Friday, May 24, 2013

Lodgemaiden Chronicles, Juneau Journies: Never Stop Learning...

Sunday morning I took off early from home and took a leisurely walk down to the yard, whistling hymns along the way. It was positively lovely weather out and then it started to rain. And then the wind picked up. And then it began to hail. Don't worry, it cleared up a bit before I picked up my passengers. On our way out to the glacier I had mentioned to my passengers that the weather could be a bit bipolar sometimes. It was actually partially sunny at the glacier when we arrived. However, in the 15 minutes before I picked them up it rained, the wind picked up, and it hailed... again. Needless to say, my passengers came back to the bus believing me. ;) After that we went to the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery for the tour there. I had a pick up at Era later that evening and they ended up tipping me really well because I gave them a tour on the way back when they weren't expecting one. ;) That night we had a pancake party "fhe" down in apt 2 complete with religious discussion in lieu of not going to church that day.

Monday we had an afternoon ship come in. It was a sunny beautiful day, but it was so windy that Allen Marine cancelled all of their whale watch tours (10ft swells). All the tours got turned into Glacier Discovery tours instead. I also ended up with a later Temsco (helicopter) drop-off/pickup so I didn't have the chance to go to ward fhe. However, we got wifi installed in our apartments! Now I don't have to go clear to town to check my e-mail. Regardless, I'm still probably going to stick with a weekly blog post. Unless something really fun or amazing happens. ;)

First thing Tuesday I had one Temsco and two Era drop-offs. I'm very glad to say I haven't missed the Douglas Bridge for Era since that first run. ;) After I dropped of my 2nd Era, I went up to Eagle Crest to do another Zipline/Glacier (Zip/Mendy) tour. It went well because I had a lot more tour material to work with. You see,  I've been reading two books about Alaska History and Tlinget legend/customs. Did you know the Tlinget (local tribes) believed that the Raven brought water and sunlight to the earth and that he created man from beach grass? It's really cool if you want to look into it. I also gave my first Best of Juneau (BoJ) tour which includes includes Whale Watch in Auke Bay, a visit to Mendenhall Glacier, and the Salmon Bake. However, since the winds were still really high the whale watch portion was cancelled. It seemed nice enough out. It was sunny with wind so it was the perfect temperature, but there were still high swells. Everyone still had a great time, and I feel like I'm getting a lot more comfortable giving my tours.

Wednesday- Wash crew day, except I was called in for a charter tour for another company for a BoJ. On our way out my people were laughing at my jokes and having fun, my tour material was flowing smoothly. We're almost to the glacier and I'm about to give them driver's standard time when I realize that this group was supposed to have the whale watch first. So we turn around and I start heading for Allen Marine. I get to De Hart's and call in to Allen Marine and find out over radio that they're not expecting me. Then I realize the BoJ gets dropped off in Statter Harbor. So luckily I'm in one of the cut-away busses and turned around in a semi-circle lot while apologizing to Nigel for the confusion. We get to Statter harbor and they were luckily only a little bit late. I staged at Brotherhood Bridge and shopped at the Safeway while they were on their whale watch tour. After I picked them up from the dock The rest of the tour went well. We went to the Glacier (for reals) and then I dropped them off at the Salmon Bake. I must not have done anything too horribly wrong (or they must have felt sorry for me) because they still tipped me pretty well. I didn't get to go to institute because my route ended later in the day, but I'll go again when I don't have late work. Besides, my Mistborn books arrived today and I got to stay up with Rachel reading  things about Juneau on the internet! We learned about the ice worm wiggle, an awesome ice worm song, and we even memorized the words to the Alaska state flag song (still need to learn the melody). Hopefully I'll be able to remember in the future that there are alternate routings to the different tours.

Yesterday morning I had an Era run with Bryce (my assigned Era rep) riding along for the safety speech. Which means I tour until we reach the Douglas round-about and then he takes over. He told me he liked my tour and that he learned stuff about Juneau that he hadn't heard before. Then I had a Glacier/Salmon Bake tour and this time I actually watched the movie in the visitor's center. My group was very diverse in ethnicities: Indian, German, Spanish, Asian, Great Britain, and American. A lot of the people couldn't understand what I was saying so they weren't very responsive to my material, but they were very polite nonetheless. Then in the afternoon I ran my first Glacier/Glacier Gardens tour! I was really excited because this 2nd group was a lot more responsive than the first one. After I dropped them off at glacier I got a call from Shaner. I found out that my routing schedule was supposed to be Gardens first. She figured it out with Tina and they re-scheduled for my people. The rest of the tour was without mishap. I got my complementary   hot chocolate (almond caramel) and one of the workers (LDS) saw my ctr ring and started talking to me. He said we'd have to go hiking sometime and got my number. Also one of my passengers was rummaging through her pockets and found a sand dollar she had picked up on the beach back home in California, and she said that she decided to give it to me because I was such an interesting person. :) On the way back to the dock near the end of the tour I was even able to recite the lyrics to the Alaska State flag song and everyone applauded for me! When I got home I made cracker toffee with the ingredients I bought at Safeway yesterday. It turned out to be a very good day. :)

Today was wash crew day! It started out with just me and Ammon there. Then Kyle and Sean came out and helped. I also met our new trainee Lewis. He seems really nice (from the 10 minutes I got to talk to him). It's been a laid back day ever since I got home, which translates to: I started reading Mistborn! :) But as of today, I only have 120 days left in Juneau. That means I really have to start planning out all the activities I need to do before I leave at the end of the season.

Something I learned this week is that it's definitely human to make mistakes. However, as long as you're actively working to fix the problem in a professional manner most people won't fault you for it. Something else I realized recently is that since I've been wearing make-up every day for work, it's very likely that by the end of the season I will have worn make-up more in 5 months than I have cumulative in the last two or three years. ;)
If there's anything in particular that you'd like to hear more about, or have me clarify, just ask. I still love and miss you all!

[Insert fun signature sign-off phrase]
Shawni

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