training, training, and more training....

Hey everyone!

Corps Training Institute (or my 30 days of training before I get to go do a real project) is going great! I mean, it's a little boring....we've literally been going over rules and regulations, but we're getting there. It's a lot of just sitting and listening to either one of the team leaders or our unit leader talk to us....but oh well. We gotta do what we gotta do. We officially have our uniforms so now we all look like dorks in our BDU's (battle dress uniforms). I'll post pictures at some point, because they're hilarious!

All the corps members have definitely been getting more used to each other. Our dorm used to be so quiet....and now there's literally doors open, music blaring, and girls showing each other their dances and stuff hahaha. We're currently in "temporary teams" for different stations in training and stuff...we've finally gotten used to those teams, and tomorrow night they'll swtich us up again. We'll get switched up every few days with new team members and a new team leader until Oct 28 when we get our official teams and find out our first project. We're all frustrated though because we just want to find out now!

So tomorrow we actually get to do some work! We're working with a group called Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC). We're working with VOC on coordinating the community volunteers to help build a running trail and plant 25 evergreen trees around Washington Park in downtown Denver. Apparently it's one of the most popular parks in the city. Each of our corps teams got assigned a task..some are helping with parking, some are helping with registration, some are actually helping build the trail or plant trees...and my team got food! We get to help serve everyone coffee, tea, and bagels in the morning, and then set up and help serve the taco bar for lunch for all of the volunteers. The work should be done by noon so then we have a celebration with tacos and a live bluegrass band! We're kind of bummed that we have to get up 6 am on a Saturday, but I think everyone's also excited for something to do and actually doing some hands-on stuff. Apparently we have either entire corps projects on Saturdays, or some optional ones that can get us some independent service project (ISP) hours...throughout our 10 months here we have to get 80 ISP hours..and everyone says its best to get a lot done while you're here in Denver, because it's when we have the most free time.

I think that's all I have for now! Today was a much more comfortable day for me than yesterday and Wednesday because I've finally connected with some of the girls...and just gotten familiar with faces and stuff. Everyone here is SO nice and helpful...and the staff is SO SO SO encouraging, it's great!! :) :)

Love,
Abby