I Have a Friend!

Well I actually have more then one friend in life, but this is my first real Stayton friend. For the past couple of Sabbaths I have been church hopping. I have to say that some potlucks have been better then others. My favorite ones are when they let the visitors "me" cut to the front of the line. Some churches were more friendly then others, but all missing the "homie vibe" not like gangster "homie" I just didn't feel totally comfortable and at home. Then I went to the Stayton Seventh-Day Adventist church. Go figure that it would be the church that is literally 5 minutes from my house that I would completely fall in love with. Well I now know it's 5 minutes from my house, I got lost the first time and it took me 15 minutes because I refuse to use my GPS around Stayton so I can get to know the town better. Thank goodness there are about 3 ways to get anywhere in this small town. The people at the bank already know me by name (freaky). 

Anyway back to church. It is one of the smallest churches I've seen except for maybe one or two churches in Maine we sang at in high school. I met Chelsea in the lobby. She was swaying back and forth with her blond haired blue eyed boy, Malachi, in her arms. Chelsea asked me if I had been here before and I gave her the whole "new in town" speech which I seem to give to everybody and really need to switch up because I'm starting to bore myself. Can't imagine what others think. After that, I don't really remember many details, I just remember talking a lot (shocker). I sat with Chelsea and her husband Sean at potluck. I met various Elders, Deacons, and Sabbath School leaders. Each one was equally nice and eager to hear where I was from and why I didn't have a Massachusetts accent. By the end of lunch I had given 3 ladies my number and address, had a church directory and adult Sabbath School quarterly in my hand, and somehow signed up to do special music this Sabbath. I just remember hearing a lady ask me "do you sing?"..."OK, next Sabbath."

Since Sabbath I've hung out with Chelsea and Malachi everyday. We have started to walk around the nearby High School track every morning. We both live about the same walking distance away from the track, except my route takes me past the same bus stop as all the neighbor hood kids walk to everyday at 7:15. I've started taking my ipod along and put my earphones in so I can look like a legit walker. This is because the first couple days I walked the same way with 5 kids and I felt like a perv, I'm dressed like them in a sweatshirt and causal pants, but with the minor detail of that I'm not going to Middle School. It's really weird. I even jogged past them today to establish that I was on a hard core mission and to confirm that I was at "workout" status. Speaking of hardcore working out, Chelsea and I are going to do a 5k (3.1 miles) in December up near Portland. I'm pretty excited and motivated to "get my walk on" even more.

I have tomorrow off, so hopefully I will be able to blog about more of my adventures. This past week as just been crazy because we have been trying to get the camp newsletter out that sums up this past summer. My parents will be getting a copy so you can harass them for the details on that. At first I was going to try to sneak a couple of "my people's" address' on the mailing list, but I knew I would be found out if they all of a sudden saw a large amount of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Tennessee address' and zip codes going out. I thought better not press my luck, we already had the unfortunate incident of a campers last name entered in the database as "Turtle" when it was "Tuttle" ....oops, everyone laugh though.

Who Needs College?!

I always knew I'd be a good secretary. Whenever I go into my Mom's office I always love scoping how many green files she has neatly stacked on her desk with white papers stapled to the front. She always has her desk set up like I feel an organized desk should look. The calculator in "on" mode with the neon blue "0" ready to go and the touch of a button. A Diet Coke always within arms reach, but not close to the computer keyboard, just in case a quick jolt of caffeine is needed. Of course my favorite part would be the ever changing (and multiplying) pictures of myself in simple frames or tacked with a colored push pin to the gray side of her "cubical". I can hear the click her Mom's fingernails on the typewriter. Yeah, I said it TYPEWRITER, my Mom is hardcore and old school like that.

Long story/memories later, now that camp is over and after 5 years of college I'm kinda a secretary. I don't really know how else to put it. Let me describe to you what I've been doing to past couple of days and you tell me. It consists of answering phone calls with "This is Jill, how may I help you?"  Multiple runs (well, literal walks across the street) to the bank. Approximately 4:30-5:00pm 2 block walks to the post office. Updating databases and keeping clients files current. Probably my favorite part of the day, writing receipts. No seriously, I love it. I think it's the same reason I liked Accounting class in High school. Notice I said High school, NOT college, it sucked and was really hard in college. Because like 6 column worksheets in accounting there is a rhythm to writing receipts. It's a pattern, it never changes. A debit is always a debit, as a credit is a credit. Just like there are labeled columns on an accounting worksheet, the receipt always tells me what to put where. I love the constant repetition of filling out receipts.

This is why I love office work because I can have the constant mail and bank runs, but there are surprises as well. I got a call from the local grocery store today saying they had to get rid of white chocolate covered pretzels because they weren't up to "store standards" translation: some of the pretzels were broken and cracked. She wanted to donate them to us because we are a non-profit. I said "give me 10 minutes." What she didn't tell me on the phone was that they were JUMBO white chocolate pretzels with M&Ms perfected placed in the yummy chocolate. Also this just wasn't one pack...try 30! As I walked into the office with a bucketful of neatly wrapped packages of 10 beautiful looking/tasting pretzels each, I'm wonder to myself "how many packages can I take?" Good thing I now have office keys in my possession (evil laugh).

I didn't go into all the details of my everyday, but I gave you the nutshell. Sounds like a secretary. Not in a bad way at all, I love my job, and they directors I work for are uh-mazing!  I should think of ways to incorporate my major into office life though. Maybe timed relays around the building? We could use staplers as batons, oh, that could get messy. One bad hand off and I'm using my First Aid certification. Eh, good practice for me either way. I've already introduced shooting every little piece of paper into the farthest possible trash can. Harder then it looks.

Tomorrow I move "off the mountain" to the town where the office is conveniently located. So instead of a 40 minute commute navigating windy roads and forgetting to lock the gate. I will have a 5 minute drive/bike (the directors have an extra). I like the small town life too. The bank tellers know me by name already and I quickly found a great sandwich place with cheesy onion bread, and there is a coffee/breakfast place directly diagonal from the office, $3 for a large coffee and homemade cinnamon bun. Yum!

Meetings, Meat, and Monday Night Football

Since we talked last summer camp has officially come to a close. I've already facebooked a couple of staff telling them that they can come back now. It feels like they just went home for the weekend and I will see them bright and early Monday morning at 8 AM. But I won't. I'm sad, but not. I look forward to experiencing what camp is like in the off season. I like to think of myself as a behind the scenes person like in the movies, or the water bottle squirter in the NASCAR pits. You never think of the water bottle guy as important, but if he didn't do his job the driver would get dehydrated and might not be able to finish the race. AND what if the squirter squeezes too much? We would have an unfortunate H2O situation. (Call me Gordon). Anyway, you get what I mean. I am just as valuable and important as I was during the camp season. Plus I knew I would be a great secretary if the whole college thing never worked out. Muskrat always thinks it weird that I like walking to the post office (it's a small town) and answering phones. Needless to say I'm excited to split my time between the office and camp. 

Speaking of camp we had a board meeting today. I'm not sure how often they happen, but the board of directors came up to camp to talk about how to better the camp and upcoming events. It was great to meet all of them. The board of directors range from an ex-Orange County, CA Superintendent, Dentist, former camp staff, and Property Manager (shout out to Dad! woot woot). I made them salad. Well before that I took notes and looked very cute professional in my blue dress, black cardigan, multi colored high waisted beaded belt, and orange flats. Around lunch time, I excused myself and proceeded to make a very delicious salad (at least that's what everyone said) which Muskrat so graciously set out the ingredients for on the counter.  With the grace and ease of a waiter at Olive Garden I balanced the salad and plates safely through the rain to where the meeting was being held. I consider my salad a success and hopefully next time I am asked to do something more challenging like macaroni and cheese, or waffles (my personal fav). 

I have a confession. I haven't been a very good vegetarian since I've been at camp. At first i was just being nice. I didn't think there would be other veggies here, so i didn't want to be that new girl coming in and requesting all these exceptions and substitutes. I thought the cook would hate me. So when asked I said that I only don't eat pork and seafood and other then that I wasn't picky. Now I feel like there is a 10 pound brick in the pit of my stomach. It's not that food wasn't good, I'm just not use to it. Here I am struggling to get down the real meatloaf, and another staff member plops down next to me with a very much greener looking plate. When I inquire how she got such a deliciously vegetarian looking meal she replies with "i asked." The verse quickly popped into my head "ask and it shall be given unto you." Long story short now that I make my own meals...I'm proud to say I am a vegetarian. :)

Grasshopper surprised me with cable yesterday. He's such a nice guy. I wasn't expecting it, nor did I ask for cable. Now I realize that I did miss TV, and what the HECK happened to the Red Sox....8 games or something behind? What in the world! Hopefully I will get to watch some football on Sundays now, and if I'm lucky maybe the Patriots will be every Monday Night Football game (will never happen) or they will just play the Seattle Seahawks all season. Then I will FOR SURE get to see the Pats play. (Love you Wes)

Family Matters

Sunday I had a very special visit. Aunt Ellie and Uncle Maynard came to visit me. They took time out of their travel schedule to stop by camp. I have always loved that about them. No matter where they are in the country they take time out for family. I appreciated their visit so much. It made me miss home, but at the same time it felt good to show someone my new home.

Camp is at a new location this week. We are about 5 minutes from Statyon, which is where the camp office is. During the summer this camp is used by deaf people. I guess this camp owed a favor to Muskrat and Grasshopper for helping them out in the past, so this is why we had the opportunity to use the facilities this week. It is nice in the fact that there is a lot of room to move around. But it is also deceiving in the fact that even though the ground might LOOK even and smooth, the divots and holes are still present. This has made it very difficult for wheelchair maneuvering. One campers insists she is going to topple over in her wheelchair so now we have to double team her wheelchair moving. Not so fun for the back, but she feels more safe. I also started singing to one of the campers that is a slow walker. I noticed that when I sang she tends to walk faster. Oh how that backfired, now every time she goes to walk she waves her 2 index fingers in the air instructing me to sing. I am running low on song ideas, and have resorted to Christmas Carols, so any suggestions? lol

Speaking of songs. We had a talent show last night and one camper loves Kenny Rogers. She asked me to help her sing and the only Kenny Rogers song I know/can remember is "Buy me a rose, call me from work, open the door for me what would it hurt, tell me you love me by he look in your eyes.." Which she didn't know. So any suggestions? lol There is another camper that everyone calls the "Patriot" I knew I would get along with him seeing as I like the Patriots. Come to find out his favorite team is the Packers...but oh well. He also likes to say the Pledge of Allegiance. This camper can be found waving his mini American Flag equipped with Green Bay Packers sunglasses. I thought I would get to know him better by singing some patriotic tunes. He knew the National Anthem and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. When I started singing America the Beautiful he started to cry. I thought to myself, "OH NO! What have I done!? This guy probably served our country in a war or had a loved one die in battle, what can of worms have I opened?" I asked someone and come to find out he is just that patriotic, that at the words to a tune he can burst into tears because he loves this country that much. I thought "wow! what pride." Ever since the crying, we have been best friends.

I've learned this week that it is the little things in life, like a warm cup of coffee or a good cry for our country, that mean the most. Everyone thought that trying a bigger and "better" camp out would be great. But most all of the campers and staff miss home on the mountain, in the woods, where we catch fish from a stream not a horse trough.  (remind me to tell that story next blog)

Bloodshot Bunkhouse

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. A lot has been going on around here. We have one more week of summer camp. Starting on Monday we will be at a different site about 45 minutes away. This is kinda like a test run to see how transitioning camp to a new location would work out. I think I left off last blog with the info that we were getting two new campers Tuesday. They are both men and are a blast. The staff have been working in shifts. Two staff at a time are "on" to hang out and do cool things with the campers. The other staff are "on" in making preparations for the move to the different camp. Along with the moving process we are also in the midst of winterizing the camp. The directors say that last winter was really mild with only about 3 to 5 inches of snow that didn't even hang around long. This winter they expect to be a hard one, winters before have varied between 3 inches and 3 feet so I'm just betting on wearing boots and a lot of layers the whole winter regardless of how much of that cold white stuff falls from the sky.


Monday, I had a new experience called "bunkhouse duty." This consists of sleeping in the bunkhouse on a bunk bed with the other campers to make sure everything is copacetic throughout the night. I was very weary of this because it was a lot of responsibility and I wasn't sure what kind of situation I would have to deal with or possibly clean up. Luckily there were only 5 women in the bunkhouse. Between the nightlight that felt like it should be on the rocky coast of Maine beaming in ships 5 inches from my face, snoring, and the dull roar of a breathing machine I think I did okay. It didn't help that I am already a paranoid light sleep that thinks ever unknown sound is a disaster or intruder. I'm not gonna lie, there were a few times I launched out of bed only to discover that people really do just shuffle around in their sleeping bags and it doesn't mean they seizured out of bed. All in all, it was my own fault that my eyes were bloodshot the next day, because they campers were complete angels, and thanks to watch guard me, safe and sound.

Day What?

It's official. I have no calendar or concept of time. Today was my day off. It was kinda special and a big deal because the directors don't usually give a day off when campers are arriving that same day. I was able to this one and only time because a close family friend was preaching in Salem. I set my alarm with enough time for a decent shower and hair straighten, everything was going to plan until I slept through my alarm. This is pretty amazing because I have never done this before, in all the days I've been here I have not once slept through one alarm. On the day I have to drive 50 minutes and put effort into my appearance I do. Man! The devil is working hard to make my life a hard one, but he will not prevail. I took a quick shower (didn't get to straighten my hair) and made it to church (20 minutes late). The good part was I didn't miss the sermon and potluck was super good. Success.

The calendar part would come in handy because I am getting confused on how long campers are staying over. I guess it doesn't really matter because as long as campers are here I'll keep having fun with them and still have the wildest conversations. A calendar would still be nice because I had it in my head that campers would be here till Friday, but the campers we received today for camp are going home on Tuesday and we will get 2 new campers from Tuesday till Friday.

"What will they ever do with just 2 campers?" you say. Well it is a lot of fun. They just chill with the staff and we do a whole bunch of fun activities with them. For example, every camper gets to catch a fish. We have made a "pool" if you will, in the section of the stream along camp. The camp at the beginning of every summer has the "pool" stocked with trout. Once the fish is caught we kill it by thumping it on the head or sticking a knife into it's brains. Side note, I have never tried any of the previous mentioned methods of fish killing, but I did pass a dead fish to a camper on a paper towel. This experience was quite horrific for me and I hope to avoid it in the future. Some other more pleasant activities we do with the campers are sock puppets, Tye dye shirts, wind chimes, and my favorite bowling. We actually have real bowling pins and one real and one rubbery bowling ball. (I prefer the rubber one...less injury). Depending on the mobility level of the campers we do a nature hike and paddle boating/swimming. An activity that all the campers like to do is archery. Paper plates are used as target and before getting to shoot them up, campers get to paint their target how ever they want. At the end of the week we put together bags for each camper. The bags consist of all the crafts done that week, a frozen fish they caught, an archery target, and camp shirt. These little mementos might seem small and insignificant to the average person, but to these campers summer camp and the things and memories they make are the world. At the end of every week each camper has become a part of our world. A world in which God reigns supreme and we are all His beings.

Mac Attack

My trip to Portland today was really fun. Simba and Raptor also came along for the ride, as I dropped Mango off at the airport. The city feels very "go green" and the fact that there are a lot of Green Peace people on every corner. One caught me outside the mall. I just thought he was a fairly cute guy with a ski hat on until he started talking to me and I looked down at his green shirt and said "Green Peace" in big green letters, by that time he was already into his speech. He asked me if I had ever heard of Green Peace and I thought to myself "DUH Whale Wars...and wow that show is crazy"  I said yes I had and then went on to explain that probably like him, I was a poor just out of college student that didn't have money to donate to Green Peace every stinking month. I gently tried to push him away with the "do you have a website I can look at?" line and quickly walked across the street. I've learned my lesson. In Boston, I just walk by no problem, but Portland people are TALKERS wowzers!

The Mac store was good and bad. Good because I got a new ibook and FREE ipod touch (once I do the online rebate.)  I also updated my facebook status from an ipad while I was waiting for my turn. I had a whole lot of fun playing with the ipad, but it's name disturbs me. I still can't say the word ipad without thinking of a special time of month for the female population. It just kinda ruins it for me. The bad part was the data transfer from my old computer to my new one will take a few days because of all the other computers in front of me. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to playing with it, and blogging tonight. I will wait. That just means another fun filled trip to Portland next week once the campers are gone.

Speaking of campers, we have our next batch coming in tomorrow. They will be staying till Tuesday. I think the group will be smaller just because we had 3 campers come last week by mistake that were registered to come for this week. Also just the fact that we lost Mango today as a counselor the numbers will be lower because we have to have a certain staff to camper ratio each week. I'm excited to meet the new faces and personalities. I'm gaining a huge blessing out of serving others and in turn learning more how to serve God.

Much love till I blog again. PS don't be afraid to comment...I love reading the responses :)