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. :)