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