The Fun Begins...

It's cold here, in the 40s.
My Cuate..from El Paso!
Kevin Elliot, CO, serving in Las Vegas.
My table mates. Tomorrow, all the group.
Canadian CO. We have a CO school going on here at the same time. Very active time at Bethel!! These guys are a lot of fun, really funny and sociable. um...well, all CO's are, some more than others! :)


I am a lazy sod. I admit it. Waking up at 5:45..er..well, 5:50 is not my idea of fun. I am used to waking up at 7:30AM or later. I work out of my house and my office is two rooms away. At Patterson, I have to wake up at 5:45 AM, then get ready, make sure my books are packed and ready to go. Not fun.

Breakfast begins at 7:00AM, if you get there early, you can have coffee and nothing else. You find your table, drink coffee, chat till 7:00Am, then it starts with the Daily Text. After this is done, they bring the food.

The food here is great! They really treat you well and feed you even better. We had breakfast tacos today. For all you Texans...Tejanos..tacos here are different. Good, but not the same. You get a flour tortilla, fill it with filling of eggs/sausage, not chorizo, sausage. Its OK. :)

The morning was spent in orientation, all morning. We saw videos of Patterson, in dept look into the video, legal and other departments. Really neat.

Then came the rules and etiquette for Bethel Dining and Rooming. There has to be with over 1,000 people here! The table head passes the food, he is in charge. When empty, he puts the plate/pitcher at his side and is immediately refilled. You always take ONE of anything on the first serving. NEVER more. Otherwise, someone on the table will not get any. Wait for the second portion.

We have to keep our rooms clean. Before we leave in the morning we put away all our stuff, no clothes left lying around, no trash. The room looks immaculate! We have to make our own beds. This is a first for me.

At lunch, (breakfast is mandatory attendance, the others no..also, assigned seating at breakfast..no changing!), a group of us sat at a table. After the morning orientation on Dining etiquette, none of us wanted to make a move. Finally, a brother arrived who was our table head!!! FOOD!!

The afternoon was the beginning of the classes. Intense. Fun. Informative. Can't tell you anything about them, except that I will be a new person when I get back. Day 1...Day 2 in 8 Hours. Sleep. I need it. Above are some photos and captions. Enjoy!