Chain saw training/ Project assignment!
Hey guys! I'm writing right now on the bottom bunk in a lodge out in the middle of the forest Maryland. Yesterday, today and the next 2 days is chainsaw training, which only one or two people per team get to do. It's pretty cool because once you get certified as a chainsaw operator you are the only one on your team (or in my case, one of two) who gets to use chain saws on projects. Yesterday we had to watch a bunch of boring shit about safety and stuff, but today we got to go out and actually play with the tools a little bit. It was fun, but its really cold and I have pretty bad windburn on my hands. The next two days we are working on clearing out some trees in order to let selected trees grow without competition and increase diversity in the forest. Pretty cool stuff. I'm pretty stoked on going out and sawing some shit down, but also I'm pretty ready to be done with this training. The past week has been pretty boring, mostly doing more training and hanging out with my housemates. D.C. Was pretty fun, and I went to Philly with my friend last weekend, which was cool. We got some cheese steaks and went to a really sweet botanical garden. Also, we went to the Mutter museum which had a bunch of exhibits about physical abnormalities and stuff. It was real gross.
On Thursday we got out first project assignment! Our team leader took us all out to pizza and we were giving him a hard time that he wouldn't tell us that our project was, but he just said he would tell us when he was ready. Then, when the pizzas came, my teammate Chloe picked up a piece of pizza and found a piece of plastic underneath it. Inside there was one of those cards that you can record your voice on and when she opened it our TL's voice said “Hey guys, this is Drew, I just wanted to tell you that we're GOING TO NEW OREALNS!”. Everyone was really excited and stuff, I'm really stoked to get down there and see what its like. We are going to be living at Camp Hope, a 300 person volunteer camp, so that should be an experience! We are working with the St. Bernard Parish project doing construction, probably on houses, but I don't have all of the information yet. I'm feeling pretty ready to get out there and start actually working! But at the same time I'm really going to miss my housemates and friends that I have made that aren't on my team. I have been feeling a lot better about my team lately, I think that its going to be tough sometimes but I think that we are going to have a really good year. So yeah, we leave for New Orleans on the 6th! When I get back we have a few days to work on getting our project briefing ready, then on the 5th is the induction ceremony and we become full-fledged Corps Members (this month has been a probationary period). Its going by really fast, but at the same time I feel like I have already been here forever and have known my friends here for a loooot longer than the three weeks it has actually been. I guess they call that phenomenon “Ameritime”. Pretty silly.
Well, I should hit the hay, gotta get up at 5:30! I love and miss you guys a whole lot!