One Quick Story

I know I've been neglecting my blogging duties in an entirely inexcusable fashion, BUT, I have a vast array of excuses:

-The internet connection here at Jordan Pond Dorm is embarrassingly slow.
-I feel bad for not putting up pictures because of said slow connection, and so I figure, I just shouldn't post at all.
-This is my personal blog, and I'm considering getting a new one so Mike and I can have one together, so there's "no point" in posting until then.

So anyway... I just wanted to tell one quick story of how I almost made a Muslim sin. Here at the dorm I am the janitor and the dinner-watch and Saturday cook. (Dinner-watch, which is a word I made up, in case you didn't know, involves me watching the dinner and cleaning up the kitchen after Carla, the regular cook, leaves.) So I'm watching dinner one night, and we have the Turks that just moved in - two girls and a boy. Of course, they're Muslim, and so when they saw meat was on the menu they asked if there was any pork, so they could avoid eating it. One of the girls reads and speaks English pretty well, so she was translating for her friend, but her boyfriend hadn't come in yet. When he did, they were already sitting down. He asked if there was pork.

"No, it's riblets, they're made of beef," I told him, assuming they were, even though I didn't make them and I hadn't read the menu on the white board.

"Oh, okay, thank you," he said as he dipped into the real meat, rather than the vegetarian option like his countrymen. (Or women, whatever.) About 30 seconds later she brought him up there, a little bit frantic, and asked again, what they were.

"Beef," said I.
"No!" said she. "They are made of pork! It says on the board!"
I leaned over the side, looked stupidly at the board, and said sheepishly, "Oh, sorry. I didn't make it. I just assumed that's what they were made of."

Yeah, I'm a dolt. I get it.

A Working Wonder

For those of you who don't know, I serve tables for work. I like to serve, actually, I like pretty much anything there is to do in a restaurant... almost anything at least. Serving is fun 'cause I get to do things for people. I like knowing people can rely on me, and with serving, they have no choice, even if I'm tired or just sucky! Haha! It's awesome!

Anyway, so I was serving, and had quite a few tables; it was busy, but not crazy - that's a good thing. When I get into a nice groove where the pace is perfect and everything is just working out beautifully, I can't help but be extra smiley. This wasn't one of those nights, but it wasn't bad. I was having fun, but I did have a couple of anxious tables.

I saw this couple, probably in their 40's, waiting at the pasta bar for a chef to come help them. (It doesn't have to be a chef, anyone can do it, and everyone knows how.) I saw them standing there for quite some time and as I walked by with some dishes, I promised I'd be back in a moment to help them. A second later I was there getting their pastas. The next time I went to my section I saw them at one of my tables. I didn't know anyone had been seated there. I felt bad. Sometimes when things start to get busy, the hostess will seat them and tell them to get started if they are getting the buffet and then forget to let the server know. (The server will find out anyway 'cause she's running to her section all the time, but the hostess will let us know if she has the time.) I thought that perhaps they had been there a long time and just got tired of waiting. I had a table right next to them that was fairly needy - which, by the way, is really annoying. If the server asks if they can get anything for you, let them know EVERYTHING you can think of all at once so that they can just get it in one foul swoop and stop running back and forth. That just wastes their time! *Heaving a sigh*

Anyway, I gave this table as much attention as I could, and it actually turned out to be just fine. The needy table left and so I could get the other tables everything they needed and wanted without delay. I must have turned out to be pretty good, 'cause the man from that couple left me a 30% tip and wrote on the bill, "You had shiny eyes!" Sweetest thing I've heard all summer. Course, the money doesn't hurt.

Dancing Queens

Sarah and I got home from work on Friday at about 9:30. (I've started working the night shift at the gift shop so I can get a few more hours in while they're short on people for the next couple of weeks.) She was hot and nasty smelling, so upon entering the common area of our pod, she said,

"Hey, are you gonna take a shower?"
"Uhhh, no I took one between making popovers and the gift shop. Why?"
"Well, I'm gonna take a shower, and then why don't we dance?"
"Yeah, all right. That sounds like fun."

So, while Sarah was in the shower, I was picking some things up off the floor so we'd have a little more room. You see, Sarah and I were ditched earlier tonight. Some friends of ours came looking for us and asked us if we wanted to go to Seasons, Acadia Corps' new restaurant in Bar Harbor. Kyle could go, but I was still working, and so was Sarah. You can imagine we were feeling kind of sorry for ourselves... kind of. Sarah's suggestion to dance was just the thing we needed to have our own little party.

Sarah came in from her shower, put on a shirt, I tossed her a lava lava (meant for any kind of dancing, really. It just makes you feel so ... movable) and we cranked up the tunes. We danced for a good little while by ourselves, then our friend Yulia walked by, and we grabbed her and gave her a lava lava. Yulia was showing us some belly dancing moves, and I taught them a few Tahitian moves, but overall, we were following little Miss Thang Sarah on the free-style. We heard a whistle out the window, so we pulled the blinds. Yulia left, and Amy, Kyle, Brigitte, and Kim got home... holding a camera. Amy and Kim joined us, and I tossed them a couple of lavalava's. The last one I had went to Nicole, who joined us a little later. We danced til almost 11. It was so much fun.

The next morning it was unanimous: we're definitely doing it again sometime.

Back to Work

I love working for the Acadia Corporation. They really treat you well, and you get to know a ton of people from all over the world. Right now things are pretty slow. The tourist season hasn't really started yet. It wont be full-blown until about July, then it just gets crazy in August, and starts to ever so slowly peeter off in September and October.

I still work at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant and Gift Shop. The corporation has a few shops and a new restaurant in Bar Harbor as well, but JPH is out on the Park Loop road, about 15 minutes away from that town. Last year I worked days as a Information/Parking Lot Attendant. I also worked in the bar when things got nasty in there. Nights were spent working as a waitress in the restaurant and clerk in the gift shop. I ended the season working as a busser/setter. This year I'm in the kitchen.

The kitchen is awesome. First of all, I get to work with some really cool people. Not that the servers aren't cool, but in the kitchen we get to "fool around" a little bit more. (Not dangerously, but we can talk more.) When you're out front, you have to always be paying attention to the needs of some person you have never met before in you life. Don't get me wrong, I loved working out front. I've had people offer me places to stay if I was ever in there neck of the woods. One lady actually gave me her address in New York and said that if I ever wanted to tour the city, she'd house me and take me around for a couple of days. But I'm glad I work in the kitchen now. It's something new, and I've done almost every other type of job they've had to offer. I'd like to work as a hotline cook since they kind of rule the kitchen, but I'm a humble popover maker. (At least I'm in charge of that.) Maybe someday I'll be on the hotline. Who knows.

For right now, my legs ache, my feet ache, I have bruises on my wrists from pouring mixer bowls that could kill small dogs, I'm covered in egg, and I smell like popovers. I'm going to go shoot some ball before anyone gets home, and then take a nice, hot shower.

Tourists say the darndest things!

This happened a few weeks ago but I forgot about it until a today when I was looking at the rose bushes that surround the Pond House.

So, I'm standing at the Information window on the outside. I was working in the parking lot that day, but there wasn't much going on so I was talking to my supervisor, Thor, and my co-worker, an older woman named Edie. Suddenly this young couple in their twenties walks up to the window and says, "Excuse me, we were wondering what these large, blueberry-type things were. We've never seen anything like them. Are they a type of blueberry?" I looked over towards the parking lot where they were pointing.

"Do you mean the tall-bush blueberries in the middle of the parking lot?" (We have an island in the middle of the parking lot where some trees and different shrubs are planted. One is a hybrid, tall-bush blueberries that are absolutely tasteless but are rather on the large side.)

"No, no, the bushes right along the side of the building here. They have large, round orange balls on them. They look just like blueberries." I was still confused and had no idea where to look or what they were talking about. They were pretty excited about it though.

"Sorry, I'm still not sure what you're talking about."

"They're right here, they look just like blueberries, but they're bigger and orange, and grow on the rose bushes." (I kid you not, they actually said that they grow on rose bushes and couldn't figure it out.)

"Oh, well, the ones that look like small tomatoes? Those are rose buds. That's why they grow on rose bushes. Blueberries are about this big," I made the size with my fingers, "and are..."

"I know what blueberries look like," says the young man, and he turns back to listen to Eddie explain to him that the rose buds are what they are looking at. (Exactly what I had just told him.) I kept thinking to myself, "Well, obviously you don't, since you just said that the tomato-looking buds that grow on the ROSE BUSHES looked just like blueberries and that you couldn't think of any other thing they could possibly be!" It was extremely funny, and the three of us had a good laugh about it afterwards.

Ahhhh... I love my job!

Feliz Navidad... and all that jazz

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Yep, that's what I said: Christmas! YEAH!

So, when you work for the Acadia Corporation, like moi, you get to celebrate Christmas in July. The company really likes to come up with holidays they can celebrate in the summer for their employees... this is a good one. Our dorm-mom, Maisy, breaks out the tree and decorations and we go to work on them. Our downstairs common room has tinsel and lights all around it. Last night we left our shoes outside our doors and Somebody went around and stuffed them with gifts like candy, sprays, postcards, binoculars... and all sorts of stuff like that. We thought it was Maisy that did this but we realized today that it wasn't... but rather somebody else from the office. Hmmmmmm... we all have our suspicions. Maisy got roses, an awesome beach bag and something else... hmmmm... potpourri! That's it.

Anyway... the day isn't even close to over yet, so I'm sure there's more to come. We actually are supposed to have a big Christmas dinner but we had to postpone it until tomorrow night because today there's going to be a big inspection of the housing facilities run by Acadia Corp. done by the Feds. Maisy is freaking out because some of the boys rooms are so bad. She really flipped out at one kid last night, and forced him to sweep and mop his floor. HA! I mean, I like the kid, he's a good friend of mine, but he should have known that she was going to be upset if all you do is pile your junk on your bed and cover it up with a blanket! HAHAHAHA!

The best present I've gotten so far was the chance to call my family and to talk to Renae and Jenny. It was fun talking with you guys on the phone. I really liked listening to Kait and Eden on the phone. Peanut, you're just so dang cute! And Kait, so grown up... but then, you've always been like that. Both of you!

Well, today is my day off... which ROCKS! So, I need to go to Bar Harbor and buy some essentials like laundry detergent chocolate. (I've decided to get all the girls in the dorm chocolate from Ben & Bill's... I'm talking the HUGE filled chocolates. They know nothing! Bwuahahahahahahahaha!) So, I must shower and leave you now. I also need to call Chels! Dang!!! I forgot about that!

This is Mallory Conenr; tune in next time for This Is My Life!! (So Move Out!).

Working in the Restaurant

Well, last week I started training as a waitress. I trained three days, each with different people. First Solomon, who brings in the most money of all the waiters; then Adrienne, whose so sweet and thoughtful, she went through everything for me! Then Tacey, who was really nice and helpful.

Wednesday was my first day of work by myself, which means I get to keep my tips! (When you're training your trainer takes them.) I made just over $100 in sales (including my tips). I kept dropping silverware on the floor when I was clearing the tables for the next course, and I took forever to get back to my first table because I was so busy with the other two. I had two two-tops and two four-tops, but I only had people sitting at the two-tops and one of the four-tops.

Last night, Thursday, went much better. I had "Lover's Lane"; a section of the restaurant semi-secluded from the rest, near the fireplace, with three two-tops and one four-top. I served both the two-tops at the same time and was given a six-top (by pushing a two-top and the four-top together) too. One of the two-tops was seated twice. So, it was much busier, but I didn't forget anyone's meals nor did I drop anything. My friend Emil, whose section was right next to mine, helped me set up my tray-jacks a couple times. It went really well. I made a little over $390 in sales! Like I said, much better!

I love working for the Acadia Corp. They are really a great company. What I love best is their sense of humor. The supervisors are all awesome, my particular favorites are Gabrielle and Joel. (She's actually the dining room manager, so she's a step up from supervisor.) She's great at what she does, and he's really fun. They're both very relaxed... That's what I like the most.

Anyway, back to the sense of humor at the Acadia Corp. So there are signs in the restrooms of the dorms and in the employee restroom at the restaurant. The ones in the dorms say,

"Please flush, Don't rush!"

and the one in the employee restroom (not to mention my personal favorite),

"Here at the Acadia Corp., we aim to please; You aim too, please."

I just wish it was in the actual restrooms and not just the employee restroom. Ahhh, well. What can ya do, right?

"Hello, Can I Help You?"

Stupid Questions I Get at Work:

-You have to walk past the restaurant doors to get to the information booth. So I want you to imagine this:
* "Where's the restaurant?"


-The gift shop has two HUGE windows you must be able to see upon entering the building.
* "Where's the gift shop?"

-Popovers - I've been eating them since I was a kid. I didn't realize that nobody outside of Maine (or maybe just MDI) knew what they were. So imagine my shock when I got comments like, "My friend told me about a popup," or "I keep hearing about some kind of fritter," or "Can you tell me exactly what a turnover is?" or my personal favorite: "We're here for Jordan Pond's famous pop tarts!"

-There's one mountain you can drive just about to the peak of here on MDI; it's called Cadillac. It's the highest mountain on the island and has a magnificent view. It is NOT behind the Jordan Pond House.
*"Hi, can I drive up this mountain?"
*"No Ma'am, I'm sorry. The only mountain you can drive up is Cadillac."
*"Oh! There's more than one mountain on back here?"
*"Yes, there are actually the trail heads to four different trails up here. But none of them are Cadillac."
You would have to be blind not to see how mountainous the island is! It took me completely by surprise!

-Here's a good one: "To get to the North Lot you just pull out of the parking lot and go left, drive down the road a little bit until you get to your first left. You can see it from the road. it's just a parking lot, there's nothing else back there. There's a sign that says, 'North Lot' right out by the road." That's it, and I mean, that is a freaking discriptive one! Usually I don't give all the detail unless the people are still unsure. Most people say that they have seen the sign from the road already.
I had told a couple in an SUV how to get to the North Lot, which is the overflow parking area for the Jordan Pond House. Nobody has ever had a problem getting to it, since the instructions are easy. About fifteen minutes later they came back and shouted at me from their car, "There's no parking lot up there! It's a road!" At first it took me a minute to figure out who they were, since I see hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people everyday, and today had been particularly busy. But it eventually kicked in and almost busted up laughing. The best part was they couldn't stop to complain to me, they just kept going with the traffic of the parking lot. It was so funny. They just wanted to come around and say it to me out of spite. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It really made my day. Usually, things are so boring, it'd be kind of fun to have people complain to me!

Okay, well, that was long. I'll write again later.

Sorry it

WOW, okay, I know a lot has happened since I last wrote, but it's only because the computer here at the dorm is terrible!

Anyway, yeah. Hawai'i was awesome. It was so much fun to see Justin and Renae and to actually meet Vasu... like, in real life. They are all so much fun to hang out with. And even though I went there to see Renae and Justin, I ended up hanging out with Vasu the most... hmmmmmm. It's a good thing he's a fun guy! THANKS YOU TWO FOR BEING MY GOOD FRIENDS! (I'm just kidding. Really, it was so much fun.)

So, I'm here in Maine. It was a little rainy at first, but it's been beautiful for over a week now. Today it's over 90 degrees on the mainland. I'm taking some of my friends to Bar Harbor and then to Otter Cliffs. My friend Remik has never really seen the ocean, and my friend Chelsea has never seen Otter Cliffs. Since the Cliffs are the best place to view the ocean, I figure it'll be perfect!

Work is going well. I've been working for a week now in the Information department. This week I start serving in the restaurant, or at least I hope so. I'll be serving in the evenings and doing information during the day. It get kind of boring sometimes when not a lot of people are there. But it's just the beginning of the season, so it'll definitely pick up in the next week or so.

It's a pretty easy job. All I do is sit in rustic furniture under the branches of wisteria and honey suckle, or I sit right on the edge of it and soak up the sun, if it's not too, too hot. The questions I get definitely are good story topics. My friends like to ask me what kind of "Stupid tourist questions" I got today. So I tell them over dinner. I have to end now, but in my next blog I will share them with you. They're good for a laugh!

Stereotype: Modeling is glamorous!

Whenever people say, "You model!? Wow! That's so cool! I want to do that." I always feel a little bit like laughing. Modeling is not all it's cracked up to be. And, you don't have to be a knockout to do it... although if you do model, people tend to start looking at you as though you are a knockout even if they've never looked at you that way before. I don't know; it's a mystery to me to!

Anyway, so this is the second modeling job I've actually done, I've been called for some others, but didn't do them because they required me to work on Sunday, or at least say I would work on Sunday if I had to. This one lasted Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I was an extra in the commercial, along with some of my friends, Shaquita Bennett, Laura Hogen, Laura Bucher, Jenny Villegas, and Jocelyn Lonsdale. There were tons of other people there too. The main model was this blond Brit. She was pretty, but mainly, she was blond, and that's what the Japanese were looking for.

Now for the stereotype that I feel is my job to swipe from people's minds: modeling is not glamorous until it gets on T.V, or on the page. While you're doing it, it's not fun. For this particular commercial, we were supposed to be having a great time at a pool party. We were at the Magellan Club pool. The crew had painted the sides of the pool, and done some touching-up on the rough spots. (Being the Magellan Club, there were plenty of them.) Some of the types of paint they used, particularly the silver paint for the rails and this one pool chair kept coming of on us. it was really annoying. None of the extras got make-up unless they brought it and applied it themselves. (Except for four of them for a particular scene, but I'll go through that later.) Most people were in bikinis, except for maybe five of us. One really strange thing was that most of the women were white, but most of the guys were Filipino or Chamorro guys from MHS. Don't ask me how that worked out. But they were cool and fun, and funny.

We fried! It was terribly hot, especially the first day, but really any of the days you could've fried an egg out there. They had brightlights (that would burn you) and reflectors (that would burn you) and the sun (that would burn you). I put on sunblock every time we went inside for anything, and I still got it pretty bad. The second and third days, I wasn't required to be in the pool so much (I was dancing more and sitting at tables) so I could cover up most of the time.

In one of the scenes, my friends Elle and Shaquita and about four other women had to do this scene with one ugly Japanese man. Shaquita and Elle got it the worst though. They each had to wear skimpy bikinis and sit near his head. Kita was stroking his face and Elle was feeding him strawberries in a bowl of condensed milk. Later, they put the extra berries on the bar and we swam over to eat some. We were eating the berries when Emma came up and asked for one. I gave one to her and she bit into it and said, "Hey! This is plastic!" They had put plastic strawberries under the real ones because they didn't have enough to fill the bowl! I hadn't noticed because I just picked it up by the stem. Oh man, we laughed forever over that!

In another scene, the same creepy Japanese man was floating on this airbed. Twelve or fifteen girls surrounded him, and were doing different things. Jenny and Jocelyn were at the legs... and they had to rub them! Jenny was telling me later that the man shaves his legs. I said, "So, what's wrong with that? I know lots of guys who shave their legs." She said, "Yeah, but he hadn't shaved for a day or so and while I was rubbing his legs I could feel the stubble all along." WOAH! THAT WAS LIKE, WAY MORE INFO THAN I WANTED! Fortunately, I avoided all of the a-bunch-of-girls-with-the-one-ugly-Japanese-man scenes.

I don't know what other countries feed their models, but the Japanese don't feed you celery sticks and mineral water. We were fed breakfast and lunch every day. For breakfast it was always doughnuts, onion soup, rice, spam, pancakes, and club sandwiches (with spam and bacon inside). For lunch, there were riceballs, spaghetti, bread with two spreads (either the yellowest margarine I've ever seen, or this creamy, white, not-exactly-butter stuff), salad (with a very limited source of dressing), sushi, and potato salad. There were always chips, fruit, coffee, water, soda, juice, and cupcakes available.

Elle had to dress up in this awful outfit (although it was one of the better ones when compared with the others) and wear all this make-up for these two scenes with the same ugly Japanese guy. I was in both of them as an extra. I didn't have to touch him though so it was okay. ;) In one of the scenes I was in the pool and a bunch of other girls were on the side of the pool. Elle and these four other women were walking with the Japanese man, you know, like he was a pimp or something. (He was supposed to be this really famous rapper... I dunno.) So, I was holding on to the side of the pool, you know, just lounging, and then the cue-man shouted "Kuma" (bear) and we all looked toward the other side of the pool and ran over there. The rapper guy is "accidentally" pushed into the pool. They actually wanted me to swim to the other side, then jump out, but then I pointed out to them that I would be swimming right in the path of the falling Japanese and that I really didn't feel like being drowned as an over-weight, rapping Japanese man fell on my head.

Well, there really isn't time for you all to read how tedious modeling can be. But before I leave I should point out that there are some good things. You meet new people, you have lots of fun on your breaks, and of course, the 375 dollars, in cash, waiting for you at the end. I must say, I don't think I will ever pursue modeling as a career, and also that extras are the best modeling parts you could hope for. Not too demanding, and you can more easily dictate what you wear. Over all, it's a fun 2-time experience.

Animal Farm

Caring for the Steyskal's animals has been fun, tiring, and exasperating. For those of you that don't know, the Steyskal's have a bird named Vinny, he's a cockateil; a cat named Kahla, she's a little calico; and a very, VERY vibrant dog named Sara. I have been asked to care for them while they have been away at Sister Steyskal's father's funeral. They left last Monday, they return this Wednesday.

Vinny is pretty easy to care for. He has plenty of food and water, and I only need to change his bathing bowl when I find floaties in it. (Or worse: sinkers!) Other than that, you just whistle at him every once in a while and he's pretty content.

Kahla (I think that's how you spell it) is adorable. She has very pretty markings, especially on her face. She is extremely funny to watch. She was found by the Villegas' family and was given to Shannon because the Villegas' dogs would have torn her apart. She's very wiley and loves to attack just about anything that moves. (i.e. my feet, my hair when I'm laying down, ants, etc.) Her favorite target: Sara.

Sara is a great dog. She's happy, loving, obedient, and extremely excitable. She plays fetch like no dog I have seen before. For one thing, she brings the ball back! For another, she can play as harder and longer than any dog I've ever seen. When she's busy fetching the ball, Kahla flattens herself against the driveway and waits for Sara to run past. If she's close enough, Kahla attacks. Sara veers away pretty quickly. Sara wants to "play" with Kahla, an idea that Kahla is fine with under one condition: she's in god-mode and Sara is a peon.

The only thing with Sara is that she's a wimp. As soon as any stranger walks up to her, she cowers to the floor and pees all over it. It takes a good game of fetch before she realizes you just want to play. Also, she hates being alone and thus forces me to spend the nights at the Steyskal's house. Otherwise she tares the place apart. What a mess I've had to clean up twice!

Anyway, that's all I really have to say. Just thought I might as well talk about it since it's taking up a big chunk of my time. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem taking care of them. It's fun. I just mean, you know, I felt like writing something in my blog and since there was nothing of interest to most of you, I just thought you may want to know what I've been up to for the past week. After all, that is what this blog is here for; those of you that are interested in me. Remember? Good! HAHAHAHAHA! Okay, I'm really tired, and it's showing through in the blog. Good night!

WORKING AT JORDAN POND HOUSE!!!!!!

I finally got a job at Acadia Corp! I'm working as a parker/information officer outside the Jordan Pond House, and in the evenings I'm going to be trained as a waitress inside the Jordan Pond House. AWESOME!

For those of you that don't know anything about the Jordan Pond House, it is the most prestigious and famous restaurant on Mt. Desert Island. Possibly (and probably) in all of Maine. People come from all over the world to go to Acadia, and if they have any kind of money at all, they make it a point to go to the Jordan Pond House. They're probably best-known for their Jordan Pond Popovers. (They're really good. We have the recipe.)

Usually they don't hire untrained waitresses for Jordan Pond, but the woman that hired me said that if I did it in the evenings she could train me herself. (YES! I AM SO LUCKY!) This whole set up ROCKS!