AmeriCorps the cool way, serving my way through the west coast: December 2015

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! :)

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.