picking carrots at Soil Born Farms
The team on induction day
my room mates and I on induction day! I am a giant compared to them!
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Monday, November 9, 2015
#12 "And suddenly you know... It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings."
Saturday morning my team met up around 8:30 to go to our independent service project. The service project was held at Soil Born Farms which is a farm that they grow everything organic. We had to weed for the few hours that we were there. We were also able to pick carrots and try a whole different vegetable that I had never heard of before called kohlrabi, that tasted like a combination between celery and a radish. We got one 30 minute break and within that time we were able to go to the marketstand and try different recipee samples made from the organic vegetables such as ginger sesame dragon tonged beans and they had organic chocolate. They also had home made pastries and organic coffee you could buy. I decided to buy a blueberry lemon poppie seed muffin and coffee which were absolutly delicious; and listen to the harpest that they had playing in one of the barns. Most defiantly the most relaxing break I've ever had! Once we were finished we bought some of their produce and left to go back to the campus.
When we returned we had to stay in our uniform because we had duty in the main building where the Halloween bash was taking place. The dance felt like some 6th grade Halloween dance with different games and streamers. Once we were done I was pretty tired and I knew that it was going to be our last week of CTI before we leave for our first official spike, so went right to bed.
On Sunday I went to church in the morning with a few new people. It was raining in th morning and around mid afternoon it was on and off rain. When we were picked up, the TL asked us if we had heard what was going on at the campus. None of us knew and found out that because of the rain, the power went out at campus and in surrounding towns. Thankfully because it effected many towns surrounding us, the power came back once we returned to campus. The rest of the day was relatively lazy so I did loads of laundry, cleaned, went to the base exchange and by the time I was finished doing that we had dinner.
The rest of the week seemed to go by relatively quick so I'll just do a quick recap.
Monday we didn't have much to do in the morning but research the place that we were going for our first spike and type up the section that we had to present for our project briefing. Then in the afternoon we had tool training which consisted of learning how to use and certain tools and at the end your team had to build a wooden box. All was going great until we had to put the box together. You see, on my team I have many vocal people who believe that they know the correct way to do everything. My team started to get very agitated with one another, and me being a lot more laid back and taking everything in I started to think to myself, "guys this a simple box and many of you are getting angry at each other. What are you all going to do when we have a house to build?" At the end of the training one team mate and I were the only ones who helped our TL clean up. Only problem was, when I start a project like that I want to finish it. So I asked my TL if that was alright and she had no problem with it; so my team mate and I finished building the box in 15 minutes... I can understand that because it was a simple box, and there were so many people everyone wanted to put their input on how to build it.. But at the same time they need to understand that we are a team, and need to work together to get something done. So sometimes the best option is to just keep quiet and let one or two people lead. Once we were done my team ordered pizza and I realized after eating the pizza that I really cant handle greasy food like that anymore because I felt absolutely awful that night.
Tuesday was a very mixed up kind of day. We each had different meetings for our specialty roles. Aisya and I had Peer Helper training in the morning at a McClellan Conference Center. The Peer helper training was so fun! They had bubbles, scrap paper with crayons, mints and play dough to keep us from dozing off. One of the most relaxed meeting settings for sure. Our role as peer helpers are actually pretty important. We are sort of like the counselors of the group. Our role is basically to listen and help people figure out any problems that they be having. In the afternoon we had to rush back to campus because we were having lunch with the deputy director for AmeriCorps NCCC, Gina Cross. Meeting her and having lunch with her was really neat because we learned about her experience in AmeriCorps NCCC and her journey from being a Corps member to where she is now. After lunch Aisya and I had to run (and I mean literally run) back to the Conference center (which by the way is because the times got mixed up and we didn't want to be late for the second part to our training). After the training we walked back and had to quickly change for PT. After PT we went straight to dinner, then shine our boots and go over our presentation.
Wednesday we practiced the project briefing presentation that we had to present to some of the staff and Unit Leaders (UL). We got ready in our Ameritux and presented our project. I was pretty nervous about it but we all did a great job.
Thursday we had a meeting for emotional Intelligence which took up most of the day. The meeting consisted of a movie and then we had to talk about the different scenarios that each person had and how they overcame them. At night I finished packing and went to bed.
Friday was induction day! Early in the morning we had PT baselines. for baselines we had to run a 1 1/2 miles, do as many push-ups and sit-ups as we can and at the end do a sit and reach test. I was pretty average for all the tests which in my eyes is pretty good. After that we had baselines I took a shower, had breakfast and got ready in my Ameritux. In the afternoon we had the induction rehearsal which reminded me a lot of graduation practice. After that we had a room inspection and then went right to the induction ceremony. The ceremony was really nice and we had two guest speakers, one in which was a corp member in class 12. The other one the community service award for delivering bottled water everyday to families in California that have no water because of the drought. After that we took a all crops picture and then that was it for the day. All we had left was finishing packing the van.
My next blog will start on Saturday about our adventure for our first spike!
When we returned we had to stay in our uniform because we had duty in the main building where the Halloween bash was taking place. The dance felt like some 6th grade Halloween dance with different games and streamers. Once we were done I was pretty tired and I knew that it was going to be our last week of CTI before we leave for our first official spike, so went right to bed.
On Sunday I went to church in the morning with a few new people. It was raining in th morning and around mid afternoon it was on and off rain. When we were picked up, the TL asked us if we had heard what was going on at the campus. None of us knew and found out that because of the rain, the power went out at campus and in surrounding towns. Thankfully because it effected many towns surrounding us, the power came back once we returned to campus. The rest of the day was relatively lazy so I did loads of laundry, cleaned, went to the base exchange and by the time I was finished doing that we had dinner.
The rest of the week seemed to go by relatively quick so I'll just do a quick recap.
Monday we didn't have much to do in the morning but research the place that we were going for our first spike and type up the section that we had to present for our project briefing. Then in the afternoon we had tool training which consisted of learning how to use and certain tools and at the end your team had to build a wooden box. All was going great until we had to put the box together. You see, on my team I have many vocal people who believe that they know the correct way to do everything. My team started to get very agitated with one another, and me being a lot more laid back and taking everything in I started to think to myself, "guys this a simple box and many of you are getting angry at each other. What are you all going to do when we have a house to build?" At the end of the training one team mate and I were the only ones who helped our TL clean up. Only problem was, when I start a project like that I want to finish it. So I asked my TL if that was alright and she had no problem with it; so my team mate and I finished building the box in 15 minutes... I can understand that because it was a simple box, and there were so many people everyone wanted to put their input on how to build it.. But at the same time they need to understand that we are a team, and need to work together to get something done. So sometimes the best option is to just keep quiet and let one or two people lead. Once we were done my team ordered pizza and I realized after eating the pizza that I really cant handle greasy food like that anymore because I felt absolutely awful that night.
Tuesday was a very mixed up kind of day. We each had different meetings for our specialty roles. Aisya and I had Peer Helper training in the morning at a McClellan Conference Center. The Peer helper training was so fun! They had bubbles, scrap paper with crayons, mints and play dough to keep us from dozing off. One of the most relaxed meeting settings for sure. Our role as peer helpers are actually pretty important. We are sort of like the counselors of the group. Our role is basically to listen and help people figure out any problems that they be having. In the afternoon we had to rush back to campus because we were having lunch with the deputy director for AmeriCorps NCCC, Gina Cross. Meeting her and having lunch with her was really neat because we learned about her experience in AmeriCorps NCCC and her journey from being a Corps member to where she is now. After lunch Aisya and I had to run (and I mean literally run) back to the Conference center (which by the way is because the times got mixed up and we didn't want to be late for the second part to our training). After the training we walked back and had to quickly change for PT. After PT we went straight to dinner, then shine our boots and go over our presentation.
Wednesday we practiced the project briefing presentation that we had to present to some of the staff and Unit Leaders (UL). We got ready in our Ameritux and presented our project. I was pretty nervous about it but we all did a great job.
Thursday we had a meeting for emotional Intelligence which took up most of the day. The meeting consisted of a movie and then we had to talk about the different scenarios that each person had and how they overcame them. At night I finished packing and went to bed.
Friday was induction day! Early in the morning we had PT baselines. for baselines we had to run a 1 1/2 miles, do as many push-ups and sit-ups as we can and at the end do a sit and reach test. I was pretty average for all the tests which in my eyes is pretty good. After that we had baselines I took a shower, had breakfast and got ready in my Ameritux. In the afternoon we had the induction rehearsal which reminded me a lot of graduation practice. After that we had a room inspection and then went right to the induction ceremony. The ceremony was really nice and we had two guest speakers, one in which was a corp member in class 12. The other one the community service award for delivering bottled water everyday to families in California that have no water because of the drought. After that we took a all crops picture and then that was it for the day. All we had left was finishing packing the van.
My next blog will start on Saturday about our adventure for our first spike!
~Savannah
Sunday, November 1, 2015
#11 "Not all classrooms have four walls"
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
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).
Practicing chainsawing!
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
#10 "There is no WiFi in the forest, but we promise you'll find a better connection."
Can I just tell you all how proud and surprised I am of being able to actually keep up with these blogs! It may be very different in the coming weeks but like I have said in the past I will try my very best. It all depends on what I'm doing (could very well be camping for a few weeks) and if I have WiFi or even cell reception.
Anyways back to today. We slept in until 8 and then got ready and had to report at our muster spot (just a name for in between the dorm buildings) and had our morning meetings of what the day is going to look like. We then had a training on how to work with volunteers. Personally I thought the training was kind of pointless because if you have volunteers you need to tell them what to do politely, if they are messing around you should explain the importance of their volunteer work and treat them as you would like to be treated... Yes some of the information was useful but for the most part it was a boring morning. After that I had a little bit of time before my next training which was learning how to properly dissemble and resemble a chainsaw and how to use one. The training was long but the two men who were training us had a funny sense of humor. I now know how to use a chainsaw though and will be able to use those skills the next two days for our mini spike, which will be at Camp Lode Star in Stockton California. Tomorrow we will be leaving around 2:30 and will be doing different team bonding exercises at the camp. Then on Thursday my team will be working in the woods making new paths, cutting down old or already broken trees, etc.. The weather calls for rain in the area so it'll definitely be a challenge chainsawing for the first time while in the rain haha.
After the training I had to quickly change into my PT clothes and get out to the fields. We had to keep moving whether it was running, push-ups, sit-ups, or squats for only about 40 minutes. Knowing that I am one of the people on my team who were trained in chainsawing and the fact that we will be doing non stop trail work and other things in that "nature" (ha that was punny) for about 6/7 months is really pushing me to do extra PT. I'll definitely (hopefully) will be a lot more fit when I come home! We finished the night with a team dinner, meeting, and packing for tomorrows mini spike!
Also, I will not have any kind of cell reception for the next two days while I am at this camp, so if you ever try to reach me, just know I am not ignoring you, but simply have no clue that you are trying to reach me! You can say that I definitely will be connecting with nature!And yes I will try to write everything that I do down, so I don't forget any of it for when I am able to blog about it.
P.S. I know most of these posts are all relatively the same and may seem a bit boring, but after CTI (once we are on spike) they will become a bit more interesting. Depending on what we are doing, I may just have to blog at the end of every week. We'll See!
~Savannah
#9 "It's the little memories that will last a lifetime"
Yesterday I was able to sleep in till 10! New Record! When I got up I got ready for church and then got a text from one of my team mates who said she was making gluten free pancakes. The gluten free worried me a little but I thought eh why not try it!? It definitely had an interesting taste haha. It was very grainy but nothing a little crunchy peanut butter couldn't fix! After that, I finished getting ready and then went to church with a new group of people to a different Catholic church (St.John Catholic church) that was a little farther away. I actually enjoyed this church a little more because it looked like a combination between St.Marys and the Newman Center in DeKalb. It was so weird because before mass started they asked if there were any new people at mass that day, and for us to rays our hands. Obviously we did, and they gave us little gift bags with fiber 1 bars, a pencil and a program in it. I've never heard of a church giving you a gift for going! Very weird but I suppose whatever floats their boat.
When I got back from church I had a little bit of time so I face timed (A.K.A Skyped) my dad knowing that the annual Hay Ride out at the lake was on Sunday. I was able to see a few family members which was awesome! And the photos I saw on Facebook were phenomenal! I started to remember last years hayride and how much fun it was to carve pumpkins, chat with family and at night scare the living daylights out of the couple that we helped put their car with a flat tire on a trailer. I had a lot of fun memories at those family events and hope everyone had a blast like I know I have every year!
When I said bye I got ready for my Independent Service Project (ISP) I had that day. The service project that we went to was called "Fairytale Town's Safe and Super Halloween." It seemed as if you were in a "land" at Disney World with all the different crafts, games, and characters in the park. I was in charge of taking the photos of the little kids with "Jack the pirate". I'm pretty sure I said "Look up here! OK 1-2-3 Smile! Oh great picture!" at least 200 times haha. All the little kids costumes were so cute! Some of my favorites were a family, with the parents dressed as if they were going on a safari and the little boy who was probably 2 or 3 had a little tiger costume on. Another boy who was probably 10 had a suit on with a name tag that said "Walt" and he was holding a small Mickey Mouse. (If you don't understand, he was Walt Disney.) We didn't get back until 11 (could have been 10:30, but a train was stuck on the tracks.) I was super tired, especially because I knew I had PT in the morning. But I sure did go to bed quickly that night!
Today I got up at 5:20 and got ready for PT. One cool thing about having to get up that morning is being able to see the Giant harvest moon still shining bright. For PT this morning each team had a challenge to complete so that meant as a team we had to finish 250 squats, 20 laps, 200 squats..etc. After that I ate breakfast (the usual banana and protein bar), and got ready for the two meetings for the morning. After the meetings one of my team mates and I walked over to a Chinese restaurant that is about a 3 minute walk from campus. After that we went back to campus and my room mates and I have been struggling with our mini fridge in our room because the door won't close, because of all the ice that has built up. So I turned up the temp a little so it could get defrosted, but it wasn't going as fast as we wanted... So I decided to get a hairdryer and speed up the process. My roommate and I sat there for 20 minutes and melted the ice down low enough so we were able to close the door. Once I got done with that My team had to meet at the team van to go shopping for snacks for the trip to and from our Minnie spike that'll be this Wednesday through Thursday. I ended up filling up small bags of raw almonds, dried banana chips and dark chocolate covered raisins. Once we got back I had some things I had to type up for the first spike and then make dinner. Thankfully I got there a little late because my TL messaged the team and said we were going out for dinner because all the kitchens were going to be without water because there was a big back up in the drainage from past teams pouring oil in the drains. We ended up going to a pizza place which was relatively cheep and you could build your own pizza.
The next two weeks are going to be extremely hectic my TL keeps telling us, so keep the prayers coming everyone, they are working marvelously!
Also thank you Grandma and Anna for the wonderful cards! I received them today and I love to hear what has been going on! I'll try to write back as soon as I can!
I believe these photos truly capture the beauty of the lake. I wish I could have been there with you all but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be there next year! And just know I am having a great time helping people, trying new things (pretty much just different foods haha) and am learning! And for the two who took these photos, you did an amazing job.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
#8 "Team work makes the dream work!"
Today was national "Make a difference day". So that meant all the teams had different projects in the surrounding area. The first project that my team had was for a lady and her community garden that was huge, that she had in her back yard. She needed all the plants taken out, ready for next years garden. Because of our height, one team mate (Morgan) and I were in charge of trimming a tree, which we got to use a few saws to cut about three large tree limbs down. We were also in charge of trimming this beautiful metal arch that had roses rapping around the whole structure. And trimming a few of the fruit trees she had. The project was really fun and we always had something new to do that kept us busy. When we finished all her tasks the garden looked beautiful! You could see the walkway that goes through the garden and everything was open and looked well managed.
The next project that we had was at a compost company, and we had to uproot tons of tall dead grass that was behind the mulch piles. It was definitely tiring but that is one reason why I love manual type labor because I get so much satisfaction knowing that all the hard work paid off.
It makes me that more excited to go do all the other projects with them and achieve challenges along the way.
The next project that we had was at a compost company, and we had to uproot tons of tall dead grass that was behind the mulch piles. It was definitely tiring but that is one reason why I love manual type labor because I get so much satisfaction knowing that all the hard work paid off.
It makes me that more excited to go do all the other projects with them and achieve challenges along the way.
The team!
From left to right.
Joe, Patrick, Aisya, me, Morgan, Melissa, Molly, Emily, Anthony, Maddie and our Team Leader Amanda
#7 1/2 "Never stop exploring" pictures
Inside the Museum
Folsom Lake photos
This is a photo of what the lake used to look like. The four small wood pillars are the same in the photo below 
you can tell the water used to come up a lot farther!
Panorama I took of the full lake. In the left of the photo you can see the life guard posts and
in the distance you can see the little bit of water
This is the boat ramp (if you don't know what that is, it is where they would put the boats in the water.) (The blacktop actually dips down if you cant see). In the distance you can see the water.
Standing on a rock that used to be in the middle of Folsom Lake
two of my fabulous team members (Maddie and Melissa) with the deepest part of the lake behind.
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