I'll pick up where I left off on Thursday afternoon. We had our PT baseline tests, and it went pretty well. I did the mile and a half in 14:14 so I have my time to beat for next time. I did 31 push-ups (they were even man-push-ups) in a minute and 42 crunches. Technically we were supposed to do actual sit-ups, not crunches, but being the genius that I am, I decided to go sledding over a snow ramp that some corps members had made on campus. The problem was, there wasn't that thick of a layer of snow on the ground, and shockingly, the thin layer of plastic between my tailbone and the ground didn't do too much to soften the blow. So actually sitting up was out of the question since it made me want to cry.
Friday was the big day. We were told that we would be finding out our permanent teams and team leaders, and also what our FEMA job would be at 9:00 a.m. What we didn't know was that they weren't going to make it easy for us. Instead of just making an announcement, they decided to make us work for it. First we were handed slips of paper with our names on it. When we unfolded them, we found a quote and people with the same quote had to find each other and form a group. Once that was done, we were told "Welcome to your permanent teams."
This was exciting. I am happy about my team members, and I think we have a great group. A few of the 8 people on our team are people that I haven't really gotten to know too well yet, because we'd never been on temporary teams together, but I'm sure after 9 months of living, working, and playing together, that won't be an issue.
Next, we were sent on a scavenger hunt to find out who our team leader (TL) was and what our job assignment was. We had all had different preferences for jobs. Most on our team wanted Public Assistance, some wanted Community Relations, I wanted Individual Assistance, and none of us wanted Logistics. So with that combination we had no inkling as to what our assignment would actually be.
The clues took us from the library to our dorms, to the cafeteria, back to the dorms, to the sledding hill, to the offices, and back to the library. It's almost like they were trying to sneak in some PT with our scavenger hunt. We met a TL at every station, and a few of them tried to convince us that they were ours, followed by a "just kidding" and the next clue. By the time we got to our real team leader, it took a good 20 minutes before we were fully convinced that it was actually our team.
So here's what I got. Our job assignment is Individual Applicant Assistance. Yay!! That was my number one choice and I'm pumped!! Our team leader is Brittany, and I'm excited about that, too. All the Apine Unit TLs are awesome so I wasn't too worried about that aspect. Now that all is said and done, I'm stoked. It's going to be a good year.
Friday afternoon we had some team time, and went out for ice cream. If anyone is familiar with my Ivanna Cone obsession, you'll be pleased to hear that I've found a Denver ice cream shop that is almost as good. Nothing beats Ivanna Cone's Rice Krispie Ice Cream, but a scoop of Mexican Chocolate Stout ice cream with a scoop of vegan Snickerdoodle. Can you say ice cream heaven?
But besides eating delicious ice cream, what else have I been doing in Denver? My first time downtown was when we were dropped off at the 16th Street Mall after the Denver tour that I mentioned last time. I went downtown again one weekend with some friends to celebrate National Margarita Day. We headed to Rio Grande because it supposedly has the best margaritas in Denver (they also have a 3 margarita limit, if that tells you anything). I went with my roomie to Taita, a delicious Peruvian restaurant so I could have a taste of Peru, which I miss so much! We've been very lucky in that the weather has magically turned gorgeous most weekends, so I've gone on a few hikes with friends. The problem is, my friends and I have terrible senses of direction. The first hike we took was in Genesee Park on the Beaver Brook Trail. Unfortunately, some footprints in the snow at a picnic area led us to believe the trail veered off to the right. And we were following a brook, so everything seemed to be going well, until we got to a few sketchy areas where some barbed wire fence started and we couldn't really tell which side of the fence we were supposed to be on. We ended up at this really cool rock formation with beautiful views of the mountains, and from there we decided to head back. Once we got back to the picnic area, someone spotted a sign on the opposite side of it that said "Beaver Brook Trail." Oops. We decided to check it out, and whaddya know, it was a very well worn trail, clearly marked with little "BB" signs at various intervals. Oh well, we blaze our own trails. Our next hiking adventure was yesterday. We headed to the Castle and Tower hike at Mt. Falcon. It was pretty snowy and slippery, and none of us really had good hiking boots, but it was a fun hike nonetheless. It was interesting because we got to see ruins of an old mansion that had been built on the mountainside, and there was also a lookout that used to be someone's summer home. It offered amazingly gorgeous views of the mountains. (Still working on figuring out how to post my pics from my camera, but I have a few cell phone pics on facebook). I also had a chance to go with a friend to a concert down at the Marquis Theater. My friend from Vermillion, SD who was an exchange student with me in Germany has a brother who is in a band called Paradise Fears, and they're on tour with Go Radio, We Are the In Crowd, and The Summer Set. They stopped in Denver Saturday night, and it was a great concert. If you haven't heard of them, click on the link and check them out! (In an effort to expand my blogging capabilities, I've started linking stuff, if you haven't noticed, so click because, if you don't, you may miss out on seeing some pictures of adorable puppies and that would be a shame).
There's tons of other stuff I want to do in Denver, so I'm a little sad that we'll be leaving in 10 days. I've made a list of all the things I still want to check out while I'm here, and it's super long, considering we only have 2 more days off, but we'll be back for transition weeks, hopefully, so that should give me more time to see Pike's Peak, the Garden of the Gods, the Manitou Cave Dwellings, the museums, the Coors Brewery Tour (try saying that 5 times fast - it always makes me think of a certain 30 Rock episode), and all the other stuff on my 2 page long list.
This coming week is an exciting one. We have our induction on Friday which means we've made it through CTI and we're ready to head off to FEMA training and then to our first project! I'll keep you posted!
And here's a little something to brighten your day.
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