Week 47

Day 322: Jun 28, 2015

Today was hot and sweaty. Because of that we pretty much laid low all day.

Day 323: Jun 29, 2015

It is raining! We had a thunderstorm last night that has extended into the morning. The rain is great. It has drastically cooled to outside temperature. The down side, though, is that one of the lightning strikes started a small fire two valleys north of us. At of right now we think it has only burned a hand full of trees but the rain is slowing so who knows. The forest service is on it, though. They are checking it out and getting it under control so we shouldn't have to evacuate due to this one (hopefully). It is supposed to rain on and off all day but then nothing for the rest of the week. I hope they get the fire under control today since it will probably be easiest now. Update: the fire has officially been named the Wolverine Fire. Update 2: The fire is no longer active but people will be out there monitoring 24 hours a day for the next few days.

Day 324: Jun 30, 2015

USA!!! We won the women's world cup semi-final!! On to the final. It was awesome because Rio let us watch it on their satellite TVs so we could actually watch the game. It felt great to yell at a TV and watch commercials like they are the greatest thing ever. After the game, we were given the opportunity to go on a tour of the work site. It looks pretty much the same as it did last summer. There has been a ton of work done, it is just all under ground. After vespers, a few of us sat on the porch to enjoy the cooler temperature of the evening. It is amazing how beautiful this place is and having background acoustic guitar doesn't hurt the beauty either :) . Once it started to get too cold/ dark we headed inside and watched Arrested Development.

Day 325: Jul 1, 2015

Wow, time is flying. It is already July. Crazy. Today was pretty normal (minus a quick meeting about evacuation and what to do if it needs to happen) until staff meeting. It was kind of a downer way to end the day because it ended up being an hour and a half of Chuck and Peg explaining what they want to do during their tenure. It was long, the room was hot, and they tried to bribe us with candy. Don't get me wrong, it was good to see what they want to do and hear about things but the whole thing could have been cut in half. As staff, we don't need to know everything and, in fact, most of us don't want to know everything. There were people getting a little upset because they are focusing mainly on programming stuff (makes sense since that is a HUGE part of having guests here) rather than betterment projects around the village. Yes, we need people to help keep the village in good shape but not nearly as many as we have needed to do all of these projects that we have done in the last few year (underground electrical, better communication stuff around the village, new pipes, new foot bridge, etc). Programming is what makes this village a fun place in the summer and it is what keeps people coming back. It is important to make the first guest season back a great one so that people get excited and tell others it is amazing so that guest seasons quickly ramp up in numbers.

It is now much later than I would really like so good night all.

Day 326: Jul 2, 2015

It is never a good sign when the directors want everyone to come to vespers 15 minutes early to make an announcement about the Wolverine fire. Turns out the fire is in a really bad spot. It is basically in a pit surrounded by steep cliffs. They have been pouring water on it from helicopters but you can't really get control of a fire or put it out without boots on the ground. Since the fire is in a treacherous area they can't get people in to fight it. Unless something changes (it rains without lightning, the wind changes, or a general miracle) it looks like we might evacuate within the week. The fire is no danger to the village but it could pass over the road which is our only way out. They really don't want us trapped. If they evacuate us it will be so that fire crews can do a controlled burn on the north side of the road so there will be nothing for the fire to use as fuel. I am hoping that if we do get evacuated it will only be a few days. I am supposed to leave soon and really don't want to have to come back to get my stuff. I guess I am going to go through some stuff and pack tomorrow....

Day 327: Jul 3, 2015

My stuff is packed and I am ready to go. Things are getting hectic and Hot Shots (fire fighters) came in for dinner and are working down valley. Everyone is making it sound like we are heading out tomorrow which is very possible but according to someone who works for the fire service he thinks it might be another few days. It is going to be a stressful few days.

Day 328: Jul 4, 2015

I think this has been one of the best Forth of July's that I have ever experienced. In the morning I gave free coffee drinks to anyone who stopped by (we went through 5lbs of coffee and 5 gallons of milk). It was fun to stay busy all morning and make people happy. I really enjoyed making the remediation guys happy and then some of the fire fighters came in and I got to surprise them with coffee too. I think we are going to give the fire guys free coffee every day we are open. I figure it is the least we can do for the help that they are giving us. So, I stayed pretty busy all morning and then rinsed out my tie-dye shirt which is my new “work” shirt. It is a random pattern where I just squished the shirt together and then dyed it rust brown which is more of a medium roast coffee brown color. On the front of the shirt I drew a coffee bean and wrote BEANIE'S and on the back I wrote “The best coffee in town”. It turned out pretty great except that the soda ash mix made the permanent marker run so it isn't as crisp and clean as I would like but I am still pretty happy about it. I took my usual nap in the afternoon but woke up early. It was so quiet in town that I got a little worried that I was missing something but it turned out that most everyone was taking a nap since it was such a warm day. We had vespers early but the remediation guys were already off work so a few came (they did an evacuation drill) and then dinner. Most everyone ate outside and it was nice because we (everyone who sleeps in the village) were all together enjoying a meal. It had cooled off nicely by dinner so we sat outside and listened to music. After dinner we started the festivities. We had proclamations where anyone could say anything they wanted, tug of war, face paint, water balloon toss, mini golf (with hockey sticks and ping pong balls), and chalk to decorate with. It was so much fun. Then we got ready for the parade. I ended up pulling Alex and Sam down the street in one of our luggage carts. They were the Grand Marshal and his wife. It was really easy to pull but a little hard to stop so we tried not to do much of that. We went down main street once and then flipped the line and went back. It was a fun way to do it and made the parade a little longer. When we flipped, I got into the cart and they pulled. It was a fun way to do it and it didn't make them seem like assholes for making me pull the whole way. Once the parade was done we headed to the village center and got free ice cream before the fireworks started. Our fireworks consisted of pictures of fireworks and all of the bubble wrap collected throughout the year. The bubble wrap added the bang without the flame. I have not had so much fun in a long time. We jumped into piles of bubble wrap and danced in the piles and once it was all popped and the “fireworks” were done, most of the 20-somethings hung around and danced some more. It was great. I used popped strings of those air pockets that are not in sheets and make a huge noise when you pop them as a dancing ribbon. We treated the popped stuff like it was a pile of leaves and threw arm fulls in the air, rolled around in the plastic, jumped in it, etc. It was such a great day and now it is 11:30pm, I am exhausted and content, and it is my day off tomorrow. :)

Week 46

Day 315: Jun 21, 2015

Today we are going to focus a little bit on grace. We, as humanity, need to find grace and the ability to forgive. If we can learn to forgive gracefully maybe, just maybe, we can live in a more peaceful world. That was the general topic of the sermon tonight and I think it is an interesting idea. Bad things happen and there are bad people in this world. However, I wonder, if the vast majority of us can spread grace and forgiveness like many family and friends of victims from the recent shooting in South Carolina did (they forgave him over a video feed after he was arrested) what will our world look like? I mean, there are moments here when I can see an instance where it might be hard to forgive. For example, I just found out that two friends here broke up because one of them cheated on the other while said cheater was out of the village. They broke up but the question is, does the one show grace and forgive? I don't know but it does show how hard even forgiving relatively small things can be. As humans, are we even really able to truly forgive right away? I am not saying that I am perfect and can show grace to all. I mean, I think there is someone who used to be in my life who I haven't truly forgiven. I moved passed the bad stuff and moved past her but deep down, I am really not sure that I have forgiven her. And if I saw to her, “I forgive you” will that really result in me truly forgiving her? I can show her grace. I can be kind even though I do not think she deserves it but I guess I don't necessarily need to forgive her if I can show her grace. And that is the difference between grace and forgiveness. Forgiving means that I would have to change my negative feelings and wish her well. I can wish her well at this point. I can hope that she has learned and has become a better person but I don't think I am a good enough person yet to fulling forgive her. However, grace means that I can show her kindness even though I may not think she deserves it.

Thanks for reading my babble but I think I have come to a conclusion- even if we feel that we cannot forgive we should at least strive to be able to show grace.

Day 316: Jun 22, 2015

Most of the day was pretty normal but after vespers Sam, Levi, and I played with some Nerf guns and our cornhole game. At first, I was really struggling but eventually got into the groove and played pretty well. It was a ton of fun and ended the day nicely. That was until I saw that one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Conway, was not doing real well. I knew he had cancer but it looks like he is doing worse. At first I was sitting in my room silently crying but then I heard Levi playing a song on his guitar. I figured being with someone would be better than being alone. Plus, it was a happy song that he was playing. I walked in with tears streaming down my face so, of course, he stopped playing to ask what was wrong. I told him to just keep playing. Once I had calmed down a little I told him in my then plugged up nose voice. He then continued to play and we shared a few laughs before I figured I was tired enough that I would fall asleep quickly. It was kind of a downer to end on but was good to know that I have people here that I can lean on.

Day 317: Jun 23, 2015

Oh man, tonight was awesome! We had a dodgeball tournament after an outdoor vespers. Vespers was beautiful but the real fun started when we headed to the VC. There were about 8 teams and we played double elimination. Luckily the games were pretty quick but a village team got 2^nd place (that was way better than we could have wished)! I just watched but it was so much fun. I think next time I will sponsor a team. I will make t-shirts and everything. I really hope we do another tournament.

Day 318: Jun 24, 2015

The day started out on an exciting note. The fire alarm wail went off at 6:00am. At first I didn't hear it but about 20 seconds after it started I hear it and ran to the PA system and announced where the alarm was and all that jazz. It was kind of funny to see the look on the faces of my regular construction workers' faces as they walked in and saw me making the announcement. It was kinda hilarious. It ended up being a false alarm so all was good. Most of the day was pretty routine otherwise until vespers when we surprised our outgoing directors with a vespers about them. They are leaving on Saturday so it was our last real chance to do something before a ridiculous amount of people come in for board weekend and the installation of the new directors. We made up a vespers celebrating them as a work of art and then did a social remediation on them so that they would be ready when they enter the “real” world. We had a school bus etiquette section where we decided that it is basically never appropriate to wave at buses unless your kids are on it. There was a ton of laughter and a few tears but it was a wonderful way to send them out. Afterwards, I hung out in Levi's room as he made up melodies to songs in the hymnal (songs that pretty much every Lutheran who goes to church would know). I even recorded part of his version of Go Tell It On The Mountain. His versions were amazingly beautiful especially since they were made up on the spot.

Day 319: Jun 25, 2015

It is a lovely night. The temperature is perfect, the hummingbirds are humming, the porch is full of friends and music. It should make me happy and it does but there is still a dark cloud over my head. I found out that my grandpa is in the hospital with an infection in his leg. He is getting antibiotics through an IV. In theory, he should be ok but you never know. The older you get, the harder it is to heal. I think what scares me more is that he says it doesn't hurt when the doctor said he should be in agony. I know that when I got hurt I should have been in pain but wasn't and maybe this is a similar situation but it is still scary nonetheless. I guess this is what prayer and friends are for. Hope and support.

Day 320: Jun 26, 2015

Man, it was a sweltering day. According to the thermometers on some of the remediation equipment, it got to 105 degrees today. I mean, it was still in the 90s by dinner time. Luckily, it is still cool in my room. I usually have the curtains drawn and the window closed so I think that helped. On a completely separate note, I am always amazed by the support and kindness of this place. Today was prayer around the cross for vespers and since I have two people in my life who are struggling with their health I decided to go to the spot that tells other that you would like them to pray with you. I held it together pretty well and got a hug or two after getting up. What really struck me though was when Laura beckoned me to come and pray with her in the same spot later. It felt like she was praying for me and whatever I was praying for. I have no idea if that was the case but it definitely felt that way and I ended up so teary and snot-drippy that I had to wipe my nose on my shoulder. It was a really touching moment. After everyone left, I was still hanging out there with Levi and as I went to blow out the candles he started to play the song that he was playing last time to cheer me up. It was so sweet and made me laugh since it is SO not a song for a church setting. The day closed with an ice cream/dance party celebrating the departing directors and their family. It was a nice end to the day.

Day 321: Jun 27, 2015

Today was about as long as a day can be. I worked my normal hours and then had to help get things ready for the installation of of the new directors. The installation was at 2 and went for 2 hours. So at 4 there was a bookstore sale where things were 90% off. I got two shirts for a total of $3, a big towel for $2, and some pottery for $9 more. That was the best part of the afternoon. The whole day was hot and I didn't get a nap. So the day was fun but tiring in general but in the middle of the day my ex contacted me and told me that a mutual teacher of ours that was my favorite and most influential teacher passed away last night. In memoriam, I decided to write a letter to him. Here it is:

Dear Conway,

I am at a loss for words. You died last night. I prayed for you during vespers last night. I thought I would cry while praying but I felt oddly calm. It was as if I knew that you had already passed and that you were now at peace. It was almost as if you were comforting me, letting me know that it was ok and that you weren't suffering anymore. Maybe it was you that was comforting me. They say you died in your sleep so it is possible that you had already passed. I don't know if I believe that those who have passed can have that ability to comfort those who grieve for them but I would like to think so. If it was you, thank you. It wouldn't surprise me if it was you. It would be fitting with the Conway that I knew. You have truly changed and inspired many lives. I can't even imagine the number of lives that you changed and even saved. I saw how you worked with kids who were about to go down the wrong path and changed their direction. I remember the moment that you began to change my life. It was my freshman year and I was coming to stage crew intermittently and you were still kind of scary to me. You called me over and told me that I was needed. Knowing that I was needed was one of the things that helped me through the rough times of sophomore and junior year. Without the knowledge that you were back at school waiting for me and supporting me, I know that it would have been nearly impossible to climb out of the deep, dark abyss that I was in. You were supportive to all of us and treated us like your children- you didn't take any nonsense from us and pushed us to be our best but you also showed us love, either by bringing Deerfield Bakery to weekend work days or talking to us in your office. You were a mentor to many and inspired a love for different aspects of theatre in many. I know many of us have or will go into different areas of the theatre professionally and many more will participate in community theatre or school productions. You provided the support and the push so that we could be proud of the work we did. You pushed us to work as professionals and to put on shows that rivaled professional shows and were certainly better than the productions at my college. You had the faith in us. You believed that we could put on quality shows and chose productions that you knew we could pull off and excel at. You always had high expectations of us but they were realistic expectations. You were disappointed in us when we deserved it and praised us in the same way. You made us want to make you proud. You will be missed dearly but will never truly be gone. There will be teachers who were inspired to teach theater because of you. There will be professionals that will inspire others because of you. You were an inspiration to us all. Thank you and I hope you are at peace now.

With love and sadness,

Hannah

Week 45

Day 308: Jun 14, 2015

Well, the vacation is ending. We packed up the car and headed to the airport. We said our goodbyes and then I realized that my flight was going to be a half hour late which meant that I was only going to have 20 minutes in Seattle. Needless to say, I was a little concerned. It turned out that I was on the same plane that I was going to take to Wenatchee so it worked out perfectly. Otherwise, it was a boring night.

Day 309: Jun 15, 2015

Today was long. I got up early to catch the earlier bus to the boat dock. It just made it easier on me because if I missed it I still had an opportunity to catch the next one. Plus, I was awake anyway so why not sit and read at the boat dock instead of my hotel room. So I sat at the boat dock for about 2 hours and then sat on a boat for four hours and then sat on a bus for a half hour. The boat ride felt like forever but I talked to one of my ESS friends, Katie. She is awesome. She knows how much I love Goldfish crackers and how sad I was that they don't have them in the mornings anymore so she bought a 3lb box of Goldfish and gave them to me. It was amazing and I love her for it. I figure I can't and shouldn't eat that many Goldfish in a month and a half so I am going to share them around. I already gave one of the three bags to the lady who is doing daycare for the kids that are left. I figure I will keep one for myself and split the other bag amongst friends.

Day 310: Jun 16, 2015

Back to the grindstone. Things were pretty good except that we are basically out of regular coffee which meant that I had to grab some from ESS. Their coffee is pre-ground which kinda sucks but I had to grind it again so that it would be the right size for espresso. We did find out, though, that the coffee over there is not as good in the first place but that I can still make it better than the urns can. I ended the day with a game of Forbidden Desert and just hanging out with friends.

Day 311: Jun 17, 2015

A pretty normal, pretty boring day. Most of the rest of the kids in the village will be gone by the end of the week... It is going to be quiet and kinda sad.

Day 312: Jun 18, 2015

This morning I saw 8-10 hummingbirds on our hummingbird feeder as I left the house for work. It was pretty amazing.

Musings about grey vs black and white

I think if my life leads to nothing else I want to help people to realize that nothing in the world is black and white. We live in a world of grays. I would argue that nothing is entirely good or entirely bad. Heck, I can think of some absolutely horrible people who have done unimaginable harm and yet, (as hard as it might be to admit) there were good things that came out of it. I find it is hardest to see the positive on recent horrible events in particular so lets try. I am going to take the example of the shooting at a church in South Carolina. Don't get me wrong, it was a horrible and tragic event but if you look at the responses around the internet you can see the little bits of positive resulting from the negative. It is turning an inky black incident into a dark grey event. People are banning together. A politician, and maybe more than one, is asking people to donate to the church rather than his campaign (and then not going to the town to receive the hero status that is kinda deserved. He is keeping the focus on the community rather than himself). People of all races are coming together to condemn the actions that this man took. I think it is sad that it took something like this to bring people together but it has and that is a positive result. (Again, what he did was horrendous and inexcusable. This is just an example of how even the darkest of things/events/people are really just shades of gray.) If you are reading this and disagree I would love to hear an example- either one that you would consider “pure white” (or entirely good) or one that you would consider the darkest, inkiest of “black” (or entirely bad). Challenge me, please. This issue of people not thinking about both sides of an issue is probably one of the most frustrating things in my life right now and if I can get more people to think about both the good and bad maybe the world won't be seem like as bad of a place as some see it.

Day 313: Jun 19, 2015

Well, I saw a mouse in our house. I saw it run under the stove so I quickly set about 5 traps around the stove. That damn mouse is going to get caught. If it were winter I would feel a little more bad about it because it would be just trying to get out of the cold but it is warm out now and he has plenty of food, warmth and shelter outside now and has no excuse for being in here. I also decided to implement the cat fur that my lovely kitty sent me. I put it around my door in the hopes of deterring it from entering my abode.

Day 314: Jun 20, 2015

This afternoon and evening was amazing. Leah, Levi, Jesus, and I all headed down to the “swimming hole” down by the wood lot. It is basically a deep spot in the river right where the river quickly widens so it is a fairly calm spot. It wasn't all that warm out but I had fun crossing the river on some logs and we played some Phase 10. It was definitely worth not taking a nap. After vespers, we had a variety show. I think it was the funniest one yet. I thought Riley was going to suffocate from laughing so hard. It was hilarious and amazing. I even ended up volunteering for a harmonica solo that I didn't know I was going to do and not to toot my own horn, I was pretty good.

Week 44

Day 301: Jun 7, 2015

We saw 4 black bears today and one was a cub! We also saw hundreds of bison, a few antelope and a few elk. It was a nice day.

Day 302: Jun 8, 2015

We ended up coming back early today. We did a hike around the Norris geysers and I think got too much sun so my dad and I did not feel good in the afternoon and called it a day a little early and came back and took a nap

Day 303: Jun 9, 2015

Most of today was spent in the car by my dad and I did hike down and up a bunch of switchbacks to see a waterfall up close. It was worth it but by the time we were done I could really feel it in my calves. We saw a trumpeter swan and some elk as well as more people being stupid. Some were walking off the path and getting too close to thermal features. They have no idea how thick the crust is between where they are stepping and the incredibly hot water, steam, and mud. We also saw quite a few people get within 10-15 feet of an elk and a bison. I mean, there have been 2 attacks on tourists who got too close in the last few weeks. Maybe I am being overly cautious but, hey, I like to spend my vacation outside of the hospital. I think the thing that bothers me the most though, is when I see people stepping on these incredible geological features and then ruin it for others. You can see where people have stepped. You can see where people have sunk through into the water. It just really ruins the beauty. So if you are reading this, I beg you to stay on the paths in national parks, especially in Yellowstone.

Day 304: Jun 10, 2015

Today we went and saw Ol' Faithful. While we were there we saw the geyser called Beehive go off which was pretty cool since it is an unpredictable geyser and goes off whenever it damn well pleases. On our way to Ol' Faithful we drove through an area of other geysers and saw a pink volcano geyser that was colored pink by the trace amounts of manganese in the erupting water. In another area we saw other cool geysers that go off every 5-7 hours or so with buffalo in the background it was pretty picturesque.

Day 305: Jun 11, 2015

Today we headed to the Tetons and spent so much time there that we didn't get back to our room until 12:30pm. It was partly because we decided to stay for the sunset which doesn't happen until 9:30-10:00. Of course, the place where we decided to stop for the sunset was the place where Ansel Adams took a famous picture of the Tetons so there were tons of photographers there for my dad to talk to. Most were shooting digital but there was one who was shooting film and he was quite the character. He talked super fast but he and my dad had a really good conversation about how the famous photographers actually end up making it. Turns out it isn't because they are that much better but because they know how to market themselves. While we were waiting for sunset, I looked around and saw two beavers in the river that we were on the edge of. They were really cute so I took a bunch of pictures.By the time we got back we were all exhausted but we were welcomed by a star filled sky.

Day 306: Jun 12, 2015

Today we did a little hiking, checked out some geysers around Old Faithful (saw a marmot sunning himself on a rock) and ended the day by watching the sunset at Grand Prismatic Spring. The sunset was beautiful because our surroundings were reflected on the water on the ground around us. Even with the thunderstorm coming up on us it was still amazing. (We did make it back to the car before the storm hit)

Day 307: Jun 13, 2015

It was our final day in the park. My dad and I decided to hike up a mountain to get a better view of Grand Prismatic. It wasn't a super high mountain but we hiked or climbed pretty much straight up. It was a well used “trail” because you could see how much erosion had been happening and how many different ways up there were. The dust and gravel were pretty loose so it wasn't a ton of fun going up because you didn't really know how much you could trust the ground that you were standing on and I haven't been real good with heights since I fell 20ft. The climb was totally worth it. The view was amazing. Going down the mountain/hill was not easy but I did have fun kind of skiing down the rocks and dust and I didn't fall until I was 20ft from the end of the trail. We spent the rest of the afternoon seeing the last of the geysers and pools that we hadn't seen yet. We got back to the hotel just in time to pack and watch the Stanley Cup game and when that was over we went to the taco bus in town and had a great taco to end the day.

Week 43

Day 294: May 31, 2015

I went out to 10 Mile Falls today. Even over the sound of construction I could pick out the sounds of the surrounding waterfalls from around the valley. They are crashing down the mountains right now. We have had a fair amount of rain in the last few days and the snow on the peaks is melting. The swallowtails have been fluttering around the valley like we see monarchs at home. I see maybe one or two a day. I don't think I had ever seen a swallowtail butterfly before coming here. I spent my afternoon making payment cards for Beanies. Basically, when people put money in the box they can take a card to help them remember how many they have paid for and how many they have left. Some of the guys seem uncomfortable with the honor system so I thought this would help.

Advice for the day from my mind to yours: Dances are only awkward if you stand at the side and feel awkward. Enjoy it! Dance!

Day 295: Jun 1, 2015

It is really starting to freak me out. The new guy looks so much like my ex it is weird. He reminds me of a mix of my ex and an old version of a family friend who is and was too smart for his own good. The family friend learned the social skills but this guy doesn't seem as smart (I think I heard something about community college, which doesn't mean much but still) but is kinda hard to like. Maybe it is my visual connection between him and other people I know but I guess we will see. He is here for a year so here is here for the remainder of my time so I will learn to adapt or accept.

Day 296: Jun 2, 2015

Not much to report. Going out in 3 days so I packed today.

Day 297: Jun 3, 2015

I am finding that the closer I get to going out the more I am realizing how much I need to get out of here. I didn't really feel it until after dinner today. I did get out of the village today, though. A few of my housemates and I went for a walk down the road. In fact, we went farther than I have ever walked down the road (which is only saying that we went more than a mile). It was nice. Only 2 more sleeps til I am out of wilderness and 3 til I see my parents.

Day 298: Jun 4, 2015

Not much to report. 2 days.

Day 299: Jun 5, 2015

This place I now call home:

I ride down the mountain in an old white van. The scenery changes every few minutes. We start in the village with it's buildings, and equipment and soon more to rocky forest. There are areas that have burned in recent years. The small things have regrown and the forest floor is green but the trunks of trees are black. The only hint that something has happened there. There is no hint of snow anymore. It has melted in the last few months and will not return until I am long gone. Then we come to the avalanche area or what we call “ol' faithful”. There are no trees to speak of. There are some larger bushes that tell of a calm winter- ol' faithful didn't slide this year- but other that there is just the bright green of spring. Soon enough, our mountains disappear from view and are replaced by ones that are nameless to me- we have entered the next valley and the comfort of buckskin, copper, dumbbell, and north star is gone. Along the way we pull over for the incoming traffic- a fuel container and an excavator. Upon reaching the dock we only have to wait about a half hour as we watch the boat slowly inch closer. It seems to take for ever but once on the boat you feel like you are speeding along. That fastest a vehicle is allowed to go in the village is 15 mph so anything more than that feels like speeding. I look out the back of the slow boat and there is a stark difference between “our side” of the lake and the east side. Our side looks lush and green while the other side is a rocky brown-grey with hints of grass and shrubs trying to survive the dry side. There is a sprinkling of trees that tend to gather around the avalanche and spring shoots. They are the lucky ones whose seed landed in the ideal spot for life. Even the valleys that cross-sect the lake are brown and grey. Some areas are even full of dead trees, probably died in a fire. They make the peaks look like they have short spiky hair. Even the areas that are green are like lacework. The greenery has grown on the flat areas and the rock has shorn off to make the beautiful green and grey lace.

Day 300: Jun 6, 2015

On my way to Yellowstone! On my first flight there was a guy one seat over from me who was rocking the air guitar. He was having his a concert in his head. It was hilarious. Then, while I was waiting for my next flight a little boy came up to me and wanted to watch the Lorax with me. Of course, I said yes. I mean, how do you say no to a 3 year old who wants to watch the Lorax? The rest of the day was spent mostly in a car. It was great to see my parents again.

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.