I really don't even know where to start! Things have been CRAZY!
I'm not going to get into much detail about some stuff because this is public and all, but the girl that I came out here to work with, Corseina, left, which was so sad but I think was definitely best for her. We became pretty close, so it was hard to see her go and I miss her, but I'm happy for her that she's happy now and back with her fiance!
BUT, don't worry, I'm not working alone :) Jordan's sister, Nadia, came in a few days ago. She's my new partner and she's AWESOME! Jordan, Nico, and her are seriously so nice. Such a great family.
Nadia and I work hard and get everything done around 1 P.M, which includes getting into the kitchen by 7:00 A.M and prepping breakfast and lunch, cleaning all the cabins while the guests are gone, doing some gardening, cooking up pastries and prepping anything else that we'd need within the next few days, and doing any other odd jobs. At around 1:30 P.M, we set out lunch for the staff so that they can eat at 2:00 P.M. Some days we get a break until 5:00 P.M or so, which I have been using to nap because I'm exhausted from waking up so early and working so late.
Now that there are too many guests for the staff to sit at the dinner table, we make the guests dinner AND we make the rest of the staff dinner as well. We call the rest of the staff "the savages" because we just sorta give them left overs and old food for lunch/dinner. Manny somehow makes their food still taste good, but it's a little concerning some of the stuff he throws in their meals, haha!
So we prep for dinner at 6:00 PM, serve dinner at 7:00 PM and usually get done cleaning up around 9:30 PM. So in total, we work about 11 hours a day, with a 3 or 4 hour break in the middle of the day.
After dinner, I usually hang out with people, watch a movie, do homework, go on hikes, etc. I LOVE LIVING HERE!
There's so much to do and there are so many cool people to hang out with! Since Nadia's come, I've been hanging out with her and Michael, the 17 year olds.Yup, 17 year olds. And I'm not even ashamed cause they're super cool and I get along with people of all ages :D
Recently I've gone kayak fishing for salmon, tanned with Nadia on the roof of the boat, moved my stuff into a new room for the 3rd (maybe 4th, I've lost count) time, gotten better at serving the guests dinner and clearing their plates, and learned how to make scones.
Along with hiking and doing stuff like that, Brian Buehler is always a good source of entertainment. He's like his own category of hobbies. I could be like, "I like fishing, hiking, cooking, and watching Brian Buehler do stupid stuff." He's crazy. He jumps off cliffs, walks on 50 foot logs that are in the ocean, wakeboards in the freezing water, and his newest idea is to jump out of a tree as it's getting chopped into the water. We'll see how that goes! It brings the guests and the rest of the staff much amusement! There isn't a day that goes by here that I think, "I'm bored." It's impossible to be bored here because there are so many interesting people and fun things to do!
This place is full of lots of personality, that's for sure! Speaking of which, Dana, Shannon's daughter is living here for 2 weeks at the end of each month. And she is sure shaking things up around here! I was warned that she would, but it's gotten a little craaaazy, ha! Her and Shannon (her mom and the owner of the lodge) butt heads a lot because when Dana comes she tries to change things around here, like throwing away "clutter" (knick knacks) in the guest cabins and throwing away Shannon's pickled beets and such that are filling up our fridge.
Yesterday, Dana came in the kitchen and threw away a lot of Shannon's jars of things that were weighing down our fridge door and making it so it wouldn't close. Shannon, of course, noticed that the jars were gone right away (how does she find these things out so fast!?) and went and got all of the jars out of the trash in the back. She was washing them off and labeling them and Manny came in the kitchen and was like, "They came back to life!" hahah. There's just going to be a continuous cycle of Dana trying to get rid of things and Shannon reviving them. Today, Shannon and I put all the knick knacks back in Cabin 2 that Dana had stuffed up in the attack. That took a good hour. I'm hoping Dana doesn't take the stuff back in the attack again, because it's a waste of time for her to keep putting them up there and for us to have to keep putting them back down. She should at least throw them away if she wants rid of them, haha!
Someone once asked Shannon (owner of the lodge) if our lodge would like to be on a reality TV show (besides the ones it's already on-Tethered and Ultimate Survival Alaska.) She declined the offer but this place would seriously make the most entertaining reality show and they wouldn't even have to try! There's always some little drama or some exciting new thing happening. And everyone here has enough personality to keep the show interesting.
Today this family from Mexico and this dad and daughter left and four new guests came in. It was fun having the family from Mexico and the dad and his daughter. Sometimes it's sad to see the guests go! My favorite guests so far are the two people from Minnesota that came last week because their cabin was always so easy to clean. They weren't messy at all and even made their own bed each day. And they were super nice! My other favorites would have to be that husband, his wife, and the wife's sister that were so hilarious and upbeat.
There are so many different dynamics here. It's interesting to think about being in different positions here. Being a guest would be so different than actually living here, like us staff are doing. And being "the savages" (staff) is so different than being "the kitchen girls" that Nadia and I are. We're the ones that make sure the cabins are clean, the gardens maintained, the staff are fed, and the guests are fed. The other staff are contractors, fishing guides, Josh and Luke who do everything, handy men, and plumbers. Soon, Ticker, Dan, and Mike (the contractors) will leave when the new main lodge is built and that'll seriously be so sad. I really like having Ticker, Dan, and Mike around!
The guests hang out with the staff a lot at night. For example, last night we lit the hugest fire I've ever seen (probably around 2 stories high) and shot guns with the guests. This 17 year old guest was telling me how cool she thinks it would be to work here. I am pretty lucky, I must say! It's fun thinking about it from their perspective. We LIVE here all the time. How cool is that!?
The other day a barge came in, loaded with supplies for the new lodge. It was HUGE! Everyone was outside staring at it and so excited as it came in! It was definitely the highlight of the day. It seemed so out of place in our little bay and it made me think about how weird it's going to be to go back to civilization. Like to be able to drive a car to the store and pick up anything I want and walk down busy streets and gosh, just everything is going to be so weird when I get back! And there's going to be all this new music that I've never heard since we aren't supposed to stream music here. And new movies too! I've seen people posting about a movie called Jurassic World or something and I don't even know what that is or what the big deal about it is! I feel like I'm in a whole different world away from everything else and a big part of me actually really likes it.
Highlights of the past few weeks:
1. Tanning on the boat with Nadia
2. Hanging out with Nadia and Michael
3. Spending time in the kitchen because Manny is in a real good mood lately!
4. Moving back into Manny's old room, which is AWESOME
5. Taking naps
That's all that I can think of right now...
Until next time,
Coral
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