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!