Helping Manny and the Guys

Today was SUCH a great day! I'm so happy here. Soon I'll upload photos but today is going to be another post of just me writing because I don't have much time to upload pictures. I need to get showered and get to bed!

I woke up at 7:20 AM this morning in order to be in the kitchen by 8:00 AM. I'm really getting the hang of things and am coming out of my shell like how I always (usually) do when I'm around people often.

My morning routine is...(maybe not in the exact order, always):
-prepare fruit tray
-make coffee
-put waters and juices on the table
-put butter, jam, and hot sauces on the table
-wash any dishes that Manny is done using
-help Manny with any other preparations
-turn light on in dining room

That's about it that I can think of. Soon we'll be preparing lunches more often for the guys and guests for when they go out on the boat after breakfast.

Manny is so fun to work with! He listens to old school hip hop and has a very likeable personality. He's way cool! He used to call Corseina, "sick bird," but told me that once she's not sick anymore he'll call her, "blue bird," so this morning he greated her, "Good morning blue bird!" instead of "sick bird." Haha, he's so funny and I'm really getting the hang of working with him. He has a nickname for me too but I'm not saying it because I don't like it, haha.

After breakfast, I helped Jordan chop wood with the wood chopper and then we loaded it onto the fancy four wheeler and dumped it up the hill. I GOT TO CHOP THE WOOD WITH THE WOOD CHOPPER BY MYSELF! I'm really excited about that! AND I got to drive the fancy four wheeler and the regular four wheeler. I absolutely love my job! I honestly like the wood chopping and outdoor work even a bit more than the indoor work, at least right now I do. It's really fun to chop wood and feel like I'm getting stronger. When you do things like chop wood and hawl it somewhere else, it's really fulfilling because you can actually see your progress.

After Jordan and I chopped wood, I rode the four wheeler with him into the woods to get this huge fishing hook. I had no clue that he was going to drive that four wheeler so dang fast. It was scary! The four wheeler got stuck in the mud on the way back, so I got out and tried to help move it but my boots got stuck too. They were deep in the mud, almost up to my knee caps. I seriously thought I was just going to sink all the way in and die, like people do in quick sand. At least I've heard that they do in books and movies!

I asked Jordan what time it was and he said 6:30 PM and I freaked out because I was supposed to be in the kitchen by 6:00 PM to help Manny. So we raced back and I got into the kitchen at 6:40 PM and apologized to Manny like 5 times. I felt so bad but he was way cool about it. He knows I was helping Jordan so it wasn't too big of a deal.

I just want to soak all of this up. I want to ride the boat as much as I can and ride the four wheeler as much as I can. I want to learn all I can about cooking. I want to chop wood whenever I can. I love it here! I really really really do!

So we helped make dinner. We ate delicious corn soup, zucchini bread, and chicken with mole sauce on top. Manny is the best chef! Then we cleaned up and now I'm just sitting on the couch with Jose and Luke and they're telling me stories about police officers mistreating civilians, haha. I love the topics of conversation here. So many interesting topics, seriously! I'm learning a lot!