Waking up before 4am certainly is an early awakening, but that was just the beginning of my day…

Physical Training began at 5:30a this morning, and started with stretching. Then we did baseline, our physical training test, starting with push-ups, followed by sit-ups, and then completed with a 1.5-mile run. My goal was not to be the best, with the expectation that I would be on the tail-end of the out-of-shape category. It turns out that with 45 push-ups, 59 sit-ups, and a running time of 15:45, I am actually towards the top.

We then had our TB test read (which was negative), grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed to training. By the way, most of our training is not physical; most of it is in the classroom. And on top of that, I feel like I am in back in middle school…

• The PowerPoint presentations range from puke orange, seasick green and pixilated image backgrounds that include misspellings, grammar mistakes, and way-too-small-for-the-speaker-to-read-let-alone-the-first-row-text galore. Don’t forget the tacky sounds and animations that distract rather than complement.
• You know it is bad when the Communications Staff member is not good at talking in front of a bunch of people, and the 1920s van-driving instruction video is more exciting than the guy talking about the different kinds of projects we may do.
• People falling asleep were told to feel free to stand up in the back to wake up; half of the room stands throughout the lecture.
• The whole we-are-going-to-talk-about introduction frowned upon by most English teachers, and the whole we-are-going-to-talk-about-what-we-are-going-to-talk-about-at-a-later-date, and the we-gave-you-this-information-in-the-packet-we-told-you-to-read-and-at-the-last-training-but-we-thought-we-would-tell-you-again are really starting to get on my nerves.
• Then what really reminded me of middle school… passing notes, playing tic-tac-toe and hangman just to stay awake and engaged.

But hey, besides that, I am having a great time, and am looking forward to dinner.