This is long over-due

The guy seating a seat over from me on Friday had on way too much cologne. It would have smelled good if it weren't so strong. He's rather extroverted, so my theory is that the amount of body spray someone uses is inversely proportional to their self-confidence, and that excess scent is supposed to increase self-image.

While I was stewing in a cloud of sandalwood(?), we learned about the rules and regulations that go along with working in Americorps. Yay... The fashion show at the end was entertaining, though. Team Leaders paraded around in uniform and we had to guess what was wrong.

See? I actually woke up before this.

 Our first project was Saturday (the 15th). We had to get up at the crack o' dawn (earlier, actually) to drive down to Washington Park. We were working with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado to build a running path around the perimeter of the park. My team was assigned to food duty, so we cut bagels from 7:30 to 8:00, after which we sat around being bored. After a bit, the supervisors sent us to deliver bagels and peanut butter (we ran out of cream cheese) to the people on parking duty. We were at loose ends for most of the day really. We spent some time on the trail but had to leave at 10 to get down to the North end in time to start setting up for lunch. It took us half an hour to get there, but the food still hadn't arrived and there was nothing for us to do. They told us it would arrive at about 11, so we could just hang around until then. I got bored so I went to help another group with their section of the trail. The food finally arrived at 12, but the taco meat was fully cooked so half the team took it to the kitchen in the nearby VOC office and microwaved it. The meat was in metal tray, of course, so they emptied the trays into plastic bowls, each of which held about half a tray, and microwaved it for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, the half of the team that stayed outside was being heckled. People were impatient waiting for the food to begin with, so they just got more and more irritated. After the meat was done everything went smoothly, but up until then it was rough.

Our team really bonded, so everyone was disappointed when we switched the next day. I'm especially disappointed that Lauren (not in picture) isn't on my team anymore. The guys took a picture us girls for posterity because we couldn't find a place to put the camera. Lauren was off helping on the trail because food service was over-staffed. (I think I look a bit silly in this picture, but that's because I'd forgotten my water bottle at the South end and had to run to catch up.)

Oh, and Francine like Clif Bars. A lot.