here i am...an island in the sun

Well, as normal, it has been quite a while since I have even written. It may not seem long to all. For most people it has only been a month; you’re pry still at school, still in the same classes, or still at the same job, doing the same thing. Small things have maybe changed like casual romances, offices, furniture arrangements etc. Maybe some large things have changed; you have legally adopted two beautiful blonde children (like my parents), moved houses, or states. However, in NCCC life changes much more drastically in such a short time. Since my last post I have pretty much survived an entire round in North Bend, Washington working with Mountains to Sound. It was not nearly as cold and as rainy as we had anticipated but we still wore 6 layers almost everyday (including our rain gear). We finally made it out of ‘restoration’ (which means weeding) and onto trail work. We nicknamed our WCC crews and watched a few trees fall. We survived mud fights, snowball fights, a blizzard and finally chained up during a ridiculous west coast snow storm and headed back to Sacramento. I wish, as always, I had been more diligent to you and penned you the awesome things as they happened. But I did not.




After Washington Gold 6 spent a week and two weekends in Sacramento. For the first weekend, I decided to head down to Los Angeles to see none other than Sophie Putka…however this plan turned into the worst weekend EVER. In three days I drove from Seattle to Los Angeles (a lot). The first night in LA I just hung out with Sophie and had a great time, the next day she went to run some errands and I stayed home…starting to feel kinda weird. We tried to do dinner at the cheesecake factory where I vomited in the bathroom…twice. I made Sophie drive me back to the dorms (puking in a triscuits box on the way) where we paralled into a spot and my key got stuck in the ignition. Apparently the Cobalt has a recall issue in the steering column and gear shift and it locks the key in the ignition…with the car on. We had to get my car towed late Saturday and I had to leave it in LA over the week. I had to take a greyhound back to Sacramento on Sunday, still sick. I then spent the week transitioning only to have to take a greyhound BACK to Los Angeles on the next Saturday and then drive back to Sacramento. I was unable to really spend any time with TLs and spent about $300 I didn’t have. However, the car repair was free! Yay!



This leads me to where I am presently. My Unit Leader gifted Gold 6 with a project comparable to Hawaii. Out my tent flaps is the Pacific Ocean, next to me tent are some ‘mountains’ potentially some meandering bison, a ton of squirrels and a lot of pretty birds. I’m on an island 22 miles from Long Beach; for anyone in PacReg you know I’m on Catalina Island. We got here last Wednesday and have enjoyed almost a full week here in the SoCal Island weather. Most everyone survived their base layer of sunburn and no one has died of dehydration (but I REALLY need to stop drinking soda and drink MORE water). No one has been gored by bison, bitten by a rattlesnake (which there is ACTUALLY no working antivenom for this breed EEEK) or fallen into the ocean. The sunsets and sunrises are to die for and everyday I can’t help but look around and marvel at the idea that I’m actually here. What a gift this project is!



We’re doing environmental work again (tough for my motivation) but the staff and islanders are absolutely amazing. Town is hysterical because everyone drives around in golf carts and knows everyone. On the weekends we stay at a teen center/church and help serve breakfast on Sundays. While my faith has lapsed, and depending on whom you ask is somewhat questionable, I definitely feel more at home here with Dan and his wife Kris in the basement of a teen center than in a lot of places I’ve been recently. Also there is an industrial kitchen…WIN!



Camp isn’t really camping. There are two canvas sided tents, propane powered grill, fridge and burners. There is running water and an OUTDOOR SHOWER! Yay! It’s really beautiful here.



The team is great too. Kyle and I play scrabble at least once a week; Krista, Stephanie and I usually work together; Ron, Billy, Jenna and Matt are usually found at the horseshoes; Lauren is pranking anyone she can and her singing/giggling can be heard everywhere; Katie is training for a marathon and Brittany remains as relaxed and complacent as usual (often the brunt of Laurens pranks haha). Transition is definitely a reminder of how lucky I am to be the team leader of this group of people. I am one of a handful of TLs who haven’t lost or gained anyone. CMs are dropping like flies…and TLs seem to be disappearing too. I have five more months left of my NCCC career and I’m glad two of those are here.



I am pretty anxious to get home though. On Thursday of last week my whole family headed to court to FINALLY legally adopt Travis and Tori. For just shy of a year now, my life has been blessed by this pair. They were placed in our home as foster kids last march; when I went home in the spring I completely fell in love and bonded with Travis. Although I’ve really only physically been in their lives for less then two months my family does such a fabulous job of keeping us in touch. And thanks to one of my CMs I’ve recently been able to SKYPE them. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it is to get on the computer and see their little faces. We sing, and make funny faces and count down the days till I come home. He and his lack of time-awareness things it’s soon; I know the truth…which is absolutely heart wrenching most days. I love it here but I’m ready to be home with my family.