tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82782959484426584282024-02-07T20:45:50.650-08:00Where in America is Craig?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-82113700054243848982013-11-11T14:15:00.001-08:002013-11-11T14:15:56.822-08:00Living the Americorps life<p dir=ltr>I beat a month...but just by a few days! Sorry for not updating with what's going on.  Well the furlough finally ended and that meant we got our bosses back! The office is nice and busy now and we are back to running and full steam.  I picked up a project that turned into something much bigger then I expected from the get go.  I continue to learn so much both about what we are doing and how it effects people.  But I'm realizing how much of an advantage in experience my project has given me.  I get to see a much bigger picture then my teammates and the work that they are doing has started to demoralize them.  I can understand how tough it is to expect to be helping people individually and then find yourself scanning barcodes and getting to see the use of funds in FEMA.  And I don't think it's about what is going on, it's about the discrepancy between what work we are doing and what work we expected to do coming into the program.  I hope the group continues to do the work we need to do now to continue the program and explore the possibilities for future rounds. <br>
On a happier note, living in DC has been a blast! I spent a day after work exploring all the sights on the national mall and we went as a group on tours of the capital, the Red Cross head quarters, and the Corporation for National Community Service headquarters. (CNCS is the agency that runs AmeriCorps.) I got to walk around the University of Maryland and through Dupont circle.  We went hiking to the Billy Goat Trail on the Potomac river twice and I got to go on a couple weekend trips to tech.  It's been really cool to be so close to such an exciting active place.</p>
<p dir=ltr>About a month left and so much left to do!</p>
<p dir=ltr>Hopefully I'll post again soon,<br>
<u>Craig</u></p>
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Outside of work, this experience has been really cool up in DC.  From exploring the nation's capital (what's open at least) to visiting VT I've really enjoyed my time here so far.  I got to go to national cathedral for mass on my first Sunday which was pretty specular.  After mass I rode the metro down to eastern farmers market and then walked around navy pier, taking in the sights.  It was a cool place to hang out!  Then this weekend I went down to Virginia Tech and got to hang out with such a wonderful group of friends.  It was great to go back and catch up with so many people and there was not a dull moment the entire time!   A big thanks to Nicole for the ride down and Kelsey for the couch to crash on!  <br>
We have gotten to meet a couple teams from Perry Point Maryland and have started to get to know them.  It's been fun getting new perspective from them.  And to do pt with them. <br>
One of the coolest parts of work during the week was getting to know two of my coworkers who both were youth ministers recently while part of FEMA. It was really nice to hear how they negotiated the idea of faithful service especially when the connection was not as immediate as we are used to. It game me something to think about in my own service experience.</p>
<p dir=ltr>Last but not least, two huge shout outs to Andy Howell and Aunt Beth for the huge shows of support, I greatly appreciate the lunch and the fantastic package I got in the mail!</p>
<p dir=ltr>Enjoy the Basilica!<br>
<u>Craig</u></p>
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The drive from Vinton Iowa to Anniston Alabama was a thirteen hour trip turned into a two day adventure! Our caravan was a group of nearly 50 people and it took a long time to do anything when we pulled off the road. But we made it to Anniston without any serious incident. Anniston was incredible nice, with hotel like rooms and fine dinning food. The meals were amazing day in and day out! Training was classroom work to teach us about the systems we will be working with as well as some of the possible jobs we will be doing. The experience was challenging, we were ready to leave the class room when we left Vinton, but the new clear vision of how we are going to be used in FEMA was refreshing. We also learned mid week that we would be traveling to and working in Washington DC at FEMA headquarters. Our Vinton teams stretch from California to Denver to Missouri and Kansas to DC. We are truly all over the nation experiencing all kind of cultures and all kinds of jobs. We departed Anniston on Sunday, traveling through Atlanta and stayed the night in Charlotte. In the morning, one of the other group's van had been broken into and they were missing a few items. We made sure they were alright and then headed on our way. After four hours of traveling we were just south of Richmond Virginia at a gas station for a rest stop when Mike noticed our van's lock was completely busted out. It appears someone tried to rob us but couldn't get into the van so they moved on to the next one. We pit stopped in Richmond to make sure we told the right people and filled out the right paper work. then finished the 2 remaining hours to DC. We are staying in a house at an RV camp ground just north of the city. The place is amazing and although the commute in the van is a little tedious it is well worth it to be here.<br />
<br />
Today was our first day of work and it was very interesting. With the government shut down we have not been able to attack the projects we were initially intended to do. But we got training on a different job that we should get to attack tomorrow that could really help out. It is kind of cool having the office to ourselves to get used to it though. It almost seemed like kinds on a school day as the employees took off for the afternoon for a surprise day off. We will have to wait and see when they come back!<br />
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Hopefully more work tomorrow,<br />
Craig<br />
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PS. enjoy the cities we drove through!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-28536339216844836572013-09-21T08:02:00.001-07:002013-09-21T08:02:01.195-07:00First road trip <p dir=ltr>Today we leave the now very familiar Iowan landscape behind for a new location and more training.  We are headed to FEMA's Center for Disaster Preparation (CDP) in Anniston Alabama for more job specific training dealing directly with our roles.  I'm really excited to get the opportunity to go more in depth about our role as logistics specialists.  The original plan was the entire north central region FEMA class was going to be together in Anniston but the weather in Colorado had different ideas and a few teams departed with a westward heading to assist out there instead.  After Anniston is still unknown, but we will go wherever we are asked to help out.  Wherever we do end up going we will not be on campus in Vinton again until December! <br>
I think as a team we are interested in figuring out what we are going to be taking on when we do on our trips.  We have been scowling gathering every crumb of information we can find to attempt to figure it out.  But we also are trying to avoid over speculating and spreading rumors.  Hopefully this next training will give us a greater idea of our work.<br>
I find myself wanting to talk about social issues or injustices I'm experiencing but my experiences haven't really shown me anything new yet.  I've learned a lot about the people I'm serving with and the diversity in the people who are giving up this year of their lives.  I'm amazed by the different backgrounds and the different reasons people are here.  I've also seen a lot of examples of people wanting to help and being turned down for certain roles.  It's difficult to understand why some really awesome people with the absolute best intentions are turned away.  But it does help me understand how blessed I am, how many challenges I didn't even have to overcome.  I hope that I can find a way to help someone else overcome these challenges and find success.<br>
Here's to hoping the team conflict resolution and communication exercises we have been doing the past few weeks are going to work because we are about to spend a lot of time with just ourselves.</p>
<p dir=ltr>The last Iowan corn field for a while!<br>
Craig</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CwmwV0bX75MjmrvOFfhbdfMgh77h1PkHPY-BHbXKWsdkfvfB6ysfEM5HetqUNBKopG4fqFI3zETnRKsRTd6RJZ8DiVHa8Y3yDEvhWSPLdFcDLNewAPDVrGGl3FPDlU7U3RoxwzSTqvXI/s1600/IMG_20130921_091022_100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CwmwV0bX75MjmrvOFfhbdfMgh77h1PkHPY-BHbXKWsdkfvfB6ysfEM5HetqUNBKopG4fqFI3zETnRKsRTd6RJZ8DiVHa8Y3yDEvhWSPLdFcDLNewAPDVrGGl3FPDlU7U3RoxwzSTqvXI/s640/IMG_20130921_091022_100.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-55598029644999748582013-09-12T06:03:00.001-07:002013-09-12T06:03:38.480-07:00The home stretch <p dir=ltr>The last time I posted we were headed to a team building ropes course in Iowa city.  It turned out to be one of the coolest experiences I've had yet.  The course is run by the university of Iowa's recreation department, and our facilitator, Jay, was pretty awesome! He had a degree in recreational education which sounds incredible! We were pushed as a team to work together and responded incredibly well.  I was amazed at how well we went through the course.  the group has been very food outside of the course as well.  We have not had a lot of conflict and we are leaning how to share the work load.  Our leader, Shea has been amazingly hard working behind the scenes to keep us going as well!<br>
We are now just a week and a few days from heading down to Anniston Alabama for more in depth disaster training and I could not be more excited! Vinton is a cool little place but training has been very long and often frustrating.  I have learned an incredible amount, which is awesome, and my comfort level stretched, something I didn't think would happen this early on the trip.  <br>
Yesterday we started a two day mini project in remembrance of 9/11/2001.  We are working on invasive species removal on a prairie preservation.  It's a huge amount of work but it's great to get out of the class room and do something.  <br>
Another day of work today, induction tomorrow (end of CTI) and early next week we will know our location for the first spike right after Anniston.</p>
<p dir=ltr>Enjoy the Iowan sunset!<br>
Craig</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSz7A-THhN7ccjCn_kRjYL8yL248DYXGOzSfj-QmInttmgwmf4-U8Vx1ipDKhkcK894RlpN67NQ5BwimzbihEerEvfiCQEoPqLakjU1OHhUV4xiPycM27uojwL4w-0jZ5thJ4l7dQ9ETn/s1600/IMG_20130910_192113_008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSz7A-THhN7ccjCn_kRjYL8yL248DYXGOzSfj-QmInttmgwmf4-U8Vx1ipDKhkcK894RlpN67NQ5BwimzbihEerEvfiCQEoPqLakjU1OHhUV4xiPycM27uojwL4w-0jZ5thJ4l7dQ9ETn/s640/IMG_20130910_192113_008.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-77701919868528183452013-09-05T06:01:00.001-07:002013-09-05T06:01:25.214-07:00Training Updates<p dir=ltr>Meanwhile, back in Vinton...the trainings just keep going, from an over view of service learning (what is an active citizen anyways?) to a better understanding of the independent service projects we will take on throughout the year.  There is so much new information and I'm not sure I know what is important for me to really make sure I learn.  Guess I'll learn as much as I can. We also got our team roles in the last weekish.  Shea assigned me the role of support ranger which means I am in charge of the moral of group.  It's my job to resolve conflicts and present methods to keep the 10 of us from blowing up at each other.  I think this is the job that pushes my comfort level the most but I'm excited to take on this somewhat unexpected challenge. <br>
I also took on a new role as president of the corps members this week.  Voted in by a group of representatives from each team, it's the councils job to gauge the overall mentality of the members and decide what, if any, policy changes could be made to improve overall moral.  We also are in charge of planning and executing full corps events while we are together.  It's an exciting new opportunity that gives me personal interaction with the regional director, Dan Milnes, on behalf of the corps.<br>
The last week was a little rough because I managed to wrangle up a sinus infection.  After trying to fight through it for several days I finally went to the doctor yesterday.  Hopefully I'll be at full speed by the end of the week.  We also didn't have hot water in our residence building for 4 or 5 days.  I found it to be a struggle taking cold showers or washing dishes, but the biggest problem was not complaining.  We lost this creature comfort for a couple days but there is a very real probability the people we go to serve will have lost not only the comforts but the necessities of life as well.  Where as we didn't have hot water for showers they may have no showers or (and much worse) no water what so ever.  How can we be compassionate volunteers if we are unable to suffer our own 'hardships.'  I'll have to get my teams perspective on this idea.<br>
We are headed to Iowa City for a half day of team building on a ropes course then back to our home at the Iowa Braille school in Vinton for more training.</p>
<p dir=ltr>Till next time,<br>
<u>Craig</u></p>
<p dir=ltr>P.S. the picture is the town of Vinton, Iowa in the early evening. Welcome to small town life I guess<br>
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nzJwWf0wQZA/UiiAL4rqg6I/AAAAAAAAClg/66JVfYMNhaI/s1600/IMG_20130829_164921_910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nzJwWf0wQZA/UiiAL4rqg6I/AAAAAAAAClg/66JVfYMNhaI/s640/IMG_20130829_164921_910.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-88914962559211897842013-08-27T19:17:00.001-07:002013-08-27T19:17:52.277-07:00Training on training on training<p dir=ltr>Well it's been a week now and we have been all about training all day everyday.  Most of the training has been seminars in classrooms teaching us about the history of Americorps and previous national service initiatives that set up what we are doing now.  There has also been the beginnings of explaining what exactly we are going to be doing, although it's still kind of unclear.  We found out today that we are logistics specialists.  So far we've picked up that this means we will be setting up field offices early in the recovery efforts.  I'm not sure what else we will be doing.  <br>
We got to have a bunch of fun this weekend though, at a huge Vinton fair called Boom Town! It was an amazing fireworks show with an awesome atmosphere of people (and the beer tent was pretty cheap as well)!! <br>
Tomorrow means more exciting training, I'll let you know how it goes.</p>
<p dir=ltr>Craig,</p>
<p dir=ltr>PS, check out our instagram of dinner pictures...3<u>pinemeals</u><br>
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwU9xK0v97hw3CO50QYpwSPUpXbCl_zJZMbTSRAAvHD1LR7Kthboe8CFsSY7NatYRricbeG74MsJ4P83_H7U9P_K8fvJ4HZ3csl1g5dARxO39lPzScgb_rP5dwIPD25uu5SskaymsYb81-/s1600/IMG_20130824_215019_887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwU9xK0v97hw3CO50QYpwSPUpXbCl_zJZMbTSRAAvHD1LR7Kthboe8CFsSY7NatYRricbeG74MsJ4P83_H7U9P_K8fvJ4HZ3csl1g5dARxO39lPzScgb_rP5dwIPD25uu5SskaymsYb81-/s640/IMG_20130824_215019_887.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-15746776643344635672013-08-21T20:55:00.001-07:002013-08-21T20:55:14.241-07:00Uniformed meetings<p dir=ltr>Today was the first day of uniforms and the grey t shirts and cargo shorts really hit the spot! I'm sure we will get more used to them as time goes on. Lots of long meetings about everything from uniforms to our housing here at Vinton. Nothing too exciting to report there. We did get our small groups last night. My group, pine 3, looks to be a pretty good group of hard workers. We are split 5 and 5 on almost everything, from boys and girls to crunchy or creamy peanut butter. I'm interested to see the growth of the group as the experiences change around us, especially the growth of our leader Shea. More meetings tomorrow and a 6am wake up time! <br>
Until next time,<br>
Craig</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz68ZvlUZIah46HJSnKNKrNnrUkivfCatWwAH5PA0tcAGXXvrny7Bv-POhlBJaLk2y7L2avFXr8bQCdc_l2x0LgD352yLwkESNe7p8nGykRsdb0rE3ExMQbqliCQgqEi8WS_eZsjxh6PtJ/s1600/1377143040374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz68ZvlUZIah46HJSnKNKrNnrUkivfCatWwAH5PA0tcAGXXvrny7Bv-POhlBJaLk2y7L2avFXr8bQCdc_l2x0LgD352yLwkESNe7p8nGykRsdb0rE3ExMQbqliCQgqEi8WS_eZsjxh6PtJ/s640/1377143040374.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278295948442658428.post-38677455629263500102013-08-20T17:13:00.001-07:002013-08-20T17:13:23.874-07:00The Beginning<p dir=ltr>So after all the work it took to decide Americorps was what I really wanted to do, I am finally here.  A 6am flight to Chicago and a 7:30 flight to Cedar Rapids made me one of the first people in Vinton around 9am this morning.  After getting all checked in and receiving my uniform I had some free time to explore Vinton, the campus and meet some of the people I will be working work for the bedroom months.  The people are awesome and the town has some cool places I can't wait to explore but my favorite pat are the underground tunnels that connect all the buildings on campus.  In fact you can get to any of the five buildings without going outside...which is awesome in both the sweltering heat and the blistering cold that is to come! I should find out my group tonight which will be great in order to start growing closer to the people I will be spending the next ten months with.<br>
That's all for now, more later<br>
<u>Craig</u></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VuDB2RFwqPE/UhQGIX0riTI/AAAAAAAACXg/Q5CAaoWubCM/s1600/1377043934802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VuDB2RFwqPE/UhQGIX0riTI/AAAAAAAACXg/Q5CAaoWubCM/s640/1377043934802.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08381443463384786392noreply@blogger.com0