Orientation

So we had orientation yesterday. City Year has two such orientations beginning each service year: the first one is for Massachusetts residents and the second for everyone else. I attended the latter.

It was a pretty smooth experience, but we did have to fill out massive amounts of paperwork. The AmeriCorps contract , which a staff member walks you through as you initial your understanding at every third paragraph, must have taken 45 minutes alone. Happily I was able to meet some fellow corps members, all of whom were really excited and friendly. My roommate noted that everyone was much more welcoming and gregarious than most folks are on similar occasions, such as a first day of school or new job. It must be the service-oriented vibe.

Thankfully it wasn't all paperwork, and we were allowed a generous 90 minute lunch break. A group of us went to a nearby restaurant (the name escapes me, the Something Grill?) which was pretty reasonably priced and accepts food stamps. I got to know some of the senior corps members some but not too much; excessive fraternization between senior and current corps members is frowned upon. We also took intermittent stretch breaks, learned more about each other through games and became intimately familiar with the "hands up" gesture used by City Year to get people's attention.

The only baffling part of the six-hour experience was the assessment test we took at the end. We were told this two hour test was just implemented this year in order to "insure the diversity of ability among teammates." It was like the SAT, with separate math and reading portions all in multiple choice format, but it was way easier and carried no penalty for failure. I assume this test was administered to ensure that we really did have more knowledge than the kids we were helping.

So that was orientation. The real work starts next Tuesday when we get start our first service day.