Soreness

So, yesterday, Tuesday, 5:30 am was our PT (physical training) baseline test. It was cold, and the grass was wet, and very dark outside. These will be the regular conditions so we will all have to get used to it! Toughen up! We ran 1.5 miles, did as many situps and pushups as we could in 2 minutes and a sit an reach test. Here are the stats: run (13:35.00), situps (56), "girl" pushups (42), and 22 inches on the sit and reach. So, overall I think I did pretty well. Tomorrow morning is our first real PT day and we'll be put into groups based on our abilities. I'm excited! (Except I'm still ridiculously sore from the test. My pecs have seen better days...)

All day yesterday we had American Red Cross Disaster Training from 9 to 5. Let me tell you, I have never paid less attention in my life. It didn't help that we had all woken up at 5:15 that morning. I found myself zoning out for almost the entire last half of the class. But hey, at least I didn't fall asleep like some of my pod members! We discussed Mass Care and Shelter Operations. Basically, we learned the logistics for setting up shelters, feeding, and sleeping arrangements for "clients". Yes, in Red Cross land, a disaster victim is considered a "client". Um, euphemism? Anyone? But seriously, these are certifications necessary for disaster relief, and I got them!

Today, we had meetings starting at 9 am at the WFTC (Wildfire Training Center), about ten minutes away on the base. We had a nutrition presentation, a sexual harassment presentation, one about community relations, and the last about Camp Mendocino. Camp Mendocino is a summer camp for children that AmeriCorps NCCC has worked closely with for many many years. Once we are put into our permanent teams here, we will go there for 4 days to do work such as mending trails, painting cabins, building playgrounds, etc. It will be our first "mini-spike". (A SPIKE is what we call our off-campus, long-term projects.) I'm excited!

Then, tonight, in honor of one of our team member's (Thad's) nineteenth birthday, our team went out to Mongolian BBQ for dinner. I haven't laughed so hard in awhile. Tears were coming from my eyes. I love my team! I'm going to miss them when we all are broken up and put into permanent teams : ( Boo. Then I had to be van "safety". A requirement to back up our gigantic AmeriCorps passenger vans, is to have a "safety" to help back it up. Yes, I put on a reflective orange vest and used special hand signals in back of the van, in the middle of the parking lot to help the driver see where he was going. I think I did an OK job. And by OK I mean, the van didn't hit anything. My whole team was applauding when I climbed back into the van. It was pretty ridiculous! Never had to do such a thing before.

It's time to call Dan :) and head to sleep. PT at 5:30 am tomorrow!

<3 anne