This weekend I had the chance to catch up on rest and relaxation, but yesterday and today I helped out at HBR to give the dorm staff a bit of a break.
Yesterday (Monday) I ran over to the dorm and made French Toast for brunch. I used lots of butter to keep the toast from sticking to the giant grill (I made 12 at a time), and the boys loved it! The butter probably wasn’t the healthiest thing, but at least it tasted really good.
After breakfast, I played Speed Scrabble with a few people. It was a little slow-moving (especially since I started with a Q on the first game and didn’t get a U the whole time), but a good, fun, relaxing thing to do.
Then I sat and watched the first Indiana Jones movie. Since it was a day off, there was an Indiana Jones movie marathon going on – I only watched the first, and I don’t think any boys sat through all three.
I was supposed to be done around 2:00pm, but the boys were going to play soccer then, so I decided to join them. A few of us ran back to the dorm from the field in Tannenkirch, so I was extra sweaty by that point! Greg (dorm dad) had made smoothies while we were out, so we ate those when we got back.
The Dome Project: A few of the boys had been building “The Dome” in the forest, so I went and looked at that. The Dome is kind of like a fort, but cooler. They have constructed it from only wood and twine. It will be a few more weeks before it is done; right now they have the frame done and a few walls put up. I was planning on getting pictures of it today, but I didn’t get a chance to go out into the forest because I had to be back at school for a meeting at 3:00. It’s really impressive and large – I really hope I get a chance to take a picture of it soon!
After the Dome yesterday, I ate dinner and rode home with the other subs.
Today started off like a Saturday morning. We watched cartoons and ate pancakes, sausage, and fruit in the TV room. This meant that I hiked up and down 4 flights of stairs about 10 times carrying trays of food, dishes, vitamin tablets, batter, and a griddle.
Watching cartoons
Each morning, all the students are required to take their temperature and record it. If they have a fever, they go into isolation immediately.
Anna writes down the student's temperature. He's clear!
Not everyone was all clear, though. One student had a fever and a cough. Greg drove him in to the nurse at BFA, and judging by his symptoms, he has Swine Flu! Just when we thought HBR was getting healthy, the first case of Swine Flu appears in the dorm!
After breakfast (which lasted until about 11:30am), it was time for chores. They call them “Gratis,” which means free, because it’s work they do for free – they don’t get paid.
Look at those sparkling clean floors!
Danielle and I each checked half the boys’ gratis to make sure they were done. For the most part, the boys are good about doing their jobs, but I had to actually wake up one boy TWICE to get him to finish his gratis!
After that it was lunch time. Danielle and I made grilled cheese, and Anna made chicken soup.
It takes a lot of grilled cheese to feed a boys' dorm. This is only half of it, ready to be grilled!
It was just another day in the crazy life of a dorm!
