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| This is the entire ACE cohort. In my specific program there are only 30 people, and 3 people that I see everyday at school. Love our red shirts! |
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Love my job!
I absolutely love my job! Today was my third day tutoring one on one with the little nuggets and they are so wonderful and truly make me excited to wake up at 6:30 am. I see 10 kids a day for about 25 minutes each. I'm starting to think in Spanish and I've already improved so much in just three days. I am very excited to learn more as the year goes on!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Moving day
Today was the big day that I made the move from the Southwest Broadcast Video Ranch into Hyde Park in Central Austin. Living on the ranch was amazing, but the commute to work was not. I was driving about 45 minutes to work, and when you have to be at 7:30, it makes for very early mornings! The commute was really tiring so I waited for my first paycheck and found a small place in a really great location. I am living with a 23 year old girl named Katelynn and a 22 year old guy who I have not met yet. I found the place on Craigslist and am hoping for the best!
Today after moving some of my stuff, I just strolled around the neighborhood and it's a really great place, and most importantly, it is only a 10 minute drive to work and hopefully a quick bus ride!
The last few weeks we have been working in our schools, helping teachers out in their classrooms and prepping for our tutoring sessions. I'm working at Andrews Elementary School in NE Austin, (Go Gators!). We were supposed to start tutoring a couple of weeks ago, but because of some administrative errors, we aren't allowed to start pulling kids out for 1 on 1 tutoring sessions until this Tuesday. It was good to pop into the classrooms and get to know the kids and get them familiar with me before we start working one on one. I'm also practicing my Spanish, I'm a little rusty, and I know that by the end of the year I'm going to be so much more comfortable speaking it!
Not much else has been going on, I spent a lot of time by the pool, garage sale-ing, and sleeping! And, I can't forget, watching the Ducks stay undefeated! I've also been doing really good about keeping on my running schedule, so I'll be ready for my 5k in November. Hope everyone is well.
Danielle
Today after moving some of my stuff, I just strolled around the neighborhood and it's a really great place, and most importantly, it is only a 10 minute drive to work and hopefully a quick bus ride!
The last few weeks we have been working in our schools, helping teachers out in their classrooms and prepping for our tutoring sessions. I'm working at Andrews Elementary School in NE Austin, (Go Gators!). We were supposed to start tutoring a couple of weeks ago, but because of some administrative errors, we aren't allowed to start pulling kids out for 1 on 1 tutoring sessions until this Tuesday. It was good to pop into the classrooms and get to know the kids and get them familiar with me before we start working one on one. I'm also practicing my Spanish, I'm a little rusty, and I know that by the end of the year I'm going to be so much more comfortable speaking it!
Not much else has been going on, I spent a lot of time by the pool, garage sale-ing, and sleeping! And, I can't forget, watching the Ducks stay undefeated! I've also been doing really good about keeping on my running schedule, so I'll be ready for my 5k in November. Hope everyone is well.
Danielle
Friday, September 3, 2010
First week...DONE!
This week has been all ACE ACE ACE. Between PST (pre service training) and my long commute it is really all I have had time to do. It is reminding me so much of the beginning of last year, frantically trying to meet an entirely new group of people, with everyone being anxious about the year ahead. Sadly, I've noticed that I am lacking a lot of the enthusiasm that many of the first time AmeriCorps members have right now, having gone through such a similar process last year. However, I am extremely excited and anxious to get assigned a school and dive head first into my work.
On Tuesday evening we had a "meet and greet" at one of the staff member's houses. I went with Stephen which made the experience a little easier, but overall it was a very overwhelming few hours, meeting 40 new people without much guidance.
Besides that, the last three days have been absolutely wonderful! I am feeling very happy with my decision to do this program and move to this city. All of the staff members and team leaders are EXTREMELY warm and friendly. I guess they have to be, working with young kids! We spent this week going over policies and paperwork, but also doing a lot of fun stuff to help the 30 of us get to know each other.
This week has also been a huge learning experience navigating the city. At the beginning of the week, it seemed like every time I left the house I was getting lost. I am happy to say that I have not been lost once since Tuesday! I have been driving and taking buses, depending on our meeting places, and I'm really getting the hang of it! The only problem is the LONG commute. I usually leave the house around 6 am and don't start until 8, so the commute is adding about 3-4 hours to my day. As much as I love living with Dave and Caree, I am unsure as to how long I can do this without being completely burnt out! I think I am going to start looking for a place to live in the city after I get my first pay check in a couple of weeks. It is nice though that all the public transit is equipped with wifi, which I am connected to as I type!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great labor day! I am definitely going to use the time wisely to RELAX!
Danielle
On Tuesday evening we had a "meet and greet" at one of the staff member's houses. I went with Stephen which made the experience a little easier, but overall it was a very overwhelming few hours, meeting 40 new people without much guidance.
Besides that, the last three days have been absolutely wonderful! I am feeling very happy with my decision to do this program and move to this city. All of the staff members and team leaders are EXTREMELY warm and friendly. I guess they have to be, working with young kids! We spent this week going over policies and paperwork, but also doing a lot of fun stuff to help the 30 of us get to know each other.
This week has also been a huge learning experience navigating the city. At the beginning of the week, it seemed like every time I left the house I was getting lost. I am happy to say that I have not been lost once since Tuesday! I have been driving and taking buses, depending on our meeting places, and I'm really getting the hang of it! The only problem is the LONG commute. I usually leave the house around 6 am and don't start until 8, so the commute is adding about 3-4 hours to my day. As much as I love living with Dave and Caree, I am unsure as to how long I can do this without being completely burnt out! I think I am going to start looking for a place to live in the city after I get my first pay check in a couple of weeks. It is nice though that all the public transit is equipped with wifi, which I am connected to as I type!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great labor day! I am definitely going to use the time wisely to RELAX!
Danielle
Monday, August 30, 2010
New Town, New Job, New Life!
As I sit in the Lava Java Coffee house on the UT campus, I think about how much my life has changed over the past year. I haven't been in one place for more than 2 months since I was in Eugene over a year ago. This life has been very rewarding because I have had so much different experiences, met tons of interesting people, and seen many places. However, I am very excited to be in Austin and be able to settle down for a few months. I know that I am going to have a great time exploring Austin but it is also very intimidating since it is an unfamiliar place, and unlike last year, I am exploring independent of the 10 people that I shared so many great experiences with last year. Thankfully, I have Stephen and Aunt Caree and Uncle Dave to help my transition!
The road trip here was very long, but looking back it was a breeze, (for me at least.) We left last Tuesday and ended up in Burley, ID after 9 hours of driving. On Wednesday we drove a whopping 14.5 hours to Santa Rosa, NM, and then arrived to Austin after about 10 hours on Thursday. I couldn't have done it without Dad, who drove all but 2 hours. He is a trooper! Thanks Dad!
Dad stuck around and hung out at the Southwest Broadcast Video Ranch until Sunday evening. It was nice to relax with Dad for the weekend and get settled.
I start training on Wednesday, so today I decided to take the bus in from Leander, where Dave and Caree live, and find where I'm going on Wednesday, (it's on the UT campus.) The bus ride is about 45 minutes, which went by pretty fast because there is wifi on the bus. It was nice because it gave me time to wake up (the bus leaves at 6:30) before I had to navigate my way around campus. As expected, I got lost but found my way and this will make it so much easier and less stressful on Wednesday when I have to do it for real.
I can't wait to start work and meet all my teammates and learn more about what I'll be doing for the next 10 months. Tomorrow we have a "meet and greet" at one of the faculty member's house, where I'll get to meet everyone. It's always a little nerve wrecking to meet a lot of new people at once, but it will be easier for me because I'll already know Stephen.
Hope everyone is well and I will update more after my first week of training!
Danielle
The road trip here was very long, but looking back it was a breeze, (for me at least.) We left last Tuesday and ended up in Burley, ID after 9 hours of driving. On Wednesday we drove a whopping 14.5 hours to Santa Rosa, NM, and then arrived to Austin after about 10 hours on Thursday. I couldn't have done it without Dad, who drove all but 2 hours. He is a trooper! Thanks Dad!
Dad stuck around and hung out at the Southwest Broadcast Video Ranch until Sunday evening. It was nice to relax with Dad for the weekend and get settled.
I start training on Wednesday, so today I decided to take the bus in from Leander, where Dave and Caree live, and find where I'm going on Wednesday, (it's on the UT campus.) The bus ride is about 45 minutes, which went by pretty fast because there is wifi on the bus. It was nice because it gave me time to wake up (the bus leaves at 6:30) before I had to navigate my way around campus. As expected, I got lost but found my way and this will make it so much easier and less stressful on Wednesday when I have to do it for real.
I can't wait to start work and meet all my teammates and learn more about what I'll be doing for the next 10 months. Tomorrow we have a "meet and greet" at one of the faculty member's house, where I'll get to meet everyone. It's always a little nerve wrecking to meet a lot of new people at once, but it will be easier for me because I'll already know Stephen.
Hope everyone is well and I will update more after my first week of training!
Danielle
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Komen Race for the Cure
Recovery Period
I have entered what I am referring to as my "recovery period." I am going to use the next couple of weeks to decompress before I embark and an entirely new chapter of my life in Austin.
I got home Thursday night after a week long road trip and few days in the bay area.
I Graduated from AmeriCorps on the 27th and was all done by 10:30am. They really wasted no time getting everyone on airport shuttles so we said quick, tearful goodbyes and everyone was on their way.
On the right is a picture of the tiny car that we road tripped in. It was definitely a squeeze but worth it since it only cost us $30 to fill up.
We spent the first two nights in Santa Rosa, NM camping with Aaron's friend who lives in southern New Mexico. Nothing too exciting about New Mexico, it was just a nice, relaxing day filled with ants. Honestly, I was happy when we moved on from their.
Our next stop was the Grand Canyon. We got there pretty late on the 29th, camped outside of the canyon and spent the next day in the park, walking around the rim and really taking in the amazing scenery. It was completely different than I expected, I always thought that the Grand Canyon was in the middle of a desert but it was very forested and green around. There were THOUSANDS of tourists though. I would like to go back there in the next couple of years to back pack down into the canyon and camp for a couple of nights, because it seems like it would be a completely different experience. Probably the highlight of the day was watching several isolated storms on the horizon of the canyon.
We originally planned on camping another night in the Grand Canyon area, but we decided since it was still relatively early, about 6 pm, we should start driving in the direction of LA, our next destination, to get a head start. While we were driving we spontaneously decided to drive up to Las Vegas. I had never been there and it just seemed like a good idea. We got in around 11:00 pm, checked into the cheapest motel we could find, and then walked the strip til 5 in the morning. It was a really fun night exploring, and now that I have been there once I don't know that I ever need to go back again!
The next morning we reluctantly got out of bed and drove a few hours to LA. We saw Max's friend who showed us around Redondo beach a bit then stayed with Michelle in Playa del Rey. The next morning we walked around Venice Beach, which I loved! I actually loved everything about LA EXCEPT for the ridiculous traffic, which I had heard about but was much worse than I anticipated!
After spending some time in Venice Beach we said goodbye to Michelle and head up HWY 1, which was an absolutely beautiful drive. We stopped in 4 state parks to get camping but they were all full. We finally found a spot to camp on the beach in Pismo, but unfortunately there were TONS of atvs everything which really took away from the scenery for us.
The next day we headed up the coast some more, making a few stops here and there, until we eventually ended up in San Leandro at Max's mom's house. I stayed there for three nights, went to the de Young museum, explored Berkley and saw Molly, who just moved down there and then she took me to the airport on Thursday evening and here I am, back in West Linn!
This transition period has been really weird for me so far. I feel like it was probably a smoother transition than most because I had Aaron and Max, then just Max, to help ease into the real world. But now that I am away from my whole Amerifamily, I just don't know what to do with myself! I am very sad that I am not around them but am very excited to see friends and family that I haven't seen in years, and to start preparing for my new AmeriCorps experience in Austin!
Love, Danielle
I Graduated from AmeriCorps on the 27th and was all done by 10:30am. They really wasted no time getting everyone on airport shuttles so we said quick, tearful goodbyes and everyone was on their way.
On the right is a picture of the tiny car that we road tripped in. It was definitely a squeeze but worth it since it only cost us $30 to fill up.
We originally planned on camping another night in the Grand Canyon area, but we decided since it was still relatively early, about 6 pm, we should start driving in the direction of LA, our next destination, to get a head start. While we were driving we spontaneously decided to drive up to Las Vegas. I had never been there and it just seemed like a good idea. We got in around 11:00 pm, checked into the cheapest motel we could find, and then walked the strip til 5 in the morning. It was a really fun night exploring, and now that I have been there once I don't know that I ever need to go back again!
After spending some time in Venice Beach we said goodbye to Michelle and head up HWY 1, which was an absolutely beautiful drive. We stopped in 4 state parks to get camping but they were all full. We finally found a spot to camp on the beach in Pismo, but unfortunately there were TONS of atvs everything which really took away from the scenery for us.
The next day we headed up the coast some more, making a few stops here and there, until we eventually ended up in San Leandro at Max's mom's house. I stayed there for three nights, went to the de Young museum, explored Berkley and saw Molly, who just moved down there and then she took me to the airport on Thursday evening and here I am, back in West Linn!
This transition period has been really weird for me so far. I feel like it was probably a smoother transition than most because I had Aaron and Max, then just Max, to help ease into the real world. But now that I am away from my whole Amerifamily, I just don't know what to do with myself! I am very sad that I am not around them but am very excited to see friends and family that I haven't seen in years, and to start preparing for my new AmeriCorps experience in Austin!
Love, Danielle
Thursday, July 15, 2010
On the road again...
Today we are getting ready to embark on our final road trip back to Denver. We are feeling very accomplished, having cut about 2 miles of trail and building 3 bridges in our 6 weeks here. We are ready to wrap up the program and for our Poison Ivy to clear up!
We are leaving tomorrow morning, staying one night in Salina, KS, and then will be back in Denver Saturday evening. We will have one more week in Denver and then graduate on the 27th. Some friends and I are going to be staying in a hotel on the 27th in Denver, and then Aaron, Max and I are going to head out on our road trip. Aaron has a friend to see in New Mexico so we are going to be taking the Southern route, hitting up New Mexico, Las Vegas, LA, and then up to San Fransisco. I'm going to stay with Max in San Fran for a little less than a week, spend the weekend with my friend Kiren, and then I fly home to Portland on the 8th of August. I'm very excited to get home and veg out a little bit before heading out on the long journey to Austin! I'll be sure to see all my friends and family in the couple of weeks that I'll be home.
Danielle
We are leaving tomorrow morning, staying one night in Salina, KS, and then will be back in Denver Saturday evening. We will have one more week in Denver and then graduate on the 27th. Some friends and I are going to be staying in a hotel on the 27th in Denver, and then Aaron, Max and I are going to head out on our road trip. Aaron has a friend to see in New Mexico so we are going to be taking the Southern route, hitting up New Mexico, Las Vegas, LA, and then up to San Fransisco. I'm going to stay with Max in San Fran for a little less than a week, spend the weekend with my friend Kiren, and then I fly home to Portland on the 8th of August. I'm very excited to get home and veg out a little bit before heading out on the long journey to Austin! I'll be sure to see all my friends and family in the couple of weeks that I'll be home.
Danielle
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