Saturday, May 22, 2010

Who cut the cheese?

I cut it. LOTS of it. At least that is what was on my agenda today. More about that later...

I arrived here at Washington Family Ranch on Tuesday, May 18th and have been LOVING every minute of being in this glorious place. Here is a break down of each day so far.

Tuesday:
7 AM- Leave house with a car FULL of stuff and headed south to Oregon.
7:15 AM- I wonder WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?
7:16 AM- Pray that the Lord calms my heart.
7:18 AM- Feeling less crazed about my future.
7:19 AM til Noon- Talked on the phone, got lunch, ate lunch and then my phone service cut out.
1:00 PM- Arrived at Washington Family Ranch.
1:15 PM- Got a little lost trying to find the Main Office.
1:20 PM- Someone had mercy on me and lead me to the Main Office.
1:30 PM til 5 PM- Met an absurd amount of people and settled in to my room.
5:30 PM- Went to the Staff Village and met more people.
6:00 PM- Ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with an awesome staff family.
6:35 PM- Helped that awesome family fold some laundry and finish the dishes.
7:00 PM- Came back to Condo 55 to settle in for the evening
The rest of the night was consumed by talking with parentals on skype, talking with the other interns, and watching the beginning of "The Labyrinth"...Let me just tell you, David Bowie is smokin' in this flick.
Turned in for the night and slept like a ROCK.

Wednesday:
6:45 AM- Woke up and for a split second forgot where I was.
8:00 AM- Went to the Main Office to fill out oodles of paperwork.
9:00 AM- Finished paperwork and started work in the kitchen.
9:01 AM til 5:00 PM- Laughed and worked and learned a ton.
During the time that I was in the kitchen, I realized how much I love it here. Which is A LOT.
5:45 PM- Followed the crowd of interns to the "Progressive Dinner" and ate a different portion of our meal at a different house.
8 ish PM- Talked with my parentals on skype.
8:45 til 9:25 PM- Went to the Sports Center to hang out. Played in the foam pit and slid down the skate ramps. Then we played bump...and I even made a shot!
9:30 PM- Finished watching "The Labyrinth"...and yet again, David Bowie's skills as an actor are unmatched as of this moment in time.
10:30 PM- Went to bed.

Thursday:
7:00 AM- Woke up and still forgot where I was.
8:00 AM- Headed to the Main Office for an all staff meeting.
9:15 AM- Meeting ended and headed to the kitchen to begin my workday.
9:20 AM til 5:00 PM- Took my Oregon State Food Handler's thing, passed with flying colors, made some oatmeal scotchies, learned a few more details to how the kitchen has changed since 2007 when I was last working in there.
5:50 PM- Went to "Core" which is the ladies small group for interns
6:30 PM- Our discussion was finished and then I was in the hot seat, the new girl had to answer a ton of questions. Gladly, of course.
7:00 PM- The Bi-Weekly worship session started.
7:20 PM- Worship was done and a staff member gave a great talk about Nehemiah. He spoke about how we need to look at what we are called by God to do and knowing that we can't be good at everything! Another few details: Pray and pray often, even in the most minuscule details...also, don't be afraid to ask for the big things, knowing that God Almighty has the power to make it happen (if He wants it to.)
8:00 PM- Went home to hang out.
8:15 PM- Talked with the parentals on skype.
8:45 PM- Watched "Flight of the Conchords" with a few interns.
10:45 PM- Went to bed.

Friday:
7:00 AM- Woke up and remembered where I was.
8:00 AM- Headed to the kitchen for my workday.
8:10 AM- Morning devo's and prayer time with the kitchen staff.
8:30 AM- Got well acquainted with the slicer in the kitchen. This beast of a machine does NOT mess around. It's automatic. Meaning I put a giant chunk of meat or cheese or even my finger and it slices it all on it's own. Pretty impressive.
11:20 AM- Finished the last cutting of the swiss cheese. All in all I sliced; 4 huge hunks of roast beef, 4 turkeys, 2 large chunks of ham, 4 huge things of provolone, 4 large blocks of cheddar cheese, and lastly 2 incredibly large blocks of swiss cheese.
12:15 PM- Cleaned up the lunch line from the front counter where volunteers and such came to dish up lunch.
12:45 PM- Helped make some delicious coffee cake.
1:15 PM- Had a meeting with the kitchen/dining hall staff where we gabbed about all the details for the campers coming in this weekend. There are two groups coming out at different times. Kinda crazy BUT it will be great practice for me.
2:00 PM- Helped put away dishes that we run through the pits.
4:00 PM- Helped the retail staff price and take inventory for this weekend.
5:00 PM- Cleaned the upstairs room to turn it into our craft spot. :)
5:15 PM- Got a call from a married intern inviting the new interns over for dinner.
5:16 PM- Accepted said invitation (since I still don't have groceries!)
5:45 PM- Headed over to eat a GREAT meal with some awesome new friends.
7:30 PM- We made our way to play wiffle ball in the field in camp.
8:45 PM- My team won and I even had a base hit and scored a run to make the final score 8-7.
8:50 PM- Went to another staff couples house and about 12 of us sat around and laughed for a really long time.
10:45 PM- Came home and chatted with the parentals and Jess and Todd (plus some sleepy kiddos) on skype.
11:30 PM- Tried to go to bed but kept typing this blog post.
12:15 AM- Posted this blog.
12:16 AM- Went to bed.
Just so you know...some of these time frames are not completely accurate. Seeing as how all the days are running together, I won't be able to relay all of the stuff that is going on or even my thoughts. Mostly because the thoughts in my head are going about 16 million miles an hour.

I'll post when I can and I'll really try to post pictures when I remember.

Loves to you all. I miss you and hope you are all fairing well as we enter into the Summer season! If you should feel so inclined to send me a package, email me or check my facebook page under the "notes" section. All the details are there. :)