"To the left, to the left."

Let driving lessons begin! I've begun learning how to drive here in New Zealand, on the left side of the road! Also I've needed to learn how to drive up and down mountains (as this is the snowboard school...) Tonight after dinner Loren, Tack, Steve and I went up Lee's Pass to practice now that most of the ice is melted. Good call on Loren's part to choose night time driving, I think if I had realized how high up we were and seen how narrow the roads were in daylight I would've freaked. I suppose I am pleased with myself, I'm defiantly more confidant driving the big vans, in the lower gears and controlling my speed. I want a try or two in the city on the left side and I think I'll be good to go.

I think one of the biggest things I'm learning now is how to do life with guys. Being the only girl school staff has become...."obvious" this week. If you know me at home lets be honest, I'm a girls girl. I'm the oldest of three girls, and while most of us were pretty typical American tom-boy adult hood has swung in the opposite direction. Sissy is a waitress/salon manager and Ab is a nail tech/hair stylist. The second generation Izze and Faith seem to following in the girly footsteps. Isabelle even told me a few months ago she's not touching dirt, she's a "city" girl. I also have ticket stubs to the last 3 years worth of Disney Princess on Ice. My two best friends in the whole world (although not particularly girly) are both women. While I can handle some guys in Minnesota, my comfort zone and my normal mode of operating is around and with girls. Here, that's not at all the case, nor possible in many cases. While there are females on the base currently and particularly Jenny whose working on base before her school starts, the people I'm training, working, learning, living and being with are the guys. And while I was prepared to say I'm indifferent about the whole thing and it's not good, bad or ugly yet just is. I think for me, it's actually a good thing. (Not without frustration but good). Here's what I'm learning from my guys:

• They don't wait around for everyone approval. When an idea strikes (whether good, bad or just silly) they go for it. If it's fun; do it. If it ends up bad, well at least we tried. 
• If they think they have a better idea they say it. We tried 5 or 6 different configurations of human trains to move a load of fire wood today.
• Everything, I mean EVERYTHING is a reason to have fun. ANYTHING can be a joke, a song or quoted. 
• Everything is face value. If you mean something say it, if you don't mean it don't say it, what you said was what you meant. They don't play games and they don't think overly hard about what they say.
• They don't take or mean things personally. They're goofy and funny, their efficient (most of the time....see lesson 1) and do things to get them done to get to the next thing. They don't do things to be seen. (Unless they want to be seen in which case, you can't avoid them!)
• For the most part, they just don't care what people think. I think most guys just have an inborn confidence that most girls could really use a dose of.

I'm learning a lot about guys, but my guys in particular. But in the mean time I'm also learning a lot about myself. Not in the sense that I'm comparing but it has been interesting to reflect how my reaction to things is different from theirs, or my way of doing things is different. I'm seeing flaws in my system and my way of operating by watching theirs. Not that I do everything wrong or they do everything right but I'm noticing ways in which I am very stereo typically girly. I'm incredibly emotional and over-think EVERYTHING! I think the biggest thing so far is learning to say and do exactly what I mean and taking peoples words and actions how they meant them. It's been a learning experience that's for sure, from learning how to deal with their way of thinking and operating in training meetings, to enjoying their company as being different from girls and how they spend their spare time, to dealing with and working with their ways of teaching and encouraging me and learning how to care for and encourage them. How to keep an eye in the back of my head for snowballs, always expect an extra bite out of my food, and knowing that just like Izze, if they know I'm asleep they can only handle it for so long before they need to wake me up to "be with them." And understanding that when Loren says, "We're going out of town for a staff retreat this weekend" he means we're going camping to "have an adventure" and being happy with it.