Update

So, I have been here for less than two weeks, but I already feel at home. Everybody is super nice and friendly and it probably helps that the weather and the environment are almost exactly the same as the Puget Sound area (except, of course, for the porcupines). I do really, really miss the desert sun and warmth, but as we all know, the sun is currently out to get me with a vengeance, so it is just as well that I am up here hiding in the Arctic. On Monday I was officially initiated into Americorps. All of the Americorps members and everyone at SAGA and various community leaders went out to the Eagle Valley Center lodge and we held a ceremony and did a bunch of ropes courses. It was pretty fun!! It was cool to meet all of the other Americorps kids too. My job, so far, is pretty awesome. I have spent a lot of time out at the glacier networking with the US Forest Service, which is AWESOME because I always see cool animals out there and the glacier is just beautiful, especially since it has been snowing in the mountains for the past couple of days. We have this program called EELS, which stands for Energy Efficient Lifestyle Solutions, in which we visit the elderly and not fully able-bodied people and install curly light bulbs and aerators and weather strips and shower heads and whatnot in order to help them and the planet save on energy. That is pretty cool. Yesterday I went to represent SAGA at a Juneau Youth Coalition meeting put on by United Way and now I am on the board. It was originally founded by the mayor about ten years ago to prevent teen suicide, but it has transformed into a group to help youth in all sorts of different ways. I am pretty excited about this as I will get to work directly with the local youth as a mentor and community leader. I am working on about 6 projects at the same time right now, but my favorite is a calendar of events that I am developing for all the Juneau Americorps members. I am going to coordinate two days a month where we can all get together and do some community service, an activity, or a training of some kind so that we can all stay connected. I think it will end up being a lot of fun. This month we are going to clean up bus stops in order for us to all get free bus passes and at the end of the month we are going to smoke some salmon. I told everyone to dress up like their favorite salmon since it will be Halloween, we will see if anyone actually does it. I think I will dress up as a sockeye. Anywho, back to my various projects. Love and miss you all!