Permanent Teams!

Oh man. There is so much to catch up on. Let's see...Monday I attended a Shelter Simulation workshop where we learned how to prepare for/deal with a variety of problematic scenarios that are bound to arise when running a disaster shelter. Then we all learned how to properly inspect and care for our vans by doing things like check the oil, change a tire, and attach snow chains. I also played a soccer game! It was so fun! A bit dangerous since nobody was wearing cleats and there was still patches of snow on the ground and we played until it got so dark we could no longer see the ball...but still very fun.

Tuesday was spent learning First Aid. We watched several cheesy, ridiculous videos, listened to a screechy, fast-talking, slightly insane woman, practiced CPR on dummies, bandaged eachother up, and took a test to make sure we remembered it all. I am now oficially certified in CPR and First Aid! Hopefully I will never have to use either one...
After that we had another epic soccer game and then after dinner I went to a belly dancing class taught by a fellow CM (Corps Member) which was something different and fun to do.

On Wednesday, we had a full day of Diversity training, which was definitely one of the better trainings. The speakers were both very good and they had plenty of activities/exercises to keep us engaged.

Yesterday, we spent all day hanging out with our Unit. We went bowling for two hours and then headed to this really big park to basically do whatever we wanted. Some people took naps, read, played card games, etc. I spent just about the whole time there playing my first ever game of Ultimate Frisbee. It was extremely fun. I can't wait to play again. Then we came back to campus to find out what our permanent teams were going to look like. We were all sent on a scavenger hunt with different clues. Each clue lead to a location where there was, presumably, a TL (Team Leader) hidden under a blanket or a big sweatshirt and wearing a really creepy mask along with a staff member to hand out more clues. After 5 clues, and 5 team leaders, we were told by the staff member to wait at the location with what we all assumed was our final team. After waiting for quite some time for a phone call, the staff member gave the OK and the TL popped out of her disquise and yelled, "This is it!" causing us all to give a little cheer, followed by, "I have your final clue!" which lead to sighing and groaning. She handed us a clue to one of the locations we had already visited. We all ran our seperate ways. When I got to my location, I found Terrence, one of the TLs, sitting with his disquise off. After everyone filed in, he announced that this was our final team! I'm not sure everyone really believed him at first. We were all waiting to be tricked again, but he was actually telling the truth. I have to admit, I was disappointed at first. There were some people I really bonded with that I was hoping to get on my team that I did not, but my team is filled with great people that I can't wait to get to know better. Plus Terrence is awesome. I have never seen anyone laugh at their own jokes as much as him.

We had a little team meeting where we were told what our first project is going to be. We are traveling to Wickes, Arkansas to do a little Trail Building. Just so you know, Wickes is a town of 120 people! We will be living in trailers about 20 minutes away from everything...should be quite a change. At the meeting we also picked our team roles, like Yearbook Representative, who is responsible for documenting our experiences with endless pictures, or Media Representative, who is responsible for talking to the media. I chose to be the PT Coordinator, who is responsible for, you guessed it, coordinating PT for the team. 45 minutes a day. 3 days a week. For those of you who forgot, PT stands for Physical Training. Should be fun.

So this morning I went to a brief meeting where we just talked about the requirements of the position and discussed different ideas for PT. Then we went outside and did lots of sit-ups, push-ups, squat thrusts, and jumping jacks. Not sure why exactly, but whatever.

I'm pretty much free the rest of the day. While everybody else is going to their different position meetings, I plan to accomplish some high quality relaxing.

So that's what has happened lately! Quite a bit to take in.
I think I will try to digest it all with some junk food and Desperate Housewives.