No Late Night for Me!

Hi all,
Well, I zonked out last night, only to have strange dreams (involving chocolate, which made it better!) and to have my body insist that 5 AM was the perfect time to get up at! Not likely.
The reason I was up so late was because we had the first house meeting (only co-workers) and so I had a lot of questions to get answered. I found out there's two schools of thoughts on days off (Sat or Sun are the only permissible days because of the work week) either going with the "you're part of the community suck it up vs. balance and rest does you good. Thankfully my house proscribes to the latter, and seem rather flexible about it!

Today I helped do house chores in the morning and then prepared lunch. I got a rough idea of what needed to be cooked (never having worked with Kale before, I was uncertain about the stems...) but it turned out very well, I think. I didn't get to stick around to eat it, as I had to be at the main admin building by 12:30 to get a ride to get fingerprinted. The driver was a bit...erratic, and so I ended up not feeling like trying to eat and keep food down while traveling. So, I tucked into my tupperware in the waiting room. Apparently the fingerprinting guy travels around and usually doesn't say much, but we had a thrilling conversation about the weather (not) and the question of why a brand new bread machine was in the "office" (they stick him in the storage room).

Anyhow, I have some off time and I think I will go nap now. I feel like I'm constantly on the go but it's a good kind of busy. Rather than standing around and feeling a little out of place, I'm having fun in the thick of it!

Hope all is well,
Steph

A Full Day

Hi all,

Just a quickie for today (well, it got longer!)- internet is slow and I’m TIRED!

Today I got up at what will be my regular time: 6:45. I can tell that I’ll be observing a more moderate bedtime, because the days are definitely full here.

My first challenge of the day was with breakfast. We had oatmeal. I have a thing about textures, and the fact that the other co-worker decided to add tapioca (I wasn’t the only one who found this to be odd, which was good!) – so that only helped to enhance the slimy nature of it. Luckily, there were some raisins (craisins, perhaps?) in it, so that helped some. At the table I help out a few of the villagers by pouring drinks and helping to cool things off (by adding milk or water, usually) or cutting things sometimes. Such as lunch today.

I got to visit the co-op and helped to shop for groceries and some necessities. It’s a good thing I’ve seen east coast prices, or 7.40 for a tin of hot cocoa would’ve really thrown me. I know, that practically EVERYTHING here is organic - ever seen an organic cheerio, by the way? – but the prices still make me boggle a bit. Plus, there’s the convenience factor, I suppose. At any rate, it turned out to be a good thing, as I found out I will be working afternoons there. Should be interesting.

I also was in charge of dinner today, and had a slightly odd experience as EVERYONE was gone! So I brought down my ipod and speakers to keep me company. My potato soup was excellent, by the way…especially due to the garlic I roasted. I’d say I’d made Julia proud, but it wasn’t her cookbook. Honestly, sometimes there’s just no pleasing people!

At any rate, tomorrow is a big day. I probably won’t be going to work until next week, as I have to get finger printed tomorrow. Big excitement…not. I don’t have to bring 10 dollars this time though, so there’s the positive side.

All right, I’m off to check e-mail and then go to bed!

Hope all is well,

Steph

Today, Julia Childs Wept

Hi all,
Ominous title, no? This morning I threw myself into the brunch with the house dad. He normally doesn't cook, but his wife had other issues and so I volunteered to jump right in. We had a villager helping us (medieval giggle...) and she helpfully dragged out all the ingredients for clafoutis. For those of you who don't know what that is (like me...), it's a rather simple but delicious fruit flan. One might even say it's impossible to mess up.

They'd be wrong, by the way.
See, I thought things had gone swimmingly, and was rather proud of my first effort. The house mom looked at it thoughtfully, but praised the golden edges. She decided we should whip up some cream, and so I did it, adding a little sugar to sweeten it up. I tasted it, and then had a very bad feeling.
I approached the house mom and rather abashedly told her "We have at least one bad thing...and maybe two..." Unfortunately, I proved my worse fears were confirmed.

The "sugar" that the villager had so helpfully fetched turned out to be salt. Yup. And who knew, but apparently a full cup of salt does funny, funny things to a recipe. Not limited to, but including giving the texture and taste of playdough. Yay...

I really know how to impress people, don't I?

Anyhow, we ended up whipping up some delicious buttermilk pancakes and ate pretty much on time. Though apparently this story is going to be whipping through the village and so I may be soon known as "that" co-worker.

As for the rest of my day, it was long but mostly fun. I'm beginning to see who will challenge me and in which ways. There was also plenty of humor, as one of the villagers accidentally washed and then dried a load of clothing with floss in the pocket. Who knew that approximately 1/3 a spool of floss could make 2 inch cluster knots? You could literally grab 1 piece of clothing and the whole bundle would follow! It will definitely take some time to figure everything (anything!) out, but people seem patience, nice and very friendly. So, I'll keep you posted!

Hope all is well,
Steph

PS I found out my address and will update my facebook with it. Otherwise, shoot me a comment or e-mail and I'll be more than willing to share!

Transplant Success!

-----------------This is Supposed to be a Cute Picture...but it isn't ---------------------

Hi all,
I have to admit that 5 am is NOT a pretty hour for me. But I made it up this morning and after a LONG line to check in and a slight mishap at security (they finally caught me not taking my liquids out...5th time's the charm, hm?) I made it through and boarded successfully. Somehow, the regular flight to Chicago got over 25 minutes behind, leaving me with a scant half hour to race down the terminal to my connecting flight. It, too, managed to be 25 minutes late coming into Albany. So, resourceful as I am, I managed to page my ride from the Info desk. And then I met the first member of my new house. One of the long-term co-workers of the house picked me up. He filled me in a little on his wife, their 3 children and a little about the other short-term co-worker and the villagers. After an uneventful ride we arrived at my new home. Big and square on the outside, and cozy on the inside.

The picture above is one of the decorations made to welcome me by the kids. They were quite excited to meet their newest playmate...erm, co-worker, and started filling me in on everything. They also had priorities for what I should do, with choosing a napkin ring for the table near the top! I managed to get my unpacking done (with a captive audience...) and managed to meet the entire household, plus the two cats within the first 2 hours. We had tea and then went to a story/play at the hall.

Mittened kids in tow, we tromped over to the hall (on good paths...a lot of walking done here apparently) and settled ourselves in. For the first time ever, I got to watch a real tree being lit up (well, we've BBQ'ed our fair share, but this was with candles). The tree was HUGE (at least 30 feet!) and I have to admit it made me slightly nervous...especially as one of the lighters wasn't quite paying attention to where her flame was wandering around to. The story was cute, and got a good response.

Afterwards we had dinner, the high light for me was probably the olive bread, which literally had chunks of olive in it. Quite tasty. There was plenty of horse play and games afterwards, at a level only the under-10 can muster. I'm not really sure what to expect from tomorrow since it's the last day of their Christmas celebration things will be slightly off-kilter even without me! Luckily, everyone has been very nice and helpful, so I'm not too afraid of making any mistakes!

Hope all is well,
Steph

P.s. I'm definitely needing to re-name my blog...any suggestions?