My expedition with Americorps NCCC: Last week of pure training

So Thursday was a long day and emotional day for everyone in the raven unit. We started the day off at 300 oclock in the morning to the sound of groaning. I was having a dream about panguins when they just started making this groaning sound. Before I know it, our newest addition or the rookie to our dorm room, Corry pain AKA the pain train, was throwing up all over his bed. Victor and I tried to help him out with the assistance of Jay. After an hour and a half of that we finally got back to sleep. Just four hours later we are awake and ready for our long day at Minker hall for our diverstity training that was scheduled from 9 to 6. We had some really cool activities, but also the big activity that is just like one big intervention. Its called the privilege walk. It lasted like three hours, but the first part lasted only about ten minutes. The last two and ahalf hours was emotionally draining for everyone. Everyone sat in a circle and one by one shared the most deepest darkest secrets if they wanted to or something that has been on their chest for a very long time. I don’t think I will every experience anything ever like it again. Just cannot describe what it meant.. Just very pure. Afterwards, Beth and I went into the regional campus office building to pick up my new bank info, I was so excited. Anyways, it was my first pay check and very happy for it. Had a great dinner with the team, baked beans, cornbread, bbq chicken, stir fry, stringed beans and tofu. Anyways, tomorrow I have the pack test at 7. Hope I do well.

So I was all pumped this morning ready for the pack test. I was all into the jumping thing with head phones. By the time we got to the b15 building, we had about an hour to kill before my heat was sent to the firefighting briefing. After the briefing, we got ready for the race. Its three miles with a 45 pound pack on your back. You have to complete it in 45 minutes or less and you cannot run. So I was off and I started out good but I struggled to find a pace for my speed walk. About half way I finally got the rhythm going good. I finished with 38 minutes. So I guess I did pretty good. I was happy. Afterwards I took about an hour nap then just chilled with Jesse in the room. Later that night we met Victor and Mercedes at the wolves den to go get pizza at this authentic pizza place in town. DELICIOUS! Later that night I just chilled with Mark and Jessica till I was too tiired to even think. But it was a good day.

Sunday, The day of rest. I finally got the chance to sleep in past 8 for the first time. Around noonish Jesse, Victor and myself decide to take a stroll to the library. We met up with someone we knew and he told us it was closed. Instead we decided to get a snack at a local restaurant. I just had fries and whatever. A couple of rounds of shuffle board and pool helped pass the time before I had to be back for my team gathering. We saw a sick rock band play there, the two guitarists were awesome. Later my team went bowling somewhere in delaware. We had a good time, I played like crap though. We had pizza and decorated our team shirts. We then left withour new shirts and went to play apples to apples in the dinning area for about an hour then went to sleep. Gotta get up early for pt in the morning 5 am..

Monday, probably the most strange day this week. We did an hour of PT starting at six then Curtis and myself made a ton of scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we had class down at the theater for a bunch of different things. First was just a debriefing from the head of the regional staff, then corps life briefings. We then had a two hour break before we had to be back down their. We then listened to a lecture about drugs and alcohol for two hours. I thought this was pretty entertaining personally. Afterwards we had our roll fair for our permanent teams. Finally the selection for the firefighting was made. I personally thought I wouldn’t make it but guess what? I DID! I was in shock. Afterwards I felt really bad for the people that didn’t make it. I thought some people really really deserved a spot. Anyways after cleaning we had burritos for dinner. Then I played the game ten phases for three hours.

Tuesday was a different day. Much like everyday. Just very different. I had drivers training today! Yay! Its not like what you think. We basically went over the regulations with what Americorps has as rules. For an example, every driver must log in when they drive and log out. It was held in the badgers kitchen. Such a strange place for training. I think it was a good training to keep us entertained. It definitely wasn’t very boring. After the 9-4 training we went to Walmart. I have a feeling I had a good recovery since going their everyday in New Mexico. After Walmart we went to the YMCA in a nearby city. Rachael, John and myself went in the pool for the hour we were their. Just felt amazing. Took all the soreness away. Afterwards, when we got back, Curtis and myself scrambled to make a good dinner. We ended up making a great stir fry. Beth had us do a little bit of hunting to find out our minnie spike. At the end, we discovered we are going Denton Maryland. I’m more than excited for this. We will find out more about this tomorrow. All I know is we will be painting out houses for girl scout camps. Also Denton is in easern Maryland. Gotta get up at 5 for pt tomorrow goodnight!

Today, Wednesday, We had PT this morning, It wasn’t as intense as the ones we had before so it wasn’t too bad. After PT we had a Conflict Resolution class till noon. It was somewhat interesting. Just picture peer counseling jammed into a three hour time period. We then had an hour break before we had our first mini spike briefing. We are going to Denton Maryland, Which is on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay. Its kind of lower bay area. We will be staying at a lodge with several bedrooms and bathrooms. It will also have a full kitchen. We will be doing various jobs such as painting and pulling weeds. After the briefing we had a formal team meeting at B15. We just talked about team building fundamentals. Later on we had dinner and beth made some amazing veggie ravioly pasta. Later, Some of my friends and myself went to the wolves den just to use the wifi. It was a great feeling. We took the bay road there which has just been opened for the first time since the snow melted. Came back about an hour later and have to get up at five am again for pt on Thursday.

Thursday started off with the exact same PT session we had the day before except with the wolves. After PT we had 30 minutes to get ready to go to the heat center in Aberdeen for CPR and first aid training. I really liked all the training we did. I thought it was very useful. Afterwards I went and ran three miles then made it back just in time for dinner which was very awesome veggie meatloaf. Not exactly sure how it is possible but it was amazing. We then went to Bel Air to play laser tag against Wolf 5. We Didn’t win, just throwing it out there that we were outnumbered by 5 people. When we got back I chilled with some pepes in the dinning room and with Kareem and Diana in the Day room.

So on Friday I got to skip PT because I had to go to tool training in the morning at some place in the hills outside somewhere near the Pennsylvania border. I thought it was pretty cool. Most of the lecture was just safety common sense. After this we headed back to Perry Point and Shawn, Jon and myself just chilled at the Canine which is a restaurant on the other side of the hospital. We then headed over to b15 at regional headquarters and met the campus counselor for corps life class. I thought It was interesting on how it went. It sort of reminded me of Peer counseling. We did a couple of ice breakers. Afterwards, Curtis and myself took our road test with Beth. I felt reallly comfortable behind the wheel of an eleven passenger government van. Just was a little hard for feeling because I was in uniform with my steel toe road mate boots.. I passed with flying colors apparently. I then went for a quick three mile run then had BlTs with Jon and Steve. I cleaned shortly afterwards then played Phase ten with Danielle, RD, Victor, Mike and Ambrosia. I had to leave early because it was getting late and I had to sleep because I have fire fighting PT early in the morning.