I moved out of the Brooklyn apartment a few weeks ago. I stayed sort of under the radar, I think J was the only person I saw while I was in town. It was weird to go back, after I had already said goodbye to everyone. And even weeks later it hasn’t really hit me that I don’t live there anymore. It doesn’t feel like the end of anything, which, maybe that’s a sign that it isn’t the end. We’ll have to see what the next year brings.
My room looks much smaller without furniture in it. It’s hard to look at it so empty and bare. I took a few photos, and then just left, without any fanfare. It felt just like deciding to leave to go run errands, not like I was abandoning my home. J came to the door to see me off. It’s hard leaving him and the people in that apartment, the community we had in the city. It was a really magical two years.
I’ve been feeling really mellow since I moved out. Not depressed, just chill and steady.
Out here, work continues. I haven’t been updating this much because there just hasn’t been much to say. We’re still cleaning things, we’re still fixing things. Progress is being made, but not in a sense that would mean anything to people who don’t live here. We cleaned 34 guest rooms last weekend! And all the staff housing spaces!
Groups of volunteers come out for the weekends; managing them is my job. They’re a really cool, special group of people who come out here for one weekend and clean and fix and build right along with us. Who knows why they choose to do this, but they’re amazing folks and we couldn’t open the hotel every year without them.
I’ve also been working on putting together my financial aid documentation for school next year. I have to finish that before I can start work on my visa. I’m learning new respect for my parents, who handled all this paperwork when I was in college. “Come sign this,” they’d say, and that was all I saw. Now I’m making my own way through the world of Stafford loans and entrance interviews, Master Promissory Notes and Estimated Family Contributions, where family this time means just me.
My parents also did the lion’s share of moving me out of my apartment. I packed everything up, but they came to help me load it into a trailer and they drove it home and unloaded everything. Home.
I don’t know what my address is anymore. All my applications had my Brooklyn address on them, but the financial aid papers have my parents’ home address, and the school has my work address to get in touch with me out here. So either I live in many places, or I’m homeless. My community here is unfazed. “You’re not homeless, you just live here now.”
This weekend I move into my summer bedroom. For the past two weeks I’ve been staying in a small room with a girl named Karina, with not nearly enough space for all our stuff. This weekend, though, we’ll move into the hotel. I’m in the same room I had last year, a light and sunny single. It has a south-facing window with a view of the lighthouse. I’m happy to be back. Not homeless after all.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Banquet
After my workout, I took my first island shower of the summer so I could be clean for our dinner party we had planned for tonight. Tonight is the last night of the last totally empty weekend of Open-Up. After this point there will be many volunteers every weekend. Volunteers are great, but we wanted to take the moment to celebrate having so few of us around.
We made plans to make the night special. Annie provided tablecloths and candlesticks, Maggie brought the music, I picked some fresh flowers. We all dressed up and Jason chauffeured us in the golf cart. The only thing we didn’t plan for was the food part of dinner.
Everyone pitched in to make food, guided by Johanna, our resident kitchen goddess. So we put together a full meal in our “nice” clothes. My nice clothes haven’t arrived yet, so I was wearing a hot pink strapless dress that I borrowed from Annie. Our menu for the night was gin and tonics, guacamole, champagne, tofu stir-fry, and homemade kimchi from Grace’s mom.
It was a quintessential Pelican event, the aesthetics planned meticulously but the event not thought through all the way, leaving out many important steps in the planning, and yet somehow everything turns out amazing anyway.
We made plans to make the night special. Annie provided tablecloths and candlesticks, Maggie brought the music, I picked some fresh flowers. We all dressed up and Jason chauffeured us in the golf cart. The only thing we didn’t plan for was the food part of dinner.
Everyone pitched in to make food, guided by Johanna, our resident kitchen goddess. So we put together a full meal in our “nice” clothes. My nice clothes haven’t arrived yet, so I was wearing a hot pink strapless dress that I borrowed from Annie. Our menu for the night was gin and tonics, guacamole, champagne, tofu stir-fry, and homemade kimchi from Grace’s mom.
It was a quintessential Pelican event, the aesthetics planned meticulously but the event not thought through all the way, leaving out many important steps in the planning, and yet somehow everything turns out amazing anyway.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Daffodils
Living here has always been a little like coming to another world, but that feeling goes extra for Open Up. Time seems to go fast and slow at once. The current population of the island is 20 people and 4 dogs. Those of us who aren’t senior staff mostly live in the two cottages that are equipped with heaters. The plumbing isn’t totally set yet, so we’re using bathrooms in only two buildings and we’re drinking out of big plastic containers.
The whole hotel needs to be set up! Offices were cleaned quickly and not too thoroughly, rooms are full of stacked furniture. My team’s projects have included flipping every mattress in every guest room on island, distributing heavy furniture into rooms, and inventorying the state of every bed, curtain, window shade, egress sign, and light bulb in every living space. Guys, I’m gonna be so strong by the end of Open-Up!
On top of all the furniture moving and going up and down about 40 flights of stairs every day, a group of us are doing something called the “Insanity Workout” every day after work. Today was day two for me and I’m in a lot of pain, but really good pain.
The weather has gotten progressively colder and wetter every day so far. Monday was lovely and sunny, today it rained just at the end of the workday. The island looks totally different at this time of year. There aren’t leaves on most of the trees and the undergrowth is minimal. It’s pretty brown except for the grass, which is happy from today’s rain. And on both sides of the path from the head of the pier to the front porch steps are tons and tons of daffodils! They won’t be around too long, and soon other flowers will be planted in those beds, but for now, they’re like a little gift to those of us who are out here early: bright cheerful flowers against the rainy grey skies.
The whole hotel needs to be set up! Offices were cleaned quickly and not too thoroughly, rooms are full of stacked furniture. My team’s projects have included flipping every mattress in every guest room on island, distributing heavy furniture into rooms, and inventorying the state of every bed, curtain, window shade, egress sign, and light bulb in every living space. Guys, I’m gonna be so strong by the end of Open-Up!
On top of all the furniture moving and going up and down about 40 flights of stairs every day, a group of us are doing something called the “Insanity Workout” every day after work. Today was day two for me and I’m in a lot of pain, but really good pain.
The weather has gotten progressively colder and wetter every day so far. Monday was lovely and sunny, today it rained just at the end of the workday. The island looks totally different at this time of year. There aren’t leaves on most of the trees and the undergrowth is minimal. It’s pretty brown except for the grass, which is happy from today’s rain. And on both sides of the path from the head of the pier to the front porch steps are tons and tons of daffodils! They won’t be around too long, and soon other flowers will be planted in those beds, but for now, they’re like a little gift to those of us who are out here early: bright cheerful flowers against the rainy grey skies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)