Week 20

Day 133: Dec 21, 2014
Today was a nice, relaxing day off. I spent much of the day mapping out a knitting pattern for some gloves that I started. Most of the rest of my day was spent welcoming guests. I think the best part of the day was after vespers. We had a bonfire at the top of the hill and went sledding on brand new sleds. It is amazing how much faster new sleds are compared to old scratched up sleds.

Day 134: Dec 22, 2014

The days are officially getting longer!! Today was filled with knitting. I knit when I exposed Hallie and our new lead cook, Pat, to the TV show I have been watching, Bones. I was knitting while I was waiting for two meetings. I knit during vespers and during the showing of Frozen. Pretty much the only time when I wasn't knitting was when I spent about an hour or so making a “gingerbread” house (it was made out of graham crackers). I think it turned out really cute. I really wish I had another day off, mainly just so I could sleep.

Day 135: Dec 23, 2014

Today was the beginning of our Christmas celebration. We started the day with a Christmas themed craft fair where I made an ugly Christmas sweater (That was really all I had time for). I worked the dinner shift and so I couldn't do any of the afternoon activities but there was caroling just as I got off work so I joined up with them to sing Christmas tunes to some of the lodges and many of the chalets. The caroling ended at the venue for the all village hootenanny. This was a special occasion because it was actually scheduled and everyone, including guests were invited. It was a lot of fun.

Day 136: Dec 24, 2014

It is amazing to me how much light is given off by a candle. Like most other churches we lit candles during the Christmas Eve service. We turned all of the lights off and spread the flame to everyone in the room. The room was lit as if the lights were on, but with candles it feels warmer and more spiritual. It is almost as if, when the room is lit with only candles, there are more people with us. I don't really want to call them spirits because that is not what I felt, but maybe the presence of all of those being thought about (family, friends, etc) is felt more when you are in a room full of people holding candles and singing Silent Night.

Day 137: Dec 25, 2014

Today was actually pretty awesome. The day started with a church service that was mainly singing. After the service we had some time to kill before brunch so Alex, Leah, Hallie and I decided to walk across the creek and do the short loop (about a half hour when walking on ice). It was nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather (sunny with a hint of flurry). We got back into the village just in time for brunch. That was where I got the best present of the year. The directors were handing out invitations to the Christmas open-house at their place. The invitation had an added paragraph, though, explaining and giving us permission to call our families (it is kinda like we are in prison-we had to get permission to call home) on the satellite phone. My dad was so surprised when he realized that it was me on the phone. It was so great to hear their voices. For almost anyone else in the world, calling someone can be done without even really thinking about it. With cell phones we can call from almost everywhere at pretty much any time. One of the best things (and sometimes worst thing) about this village is that we don't get cell coverage out here. The only phones that work in the village are satellite phones and they are generally used only for business or emergencies. I haven't talked to or seen my parents (either via internet or in person) since October which is probably the longest stretch ever (even when I studied abroad I could at least video chat). I think that stretch of time made the call that much more special. We didn't really talk about anything super special, just what was happening lately, but hearing their voices meant the world.

So, I went into my shift in a really good mood and, against all odds, I stayed in that good mood the whole rest of my day. I prepared cheese and crackers, which was fun because I could get fancy with plating, for the buffet line and since “dinner” started at 3 we were almost bored for the last 3 hours of the shift. We had to keep things stocked out on the line but we spent quite a bit of time looking at recipes and talking. About a half hour before the shift ended we turn on some music and had a dance party while we waited for the stragglers. The final song was Bohemian Rhapsody and we went crazy. We were sliding around on the wet floors without caring about the fact that the dining hall was still pretty full and people were staring. We closed down the kitchen and headed to the Christmas party, hung out for a while and then Pat, Hallie, and I went back to my Chalet to watch an episode of Bones. Unfortunately, both Hallie and Pat have to work the early shift tomorrow so they were only able to stay for one episode. Oh well, it was still a pretty amazing day.

Day 138: Dec 26, 2014

It was the day of the fryer. We don't actually have a fryer here but we were going to do fish and chips for dinner tonight so we made a fryer. We have a flattop that has a 6in wall around it so we cook pasta, steam veggies, cook eggs and now we fry things in it. I put about 2.5-3 inches of oil in it and used the whole thing as one big fryer. Because fried food can't really be put in a warmer until a meal, I had to start cooking just before the meal and then throughout the whole meal. There was pretty much always a line for food (you can't just keep putting frozen food in the oil- it has to reheat before you do the next batch) and I could only do one kind of food at once (in other words, I couldn't fry the fish and the tater tots at the same time) which made it a little stressful. I had very few people come up to the counter to compliment the meal but one man came up, fist bumped me, and told me how amazed and impressed he was with the meal. I almost cried when he said that, partly because I was exhausted and hadn't eaten and partly because it made up for the stress of the meal. I have tomorrow off so I will be able to wind down a little and sleep a lot. It has been a long week.

Day 139: Dec 27, 2014

My single day off was spent knitting and sleeping. It is really hard to try to recover from a week like I had in one day. I might need to go to bed early tomorrow.

Week 19

Day 126: Dec 14, 2014

I am so frustrated. So, I spent a bunch of time and frustration on the schedule for the kitchen and our kitchen coordinator went and changed it. I wouldn't mind if it was to make it more fair for the group except it didn't. I tried to make peoples' schedules as predictable as possible and tried to make it so that people would not have to work all of the feast meals and now everyone's schedules are all over the place, weekends are split and amount of times leading are all uneven. I think there are 2 things that really peeve me though. She gave herself Christmas Eve and Day off even though she told me that everyone had to work on those days and she made me lead for both Christmas day morning and New Years Eve night. Both are feast days and are two out of the three for the month. I don't think I have been this peeved in a long time. I am going to have to talk to her to make sure that she realizes what she set me. I don't mind working both shifts but leading adds a whole different level of stress to the shift. AAAGGHHHH!!!

At least my frustrating day ended on a more positive note. The night ended with a hootenanny which you can never leave without a smile on your face.

Day 127: Dec 15, 2014

My day was spent almost entirely sleeping. I woke up for breakfast and then went back to sleep. Woke up in time for lunch, stayed awake for bus arrival and then went back to sleep. Hopefully all of this sleeping will aid my immune system. I did, however, spend some time with a guitar. I am slowly getting more comfortable with moving in between C, G and D chords and I was able to pick out Amazing Grace and Home on the Range. It was very exciting.

Day 128: Dec 16, 2014

Dinner what AWESOME! We had pulled pork and got a HUGE number of compliments. It was a great way to end a lead shift.

Day 129: Dec 17, 2014

A musing about the Christmas season at Holden Village:

In case you hadn't noticed, Christmas is almost here. For some, this last week is filled with last minute shopping and stressing about the upcoming family holiday. For others, the last week is filled with excitement, either for a school break or for the arrival of Santa. It is different here. Now that I am out of school I didn't realize that Christmas was coming up so quickly because I didn't have finals or the count down until the drive home. I am not in a store every week so I haven't been inundated with BUY THIS or CHRISTMAS IS IN ___ DAYS. There isn't a second sun that lights the night (extreme amounts of lights). Sure, we have Christmas trees (everywhere) and advent calenders but we are also preparing for guest season which is at its peak next week. I know it is almost Christmas but for some reason it just doesn't feel that way.

Day 130: Dec 18, 2014

Another day, another shift. There really wasn't anything of note that happened today other than the fact that it snowed.

Day 131: Dec 19, 2014

More snow today! I even got the chance to go skiing. I had to break trail on the way out which made the outing harder and longer but the way back was much more fun (I could actually glide at times-except when I had to go through a stream and got ice on the bottom of my ski). Then, after the rest of my chalet got off of work and came home from school, we decorated our Christmas tree. It has a paper chain, some sparkly garland and some homemade ornaments on it. Decorating the tree and living room really helped to get me in the Christmas spirit. After vespers, we gathered in our chalet once again but this time it was to watch Frozen (Alex hadn't seen it before). Let me tell ya, it was a hoot. We sang and acted out scenes, ate popcorn and cookies-it was great.

Day 132: Dec 20, 2014

It was a slow morning. We made a waffle bar for breakfast, which meant that everyone could make their own waffles, and had beans and rice for lunch. Originally, I wasn't supposed to lead the shift but Hallie got sick a few days ago and still wasn't feeling well last night so I asked if I should plan on leading. Well, I ended up leading. It could have been worse, though. I have lead a beans and rice lunch before so I only had to really focus on figuring out the waffle bar (I just showed up a little early and figured it out). Since today was the end of my work week, I was exhausted so I took a nap in the afternoon (I think it might have been too long since I am still really tired) and then headed to pizza night in the dining hall. FINALLY, I had some decent pizza here! The night was capped off with some crafting time and the movie ELF. Now, I think it might be time to go to bed early.

Week 18

Day 119: Dec 7, 2014

It was lovely to have a day off. Working 6 days in a row doing heavy lifting is tiring. I am not sure how some of the remediation workers do 7 days a week. I think I would die. I spent most of my morning and part of my afternoon doing some carving. I had some blanks that I worked on (Dala Horses mainly) and I started working on a spoon but it hadn't been soaking long enough so it was still kind of hard. Other than that I took a nap and updated my wish list for Christmas. Dang, it is coming up quick. I need to figure out what to give my parents.....

Day 120: Dec 8, 2014

I learned how to knit two socks at a time today! I also spent a fair amount of time sanding my spoon today. I worked on my spoon (the sanding is both the worst and yet most rewarding part of the carving). I also spent a fair amount of time filing down some of my pottery. The glaze ended up running so I had to try to clean that up. It didn't work very well so I guess I will just have to try again.

Day 121: Dec 9, 2014

Today was pretty average except for a morning meeting. It was a pretty great morning meeting, as these things go. It was all about avalanche safety. I even got a pin because I participated. There was another meeting right before lunch but I couldn't go because of work (I was ok with not going). Tomorrow there are more meetings but since I work the morning shift I will probably miss the avalanche training but apparently we are going to try to get lunch done as early as possible so that we can make at least part of the “winter living” (or something like that) meeting. I lead my first shift tomorrow. It should be good (I hope).

Day 122: Dec 10, 2014

My first shift as a Lead went very smoothly. Everything got out on time and we had plenty of left over time. Breakfast was hot cereal so that was pretty easy and lunch was soup and salad. The main soup had been made ahead of time for me because the village wanted us to get to some meetings that were happening so all we had to do was make the vegetarian soup, cut bread, and cut some tomatoes to add to what we already had for the salad. It was pretty simple. I lead dinner tomorrow. Basically, I am cooking a fairly simple Thanksgiving meal for 85 people and I have to think about gluten free options and vegetarian options. The gluten free is easy- just use cornstarch to thicken the gravy. I am thinking about doing roasted tofu for the vegetarian option so that they can still get their protein. Since the village rarely does meals like this we don't have any recipes for roasting turkey or for gravy which means that I have spent over an hour tonight looking up recipes, cooking times, ratios, and amounts per person. We are going to make almost 2 gallons of gravy tomorrow and about 50lbs of mashed potatoes. At least there is very little prep and things really shouldn't take too long except for cooking times because there will only be three of us in the kitchen. Should be fun.

Day 123: Dec 11, 2014

Dinner went amazingly well. We didn't have all of the spices I would have like to put on the birds but the rosemary and thyme worked wonderfully on their own. Everything ran smoothly especially considering that the power went out for an hour during the afternoon. It was a planned out so we knew about it so we were able to get everything ready and in ovens. Luckily, the ovens are well insulated so we put the turkeys in a little early. They were done at the perfect time. We were able to take them out, let them rest, cut up and put on the line just in time. The potatoes were about as perfect as them could have been minus the second pan that we forgot in the oven- the top was only a little brown so we just scraped it off and life was good. It felt so good to have everything go smoothly and to have people come up and compliment the meal. I think tonight was different than the other meals I have been a part of because this was a meal that wasn't in the cookbook. I had to do the research and such to figure out the gravy and the herbs and such on the birds and I think that made all the difference in the amount of pride I had in the meal.

Day 124: Dec 12, 2014

I got a cold. :( I ended up leaving work early because I got almost no sleep last night and I was trying to hold in my snot all morning. It was not fun. So, I went home and went back to sleep for a few hours, grabbed a PB&J from the dining hall and stayed in my room for most of the rest of the day.

Day 125: Dec 13, 2014

I felt a little better this morning and I was leading the morning shift so I got up and went to work. It ended up being a great shift. We were done with things in more than enough time and ended up preparing cookies for tomorrow. I got to work with Josh and Hallie today. Both are such great people. Hallie and I have bonded since she got here and Josh is just a hoot and a half. For example, I walked in to the dining hall this morning and went to go change my shoes. Josh comes in and immediately asks me if the coffee is ready. My response? Only if you made it earlier this morning. I taught him how to make coffee so now he knows how to make his own coffee if he feels the need. I am still fighting this cold so I took a nap this afternoon and then we had a special vespers tonight. It was called Las Posadas. Basically, we followed Mary and Joseph to a few different places around the village as they tried to find a place to stay. They stopped at the carpentry shop where a bunch of people were “staying” and were told that there was no room there. They stopped at a chalet and were told there was no room there. They stopped at a hose house (where we keep our fire hoses and where hydrants are. They are about 3ft by 4ft and maybe 6ft tall) and were shown that there was no room. It was basically a clown car. We had put a few smaller kids up in what would be the attic, one person was shoved up under some of the shelves, I was standing on the hydrant so I was up and over people and about 8 other people were crammed into the main open section of the “house”. It was pretty funny, The final stop for May and Joseph was the dining hall where there was plenty of room and we had a little party with a fancy sort of hot, virgin sangria (it tasted like really good hot cider with some cinnamon) and ice cream. It turned out to be a pretty good day and I have tomorrow off :).

Week 17

Day 112: Nov 30, 2014

Wow, my computer is particularly loud today. The fan seems to be going a little crazy so I am going to see if the IT office has a small screwdriver so I can check it out. I am making sure to do a backup right now though. Other than that the day was pretty great. In the afternoon, I started to learn how to play guitar. There were three of us, Riley, Leah, and I, sitting in the living room with a fire in the fireplace Benji just chilling on the couch and Alex trying to teach us/ trying to work on his knitting project. I learned and slowly put together a few chords so that was fun. This was one of the best nights though. There was a bonfire up on one of the tailings piles. The pile was probably 20x50ft and 15ft high. Only one side was lit so the fire will slowly work its way into and across the pile. The fire chief who started the fire thinks it is probably going to burn for a few days. Most of the fuel in the pile was wood and pallets for the remediation work but there were also some large log-looking pieces that I am not really sure about. It was fun though. A bunch of us walked up there together so we got to chat and gaze in wonder at the view from the “other side” (of the creek). I think I got some pretty good photos that I will, hopefully, post for all to see. I also took a really great movie but I know that I won't be able to upload that from the village. As I look at the photos now, I just wish I would have brought my real camera rather than just my phone. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Tomorrow is the first day of my new job! It is both exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

Day 113: Dec 1, 2014

Today was kind of anticlimactic. So even though it was my first day as a Lead Cook, I didn't actually do any cooking today. We did a few shifts of dish team to learn where everything goes and to learn how a dish pit shift is run and then we just looked at recipes and figured out how we would run the shift and when things would get done and other such details. It was really helpful to do that but I am done with the recipes that she gave us and we are doing the same thing for at least another day and a half. At least I got to be done early so I came back to our chalet and practiced the guitar a little, helped Alex with his knitting and watched Mask on VHS. It was a pretty chill day overall and hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same.

On a completely different note, today one of the villagers left the village. His departure day had arrived. Leaving is just part of what it is to be here. The only thing is, he has no where to go. Once the boat dropped him off at the dock he was going to take public transit to Seattle and find a homeless shelter that had room for him. I have no idea if he made it there. I have no idea if he is sleeping outside tonight or if he found someplace warm. It is one of those things that brings the real world into the village. I don't know what I would do if I didn't know that my parents will be there for me when I leave this place. It really makes you look at things in a different light. I mean, here, everyone has a home, plenty of food and heat. We are, basically, all on the same level but when you hear that someone has nowhere to go when they step off that boat, it hurts. The thing is, even though some of us wanted to do something to help, we don't really have the resources to do so. We are not a homeless shelter up here and our stipend is plenty if you live in a remote village where your money pretty much can be spent at the bookstore or on Amazon but beyond that we make enough to rent a really small and gross apartment and that is it. No food. No utilities. No insurance. Nothing beyond the roof over our heads. Of course, that is not the point of our stipend. We do not need to pay rent or bills other than things that we choose to have (car insurance, phone, etc). I know that homelessness is just part of life for many people it is just hard to see someone get on a bus and drive off knowing that he has nothing to go back to. It was a hard moment but I have faith that he will be ok. He will find a job. He will find an apartment. He will be ok.

Day 114: Dec 2, 2014

Today was filled with lots of scheduling. I basically spent the whole day figuring out the December schedule and trying to fit in outs and holidays. It was a little frustrating but I figured out December by the end of the morning and then I was able to get January done pretty quickly in the afternoon. January was much easier to figure out since there are really no holidays that I needed to work around. Lunch was probably the most exciting part of my day, though. I found out that the couple who just got engaged are also expecting a baby! It was such an exciting moment. I am glad that they told us before people started questioning it. She isn't really showing but it did help explain why he needed the same days off each month. Now we have two things to look forward to- a wedding and a pregnancy!

The day ended with a few rounds of trivia. My team lost pretty badly but it was still fun.

Day 115: Dec 3, 2014

Another day of lead cooking without cooking. Today we labeled the walk-ins so that everything has a place. Pretty much our entire day was filled with rolling tape, sticking up labels, laminating labels and cutting them out. I think we are actually going to start doing things in the kitchen tomorrow. Who knows.

Day 116: Dec 4, 2014

Today was rough. We spent no time in the kitchen but all morning and part of the afternoon moving dry goods around. I felt like Peeta Melark from Hunger games, I was throwing so many bags of flour. I ended up taking a nap during lunch. Luckily the afternoon was a little easier. We inventoried the freezers (that was fun, trying to count as fast as possible) and labeled about 40 different spice jars. We did end a little early which was nice so I made it just in time to watch Pitch Perfect in my chalet with a bunch of other people. I think we are watching Love Actually later tonight. It should be good. Tomorrow we are going to actually do some cooking. It should be fun (hopefully).

Day 117: Dec 5, 2014

Today was pretty wonderful. Long, but wonderful. We started the day finishing the general prep of the kitchen-cleaning, spice organization, etc. In the afternoon we made some bread and FINALLY started to do some “cooking”. I say “cooking” because dinner was a sandwich bar so we were really just cutting and preping things. We also made some yogurt that will hopefully be ready for tomorrow morning. In all we worked 10 hours today. I am exhausted but it was a good day. Tomorrow I get to work the morning shift. It should be fun and that way I will have done both shifts before my weekend.

Day 118: Dec 6, 2014

I cut down my first real Christmas tree today! After work (I worked the first shift so was done at 1:30pm), my Chalet-mates and I grabbed a few sleds and started walking down the road. Jade jumped in one of the sleds so I pulled her as we scanned the trees for the perfect one (it wasn't too hard to pull her since the snow was packed down and somewhat icy on the road). About 15-20 minutes in, we saw a few good ones so we climbed up the embankment and checked them out. We also had to dig through about a foot of snow to make sure that we actually knew how tall they were. The tree we ended up picking was about a foot and a half too tall but we cut it down anyway and dragged it to the sleds, sinking down into the snow with every step. Our tree is full but looks somewhat sparse to me. Partly because I am used to a fake tree and partly because it is a pine rather than a fir (basically our tree has needles). The needles are about 4in long and are a pale forest green. Pictures ensued and we pulled our new Christmas tree back to the village. As we headed back snowballs began flying and once we reached our chalet the fight began in earnest. I hooked the cord from the sled around my leg so the tree would not start sliding down the hill and began chucking snowballs at Alex, Jade and Leah. It was so much fun but had to stop so that we could get the tree into water. We grabbed a bucket and some rocks to hold the tree up and trimmed the extra branches. It is still about 3in too tall so the top is bent but I think that gives it character. All we need to do now is have Alex pick up some Christmas lights while he is out so that we can decorate it!

My second day of work was pretty good. Since the first shift makes two meals it was a little harder just to make sure that everything was working with the timing of things. The only downside to my morning was that I had to go through a bag of rotting potatoes to try to find the ones that we could salvage. The best way that I can describe the stench was that it smelled like rotting meat or like a dead mouse that had been forgotten about for at least a week. It was so bad that I had to tie a cloth around my nose just to help reduce the smell. It worked a little but not as well as I would have liked. It was horrible but after they were sorted I made sure that I was going to get to be the one to use the chopping/slicing machine to cut them up. I was not going to endure the sorting without the reward of using a cool machine. Other than that, the shift was pretty unremarkable.

Week 16

Day 105: Nov 23, 2014

Well, we have officially lost a step. It was so beautiful this morning. It was like there were baby snowballs falling from the sky. As Steph (one of the directors) said, “It is like living in a snow globe that was turned upside-down.” It is just so amazing. Coffee and Conversation (C+C) was held at our chalet today and so we turned on the VHS of the 2012 olympic gymnastics and put it on mute so people could still talk. It was funny how much people were sucked in even though there was no sound. C+C was capped off by watching James (I think he is in his 50s maybe and has some sort of mental disability) running toward the sledding hill with his shirt off and tucked into his pocket. He then proceeded to grab a sled and run up the hill. It was great because a few of the kids were on the hill and the look on their faces as he passed were priceless. I mean just imagine, an overweight, balding (yet still has long hair), shirtless, older man runs past you as you are heading up a hill to go sledding. After he went down the hill (still shirtless) he came up to us (we were watching from the porch) and told us that it was his tradition to go sledding shirtless. I am not sure if that was specifically for the first time or if it is every time. I guess we will find out.

The afternoon was filled with a nap, some work on the fort, and a snowball fight. The fort now looks like something from Dr. Seuss. It has three arches and a slide. I just hope it doesn't get ruined by the predicted rain. Tomorrow is apparently my last early morning at the cart. I have mixed feelings about it. I mean, there are only two regulars who still come in the morning but I like seeing them and I like the solitude and faster internet that comes with waking up early. I guess the current kitchen coordinator said that she could use me this week so I will spend some of my extra time with her. The change is coming and I am not sure how I feel about it. I do know, however, that I am more confident then I was before. I realized that I wasn't hired because of any cooking experience but, rather, my experience teaching others the basics of cooking. I may not have the experience in an industrial kitchen but I can lead and teach others who may have no cooking experience at all.

Day 106: Nov 24, 2014

So, today I am going to give a quick overview but something just happened that I would like to share. This morning was my last early morning at the coffee cart and as much as the earliness sucks sometimes, I am going to miss it. I really enjoyed meeting and talking to a few of the remediation guys every morning. I learned about their lives, their kids, their personalities, their quirks, and, of course, their drink preferences. I know that most of them are gone at this point anyway but there were still three guys who came in this morning. It hurt a little to tell them that this was the last morning but there was another feeling mixed in. I can't think of the right word but gratitude comes to mind. These guys really appreciated the fact that I was there and today they truly voiced it. I almost teared up. But tomorrow starts the transition. I will work a few hours less at the cart and a few hours more in getting ready for the kitchen. The day was capped off with a homemade meal (soup, bread and pie) to celebrate two birthdays and a session about movie production.

Now on to that previously mentioned thing that I wanted to share. After the session ended (it was about twice as long as I thought it was going to be) I headed up to the dining hall to get some hot water for tea. As I was heading toward the hot water dispenser, I noticed one of the twenty-somethings on the couch. He looked kind of down. He says I am intuitive to others' feelings but I think in this case it was pretty obvious that something wasn't right. I mean, he was sitting on the couch with his legs up, listening to music, and writing in his journal. If he didn't want someone to talk to him he would have been in his room but that is not the point here. He pointed out something that I already knew but hadn't thought about too much. We live in community here which means, contrary to what he thought when coming in, that cliques tend to form. Everyone is welcome into the community but it can take a little more work to fit into a group. It would be nice if we could all truly be ourselves all the time but, as he found out, that is just not always realistic if you want to fit in. It sucks but is true. The benefits of living in community are great. Lasting friendships are made, conflict resolution skills are (hopefully) refined, and people are more willing to welcome your faults. One downside that we realized tonight (and kind of on other nights) is that there are few people to be your friend. So in this case, he is younger than most of us but not in high school which means he is generally less mature than most of us but also hasn't formed the thicker skin that comes with going to college/living an “adult” life. It makes it harder to fit into the community and I am sorry to say that I did not try as hard as I could have to get the other twenty-somethings to welcome him. I saw the way that they looked at him and judged some of the things he did but because they didn't spend the time to get to know him they weren't able to see past the goofball exterior. I don't really blame them, it is human nature to judge people before they get to know them but sometimes, when living in community, I think we need to work harder at looking past those first judgements. While living in community here I am noticing some similarities between here and college. Granted, I did go to a small school (although not Holden Village small) but in hanging out with friends you are making miniature intentional communities. Sometimes (ok, mostly) those communities have faults, friends fight, people start to grow apart while others try to hold the group together, and all sorts of other things. We just need to find a way to welcome all into our community (even if they will only be here for a short amount of time) while still maintaining our individual friendships. It is hard to spend the time trying to maintain a friendship that you know will end/be separated in three months when you are also trying to maintain a friendship that you know will last at least 9 months if not longer.

I feel like that was kind of all over the place but I needed to at least get my thoughts down onto the page so thanks for reading.

Day 107: Nov 25, 2014

It was a wet, slushy day. It rained for a good chunk of the night and into the morning so all of the compacted snow had lost its structural integrity which meant that much of my walk outside was me sinking 4 inches into wet snow. It didn't get any better into the morning. The road had about 5-6 inches worth of slush and water all over it. This made for some very slow street crossings. It even rained and snowed at the same time today. It wasn't sleet. There were literally raindrops and snowflakes falling at the same time. It was kind of miserable. However, by the afternoon it had started to snow again which was nice because it helped to solidify the mush that was the street. I was able to “sleep in” today (I still woke up at 6) so it was light out when I went to work which was weird but ok. It was funny, though, when I walked into the coffee shop, the carpet was gone and the yoga class was in there because the library is full of furniture from the coffee shop. So, I did what any good shop keeper does, I started opening up the cart. I set up, turned on the water, and turned on the cart. The only things that I didn't do involved a fair amount of noise, like grinding the beans and cleaning the steam wand. I held off on that so as not to disturb their class too much. I had extra time and so was in no rush to start grinding beans. This afternoon I started some of my kitchen duties. I am doing the work schedules so I spent most of the afternoon fixing an excel document (putting in functions that had disappeared) and figuring out days off and making sure that ever shift was covered. It wasn't as hard as you might think but I am sure it gets harder as people take outs and other things happen that mess with the beauty of a schedule that makes perfect sense. After a quick meeting, I headed to one of the lodges to watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Mark and James. I was really tired but it was their last afternoon here so I wanted to hang out with them. If it hadn't been such a good movie I probably would have fallen asleep on someone's shoulder. My calm evening ended with watching Community and helping Alex with some more of his knitting. He is getting much better and is faster than most of the knitters here (it is mostly because he is knitting in the continental style which means you don't have to let go of one of the needles every time you make a stitch. It is, in general, a much faster knitting style once you get used to it.

Day 108: Nov 26, 2014

Over all, it was a pretty calm normal Wednesday. I worked at the coffee cart in the morning, tried to take a nap in the afternoon, and played dominoes after the staff meeting. The only downside of the day was that I burned my hand with some very hot water. The burn was focused on the back of my hand and my thumb. Of course, the part of the burn that doesn't move ended up being the part that cooled off quickly enough. So the back of my hand is pretty much fine but after running my thumb under cold water for about 15 minutes and spending almost the whole afternoon icing it on and off it still burns if it is off the ice for too long. We shall see how I sleep tonight. Hopefully, once I fall asleep it won't wake me up. At least I get the day off tomorrow!

Day 109: Nov 27, 2014

ugh. I am so incredibly full right now. Even though this is the first time that I have been away from family for Thanksgiving, it was a wonderful day. I slept in a little but then quickly joined the photographing of the Turkey Trot. The Turkey Trot was about a two mile run/obstacle course where people guessed their time before the run and whoever got the closest to their predicted time won. There was snowman building, sledding, pin the feather on the turkey and a few other things. I just ran around and took pictures of people doing the course. It was a lot of fun. We had brunch at 10 and then got ready for the Copper Bowl (the football game). It was the Saints vs. the Sinners. I was on the Sinner team which was pretty great. I went down to Potty Patrol to grab some clothes that I could trash. The football game was two hand touch and was played in our parking lot. The lot was filled with slush and mud. I ended up wearing soccer cleats that had holes in them. I tried to patch them up with duct tape but found out after walking through a puddle that I didn't do as good of a job at patching as I thought. By the end of the game my feet were drenched and freezing but I had so much fun. The game was streamed, live, into one of the buildings so people could watch the game with commentary while being warm. By the end of the game, the sinners were up 4-2 and so the ref started helping the saints. For example, he called a delay of game even though a timeout was called and then placed the ball right beyond the goal line and said that a safety was worth a touchdown. We kept the ball out of the end zone so no safety was called but the saints almost got a touchdown on the final play. ALMOST but the ref called it good just to make the game closer. So the ref called it as worth one touchdown which would have made the game 4-3 in favor of the Sinners but the commentators called the game a tie. Basically, in one play the actual score was 4-2, the ref's attempt made it 4-3, and the commentator's score was 4-4. Honestly, I was just glad to go inside to warm up my feet. My time indoors was cut short, though, by the announcement that a bunch of people were going to go to the jacuzzi to warm up. So, I quickly changed and ran off to the jacuzzi to warm up. While in the jacuzzi we decided that it would be a good idea to make snow angels in our swim suits (hint: it was still really cold) and a few people even ran to grab sleds and went sledding. It was great fun which had to end so that we could shower and get ready for our Thanksgiving feast. There was turkey, ham, stuffing with cranberries and apples (pretty amazing), mashed potatoes (way better than usual), candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, roasted root veggies (really good), and a huge table of desserts. I was only able to eat about 3/4 of the relatively small plate of food that I took before I felt like I was going to throw up. I hadn't even had a bite of dessert. Luckily, there was some foil that I wrapped up my baklava and pumpkin pie in. I figure I have a pretty good breakfast all ready for me for tomorrow. It feels like tomorrow is going to be a sunday. After the meal, a group of us gathered in our chalet and watched a movie. Even though it was only 8pm by the time the movie was done it felt like it was 11. It made for a wonderful evening filler because otherwise I can see me just sitting in my room thinking about all of the family things that I am missing. BUT THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN! Instead, after the movie, I sat in my room typing this up, listening to Christmas music, trying not to fall asleep, while a bunch of people watch Lord of the Rings in the living room. At midnight, tonight, the bookstore is opening to do a (short) Black Friday sale. Apparently, there are going to be some items that are going to be 90% off. At that discount they are almost forcing me to go. My alarm is set for 11:30pm so that I can still get enough sleep tonight. I work tomorrow so I do need to sleep a little before I head to the sale. It was such a wonderful day and I hope your Thanksgiving was just as wonderful.

Day 110: Nov 28, 2014

Today was my last day at the coffee cart until spring (hopefully that is what I will be doing in the spring). It was bitter-sweet. I really enjoy working at the coffee cart. I can chat with remediation workers and be a “therapist” to villagers who just need to talk to someone. However, it will be nice to be able to sleep in 5 out of 7 days. It is time for a change, I guess. Other than the finality of it, today was a pretty normal day. I worked the coffee cart, loaded a kiln with pottery, made some arts and crafts, bought some stuff that was super on sale at the bookstore, (90% off. I got a jean shirt for $4 and a badly printed photo for $3- I figured I could take the photo out of the matting and put in one of my dad's and put the photo that I bought on my wall as some decoration until I get something better) and pulled out some decorations for Christmas. We now have 12 stockings hanging on our mantle. It is a pretty impressive display. I don't think I have ever seen that many stockings in one place hung by the fire with care.

Day 111: Nov 29, 2014

 My day off started with a lovely morning of crafting. I taught Laura and Honna how to knit on one of those Nifty Knitters (basically a circle with a bunch of pegs on it). Then I spent some time doing some random crafts like making some envelopes to send letters with. Why use a regular envelope when you can send a letter in style? I guess I have to write some letters now... The rest of my day was filled with cleaning my room and washing sheets, towels and the like. I still need to vacuum but our vacuum tends to make everything smell like burning rubber so I try to use it as little as possible. Otherwise, though, my room looks way better. The day was completed with a coffee shop and a lovely variety show complete with a spanish pop star, some poetry, a few music videos, and a surprise video from Mark and James (who left on Wednesday). Only one more day until I am in the kitchen. 

Week 15

Day 98: Nov 16, 2014

Another cold day. Luckily it is getting warmer by the day! Today was pretty much like any other day except that the Packers set a new franchise record of scoring more than 50 points in two games in a row. It was a pretty great game from what I saw on the play by play updates. We also started up the kiln tonight. I helped to put up the door. It was basically like playing tetris with bricks. So, hopefully, the pottery will be done and cooled by Tuesday.

Day 99: Nov 17, 2014

It was a miserable morning. My only unbroken grinder broke, only this was a break that I had to fix if I wanted to use the grinder at all. Basically, I could hear the motor running but it wasn't reaching the grinding wheel to make the grinder spin. So, being the person that I am, I spent all morning taking apart the machine, cleaning it, checking the wiring, testing it, putting it back together, testing the grind, realizing that the grind was too fine (the espresso machine could not force any water through the grounds), spending another two hours trying to make the dumb grind adjustment knob to move, all while making coffee for people and really just wanting to take a sledgehammer to the dumb thing. After lunch, I tried to take a nap but it was too cold in my room. I even covered my face with a pillow to try to help warm me up (it didn't really work). However, even though my nap was basically nonexistent and my morning sucked, the evening totally made up for it. After dinner, I taught Alex how to knit (we have meetings all day tomorrow and he wanted something to do). I think he has it down. He is working on some fingerless gloves as his first project which is nice because he learned how to knit and purl and, later he will learn how to increase and decrease. Equally as awesome, was the hootenanny that happened after vespers. A five gallon bucket of popcorn was made, a fire that actually produced heat was lit, I was truly warm, if not hot, for the first time in days. It was wonderful! Lots too look forward to tomorrow. I am pretty much the only one, besides the people who are leading the meetings, that has to work tomorrow. I start at 5am, work until 7:45, breakfast and morning vespers until the meeting starts at 8:30. Then the whole village will sit together in HR meetings until 4:30pm. Basically I am going to have a 12 hour day tomorrow and I won't be able to get my nap in. I am SO not looking forward to tomorrow. But hey, at least I will get lots of knitting done.

Day 100!! Nov 18, 2014

Well, this morning wasn't too bad. There were many questions asked that I felt were clearly answered in what had been said so that was a little frustrating but I did get almost a foot of my scarf done. At coffee break I ran back to the cart because we were giving away free lattes. Earlier in the morning I had set up a system to help things go faster. I knew that there were going to be three of us working the cart, which is a lot of people in a small place. It could have been really hectic but I decided to label all of the syrups and I set up a system so that I could label the cups with a dry erase marker so that the person pulling shots and putting in syrups would know what went into each drink even though they did not take the order. It worked out pretty well and we were each able to focus on our areas with only one mix up made (it was the last drink so our minds were a little fried). I was really glad it worked out because I feel like it increased my credibility for at least the one person who I did not train. It is one of those things where they work at the cart maybe once a month but because they have been doing that for a longer amount of time, they feel that they know more about the cart. I respect that they have seen it through the years but they have not taken it apart to fix it, they have not spent hours, upon hours, upon hours, with the cart. It is really frustrating when someone like that comes in and then reorganizes things or tries to change things. Oh well, I do have other things to talk about because right now I am only up to 11am in the day.

The second half of the whole village meeting was where we did the sexual harassment video and harassment talk. It was ok until a request was made that we do not as openly talk about sexuality. The person was a parent and was basically making the request that we try to be more aware of what we are talking about around the kids. People kinda freaked out and thought that she was asking that we don't talk about homosexuality at all. I don't think that that was her intent but then again, this is the same parent who doesn't want her kids to go through sex ed in the school. I think her request, in the general sense, was totally valid. It is not ok to talk about sex in front of a 10 year old but I do think it is ok if people talk about how their brother (or whoever) loves a person of the same sex. It didn't help that I was not feeling very good at this point so I just really wanted to leave.

The afternoon small group session was really no better. In fact, in the afternoon session, I almost felt a little attacked, not personally but as a person of my age group. The fact that prohibition is going to be lifted soon was brought up and many of the parents seemed very concerned that (they did not say specifically but did imply) the twenty-somethings were going to go crazy. I mean, yeah, we are younger but most of us have gone through college and know our limits, preferences, and how to be responsible. Our manager actually brought up the fact that our chalet was once known as the party house and that made the two moms freak out (especially the one with the teenager). They almost said that they felt it should be prohibited because they don't want their girls to see people drinking. You can be protective, that is your right, but if you are too protective your kids are going to go crazy once they are on their own. Another thing is that there are two entrances into our building and one of them goes upstairs without going through the living room. Basically, they could avoid any party completely. The other thing is that the twenty-somethings living here are all pretty calm. There are maybe two young adults in this house who actually drink more than one drink in a sitting. Even then, when they have the opportunity to get drunk and do they have the experience from school to be smart and it ends up being more of a chance to talk more openly than they might otherwise. I hope the moms are not so protective that they don't want their girls to see anyone drink any sort of alcoholic beverage even if it is a beer or glass of wine during a movie. If they have a problem with that, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a problem with that. If they really want to go there, it is still 5 to 2. I don't drink but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't side with the twenty-somethings. They might be moms but they are not our moms and do not have the power to control everything that happens in this chalet. They need to have the faith that we will be responsible. They have no reason and no evidence to the contrary. Basically, I felt indirectly attacked but the meeting ended before I could say anything. I am going to talk to the mom with the younger girl just to let her know that the twenty-somethings who live with her have talked about this and do not plan on having parties here. There are better places for parties where there are not kids. I just want her to know that we considered them even before the topic was brought up by the higher up and that we respect them and their wishes. Maybe it will increase the trust level.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cutting up vegetables with the other lead cooks. It was fun to gather as a group and prepare a meal (I will talk about that later) but I was also intimidated because as of right now I am the only one in the group who does not have any experience in an industrial kitchen. I think the most number of people that I have ever cooked for was about 20 and it was in a cruddy college dorm kitchen. I don't really know any of the practices or anything beyond the actual process of cooking or chopping. I am sure it will all be fine but it is still intimidating.

Dinner, however, was great. We made hobo meals (vegetables and sausage in tinfoil) and cooked it over a long fire out in the middle of the village. The food took a while to cook (35-40 minutes) but was amazing. It was simple, the only extra flavorings were salt and pepper but the fire just cooked everything wonderfully. There was some nice caramelization on the carrots, bell peppers, and onions. The potatoes were easily pierced with a knife and the sausage was nice and charred on one side and cooked all the way through. It was interesting, though, I think my meal tasted like it had a little bit of pine smoke flavoring. It was not a bad flavor by any means but it was definitely interesting. It was all capped off with s'mores and fresh of the kiln pottery. My mug came out ok. A bunch of people really like it but I was kind of disappointed with the glaze. It just didn't do what it should have. Oh well, I still have something like 8 months to make more things and plan on spending more time in there during the winter when I can't really spend as much time outside.

Ok, that was a ridiculous amount of writing and I have been up since 4:30am and worked almost 12 hours today. I think it is time for bed (even though it is only 8:30pm).

Day 101: Nov 19, 2014

Today was pretty good except that we found out that tomorrow is going to be a late start day. My entire day is before the day is going to start tomorrow which means that Hannah does not have a late start. Even if I did, the main reason why I am there in the morning is for the remediation guys and they are why we are open so early. Basically, no matter what, I have to be at the cart at 5am I was really frustrated because I felt like my manager had forgotten about me (which he had). People were excited and talking about how they were going to sleep in and I was just like, yeah, not me. I will be the only one working tomorrow. It is not that I don't love the coffee cart because I really do, it just sucked that everyone else was given off work except for me. After our staff meeting today, I was talking to Tamera, the craft cave lady, about my day and my manager was in the same room. I was just talking about how it had been a long few days and it sucked that I had to work. Tamara, being the mom that she is, immediately got up and went over to our manager and basically told him to give me part of the day. So, I will still serve the remediation guys in the morning but then I will close down pretty much right away. That way I can still have the time off that everyone else will have. I feel bad though. Some of the villagers were excited to just hang out at the coffee cart in the morning. Oh well, I need to learn how to tell them to basically suck it up. I do that anyway sometimes when people come after closing and I have already started cleaning up. At that point I just tell people, “Hey, I am sorry but we closed 5 minutes ago”. I just wish I had the time at this point to let people know that we will be closed. But hey, since I am closing early I will be able to take my Washington Food Handler's permit test after I close and then I will get breakfast and then I can go back to bed, all before 8am-ish. Let's just hope I don't hear about it tomorrow. At least, I can always pull the “My manager told me to” card and I will leave a few pots of coffee out so that people can still get their caffeine if needed. And of course, PMS does not aid in the emotional roller coaster that I have been on in the last few days. I am just going higher on the good parts and lower if not much lower on the low parts. I mean, I almost cried when talking to my manager about working tomorrow. A mix of frustration and perhaps relief, maybe? I don't know but it is time to go to bed before I use too many kleenexes.

Day 102: Nov 20, 2014

Well, the power has gone off 5 or 6 times now. It was off for most of the afternoon. I am not quite sure why but part of my afternoon was spent reading my book in the living room with only the sunlight coming in through the window to aid me. Alex and Leah were quick to join me. When the power came back on the first time we decided to finish up the puzzle that has been in our living room for a while. The power went out 3 times while we were working on it but we pulled out our headlamps and continued. I like to call it extreme puzzling. Vespers started in darkness and ended in darkness with a little bit of light in the middle. It has been getting us ready for the winter ;). This morning I worked a little while but then closed up and took my food handler's permit test. I was back in bed by 8:00am and asleep by 8:30. It was wonderful.

Day 103: Nov 21, 2014

I think we got over a foot of snow in just the afternoon. When I got off of work there were probably 3 inches of snow but by the time I went back outside at around 4 there were 10 inches on the ground. It was awesome! A bunch of us went sledding down Chalet Hill. The hill is maybe the size of a football field and is the perfect amount of steepness. You get to the top just after you get tired of climbing the hill. It is pretty much perfect. We spent about an hour outside on the hill. It was mostly some twenty-somethings but Jade, one of the ten year olds, and Keith, one of the dads, were out there with us for a while. There are probably about 20 sleds here so we can pick and choose which sled we want to use. We sled down regularly, on our stomachs, head first, in chains, holding hands, and raced. It was a wonderful way to spend the evening and it is still snowing. Who knows how much I will wake up to in the morning. I am so excited!

Day 104: Nov 22, 2014

Today was a day filled with sledding, engineering, photography, and cinematography. So, this morning, right after breakfast, I took a few trips down the hill with a few of the kids. It was pretty great and I even found my favorite sled. It is a classic, bright orange, 3.5ft by 1.5ft sled. It is a beaut. In the afternoon I grabbed my camera for a few action shots of the sledding but mainly, I spent my time working with Ellen, a recent engineering grad. We built an awesome snow fort. It isn't quite finished but the walls are about 3 feet high and there is even an arch on one of the walls. Now this was not an arch that was dug out of the snow. Rather, it was constructed with snowballs, a little finessing and leaning, with the final touch of a keystone made of snow. It was a beautiful work of snow engineering. Once we got cold, we headed inside for some cocoa and a little bit of warmth. The day of playing ended with a showing of some episodes of the Simpsons and the movie I Love You, Man. Oh! I almost forgot! It was one of the directors' birthday today and so, along with singing Happy Birthday, we also did a snow dance in the hopes that instead of the rain predicted, we will get snow instead. I hope it worked. 

Week 14

Day 91: Nov 9, 2014

Well, the rain came back today so I spent most of my day inside. However, that did mean that I was able to finish my slippers and felt them. I, also, got to spend some quality time with Jade (one of the 10-year-olds) and her American Girl dolls which was fun. To top the relaxing day off, the Packers slaughtered the Bears. I was hoping to go to a game night tonight but then I realized that I was only going to be there for a half hour before I would have to go to bed so I ended up staying in my room and harvested some pomegranate seeds for a snack tomorrow morning. It is amazing how many seeds can come out of one fruit. Well, it is supposed to be sunny for the next 3 days so I am going to try to get plenty of sleep tonight so I won't have to take a nap tomorrow afternoon.

Day 92: Nov 10, 2014

Oh man, it was cold today. The ice is beginning to form on the bricks in the morning. Luckily, I have learned where the icy spots tend to be so I can avoid them like the plague. The day was pretty average otherwise. Although, I did play chess with Jade and won (just barely). The daily cuteness was provided by Leif. We had set up some chairs for a skit at vespers and Leif just went right up to them, sat there, and even invited Chris (one of the parents of a high schooler) to sit next to him. Leif then proceeded to cross his legs just like Chris. It was so cute that I had to get a picture. I was part of the skit today in vespers. I was the driver of a vehicle that first picked up Jesus and then some villagers. I, then, promptly forgot that I had picked him up until everyone had been dropped off. I am not really sure how it connected to the story of building on solid rock rather than sand but, whatever, not my problem. The evening was capped off with a presentation about someone's trip to the Ukraine. It was very interesting to hear about her work (she was an election observer).

Day 93: Nov 11, 2014

It snowed today! Daily cuteness: Hannah (the 2 year old) was wearing a tutu at dinner tonight and at one point when I looked over, she was dancing. It was so cute,

Day 94: Nov 12, 2014

Well, the troops are starting to leave. One of my remediation regulars left today. He was the first of the group. He always ordered a hazelnut and caramel latte. But, it was not goodbye forever. He, as well as many others, will be back in May when the snow melts. A pretty awesome thing happened at the cart today, though! Lately I have been working on learning the geology of the area and more about metamorphic and igneous rock in general. I was working on it a little when one of the remediation guys asked me what I was working on. It turned out that he is a geologist by training and actually had a scientific paper about the geology of the Holden mine in his backpack. He even let me borrow it. I ended up making a copy of it so that I could take notes directly on the page. Since it is a scientific paper, there are things that I don't know or things that are pretty dense so I find it easier to make note of things I will need to ask about directly on the reading. Highlighting and making notes also slows down my reading so I can actually take in the information a little better. I started reading during my shift but then had to move on the other things. In the afternoon I spent probably about 3 hours darning the crotch area of a pair of my jeans. As much fun as it was, I am happy that I only had one pair to do. Other than that it is really cold here (the low is hovering just above zero) so I am starting to layer up.

Day 95: Nov 13, 2014

It is so cold in my room. I think it got below 5* today and I don't think the electric heater can handle the load from the village. Even my radiator is barely warm to the touch. Luckily, I have plenty of blankets and a hot water bottle so I can preheat my bed. Hopefully, it will warm up soon. It can't snow if it is as cold as it is. At least I don't have to work outside so it really could be worse.

Day 96: Nov 14, 2014

Daily Cuteness: It was so cute! Leif was hanging out in the coffee shop today and he decided that he wanted to help me so I invited him behind the counter. I gave him a small espresso cup filled with steamed milk and he sat on my stool and “took orders”. It was so great. Today, the bus was filled with friends and it was wonderful to have them back. The village is so much more alive now. In the afternoon, I spent my time making a wreath out of pinecones and some greenery. I think it turned out really nice. It is still freaking cold but my room was warm enough today that I could sit in my room without freezing.

Day 97: Nov 15, 2014

I watched Space jam this morning and it was pretty fantastic! Just as I was about to finish it, Mark came in to ask if I wanted to come play pool with him, his little brother, and James. I kinda felt bad because every time this week that he has invited me to things I have been either busy or about to go to bed so I said I would go as soon as my movie was over. I ended up being there before they were so I just practiced and tried to get the balls in the pockets. Basically, I was happy if I was able to hit the cue ball and then have the cue ball hit the ball I wanted it too. It was still fun but the pool hall isn't heated so I was wearing my mittens, a scarf, and my hood. The guys brought a space heater and, thinking that it would help immediately, they were not properly attired. I had the forethought to realize that it would have taken a hundred space heaters to make any difference in such a large space with a concrete floor. In the afternoon we watched Frozen with the new girl, Hallie, because she had never seen it before and had the afternoon off. Other than that, the evening was capped off with a wonderful chat with Alex, a short game of Taboo played before Vespers, and an evening activity of Minute to Win It. Minute to Win It was great. So basically you have a minute to complete certain challenges. For example, in one challenge six ping pong balls are put into a kleenex box that is tied around your waist and resting on your butt. The goal is to get all of the balls out in less that a minute and before your opponent. Another challenge was where you had to get a piece of dessert bar from your forehead to your mouth without using you hands (I tried this later and could do it but it is really hard). One of the kids that did it is five and he decided that his wrists didn't count as using your hands. We cheered when he “completed” the challenge anyway. The challenge I completed in was one where you had to bounce a ping pong ball on the table and then have is stick to a piece of peanut butter toast. I went last so I was able to watch strategies a little bit. I learned that it is best if the ball bounces more than once (then there is less force trying to rip the ball off of the toast and the distance between bounces is less so chances are higher that it will bounce in the right spot. I ended up going for quantity to balls thrown rather than quality of the throw. My idea was that if I could send twice as many balls down because I was using both hands or throwing more than one at a time, then my chances of sticking more than four would be greater. I know my aim isn't the best but it doesn't matter too much if you are increasing your odds at other points in the challenge. It worked out well for me. I think I got six or eight to stick. I didn't really count after five. It was so much fun! Almost as great, if not better, was the fact that when I walked into my house it was warmer than it had been! Don't get me wrong, it is still too cold for a living space but it is better. I hope everyone had a great week!

Week 13

Day 84: Nov 2, 2014

Today was pretty darn marvelous. It was the second day in a row where there was blue sky almost all day! So, because it was daylight-savings last night, I was up and ready to go an hour early. I ended up starting a movie before going to breakfast. After breakfast and finishing the movie, I spent some quality time stacking wood onto our porch so that we can have fires in our fireplace this winter. Lunch was followed by bread making (for communion) and chatting in my room. I got to show Alex, Leah, and Benji my favorite purchase ever, my LED light strip. It is sooo cool. It is controlled by a remote and you can change the colors and brightness and oh man, it is just the coolest thing. Once the bread was done, we were going to go for a walk down to Ten Mile Creek but after eating one of the loafs of bread between four of us we decided not to go (I know it should have been the other way around but it wasn't). Instead we watched a VHS recording of the 2012 summer olympic games, specifically the women's gymnastics and some of the swimming. Leah and Alex fell asleep during it but I don't blame them, it was 2 hours long. All in all, it was a great day off!

Day 85: Nov 3, 2014

I GOT MAIL TODAY (and it wasn't just from my mom)!!!! It is more exciting to get mail here than at college. I think it is partly because I don't get all of the junk fillers that went into the boxes at times. Now when I get mail it either means money has gone into my account or someone loves me. It is pretty great. Ok, other than that exciting piece of news, I did not take a nap today. Instead, I spent about four hours in the craft cave. About half of the time I was working on a weaving project (I am making a rug), 45% of my time was spent making encouragement cards and the remaining 5% of the time was making felted soap (put wool over soap, put soap in bag with hot water, agitate, and voila- felted soap). I decided to make some encouragement cards because it is getting darker and people seem to be a little more frustrated, tired, or just down in general. The cards are simple. They are about the size of an index card and they just say “have a great day” along with a little picture of a sun. They aren't much and didn't take too much time to make each one but hopefully they will brighten someone's day, even if it is just by a little bit. I am going to keep them in my backpack and scope out who seems to need one while I am at the coffee cart. If someone seems to be having a particularly bad day, they will receive a card in their mailbox. I have not signed them and don't really plan on telling people that it is me because it doesn't really matter who is trying to lift spirits, only that it is happening. Who knows- maybe people will pass them along when they notice that someone needs a pick-me-up.

It is getting darker in the village. I needed my flashlight to go to dinner at 5:30 today.

Day 86: Nov 4, 2014

Another ordinary day. The only thing worth mention was the fire alarm that happened at 9pm. Once again, it was lodge 2 that went off. I think they thought they had fixed the wiring issue that was setting off the alarm but I am going to guess that was the issue again. Hopefully, it stays quiet for the night.

Day 87: Nov 5, 2014

quick rant: If you have a problem with someone, particularly someone above you, talk to them about it. Don't use a meeting where they are gone to totally rip on them. Explanation- So today we had our usual hospitality meeting but, unfortunately, our manager had to leave for a family emergency. One of my co-workers has been having issues with communication lately and seems to not be able to accept that they are not the highest person on the totem pole. So, they were already in a mood because the amount of power available has been limited and they felt that they should have been told before everyone else found out. Then our manager left and this person felt that our manager should have told everyone that he was leaving (it was last minute and our manager can't be expected to run around trying to find everyone to let them know). The person then proceeded to rant about the fact that our manager doesn't go and find him every day to see if this person has questions. Basically, they want our manager to be everywhere, all of the time. This person decided to b*tch about it during our meeting when our manager isn't there to address the problem. Then, when a few of us tried to support our manager since he could not do it himself, this person got mad that we were supporting our manager. Basically, the meeting was an incredibly uncomfortable meeting of one or two people ripping on someone who wasn't even there. I was so uncomfortable.

At least the day ended well, though. There was a movie after dinner that was good and the staff meeting was relatively short. My day ended with a few games of dominoes and an episode of Girls. It all turned an uncomfortable morning into a relatively good day.

Day 88: Nov 6, 2014

Another average day. The only things of note were the fact that we have started puzzles in the coffee shop (we finished one today) and a group of us watched Step Up last night. Such a good yet horrible movie all at the same time. It was a ton of fun.

Day 89: Nov 7, 2014

It was so cool! So, this morning was finally clear! I couldn't see many stars because of a full moon but I could see Orion. He was standing on Copper Mountain perfectly. It was beautiful. Tonight was equally as amazing. We have a full moon right now and at night it lights up the snow on Dumbbell mountain. The mountain literally glows in the moonlight. It is so incredible and I could never capture it on camera (I did try). It will just have to live mostly in my memory.

Day 90: Nov 8, 2014

Today was lovely. In the morning, I went out for a walk along a 2ish mile loop by the village. I went off the trail a little to climb around on some boulders and walk along some deer trails (I saw 15 deer within the first 10 minutes of the walk. It was crazy) but mostly I was looking for materials to turn into Christmas wreaths. During my scavenger hunt, I also found a few down logs that I think will make good carving wood so I brought some of that back as well. The afternoon was spent knitting a slipper that I am going to felt and watching MASH. I had to stop for about 2 hours because they were working on something at the power plant so the power was out. I knew it was going to be a long outage after it stayed out for about 20 minutes so I took a nap (I didn't feel like draining my computer battery). It was a beautiful day and I am glad that I was able to spend most of the day outside.

Week 11 and 12

Day 70: Oct 19, 2014

My day off was spent chucking wood and making coffee for coffee and conversation. Or at least that was my morning. I actually really enjoyed moving wood into chalets. Groups of about ten gathered in front of a wood pile and made a chain of people into the basements of the chalets. Wood was then passed from person to person and stacked into piles. It was a good ab work out since we were constantly twisting with weight in our hands. For me, it was also a good outer thigh workout because I was doing the “wood chucking dance”. Basically I was switching from one leg to the other as I was leaning to grab wood and then leaning the other way to pass it on to the next person. I figured I was one of the youngest there and my body could take a little more of a beating. Plus, it was a really good workout and kinda fun. In the afternoon, I showed a new staff person around the village and by the time I was done they were pretty much done chucking wood. So, I grabbed my knitting and watched “The Land Before Time” with Benji and Elise. Right before dinner, a few of us got together and walked the trail that we are going to use for our haunted trail on Halloween. We have some really creepy and scary things planned. It is going to be great! The plan for the trail is to make it scary enough to scare the remediation workers. It will definitely not be kid friendly which means that my maniacal halloween enthusiast can seep out. (I once made a pumpkin that looked like Cinderella's carriage until just after the little kids were done trick-o-treating. Then a “rat” attacked. It was pretty great.) I am so excited for Halloween. It is going to be great!!

Day 71: Oct 20, 2014

I got to go home today!!! I am writing this early because my flight leaves at 11pm and doesn't arrive until 5am Chicago time. I don't care though. I am super excited!

Stories from the road: So when I got to my car I opened the hood because I had detached the battery so that it would not discharge while I was in the village. Of course, my car could not sit there for 10 weeks without something going wrong. I went to reattach the battery and broke the bolt. The bolt broke before the nut even started to move. I got the car started by using the jumper cables that I had. I just used the clamp as a replacement bolt while I started the car. I was giving Jess a ride to Wenatchee so it was good that I thought quickly and we got going pretty quickly. We also got the sacred duty of transporting samples from the village's septic system. Luckily, the lab was on the way so it did not add too much to our trip. Of course, we could not transport septic samples without making some poop jokes. For example, we renamed the samples and called them the poop soup. It was pretty funny. Jess and I, then, stopped at a family owned version of a Napa auto parts where I was planning on just buying the nut and bolt I needed. When I got to the counter with my broken bolt they said that I would probably need to replace the whole ring attachment part (It would take a larger part, right?). So, I had them look at it and the guy said I should replace it. I was figuring it was going to be a $10 part but it turned out to be less than $2 and they installed it for me! It was the cheapest visit to fix my car that I have ever had. I dropped Jess off and began to drive the remaining 2 hours where I came across some very nice scenery. There were valleys, forests, forests in valleys and many different shades of green and yellow. I am now sitting at my gate and I have about 2.5 hours to waste. I think I might watch a movie... LATER: So I saw someone with the new iPhone on the plane. I am no longer in the wilderness. It is so weird to see all of the lights as I am coming into Chicago. There are so many lights that the clouds actually changed color.

Day 72: Oct 21, 2014

Home: I have entered a germ infested hell hole. I have officially been up for 24 hours but I just got home so I plan on going to bed as soon as my dad gets up. I spent the day converting DVDs into digital versions so that I don't need to bring the DVDs to Holden and enjoying the fast internet.

Day 73: Oct 22, 2014

Home:Today I went to the farmers' market, Michael's, and to some thrift shops. I found a pair of awesome cashmere pants and a few things for the haunted house. In the evening, my parents and I went to go see the Capital Steps. They are a political satire musical group. They were pretty funny. Although, majority of the people were in their 60s/70s and the sound was turned way up. I also wasn't feeling very good so that was a little bit of a downer but that's ok.

Day 74: Oct 23, 2014

Home: WE HAD PANCAKES FOR DINNER!!!! My Dad's pancakes are probably my favorite food ever. So great! Also, I am pretty sure my cat is no longer mad at me. She took a nap with me and it was wonderful.

Day 75: Oct 24, 2014

Home: Today I went and visited my Mom's side. We went early and hung out with my grandparents and then had pizza with them and some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. When it came to leave my little cousin (she is ten) gave me a good five minute hug. It felt so great and I really felt the love. Kids are so great, sometimes.

Day 76: Oct 25, 2014

Home: I made pumpkin muffins today and picked up bagels for breakfast. They were even still warm. Fresh bagels and cream cheese are so wonderful and hard to beat.

Day 77: Oct 26, 2014

Home: Today is my dad's birthday (the whole reason why I am home now instead of some other time)! I decided to visit the youth group in church today. They were making a dinner for the Pastor for Pastor appreciation month so it was a good week for me to be there. After church we went and visited my dad's side of the the family. I always like visiting them because you never know what you are going to see or do. Like this time, we picked apples in their yard, checked out the hotrod, and ate beets the size of a small child's head. It was great! We got home to watch the second half of the Packer game. Unfortunately, it was the wrong half to watch. They just collapsed and it was hard to watch. At least they have a bye next week.

Day 78: Oct 27, 2014

Home: It was beautiful outside today. I am talking 73 degrees beautiful. I spent much of my time outside and hung decorations for Halloween.

Day 79: Oct 28, 2014

Home/ Seattle: I pretty much tried to relax most of the day. It didn't really work but, hey, I tried. My flight left at 8:45pm so I had most of the day to do things. The only really productive thing was carving our pumpkin. I chose a Jack Skelington design from A Nightmare Before Christmas. It turned out pretty well.

Day 80: Oct 29, 2014

Back in the village!! Today was spent driving, sitting on a dock, sitting on a boat, sitting on a bus, and unwinding. Upon arriving at the dock at Holden's port, we made a chain to unload things from the boat. I could have sworn that the boat was sitting about 3ft higher on the water after we were done. We unloaded 15 boxes of pumpkins plus 2 days worth of mail and other freight. It was crazy. I was then inundated with coffee cart things. For example, they completely ran out of all dairy products and didn't tell me so I could order more. Luckily, I had ordered some on Sunday figuring that they were going to run out soon so I have milk now but still needed to order more. After unpacking, I promptly took a nap. Vespers was particularly entertaining tonight. Chris (one of the managers) played the baby in the story about Solomon and the two mothers who were fighting over the baby. You know, the one where he told them to cut the baby in half so that both could have part of the child that they were claiming was theirs. It was pretty great. After the longest staff meeting ever, Kirsten and I went to the costume shop to put together our costumes for tomorrow and then we headed to Alex's room for a relaxing night of Arrested Development.

Day 81: Oct 30, 2014

So there, apparently, is this phenomenon that villagers tend to experience when then come back from an out. It is this weird feeling of being sad that you are “isolated” again and yet happy to be back in the village. It is a very bizarre feeling. Plus, much of the village seems to be a little down. It is understandable, it is getting darker, power is getting a little more hard to come by, showers are getting colder... basically winter is coming to the village and most of the people here have not experienced “living in community” when they can't even get out for a hike. It is going to be interesting.

Day 82: Oct 31, 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! The day started like any other- coffee cart and lunch- but the evening was when all of the fun started. I dressed up as a bartender during my shift and for most of the day but once it got dark, the calm costume was traded for a scary one. Let me explain a little bit here. So, after dinner, we had trick or treating (adults were encouraged to participate) and I had to get ready for the haunted trail. I quickly went trick or treating with some of the kids and then spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom trying to put on my face (I was a scary clown on the trail). Then, as always, I had to go to vespers- with my face paint on. The haunted trail started pretty much right after vespers and we had about 50 people experience it. Luckily, the rain stopped just in time so that we would not have to be sitting outside in the rain. That would have been miserable. Let me take you on a quick tour of the path (you can use your imagination to fill in any gaps). There was a craft cave gone wrong scene (a girl was stabbed by knitting needles), some trail ninjas who made noises and ran across the path, an ax man, me (the clown laughing maniacally and running towards people, a body being dropped from the trees, a chainsaw, a screaming bride in a “crashed” golf cart, and a bloody skeleton who welcomed people onto the path. Everything, at least in my area, went splendidly except for the first group. The first group came through before we were really ready for people to come down so I got a chance to scare them but it would have been better if we would have had a few more minutes. At 8:45 we called it quits and headed to the dance party, aka the Monster Mash. The Mash was pretty great because there were still a few kids there when we got there and there were even a few remediation guys which made it all the more fun. We ended up dancing for probably an hour and a half. I have a feeling I am probably going to sleep well tonight. This was such a great halloween, second only to last halloween's Macklemore concert. So great. I hope everyone else had a great holiday and got plenty of candy!

Day 83: Nov 1, 2014

A day off. It was spent knitting, watching movies, and sitting outside. It was a beautiful day and we could see some blue sky.

Week 10

Day 63: Oct 12, 2014

Today was pretty great. It started out with coffee and conversation at our chalet. A bunch of people came over to talk and have snacks and it was quite nice. Many of us 20-somethings gathered on the porch and admired the beauty around us while talking about life with a three and ten year old. I was a great way to start a sunday. Mark came back today and brought his RC off-road car so we spent an hour in the afternoon just racing it up and down the road. I should explain a little- Mark used to race Rcs professionally (as in he won races and made money off of doing it) and so his off-road car can reach 65 mph. One of his other cars that he track races but did not bring can reach 120 mph. He was playing in the ditches and using them as ramps. We were using the wall that borders the road as a jumping off point and using the freshly packed road as a place to do donuts and generally a place to drive recklessly. It was nice to spend the afternoon outside even if we weren't on a hike. The fun continued through some Dr. Who watching with Mark and dinner.

After dinner, about nine of us- mostly 20-somethings but some high schoolers- gathered in our chalet to watch A Fault in Our Stars. I really enjoyed the movie because I just finished the book about two weeks ago so I had some of the other details in my mind as I was watching it but some of the others didn't understand it as much. I am turning into my mother though. During one part in the movie the kids are having a mock funeral for one of the main characters who is dying of cancer. His friends are reading the eulogies that they wrote for their friend and I lost it. Tears were streaming down my face and snot was flowing out of my nose. Crying work about as well as using a netipot to clean out my sinuses. Luckily, everyone understood that I was a little more connected to the characters than they were (I didn't tell them that I probably would have cried anyway but they don't need to know that right?) so it was understandable that I needed two kleenexes to clear out my nose after the movie. Even though the movie ended at 10:30/11 we ended up having a really good but fairly short chat about the movie afterwards. It was a nice way to end my weekend.

Day 64: Oct 13, 2014

So I trained Sam on the coffee cart today so he will be able to work on a few of the days while I am out of the village. Of course, it was a crazy slow day while I was trying to train him but luckily he has worked at a coffee shop before so that part is already in his mind, he just needs to learn the machine a little. I think he will be ok. It was so quiet, though, that I was able to come out from behind the counter and talk about the movie even more with Alex and Laura. Alex really was having a hard time with the movie in the sense that there were things that he felt should have been there and he was wondering if they were in the book. There were also a few questions about the character of the characters. He felt that one of the main characters was really cocky but when you read the book you see that the way that he is acting is more about how beautiful he thinks the girl is. I would say he was more cautiously confident than cocky. I don't know, you will just have to read the book and watch it yourselves to get the whole picture. In the afternoon I took my usual nap which was great. And the day ended in possibly the best way it could have- We sang Soon and Very Soon in vespers.

Day 65: Oct 14, 2014

Today was oddly quiet at the cart this morning, again. I am not really sure why but oh well, what are you going to do? Other than that the day was routine. Coffee cart and then nap. I did unload a kiln today which was kind of fun. I need to get down to the studio more often but I did have one piece fired. In the afternoon, Leah and I started watching a movie and Alex joined in about 10 minutes in. About an hour in the fire alarm in our chalet went off. Apparently, someone was showering and the steam set off the alarm. I was just glad that it wasn't a real fire. I am not surprised that someone didn't turn on the fan. It is kind of a pain to turn on because, at least in our bathroom, I literally have to stand on the toilet in order to reach the switch to turn it on. Oh well, we have put in a request to change it but I am sure it is pretty low on the list of things to do.

Day 66: Oct 15, 2014

The coffee cart was wonderful today. Not because of the actual work but because during one of the lulls, Leif (pastor's child, age 3) came over and played with me. We did the usual child pushes over adult, adult gets up and the cycle starts over. Once that got old we played a little Jenga which was more take two normal turns and then knock it over (he thought you won if you knocked it over and I wasn't going to be the one to break the news to him). It made for a great lull time. The rest of the day was routine until the staff meeting when I got excited about another 20-something coming and everyone thought it was because it added another boy my age to the pool. It lead to a great many laughs so I guess I wasn't too embarrassed about it. Of course, they gave him to me to welcome but he is coming on Sunday and I leave on Monday for an out so I will welcome him and then leave. The others promised not to tell him the story until after he actually gets to know me. I really don't care at this point but that may change on Sunday. We shall see. The day ended with two wonderful games of dominos, neither of which I came close to winning but that is ok.

Day 67: Oct 16, 2014

There was homemade baklava for dessert today. Need I say more? It was amazing! Other than that it was another Holden normal day.

Day 68: Oct 17, 2014

As usual, all of the fun and interesting things happen after work is over. Today, once everyone was done, a bunch of us gathered in Alex's room and watched Perks of Being a Wallflower. I really liked it but some parts of it were a little close to home (not that that is a bad thing). We sat and ate apple slices and popcorn and just enjoyed the movie. Some tears were shed (not my own) and conversations were sparked. I love movies that do that. For dinner we had pizza (we have it every other friday and it is never really that good). Now, there are some people here who are gluten-free and one of them actually needs to be gluten-free so the kitchen has to figure out something for them. This week they decided that if they could not use the preprepared crust they were just going to use meat. Meat is pretty much their go-to answer. So, the gluten-free pizza had a crust of ground beef. The pizza was literally ground beef, sauce, cheese, and toppings. Apparently you can't be gluten-free and a vegetarian here. After dinner, vespers and work I ran into a few of the twenty-somethings playing camp table games. In this case, one of them was a game where the person had to guess what the word that was picked was. If you knew what the “rule” was you would always get the word right. The idea is that most of the table doesn't know the “rule” and so it is amazing when the person knows the word. We soon tired of the game and so we retreated to the comfort of Alex's futon and watched some It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It ended the work week on a funny and yet calming note.

Day 69: Oct 18, 2014

The fog was incredible this morning. It was hanging really low and it was a cloudy morning so the mountains were surrounded by clouds. It was stunning. Other than that it was a knit and nap day followed by some planning for halloween and some Arrested Development to close out the day.