First Project and FRT????

Well most of training consists of boring lectures on swine flu protection, sitting on the floor watching 4 hour presentations on Corps Policy and mustering up with our pods to get filled in on scheduling stuff. But we actually had a project yesterday. Apparently it was community gardening day yesterday so half of the troops went out into the Sacramento area and helped in public gardens. We went to the sickest public elementary school ever! I don't even feel like anyone at home will believe that a place like the exists. I mean I thought my school was pretty good but this place! They had a little garden outside every classroom, and since it is Cali, the kids get to walk outside to other parts of campus. They also had an orchard, a vegetable garden and a green house... what??? I felt like this school really didn't need 11 members helping them out seeing that they had everything running so smoothly but never the less we helped weed, make a compost pile holder and mulch. It was amazing seeing how happy and productive the kids were working in the gardens. They were so focused and driven. I have never seen so many kids that age with that much work ethic.

Other than training and projects I am making pretty big decision right now that will determine what I will be doing over the next year. Normal NCCC members just get assigned projects at random. They might be making trails in national forests all over the west coast. they could be helping re-build houses in the hurricane areas or aiding at a disaster. That is why i joined Americorps cause I want to work hard, work outside and learn some new skills, as well as the travel aspect of it. The only thing is that I also could be helping people with their taxes, answering phones in an office or tutoring little kids after school... these things don't thrill me as much. I wouldn't mind doing them BUT I have a little alternative I might be able to do. FRT- Fuel Reduction Team. These are the teams that only focus on forest fires and reducing the fuel near communities to help control the fires. Pros- I get my CHAINSAW certification, I am guaranteed to spend most of my time outside, i get to work with fire, I get wildfire fighter certification and I am gunna get it killer shape. Cons- I probably won't leave California, IF there is a disaster down south I probably won't get shipped out (but I guess it is not likely we will get shipped there anyway because usually Mississippi campus gets those) and I will mostly be doing the same projects the whole time.

Well either way I can't get onto FRT without passing the Pack test which is tomorrow. The Pack test is a 3 mile hike on under 45 minutes wearing a 45 pounds pack... I REALLY wanna pass. But I figure that I will let this test make my choice of whether I do FRT also it depends on if I even get selected because there is only 44 slots...

ok well I'll try to post some photos soon.