So Moose 4 is now in Newburgh, NY for the next two months working with Habitat for Humanity. We start work tomorrow and before I get into detail about this town and the work we will be doing, I just had to post this video. While I was on Firefox 1, we all decided to test our acting skills and make a movie trailer relating to our AmeriCorps life. Ben has some major talent in the editing department, as you will see. We were able to show it at the Community Meeting last week for everyone, including our regional director!
Photos from my Spring Break in DC and Round 2, Newburgh to come.
At the exact moment you feel adjusted to whatever “normal” you’ve come to except, the little chess piece known as your Ameri-life gets picked up and relocated, not only to a different square, but onto an entirely different game. It is a funny little world, this place, and that is part of the reason I like it. You truly never know what to expect. One day you are in Dover, Delaware and the next you are in Albany, New York with a completely different group of people and a completely different project. How does that happen you ask?
…..very, very fast.
Last Monday my team leader pulled me aside at lunch and told me there was a chance I was going on a composite fire team… the very next day… in New York… for the rest of spike… sans all my teammates. WHAT?!
Finally, an hour before the end of work on Tuesday, Casey gave me this all-knowing smile and I knew I was leaving Moose 4 until late April. I had until 7:30pm that night to pack up all my stuff, organize my red bag, and say goodbye to my teammates. My teammates were pretty shocked at my same day departure, especially since this composite team is the first of the year for our core. None-the-less, they sent me off with plenty of hugs and well-wishes.
So that is the backstory to how I got to be in Albany, New York on a fire team. This team is known as FoxFire 1, and there are only four others in the crew. A nice break from the chaos of ten.
We are working for the Pine Bush Preserve outside the city helping them prep burn units for controlled burns. We had a few days under our belt at the Preserve and settling in nicely. Exploring Albany, eating copious amounts of NY pizza, and thrifting on the weekend.... lovely. A groggy Monday morning arrived, until about 7:20am that is. “Expect the Unexpected,” they tell you. Boy oh boy, do they mean it.
My roommate Maddi walks in the room from downstairs…
“Wildfire at Bear Mountain State Park! We’re going! Pack your red bag and all your fire stuff.”
My brain is suddenly awake. “WHAT!? Seriously?? We’re going? For how long? Where are we staying? Do I need my sleeping bag and shower stuff?”
“Not sure! We don’t know anything so pack everything.”
An hour later we are suited up in our Nomex and on the road.
What a crazy life.
Working on the wildfire was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had. I felt like I was walking into the Forbidden Forest that Harry knows all to well. There was a haze of smoke over all the trees and an intense smell of bonfire. It was a long day of hiking, digging and patrolling the line, watching for burning snags (dead trees) etc. But they feed you well and surprisingly there is a lot of downtime. This is mostly due to waiting around for your next instructions, new weather reports, or simply waiting to see what the fire is going to do. Below I found a video on youtube of a “firewhirl”. We got to see a few of these and because we worked until 11:30pm, they were best viewed at night. It was breathtaking. I'm sad to report that none of us had a camera that first night of the wildfire. The only pictures I have were taken from my teammates Ben's facebook. It was the second day when we snapped a few from the aftermath.
Since my post-grad brain can’t handle this much typing, I’m going to wrap up this story. Maybe if I get ambitious, I’ll whip up another post before my time in Albany comes to an end. Firefox 1 will be returning to Perry Point, MD early this Thursday to reunite with all the 160 other corps members. Spike is almost over folks. One down, three to go.
If only I could foresee what they will look like, but where would the fun be in that?
- liz
Maddi lighting up our bonfire
A street in downtown Albany
Walk through the next day
Chandler, Maddi, me, Brooke, and Ben. Firefox 1 :)
So some people have been asking for my mailing address, and I have finally remembered to post it!
The way it works is letters/ postcards can be sent to Perry Point and once a week Admin will Fed-Ex us all of Moose 4's mail to where ever we are staying.
Mailing Address for letters:
Liz Fraley
AmeriCorps NCCC- Moose 4
VA Medical Center
P.O. Box 209
Perry Point, MD
21902
Packages are a little different. Usually packages won't be sent to us while we are out on spike. Once we are on transition and back at the Perry Point campus (after the whole spike is complete, usually around six weeks or so) we will be able to retrieve them.
Mailing address for packages:
Liz Fraley
AmeriCorps NCCC- Moose 4
VA Medical Center
15 Boiler House Rd.
Perry Point, MD
21902
I would absolutely love to hear from you! Letters are a great way for me to communicate because getting Internet is so inconsistent here. So if you think of it, send me a letter, picture, poem, quote, inside joke, drawing, doodle, small craft, lock of hair etc.
The days are quickly fading away into weeks. Moose 4 is doing well! No doubt we have had our hiccups along the way. When you live, work, AND spend your free time with the same 10 people, things get interesting. One thing our team is really good at is having fun. We may not be the most professional, most appropriate, or most productive team, which at times, makes me shake my head and roll my eyes, but man, we sure do know how to laugh. It seems to be a trend that every week I end up laughing so hard, tears start dribbling out of my eyes.
I truly think it is a testament to our team that 11 completely different people can spend, what I’ve come to realize is an incredible amount of time together. I can’t even imagine what kind of crazy stories we will have after nine months of our “togetherness”.
So my team is now in Dover, DE. We left Lewes last Sunday and headed for the Delaware Estuarine Research Reserve, which is where we are staying and working. We are living in this funny little education center where the kitchen is the size of a bathroom stall and stuffed birds flock the walls. The Research Reserve specializes in Horseshoe Crab research and outdoor education. We have been helping eradicate the invasive species that are absolutely suffocating the trees in the area and doing some landscaping for the center. Next week we will be “tour guides” for the 400+ kiddos that are coming to the center to learn more about estuaries.
Since our team is not traveling to a different spike site, we finally have an entire two days off! A full weekend! Unheard of! This morning I woke up at 8:30 and relished the fact that I could sit and slowly drink my cup of coffee. Usually I have to down it in a few gulps and scramble to find some open sink space to perform my morning hygiene routine. Around 10:30a we had a tour scheduled at the Dickinson Plantation about a half-mile up the road. It was an authentic tour of John Dickinson’s childhood home. Then we traveled to a wonderful Amish market! It was so amazing to eat homemade, delicious food again. I was giddy for the entire two hours we were there.
Ok, our internet trip is coming to an end. Have a lovely day!
- Liz
Some of Moose 4 outside of the house that Sarah's Grandma grew up in
Working at the Research Center
My buddy Terrence and I
Atlantic Ocean!
Layla, myself, and Barry
Steve and Layla happy to be at the beach!
on your mark, get set.....
Our tiny tiny kitchen
Home for two weeks
It was so cold that the water inside the vines had frozen!
So fire camp is coming to a quick end. We are all officially Type II Wildland Fire Fighters now. My mind is definitely still processing that. As my friend Rusty said, life feels just a little bit sexier now.
I really had no idea what it meant to be a Wildland Fire Fighter. I knew it was probably hard work and all, but didn't you just put water on the fire and wear special clothes? Not in the least. Like most things that you are unfamiliar with, there is so much the average joe doesn't know. It is an entire sub-culture. The lingo and norms are enough to put an outsider into culture shock.
This week has been such a beautiful break from the non-routined routine of Ameri-life. I feel like I can finally appreciate that when class was done for the evening, you were free... for the ENTIRE night. No meetings, no mandatory group PT, no cooking, no cleaning, no room inspections or last minute schedule changes. In a round-about way, it was our spring break. Now vacation is almost over and everyone feels a little bummed to be leaving such a cool environment. Karaoke tonight, back to Perry Point, MD tomorrow afternoon, and then Delaware tomorrow night. In the words of one of my favorite songs, "Send Me On My Way."
Its been quite a few days since I last posted. Life has been a crazy mess of organized chaos lately. I am currently in Kinston, NC about to start fire training for the next week. We are staying at Forest Service housing which is actually really nice and... drum role please...... there is WiFi! It was a 6 hour drive from Perry Point, and I successfully managed to take 3 naps in that time. The crew just finished an epic game of muddy ultimate frisbee for our evening PT and now everyone is hanging in the rec room, playing pool, ping pong, and soaking up the free time.
Last week all teams finally were informed of their spike sites! Lets just say I'm about to get real familiar with Delaware :) Moose 4 (my team) will be doing lots of environmental projects in Dover (yay Murphys!), Wilmington, Lewes, and Newark. More details later, I'm excited about it though!
I do have to share this video that my friend Tracy made! It's a perfect example of "cheap entertainment" or in our case, having nothing better to do at 10:30pm.
