"Miss B"

Location: Freeport, TX

Howdy from Texas! I have been here for almost a week, and am absolutely loving it! We are about 5 minutes away from the beach, and yes we have already spent a day there, and yes despite my wearing sun screen, I am already burned. I am living on a cot in the back of the administrative buildings with 9 other people. It has been quite the experience so far. I am always the first to go to bed, which is sad, but luckily I can sleep through a lot of things so that doesn't bother me. We shower in another club that is 2-3 blocks away. Another interesting experience. But so far so good!


We started work yesterday, and so far it is amazing. Anthony and I are at a traditional club about 20 minutes away from where we live. It is a little rural community, and the kids that come are mostly between the ages of 3rd-6th grade. They are adorable! Quite a handful, but I'm already in love with all of them. The second I walked in they nicknamed me "Miss B" because they think I look like Brittany Spears... hopefully before her downfall. And Anthony has been nicknamed "Elvis" cause of his poofy hair. I love it. :) 


I had my TL interview the other day. It went well I think.../ I hope.... We'll see. I rambled a lot when I was nervous, but I hope they found it endearing. Haha I will let you know! I should know about May 23rd... so give me a few months. 


The team is amazing still. Its been wonderful being on a normal team. Not that i don't miss my other team dearly, but I really do love my new team. We all are getting along wonderfully, so hopefully it will continue that way!


Well, that is all for now. I hope that everyone is doing well. 


Update soon!


Kris

A New Beginning

Location: Denver, CO

So, it has been exactly a month since my last post. Sorry about That. Things became crazy the last 2 weeks of work and I honestly didn't have time this past week for an update. But here I am, back in my dorm room packing for my next adventure- Freeport, Texas where I will be working at the Boys and Girls Club!!! I am super excited. We are exactly 15 minutes away from the beach, where you can just guess, I will be spending all of my free time. We are 2 hours away from Houston and 4 hours away from San Antonio- so Road Trip!!! It will be an amazing experience being able to work with people again. Don't get me wrong, I love my fire management projects and have become a pretty decent sawyer, but I miss the interaction with people. It's easy to lose track of why you are doing what you are doing with environmental projects, where as you can actually see the difference you are making in the children's lives. I have heard that it is a challenging, but completely worth while project, and I can't wait. 

My new team is absolutely amazing too. Everyone is thrilled to be going to Freeport. They all seem really nice and out going, so as a whole I feel like we are all going to get along very well. My new team leader is Heidi, the UDA for the Water Unit. We are the first team that she has had all year and she seems just as excited as we are to be going. It is funny seeing the difference between how Alex runs things and how Heidi does. Both have completely different leadership techniques, and I know I will learn a lot from each of them. It will be nice to have a few months away from my old team to regroup and refresh, but I will miss them dearly. It will be weird not seeing them everyday for the next 2 months. But I feel like it will make us appreciate each other much more when we are reunited!

I have officially applied to be a team leader next year, and I have my interview next week! I'm a little nervous because 18 people from the Water Unit alone applied, and only about 4-5 of them will become team leaders next year. So, wish me luck! 

On a fun note, Denver had a HUGE St. Patrick's day parade yesterday downtown. So Meg and I went down early and watched about 2 hours of it- the thing lasted almost 4. It was hysterical people watching too. There were old men in kilts, children dressed as fairies, and lots and lots of  drunk people wandering the streets cheering on the parade. It was a blast to watch. We ended up staying downtown for the rest of the day, enjoying the weather and the city before going out that night with everyone from campus. It really made me appreciate Denver, and realize how much I am going to miss it over the next few months. Who knows- maybe this is where I will end up after AmeriCorps!

Well, that is all. I start my 3 day van ride down to Freeport tomorrow, so I will try to update as soon as we get to the Boys and Girls club! I hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Kris