Camp Hope: Day 1

Well we've arrived. It took two days of travelling, but we're here at Camp. It's a strange thing, we're around other Americorps teams now, teams with different rules. Our team leader has encouraged us to call anyone who gives us a hard time "Chad"; I mean, have you ever met a nice Chad? No way.

Our meals are fairly substantial, which is good because we work all day. Today was our first full one. We left at seven for orientation and arrived back on Camp around two. Our team leader had an orientation for an hour, then we all had another for an hour. Dinner, runs to the gym and Home Depot, and it's two hours to lights out.

The tough thing is the hurry up and wait mentality that we have to hold up to. There's a half hour break here, twenty minutes there, an hour... they hurt more than help. Today I finally was able to close my eyes ten minutes before it was time to go. I'll have to work out a different sleeping schedule. Flexible, flexible, flexible...

Last night I didn't sleep so well, it might have been the fourty other people breathing the same air. I had already freaked out a little. I've had to pack my life light before, but never have I not been able to spread that life out when I got where I was going. My belongings have to fit either on top of my bed or under half of the bed. That's because they're bunked. P.S. I'm on top. Maybe I couldn't sleep because I was afraid I was going to fall off :)

There was one really intense moment last night around lights out. The team leader from Denver's campus said he was going to hit them, and when he did there were maybe five cell phones lighting up the classroom full of bunks. Soon more flashed on, and not only cell phones, but head lamps and red-tinted flashlights. It was like being at a concert and that slow song starts playing. I decided to add my phone to the chorus for a while. Soon they all died out and it was just heaps of bodies breathing slow.

Goal for the night: Be the first head to hit a pillow. I'll be sure to write more soon.