My very first snow day and I got one and a half days!
We basically lazed around today and made our halloween costumes. Nicole, Megan and I are going to be crayons! I am a blue crayon and the costume is super cute. We have a Halloween party tomorrow and then we are working on Saturday at a Children's Museum. So we will get a lot of use out of our crayon awesomeness!
It has been snowing pretty much non-stop for the last few days. Not sure how many inches, but definitely over a foot. We had a snow ball fight and played with a makeshift sled yesterday. Super fun! I am pretty cold a lot of the time, but it is so gorgeous!
Kristy Coleman - Class 16 AmeriCorps NCCC 3001 S. Federal Blvd. Walsh Hall, Room 136 Denver, CO. 80236
If anyone wants to send me anything... :) But you have to tell me first because I don't check the mail unless I am expecting something because I have to wait in line for it.
We have to do 80 hours of service projects throughout the 10 months that are independent of our 1700 hours we have to do for AmeriCorps.
The last 3 days we had some pretty good ones...
Saturday: We worked for Habitat for Humanity. It is a super cool program. I didn't realize that the people getting the houses have to pay for them. In both a monthly mortgage payment and in 250 hours of "sweat equity." The work we did was very monotonous because we were fixing other's work... We were making sure that the dry wall screws where all flush against the wall. Super fun! All for a good cause though.
Sunday: Humane Society. The weather was pretty crappy, but we still had the chance to walk some of the bigger dogs. Or should I say, I got walked/run by a dog. My dog was CRAZY. She did not know how to walk at all.. Super cute though. Her name was Jenny, but I didn't know that at first and named her Jo Jo, which I think is way better. I was not too happy when it started SNOWING on our little 2 hour walk, but she seemed happy. We also got to hold a puppy and one of the other girls cleaned poo pans for 2 hours! - Glad I didn't have to do that. :)
Monday: Grant Ave. Soup Kitchen. Today was really great. A group of about 10 of us went to a soup kitchen and worked from 10-6! 8 hours of chopping, serving, and cleaning. We served for 4 hours and it was a line out of the door the entire time. I really enjoyed talking to everyone, but parts of it were really sad. There were a couple parents and their kids that came through the line and that was difficult to see. But most of the people were really grateful and appreciative and really happy. I can't wait to find another opportunity to work at a soup kitchen. Unfortunately this one is only on Mondays and we usually work Mondays...I will have to keep looking!
I woke up this morning to about an inch of snow on the ground! I must say, my first reaction was, "What is THIS?!?!" But that changed when we were walking to breakfast because it was falling on us. So, so cool. That is only the second time in my life that I have seen snow fall..
After dinner, we went out and had an awesome snowball fight! It kind of turned into boys vs. girls and since it was dark, we couldn't really see the rock balls they were throwing at us. (They were snow, but they packed it so hard!) Good day after sitting in a classroom for trainings ALL day. Learned all about how to deal with the media though!
I can't believe I have only been here for a week...Nothing but amazing so far! Amazing city, amazing people, and even more amazing adventures to come!
On Sunday we went into Boulder for the day and explored the town. Super cool area. It reminded me a lot of Berkeley. Lots of little shops and there were street vendors and performers. AND we ate dinner at BJ's! Yummy pizookie! Apparently it is a West Coast thing though because all of the East coasters had never heard of it...
It took us quite a while to get there though - 30 minutes by light rail into Downtown Denver, 1 hour bus ride into Boulder. We had gone out the night before and I put my cash, ID and debit card in a different purse and then left it in my room... AWESOME. I love having people I have known for like 5 days pay for me all day, and I couldn't even have my favorite beer at BJ's!
I wouldn't mind going back there, but it is kind of far and I don't really have the money to be spending in random stores right now, but some with the $300/month stipend! I will be rolling in the dough! :)
If you are in CO, you should definitely check it out!
I feel as though this warrants its own post just to itself...
~Black or Khaki cargo pants or shorts - sizes are S, M, L, etc... So they fit just spectacularly!
~Gray T-shirt (short or long sleeve) - Men's sizes, Tucked in! OR ~White Polo
~Black belt
~Fleece Vest - Optional
~Hat - Beanie, Fisherman's hat, or baseball hat - SEXY
You can wear black, gray, or white undershirts, socks, scarves or gloves. But other than that - It must have an AmeriCorps Logo on it.
We have to wear it pretty much all day, everyday. I have to say my favorite is the tucked in t-shirt look...It is so stellar!
I don't have one of just me yet, but you can get the gist from this. I am sure you will then understand why I have not decided to pose for one yet...But this gives you a good idea of all the options we have!!
This is my first team - who I am no longer with because we will be switching 5 times!
For those of you who still don't understand what AmeriCorps NCCC is or what I am doing...
There are 3 branches of AmeriCorps that I am eligible for - VISTA, NCCC, and State and National. I am in the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC - pronounced N-triple C). This is a team based, residential program for 18-24 year-olds. My region is the Southwest region with consists of Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma.
We will go on 4 service projects throughout the 10 months - lasting about 2 months each. These will be in areas such as, environmental conservation, disaster response and relief, youth development, building homes, and other service projects similar to that. I also have to complete 80 hours of service during the 10 months that is independent from my project. This can be anything volunteer related, except religious organizations or anything with a political affiliation.
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Wednesday, Oct. 14th - I landed in Denver International Airport at around 11a. Totally surreal to see an AmeriCorps Rep and a Dateline cameraman waiting right outside the gate! **Side Note - Dateline is doing a special on AmeriCorps and they will be filming one team throughout the year, 20% chance it will be my team**
Everything was super organized and we got to campus at about 3p. We are staying at Colorado Heights University, about 7 miles outside of Downtown Denver. Campus -->
We are split into 4 units - Earth, Fire, Sun, and Water. I am in Water!! How fitting. :) This just means that I spend almost all of my time in my unit. There are about 55 people in the unit, which is further broken down into 5 teams of 11. We do not get our permanent teams until November 5th because they like to switch it around and see who works well together and our varying strengths and weaknesses. It is neat that they do that, but I would really like to just have my team and start learning how to work with them...
We have 4 weeks of training and then start our 1st round of projects!!
When we are on SPIKE (alternate living away from camping - could range from a hotel to camping to cots in a gym), I am not sure how often I will be able to update my blog, but I will definitely try to keep everyone updated on all of my wonderful adventures!
