The one where we say goodbye to trail work and the desert

Yo from Sacramento! (That wasn't meant to rhyme but it is a pleasant surprise) Blue 5 has said goodbye to Pioneertown, CA and we are back on campus with all of the other AmeriCorps teams. What we are going to be doing this week is debriefing and basically wrapping up all of the paperwork and stuff from our first projects. Honestly, I'm not super stoked to be back. I miss Pioneertown, the desert, and the people like crazy. Our last week went really well and I think we wrapped up our time well! Here's how the week went!!

On Sunday, we had our Christmas party. I was lame and didn't take many pictures but we all we decked out in our Christmas swag and did our cute little secret santa gift exchange ( shout out to Amadi, my secret santa!!) We also decorated cookies and played games. I basically told you all about this to brag about how adorable and cool my team is.

Our adorable tiny Christmas tree

We ended trail work with a bang! Blue 5, built over 30 check steps, I wanna say 7 rock staircases, a lot of water bars, and we lopped many miles. Yeah I know those numbers aren't completely accurate and it's just a guess. I personally loved trail work and rock work. I liked getting stronger and I liked the challenge behind it.

My teammates Page, Ben and oe of project sponsors, Tyler, and I with the last check step we made at the Pioneertown Mountains Preserve

 The whole team with our project sponsors on our last day.

So we are back in Sacramento, and it is so weird being around so many people but I am sure we will get used to it again. I am looking forward to Christmas break starting on Thursday. 7 people on my team will be staying in Sacramento including me so I am excited to get to spend the holiday and turn up Christmas style. Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others!

Last note: I doubt they will see this but shout out to Lucas Wilgers and Tyler Green for being awesome and coming out and working on the trail with us every day!! Even though I was sassy, I really do love and miss you guys!! Basically the best project sponsors in the world even though you are losers!! Peace out!

*This is not an official AmeriCorps blog, all opinions are my own! :)

The one where it snows in the desert

Greetings from Pioneertown everyone!! Sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks but we don't have signal at the house and when I actually have internet I have so many other things I need to do.... also, I'm lazy. Well the past couple of weeks in the desert trail working world have been so tiring but they have been so great and we are starting the home stretch. This week is going to be our last week here and I am actually pretty sad about it. We also know where our next project is but I'm not telling you until the end so no cheating!! This is how the past couple of weeks have been.

Surprise!! I actually am loving trail work and rock work which definitely which came as a shock. I am no pro but I can feel like I am improving (and our whole team is) and I guess I kinda know what I am talking about. Definitely still get confused a lot but what is new. We leave for work around 7:30 in the morning, hike 2 and a half hours to our work site, do rock work all day and then hike 2 and a half miles back. My body is exhausted but also I could probably take the hulk on in a fight now (not really) the hike is really enjoyable to me and for some reason I like pushing heavy rocks around all day.  

one of our project sponsers, Lucas, thought it would be funny to take a selfie when we were taking a lunchtime nap.

On Thanksgiving I was really happy with my team. We all decided that we wanted to spend our day helping others by serving at a Thanksgiving dinner that served food to the needy. I was so excited that everyone decided to do this together. Not only did we help others, but we had fun doing it to. (that sounds really cheesy but what can you do about it) We had our own Thanksgiving dinner the day after and even though we ate off of a volunteer budget and we were on the floor and on top of that we had plastic plates, the food turned out delicious and we had a great time. I'm not going to be sappy and tell you how grateful I am for these losers and how they made my first Thanksgiving away from home great so I will just post pictures.

We've had some good times together, whether it's going to Joshua Tree National Park or the hot springs it's been a pleasure to be here in Pioneertown and I'm actually going to miss it so I plan on making the most out of my last week here. Before I leave you guys with le pictures, I guess I can tell you where/what Blue 5's next project is. We are going to.........................................................................SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA. Yep we are staying in Sacramento for our second round project. On top of that we are doing taxes for people with low income. At first, I did not have the best attitude about this project. I was kinda bummed to find out that I am staying in Sac town. I also feel very under qualified to do people's taxes but thinking about it, things are starting to look up. We don't have to all cramp into a 12p van (if you have ever been a sardine in a previous life you know how it feels) for a ten hour drive. I GET A BED!! Also the campus is big and spacious and for the most part Blue 5 will have it to ourselves. Also, we are going to be trained to do taxes so I am looking forward to being able to help people. Next time you see me I will be back at home base in Sacramento getting ready for my 2 week Christmas break. Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others.

 Joshua Tree National Park

                                    
                                                         Joshua Tree National Park pt 2

 Desert Hotsprings

 Page and I at the Yucca Valley Christmas Tree lighting

Um literally the best office I have ever had

Volunteering at the Yucca Valley Light Parade

The one where I crush rocks and dominate the trail

HELLO FROM PIONEERTOWN, CALIFORNIA!! I live in the middle of nowhere in the desert and I literally have no kind of signal so that's why I have been MIA for a couple of weeks. I have lived here in Pioneertown for two weeks now working on trails at the Pioneertown Mountains Preserve and I am so tired, I am always dirty, I have scratches and bruises all over my body..... and yet here I am loving it. Here's how it's gone so far

Blue 5 and the rest of the class 22 AmeriCorps members have been officially inducted as AmeriCorps members. We got a special ceremony and everything because we are so swaggy and WE SURVIVED TRAINING PRAISE HALLELUJAH

After we packed our bags and said our goodbyes to friends from other teams, we got in our van and truck that carried our tools and made our way to good 'ol Pioneertown. We were shocked to see our house and find out that it is way more bigger than expected and we met our project sponsers who are all fantastic.

                               Our lovely team home (picture stolen from my teammate Ben)

       My humble "bed" for the next month. Trail work is so tiring that I will sleep well on anything.
The work, like I have already mentioned a lot, has been enjoyable. I really like having the outdoors as my office and I love working with my team and my awesome sponsors. It is taking some getting used to living with 11 other people and being with them 24/7 literally but I wouldn't want to do it with anybody else. I am going to leave you with some pictures of the beautiful place where we are living/ working. Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others.

                                                We hiked up a mountain!!! (Sorry Page)

   Sheila, Lux, and I with one of our project sponsers, Lucas. standing on our first rock step we made!

Corban, Lucas, and I getting ready to lop (sp?) the trails. We hiked the trail and cut off things that were in the way.
*This is not an official AmeriCorps NCCC blog, all opinions are my own :)

The one where I am one with the trees

Sorry this blog is a little delayed it has been a busy busy bee week. But also it has been the best week of all of the weeks! We finally got to stray from campus and be in nature and be awesome. Here's how the week went.

Camp Lodestar!! We went on our very first mini spike as a team(spike is a project when we go away from campus) The drive was about two hours and it was just lovely I say. I was so excited when we got to the camp because it was in the mountains and we were surrounded by giant trees (well they are giant if you are from Kansas)

The first night was a lot of fun. Not only did I get to spend time with my team, but the whole blue unit (blue teams 1-7) had a great time doing skits, playing games, and walking to an open field to "stargaze" even though there we not any stars out.

                                                                       "Stargazing"

The one where I really love naps

HELLO MY LOVELIES!!! Week two of AmeriCorps NCCC has been super swaggy!! So my team has found out where we are going for our first spike (project) buuuuuut I'm mean and I'm not going to tell you until the end of this post. Don't be a poop and skip to the end either! This is how the week went

TRAINING!! I feel like training has been lasting a lifetime but it's all important stuff and we gotta learn it so we shall prevail. We've had training in so many different subjects it's been crazy to keep up. There's been stuff with diversity training, outreach and social media, and even training to drive a 15p van (which I am one on my team that is doing so and it's the only thing I am not Hello beautiful people!!! I finally have an address in case any of you swagsters wanna send me letters and stuff!! PLEASE DO!!!

     I don't take pictures during training, but we do take some pretty great selfies during our breaks!!

Blue 5 gets into some pretty crazy shenanigans and we had some good times this week. Every night two members of the team make a dinner for everyone and we have our cute little team dinners. It's just the cutest thing and I love it. Also everyone on the team (present company excluded) are really good cooks so shout out to them for that.

                                            Seriously though, aren't we just the greatest???
We had the day off on Wednesday, so obviously we went to the mall. Also shout out to myself because I did not buy ANYTHING.... except food but priorities. We then went to go DOMINATE laser tag against another team(blue 4) So you could basically say that blue 5 is the alpha team on campus.

                                                              Our competitors(blue 4)
So yeah we've just been hanging out and having a good time. We will go and do anything together. Even cheer on our team leader when he SLAYS it at the talent show.

    Yesterday was blue 5's first day serving together. It was National make a difference day and we spent it at Martin Luther King Junior community garden. We did a lot of weeding and stuff. We totally KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK!!! It was a good preview of how great we will work together all year.

                                                                          Before

                                                                             After

                                                                      We look so BA
Oh and I know I promised you a picture of the whole team and I don't break promises....................

This is my awesome team and I'm sure you will hear about each and every one of them multiple times and I'm not even sorry about it.
Okay so now the moment you have been waiting for. My team is being sent to..... PIONEERTOWN CALIFORNIA!!! I am super pumped about it! It is about 8 hours from where we are now. We are going to be doing trail work and I seriously couldn't be more excited. Pioneertown is in Southern California and we will be in the desert. It's going to be CRAZY beautiful. Here is the link of the place we will be working so read it and get excited for me.http://www.wildlandsconservancy.org/preserve_pioneertown.html
And here are some pictures of some of the national parks that are close by that we will be visiting

Joshua Tree: taken from http://www.thewondermap.com/adventure-trips-california-national-parks/

San Bernadino taken from https://foursquare.com/v/san-bernadino-national-forest/4c37b02d2c8020a105838900
Here I will leave you a picture from Pioneertown which is going to be my new home next month for a month and a half!

                                          Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others!!

                                           

The one where I am in the right place

HERE I AM IN SUNNY SACRAMENTO!! Except it's really not that sunny today but it's a welcome change. So I have survived my first 4 days in AmeriCorps NCCC and I am LOVING it!! I can already feel positive changes in my life happening.... here's how it went!!

Wednesday Oct 14th

The day that everyone partly dreads and partly wants to pee their pants from excitement from. The day we all fly out to start a new adventure. I, of course, forced my brothers to come with me and my mom to the airport at 3:00 in the morning... my last act of torture on them.

I got to the Dallas Fort Worth airport and met the first of my Amerifriends at the airport. We all hit it off right away and were chatting and laughing like we have been friends for years. At that moment my nerves vanished and was replaced with straight up excitement! Shout out to all of my Dallas airport friends!!

                                                                      Lake Tahoe!!

Once we landed in Sacramento (which is definitely more flatter than I pictured it but it's no Kansas) the rest of the day was spent doing paper work, settling in my dorm with my awesome roomates, and meeting all of the amazing people that I have been waiting to meet.

Thursday Oct 15th

Today is the day that I have been waiting months for... MET MY SWAGGY TEAM!! We are blue 5 and I couldn't be happier with my team. We are crazy as heck but it's so great. Luckily we have a team leader who is super patient with us. Besides that we mainly did more in processing and shots and stuff. Shout out to my team mate Sheila who held my hand while I got my shots. I don't have a picture of my whole team yet but you all better look forward to it to be posted because we are SEXY!

                 We got our uniforms today... basically my ootd for the next 10 months so holla.

Friday/Saturday Oct 16/17th

Our first days of CTI (corps training institute) the stuff that somebody with a cray cray mind like myself usually has a hard time with but I know it's very important so I have been doing a pretty good job at paying attention. I'm sure you all don't want me to get into super details about that so yay pictures.

                                     When  you have breaks in training, it's time for selfies.

It was our team leader's birthday so we "surprised" him with balloons and party hats.... except he saw us with giant bags of balloons soooo he wasn't surprised.

Not all of Blue five but most of us!!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to serve others!!