Rond 1 Spike

Friday, we received our permanent teams and round 1 Spike assignments.  As my unit gathered to find out who our teammates would be, I was getting more and more nervous.  Once the unit was together, our unit leader and two assistants called us out one by one to receive a clue as to who else was on our team and who our team leader was.  Each slip of paper given had song lyrics typed out, and we had to figure out the other Corps Members that completed our song.  I was one of the last people to find their group because I had the most obscure Spice Girl lyric and no one thought I was a part of their group.  When I finally found my group, we had to unscramble the bold letters within our lyrics to reveal the location of our Team Leader.

My permanent team consists of myself and 9 other Corps Members, 5 guys and 5 girls.  We are all over 21 except for 3 members.  David and I are the only team members from the South.  He is fresh out of high school from Atlanta, Georgia.  Most everyone else is from the North with the exception of Louise, who is from Hawaii.  My team leader is Kiera.  She is my age and a recent college grad.  She is one of the few team leaders that was not a corp member last year.  Overall we have a fun group of people.  Everyone is pretty outgoing, and those who aren't are trying to be, so it will be fun getting to know everyone.  Prior to permanent teams, I had only hung out with 2 of the guys outside of training, so I have a lot of catching up to do getting to know everyone else better.  Luckily, there will be plenty of time for that on Spike.

We leave next Saturday for our first round Spike.  It's crazy that training is almost over, and we are actually getting to go out and start a project.  My team, as well as two teams from the Water Unit, will be traveling to Arkansas until Christmas break.  My team is going to Little Rock, Arkansas, population  685,488 including the surrounding metropolitan cities.  While we are there, we will be volunteering through Arkansas Children's Hospital, the only pediatric care facility in the state, and one of ten in the country.  Kiera could not tell us exactly what we would be doing, but we will be working two out of three shifts Monday through Friday.  The hospital will be providing us with one meal per day, but as a team we will be responsible for the rest of our meals.  We have a great living accommodation provided to us directly across the street from the hospital.  We will have three apartments, one for the guys, one for the girls, and one for our team leader.  The apartments are fully furnished and the complex also has a gym, which will be great since our PT has to be done in the mornings twice a week as a unit.

I am very excited about this opportunity.  I have never volunteered in a children's hospital.  Now I know what you are thinking, Mary doesn't even like kids, but I am trying to be open minded.  Who knows, I might have a change of heart just from this experience.  I will be posting my mailing address for the apartments in my next blog, so feel free to mail me Thanksgiving cards, letters, or coupons (we are living on a $4.50 per day food budget and could use any help with those items)!