We’ve known from the beginning that this adventure would be wonderful and exciting at times, and frustrating and challenging at other times. Our first week was filled with some exciting new experiences, including meeting a lot of people, making new friends, and seeing this amazing place for the first time (at least for most of us). This week also included some experiences at the other end of the spectrum, which peaked on Wednesday. It started off great when I captured an Ansel Adams-esque picture of the waterfall our house (not too bad considering that it was taken with my iPhone).

Upon returning home, I quickly noticed that we had no water. While trying to find something to do, which didn’t require water, a blaring alarm went off. It was so loud that it could be heard within a 2 mile radius, and it continued for some time. Knowing that jobsite has some inherent security issues, I wasn’t sure what was going on and/or what to do, so I ran upstairs and texted Chris. After a very slow response, he informed me that it was just a scheduled emergency drill, which goes off every Wednesday at 11:30am.

After dinner, I saw an abrupt movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a large lizard scrambling across the sunroom floor. Kylee wanted to grab it by the tail and catch it, but Chris opened the sunroom doors and swatted it outside with a broom. I’m not sure how long it had been in the house, or how it got inside, but I was sure glad to see it go!

After evicting the lizard, Kylee went upstairs to have a shower. While she was showering, loud gurgling noises started emerging from the downstairs bathroom. Within seconds, the toilet was overflowing and sewage was spewing out of the drain holes in the bathroom, laundry room, and the maid’s quarters. I ran up to have Kylee turn the shower off and saw that she was showering in brown water. When the tub drained, a grimy sediment coated the bottom of it, and Kylee’s muddy foot prints were left on the brand new white bath mat.

Fortunately, our neighbors were able to get in touch with facilities management to send a crew out to fix the problem and to clean up the mess. Unfortunately, the crew didn’t show up until Thursday morning.

We later learned that there had been a mudslide that wiped out the potable water reservoirs mid-morning on Wednesday. As soon as the water came back on, someone flushed a diaper down a toilet, clogging the sewer line. All good by mid-day Thursday!

This is truly an amazing place, with 2000 foot waterfalls visible from our patio, wonderful people all around us, and the occasional geyser in our bathroom.