Welcome, Krupa!

50: The number of hours of comp time I have built up.

Our new VISTA has arrived! Her name is Krupa. She's really nice and she seems to like it here so far.

I remember my first day at Shared Harvest. I was pretty nervous about starting my AmeriCorps year and had no idea what to expect. I remember hearing everyone in the office casually throwing out acronyms to programs I didn't even know existed. I'm glad Kaitlyn was there to show me the ropes and help me out with everything. Hopefully I can do the same for Krupa. The first few days at any job can be incredibly overwhelming.

I think next week we're going to start on site recruitment in Greene and rural Montgomery. I wanted to give her a few days to settle in before we get started on a big project!

In other news, I still have 17 days of comp, personal and sick time to take before my term ends August 20. I am therefore taking a much-needed week-long vacay in July.

Kaitlyn's Last Day

1: The number of VISTAs at the Shared Harvest Foodbank.

Friday was Kaitlyn's last day as an AmeriCorps VISTA member, which makes today my first day going solo at Shared Harvest. Tina treated everyone to a great lunch at A Taste of Julia's, and Martha brought in a cake from Jungle Jim's. It was a really nice day. Kaitlyn got to talk about all of the high and low points of our many many projects, which I think was a great way to wrap up her year.



I'm going to miss having Kaitlyn around! I might be a little lonely until our new VISTA comes in.

On the plus side, I may be switching over to this side of the table. I don't think it squeaks as much, and it has a window! Hello, outside world!

Wild About Americorps

More than 500: The number of animals at the Cincinnati Zoo.

This post is going to consist of several photos of our trip to the zoo! Please enjoy.

By the way, I tend to speak several octaves higher than my regular voice when I see cute animals. Let's just say be thankful that this is not a video blog.

Sand cat! So preshy-presh. The cat house is one of my favorite things at the zoo.

There happened to be a bunny in this exhibit, and my friend Amanda was pretty excited about it. I was like, "You do realize we're standing mere feet away from a giraffe, right?"

This is Amanda, one of my closest friends from high school! She is being a wilderness explorer.

White tiger. I've always found them really pretty.

Tigers! Kyle and I went to the zoo last summer to see the baby tigers. These are the very same kittens; they already look fully grown.

Amanda, with Jomo the Gorilla in the background. The gorilla exhibit is another one of my favorite things at the zoo. If you go during their feeding time, they come out and you can get some great shots.

See? This is Jomo, the silverback gorilla. I've taken a ton of pictures of him this summer. I feel like we've become good buddies.

Bonobo! Seen in the Jungle Trails. He's chillaxin'.

A crazy bird whose name I do not remember. But he's taking a sip of water.

White lion waking up from a nice long nap. He's all tuckered out.

We all had a fantastic time at the zoo, as you can probably tell. I hope everyone enjoyed my pictures. Comments are much appreciated!

By the way, my car wouldn't start when we were trying to leave. I'd like to take this moment to send a shout out to my dad, who came to our rescue and jump started my car for me. Thank you, Dad!

Ups and Downs

85: The temperature outside right now (+humidity).

Tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for. It may very well be the most important day that I will have experienced in my year as an Americorps VISTA member. It is a day that forces us out of our cozy offices and into a whole new wide world of adventure.

Yes... We are so going to the Cincinnati Zoo.

I am going to take an insane number of pictures while I'm there in order to create a fun, glorious, colorful blog post later. Our VISTA leader, Martha, said we were welcome to invite friends and family to come along, so one of my very closest friends, Amanda, will be joining me.

I'm really excited to just take a relaxing day with my fellow VISTAs and reflect on everything we've accomplished so far (while looking at gorillas and elephants). Thank you again, Martha!

On the other side of the spectrum, I'm feeling really bummed about Kaitlyn's term ending on Friday. It's just not going to be the same. But our new VISTA is going to be taking her place next week, and I'm excited to meet her and show her the ropes at Shared Harvest. Kaitlyn and I have pretty much finished our binder. We started from scratch when we began our VISTA terms. I definitely didn't have a clue what the Ohio Benefit Bank was until I was a week or two into my year of service. Oh, the things you can learn in a single year.

A Year in Review

1: The number of weeks until Kaitlyn's last day :(

A couple of days ago, Kaitlyn and I went to a fellow VISTA's presentation about her year with AmeriCorps. It was called "A Year in Review," and was put on by Jessica Reading, who is the VISTA at Miami Hamilton's campus. It was a really impressive presentation, and it made the binder we're putting together seem kind of lame. Not very lame, though. Just kind of.

We did have the opportunity to talk to Jessica after her presentation for a while, and VISTAs are never wasteful of golden photo opportunities.

Kaitlyn, Alex and Jessica doing a Rosie the Riveter-ish stance for AmeriCorps!

Last night I went to a presentation by Shannon Teague, the director of the Benefit Bank, in Hamilton. She basically went over what the OBB is and talked about the advantages of using the program. Even though there weren't a lot of people there, those who did attend were very interested in implementing the Benefit Bank in their organizations, and I gave out a lot of business cards and marketing materials. Which is a ginormous success in my books, ladies and gents.

I've been thinking about the end of my service coming up in August. And I think I'll really miss being a VISTA. It's been a crazy year filled with good friends, crazy clients and incredible experiences.

And I'm going to miss my blog! I've really loved having a blog this year, and having an actual theme to work with. I might even create a new, more personal blog once I finish my VISTA year. Hopefully my life won't be so terribly dull that I have nothing to write about. Which may very well happen if I don't find a job.

Speaking of which, if anyone happens to find a journalism/communications job in the Cincinnati area, do not hesitate to let me know.

Learning

6: The number of people at my Saturday training.

At a training in Mason. Someone just said, "See, now I made a typo here. I guess I can't go back and fix it?"

Lesson 1: The backspace key.

Might post more today, depending on the funny things I hear.

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

11: The number of weeks until my VISTA term ends

Less than three months to go now, and it is starting to feel a bit strange. I also feel like, as it is summer, I should be lounging around at home drinking lemonade and playing cornhole. I drove by a middle school on my way to work today and no one was there. And all of a sudden, I started experiencing strong feelings of dislike toward all those people who still get summers off. Yes, even the children.

They're mocking me.

Anyway, the sad thing about me only having 11 weeks to go as a VISTA is that Kaitlyn only has two weeks to go as a VISTA. So when she leaves I might not update in a while, seeing as I will most likely be crying in a corner somewhere.

Not too much has been going on here lately. I have started putting together a guidebook for the next VISTA who comes in, filled with tips and suggestions for how to handle their goals on their VAD (VISTA Assignment Description). I've just finished up the section for food drives and Gus the Bus. It brought back all kinds of fond memories. I even included some pictures. It's actually kind of fun to put together. I feel like Rick Steves.

Moving on, our regional VISTA meeting with our fearless leader Martha is coming up soon (June 17th). We usually have these meetings in a board room at United Way, but this time Martha pulled some strings and we're all going to the Cincinnati Zoo instead. Believe me, I am going to miss that stuffy board room with the uncomfortable chairs, but I will try to enjoy eating a picnic lunch and looking at polar bears instead.

By the way, if you've never been the Cincinnati Zoo...you should go.

Speaking of things you need to do, see that "follow" button? On the left hand side of my blog? Right above a bunch of photo icons? No, scroll down a little...yes, there it is. Click it. Thanks.