Thanksgiving

Hi everyone! I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving was very eventful to say the least; but turned out to be a really great Thanksgiving with good friends, good food, and good stories that made me laugh so hard that I cried. It was definitely a new experience being away from home for Thanksgiving. I had traveled to Colorado a few times to be with family out there, but never in a new place, with new people that weren't blood related.

Most of my team had stayed in San Francisco for Thanksgiving, but there were only about five, including me,  that were around Thanksgiving day. Three went back to Sacramento to eat their feast on campus. My Team Leader, and two others from my team had family in San Francisco that they had their dinner with. Thanksgiving morning (6:00 am) me and two other girls from my team went to an event on Alcatraz. It's called Unthanksgiving Day. It's an event held on the island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, to honor the indigenous peoples of America and promote their rights. Several groups dance before sunrise, to honor their ancestors; others demonstrate the beauty of their cultures in other ways, and speak out for the rights of their people. It was a really fun event to go to! It was also neat to get to go to Alcatraz, although they had most of it blocked off. Below are a few pictures from my trip!

 On the ferry on the way to Alcatraz. The Golden Gate Bridge is in the background.

 Erin, Noor, and Me

 One of the Indian dancers. Their headdresses were beautiful with all the feathers.

Me, with the Alcatraz sign!

After coming back from Alcatraz we started to cook our dinner. We put our turkey in the oven at 6'o clock....and it ended up taking till midnight that night to get done! Now, I know what you're thinking; was the oven on? Yes, it was. Was the temperature set higher than 150? Yes, it was. I think the oven was off on temperature. It's an older building so I guess thats to be expected. The only thing we didn't have was a thermometer! That might have helped just a little. Everything worked out in the end though! We ended up eating our dinner in rounds! First round consisted of mashed potaotes, green bean casserol, stuffing, cornbread and corn; basically everything that was done on time! Round two was the turkey and the two desserts that I made; apple crisp and pumpkin pie. Those were both gone vey fast! I had a great Thanksgiving although, it wasn't like home; but that's all apart of the adventure, right?

 Me cooking stuffing.

 Ready to eat!

Dishing up!

I will update again soon!

♥ Kristen 

Blackberry Bushes and Irrigation

It's my second week here in San Francisco working with the Presidio Trust. I feel as though I have already been here for a month! We have been so busy working and "getting things done," (which is AmeriCorps "motto." I'm sure you will be hearing that a lot from me) that I feel as though the time has been flying by. I am loving the work that we are doing and it's really cool to see all the work that has been done after finishing a project.

The type of work that we are doing here in the Presidio is environmental conservation and restoration. We are working to beautify the parks all around the Presidio. Our projects can vary from day to day, but it's usually a lot of labor intensive work. Some project that we have completed so far are: Removing sod, planting plants, installing an irrigation system, and then filling the site with mulch. This project took us a few days to complete. It was really cool to see the day to day changes as well as the end result. It felt very rewarding to know that we all completed this project and it looked awesome! Here are some pictures of the work that we did. The pictures progress from start to finish!

 Before we started the project.

 Removing the sod so we can plant. I got to work that blue machine...it was fun

The planting begins. We got to plant two redwood trees...hopefully they will grow to be humongous!

 Putting in the irrigation system to give the plants a drink!

All DONE! I know the plants don't look like much at the moment, but give them a few years and they will have taken over this spot!

Like I said before, it's really neat to see all the progress you have made at the end of the project. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that you got the job done! A lot of our projects have been like this so far. Another project that we had was to remove Blackberry bushes. We got rid of it all in a day! 

Before we started. My teammates being goofy! Behind them is all Blackberry bushes with thorns! 

 Working hard in the California sun!

We found so many bottles in the Blackberry. One in particular with a birth certificate in it. It's hard to see on here, but it's from 1969 and he is from Rochester, MN of all places. I had offered to take it back to MN with me to return it to him. My team got a good laugh out of that one :)

 Lunch break! Almost done!

Removing Blackberry is tough, but would you complain with this view? I wouldn't!

Done! There was a wall behind all that Blackberry!!

So far it has been great weather here to work in. Sunny days with just enough cool breeze from the Ocean. This is not at all what I expected from what people had told me. I guess this type of weather has been rare these past two weeks. I'm sure it was all because we are here :)) Today we started seeing the more typical San Francisco. Lots of fog and drizzly rain! More to come I hear! I guess it's better than all that snow. I have been thinking about everyone back in Minnesota...I even made a sand angel at the beach that made me feel more at home :) I can't wait to come home for Christmas break and make a real one in the snow! Miss you all.

♥ Kristen

Below is a link to the blog that my team, Bluno, is making as well. It will be written by different members of the team from time to time. You should check it out!!!!!

http://chroniclesofbluno.blogspot.com/ 

San Francisco

Hello again! Like I promised I will be writing a lot more now. I am currently living in San Francisco for my first round project. Throughout the year each team has 4 projects/rounds. We usually call them SPIKES. Our projects will usually lasts about 6-8 weeks. After we are done with our round, we come back to campus in Sacramento for a transition week so we can talk about our project and debrief.


My team, Blue 1 or BLUNO as we are affectionately called, are lucky enough to be stationed in San Francisco, CA. We arrived last Thursday and are staying in The Presidio right by the Golden Gate Bridge. Below is a picture of The Presidio. I live in the military barracks somewhere in the bottom right corner.

We are in dorm type housing. We all have our own rooms, share a bathroom with 3-4, and share a communal living area and kitchen. We also get internet and cable. I have been told that we have it made! I guess normal SPIKE housing is not this good. There are other teams that are camping in tents for 6 weeks, or staying in a two bedroom house with 12 people and having to sleep on cots. I’m sure our next round won’t be so glamorous.

We are working with The Presidio Trust to help restore and beautify the park all around The Presidio. It will be a lot of manual labor and I’m sure it will be tough at times. I really can’t complain though, I get to work with a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean everyday! It’s amazing! We are also going to get to do a historical restoration project on Alcatraz. I am so excited to visit Alcatraz and get to work on something there. The presidio is a great place to live. There is so much history here and I find out something new every day. I will post some pictures of the houses and buildings that are around here, as well as my housing.

I am having a fun time exploring San Francisco in the week that I have been here. We are very close to the Golden Gate Bridge and me and some of my team walked there and then walked across the bridge!

 Me under the Golden Gate Bridge

 Walking accross the Golden Gate Bridge. There was a rainbow after a little bit of rain.

We also got to go to a free concert. AT&T were giving away free Maroon 5 tickets to promote their new phone. We waited in line Monday mornig and got tickets to a show that night at the Fillmore. It was a great show and it was a very small venue which was nice as well. We were nice and close to the band. Below are some pictures of them preforming!

I will be sure to update you all on what I am doing. I will post some before and after pictures of the types of projects that we have done so far sometime this week. I will be in San Fran until December 15th and return to Sacramento before coming home for Christmas break. I am going to be coming home for Christmas on the 18th and will stay until January 1st. I am very excited to come home and see all my family and friends. I miss you all!     

♥ Kristen



It's Been a While

Hi everyone! I know that it's been a long time since I have written anything. I have been really busy the past month during training. The whole month of October has been trainings for me. Some are helpful/useful, where others are just common sense and sometimes hard to sit through. Some of our trainings have consisted of CPR/First Aid, disaster training, tools and safety. Usually the trainings are all day, or we will have multiple trainings that will fill the day. On our days off (usually Sat. and Sun.) we would just hang out at the dorms or go and explore Sacramento.

 Theese are the dorms where I was staying in Sacramento.

This is me when we went out to explore the city.

We didn't get to do alot service projects the first month while in training, but we did get to go to Camp Mendocino. Located in a 2,000-acre beautiful redwood forest three and half hours north of San Francisco, Camp Mendocino is an outdoor education and environmental awareness program. It focuses entirely on the character and leadership development of kids from disadvantaged circumstances. For nearly 80 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco has been providing this creative, fun and supportive camping experience for youth ages eight to 18. At Mendocino we did a lot of team building as well as one day of service. For our day of service we got to dig water trenches, so the water would run off the road and into these ditches. Ironically enough we were digging the trenches while it was raining. It was denfinitely hard work, but it felt good to get out and "get things done."  Below is a few pictures from the camp.

 View on the way up the mountain.

 Redwood Trees.

 Me, posing on a big redwood.

 Getting ready to rock climb and do the ropes courses.

The ropes course! So fun!

I am having a great time and experience out here in California. I am seeing things I never thought I would see and I'm doing things that I never thought that I would do! I miss everyone back home and am still adjusting to living almost 2,000 miles away and living with 10 other people. It's given me a great deal of independence that I needed to learn at some point or another. I still have a lot to learn in these next 10 months and I am more than eager to learn everything that I can. I will write again soon, promise :)

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."   - Mahatma Gandhi

♥ Kristen



 

Let The Adventures Begin

Wow what a busy three days it’s been so far! We have done so much that I feel like I have already been here for weeks!


I departed Minneapolis last Thursday, bright and early at 7:35am. I landed in Phoenix for my layover only to find out that all eight of us Minnesotans had missed our connecting flight. The flight that we were on from Minneapolis was on time, but we had been sitting on the tarmac for a while waiting for other planes to clear. We had a forty minute layover in Phoenix which isn’t much time, but I thought I would at least be able to make it to my next flight. I must have jinxed myself in my last post saying that I have a tendency to miss connecting flights cause’… that’s exactly what happened! It was now 10:00am in Phoenix and we had some time to kill before our standby flight at 1:35pm to Sacramento. We decided to get something to eat and get to know each other. Nobody made it onto the standby flight at 1:35pm, so we got rolled over to the next standby at 4:45pm. We had some more time to kill, and we got to know each other even better. One person got onto the 4:45pm flight to Sacramento and she got all of our baggage that flew into Sacramento with the flight that we should have been on. The next option for us Minnesotans was a flight at 8:10pm into the Oakland, CA airport, which was a two hour drive to Sacramento. We all ended up getting on this flight and getting into Oakland at 12am!! So that makes for a grand total of about 12 hours in the airport that day! We missed all of in-processing that day, which I found out wasn’t all that important. We got to Sacramento at 1:30am to find everybody all asleep in their dorms. We got our luggage and found our rooms. I got into my room to find two of my roommates sleeping and the top bunk left open for me. I had to figure out how to get all my things in the room, my blankets out, and get up to the top of the bunk that had no ladder without waking my roommates. I managed to do it, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out! This was definitely the start of my adventure!

I was up bright and early again Friday morning. It was a tough day for me going to bed at 1:30am California time and waking up at 6:00am. I was very tired to say the least. I found out what POD I am in. PODs are groups of around 7-8 and we have about 35 of them. These are not permanent and will be switched around in about two weeks or so. As a POD you go to trainings and you also cook as a POD. I really like everybody in mine. I feel like we get along so well, I really don’t want to switch. Both my roommates are also in my POD. We started the day with breakfast at 7:00am and finished up more in-processing and paperwork. We got our uniforms as well, and I have to say they are stylin’! NOT! They are really not that bad. They are men’s sizes and so they don’t fit very well. I will post a picture of me in mine soon. We also had a few trainings that were hard for me to stay awake in, but I managed. Before I knew it was time for dinner and then off to bed for me to catch up on my sleep.

Saturday was more training. They talked about what types of projects (also known as SPIKE) we would possibly get to do and we also went over more of the policies. That took up most of the morning and then we were off to our physicals. We got a tetanus shot (which still hurts by the way), a tuberculosis test, and a drug test. I checked out good on everything! That evening they had dinner and a movie for us. It was hot dogs, french fries, and they even popped popcorn for us. We got to watch The Sandlot, but the audio was really poor so I decided to leave. I went back to the dorms and played the game apples to apples. That is becoming a very popular game here, and it’s becoming a favorite for me!

Sunday was pretty much a free day for everyone. I decided that I would sleep in and catch up on my sleep, considering I had been staying up pretty late the last few nights. I got up around 10am, my normal time back home! A few of us decided to walk to Subway for lunch. We got to see what was around the area. There really isn’t a whole lot around; a couple gas stations, a 24 hour Mexican restaurant, and a Russian restaurant. Random, I know. We also played a couple games of kickball. That was a lot of fun, I hadn't played in a long time. Later that night we just hung out and watched a movie. It’s really cool sharing a dorm building with people. Everyone kind of joins in on what everyone else is doing.

Monday we officially started wearing our uniforms! It was nice to see that everyone else looked just as ridiculous as I did in them, haha. We had more training today! We did our American Red Cross First AID/CPR/AED training. That was a really long training! It was from 8am to about 3:30, and yes, I managed to stay awake in this one too! Tomorrow is the Disaster Services training and it is just as long! After training we went to get fitted for our steel toed boots that we will be wearing for construction projects. They really do complete the uniform! There will be a picture of me in those as well. Our POD leader, Chika, took us to Jamba Juice later that afternoon for a delicious smoothie and we were back in time for dinner. I am in my dorm typing this up, just laying low tonight. We have our physical training baseline test tomorrow at 5:30am, bright and early again. I’m starting to see a pattern with the schedules here! It’s now 8:45 here and I’m going to be going to bed soon, believe it or not! I will post again soon. I’ve been busier than I thought I would be out here! I will also start uploading some pictures soon.Sorry this is so long, I will try and post more often so there isn't so much to read at once. Miss you all!

♥ Kristen

This is a picture of me and my POD at our boot fitting today!!

 



It's Almost Time!!

It's almost time for me to leave! I can't believe that I will be leaving for Sacramento, CA in less than a week! This Thursday!! Seriously, where has the time gone? I finally got moved back home from my house in St. Louis Park a couple weeks ago. I am still trying to unpack all of my things, and in the process, I am finding out I have a lot of stuff!! A lot of stuff that I don't need or use for that matter. I found 5 disc players/Walkman! Who uses those anymore and why have I kept them for so long? Borderline hoarder?..Perhaps! I am also trying to get in my goodbyes to friends and family. It's good to see people before I leave, especially since I haven't seen most of them for a while! I still have so much to do before I leave Thursday!

The good news is that I got my itinerary e-mailed to me last week. I was getting worried it wasn't coming! I will depart Minneapolis bright and early at 7:35 am! I have a layover in Phoenix and then off to sunny Sacramento! The weather says it will be 73 degrees and sunny for my arrival. On Facebook they have set up a group for everybody heading out to the Sacramento campus. It's nice to be able to talk to other people to see what they are bringing and where everyone is coming from. I have already talked to quite a few people coming from Minnesota. Mostly the Twin Cities area. All us Minnesotans decided to meet up at the airport since we are all on the same flight. It will be nice to have people to talk to on the plane and to help me with getting to the next plane on our layover, seeing as I'm know for missing flights when I have layovers, haha!!

If anybody knows me, they know that I can be just a little bit of a procrastinator. Just a little bit, haha! So, it may come as no surprise that I haven't started packing yet. I am definitely feeling overwhelmed trying to pack all my things for 10-months into two suitcases! I guess I am going to have to go through my clothes and pick my favorites. We will be wearing uniforms while we are on duty (which is roughly M-F from about 7-4, depending on the project) so that definitely cuts down on how many regular clothes I would need to pack. I also have to provide my own bedding. I'm still deciding if that's something I want to try and pack, send out there, or buy when I get there. It will be a last minute decision I'm sure, but it will all come together in the end...hopefully!

I am very excited to begin my journey in AmeriCorps, and I am anxious to get out there and get started on some projects!

♥ Kristen

AmeriCorps NCCC

AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women ages 18–24. Members are assigned to one of five campuses, located in Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California; Perry Point, Maryland; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and Vinton, Iowa. I was lucky enough to get assigned to Sacramento!

AmeriCorps NCCC requires an intensive, 10-month commitment. The mission of AmeriCorps NCCC is to strengthen communities and develop leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. In partnership with non-profits—secular and faith based, local municipalities, state governments, federal government, national or state parks, Indian Tribes and schools members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned. I am in the Pacific region which covers: AK, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, and Pacific Territories. I am definately looking forward to traveling to some of these different states!

There is also more information on this program and more on their website. Click here to visit the AmeriCorps website. I will update again when it gets time to leave!

♥ Kristen

It's Been a Long Time Comin'

It's official! I am now an AmeriCorps NCCC member! (my next post will describe more about what AmeriCorps is and what I will be doing in this program) I had applied for this program back in November. It was a long application process that required an online application, two phone interviews, and getting fingerprinted at the police station.They're definitely serious about who they let in. I obviously checked out to be OK! All of this just to find out that I had been wait listed. Meaning I had got into the program, but there wasn't enough space for me at the time. I wasn't sure if I would get in or not. I was wait listed back in April and hadn't heard anything for most of the summer.

I was nervous waiting to see if I would get a spot. I was at a point where it was out of my hands and all I had to do was play the waiting game! That was tough for me because, I needed to start making decisions about the fall. I needed to know whether or not I should apply for school in the fall, or renew my lease at the end of August. Luckily, this past Friday I got an e-mail regarding a change to my account. I logged on to see that my status had been changed from wait listed to assigned!! And where of all places was I assigned to?? Sacramento, California!! Now, I'm not necessarily gonna be staying in this sate for my whole term, but I will do most of my training here and at least one project. I couldn't have asked for a better place to be assigned!

I will be leaving for sunny California on October 7th and will return to Minnesota on July 22. I definitely won't be missing the snow this winter! However, I will be missing all my family and friends! Like my dad said though, "you'll be more connected than I ever was when I was in the Navy...I would send a letter and it would take more than 15 days to get there." I thought I would keep you all in the loop with a blog. It's a great way to keep everyone updated on what I am doing, and I will only have to write it all once! Well, more to come on my adventures in AmeriCorps. I hope you all enjoy!

Kristen