The Calm After the Storm

Last week was crazy busy with prep for our first service day, which just so happened to be the same day as City Year's Opening Day. Even though everything was really hectic, the day went pretty smooth. This week has not and will not be nearly as hectic as last week.

I apologize in advance for the text heavy post.

Monday: A few of us went over to the service site for our next event, cyServes, which is happening on October 25th. We met with the principal of the school and discussed some ideas for projects. It was nice to see the space with so much time before the service event. We spent the rest of the day planning more ideas for the event since we have to find placement for about 200 people in a small K-8 school that only has about 300 students total. (Even though it is small, it needs a lot of work....)
At 1PM, the CE team met to debrief the service event from Friday. We spent a lot of time talking about communication and how we felt it needed to be improved between the different levels (PM to Project Leaders to Corps Members). There were a lot of things that happened that could've been avoided if everyone communicated a bit better. (For example, an unnecessary trip to storage could have been avoided if a few people would have communicated with one another....) Anyway, we discussed the issues, laid them on the table, and hope that these issues will be fixed for the next event.

Tuesday: I spent my morning at storage with one of the Project Leaders (PLs). We had to return everything from the service project on Friday, as well as some random extra items we had in the office, pick up a ladder from the school we were at, and grab a few things for touch-ups at another school. Now, if we had remembered everything and were told everything we needed all at once, we would've been out of storage very quickly. However, most things do not go as planned on our team. We forgot to pick up the ladder from the school before heading to storage. We realized this after we unloaded everything into the unit. Good thing I was there to remind my PL.
We headed to the school, grabbed the ladder, checked in with the librarian to make sure she liked the projects we completed, and then went back to storage to drop off the ladder. All was fine at that point.
We left storage and received a text message from another PL as we were on our way back to the office to bring a few things back with us. We decided to turn around and grab those items.
When everything was said and done, it was about 11:30AM. We unloaded at the office and then headed to lunch.
After lunch, I worked on the project list with my teammate, designing a few murals. That was pretty much how we spent our day.

Wednesday: We were originally told that we were going to end our day at a middle school in the Northeast. We were going to be touching up a few things and helping the service team at the school with a few projects. Sadly, the plans fell through meaning we were going to be spending the entire day in the office. Not exciting.
My service partner and I spent the morning working on the project list for cyServes. Again, we were designing the different murals. This took up pretty much the entire morning.
The afternoon pretty much involved myself and my service partner chatting about more service ideas, taking a walk around the block to just get of the office and think, and working on a few more mural ideas. It was a long, pretty boring day, but at least we were productive.

Thursday: We started our morning doing Unity Rally. I would've been excited about this except it was raining... a lot. I had on my all-weather, which kept most of me dry, but sadly my hands were cold. We did a few exercises, but they were all simple and did not involve too much movement since the PT Crew did not want anyone to slip and fall (with my luck, I would've fallen and gotten hurt).
After Unity Rally, we headed to separate locations with our Journey Teams (IJs), the teams we started with during Basic Training Academy. It was so great to see everyone.
We spent our IJ session 'speed dating' to catch up on what was happening with everyone and then discussing our personality types from the Myers-Briggs personality test. Unsurprisingly, I am an ISFJ (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging). Here's the condensed version of what the test says about my personality:
ISFJs direct their energy inward. They are energized by spending time alone. They are private and deliberate. ISFJs usually have a small circle of close friends. As Sensors, ISFJs process information through their senses. They are concrete, realistic, practical and live in the moment. ISFJs give attention to details. ISFJs are Feelers and make decisions with their heart. They are gentle and empathetic. They are warm and caring. ISFJs strongly dislike conflict. ISFJs are organized and plan ahead. Their lives are scheduled and structured. ISFJs are responsible when it comes to finishing tasks. They get satisfaction from closure.  "The Defenders" are agreeable and kind. They are deeply caring and conscientious. They are excellent helpmates and need appreciation from those closest to them. Their greatest contribution is their ability to identify the needs of others and meeting them selflessly.
Anyone who knows me knows that most of this is true. It was really cool to be able to put my personality into such clear words. I've taken this test before and have always been ISFJ, but I never really thought about it until today. It was also great to see who had the same personality type as me and what other personality types were in the room. Maybe my service team will take this test and discuss the results. It's always really cool to know these things about the people you are working so closely with.
Also, in case anyone wants to know what their personality is, here's an assessment: http://www.personalitymax.com/free-personality-test
It's free and simple, so why not check it out? (And it only takes about 10 minutes to complete!)
After the IJ session, I had to travel back to the office. There were not any other sessions that applied to the CE team so we just had to work on our tasks that needed to be completed by Friday.
When we got to the office, we were assigned new seats. Before, we were a bit scattered. Two PLs sat on one side of the room and the rest of us sat on the other side. Our PM decided we needed to be more cohesive and put myself and my service partner in between the two lonely PLs and then shifted the rest of the team down two seats. It was a bit of an adjustment, but I think it will be okay.
We had a meeting around 1:15PM about a luncheon that we are attending on Monday.
It's a Women's Leadership Luncheon with a few guest speakers. It is a way for City Year Philadelphia to earn more money. (We have to fundraise a good amount of money each year and this happens through events like this.)
Our job will be to greet the guests for an hour, watch the speakers while eating lunch, and then mingle for a half hour. I'm excited for this opportunity to meet influential women in the area. (And it will also get us out of the office for a good chunk of the day!)
I spent the rest of the day searching for inspirational quotes to add to the walls of the school we will be working in for cyServes.

Friday: I really wasn't feeling well when I woke up on Friday morning so I decided to call out of work. It was the first time I had taken off and took the day to sleep. Hopefully I didn't miss too much...

Just a note, if anyone who reads this is between the ages of 17 and 24 and is interested in applying for City Year, we are accepting applications for next year. Check out CityYear.com for more information! =D
Also, if you are in the Philadelphia area and are interested in volunteering for the cyServes event on October 25th, sign up here: Fall Service Event
Have an amazing weekend!
Cheers,
Allee