Serving at Blackheath Vipassana Meditation center for a 30 day course

Many similarities to serving on a 10 day course. And some differences.

Similarities:

• Worked in the kitchen - which is where I have performed most of my previous service
• Similar schedule - with minor differences.
• Metta at the end of each day

 Differences:

• Kitchen servers not allowed in the dining areas at all while the students are there.  On a 10 day course the kitchen servers can take there meals from the food in the dining room 15 minutes after the students start taking their meals.  The male / female managers are  allowed to be in the dining rooms so as to monitor the food situation. And can take more food in or, if one side has run out, negotiate behind the scenes to move food from one side to another. So, where as on a 10 day course all the food may have been moved into the dining room area, we ended up keeping a reserve back. If, after 15 minutes, the students had taken their meals and there was still plenty of food in the dining are, the kitchen servers could feed themselves from the reserve. Otherwise the reserve goes out to the dining area via the male/female managers and the kitchen servers have to fend for themselves with whatever is available in the kitchen (leftovers, make a sandwich etc)
• Group sits are separate to the students. Most of us sat in the language lab.  The female manager had sat a 30 day course so she could sit with the students. The male manager hadn't, so he sat with the rest of us.
• The metta at the end of the day follows a different routine. We entered the hall via the students entrance rather than the servers entrance. And while the metta recording was played, sat at the back of the hall, rather than where the servers would sit in a 10 day course. Then we would move forward to sit in a semi-circle at the feet of the teachers.
• No new students. So evening prep and cleanup was easier

My, still rather limited, experience with serving leads me to believe that the dynamic in each group is different due to the different personality mix.

We ended up having three kitchen managers over the course.

• First manager handed over the reins after 8 days. She was a nice lady. Unfortunately I butted heads with her a couple of times over issues which I shall describe below. And, while I hope that was not the reason she gave the position up, probably had an influence
• The second manager had, over the course of the first 8 days, shown that she was an extremely hard worker, very competent cook and seemed to be well organized. Unfortunately she worked herself too hard and on day 18 had burnt herself out.  She then went out to do gardening duty for several days, then slowly started doing a mix of kitchen serving and garden duties before returning for the last several days of the 30 day course.  However, there was a 45 day course running concurrently and she was signed up to serve through for another 45 days. And my impression was that she would put herself at risk of burning out again.  So I put my 2 cents in and mentioned at metta that I was concerned at her working too hard again. And that the team should help her with managing her energy.  In addition I pointed her to two books that helped me with understanding the importance of managing your energy as a way of increasing your resilience and making it more likely you could avoid burnout. 
• The third manager was recommended to the teachers to become the kitchen manager by the second manager. In the first few days of the course I told this guy to his face that I thought he was a "loveable slackarse". His response at the time was that he had been called a lot worse and laughed it off. He was very good at talking. Not so good at having a radar that would tell him that he should maybe be doing a bit of work while he talked.  And it was a big surprise to him when he was asked to be kitchen manager. He confided to me that this was a new experience for him to be promoted. As, at his last place of work, it was the good workers who got promoted.  However, while there was still variability in his output, he did put in a lot more effort. Having the prime responsibility for ensuring the team got the meals out on time and that they tasted great gave him more focus and, while there were a few glitches over the remaining days he was in charge, overall the team liked the environment he provided, the meals went out on time, and the meals tasted great. A couple of times there wasn't enough food for the servers. And one time maybe not enough for the students which caused high tension between him and the male/female managers, but overall he did a great job.

The team was:

• Jackie - an Aussie lady in her 50's who signed up to be there for the full 45 days
• Hoi Chin - a Malaysian Chinese lady, in her 20's, who was there for the full 45 days and who had her mother sitting the 45 day course. Great Cook. Hard Worker.
• Monique - an Aussie lady probably late 20's early 30's, from Tasmania, who was serving with her partner Julian. Both Monique and Julian left in the afternoon of day 24 as they had a prior family commitment
• Paulina - a Swedish lady of Polish parents in her early 30's who served the initial 30 days and stayed on for a few days with a plan to head off to Pomona in Queensland to serve and sit at the Pomona center.  Her personality, at times, reminded me of my ex at her best. At times mischievous and cheeky, smiled a lot, and could talk to anyone in the team. Many times she lifted the spirits of the team.
• Julian - 35 year old German who was Monique's partner
• Mark - early 40's Aussie guy from somewhere south of Sydney. Living on the coast. 
• Myself - greybearded guy, who may just still squeek into the mid-50's definition age wise
• Victor - male manager for the 45 day course in his early 60's. Of European descent, born and raised in India until age 14, then, after migrating to Australia at the age of 14, has spent most of the rest of his life in Australia. He has a story to tell and, while initially comes across as a bit gruff and grumpy, turns out to have an interesting life story and I have a lot of respect for the work he put in to get to where he is now.
• David - Aussie male manager for the 30 day course. In his early 40's. Lovely guy who would leak a bit of information about himself every now and again. By the time he had to leave on day 27 I *really* liked the guy. And also was left wondering how he had managed to stay alive and why he was so happy. He was a great guy to have around as his happiness was infectious
• Lin - female manager for 30 day course. Chinese with limited English. The one person who I did not have any conversations with
• Lois - female manager for 45 day course. Based in Sydney of Chinese extraction. Didn't have much interaction with Lois in the first 15 days. But by the end of the course, after Monique and Julian had left, she had stepped into the kitchen to help out whenever there was a crunch time and helped out with whatever needed to be done. During those later days managed to have a couple of minor interactions with her and she was great

Notes:  Energy management books are "The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal" by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwatz and "The Way we're Working Isn't Working : The Four Forgotten Needs that Energize Great Performance" by Tony Schwatz, Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy