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.