these boots are made for (a lot of) walking

you can tell it's the weekend on campus when everyone sleeps in until 7:30am (a time I had never thought I would consider luxurious) and the halls are quiet and lack the rustling of khakis and lunches being made. this saturday morning serves as a welcome and much needed break from five days of 5:30am-5:30pm training.


and finally, the steel-toed boots have arrived (which actually don't contain steel, they are made up of composite) but nevertheless, an exciting addition to my life.

also, I have officially been assigned to the task of Community Relations (CR) for our FEMA assignments. we've been split up into our permanent teams that we'll be with for the next nine months. our job as CR is to talk one-on-one with disaster survivors and serve as helping hands and listening ears. our jobs may consist of everything from going door-to-door within communities talking to the residents to setting up stations/tables out in the field to help people fill out assistance forms. we'll learn more specifics once we head to New Mexico for our FEMA training. our trek to New Mexico begins march 8th in a 15-passenger van over the span of 2-3 days. needless to say, I am most definitely looking forward to some serious team bonding during our travels.