Day 9 - Day 13: A Day in Life of an AmeriCorps Member

Day 9 - Wednesday (22), Today was a really good day. We started off with PT bright and early this morning in the gym! One of our counselor teaches Zumba so we did Zumba this morning. It was pretty fun!

After Zumba, we attended Day 2 of FEMA Basic Training. Today went much faster than yesterday. We got out 3 hours early because we finished all our units and took our test. Training was pretty entertaining today due to our TL, Kristina. She sprained her ankle yesterday (Tuesday), so she went to ER this morning (Wednesday). They gave her a brace and crutches, but they also gave her some meds. One of the med she took made her really drowsy. She started acting really funny and saying random funny lines, chewing on her hair, and kept thinking that she was drooling but in reality, she wasn't. The whole classroom started laughing and I was laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes! Eventually she became too entertaining and delusional that we had to take her to a room upstairs to get some rest and sleep because she was just out of it. But as of right now she's doing fine. We moved her into another dorm for the moment being so she can rest and be looked after by another TL.


Day 10 - Thursday (23), Today we started the morning with quite a few meetings that plowed on until 4:30. We had some more meetings preparing us for our Round 1 project, a Life After AmeriCorps (LAA) meeting, and lastly one about what role we would play on our team. There are 8 different roles for our team and as usual I wanted to be the Media Rep. But all the positions will be figured out later. So we had a little fair in the gym where we went around to each table seeing what the responsibilities of each role are. The Media Rep was different than I anticipated. Besides taking pictures and designing some presentations, there's quite a bit of journalism involved and talking to the media. I haven't always been the strongest writer for a journalist nor the best public speaker when it comes to doing interviews or talking to the media, but I'm excited to try out this position.


Day 11 - Friday (24), Today was a pretty good day for me. It was short and sweet! We had a few more classes/meetings in the morning but we ended early so meaning we got a longer lunch time! :) After lunch we had our road test for driving our 15 vehicle passenger van! I was slightly nervous so I went first. I felt really tiny in that car! One thing I noticed while driving was that people here are really polite when driving. Since we're in a government vehicle, we have to drive pretty slow and people here don't tailgate when you drive slowly! Or maybe they do but when they see government vehicles, they drive better. Who knows? They also don't do all the extra cutting and swerving! But the people that live in Vicksburg are pretty used to AmeriCorps people and vans all over the place.

Day 12 - Saturday (25), It was a bright and early morning. I woke up at 7 to make breakfast and then I had to leave for an Independent Service Project (ISP) at 8. For our ISP, we partnered with the local American Red Cross. We went around some poorer, rural housing areas installing fire/smoke alarms. We went door to door installing smoke detectors for those who wanted them. It was a weird project but people were very nice, polite and grateful for everything we did for them. Even though we were at each house for only 15-20 minutes, they were extremely grateful for our service.

After ISP, I went to work out at the gym with some other corps members. It's slightly difficult to eat healthy here because buying better quality food is a little more expensive than the stuff in boxes sometimes, but I've been trying to eat slightly healthier along with working out. It's also difficult because I'm constantly exposed to chips, cookies, oreos, and junk food and sometimes when I'm really hungry, I crave fatty foods. So I need to work better on getting more sleep, exercising, eating the right foods and portions, and if those factors line up correctly, I should be okay.

Since it was Saturday night and I didn't want to sit around and do nothing, I got some of my team to come with me to the Vicksburg Mall. The mall is really tiny. It took us less than 10 minutes to walk from one end to another. It's similar shape to the Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights. It's a narrow, but short building. There wasn't much stores or places to eat so we walked down the street for like 10 minutes and found a nice, causal place to eat. The cheapest thing on the menu was a margherita pizza so I got that. The pizza looked like a cheese pizza with a couple tomatoes, but it tasted pretty good! After dinner, we headed back to the mall and saw a movie, Self/Less. I've never heard of it or seen the trailers before and the reviews were decent so we decided to take a shot at it anyways. I actually really enjoyed the movie! It was about an old, rich guy who was dying and he tries to transfer his thoughts/brain/conscience into another, but younger human being so he could live longer. It was another one of those movies where it's confusing but at the end it all ties together and it was like "wow, oh I get this now" and I really enjoy watching those movies.

Story of the day-  Our cab ride back to campus was pretty entertaining! A white (red flag), unmarked (red flag) truck pulled up and the driver told us to get in. I looked at him funny because I didn't know who he was and his car was white and unmarked. He then spotted our confusion and said "AmeriCorps?". He was our taxi driver! Duh! Like I totally knew that! So, stupidly I guess, we got into the truck because for all we know he could have been lying and was actually a kidnapper. Who knows!? But I had 4 boys with me for protection! The truck technically should only seat 4 passengers and the driver, but we had 5 people including the driver so we squeezed in. If anyone of us would been any bigger, we would not have fitted and no one in the back wore seat belts because it doesn't work when you have 4 people in the back and only 3 seat belts. I was in the back. Shhh! And man! He knew how to drive! Our driver was the owner of the cab company and he's been picking up AmeriCorps kids for 5 years. So as the owner, he was getting all the calls from other people to come and pick them up and plus he really knew how to drive at high speeds on those windy roads. He could have done it in his sleep! So it was a good combination of driving really fast on a windy and narrow roads, checking and talking on his cell phone in his white, unmarked truck! But for those of you who were worried, we made it back safely in one piece! :)

Day 13 - Sunday (26), A pretty slow start to the day. I slept in until like 10. It felt pretty good to finally sleep in! We then went did our weekly grocery shopping. It felt way less hectic than last week, but still hectic and lots of fast walking. We got a lot of healthier foods and fruits that I can snack on, which made me happy. And we were way under our budget which was great! For dinner this week, I'm making a quick, easy and cheap dinner. Spring rolls! And they're also great for lunch or snacks! Our TL (team leader) made dinner today, which was curry on rice.

After dinner we had to clean the whole entire kitchen and our rooms because we have inspections tomorrow and it very hard to pass. So we wiped everything in the kitchen down! So from all the appliances inside and out to the wall and the floors, everything got scrubbed. It probably took like a little less than 2 hours to clean which wasn't bad considering we had 8 bodies. And my room wasn't that bad, so we just had to tidy some things up and wipe the room down.


Day 14 - Monday (27), We had PT this morning, which was soccer. As much as I dislike waking up in the early hours of the morning, I really enjoy working out in the mornings because it gets me going and I feel better about myself as the day progresses.

We had a day long class this morning, which I really enjoyed because I really enjoyed the interactive activities that were planned and the ability to split up into smaller groups and just talk. We had the ability to express our feelings/emotions, what characteristics/traits we like about ourselves, our favorite memories, etc. and it was a good class because the layout and topics we talked about were well laid out and really interesting. This class was all about positivity about ourselves because sometime we need to realize how amazing we are and can be. And it was nice to listen to other people talk because it really opened my mind to the different situations and scenarios that people have experienced and some of it got really personal which makes the conversation a lot more relatable and interesting.

After dinner, I winded down the night finishing my resume and tackling my 2 hour online class for First Aid/CPR/AED with the American Red Cross.

Our TL, Kristina, getting a piggy-back ride because of her sprained ankle and using crutches took to long to get our meeting.






Vicksburg Mall - really small with few stores and places to eat.

The ISP we did with the local Mississippi American Red Cross installing fire/smoke detectors in low-income housing homes. (Ex. mobile trailer homes)

Finished My First Week Here in Vicksburg!!

Day 6 - Sunday (19), Today was a rest day. I slept in a little bit and went to the green building to get internet and answer your comments. We then went grocery shopping for dinners this weekend. Shopping at the store to grab the ingredients for my Mom's chili felt like I was on Food Network because I didn't know where anything was and I had to be at the cashier by a certain time. So it was hectic trying to find everything within the time limit. Plus it was more difficult when your budget was $22 so you had to find the cheapest price for everything. (But it was great that we get tax exemption from like everything we buy as long as we use our government credit card!) There were some things they didn't sell here, but in like every California store will have it. Ex. there was no frozen bell peppers! I was surprised. And also, they sell a lot of veggies but in mixed bags. It was difficult to find the veggies in individual bags. The store also has less options/choices. They didn't have a big bread selection and only like a few different brands of canned food while in California, there are like 20 different brands for beans, tomatoes, and etc. But after a long hour of running up and down the aisles like a maniac (people could definitely tell I wasn't from Vicksburg or from the South), and passing all ingredient that I needed for the chili that were right in front of my face, I finally found all the ingredients I needed for the chili with some substitution for cheaper prices. It took a while to make the chili because our stove doesn't give out the strongest output of heat, but I think they all liked it! I was a little skeptical about making it because it was all vegan, but they seemed to enjoyed it!

Day 7 - Monday (20), Today was a bright and early morning and a day filled with sweat! Disgusting right? I woke up at 5:30 and ate quick, light breakfast before heading to the Military National Park to do our baseline PT. Even at 6:30 in the morning, it was still hot. Oh, how I miss California! I have never sweated that much on a run before and by halfway through our run, my shirt was already soaking wet with sweat! I took a shower immediately as soon as I got back and then we started the day. We had some quick set up to do for our FEMA training tomorrow and then we had individual meetings with our TL. I went first and after that, I finally got a 45 minute nap!

We then had a basic training for driving our 15 passenger van. I volunteered to go first. We had to maneuver our way through an obstacle course of cones with sharp turns and we all know that big cars have terrible steering especially when it comes to sharp turns. We also have to park backwards in a parking spot and we also had a stage where you would gun the gas pedal, and then when you reached a certain cone, you would stomp on the brake pedal (yes, we were aware this is really bad for the car but we're not in charge of it). And then when you weren't driving, two people had to stand outside the car for approx. 30-40 minutes and help the driver maneuver their way through the course and help them back up because we have to have ground guides when we're backing up or in tight space. We got really sweaty and drenched quickly. Plus drinking lots of water didn't help as much because we just got more sweaty. The only interesting thing to me is that the cars are government licensed so we are driving national government cars! That's pretty cool besides the fact that they don't turn well and are slow (we can't drive faster than 65 mph). We have our road test this Friday and if I pass, I'm officially a certified driver! And because my driving record is also clean.

After driving, we had short meeting and then we were off work! I quickly changed from my sweaty, work uniforms. I felt so nice to be back into my comfortable clothes! We had hamburgers and homemade fries for dinner and they were really good! Obviously I had a veggie burger. It was from a box, but it was still really good and 10x better than the cafeteria food we had earlier last week.

We finally got our projector for our team and it looks really good! We hooked my computer up to it and now we can watch movies on the walls and ceilings! We would just get extra mattresses and lay there watching movies. All the other teams on our floor are defiantly jealous of us because they keep asking when we're going to use it. And we're definitely taking it with us when we're going on strike!

Day 8 - Tuesday (21), There was nothing to today. We sat in a classroom for 8 hours learning about the basics of FEMA and what they do. And we have another 8 hour FEMA basic training tomorrow to finish Part 2.

We had a really amazing dinner tonight. It was one of the best soft tacos I've ever had. It had black beans, a red cabbage slaw, pico de gallo, and a sauce made out of yogurt and hot sauce all on corn tortillas. There was also chicken for the rest of the team.

We played soccer after dinner which was fun but always that sticky, uncomfortable feeling you get afterwards. And also the pacing you have to do so you don't get bitten by mosquitoes. I probably have more mosquitoes bites than I can count! Good thing I brought lotion!

I can't believe that today marks as the fact that I have been here for a week! It feels like I've been here for months already. I think it's the fact that I miss home, but I'm also having a great time here with my team. I really do have the best team here on campus and I can't wait until we finish training and get ready to leave on SPIKE.

My Mom's Chili (Thanks Mom! It was really good and tasted like home!)

Kodiak's Taco Tuesday (Beans, Pico de gallo, red cabbage slaw, and a yogurt creme fresh sauce)

It was amazing!

Downtown Vicksburg

Day 5 - Saturday (18), We had a great start to this morning! Today, everybody on campus had a nice little alarm set for them whether they set one or not. My team was the only team awake on our floor and had already been awake for an hour so it was no problem for us but it was fun for everybody else! We had a fire alarm go off so we had to evacuate the building. I'm pretty sure the cause of it was that someone burned their breakfast. But the alarm got the whole campus up for the day!

We started our day by going to downtown Vicksburg! It had a really nice view of the Mississippi River! Our first stop was at the farmers market. There were like 7 pop ups stand selling watermelons and jam/jelly. The jam/jelly was probably the most popular item that majority of the booths was selling. Our next stop was the highly popular coffee shop, Highway 61. I wasn't feeling like coffee this morning so I got a strawberry pineapple smoothie which was very tasty! The coffee shop is small but it has cozy feeling to it. Everything in downtown Vicksburg is small because the whole entire town is like 3 blocks. After that we went to an art gallery attic right above the coffee shop. It was jam pack full of art but expensive. Next stop we went to the book shop just to take a look around. It was very clean and modern. In the small town of Vicksburg, there was a library! So we definitely stopped there, got library cards and checked out a few books and movies. After the library, we started to feel hot and hungry so we stopped at a rooftop restaurant. It was a bit pricey, but it was worth the scenery! I got grilled cheese with fries which was like the only thing I could eat. And when in the South, it's 10x butter and oiliness! So I got to watch those extra carbs and fat when I order! (Sorry Mom and Dad! I know that was unhealthy decision making! But you'll be satisfied with my decision after in the next paragraph.) After lunch, the owner of the building (it's a multi-complex building with a bank on floor 1, and apartments from floors 3-9, and a restaurant on the rooftop. Floor 2 is the apartment complex office for those of you wondering), took us on a tour of some of the apartments. They are really nice, small, but roomy enough to live in. Plus, they had a good view of the Mississippi River. It also had a nice kitchen and bathroom space. The only thing that I didn't like about the apartments was that all the kitchen and bathroom counters where made exactly of the same material and color.

After downtown, a few of us went to the gym. Since it was the weekend, the gym we go to has a nice policy. If you were an AmeriCorps member, they let you workout for free on the weekends! The gym has the usuall treadmills, stair climbers, and etc. But it also has a pool, racquetball courts, and a basketball court which are really good amenities! So I'm going to try to get a membership for the next month that we're here.

Aunt Cher - this story is for you! I promised you a Confederate flag :) (Disclaimer: she didn't really ask for one nor does she want one.) and I got you a story instead of an actual flag for you! :) On our way back to campus, we ran into some, well not some, like 15 trucks driving past us all bearing the Confederate flag. The flags were just flapping in the wind behind them. They were on some sort of protest I think. So that was interesting to see that many people still supporting the Confederacy about 150 years after the Civil War.

So when we arrived back onto campus after the gym, I took some personal time. I like to take personal time everyday for myself so I can think and reflect on my day. It's very important to me and it makes me realize how lucky I am to have what I have with all these new friends and experiences but never forgetting home where my old friends and family are back home. It's quite therapeutic for me to have time to myself and reflect.

Dinner was just leftovers from lunch. After dinner, I played Heads Up, which is an app made by Ellen DeGeneres (she my fav comedian talk show host). It's an app like charades. So we played that for quite a while. The night then winded down - I took a shower then did laundry. We went into the lounge and watched Monty Python with a few other people. I was so tired, I fell asleep for majority of the movie, but I've already seen it.

It is currently 1:00 am as I'm writing this, so I'm exhausted. I'm going to leave it off for tonight and hope to have another blog for you tomorrow or sometime within the next few days. The comment section should be working a lot better, I hope! So until next time, stay safe and keep a smile on your face! I love all you guys and I cannot thank you enough for your endless support! Especially to my parents. I love you Mom and Dad and I miss you so much. Can't wait to see you soon!




Downtown Vicksburg






My strawberry and pineapple smoothie from Highway 61.





Some art pieces that I thought Mom and Dad would like from the art gallery above the coffee shop.





Bathroom sink at the Rooftop Restaurant. I thought it was unique. (Something I kept noticing here in MS - they don't have toilet seat covers in public restrooms. So you have to always squat, but I'm not complaining. It's a good workout!)






The appetizer they served - spiced pretzels with honey Dijon mustard. It was very good!





My heart attack grilled cheese with fries.






View from the restaurant






View #2 from the restaurant in panoramic form

Settling into our Daily Routine

So I've been writing a little each day but some are not big enough to fill an entire entry so I will most likely in the future be combining multiple entries in one large blog entry when I find them too small or too dry and not interesting enough for you guys to read.

Day 2 - On Wednesday (15), we woke up a bit later than usual at 7:20. We then headed down to breakfast. They do a good job of having things that vegetarians can eat. Today we had the option of potatoes, eggs, sausage, French toast, cereal, and fruit. So there was a good variety and no one from our team went away hungry. We started the day with a meeting and then we went to do some shots and a drug screening. After, we went to do some surveys and pre-test in their computer lab and then we attended more meetings. Last but not least, we finally got our uniforms! They gave us a ton of stuff and I mean a ton of stuff. To fill a large, rectangular bucket would be a more accurate description. Like I could fit in the bucket and put the lid on top! We also get to keep everything except like two things which is pretty cool. After uniforms, we had some downtime before dinner. We just went into everybody's rooms and chatted. We're down from the original 9 member team to 8, so we're now probably the smallest Summit team. Also during downtime, the power and AC generators blew out which is not so good because it so hot and sticky here. But they got it running back up quickly and they do a good job of keeping all buildings nice and cool!

Day 3 - Thursday (16), this was probably my least favorite and least eventful day so far. We had 5 meetings/class sessions to attend to between the hours of 8 am - 5 pm. We had a couple short ones and a couple long ones that were 2-3 hours each. And most of you that know me well knows that I cannot sit still for very long so today was slightly difficult for me to keep focus especially during the longer class sessions. So that was basically our day today so not too much exciting thing going on.

Day 4 - Friday (17), today we had more meetings to attend to but not as long as yesterday. Our day finished around 4. Today we started cooking for ourselves. So for dinner, we had rice and veggies which were pretty good! After dinner, I went out to play soccer with about 30+ people. It was really hot and humid so I got drenched in no time, but the cardio felt really good for my out of shape body. I also went on a run with about 3 other girls after soccer. Later after every one took a shower, we wanted to watch a movie so I hooked up my computer to the TV and we had a movie night. Our team (Summit 1) also bought a projector so we could watch movies with, which is pretty cool!

Just a heads up for most of you reading the blogs for the next month, majority of them will be quite dry because we will have been in meetings, basic trainings, or a classroom like learning environment for majority of the time. And I also apologize again for the lack of pics because we have been on campus for the majority of time attending classes/meetings. But after all the training is over, hopefully it will get more interesting when we spread out for our project rounds. And I hope to promise you a more interesting blog this weekend because I think we finally will be able to visit Vicksburg so I have the opportunity to take some pics.

Many of you have had problems with posting comments on my page and I apologize. I think I have fixed the situation, but I'm not 100% sure, so I will know when you try and leave comments on this post. If it doesn't work, just text me or email me and I have another option I could try. It might help if you clear your cookies also. If I can't get it solved, email me (or text me) your questions and I will do a Q&A sometime in the future if the comments section is becoming an issue.

Also many of you are asking for my mailing address. My mailing address is:
Kelly Ruder - Class 22 FEMA Corps/ Summit 1
AmeriCorps NCCC
2715 Confederate Avenue
Vicksburg, MS 39180

If you send me packages, this is just a heads up! Please do not send any items that will perish! Because when I am away from campus, the office will not forward our packages to the location where we are staying so I might not be able to open them for about 2 or 3 months at the most. If you send letters, those are easier for them to forward to our locations because it is cheaper for them to mail. You can send me packages currently because I will be on campus until August 18. So for the next month, I will be able to receive any mail sent to me.

Thanks for reading! This weekend will definitely be more eventful hopefully! Let me know if the comments sections works better for you!





All the clothes they gave us plus the pants and misc stuff on the shelf above





Our first team selfie!

Left to right - Kodiak, Andre, Alex, me! :), Madeleine, Drew, Sean, and our Team Leader (TL) in green, Kristina. We are Summit 1! And one of the best teams on campus! :)

Day 1 - Arrival in Vicksburg, MS

The day started way too early. Both Mom and Dad came to see me off at the airport. I would be lying if I said I didn't get a little sad at the prospect of leaving them and home behind, but every great journey starts with leaving home and familiar grounds behind. The first flight was about 3ish hours to Dallas, TX with a layover. Hopped on another quick flight to Jackson, MS. The weather here in MS is very hot and humid. We were met by a crew of AmeriCorps staff and after checking in, we boarded a bus for a hour long ride to our home base, Vicksburg, MS. Driving to our home base, the area has a country like atmosphere to it. It is very green and luscious with lots of trees and open areas full of green grass. Very different compared to CA where all the grass are turning gold and plants dying. Freeways here are not very big with like 2-3 lanes, but gas here is cheap! Like $2.30 - $2.40 per gallon. 

We finally arrived at our campus. It's really nice and has lots of green space which is great for playing frisbee or football with the team. Everyone here is really friendly and welcoming. We checked in, got our papers, and room key. Our dorm room is a good size. Has bunk beds, lots of shelves for clothes and our own sink to brush our teeth without ever leaving our room. Better than home! :) I have two other girls rooming with me who are also on the same team as I. I also met the rest of my team - they're all really nice and they're all from the east or Middle East area. So I'm the only gal from the West! I'm already really liking the chemistry of this team and plus our team leader is super nice and super chill!

We had dinner together, which was spaghetti, green beans, and salad. Definitely not Dad or Mom's cooking though. Probably one of the things I'll miss most about home. After dinner, we had a couple of meetings to attend to and then we did a quick store run. I just had to get some bedding, pillow, soap, toothpaste - just the basics.

Tomorrow is another busy, long day, with an early call time, so I'm going to leave it off here for tonight. And sorry for the lack of pics! It was a travel day and we don't have Wi-Fi in the dorms, so I'm using data from my phone and as a hotspot for my computer to upload the pics. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or anything I should talk about more. This is my very first blog so I'm unsure what topics to cover so I'm open to any feedback or suggestions. So goodnight from Vicksburg, Mississippi!