Done

We are finally done our work here!

I would say it is going to be hard to leave, but it’s remarkably simple to hop on a plane and get out of here without even thinking too much.

We actually got done a few days early which is good because it will give me some time to get home and get things all settled in my new bedroom before the folks show up for a visit.

Oh, what’s that?  You are confused why I said bedroom?  You must not have heard.

That’s right, my roommate’s moved me into an actual indoors bedroom while I was away.  That means I now have all the benefits of air conditioning and electricity within just a few short feet of a bathroom.  Fewer bugs, more lights, less heat and more outlets; this could only be good.

It’s going to be a big day folks; I will soon have my own bedroom inside the house.  This hasn’t happened since I was in college.

While we were here, we were given a lot of stuff.  I went to the post office to get some of it in the mail to alleviate/solve two problems.  First, I would have had to pay for more luggage on the airplane and second, I don’t want to have to lug all that stuff around the airport.  When you have three or four bags, that’s more luggage than hands and it usually doesn’t end up working out as well as it sounds.  I’m all about paying someone else to carry my bags across the country for me!

Uniforms

We have been going through a lot of uniforms here because of the weather and it turns out free laundry services make a world of difference. We have around 15 or so washing machines in the building and they are practically always running with someones clothes getting squeaky clean. If we didt have those washers and dryers available for us, I am fairly certain none of us would smell near as pleasant as we do right now.

On the packing list for this trip (yes, I realize we are adults and having a packing list may seem kind of belitteling), they recommended you bring four sets of PT gear to wear when you work out. What they DON’T tell you is that you will be burning through those four sets at a rate of two to three a day. Basically, we were having to constantly wash clothes to keep from having to rewear sweaty clothes. Almost all of us took a trip to the store and picke up three or more sets to keep from having to wash tiny loads of laundry each and every day; now we can go at least two or three days each.

We are nearing the final for the class which should be bittersweet. My team is awesome and has a lot of fun people that are all headed back to their respective homes when we finish up. Thankfully, almost all of them have Facebook or Twitter so we will be able to keep track of one another once our jobs take us our own separate ways once more. Thank goodness for tehnology; what did old people ised to do when they were little?!

Rollover

The rooms here are small and kind of nondescript. Basically, there are four closets and four beds (two sets of bunks) in a square room. It has been two of us in our room simply because we are a small group but another set of unrelated people showed up and needed a few more beds. All that to say we now have another roommate. While the rooms may have enough equipment in them to accommodate four people, they were for sure not designed to house that many. We had to move all our items we stored on the empty beds and find places for them. They now live shoved under and around the beds; not the most organized solution.

We have a guy in our group that loves movie quotes and attempts to apply them to real world scenarios. Hilarity typically ensures as we all realize how absurd it is and how bizarrely applicable those quotes can be. I think my appreciation comes from his ability to recall literally thousands of quotes from movies both old and new and then think quickly enough to recall them word for word. If I can remember what I had for breakfast by the time lunch rolls around, I consider it a successful morning.

Time is flying lately. I just hope I can remember these people once dinner rolls around.

Close

We have been having an absolute blast here! We have a small group which means we are able to really get to know everyone and spend all our time together (be that for better or for worse). Some of the other groups that we have heard about have had a lot more difficult time gelling and getting along and we think that is due to their size. Put too many people together and you quickly realize that not only do you not get to know everyone, you can’t play of people’s strengths and weaknesses as well as when you only have to deal with a few other people every day.

My roommate was telling me the weather was going to be a slight change from what I am used to back home and he was absolutely correct. It is a ton cooler here (home is in the 90s and 100s each day) but the humidity and weather is a vast departure from what I have come to know and love from home. Some thing they do have here that I have most certainly come to miss are tall trees and emerald green grass. I think the weather/lack of precipitation at home really hinders plant growth whereas there is more than enough water falling from the sky here to go around … even when you don’t want it. I think it is humorous how quickly home becomes the normal scenario by which you judge everything; I measure rainfall, temperature and landscaping by how different it is from home.

Things that make days awesome:
1. Great people: we all get along and everyone has a great sense of humor which means we all joke (perhaps a little too much at times) and kid one another while doing our job.
2. iPods: hooking music up to speakers so everyone can hear it and putting your iPod on random makes for TONS of laughs and lots is singing.
3. Sleep: catching it when and wherever you can makes for funny pictures for the rest of us.