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