I am just going to copy Chrissi all out and do this in a list of interesting things. Thanks for the idea, Chris :)
1. Rafting the Nenana river was super fun. They had us all get in these wetsuits that covered our clothes and had rubber feet and tight rubber lining on the sleeves and neck. I was grateful, since the river is from glacial runoff and the water had only been water for less than 24 hours (according to our guide.) We went through 10 rapids, ranging from class 1 to 4, over a one and a half hour trip. The first time we all got a facefull of water our guide yelled out, "That's what we like to call a glacial facial!" It was Kiki's first time rafting, and before we left she just kept saying she was panicking, but when we were on the trip she was whooping with joy :) It was a good employee outing. (and we got to do it for free! regularly $87 each!)
2. I got my boss back good the other day. He is constantly teasing me, and Chrissi gave me the idea that maybe if I'm mean back he would stop for a little while. So he was teasing me about doing sprints at 4:30 in the morning (and it's their fault I have to go so early, they want me to work at 6) and Sheri asked what sprints were. He told her it was running fast for short distances. Then he turned to me and asked "I run slow for short distances. What is that called?" I told him, "Wishful thinking." That shut him up for almost 10 minutes! ( a record, I assure you :)
3. I met Jessie at church the first Sunday I was able to go. She invited a bunch of the summer workers over to her house for a movie night. She has three kids, Cecilia, Lance, and Mitchell. Her husbands cousin Jessica is staying with them for the summer, and she is the person that I have really started to hang out with up here. I think I am going to end up spending a lot of time at Jessie's house this summer :).
4. A random guest at our hotel told me I should look into joining the Army, and I'm trying to decide if it was a sign.
5. The fire marshal came in the other day to talk to Gregg, and he wasn't in. I was wearing the new feather earrings I got in Denali gift shops, and the fire marshal saw the speckled feather and got all excited. He showed me a picture on his phone of a fly fishing fly that he wanted to make that he needed a feather like that for. Then he asked me if I would mind parting with that feather in one of my earrings. I was like, uh, yes. Yes I would.
6. Moose hang around our hotel a lot. I haven't gotten a really good picture yet, but they are everywhere. And the other day when I was walking home from Jessie's after a movie night a mother moose and her two tiny babies crossed the road not far in front of me. I love it!
7. I bought Psych season 6 on Amazon Instant Video and downloaded the episodes onto my laptop when I was in the office so I could watch them in my internet-less room. I only have one left (whoops :).
8. I want to learn Bulgarian. When they come into the office to Skype their families it sounds so cool! And I really like the way my name sounds in their accent. Just sayin.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Arriving in Alaska
I like reading Chrissi's updates, so I decided to try and start a blog too (and it will give me something to do at work haha.) Who knows if I will really keep up with it, but here goes.
I arrived in Anchorage at 1:00 am and had nothing to do until my shuttle left at 7:30. I tried to sleep on a row of chairs at the airport, but seriously the only people in the airport at that time of morning are old men that like to argue loudly all night long. Not really conducive to a good sleeping environment. So instead I got on Facebook and updated all my information, and then read one of my books until 4:30 when I figured it was late enough in Utah to call mom (at that point I was hiding out in the bathroom to get some peace and quiet.) After talking to mom for about an hour I wandered aimlessly through the airport looking for something to do. I happened to meet Elyssa who was taking the same shuttle as I was, and she told me I was supposed to reserve a spot. She had the phone number still, so I called and reserved the last spot on the shuttle that day. Thank goodness I met her.
The shuttle ride was a pretty uneventful 7 hours. We stopped every couple of hours at grocery stores and gas stations to get out and walk. Elyssa informed me at one of the grocery stores that she needed to find a pregnancy test because she was starting to get worried (first indication of how different it would be up here.) I arrived at Denali Park Hotel at about 3 that afternoon and was greeted by my employers Gregg and Sheri. Gregg has long hair tied back in a ponytail (he informed me that he hasn't cut his hair for longer than I've been alive) and multiple piercings in each ear. Sheri is a little more mellow, but they both can swear like sailors. Gregg gave me a tour of the housing and then put me to work cleaning a bathroom so that I would have one to use.
The employee housing is a haphazard arrangement of thrift store rejects and hand-me-downs that the hotel has outgrown. The windows don't shut properly (or if they do they leak) and the kitchen linoleum is held down by plywood and random bits of carpet. The bedrooms are covered with pieces of different carpet left over from renovations to hotel rooms, that is trying and failing to cover up the stained, painted carpet underneath. (Not a big deal, but it sure makes vacuuming a pain.) There are 4 trailer like things for housing; two have 4 bedrooms each, one has 3 bathrooms and the laundry room, and the last one has the kitchen and a tool room. I was going to make something for dinner, but the water came out pink with antifreeze and it looked like none of the dishes had been washed the last time after people used them the year before. I had a granola bar.
I was the first employee to arrive so I had the whole place to myself that night. Miles and Nat arrived the next day, Lucy a couple of days later, and the Bulgarian housekeepers Daniel, Kiki, and Snezhana a week after that.
I arrived in Anchorage at 1:00 am and had nothing to do until my shuttle left at 7:30. I tried to sleep on a row of chairs at the airport, but seriously the only people in the airport at that time of morning are old men that like to argue loudly all night long. Not really conducive to a good sleeping environment. So instead I got on Facebook and updated all my information, and then read one of my books until 4:30 when I figured it was late enough in Utah to call mom (at that point I was hiding out in the bathroom to get some peace and quiet.) After talking to mom for about an hour I wandered aimlessly through the airport looking for something to do. I happened to meet Elyssa who was taking the same shuttle as I was, and she told me I was supposed to reserve a spot. She had the phone number still, so I called and reserved the last spot on the shuttle that day. Thank goodness I met her.
The shuttle ride was a pretty uneventful 7 hours. We stopped every couple of hours at grocery stores and gas stations to get out and walk. Elyssa informed me at one of the grocery stores that she needed to find a pregnancy test because she was starting to get worried (first indication of how different it would be up here.) I arrived at Denali Park Hotel at about 3 that afternoon and was greeted by my employers Gregg and Sheri. Gregg has long hair tied back in a ponytail (he informed me that he hasn't cut his hair for longer than I've been alive) and multiple piercings in each ear. Sheri is a little more mellow, but they both can swear like sailors. Gregg gave me a tour of the housing and then put me to work cleaning a bathroom so that I would have one to use.
The employee housing is a haphazard arrangement of thrift store rejects and hand-me-downs that the hotel has outgrown. The windows don't shut properly (or if they do they leak) and the kitchen linoleum is held down by plywood and random bits of carpet. The bedrooms are covered with pieces of different carpet left over from renovations to hotel rooms, that is trying and failing to cover up the stained, painted carpet underneath. (Not a big deal, but it sure makes vacuuming a pain.) There are 4 trailer like things for housing; two have 4 bedrooms each, one has 3 bathrooms and the laundry room, and the last one has the kitchen and a tool room. I was going to make something for dinner, but the water came out pink with antifreeze and it looked like none of the dishes had been washed the last time after people used them the year before. I had a granola bar.
I was the first employee to arrive so I had the whole place to myself that night. Miles and Nat arrived the next day, Lucy a couple of days later, and the Bulgarian housekeepers Daniel, Kiki, and Snezhana a week after that.
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