Teen Treks

So this weekend I had to make my way up to Buffalo, NY for my Teen Treks training. I wasn't really sure what to expect, only that I had a long day of driving ahead of me and I got to miss three days of work.

I kicked the day off right. I went to visit my old classroom at the Lincoln School. I was really anxious to go because several of the students began facebook-ing me and I knew that I made an impact on their lives. To my relief it was a very rewarding and calming experience. The students were ecstatic to see me, but also very ready to move on. There was the initial excitement, but then they were very ready to go on with their day. This was both an ego booster and checker. I knew I was important to them, but I also gained an appreciation for them moving on.


After my little visit I began my odyssey to Buffalo, NY. According to my GPS I had about 8hrs of driving ahead of me. It started great, I was pumped and I felt like I really was beginning an adventure. However, the drive quickly turned monotonous as Upstate New York is a bland, open area of nothingness. To make matters worse, I had about 480 miles ahead.


Finally at about 7pm I made it to Buffalo, NY and the Teen Treks office. I wasn't sure what to expect, but what awaited me was a bunch of old Victorian Row houses and a small little sign for training. Basically, this whole program is run out of this guy's front room which doubles as his office. It seems so interesting, but the organizer, Cliff, is quite the unique character. After meeting him and several other early arrivals, we staked out places to camp in the backyard. It was fun to camp out, but there were reminders of the urban setting with the hispanic neighbors getting into a huge argument around midnight that night.


Training! It was a lot of fun and a whole lot of WAITING. As Cliff said, all actions are a reflection of the leadership and he had us waiting all the time. He is very scatter brained and it showed. As he would begin discussing an aspect of the trip, he often would lose his train of thought and begin an entire new subject. To make matters worse, the first day we spent in a Buffalo Park; luckily the rain was holding out, but as soon as we began to ride, the rain began.

As we biked through the rain we started to cross into the Canada. It was a breeze crossing the border and we biked along the Erie shore to one of Cliff's friend's house. Even though it was raining pretty heavy we did not let it damper our spirits. I staked out ground along the shore and actually slept quite well on the beach.
The next day we passed through a small Canadian town along the Erie Canal. It was a small town with a usual center with a local farmer's market. It was great to look around, the only bad part was that we had no money and spent 5 hours sitting around. This day I was also on Dinner Party and got in an argument with my future partner. Basically, we have to go out and shop for our group. We are on a strict budget ($2 - breakfast, $6 - lunch, $7 - dinner) and I was fine with saving money for other activities. We made it through lunch, talked with the local drunk and biked to our end destination - a camp ground. Again, I was on dinner and made bean burritos for my party. I also made banana smores for the group for desert.

The final day we continued biking and saw Niagara Falls from about every angle. It was very nice and it was definitely great to see it via bike. Unlike last time (I think I was about 7) I was able to appreciate the sheer power of mother nature. I also realized Canada did a much better job with the falls than the US. Basically, the Canadian side is very touristy, but it is clean and pleasant. The US side is Niagara City and an entire shit hole, ghetto.

That night we biked over the worst bridge of all times into Grand Island. The bridge, The Peace Bridge, is a large bridge that is about 100ft tall and about 1mile long. That is all fine and dandy, but the sidewalk is narrow, along a highway, at night, and we are riding opposing traffic. To make it even scarier, the rails are so low, that if you it them you would either A: get hit by a truck, or B: fall to the river. That was the fun part, but as soon as we crossed we were told to turn off all our lights. Given it is about 10pm, we were all confused and then we proceeded to bike about 1 mile into the woods. Finally we stopped and we were going to "Phantom Camp". It is a really cool concept where you hide out on land and sleep secretively (trespassing). All fine and dandy, but very difficult when you have 30 people.

Perhaps the coolest part of this entire trip was meeting so many new people. We were all about the same age, but everyone has done something entirely different. I learned it is ok not to have a life plan and that there is no expectation to just settle down, get a job, and work your life away. I met a girl who takes only seasonal jobs so she can travel the world (she is a nanny in Switzerland and skis, then goes to CO and bikes). I met another guy who one day quit his job and moved to Hawaii for a month before law school and another guy who took 3 months to bike across the country.

I hope some of their lifestyle rubs off on me and if anything this trip made me more excited for the Peace Corps and made me that much more sure of my decision.