And so it begins!
First week of training in the book! It has been such a busy week, I don’t even know where to start. This is going to be scattered but here we go…
Thankfully I did not have any delays in my flights so I made it smoothly from Kentucky to Texas and then Texas to California! The weather is BEAUTIFUL. It is dry heat so it is more tolerable than the humidity that I left in Kentucky. When we got to campus we went through some initial processing and got settled in our dorms. The campus is really interesting because it is a retired air force base so we have access to the military exchange and the commissary which we had the chance to explore. Then the training began! No time is wasted around here, thats for sure. Day by day we are learning more about the program and what the next year is going to look like. I also joined the environmental liaison group which works to reduce waste around campus and distributes extra food to local houseless population.
Since getting to campus we have been in SiP (shelter in place) but that should be ending in a few days. Because of the SiP, we are not able to get out and explore Sacramento as much as we would like but we are making plans for when we can! Our days currently consist of training, soccer, volleyball, rapid covid tests and long walks around campus. The days are tiring and the second my head hits the pillow at night I am out cold.
OUR UNIFORMS. Wow, our uniforms. While they are pretty comfortable and consist of mostly t-shirts, polos, and sweatshirts… the pants are a different story. Considering my size, I drown in the shorts and pants, but I am making it work. You better believe I am accessorizing where I can and coordinating headbands with my uniform. We have not gotten our boots yet but when we do I am going to wear them EVERYWHERE so that I can break them in before we get deployed.
We spent all of yesterday at the FEMA IMAT facility where we got issued our FEMA badge, iPhone, iPad and laptop. I am fascinated by all of this technology and software. It is endless and I am really excited to explore it all!
I decided that it would be fun to finish off each blog post by sharing my rose, bud and thorn of each week! The rose being my favorite part of the week, bud being something I am looking forward to, and thorn being something that was hard and what I can do to turn it around. Rose bud thorn was something I always looked forward to at sleep away camp so here it goes!
Rose: Meeting my fellow team leaders and starting to bond with them & getting more information about what this upcoming year is going to look like.
Bud: Learning to drive the 15 passenger van! I hope I can reach the pedals…
Thorn: Being far from home and missing my family, especially my sister (because we only got one day together after she got home from Israel before I was off to California), but I am thankful that I have the resources to call and face-time them!
While this is going to be a long year full of challenges, I have never met a challenge I didn’t like (and overcome)!
xo, L