Training Again, 5/19 & 5/20/14

Monday, May 19, 2014

 Today’s class was CPR and basic first aid.  We were advised if we needed an ambulance that it would probably be an hour before it arrived.  We were also informed of the nearest town that has snake bite venom so we will know which direction to travel if the need arises.  In case of an emergency, we may be required to drive the patient ourselves to the nearest hospital.  Let’s hope for the best, as this will surely not be our strong suit. 

After class, we decided to drive to Ennis which is a fifteen mile drive east over the mountains.  It had evidently snowed recently as the mountains had more snow on them than we saw a few days ago.  We ate at Pit Stop Pizza and thought it was quite good and reasonably priced.  We will probably be eating out more than we anticipated due to the inadequate kitchen facilities. 

Upon returning to our humble abode, we taught the kids how to play Shanghai (a fun card game) and a good time was had by all. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

We started the day today learning which buildings to open up daily at Nevada City.  It is hard to describe how amazing it is to be here and walk through the buildings of yesteryear that are so well preserved.  Many of the buildings are exactly like they were in the 1800’s including the original contents.  The dress shop still has over 100 pairs of brand new shoes that were never sold.  The shoes are not on display for the general public, but we were allowed to go in the back room to ogle and touch the shoes.   We opened up the school, the post office, the saddlery, the fire department and several other buildings.  We also learned that there is a chicken coop which will soon have chickens.  When working at Nevada City, we will be responsible for feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs.   Living history interpreters bring many of these areas to life on the weekends, and some of the ladies use the eggs and do old fashioned cooking demonstrations.  We were told that it is not “re-enactments” that these people do, but living history interpretation.  All the volunteers have over 3000 hours of training so they will be able to represent the era and their specialty accurately.   

After lunch, Chuck learned how to use the cash register, we reviewed some earlier training and then we had some customer service training for the remainder of the day.