Week 3

Day 14: Aug 24, 2014

Another wonderful day off. This morning I slept in (well, until 7am)! Then I watched a movie that I got from a friend here and went for a walk down Monkey Bear Falls trail (I think it was a 3 or 4 mile walk. I also went up some switchbacks that head toward Stehieken which is about an 18 mile hike over a mountain from here). While on that walk I saw some black-tailed deer, squirrels, ground squirrels, and chipmunks. This trail is a loop where the back side of the loop runs along a creek that empties into the river. So, being me, I walked in and along the creek (even though it was a little off trail) and found some wonderful spots to go back to and read. Maybe I will do that tomorrow. Tonight, after church a bunch of us met up in the jacuzzi. The day ended with laughs, chatter, and a wonderful view of the milky way and stars.

Day 15: Aug 25, 2014

So there is a blast this morning at the quarry which means that I can't go out to my reading spot that I found yesterday. So, I guess I will read from the warmth of my bed. I ended up surprisingly busy considering it was my day off. I did read some in the morning but also worked on some decorations for my room. In the afternoon I taught some people how to make pine needle baskets so I made a nice little one which is perfect for right next to my bed. Then I went for a short walk along the creek before I headed to a speaker who was talking about wilderness and how it has been defined through the years. Some of the connections that she made to the bible were very interesting. She pointed out that the bible looks at “wilderness” in both a good/close to God way and also a bad/banishment way. If we look at the US as an example we see that, at first, we looked at wilderness in a bad way. The puritans did their best to get rid of it. However, things began to change and our views changed toward the “wilderness is close to God” view. It was a very interesting point. At dinner, I met a nice guy named Mark who is about my age, maybe a little younger, and just came into the village for 3 months. He seems pretty cool and I have a feeling there will be stories about him later so keep that in mind. Also, tonight is Monday which means it was SOCCER NIGHT! Soccer is always fun because some of the younger remediation guys come and play and some of the little kids play (we try to do teams so that the kids will be able to actually have a part in the game otherwise they could end up just running around and getting frustrated). Another early morning tomorrow so it is time to go to bed!

Grateful Challenge

1. family
2. new friends
3. mountains

Day 16: Aug 26, 2014

So this morning when I left my house I could see more stars than I can see on the darkest of nights back home in Chicago..... so there is that. Otherwise it was a pretty normal day until the evening. After dinner, I went on a tour of the mine remediation. It was very interesting and I was slightly surprised at how much I actually knew ahead of time. I'm not talking about the specifics but rather the kind of general geology and hydrology. The biggest take away was basically that they are doing what they can to slow down the movement of incoming water so that they can either treat it (if it has nasties from the tailings in it) of make sure that it doesn't cut through the tailings piles. After vespers we went and got some ice cream and I had a wonderful conversation with Mark (the one I told you to remember).

Grateful list

1. Ice cream
2. Coffee and the conversations that come with it
3. learning opportunities

Day 17: Aug 27, 2014

Today was pretty awesome. In the morning I did more of the same- coffee cart and bookstore- but there was the added bonus of a meeting that included ice cream which was pretty great. This afternoon was probably one of the best afternoons that I have had in a while. Since I start work at 5am, I am done at noon, aka lunch, and so I get the afternoon to frolic. Today I was going to take a nap because I was falling asleep but Mark, the previously mentioned and newly injured, was told to rest but he did not want to be alone in his room. So, being the person that I am, I invited him over to watch a movie and told him that we could watch a movie but then I was going to take a nap. I let him pick out the movie, he was the injured one, and he decided on Frozen. I was surprised but was not going to argue so we watched that. As the movie was ending, Elise, the daughter of the shopkeeper, and Benji, another one of my house-mates, came in a sat down. The movie ended and since I wanted to take a nap we decided to watch another movie. In other words, instead of taking my much needed nap I watched both Frozen and The Hunger Games and had a ball. Between the stealing of candy, the mimicking of Oaken (the sauna owner in Frozen), the pain reliever induced craziness (on Mark's part), and the stealing of phones it was a great afternoon that may happen again tomorrow.

Hope all is well and now onto gratefulness challenge-

1. Short meetings (The staff meeting tonight was crazy long)
2. Sleepiness induced laughter
3. and finally a chance to go to sleep!

Day 18: Aug 28, 2014

Such a great day! Most of the day was normal- coffee cart, bookstore, vespers- but after vespers I got to tie-dye! Every Thursday is a tie-dye night but usually I am working so this was a special Thursday- plus I had to tie-dye my new pillowcases that came earlier this week. After a wonderful chat and dye session I ran off to the snack bar where there was a dance party! It was so much fun. The ice cream was free and there were some crazy dance moves being dropped. I think I can honestly say that I have not been to a dance party where there was no alcohol that started and ended so early but that was so much fun. It started at 7:30 and ended at 9:30. Some of us hung out afterward to help clean up and just to talk. All in all, the dance was great fun (and very multigenerational) and included everything from songs of the 80s to polka to Macklemore. Everyone seemed to have fun, even those who have seemed down or cranky lately.

Gratefulness challenge-

1. nice mine remediation guys
2. naps
3. Dance parties

Day 19: Aug 29, 2014

This evening was pretty extraordinary. I know I said basically that yesterday but tonight deserves the high praise as well. So everything until after vespers was pretty normal, work and afternoon movies, but then the fun started. There was a variety show that I did not think I would be able to go to. Turns out, if there is something like that going on the store can close early! So I worked a half hour shift and then went to the variety show which opened with four different drumming acts and ended with a wonderful folky music singer (I will try to post the video). After that a few of us headed out to the yurts which are maybe 3/4 mile out from the village. There we had a going away party for the summer staff. There were glow sticks, music, everything. We even played juice pong (alcohol is prohibited in village during remediation season) and a game called Harvard pong which is a combination of pong and flip cup. Turns out I am really good at beer/juice pong. We had so much fun that we lost track of time and I am not getting to bed until midnight. I have work in the morning.... darn. Oh well. It was totally worth it.

Gratefulness challenge (done the next morning)-

1. ample amounts of sleep
2. great friends
3. headlamps

Day 20: Aug 30, 2014

I was so tired this morning. Some of the miners even noticed and asked if I was ok.... “yeah, I'm ok. Just working on 4 hours of sleep”. It was still worth it but I think I am going to take a nap this afternoon. Plus, I have tomorrow off which means I can sleep all day if I want!! I ended up taking a glorious nap in the afternoon and followed that up with a jam session where I learned that I can apparently play both the bugle and the trumpet. After about an hour of random music playing/listening, Mark and I (he was the other person in the jam session) ran around the village center. The village center is basically a big gymnasium that is used as a multipurpose room. Right now, one of the corners is a gym equipped with weights and a few different aerobic machines. I had started using the rowing machine because why not, when mark asked me how much a can bench press. Of course, I didn't know so we found out (about 75lbs). The most exciting part about the gym, though, is the fact that there are rollerskates that fit me. Since I was all excited about that I had to put them on and ended up spending about a half hour just going around in a circle and in figure eights. It was so much fun but I could definitely tell that I hadn't skated in a while because my thighs were hurting after I took the skates off. Apparently, different muscles are used to rollerskate than hike. I think I have found a new daily work out routine to add to the rotation.

Gratefulness challenge

1. Rollerskates!
2. Giant swings hung from ceilings (there is one in the village center that is pretty awesome)
3. I am grateful for the friends that I have made and friends that I had who have shown me things about myself that I had never known or thought about.

Week 2

Another week has gone by and as promised I am keeping you updated :)

Day 7: Aug 17, 2014

Went hiking! I may have over done it a little but luckily I have tomorrow off. We went barry picking (huckleberries and thimbleberries) on our way to Hart lake and it was pretty wonderful. Originally we weren't planning on going all the way to Hart but since many of the berries were already fairly picked through it didn't take as long to pick as we originally thought, we continued onto the lake. While on the hike I decided that having a water bottle was good but that a water bladder would work much better and I would feel less cr*ppy at the end because I would drink more and more consistently rather than a quick stop and chug a quarter of the bottle. So that is now on order :) Amazon is very convenient here. All in all a pretty good day.

Day 8: Aug 18, 2014

Another day off! So today, since I had the day off and was still kind of sore from yesterday's hike I decided to stay in and work on my recent craft project. I am cutting out the color samples from a Dick Blick catalog and eventually, when I have enough pieces, I am going to make a collage/picture. So I spent all morning watching movies and cutting paper which was nice and relaxing. In the afternoon I switched over to Nalebinding and finished one mitten and started a second. The evening was busy. After dinner we found out that there was going to be a drawing class that was going to be about working with pens and being more confident with our drawing. I brought my plant book there and drew a mountain ladyslipper which is a brown flower with a yellow and white middle. A very interesting plant if I do say so myself.

I am going to bed super early because tomorrow I get to work the coffee cart! (I have to be there at 5:45am)

Day 9: Aug 19, 2014

Today did not seem long at first... So I woke up about ten minutes before my alarm. It was 5:15. I decided just to get up and so I had a little time to grab some toast before I went to the coffee cart. We set up and mine remediation guys were there by ten to six. It was nice and busy for the first half hour or so and then quieted down until villagers started to arrive. It was nice to be busy at first because it kept me awake and alert and the quiet times were nice to just read or clean up a little. I really enjoy working at the coffee cart because it means that I only have to work in the bookstore for about two hours a day which is nice because the coffee cart is more interesting than inventory. It makes for a nice break in routine. Plus I get to be outside but under an awning. In the evening I did some more drawing and am preparing for another early day tomorrow!

Day 10: Aug 20, 2014

Another day at the coffee cart. I really enjoy working there partly because it is a little more relaxed, well except between 6am and 6:30. It is surprisingly fun. After the cart closed I went to the bookstore and labeled yarn and found where two mice were living. I was pulling out yarn and suddenly something dropped from the underside of the shelf above the yarn. One of the small things that dropped quickly burrowed deeper into the back of the yarn shelf while another scampered away. After that I tried to be gentle when removing the yarn and did not completely empty the shelf so that the one that was hiding would not get too scared. I know that the mice will probably end up in one of the mouse traps but I felt that at least while they are being smart enough to hide I wouldn't hurt their chances. Heck if they are smart enough to avoid the traps and some how stay alive who am I to get rid of such a smart mouse?

More exciting news! MY PACKAGE CAME TODAY!!! It is just some tea that I ordered myself but it is much better than the stuff here. I ordered just plain green tea (well it is called Imperial Green) and some Jasmine. Basically, I was over excited about some little dried green leaves. Tonight is another drawing class, which I am very excited to go to. The last one was just so much fun that I figure how bad can this one be? Hope everyone is having a great wednesday!

P.S. Bacon Chocolate chip cookies are good but only if the pieces are crisp and in pieces that are no bigger than the chips.

Day 11: Aug 21, 2014

Another early morning but this time it was followed by large amounts of free time. There were two main rushes at the coffee cart today once at the 6-6:30 time slot and once during coffee break. Otherwise it was quiet and I was able to get some reading done. There was a change of pace after the cart closed though. Instead of going straight to the bookstore I went down to the craft cave and got some pine needles soaking so that in a few days they will be ready to make baskets out of. I had the afternoon off then because I am working the evening opening of the bookstore. Completely unrelated, I was finally heckled for being a Packer fan. It feels like home :)

P.s. Pizza here is not nearly as good as at home but I guess is better than no pizza at all.

Day 12: Aug 22, 2014

So yesterday, I found out that I would be flying solo at the coffee cart this morning. This meant that I would also have to get up even earlier to turn on the machine so that it could warm up. It takes about 45minutes. The cart opens at 6, you do the math. It was so cold this morning. At one point I had to run to grab a blanket. So cold. Once again, there was a fairly long calm period during which I finished my book and made some coffee art. One of the teachers this week was an artist and she was doing a show of our work from this week and she asked me to make something with the coffee. The show was nice and there was a little jam session that happened during it which was wonderful.

One of the school teachers arrived with his family today. Most of the family seemed very excited about being here... except one. The second oldest, a girl, was incredibly angry when she got off the bus. I did not see her smile once all afternoon and she wore a face that said “Talk to me, I dare you”. Hopefully the anger doesn't last too long and if nothing else, school starts soon and that should keep her fairly busy. Oh yeah, and the members in the family are Packer fans. We are slowly adding to our numbers *manically rubs hands together* hehehehe.

On a more somber note, I found out today that one of my choir directors from high school died suddenly from a stroke. She was part of the Lutheran Youth Choir of North America where our theme song is the same prayer as the “Holden” prayer here. I didn't find out until just before dinner and so I went to vespers with this recently acquired knowledge knowing that I was going to be reminded of the time that I had spent with her. Of course, it is Friday which also means that it was a prayer around the cross day. Prayer around the cross is a vespers service where there are boxes and bowls of sand surrounding a cross that is in the middle of the room. Candles are lit and all of the lights are off. It is a time of prayer and if you want you can light a candle in prayer. If you want support in your prayer you can go to one of the bowls and people will get up and lay their hands on you and support you. Seeing as I had just found out about this death I was already starting to lose my cool before the candle lighting part. I had told my friends who were also in the choir that I would pray for her and her family and this was the best time to do it. I got up and knelt down at one of the bowls and immediately felt a hand on my back followed by many more. I lost it. Prayer around the cross always gets me choked up but it meant so much to know that, even those these people did not know what was going on, they were there to support me. I felt kind of bad because here I was crying over a teacher when there was a woman here whose cousin had died earlier in the week. She had walked around in a daze for a few days but when it came to prayer around the cross she was pulled together. Yeah, I know she had more time to deal and everyone mourns differently but it was still hard knowing what I had lost compared to her. I don't know. What I do know is that tomorrow is a new day with new challenges and experiences, oh, and another early morning.

Day 13: Aug 23, 2014

Was up at O'dark-thirty this morning for the coffee cart. It is getting easier to get up early. This morning I listened to some nice Macklemore while setting up. It makes amazingly good wake up music so I continued it throughout the early rush. Other than that things were pretty calm around here. The angry teen is slowly warming up to people (the little kids first). After work and before lunch I watched some TV shows with one of the guys who lives in my chalet. Both were comedies so it was a nice way to wind down. In the evening we had Holden Evening Prayer and I worked at the bookstore where I once again saw some mice but “forgot” to set the traps when I left. One more night of freedom for them. All of the food is locked up so they can't do too much damage.  

Week 1

Day 1: Aug 11 2014

I'm here!! The drive to the port was kinda crazy. I saw a coyote, some turkey and a bunch of black-tailed deer but for the most part all I saw was smoke. It was like a heavy fog but darker in color. The smoke did make the sunrise gorgeous, though. It was much more red with a hint of purple. The drive and the parking situation all went very smoothly and I had a quick snack of wild blackberries before boarding the boat. On the way up the lake we saw a very cute mountain goat family (there was even a baby which was pretty awesome). The boat captain said that it was fairly rare to see goats so close to the water's edge. Once in the village I had lunch (there was WAY more meat than there normally is in the village) and unpacked my stuff. After a safety training and a quick orientation I was pretty much done for the day so I went to a bible study (looking at the book of John and the book of Mary Magdalene). It was interesting and yet strange as well because at one moment it almost seemed as though some of the things being said hinted toward Jesus being transgender (take that homophobes). I think the idea was not that Jesus (the physical being) was trans but that the bible tends to mix him and the idea of Wisdom (who is portrayed as a woman in proverbs). Not sure I totally get it but if you want to check it out yourself search Sophia and wisdom and there is a wikipedia page about it. One of the sentences on the wiki page states this comparison the best, “In Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity, Sophia, or rather Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), is an expression of understanding for the second person of the Holy Trinity”. Is it just me or did that just say that the Son in the Father-Son-Holy Spirit trinity is also named Sophia? Here is the link if you want to read more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom) . I met some new friends at dinner (don't ask me their names yet because I really don't remember) and after vespers I made some decorations for my walls and watched quite the soccer game that was played on the main road. One of the remediation workers was playing and you could definitely tell that he played in college. There may have been a little bit of showing off going on :). My “first day” is now over and I think I am going to enjoy this experience.

P.S. The internet is really spotty so the blogs may not be posted at the same time every week. I am going to try to post before breakfast on Sundays but that may change.

Day 2: Aug 12, 2014

It rained today! Well, just a little.

I found out my work assignment today! For this week I am going to be shadowing the bookshop manager and will be working there part of the time and next week I am going to be shadowing the barista because the other part of my time will be making fancy coffee drinks. The bookshop is going to be a snap since I am already pretty comfortable with a retail setting (I used to work at a toy store). The main thing that is going to take just a little remembering is which products do not get any discount (if you are a volunteer you get 20% off MOST things but there are a few things that are sold pretty much at cost). Some of the products that don't get the discount make sense: toothpaste, deodorant, soap, candy, basically the consumables. However, there are some things that don't quite make sense like the clothes to tie-dye but, whatever, it just may take a few more weird item transactions to get it without thinking. Other than that excitement there was apparently a blast in the quarry today but no one seems to have heard it... A tree in the village was found to have a crack right through the middle. They think it has been there since the winter and it has been fine so far. However, now that they know about it they moved some people from rooms in the potential fall zone and the tree is going to be taken down tomorrow, hopefully before it falls. Also, even though the village is pretty torn up and has large machinery around the deer are still coming into the village. I saw two or three yesterday and another three today, including an older fawn (still had spots but they were fading).

Well, it is starting to rain a little more than this morning which means that it will not only cool off but hopefully, cross your fingers, it will aid in the fight against some of the relatively local wildfires. (Don't worry, Mom, they aren't too close)

Day 3: Aug 13, 2014

It rained all night and a good chunk of the morning! This also means that it was a much cooler day. It was a productive day in some sense and not so much in another. So this morning I got up kinda early (6 instead of 7) and went for a walk out to 10 mile (it is only about a 2 mile out and back). This is the farthest in the lake direction we can go at this point because the mine remediation team needed a quarry and the middle of the trail turned out to be a perfect spot. On my way back I ran into the walking group (about 4 ladies) and the “hikeys” (trail maintenance group). After breakfast I headed to work and about a half hour in the power went out. We were warned of this. The had to take down some power lines in order to cut down the tree that I talked about yesterday. I was going to go out to take pictures of them felling the tree but I never heard the air horn telling us to evacuate the area around the tree (I was not in that area) because it was time to fell it. Apparently it was pretty cool to watch and I hope to get a copy of the video or pictures to share with you. The tree fell within 15 feet of the intended target area which is impressive considering the size of the tree. However, on its way down the tree knocked some smaller trees and stripped one side of a medium size tree. Those trees had to go before power lines were put back up so I was inventorying books in the dark with only my headlamp for light from 10am until 3pm (there was a dark lunch in there as well). Once the power went back on we realized an easier way to inventory so basically those four hours of writing titles and numbers were for naught. Kinda sucky but whacha gonna do? However my evening was just as productive as my pre-breakfast! I did a quick demonstration of nalebinding for some of the ladies during bible study. I found out that one of the girls here had been in the St Olaf's equivalent to Norwegian Fine Handcrafts (carving but, of course, our was better :) and taught by the amazing Harley Rufsal). Her class came to Luther during J-term for a quick lesson from Harley and a sami bracelet lesson from his wife, Norma and I was actually there the night that Harley was demonstrating because he wanted some of us to help teach. So we are probably going to do some carving together. I picked up my new hardhat, florescent shirts, and safety goggles that are issued to everyone (for safety because, you know, the bookstore is very dangerous). I also picked up some nice Birkenstock sandals out of potty patrol and I got a chance to pick up some tape so I can put my LED lights up in my room! Oh yeah and it was someone's birthday so we did a little party in his lodge.

Holden Hilarity (stories of shenanigans around the village):

So a bunch of the guys, including the birthday boy, were pulling wires through some conduit. Apparently is was fairly dark in the area (the power was still out) and they were using some kind of lubricant to help make the pulling of the wires easier. One of the guys had lube all over his hands and the birthday boy had no idea until, of course, lube boy offered up a high-five. It must have been a very good high-five because lube went everywhere and since the lube was oil based... well you get the picture. Birthday boy will never live it down (well at least until he leaves the village).

P.S. I do know names but am choosing to avoid using names here, at least for now, just for privacy-sake.

Day 4: Aug 14, 2014

Not too much happened today other than it rained so much that the water truck drivers got the afternoon off. I organized books into their alphabetical order by author if that counts as interesting. I did get to fly solo during one of the open times in the bookstore and that was kinda fun. Yup that was pretty much it today...

Also! My mailing address is:

Hannah Fisher

Holden Village

HC 0 Box 2

Chelan, WA 98816

Just in case you want to send me mail :)

Day 5: Aug 15, 2014

Did more inventory today. Finished the fair trade section and kinda did the usual stuff. The day was pretty unremarkable until the last 45 minutes or so. So the kids in the village left on a camping trip this morning and tonight some of the mom's got together and were making brownies in our kitchen. I went out to chat and eventually we got to the topic of food and sustainability. Now this is something that I have studied in college for a few years now so I tend to know more about both side of the issue than most. This is partly because, although I started with an idea in my head, I also did not know too much about the “conventional” or in other words the non-environmentalist view. As I became more educated about both sides I was able to see arguments for and against and problems with both sides and see why some things were good (yes, there are some good uses of GMOs, maybe not many but there are. Also some “GMO”s are done in the way that is just slightly more fancy than plant breeders in that the process is just speeded up). One of the examples that we were talking about was rice and the areas of the world that were vitamin A deficient and needed assistance (golden rice). I mentioned that this was one case where GMOs actually were able to help out a population. Her argument was that if they made the soil more fertile then the issue could be solved. This argument is just so wrong. Yes, if it were even remotely possible to completely change out multiple feet of soil over all of the agricultural areas that are deficient it might help (Hint: this could never ever ever happen. We don't have the extra good soil to do that and I am sure she would be against using the amount of fertilizer that would be needed in order to make a difference). However, no country or person in their right mind would provide such a precious resource for the price that would be affordable for farmers or even other countries. It is just not realistic. Also, vitamin A, specifically, is not water soluble so no matter what you do to the soil that the rice is being grown in it will never absorb the vitamin A. Humans get vitamin A either through veggies with carotenoids (dark green veggies or orange generally) or through meat which got it through eating the previously mentioned dark greens. Rice endosperm (the part that we digest) is neither green nor orange and therefore pretty much does not provide the vitamin A that is needed. Golden rice (a GMO) does and it has helped many people around the world. I would like to hear one argument against GMOs that does not include something about the unknown. Now I am not saying that I like the way that GMOs are being dealt with right now. I do not think that they should be patentable or if they are, the patent should only last a year or less. The thing is many generations have been able to survive on what they were able to grow before but now many of the varieties that were available before are gone. The seeds or cuttings were not saved and those ancient varieties are gone forever and that is too bad but it is also the reality.

I think what frustrates me the most is that, although I have a 4year degree in this stuff and she has a two year degree in a totally unrelated subject, she was completely against listening to a possibly different view. Maybe this is because I am something like 25 years younger than her and she is unwilling to believe that I might possibly know more about a subject than her, I don't know. At least when I look into something and realize that I am completely wrong I am willing to admit it and hear other view points. I am sorry but I think I know more about soils, the environment, and the impact of different types of food on our earth. I am not saying that I am an expert but at least I know enough to be able to make a well reasoned argument for either side. Yeah, I said it, there really are at least two sides to every argument and reasoning for a practice. It is going to take more than a poorly reasoned argument to convince me that GMOs are the devil. I am willing to give them a chance (as long as they aren't mixing poisons and other things that come from generally inedible sources ::cough:: ::cough:: monsanto ::cough:: ). A skeptical chance but a chance nonetheless. Also, no matter how you calculate it, it takes more energy (i.e. calories and actual petroleum or electricity) to produce a pound of beef than a pound of chicken.

Sorry about the rant. I hope you learned something, I know I did (didn't realize that vitamin A was fat soluble until I looked it up) and I now feel calmer and maybe even calm enough to go to sleep.

Thanks for reading/skimming!

Day 6: Aug 16, 2014

Today I had a day off and it was glorious! The new pastor and his family came in today so we sang a song about/to them when they disembarked the bus. The pastor has two young kids. One is about three maybe 4 and the other is going into kindergarten. Oh my goodness are they cute and oh so sweet. When their names came up in the song they got all excited. It was great. Oh and did I mention that we were all dressed up in random costumes? Yeah, we looked pretty spiffy. So my morning was pretty booked and there was a good chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon so instead of going out to Hart Lake like I planned, I did a loop down to the creek over and up to the garden and back to my chalet where I took a wonderful nap and was woken by a text (over wifi) saying that the Packers were winning their preseason game. After a lovely dinner we had Holden Evening Prayer (one of my favorite services) and a few of us younger folks watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Between the chats, the walks, the service and the clip-clop of coconuts the day could not have been much better. :)

A new adventure- Intro

Hey!
Most of you know me but in case you don't, my name is Hannah. I am a recent college grad who is starting on the next, all-be-it short (comparatively), chapter of my life. Tomorrow I head out on a road trip toward my long term destination of Holden Village, WA where I will spend the next 365 days of my life living and working in community. In order to keep in touch with family and friends and let them know what I'm up to, I hope to write a little journal of the happenings and characters I meet along the way. I hope to post once a week and I hope you enjoy my musings along the way.