The Morning from the Dock:
The sun never sets on a badass, even in a rainforest.
In general: when I wake up for work, dread fills me in certain volumes. Like the Fujita Scale: each morning since the first day has been worse than the previous and yesterday was an F-4. Today, thankfully, the cyclone of exhaustion subsided.
As a bona fide night-rider, mornings are the cheese to my dairy intolerance (thank goodness that’s only a metaphor).
On the first day of training I got up with minimal grumbling. The anticipation of meeting new people and the sizable amount of “firsts” is compelling enough to verticalize without pain.
On Day Two, I was still tired and not thrilled to be awake, but I knew that I could not be late or grumpy on the second day.
By Day Three, the newness wore off and I woke up in full grumble. I still wasn’t able to fall asleep before midnight. There’s just too much I want to do before sleep, before routine work, fake smiles. The fake smiles are like the IRS for the soul: they take something of your independence and happiness from you but they are necessary to make things function.
On Day Four (yesterday): I did not want to get out of bed, but we got 30 minutes extra (had to be in by 8:30am). Nonetheless, I felt annoyance creep up to my eyebrows about everything and everyone around me. Ahead of me loomed SEVEN consecutive 8am mornings, without reprieve (in fact the next morning, today, was earlier than usual at 7:30am), behind me were three nights of 7 hours of sleep (8 hours is great, 9 hours is fantastic) and no promise of a weekend. In fact, I still have no idea when my first day off is. Training ends next Sunday, after that I assume I’ll have some type of grip on my schedule but I’m still learning foreign forms, clipboards, radio calls and processes so I have no idea about something like a schedule.
Sleeping in is my favorite; naps are not optimal because that only increases the amount of times I have to wake up in a day, and going to bed early isn’t always within my control (that acrobatic mind).
To pile on to early mornings and the training schedule, the greatest incentive to work (compensation) is coming in like a weak signal. I have an hourly rate that is reasonable, not optimal, before taxes, rent is $750/month for a shoebox bedroom on a basic twin bed in an apartment with 3 others, AND the money I’m paying for airfare this summer is around $1600. Then there’s gear: we are required to buy at least 3 highlighter green uniform shirts, a company fleece, rain boots and waterproof pants.
In other words, I’m walking away with $5 from this gig.
I’ve spent over $1000 on peace corps medical clearance in the last 60 days. Harrumph, money!! Is Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill yet to dignify my expenses??
But before mourning becomes me, magic is in the molecules here. In the mundane moments, and they do exist (I’ll keep you posted on my search for the mundaneless planet), life is in every inch of this place. There is such energy in the tireless rain, the breathtaking sun that breaks into the swinging saloon doors of this rainforest like a worshipped celebrity, the mountains, waterfalls, occasional whale sightings and community of a small town.
There is work here and a whole hell of a lot of it during Summer. Tourists: young, old, wealthy, poor, Oprah’s friends even, flood off the boats like transfers funnel through the Atlanta airport. Unfortunately the tourists seldom realize they are entering the land of liquid sunshine and blame us for the weather. It’s as if we forced them to come here. But let me not linger there because I am sure there will be more to come.
Day 3, Friday May 29:
Success then Freedom beneath the glow of the sun:
On Morning Three (full grumble), the sun was shining and we were, as it happened, released from our duties by 15:00. At 12:50pm, I punched in and grabbed a ride with Naturalist Cynthia to Saxman to learn how to put out fires and set off flares. Seeing as I am a nervous nellie about being observed by people in circumstances I can’t control (nature + body + physical challenge), I wined so as to defray any criticism. But when I actually approached the fire, I came at it like Beyoncé and had to get pulled back by the fireman Steve. I’ve never used an extinguisher before, it was pretty cool. Then we had to light flares and that was terrifying because it was like a giant matchstick that felt like dynamite in your hand. From what I know of dynamite, you light it and run away, you don’t hold it for dear life. This is in the event that we have to abandon the boat and get on the life rafts. We use the flares and EPIRBs for rescue purposes. We learn how to extinguish fires because people still smoke in the bathroom after being told not too.
Before you know it, all 25 of us have extinguished fires (after yelling “FIRE FIRE CALL THE CAPTAIN!”) and being “backed up” (followed) by another person with an extinguisher in case our extinguisher dies. Once the fire is squelched, you should back away with your eyes on the dead fire. Fireman Steve gave us instructions to approach the and get as close as you can so as not to use too many dry chemicals in the extinguisher. When the time came, I got up on that fire like a marshmallow ready for a graham cracker and extinguished the heck out of it. I’m kind of glad I got too close, I ain’t scared of no fire! But yes, my knees felt the heat. Why not? #yolo
The sun was beamed down like a proud parent and Colleen saw her first whale of the season. Blast, I missed it. After we left the fireman, we drove back to the office to punch out. My first time driving the bus “Bertha” with a group of passengers. I tried to take the road dips with care.. At the glom around the punch-out clock, I mentioned to future roomies Claire and Jazmin that this would be a good night to go to Mountain Point. They said “yeah just let us know!” I said I was gonna shower, collect some things at home and maybe we could meet for a beer at The Arctic before we caught the sunset at the beach. I didn’t want to miss any sunshine, so we met a group of other crew at the bar overlooking the water around 4pm. Six of us sat and overlooked the refulgent sunshine engaging the water.
I could resist reaching my arms like a toddler, gimme gimme style, to exclaim how glorious it was. As I sat with my new friends, kind but still semi-strangers to me, it felt like the commencement of a great Summer travel season. Sunshine has a way of diminishing uncertainty, it invites you into the moment, especially if it is a delicacy.
Claire, Jazmin and I laughed, seal-watched and absorbed the beauty of Mountain Point Boat Launch.
Claire’s friend joined us and we chatted. Claire is very cool- an extrovert who just doesn’t realize how extroverted she is. After beer, we ate burgers at Burger Queen (which were delicious). The service was oh-so-slow but I’m finding it common practice here. At home it wouldn’t have gone so well. There wasn’t even an apology for the wait when they were deposited before us. Jazmin and I want to try the halibut burger next time.
Claire said “They call this the blue hour because all the mountains turn blue when the sun is behind them.” It’s true, the coral glow of the sun somehow transforms green mountains into gray and blue. It’s beauty is iconic.