I am reachable

I have a new phone! It's pink, it's thin, it's got a camera, (insert cingular and motorazr plugs here)... it's possibly the most technological thing I've ever owned, I think more so than my computer. Afterall, it gets internet AND has a camera!

Same number, but it works in the San Geronimo Valley, which is a miracle. And with a better connection than I thought I would have. Voices are clear, understandable, without weird pauses, and so far no dropped calls (though to be honest, I've only made two calls).

This weekend I went to San Francisco to volunteer restoring quail habitat at Lake Merced. Essentially we weeded invasive plants and watched out for flying golf balls. Afterward I went to Berkeley to see a girl I've known since 4th grade. We hadn't seen each other since sometime early in college - maybe freshman year? It's her second year here, she's a law student at Berkeley. We carved pumpkins and she showed me around the campus, which is beautiful.

Her yard, a rental house that she + some phd chem candidates live in, has persimmons, kiwi, avocados, lemons, mint, and roses! It's quaint and gorgeous and I'm absolutely jealous (but not of the ant problem).

Unfortunately there's no Halloween celebrations for me, as I don't really have anything to do. Becky (in Berkeley), was having a party, but I was up since 6:30 am that day to get to SF and I was not about to shower at her house, get ready, and stay out late (after weeding, my face even had dirt on it).

In new news, Heidi and I are going to be recording a Public Service Announcement on KPFA, Free Speech Radio, about SPAWN's upcoming (and ongoing) creekwalks. We emailed to ask them to put them on their community calendar, and they called to schedule us to record for the air. Holy crap, we were a little excited, like little school children.

I edited out the rude parts... ie the parts where I swore angrily about customer service individuals.

I just switched to Cingular.

California, and San Geronimo Valley in general, are different than Chicago and Illinois in terms of useful cell phone companies. It seems that the west in general is just useless if you have Nextel. My phone doesn't have service period in the Valley (where I work and live) and drops calls constantly in the suburbia area (where I house sit).

Apparently Cingular is the only thing that provides close-to reliable service in the Valley (and they're very honest about coverage on their website - it shows a graded service map, rather than just an all over "we have service here" kind of map. So the Valley is "moderate" but San Anselmo/San Rafael are "good" and "best". So that's good.

Anyway, I've been calling Nextel a lot- last week and the past couple days. Friday they put in a technical ticket or something so that someone would actually come out to the area and figure out the problem - basically, would it be possible for them to provide me service? Should they build a tower? Would it be financially lucrative blah blah blah. I don't actualy know that that's what they were doing, but it sounded like it.

As instructed, I called back yesterday and the woman told me "nope, no service!", transfered me, and then the cancellation lady tried to tell me that I would have to pay the $200 early termination fee. Bullshit. I hung up.

Today I got a message from Nextel, a follow up on customer satisfaction. So of course I called back- I wasn't fucking satisfied! And the woman was all "oh, yeah we don't charge a cancellation fee if you're not getting service - that gets waived. When you do figure out when you're going to cancel, and someone tries to charge the fee, tell them to look at the reference on 10/24" or something to that effect.

So hell yeah, that stupid brat yesterday. I'm not paying that crap!

Yeah so I switched to Cingular but I signed up via www.wirefly.com... a free Razr. It's pink. Yes, it was a bit of an impulsive "wow that looks cool" kind of phone purchase, but it's free. I am just so sick of this clunky gross phone and I want something small that fits in my pocket and flips! Like my last phone (oh how I miss it). I probably should've gotten black or silver or blue though, something less adolescent and easier to match with things. Oh well, I want to look like a prissy little brat with my PINK RAZR. (not really).

Oh my god did I just try to accessorize with a cell phone?? "easier to match with things"??? Am I wearing around my neck or on a belt clip?!? Good god I AM turning into a prissy brat. Emery board, Coach wallet (and purse, occassionally), pink razr... now I just need to get the dirt and berry pieces out from under my nails.

Back to the point, though I'm not sure there ever actually was one, this will also be my first adventure with a CAMERA PHONE. Maybe if you send me presents I will send you pictures. Deer sleeping next to the backyard door, the quail I scare up when I water plants (with their little feather hat thingies! oh I sound like a real scientist...), redwood trees, whatever.

Picnic!

I had my first "event" this Sunday. Our parent organization, Turtle Island Restoration Network, had a fundraising picnic under the redwoods. There were oysters (I have now had 7 in my life and I have determined that yes, I do like them when cooked!), mussels, local beers, wine, among other assorted delicious donated food and drink. There was music - acoustic bluegrass/folk that was perfect for the setting and location.

TIRN's law intern and I created a turtle egg nest scavenger hunt for the kids that came. It was really complex but I think it turned out well. We created clues (short 4 line rhymes) that told the kid what animal they were searching for and where they should be looking.

One clue, for example, was like such:

I swim in the sea, far do I roam
but you'll find me here far from my home.
Under one of many, but all alone.
It's brown and wooden and you might eat on this at home.

The animal was a whale and the next clue was hidden under a picnic table that was set away from the others.

The kids were divided into four teams and had to pay attention to what clue they picked up at each spot, because for each team, the clues were in a different order.

I'm technically not supposed to drink alcohol while wearing AmeriFlair, but I sort of forgot and I did have a beer and a half or so... they were local and I wanted to taste them! At least I wasn't walking around drunk, or doing drugs or stealing things, some crazy AmeriCorps girl... badly representing the organization and my country blah blah blah...

So things are moving along in California. Right now my main project is native seed collection. We're expanding our native plant nursery so Heidi and I go out a lot and collect wild rose berries (rose hips, which I used to collect with my family), sword fern, elderberry, snowberry, coffeeberry, among other things. We have to clean the berry seeds after we collect them, which can be quite a pain in the ass. Leaving on the berry parts can cause the seeds to mold and go bad.

Besides that, I'm mainly waiting for Heidi (field partner) to get back from middle America where her sister's having a baby. When she returns we will be scrambling to schedule and advertise our volunteer restoration days which start in November.

Halloween is coming up and I'm stealing a past costume of the law intern's (Marjorie) - The Bachelorette (like from the reality show). Is that not current enough for people to get? A black dress and a fake rose?

Stories from a week ago

So there are a couple things I want to share from my AmeriTraining week that I forgot.

They're fun.

Each day we played some kind of team building game, which were fun and just helped us get to know each other. At night, when we were essentially free, we would read, break up into smaller groups and talk, play card games, whatever. One night, I think our last night, we decided to play some group games. Two very ridiculous group games. I'm going to start with the second, because the first is even more amazing.

The Paper Bag Game

It starts with everyone in a circle around a paper bag. The object is to pick up the paperbag with your mouth while standing on one foot. No hands - they cannot touch your body (ie can't hold your leg up) and they can't touch the bag.

Once everyone in the circle has done it, the last person cuts 1-2 inches off the top, and everyone goes around in the circle and picks up the same thing, and again the last person cuts 1-2 inches off the top.

Eventually you end up discovering some amazingly flexible people. To get your head down to an inch to two inches off the ground while on one foot and your hands in the air - And then come back up with a bag in your mouth? Holy Crap.

It was ridiculous and silly and great. The first game is even worse.

Who Can Eat the Most Chocolate?

Jill, one of the second year AmeriCorps-ers, brought out this huge chocolate bar - not a king size, but seriously family size (one of the giant Symphony bars you see in the baking aisle) and put it on a cafeteria tray and we all sat in a circle. The object was to eat as much chocolate as you could with a knife and fork and cutting the bar in pieces smaller than those little rectangles already marked in.

All while wearing a kitchen rubber glove, aviator sunglasses, and a paper crown.

And each person had a time limit. There were two pennies being passed around the circle, each person flipping them. If you got two heads, it was your turn to get the chocolate. You would grab the tray with the chocolate, the knife and fork, the hat, the sunglasses, the glove, suit yourself up and go at it. After getting all this stuff on, you had to eat as much chocolate as you could. But most likely before you even started cutting away someone else probably flipped two heads and your chocolate was being swiped away.

It was ridiculous. It took me so long to get 2 heads that when I did, I was just cutting my piece when someone started to grab the tray from me so I grabbed the big chunk I was cutting and shoved it in my mouth.

And we didn't actually pay attention to who ate the most chocolate.

A (short-term) new home

On Friday I moved into Candace's house to house- / cat-sit while she is on vacation. She lives in San Anselmo, which is much larger than Forest Knolls. It's in the suburban area, towns packed upon towns, and outside of the San Geronimo Valley so my cell phone (mostly) works.

Despite this, there's open space nearby (5 minutes or less walking) and wildlife in the backyard. Yesterday I had deer running through. Candace tells me they don't actually live in open space - they're habitat is the backyards around here. This morning while sitting here I had a hummingbird flitting around the bush next to the window.

And of course, the two cats that live here. They're sort of like wildlife, right? They are pretty skittish around me, so I would say they count.

Today is the first day I will be going into San Francisco. This whole time I still haven't been there yet, nor have I seen the Golden Gate bridge. Today I will drive over it.

I can hear someone jogging outside, which is ridiculous. It's a crazy hill I'm on! Yesterday I kept looking out the window to make sure my car hadn't rolled down the hill yet and crashed. Thank god I don't have the pickup anymore, I'm sure that wouldn't have even tolerated 5 minutes parked on this slope.

Citizenry

As my time here progresses I'm feeling more and more like a citizen. For one thing, I started working so I have a schedule. I'm also becoming more familiar with the grocery stores, I have a library card (and I went to the library!), I found the mall (on accident), I have an address (PO Box 400, Forest Knolls, CA 94933 - the same as SPAWN's), I have my CA driver's license.

Friday I'm registering my vehicle in the state, applying for food stamps and getting a bank account out here. So I'll be even more of a citizen.

Heidi, my AmeriCorps field partner at SPAWN, is from West Chicago which is literally down the road from Glen Ellyn. We know the same restaurants, the same streets, the same drive in movie theatre. So it's kind of exciting to have someone that I can talk about Chicago things with. And we get along really well, so it's also great to have someone there sharing the experience with me - an AmeriFriend.

I'm so at ease

This whole housing situation has had me extremely stressed out. Let me explain how it's all going down thus far. Right now I'm staying with a family that housed SPAWN's summer intern. They're a nice bunch and the kids are hardly here - it's like the Brady Bunch so they're often at the other parents'. I'll be here another week, then I'm house-/cat-sitting until near the end of October.

After that, another story. I've been having sleepless nights, lying awake worrying about it and just going over my expenses and costs in my head over and over. I've looked at a number of possibilities, but my AmeriCorps stipend is really, really low. And it seems like everything is just too high.

But the family I'm living with now has decided that they can take me on for really low rent - basically get a tax-deduction because it would be considered a donation to SPAWN. They'll even let me use a twin bed. I can sleep again!

Yes, I photoshopped many of these to look better.

The road to camp in the Mendocino Woodlands. It's not paved,
but very well maintained. And lined with redwoods

Looking up into the woods

Quail family on the driveway

Young redwood - no photoshopping here!

Eucalyptus

The bedroom that I'm staying in. My bed is to my right.

Fairfax. Essentially, all towns are the same! Just
different logos and a different body of water

AmeriTraining

I started working! Sort of.

I spent this past week at my first AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project (WSP) training. On Sunday I drove up to Fortuna, CA. The highway winds through redwoods, some bigger than the ones I saw the first day I was here, and it's absolutely gorgegous.

A very long drive - around 5 hours

They put those of us coming from long distances up for the night in a Best Western, since we weren't actually starting until Monday morning. So I met a few fellow AmeriCorps*USA FreedomCorps members (Bush's retitling of Clinton's invention...) before work actually began.

Monday morning began and all 27 of us got to meet - I finally met my field partner, Heidi! A few people have returned for a second year of service, including Heidi, though this is her first time at SPAWN (it's an entirely new site, they've never had AmeriCorps members before). There are a number of different sites and members are placed from as far south as San Francisco to as far north as the Oregon border. Most members are placed nearer Fortuna and that northern region, as that is where most sites are. The organizations that take AmeriCorps members range from non-profits to state government (CA Dept of Fish and Game) to federal government (Forest Service).

In the afternoon we drove to Mendocino Woodlands, a State Park another 4 hours south of Fortuna and in redwoods.

Right in the middle

The place was absolutely gorgeous. I basically forgot about my camera but did remember to take a few pictures on the drive out. But the camera's still in my car so they'll get posted later. Our cabins were equipped with cots and even a little porch, though no electricity and the space for screens was small so it was dark most of the time. But the bathrooms had running water so it was sweet. It was pretty chilly but we kept the fire in the lodge going. A second year member joined us and cooked absolutely delicious food all week, probably as good as I will be eating for the next 11 months.

Tuesday. The day for CPR and Wilderness Safety Training Certifications. The whole day was committed to this and it was intense. We learned the basic CPR stuff but still took the time to go through and practice it. The Wilderness Safety was interesting - what to check for and what to do in case of an injury in the backcountry, more than 1 hour away from rescue (could be as much as a couple days depending on the injury).

We practiced these techniques too. We got in groups of three, designating one person as "victim". The first bunch of victims all went to the trainer, got an injury, then went into the woods. The rest of the groups (primary and secondary rescuers) were told some of what happened - at least what they saw. For example, the first victim's story was that all three of us were working in the field but were lost hiking back. The victim climbed up a tree to see if they could find the trail and then took a 40 foot fall. As rescuers, we had to check all major arteries for bleeding and then bandage any up while keeping their spine straight.

At night we did it again, basically, but this time we had to also find shelter, make a fire (except not because of the fire danger this time of year), and hunker down as if we were spending the night. It was definitely more difficult with just a couple flashlights. We splinted our "tripped" pal's leg, moved her to a shelter, covered ourselves with duff (the plant debris on the ground - keeps in heat), and fed her only to discover she had a food allergy. At this point we took out our pretend benadryl or epinephrine pen or real zyrtec/other anti-histamine. If we didn't get the anti-histamine out, our pal would "die".

Wednesday was a new day of crazy stuff. Swiftwater training. We learned knots and how to make a harness and and how to get ourselves or another person up or down a steep area. Then we learned what to do if our field partner or ourself got caught up in a river's current, our foot stuck and face down in the water, if one of us was found the other unconcious in the water, or what to do even if we were caught in the current and had an obstacle ahead of us. We practiced these in the freezing river in our waders. For 4 hours. It was very, very cold.

I took a warm shower that evening. My only one of the week.

Thursday was all about the program, paperwork, and salmon. An indoor day where I learned that I qualify for food stamps and public housing. They also advised us on what to do if we encounter a field of marijuana. Friday was a little more program info and then back to Forest Knolls.

Sunday starts my first day at SPAWN working at a booth they have at an event.

And I promise, real pictures and less text coming soon. Food stamps too.