YMCA Camp Marston

It is clear by now that blogging is not for me, considering how I can never keep up with it. Heck, I couldn't even handle my Facebook so I deleted that. I am still going to try my best to continue this blog though!

I have been in Julian, CA which is about one hour east of San Diego. My team and I have been here for four weeks now. The time is going so fast, it is crazy! My team is working at YMCA Camp Marston located about ten miles outside of Julian. Julian is a small town of roughly 1,000 people, and the town is well known for their pie (the pie we have had so far has been amazing). 

Our work here so far has been doing different construction projects. When we first arrived, we started making signs to identify the hiking trails throughout the camp. We have made 60 signs which included a lot of cutting, measuring, routering, painting, and sanding. After making the signs, it was time to hit the trails and post them. It is tiring caring all the equipment we needed to post the signs up the trails, but I enjoyed this task a lot. Being out on hiking trails has been one of my favorite things about AmeriCorps.

Lauren and Ryan diggin' up them holes!

We had to heat treat our cabin for bed bugs...

Building the fence

Our other big project has been making a stone wall and wooden fence around the new sports court that was recently put in the camp. It is a really nice court compared to their old one. It makes me happy that I could help finish this sports court that campers will use for many years to come.

Jessi and Sarah have been doing a side project building a new tree house. They started from the base and already have so much of it completed! It should be done before we leave in a few weeks. I am excited to see how it turns out.

 

Jessi and Sarah's masterpiece so far!

Elena and Ryan about to climb the rock wall 

On Wednesday we were given the opportunity to participate in camp activities and classes. It was nice to get a break from our typical manual labor work and to see how the school year program operates. Apparently in California, schools will fund sixth grade classes to go to an Outdoor Education Camp for a week. I had a hard time believing this at first because there is nothing like this back in Illinois. It is a great way to connect and educate kids about nature, the environment, and camping skills. Ryan and I attended the survival skills class and got to build a shelter out of branches. Pretty cool!

Not only has our project been incredible, but so have the people! The camp counselors who work here also live here. It is nice to have other people to hang out with other than my team (not saying I don't love them!). They are all so fun to hang out with and hilarious. A few of us have gone out with them to the local brewery and a couple different bars. It has been fun going out, but I have enjoyed the nature even more. Our first week here most of us went to the Anza-Borrego Desert. I had no idea that we were going to see such amazing views that day. Such big mountains, so many big rocks and plants, and a whole lotta desert. Last weekend I went hiking with Cactus, Omaha, and Yeti to Cuyamaca Peak which is about 15 miles from camp. It took us five hours total to hike to the top and back. I was pretty exhausted after that, but the view was worth it. So beautiful! I had no idea Southern California was so breath taking. We live in the mountains at camp, and are only a hour drive to the ocean and the desert.  

Cactus inside a tree!

Me loving life in the Anza-Borrego Desert

We only have a few weeks left here in San Diego county, so I am focusing on enjoying every moment here while I can. I love this place, I love the people, and I am going to be sort of sad once it is all over. Ultimately I will just be happy for this amazing project 

I can see the light..

Hi friends,

I know I last said that I would update this blog more, but as you can see, I lied. Part of the reason is that I am usually awake at 7:00am, and then do not get off work until 7:00pm. The days are long here in Boise.

I cannot lie and say that I have enjoyed this project. Taxes are not glamorous. My day usually starts early to go work out (which is always the highlight of my days), or because we need to be at one of the tax sites early for some reason. Once we get to the tax site, it is slow moving. We are not that busy and are always trying to find busy work. I know that what we are doing here is helping people who would otherwise have to spend money for tax preparation if it were not for our services, but this is not the work I imagined doing prior to AmeriCorps. I want to be doing more, I want to be helping more. I also just flat out hate office work I have come to realize. I need to be outside using my chainsaw! My dream will soon be a reality though because...

I AM WORKING AT ANOTHER CAMP FOR MY NEXT ROUND!!!!!

We found out about a week ago that we will be working at a YMCA camp in Julian, California. Julian is only one hour from San Diego. Gold 1 will be doing trail work, gardening, and various other construction/maintenance projects around the camp. This is where I see the light. I can now stop stressing that our next project will be as boring as taxes, because it won't be! I am really looking forward to Round 3.

During our scavenger hunt to find out our next project. One of the clues was at Jimmy Johns.

Aside from tax work, Boise really is not that bad. When we first arrived, I was incredibly disgusted by all the smog. The smog has cleared up a lot, thankfully. We have had some fun times while in Boise. There is a ski and snowboarding area right outside of Boise called Bogus Basin. Most of us have not been before, so it was a fun experience. I always heard that skiing was easier, but decided to snowboard because I have always thought it looked B.A. Well, lets just say I did not look too cool doing it. I fell really hard and hurt my neck and tailbone pretty good. I could hardly move for a week. Was it worth it? Totally.

Bogus Basin!!

There have been a couple bands that we have checked out in Boise. One place where


we saw a few local musicians was at the Crux. It was an interesting, little hipster bar/coffee shop (takes me back to my days in Austin, TX). Alex, Jessi, Elena, and I had a lot of fun. We busted out our pretty bad dance moves and had good laughs.

One of the most interesting things I have seen in Boise so far was a straw built house. A whaaaat you ask?! Our sponsor, Cristina, told us about a man named Dr. Long who lives in Boise with his wife and they have a house made of straw and mud. It sounds unreal, but it really makes sense. Dr. Long says when people ask why have a straw house, he usually responds with "why not have straw house?" He went on to talk about the benefits of it for the local economy, the environment, and the living costs. Him and his wife only spend $200 a year heating and cooling the house. Isn't that crazy?! The craziest part is that his house looks completely normal. When we first pulled up, we thought we had the wrong house because it looked just like any other house. I recommend all of you looking up how it would be so beneficial if we started building houses this way. So so so so so so cool.

The "truth window" that showed the straw. Again, SOOO COOL!!

I will end this post on a positive note to be doing this project, and that is what it has taught me. It has taught me that I will never work a traditional office job, because it would only kill me slowly! I appreciate the people who enjoy doing taxes for people and sitting in an office all day, because I surely cannot do it...

Gold 1 on Valentine's Day

It's tax time!

I never thought I would say this, but...

I am IRS tax certified.

My team and I arrived to Boise, Idaho on January 15th. The town we are living in, Nampa, is right outside of Boise. We are staying in a small three bedroom house with eight of us...talk about ROUGH. We are working for the Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho (CAPAI) doing taxes for low income families. Our first work day in Boise was doing training about United Way instructed by Kelly and Joyce. United Way is a an organization that focuses on improving education, health, and financial independence. Kelly and Joyce also trained us on a recently new program through United Way called Bank On. Bank On is a program that helps unbanked and underbanked individuals by providing courses focusing on how to manage a budget and become financially stable. It is a cool program because after people complete five courses through Bank On, they can go to partnering banks and set up bank accounts without their financial history being an issue.

The cot I am sleeping on for the next two months

I wish I could say it was a fun experience, but our training to become IRS tax certified was far from that. We trained ourselves in our own cubicles for over a week. It was hard, especially not know much about taxes, plus it was just BORING. It certainly was not as fun as my chainsaw training. I guess the up side is having more knowledge about taxes, and now I can help people file their own.

Whenever we are not assisting people with taxes, we are passing out flyers to businesses and throughout neighborhoods about the free tax assistance we are providing. This is my favorite part of the project so far. I like it because I can be outside and get the chance to see beyond the walls of a cubicle. It is easier for me to educate people about the Bank On program and the tax assistance rather than sitting indoors and doing the actual tax assistance. I have already learned from this project that I do not belong in an office. I need to be outdoors!

I must admit that I am disappointed with Boise. I was told it is beautiful here. Turns out Boise is full of smog. Ya, S-M-O-G! I was incredibly disgusted the first few days here. Now I am just a little grossed out. I guess I am getting use to it. The good news is that it is starting to clear up, and on our way to and from work we can see the mountains that surround the city. The locals told us that January is the worst time for the "inversion", and that it clears up eventually. Aside from the nasty smog, downtown Boise is pretty cool. There are some fun bars and cute coffee shops.

The Recycle, Reduce, Reuse poster I made :/

Elena, Lauren, Jessi and me Super Bowl Sunday

This was never a project I imagined doing before coming to AmeriCorps. It certainly is not ideal for me, but I am going to make the best of it. I am still thankful to be a part of AmeriCorps NCCC and will be thankful for any new skills I learn, even if it involves sitting in a cubicle :S

Walker Creek Ranch, Christmas Break, and Boise, Idaho

Happy new year everyone!

I have been really bad about keeping this blog updated! It has been hard without a computer to update it, but I now have my laptop and plan to update it every week.

My last update was about my time at Camp Lodestar (which I miss SO MUCH). After Camp Lodestar we worked at another camp in California called Walker Creek Ranch. W.C.R. is such a beautiful place. Just like at Camp Lodestar, we did trail maintenance at W.C.R. I love being outdoors and doing trail work, but what really made this job difficult was all the poison oak we had to come in contact with. Basically our job was to remove poison oak from the trails, so there was no way to avoid it. There are nine Corps Members on Gold 1, and eight of us got poison oak! It was such a pain and very uncomfortable. It took me almost a month to get rid of it.

One day we were able to take a break from trail work to go on a nature hike with a group of kids and the naturalists. It was cool to see the outdoor education program and to have the interaction with the kids. We hiked two miles up to Walker Peak and then back. The view from the top is amazing. From the top of Walker Peak you can see mountains for miles and also see Tomales Bay. Besides the beautiful scenery at Walker Creek Ranch, the garden was my favorite part about the camp. We were able to use the vegetables from the garden for some of our dinners. We mostly would get kale from the garden, but we also used kohlrabi. I have never even heard of kohlrabi before I tried it at W.C.R. It is similar to broccoli and it is AMAZING. Sean, nature name "Potato", worked in the garden and was so passionate about everything in the garden. Speaking with him and just seeing the garden makes me want to be involved with a community garden whenever I leave AmeriCorps.

Part of the garden!

Me at the top of Walker Peak

We arrived back to the AmeriCorps campus in Sacramento on December 19th and then Christmas break began. I unfortunately did not get to go home, but I got to do things I could not do back home. On Christmas day I volunteered at St. John's Women and Children's Shelter all day. About twenty other Corps Members were there as well. We passed out presents to the families, helped children assemble their new toys, and serve and clean up lunch and dinner. The time that we were not doing these things, we played with the children. It was a great way to spend Christmas. The children were all so well behaved and happy that we were there to play with them. This is certainly the most rewarding Christmas I have had.

Christmas Day at St. Johns Shelter

On New Years Eve, I went to San Francisco with Fin, Hal, and Sheila from Silver 5. We stayed in Bernal Heights, so that night we did some bar hopping in the area. We mostly relaxed on New Years day, and then the next day we visited the Golden Gate Bridge and Berkeley. While standing on the Golden Gate Bridge, I thought how unreal it was. I had seen the bridge in plenty of movies and TV shows, so it was cool to actually be there! San Francisco is hands down the coolest and most beautiful city I have visited yet. After walking across the bridge, we went to Berkeley and walked around the University of California campus. The campus was beautiful!

Me on the Golden Gate Bridge

View from the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Christmas break ended on January 6th, and I am currently in Boise, Idaho starting Round 2. Gold 1 will be working with the Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho doing taxes for low income families. We have training the next couple weeks to become IRS tax certified. I am not going to lie and act like I am thrilled about this project, but I am trying to stay positive and assume I will end up enjoying it. The only reason I am some what excited for this project is to help people and to learn how to do taxes. I do not know a lick about taxes, so it will be a good experience!

Sorry for the late update family! If I do not keep up with this every week, you are more than welcome to nag me about it. I will let you know how this week goes soon!

Camp Lodestar

Hi friends!

On November 13th, Gold 1 and other AmeriCorps teams were inducted as Corps Members! This means that we completed our training and are no longer on our probation period. The Corps Training Institute went by fast! It was stressful with all the information we had to learn quickly and having long work days, but worth it because now we can go GET THINGS DONE.



Gold 1 after induction ceremony

 

Our first project was at Camp Lodestar, which is located outside of Wilseyville, CA. Wilseyville has a population of about 400 people, and the camp is far out in the country. The camp is owned by the United Methodist Church, and managed by the United Camps Conferences and Retreats. The camp has a lot of property and places to stay, which felt weird at first being the only people on the camp grounds. It was weird going from the craziness of CTI back in Sacramento to the empty, quiet woods. Although it felt weird, the change made me happy.




Entrance to Camp Lodestar

The cabin where we stayed

Jeff Clark was our sponsor at Camp Lodestar. Him and his wife, Kathie, live on the property. If you ask me, they have it made living there. It is a beautiful campsite with a lot of area to explore. Jeff and Kathie are some of the nicest people I have met, and I speak for the whole team saying how happy we were to be working for them. We missed them the moment we left!

 

Jeff and me on our last day!

 

Most of our work at Camp Lodestar involved being outdoors, which I LOVED. Before coming to AmeriCorps, I hoped that trail work and conservation work would be a project I was assigned to. Gold 1 cleared and widened a hiking trail, removed invasive species (Bear Clovers to be exact), split firewood, and raked leaves and pine needles. Additionally, Ryan and I had a lot of practice with the chainsaws. We are the sawyers for Gold 1! We always have a lot of fun working the saws, and it is nice to have each other for input on cutting techniques. Poor Ryan always has to use the big saw because I'm too weak for it, but hopefully I will be able to handle it comfortably with more practice (and muscle!). Aside from the outdoor work, we worked inside a couple days painting a cabin and waxing the dining area floor.

I'm a chain sawyer!

 

Elena and Emily splitting wood

Elena and Jessi painting

We had the chance to complete Independent Service Hours during our stay in Wilseyville. The place we worked at was Rail Road Flat Elementary School. Every month, three women at the school host a community dinner. The meal we helped serve was their Thanksgiving meal. Along with the Thanksgiving dinner, there was a coat drive. This school was really cute, and quite unique. It was a small school of only fifty students, but they had some of the best test scores in the area. This school teaches hands on skills such as knitting, cooking, and gardening. They actually have a school garden where they teach the kids gardening skills and they use food from the garden to teach them how to cook. The women were so thankful to have us there helping out. It was awesome to get out in the community and help with something that Gold 1 has not done before. We were very happy to be there.

Between our work days, ISP's, team positions work, portfolio work, and team meetings, there is not a lot of free time. We are busy non-stop Monday through Friday. We have to wake up three times a week for physical training, start our work day, and then do work that needs done after the work day. Gold 1 is staying busy a lot of days until bed time rolls around. Usually when I mark one thing off my to do list, three more things are added to it! I remember my mom saying this once, and now I truly feel her pain (by the way, I really miss my mama!).

With all the work we have to do, you can imagine that we were all happy that we visited Lake Tahoe on one of our days off. It was AMAZING! It is so beautiful in northern California. I was extremely happy to go, especially because this is one of my top places I wanted to visit while being in California. We enjoyed the view of the lake and mountains, went shopping, and had lunch at a great pizza place in the mall. I was happy with my purchases of three hats...I just couldn't choose one. This trip made me realize how in love I am with California.

The gang at Lake Tahoe!

We ended our time at Camp Lodestar celebrating Thanksgiving with Jeff, Kathie, AJ (a camp employee), and her two children. I missed celebrating with my family, but was so thankful to be where I was. I have so much to be thankful for, but I was especially thankful that I finally made it to California and for the opportunity to serve with AmeriCorps. Thanksgiving was a great day and I was surrounded by wonderful people.

Thanksgiving meal in the camp dining room

Gold 1 is now in Petaluma, California working at Walker Creek Ranch. This is another camp where we are mostly doing trail work. It is SO beautiful here! I will be updating on our project here soon!

Round 1, here we come!

Hello everyone!

Living out of two bags for the next 9 months!

It has been a little over two weeks now that I left for Sacramento. I am really loving it here so far. I must admit though, it is hard to get use to all the rules that come along with being an AmeriCorps member. I have had no trouble following them, of course. I am just not use to such a structured lifestyle. Even though it has been an adjustment, it feels nice to have more structure in my life. 

Right when I arrived to campus I got to meet my team. There are nine of us including my team leader. I hate to brag, but I have an AWESOME team! Our team name is Gold 1. I am rooming with two of my teammates, Elena and Sarah. We all have one thing in common and that is being from the Midwest. It is a tight squeeze with three of us in one room, but we make it work!

Most of my time here so far has been participating in the Corps Training Institute (CTI). I understand the importance of it, but it is clear everyone is anxious for it to be over. Other than CTI, we had one small project in Sacramento the first weekend we arrived. It was "Make a Difference Day" in Sacramento, and we had the opportunity to work at two different locations. The first place we worked was at Mercy Housing, which is a low income apartment complex. They have this amazing community garden inside the complex, and our job was to pull weeds and clean the garden shed. I really liked this project because this garden provides healthy food for people who cannot afford it. Community gardens are something that our nation needs more of so that even people and families of low income can have access to healthy food. Lets face it, it is expensive to eat healthy! The second place my team and I worked at that day was at Luther Burbank High School. Our job was digging up roots so that a garden could be placed where these HUGE roots were located. We also started on a wheel chair path that will run along the side of the garden. This work was physically demanding, and that is one thing I really enjoyed about this project

My team at Mercy Housing

It was cool that we had some small projects to do in Sacramento. My team and I are excited about Round 1 though, especially because we now know where we are going! We are doing a split round, which means we are going to two different locations. The first place we are going is a camp right outside of Yosemite National Park, called Camp Lodestar. This camp primarily serves summer youth camps, adult retreat groups, and outdoor education programs. We will mostly be doing fuel reduction and clearing hiking trails. I am SO EXCITED about this project, because doing any sort of hands on environmental work is what I want to do. The second camp that we are going to is called Walker Creek Ranch, which is located in Petaluma, CA. This camp is similar to Camp Lodestar considering they both focus on outdoor education, but what is cool about our time spent here is working directly with kids. I will admit that working with kids is going to be a challenge for me. I am ready for a challenge though, and I think it will have a positive impact on me. 

What comes with all this excitement about Round 1 is a lot of work and planning! Although with my specific job positions, I do not have to do a crazy amount of work until I get to the camps. My jobs on my team are the Environmental Liaison, Physical Training Coordinator, and Chain Sawyer. I wanted all of these positions, so I am happy, happy, happy! They all sound fun and challenging for me, which is exactly what I want. 

Jessi, Elena, and Glover in front of the State Capitol

Monday through Wednesday are going to be crazy here on campus, but I will try my best to give an update before I leave campus. Thanks for those who are interested in what I am doing! I hope you all are doing well! 

It is FINALLY time to get a move on

Hey all!

I decided to make this blog so that friends, family, and whoever is interested can see what I will be doing for the next nine months with the AmeriCorps NCCC program based in Sacramento, California. I am so excited for this opportunity and happy that the time has finally come to start this new adventure.

As many of you know, because of my complaining and extended stay in Charleston, I did not expect this delay to start AmeriCorps. The government shutdown really put a damper on things and had me discouraged. I am not sure if this means the ending date for the NCCC program will be later, or if it will be cut short and end when it was originally suppose to. Either way, I believe these next several months are going to be some of the best of my life.

For those of you who are not sure what AmeriCorps is, I will give you a breif run down. The AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a program through the Corporation for National and Community Service which works to strenghten communtities through a variety of service projects. Memebers work to aid in disaster relief, environmental conservation, infrastructure improvment, and urban and rural development. With all the different areas of work that we could be assigned to, it is impossible to say what I will exactly be doing this next year. Whatever it is, I AM SO READY! :-)

I will be leaving for Sacramento on Thursday and will also arrive that day. The first month I will only be training in Sacramento, and then after training I will be given my assignments. I hope that I am able to keep up with this blog once a week. This may not be possible on certain spikes (assignments outside of Sacramento), but if that is the case, then I will update my blog after every assingment when I get back to the Sacramento campus.

Thank you everyone who has listened to me complain these past few weeks about my delay to Sacramento and the government shutdown. I would mostly like to thank everyone for the support and love! It means a lot and has really helped me.