new adventures

After a pleasant trip home, it was time to get back to work.  And this time, I had a real job.  I was to begin AmeriCorps training the day after I got back from GA.  Training took place in Elkins, WV.  Nobody really knows where that is, but they host the biggest festival in the state - the Mountain State Forest Festival, which has been attended by 3 or 4 US Prezeseses.  So it's kind of a big deal.  I rode with Cynthia and we had made plans to stay with a new AmeriCorps member and her boyfriend who was a new VISTA member.  Lovely lovely people.  We had lots of fun with those two.  Big fans.  Anyways, I didn't really have any idea what training would be like.  It turns out "training" is another word for "paperwork."  Is it just me, or when filling out tax forms do you hyperventilate and never know which number to put?  "Do I list myself as 0 or 1?  What if my parents put me down as a dependent but I list myself as independent?  What if the IRS comes knocking on my door and I don't have the money to pay them and they take my dog away because I'm a bad citizen?  What if I go to jail for tax fraud?!  I can't go to jail!  I won't make it!  I won't be someone's bitch!  I should start collecting cigarettes now to pay for things in The Big House."  This runs through my head EVERY TIME I fill out any kind of tax form.  It's horrifying.  I'm surprised I don't have any gray hairs. 

Anyways, there was lots of paperwork and not much "training" per se.  But the big group of us (23 I think) got along pretty well.  Every night after training, there was at least a small group of us hanging out.  Thursday we went to Canaan Valley, which is a pretty popular skiing destination.  We had planned on camping that night.  What we hadn't planned on was rain.  and cold.  and cold rain.  Some people (the wussies) backed out and went home.  But there was still about 12 of us that roughed it and camped.  It reached about 35 degrees that night.  But we definitely had a good time and I think it was totally worth it.  Campfire stories are legendary. 

At this point, I hadn't seen the Tent City boys in about two weeks.  Surprisingly, I was not going through withdrawals, but I figured they were because, I mean come on, I'm freaking awesome and people can't handle not hanging out with me.  Anyways, I head over to Tent City only to find that no one was there.  They've moved on.  Sigh.  And so it goes.  Well, screw that - I'm moving to America's Coolest Small Town.  I don't need creepy, smelly, hippie boys.  I'm gonna have clean, smart, respectable School of Osteopathic Medicine boys. Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you - there's a med school in town.  Quality dudes that don't smell like roadkill or don't crap in an outhouse.  "Movin' on up, to the east side.  To a deluxe apartment in the sky." 

But alas,  I love those boys, so I returned the next day to find them pressing apples.  Again.  And they roped me into helping.  Again.  But I got some awesome cider out of it.  Again.  So I aint complaining. 

Then it was time to start the new job. 
My position with AmeriCorps is split in between two sites: North House Museum and the City of Lewisburg.  I'll be half time with each site, which prolly means I'll be 3/4 time with each site, which prolly means I'm gona be busy as hell.  I am perfectly fine with that!  Each week I spend 3 days at one site and 2 at the other.  My first week, I was at the North House for three days.  My job there will be to catalog their collections.  But my boss, the director of the museum, wants to wait for a professional to come in and show the two of us exactly what to do.  Until that happens, I've been given odd jobs: researching food from 1820s, finding fake food on the internet, researching values of stamps, posting books on ebay.  My second day on the job, the Mayor calls me.  He's my other boss, sort of.  He calls to inform me that I'll be attending a monument maintenance workshop in Charleston, the state capital.  Everything is paid for and I'll be riding with two people from the Historic Landmarks Commission.  Two days on the job and I'm already being sent away.  HOLLER!  So I finish my three days at the museum and I start my day at the City.  I have an office.  Not only do I have an office, I have an office with a view.  WHAT!  Awesome.  Check my last posting (Norwegia) for the picture.  So I come in and meet a lady from the HLC and she gives me a giant notebook full of properties located within the Historic District.  She tells me, to sum it up, to organize it.  And that's about it.  One of my favorite things as an employee: vague directions.  Not.
But I didn't care because I was going to Charleston the next day.  My work day on Friday was 730 AM to midnight.  And I learned about how to clean stone and metal on monuments.  And I got some free food.  And that's about it.  Worth it?  Heck yeah!  Because I wasn't sitting behind a desk, staring at a computer screen for 6 hours, like I've been doing for the past two days. 

Well that's enough for today.  Tune in next time to hear about the Roadkill Cookoff and my very first 5k!

We camped next to the river.  It was so cold!  but so wonderful!