volunteer, y'all!

My roadtrip down went great—lots of great people and lots of fun. Thanks to all involved!

I arrived here in Vicksburg around 11am on the Monday the 6th. I turned in my final paperwork and got my uniform and then had several hours to kill before I had to be doing anything else, so I mainly sat around and explored with the other TLs as they arrived. The campus is really nice—many different buildings and lots of grounds. I can only imagine the fun we’ll have playing around in all this green space (although I know it would be a lot more if it weren’t so hot and muggy here!!). I haven’t seen much of the town yet, but I’m excited to explore the military park (the site of the Battle of Vicksburg—apparently it’s very impressive) and the waterfront. Each of the TLs has a single room all along the same hallway, so we’re enjoying trying to slowly but surely make the spaces our own. Being the first class here, and arriving while the renovations aren’t quite complete, it seems like we’ll have quite a bit of input in terms of deciding what furniture goes where, etc. Later in the week we got to "treasure hunt" through some of the old furniture from when our campus was a boarding school and pick out some pieces to add to our rooms. I found a great old desk and antique chair, a full-length mirror, and a nice rolling shelf unit to add a homey touch to my room. I also found an orchid plant on sale for $5 at the grocery store so my room is getting nicer and nicer by the day!

The dorm is not ideal, though, and still not quite up to where the staff expected it to be by the time we arrived. The building where we live was not originally used as housing, so construction had to be done to add walls to make the bedrooms and plumbing to make our kitchen/laundry room. There aren't enough bathrooms/showers for all of us, so we all sort of sneak around to grab our showers before anyone else. We've also had some issues with the hot water heater resetting itself, the pipes not being set up right to drain our kitchen sink, washing machines or dishwasher, and no real vent put in over the stove. We're all being as flexible as possible and the staff has been very apologetic for the delays. We also don't quite have a wireless internet network set up in the building for us yet, seemingly because of requirements of using the government network. One of the staff members brought in a wireless card and router for us to use, but it's got spotty service that doesn't work when more than 4 or 5 of us are on at the same time. Right now, our best bet is using the free wi-fi at this great little coffee shop downtown, so I'm sorry if it takes me a bit to get back to you.

Throughout the week, we had a bunch of trainings about the history of NCCC, different policies and rules, and of course, team building activities. Some were boring, some were more engaging, but all in all, they've allowed us a lot of feedback opportunities. The staff here is all incredibly open and accommodating and they seem to want help from us in terms of making everything the best it can be. Knowing me, I'm sure you can all imagine how much I speak up and let them know how I'm feeling about everything going on. I definitely feel like a have a voice here, I just hope I'm not getting on anyone's nerves too much!

We've all been pretty exhausted in the evenings, so after making dinner together in small groups, we tend to just sit around and chat or play a game or two. One evening this week, the staff drove us over to a local coffee shop/art gallery for a pizza party with a sort of Vicksburg welcoming committee. It was really nice for us to hear from people who have been working for a long time to get an NCCC campus in Mississippi and are so excited to have us here. We also got a visit from David Mallery, the executive director of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service. He's another one that has worked hard to get us here. He and his press lady brought us those blue rubber cause bracelets that say "Volunteer, Y'all!" and we've been wearing them with pride. We were all felt so motivated and encouraged to hear from and meet these people, and I really look forward to talking with them more in the future. Mr. Mallery also mentioned several times about how nice it is to have a President and First Lady who have made national and community service such a high priority. He said he's been making some noise trying to get either Barack or Michelle down here to visit our new campus, since it's such a big deal now that NCCC has a base on the Gulf and we'll be even better prepared to respond to any new disasters and are even closer to keep rebuilding after Katrina and Rita. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and you should, too!

Meanwhile, all the TLs are bonding and feeling out our new relationships with each other. Once the Corps Members get here, we're forbidden from "fraternizing" with them--we can be friendly, but it's discouraged to be friends with them. We can't drink with them, either. It seems like once we're out on projects away from campus and away from other TLs, it might be pretty lonely. As Team Leaders, we're expected to be the supervisors for our team and represent model behavior and protocol. If anything comes up with our Corps Members that requires disciplinary action, we're the first ones there that must respond and report up to our Unit Leaders and the rest of the staff. I can completely understand if our CMs don't always want to be our friends, unfortunately.

Because of all this, as TLs, we're trying to create a support system for each other. If our teams get sent to locations that aren't too far from each other, we can hang out, and if not, we'll have unlimited texting on our "govey" phones (our government-issued phones meant for business use) so that we can help each other and send love from wherever we are. Since we have another three weeks on campus before the Corps Members get here for their month of training, all the TLs are enjoying our time together to bond and go through our "honeymoon" period with each other. Last night was the first time we all went out together--to a riverboat casino for dinner, drinks and dancing. The food was pretty sub-par, but the drinks were cheap and there was a live blues band that played a lot of covers and fun music to dance to. We all had a blast taking over the dance floor and bonding with each other outside of the "classrooms." After being in our uniforms all week for trainings (green tshirts with the AmeriCorps NCCC "A" logo tucked in to khaki cargo shorts worn with a standard issue black belt and closed-toe shoes), we all sort of shocked each other wearing normal clothes and a little bit of makeup for a night out on the town.

This week coming up, we have one of our first service projects. We'll be going out to a Boys and Girls Club camp in rural Mississippi and working on fixing up some facilities while going through some hands-on safety and tools training. I'll be sure to post again next weekend, if not before, so keep a heads-up for news and maybe even some pictures!!!