Ask not what Dufur can do for you, but what you can do for Dufur.

My sponsor, David Gross, has been here in Dufur for about 45 years - since his freshman year in college - and he says that saying's been around for a long time. I guess he's right, since it seems like everyone knows it. I've heard it about thirty times since arriving in the Columbia Gorge last Monday.

I get it, I'm here for service. :)

Anyway, all the interns left the MAC today for our individual terms of service. I met my sponsor for the first time today (everyone else met theirs last Friday). I'm relieved to find that he seems like a great man, with lots of knowledge and experience and a steady personality to boot. He even offered to teach me to drive a stick!

Now I'm taking a break from moving into my bunkhouse. This is NOT what I was expecting. Forest Service bunkhouses, to me, are small, linoleum-floored buildings with the living room and kitchen in the same room, a bathroom with four sinks, two toilets and two nasty showers, and a sleeping area attached to the living/kitchen area with no doors and only portable cubicle walls. In my bunkhouse, I have a master suite, with my own bathroom and a closet the size of my first apartment's bedroom. I have not one, but two dining room tables, a fully equipped kitchen (blender! coffee maker! sharp knives! a pot and pan set! two refrigerators!), three couches and a television. I have an exercise machine. I have an ancient pair of snowshoes. oh, yeah... I have two other bedrooms and another bathroom. What the hell am I supposed to do with all this space?

Not to mention the fact that I have never lived alone in my entire life. I have this huge house all to myself when I'm used to sharing a room with two other girls. Seriously, what do people do when they live alone? I feel like my voice will turn all croaky from lack of use.

Okay that's not true. I work with about ten other people in a building about thirty feet away from where I am now. I'll be working with volunteers. So all day, I'll be talkingtalkingtalking.

But when I come home, then what? There were 588 people living in Dufur in the 2000 census, and the median age is 60. Are there people in this town that I can even invite over, or who will invite me over? Will I have friends whose permanent address is in Dufur, OR? Or will I have to go to The Dalles? Will this just be an exercise in independence? Or loneliness?

So many things I've never had to do before or haven't done in a long time... Figure out what to do for recycling. Remember to leave the taps on when it might freeze. Play my music loud and not worry about it annoying my roommates. Shop and cook for one. Leave my house when I want to see another person.

Alright, now I'm just putting off unpacking.