I haven't spoken much about work, and since that is a big part of my life in Napier, I thought I would elaborate. Work has been interesting. I have been waitressing the breakfast shifts, and then running the laundry room after breakfast. It's strange but I have actually been enjoying the laundry room--I'm in there by myself for the most part, constantly moving, managing the washers and dryers, folding everything to "5-star perfection," using the pressing machine that gets over 150 degrees celcius & jamming out to the radio...kind of relaxing. The funny thing is that at home (or at the hostel), I HATE laundry. I have always been one of those people that procrastinates doing laundry sooo long that it gets to the point that I literally can't fit another sock into my laundry bag. And ironing...forget it; if I own a shirt that requires ironing, it is guaranteed to stay wrinkled. Sonja & I have also done some more housekeeping work since my last blog. Let me just say that I would die if I had to do that for a living. After 3 days of helping in housekeeping, Sonja & I came back to the hostel feeling like we had aged 50 years--our backs hurt, our feet were killing us, and all we wanted to do was lay down & sleep haha.
Our boss, the hotel owner, is quite a character. He is very wealthy & owns properties all over New Zealand. A few days ago, he came into the kitchen and asked if Sonja, Beau or I had a drivers license. I answered yes first, so he told me to follow him. (You can drive in NZ on a non-NZ license for up to 1 year). We went outside to the parking area across from work, and I saw that he had somehow accumulated all three of his cars there. He handed me the keys to his $380,000 convertible, reminded me multiple times that it was a $380,000 vehicle, and told me to just follow him up the hill so he could drop one of his cars off at his house. Ha! I got in the convertible, started the car with this crazy looking key & immediately knew that this was a very bad idea haha. The driver's seat is on the right side of the car, the gearshift is on the left, and you drive on the left side of the road in NZ. After a short moment, I told my boss in so many words that it wasn't a good idea for me to drive his incredibly valuable vehicle 'just up the hill' haha. Luckily, he got someone else to do it =)
Last night, Sonja & I had our long-awaited dinner with Carl and his fiance Megan! Carl came & picked us up from the hostel, drove us around the corner & up this scenic hill, then took a left turn up this incredibly steep driveway to their house. It was awesome--the house is set on the hill overlooking part of Napier and the ocean, plus you could see the mountains in the distance. Oh, and inside, it is kind of a loft setup & to get to the bathroom, you have to open this hatch in the floorboard, and go down this ladder! (You can also go downstairs, out the front door, and then go around to the bathroom through a proper door, but that is just not nearly as fun). I used the hatch & it was awesome haha. To add to the excitement, they have pets!! It had been so long since Sonja & I had been able to interact with animals, so we were thrilled. They have a long-haired pug, a pomeranian, a beautiful persian Himalayan cat, another sweet cat, two goats, chickens, and birds! The goats were hilarious--they acted like dogs when we were petting them in their grass area. Our dinner was delicious (of course), and we had such a great evening with Carl & Megan. It will be soo hard to say goodbye to them when we leave Napier. Sonja also cooked a traditional Finnish meal for Hayley & Mark from work this week, as per their request. Hayley lived in Finland for a short time before, and both she A& Mark love visiting there--so, needless to say, they were thrilled when they found out Sonja was from
Finland.
Today, I had the day off of work--my first day to sleep late in a long time! However, when I woke up around 10:00, a girl Sarah that had been working at the hostel, informed me that my boss had popped over to the hostel & asked for them to tell me that he needed me to do some laundry. My response was "Seriously?" Yeahhh...there are obviously both pros and cons to literally living next door to where you work (and your boss knowing about it) haha. Work went well though, so no worries. After work, I had a nice meal waiting for me, freshly prepared by Sonja =) Then, I went out with Marion & Mia to a cafe down the road & had some chocolate cake and some tea! It was a good day. Oh, and Sonja colored my hair and trimmed it earlier this week. I decided I didn't want to pay $35 for a haircut, so I asked Sonja if she could cut it. She said she could, and I figured "Hey, I'm a backpacker...my hair doesn't have to be perfect anyway" hehe. So, we borrowed scissors from work (didn't mention what we needed them for) & set up salon in one of the hostel bathrooms downstairs. I must say she did a fine job! More in a few days!
Cheers,
Ash
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