I'm sitting in my living room chatting with everybody as I write this. So, if this is a little random, I'm sorry. I'm not focusing very well.
Today was my first day off. But I still got up pretty early. We had decided to leave around 10:00 for Bend, so I got up around 9:00. The Marrieds had gotten up and left at like 8:30. And Shea and Dan had headed into Madras because the boys were ripping down sheet rock yesterday and Shea got some fiberglass in his eye and it had swelled up really bad.
I got up, showered, got ready and headed downstairs to find a message from Shea on our white board that read, "Hey Ladies!- I pooped in the fridge! -Love, Shea." It was hilariously random, but we did check our fridge. You never know.
So the girls, Nick, Mike, Darren and I headed out of camp. It took us a couple of hours to get out to Bend. When we first got in, we met up with the Marrieds and got lunch in downtown Bend. Dan's from there, so he told us how to get to some really good local places. Kristen and I got sandwiches at a place called the Downtowner while everyone else went for pizza. It was a great little place and the people were super friendly. I had Kate's Chicken Salad sandwich. It was very yummy.
Also, Dan is really cool. He's kind of a hippy, super chill and finds himself funny which I find funny. I like him a lot as well.
After lunch, we went to Costco. I didn't buy anything because food in bulk kind of creeps me out. But I did get a $7 pair of jeans at the Old Navy next door. I only had one pair of jeans with me here that were kind of grungy work jeans. I needed some nicer ones to wear in the Sassy and stuff. And you can't really beat $7.
After that, we went to REI which is in an outdoor mall type of place. It was a really nice area. Bend is a really cool place. It's very outdoorsy. They have huge parks and a lot of locally owned businesses. The people were really nice and I met a guy from Missouri who was wearing a CO State shirt, which is where Kristen went to school.
After REI, we headed to Target where we picked up all the things we were missing for our condo. Target is as great here as it is at home. I love that store.
By the time we were done with Target, it had already been a really long drive. We decided to drive back to Madras to go to the grocery store so that we didn't have food in the car for 2 hours. So we drove back to Madras and stopped at the Safeway. We ran into Curtis and Jay there, who are the Landscaping staff guys. We stocked up on food and headed back to camp.
It was really great getting off of property for a while and it was good time in the car. I rode in Mandi's car with Mandi, Kristen and Mike. It was good to talk in the car and jam to music. And we made tentative plans to go to LA for Thanksgiving because it turns out we get 6 days off. Mandi has a bunch of friends that we could stay with. So I hope that works out. I really want to see some more of the West Coast while I'm here.
After we got back, we unpacked, ate dinner and have been hanging out ever since. Some of the boys have been in and out and now we're hanging out in the living room. But I'm kind of dragging and I'm looking forward to not setting my alarm for the morning.
I love you all. Get your summer staff applications in! Peace out, girl scouts!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
We're All in this Together
I can't believe it hasn't even been a week since I moved out here. It already feels like I've been here forever. I can already see how easy it would be to live within the camp bubble and not come outside of it. Because it's so kind of wonderful and ideallic. Although, I'm sure that will shatter at some point as well.
But my day...
Today was our first real All Clean Day. Today was also the first day I was really dragging getting out of bed. I think the week had finally caught up with me and I was really tired. But I got up, got dressed and headed to Geronimo.
We were lucky this week in that only one of the quads was used this weekend. So we got everything in the quads cleaned in the morning. We started off cleaning the bathrooms which means one person in each bathroom. But we were blaring some random 90s mixes that included the likes of Destiny's Child so it was still pretty fun. It works out that everyone ends up cleaning like 4 bathrooms which really isn't that bad.
After bathrooms, we split up into 2 teams (upstairs and downstairs) and go around and make sure of things like the blankets being folded correctly and the trash is emptied and every bed has a pillow. That was fun because we got to talk a lot while we did that. I was with Darren, Shea and Kristen for that part. It was good to talk to Darren because I hadn't really had a chance to talk to him yet. He's a really cool guy except that he was the first to make fun of my accent. I'm sure there is only more of that to come.
After we were done with that we cleaned the suites and then it was time for lunch. After lunch, the girls went back to Geronimo and the guys headed to Maintenance or Landscaping depending on which they're assigned to.
From Geronimo, Jen taught us how to use the giant lift truck we have for housekeeping and then took us to the Washboard, which is our laundry facility. We spent the afternoon there learning to fold precisely and washing sheets and towels. It was fun too because all the girls were together and we got to keep learning more and more about each other. One thing to be praying about is that there are a couple of girls that already really get on my nerves. It's already taking a lot of patience to be around them and we're going to be spending A LOT of time together over the next year, including small group. But I'm hoping that as we continue to get to know each other people will settle into their personalities more and become a little more laidback.
At the end of the day, Jen let us into the Summer Staff and Work Crew dorms which are brand new and really incredible. It's a beautiful building and one that some of you will hopefully come stay in this summer. Just a suggestion.
As of 5:00, we have entered into our first days off. It was a really weird feeling because I don't really know what to do with myself here. We're still in the phase where we're all trying to hang out a lot. I would love to get some alone time but I also think it's really important to hang out right now so I don't seem like I don't want to get to know people. It's a hard balance to strike right now, but hopefully I'll get some time to myself over the next couple of days.
We had dinner at 6:00 and then a bunch of the boys went to the gym. Mandi, Kristen and I settled into the living room to watch some Grey's and work on thank you cards for support. It was great just to sit and chill.
We had been talking at dinner about watching High School Musical tonight, so we got that going around 9:30. Dusty (of Dusty and Sara) is freakishly in love with the movies as well as several of the girls. So they're my kind of peeps. It ended up being Peter and Becca, Mike, Shea, Mandi, Kristen, Dusty and Sara and me watching it. It was really fun and funny especially because Peter, Mike and Shea had never seen it and Dusty knew all the words. The commentary by the boys was especially humorous.
We finished that and everyone headed back to their condos. Everyone seems pretty beat after the week of absorbing more information than I ever have in my life. We're planning on all heading into Bend tomorrow which is about 2 hours away. We decided to drive all the way in there so that we can stock up on stuff at Cosco and go to Target and stuff. It should be a fun day.
Paige- I was clearly thinking of you the whole time I was watching HSM.
Al- Thanks for calling and leaving me a message! I listened to it and it brightened my day.
Bryce- It was good to chat. And, no I haven't skated yet, I hope to rectify that soon. Yes, you absolutely can use razor skooters in the foam pit. Wildhorse does not have Sunkist but it does have Fanta. And I'm hoping there will be no bad blood after OU gets romped next week.
I love you all and still miss you like crazy!
But my day...
Today was our first real All Clean Day. Today was also the first day I was really dragging getting out of bed. I think the week had finally caught up with me and I was really tired. But I got up, got dressed and headed to Geronimo.
We were lucky this week in that only one of the quads was used this weekend. So we got everything in the quads cleaned in the morning. We started off cleaning the bathrooms which means one person in each bathroom. But we were blaring some random 90s mixes that included the likes of Destiny's Child so it was still pretty fun. It works out that everyone ends up cleaning like 4 bathrooms which really isn't that bad.
After bathrooms, we split up into 2 teams (upstairs and downstairs) and go around and make sure of things like the blankets being folded correctly and the trash is emptied and every bed has a pillow. That was fun because we got to talk a lot while we did that. I was with Darren, Shea and Kristen for that part. It was good to talk to Darren because I hadn't really had a chance to talk to him yet. He's a really cool guy except that he was the first to make fun of my accent. I'm sure there is only more of that to come.
After we were done with that we cleaned the suites and then it was time for lunch. After lunch, the girls went back to Geronimo and the guys headed to Maintenance or Landscaping depending on which they're assigned to.
From Geronimo, Jen taught us how to use the giant lift truck we have for housekeeping and then took us to the Washboard, which is our laundry facility. We spent the afternoon there learning to fold precisely and washing sheets and towels. It was fun too because all the girls were together and we got to keep learning more and more about each other. One thing to be praying about is that there are a couple of girls that already really get on my nerves. It's already taking a lot of patience to be around them and we're going to be spending A LOT of time together over the next year, including small group. But I'm hoping that as we continue to get to know each other people will settle into their personalities more and become a little more laidback.
At the end of the day, Jen let us into the Summer Staff and Work Crew dorms which are brand new and really incredible. It's a beautiful building and one that some of you will hopefully come stay in this summer. Just a suggestion.
As of 5:00, we have entered into our first days off. It was a really weird feeling because I don't really know what to do with myself here. We're still in the phase where we're all trying to hang out a lot. I would love to get some alone time but I also think it's really important to hang out right now so I don't seem like I don't want to get to know people. It's a hard balance to strike right now, but hopefully I'll get some time to myself over the next couple of days.
We had dinner at 6:00 and then a bunch of the boys went to the gym. Mandi, Kristen and I settled into the living room to watch some Grey's and work on thank you cards for support. It was great just to sit and chill.
We had been talking at dinner about watching High School Musical tonight, so we got that going around 9:30. Dusty (of Dusty and Sara) is freakishly in love with the movies as well as several of the girls. So they're my kind of peeps. It ended up being Peter and Becca, Mike, Shea, Mandi, Kristen, Dusty and Sara and me watching it. It was really fun and funny especially because Peter, Mike and Shea had never seen it and Dusty knew all the words. The commentary by the boys was especially humorous.
We finished that and everyone headed back to their condos. Everyone seems pretty beat after the week of absorbing more information than I ever have in my life. We're planning on all heading into Bend tomorrow which is about 2 hours away. We decided to drive all the way in there so that we can stock up on stuff at Cosco and go to Target and stuff. It should be a fun day.
Paige- I was clearly thinking of you the whole time I was watching HSM.
Al- Thanks for calling and leaving me a message! I listened to it and it brightened my day.
Bryce- It was good to chat. And, no I haven't skated yet, I hope to rectify that soon. Yes, you absolutely can use razor skooters in the foam pit. Wildhorse does not have Sunkist but it does have Fanta. And I'm hoping there will be no bad blood after OU gets romped next week.
I love you all and still miss you like crazy!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
I Work in Vending Services
I had just typed out my whole blog and then I accidentally pushed something that deleted it. I'm pretty frustrated but I'll start over.
First of all, I'll pick up where I left off last night. Sara and I ended up eating dinner all by ourselves after work because everyone else was in AE training until really late again last night. It was a little sad, the two of us being the only ones at the 2 whole tables set up for the interns. But I enjoy Sara's company and we had a nice meal.
After dinner, we headed up the hill to Angela and Andrew's for the game. They were watching the OU/Texas game that they had recorded earlier and a bunch of the other young staff people were there hanging out and watching as well. Besides Angela, Andrew, Sara and I, there was Jay who is on Landscaping, John from Maintenance, Dina the teacher and her husband Bill, Sarah and Meg the kitchen girls and Kacie who has worked everywhere, helps us in the store, and is moving to Thailand to work in an orphanage or something.
It was a really fun night made only better by the romping my Tigers gave Nebraska. It was so nice to be sitting in a real home, watching football, chatting, laughing. It was just really comfortable and nice. Andrew and I have already had some talks about next weeks game between Mizzou and OU. He's a little worried because our defense finally dominated. I told him he should be.
Everyone here is also really excited about Stanford's defeat of USC because a lot of us know the 2nd string quarterback who led them to the victory, Tavita Pritchard. His father, David, is on staff in Washington and was my Camp Director when I was at Malibu. There family is really cool and of course a lot of people around here know them, so that was definitely the talk of the camp today.
Angela and I ended up having to leave during halftime of the Mizzou game in order to open the Sassy back up. The late shift was also fun. Angela ran the cash register so that I could practice making drinks and filling food orders and stuff. It went pretty smoothly and I continued to enjoy Mary and Judy. We finished up and I was back at my condo by 11:15. When I got back, everyone was dead asleep and Kristen had left me a note in my room saying she was sad she hadn't seen me all day. It was really sweet and I continue to enjoy her a lot.
Sleeping in late had messed me up a little and I had some trouble getting to sleep. I didn't end up getting to bed until like 1:00 and I had to be up early. I reported to Geronimo this morning to help with checkout which I don't think I will normally be doing but everyone who is normally on housekeeping was busy with AE training. So it was just Jen and Erin (the housekeeping staff), Andrew (Angela's husband who is with Guest Services) and myself. We basically just gave each cabin a bucket with instructions on how to strip the beds, fold the blankets and empty the trash. Once they were done and ready to be out of their rooms completely, one of us would go check it over and then cross it off. It was a pretty simple process, but you have to wait around a while for people to get their ish together.
I got done there around 10:00 and headed to the Sass. The Sassy isn't open on Sundays, but I will have to do vending. Angela went with me today and it is quite the process. First we drove around to all the vending machines on property and opened them up, took the money out, counted how many of each drink we would need to restock, and counted the "clicks" which shows us how many drinks were purchased.
After we were done with that, we headed back to the retail office and went through the whole process to deposit the money from the vending machines. From there, we went back out and checked all the places that have 5-gallon jugs of water for water dispensers. After we figured out how many of those we needed, we went up to the water warehouse and loaded them into the truck. Those suckers are heavy and we drink a lot of water around here.
P.S., the vending trucks a stick and I have to learn how to drive it. Intense.
After the water warehouse, we headed up to the Coke warehouse to count out the specific number of sodas needed for each machine and load them into the truck. Then we went and loaded them all. We started this whole process at 10:00 and finished at 4:00 with an hour and a half break when the store was open but also with 2 of us.
While the store was open, I went through our stock to see what needs to be ordered for next week and practiced making espresso drinks. It was fun.
After we got back from vending, we learned the whole process of how to close out the register and make deposits. It ended up taking us a really long time but we only have to do it at the end of the weekends during the off-season. During the summer we'll do it every night.
After work, Sara and I headed over to dinner and found all of our fellow interns working on the written tests they had to pass in order to become AE certified. Once they were done, we had dinner (steak) and then we realized that for the first time, we had an evening free. First we headed back to the condos and then Julie, the AE trainer showed up.
Julie gets flown in to do this training and she's awesome. We helped her grade their tests because everyone was very anxious to see if they passed. Everyone passed and is now AE certified to save lives and such. It was a little bit of a bummer to miss out on the training with everyone these past few days so I'm glad it's over.
After we were finished grading, Shea decided we should all go see Maize Reservoir because none of us had seen it before. It's about 3 miles outside camp and we were told we shouldn't go there right now for fear of being shot by the hunters. So we decided it would be a great idea.
Side Note: Shea is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. He's 6'6, played basketball for Montana and in Amsterdam, never stops talking and everything he say is sarcastic and hilarious. While being constantly hilarious, he is answers every question you ask him honestly and earnestly. He's very warm and welcoming and makes you feel comfortable. I like him a lot.
So Kristen, Lacey, Mandi, Drew, Becca and I all climbed in the car with Shea and the boys hopped in with Julie. All we knew was that Maize was on the road past the stables so we took off driving down a winding mountain road that have cows wandering freely across it. We had no clue where we going and ended up driving forever and never finding it. Still, we laughed a lot in the car and sang loudly to songs such as Indian Outlaw and that KC and Jo-Jo song.
After we got back from that, all the girls in my condo, Becca, Mike, Nick, Shea and I played ImagineIff. I was winning until the very end when Shea overtook me. It was a rough loss but it was a lot of fun. I know that it takes a while to really settle in here, but today was the first day I felt a real twinge of lonliness. It was great to just sit around in a group and try to feel comfortable and laugh and play a game.
Tomorrow's All Clean and I'm both excited and not. It'll be fun to all be together but housekeeping is definitely not my fave so far. But still, it'll be fun and after it's over, we'll have made it to our first days off. We're planning on heading into Bend to hang out, get all the stuff we forgot for our condos, grocery shop and have a generally good time.
I feel like I'm settling in here, but it's definitely not home yet. I miss you guys a lot and I can't wait to talk to you all soon. I love you!
First of all, I'll pick up where I left off last night. Sara and I ended up eating dinner all by ourselves after work because everyone else was in AE training until really late again last night. It was a little sad, the two of us being the only ones at the 2 whole tables set up for the interns. But I enjoy Sara's company and we had a nice meal.
After dinner, we headed up the hill to Angela and Andrew's for the game. They were watching the OU/Texas game that they had recorded earlier and a bunch of the other young staff people were there hanging out and watching as well. Besides Angela, Andrew, Sara and I, there was Jay who is on Landscaping, John from Maintenance, Dina the teacher and her husband Bill, Sarah and Meg the kitchen girls and Kacie who has worked everywhere, helps us in the store, and is moving to Thailand to work in an orphanage or something.
It was a really fun night made only better by the romping my Tigers gave Nebraska. It was so nice to be sitting in a real home, watching football, chatting, laughing. It was just really comfortable and nice. Andrew and I have already had some talks about next weeks game between Mizzou and OU. He's a little worried because our defense finally dominated. I told him he should be.
Everyone here is also really excited about Stanford's defeat of USC because a lot of us know the 2nd string quarterback who led them to the victory, Tavita Pritchard. His father, David, is on staff in Washington and was my Camp Director when I was at Malibu. There family is really cool and of course a lot of people around here know them, so that was definitely the talk of the camp today.
Angela and I ended up having to leave during halftime of the Mizzou game in order to open the Sassy back up. The late shift was also fun. Angela ran the cash register so that I could practice making drinks and filling food orders and stuff. It went pretty smoothly and I continued to enjoy Mary and Judy. We finished up and I was back at my condo by 11:15. When I got back, everyone was dead asleep and Kristen had left me a note in my room saying she was sad she hadn't seen me all day. It was really sweet and I continue to enjoy her a lot.
Sleeping in late had messed me up a little and I had some trouble getting to sleep. I didn't end up getting to bed until like 1:00 and I had to be up early. I reported to Geronimo this morning to help with checkout which I don't think I will normally be doing but everyone who is normally on housekeeping was busy with AE training. So it was just Jen and Erin (the housekeeping staff), Andrew (Angela's husband who is with Guest Services) and myself. We basically just gave each cabin a bucket with instructions on how to strip the beds, fold the blankets and empty the trash. Once they were done and ready to be out of their rooms completely, one of us would go check it over and then cross it off. It was a pretty simple process, but you have to wait around a while for people to get their ish together.
I got done there around 10:00 and headed to the Sass. The Sassy isn't open on Sundays, but I will have to do vending. Angela went with me today and it is quite the process. First we drove around to all the vending machines on property and opened them up, took the money out, counted how many of each drink we would need to restock, and counted the "clicks" which shows us how many drinks were purchased.
After we were done with that, we headed back to the retail office and went through the whole process to deposit the money from the vending machines. From there, we went back out and checked all the places that have 5-gallon jugs of water for water dispensers. After we figured out how many of those we needed, we went up to the water warehouse and loaded them into the truck. Those suckers are heavy and we drink a lot of water around here.
P.S., the vending trucks a stick and I have to learn how to drive it. Intense.
After the water warehouse, we headed up to the Coke warehouse to count out the specific number of sodas needed for each machine and load them into the truck. Then we went and loaded them all. We started this whole process at 10:00 and finished at 4:00 with an hour and a half break when the store was open but also with 2 of us.
While the store was open, I went through our stock to see what needs to be ordered for next week and practiced making espresso drinks. It was fun.
After we got back from vending, we learned the whole process of how to close out the register and make deposits. It ended up taking us a really long time but we only have to do it at the end of the weekends during the off-season. During the summer we'll do it every night.
After work, Sara and I headed over to dinner and found all of our fellow interns working on the written tests they had to pass in order to become AE certified. Once they were done, we had dinner (steak) and then we realized that for the first time, we had an evening free. First we headed back to the condos and then Julie, the AE trainer showed up.
Julie gets flown in to do this training and she's awesome. We helped her grade their tests because everyone was very anxious to see if they passed. Everyone passed and is now AE certified to save lives and such. It was a little bit of a bummer to miss out on the training with everyone these past few days so I'm glad it's over.
After we were finished grading, Shea decided we should all go see Maize Reservoir because none of us had seen it before. It's about 3 miles outside camp and we were told we shouldn't go there right now for fear of being shot by the hunters. So we decided it would be a great idea.
Side Note: Shea is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. He's 6'6, played basketball for Montana and in Amsterdam, never stops talking and everything he say is sarcastic and hilarious. While being constantly hilarious, he is answers every question you ask him honestly and earnestly. He's very warm and welcoming and makes you feel comfortable. I like him a lot.
So Kristen, Lacey, Mandi, Drew, Becca and I all climbed in the car with Shea and the boys hopped in with Julie. All we knew was that Maize was on the road past the stables so we took off driving down a winding mountain road that have cows wandering freely across it. We had no clue where we going and ended up driving forever and never finding it. Still, we laughed a lot in the car and sang loudly to songs such as Indian Outlaw and that KC and Jo-Jo song.
After we got back from that, all the girls in my condo, Becca, Mike, Nick, Shea and I played ImagineIff. I was winning until the very end when Shea overtook me. It was a rough loss but it was a lot of fun. I know that it takes a while to really settle in here, but today was the first day I felt a real twinge of lonliness. It was great to just sit around in a group and try to feel comfortable and laugh and play a game.
Tomorrow's All Clean and I'm both excited and not. It'll be fun to all be together but housekeeping is definitely not my fave so far. But still, it'll be fun and after it's over, we'll have made it to our first days off. We're planning on heading into Bend to hang out, get all the stuff we forgot for our condos, grocery shop and have a generally good time.
I feel like I'm settling in here, but it's definitely not home yet. I miss you guys a lot and I can't wait to talk to you all soon. I love you!
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