I returned from the mini spike around 9 PM last night and by the time I unpacked everything and took a shower it was 11, but thankfully I wouldn't have to get up until 8 this morning! The mini spike was held at Camp Lode Star and the drive up there was beautiful! We left around 3:30 and got to the camp site around 5:30. The sun was starting to set when we were driving and the clouds started to blend into the mountains. Like I said Beautiful. The camp was amazing! The trees there reminded me of the ones in the Redwoods by how tall they were. We stayed in little cabins with bunk beds. I was nice enough to trade with the girl who was originally supposed to be on the top bunk. After doing this, I realized that the only way for me to get on the top bunk was to climb the one next to it, walk across that one, to get to my bed. Was a little difficult but we managed just fine. That night we had chilly and salad; not the best I've ever had but it was alright. After that we had different team bonding game (all of them my team one by the way). The first game was called the "newlywed" game, which you had to split your team into two with each side having a card that had each members name on it. If I've lots you I understand, I am not the best at explaining directions. (Ex. Both sides had a card that said "Savannah", "Morgan", "Molly"). Then the Unit Leader (UL) would ask questions like "Who is most likely to get lost in the city", "Who is most likely to break a phone", etc. then the teams have to choose a team member who is "most likely". According to my team I am most likely to get lost in the city and never break a rule. Anyways My team won which was awesome! But we then kind of started to laugh because we knew each other so well, so now the running joke is that our team needs to make more friends. After that we had to make team skits about our team, where we are going for our first spike and what were doing. The first team that went was absolutely hilarious having one member act like a grandparent and the rest were his grandchildren that he was telling a story to (one of which he had told multiple times before because the "grandkids" could basically recite the story). There wasn't actually any winner of the skits but my team is always a winner in my book! When all the skits were done we went to the bonfire and made s'mores , some normal, some with Recess Peanut butter cups replacing the regular milk chocolate. After a while at the bonfire My team mates and a bunch of other teams wanted to go on an adventure through the woods to go look at the stars. We walked just a little ways till we got to a big open meadow, and just sat and stargazed. Because of how bright the moon was we couldn't see the stars that well, but it was still very pretty and relaxing. I went back to my cabin not long after that and went to bed.
Yesterday morning I got up around 6:30 and put my bag into the car, had breakfast and was ready for the day! We started off with chainsaw training, which was a little scary but I'm happy about learning it! For practice we had to each cut three pieces off of a medium sized log which was relatively easy. They then had us actually go to a giant tree and start on. I was in charge of cutting a big limb off the tree that could have possibly hit my head (good thing I had my hard hat on!) but I was fine. I then had to start in the bigger part of the log.... I got my chainsaw stuck half way through because I miscalculated where the tension was on the tree. They quickly got another chainsaw in there to free mine and once they did I was onto another part of the tree. Chainsaw training wasn't that long at all; and I do wish I could have had a little more time getting used to it but we are on a tight schedule. After that we went to lunch, then more team bonding exercises. There were low rope courses, games where we had to crawl through shapes made out of rope and could not touch the rope or we all had to start over etc... By the end of the we all were covered in red dirt from falling, crawling or just from getting it kicked up on us. We finished the day heading home and stopping at a dinner.
Like I said I slept in until 8 this morning, got dressed and met at the muster spot. The whole silver unit had to drive over to a conference center for two meetings that were actually really helpful. We talked about Life after AmeriCorps (LAA), awards that were able to get while in the program and even 2 college credits that I could complete while in AmeriCorps. We came back to the regular campus for "morning welcome" even though it was noon, then had our lunch break. After lunch we had a few more meetings, then time for ourselves. I used this time to look up possible independent service projects for my team while were in Washington, which to be honest I didn't think I was capable of finding any, but turns out it was so easy! Not only that but I actually loved to look them up and see what the requirements are, the tasks and when they were. The next step would to contact them, so I'll definitely be working on my organization and contacting skills ha ha. Which sounds kind of dumb, but I've never had to contact people about volunteering or making appointments. I helped make dinner around 7:40, which was pasta with baked zucchini, bread, and salad.
Tomorrow is Halloween and my team and I are doing an ISP at Soil Born Farm. Then at night I'll be on duty and working the "Ameribash" (A Halloween party).
The drive up there
Practicing chainsawing!
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