I'm sick... since Tuesday morning I've been in this deplorable state and it sucks. The good news is that I'm taking care of myself this time. Unlike my sickness last semester that ended up last 2 weeks plus because I just kept going to work like I'm superwoman or something. And I'm not. Not even close. So I finally went to the doctor this morning. They gave me some meds and a steroid shot. My boss has ordered me away from City Year for at least today and tomorrow... which is smart. It's nice to have people around who will make me take care of myself. Cause Lord knows I'm not going to. I'm already getting stir crazy cause I've taken the last two afternoons off to rest. But that's the relatively uneventful sad story of right now... Let me catch you up on the good stuff.
CAMP CITY YEAR!!! I'm so excited about it. It's going to mean so much more to me since I have a hand in the planning as the Program Director. It sounds too official. Carly and Lilly are my Arts people, Shawn is my recreation guy, and Bella is handling all aspects educational. David, Allison and I were brainstorming quirky, random thinks to do througout camp so the kids never ever forget us. We also got this huge, amazing campsite in the Texas Hill Country so we get to go all out with an overnight camp!! I can't wait to see what the final product is going to look like. Watch out Cyzygy!!! Here we come!
We've also had a couple Young Hero Saturdays. As a team leader it's been a little tiring. I've worked the past 3 weeks without a single day off. I guess this sickness is my body asking "WHAT IN THE HECK?!?!" But I'm still loving it. Loving my YH team, Stone Soup! We had our huge MLK weekend extravaganza. A service project on Saturday. Young Heroes training and a retreat on Sunday. And then the HUGE (largest in the country as a matter of fact) MLK Day March. We had the Young Heroes in tow. I thought we'd lose someone for sure, but they stuck with us. Then the following weekend the Young Heroes learned about stereotypes among the middle school generation and cleaned up Woodlawn Lake. On Sunday we had our first Camp City Year meeting! We decided to go with the theme "Nature" and we're still working on a catchy title.
I miss everyone back home like crazy. Sarah, Brooke, Ashley, Katy, Lexie, Leigh, Dad, Daniel, Meredith, Naomi, Mom. And Layton in Austin... But I will say I feel lucky. I'm here in San Antonio and everyday I feel more and more like this was the best decision of my entire life. I know I wouldn't feel that way if I didn't have a best friend here to share it with. I don't think she hears it enough so... Jill you are amazing and you keep me going strong. I hope you know just how much you mean to me!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The New Year
We had two weeks off for holiday break and so I went back to Georgia!! Of course two weeks was not long enough to fit in all the things I wanted to do and all the people I wanted to see, but it was pretty close. I could list all the details, but the highlights were hanging out with Lexie and Leigh. Olive Garden. Taco Mac with Layton, Meredith and Daniel. Relaxing a lot at my dad's house and meeting Heather. Going to the burbs with all the puppies. Rock Band 2 and World Tour with Sarah, Ashley, Brooke, and Colin. Allgood with all the same people. Sushi with all the same people. Sushi and Trapeze with Katy. New Years at Meredith's lake house playing Dutch Blitz and Pass the Pigs :) Baking. Cooking. Watching movies. All in all doing nothing but what I wanted to do. Good times.
I'm back in San Antonio now after a grueling 18+ hour drive. Some punks tried to steal my car again! But this time is was all old news. The first week back at City Year for Advanced Training Academy (ATA) started out a bit overwhelming. First of all I over slept and was late. But then we got all this information about the tons of stuff we're going to do this semester. Which is very exciting and I'm looking forward to all of it. It also makes me a bit tired just thinking about it. Here are some things I'm especially excited about. YOUNG HEROES!! You have a little background information from my last post. I'm excited to build relationships with these amazing kids I've met. I know my Saturdays as a Young Heroes Team Leader are going to be some of the best times. I'm also really looking forward to the after school program we're starting at McAuliffe called Starfish. It's a service learning program kind of like young Heroes, but not quite as intense. The units we'll be talking about with our kids are Health, Environment, and Peace & Conflict. I'm point person for the Environment unit and I'm really looking forward to that experience. I'm trying to revamp my lunch clubs. I'm hoping to have a lot more success. I'm also looking forward to Camp City Year. It's a camp we put on for kids in San Antonio over their spring break. This year it's not overnight, but it'll still be a great time with the kids. I'm also really looking forward to Cyzygy. It's our national conference where all the City Year sites come together. That's going to be amazing, especially if San Antonio gets paired up with South Africa again.
Another thing that was overwhelming about the first day back was the rolling out of Senior Corps Member applications. I want to come back and do a second year in City Year as a Team Leader. There are many reasons I feel like that experience will be extremely beneficial to me. I came into City Year telling myself that I would put 110% into the year and take advantage of all leadership opportunities. I know that being a Team Leader would teach me so much more and prepare me to take on my future endeavors with confidence and experience. I never expected City Year to be so much bigger than just a gap year… It’s introducing me to this huge movement toward Nation Service. I think City Year is doing such wonderful and amazing things. It’s a strong leader in this movement and I’m so lucky to have found this community. I know that it will be a big part of my life from here on out. The Vice President and Dean of City Year, Charlie Rose, was in San Antonio these past couple of days. He is such an inspiring individual. Someone I can really look up to and model my career in the non-profit sector after. I’m so overwhelmed (in a good way) with City Year and all the experiences I have to look forward to this semester. Last semester was hard. It was a time to grow and get acquainted with City Year life and all the ups and downs that come with it. Now that I have my feet wet I’m ready to make the plunge and not look back.
So speaking of taking a plunge. One of the other activities we did for ATA as a corps was a high ropes course. I’ve been rock climbing and rappelling, but I’ve never done a high ropes course before. Man o man was it intense. I was so proud of everyone. So many people were terrified but did it anyways. Everyone was encouraging to each other as well. The first course our group (McAuliffe, Casey, and part of the CE team) was crazy! We had to climb to the top of a ladder and then climb up a telephone pole to this platform. From there we had to walk across a cable (we had a cable above our heads to hang on to). The last part was the hardest for me. We had to walk out to the middle of this log (with nothing to hold onto) and then free fall off of it. It took me a while to let go and walk to the middle of that log. Keep in mind that all this is going on about 30 feet up in the air. The second course started the same. Climbing up a telephone pole. Then you had to walk across another cable and this time you had two cables (one on each side) to hold onto. After that you hooked up to a zip line and went on down. It was a great experience!
I'm back in San Antonio now after a grueling 18+ hour drive. Some punks tried to steal my car again! But this time is was all old news. The first week back at City Year for Advanced Training Academy (ATA) started out a bit overwhelming. First of all I over slept and was late. But then we got all this information about the tons of stuff we're going to do this semester. Which is very exciting and I'm looking forward to all of it. It also makes me a bit tired just thinking about it. Here are some things I'm especially excited about. YOUNG HEROES!! You have a little background information from my last post. I'm excited to build relationships with these amazing kids I've met. I know my Saturdays as a Young Heroes Team Leader are going to be some of the best times. I'm also really looking forward to the after school program we're starting at McAuliffe called Starfish. It's a service learning program kind of like young Heroes, but not quite as intense. The units we'll be talking about with our kids are Health, Environment, and Peace & Conflict. I'm point person for the Environment unit and I'm really looking forward to that experience. I'm trying to revamp my lunch clubs. I'm hoping to have a lot more success. I'm also looking forward to Camp City Year. It's a camp we put on for kids in San Antonio over their spring break. This year it's not overnight, but it'll still be a great time with the kids. I'm also really looking forward to Cyzygy. It's our national conference where all the City Year sites come together. That's going to be amazing, especially if San Antonio gets paired up with South Africa again.
Another thing that was overwhelming about the first day back was the rolling out of Senior Corps Member applications. I want to come back and do a second year in City Year as a Team Leader. There are many reasons I feel like that experience will be extremely beneficial to me. I came into City Year telling myself that I would put 110% into the year and take advantage of all leadership opportunities. I know that being a Team Leader would teach me so much more and prepare me to take on my future endeavors with confidence and experience. I never expected City Year to be so much bigger than just a gap year… It’s introducing me to this huge movement toward Nation Service. I think City Year is doing such wonderful and amazing things. It’s a strong leader in this movement and I’m so lucky to have found this community. I know that it will be a big part of my life from here on out. The Vice President and Dean of City Year, Charlie Rose, was in San Antonio these past couple of days. He is such an inspiring individual. Someone I can really look up to and model my career in the non-profit sector after. I’m so overwhelmed (in a good way) with City Year and all the experiences I have to look forward to this semester. Last semester was hard. It was a time to grow and get acquainted with City Year life and all the ups and downs that come with it. Now that I have my feet wet I’m ready to make the plunge and not look back.
So speaking of taking a plunge. One of the other activities we did for ATA as a corps was a high ropes course. I’ve been rock climbing and rappelling, but I’ve never done a high ropes course before. Man o man was it intense. I was so proud of everyone. So many people were terrified but did it anyways. Everyone was encouraging to each other as well. The first course our group (McAuliffe, Casey, and part of the CE team) was crazy! We had to climb to the top of a ladder and then climb up a telephone pole to this platform. From there we had to walk across a cable (we had a cable above our heads to hang on to). The last part was the hardest for me. We had to walk out to the middle of this log (with nothing to hold onto) and then free fall off of it. It took me a while to let go and walk to the middle of that log. Keep in mind that all this is going on about 30 feet up in the air. The second course started the same. Climbing up a telephone pole. Then you had to walk across another cable and this time you had two cables (one on each side) to hold onto. After that you hooked up to a zip line and went on down. It was a great experience!
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