Week One--almost completed!

Hey everyone! So I decided to have a blog for this year, mostly because I am lazy and didn't want to write a thousand different emails to people. This will save me some time and energy, and I'll be able to easily include photos. Woo! So anyway, I have been here for almost a week and things are going really well. I am living in the town of Wellfleet, which is in the northern part of Cape Cod, aka the "Outer Cape". I have 13 housemates and the house we are living in is actually owned by Cape Cod National Seashore but is rented to the AmeriCorps Cape Cod program. There are also 14 people from my program living in another house, which is located in the town of Bourne, which is pretty much on the opposite side of the Cape. This week I found out that because of money from Obama's stimulus bill, they have been able to create a new program called Recovery Cape Cod. There are six members in that program and they will be working with a housing nonprofit to address homelessness and poverty issues on the Cape. I don't think I will have a lot of interaction with those members but it's exciting to see what they will do this year.

So far this week we have had some introductory training sessions and ample free time. We had First Aid/CPR training, a day learning about the Cape and the AmeriCorps program, and filled out lots of exciting paperwork. As a basic overview, the four main areas of focus of the program are:
1. Natural Resource Management
2. Disaster Preparedness and Response
3. Environmental Education
4. Volunteer Engagement

My time this year will be spent in three main ways: doing group projects two days a week, working at an individual placement two days, and Community Outreach and Education day (COD day) one day a week. COD day is a chance for us to organize large community events or provide environmental education to the public. Yesterday we recieved a packet of info on the different Individual Placements (IPs) and we are supposed to rank them and let the IP coordinator know our top choices. So in a few weeks I should know what my IP will be for the year.

Now on to the fun stuff! I am loving living in such a beautiful place! I especially love that our house is in the middle of the woods. I have gone running or biking every morning and it is absolutely gorgeous. The other day while running I saw a group of about six wild turkeys on the side of the road munching on breakfast! This was my first time seeing wild turkeys and they are quite cool, I must admit. Although I have heard horror stories about turkeys scratching up people's cars. Yikes. I have gone to three or four beaches already, all of which are beautiful with large dunes and beach grass spotting the horizon. Today a few of us went to a beach where we saw a huge group of seals. I also spotted some Piping Plovers, which are undoubtedly the cutest little birds ever created. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures but I'll work on that for the future.

The transition to life here has been surprisingly easy and I really enjoy everyone I am living with. It's nice because just the fact that we all chose this program gives us a lot in common to begin with, and I have found that we all get along great. Most people are really laid back and relaxed and everyone is up for games and movies (charades has gotten pretty wild...). There are three other vegetarians in the house (hooray!) so there is zero awkwardness when it comes to meals. That is a huge relief for me. Last night we all went to a local restaurant called Moby Dick's, where I had some delicious clam chouder and crab cakes (I decided I should experience seafood while out here). The place was BYOB, which I didn't know even existed! It was pretty enjoyable. I think tonight we are going to a drive-in movie theatre, although who knows since it is raining pretty heavily right now.

Next week we have ecology & aquaculture training on monday and then a retreat tuesday-friday. That should be fun! I'll have an update on that next week. Oh! I almost forgot to talk about yesterday. We had our first group project yesterday and my house drove up to Provincetown (aka P-town) to work at the site of a future community garden. Our task for the day was to build three wooden compost bins. The plans that our community partner gave us were a little unclear, but luckily one of my housemates knows a lot about construction so he helped to focus the plans and make them more defined. It ended up being a really fun project and I learned how to use some power tools (fun fun). We all worked well together and managed to avoid getting any poison ivy on us. Afterwards we came home and watched a documentary called "102 Minutes That Changed America" which is about 9/11. The movie is a compilation of home videos that New Yorkers took that day, and it was incredibly powerful. It was difficult to watch video from that day but I think that all of us needed a reminder of what people went through and sacrificed. It is sad to admit, but I sometimes I forget about 9/11 when the anniversary comes around, and it is undoubtedly an event that should never be forgotten about in this country.

Well, I think I have covered most everything. This was really long but I had a lot to share! So hopefully this didn't put anyone to sleep (haha). I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the lovely fall weather. My mailing address is located on the left of this page if you want to send me anything (hint, hint). Talk to you all soon. :)
-Margaret