Village Life

I had every intention of writing yesterday, but it just DID NOT happen. I figure it's more special for you if you don't get a new post every day. You'd tire of reading me!
The evening before last, there was an open mic night and I learned the hidden (or not so hidden) talents of a few of my village comrades. Leah did some marvelous singing and Lauren (YES, there are TWO other Laurens here!) crafted a wonderful story.
Yesterday, I worked in the bookshop and ended up staying half an hour late just to help customers because we were so busy! The volunteer work week (one of the main reasons Holden is so densely populated right now) has come to a close and many of the people who have come up for that wanted to grab their last-minute reminders of the week before riding the rickety old bus down the steep mountainside toward home. Yesterday I also said goodbye to my first new friends to leave the village before me. I think I can start to see where it becomes emotionally taxing for long-term staff here to be in a constant state of good-bye and hello. You can make such strong connections so quickly and before you know it, they're disappearing. Hmm... something for me to reflect on...
Yesterday was also the premier/last performance of our interpretive theatre/dance response to the Babylonian and Genesis II creation stories for Richard Swanson's discussion class. It was a wonderful piece to create. We had a steady cast of seven, but the entire thing was created in three half-hour spans of time with the class after discussing various sections and topics. I was amazed at how many people were willing to give input about how things were working or not working even if they had not chosen to join by being on stage. The piece that we found ourselves with by the time of performance was a collaboration of at least thirty people's thoughts and suggestions and it was very powerful. I still haven't found where you can look it up, but I know that I will have a video copy that you can ask to see when I get home!
Last night, there was another short hike to (insert the name I can't remember here). It was the old village with about 100 homes a little way up the mountain from Holden where all the mining families lived while the mine was in operation. I learned that there was a woman who came during the last year who had been a little girl in that community many years ago. She had brought pictures with her and the community here got to see a bit of what the place used to look like. It is a haunting area, but also a very beautiful one. Because of vandalism that had been occurring in the 60's, the forest service burned down the village (an attempt to prevent a forest fire by careless visitors to the old wooden homes). What is left? There are foundations where one can see the size and shape of the homes. There are also steps that cut into the earth at various places that had linked levels of the town together and that had led into the buildings. It's amazing to see how the forest has started to take the land back. I think I will go up there again and take a few pictures. The trees have grown up through the foundations, smaller plants and bushes are creeping in from the sides, and deer roam freely within feet of you nibbling the best buds. We hiked down to the river and sat until dark when we heard noises that sounded suspiciously predatory. We didn't encounter anything scary (except a deer that startled us) but it seemed better to go back to the village and be safe since we know there are wild cats in the area and a family of bears were playing in the trees right on the edge of the village the day before I arrived. Best to respect nature and go to bed!
Hopefully that information will tide you over for a few days!
Lauren
PS: in other news, because of the 3 Lauren situation, there has been a localized attempt to find a good nickname for the newcomer (me). If you have any suggestions, feel free to write in! :)