Learning to live... with you.

We've had about one full week here in the Shenandoah Valley. The snow has kept us home today, but we're still working on AmeriCorps requirements and reviewing our training notes from the office. And blogging, because why not? 

Just for fun: we live with 9 people in 1 house. Here's our "pantry" that lasts us for one week. It doesn't last longer than that!

The past week has been a whole new world. Denver was populated, we were separated from each other, we were mixed with other teams. We didn't hang out in the same room every night and we weren't together ALL. THE. TIME. The worst part? We didn't get to know each other. 

At the beginning, we did light team bonding activities that didn't go over well and received low responses. We had team meetings to review updates and information, and then we were on our way. We got to Denver, and everyone worked in different areas. We only ate together 3 times each week, and our Team PT usually involved other teams so we could have bigger games. Having other teams to be around in Denver was great for our social lives, but it was highly toxic to my team's morale. Did I love it? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? Probably. 

I'm not usually the first to admit my faults, but I know I could have done more to bring my team together. However, it would have felt forced and unnatural and I hate to be "that guy" who is always forcing people into activities that they hate. I don't really like to be the asshole, although as a Team Leader it kind of happens a lot.

Being here in the Shenandoah Valley is a different experience for us. We all live in one building, TOGETHER! We cook TOGETHER and eat TOGETHER and work out TOGETHER. The girls share a room, the guys share a room, and I have my own room (one of the TL perks. It usually doesn't happen so I'm enjoying it while it lasts). We have space for meetings and games. We have a game table! It's full of things for us to do together. It's pretty awesome, all of this "togetherness."

I should probably get to the point of this post. The togetherness is killing us. We're just not very good at it. I'm not good at it - I'm an introvert. I'm trying and pushing myself (quite far) to develop my extraverted side. But there are 8 other people who function quite differently than I do, and differently from each other (only two people are the same on their Myers-Briggs test, the rest of us are different!). So I am running a series of Team Workshops to help us learn how we all function. Our first one was Myers-Briggs. While it may not be 100% accurate, it helps us get the general idea that people function differently and have different social needs. If we remember that other people are introverted or extraverted, or that people have stronger feelings or need step-by-step directions or a fully planned out daily schedule, we open ourselves to be accepting of other styles and remember that we each might need to stretch to find a middle ground. For this workshop, we went through each trait and split into groups, and wrote a list of 5 things that will help the opposite work with us, what we need from them, and what about us that we want them to understand. The feedback from the team was really positive, and I hope that we'll continue on a positive path.

A common subject brought up by all members is positivity. They want each other to be more positive, but there are still a lot of bad attitudes floating around, and we are all guilty. Negativity is contagious and misery loves company, but positivity is contagious too. This week we are going to move in to attitudes and moods, and hopefully it generates constructive discussion. I've talked to a few team members about this already, and I'm still receiving input, but so far we've decided that we are going to approach topics from "Can I talk to you before you have your coffee?" to "When you're down, what can I do to lift you back up?" If you had asked me about these conversations before joining AmeriCorps, I would have told you that conversations like this are "bullsh*t" and "unimportant" and that "they don't matter" but honestly, it helps people live in a team environment together. When I think of living with people, I think of family. I've always struggled with roommates, and I lived by myself for my last year of college. Other than that, it's been immediate family. My parents have known me for my entire life. They don't need to ask me what they can do for me if I'm down, they already know. My sisters know when I'm grumpy before I do. The only other person I would picture living with would be a spouse, and not that I have any experience, but I would imagine that those are the kind of relationships where you already know a lot about that person and are willing to compromise. The people you've lived with for your whole life are those who you have been able to mold from, and you have molded them in ways too.  Its is a very different feeling from being thrown into a house with 9 very different people from very different places. You have to learn new things and ways of interacting, and learn how to live with them, because this isn't your childhood home anymore. The little things are usually the things that matter the most, because of perception. Everyone perceives differently, and an issue that seems minuscule to one person is likely a grenade to someone else.

My biggest hope for this round is that we all learn to live together, have fun together, and be open with each other. I feel terrifyingly like my parents when I say this, but the biggest Team Goal I have for Round 2 is one day, just ONE DAY out of our two and a half months, that everyone is pleasant, no one fights, and we all just get along.

I can hear my dad right now in my head, "Good luck, Kid."

Long overdue... and a piece on diversity.

I keep telling myself that I need to update this blog, but then I tell myself that it can wait, and other things need to get done first. 

Today, nothing needs to get done first. I am in a beautiful little coffee shop in an old part of some town in Virginia (That's probably the most I can tell you). It is the exact same shape and size as a perfect little wine bar that a few Team Leaders and I discovered during our last weekend in Denver, and is just as cozy. I think I'm gonna like it here.

After departing Denver on December 17, we went back to campus in Vicksburg for a couple days, cleaning up and helping in the supply room and unpacking and repacking our belongings for our trips home for Winter Break. I was too far past exhausted and a million kinds of overwhelmed to even consider opening up my laptop, let along writing an entire blog post to summarize Round 1. Over Winter Break, I was much happier sitting with my family and cooking real food and playing with my nephews to want to be on my computer much at all. The time I spent with my family over break was what recharged me and what helped me regain enough strength to return. The thought of not returning didn't cross my mind, but I definitely needed that two-week recovery period before returning to the program.

Round 1 sucked the life out of me. I loved it, because between through every trial and all of the tears, lessons, and difficult days there were the amazing days and the fun times, a thousand laughs, and a recurring sense of accomplishment. Ups and downs are exhausting. It's like running up and down hills for 2 and a half months. No matter how happy it makes you, and how well you do, how many breaks you take, you're going to feel tired at the end of it. I am endlessly grateful for the opportunities I've had, the people I've met, and the team that I have. I've learned so much about myself and other people, and I am currently learning how to better myself and bring the best out in me so that in Round 2, I can bring out the best in others. It's not easy, but I can do this. I am practicing how I can work with each individual on my team and highlight their best qualities and find their best moods, so everyone can benefit. I don't know if I'll accomplish this, but I am hoping that just giving extra effort and trying really hard will have some sort of benefit. I guess I'll find out.

I have never been so confident in my leadership skills while being terrified and fearing that they don't exist at the same time. I know they're there. Or is it "here?" I wouldn't be here if I didn't have them, but every day I question myself. I still panic that I can't do this, but somehow I wake up the next day and here I am, and suddenly we're all going out the door and off to another day of work. 

That brings me to my next point. Work. We're in Northern Virginia, at a FEMA facility. It's a million kinds of awesome. We're working with the deployment branch, and the Automated Deployment Database (ADD). We will be calling reservists to deploy them, and updating employee information in the system. We are all working on the same task, together. I'm really excited about this, because as a team we will be experiencing the same thing. We also live together in a lodge at a summer camp. It's pretty cool, it even came with two pet birds, at least one pet mouse, and a family of stinkbugs. Our outdoor pets include a few dozen deer and at least one skunk. It did NOT come with cell phone service or WiFi. So we're pretty isolated with our wildlife pets, and there's a trail behind the lodge that leads to the Appalachian Trail. It's comparable to a black hole as far as technology goes, but we are really close to nature (immersed in it, really) and it's great to all live together in a sort of house that we have all to ourselves. We have space for indoor and outdoor PT and to have team meetings after work and be able to hang out together. We've hit the AmeriCorps jackpot as far as living goes. Most people think it sounds terrible, but I would take a two hundred nights in this lodge with my team over two months in an Extended Stay Motel. We also have an awesome job, and a really awesome office team that we'll be working with. Our POCs are incredible and we're in the best location. We're in for a really awesome Round 2, and my energy is so much higher than it was in Round 1. I'm a different kind of motivated, and I honestly feel like I wake up every day with a purpose, and I know I'll be going to bed feeling much more accomplished every night. 

Oh, and just to add - The Appalachian Mountains and The Rocky Mountains are both a million kinds of beautiful, but are completely incomparable. I love this area and I find it breathtakingly beautiful, but I felt that way about Denver, too. It's just a different kind of beautiful. 

Which also reminds me, I'd like to leave you with two quotes today. One is what got me through this week. I have NO IDEA who said it, but I've said it to myself at least a dozen times this week. I've really had to check my own attitude a couple of times. "You can't live a positive life with a negative mind." It starts with yourself. Take some initiative and hold yourself accountable. Don't make someone else try to change your attitude, it's impossible and it's exhausting for them. Trust me, I definitely have experience in that.

The second one was an effort to explain diversity to someone who said that diversity isn't a "thing" and we need to all be equal and a bunch of negative things that I don't want to repeat or discuss on here. When my efforts to explain that diversity isn't just skin color, but is made up of so much more and why we should celebrate diversity were failing, a team member looked up and gave a perfect metaphor. It was almost too good to be true, so I asked where he heard it. He said "well, I wrote a paper on these two artists, and I was taught that if you can't explain something with words, you should try art." Which I thought was just as wonderful as the actual explanation he gave. It went like this: "Take a Turner and a Monet, they're both beautiful paintings but the methods to create them were completely different. We are all equally beautiful people, but we were created differently, and that is diversity." I don't think it needs more of an explanation. Sometimes you just need to close your eyes, but keep your mind wide open.

A mini-update

We're halfway through round 1 in Denver, CO. I write this blog as I hang out at a local coffee shop, buying tea instead of coffee because it's cheaper and I feel guilty bumming Wi-Fi off of a place without being a paying customer. 

Okay, so it's not THAT bad, but it's a true story. But honestly, Free WiFi is the AmeriCorps equivalent of Gold. Want something done by a 20-something year old? Offer them WiFi in return. And/or a cup of coffee. You'll be amazed at the excitement that suddenly appears.

I have a lot of things I've learned, but mostly I've been using previous lessons to handle situations. I am surrounded by Team Green friends and love, and I have minimal personal issues and just spend my time trying to balance team life, my life, and overcome team obstacles. I don't think I'm in the mood for a heavy self-reflection, so I'm going to go over my top AmeriCorps Life Lessons:

Here are a few rules/guidelines/thing I've learned while here:

• Never say no to free food. If you don't want it, someone on your team does.
• You'll only be nervous about spending a day in a coffee shop to use their Wi-Fi the first time.
• If it costs money, you better do a thorough cost-benefit analysis in your head and figure how much money you're spending per smallest unit possible (second, crumb, step, etc.) and what type of return on investment you're getting to determine the answer to the big question: Is it worth it?
• Full price? What's that? Never, ever pay full-price for anything because you can get it cheaper. Except coffee. Usually, one pays full-price for coffee. And that's okay.
• *Never pay full-price for a RedBox movie.
• Snail mail is cool. Email is cheaper, but when you have limited WiFi access, sacrifices must be made. It is also more fun to send and receive letters than it is to click "send" and receive notifications on your phone.
• Cooking involves cleaning and both are exhausting when you have to do them ALL. THE. TIME. 
• No, seriously. Cleaning has to happen a minimum of 3x/day to keep a tiny motel room livable. 
• Unfolded laundry is the devil. It makes everything seem like Hell. Tackle that task right away. 
• You never know the meaning of too many clothes until you live in AmeriCorps, because while you always have too many, you never EVER have enough. Don't try to fill that void, just learn to accept it and move on. You'll never achieve that perfect balance.
• Target is a magical place, but don't go there. Just DON'T DO IT. Any place that includes makeup, clothes, cute stationery, winter accessories, AND starbucks is a trap. You don't need it.
• Take care of each other, especially your roommates. Sometimes someone else might just need you to cook a little extra so they can have some too. Don't rely on them to make the bed every day, don't get mad that you're the only one who hangs the floor towel up outside of the shower. Or even if you're the only one who gets toilet paper from the front desk. It may feel like it goes unnoticed, but when you need them to take care of you, they will. 

I must say, I am having the time of my life here. It's one wild rollercoaster ride, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love it here, and it is pushing me to keep doing these awesome things with my life. When I expressed that I wanted to join AmeriCorps, most people thought I was off my rocker and completely lost my mind, or I was on some crazy hippie journey to better the world (it consequently happened at the same time I decided to go vegan) but in all reality, it just felt like a good idea. And to be honest, it was the best idea I've ever had. There are days when I already wish it could be June and I'd be done with the program, but most days I am so happy where I am and so thankful for the things in my life that got me to where I am today. I appreciate life outside of the program a lot more, and realize how much I took for granted. That's one of the big reasons I joined. I knew that I never had to live a challenging life or face any hardships, and I wanted to refocus myself and adjust my outlook. And I definitely have. I see myself including service into the rest of my life, maybe not on a 24/7 all-year scale, but I'll continue to do as much as I can. I'm only 1/3 of the way through this program and 1/2 of the way through this project, so I am excited for my upcoming experiences and I'll try to update this blog more often (given that I have access to WiFi). My work here is far from over, and I still have lessons to learn.

Allie, A Mile High

No, that't not a reference to anything illegal or indecent. It's a reference to the fact that I'm in the most beautiful place, surrounded by the most beautiful people, and I feel like I'm on the top of the world. 

Entering: Colorado.

It's been a while since I last blogged. In fact, last time I blogged, my plan was to head to Bothell, Washington! Things have definitely changed. Let's rewind about 18 days and I'll give you the highlights reel.

Tuesday 10/8: Plan: Head to Washington! Actual happening: Government shutdown puts all teams on hold. We head to Camp Gray instead for chainsaw training, trail clearing, and some good old outdoor fun.

Camp Gray: Chainsaws, axes, and machetes. Sleep in tents, have campfires, watch the meteor shower on cots with your best friend, chat about life. It doesn't get much better than this. It was a perfect two days.

Return from Camp Gray: Thursday morning 10/10/2013: Happy Birthday to me! Staff meeting 8:30am. Deployment update: We can't head to our original destinations, but teams are allowed to be deployed to disaster zones. A few teams headed to Missouri and Texas, 6 teams headed to Denver, CO! I'm one of the 6 headed to Denver! Depart by 8am Friday morning. Spend birthday making clearance packet, getting team packed/ready, forget to pack self (did that at 1am...oops), and don't have time to celebrate. Team made me a homemade cake (not from a box!) and had lots of hugs. Yay!

Friday 10/11: Depart from campus at 8:30am (not too far from our goal) and head to Texas. There's nothing in North Texas except for really awesome rest stops. Keep it up, TX. 

Saturday 10/12: Enter CO. HOLY GORGEOUS. This place is beautiful. Can I stay? Oh right, I have two months of this. Soak it all in and never let a day go by where you don't appreciate the mountains. (I've kept up with that. It still blows my mind every day. More on that later.)

Sunday/Monday: Explore Denver! We had a nice hotel Sunday night and we have all day to do what we want. Hurray! We're here! I'm sick of the van, and driving! Move in to our extended stay hotel motel on Monday. The conditions are... adequate. I have one working stove burner (out of two), a mini refrigerator that freezes everything (even on the lowest temperature setting), no toaster, and no oven. But it's more than some people have so we'll make it work! It's AmeriCorps, and we can chalk this one up to Life Experience.

Start at JFO on Tuesday 10/15. Work is slow but bearable, realize quickly there isn't time for much else, they want us to work weekends? What about ISPs and NCCC requirements? Talk to POCs, negotiate days off for sanity/mental health reasons and ISP/SLI opportunities.
*ISP = Independent Service Project
*SLI = Service Learning Initiative

That's where I'm at now! We've been working, and it gets better the longer we're there. I'm still working out some things for work in the office, but it's going well. We did an AWESOME ISP yesterday for Make A Difference Day, helping tear down damaged sheds and porches from the floods so the homeowners can rebuild. Their houses are actually total losses as well, which was devastating to see, but they are in high spirits and really just want their neighborhood to be back together again. To see them all working together and helping each other out with their homes was really uplifting. They have lost almost everything, and rebuilding isn't easy, but they don't let it show. They have such a drive to keep moving forward. I helped a woman move and re-plant her marigolds. She said she didn't care about everything else, but the flowers brought beauty to the neighborhood and she wanted something nice to look at, and for others to see. It was such a heavy moment for me to think about that and I really admire her strength.

I've also had awesome interactions with the Denver campus Team Leaders. We work with many of them in the JFO, and one invited another TL and me to share his office with him. It was really generous of him, and I am happy to have a place to settle every day. I've made it over to the Denver campus a couple of times, and their staff has been really supportive of my team and me. I have had positive interactions with their traditional corps TLs, and I'm glad we went out with some of the FEMA Corps TLs from Denver and got to know them. I've had an awesome two weeks and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Oh, and the mountains.
Let me tell you why I love Denver.

My favorite things are mountains, fall, cities, sunshine, snow that doesn't last too long, friendly people, and easy access/walking distance to stores/restaurants/things to do. I have all of that here! I drive to work every day and admire the view. My team now just rolls their eyes at me because I can't stop talking about it. Sometimes, the mountains look like a perfectly painted scenery in the background, like a backdrop to a movie or something. Or even like in the Truman Show and someone placed it there to look perfect, change with the seasons/time of day, and make me believe it's real. Sometimes they look like a watercolor painting, not too much detail but enough color and shape to catch the eye. They are so many kinds of beautiful. And then, I can drive right to Denver. In fact, we're only about 4 miles away, so if I felt ambitious (and like freezing my rear end off), I could walk there. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to be here, even if it's temporary. If I love it this much, I could even make it permanent if I want to. I'm at a point in my life where the possibilities are endless, and I love it.

I've also attended Pure Barre classes again (something I did in Boston for a while) and I can join the really nice YMCA for $8/month (I'll probably sign up today). There's absolutely nothing that I DON'T like about this place so far.

Off we go!

CTI came to a close about a week and a half ago, and we had our induction ceremony. It was an awesome day for FEMA Corps Class 20, and we had great speakers and really excellent cake. Everyone was ready for FEMA Academy, which was this past week at campus. FEMA Instructors came from all over to teach our corps about specialty positions and make sure they are all certified in their roles. Aside from a few technical glitches, the week went smoothly for the corps. Us TLs were supporting the instructors and preparing to head out on round 1.

That reminds me, it is now round 1. We are all preparing to head out to our first projects, and we've had quite a busy week with project assignments,  preparing clearance packets, and the million other things that we need to do in order to depart. My team is very excited for our trip, and really excited for our assignment. Round 1 lasts until December 22nd-ish (we don't actually know the date, we just guess), and we will return to Vicksburg and then head to our families for Christmas. Well, that is, if a disaster doesn't strike and we end up working through Christmas and don't have a break for the holidays. Anything can happen, disasters are unpredictable and it has happened before. 

So I've kept you in suspense long enough. My team is made up of public assistance specialists, hazard mitigation specialists, and logistics specialists. We have been assigned to FEMA's region 10 office in Bothell, WA to work on mitigation and public assistance projects in the pacific northwest. There are also chances of of working with tribal liasons and some fire planning projects. We are SO EXCITED for this opportunity, and we are really excited to be near Seattle for the next couple of months. Personally, I am also excited to be near my sister! She lives a little south of Bothell, but I should definitely be able to see her some weekends. And my dad! My dad is visiting her at the end of October with my grandmother, so I'll be able to see some family. I am really excited to see everyone. She also invited us over for Thanksgiving, which is super awesome of her and I realized today that I'll be able to witness the first birthday/first cake celebration for one of my nephews :) How awesome is that?!

My biggest challenge right now is planning my travel route. Crazy weather right now in the Dakotas, so the north-then-west route seems like a bad idea (remember, we are in a 15-passenger van!) and then with everything that happened in Colorado, Google Maps says that some roads might be missing. AWESOME. Also, taking a directly east-to-west route across the rockies from Denver to Salt Lake City in a 15p seems like a bad idea (the snow could be bad, and the roads might not be the best). So we could go South, and take routes through the desert in New Mexico and Nevada, or we could go through Arizona and up through California. No matter which route we take its 4-5 days, we are only allowed to drive a max of 10 hours per day and no more than a 12 hour total travel day. Oh, and we can't exceed 65mph in a government vehicle. This could take forever... Any road trip hints for 10 people traveling in an enclosed space together for 100 hours?

The other challenge is that I have spent 11 weeks here. I have made many new friends and I love all of Team Green and I really don't want to leave anyone. Many teams are being deployed to areas where there are also other teams, but I am the only one from here that is going to Washington. Actually, everyone else is in DC, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Chicago, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. I'm the furthest away, without other teams nearby. It's exciting, and I know Gulf 2 will have many opportunities to bond and hang out together, but I know I'm going to miss my Team Green friends. I really love being surrounded by these people every day and knowing that we'll be far apart is a bit sad. We just lost 3 of us to Baltimore's campus, but they'll also be near some of our teams. I know I'll always have all of Team Green for support, and I'll always be there to support everyone on Team Green, but I'll still be 2000-3000 miles away from everyone. I'm trying to remain positive and look at the exciting things about this journey, because I know there will be plenty.

Right now, all teams are scheduled to depart on Tuesday, so the rest of today and all of tomorrow will be spent prepping for departure. Bon Voyage, FEMA Corps Class 20! Best of luck to all of our teams, and I'll send as many pictures from G2's road trip as possible. 

Camp. Work. Play.

The photo above is me, shoveling a driveway (obviously). It has significance because it was the first time I had shoveled a driveway. I was 21 years old. It was the first time I had done any "work" outdoors. I'm sure I've helped move things here and there but I haven't really been very productive in the yard throughout my life.

This photo is from the only time I actually REMEMBER camping. I went when I was 17 with my friend Paige and her family. We slept in her car (Chevy Blazer) and I don't remember what we ate or how - but someone probably cooked it for us and served it to us. We didn't do much work. In fact, THIS is how I felt about camping, before this past week happened.

This past week changed my life. I know, it sounds dramatic. But it really did. We left last Sunday for Camp Lake Stevens in Oxford, MS, 4 hours north of Vicksburg. We stayed in fully air conditioned cabins with clean, functioning bathrooms - for free. But what we all know in life is that nothing is free. In exchange for our stay and use of the facilities, we were asked to do projects around the camp. Teams were split into different sites and spent a full day doing work. My team was assigned to build a cross-tie retaining wall. The group who did it before us started it, and we had a couple pieces of the wall and some ground dug out. We spent the rest of the day digging more, leveling the ground, leveling the cross-tie beams, drilling huge holes, hammering (with sledge hammers), and building the walls. It was so satisfying to see a job so close to finished at the end of the day (the group after us finished it off), and to know we went well beyond their expectations felt awesome. My hands hurt, I was sweating more than I ever thought possible, I was covered in bruises, but I felt so good. We had just accomplished a huge task that helped out the camp, and found out that they would be filling the space with fig trees and blueberry trees. How awesome is that?!

The next day wasn't labor, it was team-building. Still a lot of work, but a different type. We did a ropes course at Ole' Miss. The low ropes stuff was mediocre, but the high ropes was awesome. I climbed a utility pole (it had small steps on it) to walk across a catwalk beam that was suspended in the air and didn't hold on to anything, and from there I walked across a rope that had ropes hanging over it to balance with. All in the air! It was pretty terrifying, but awesome. I also did this thing called the flying squirrel. You're harnessed in, and there is a team of people behind you who are harnessed to the rope too. They run as fast as they can away from you, and you get pulled into the air and feel like you're flying. It was the most fun I had that day. The next one was another utility pole to climb, but then you have to stand on top of it, and jump off to try to reach a trapeze. I made it up, but couldn't stand up. My left leg was bent, foot on top of the pole. My right leg was straight, on one of the peg steps. I was shaking. I did not think I could stand, because I had to put all of my weight on my left leg to straighten it out. Everyone was telling me I could do it and trying to cheer me on, but I needed to think for a second. I was walking myself through the process, and knew that I had to straighten my upper body before I could stand. As I started to straighten my spine and lift my chest/shoulders, muscle memory kicked in and I realized that I have stood on someone's hand, so I could stand on the top of the pole. I counted it out 1, 2 - 3, 4 - 5, 6, (bounce on 7), (stand on 8). Left lib, stand on both feet, and suddenly I just applied cheerleading to a high ropes course. It was awesome. We ended the day with a zipline into the sunset, which sounds just as cliche as it felt, and we all went back to camp tired and hungry, but feeling pretty good about ourselves. 

Day 3 was departing at 6am to Camp Gray. I woke up at 4:45, hadn't slept much at all in the past week, and was suuuper cranky (sorry, team). But I tried really hard and managed (for the most part) to keep myself together and focus on getting everything ready and departing on time. We got to camp gray, had a class, and then got started on our next round of physical labor (things aren't free, especially use of campgrounds, remember?) So we got all of our tools and got to work clearing a bunch of trees and brush and invasive species. IT. WAS. AWESOME. I have no idea why it was the highlight of my trip, but it felt SO GOOD. I didn't mind the spiders and walking into webs, and I didn't mind the gallons of sweat pouring from my body. I honestly loved it. I had really cool (I use that term loosely) yellow safety goggles and steel-toed boots. And I had SO. MUCH. FUN.

I was exhausted. I slept in a tent, without a mat under me, in a sleeping bag on the ground. And it was the best night of sleep I have had since coming to Mississippi. I slept a solid 9 hours, and didn't wake up to anything in the middle of the night. I woke up feeling like a whole new person, and I was a million kinds of happy. 

Camping was pretty cool. Cooking was a challenge and keeping food fresh was hard, and we couldn't keep a lot of food so I had to shop a lot, so that was annoying. But really, it wasn't all bad and I didn't really mind it overall. We had a lot of people to help with everything, our STLs did a lot of the ops and I had money to keep us fed, and we were luxury camping at Camp Lake Stevens. But I definitely have a new outlook on it, and a new appreciation for manual labor and those who do it on a regular basis. OH that reminds me. Other than that time I shoveled a driveway at 21, this was the first experience I've had doing physical/manual labor. We wore long pants, long sleeves, steel boots, and gloves in the Mississippi summer heat and humidity in the middle of the day. And I would definitely do it again. I don't know why I loved it so much, but I had a great time and I'm even more excited excited that I'm TL of a mixed team that includes logistics specialists. It's going to be a great year, and it keeps getting better every day.

International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace is a day to remind us to be mindful of the UN's efforts to increase peace and equality in the world, and their efforts to achieve their long-term goals. According to the resolution which created this day in 1981, it is “…to devote a specific time to concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as the whole of mankind, to promoting the ideals of peace and to giving positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways.”

I just want you to be aware of this day. I can also a time to remind yourself what peace means to you, and to try to do some act of good or kindness. It doesn't have to be on a large scale, it can be even increasing peace within yourself, by way of meditation, a hug with a loved one, or a smile at a stranger - there aren't limits because peace means something different to everyone. I don't want to argue whether world peace is an achievable goal, and I don't want to tell you what peace means, but I do ask that today you be mindful of others, and remember that everyone fights battles, and it doesn't matter what it is, it's still a struggle for them. You have your own trials and your own triumphs, and sometimes it only takes a smile or other friendly gesture to turn someone's day around. You might not be successful, but you can try.

I want to make a big difference in the world. I don't know what difference that is, so in the meantime my goal is to positively impact one person's life. I don't know who that person is, so I try to remember to treat everyone as if they are that one person. I'm not very good at it yet, because I still have days when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed or get frustrated at stupid things and impatient with the world around me. But as long as I continue to try, I'll continue to get better at it. I don't know exactly how I'm trying to do it, but I have started by trying to smile at people, or let the car behind me pass the 15p on the highway, or let the person who got to the Starbuck's line at the exact same time as me go first. I don't know what will make a difference, but I think starting small is the best idea.
Oh- and I almost forgot. It has to start with yourself first. I was given a journal by my mom a couple years ago with a story attached to it, called 100 days of gratitude. I followed through and for about 100 days, I found one thing every day that I was thankful for. Sometimes it was really deep, sometimes I felt like I was thankful for a million things and other days were tough and I was thankful that I woke up that morning. But I the things I remember the most were the things that other people did for me and the way other people made me feel.

Peace doesn't have to be international. It can start on a much smaller scale and a lot closer to home. Anyone can take small actions to promote kindness and remove negativity. In honor of International Day of Peace, I ask you to give it a try.