We traveled for about 8 hours today and took a lunch stop at Chipotle. I started reading a new book called Unbroken. There's also a movie made after the book, which I have already seen so I know what the books is about. It's based off of a real life story and it took place around WWII. It's about a man named Zamperini who was an Olympic athlete and he joined the Air Corps for the US military. He got lost at sea and got captured by the Japanese. I'll just leave it at there if any of you want to read it.
We finally arrived in Atlanta about 7:30 pm and unloaded our personal bags into our hotel rooms for the night. We ordered a few pizzas for dinner and Kristina and I went grocery shopping with our leftover budget money. We grabbed some snacks and sandwich stuff for tomorrow's lunch.
We also drove through downtown Atlanta for a bit and got to see a small part of the city. It was really cool to see the city all lit up in lights and it was exactly what I imagined a huge city to look like with all the tall buildings covered in lights.
After we got back from our grocery and downtown Atlanta run, I took a shower and watched Quantico with Kristina before we all went to bed.
Day 148 - Tuesday (8), We started our last leg to Columbia, SC about 9:15 am. We wanted a late start today because we didn't want to sit through traffic hour.
We drove for about 2.5 hours before we took a lunch stop at the Savanna Rapids Pavilion which is located in Augusta, GA. We got to see the August Canal which was beautiful! (See pics below). We stayed their for about an hour exploring the place before we headed back onto the road.
We finally made it to Columbia, SC after about a hour and half of driving! We are staying at another church. The church is very nice and they're letting us use their in their kids activity center as our housing. It has a fooseball table, ping-pong table, two kitchen, couches, and a cozy feeling to it. Our showers are located in the gym which is just across the street from where we are staying. The whole place is great, but the only problem is that the church runs day care in the activity center where we're staying at so we have to be super clean and can't leave anything out, lock out computers and other valuables, and can't be at our lodging from 9 am - 6 pm Mon-Fri. But otherwise than that, I really like where we're staying at. It's super close to downtown, only a 10 minute walk, and it's way better than Houston. There are a bunch of local stores to shop in and a Starbucks! I really enjoy being close to downtown because there's going to be something to do.
We had dinner at a pizza place called the Village Idiot. Despite the name, the pizza was pretty good. After dinner, we came back to the church and I started to unpack my bags. I couldn't really spread out due to the fact that that it has to be clean everyday. But I did reorganize my bag/clothes.
After unpacking, Kristina and I did a late night run to the store to pick up some groceries since we had none. After that, I went to bed and we have our first day of work tomorrow.
Day 149 - Wednesday (9), Today was our first day at work. The commute is about 30 minutes. Majority of it is freeway and we are lucky because there is no traffic whatsoever.
The building in which we work in is pretty large. It's exactly the office that I imagined we would be working at when I first started this program. It's the typical office full of cubicles.
I got my own cubicle, which is pretty cool. I have plenty of space to spread out and get organized. I am one of the few that has a cubicle. Everywhere else is full, but the rest of my team will get one once other FEMA Corps teams leave, which will be at the end of next week. I also got connected with internet so I could start working. I really like my POC. She is extremely nice, understanding, and always willing to help and answer questions.
After work, we did PT out in a field. We played ultimate frisbee with another team from our campus, Gulf 3. It was really fun and I enjoyed being able to run and be active again.
We did another grocery run because we needed a little more food to get though this week. We bought some frozen meals for the boys and Kristina and I got some frozen vegetables and black bean burgers.
I finally took advantage of our fooseball table and played a few games with Sean. The table was in really bad shape, but as competitive as I am, I was able to pull off a win in our intense tie breaker match!
Day 150 - Thursday (10), We were late to work by 5 minutes today because there was some miscommunication between us. We thought we had to be at work at 8 am but it was suppose to be 7:30 am. So we had a mad dash to get out the door and to work. The beauty of working for FEMA here in SC is that they don't really seem to care that your a little late.
At work I am working on a rather time-sensitive project. I have a huge report that I need to get done by Tuesday. And it's suppose to be really important so I need to start cranking it out!
After work and since we had two hours to kill, we went out to another field to do another round of PT. We kick a soccer ball and threw a frisbee around. As simple as that sound, I actually got a bit of running in from errand throws and passes.
After PT, we dropped half of our team back at the church and the other half, which included me; we went to play soccer with Gulf 1. We played two games. The first one, we won easily, and the second one was a little harder. We were down majority of the game, but pulled out the win before the game ended. I enjoyed it a lot because I got some cardio in and I always have extra energy from sitting in an office chair for too long.
After the game, we dashed home because there was a soccer game on at 9:30 and we wanted to take a shower before watching the game. Kristina and I got to watch the US Women's Soccer team play Trinidad & Tobago. They won easily: 6-0.
Day 151 - Friday (11), I worked my report for majority of today at work. I finally finished gathering all info and started to compile my data into an excel sheet. The excel sheet is coming along nicely but there is just so much information and not enough time. Organization, color coding, neatness, patience, and sanity is definitely required. With luck, I should get it done by the end of Tuesday.
We went downtown for a little bit to kill time before we could head back to lodging. For dinner, went to have a pasta night with Gulf 3 and Gulf 1 at their housing. They have really nice housing - they're living in some student apartments next to a Lutheran Seminary College.
Day 152 - Saturday (12), Today, I lost track of time and slept in really late, but I woke up just in time to get dressed before Kristina's parents stopped by to visit. They are a really nice couple and really interesting to talk to! They also brought us a bunch of food!
After Kristina left with her parent, I took a little trip to Irmo, which is a town north of Columbia. In Irmo, there are quite a lot of stores. Almost everything you could think of or needed. We roamed around in the city for a little bit before heading back to Columbia to have dinner with Kristina and her parents. We went to a restaurant called Yesterday's and it was pretty good. Even after we were done eating, we spent a couple hour just chatting with her parents. There was definitely lots of laughter and smiles, funny and embarrassing stories of Kristina.
After dinner, a few of us took a drive around downtown Columbia. It was really nice to see downtown decorated in lights and ready to celebrate the holidays.
Day 153 - Sunday (13), This morning was a slow start. A few of us chilled around in the lounge area watching football until Kristina got back home. After she got home, it was go, go, go! We went grocery shopping first. I decided I wanted to cook this week, so I bought stuff to make chili. We bought so much of food, that we almost ran out of room to put it. Our refrigerator went from empty to full.
After unpacking groceries, I helped Kristina make dinner. She had fried chicken and fries for the boys, but for us, she wanted to make a rice/quiona dish with vegetables so I helped her with that. We both managed to not blow or burn anything and I would like to say that it was a very successful meal.
After dinner, we did a late night run to a laundromat to wash laundry. It took a couple hours and Kristina and I missed majority of the USWNT's soccer game vs. China, but we managed to watch the last 20 minutes of the game in which US pulled out a victory.
Atlanta, GA
The beautiful Augusta Canal
Locks on the railings of the Augusta Canal
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