A little bt of this... A little bit of that...A lot of Laundry!!!

I find it funny and weird how I feel so close to my AmeriFriends here in Vinton, Iowa. My six other roommates are from different backgrounds, yet we always seem to gravitate to each other by the end of the day. On Friday and Saturday night we all went to the Benton county fair grounds for BoomTown. I bet no one reading this has ever heard about this event and if you have please do comment! Anyhoo BoomTown is a yearly event for the Iowa Pyro Institute... which means they make some SICK fire works displays. They were better then Epcot!!!!

On Saturday all the teams had to go and explore our surroundings aka Vinton and Cedar Rapids. It really wasn't interesting, there's very little in Vinton and we just went to a generic mall in Cedar
Rapids. But none the less we had fun driving around in our big red mobile and getting lost.

Sunday was my day off... Halleluiah! it was fantastic, I got to sleep in until 830, take my time in the shower, wear comfy clothes, and eat my fancy jam on a bagel in silence as I read my book. After I was done eating I decided to check the time and I was surprised that it was only 930... I was lost without my schedule. I had no idea what to do with myself for the day. I found myself sitting in our dining room just talking with my team mates and truly getting to know them. We sat there for about 5 hours. We had breakfast, talked, lunch, and talked some more. Our conversations went from serial killers to our favorite cartoons to politics. Though I did realize half way through dinner that I had yet to do my laundry...which meant I had no uniform to wear the next day, so I spent about 3 hours doing laundry, folding, organizing my locker, and cleaning the room.

It was a weirdly perfect day.

Monday started at 6 for me. We had one of the most earliest starts out of all the teams and the latest ending... It was blazing out here and we helped the office set up all the class rooms across the campus all I need to say is thank god for the tunnels we have!!! Plus my turn was up for making dinner. I made homemade pizza. It started out on the wrong foot though! Someone had gotten pizza mix for the dough and it did not work out well... So thanks to one of the girls from the other team I made dough from scratch... I made a pepperoni, veggie white, and cheese.... There were no complaints and no left overs! My team deemed me as the team's official pizza maker.

The last two days have been over whelming! We started our FEMA basic training, which is a class from 8-4 and it kills us all. The material is very dry for the most part, but there's a bit that's interesting and new to me. We did find out what our teams' specialty (drumroll!!!!!!) Disaster Survivor Assistance!!! Which from what I know, means that I will be assisting and listening to the survivors in person and trying to find out how to help them!!!!!

I'm very happy about this choice that I've made. Though I do miss my friends, family, puppies, bed, shower, and my instruments I don't think I would trade any of it for what I am doing! It's only been a week and a day... it blows my mind, it truly does. Everything here feels right, even the itchy baggy uniforms, This is something that will help me throughout my life and will help me be a good person and spread my help!!!

So thank you all for reading and sticking through my awful jokes and writing, I truly appreciate it and if you ever want to send me a letter or something my address is...
Annaliese Schmiel/Pine 5
AmeriCorps NCCC
1004 G Ave
Vinton, Iowa 52349
Love you guys and I will be writing again soon!!!!! p.s. don't forget to comment I would love to hear them!!!!

 

 My Pizza

 On my way to Cedar Rapids

Pine 5 FRESH!!!!!

What's up yaw!!!  In case you guys didn't know I have safely arrived and settled in Vinton, Iowa! The travel day was kind of chaotic but that is to be expected when about 200 people arrive to the same place on the same day. I probably talked to at least 30 different people, not that I could tell you even one of their names.. oops...

The campus is nice, surrounded by fields and fields of corn, there's four main buildings not too big but I still get lost... and my team mates for some reason follow me.. well they did...they've learned the hard way to not. Pine 5 is  my team! I love my team! We have 9 corps members and one team leader, we are all lay back and get a long perfectly! All we do is laugh and laugh together and I love it! We are from all different states California, Georgia, New York, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, and Michigan, so sometimes I do get confused by some slang... but so do they!

I have six other roommates and they are some awesome ladies!!! One of them is from Texas and the other night she was telling us about rodeos and all the events she has done. It seems like at the end of the day we are together and laughing!

 Vinton, Iowa is probably one of the smallest towns I have ever been in. It takes about 10 minutes, if we are slow, walking into "downtown" from the campus. Plus everything is closed at 5, and the majority of the time I am done with my training at 5 and then we have dinner, so I haven't been in any stores except the frozen yogurt place (Froyo is apparently another word for frozen yogurt... I tell them they are wrong and they usually laugh). They did how ever have a farmers market in town yesterday and a few of my teammates walked to it (we got lost for a good hour, which I have no idea how we did that, this towns radius is 4x4 miles) and got a few things including same fancy jams!! The residents seem very friendly, but its kind of crazy how they know that you from AmeriCorps. Another fantastic store here is right across the street! WALDO'S!!! though its real name is Alco, but I can never remember that name so I decided to call it Waldo because on the first day people kept on asking where's Alco? and now quite a few of  my friends call it now!

My training right now is basically all about what we are going to get trained for the next three weeks and ect. So policies, rules, history of AmeriCorps, technology, our uniforms, and many more.

I apologize for the wait and this entry it's not my best that's for sure, but its hard to find time to write and remember what has been happening here in small town Vinton, Iowa! Tomorrow we will be trying out our new van as we adventure into Cedar Rapids!! P 5 is very excited for a slight change of routine. Well this all for now since my team leader Libby just texted me about a game in one of the lounges!! So here it is, my life in a nutshell! Thank you all and I look forward to any comments, mail, messages, or calls from you!! Love you!

 trying to pack

 all packed!

 my uniform! I'm quite sexy!

 !

 Vinton "DownTown"

 

We are welcomed!

 

I liked the clock

My campus

 The railroad

 Woah!!!!

Crossing the 1st Treshold...packing?

So here we are... I'll soon be crossing the first threshold of this quest of mine. In less than week... a week?! I'll be in the middle of the country surrounded by an unfamiliar place and people... it's funny because just 9 months ago I thought I was going to be heading to college at this time. Which makes me realize that life is unpredictable. I'll be driving and in my mind I know to turn right but then my car veers off the road and into a unknown direction. This unknown direction is now filling up with fields and fields of corn, a big flashing neon sign telling me to hit the brake, take a breather, smell the flowers, and I might as well help some people while I'm there! 4 more days until I get to meet the people who I have been conversing with on our Facebook page. I cannot even find words on how I am feeling at this moment. A sigh of relief perhaps after all the wait, an ounce of sadness as I leave my family and friends, a splash of nervousness when I realize this is actually happening, and of course the joy, bliss, delight, glee, pleasure, and any other word that could describe how happy I am that I'll be doing what I love to do which is simple, to help people who are in need. Now at this moment I am scrabbling everything together, making sure I have it all. I did have a special present in the mail the other day from AmeriCorps... My Duffel bag!!! Now for all who do not know, I am only allowed to have my issued duffel bag and a backpack. Which is kind of crazy but if I roll everything tightly and neatly it'll work out right?! Unfortunately, I cannot bring my banjo or guitar since neither fits in either of my bags. But I will be bringing a few extra things that everyone needs! like my pillow, some pictures, my Frisbee and a few of my capes! But as of this moment I am taking a breather from my exciting and busy life, to relax with my dog in some comfy jammies and start to reflex on my new beginning, and suddenly all of these feelings and thoughts come rushing through my mind like a spring mountain stream. I have yet to tear up, but I know come Tuesday morning when I leave my mom, aunt, and friends behind those tears will fall, not in a bad way, but in a exciting, emotional, happy, proud, and ready way. So thank you all that are reading and I hope you share these with whom ever! Till the next Challenge... Arriving day and some more... Love you all and know I will miss you!!!!!