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.