Day 1

First off, just because I titled this post "Day 1" does NOT mean that I will be posting every day. But the first day is important, right?

So yesterday I got up at 2:45amPST. This was so long ago that it didn't even feel like yesterday; feels more like a week or two ago. My first flight left for Portland at 5am, and I landed at about 6. My second plane to Phoenix began boarding at 6:10, so I speedwalked (is is speedwalked or spedwalked? either way sounds weird) to the gate, and they had already started to board. Perfect timing! I had about a 3-hour layover in Phoenix, but it was a good thing that I had all that extra time! I was switching airlines and couldn't figure out where my next gate was. I was told to leave security, go out to the island in the middle of the street, and wait for a bus to pick me up and take me to another terminal. So I did that. After checking in with the airline, going through security, and finding my gate, I found a pizza hut and got some cheesesticks. I wondered why the cheesesticks were so much cheaper than the pizzas. The sticks were only a little smaller and came with cheese and pizza sauce, so it was practically a pizza. But anyway, I got up at 2:45 that morning so I'm allowed to ponder things like that! My plane finally boarded and I was on my way to Nebraska.

While landing, the guy in the window seat next to me told me to look out the window. There was a house completely surrounded by water! Also, when getting off the plane, I saw a sign for a tornado safety room. I didn't have to deal with floods or tornados, but keep reading to see what I DID have to deal with! I was supposed to be picked up by Erin (who is now my roommate). I called after I got off the plane, went to pick up my luggage and then went outside to wait for her. Right when I stepped outside, there was this super loud noise which I realized was thunder (sounds a bit different here, probably because the lack of mountains). It got really windy, so much that when Erin came and I was moving my bags from my cart to her trunk, I had to keep a hand on the cart to keep it from blowing away. We hadn't even fully left the airport when what looked like a baseball smacked right up against the windshield. We were in a huge hailstorm, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that most of the pieces were the size of a softball! (Erin has dents in her car to prove it.) We tried to find temporary shelter because it was just too impossible to drive at that point. First we saw a truck parked underneath a tree, and we went next to it. A branch from a tree fell on that car. Then we went to a rental car parking garage and waited out the storm. I'm really glad my plane landed when it did, because I heard that the airport closed soon after. We finally made it to Hu Hot, where I got to meet the rest of the staff. It's a pretty cool buffet-style restaurant where you fill a bowl with raw food and toppings, and they cook it in front of you. This is also where we went over internship rules and outlines and stuff.

When we finally made it to Camp Rivercrest, it was really rainy. We took my stuff to the room. (It's hard to explain the living situation setup. I'll have to show pictures later. But for now, I'll just say that it's the bottom floor of the chapel.) Then there was a little worship-style concert. After that, I unpacked most of my stuff and joined the other interns in watching TV. It was 11:30 by the time I went to bed, and I had been tired since arrival at camp, but as soon as I laid down on the bed, my internal clock was like "What are you doing? It's only 9:30!". Amazingly, I still got up early this morning, but the lack of sleep is taking its toll on me right about now.

Work started at 9 this morning with me vacuuming the chapel. (Remember, this is actually 7am for you people back on the west coast!) Then there were other needed tasks like setting up chairs in the dining hall and such. After that, I learned how to set up the high ropes, right in time for a school group to come! Since I wasn't trained to belay yet I just harnessed people. Then after about an hour of that, I went and observed the rock wall so I have a better idea of that too.

After lunch we had more orientation-type stuff. First we got to ride mini bikes! It's out on an open field at the front of the camp, so I could see the cornfield across the street and...Oh No! No mountains! It was finally clear enough that I finally had to admit to myself that there aren't any mountains in Nebraska. After minibikes was archery, and after that was learning how to belay and tie knots at the high ropes. After that, I helped take down the eating tent (since they have a brand-new dining hall). Just about the time we were working with the tall metal rods from the tent, a thunderstorm decided to show up. How convenient. After that was done, I got to take a ride on the golf cart to the Whitetail lodge for some final cleanup for a group that's coming tomorrow.

That was my day (well, my past two days). I'm done with work for the day and very tired. But these past two days have been a really cool experience and I'm excited for what's coming up!