Dorm Life

Most of the dorms had two hallways (only 2 did not). In the elementary dorms there was a boy's hall and a girl's hall, across from each other with a living area in between. Each of the dorms started with "B"s. Mine were Bethel and Bethlehem. There was also Baraka, Berea, Brotheren and I forget the others.

The hallways in our dorms had a zig-zag pattern of curtains from top to bottom. You could lay on the floor in your hall and see the boy's feet as they went from room to room. We used to wrap these curtains around us, if we were indecent, but wanted to get someone's attention that was out in the living area. Several girls were merciless and would yank the curtain away from any girl that was doing this, exposing them to the world. Speaking of indecent, my earliest memory of this was when I was six. I had just gotten the "Wonder Woman Underoos." We had gotten our shipment from the States and these were my treasured items. I was so proud of them and was showing off to friends. I walked out into the living room and sat down to talk with my dorm mom, not realizing I was just in my underwear. Some boys came out of their hallway and...of course, they made fun of me.

In the elementary dorms each room had a curtain in the doorway. These became nice swings for us. We could also talk to each other or throw notes across or down the hall during long weekend noon-rests. The curtain in the bathroom became more than a swing for us, however. Since all of the floors were a polished smooth cement, the bathroom floor made a good slide. We would lather up the floor with shampoo and water or baby powder, hold onto the curtain and stand back as far as we could in the hall and then run and let go, BAM!! Of course we would get into trouble, if we were caught in the act or if someone ended up hurt.

The floors were also a great surface for playing with fire. No joke! We would pour perfume on the floor, or write a message with it and then light the match. It was amazing to see how high and long the fire would go. There was only one time this became catastrophic. We did it too close to a desk and it caught on fire. We all went running to the bathroom with our little bathroom cups to fill them with water and douse the fire. Fortunately we got it out without too much damage. I don't even think we had to report it.

We had speakers down the hallway, which the dorm parents could make an announcement through, or, my personal favorite (not really) they would play music to wake us up in the mornings. The song they always played was from the "Bull Frogs and Butterflies" album called, "Good Morning." It's an obnoxiously happy song that my kids actually love to listen to, now.

We had a chimes that the dorm parents would use to give us messages. Each tune meant something different. For example, we had one for dorm meeting, dorm devotions, noon rest starting, etc. It sounds like I lived the life of a villager, sending messages via a musical instrument.