Sightings

Wouldn't you know ...I saw my first squirrel today. Sure I've seen deer, deer, and more deer, big horn sheep, wild turkey's (they are soo big!) and their babies, copious amounts of bunnies, and at least 10-15 different kinds of birds, but alas there were no squirrel sightings until this morning - and that was at least 50 yards away. Go figure.

It has been awhile since I last wrote, but that is only because I have been off having so many adventures. Well, not really, but I have been cooking a whole lot with a couple mini adventures thrown in for the heck of it. Like the time one of the students wandered off by himself (big no no) and dislocated his knee. Let me set the scene....

It had been a beautiful day in the Black Hills and I was heading back toward the computer lab when all of a sudden about 8 students come running down the hill and into the woods - the last one was carrying a back board. Curious as I am, I ask if something is wrong (really though I can't believe they all just looked at me and ran right past me...meaning I had to ask and they didn't just yell it as they were running past!) Turns out one of the camps neighbors had heard a students cry for help and had been all neighborly and let us know that the student was stranded on some rocks near the cliff with a dislocated knee. AWESOME! So the search began. We spread out all over not knowing exactly where to find the injured. Myself and 2 other girls did one last check toward the creek and then headed back in the direction of the cliff only rather than being on top of the cliff we were below it looking up. At this point we figured the group had found the injured student and now we were just trying to meet up to help carry him out. This is where it gets interesting... After walking along the bottom of the cliff we decide to head up - yes we decided to climb the cliff. I can honestly say that as I joked out loud "they're going to have to come rescue us when their done" I was silently praying "dear Lord please do not let us slip and fall into the spiky rocks and poison ivy infested land below". What an adrenaline rush. To my amazement we made it and popped up right where the group was strapping the injured student to the backboard. Fun times...oh wait it gets better. Remember the neighborly neighbor? Well, he had gone back to his house (at the bottom of the cliff) and had gotten out his binoculars to check the progress of the rescue efforts. Know what he saw? Three crazy girls climbing up the cliff. Ha ha ha ha!



Yes, I made Neile go back with me to try and find where we climbed up. This is at least near the bottom of the climb.












Here's a view looking down from the top - we climbed up the inside of this crevice for the last 10 feet of our journey.










Can you see neighborly neighbor? Me neither, but from up here it does seem like he has a good view =).






So that's one of my adventures.

There is another one that involves just Neile and I and a potentially life threatening climb down an incredibly steep, completely loose shale lined....yeah, I'll call it another cliff that ended in the creek. And it all started "just for the heck of it". But at the end, I described it as "marriage counseling" and "never to be repeated" and "kinda fun". I'm pretty sure the adrenaline rush from that one didn't go away for at least 2 hours after it was over.

So mostly we are having a great time. Our only wish is that we had more time together to actually go hiking (you know places where we won't potentially die) or exploring this beautiful place. Right now our plan is to maybe take a little camping trip, just the two of us, at the end of our stint at cooks - and I can't wait! This week we had our first visitors - my mom and one of my aunts. They were in and out, but here long enough to enjoy a camp favorite - blueberry chicken as well as lose at a game of Settlers of Catan. ha ha ha! It was so great to see them and hear about their big adventures as they travel to beautiful Idaho (am soo jealous). We are still on the job hunt, but things are looking a little more positive so that is encouraging for us both. Only 5 and a half more weeks to go and we still don't know where "home" will be when we leave. For the most part... I am okay with this.

Rollercoaster

So one day it’s up another day it’s down. It feels like it has been nothing but a scramble the last month or so. First it is my comprehensive exams, next my paper, then “oh my gosh we need to find a job”, then graduation, then figuring out what to do with all of our stuff for summer and moving, now working as cooks at a camp. Right when it feels like something is going to end and it might be time to celebrate that end, something else pops up that puts us on another scramble. So it is no surprise that after three weeks of being here I sit in expectation. I just know something else is going to happen and in some ways it has.

We have time to sit and laugh and even talk some. This has been missed. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve discussed things and have enjoyed each other’s company through this craziness, but we haven’t had any time to just sit and talk about our life and where we hope it is heading for some time.

Of course with this extra time comes thinking…which often leads to worry. Yes, this job is temporary and no we don’t know where we’ll be or even if we’ll have a plan come August. That is only 2 months away at this point and with us now easing into our new roles, each day seems to go by faster and faster.

It is so easy to look back and say, “Maybe if we had done such in such we wouldn’t be in this situation,” but that just isn’t helpful right now. There is also the struggle of wanting to be fully a part of this community, but at the same time needing to be focused on the future. Of course this is the struggle that is usually faced in any kind of temporary community right?

And yet, even in this time of doubt and unknown I find myself being refreshed. I cried every day I was here for the first week - if not longer. I now look back on the past week and realize I have laughed more than I have in the past two months. I am not continually exhausted by life’s burdens (rather just lack of sleep occasionally) and I am able to find time throughout every day that I can just be still. I am thoroughly enjoying cooking each day whereas initially I felt trapped doing so (since the camp depends on us in order to eat 3 meals a day every day). And best of all, Neile and I are growing together even more through working together.

So yes, it has been a rollercoaster and honestly I know the ride is just begun, but these ups and downs just are looking quite as steep as they used to, and that feels good.

Pray for us if you think about it. Neile is in the process of contacting a few different companies about job possibilities while trying to find more opportunities to pursue. Of course on top of all of this is running the camp’s dining hall which as I am sure you realize is no 40hr a week job.

Just Plain Crazy!

Well, the students have been here for one full week and so far so good. Tonight was leftover night and for the most part students were excited about that…I’m going to say that is a good sign that they are enjoying our cooking. So yeah for us!

Today also marked the day that we got to climb to the top of Crazy Horse. Woot woot! Every year Crazy Horse is opened for what is known as the Volksmarch. This is a 6.2 mile roundtrip hike to the top of Crazy Horse’s arm (see picture) and back down. This only happens one day out of the whole year and we happened to be here for it (it is only about an hour drive from us) this year. Work first began on the Crazy Horse monument in 1948 and most likely it will not be finished in my lifetime….so yeah, how could we pass up this opportunity. So the kitchen shut down for lunch and we all (well almost 30 of us) took part in the Volksmarch. Pretty amazing! And aren’t you jealous?!?! =)

About half way to the top

The dark side of the moon (AKA the left side of his face)

Pretty amazing being this close...you know what I was thinking? Can you just imagine carving out that nostril?!

In other news, I made a big mistake today. Well, it isn’t huge or anything like that, but I am so annoyed at myself for it. Remember how I told you I was struggling with the schedule and how finding time to take a break wasn’t necessarily coming easy? Well, I was supposed to have breakfast off this morning…but I didn’t realize it until we were 5 minutes from being finished with breakfast. Blast! So much for taking advantage of my precious time off. Although all was not lost as I traveled into Rapid City on Thursday (I had the entire day off) and ate lunch at Qdoba (mmmmmm burrito) and then headed for Borders. I haven’t stepped into a Borders since….well, I don’t exactly remember when that was actually, so yeah, I was excited. I haven’t been able to read anything just for pure enjoyment since Christmas break and was more than looking forward to getting my hands on a few new books. Well, I walked out of there with 3 books for me and 2 for Neile! I am about half way through one as it has rained most of yesterday and I had some free time in the afternoon and evening.

Well, my quads and the top of my calves are tight and I finally got some sun today (no worries, no sunburn…although Neile did get a bit pink) so I am feeling good and am looking forward to a low key evening. There was some talk of watching North by Northwest this evening, as some of it was filmed in these parts so we’ll see.

I am missing home, especially my niece and nephew (there were a lot of kids on the hike and Neile and I kept imagining doing the hike with the two crazies), but I am also learning more and more how to just enjoy being here – afterall, there are only just over 9 weeks remaining in our adventure of Science Station cooks. Still no news on what is next, but we hope to get some work on that in the coming week.