Week 5

Day 28: Sept 7, 2014

A wonderful day off. In the morning I met and talked with one of the new guys in the kitchen. I think he is about my age and is from San Diego. He was sitting alone so I decided to go and sit with him. It was a good decision because now I have a new friend :). In the afternoon, Bengi, Mark, Riley and I watched a Japanese TV show (I still don't know what it was called) and I finally got the rest of the TV shows that I wanted from Alex. A relaxing day. It was a nice day outside but surprisingly hot so I decided to postpone my hike/long walk until tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is the first day of school! It is basically a holiday here so I am very excited.

Day 29: Sept 8, 2014

Today was the first day of school!!!! For most kids, families and neighbors this is not a hugely exciting event. However, here, it is one of the most exciting days of the year. There are 14 houses/chalets on chalet hill and one of the busses stops at each one while being delayed by villagers all along the way. There was a knitting circle, a mechanic fishing for a 2lb bolt, a DJ, a cow, a few hillbillies, a few sleeping mavericks (basically the physical laborers, kinda), the Cat in the Hat and even a man made rainstorm that hung over a senior in high school's head. It was so much fun. We ended up delaying the school day by an hour and a half. At lunch, they served an old fashion cafeteria menu. There were corn dogs, sloppy joe's, and a vegetable medley. It was even served by cafeteria “ladies” (two of them were men in dresses). They were almost cartoony and very stereotypical cafeteria ladies. So great! I was going to go for a hike in the afternoon but I ended up stubbing my toe pretty bad during the “parade of hilarity” (who knew toes could bleed so bad?) so I sat and watched movies and finished another hat (this one was made with finer yarn and has cables so it was more difficult and therefore slowed me down a little). Vespers tonight was focused on the first day of school so we used all of the song books and listened to some Oh, the places you'll go. The night was finished with some soccer and brownie thunder ice cream (the best one that they have here). It was a wonderful day (minus the throbbing toe)!

Day 30: Sept 9, 2014

It's trivia Tuesday! Since this is the first week of school I decided to focus the questions on school or school subjects. Here were the questions this week:

How many people/kids enroll in school every year?

a) 1 million

b) 7.2 million

c) 17 million

d) 78 million

Math: What are the first 3 digits in pi?

a) 3.25

b) 2.14

c) 3.14

d) 123

Science: Which scientist would study rocks and minerals?

a) zoologist

b) geologist

c) botanist

d) meteorologist

English: The most commonly used letter in the english language is.....

a) R

b) S

c) T

d) E

As always, the answers are at the bottom of the post :).

What else happened today?

Umm.... I woke up to the sound of mice scampering though the walls this morning... I may be sleeping with the light on tonight (I hear that helps to at least keep them away from you). There is something a little disconcerting about hearing something running around above you and in walls. I wouldn't mind them if they just nested in a corner and didn't leave that corner but I don't like hearing the scampering above my head (I can hear them right now as I type this). Also, we set out traps and I just checked and all of the peanut butter has been eaten off the trap but no mice were caught..... -Later in the day- So I emptied out my first mouse trap today. They say it gets easier after the first time which I hope to God is true. Also, Elijah (the pastor's kid) and I became good friends today. He found a lucky penny which he figures is extra lucky because very few people carry around cash here. He was so excited but didn't have any pockets so I told him to put it in his show for safe keeping. He thought that was a good idea since he really did not want to lose it. I know we are good friends now because he chose to sit next to me during vespers rather than next to his grandmother. I feel loved :) . The night ended with a free ice cream, some mancala, some frustrating tangrams, and Arrested Development. Not only was it a fairly good day but it was perhaps a life changing day (I may be able to deal with dead mice now).

Day 31: Sept 10, 2014

It was a normal day- no mice were caught. However it was an especially long day. I worked an extra hour at the coffee cart and then worked until 9pm at the bookstore. The only thing weird about today is that I am pretty sure there is a coffee cart troll who is taking some of my dishes. Today we were down at least 10 spoons. Hopefully the disappearance is a one time thing.

Day 32: Sept 11, 2014

I may or my not have slept through two alarms this morning.... I ended up not waking up until 5:40 (almost an hour later) which meant that the machine did not warm up until 6:20 which also means that most of the remediation guys were not able to get their coffee this morning. I felt really, really bad but what are you going to do? James (a volunteer here who is about my age) decided that he wanted to learn how to make his own coffee drink so we hung out before breakfast. It was nice to have him there when I had to tell the remediation guys that there wasn't going to be fancy coffee. Also, he has pretty great music. Having him there also helped to cut the stress that seemed to keep coming this morning. So, not only was the machine not ready but we were also missing the four most needed parts to make the espresso (the troll took them). Two were the baskets that hold the coffee while the water is going through and both of my shot glasses were missing. Eventually I found all of them but they were scattered all over the place. It did not make my morning any better.

In the evening, for vespers, we went out to the labyrinth to walk and pray for those affected by 9/11 as well as for those who are affected by war and genocide everyday. It was a very nice walk and I may go out there when I want to go for a walk but don't want to go too far. It would also be nice to go through without worrying about getting back in time to open the bookstore. After I closed the bookstore, Riley, Benji and I headed back to the chalet where we had a wonderful chat and ended up staying awake for almost an hour later than I had intended to. It was nice to just sit and talk rather than watch a movie or play a game. Who knew? :) I know, I know, my “generation”, right? I just want to say, it is true, we can actually sit down and talk!

Day 33: Sept 12, 2014

Fun Fact Friday!!!! Today I had 5 fun facts. One of them was my name. One was about the potential for northern lights tonight. One was about where the word testify came from (look it up it is really quite funny. The four was about the “Windy City” and how it is actually not particularly windy. And the final fact was about an Australian man who tried to sell New Zealand on eBay.

The morning was nice and normal (although a little cold) but at night we had a campfire to celebrate the completion of one week of school and Riley, Mark, and I watched the sky for the northern lights. We ended up seeing the beginning of them (it was kind of a misty light) but then the moon started to come up which made it too light out to see the aurora become curtain like. Talking and watching made for a late night (it is now 11pm) but it was totally worth it.

Day 34: Sept 13, 2014

Oh man!!! So this morning when I went out to the coffee cart I looked up in the sky (like I always do- I can't get over all of the stars) and saw the coolest thing! There was a halo of light around the moon. I was a sundog but the light was from the moon. I think some of the miners thought something was wrong because I literally stood there staring for about 5 minutes. It disappeared soon enough, though, and I had to run to turn on the espresso machine. It was so cool. In the afternoon I went to the craft cave and started a project. I painted a big glass jar black (I am going to use it for tea) and I will sketch some decorations on it and then paint it again. The evening was pretty standard. Although, during vespers someone accidentally kicked a plastic cup off the balcony. It hit someone in the head but they were ok. The best part was just that we kept plowing through the song we were singing and there was really no acknowledgment that it even happened. After working in the bookstore I came back to my chalet and Mark, Benji, and I watched National Treasure. Even though the moon was super cool this morning, the best part of my day was seeing an envelope in my mail box. Even better was that the letter was from my cat. It can't get much better than a poorly spelled, written in a Russian accent letter from a cat. I hope everyone had a great week!

Trivia answers-

How many people/kids enroll in school every year? d) 78 million

Math- What are the first 3 digits in pi? c) 3.14
Science- Which scientist would study rocks and minerals? b) geologist

English- The most commonly used letter in the English language is... d) E