Orientation: DONE!

And we're home again!

No matter where I may roam and no matter what our adventures may be, there is nothing like coming home. Even if the cat has left several little deposits of 'barf' for me and the house is cold and there is all this unpacking to do.... even still, it's just good to be HOME.

It was another long day, but at least I slept better last night so that when the alarm went off at 5 it didn't make me cringe. Actually I woke up about 5 minutes BEFORE the alarm went off and laid there appreciatively until I needed to disarm it. As the day before I needed to be at Orientation by 7 and as the day before my sweet chauffeur drove me. (He was feeling better this morning, thank you Jesus for healing touches!!)

I was struggling to keep my eyes focused by lunch break and again, there was no coffee to be found. Someone mentioned a cafeteria that had vending machines so I set off in search of this oasis. Alas, the vending machine that dispensed coffee was out of order! And I was feeling too chilly to choose a coke. I decided to walk the perimeter of the inside of the processing plant.

the large photo shows a man riding one of those tricycles with a large basket on it. I want one of those!

I don't know how to convey how large this place is but it took me 20 minutes to walk the perimeter of JUST ONE ROOM. We are talking HUGE!

As I finished my round I spied another 'break room' and dashed in to see if this one had a coffee vendor. It did and the selections looked fantastic! I gently fed it my crinkled dollar and pushed the selection for French Vanilla Latte. I heard the gurgle and then watched in heartbreaking dismay as the hot golden liquid was dispensed...... right down the drain!! Yes, the COFFEE was working but there were NO CUPS!!! Can you believe it?? I nearly wept.

But not to be undone by this misfortune I trudged back upstairs to the conference room where our orientation was being held. I could do this. I sent an S.O.S. text to Bruce who was going to be checking out of the motel soon and had plans to hole up at the nearby Starbucks until it was time to pick me up. I wanted him to be sure and bring me a coffee! About an hour later I received a reply from him that he had been at Starbucks, until it lost Power and everyone was asked to leave. So now he was sitting in the car in the parking lot outside the Postal Processing and Distribution Center. What could I do but laugh at this news?

You know, it really is a choice we can make about how we handle frustrations or challenges. As I sat with my table group this afternoon we were given several different scenarios to discuss and problem solve.One of those scenarios had to do with waiting in a long line at the post office. Another was about mail being delivered to the wrong address. We were to look at this from both a customers point of view and a postal employees point of view.  I was amazed with the sense of entitlement that many of my classmates had. There was a real sense of anger and hostility from several of them over having to wait in line for more than 5 minutes for service. There was even more anger conveyed over being a resident who didn't get her mail on time. I listened for a long time before I spoke up and said (in response to the wait time) "I think a lot of life is about waiting." One of the women at my table gave me the stink-eye over my comment but another woman sort of nodded in a contemplative way as if to say "you are right, and maybe we shouldn't get so uptight about it." I thought but did not say, in response to the lost mail complaint, that we could all learn a lesson in offering grace to ourselves and to others. After all, we are humans and humans make mistakes. I intend to do my best to not make mistakes in my new job but I know how easy it will be to transpose some numbers in an address and put a letter in the wrong box. I won't be doing it on purpose and I hope if someones mail is delayed a day because of that mistake, they will offer me a little extra grace.

I hope I will do the same for those who might step on my toes from time to time...

I am grateful to be done with orientation and looking forward to actually starting training and work at my little post office next week.

And grateful for my sweet hubby who took me to a different Starbucks after he picked me and bought me a yummy Cinnamon Dolce to celebrate my completion. And again, I am grateful to be.... HOME.

A Cup of Joy

all the way to Seattle....

Despite the burly rainstorm we drove through to get here, and despite both of  us lacking a good nights sleep, I woke up this morning feeling comforted with the very real presence of the Holy Spirit and I knew I was going to get through the day just fine.

bright eyed and bushy tail at 6am

Despite the walls being thin  and thinking our neighbors were really elephants-- or perhaps were playing a rousing game of lawn bowling, and despite thinking that a fierce windstorm was raging outside, only to discover how really close to the freeway this motel is located as being the source of the sound of wind, life can't be too bad when you drink your morning joe in a cup like this.

seriously, why don't I have a mug with this label on it??

Orientation was pretty much both what I expected and what I never imagined.

I expected to feel a little overwhelmed by outside stimulation (people, noises, new surroundings) but I never imagined they'd want to take my picture first thing upon entering the building. Oh yah, I can't wait to see my new employee ID Badge after I have run across the parking lot in the driving rain and wind and am still drip-drying in the lobby of the office where I have reported!

I expected to have to fill out more paperwork and be shuffled to a room with all the other new hires but I never imaged we'd spend the first 35 minutes watching an old Abbott and Costello DVD while we waited for the rest of the class (stuck in traffic due to the high volume of wind and rains on the freeway) to arrive.
I'm not kidding. One of our trainers popped in the DVD, reminded us we were getting paid even as we waited and encouraged us to relax and enjoy the time! Too funny!!

I expected that orientation would be an employee handbook and lots of power points, much talk about conduct and legalities, attendance, safety and performance. I never imagined that my instructor would speak with such an accent that I would think he said he was hired to be a Christmas Casserole... something he repeated about a dozen times before I finally understood he was actually saying 'casual' not casserole.... casual is in temp. labor for the holiday mail, not something crunchy and fattening made with Campbells soup.... not that I really thought he was hired to BE a casserole for Christmas but after watching A&C for a half an hour, I really didn't know what to make of this!!

The postal distribution center is Ginormous. It's the largest one on the state. I only got to glimpse a small portion as we walked across it to the training room. there are conveyor belts and little trains hauling boxes and boxes of mail.... there are people riding those adult tricycles with big baskets on them with more mail. It is quite a sight to see and hopefully we will get to see more maybe tomorrow.

I met a woman in the class whose name I cannot pronounce nor can I spell but it is a very very long name and I am not sure of her nationality nor the language but I did learn her name means '70 times 7" any guesses where that name came from? I am quite fascinated with this and would like to have asked her more questions but I will have to figure out a way to do it without making her feel uncomfortable. Although I suspect she must get asked questions a lot about her name. It has about 28 letters in it and even though she said it 3 times i can't wrap my tongue around it.

Finally, after training Bruce and I stopped at a little corner store for coffee filters and my eyes fell on some books the proprieter had on his counter.... all of them had great titles and I recognized at least 3 books by Lee Stroble. (The Case for Christ among other book titles) He recommended I take a closer look at one book entitled "When A Nation Forgets God" by Erwin W. Lutzer. 7 lessons we must learn from Nazi Germany. I was interested and contemplated buying it but lacked the $8.99. I said I would have to come back. He put it in my hands and said "I trust you. Take it, read it, have your husband read it. You can bring me the money later"
So.... We have a new book to investigate. Anyone heard of this book?

I am pretty wiped out from my adventerous day, Bruce is wiped out from day 7 of this bad cold and he has crawled back into bed to sleep. I have a dinner date with our niece who is coming by after work to pick me up-- we'll see if hubby is up for it.
Quite a full day for a Monday.
Quite a full cup. Of Joy.