Service begins/Week 2 in review

We finished the second week pretty strong. The highlight of Thursday was learning about service days - days when we go outside the schools and work on a day-long project. Often, these service days are done in partnership with various companies who have paid for the privilege of spending the day with us. On these days, corps members become Project Coordinators, leading a team of corporate volunteers in various tasks.

Thursday's longest session was dedicated to this. We first got a briefing as a big group, then rotated through three stations, teaching us how to lead the group, how to perform basic construction techniques, and how to run a painting station. This part made me a bit nervous; anyone who knows me knows that I am far too clumsy to be trusted with a pushpin, let alone a circular saw. I expect to lose at least one limb through the course of this year. Or at least spill paint all over my pants.

Friday was our first day of real service, in honor of the 9/11 national day of service. We had originally scheduled to paint a shed at a boat-building organization called Rocking the Boat, but rainy weather put the kibosh on that. Instead, we headed to World Visions, a worldwide relief organization that, among other things, puts together care packages for needy children. Our team spent the day in their warehouse, sorting goods, assembling packages, and doing some heavy lifting while we were at it. My muscles are positively bulging now. Along the way, we got to know members of other teams, and meet some local high school students that were joining us for the day. They were all rather quiet, but I hope they keep this up. Whenever people ask me why I joined City Year, I tend to point back to my high school's community service program as a beginning.

Week 3 is about to begin. Lots of ambiguously titles training sessions, but the highlight should be finding out who is on our permanent teams. Updates to follow.

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!