First Few Weeks

Hello All!!

I arrived in Sacramento on October 6th, and it has been busy busy busy ever since! On October 6th, I checked in and went through "in-processing."

The campus is beautiful! The street entering into the campus is lined with my favorite: PALM TREES! We are on an old airforce base in North Highlands (right outside of Sacramento). There are only a couple dorm buildings and our main building. The main building is where we host a lot of trainings and is where our kitchens are located.

The dorms are really nice. I share a room with a girl, Maddy, from CO. She is really awesome and we share a bathroom with our suite mates. The rooms have beds, dressers, a closet, sink, and small fridge in them.

Right across from campus is a little strip mall and there is an oriental foods store and a Russian food market. Both make me very happy :). There are also a number of local restaurants... everything from Mexican to Vietnamese to Russian to American. It's great! Down the road are a few parks and churches. Right on base there is the Base Exchange (BX) and even a coffee shop.

We were issued uniforms on our first day and I have had to wear a uniform nearly everyday since. Our uniforms are AWESOME (note sarcasm). We get to wear some pretty nice cargo shorts or pants with t-shirts or polos tucked in with our AmeriCorps belt. The uniforms actually aren't that bad, I'm just not used to having to wear a uniform, but its ok. :)

Every day we all get up and have physical training nice and bright and early in the AM: 5:30!! and then we go to breakfast and shower/put on Ameri-tire/clean room (they do room inspections) and then go to meet with our teams. Then we train ALL day and finally finish trainings around 5/5:30. Some nights I help my team cook supper for 60 people, or else we help clean up after 60 people. Usually by 9:00/9:30, I'm exhausted and go to bed and then repeat everything again the next day.

My team is pretty awesome! I'm really enjoying getting to know all of them. We are all going camping on Tuesday at Camp Mendicino. It should be pretty fun, we get to have a camp fire and everything!

So far we have done a couple service projects. One day we helped out with the local art museum. We helped them put projects together for a kids camp that they run. We also helped them file papers and put together a mass mailing. At the end of the work day, they gave us a tour of the Crocker Art Museum. They had and Andy Warhol collection on display. It was A-MAZING! We also spent one day helping at a local animal sanctuary/ zoo. We helped them clean up the walk ways and level out an area to put out picnic tables. It took a lot of pick axing to get through the rough soil and rocks to level out the ground, but we did it! While we are at camp Mendicino, we are helping cut and clean up paths and paint the cabins. (It is a Boys and Girls club camp). It should be a great time. So far I'm enjoying our projects and I look forward to finding out where our first Spike project will be. (In AmeriCorps NCCC we do a series of four 'spike' projects or local projects. We travel to areas in the gulf coast and other areas in the Pacific region to work on community projects).

Sacramento is amazing. Last weekend I went to "Second Saturday." Art galleries in Downtown Sacramento stay open late and a few roads are shut down. There are local artists and musicians who come out to the street who set up tables and play music. It's really great. I had a LOT of fun at it last Saturday.

We are busy training 6 days a week, so my only day off is Sunday. It's a busy week, but it's a lot of fun. Although it is very tiring, I think I will learn a lot this year and I will have an amazing experience.

I will try to update this blog as often as possible and I'll try to send out individual emails and call when I get free moments. It is a bit of a challenge due to the minimal amount of time off and the time difference, but I'll do my best. Lately I've taken up writing letters. If any one is interested in writing to me, my mailing address is:

Cassie Holtz
AmeriCorps NCCC, Class XV, Green 7
3427 Laurel St.
McClellan CA, 95652

I promise I'll write back! :)