I have my laptop so I'm gonna attempt to do a quick wrap-up of the last 4.5 weeks.
- I am copying Hank's use of bullets
- I've travelled every weekend except the first. The second weekend I went to Alamosa, Co to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Third Week I went to Boulder and drove the Flatirons (a switchback highway up a mountain near Rocky Mountain National Park). Last week I went to Colorado Springs and went to the Garden of the Gods National Natural Monument (a grouping of bizarre rock formations).
- I also hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park and in Rocksbury. I saw Red Rocks. I saw Barack Obama speak in downtown Denver.
- I passed my basic Wild Fire physical test.
- My team leader is a Phillies fan and he is the man.
- We are headed to Biloxi, MS for our first round of spike. Seven of our ten team members will be doing construction while the other three will be working in a soup kitchen. Our bunkhouse has a dirt path that leads to the beach.
- We have been stationed in Denver for a week longer than everyone else to take classes on wild fire. It has been brutal and a waste of time. 8 to 5:30 everyday with only a half an hour break for lunch, learning about nozzles on hoses. It's all info we won't really be able to retain until we get in the field. On the plus side it has been like 80 degrees in Denver all week.
- We go into the field mid January. I'll most likely be stationed in Pikes Peak, by Colorado Springs. Apparently when there is a fire you work 24 to 36 hour shifts. I'm very excited for all of this.
- The Phillies won the World Series and I have only been able to see about 15 minutes of post-game coverage. I won't lie, it was depressing. Fox is one of the few stations we get here and they went to Obama's infomercial 15 minute after the Phillies won. I went to my room and felt like crying. I've waited my whole life for the Phillies to just be in the post season. I've payed ridiculous amounts of money for playoff tickets (Nineteen days pay at Americorps to be exact). I would honestly say that I shed a little inferiority complex last year when they made the playoffs. And then to watch them win it in a little room with three or four (perhaps a little fair-weather) Phillies fans was crappy. I realized that it is so much more than the team name that matters to me. It's the massive amounts of people that you share the championship with that counts. Whatever. When they repeat next year, Philly better go even more crazy than it did this year. None of this Redsox crap where they get a couple rings under their belt and people only pretend to care.
- I have four or five days off for Thanksgiving so I'm going on some type of adventure. I'm not sure where, but all signs point New Orleans right now.
- I ship out on Monday. We spend a couple days on the road in Texas. I'm very excited.
- There are some awesome people here. I thought this was going to be a group of idealistic morons, or people who get off telling other people about how much service they've done. There definitely are some of those, a lot of those maybe. Still, I have met some of the coolest, open minded, realistic people here. I'll see them sporadically throughout the year. I'll see some of them over my Thanksgiving break. But there are a lot of people I'll miss.
- I miss my friends and family from home. It's hard staying in contact because we are always so busy. It's also just an incredibly different experience and I feel like I'm in my own little world out here. I can't wait to see you all at winter break.
- I was Yoshii in a MarioKart for Halloween. It was fun.
- Shaved my head last week along with two of my friends. It feels good.
- I'm doing No Shave November along with all of the other males on my team. Forgot to shave beforehand so I already look like Adam Morrison.
- I spoke with Hank briefly and it sounds like his first round job is one of the best possible jobs. I'm really curious to see how it turns out. I'm hoping to cross his path at Thanksgiving or while traveling through Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment