Today we got most of our issued gear. I will be rockin out in a helmet, yellow jacket, big leather boots, and a big red pack. (I will try to get a picture for all of you to see... it should be funny) I was told at 5 p.m. that we were leaving for Montana on Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. At 6:30 p.m. I recieved a call letting me know that we will be leaving sometime thursday not wednesday. So I am hoping that sometime this week I will be sent to Montana. I don't know when, but I am ready for anything.
Also I will not have internet the whole time I am gone so if you need to get a hold of me try calling my cell phone or sending me a text.
All my love,
Elsa
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
I made it through the wilderness...
I am back in St. Louis after a week of wilderness fun in southern Illinois. I was pretty close when I guessed that they would drop us off in the woods and make us find our way to camp. We were broken into teams and each team started some place different. We had a series of places that we had to go to and we used a topography map and a compass to find our way. We quickly figured out that the map was very old and outdated when we got to our first stream... clearly marked on the map, but in reality was just a dried up stream bed. We started our hiking around 7 in the evening and it quickly got dark. We hiked until 11:30 when we got to our camp site for the evening. We slept under a rock overhang and around 5 a.m. realized how very lucky we were to have such a great shelter. It rained all morning and we managed to stay nice and dry. The next day we hiked from about 8 to 2 then stopped for lunch at our site. There were canoes waiting for us because to get to our final site we had to canoe across a lake. I thought this would be the easiest part of the journey. That was not the case. The lake was really an old valley that was flooded to make it a lake. There were trees sticking up everywhere... but the real challenge was under the surface. After about ten minutes of leisurely paddling we managed to wedge our canoe in an under water tree V. We had a small canoe with three people in it and our 45 lb packs... needless to say we were ridding pretty low. After much spinning we managed to free ourselves only to get stuck a couple more times along the way.
Never the less we made it and I can say with certainty that Qwest was defiantly challenging and exciting and I am very glad I did it. The rest of the week we learned more about the history of Americorps and how the program runs. We also spent a day doing service work. I worked with the forest service and helped clear a fire line. All in all it was a great week and I met a ton of very incredible people, all are driven to serve and know how to have fun doing it.
At the moment I am blogging from a laundry mat that has free wifi and expensive laundry... yes it is the same mat that I walked to last week. We are without Internet still, but we are making it work. My third roommate moved in yesterday and she is very cool. Yeah for rent split three ways.
The rest of the week I will be filling out paperwork and getting ready for Montana. I am not sure exactly when were are leaving but I will let you all know when I find out.
Until then,
Elsa
Never the less we made it and I can say with certainty that Qwest was defiantly challenging and exciting and I am very glad I did it. The rest of the week we learned more about the history of Americorps and how the program runs. We also spent a day doing service work. I worked with the forest service and helped clear a fire line. All in all it was a great week and I met a ton of very incredible people, all are driven to serve and know how to have fun doing it.
At the moment I am blogging from a laundry mat that has free wifi and expensive laundry... yes it is the same mat that I walked to last week. We are without Internet still, but we are making it work. My third roommate moved in yesterday and she is very cool. Yeah for rent split three ways.
The rest of the week I will be filling out paperwork and getting ready for Montana. I am not sure exactly when were are leaving but I will let you all know when I find out.
Until then,
Elsa
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A lot can happen in a week
Life in St.Louis:
As of today I have been in the wonderful city of St.Louis for a week and two days. Last Sunday was my first night in my apartment and as the week has gone on I have learned some things about living in the beautiful neighborhood of Soulard. First lesson: neighborhood with lots of restaurants, bars, and pubs equals lots of cigarette smoke coming through my open window at night. Second lesson: just because it looks run down doesn't make it a thrift store. Third: the laundry mat is not really only a couple of blocks away( I learned this while carrying all my laundry to said close laundry mat... 13 blocks later). Other then these growing moments I have had a really great week in the city. I know where a Super Target, Home Depot, Kohls, and Barnes and Noble(with Starbucks) are located. The arch is visible from my street so I see it everyday and I will be honest... everyday I marvel at its beauty.City life is really agreeing with me and I am getting very comfortable with my surroundings.
Why am I in St.Louis?
I have been accepted into Americorps St.Louis's Emergency Response Team(ERT) and its head quarters are located in St.Louis.
What is ERT?
Lets be honest... everyone is a little bit confused as to what I am really doing this year and so am I. Here is what I do know:
1. When there is a disaster a team of ERT members will be called in to help. We will be doing physical work as well as organizing other volunteers who want to help with the disaster relief.
2. When there isn't a disaster I will be doing conservation work in the parks of Missouri as well as other states in the area. This includes cutting down trees with chainsaws(its probably good you guys are so far away ;)
What will I be doing next week?
Thanks for asking! Tomorrow morning I will arrive at headquarters with a black plastic bag full of camping gear. For two day the new Americorps members will be Qwesting. No one will tell us what this means, but I am pretty sure it is a fancy word for "dropping you out in the wilderness with nothing but your packs on your back and making you find your way to shelter without using GPSs." I will give you all the juicy details next weekend when I get back to the city.
What will I be doing from Sep 23rd to October 16th?
Another great question! I will be in Montana doing conservation work and being trained with the rest of the ERT team. There about 50 of us all together and 30 or so new members.
As you can see my next month is pretty packed but I will try to keep this blog updated. Hope to write again soon.
Elsa
As of today I have been in the wonderful city of St.Louis for a week and two days. Last Sunday was my first night in my apartment and as the week has gone on I have learned some things about living in the beautiful neighborhood of Soulard. First lesson: neighborhood with lots of restaurants, bars, and pubs equals lots of cigarette smoke coming through my open window at night. Second lesson: just because it looks run down doesn't make it a thrift store. Third: the laundry mat is not really only a couple of blocks away( I learned this while carrying all my laundry to said close laundry mat... 13 blocks later). Other then these growing moments I have had a really great week in the city. I know where a Super Target, Home Depot, Kohls, and Barnes and Noble(with Starbucks) are located. The arch is visible from my street so I see it everyday and I will be honest... everyday I marvel at its beauty.City life is really agreeing with me and I am getting very comfortable with my surroundings.
Why am I in St.Louis?
I have been accepted into Americorps St.Louis's Emergency Response Team(ERT) and its head quarters are located in St.Louis.
What is ERT?
Lets be honest... everyone is a little bit confused as to what I am really doing this year and so am I. Here is what I do know:
1. When there is a disaster a team of ERT members will be called in to help. We will be doing physical work as well as organizing other volunteers who want to help with the disaster relief.
2. When there isn't a disaster I will be doing conservation work in the parks of Missouri as well as other states in the area. This includes cutting down trees with chainsaws(its probably good you guys are so far away ;)
What will I be doing next week?
Thanks for asking! Tomorrow morning I will arrive at headquarters with a black plastic bag full of camping gear. For two day the new Americorps members will be Qwesting. No one will tell us what this means, but I am pretty sure it is a fancy word for "dropping you out in the wilderness with nothing but your packs on your back and making you find your way to shelter without using GPSs." I will give you all the juicy details next weekend when I get back to the city.
What will I be doing from Sep 23rd to October 16th?
Another great question! I will be in Montana doing conservation work and being trained with the rest of the ERT team. There about 50 of us all together and 30 or so new members.
As you can see my next month is pretty packed but I will try to keep this blog updated. Hope to write again soon.
Elsa
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