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.