Week 42

Day 287: May 24, 2015

So when the pollen is literally painting the brick sidewalk yellow, you know that Hannah is not going to be a happy camper.

Day 288: May 25, 2015

Today, we learned and practiced a flash mob for prom. Prom is this upcoming Saturday and we decided to do a dance to Space Jam. It is perfect because the theme is Space Beach. So, I spent time helping Leah decide if the dance was too hard (meaning she taught me the whole thing and we practiced a few times). Then, we taught the group of people that came the dance. I was quite tired by the end. It was over an hour of hard-core dancing in the end. The dance is going to be great, probably better than my own prom, but I still need to figure out what I am going to wear....

Day 289: May 26, 2015

I thought of something great last night that I wanted to write about but I thought of it as I was falling asleep and now I don't remember it... Oh well.

I really hate my allergies. I have had a headache all day and it is not making life fun.

Day 290: May 27, 2015

Staff meeting today was an hour of “wash your hands, sanitize them, and wear gloves before you go through the food line. Stop freaking out and getting mad about it and do it so that we don't have to keep doing it”. There also was an added “here is what is happening with housing and here is what we are doing to make it better” and an “oh, but that person who you thought was coming tomorrow is moving in elsewhere for a few days because we only gave you one day to clean up and you didn't do a good enough job and now you are out so we can't tell you”. So much BS and so much worry around the village about things that really don't matter in the end. If washing my hands and wearing gloves means that the village can reopen to guests next summer then fine, I will do it but stop talking about it. What was said tonight could have been said in a matter of five minutes instead of 50. Right now there just seems to be so much BS going on in the village that it is making it hard to enjoy what we have. Also, it would help if our hospitality/housing manager were here for more than 3 days at a time.

I do feel better now that I have bitched about it, even though it is just on “paper”

Day 291: May 28, 2015

FINALLY!! We had a rainstorm today that I can actually call a rainstorm rather than a mist. I was able to go out in it and actually get wet. It was amazing. Plus, when I was on my way to vespers I turned to look to see if there was a rainbow (it was sunny while it was raining) and there was this amazing rainbow. It was a triple rainbow that went from mountain to mountain. I mean how can you beat that? It was incredible. I ended my day with a game of trivia. I hosted a coffee cart round where the questions came from previous fun facts and trivia Tuesday questions. It was a ton of fun but did go later than I really would have liked.

Day 292: May 29, 2015

Another one!! The rain came down in sheets today. There were rivers and streams all over and the ditches were full. It was practically a flash flood. The kids ran outside and were playing in the rain and were soaked within minutes. I sat on our porch and watched for a while and then put on my raincoat and just stood in the rain for a little while. It was glorious.

Day 293: May 30, 2015

Oh man, prom was awesome! Not gonna lie, prom 2 was way more fun than prom 1. Maybe I am just more confident. Maybe it was the flash mob. Maybe it was the inter-generational aspect. Maybe it was that everyone there was a friend. Or maybe it was the fact that 30-40 remediation guys showed up and danced with us. The only downside was that the new kid, Erik, looks a lot like my date from my first prom. He was even shy like my date and sat on the side for a large amount of time. Either way, prom was great and I am so glad I got the opportunity to do prom over again.

Week 41

Day 280: May 17, 2015

So, apparently if you have the epidemic that is going around the village, it is ok to lay on the couch in the public living room all day. She complains if any of us are sick and out of our room at all but then lays on the couch with the stomach flu. There are very few things that really make me angry but this is definitely one of them (it doesn't hurt that she is already the person that does the most to get on my nerves).

Day 281: May 18, 2015

The boys' bathroom has been fixed and painted!!!! If they are in there too long right now they may die or get high from the fumes but, hey, it is way better than what they had. In fact, it is beautiful! Otherwise, my day was pretty boring broken up with a game of Forbidden Desert.

Day 282: May 19, 2015

It was an early morning. I woke up wide awake at 4:00am. So, I decided to take a shower and get going. It ended up being a good thing. The high schoolers made a dinner for everyone as a final yesterday so they moved the coffee cart out of it's spot. They moved it back but there were still things that needed to be put back and organized. It didn't take long but I was still glad I had the time to do it.

Day 283: May 20, 2015

Well, today we added two more people to the Holden character list. Both have moved into my chalet so we now have 14 people living in a 10 bedroom, 6 bathroom, three story house. We added Lindsey, who is going to be the next bookstore coordinator and Levi, who is going to be working on capital project stuff (the new bridge, hooking up buildings to the new electrical lines, putting in the new communication lines, etc.). We had staff safety training this afternoon there were a few different time slots that people could go to since everyone had to go. We had a porch “bitching” session where we complained about the housing shortage and how they seem to be targeting the longer term 20-somethings to take on the brunt of the roommates. There are a few older folks who have roommates but they just came into the village and were told ahead of time that they were going to have roommates. I am lucky that my room is not really set up to have more than one bed frame on the ground and that I have such weird working hours. When they were first talking about the roommate situation I went to my manager and pointed out that a roommate would not appreciate the alarm clock going off at 4:30 or the fact that I will be in bed before it is dark. Luckily, my manager is in charge of housing and he said pointed out that it wouldn't be fair to me to have someone walking in at midnight. See how I played that though? I said nothing about personally not wanting a roommate, I went straight to talking about what would be best for the newcomer. That way it wouldn't sound like I was complaining or weaseling my way out. Everything I said was true, it just so happens that it would also benefit me. Apparently, we are scheduled for adding at least three more to our numbers in Chalet 3 before mid June. According to what they have been telling us, it will get better from there. Who really knows, though. Transparency in matters that affect everyone does not seem to be a priority to certain people in “power”. People are not finding out about the fact that they are getting roommates until 2 days before the person arrives. Levi's roommate, Jesus, had less than 24 hours. There are wonderful things about this place but some of the employees (not volunteers) have made the last few weeks much more hectic and stress filled than they really had to be. As my neighbor would say, “it has been a clusterfuck”("clusterfuck": commonly used to descriptively generalize any situation with a large scale of disarray).

Day 284: May 21, 2015

After about 2 hours of work, I started feeling really sick. I was shaking, felt weak, and broke out into a cold sweat. I wasn't really sure what was going on but since the stomach flu is going around, I decided to have someone take over for me and I went home. After sleeping for a few hours I felt a lot better but I still laid low the rest of the day.

Day 285: May 22, 2015

As I walk into work the smells of spring transition into diesel which is quickly overpowered by the stale cigarette smell wafting from the smokers porch. All of these smells and transitions happen in less than five seconds and then I am back to the aroma of freshly ground coffee. This is what I wake up to in the morning (well, first I have to grind the coffee).

Tonight, I prayed for healing. Healing for our world, for our world relations, for the relationships between world leaders, for physical healing for friends and family, for emotional healing for those around me, and for the healing of relationships between family and friends.

Day 286: May 23, 2015

Boom! Crash! A crack of thunder wakes me from my nap. I don't care though, I am just glad I woke up for it this time. There was no lighting but the crashes seem not too far away. We are supposed to have vespers outside, around a campfire tonight to celebrate Pentecost. If it keeps raining though, we will have to go inside witch would be a drag. Following vespers we have a variety show which I decided to sign up for this time. We have been talking a lot about the prayer of good courage (Oh God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our lord.) so I decided to share a different version of the song that I sang when I was in a choir in high school. My version is less acoustic guitar and more piano in style but I am going to sing it acapella tonight. I have sung the song in my head so much in the last year that the notes are pretty much ingrained in my head.

Week 40

Day 273: May 10, 2015

The trees have turned from a lime green to a grass green. Hopefully, that means that they are almost done pollenating. I think that is why I have been so miserable lately. My allergies have been going crazy.

Day 274: May 11, 2015

Another day off spent inside hoping to avoid as many allergens as possible. I did watch the first Harry Potter movie, though. I haven't watched it in a really long time and yet it still makes me mad that they cut out the potion part, that Hermione kicked butt on, of getting to the Philosopher's stone

Day 275: May 12, 2015

A Harry Potter Musing:

So, today I was thinking about the Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter. The symbol looks like this:

The triangle represents the invisibility cloak (even Death cannot see through it and Harry is the current owner). The circle represents the Resurrection Stone which can bring people back from the dead. The line represents the Elder wand, the most powerful wand in the world (made by Death, himself). As I was thinking about the shapes and their arrangement (I am doing a knitting project) I realized a possible reason for the shape. The cloak is a protecter of people (protects the wearer from enemies and therefore is on the outside “protecting” the other Hallows. The Resurrection Stone encircles the line (mostly) because it can reverse the worst curse that the wand can impart (death). The wand is in the middle because it is the main focus for much of the world (being most powerful and all). It also pokes out of the circle, representing the Resurrection Stone, because, although the stone can reverse death it can not bring people back as they were. Those brought back occupy both the regular world and the spiritual world and therefore cannot fully be in either one. The other reasoning for the symbol is much more simple: starting from the outside going in, we have the best going in toward the least useful object when it comes to evading Death. Going in the same order, we also see the least dangerous item (cloak) to most dangerous (wand). And in terms of how the items were used they go from least selfish use on the outside (cloak) to most selfish use (wand).

Day 276: May 13, 2015

Well, I uber cleaned my room today. There are carpenter ants all around the village and I saw one in my room. So, I picked everything up and vacuumed, moved my bed and vacuumed under it, and I took out my recycling, trash and donations. Although I didn't get a nap it was a successful afternoon.

Day 277: May 14, 2015

Today was the rhubarb festival! The lawns and gardens team harvested a bunch of the rhubarb from around the village and made a myriad of baked treats. There was rhubarb crisp, a peanut butter rhubarb crisp, rhubarb pie, rhubarb custard cake, rhubarb cookies, rhubarb sauce, and rhubarb soda. Ice cream was free and everything was amazing. Many of us even dressed as rhubarb and one even dressed as “rhu-barbie”, it was awesome.

Day 278: May 15, 2015

We got two new housemates today. One is Sharon from North Dakota who will be our new registrar. The other is Jesus from Venezuela who will be helping with the new foot bridge crossing the river. He is an international student at Valparaiso University (Valpo) which is probably where he heard of this place. It was a beautiful day to arrive in the village.

Day 279: May 16, 2015

At breakfast today, they had powdered sugar donuts. As a kid, it seemed like when ever we went to grandma's house or hang out with my cousin there would be powdered sugar donuts. Being a kid, the donut was amazing but looking back on it, they were your run of the mill cake donuts. Not particularly amazing but good nonetheless. Now, however, whenever I see or have one I am instantly transported back to when I would sit next to my (favorite) cousin, eating donuts and laughing about the white rings around our mouths that would inevitably be there.

After I taught a sock knitting class tonight, I did not feel like going back to my room so I started walking. I decided to go down the road. It was starting to get dark so I didn't really want to go down the even darker trail. Since we can walk down the road after 6:30 that was the next best option. It was a nice walk but definitely got kinda creepy and a little dark by the time I got back. It was a nice walk though and I am glad I did it.

Week 39

Day 266: May 3, 2015

We had a campfire tonight. It was a beautiful night (and day) so a campfire was the perfect close. Plus, we will only be able to have fires for a little while longer. Soon, the forest will get too dry and we will be worrying about natural forest fires and adding the possibility of a man made one is not something we want to do. We, meaning my housemates and I, also hosted coffee and conversation this morning which meant that we had to clean up. We even swept the porch. The place looks beautiful. Since it was a beautiful day, I spent pretty much the whole morning outside and even carved a spoon. If it is nice tomorrow I hope to carve another one.

Day 267: May 4, 2015

I was asked to carve a new hand for a gnome today. I guess it is my first commission job. Does it count if I won't be paid specifically for it? I will count it as work hours (it is work for the village). It is more fun if I count it as a paying job :) .

Day 268: May 5, 2015

THE ESPRESSO MACHINE BROKE!! The steaming wand broke off. Luckily, we had an extra one and as soon as we announced that the cart would be closed both our electrician and our electrician engineer came running. It was hilarious and nerve raking all at the same time. We figured out what the problem was pretty quickly- the nut that was holding the wand in was worn down to the point where the ball basically just fell right through. So, we had to turn off the machine to let it cool down. Then we had to take off the top, and start taking things apart. It took about an hour and a half to replace the wand but once we got it done it worked beautifully. So now we are ordering another spare for next time something happens. In the end, the whole process was way less painful than it could have been and the machine got a good deep clean in the process.

Day 269: May 6, 2015

Well, I was surprised this morning by a little mousey friend running through my hallway. I wasn't going to mention it to anyone, just set the traps. Alex really doesn't like mice. At breakfast, Leah asked if I had heard any yelling in the middle of the night. I hadn't, but apparently the mouse had been in Alex's room and tried to crawl across his face. Lots of swear words were said. They said that they ended up spending almost an hour in the dining hall trying to calm down. The mouse was not seen again all day. The remaining hours of the day were normal and I finished the day playing Settlers of Catan with Leah and Alex.

Day 270: May 7, 2015

We caught the mouse! It is a little sad to see a mouse in a trap when you first get up but it does mean that I will sleep better tonight. I felt bad not taking the mouse out but I was going to be late if I did that and I thought Alex might like to see that the mouse was gone. It was not enough to make his day a good one, though. They started painting his bathroom today only to realize that some of the electrical stuff was not up to code. That meant that the electrician had to come in and work on it. It was worse than it originally looked. She ended up needing to cut out a 1ftx1ft piece of drywall. I looked in later and saw that she needed to expand that hole to 1x3. She must have found something really bad. I heard her say something about the fact that anyone using the shower could have been electrocuted. That is one of the really bad things about having volunteers do things here. Most of the time, the people who are doing things around the village have very little experience in their assigned jobs. We are lucky enough, right now, to have a certified electrician, a certified plumber, and a professional painter. That means that things that have not been done right in the past are finally getting the attention they deserve. It also means that dangerous situations are being found and it is emotionally very difficult for the electrician to see that her friends could have been electrocuted and possibly killed. Knowing that there are all of these hidden dangers also makes it very hard for her to leave, even though she has been here for two years. Hopefully, we will be able to find someone qualified to replace her.

Day 271: May 8, 2015

Tonight, I prayed that the people in my life and around the globe might find the courage to forgive. I prayed that my cousins might find the courage to forgive their father. I prayed that my family might find the courage to forgive an ex-boyfriend turned boyfriend again. We may not agree with the decision made but it is her decision to take him back. I, also, prayed that my cousin had/ has the strength to be with him out of love rather than loneliness. I prayed that I might have the strength to forgive him and support her on whatever decision she makes. I prayed that people around the world might be able to forgive the wrongs done to them. I prayed that our country may learn to treat others with respect. That our justice system may deliver just that, justice. I prayed that those who have been wronged by that system also have the strength to forgive. There is far to much anger, fear, and violence in our world. I wonder what our world would look like if we had the strength and courage to forgive not seven times but 70x7 times. I know it is a big request but I hope that at least those in my life will be able to forgive.

Day 272: May 9, 2015

A normal day filled with lots o' pollen. After vespers, we had a porch crawl where people had food or things to do on their porch. We had cornhole, nerf guns, and a toilet as a chair. Our porch is decorated with christmas lights, a disco ball, and streamers. It was pretty great!

Week 38

Day 259: Apr 26, 2015

It was a beautiful day out today. Right after breakfast I headed outside and walked down Ten Mile and around and down the Monkey Bear Falls trail. It was a nice and beautiful walk. The Ten Mile trail is smooth and basically like a sidewalk while the Monkey Bear trail is more like a hiking trail. I really like doing the loop because of the difference. Plus, it makes walking back more interesting than walking on the same trail.

Day 260: Apr 27, 2015

I spent all morning and some of the afternoon outside today. We found a bean bag game under one of the lodges about a week ago so I decided to paint it. They started out as a boring blue-gray color but I painted a river on one and a pine tree on the other. They are more on the abstract side and have fun designs included on them. I think they turned out pretty cool.

On a completely different subject, I am finding that I am “churched out”. I am dreading going to vespers tonight. It seems like a waste of time. I find I am paying less and less attention. I mean, yesterday, I drew during the whole service and lately, I get bored knitting during the service. I think I may take tonight off and see if I feel any better about vespers tomorrow. At least I still like the repeating services. I like the services that we have in the mornings during breakfast. I like Prayer Around the Cross on Fridays and Holden Evening Prayer on Saturdays. It makes Mondays and Wednesdays hard to sit through. At least we have staff meetings on Wednesday to make me go. I just don't know right now.

Day 261: Apr 28, 2015

I had a shorter day at the coffee cart today. There was a planned power outage at ten that was going to go for an hour. Since I close at eleven it didn't make sense to hang around so I closed up early and took a nap. We had fire safety and prevention training sessions in the afternoon so I knew that I would not be able to take an afternoon nap. The sessions included using fire extinguishers (on real fire), spraying the fire hose, and a tour of where equipment is stored. They were fun sessions which was good since I was practically falling asleep. I am now fully prepared to respond to a fire in the village, God forbid I ever need to use said skills though.

Day 262: Apr 29, 2015

There was another power outage today. They were preparing to put the generators back in for the summer so they had the power off from 10 to 2. This meant that I got to close early again. Today, though, I had to count money so I didn't get to take a mid-day siesta :(.

Day 263: Apr 30, 2015

Tonight was pretty awesome. After dinner, Alex, Leah, and I sat on our porch for a little while and then headed up the hill to another chalet for a happy hour. Today was the last day before prohibition starts so a bunch of people gathered, drank, and laughed. I drank tea but we made up a drink that we call pomelemonadka. Because we thought it sounded like a Russian gymnastics coach we decided to add coach to the beginning. It is made with lemonade, vodka, pomegranate seeds, and grenadine. As an added “bonus” some people added a hint of lemoncello. Apparently, it was really good and you couldn't taste the alcohol. We decided that if you couldn't say the name anymore you were cut off. The test worked pretty well. All in all, we had some great conversation and lots of laughs. I am glad I went even though I knew I would be the only one not drinking but we are not in college and people know their limits.

Day 264: May 1, 2015

Happy May Day! It was so exciting, I had 8-10 remediation guys come in this morning! Some were returning from last year and some were new. It is good to see the old guys but pretty great to see that the new guys have found me. I am still inside so the guys have to go more out of their way and have to know where I am. Last year, I lost about half of my costumers when I moved inside. So, who knows where I will be this year. People have been asking, though, when I will move outside. My answer? When it is warm enough. It isn't a concrete answer but is the closest I can get to an accurate answer. I am excited to head outside, though.

Day 265: May 2, 2015

Quote that I read today that I think fits for anyone in my position of trying to figure out what we want to do next: Show up every day looking to make the most of it. Learn from the best, seek to be the best, and once you are on your way, teach others to be the best. I think it is a good quote for anyone, actually. Otherwise, it was a regular day at the village.