she's a bad mama jama

I'm so excited to officially announce that I am part of the Class 18 Atlantic Region Fire Team! 

So while every NCCC member is already apart of a permanent team in which they will complete their term with, there are opportunities to be part of "Composite Teams." This means a member can leave his/her permanent team to temporarily join other composite members to become a new team. Composite teams exist for disaster projects (if a natural disaster hits anywhere in the U.S. a few members from each team will immediately be sent to the affected site and finish off that project round there) and fire teams!  Tuesday morning we found out the 33 people who made the fire team. Of course, the supervisor had to be 25 minutes late. Lots of finger-tapping, nervous-laughing and watch-checking while the minutes crawled by. 

But none-the-less, he came, the letters were passed out, and my day got a little more exciting. So thanks to AmeriCorps, I will be trained to be a Type II Wildland Firefighter. What does that exactly mean? Well, I will be trained in fire mitigation work, getting assignments from the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and fighting wildland fires.

Pretty cool, huh? 

In two weeks, all fire team members will travel to North Carolina to be adequately trained for this specialty role. We will be there for about seven days while our permanent teams head out on our first project or "Spike." After receiving our red card, the fire team will split up and join their teams, where ever they may be at the time. Every new project round (there are four) about eight fire members will once again meet up and officially become a "composite team" and complete that round as a "Phoenix team." 

Hopefully that made sense. 

It's all very exciting and everyday I'm learning more about the position.

The only downfall... more physical training! We are required to complete FIVE PT's a week. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Holy hell, that's way too many in my book! If I still can't do a pull-up by the end of my service there is no hope that I will ever get my chin above that "flippin'" bar. 

Anywho, that is the news for now. Plus the library is closing soon. You know there is nothing to do in Perryville when everyone is at the library on a Saturday afternoon. Good thing I have pizza with my friend Chandler to look forward to... and two mile walk home... this town, I tell ya....

Any news in your neck of the woods?

- Liz

down home girl

Our building, 9H. My room takes up the last three windows on the second floor to the left.

I’ve finally uploaded a few pictures I’ve taken in the past two weeks!  More to come,

 of course.

A little more about my new “home”… The Atlantic Region campus is located at the VA Center in Perryville, Maryland. This means that we share space with veterans who are in need of some sort of assistance whether that be housing, physical and mental rehabilitation, recovering from addictions etc. There about 400 acres of land dedicated to the campus. Our dorm is right by the water, which makes for some pretty incredible sunsets.  The actual town of Perryville is about as exciting as watching dust collect on the floor. There is an ice cream store, a pizza shop, the post office and that is about it folks. So during weekends people tend to travel to the next closest town Havre de Grace. Last Sunday night, the 21+ crowd literally took over a small little bar in Havre de Grace. Apparently everyone needed to blow off some steam because we overwhelmed the ONE bartender when we showed up with almost 40 people. Whoops.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve only been here for 15 days! A little over two weeks…nuts! Everyone in my group already seems to be so comfortable around one another, including myself. I realized this yesterday when I started doing an Irish-jig in front of my team for one reason or another.

Dinner is almost ready. I could seriously eat a horse but I’ll settle for vegetable stir fry. 

The Chesapeake Bay 

Having fun playing with my new lens, thanks mom and dad!

What a catch Chandler

Upside down, round and round.

Sorry that is has taken me sooo long to post. Finding some sort of access to the internet in this place is about as frustrating as having sewing machine problems right in the middle of a project. You fellow crafters know what I mean.

Anywho… talk about a lifestyle change. Anything that I have ever considered to be a normal life ceases to exist in my new world. This is not necessarily a bad thing either. I am surrounded by the so called “melting pot.” Every spice, flavor, aroma, and seasoning all thrown into one stew. I have to say it’s a good change for my palette though. I am definitely learning and interacting with people who I would normally never get to know. For example, one of my roommates and quick to be friend- Iesha, from Brooklyn- who frequently tells me to “Do my thang.”

I am sure some of you are wondering what my days are like here in Perry Point. Well they have been filled with physical training, community dinners, Powerpoint presentations, meeting new people, more physical training (ugh), exploring the surrounding towns, power tool training, movie nights, team meetings, information sessions, oh and more 6 am physical training.

Saturday morning was the “Pack Test.” It’s a physical fitness test to see if you qualify to become a Wildland Firefighter. (More info on that later if I make the team) Those interested had to write an essay on why they wanted to try out for this specialized squad and then take The Test. You have to wear a 45-pound vest and complete a three-mile course within 45 minutes. Lets just say 45 pounds is heavier than I remember. About a mile in my shoulders were already in pain and sweat was dripping down my face. There is a happy ending to this section though… I finished in 41:40! So I’ve qualified for the fire team but I haven’t found out if I’m officially on the team yet. They are only taking about 30 people. Time will tell. 

I better post this now while the internet works. 

More to come. 

- Liz

PROST!

   It's official. I am no longer a Colorado resident. I have successfully driven myself and all my belongings back across the Midwest and planted in Crystal Lake for the next week. The drive went well-enough, I had hundreds of miles of thrilling cornfields to think about life's past and future adventures.
  The year and a half I spent in Summit County were some of the best times I've had. Life is funny in the way it works. Never would I have imagined that I would move straight out to the Rockies after graduation, or that I would dedicate the next year and a half to working with kids, or that I would completely fall in love with the people I met there. But all these things happened and, for that, I have to be grateful. I know that Colorado will be a part of my future plans someday; I love it too much to say goodbye forever.
Speaking of saying goodbyes, my wonderful friends gave me a fabulous send-off. A night full of love and laughter, two things this group is never short on.

One for the books... or blogs I guess :)

    

What a night! 

Less than a week until Maryland... stay tuned!