Two Weeks

Today marks two weeks since I arrived at Bear Brook State Park. In this time I have met my leaders and fellow members (except for two who have yet to arrive) and begun to make amazing friendships. For the first week we mainly did orientation talks and activities. This week we began learning about what our education season will look like. We will have two more weeks of education training before heading into the schools. We have had guest speakers, many activities, and hours of basic knowledge.

Tomorrow is MLK Day, where we will be doing various service projects throughout the community. At the end of the day we will learn who our teaching partners are. We will be put in groups of two or three people, and these will be our partners through April. As teams we will be assigned certain schools where we will teach lessons related to NH environment and wildlife. I'm very excited to find out who I will be working with; we are assigned partners instead of choosing them for ourselves. The past two weeks have also been observation for our leader so she can decide who to pair together.

The natural environment surrounding our cabins is as beautiful as anything I've ever seen. So far everything has constantly been blanketed in several inches of snow. We've had a few days were more snow has fallen but so far very little has melted. Today is the warmest day we've had so far, with temperatures near 40. While it will be a nice change from negatives at night (or sometimes during the day) I don't want to see the snow disappear. I'm sure that we will receive plenty more as winter continues. I'm hoping for at least one big blizzard.

As has become routine for our weekends, we spent the last two nights staying up well past midnight and sleeping in. So far the weekends are ours to do what we want. I tend to choose the path that keeps my inside to rest and prepare for the week ahead. However in this gorgeous environment it's hard to stay inside for too long. Last night sometime after 10 we got a small group together and took a short hike to one of the larger ponds near our camp. The new moon gives an amazing opportunity to have a very dark night. We walked to the middle of the snow dusted frozen pond, turned off our lights and watched the night sky. The stars were incredible and luckily I've adjusted to the cold enough to not be freezing even in the single digit temperature.

After a bit of a turn around in direction we made it back to our cabin. In our cabin there are eight people, each with a twin bed in the form of four bunk beds. We have a wood stove as our only heat and when properly managed throughout the night, it keeps us very warm. Although most of us don't naturally wake up in the middle of the night to put more wood on and therefore we have had the problem of waking up to a very cold cabin. As has become routine, when we returned just after midnight last night the four of us who were there stayed up til nearly 2 am talking and sharing stories. Every cabin will say that they have the best cabin, but I wouldn't want to change any of my cabin mates.

It's hard to believe that two weeks has already passed. 1/20th of our time has passed. 10 months still seems a long way off, but we've been warned that once the end nears we'll look back and wonder where the time went. I know this feeling all too well. For now I'm doing my best to stay in the moment, but it's hard not to wonder about all the things that tomorrow holds, and this week, and so on. I hope to keep up this blog regularly, although it depends on our internet capabilities. For now, I look forward to a relaxing afternoon inside, watching the rain fall.

Catching Up

Welcome 2015! It's been a while since my last post. I was home in TN for two months between jobs. I am so thankful to have been able to spend the holidays with friends and family. I had a lot of time to relax, catch up on reading, catch up on sleep, and eat amazing food. But as usual, I came home with one foot already out the door.

New Year's day me and my parents packed up the car and headed north. On the 4th I began my new job with SCA NH Corps; which will last through October of this year. Since arriving it has been basically non-stop. The night before coming here the area received apx. four inches of snow, which quickly became ice. So all our packing, moving, site tours, etc have been through the crunch and slush. This week is supposed to be the coldest yet for this winter.

Throughout the afternoon yesterday my fellow corps members arrived. I along with a group of apx 10 others decided to go on a hike to try to find a pond. Throughout the two hours of walking we were unable to find the pond but we had a good time getting to know each other. That night we had our first supper together and spent the night in the main lodge. That in and of itself was an adventure. 26 virtual strangers in one room with a wide variation of board games. It took a while to decide how late everyone should stay awake but we eventually found ourselves in a comfortable sleeping arrangement. Just before falling asleep our 27th member arrived and now there are only two more to come.

Today we had a tour of the lodge and all the mechanics of how the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room work. Then we took tours of the five cabins and decided among ourselves who would be in which cabin. Then we moved in and started our first fire in our wood stove. We have yet to decided on a cabin name but probably will tonight. Tomorrow is another day of orientation; more time outside in the increasingly cold weather. By Thursday the high temperature is supposed to be 6 degrees with a wind chill of -20. I'm not yet sure how I'll respond to this but hopefully I can adjust quickly.

For now that's all the news I have. I'm enjoying getting to know everyone here and settling into a rhythm. Our two more crew members should arrive this week or next week.