My expedition with Americorps NCCC: January 2010

Isn't it so close now? Seven days... I tell ya what, these seven days are going to be long! I have so much to get ready for. In the last week I have been getting myself ready physically. I have been running 3+ miles at a mile high with hills in the desert every day. I also been training myself to go to sleep earlier to prepare my biological clock to go back to the eastern time zone. (Which reminds me, I'll leave some photos to show you where I've been staying the last five weeks.) Preparing myself to go to sleep is probably the most difficult thing to do, because I feel I should be out having a good time before my dedication. I've been doing my brainstorming this week on how/what to bring with me, Space is precious in this case. I looked at these space bags at Walmart. I think I might go out and get one. I finally have all my forms gathered and ready to be put in my carry-on. It is such a relief to finally get all the forms here. I live 1,745 miles away from where I'm at. So I had to have my mother either fax everything to me or mail here. The driving record is really tedious. I had to write a letter saying she has permission with s.s. numbers and every identification number you possess you can think of. Then fax them obviously. I also finally received my flight itinerary Thursday! I was ecstatic... I've been sort of getting ready to prepare myself. To prepare myself for the world.

The house that I've been staying at the last five weeks just outside of Albuquerque.

A small portion of an Albuquerque view from on the side of the mesa.

A view from three quarters the way up from the Manzano mountains right behind the house.

Now I've done a lot of things fun this week. I have been primarily relaxing besides what I told you above. Monday, I went and got my haircut which was much needed. They always say my hair is a nightmare because of colics and how thick it is. They referred to it as a "jungle" this time. I was thinking "huh, is it really that bad?" Then Andrew and I picked Molly up from school and went out for lunch. I saw "The Book Of Eli" with my brother Tuesday. I thought it was pretty good, but I'm not picky with movies. I'm easily entertained, give me a penny or a shoe lace, I swear, that's a full days occupied A.D.D mind for me. You would make my day... trust me. I usually like to be more active than I have been, but I don't want to do anything that would result in a costly injury. Wednesday, Molly and I practiced our driving. for me, the Americorps driving test to drive the government vehicles. I have most of it down good, mostly just a refresher on parallel parking and small things like hand over hand steering. We discovered some pretty cool subdivisions that we had no idea existed up on the west mesa. Thursday and Friday I took time to relax and do more preparation. Like running and such. Saturday, we went to this festival in Belen called Mantanza. It had a pretty cool atmosphere, live mariachi music, gooood Hispanic food and pig head scarecrows. The left over pig heads from the pigs they roast are put on a scarecrows body. Thought it was an interesting idea. After we left that we took a good ole trip into Walmart. After Walmart we went over to Zanes and Andreas. We chilled their for about a good hour. Back to walmart we went, but wait, a DIFFERENT walmart. Michiganders, be thankful you have Meijer. I miss it dearly. After Walmart we picked up Molly from great clips and guess what?!?! She had to pick something at a place... You guessed it, Walmart. After Walmart we headed to the Casino and Resort called isleta to go swimming. If you want to see an amazing pool, come here. Half indoors, half outdoors with a hot tub and the water is warm all around. We met Amanda, Frank, Jackson, Alisa, Louie, Chad, Kayla and Jazmin there. It was a good time. Sunday, Back to running, but I also hung out a little at night, which was nice.

I think I will do a good job this week preparing myself for the world. I have a lot ahead of me before I depart, this week I will make two or three more posts because its so important to learn from. Also it's kind of like a season premier! you always have to have a two hour special. I will leave you with my itinerary. I will see ya around again in a couple of days!

United:

Flight#648
Albuquerque International Airport (ABQ) Monday - February 8 - 6:25 am
Arrives: Denver International Airport (DEN) Monday - February 8 - 7:51 am

Flight#752
Denver International Airport (DEN) Monday - February 8 - 8:27 am
Arrives: Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) Monday - February 8 - 1:45 pm

16 days! I'm sitting here all relaxed on the outside, but inside anxious, nervous and just flat out excited for my expedition that lies ahead of me. February 8th 2010 couldn't crawl any slower... I'm sure we all had these feelings before. I feel as if I'm sprinting towards the finish line. I'm moving so fast, but its all moving in slow motion and feels it will never end. This chapter of my life has been ending for a long time it seems. Now its just leading into the next chapter. A preview if you will.

I will be moving to Perry Point, Maryland for 10 months for Americorps NCCC Winter 2010 term. I just turned in my travel info and such the other day. Finally, the last of the long grueling application process.
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I made this first blog just for an introduction, so I won't get into too much detail. I will try to make a post with pictures at least once every week. I'm sure there will be times where I may not have a chance because of work and such so just bare with me in those times. I will be honest. I won't pretend to be someone I'm not in my blogs. I won't use words I don't normally use. I probably won't have the best writing structures because I will write this as if I'm talking. I will be myself in my posts so my attitude or lingo may change. Which means I may change.

I will probably change things with the page yet because I'm still trying to figure things out. Okay, I will make my first actual post probably in one week.

This is where I live, Michigan