Ups and Downs

After a long day at work, I decided I'd update my blog. I realized that in my last post, I don't think I mentioned too much of what I've been doing for fun out here. I do work more than anything else, but I have time for fun. I don't do much after work on the weekdays because (as of right now) I'm drained by the time work ends. On the weekends, our house tries to find fun things to do. The first weekend we were here, we went to Second Saturdays which is an art thing, and then to Hamburger Patties (a bar that does karaoke on Saturdays).

The second weekend we were here, we went to Old Sacramento. We walked around a little bit, then headed to the Eagle Theatre to go watch some silent movies. They were the first silent movies I ever remember watching. The first one was The Playhouse which stars Buster Keaton (for all of you that don't know, Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, KS). I was extremely excited to finally see my first Buster Keaton film, and I loved it! There were a few films afterwards... None of them were as good to me because they didn't have Buster in them. After the movies, we walked along the American River for a bit, then headed back home.

Old Sacramento

Every Saturday morning, I've played ultimate frisbee with the Newman Center at Sacramento State. So this past weekend, I played frisbee with them that morning. Saturday afternoon, I went thrift store shopping with my fellow JV, Nicole, and the two Mercy Volunteers in Sacramento. I bought some nice baggy clothes for work, some of the most comfortable clothes I've ever worn... Then Sunday, the Newman Center had a welcoming BBQ and mass for the volunteers in Sacramento and the new students at Sac State. I really enjoyed the BBQ and mass at the Newman Center. It was nice seeing all of my frisbee friends in a new setting. This past weekend may have been the most relaxing. My room is almost presentable now. So I should have pictures of it in my next blog post.

Sadly, every weekend has to come to an end. Work on Monday wasn't bad, it was just CRAZY busy. We served over 900 lunches (only the 2nd time in at least 7 years that that's happened). The park was crowded, but we survived. I assumed today would be about the same, but we actually only served around 830 lunches. The difference (and what made today much worse than yesterday) is that moods around the park weren't as high spirited today. Within the first hour, there were 2 physical fights and 1 verbal fight that had to be broken up and the guests were kicked out for certain periods of time. Don't worry, no employees got hurt (and no guests got extremely hurt), but I was still shaken. It was the first time I'd seen a fight at the park, and one of them was right in front of me in the lunch ticket line. The first time that a break was offered to me, I jumped on it and went into the office. I sat in the office for around 30 minutes talking to different staff members. One staff member offered to take me home, but I knew if I didn't stick it out, I wouldn't want to return to work. I toughed it out, and the day became much more cheerful. It was still an exhausting day, and I'd say I'm still a bit shaken and will be on edge for a couple days (especially tomorrow since people won't get paid til the 1st).

Today was the first day that I didn't feel 100% safe at the park. It was the first day that I realized that just because there's a "No Violence" rule and no one had broken it around me in 2 weeks, doesn't mean people don't break the rule. Today was the first day that I realized just how difficult the job really is, especially when some of the key workers are on vacation. It's a hard, yet rewarding job, and I think it'll make for the most interesting and rewarding year of my life.

Until next time,

Krystal