Jacob Lake - Day Two, Meet the Gang

With a few helps from Mike I could do most of the morning routine myself. I made sure to have that coffee brewing like Kelly had advised me to do. Coffee is the single most requested drink in the mornings. Everything else seemed to fly fairly well. I had to run to the kitchen every couple minutes with a new question. I was still working on my menu lingo – learning all the different abbreviations for each meal.

Each day we are allowed to order two meals from the menu for breakfast and lunch. Then for dinner one of us is assigned to cook dinner for everyone. Last night we got talking about camping foods, and how good Dutch Oven sounded. When they learned that I knew something about Dutch Oven cooking I was assigned dinner for the next day. I made Dutch Oven potatoes and Peach Cobbler. After finishing her second plate, Laura looked over and suggested that I be put on permanent dinner duty. Haha.

Jacob Lake hires students by season. For the last couple years they have followed the BYU-I track system for hiring purposes. Three tracks a year: Winter, Spring and Fall. Each semester they can hire off track students to run their lodge. Most of the employees on right now are carrying over from the Fall. Two or three of them are high school graduates saving up money for missions. The others are just buying time for the next great thing. But whatever the story or situation, we make up the Jacob Lake Winter 2010 crew.

Allow me to introduce you to them.

Kelly Langi – To start off with, he’s Polynesian. RN and Patient Educator. He also does a great deal of translating for Tongan patients. He married into the Rich family and helps manage the lodge in his free time. Last year he was the full time manager, but is now training his sister in law Laura and her husband to be the Winter Season managers. Kelly comes every couple weekends to make sure things are running smoothly and to relieve Laura for a few days. They say that one of the main reasons JL hasn’t gone out of business or bankrupt is because of Kelly. He came up this weekend to help me get settled in and to learn my job properly. Kelly is much more relaxed than the other managers. He epitomizes ‘work hard, play hard.’

Akenese Hamilton – We call her Ake (Ah-K) for short, also of Polynesian descent. She is probably the most all around knowledgeable employee here at the lodge. She has been here for five or six months and dominates everything she does. Kitchen, Bakery, Office, Waitri, housekeeping – she does it all. Her personality reminds me a lot an elder in my mission. She is soft spoken, but not afraid to voice her opinion. She is super passionate and extremely loving. She’s in love with a boy named Tulu, but has her sights set on a mission. She’ll work here until spring to earn enough money and will then put her papers in.

Ofacilia – I don’t know her last name at this moment, but we call her Ofa (O-fa) for short. At first Ofa didn’t really open up like Ake did. She is more reserved, waiting to get to know someone before becoming outgoing. She nick named me Vita, short for Davita, my name in Tongan. Her specialty is the kitchen; she makes a mean bean burrito. She has also been here 5 or 6 months, waiting for the day when her boyfriend comes by and sweeps her away to Vegas to elope. The Polynesians often mix their English with Tongan when speaking to each other. After hearing the same word several times I could start using it myself. The girls had a nickname for Parker that no one else knew. I learned it and asked what it meant. The girls looked at each other and started laughing. Tamahine (Ta-ma-hee-ney), it means ugly half boy half girl. Haha. I started writing down a few other words that they seemed to use most often, could introduce myself by the end of the day. “You learn too fast, we’re going to have to watch what we say around you!” A few days later I overheard Ofa telling the others to watch out what they said around the ‘new Michael, he picks up Tongan really fast.”

Laura Eliesa – Laura is a third generation Rich family member. Her dad is John Rich, the company majority owner and man I spoke of last post. She served a mission several years ago and married Kelly Langi’s cousin. Laura and Salesi met in Tonga and have been married for three years now. They have a one year old named Charles. We call him “Charles in Charge” because he owns the place. He’s super cute and walks around with random stuff that he finds around the lodge – magnets, candy bars, super expensive pottery, etc. Whenever I see the kid, I like to yell out “Baby Charles!” This is Laura and Salesi’s first season managing the Lodge. At first I was a little annoyed with their unprofessionalism, but after realizing that they were just as new as I was, I was much more understanding and started to really appreciate them. Laura is the twin sister of Julie who is married to Kelly. I imagine Kelly and Julie set up Laura with Kelly’s cousin Salesi.

Salesi Eliesa – We call him Sale for short. Pronounce it like you would in Spanish. Sal-ley – a true Tongan, born and raised. He speaks with a heavy accent and is hard to understand at times. He’s the muscle behind most of the operations. While Kelly is more of a social business man, Sale is more prone to pick up a shovel and get his hands dirty outside. When we pull out the games, his little kid side comes through. It wouldn’t be uncommon for him to jump out of his chair with his arms in the air shouting after rolling a Yatzee.

Parker – We call him Parker. Probably one of the funniest people I have ever met. He is the master of descriptive words and telling stories. He can have me on the floor grabbing my sides from laughing so hard. My smiling muscles are getting the workout of their life. Parker has been here a season as well. He is earning money for a mission as well, and trying to slim down a bit to make the weight requirements. He plays the piano and dominates the Saxophone. He inspired me to call home and ask for my Trumpet to be sent down.

Mike – Not to confuse you with ‘Michael’ who I was mistakenly called. Mike has been here for two seasons and is finishing up his last couple months here before putting in his mission papers. He was off on Christmas break when I first arrived. Mike’s specialty is the grill, though he can do it all. He’s super smart and probably the biggest flirt I’ve ever met. We decided that the only way to describe it with justice was as a ‘shameless flirt.’ His justification is that if he flirts with every girl then he won’t be tempted to pair off with any of them. Haha. Mike is a pretty chill guy. He doesn’t get super energetic or overly excited like I would occasionally, or like Parker does every couple minutes… Mike is also the only other employee besides myself with a car. That is, if you can call a Toyota Echo a car… I can barely fit into the thing without having my knees hit my chest.

There are a few more people to add to the gang at a later time. My good friend and mission buddy Tristan Walker will be flying down with his cousin BreAnn. One other named Mary that I haven’t met yet will be returning in a day or two from her Christmas break. Ya know we ought to do shirts or something… Jacob Lake Inn – Crew Awesome - Winter 2010!!