Work Hard, Play Hard - Weekend Getaway

Day 15 - Tuesday (28), We started this morning with more classes. The first was about financing and budgeting, which I found useful especially if you're saving up to go to college. Hopefully there will be a class on how to do taxes because I don't know the first step on how to do taxes or other paperwork and it would be useful to learn for the future. Our second class was Session #3 or maybe 4 of Healthy Lifestyles and Behaviors. Today's lesson was about sex ed. I won't go into details about that though.

We then had lunch, and afterwards we headed to downtown Vicksburg to do some community mapping. Thanks to Kristina's sprained ankle, we got the area where we did our mapping while driving in a car instead of walking in the heat like everyone else did! For community mapping, we looked for pros and cons of the area we were assigned. So for examples, some pros in our area would be that some houses were raised so it wouldn't get flooded as easily. Cluttered lawns and un-raised houses were some cons. So we just observed the community we were in and pointed out what the pros and cons were and ideas to fix those problems.

The second to last class were tips on how to be a better public speaker. The final class was a longer session about lodging when on spike and what some ground rules were.


Day 16 - Wednesday (29), Started the morning with Zumba again! I really enjoy it because it just works out your whole body and it's really fun to do. Today was probably our last day of doing Zumba because the counselor that does Zumba is resigning from her counseling job on Friday to travel around the world.

After morning PT, we had a day long class discussing diversity. A day long class is typically about 8 - 9 hours long. We talked about how important diversity is within our teams, how that will affect our work and environment, what privileges are of each race or gender, and a lot of other activities and discussions about diversity.


Day 17 - Thursday (30), We had our team assignment meetings today. I got media rep for my team so I attended that meeting. When being a media rep, I learned that there's a lot of rules that come with it because it is government regulated and we are representing the government. So we learned a lot dont's today and our many deadlines for submitting articles, pictures and etc.

I made dinner tonight which was spring rolls with tofu. I know a few people liked my springs rolls and the others are meat eaters. So I know this meal wasn't their favorite. But they were all fascinated by the rice paper used to make the spring rolls. They kept expecting me to sauté the vegetables or fry the spring rolls and were surprised when it was basically raw. This meal was probably one of the healthiest meals I have eaten since leaving home so I enjoyed it to its fullest potential!


Day 18 - Friday (31), Woke up today at 5:15 am because we are going to Oxford, MS! It's about a 3 hour drive in a regular car, but 4ish hours for us with our speed limit and driver changes. We are going to Oxford to do an ISP (Independent Service Project) at Lake Camp Stephens. Then we get to do a rope course the next day.

For our ISP, we did some power washing and cleaning of their chapel. In return, they allow us to do the rope course, which we will do Saturday. So we spent the afternoon cleaning around their camp grounds. It had really nice camp ground facilities and amenities.

For dinner, we had hamburgers or hot dogs with sides of chips, baked beans, and/or potato salad. I had a veggie hamburger with some baked beans and chips.After dinner, we made some s'mores, which I had not had in a long time so I enjoyed every bite! It made me realized that I missed camping, but not the bugs! I stuck around and helped clean up the fire site and then went to bed to get my much needed rest for the course tomorrow. So excited!


Day 19 - Saturday (August 1), It was an awesome day today besides the fact we had to wake up early. We went downtown to a coffee shop to get some caffeine to help wake us up and then we drove to Ole Miss to take on their rope course! Our morning session was more of an individual course. We did rock climbing and when we got to the top we got to zip line our way down, a tight rope walk (which I didn't do because we didn't have time), flying squirrel, and the power pole. The afternoon session was less physical and worked more on teamwork and critical thinking. So for example, we had a lot of balancing courses where we had to trust our teammates to catch us if we fall, a course where we had to pretend that there was hot lava on the ground and we had to help each other get across using planks of wood all while without touching the ground, and a lot of other courses where we just had to work as a team trusting each other while having good listening and communication skills. So today was all about teamwork and encouraging each other and I felt like we did a really good job and hopefully that will work out in our favor because the better teamwork and the better we get along as a team, the more likely we get sent out further from the campus!

Finally after a long 6-7 hour day at the course, we got some dinner and started our 4.5 hour drive back to campus. We had a nice group talk in the car and I helped drive part of the way back to campus. I don't know why, but I really enjoy driving whether it's in city roads or just driving straight on the freeway. There's someone about driving and listening to music that I find soothing and relaxing sometimes.

We finally arrived back to campus at around 9 pm and unloaded the car. I went and helped park the car and then after chatting for a while, I finally took the much needed shower to rinse off all the dirt and sweat. And after that, I'm pretty sure I fell into a sleep coma.


Day 20 - Sunday (2), Finally got to sleep in a little bit, but still a little tired and sore from the ropes courses yesterday. I made pancakes and potatoes for the team for breakfast today and it was a nice change from my usual breakfast which mainly consists of bagels or yogurt and fruit. I spent a few hours on my computer catching up on YouTube videos, TV shows, and working on a new blog entry.

Sorry there's not much to Sunday's entry, but hopefully the rest of this week should be much more interesting because my parents are flying in tomorrow for a few days so I'm pretty ecstatic about their arrival! And I also want to wish them a Happy Anniversary! They are the most amazing people you will ever meet inside and out. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am today and I really do have the most loving and supportive parents! Thank you to the two of you for waking up really early, going through TSA, sitting on cramped planes, and taking time off of work to come down and visit me! I love you Mom and Dad and can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Some flooding we saw in our neighborhood while doing our community mapping. The water level was just below the height of a fire hydrant.

In Oxford, MS for our ISP and rope course.

The nachos I ate at South Depot Taco Shop in downtown Oxford, MS. They were really good and reminded me of Freebirds.

Hey look! We're in London!

Yum!

Rock climbing during the rope course

The zip line at the top of the rock wall

(Sorry if it's not the best of quality)

Breakfast that I cooked this morning! And I did not actually eat that pan-size pancake... yet :)