Life in a Whirlwind...

Hey all,
So as the title may tell, it has been a couple of crazy weeks for me. Let's start back at finals, or more precisely, the Friday after finals. My mom drove a car down a couple of weeks before so that I could get home, but we discovered a leak. Lon story short, after a couple of mechanics looked at it, the O-ring on the speed sensor got replaced and my car was "good-to-go." Well, that wasn't the leak. I was going to try to get the car home and deal with it there, but my dad wanted me to take it in. That ended up being a good call because the mechanics I took it to (General Automatic Transmission- highly, highly recommended if you need a mechanic in Nampa) and they finally came out saying "you have to come see this- we have never seen this before" (always a bad sign). As it turns out, the top of my transmission was cracked. The worst of it was that the fluid was likely to ignite because of the catalytic converter. So, the day before I am supposed to leave I lose my transportation and I need to be able to get to my internship on Tuesday which means I need my stuff (so no flying) and that I need a car (it took us months to find the one I had just bought).

At that point my parents and I were scrambling for options. My amazing friend Kendle offered to drive me part way home, but we were also looking for cars in Nampa. There were a couple of good possibilities that fell through because the lot couldn't sell to a non-Idahoan (somehting about a salvaged title...). Things were complicated because I didn't have the money immediately available so someone was goint to have to take us at our word that we would pay them and let me take the car. Hmmm. IN the middle of all of this (happening between 11:30 and 1:3o ish, with phone calls all afternoon), I am supposed to be packing to be out of my dorm by 3. Well, having to be to the mechanics before noon killed a couple of hours that I was planning on using to pack. So come about 10 minutes to 3, I am still not out of my room and my RA comes in and is like "you have 8 minutes to be out of here." At that point, I lost it. For the first time all year I just broke down and cried- I had no idea how I was getting home, my stuff wasn't packed, and I had a broken car to deal with. I lost it at least 2 more times that day, but I have amazing friends who were there to encourage me, even though it was embarassing and rather humbling. Anyway, I finally got moved out (a whole bunch of people came up to help- again, God blessed me with some awesome friends). Then the search for a vehicle was on full bore. After a billion phone calls (almost....), I finally ended up buying my RD's husband's truck- it was more than we wanted to spend, but it was reliable and available, and he was willing to trust us to pay him. So, I got home Saturday, as planned. My amazing roomate and her family are stroing my car for the time being and they took me in that night and helped me off the next morning.

The following days are pretty much a blur in my mind. It involved unpacking and repacking, tiem with friends, shopping for last minute items, and loading my truck (which is actually a really sweet truck, but my dad who bought it keeps reminding me it's temporary- rats). I headed out to Port Angeles on Tuesday at about noon (dentist's appointment.) I got to the house the park provided by nine-ish and dragged my stuff in for the night. At that point, there were a couple of guys and one girl living there, but now she has left and it's the three of us (you have to believe me when I say I thought it was going to be really awkward living with other park employees, but it really isn't. I have my own room and everyone respects eachother's privacy.) That started the adventure that will be the summer.

First off, we have mice. That seriously sucks. I had to kick one out of my food box that night, and after that I proceeded to see several in my room and the kitchen, plus John had one on his head one night and Melissa woke up to one about 2 inches from her face. Bold little critters. Anyway, we finally got some traps and had one within 5 minutes. We have caught 3 total, but they must have been the ones causing trouble because none of us have seen any since, though I am sure there are more. But, so long as they don't bother us, I am okay with it.

Moving on, my internship started Wednesday at 7 am. We had a PT test that day that involved a 1.5 mile run, and maxing on push ups, pulls ups, and sit ups. As it turns out, we have PT every morning for about an hour- sometimes more. Gall, it is so hard! I don't mind because it is so relevant, but, man alive, I have practically wanted to die every time, with 1 or 2 exceptions (the days when we didn't run or hike but did floor exercises instead). The worst was the Storm King hike, which was 2.5 miles up to the top and almost entirely uphill. It took 45 minutes to get back down, and even going down was hard. HOwever, the crew I am with is absolutely incredible. On exercises where people go at their own pace, the people that finish first come back around and travel behind the people who haven't finished, and they are super encouraging, which is awesome. I struggle a lot, but they don't ever put people down, which means so much to me. And, it is cool to see improvement. We did an "easy, relatively flat jog" (2.4 miles with a gigantic hill!) on the second day and I honest to goodness wanted to quit. But, my crew and supervisor were amazing and when we did the jog again a couple days ago, I was able to keep up. That was really exciting!!

Anyway, as I have said, the crew is amazing. Most of them have worked together before, except Lakota and Vaughn, the Supervisor and Assistant Supervisor, and John and I who are the SCA interns. They had been together a couple of weeks before John and I got there, but they were so good about taking us in and explaining things. We are pretty limited on some stuff because we haven't had any trainging yet, but they continually show us new things and give us advice on different aspects of the job. Except that we don't have training, we are really apart of the crew. On top of that, they are all hard workers and fun people. I could talk about each of them, but I'll spare you that. It's funny because everyday I hear new stories about different people and things that have happened in the past. One of the craziest guys is John, the engine captain (not the SCA). He is this ex-marine who has killed a bear without using a gun (there is debate between whether he used a pick-type tool or just his hands- but either way is nuts). I keep haring new stories about him and they are just insane. Lakota has some crazy ones too, like the rat that fell out of his roof in SOuth America and landed on his chest while he was in his sleeping bag in his hammock. I didn't feel so bad about mice after that.

Anyway, I know this is pretty long, so I will try to wrap up with some info on what we are actually doing on the crew. We are just coming off of 8 10 hour days and we get 5 days off. It was a long 8 days. We did paper work, cache work (the cache is where we store everything and where me have meetings and where our lockers are- basically HQ or whatever you want to call it), unofficial training, exploration of the park, project scouting, and campground clean-up. I wanted to go into more detail, but I don't actually think it would be very interesting. If you really want to hear, give me a call sometime (my phone is off during the day, but if you leave a message I will get back to you).

I guess through all of this, I am kind of excited. For the first time, I am really on my own- cooking my own meals, living in my own house, working a steady job with semi-regular hours... That is a neat experince in itself, but more than that, the training I am getting/going to get is huge and pretty practical (tool maintenance, first aid, compass/gps use...). Most of all though, I am excited to be on such a solid team. You would have to be there to really understand, but most of the crew lives with other crew members, we are together almost all waking hours of the day, we have to look out for eachother and help eachother out constantly. I am not doing it justice, but I guess for me personally, I am constantly being humbled and put out of my comfort zone, but there is no place I would rather have it happen. Hopefully I will be able to better voice it later, but for now that will have to do. I apologize for the inadequacy of my communication skills. Somethings are beyond words.

So, yeah, that is my life right now. Everyday, especially during PT and when we are working in the pouring, freezing rain, I ask my self why the heck I wanted this job, but at the end of the day I have no regrets. Be praying for me for my walk with God and for my testimony and for strength in general. As much as I like my crew, I am pretty much being exposed to/given access to what I was so sheltered and protected from growing up. Pray I would resist temptations, and that my walk would grow through all of this, as well as that I as a person would change and grown for the better.

I apologize for the length of the post. I don't have constant internet access, but I will attempt to post more often (and hopefully shorter) throughout the summer at least. Until next time, take care.

AK