Our Uniforms :)

So I thought having Internet in my apartment would make it easier to blog and although it is as I sit in my bed in my pajamas on Saturday morning, it still seems like it’s been a while since I wrote. This is due to the fact that I have officially worked an over 54-hour work-week and that doesn’t even include the 2 hours of travel time that I have each day. Another reason is that I am just having way too much fun here! Any time we get off we either 1: sleep or 2: hang out together because we love each other so much! I have only been here a month, but I can’t imagine being ready to leave after 10…so we’ll see as I explore my passion to where this year leads me next!

Now to the interesting things…the past two weeks wrapped up our Basic Training Academy (BTA) meaning Monday we start full-time in our schools! CRAZY! Although I am really excited to get to know the students and teachers I will be working with and stop sitting in long training days, this also means that I will not see all the corps members each day, which is a bummer. I do think that we did use this valuable time together as a whole to get to know each other so it will be easy to make the extra effort to see each other.

These past two weeks we focused on earning our uniform, a tradition I greatly appreciate in City Year. In order to earn our uniform we have to earn it as a team to bond together and hold each other accountable. We had to memorize the CY vision, mission, and pledge, the Americorps pledge, act out a CY founding story (which we did on retreat), and come up with a team chant. Our chant was the most fun, but also produced the toughest times as a team. After changing our whole song, we ended up changing lyrics to “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus, “Single Ladies” by Beyonce, and “Beat it” by Michael Jackson, which was so funny along with our dance moves! This process seemed exhausting at times and pushed our team to storm a bit, which is very normal when you throw a bunch of leaders together!

On September 11, a national day of service, we had a school beautification day, which consisted of painting more than 50 murals, gardening, picking up trash, and just making the overall school a more inviting and happy place for the children! It was a really fun day ☺ I participated in a mural painting project that was on the corner on the street of silhouette people with a rainbow behind them. It turned out really well and covered up the old rusty wall that was there prior. Being on the street people stopped to ask us what we were doing and gave us their appreciation. During this project I was able to get to know other corps members that I hadn’t before, one of know which is becoming a good friend of mine, Graeme, and lives in my housing complex. The project turned out looking amazing and we had such a great day!

Sunday I had my furniture delivered….finally!!!! And spent all day building it. It was so nice to finally sleep in a bed and have sheets and drawers ☺ I now feel my apartment is more homey ☺

On Tuesday was our day to test for our uniform and we passed on the first try! We were so happy and felt accomplished as a team realizing that all our hours of practice were really worth it. It was also interesting to see how we worked under a timeline, pressure, and what everyone cared most about.

Okay so we earned our uniforms…now the fun part: trying them on! We had all measured ourselves at home for uniforms before we came, but it was quite the joke trying them all on. Needless to say they aren’t the most attractive things one could wear, but I was excited and we were sick of doing Physical Training (PT) in “business casual.” My pants fit me like parachute pants, Kai’s were floods (which made us laugh so hard we could barely stand up), and of course Meaza looked awesome! My fleece vest and quarter-zip sweatshirt swallowed me. After some trading around I found Cameron’s male pants to fit me much better and he ended up fitting better in female pants. Soon enough everyone got parts sorted straight or on backorder. We were starting to look more official! ☺



Yesterday (Friday) was Unity Rally in Judiciary Square and our Red Jacket Ceremony. Unity Rally consists of PT and a Daily Briefing (DB). Our PT yesterday was in a sunburst formation as opposed to the usual lines because of the circle where we did it and it was the most powerful yet! Everyone looked so good in uniform finally and the Spirit, Discipline, Purpose, and Pride were all very apparent (all the reasons why we do PT). I read the PITW (Putting Idealism to Work), a quote and/or explanation as to why and how to be idealistic. Then we broke off into pairs and I walked with Graeme to our Red Jacket Ceremony. Here we discussed what we wanted to let go of this year and what we wanted to put on along with whom we are dedicating our red jacket (City Year’s greatest external symbol) to. I expressed that I wanted to let go of my frustration and sometimes judgmental attitude towards people that are close-minded or judgmental due to their lack of experience or upbringing. It can be hard for me to be open to people that are not open to others, but I am doing my best to be more understanding to people who are less fortunate in getting a wide-range of experiences and meeting different people. I hope to put on this year a more positive attitude towards these people and to spread my idealism. I want to be patient and informative to make others moccasin (put oneself in another’s shoes) more often. This can be difficult, especially when many of us CY corps members only really know each other in DC and are used to be around a diverse group to then be around people who have been very sheltered, but I am going to do my best to change this. Lastly, I decided to dedicate my Red Jacket to my service organization at LMU, Marians. Marians taught me to be a strong, confident woman. I also found my love of service through this organization and these women of both the past and present. I know that I would not be where I am today without them and my aspiration to gain qualities of each and every one of them. And it is to the Marians that I have grown a deeper passion in life and to stand up for what I believe in regardless of others judgment.


CY FAMILY

After explaining this to Graeme he explained me his story and we arrived at the MLK library for our ceremony. We sat as teams and were called up as teams to briefly share our dedication. Our team was second to last and my anxiety grew throughout as I heard people share their dedications to people who passed away, family, causes they believed in, or just expressing their reason for service to be all of us serving. Many tears flowed that morning, but it was extremely powerful. I had been waiting to put on that jacket and worried through the wait-list process that I wouldn’t have a day where I would be able to do so. The second my jacket was handed to me on stage after some of my team had already spoken my hands shook and I tried to explain my dedication to the group, I felt weak yet empowered at the same time. What a diverse corps we had. We put on our red jackets and were given a sense of legitimacy and realization that we all served for each other and each other’s reasons. We now are a part of something much bigger than ourselves and wearing this jacket is a huge responsibility.
Me with Cameron and Kai (team mates)

Once we were dismissed for lunch and outside I realized I didn’t want to take my jacket off no matter how hot it was. I can’t express the feeling in words, but I felt so truly happy among many other things. The day closed watching “Stand and Deliver” to inspire us to serve in our schools and stay strong when things get tough.

Maureen (team mate) and Lianne

Last night we had a small group over to drink wine and bond. I really do love it here ☺

Me with Meaza (sounds like Plaza) and Paiyal



All my love…Sam (as it is embroidered on my Red Jacket)