Blogs from Sacramento, California, United States, North America - page 5

Finally found out where/what my team's first project will be! Last night my team played laser tag against another team in our unit and before we went in our team leaders hid brightly colored envelopes throughout the room. (What is is with AmeriCorps and secret envelopes???) After the game, which was surprisingly fun!, we opened our envelopes and each answered one question about our first full assignment. We are going to be doing an environmental project focusing on fuel reduction (as in clearing trees and bushes from trails etc.) and making the area more environmentally friendly and "green" if you will. We'll be staying in California ( yay!) but moving to a small town called Oakhurst about 20 miles away from Yosemite! The best part? Our sponsor is a Christian summer camp and we're going to ... read more

Wednesday was the night we were divvied into our real teams, but this came as a complete surprise to everyone. Some PODs suspected because we never got an sort of schedule for the rest of the week and no staff would answer any questions about what we were doing. No one in my POD thought this was out of the ordinary because our leader was always late with schedules. After dinner we were handed envelopes which we were not allowed to open and we all stood out in the big field and waited. When we opened the envelopes we found pieces of yarn and were told to stand in different areas depending on the color. When we did this they announced that we were standing in our new units!! (each unit has a couple different teams). ... read more

This Thursday I will be traveling to Sacramento, California to begin training to serve ten months with the AmeriCorps. While there I will work with a team of other members to complete 4-6 projects throughout our term. I don't know what projects specifically my team will be assigned to (and probably won't until shortly before each one...) but the projects usually have to do with rural and urban development, energy conservation, infrastructure improvement, disaster relief, or environmental conservation. I think my first project will start in early November; until then I will have four weeks of training. I will be sure to post more about what that entails at a later date. My mailing address will be: Kristen Peacock, Class 17 CM AmeriCorps NCCC 3427 Laurel Street McClellan, CA 95652 You can also e-mail me at ... read more

This trip to Santa Fe, NM started while reading the latest Santa Fe Opera E-mail in December 09. I realized it had been almost 5 years since the last visit and I felt like I was missing the most enjoyable part of my musical world. Now going was not a problem, who could I go with was, as I knew very few people who would be willing to go with me across the street much less 1500 miles. KC was a possibility, but I would have to leave him in a kennel during the operas - vote no on KC. I had recently met a woman named Emily Beals who was introduced by our mutual hair-cutter person. Emily loved all kinds of music including opera and had a venturing spirit. After several discussions, she thought the ... read more

One hundred and sixty one years after the gold rush, I am here in Sacramento. In the middle of the Sacramento Valley. and at the confluence of the American River and the Sacramento River. Sacramento has a deep water port, so the modestly sized ships can make it this far inland. This explains why the trans-continental railway starts or ends here, depending on your direction, and marks the boomtown where the prospectors set off into the Sierra Nevada mountains in search of gold in 1849. Sacramento is California's state capital, and was admitted to the union in 1850. Hundred's of thousand of people poured into the land around the time of the gold rush. California is now America's most populous state, third largest by area and if it were a country it would be the 10th ... read more