Learning Gratefulness in Colorado Springs

I guess this never posted…. So today only you get two for one blog posts!

We had our first real project last Friday. We were working near Colorado Springs in Pike National Forest helping to replant in the forest where the Waldo canyon fire destroyed over 18,000 acres worth of land.  On the way to the ranch we saw a bunch of houses that had been burned down, it seemed so random how some would be burnt to the ground while others were standing fine. I can’t imagine being the person whose house was fine after your neighbor’s house burnt to the ground. Throughout the neighborhoods there were signs thanking people for their service. I found this to be really inspiring as these people had lost everything or were close to losing everything yet they were thankful. It really goes to show that you may find reasons to be grateful in everyday life. (Dalen also helped me to remember this through a sermon he heard last Sunday) Reminders to be more grateful are always welcome.

After arriving at the ranch, a group of us volunteered to drive another 40 minutes to Pike National Forest. We were the first group to be going in to do work since the fire. We had a caravan of vehicles travelling down a dirt road. We had to go through locked gates and it all seemed very official. We would end up doing the same things as the other groups, seeding and raking. I was really glad that we volunteered to do this mostly because the drive out there was beyond beautiful. We drove past garden of the gods. The landscape was hard to take your eyes off of and I didn’t mind the extra hour and 20 minutes in the car.

Overall, the day was very good. It was a somber reminder to not take your safety or possessions for granted. It also reminded me of the importance of gratitude to the people in your life, even those we often don’t think about. The cafeteria lady who serves you food, the cleaning people who clean up after you and restock the precious soap and paper towels, police officers who keep us safe. There are so many people to be grateful toward for their service and their willingness to do their jobs. Being in Colorado Springs taught me to be more mindful of this.

I can use power tools!

So a majority of the reason I haven’t been posting all that much is because my days are full of nothing interesting and little free time which leaves little to no inspiration for blog posts… I have some funny things I want to talk about like that there are jalapenos for a garnish at breakfast for the high school students here when cereal and fruit is being served. Or like the fact that a cold spread through the halls of my dorm in the matter of moments, or my first taxi ride, or that inside all the buildings here are hotter than NC in August. But my creativity and humor is being filtered out by hours and hours of lectures in hot stuffy classrooms. So, incase you were wondering what I’ve been doing for the past couple weeks, I’ve most likely been sitting in a classroom learning something… like how to use power tools, or how to work in an emergency shelter, or how to respect diversity (4 years of social work classes of course never taught me this – yes, that’s sarcasm). So that’s my life… 1 week 2 days til San Antonio and actual work can begin.

Sun 1!

This week we found out what teams we are on for the year. We have been switching out team leaders and teammates every 3 days or so in hopes that the TL’s could build teams where everyone decently got along and worked well together. They decided to wait until the very last moment of the week to tell us. So we got to look forward to it (or dread it) all week. They distracted us all day with a field day where we competed against other teams in other units for points, and the unit with the most points won. Sun Unit got 2^nd place… but let’s be honest, we all know it was rigged ;).  After all, fire unit put it together and fire unit won? Suspicious huh? After a morning of fun events we had to sit through paperwork and meetings all afternoon. Then we had a little free time in which all the girls in my unit on my floor began to stress eat and worry over what was going to happen. We then met at 4pm in the basement of a building for the process to begin. We had a scavenger hunt of sorts, which led us all around campus and back to the NCCC offices where we were promptly blindfolded and sat on a sidewalk to wait silently. After waiting about 10 minutes or so for everyone to get back to the office we were thrown in government vans. I had a sneaking suspicion of whom I had as a TL but I was still excited to see who was on my team. We started driving on the road and I immediately began to feel carsick. Something about being slung around in a 15-passenger van with a blindfold on makes you feel a little yucky. To discourage our talking to one another my TL decided to blast ‘rumor has it’ by Adele. I thought the song was pretty fitting considering we were all gossiping about who we wanted on our teams and as a TL for the past 2.5 weeks. Once we got to our destination (a park right beside campus) we were told that we could take off our blindfolds. I was pleasantly surprised and excited about what an awesome team and TL that I have! We then sat around in the park and talked for a bit an my TL, Sarge (it’s a nickname based on her last name) put team bracelets on all of us. As my friends know, I have been jonesin’ for a friendship bracelet so it’s exciting to have one. Basically it’s pea cord that is burnt onto my wrist. So I am officially a member of Sun 1 and we will deploy for our first project on November 9^th. We will be going to San Antonio, Texas to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.

Riding in Vans with Corps Members

I think that our Team Leaders (TL) and Unit Leader (UL) are trying to prepare us for riding in the van for hours at a time. Last week I got to see a lot of Denver and the surrounding areas. On Monday we did the van confidence course, so basically we drove around cones, backed around cones, and practiced parking without hitting cones. So essentially our team practiced sitting in the van all afternoon. Tuesday we drove with the staff from the office and my team was lucky enough to drive with Ken, the region director. Big deal, I know. We drove all over Denver and stopped at Red Rocks Amphitheater, A mountain top near Denver, and Evergreen, Co. I drove up the first mountain and got to pass crazy bikers  pumping up the mountain, if you think passing bikers is scary on the road, try it up a curvy mountain in a 15 passenger van. The next day we drove to Boulder (which is a beautiful and awesome town I want to explore more later) and we went to the celestial seasonings factory which was awesome. Thursday we got to further explore the Denver area further and drove 3 hours to Rocky Mountain National Park and it was also super beautiful (are you sensing a trend here?). I again volunteered to drive home in the mountains which was crazy because it was dirt roads and construction. On friday we rode in the vans for another 6 hours to go to Colorado Springs to help with fire restoration. This was another really beautiful drive and we got to go past Garden of the Gods. I again drove back on gravel mountain roads and this time through Denver traffic, which was scarier to me than the mountain roads, but I survived. So after about 24+ hours in the van, I am certifiably a 15 passenger van driver for NCCC. I also officially know how much it sucks to ride in a 15 passenger van for 6 hours a day. Mission Accomplished NCCC, Mission Accomplished.

 

(I’ve tried about 3 times to upload pictures from this awful dorm internet and it’s not working. So pictures well be added to this post next time I go to the library, I promise!)

Local Establishments

There is a local watering hole here in the offshoots of southwest Denver called 4-G’s. Why 4-G’s? I wish I could tell you. 4-G’s is very unassuming from the front, it’s in a strip mall and sits next to a family dollar. When you walk in it appears to be a typical family restaurant with booths and tables scattered about. As you walk back toward the bar though you are made privy to the hangout area. There are a good numbers of pool tables, a stage, a jukebox and of course some booth seats against the wall so the locals can watch all the crazy Americorps kids invade their bar. G’s is good enough though, it’s within walking distance of campus and they have 1.50 beers.

Also of interest in the immediate vicinity of campus is a place called 1.25 a scoop. This is written in pretty large font and then really small below it is written ‘Chinese’. The concept is that you pay 1.25 per scoop of Chinese food that you get. If you ask me it is genius. However, I have yet to brave the 1.25 scoops of Chinese food because there is a rumor on campus that someone got e-coli from the food. While I’m not susceptible to believing rumors, I think I’ll avoid it for now.  I’ll let you know if I succumb to the potential food poisoning.

Dorm Life

IIt’s interesting living in the dorms again. It is especially interesting living in the dorms at Colorado Heights University… let me give you a little background on the university first…

Colorado Heights University used to be a Catholic University back in the early 1900s. All around campus there are white religious statues, a nun graveyard, and the dorms are said to be haunted. All around, it’s a pretty creepy place. Beyond this asylum feel our campus emits, we also share our university with a bunch of other random things like an early start high school, an ESL university, a masters program, and probably some other stuff I don’t know about. At any rate there are constantly tons of people on campus speaking different languages, so that is cool.

So there are two main dorms that NCCC people live in Walsh and Marian. Marian is all the girls age 21+, thus earning the name Cougar Hall. I live on the ‘hot wing’, which is the fire/sun unit’s hall.

The dorms are obliviously being used in contrast with their original intention so every time I go to use the restroom or shower I am entering the men’s restroom. I am finally getting to the point that I can go in without a double take and hesitancy at the door. Once in the bathroom though you are forced to deal with the elf showers. The showerheads are literally about 4 feet from the floor thus making it impossible to wash your hair without bending backwards or crouching down… I’m not sure what they were thinking when they make these showers because who really wants a shower that the water hits at about the stomach… it’s super helpful on days that I don’t feel like washing the upper half of my body.

Also we have some random people from the college I guess living on the first floor. I really am not sure what their deal is but sometimes they come up to the lounge and make stinky food. Luckily, we aren’t allowed to be in our own lounge so we don’t have to deal with that too much.

Overall, the dorm life isn’t so bad. I have a pretty sweet roommate and all the girls are really friendly. It’s pretty fun living within walking distance to everyone in your immediate social circle. It makes hanging out much more likely to happen.

I’m falling behind on my writing, hope to write more this weekend.

She’s only happy in the Sun.

There are 4 units: earth, water, fire, and SUN! Guess which one I’m on ;).

Keeping Busy

Dalen talked about keeping busy in his past post (http://wdalenrice.blogspot.com/2012/10/keepin-busy.html) and it’s so true. I find that the moment I’m not sitting in a boring training, hanging out with people, or sleeping that I feel immensely homesick. I’m just getting comfortable enough that I can sit around and blog or read a book without feeling like I’m going to burst into tears. Before, the least bit of idle time was accompanied by a feeling of complete dread.  Luckily for my sanity, especially since I do enjoy spending time alone relaxing, I am getting better at dealing with idle time.  Unlike Dalen I am incapable of always moving and doing, so finding things to do in my downtime that my body requires (especially with no TV and reliable internet) has been an interesting pursuit. So I have been writing a lot, which I will hopefully appreciate later and luckily for you all means more reading material!

Ninja Squirrels

Ready to Pounce

The squirrels in Colorado are weird. They are more brown than grey in color and therefore I don’t trust them. Beyond this initial distrust of the squirrels, the squirrels on campus are CRAZY. They are not hesitant at all to come up to you and they are constantly lurking around campus ready to launch out at you. The squirrels like to sneakily grab stuff out of the garbage and leave it randomly around campus so that people will bend down to pick it up and they can attack (that’s my theory anyway). Stay tuned for more information on potential squirrel attacks.

Blame it on the ah-ah-ah-ah-ah altitude (and supermarket sweep)

I’ve decided that I’m blaming everything I don’t do perfect on the altitude… trip down some stairs… stupid altitude. Ask a stupid question… oh man must be that altitude  Forget someone’s name (this one is happening a lot) goodness that altitude is getting to me again. It’s definitely not a myth… it feels like my brain is trying to escape through the top of my head at times and walking up stairs while talking is nearly impossible, but I’m getting used to it. I should stop feeling like I’ve just downed a beer in the next couple weeks. Look forward to hearing about PT in high altitude!

Also, today I played a real life game of supermarket sweep, except there were no prizes and I spent 60 bucks. Basically our team leaders took us to walmart and told us we had 30 minutes to grab the essentials. I don’t know if you all have been to walmart but the line alone can take 30 minutes… especially when you let loose 100s of people who have 30 minutes to shop into it. So needless to say we sat in the van for awhile waiting on everyone (Perfect opportunity to practice my patience and ‘be flexible’ as Dalen has taught me).

Oh… and today we got uniforms

And that’s really all there is to say about that.