River Tres..IN YO FACE!

First and foremost before I begin this update I just want to wish my lovely and wonderful parents a Happy 32nd Wedding Anniversary. On this day 32 years ago Karen and Gary eloped and I can truly say that they are the best parents a son and daughter (speaking on behalf of my sisters) can ever have!! I can’t wait for the Golden Anniversary which really is right around the corner J

Yes! Yes! Some of you readers that have been reading my blogs for awhile now are probably wondering what the title of this entry is all about. Well…to answer that quite simply…our River Unit got our team numbers and I wanted to follow suite with my team number last year (Raven 3) and then I kind of “stole” the team phrase we had. I, in a way, was the creator of “Raven Tres in yo face!” but it was a collective effort that put it all together. What I decided to do is incorporate it with my River 3 team this year. We shall see what my Corps Members will think of the genius catch phrase!!

WOW! Is this week nearly over? Week 3 of TLT (team leader training) is coming to a halt as we went through yet again several trainings all pertaining to becoming a better TL. All were vital and influential. A sluggish week for some because of the amount of fun we had hanging out in New Orleans the week before. Pictures soon to be posted on facebook from the weekend. It didn’t slow me down though…instead it made me more anxious and stoked for the CM’s to come!! Countdown now stands at T minus 8 days until they arrive. I even heard there is a CM from Chicago…hmmm! Cubs or Sox fan?? I have no idea!!

Now onto the fun-packed, flexible yet interesting week…

MONDAY (July 20th)

- team green PT @ 6 AM; we did some stretches, did a light jog, wall-sits along the campus building, then went around the circle and performed our best and worst exercises and held for a minute each (the one I don’t like doing are lunges or mountain climbers)
- after cleaning up from PT, myself, Heidi Hock, Dan BP, and Johanna got to perform the 1st TL community meeting that consisted of a choreographed Ace of Base song, announcements, laughter, and ending me a rousing musical game in which you had to think of songs that had the selected word in it (example: “baby”….’Hit me baby one more time!”)
- we got into our Units and had a solid 2.5 hours of bonding with our fellow River Unit
o we visited 3 places together and did a team building exercise at each location; we went first to the visitors center and picked up Mississippi maps, got brochures for potential ISP locations, and hot spots in the remote area of Vicksburg
o next we went to the military grounds of Vicksburg and got a history lesson on how they fired off cannons during the war, it was very entertaining
o lastly, we went downtown towards the Yazoo River and hung out at the water fountains/park area where we wrote a letter to ourselves telling goals, aspirations, and things we want to accomplish before the 11 months is over
- Unit time took us into lunch which then in the afternoon Nick Zefran came in to present our results for the Myers-Briggs test we took last week; my results were very interesting but I was happy to see what type of leader I really am.
- Nick showed us and broke down what each type of leader possesses and how we ranked using code letters; sounds confusing…but if you want to know more information about it, let me know
- After Myers/Briggs we had some reflection time with our Unit (I love our Unit and Unit Leader!) minus Andie who was in the Sacramento campus as a corps member was graduating from her corps member year later that week
- Wound down from the crazy, yet entertaining day and played some Yahtzee with Chelsea…we split one game a piece
- Went to bed early!

TUESDAY (July 21st)

- got told that for most of the day today there wasn’t going to be any water; completely shut off all water pressure at 7:30 AM (GREAT!! I haven’t showered in 2.5 days! I don’t want to be the smelly TL)
- after breakfast we gathered with our Unit and drew out Life Maps; I ended up making a timeline that depicted important events in my life that led me to choosing to be a team leader for Americorps NCCC
- while we were in one of the morning meetings after Unit time, we had a surprised fire drill; while outside to pass the time we played this really sweet Dinosaur team building game…Thanks Jordan!
- Came back in and had the rest of the first half of Projects and Service Learning Session put on by PD and APD, Rich Smith and Jen Prall; we really focused on management duties
- Following the session, Region Director, Gary Turner, had us TL’s sit in to a live staff meeting to see how they operated; basically it was the whole staff in a room giving updates about up coming events and potential schedule changes…took about 15 minutes…there is still an issue with the hot water and consistent air conditioning
- After munching on lunch we had a training with our campus counselor, Leigh Ann Simon; it was called Crisis Intervention in which we talked about how we were feeling and worries we might have as the day slowly approaches for us to actually go out and act like team leaders
- Night 2 of Yahtzee with Chelsea…yes we split games again!
- Nighty Night!

WEDNESDAY (July 22nd)

- PT CANCELLED for morning!! What a shock!!
- In place of that we had to wake at 7:30 AM to clean up the camping gear that we had taken to Hazelhurst the week before
- So today was supposed to be designed for the TL Ropes Course, but because of complications and contract issues, the Ropes have been put on hold as staff tries really hard to find someone; all of us were anticipating the course and then got thoroughly disappointed when we found out there wasn’t going to be one! RATS!
- Instead we had Transition Training until lunch, we got the paper work and discussed vital information about what transition entails and the tasks that need to be done during those 3-4 days…the most important is the Project Portfolio
- After lunch we had Projects Training round 2 with Jen Prall and Rich Smith
- the River Unit gathered into Neal’s office thereafter and revealed our team numbers through voting on our favorites from 1-7, I luckily (as mentioned before) got #3 and the reasoning behind it was I wanted to have the same number as my team last year; along with our team numbers we received our 1st round project sheets in which we have to mark 1 to 13 on which ones we want to go on; I am sorta leaning towards a construction project
- around 3:30 PM we all got together to stuff roughly 1000 envelopes that had invitations for induction that is coming up
- once completed that task, we were all anticipating to going out in the blistering 95 degree summer heat, but were baffled when the UL’s told us that we were doing PT inside; Patrick Edwards (fellow TL) led the group in a one hour Yoga session (I surely have never done Yoga before and don’t really like it)…it concluded with a 10 minute meditation which was very relaxing
- after dinner we broke into our cleaning stations groups and knocked it out for the room inspections tomorrow; our group at kitchen
- some of the TL’s then got cleaned up and went to the karokee locale and busted out a tune (every Wednesday the Warehouse has free karokee, definitely a spot where we will be going)
- very excited to get re-van trained tomorrow with Wade Williams

THURSDAY (July 23rd)

- early morning room inspections, of course mine passed with flying colors as one of my goals this year was stay organized and not slack
- received some nice and comfy mattresses that will make nights sleep much more better
- all of the morning we had Van Training informational sessions with Wade and took the written test; I ended up getting an A+!
- an unfortunate event happened though in the afternoon, as we were helping Wade load up bed frames and mattresses into trucks in the scalding, blazing hot gymnasium, we decided to do some pull-ups to show off our muscles, to our surprise Wade got up there and did it and ended up tearing his right bicep! OUCH!
- He was unable to lead us in the afternoon extravaganza activities as we was rushed to the hospital for treatment
- Instead Brendan Murphy took over and taught the class about how to jack up a tire and how to check your under the hood fluids
- Next we hopped into the vans by units and practice drove around the Vicksburg area, I chose to go first to get it out of the way…driving a 15 P is like riding a bike, very easy to pick back up after not driving it for 8 months!
- Once we got back to campus from the all afternoon driving, we ate dinner and then played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, great team bonding by playing
- So glad it is almost the weekend!


So there is what transpired the last 4 days with only Friday left to go in this training week. People were talking about traveling to Memphis to visit, others wanted to stay and catch up on sleep and swim in the local pool…I am not quite sure what I want to do. We get our first TL paychecks tomorrow! Everyone is super stoked!! Tomorrow is more trainings including Disaster and Southern Culture. We shall pick up with the updates on Sunday as I am about to sign off! Look for updated pictures that will be posted. So far we are all enjoying one another and becoming closer and closer each day. This is a great group of people with diverse personalities all sharing one common goal…to SERVE! River 3 TL OUT!


PS. Happy wedding day in 2 days my oldest cousin on my Dad’s side, Karah! I wish I was able to come to the wedding, take TONS of pictures!!

PSS. Happy Anniversary again mother and father!!