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A TALE OF HORRIBLE PAIN!

So AmeriCorps took us (all the TLs) out to dinner tonight at a Chinese buffet. I wandered around for a while and filled my plate with food that looked promising. Part of my plate was from a salad bar thing. I had red onions, green and red peppers, broccoli, carrots, and maybe some other stuff I don't remember. All delicious, right? I sat down with my food and the first thing I ate was a piece of green pepper. OH MY GOODNESS THAT WASN'T A GREEN PEPPER. In case you weren't aware, I canNOT handle spiciness AT ALL. I popped the piece in my mouth and chewed approximately 1.5 times before my mouth was on fire. I am very proud of myself that I didn't yell or cry or spit it out, I actually managed to chew it the rest of the way and swallow, but then the pain got worse. My thinking was somehow clear enough through the pain panic that I remembered that you're not supposed to drink water, you're supposed to drink milk (which of course was not present) or eat bread, but I didn't have any. I took a bite of egg role, but that didn't help. I took a bite of chicken, but that didn't help. Though I managed not to yell through this ordeal, a couple people around me noticed the (probable) pain on my face and asked if I was ok. I said yeah, that was just really spicy. They asked what, and I pointed to the pepper. They informed me that it was a jalapeno pepper. A JALAPENO PEPPER! I think it's the way it was cut that totally made it look to me like a regular old harmless green pepper. Meg went and got me a piece of bread, and Lupita had French fries (why there were fries at a Chinese buffet, I have no idea) that she shared, so that took some of the edge off. I was pretty traumatized though. All I ate after that were fries, green beans, and chicken. Why do people willingly eat jalapeno peppers? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! Also, the stupid thing was covered in seeds, as peppers in restaurants frequently are. I'm pretty sure I have a jalapeno tree growing in my stomach right now, just lurking there waiting to destroy me. (Do jalapenos grow on trees? Or does the devil just keep them in potted plants in his backyard?)

Whew. Now that that's out of the way, I can tell you the latest TLT news. On Monday of last week, we had some boring meetings that aren't even really worth writing about, and then Habitat training all afternoon. Each unit did it at different times, so I was only with Sun people. We went to the local Habitat for Humanity warehouse for a guy named Bruce to teach us how to use tools that I've been using for the past six or so years. He taught us about miter saws, circular saws, chalk lines, drills, and hammers. We then had to pair up and go around to different stations to actually use each of the tools. We had to make cuts with the various saws to specific measurements and practice drilling and hammering. We practiced with all the things for a while, then he made us take a "test" with all the tools. Really the only part worth mentioning was that he wouldn't let us leave until we had put a 16-penny nail (those are the big ones) in a piece of wood in three hits. There were framing hammers there for us to practice with (huge heavy hammers that are pretty much made to sink 16-penny nails), which I have never used before. They're kind of nice when you get the hang of them. I got a nail in three hits a couple times during the practice, but it didn't count unless Bruce was watching during the test part. It took me a while to do it with an audience, but I did it a couple more times!

The rest of the week was pretty chaotic. We had a little mini-spike Wednesday through Friday, so Tuesday was all just getting ready for that. A spike is a project where the team lives somewhere other than on campus, remember. The mini-spike was just to show new people what a spike is like and prepare them for what's to come a bit better. Here's the silly part: So we're already split into four units, right? Well for this we were split into three groups, A, B, and C. We would be working and traveling with our group, but buying food, cooking, and checking out tools and dishes with our unit. Does that make sense? No. It does not. So Tuesday was spent with our units, checking out equipment and making a grocery list and shopping. The problem here is that there was no clear leader. This is a big group of leaders. My unit gets along really well, but there were a few differences of opinion in how to go about organizing the day.

Wednesday, we left for our spike. The plan was that each group would work with Habitat here in Denver for one of the three days, then spend the other two days working at the campsite where we would be living. Group A at Habitat Wednesday, B on Thursday, and C on Friday. Also, everyone had another day of service thing on Saturday, and group C would be working at Red Rocks Park that day. So Wednesday, A went to Habitat, B (my group) went to the campsite, and C went to Red Rocks for an orientation thing for their project on Saturday. They were supposed to meet us at the campsite after lunch. Well B got to the campsite, and Matt, the supervisor, told us that there was a change of plans and he was going to take us to Red Rocks to do the orientation with C. Even though it was an orientation for something we wouldn't be at. Ok, whatever, we do what we're told here. So we were all bored for about an hour and a half during this orientation, and then they unexpectedly put both B and C to work moving rocks. There were big piles of rocks along the road that needed to be spread along the trail because one of the projects for the Saturday thing was to build a couple rock walls. It was fine for a while, because most of the rocks weren't too big, we didn't have far to take them, and a few times we formed a line and passed them down while singing Disney songs. Then, we got to the fourth pile. This pile was made mostly of BIG rocks, and they had to be taken first down a really steep hill, then a LONG way away. We tried carrying individual rocks all the way from the pile to the destination (way too exhausting!) and also passing them down a line and throwing them down the steep part to people waiting at the bottom, but those didn't really work. We ended up throwing/rolling them down the hill right from the pile, and then people carried them together the rest of the way. Also, Red Rocks park is called Red Rocks for a reason. The rocks are all covered in red dust, which got all over us. Even though we have to tuck our shirts in with the uniform, everyone's stomach was red by the end of the day. It was ridiculous.

My group was supposed to go to Habitat on Thursday. However, we were told at that orientation that someone would need to be there to set up the Saturday thing (there would be like 200 volunteers there on Saturday that they needed to get ready for), but C was supposed to be at Habitat. B and C just ended up switching Habitat days so C could set up their own thing at Red Rocks on Friday. So on Thursday, we finished that pile of rocks. Then we were sent to help get rid of a bunch of Russian Olive trees, which are an invasive species. Two Red Rocks employees chainsawed them down and cut them into manageable pieces, and groups A and B (25 people) carried them into piles. Does that sound like a productive use of time? If it does, I described it wrong. There were about 20 of us just standing and waiting at all times. It was a little silly.

After that, Matt took us to see the amphitheater, since a lot of people had never been there. Then he took us to go climb around in a cave. Then he took us to an old CCC camp. (Tangent: The CCC is the Civilian Conservation Corps, which existed for several years after the depression. Men 18-25 years old could work for room, board, a uniform, and I think $25 a month. $5 would go to them and $20 would go home to their families. The CCC built the amphitheater at Red Rocks. They were nicknamed the tree army, because they also planted a ridiculous number of trees and build a ridiculous amount of trails in national parks. National parks pretty much wouldn't be the same without the CCC. My specific AmeriCorps program is called NCCC, pronounced N triple C, which stands for National Civilian Community Corps. NCCC is kind of modeled after the CCC. Oh look, a link if you want to know more. I think it's pretty cool. Also, my maternal grandfather was in the CCC back in the day, which I didn't know until after I already decided to join NCCC. End tangent.) The CCC camp had also served as a chapter of CCC alumni. We didn't get to meet anyone, but we did get to look around and see lots of pictures and read stories and stuff. It was really pretty cool.

Finally Friday was B's day at Habitat. The house was mostly done, there was just little indoor finishing work to do. I spackled and caulked all day. It's tedious and boring work, but I don't mind it that much. I alternated between working with other people and getting to talk and working by myself and getting to zone out and turn my brain off. Not a terrible day.

On Saturday, while group C was at the Red Rocks thing, A and B went to a different volunteer day, the Platte River Sweep. It was pretty cool. There was a bunch of free swag, which is always nice. Most of the volunteers were just picking up trash, but our group got to do some landscaping and painting railings and stuff. At the end, they raffled off like 30 things. I think like 10 of us won something. I won an umbrella. Someone else won a mini-grill/cooler combo. A couple of us won backpacks. A couple won lottery tickets (they didn't win). And we only had to work a half day.

That night was Oktoberfest in Denver. Your guess is as good as mine why it was in September, but whatever. It was fun.

Sunday was spent doing absolutely nothing productive except thinking about writing a blog post. Obviously, that didn't work out.

Which brings us to today. We had to check in all the equipment we checked out for the spike then do a debrief for the staff. Also, all the office team leaders had to sign in to their desktop computers for the first time and watch the boring video that tells us how to be secure with computers that are on a government network (like our desktops are). It was super complicated to get into, but then the video was boring.

In the afternoon, we had the first four of our twelve hours of Supervisory Skills. 1-5pm today, then all day tomorrow. Not much to say about that. It was fairly boring, but the guy leading it probably did as well as was possible.

And now it's almost bedtime. Good night!