"We're Living In Containers"

As my departure date grew closer, people began to ask more logistical questions, such as what my living situation would be. At first I’d laugh and say “I’m pretty sure it’s a trailer park”. Some of my friends then corrected me that the location we’re staying at is Whistler RV Park, which sounds a little better.

We were all a little off the mark…

When we arrived we got off the shuttle van and entered the “office”, which looks like a portable storage unit. From there an intern from the University of South Carolina, who has been here for a month already, gave us a mini tour on the way to our room. First we passed the dining car…I mean hall. I was beginning to feel a bit like the Boxcar Children books. Then there was a similar structure that is the girls’ washroom. It has four showers and four toilet stalls. Next to that there is a “building” (I use that term loosely) that has the boys’ bathroom and showers as well as another girls’ shower and two toilets.

Off to the right another “building” was the rec room, which has a projector and screen, DVD player, Wii, etc. Behind it there was a bonfire and a lot of the male staff had gathered around it, watching Kings of Leon being projected on the back of the white outer wall. Right next to the rec room is our home sweet home.

It’s a storage unit. In the main room there are five bunk beds. To the right of the entrance is another room with one bunk bed, and two girls from the workforce have been living there for a while now. To the left of the door is another small room, which currently has no door and a few scattered items in it. There’s one barred window in the main room, with a sticker that says “Accurate Alarms”. I don’t think we’ll be opening it.

I was worried about being cold, but now I doubt I’ll use the comforter that I brought. It’s so hot in our room! While we unpacked and got settled in we kept the door ajar, but we closed it overnight. Our room doesn’t lock, but we don’t have much of a choice but to trust the other staff. We were told there was a room with lockers and I had brought a padlock, but last night I just slept with my computer (my only thing of real value) on my bed.

To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, here are some photos I took this morning.

Camp Cleanevent Office

The backside (entrance) to the large women's washroom

Laundry room (far left), men's washroom (middle), women's washroom (far right)

Our "building", K

The View

I have to say, I continually reminded myself in the days and weeks leading up to this trip to not glamorize it in my mind. I’m focusing on being grateful that my housing and living conditions are clean, safe, warm, and dry. We’re going to be working very long days and the camp is accommodating around 200 people, so there will always be things to do and people to meet. I’m not concerned about being bored or stuck in the room. It meets my basic needs of a place to sleep, and that’s all I can really ask. I understand that it’s such an expense for the company to run this camp, and I’d say they’ve done alright by me so far.

Sitting in the dining hall this morning, Sydney was reading someone's horoscope and it mentioned something about containers. She laughed and said "that's funny, because we're living in containers". As long as we can all laugh about the situation and focus our minds on more important things, I know we'll be fine.