Red Cross Adventure: Preliminaries

So the plus side of not being able to find a job is being able to leave town at a moment's notice for weeks at a time. This is exactly what I am doing in the next week or so with the Red Cross. I have never volunteered with the Red Cross before, nor have I been to the part of the country affected by Hurricane Katrina. This is going to be quite the adventure for me.
I wrote the Red Cross an email explaining that I wanted to do something for those affected by the hurricane but that I did not have the money to contribute financially. I wrote that I was more than willing to go to the region and volunteer that way. To my surprise, someone from the local Red Cross called me the very next morning and asked me questions about my willingness to volunteer. They ranged anywhere from:

• "Can you make a commitment of three weeks?" and,
  
• " Do you feel comfortable sleeping in an open-air dormitory?" to the ever popular,
  
• "Do you have any open wounds?"
  

After several more questions, the volunteer on the other end of the phone told me that they were at that moment (last Tuesday) compiling a list of people who wanted to volunteer. He told me that I would probably hear from them in the next couple of weeks. He asked if I had any questions, but I couldn't think of any at the moment. He said that they felt the same way as I did; no one knew exactly what was going to happen and when.
To my surprise a nice lady from the Red Cross called on Friday morning. I was not home but she left a message with my boyfriend, telling me to call as soon as I got in. After returning from a lovely afternoon at
Art in the Park, I called the lady back and she scheduled me for training for deployment on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Wow! This is all moving very fast, and it is very exciting!
I have to admit, I have been in kind of a rut, getting quite depressed about not being able to find a job. This is exactly what I need; a way to get over myself while helping out those who really need it.
I will keep you posted as to the contents of the upcoming training sessions.