Is it heaven? No, it's Iowa!

FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Here is a photo of my team on our first day! This photo is to scale. Yes, I am that short in comparison.

MINI:

My team had a mini project this past week which was amazing. We commuted to Cedar Rapids for 3 days and worked with an organization called "Weed and Seed." The organization works on disaster recovery for the massive flood that occurred in Cedar Rapids in June of 2008. The flood reached 12 feet in some places and was labeled as one of the five worst floods in U.S. history. After the flood 70% of downtown Cedar Rapids buildings were completely abandonned. Recovery efforts are moving very slowly, but still active. We worked on mucking and gutting a home that was destroyed by the waters. It was a great first mini project for us because we got to get down and dirty! When we entered the house it was fully carpeted and wallpapered. When we left it was a skeleton. I learned that crow barring a wall is extremely satisfying. Overall, we removed 9 tons of debris from the house! Our sitesponsor said that he had never seen such a complete job done in 3 days so it was really nice to hear that. I think that the team worked very well together. The house will be used for residents with mental and physical disabilities.

Here is a photo of us with our van and then in front of the house we worked on:

NEXT

I found out our first official project! I AM SO EXCITED. We will be going to Omaha, Nebraska on November 14th for 5 weeks to work with TWO organizations: Volunteers Assisting Seniors (VAS) and Habitat for Humanity (HFH). We will spend part of our weeks working with VAS helping Senior Citizens to navigate the convoluted Medicare system (I LOVE MEDICARE) and the other half of the week constructing homes in the Omaha area with HFH. Now that my team has seen a house destroyed, we get to go in reverse and do some building. I'm really pumped!

This week we are going to watch the movie Field of Dreams as a team because it was filmed not far from here. Then we are hopefully taking a field trip to play baseball on the original field. There is a brochure for the movie site and the first sentence is "Is it heaven? No, it's Iowa." I think that about sums it up.

Well, that and 5:30 am physical training. Don't worry, my group now knows that "basketball isn't my thing." They will soon learn more.

Miss you!

CTI!

NEWS

Hello! Much has happened since I wrote last. First of all, last Wednesday, 140 Corps Members arrived! They are from allllll over the states and one guy even rode his bike 350 miles to get here and camped out along the way! I had a temporary group until yesterday and we did trainings together and cooked together. They were fantastic and I was sad to give them away when I received my real Team for the year. I took everyone for their physicals on Saturday at the hospital which involved a drug and pregnancy test. My group was substance/baby free so I gave them all "Physical Champ!" badges to wear.



BIG NEWS

Each week there is an article in the paper about us and a picture so I've been on the front page a couple times (although I just look like a bundle of curls because you can't really see my face). I wish I could post it but there aren't any pictures on their website...

This next month is considered Corps Member Training which is called CTI. I forget why my acronym doesn't match up, but we're definitely training. So far, CTI has been insanely busy. I work alllllll day long and prepare for the next day right before bed. It's crazy but it's fun.



BIGGEST NEWS

There will be a total of 14 teams and 2 of those will be Wildland Fire Teams. This means that 2 teams will go through Wildland Fire training in the winter and be prepared to respond to any fire disasters in the United States if they occur. Being ready will involve physical training 5 times a week as opposed to 3 for the other teams. Also, they will be on atleast one environmental controlled burning project where fires are set in a controlled way. In order to make the "Fire Team" you must take the pack test, which involves walking 3 miles with a 45 lb. pack on your back in 45 minutes. Last Tuesday, I was talked into doing this. I passed.



In sum: I will be leading the FIRE TEAM!!! WOOO WOOO WOOOOO!!!!

Yoni, Julia's boyfriend, has been giving me great advice on how to run my 'troops' and keep them in line.

The Corps Members took their pack test on Sunday to see who made the team in preparation for Team Reveal which was last night! Team reveal is when the members find out who is on their permanent team and who is their Team Leader. My scavenger hunt turned out great. It had rhyming clues that alluded to fire throughout as well as puzzles that they had to solve to move on. The final clue brought my team to a bonfire with s'mores, warrior face paint, and "We didn't start the fire" on speakers. And a dance party. I think everyone is pretty pumped for the fire team!

In other news, my team consists of the tallest members in the corps. They are huge.

That's all for now!