I work with an array of people from all over the country and all different ages. I work with a man from Alabama who is probably in his early 60s, and my shift supervisor is 22 and she just graduated from Penn State. I've met a lot of people today from eating in the EDR as well as working in the fast-paced kitchen which is located right behind the deli. The kitchen has people from all over the world, from France, England, Ecuador, Russia, and of course all over the United States, and there are people running back with hot trays of food as well as dirty plates stacked high to go to the dish washing room. Oddly, despite the many language barriers, the kitchen seems to run very smoothly. People shout ' corner' when they are going around a corner with a load in their arms, and everything has its own place or room, for example, the bread goes in the bread room, there's a room for dishes, a dry pantry, at least 6 different types of freezers for thawing, freezing, cooling, and what not. Everything is pretty organized and it helps production and output move smooth and quick.
The deli was really slow today; we didn't have a lot of customers or business, so I got trained in how to scoop ice cream and basics on the cash register (which I will learn more extensively tomorrow). It was so slow I got let go of early at 3PM (supposed to stay until 5). My sleep has really been off here, so I went right back to my room and tried to pass out, but the noise from the construction kept me up. At 6 I went to dinner and met up with my roommate. The cool thing about Yellowstone is that there is an employee recreation center at each location, and they try to put on cheap activities so we don't get bored and we get to meet other people, so at 7, after I went on a rendezvous to find the post office, I went to play in the first 3-on-3 volley ball league. My team didn't do too well (we were eliminated first round), but I met some really cool people who, after I got to talking with, said they wanted to do more trail running, so hopefully I can get a group together. I met a bunch of cheese heads from Wisconsin hahaha and they were pretty nice. The good thing was that people of all athletic abilities, who some had played volley ball and others hadn't, all came out to play, and everyone had a good time laughing and watching everyone else play.
One thing that didn't occur to me until after this Czech guy, who thought we were playing Olympic volley ball, spiked the ball at like 90mph at my arms was that when you get injured the elevation really makes you swell up faster. My arms were about as red as a lobster and probably as thick as a lobster's big claw, too! The swelling did go down eventually. Another thing you wouldn't think is that there are mosquitoes at 8,000ft. I didn't get bit, but some of them were huge! I couldn't believe that they could survive the elevation let alone the temperature (it was about 60° outside). Most people ,after their team got eliminated, went back to the dorms, but I hung around and spoke to some more kids. There was a boy from Taiwan taking pictures, and besides the Czech guy (who was about 6'3), everyone else was from the states. One girl's uncle even was from Swedesboro and works at the same place my mom does - what a small world!
After volleyball got too cold, I took a nice hot shower (the only nice thing about these dorms), but the downside is that the showers are maybe two feet wide and the shower curtains are clear....so needless to say everyone takes 5 minutes showers or less and its extremely awkward. It's kind of like that unwritten guy code where no one makes eye contact at the urinal, only this is at the showers. My roommate invited me out to the employee pub again, so we hung out at the bar and ordered some food while everyone else around us played pool or darts. The bar tender had his ipod playing and played some really good music, at least to my standards (Muse, Foster the People, the Clash). There I met my first Navajo. His name was Shirley, and I don't mean to be stereotypical, but he was drunk and having a good time. When I asked him whether he lived on a reservation, he smiled and replied "I have reservations everywhere!". It took me a minute to get, but then I laughed. He also said he didn't believe in skinwalkers and that he hadn't seen one yet. For a Thursday there weren't a lot of people in the pub, and since most college kids partake in 'Thirsty Thursday" I thought it was a little strange there weren't more kids in their.
I keep meeting new faces everywhere I go. There are at least 200 people on food and beverage staff besides the other employees who make up house keeping, grounds keeping, construction, tech support, and every other position you can think of out here. My friends introduce me to their friends and so forth, and everyone seems really open minded and into the same things. Almost everyone goes on a hike or camping on their days off, and I've noticed that people who work together generally go hiking and camping together. Tomorrow I should be going on a run with some of my new friends, so I will blog again then! More pictures tomorrow, its getting too late for me
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