Tuesday, September 29, 2009

It's cold up in here

It's supposed to snow tonight.

A big thanks to Esme for the AMAZING guest post!

Mavericking is still tons of fun! Less fun, however, are the bruises all over my arms and legs and sternum and palms and feet from chucking and catching firewood. I'm excited to have bruises though; if you know me, you know that I don't bruise unless I'm seriously injured so this is exciting and new to me.

This morning, we met in the dining hall again at 6:00am and headed to the woodlot. We split wood. Then we stacked wood in the basement of chalet 14. We stacked an entire dump truck load so that took pretty much all morning. Before I had dishteam I took a load of stuff to the burnpile on the second level. I got to drive the truck because I'm one of the only mavericks who knows how to drive a manual. I dumped the load just fine but when I went to turn around (near the 2nd hold of the frisbee golf coarse for those of you who know Holden) I got stuck. It took me 40 minutes to dig out the tires and get un-stuck. By that time I was a half hour late to dishteam. I was the only one on clean and it lasted 2 and a half hours because we had 133 6th graders from Chelan come in today.

I went straight to work from dishteam because the Snack Bar had already been open for half an hour. I was so tired that Karen told me to go home and take a nap. Since I"m incapable of napping, I showered and cleaned a little and started doing Laundry. I'm finding comfort in the fact that these are all neccesary prepatory tasks to beging packing (sometime I will, I swear).

Anyway, I have 3 days left in the village. A lot of people I'vebeen friends with ALL SUMMER left today which is a little sad but that's me in a few days. I'm sad to go but I'm really anxious for things to come.

Oh, Sarah came to visit! She wasn't here very long and her time here basically consisted of walking around the village and near by it talking. It was GREAT to see her!

Friday, September 25, 2009

All in a Day's Work

Today I woke up at the butt crack of dawn in order to do maverick work. It probably doesn't come as a surprise to those of you who know me well to find out that I am a maverick now, since as a child I was beastly strong. At three I was pulling trees out of the ground with one hand.


My maverick pals and I started the morning by eating four bowls of oatmeal and a gallon of coffee each. We then went and chopped wood. It was at this point that we heard the fire alarm ringing through the trees. We ran back into the village. People were crowding around Koininia. Smoke was billowing around the building; fire crackled behind the windows.
"Oh thank God you're here!" Tom said to us mavericks. "We can't turn the hose on!"
I ran to the fire hose and pushed the villagers trying to turn it on out of the way. With one mighty tug I turned the hose on. My fellow mavericks grabbed the hose and began spraying it at the building, but--oh no!--there through the top window I saw Joe screaming for help!
"Fear not, little Joseph!" I bellowed, and without further ado I ran into the fiery maw of Koininia.
The smoke was too thick to see through, and burning pieces of wood were falling from the ceiling, but I quickly manuevered my way to the stairway. The stairs suddenly dropped from under my feet in a burst of sparks, but I leaped and grabbed onto the edge of the second floor. I hauled myself up and ran through the upper hallway.
"Amy!" Joe said when I found him, and then had a fit of coughs, the toxic black smoke penetrating his lungs.
"Don't worry, little Joseph, I will save you. But do you promise to no longer bum ice cream money off of the good citizens of Holden Village?"
"I promise!"
I grabbed Joe and jumped out the window, glass cascading around me. I somersaulted onto the ground, shielding Joe with my body.
The mavericks and the village fire brigade put out the fire, barely saving the building.
"Good job, Amy," Tom said. "You are the treasure of the village."
"No prob, Tom. Just another day's work for a maverick."
And then the bell for coffee break rang. Monkey rolls...mmm...
After coffee break, we mavericks did our favorite pasttime: log rolling. That's me, with the afro and red shorts:















At lunch I realized I have only a week left at Holden, and I must admit I got a bit teary.















But then one of my dear friends made me a special lunch to cheer me up.















After lunch I had to take up my role as Queen Ice Cream Scooper. And after dinner I performed at the Lift. I did a special dance routine I'd been preparing all summer.


































I whipped out my scarf and wowed the villagers with my stunning tricks.


































And for the grand finale I turned on the snow machine. Ta da!

















Now I shall sit on the porch until the wee hours of the morning.

(This day in the life of Amy brought to you by Esme Dutcher)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Amy the Maverick

That's right, I am not part-time Maverick. I decided to do 2-3 mostly full days (still have to do Snack Bar/Pool Hall) a week instead of a few hours every day. Here is what my day consisted of:

5:40am: Very confused by alarm clock, I rolled out of bed and got ready.
6:00am: in Dining hall with coffee waiting for the rest of the mavericks to show up. Paul Hinderlie was there doing a baking shift. He was making cinnamon rolls for coffee break. He gave me some fresh cinnamon rolls that I shared when the rest of the mavericks came. Amazing. After the cinnamon rolls, we headed out the door up to the woodlot. We spent until 7:30 splitting wood with 2 hydrolic wood splitters. That's way more exciting than it sounds.
7:30am: Head down from the second level to go to the operations meeting. Went to meeting. Awesome. We just hung out on the arc and talked about important villageish things.
7:45:Breakfast
8:30:Headed to chalet 5 to do more work. I started on this yesterday finishing sanding the floors and stuff. Today we cleaned the floors really well, rubbed them down with paint thinner, then stained them all. Extremely thereputic.
10:00: Went to loading dock and loaded the luggage truck.
10:15: Coffee break (mavericks do a lot of eating, I did a lot of drinking coffee because we were up before the sun and I work nights).
10:30: back to Chalet 5 to finish up and clean up all the tools we had around. We ran around the village with the golf cart disposing of all the things we had collected there.
12:00: Lunch.
After lunch we headed over to Dante (the furnase behind chalet 1) and chucked wood toward the GIANT stack for a while.
1:15: I went to start picking up dishes and ice for the Snack Bar. We had a busy night so I actually filled up a cart with dishes.
1:45: bus departure
2:00:Snack Bar. I had my first customers at 2:45. Sheesh. I only had 2 more customers the rest of the shift. I got a lot of knitting done on this green hat I'm making.
4:00: off work. Shower (I couldn't remember the last time I Showered).
4:30ish: went to the school vs. Village baseball game. Awesome.
5:00: dinner. There was a birthday (Pastor Nancy's grandson) including birthday cake with gummy worms. Mmmmmmm.
Now I'm here.
Only the pool hall is open tonight so I have the night off! What to do? Hmm.

Sarah comes tomorrow!! I'm so excited!
6:00am is going to come really early...again.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

pictures!


Signing the Snack Bar cupboard! Amy Cross Summer 2009! It's tradition for all the Snack Bar Area heads to sign. Exciting! Thanks, Diana, for documenting.

If I write you a letter, chances are good that I'm looking at this (when I'm not looking at the paper).

I biked down to the lake. This is me with the road sign. Wanda told me it was tradition for new bikers in the village to document the trip near this sign.
Wanda and the view a couple miles before the switch backs start.
Bored in the snack bar....these are my new glasses (one of the two pairs). The other pair looks like my old ones sort of but purple.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

10 days

Woah.

I finally got my computer back so hello!

I can't believe I leave in 10 days. I know i promised to stop blogging about how shocked I am that I don't have much time left here but I lied. I can't get over it.

Things are business as usual here.

A few nights ago, there was a massive mid-western themed engagement party for Sybil, who lives above me. There were bars and hot dishes and jello molds. Good times. Even Carol, one of the directors dropped by.

Yesterday, during Vespers, was the instillation of Nancy, the new pastor. General Holden Hilarity ensued.

Since there has been a decrease in the Snack Bar hours (and business in general) I am going to be part-time Maverick (general physical labor). I'm excited! I think that starts the day after tomorrow because tomorrow I'm being a painter.

I suppose I should start packing if I leave in 10 days. I'm sure you can imagine how settled in I am after 4 months.

Thank you so much for all the mail and letters! I am the envy of everyone who has a box near me :).

Here are some pictures! I've been really good about documenting my life....or giving my camera to people who are good at documenting my life. Maybe I'll post them after Vespers...if I don't get distracted. I'm not sure if Vespers is at 7pm or 7:30...hmm. I guess I"ll just hang around until I hear the bell. I wonder where it is?

Thursday, September 17, 2009

16 days until I depart

I counted while I was in the Sauna tonight.

A few days ago Wanda and I road bikes down to the lake. It was beautiful. We picked up our feet and went twelve miles, all downhill. I took great pictures but my laptop is still kidnapped so I'll get those up when I can and get it back. That was great though! We left at 10am and took the first bus back and were back in time to eat lunch then go to work. Perfect!

Snack Bar hours have decreased. The new schedule started Monday. Snack Bar is open every afternoon, but not the pool hall (except for Saturday which is normal summer hours). After Vespers it switches between Snack Bar and Pool Hall every other night. I've had 2 nights off this week! That hasn't happened all summer. Weird. I'm sort of over it though and am thinking that I'll volunteer part-time somewhere else to feel like I'm earning my keep.

I started a weaving. I'm making myself a bag. My mind has been so stimulated lately with all the things that are happening in the next 5 months that I haven't been sleeping really at night so that should occupy me after everyone else goes to bed at night.

The village is still shrinking. More people are leaving who have been here either all summer or all year. Weird. Since I had the night off, I went up to the city sauna after Vespers and lit it (my first time starting the sauna).

I know I haven't been here for a year or anything but I have been here for a third of a year (weird) and I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I only have a little more than 2 weeks left before I have to leave. I'll stop talking about my departure date in most further posts...at least I'll try.

I know this was kind of a wimpy post...I'll do better next time.

We had fish and chips for dinner because the woman who has run the B&B for the last 7 years is leaving and that's what she requested!! Soo good! I never expected to have fish and chips twice in one summer at Holden.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Fire Alarm

We just had a fire alarm go off in Chalet 5. Exciting. Never fear, I'm a super hose-holder! Anyway.
I knitted a hat yesterday at work, that goes to show how busy its been.

Yesterday after dinner a friend told me that she didn't know how to do cartwheels. That sort of sparked a mass gymnastics show-off time, I didn't really participate because of my lack of gymnist skills, in the lawn next to lodge 4. That lasted until Vespers.

After work I just kind of hung around.

This morning I went to the library and picked out a book.

There is't really a lot going on today except for the meals.

Lunch: BLT's
Dinner: Calzones

In what world does this happen at Holden!?? I'm so excited that I'm un-vegitarianized.


Thursday, September 10, 2009

Good day sunshine do do do do

Penny, a woman I have spent a lot of time talking to left about 45 minutes ago. We didn't exchange contact information but that's ok. I'm going to miss her a lot. She was just a typical Holden-pall who I've gotten to know very well but will most likely never see again. Then again, you never know. Penny was just different in the amount of time we had spent talking. Goodbye Penny, thank you for everything and I'll miss you!

Last night was Luke's last night. It is sort of custom that you get to do whatever you want, in out little group of friends, on your last night. We hung out in the dining hall after everyone was off of work and sort of waiting for everyone to congregate. We had tea and joked around. Then we started a game of nar nar. Nar nar is when you start at the doorway near registration in the dining hall and try to get outside (via downstairs) without touching the ground. I took tons of pictures but I can't post them because Brandon still has my laptop. Either way, it was amazing! There were 5 of us swinging around like monkeys and climbing on the walls trying to get outside.

Once people started to get outside, Luke found this really neat chopper-style bicycle underneath the bookstore porch. We road around for a while on it, it's a lot harder than it seems, I fell off twice just trying to ride. After a while of messing around outside we pulled a prank. Then we went to the jacuzzi. We stayed there until slowly everyone started to trickle to bed.

My bed is finally warm now that I found an extra blanket and put my mummy bag on top.

Good night.

Since Luke leaves this afternoon, Ben leaves next week, then I think I'm the next goodbye. Weird.

I've started looking into working with Habitat for Humanity rather than LDR, because I can't seem to get any response from LDR other than a notification of receiving my application to volunteer. Who knew it would be so hard to get a job that I don't even want to be payed for? hmm. I was looking at the housing that Habitat has and it looks like whatever I'm doing it is going to cost $25 a night. If I'm working 5 nights a week but staying there 7 nights a week, even 2 weeks might be a little bit pricy. If only I could do some fund raising to stay down there for 2 or 3 weeks but I think 1 week might be it. Then again, $175, possibly including meals, for a week is really good. So maybe I'll spend a week in New Orleans and then hit the road and stay with other people. Maybe I'll drive back home and buy a round trip train ticket to Minnesota? Hmm. It would be nice to visit Minnesota. Feel how cold REALLY cold is. I've never felt below zero before, and it would be December by the time I'm there. Don't worry Mom, I promise to be home for your birthday.

As of now, I'm just sort of figuring out where I would be when and when I would leave to see what days to sign up for through habitat, then where I should stay and how much it is going to cost me.

Last night I went to bed really upset that I have less than 3 weeks left here but really excited for what is coming up. I think that is a good way to leave the village, with something to look forward to. That being said, what exactly it is that I'm looking forward to, I have no idea. The options are limitless (kind of).

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Familly

I was walking around the village on Saturday thinking about how I was going to occupy my morning, what I do every day, when I happened to walk past the arrival/departure list. I looked at it (probably for the first time all summer) and ruined the suprise for myself that my Mom, Dad, and sister were all coming up for a suprise visit!

3 days spent with family was nice. I was sad to see them go.

I officially have a little less than three weeks left in the village. I'm not sure what is going to happen in the next three weeks but I am anticipating it going by very quickly. I know in the coming weeks I am going to spend a lot of time getting in the things I've wanted to do all summer but haven't because of being distracted by any number of things or people....or porches for that matter :).

I got my new glasses :). I'll put pictures up sometime.

I signed the cupboard in the snack bar where all the area heads sign. Diana documented as usual. I'll put up pictures as soon as I get my laptop back from a friend of mine who is using it to talk to his girlfriend every night. So...maybe sometime after I leave I'll get pictures up? It's kind of like pulling teeth to upload them onto here with the kind of internet we have available.

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned off my bookshelves and actually put my books on them. When I was cleaning them I found another container of floss!! I thought I was going to run out soon. It's the little things in life you know? I swear, I'm not trying to bore you.

Lets see, what else has happened. Oh! There was a gospel choir in the village last week from a Catholic church in Seattle. They were fantastic! Not only did they put on the best concert I've seen all summer but they also had a work party in the Snack Bar and Pool Hall and cleaned them so far beyond my expectations that I'm still thrilled everytime I go in there. Wonderful. They even cleaned the felt on the pool tables in the Pool Hall and the pool balls. Wonderful!

Last night Wanda volunteered to work in the snack bar (after my announcement, or plea for help, at dinner said "I promise you won't have to work very hard!"). She ran cash box for me. We hung out and talked about music and people and things like that. A few of my friends stopped in for a while but then went to my chalet to start a movie, Kill Bill. They were only 5 minutes in when I closed and went home to join. I guess we're watching the sequal tonight?

This morning I spoke to more people about Peace Corps and Africa and relatives that they have that did it and what they did. I also got a good friend of mine to say outloud that he would visit me. I feel like if it is said outloud it is true. I'll beleive it when I see it though.

I sent in some more applications (shorter term) for New Orleans. I also started looking on craigslist for short-term jobs there. We'll see. Worst comes to worst, if I can get my car fixed, I still drive down 101 then east toward New orleans, spend a few days, then go to Atlanta :) for a little bit. I know of someone who thinks that's a good idea. Maybe I'll just spend a while driving around visiting people around the country.....I should start making some decisions and looking at road maps.

Oh well, for now I need to focus on being really present in the village so these last few weeks don't slip out from under me.

Maybe I'll come back for a few weeks. Then again, it could just be time to go.

Can you tell I'm sort of frazzled right now with all my different options?

I just don't want to be stuck at home bored with no job.

Oh, I'm going to Bellingham too!

I'm just going to hobo around for a while. Wherever I end up, that's what I really want to do.

Please let my car be ok.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

pictures

I didn't take these but here are some pictures from the Holden website (thanks Diana) of the first day of school. The first picture is me and my chalet-mates being a band. I guess I'll update more later.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

So you demand a blog entry eh?

My lovely sister, Diana, informed me that the readers of my blog have come together and demanded an entry.

I guess I probably should. I feel like the first day of school can only be described through pictures and since my camera was locked in the Snack bar charging while all of that was going on because I worked the pool hall the previous night and didn't have the snack bar keys, I have none. I guess I'll have to wait until they're on the Holden website then put a link on here.

Basically the bus went up and down chalet hill and every chalet was responsible for trying to stop the busy and prevent the village kids from getting to school. My chalet was the first and second to last stop, since we're at the bottom of the hill. We dressed up like band teachers and made a band including a harp, tuba (me), accordian, drums, keytar. Yes, Keytar. It was a lot of fun...my lips tingled for like an hour after playing the Tuba (which I have now been informed is actually a baritone).

Sunday-Monday I went to Stehekin again for the night. It was fun! We stayed with someone who is up in the village a lot, it was really great of her to open up her house to us. We got there and got invited to hang out on this dock with a bunch of people. It was beautiful! After a while of that I decided to head back to town to find some shade and read...whcih was great. After long time everyone (Katy, Michael, and I) met up then got a ride from some guy, Dillon, to the bakery, where the person we stayed with works. We played frisbee and waited for her to get off of work. We went to her house, dumped our stuff then went to a vollyball game we were invited to at the ranch. I played my first ever game of vollyball! I like it. It's giant ping-pong.

After it got too dark to play anymore we got invited to a bonfire. A different person gave us a ride back to the bakery, then Dillon came and picked us up to head to the bon fire which was at the house's dock we were at later. Good times. The bon fire ended up with everyone heading down to the same dock we were on earlier in the day. We played a game called "Chair of Doom".
Basically for this game, one person sits in a plastic lawn chair on the very end of the dock while everyone else rocks the dock and tries to dump them in the water (somewhere no one wanted to end up because it was midnight and the water was glacier-fed). Good times. We headed home after a while and went to bed. The next morning, we had breakfast at the bakery (yum!) then Michael and Katy went to the trail head because they were going to hike back to the village, while I went back to town to read and wait for the boat to come. I spent the rest of the morning talking ot people I had met the day before and reading Peter Pan again.

The boat came and the bus came. I had a really warm welcome into the village. It was a nice weekend and trip out of the village but I had just been out the week before and was really happy to be back.

Last week we had maverick night in the snack bar because 2 of the mavericks were leaving. It sort of turned into a giant dance party. That I have picture of (mostly movies actually) that I'll try to get up (the pictures not the movies). IT was alot of fun!

Karen, the person down in the pool hall has been lonely in the pool hall so we've been trading jobs, her in the snack bar and me in the pool hall! It's a really nice break after 3 months in the snack bar. It's so empty in the village too that I can just sort of put whatever I want on the juke box and knit (and make pop corn every once in a while). Good times.

I imagine the hours of the snack bar and pool hall should be decreasing soon because it's sooo slow all the time!

Last night, Katy had a party (she leaves today) at her chalet. It was a lot of fun. A bunch of the staff members who have been here all summer (and are still here) just kind of hung around in her living room until 2am. It was a lot of fun!

Other than all that I've been sitting on porches, I've been having a lot of 2am conversations with people who just want to talk. I've been doing a lot of knitting, and not doing a lot of e-mail checking. I'll try not to go this long inbetween posts again...the people start to get testy.

I also want to say (and ignore this if you choose to) that I am really upset about how the news from the ELCA is being received at my home church. What I can't understand is we we can't love each other as God made us. It doesn't have to be this complicated. God wants us to love each other regardless of .....anything.

That's all for now, I'll update again soon!

Amy