Just Mention Blackpool Rock… My Time at the British Pantry

Last Friday was the last day of work at my job and “second home” for the last four months. If you haven’t heard the story of how I got that job…

The day after New Year’s Eve I finally got serious about job hunting and moved to the physical walk-in, hand-out-resume. My Army Strong brother Caleb came along for the ride, but stayed in the car as I walked into restaurants, stores, etc, shook hands, handed out my resumes, and felt my spirits and sense of self-worth instantly plummet to my feet.

Mom had insisted that I stop by this place that was the only store to sell the one kind of tea that she would drink. It was called the British Pantry. This time Caleb came in with me. The store was quaint and small so I found the tea quickly. As the cashier (a petite lady with a British accent) rang me up, I ask her if they would be hiring anytime soon.

“Just a moment, love,” she replied, and disappeared into the back. A moment later the manager emerged, a moment later I was discussing my availability with said manager, and several minutes after I was leaving the British Pantry with tea in one hand and my brother by my side, set to start training 10 am the next morning! Quite a short yet successful job search, I must say.

Four months later, I hugged every server, cook, and cashier that I had worked with and clocked out for the last time. They all treated me so kindly, I am sorry to go.  But Wyoming awaits!  

 

I thought I would introduce you to my workplace of 4 months. It was a rather unique store – opened almost 35 years ago by a couple from England. Now their children and grandchildren run the place, and they have expanded into a restaurant (that makes GREAT fish & chips!), a slightly larger store, and a pub. All right next to each other along the street.

I worked in the middle section – in the store, where we sold china, sweet and savory pastries, imported British foods, and other odds and ends. I don’t claim to be an expert now, but because I had been so ignorant on all things British, I learned a lot about those people that live ‘cross the pond! Like what black pudding is (NOT pudding!), that mushy peas is somehow considered breakfast food, that if you ever want to remind a British of their childhood, show them a Blackpool Rock.

(Story: An English guy from eastern Washington came into our store for the first time and was exclaiming at everything in delight. As he was browsing in the back of the store, I mentioned to my friend and co-worker Laura that whenever any native Englander noticed the Blackpool Rock sitting behind the register, they always exclaimed about it and reminisced how much it reminds them of their childhood. When the man came to register and I was ringing him up, he noticed the Blackpool Rock. His whole face lit up as he loudly exclaimed, “Blackpool Rock!” I started laughing and turned to Laura, saying “Told ya so!” End of story. )

 

 

These are pickles. Yet one of the many things I never got around to trying… for perhaps obvious reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s right, ladies and gents – Canned. Vegetarian. Haggis. At $7 a can no less.

 

 

We sold many a banger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crisps! I only tried a bite of the Wuster Sauce. ‘Twasn’t bad.

 

 

 

 

 

My co-worker Rebecca wanted you to note the cute dragon on this box of porridge. It is pretty cute.

 

 

 

 

 

The British dearly love their beans!

 

 

 

 

      Peas!

 

 

 

 

Now I don’t want you to think that I did not try anything in the shop, and thought that everything was nasty, because this would not be true. I found many food items I enjoyed – just many of them were candy bars!

 

     <—Delicious

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delicious —>

 

 

 

 

 

  <— Definitely delicious. Just very crumbly – do not eat on your bed. Speaking from experience, he he.

 

 

And then, of course, there are the baked goods. Made fresh, everyday, on location. Every bit delicious. Just not food you want to eat that often!

If that doesn’t make your mouth water, I don’t know what will.

We still have memorabilia from the wedding. Cute, no?

Some of my co-workers

A photo they took of me hard at work.

 

The job was not perfect, of course, but I choose to remember the great times, the kind co-workers, the wonderful and unique customers that made up a one-of-a-kind experience I can tell others about for years to come. Like Mount Rainier, The British Pantry now holds a place of fondness in my heart.

Next to come: Signal Mountain! Hmmmm maybe I should start packing…

Cheers!

First day on the job

This morning I woke up to grey skies and snow – you couldn’t see the mountains at all. But later on – wow, there they were!

I think to know a place – it’s like knowing a person – you have to see it in all of its moods. In the early morning light, in the hot noon sun, in the cool, summer afternoon, in the shadows of twilight, in the pitch black of night, and in the moving, streaming light during a rainstorm. Then you know it. Then you can call it home.

So today I woke up to see the room’s morning mood. I conquered more unknowns – the showers and the Employee Dining Room (as I ate dinner with my family last night). Their breakfast was… not amazing. The eggs did not taste like eggs. And they had no orange juice. But that evening the dinner was delicious, so that’s all right.

I worked 11:30-6:30 today, in the café, and discovered that employees (those that work in the café and visitor center) can eat anything from the café. Pizza, soup, daily hot foods, drinks, desserts, etc. in coolers. Yep, yummy! Except strangely the veggie platters are off limits – the only thing off limits. I guess they’re expensive…? I found I wasn’t that hungry though – probably going to be similar to when I started working at Subway. I had no appetite whatsoever for about 2 weeks. Probably just smelling and handling the food all the time.

My fellow employees were wonderfully helpful and kind. I have so many names in my head now, it’s a good thing everyone has name tags. Jennifer, Matt, Brian, Noel, Hannah, Nathan… I’m trying to remember it all.

Here’s my uniform. I’m not wearing the hat because… the hat’s terrible . Unfortunately it’s required.

Annnd my name tag. Spiffy, eh?

And I got back from dinner to find my roommate has arrived! Her name’s Katie and she’s really nice – worked for about 4 years at other parks, so she’s got experience.

Sadly the wi-fi is still not up, so I’m still talking to empty air. I heard it’s connected to a problem with the phone company… which I hope will be fixed… so I can work on my online class and send you guys these masterpiece blog posts.

That’s all folks!

Sarah

It’s Official!! (no, I’m not engaged!)

I’ve been waiting to hear back from the authorities that be, and finally know for sure – I’m going to work at Mount Rainier during the summer!!

I applied to several parks on a whim, more than a month ago… not really expecting to hear back from any of them. But lo and behold, I was contacted first by Glacier National Park, in Montana, then Mount Rainier, right here in my home state. I decided to take the Mount Rainier job as it’ll be less driving – I have to drive home for a while in August for a friend’s wedding. I’ll be working in a cafe up there for about 40 hours a week.

I still have an online class until mid-June, so I’ll have to juggle that, but overall I’m soooo excited!!! I’m going to buy a camera and hopefully (depending on the wi-fi there) keep you all updated on this blog, with pictures and tales of my adventures. I’ll get a few days off each week, which I plan to fill with hiking and overall enjoying God’s beautiful creation.

Isn't this mountain just beautiful??!

I might discover I don’t like hiking that much, ha ha, I’ve never hiked that much before. Almost all of the other employees will be there to enjoy the outdoors, too, so I’m praying God will give me some great hiking buddies and some good friends to hang out with.

I can’t tell you how excited I am! It’s a big step and there’s a lot of unknowns… and I won’t see my friends for about 4 months… but I’m pumped. It’s going to be great.

Keep you updated!

Sarah

Rediscover: Day 30 – My Books

A summary of the past few days for me:

• They have been amazingly excellent
• Saturday I worked a bit, then met my mom and brother for lunch and got to pick out some new glasses. They’ll be ready in about a week – I’m excited as it’s been a long while since I’ve had new glasses.
• I spent time with God Saturday night, and enjoyed going to college group Sunday afternoon – eating lunch, fellowshipping, and sharing candidly with one another about what’s going on in our lives – can’t beat that!
• And today some friends spontaneously rode their bikes by to say hello – I love surprises like that!

I’ve been helping out at my dad’s math tutoring center. I mainly work with the younger kids – about 2nd-8th grade. I love getting to know the kids and fellow instructors – however I’m rusty in math and usually get stumped (or epically FAIL) at least once a day. Today a student asked for a protractor and I got her a compass. I think part of it is, since I was homeschooled throughout high school, I don’t know the “lingo”. I didn’t pay attention to what was the quotient and what was the median, if I could divide and do algebra and solve the problems, what use was the vocabulary going to do me?

However public schools are rather big on the inconsequential lingo, so I’m going to have to make sure to learn it… Fortunately the kids are forgiving and we can just laugh off my mistakes.

But enough about math. (I’ve grown rather tired of looking at numbers all day ) Let me share what’s been going on in my life spiritually.

First off, you should know the three books I’ve been reading. These are the “exceptions” to my fast and have been since the beginning.

First off I’ve been reading Fasting, by Scot McKnight. I got this book from BookSneeze and since I’m obligated to them to finish this book and review it, I’ve continued reading it through the fast – although not as much recently… Once I’ve finished it I’ll be posting my complete review on this blog.

Mostly, though, I have to say  I don’t get that much out of it… the other two books I’ve been reading, though, have spoken to me a lot.

 

This one, as you can tell, is out of the ordinary. Whereas the above book, “Fasting”, was written by a theologian, Professor in Religious Studies, and specialist in Jesus studies and the New Testament, this book was written by a guy that used to be in the band Korn, which is NOT a kid-friendly band. The story of Brian “Head” is amazing – I posted the video of his testimony earlier on my blog. Reading his book, I can see how strong his faith has become, and what a relationship God has built with this man, who was previously “on top of the world”, but so broken within. Actually, here’s what I just read a few days ago, that he wrote:

When I was rich and famous, everything was great on the outside, but my inner life was often a torturous dungeon. Nowadays my inner life is great, but sometimes my outside life has been very shaky, to say the very least.

He talks about many trials he’s gone through since being saved – it’s pretty amazing to hear what’s go on/is going on in his life, and his response to different things… and you can definitely see that through it all, God is now his anchor through storms.

The final book is “Searching for God Knows What” by Donald Miller. This is the third book I’ve read by Miller, and he is quickly becoming, hands down, my favorite Christian (non-fiction) writer. Or if we’re considering all genres, one of my favorite writers. Of all time. Ever.

I recently had a friend stay over for about 10 days, and we began a routine of reading part of this book at nighttime, sitting on the lower part of my bunkbed, with only the bedside lamp turned on. You know, that part of the evening when the house is quiet and still. We started at the beginning of the book and took turns reading. At some parts we laughed until we cried, and at other parts, the one not taking their turn reading would simply listen quietly, absorbing in the words and their meaning.

Did I mention I like this author? Just  a tiny bit.

 

Well, in order not to make this blog post too long and full of TOO many menial details, I’m going to wait to talk about what God’s been teaching me/things that have stood out to me until next time…

Thanks for checking this post out.

God bless.

Rediscover: Day 20ish – JOY! :)

WARNING: This post may ramble and not make sense. Continue reading at your own peril.

As you can tell from the title I’m in a very JOYish mood! Well really I’m a generally joyous person. I like to describe myself as a balloon (filled with helium, thank you), I might get pulled down but I always bob back up. (I just randomly thought of Winnie the Pooh. I love Pooh. Okay Sarah, focus…)

And no I’m not ADD/ADHD or any of those letters, or on a sugar high, I’m just acting like it right now.

Nothing super spectacular happened today – I worked at my dad’s place, tutoring math to little kids. The tutors there love teasing me and talking to me. I enjoy being in the middle there – too old to be a pupil, really too young to be a tutor, yet there I am. I drove to work without shoes today, which was a very new experience that I found to be exciting and enjoyable once I got used to it. It also made me feel wonderfully Duvall-ish, even though I wasn’t driving a lifted truck splattered with mud.

I didn’t decide to go shoeless on a whimsy, though, I did it for TOMS Shoes,
an organization that sells shoes – and for every pair you buy they give  a

pair to kids that really need them. I’ve wanted to buy a pair of their shoes but just can’t justify the price… but today was TOMs annual “One Day Without Shoes”, and since I’ll seize any excuse to go barefoot (plus it’s for a good cause!!), I gladly participated.
<– There’s what their organization does. Because you were interested.

Then on the drive home, once I hit the gravel road where no one drives, I stopped and looked at the clouds. They were moving so fast from the wind it was like watching a time lapse movie… in real time. There’s something very awesome about watching clouds shift and move smoothly across the sky, almost like white, celestial tongues of fire. Forming, dissipating… very neat to watch.

So… why I am all JOYish? Well you see it’s because there’s Jesus, then Others, and then there’s You do do dooo… I apologize to you readers. I will be much more solemn in the next post. Actually probably not, but compared to this post, yes.

Really why wouldn’t I be joyish? (By the way that’s not a word. So don’t use it where anyone would read it and laugh at you, e.g. a book, a school paper, a blog…) No matter what happens, life is in God’s hands. And He’s good. He’s not a tame lion, but He is good.

Thanks for putting up with me. I applaud you – you have earned a Dove chocolate.

Two More Days…

Wow, I can scarcely believe it’s almost November. The sixth week of classes ended today, leaving only five more in the quarter. This whole year has flown by so fast… But I’ll leave musings along that line for December.

My Nano novel outline is progressing only a tad bit faster than a snail. Fortunately minus the slimy trail. I’m bent on making this novel a bit more complicated so I won’t run out of steam at 30K like last time. I’m pretty sure that won’t happen, though, but whether or not your story will keep going is something you don’t know until you’re at least 2 weeks in…

On a side note (have you noticed my posts are getting more and more devoid of spiritual revelations and mainly just concern daily life now? This must be the pit daily bloggers fall into. They start out with something brilliant to say and continue along that line for about a year, than gradually decline into uninteresting things to share about their everyday lives that they somehow feel they have to share with the world). Again, on a side note I’m working at Subway this weekend. I was rather bummed because there goes another weekend, flying out the window like your pet canary, but on the upside it’s Halloween and I get to give candy to the little kids and dress up. =D Plus a chance to see one of my writer friends who is also doing Nanowrimo!!!

I thank God so much for the summer I had. I didn’t do a lot of exciting things, but I got to spend a lot of time with my friends. Namely the friends I don’t get to see now that college and work has taken over my life. Looking back I treasure those moments we spend together so much! I thank God SOOOO much for the friends He’s given me, I truly have been blessed til my cup has run over!

Are you doing Nanowrimo? Have you been blessed? Please share. =)