Week 1, AmeriCorps Training

My first week as an official AmeriCorps "volunteer" began last Monday, September 8th. The 16 of us met at headquarters (henceforth known as HQ, located in Center City) at 9AM sharp and embarked on a week-long journey of icebreakers, paperwork, powerpoint presentations and various team-building exercises. Basically, we are all part of the Philadelphia HealthCorps which is part of the National HealthCorps (along with sites in Pittsburgh, Chicago and North Florida). We will each serve our positions at different sites, though 6 have the same job helping with prescription assistance at various health centers. The rest of us are performing our service in other capacities at different non-profit health centers. If you're really interested in the details of this, I could explain it. I got to hear a lengthy lecture on the Philadelphia public health system and am learning more about it firsthand every day. The complexity and funding issues make you root for universal health care if you weren't already.

There was much talk of 'The Corporation', but it turns out this refers to The Corporation for National and Community Service, created by Clinton during his first term. The divisions of AmeriCorps and its other complexities make it very hard to explain, so we often describe it in comparison to the more familiar Peace Corps or Teach for America programs. We received an extensive handbook of policies and regulations, and many additional handouts on such topics as food stamps, service hours timeline, and pay periods (our favorite). We got a briefing on HIPAA, probably the 10th in my lifetime. We also got our tentative schedule for the year, so I now know which of my Saturdays are dedicated to service projects (11/22 is the first) and which Mondays we will learn self defense training (9/29).

I'm now in the midst of my first real week at my site. I will certainly describe it better later, all without violating any HIPAA rules. The time as well as the busyness of the days are taking their toll on me; I plan on going to bed around 11 tonight.

In my next post: an account of my first Phillies game, photos galore and pointers on not looking lost while wandering unfamiliar neighborhoods.

anticipation

Tomorrow is my first day of training at the Health Federation of Philadelphia's Headquarters (that's right, HQ) which begins at 9 A.M. sharp. I should be sleeping, but simply had to share some highlights of my first week here.

- I got Greta (my 10-year-old VW Jetta) back on Thursday after my 4th trip to IKEA. She is running well so far and we're all rooting for her to last a while longer. My room here is a little more set up, though my bed still isn't actually in the frame and my walls are bare. Oh right, and the total lack of a bookcase. Even though I brought very few (boxes of) books here, I still need one of those. And Greta had several treats in her trunk from one of my many attempts to move stuff, including my fondue pot, wine glasses and a box of 96 Crayola crayons. You know, the important stuff.
- I now live within 45 minutes of Elyse, so I attended her party in Wilmington Friday night. I had to take a long detour due to construction on I-76 but actually know my way around the suburban outskirts of the city pretty well by now, thanks to my adventures in between hotels the other week. That's right, I go out of the state to party. It's weird to be so close to so many other states: NJ, DE, MD, and a mere 80 miles from NYC.
- I attended the Red Bull Soapbox Race in my neighborhood on Saturday during the torrential downpour brought on by Tropical Storm Hannah. It was pure madness. Hopefully I can borrow some photos to properly illustrate the insanity of the event.
- Today marked the Eagles' season and home opener against the St. Louis Rams. This entailed me and my roommates (along with one of their boyfriends) sitting in the living room with two pizzas, 34 buffalo wings, 10 BBQ wings and a 2-liter of Pepsi. The Eagles won and the Phillies won their makeup game during the same time. Yes, Philadelphia is a sports town. Richmond is not. One of my roommates is a sports journalist, so I'm already learning players, records and other such trivia. Say what you will, but it's a fun way to spend Sunday afternoon.
- I've had some good phone converstions and e-mails with people recently but have very little to offer since I haven't started and have yet to get hopelessly lost in the city (yet). This will change. Call me. Or make my gmail inbox fuller.
- Cheese is really, really expensive here. The more gourmet, less mass-market ones are actually pretty comparable to what I'm used to paying, but Kraft, Sorrento and the other makers of low-quality shredded cheese products sell for quite a bit. If you come visit, please bring cheap cheese, Virginia wine (illegal to ship it directly up here and it's not in the wine & spirits stores) and assorted 6-packs of beer (you have to buy it by the case at beer distributors here; I long for beer runs at 11:45PM to Sheetz). I will in turn show you the wonders of Tastycakes, Amish produce, and cheesesteaks. Yum.

misadventures and time wasting

It's the little things that matter when you're several hundred miles from "home" (which in this case includes both New Kent and Harrisonburg, VA) and are spending your days and nights alone in hotel rooms while waiting for news of your car repairs. I got into this situation when I drove up to Philadelphia last Tuesday for one more attempt at apartment shopping. I had met with several people already but was still searching for the right combination of good location, affordable rent, and likeable roommates. I've been spoiled in the past by these qualities and kept up my high standards by visiting Philly 3 times in as many weeks to lock down a decent place for the next year. In retrospect of this experience, I certainly would have started earlier had I known my Americorps position at La Salle was a definite, but this wasn't confirmed until late in July. I've done what I can in the time allotted, but it definitely hurt my car.

Greta, my 10-year-old manual Volkswagen Jetta broke down on me last Tuesday afternoon around 4PM while in the left lane of I-95 around Chester, PA just a little bit outside of the city. Yep, left lane, rush hour, I-95, the whole shebang. I was sitting in stop-and-go traffic as it was, and when I put my left foot down on the clutch to start going again, it sank to the floor and stayed there. Much cursing ensued. After I made the requisite phone calls to AAA and the highway police, some nice construction workers from Georgia pushed me out of the road and onto the median.

After getting towed to a local car repair place, I got a rental car from Enterprise (a Dodge Charger, the only one left at the end of the day) and still made it to my roommate meeting appointments on time. I then made it to my hostel (which I had already booked), watched the Olympics and went to bed in my all-girls dorm. I went on a 5-hour walking tour with hostel people the next day, and effectively traversed all of Center City. I saw City Hall (and the naughty-at-certain-angles statue of William Penn), ran up the Rocky steps, viewed some Mural Arts Program visual treats and made friends with various Europeans, Kiwis, a South Korean and a Canadian. The guide referred to me as 'Virginia' and I had to answer tough questions about American politics, history and pop culture. The whole hostel experience reminded me of my travels in Europe, but with English as the lingua franca for once.

I eventually switched out cars, drove to Harrisonburg, Richmond, back to Harrisonburg, then up here on Saturday with my parents to move stuff into my chosen new apartment. I've been up in Philadelphia staying in hotels and at my friend's house ever since, as the news about my car keeps getting worse. Crack in the transmission, difficult repairs, etc. No matter what happens, I'll be up here for good by Monday, September 1st when my lease starts. My position (or Philadelphia Healthcorps training, really) begins September 8th, so I'll have a full week up here with nothing to do and my own place to stay. I plan on researching the best routes to work, as well as figuring out where to buy groceries and such.

So, back to the little things. Mainly, I just had a moment of zen the other day when purchasing my lunch at 3PM from Trader Joe's after making the decision to stay in a hotel. I was ravenous but having so many delicious options kept me sane. Also, I perused the wine & spirits store next door and settled on a 4-pack of Pinot Noir. And having so many lovely friends check in on me via the internet has been lovely as well. I'll attempt to write more background later on how I decided upon this route, but I'm going to follow my Dad's advice and read a book here instead.