Week 1 in review

The first week of training is in the books. Some quick thoughts:

• If anyone were to watch us doing our chants and rallies, they'd probably think we looked ridiculous. Still, I'm buying what the staff said when they talked about how these help to build the CY community. There's something really cool about call and response. "City Year, are you ready for some power lunges?" "CITY YEAR IS ALWAYS READY!"
• I haven't sat for so many Powerpoint presentations since college. Most of it is stuff that would be hard to get across any other way, like payroll and regulations. Still, it just makes me anticipate getting into the field that much more, which may be the point.
• I love my teammates, which makes it a bit sad that the teams are getting reshuffled for the second week. Hopefully I'll wind up with some Team Six vets on my permanent team.
• CY has successfully made me look forward to the day that I get my red jacket. After all the talk about how people on the street and on the subway react to it, I'm honestly curious what the general response is going to be.
• We had a team member quit CY before the first day was over. It was sad.
• God bless the one real perk of CY employment: free unlimited Metrocards. I can go anywhere.

Long weekend because of Labor Day, so look for the next update on or around Tuesday. I'll try and make Week in Review posts a regular occurrence. You know, for all my dedicated fans.

And now, to close out the first week, I will attempt to recreate how we end meetings. Whenever a meeting ends, all the participants gather around for a "hands in" circle. Whoever winds up on top of the pile picks a "strong word" or phrase to break on. For this example, I'll close this post with what we're told is the traditional Friday break phrase.

C-Y-N-Y! AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A NEW YORK PARTY, 'CAUSE A NEW YORK PARTY DON'T STOP! BOOM!

See you next week!