And We're Off!

To say the pace of training is fast would be an understatement. It is an all out sprint to the finish! Too bad the finish is still 3 weeks away. We have covered so much information in two days. I feel like I am in finals week of college everyday. Wednesday we were assigned 4 chapters of the manual (it's about 4 inches thick in total!), and accompanying study guide questions for homework. In addition to the work, we had a quiz the next morning over the pre-training manual that was roughly 50 pages of information. Tonight I read about 120 pages in my manual, did 3 pages of work book short answer questions, and studied for yet another quiz. When they warned us it would be hard work they were being conservative! I keep wanting to jump ahead and look at what's coming in the future, but it is a bit overwhelming. It's a one day at a time process right now. The good news is that the training procedures have changed with my class, and we will be returning to Houston next week! They have acquired planes for us to use as a classroom for some of the practical training. In the past they have had to do all the layout training and such in a traditional classroom and there was no practical application till just before the practical exams. I am so excited to be coming back to a place where I am familiar with my surroundings. I never realized that Memphis had such a large crime rate. Even the hotel staff warned us not to go walking the sidewalks alone. Its 0045 right now and I've been studying since 1900. I still will be waking up 2 hours before show time tomorrow to refresh myself on quiz material. Lots of information to learn, which is intimidating, but the more I learn the more I really want to put it in practice! Word on the street is we will be fighting real fires on Monday! I can't wait to get my hands on the PBE (Portable Breathing Equipment). It's nothing too exciting, we are lighting a trash can on fire and then putting it out. 27 TIMES!!!!!! There will be photos of that for sure... It is most definitely bed time. Good night and happy travels!