Sunburn

Alright so Sunday was long and awful, but one of the managers bought me a beer. So, yesterday I had the whole day off! Yippee! And...it was sunny! In the afternoon I just had to do one load of laundry (which took me about 4 hours) and so I grabbed my book and went and sat in the sun. A few minutes later one of the new girls, Lizzie, came out and sat down next to me. Within five more minutes we were both inside changing into our shorts. The rest of the afternoon we were joined by another 4 or 5 people and we all just sat outside talking and relaxing. It was fabulous! It was probably in the high 70s where we were sitting and considering how white I was, guess who went to bed with a mean farmer's tan/burn?

They also called me yesterday to come into work for 3 hours today. It was a good thing I came in because since it was sunny again today, the lunch time was quite busy and it was just me and one of the managers. I was so happy I only had to work 3 hours though! Oh, the time buzzed on the computer! Tomorrow's Halloween so I'll let you know if anything happens!

-Lisa

A lot of hours

Wow, so the last few days I've been putting in close to 10 hours a day at work. Ugh. The paycheck will be nice, but that's about it. One of the managers said to me last night, "You have a lot of energy, don't you?" Because I'm always smiling at people and always doing something. I just wanted to say, "Compare my tips with everyone else's and tell me I'm not doing a kickass job." Seriously though, if you appear happy and enthusiastic it will rub off on your customers who will want to come back or just buy more from you. Duh!

That said, Friday night I had a "tiff" with one of my colleagues. Of course, it was the guy that I had a problem with once before. I was having issues with one order since the salad that the girl ordered was a special and therefore not on the till. I had been back to the kitchen once and then talked to the manager again just so I could put one order through. I was finally trying to put it through when the colleague was standing there with another customer who wanted to pay. I said, hang on just a minute. Well, he couldn't wait so he just swiped his card through and cleared everything I had done so that he could get the customer's bill. I said, I was almost done! He said, The customer's right here. I was like, Seriously?! Then I stormed off to the other till, thoroughly annoyed. Well, of course when he was done he tried to talk at me 2 different times about what I did wrong and I just walked away from him. The manager asked what happened and I shrugged him off and said nothing. Another hour or so later I realized I would have to make things better so I apologized to the guy and he patted me on the shoulder and said, It's okay mate. He NEVER would have thought it was his problem because he has a bit of a sexist attitude that stems from his culture, I'm thinking. He already thinks he's smarter and somehow my teacher because he's a male and he's worked there a long time. Whatever, he totally screws up more orders than anyone on staff.

Whew, okay sorry about that little complaint. Yesterday went smoothly considering there weren't many people working. It got pretty busy last night and there were only 4 of us, but we totally handled it. I came back to the hostel to find some people had stayed up drinking white russians to see me when I got home! Yay!

Well I'm SUPER glad that I have the next two days off, so the only thing I have left to say is Go Devils!

Drama

Okay, sorry for leaving you hangin' on the last blog! I'll get right to the point: Morgan was kicked out of the hostel on Monday. Diana (the owner) watched the security camera tapes and found that Morgan went to the reception area and wrote down in the books that she had paid for the next week. Obviously she hadn't because she doesn't work there and she didn't give Diana or Beate the money. The shitty part is that Diana made Beate clean out Morgan's room without calling/getting ahold of Morgan first. Beate said her room was the messiest and dirtiest thing she's ever had to deal with, and Beate and Diana just felt so hurt that they couldn't trust Morgan. She's been staying there for months! Wierd. So it's Thursday and she still hasn't picked up her stuff. Plus, Vince told Diana that he was upset because of how she handled the situation and then Diana was upset all day yesterday because of it. So the dynamic is a bit tense in the hostel right now.

Moving on...Monday, Daniella and Vince and I went for a drive in Daniella's car out West to Muriwai. This is a beach and cliff side right on the ocean where there's a colony of Gannets (birds) that sit in this one little area where it's always very windy. Apparently they leave only once a year and fly up to Australia and then return to the same spot. This area is also popular with surfers because of the big waves. So you're going to be pissed when I tell you that I forgot my camera! Oops! Maybe I'll go back. Then we left and grabbed some Steinlager Pure (beer with no additives or preservatives--very good!) and went to another beach where I learned to open the beers with the end of Vince's lighter! Woohoo!

Yesterday was super boring at work. There was hardly anyone that came in during the day. I'm still sick but more with sinus pressure now versus the sore throat I had last week. Needless to say I was off, therefore I had four separate instances where I dropped something. I broke a large Leffe glass and it went EVERYWHERE! Then I dropped a little bowl of mayo and had to clean that up. Then I dropped some mussel shells with sauce on the floor. Finally, I dropped a Steinlager bottle and it hit the side of a table and shattered all over the place. Luckily I got to go home early! But one cool thing: Two ladies from Anchorage, Alaska came in for drinks and dinner! They're staying for 6 weeks! I told them my Aunt and Uncle lived up there and so we had a nice chat.

Okay so I don't have to work until 5 today, so I'm going to look for another job and go to the supermarket. I hope everyone's well!

-Lisa

The Rat

Wow, have I got a story for you guys! Yesterday in the first hour or two of work one of the the kitchen staff, Selena, saw the tail of rat that was hiding behind the deep fryer in the restaurant! They said it was trapped back there and it would probably come out after close. Well a good 45 minutes or so later I was in the hallway that's between the kitchen and the restaurant with a drink or something in my hand and I was trying to turn around or something and my feet were stuck on something like the carpet. So I looked down and here's the rat between my legs! I let out a short scream and it went scurrying in the direction of the restaurant!!! Holy shit! I was so freaked out it was unbelievable! David, one of the managers and Karam, one of the chefs came out and I was like, "The Rat!" (In a whisper of course since the customers would have totally freaked out). Anyway, we never found it!! So the rest of the day I was staring at the ground as I walked. I have now decided that I can take a spider any day, but a rat totally creeps me out! My heart was literally racing for another hour! Karam said that this is the time of year that the rats come into the old building so they have to watch out for them...yuck!

Whew, anyway there's some drama going on back at the hostel right now so I need to check and see what's happening. I'll give you the details later.

-Lisa

Ugh

Well it's Sunday at 11:15am and I'm super sorry I haven't written anything in the past couple of days! I'm still fighting a sore throat which is hard when I'm working because of all the talking I have to do! Yesterday was the LONGEST day of work ever! I worked from 4 to midnight and was helping out in the area blocked off for a private birthday party. They had a DJ and strobe light and everything. To top it off, I was seriously hungover from the night before when Beate, Vince, Morgan and I went out. Wow! I can't believe how crazy the four of us can get!

We had a private party on Friday night too that blocked off most of the restaurant, so the last couple of work days have been VERY busy! Tomorrow's Labour day here in New Zealand so a lot of people will be off work I'm sure, and I'm super glad to have some time off too! And with that said, I'll write more tomorrow when I have time!

Pictures of Ponsonby

Okay I feel bad for not taking any pictures recently so here's a few of where I'm staying and where I work!

Ponsonby

I promise I'll take more pictures soon!!!

A break

Alright so yesterday what happened? Well I worked most of the day and there were 3 Americans that came in! There was a couple--she was from Florida and he was from Arizona--that were very nice! I told him I just graduated from ASU and he said, I'm sorry! Ha, I said "Oh, you're from Tucson..." Anyway, he's a doctor and has a great job on the South Island and she's only been able to find a receptionist job so far. They're here for a year and they've got it made because they pretty much just get to house sit for other doctors that are travelling and use their cars and whatever else! The other girl was from Louisianna and not quite as nice as the couple.

I definitely had some people that were in seriously bad moods yesterday! There were some picky old ladies, a spoiled sulking teenage girl and a Russian family that started out bad, but ended in a $5 tip! The weather was also bad with a nasty wind and it was pretty cold.

I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore throat, so I've been drinking fluids all day. I took a nap this afternoon too (yay!). This morning I went to a test and interview with a temp agency here in Auckland for some added work. The test totally sucked because I'm a little rusty with some of my computer skills. I did fine, but I knew a lot of the answers but didn't get them right in the two chances I was given. Whatever! They told me it's a little slow right now, but as soon as something comes up they'll give me a call. The girl that interviewed me also told me outright that I should register with some other agencies as well so I have more options.

I got back to the hostel and found Beate so we could go have lunch. We agreed on this over the weekend since we don't get to see each other as much now with our working hours. Then we walked down to the supermarket and stocked up. She's making us Schnitzel tonight and I'm making taco salad tomorrow night! Luckily I found some El Paso seasoning packets and salsa because I could find any worchteshire (spelling?) sauce for putting on the meat (with ketchup and horseradish). Oh and get this, they don't have any plain tortilla chips in this country! They all have seasoning!! WTF? While I'm on this subject, the Kiwis also pronounce the "t" in fillet as well as the "ll" in Tortilla. Ha!

Thank goodness I have tomorrow off too so I can rest up! I also hope nobody watched that Seahawks game...

-Lisa