Monday, May 23, 2011

Another Week in Zion

The thunder is rolling outside and the rain is falling again. And just on Friday I could see the stars so well!

This week has flown by. It feels like just a week since I last went to church, but it's been two weeks. Last Sunday I was working Kid's Camp all day. It was really fun, but it took a while. I don't mind helping out there. Especially that time. I actually get tips when I work Kid's Camp. Plus spending the whole day with a little kid is fun! I'm just glad I don't have to do it all summer. I'm not really sure how to work with kids that long.

Monday night the staff had a bonfire. We loaded about 23 of us into an 18 passenger van and rode out to the Ridge firepit. It's a huge stone ring with a firepit in the middle out on Zion Ridge. Massage Darren told us spooky stories about the area and we ate s'mores. It was a great evening.

Tuesday some friends from Provo got down here to spend the night. I took them out to the Ridge and told them the story of Old Man Jolly that Darren told us the night before. It was daytime, so not quite as creepy, but I did my best. We played on the rock wall, the zipline, and Katie even did the bungee trampoline! Turns out that Clarke and my partner Tasia are super good friends. So she joined us for dinner in Hurricane. We went to Wendy's and felt so cool! It's amazing how awesome even a fast food joint becomes after being stuck up here. That night we went hot tubbing and then headed to bed. In the morning, I hung with my Provo buddies until they took off.


After telling the ghost stories on Tuesday.

Work-wise, I made a lot of phone calls and emails to big groups that are coming in these next few weeks. I couldn't get in touch with everyone, but I made a first and second attempt for all of them. Third attempts for that group start tomorrow.

On Friday, we had a group of writers for various big magazines arrive on site. They were out here for a marketing visit, which means that I was there to pamper them. I decided that I really like doing that as a marketing intern. Tasia and I each connected especially closely to one writer. Tasia and Caron were really good friends and Nicole got along really well with me. We talked about all sorts of thing - related to the resort, religion, and more. It was super fun! Tasia even gave Caron a Book of Mormon. I didn't have an opportunity to offer one to Nicole. Or at least not without feeling really awkward.

I think I should probably learn to get over that fear. I'll need to offer things to people at strange times as a business person. You can't wait for the topic to just show up - you have to make the opportunity.

That evening we had a campfire with the writers. Phillip, Jessica, Darren, and Tiago came as well. Darren is our massage therapist, Tiago is another intern, and Jessica and Phillip are wranglers. Phillip rode Cactus - his beautiful horse - right up to the site. He managed to show up just in time to be a cowboy silhouette against the sunset. It was cool. A bit cheesy, but it definitely made a great impact. We ended the night with stories about Butch Cassidy and one of my cowboy poems. Actually, it was Martin's Haven. The next morning Nicole and I took a ride and the other writers did various activities on-site and then they took off. I felt really good about that first experience.

Sunday was really nice. I took most of the day off and went to church. The ward is really friendly and really hick. It's pretty funny some of the things they say. A town this small and this rural gets some interesting experiences. Lots of farm stories and fun Southern Utah accents.

Well, that's it for this week. All the best, and I'll keep you updated each week. :-)

No comments: