Oh my gosh, where to even start? The last few days have been quite eventful...and physically challenging.
First of all, there was my luggage. I spent all day at home Sunday packing and stuffing, unpacking, repacking, weighing, unpacking, and re-weighing my duffel bag. The weight limit for checked baggage is 50 lbs., so I had to move some of it to a smaller overflow duffel bag. So anyway, I got all exhausted and sweaty just packing. Then I had to carry my bags, (which including my carry on, came to near 100 lbs.). I had to get them to baggage at the Portland train station, pick them up at the Tacoma train station, into the wrong cab, out of the wrong cab, into the right cab, out of the right cab, onto the luggage rack at the hotel, and finally, off the luggage rack and into my (meticulously inspected and bug free) room. Needless to say, after all of that hauling, I was completely exhausted! But not exhausted enough to fall asleep. :) I was so relieved to be in the hotel, and kind of giddy and hyped up, so (even though I tried valiantly), I did not fall asleep until after 1am.
I woke up bright and early with an almost full 4 hrs. of sleep, to start my first day of orientation. I am in a class of 12, 11 guys and me. :) It's a different experience for me, being literally the only female in the class, than it was going to truck school with Ariel. When there's two of you, at least you can stand next to each other, and be a minority together, instead of being just a complete novelty. Because I am the only girl in our group, I am getting a lot of attention! Just to clarify, for any of you who are wondering, I do not find any of them attractive, nor do I want to date or marry any of them. I'm pretty sure none of them want to marry me either, but quite a few of them want to talk to me, all at once...all the time. It kind of feels like when you have a group of kids following you around, all wanting to have your attention so they can tell you the thing that they're excited about. Hanging out with all men is just funny and interesting-and completely new for me. I have spend most of my life in educational and work environments that were completely dominated by women (you don't find an over abundance of men in music or childcare). I've known in my head that I spend most of my time with women, but since I was in the decided majority, I never really felt the imbalance. I feel it now! :) I thought today as I walked to Fred Meyer with three of my middle aged male classmates, (who talked about trucks all the way there and back), how funny that scene would be to everyone back in my normal life. This should seriously be a reality show! :)
Anyways, my first day of orientation was quite eventful. We got bussed to a clinic to get our physical evaluations, to prove that we are healthy enough to be hired and do the job. We'd already had to do these evaluations during school, so I wasn't too worried about it, and thought it would go quickly. (Warning: this next bit involves bodily functions, so if you are one of the people who likes to pretend those don't exist, please skip ahead.) I knew we were going to have to give a urine sample at the clinic for drug testing, so I was holding it all morning during class in an effort to have enough pee to give. Of course before we left for the clinic, I had to poop. So I somehow managed to poop, but hold the pee. I know, I'm awesome. Then at the clinic during the pee test, I had to poop. But you aren't allowed to flush after you give you sample, so I then proceeded to pee, but not poop. I'm telling you, it was a crazy day! :)
We were supposed to try to remember and write down our entire medical history, so in a frantic attempt to fully disclose my entire medical history, and not get in trouble for withholding information, I wrote down a minor incident involving a shopping cart and the back of my heel, in which I had to wear a brace for a few months until it healed. It is totally fine now, no pain at all, but I was being a good little over achiever, so I wrote it down. Because of that past injury, I got flagged for an extra evaluation at the clinic, to make sure I could physically perform the duties of the job, as is standard for anyone with a past injury. The problem is that this test involves lifting, pushing and pulling 75 lbs. I wasn't actually concerned, because as I may have mentioned, my luggage was close to 100 lbs. I did fine with the pushing, pulling, and gripping. Then came the lift test, which involved squatting to the floor, lifting a wooden box full of weights up to standing, carrying it across the room and back, and then squatting it back down. They gradually increase the weights, so you don't start out at 75. lbs. and hurt yourself. So I went along, following instructions and giving feedback on how heavy it felt, until the tester stopped me at a weight that I said was very heavy. I assumed I had passed, because he finished up my test and took me back to the nurse I was with, (I found out later that he wasn't allowed to tell me how much I was lifting). She told me that I hadn't passed, because I had only lifted 45 lbs. I was shocked and confused-especially when I realized that if I couldn't pass this test, the truck company simply wouldn't hire me. The nurse was very sympathetic, she knew I had a teaming partner already in training, and really wanted to help me. She asked if I thought I could do 75 lbs. and when I realized it was my job on the line, I said YES, so she took me back to try the test again (which I'm quite sure was against policy). Anyway, I had to wait in line behind two other people testing, so I had plenty of time to sit there and think about how our whole career plan would be ruined if I couldn't do this, how Ariel would have to truck on her own, and how none of this would be happening if I hadn't mentioned my stupid tendon that isn't even hurt anymore. Then I got real serious and decided that I was doing this. I had to. I started focusing on strength, instead of the fact that I wanted to cry. I focused on the fact that I have made it through all kinds of tough things in my life, instead of the fact that my legs tired and sore from the lift test I had already done. Then I remembered that I am a woman. Women are strong! Women can give birth! I could literally squat a living human out of my cooter if I wanted to! I figured, if I could do that, I could do anything! So with a laser-like focus that I'm sure came across to the tester as anger, I tried the weight lift again. (In credit to him, he only made me repeat that portion of the test.) I was already tired, and I am not very strong, but every time he increased the weight, I said that it felt fine, and I could do more (which was not entirely true). For the last two lifts of 65 and 75 lbs., I couldn't push up with my legs anymore, because I knew they would give out, so I used my back, which made the tester visibly wince. At one point he said, "that's not good form Amanda" and I said "I don't care" (I'm sure he thought I was a biatch). Anyway, I gritted my teeth, used my neck and back, and got that box up, across the room, and back down to the floor. It wasn't graceful, but I did it! While I am not proud that I got myself into that situation, I am quite proud that I pushed through and conquered it! Then of course when we got back to our orientation classroom, we had to do the company 75 lb. lift test that all of the students have to do, regardless of medical history. It was a one time barbell lift, and so easy I couldn't even believe it. Moral of the story: barbells are easier than boxes. Other moral: you can do more than you think.
After that quite exhausting day of class, and my drive test after that (which I passed because the tester is very kind and knows I have no experience), I got a wonderful surprise to make it all ok. My lovely teaming partner, and cousin, showed up at my hotel room to spend the night! She and her trainer were parked in the yard for the night at the terminal where we have orientation, and she took a taxi over to my hotel and surprised me! It was such a good refresher for both of us-we got to have dinner together, hang out in the hot tub, talk about all of our adventures in the world of trucking and men, and have a little slumber party (even though we were both so exhausted, that there was more slumber than actual party). It was such a blessing to get to spend a little time with her, and was rejuvenating for both of us. :)
Today was pretty uneventful as far as orientation goes-tons of paperwork, and presentations, and super important things to remember to never do, or always do, etc. Kind of stressful, but mostly mind-numbing. My leg muscles have been very sore from the lifting yesterday, so that's been my main focus all day. :) I will definitely be making a trip (hobble) to the hot tub sometime soon! And since I know that Ariel doesn't have much time or energy to post, I will tell you that she has been driving a lot. She's done big hills, and curvy roads in the dark, and when she showed up yesterday, she looked exhausted and hadn't showered in days-so I'd say she's beginning to turn into a real truck driver. :)
That's all I've got for now-I've gotta get myself to the hot tub and then to sleep. Thanks for all of your support!
-Amanda
Hilarious AND inspiring!
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