May182011
Today was the first day in the office, so we were learning all the ins and outs of a basic day, this included a casual little field trip through the towns of Chimacum and Port Hadlock Washington. To understand my comparisons I’m about to give you, you’ll have to had experienced some of the midwest’s finest, but really nothing compared to what I saw today.
As we sat in the bank line today, which not joking took 20 minutes per car, we watched the people and talked about the town and what to experience; as I look over to the truck on my right I see an older man roughly in his early 70’s pull up holding his dentures outside of his mouth with his lips. He rests them there, until noticing us watching, then using his dirty hands to casually place them back in his mouth like it was no big deal. Now, I’ve seen a lot of redneck things in this world, especially growing up in a farm town, but nothing will ever compare to his hillbilly man in his old brown truck. He continued to play with them as we sat and sat and sat some more for the tellers to get through the drive up line; they apparently like to sloooow things down here in Chimacum. To add to this we have found out there is an old man named Jack that lives up the hill from our house. He has long, white hair, and an even longer white beard; he apparently is not very found of EM due to the last two business interns(they were guys). Well, I plan on changing this. Soon, and very soon Jack will meet me with a plate of cookies in my hand and he will learn to love us new interns! I will make friends with these townies.
Despite the rough rednecks surrounding my house/office this place is breathtaking. We’re surrounded by two mountain ranges, the Olympics and the Cascades and from our window you can see Mt. Townsend. No big deal right? I continually get excited about all the unexpected adventures to follow.
I will keep posting random stories and adventures all summer so follow!
1AM
Whenever you start something new you always have expectations, they can be good or bad but they are always there. In this case, my were through the roof great. I thought nothing would be bad, or feel horrible ever. Well it’s been five days and it’s been the weirdest emotional roller coaster I’ve had in a while.
We all go through our ups and downs, but I’d reached a pretty good level of happiness and comfort lately. School was great, friends rocked and we were having a blast; I was basically on a happiness high. I was sad to leave, but pumped for my summer adventures and ready to get out of the Midwest for a while and to what I call my “true home” The West. I arrived in Michigan Tuesday evening for my training for a company called Experience Mission. I will be working for them as a business intern this summer. I realize it’s no camp counselor position, but I’m still excited to be doing new things. Obviously, meeting new people is always initially awkward, but meeting the new intern was good and we seemed compatible right off the bat. The next day when training started it was completely overwhelming when we were slammed with information which was to be expected, and it wasn’t until the next day that my emotions took me for a spin throughout the weekend.
We arrived in Lawton, MI the next day at Miracle Camp to meet up with the rest of the Summer Staff(Mission Interns) to continue training for the remainder of the weekend and I just wasn’t feeling too energetic. I had a knot in my stomach and was feeling rather insecure about myself. I figured it was nerves, I mean I was about to meet thirty random people, give me a break right? As the weekend continued I continued to analyze myself, I had to force myself to enjoy what was happening and to loosen up and then it hit me, I felt uncomfortable. I had found my groove at school after getting over my “fall incident” this past school year, and found my nitch with my friends, found the trust I needed in the people I knew I should and when I placed myself in a new situation it completely threw me out of wack. I felt like people saw right threw me, like I couldn’t escape. I knew I had to get past it. This wasn’t me, I was stronger than this, I couldn’t let this or him get to me. So I prayed for strength and knew God would take care of me.
Eventually I started to feel better and loosen up, make some friends, but by then the weekend was basically over and I was moving to Port Townsend, WA. Another new change! I’m happy to be out here too, but all these adjustments are killing me. Let’s just say my “great expectations” shouldn’t have been set to such a high standard for myself and adjusting so quickly. What I was sure to be such a life changing summer so quickly has already become quite a learning experience. This summer will definitely become another time of growing for me, so let the challenges begin.
