Convention

Last week I spent Wednesday through Saturday working at Nu Skin's global convention at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City:


I was asked to wear black pants while I was there, but all of the black pants I own are perpetually covered in cat hair. So I bought a brand new pair of pants and kept them in a plastic bag until just before I left the house (I probably won't wear them again).

I worked in several capacities in the Japan area in the product room. My favorite job was being a cashier, because it allowed me to interact with the distributors and I felt needed. Even though I only know two words in Japanese ("hello" and "thank you"), the ordering process was simple enough that I was able to function just fine with most orders. Occasionally there was a more complicated question that couldn't be answered by grunts and gestures, and that's when I would have to find someone to translate for me.

Here is what the product room looked like when the lines were long:


And here's what it looked like when the lines were empty (this was one of the boring times):


I stayed at the Shilo Inn, which had a free full breakfast each morning. One of my co-workers was staying on the eleventh floor and was told by a staff member that his room was haunted. Apparently there was a woman who, in 1978, threw her kids off the balcony from her eleventh floor room and then jumped off herself. Upon further inquiry we discovered that the "haunted" room, 1105, has been permanently closed. There is no longer a way to access the balconies from within any of the rooms at the hotel.

This is a picture of my room:


My favorite part of the convention was going running during the short break we were given on Friday morning. I ran through downtown Salt Lake to the Capitol building:



and enjoyed the view of the city from Capitol Hill:


As I left the convention on Saturday night with the co-workers I was carpooling with, we looked to the west and saw a beautiful sunset. I was grateful to be going home after a long four days, and I appreciated this reminder of the beautiful world we live in:


Overall, convention was a pretty good experience. But I'm glad it only happens once a year!