The "In" is intentionally misspelled in the title as I am now working at an Inn in Hanmer Springs and have been working since March 15, 2010. I set out breakfast in the morning. I wash dishes. I clean rooms. Occasionally I work around their house and apartment. Sometimes I clean the holiday homes. I also clean around the hotel. It's every bit as mundane as it sounds, but it's a job. I believe it was Emily P. that once told me that you can do anything for six months. That's what got me through the AICPA and the same phrase is getting me through this. I work 7 days a week, but I also get a place to stay by working 14 hours a week. When the hotel isn't busy we get our own rooms in the hotel, but since it's full at the moment, we're staying upstairs at the family's house.
I used to work just with Gordon and occasionally Karen, a kiwi who also works at the local vet office, but now there's a new German fellow named Eno. Nice to have someone new around.
Hanmer Springs: Wikipedia says that the 2006 census put the Hanmer Springs population at 729 people. This is a mini resort town where people come to relax in the thermal pools. There are two fish and chip shops, a slew of hotels/inns and various accommodations and that's about it. I have cabin fever and the only prescription is getting out of here. I'm looking forward to August because two Chapel Hillians are coming to visit! Hoorah!
More Kiwi-isms:
"Good as gold" - instead of using great or good, insert this phrase.
Example: Got everything you need? Yes, I'm good as gold.
McDonalds - They call it mackers.
"Tea" - They drink it here, but they also call dinner, Tea. Go figure.
There's something akin to an air raid siren that goes off every now and then. I might have mentioned this same peculiarity in a previous blog back when I was in Takaka. They use it here every Tuesday to run fire drills, but it also goes off every time there's an actual emergency. I checked and it turns out they used to use only the siren, but now the fire people have pagers too. When there's an emergency the siren sounds and continues blasting for a long time, cars driven by the firefighters race to the station and then they take off in their fire engine. A few days ago we had our fire alarm go off for no reason. The alarm went off and this triggered the siren at the fire station which is located right next door to the Inn. A few minutes later the truck left the station and promptly pulled into the Inn parking lot. On a completely random note, there was a really cute fireman. Talk about being happy about stereotypes that turn out to be true. Just kidding, I didn't dwell too much on the cute fireman because it was pretty annoying to sit outside and have nothing to do.
I had a wrist injury about a month ago. It was probably from repetitive stress and half my right hand went numb and the wrist itself was quite swollen and tender for many days. We got some anti-inflammatory gel, a few wrist guards and I switched the hand I used to clean. Now I'm good as gold again.
The weather is starting to change. It's the kind of cold where you can feel that the outer part of your jacket is cool, but the inside is still warm. In the mornings my car windows are covered in frost. By the afternoon, the temperature has warmed up, but come evening the temperature drops fairly rapidly. Soon it will be winter and the nearby ski slopes will open. I'm looking forward to some boarding and then a relaxing soak in the thermal pools. I hear the best time for the thermal pools is when it snows. Imagine relaxing outside in the warm pools surrounded by heaps of snow.
I'm starting to plan my North Island Adventures. The first part will be with Gordon, but then he will leave because his visa is up at the end of July. Then mis amigos de Carolina del Norte will arrive and I will continue my North Island travels. After that I'll be heading home to attend weddings, get a job and plan my next adventure. Yes, that is multiple weddings, three at the moment, but who knows who else will get engaged between now and then.
I was having a good time watching the West Wing online, but then it turns out Gordon and I used up all the internet and then some at the Inn. It's impressive because I think they have like 350 gigs a month, but like I said earlier, we don't really have a lot to do here. This is an illustration of how ridiculous we are and how much I miss the unlimited internet back in the States. Heaven forbid if they ever change that.
I'm definitely lactose intolerant. What this means is that I still drink milk, but now I'm certain that it will make me feel bad later. Intolerant is a harsh word. I like to think that I'm a fairly open-minded person about most things, dairy included. So let's call it Molly's dairy discord. Doesn't that seem nicer with a lovely ring of alliteration?
There's a wedding this weekend so the work is about to become insane.
Kiwi-Molly says Kia Ora.
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