next stop: washington dc

we've been in illinois for almost four and a half weeks. by the time we leave on monday, the 24th, we'll have been here for a little over five weeks and a total of four and a half months in the program altogether. my how time flies (or drives....if you're moving through the year in a 15-passenger like I am).

my last post was the stormy tornado watch day that resulted in a tornado touching down a few towns over from us (nothing too big or serious though, but if you're from california like I am where the weather forecast consists of sun, clouds, and a light drizzle every now and then, then any tornado warning creates high anxiety and lends to a long night of stress eating....which my budget can't even afford...which leads to more stress....it's a vicious cycle). but my point: we survived the tornado warning despite the television losing signal, the hotel fire alarm going off, and a crack of thunder over our heads that sounded like all of naperville just exploded. 

a few days ago we learned that we will be deployed to washington dc next to work in FEMA headquarters. before we arrive in our nation's capitol, we will be transitioning from the past two deployments in st. louis with the other FEMA corps teams in illinois as well as the FEMA corps teams in oklahoma. transitioning will include some debriefings, reviewals of our project portfolios (long "end of project" completion reports essentially), and celebrations of our projects (which could be either a skit or slideshow or something of the sort performed by each team to celebrate each round). once we complete transition in missouri, it will be dc bound for us. in dc we will be working at FEMA headquarters in the external affairs department. our job description is vague as of yet but once we learn more details about specific tasks and duties, I will diligently update my blog (just for you, moms and pops!)

in the meantime, we will be finishing out our deployment here by spending this next week being "on call," meaning we will find out our daily assignment either the morning of or the night before. 

this tuesday, however, I will be representing FEMA corps along with one other FEMA corps member at a big emergency management summit in chicago, accompanied by some of the top people in the areas of emergency management, including a former NASA astronaut. so....I guess I should be getting myself prepared and ready to mingle with the emergency management gurus of chicago...next up on "my year in khaki pants and steel-toed boots": update on how the emergency management mingling went (without breaking the chain of command, of course), plans to repack my red duffel while also figuring out what winter-ish clothes to flat rate mail home, and hopefully no more tornadic activity in these parts of illinois. til next time.