12/24/2005 12:28:00 p.m.|W|P|Susan|W|P|I have discovered one way in which working in a coffee house is like being an athlete.
In both cases there are certain injuries that one is prone to, and there is rarely time for things to heal completely. Every morning and evening I check my hands - to see if I have cut myself that day, to see how the cuts and scrapes and cracks are healing, and to judge how many, if any, bandaids I will be needing.
Today there will be one - on my left thumb. The crack is sore, although has never bled. It will only have the chance to heal once I am finished this job. (Which will be 11 shifts from now, on Friday, January 6th.)
When I was visiting a friend in Burkina Faso more than ten years ago, one of her neighbours came to meet me. We shook hands, and she turned my hands over and felt them. "Her hands are completely soft and smooth! She has never done a day's work in her life!" she announced to my friend.
By her standards, of course, she was correct.
But now, for the first time in my life, I have hard-working hands: a couple of calluses, some rough patches of skin, small cuts, and scraped knuckles. For the first time in my life I am keeping the kind of hours that farmers keep (although it must be said that their days are longer than mine).
I am struggling with the physical demands of the job. I have been unwell for about a week now, but it was only on Tuesday that my cold became really bad. I had to miss a shift on Thursday in order to have a hope of getting through this weekend.
I won't be working tomorrow, Christmas Day, but I am working today and on Boxing Day - my first ever working Christmas. It is up to me to find ways to celebrate in the midst of the shopping mayhem and the sniffles and the fatigue. I need to be held by hands strong and tender, protected and helped. They are hard-working hands; on earth they had the calluses and injuries characteristic of a carpenter. Now they bear the marks of nails.|W|P|113542441609940132|W|P|Hard-working hands|W|P|susan@carlens.se12/10/2005 04:25:00 p.m.|W|P|Susan|W|P|Best moment at work yesterday: singing carols. You better believe I went for it with full voice when we sang 'Joy to the world'. There is so much truth packed into two verses. I also learned a gospel carol, 'Go where I send you', that is perhaps not really a Christmas carol, but the refrain is all about the baby 'who is born, who is born, who is born in Bethlehem'.
Best name of a dish on menu: a vegetarian dish at the Salad King Thai restaurant is called 'Evil Jungle Prince'.
Excellent.|W|P|113422855676140460|W|P|Joy and a jungle prince|W|P|susan@carlens.se12/21/2005 04:49:00 p.m.|W|P| |W|P|Hej Susan!
Vilken intressant mötesplats, Internet av alla ställen. Det var så kul att se lite bilder och få veta att ni har det bra.
Önskar en riktigt fridfull jul.
Kusin Hanna12/30/2005 09:03:00 p.m.|W|P| |W|P|'Joy to the world' - kunde man få texten... Det hade varit så spännande att se innehållet efter dessa dina rader här ovan. Jag blir så nyfiken på att få lära mig av texten. Och, Susan, btw friends, vilken snygg weblog! Ses!
/Dag12/10/2005 04:19:00 p.m.|W|P|Susan|W|P|Thanksgiving was, of course, back in October. We went to New Brunswick and celebrated with the extended family.
My husband, sister and I flew LATE the Friday night - we arrived at 1:00 am local time. When we got off the plane in Fredericton we smelled earth and trees - not what we had experienced at the Toronto Airport.
On the Sunday I had the chance to speak in two church services, to say thank you to the people in Waterborough and Cambridge Narrows for supporting me/us and praying for us through the last few years.
This past Sunday I read the Bible passages in the service in my home church, and also had the chance to say thank you to the congregation as a whole. It was about thanksgiving, giving thanks to them and to the Author and Sustainer of us all. I was so glad to have the chance, but it was very bittersweet. More tears.
Advent Sundays seem to be about tears and hope and peace this year.|W|P|113422827663678243|W|P|Thanksgiving, again|W|P|susan@carlens.se12/02/2005 05:57:00 p.m.|W|P|Susan|W|P|Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent. It was also the first time that I have sat and cried through almost all of the service.
I love Advent. I love taking the time to deliberately, expectantly wait.
It feels wrong that we don't have an Advent candle wreath in our home. We need to make that happen.
HOPE is the first candle to be lit.|W|P|113354286659492500|W|P|A first for the first|W|P|susan@carlens.se12/02/2005 04:59:00 p.m.|W|P|Susan|W|P|Yesterday at work I made a unilateral decision - namely, that a stranger should buy another stranger a drink.
I thought that the two women had been chatting in line, and perhaps they had been. But after I charged Woman #1 for a bottle of water and a hot chocolate, Woman #2 expected to pay for the hot chocolate. Cue frantic printing of receipt and running after Woman #1 who was already on her way out the door, no doubt wondering why the bottle of water had cost so flipping much.
Yesterday I also managed to squirt some whipped cream down the inside of my apron, which, if you consider the physics involved, is quite the feat.
I had to make four cappuccinos in a row, which takes a long time. Tons of milk foam doesn't just happen in the blink of an eye.
A customer asked me out. I said no.
Five minutes after the manager said, "You should definitely be in charge of brewing coffee this afternoon because you have a great system going here" - we ran out of our house blend. (It was the one pot that I hadn't grabbed and lifted to see how much was left.) Outstanding.
I was dropping things all day - mostly spoons, and, thankfully, never hot liquids with the potential to scald myself or others. I was very very tired yesterday.|W|P|113354193064446202|W|P|Unilateral decision|W|P|susan@carlens.se
|W|P|Hej Susan!