived!

I checked out of my hotel this morning at 9:00 AM and arrived on campus promptly at 9:30 (after making the much needed Starbucks detour). I was greeted with friendly smiles, and signs galore! Unfortunately since I arrived so early (those driving had to be here by 10AM, while those flying came in all day) there were very little corps members here. I basically traveled with Iman* from Chicago/California to all 10 stations as she was the only other person who was ready to start at station 1 with me. We met our campus counselor, got our AmeriCorps NCCC UNIFORM (complete with the new love of my apparel life, my NCCC HOODIE!), our steel-toe work boots ( expect many updates on the expectantly painful breaking in process), ourIDs, turned in our paperwork and made it to our unfortunately respective rooms (although really not unfortunate because I happen to adore my roommates!)

And of course, just when I started to unpack Veronica the VUE, it started to pour!

It was about this time that I began to see all the striking similarities of CTI (Corps member Training Institute) and Syracuse Welcome (first year orientation). Just like SW, it rained at basically all through move-in. Just like SW I was the first in my triple room and thus had my pick of the beds! Just like SW I bounced from new person to new person making awkward small talk. And just like SW, I had the standard floor meeting where my "RA" type told me all about the Dos and Don'ts of campus life.

This really is like going to college.

Only this time, instead of everyone staying up to mingle and talk the night away, we all left our floor meeting, did a impromptu mini fashion show of our uniforms, and hit the hay. Seriously. It's half past 9 and the building is silent! The early flights and time difference are catching up to us and we realize we've got a busy month a head of us!

Even though I myself am more than ready for bed, I made a promise to blog everyday.

And more importantly, I want to articulate the major similarity between CTI and SW

Just like SW, I feel this eagerness that I know is coming from the fact that great relationships are going to be made, great experiences are going to be had, and at the end of it all, I'm going to wonder how I ever was the person I am here in October, not because I need to change, but because it's impossible not to with an incredibly experience as this.

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Your's in LFS

*I am 98% convinced I have spelled her name wrong and will edit this once I learn the correct spelling!

America the Beautiful

NCCC members have two options to get them to their campus: fly or drive.

For me it was a no brainer.

I drove.

While it did take some convincing to get my mother to let me drive to 2,000 miles from Houston to Sacramento by myself, I did it. I made my first cross-country road trip and I could not have been more pleased. I had friends suggest the driving tunes, loaded up on dark chocolate (72% cacao) and healthy munchies, packed my life into my 2004 Saturn VUE and hit the road.

Like I said, I've never really seen the western part of the country. We did the California coast trip when I was younger but as talking to my mother recently revealed, the only thing a 10 year old will remember from a trip like that is going to Disneyland, seeing the Hollywood sign and Mexicans running across the highway to gain access into the United States without passing through border control.

This time my eyes were obviously wide open.

I was amazed by the vast desert landscape the exist through the entire southwest (most of which in NOT in West Texas, contrary to popular belief), the beauty of amber mountains against the clear blue sky, and the vastness that is the undeveloped stretch of land which (basically) spans Interstate 10 from El Paso all the way to LA.

My only regret is that I didn't have time or feel safe enough to pull my car over and stop for pictures. Nevertheless, my digital camera is relatively good at taking pictures from inside my car.

For more photos check out my Picasa Road Trip Web Album.

The What and Why

When people ask me what I'm doing with my life, it's hard to explain.

So rather than attempting to, I'm going to post an excerpt from the AmeriCorps NCCC webpage.

AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women age 18–24. Members live on one of five campuses, located in Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California; Perry Point, Maryland; Vicksburg, MS; and Vinton, Iowa.

The mission of AmeriCorps NCCC is to strengthen communities and develop leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, and faith-based and other community organizations, members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned.

Drawn from the successful models of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and the U.S. military, AmeriCorps NCCC is built on the belief that civic responsibility is an inherent duty of all citizens and that national service programs work effectively with local communities to address pressing needs

This answers the popular question of "what" NCCC is. But it doesn't answer the even more popular question of "why are you doing this?" The standard answer I give people is "I wasn't ready to go right into grad school, but I didn't want to sit at home and do a job I hated, or even worse find a job I loved so much I wouldn't want to go back to school." Which is not to say that it's not true, but it is definitely significantly less than half of the truth.

The truth is, I'm not exactly sure.

I heard about NCCC from a State AmeriCorps working with Habitat for Humanity St. Tammny West, during Syracuse University's Habitat for Humanity's winter break trip to New Orleans, December 2008. Through the course of the build I learned all about NCCC and somehow I ended up applying about 1 month after the trip. I had my interview and on my last of classes as a college undergraduate (aka April 30, 2009) I got the email saying I was accepted to serve as an AmeriCorps NCCC member in the Pacific Region for the XVI class.

It was honestly an impulse. I couldn't pinpoint exactly why I wanted to do NCCC nor could I pinpoint exactly what made me so incredibly ecstatic when I got the acceptance email.

Since then however, I've come up with a myriad of reason why I'm doing AmeriCorps NCCC.

and here's the Top 10.

1. I've never seen most of the places the Pacific region serves and I've always wanted to.
2. I've been a "planner" and student leader all my life. I'd like to see what it's like to follow someone else's guided plan of service.
3. The idea of constant change both terrifies and intrigues me.
4. I'm hoping to learn more about my country and the needs it has.
5. I'm hoping this experience will tell me what government/non-profit/public sector I want to work in.
6. I really enjoy being part of a team.
7. I spent the last two years of my life doing service and I don't want to stop now.
8. I want to put my idealism into action.
9. I'll only be young enough to devote my life entirely to a cause once.
10. Matthew 25:40.

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Your's in LFS

Inception

I wasn't entirely sure I was going to blog about my NCCC experience.

But as I drove from LA to Sacramento today I couldn't help but feel the urge to convey the thoughts that were running through my head. The beauty of the landscape which turned into an unexpected love and passion for my country, the realization that the life I'm about to lead is 180 degrees different from everything I've done before and yet the shocking realization that all of this is some how connected.

So I'm blogging.

It's the only way I can do justice to what I really want these next 10 months of my life to be about.

10 Months of Service is going to be my documentation of everything about my NCCC Pacific Region life. In order to make things interesting, I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm making a promise to blog EVERY DAY.

and not only that, but I'm going to use multi-media to my advantage.

Sometimes it will be a photo-blog, sometimes it will be a voice-memo blog, video-blog, poetry-blog, who knows.

My contract ends July, 28, 2010.

So I've got 289 blogs to do.

at least.

In closing, I was a member of a the co-ed service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega in college and we governed ourselves around the words Leadership, Friendship, and Service. So I'd like to close every blog the way we often close brotherhood emails...

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Your's in LFS