2009-05-10 - 9:30 a.m.
On the advice of Carol the helpful General Store lady I went to a seminar about bears the other night. Apparently this is required for most people working in Barkerville- I had not heard this, but then the church is run a bit differently than the rest of the park. Anyway, it’s not like I had anything else to do, so I went along. It turned out to be really interesting. It was run by a conservation officer whose day job is investigating bear encounters. I didn’t know that this could be a full time job, but apparently it is. He talked a lot about the differences between black and grizzly bears, and a lot about what to do if you encounter a bear, and what to do if a bear attacks, and how to tell if it is a defensive attack or a predatory attack (his hint: if the bear starts eating you, it’s no longer defensive). It was three hours, but lots of pictures and movies and stories about bears.
Then yesterday was the orientation day at the park! Turned out to be pretty low key- not everyone was there (most of the actors were, but not the people who run the stores, or security, maintenance, or operations) and we basically introduced ourselves. I managed to find a couple people that I needed to talk to, namely the schedule lady, so I could figure out when I would have my services (9:30, 11:30, 4:30 and an extra one at 7:00 pm on Sundays). I also found the maintenance lady, who came over to the church with me, and we figured a couple things out, like where the brooms were kept. There is a sign on the vestry door saying the door is broken, but she assured me that that sign had always been there, and didn’t mean anything.
This meant that I got explore my vestry, which is as full of books and wardrobes and nooks and crannies as you would expect. There are some vestments there, but none of the ones that I would need will fit me, except the surplice, so it’s a good thing I brought everything I will need. I also looked through the desk, and found some information about the church which will no doubt come in handy.
That evening I met my neighbour, Jimmy. Jimmy is a Chinese guy from Toronto, who is working in Chinatown this summer. He’s pretty nice, although he was horrified at the smell of my apartment. I should pause here, and mention that the smell, which is vaguely remincent of six cats in an enclosed space for three weeks, with a two hour airing out period at the end, was here when I moved in. I thought it was just part of the apartments, which look like they should smell like mine does. However, Jimmy got a scent-free place. His couch was covered in cat hair though, and mine wasn’t, so I guess it’s more or less fair. Anyway, Jimmy assured me that by the end of the summer the apartment would smell normal, as I would no doubt absorb all the smell, and spend the rest of my life with eau-du-chat hanging about me. In an effort to combat this permanent reminder of Wells, I bought one of those plug in Febreeze things; now my place smells more like “winter wonderland” than cat. I’m not excieted about this new smell but 1) it was on sale, and 2) it’s not cat.
Jimmy and his Chinatown co-worker Naan (I have no idea how he spells his name, but that’s how you pronounce it) were going to a birthday party for someone they didn’t know, so they invited me along. We turned up embarrassingly early, but other than it was cool. There is still tons of snow here, and the house that the party was at is in the shadow of a hill, so there is even more. They had dug out a firepit in the backyard – in six feet of snow! Pretty unreal for May. I met a few more of the Barkerville people. They mostly seem normal, although the ones who have been here for longer are odder. I don’t know if that because they stayed, or why they stayed. Nice odd, mind you, very nice, and friendly.
I spent the afternoon today out at the church. Yesterday they were installing a new stove, so I couldn’t do much cleaning or anything. So today I swept out the nave, and polished the candlesticks and flower vases. Yes, I’m not just the incumbent here, I’m the Altar Guild as well. I’m going to back tomorrow and do more sweeping and dusting and cleaning. The park opens on Monday!
