Sorry guys. We're having 17 hour days here, starting at 5:30am physical training...very hard to find time to drive off campus for internet. doing great, kinda stressed, but i know i'm in the right place. first project next week is in a state park updating a girl scout camp and restoring some hiking trails...more later!
oh yeah, here's an update i wrote last week during all the snowing:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
We’ve been here for 3 days now, though it feels like weeks. I adjusted really really well, even better than I could have hoped for. I sleep just fine, I made friends within minutes of getting here, I don’t have those pangs of nervousness…
It’s so nice to be with a group of adults who are here because they want to be here. The majority of my friends are 23 or around there, with a few mature 18 and 19 year olds. I can have adult conversations with these people, discussing college and life after college and our experiences and plans for the future. It’s frustrating because many of them can just as easily slip into talking about how much they can drink and all the crazy partying they’ve done, but it’s manageable. I don’t understand why drinking is such a huge deal. We’ve gone over rules for it so many times already, as if people need it for survival. It’s like their main concern, of when and where they’re allowed to drink. Anyway…
I’m impressed with the younger ones here. This is a completely different experience for them. Many are just out of high school and this is the first time they’ve been away from home or their first airplane ride. I don’t know if I could have done this when I was 18.
We haven’t been able to do much of anything here, because we’re having the biggest snowstorm(s) in decades. I believe this is the most snow Baltimore has ever gotten. Back in Ohio, school has been closed forever. Maryland and Delaware and several states around us are still in a state of emergency, with the National Guard trying to help. I can honestly say this is the most snow I’ve ever seen at once, and it’s the fastest I’ve ever seen it come. It’s not only impossible to drive anywhere, but it’s dangerous to even go outside. It’s blizzard conditions. We wanted to make a Wal-Mart run yesterday afternoon before the storm hit, but due to things not being organized, our team leader wouldn’t let us go because he thought we might need to do something else. So we sat in our rooms the whole afternoon doing nothing, and then it was too late to go. So I have no laundry detergent and various other things. But it’s not that big a deal. I learned immediately that you have to be flexible here, and a big part of the job is just being patient. It’s easy to feel upset because we should be out there helping people, but it’s very hard to corral 240 people, and we don’t have the proper training yet. And when we do get that training, we will be efficient working machines and we will do a lot of good. I just have to accept that that’s the way things go in a program this large…especially a government program. So anyway, lots of people who are supposed to be here can’t get here, and we’re just stuck waiting around. We’ve done some in-processing and cleaning and team bonding, but no work and no classes. It’s nice to have the down time, but I really need to work.
Tonight I started scrubbing out the communal showers for something to do. There are plenty of things in this building that don’t work or are forever under construction, and there are very few working showers for the girls on the first floor. Nobody wanted to use the communal showers because there were tools all over the place and barely any shower curtains. I decided I would shower in there, which was kind of funny because a crowd of girls followed me there and was just amazed, as if I were entering a war zone. They all wanted me to report back to them on how it was. It was totally fine, and I decided I would clean the place up myself, hopefully get some help from other girls. I mean hey, if we can’t do a little bit of fixing up in our own bathroom, what are we even doing in this program? So I spent an hour or so scouring the floors and putting some floor mats together, but it’s going to take longer than I thought. The drain doesn’t work very well, and there’s a lot of standing water that doesn’t even reach the drain. Then the walls need to be scoured, the few curtains washed, and more put up. But I’m kind of proud; it’s like my own little project, and I know the girls will be happy to have three more showers.
I actually like our uniforms. Tomorrow we will finally start wearing them, and then I won’t have to worry about what to wear anymore. This is definitely like the army; there are a lot of rules and they are strictly enforced, down to things like not wearing a hat inside a building, wearing a belt at all times, you can’t wear your uniform to go grocery shopping…many of our leaders are ex-military, and they are very strict about how we represent ourselves and the government. I like it!!! It makes us take things more seriously. And honestly, giving in to these rules is not a big sacrifice AT ALL. It’s really quite easy, and it’s also easy to live on a very limited budget, and portion meals, and shower in the not nicest of conditions, and share a room with 7 other girls, and not really watch any television, and not have any internet…there are so many things you can do without. Granted, I kinda wish I had some of those things, but it’s really not bothering or stressing me that I don’t have them. Some of the others are having trouble, but I don’t think anyone here is going nuts about it, because we’re a bit more mature and we know what we signed up for.
I feel so at home here, probably because with all the snow I still feel like I’m in Ohio. It’s beautiful here. I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead. It will be some long and tedious training, and I think when we get close to time for our first spike, I will be a little nervous. But I truly feel like an adult now. I’m making my own decisions, I’m old enough and capable enough to be a leader and help others…I’m really leading my own life, without feeling the need to tell mom and dad everything to see if I’m doing things right or seeking their approval (although I still love to call and tell them everything anyway when I can!). I seem to be one of the only ones here who isn’t homesick or just having trouble being here…
One frustrating thing is that while we’re stuck here on campus, there are disaster emergencies all around us. In Delaware there are thousands of people without power, and a handful of the leaders that are supposed to be here are actually running shelters and helping out in Delaware. This typed of stuff is exactly what this program is for; states declare emergencies, and we come to help. But we can’t do anything! We have no training yet and probably wouldn’t be able to get there anyway. Kinda sad…
There are a whole lot of other things I could talk about, like the people I’ve met or grocery shopping or what the campus looks like, but I just don’t have time for all the details. I need to sleep! In summation: I’m doing well, have adjusted well, we are not doing much now because of snow but will begin training soon….this is my new life!
