First Week on the Cape!

OK!...my first BLOG!! YAYY!!! :-) I think this is the best way to keep everyone informed without making me send an email every week. So here it goes...

On Monday, September 8th I moved in the Bourne House (50 Dr Julius Kelley Lane, Pocasset MA 02559...I welcome letters :-) ) There are 14 people in the house total...My room is a quad and here is the run down of all those in my house...
Jenny- sleeps on the top bunk above me- from Rochester and is loud but hysterical.
Amanda- Sweetest girl ever..also beautiful. Is in my room and sleeps on the other top bunk- From Michigan.
Korinda- Sleeps in the bed below Amanda in my room. She is from Indiana and is very nice and a very good cook
Maria- From South Dakota- She is awesome and has my sense of humor.
Meredith- From Ithaca...AWESOME! She is a LOT of fun and has a great outlook on life.
Ashleigh- Sweet gal from Texas..owns a hybrid and it rocks.
Megan- She is our Member Leader and is SOO LOUD AND ENERGETIC! She's a great person to play catchphrase with unless you have sensitive hearing.
Nicole- She is the oldest member-28 and was a teacher for 6 years. She's also a good cook and has taught me the ways of smoothies!
Nichole- We call her Franny because she looks like one. She was a dancer and is tiny and vegan but extremely sweet.
Christin- Our Program Supervisor who we call the house mom. She rocks hardcore and makes us brownies
Davis- From Rochester- has traveled more places than I know. He brought a kayak and I plan on abusing that power (safely of course!)
Phil- From Michigan and was already in the Peace Corps (Jamaica) and runs like the wind
Harry- (known to me as 'ARRY POTTER) and he is from Mass. Doesn't like the beach, sand OR water but is willing to face his fears.
OK so thats the gang in the house. We just moved in the first day and had a bunch of cool ice breakers (get it...cool..ice breakers...ha...ha)
Tues-Fri we had training after training- learning about the Cape and how to get around, CPR and First Aid, The different IP's (Individual placements) filled out paperwork, more ice breakers, got uniforms, met the Wellfleet members (very cool people as well..short bios to come) and took pictures for the website (www.rdoac.org/americorps/) Not updated yet but my profile will be up soon! After training we would go for bike rides or run around the area and I found some very cool secret paths that all lead to a beach..aka...awesome.

Saturday-Today (Tues) we had our first retreat. We went to the Coast Guard Beach in Eastham and stayed in the Coast Guard house with all of our bosses as well as the Wellfleet members. I will be adding pictures soon from this weekend but lets just say it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. We were on the beach...and it was so much fun. We had a lot of Team building exercises and a bunch of free time that we filled up with beach football, volleyball, ultimate and swimming (COLD water...50's) I also ran on the beach and got up every morning to watch the sunrise. We had bonfires at night where Brian (one of the Wellfleet guys) played guitar and I sang along. We went shellfishing, and hiking on the Provincetown Sand Dunes as well..which may I say are huge...enormous...I thought we were in the desert, but then we got to the top of the sand cliff and were on the tip of Cape Cod..surrounded by ocean which was so humbling and breathtaking I can't even describe it properly in words. We decided to run down to the beach and lay in the sun/relax because the hike was a trek and we saw two seals in the water that decided to give us a show which was very cool.

Here is a quick list of the Wellfleet members-
Lisa- sweet girl from Minnesota
Meg- competitive runner- from South Carolina
Jessica- SO SWEET from Conneticut- her and I want to try and plan a COD Day together (Community Outreach Development).
Abbey- from Wisconsin..loves cheese and is hilarious.
Sam(antha)- Very sweet redhead who sings and has the COOLEST contact case I have ever seen.
Erin- From San Francisco. This is her second year in Americorps Cape Cod and is very insightful.
Monica- surprisingly good football player for her tiny, quiet, mouselike self.
Amie- From Montana and has another great sense of humor
Crystal- From Georgia..quiet and the youngest one in the program and is doing this program before she goes to college
Amanda- Their Program Supervisor who ate an entire snack pack on a large spoon in one bite
Brian- The guitar mountain man who is from Cape Cod and taught me the beginning of Blackbird on guitar
Alex- Lax player from South Carolina who is very laid back and good at every sport he plays
Greg- Psychology major from New Hampshire. He is quiet but hilarious if you listen and has hiked all of the White Mountains like its no big thang
Tim- The Wellfleet member leader and has the EXACT same sense of humor that I do so all we do is throw sarcastic statements back and forth until we both realize how ridiculous it is.

OK So I think thats about it! There is more training this week and the following. This week is CHAINSAW training..watch out!!! Then we have plant identification/invasive species cutting and disaster training where we will learn how to organize a shelter as well as safely evacuate the Cape in case of a disaster. This weekend we are volunteering at Scallop Festival which is supposed to have some cool bands and free food! We start our IP's along with planning COD days and doing random service projects in October.

Thanks for tuning in and I hope everyone is doing spectacular!
Love,
Jaci