Wednesday we worked at discovery park which we just had to pull ivy from the ground and the trees in which they were taking all of the nutrition from. We were pulling the ivy for the tree planting event that will be going on I believe next week. While we were there we walked over to a sandy area looking out over the water. It was absolutely beautiful with Mt.Rainier in the back. Once we were done, we headed to the Washington State Convention Center for the annual Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust event. My team was invited as guests to attend this event which is a pretty big deal because the sponsors, the faculty and everyone on the trusts board comes out to see the accomplishments over the last year and the projects that will be going on this year. When my team got there, they were still setting up the venue; which gave us enough time for the meeting we had with our unit leaders supervisor. He asked us different types of questions varying from how the project is going and what we have enjoyed most, to if we have any idea of what we want to do after the program. After the meeting we all rushed to the bathrooms to dress for this semi formal event. But because were AmeriCorps and LOVE to match all the time! We got dressed in our Amerituxes. We looked a lot like the waiters is all I'm going to say... During the "cocktail hour" we were encouraged to mingle with the sponsors and board members. I'm not going to lie it was a bit of a struggle for me. Why? I'm not entirely sure because they are just people. But I figured out that I'm also nervous of people asking me a bunch of questions about the program, and I not knowing the answer. Practice makes perfect though! So I started to have a conversation with a semi young couple. Of course their first question was about the oh so lovely uniform I had on, and asked what organization I was from. I started explaining what AmeriCorps NCCC was and that we were working with the trust etc.. And I found out a lot about the couple as well! They were high school sweet hearts, both went to college in Michigan; then into the peace corps. They moved to the UK raising their two kids, then moved to Washington for the husbands job (he works for Microsoft). Once we were done talking it was time to go into the dinning area which had really windows around the whole venue, sparkling lights hanging from the ceilings, and piano music playing in the background. Amanda, Emily and I sat at the same table with two different couples, a guy from the WCC crew, and a guy and girl who were there separately. The first course was a salad with poached pears. The main course was between salmon or a squash ravioli. I wanted to try the salmon because I have never had it before. It was definitely a different taste to say the least. And I'm glad I tried it but I suppose if I had grown up eating salmon I would have enjoyed it a little more. At the end of the event we went back home and straight to bed.
Thursday we woke up early and headed back to discovery park to finish up the small section that we were working with. I don't know why but that whole day I felt pretty sick. My guess was that the fish was too oily. Throughout the day I felt better though. On Thursday we actually had a half day because our supervisor, Natasha, wanted to show us a museum in Seattle called MOHAI: Museum of History and Industry. The museum was amazing and I learned a lot! I learned that the "rain globe" was invented in Seattle (obviously because it rains there a whole lot more than it snows), two high school students made the calf high socks that had the Seattle skyline design around them. They also had an exhibit of the Native American tribe in the Seattle area. While I was going through the exhibit I was opened up to different tribes, beautiful legends on how different animals were created and why. I now have a love and fascination on Native American history, culture and legends.
After the museum we headed home and enjoyed a vegetable stew.
Friday the team was heading back to squawk mountain to work on the trail some more, while I was told to stay back at the base doing different tasks (because everyone is worried about my ankle which in my opinion is fine) But I wasn't complaining. I wanted to learn different ways to take care of tools. After my team left I first had to clean off shovels, WD-40 all the loppers, organize a bunch of different flags (that they use for flagging small trees), label new tents, sand the shovel handles and rub them with boiled linseed oil. Then my team got back, picked me up and we headed home.
Saturday was another rainy day but just like every Saturday, a volunteer event! Yay!
This event was another treeplanting day. Most of the volunteers were high school students getting required volunteer hours. It was a lot easier to explain what to do with these students than the employees for different companies. Still a little weird knowing that I was in their shoes only a few months ago. I ended up cutting my hand a little on a metal pole that we use to put the trees into the ground. Once I did that I feel like many of my teammates have never seen blood before because most of them were freaking out. I was telling my dad that ever since coming here I have been such a klutz! Oh well the scratch will heal.
On Monday (our 1st day off) me and a few of my team mates really wanted to go to the pool to simply stretch out and relax. We first dropped off the rest of the girls to a small town on the way. After that we headed to the Snoqualmie Aquatic Center! It was really nice! We first went into the hot tub which was very relaxing. Then to the lazy river which, in my opinion, wasn't very lazy! It took you around one of the sides fairly quick and then there was a section that I believe were supposed to be nice arches of water, but in reality liked to spray you hard in the face haha. After the lazy river we went back and forth to the hot tub and normal pool area. Once done, we headed back home and relaxed.
Sunday (which was supposed to be another day off) we went to Oxbow farm for a tour. The farm had a few different greenhouses that were really nice. The farm grew a lot of native plants in their nursery. After the tour we had an hour till we had to leave for our ISP. Our ISP we went to Camp Korey to clean out an old barn that they have converted into a hangout area for their campers. We had to dust out the attic, then put all the instruments that were in the lower level up to the top. On the lower level we had to scrape off old paint to prepare it for the new coat that they will be putting on later this week. When we got home I had to help my team members (who are in charge of the vehicle and tools safety) take out all the seats in the van so they were able to clean out the inside. After they did that they took me and a couple other team mates to Starbucks so we would be able to get WiFi. However our WiFi time got cut short because somewhere there was a mix up in drivers and where we were driving because we also had to pick up the tree that MTS donated to us. long story short, it was a long day that ended in driving 25 minutes to pick up a tree.
Today we were working with the WCC crew again. It has been raining non stop today. And not the soft drizzly rain; or the on and off rain. But the constant buckets upon buckets of rain that soak through our rain gear. So yes, to answer any questions, the rain gear does not work that well. We first had an hour long meeting with one of the MTS employees who explained how much help both crews are doing to restore the natural habitat for the salmon. After the meeting we toured one of the restoration sites which was pretty neat. After the tour we went to work at another restoration site where there were blackberry's overgrowing many of the small trees that were planted only a couple years ago. We ended around 3:30 and headed back home where we had PT 30 minutes after we were home, dinner (build your own taco), and now we are at the Laundry mat.
Tomorrow we are planning on going to Rattle Snake ledge for only 1/2 the day because there is supposed to be major flooding in the Carnation area again, and we don't want to be stuck with that again. I'm so sad that next weekend will be our last in Washington, but it definitely has been a great time here thus far!
~Savannah
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