Camp Mendocino

So, yeah...Gold 2!
It was obvious the first couple days as a team that everyone had some reservations, and perhaps was holding on to their pod love (at least I was) but then we went to camp, and life is much different, and we are much closer! Training has been mediocre, I find myself struggling to stay awake, even when it is interesting. It might have to do with the 5:30 PT, but it could also have to do with the subject matter...hard to say. So Mendocino was a nice break from the norm. The van ride up was alright, but it was quite squishy, and the roads were quite windy; 4 hours later I was not feeling very well when we arrived. But the we had a tour of the camp and had some free time outside in the redwood forest, and things got much better. We were spending time as a team when Alex and I heard howling (Alex was previously on my pod), and we thought someone had stolen our howl...but low and behold there were fellow pod 18ers looking for us, we will never be separated. After dinner we played the "Newly Team Game" and turns out we were able to guess a little bit about eachother because we tied for first (we were split up into 2 groups and had to guess the same person for a question like "who is the most likely to dutch oven themselves in their coveralls?"...yes, that was really a question, and no, I was not chosen). That night we had a campfire and sang songs and all kinds of cheery camping stuff, and went to bed around 10 (more and more like you, Dad, every day). To get to sleep I put on long underwear, sweatpants, wool socks, a thermal longsleeve, a sweatshirt, and I think my vest, crawled into my sleeping bag and pulled my extra blanket over my head, and proceeded to get the best sleep ever, until of course I got up at 5 for PT, and found it very difficult to get out of my sleeping bag. Fortunately we warmed up to the cupid shuffle, and they played lots of music during it, so I was actually sweating and shed a few layers (I was not ready to shower though). After breakfast we had some service learning, but then had more free time to wander around the redwood forest. It is a very big and wonderful place. We then had to form a giant blind caterpillar to build trust (it was complicated, just know that I did not die) and then split into teams and began our day of outdoor training. We had to work out this number game, and then a balance game, which weren't incredibly difficult, it just required some strategy, and our team initially struggled with the compromising and talking it out, but our facilitator offered us some strategic clues on how to compromise, and everything seemed to work much smoother after that (although not without some kinks here and there). Once we learned more about each other through that, we proceeded to the fun stuff...the climbing wall, the high ropes course, and the zip line that took you through the forest and over the river (or should I say over the river and through the woods, I did hear Christmas music at the store today). After dinner we played zoo and zumey and some other sort of camp games, and then there was another camp fire, and more singing, and also a bed time story. A group of us huddled under a hollowed out redwood and listened to someone with a superb story telling voice read "The Wump World." I happily went to bed to be rudely awakened by my duck clock at 5 again. Although on Saturday, PT was a hoot! It was Halloween PT with zombie push-ups and franken-sit-ups, and vampire jumps (really just some regular PT with wicked names). We finally did some service this morning (we thought we were going to the camp to help fix it up for the winter, when in fact we only did 3 hours of work), and then spent a lot of time doing "unorganized team bonding." Just think about how your tax dollars are paying for me to play in the woods with my team...Thank You! That evening there was a gold unit bon fire where each team had to perform a skit, everyone's was really good, so I was nervous to go, but fortunately we got a few laughs. After the fire we participated in "trick For treat" where we went around to stations solving riddles or puzzles or playing games. One game we had screaming contests, and another one involved making halloween noises on a bridge. I know I was placed on the right team because one activity was to spell out a word with your bodies, and Gold 2 spelled out "POOP."
Mendocino was pretty much over for us after that, we had some really great pancakes for breakfast and then headed back to Sacramento. Here is a lovely little story though:
I really hate driving...do not enjoy it at all, but I obtained my driving record in case I wanted to drive at all. I did not, but only two other people on my team are able to drive so far, and the requirement is 4 (since you have to switch drivers every 2 hours). So I was forced to take the driving test, and forced to drive the 15 passenger bus for 2 hours on our way back from Mendocino. I suppose it wasn't that bad, but still, I was not pleased.
But to end on a happy note, we had today off, and the last two dinners we ate as a team, I spent a good majority of the time laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee!