Reflections

Okay, so right now I’m sitting on a bench in Devonport, across the harbor from the Auckland CBD. I came up here for a nice little relaxing afternoon after my big night out last night. I was going to drive down to Raglan today, find a place to stay, and then go on a big hike tomorrow, but I went out last night and now I’m pretty much useless today. I rarely do out and this is why – life is just too short to be hung over – but last night just happened, and it was fun. I met a few co-workers after my shift at BCC (Birtomart County Club) for Hospo night. ½ price drinks for hospitality workers! Nice! One drink led to another led to another led to another bar and out all night. Fun, but only on a rare occasion.

Anyways, let’s now get down to business. First thing’s first – yes, Faye and Anna, I do remember you! So nice to hear from you. For the rest of you, Faye left a comment on my blog yesterday (see below). As you will read, I met Faye and Anna when they were eating lunch one day at the Driving Creek Café in Coromandel Town.

Hello Annabelle
You may not remember us and we may not have exchanged names. We were holidaying with another couple in NZ & met you at the book/cafe where you were working in the Coromandel and you gave me your name and blog as I showed an interest in following it. Well, both my friend Anna and I (Faye) have been following your activities with great interest. It is fun. Should you wish to communicate please give me your email address on your blog. We live in Perth in Western Australia. Glad you are enjoying your current job. Thanks and Cheers Faye 

I would love to stay in touch ladies! I’m sure I’ll make it to Perth sometime in the next few years. Maybe we can meet up again. Here’s my e-mail: annabelle.c.joyce@gmail.com. Can’t wait to hear from you!

The last few days have, as is normal lately, been filled with work. I’ve been getting good hours, meeting great customers, and having fun.

Now I’m going to move into a more reflective mood. Many months back I chose a book for my book club, The Happiness Project. Since reading the book I have been following the author’s blog and getting daily e-mails of happiness related quotes. I have to admit that much of the time I find the e-mails annoying and the quotes quite stupid but in my hung over delirium this morning I was thoughtlessly reading through many of these usually annoying e-mails and found a few I quite liked and found quite relevant to my current situation.

Today’s quote was as follows:

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it."

- George Moore

I’m sure this will be true for me. Recently, many people have asked me what I hope to get out of my travels, or what I’m looking to find, or what not. I don’t seem to have an answer for any of this really. I am out here trying to see the world, but I don’t have any idea what I hope to find. Myself, I guess, but what a vague answer that is. I hope that when I return home (or find home somewhere else) I will have a better sense of what makes me happy, what I can put up with, what I can’t put up with, and who I am. But maybe everything I learn about the world and about myself will make more sense in terms of my life back home when I get to that place.

As I’m writing about this it is making me think of another theme I’ve noticed in conversations recently – something I’ve realized is making me so happy about this trip: The pressure is off! If I was at home right now, in Minneapolis, working as a server full time, I would feel like I wasn’t living up to my full potential. The pressure I would be putting on myself would be immense. I would feel like I wasn’t doing what I “should” be doing, I would feel like other people would think less of me because I’m “only a server”. (And I’m sure at least a few people would think this).

Oh no, rain is coming. Have to find a café to finish this post. Hold on!

Okay, at the café now. Much better! I’ll resume me thought now….

Living here in Auckland (or anywhere other than the US) I feel no pressure to live up to anything and how liberating it is! I spend my days working as server, and I love it. I love the people, I love that I clock in and clock out and don’t think or worry about work when I’m not there. I love that I work at a place where we are a team and we work together. (I will bring this point up again in just a bit). I love that I work with lots of other people who are doing exactly the same thing as me. I don’t think Auckland is the place for me long term (despite the hopes of my current boss who wants me to stay at Ortolana forever) but I’m very happy with my situation right now.  And I don’t think I could have this same thing in MN. I don’t think I will ever be able to live in Minneapolis without feelings the pressure of living up to what I “should be” after growing up in Edina, getting a great education at the U of M, being a smart, intelligent person. I just feel like living there I would always feel like I was failing myself. Now I’m not saying I won’t change my mind about this, but right now, I think I’d always feel like I “should be” doing more with my life. Plus it’s just too damn cold in MN for me anyways! Living in a place where winter means overnight lows in the mid 40*s isn’t bad! That’s all my thoughts on that right now.

Onto the team work bit, the environment they have built at Ortolana (and likely all of the Hipgroup locations) is just fantastic. It is a total team environment, and it is so great to work somewhere like that. We all help each other out, we all have each other’s backs, we communicate with each other, and we work together to make sure everyone who comes through the door has a great time at our restaurant. It is so nice to work somewhere like this. There is virtually no competition between us (the servers/staff), not that there’s anything to be competitive about, but still. We share responsibility and we share the rewards of that (i.e. tips). In my last tipped job (at The Saint Paul Hotel), I never shared me tips with anyone. Although we were a team there, it didn’t have the same feel to it. Some of the staff (not all, not even most, but some) only did what was required of them and only if it benefited them in some way (monetarily). These people only wanted to do something if they would get a tip for it, and when they got that tip, it was there’s. I’d like to think I was very willing to help anyone, even when I knew I wouldn’t get a tip, but when I did get tips, they were mine and I rarely shared them. Here, at Ortolana, the policy is to share tips and we all do, and the way it has changed how I look at my job is amazing. (Or it may be the way the work environment is set up that has changed how I look at tips, but either way.) I am more than happy to share every tip I make, even when someone gives it to me, because I would never be able to do what I do without the help of all of my amazing co-workers. When I’m chatting with a table, they’re clearing my other tables, when they’re putting in an order for one of their tables, I’m refilling water for another of their tables. We work together, and none of us could do what we do without the rest of the team – at least I know that I would never be able to give my tables the attention I do if my fellow servers weren’t helping me out when they can.

This reminds me a lot of a documentary I told you about a few months back. (I can’t remember what it’s called now and can’t check since I don’t have Internet right now but I’ll summarize it for you again). I watched this movie with Anna (England) one night at the café in Coromandel. It was done by a very famous American movie director who looked into what is wrong with our world, and how do we fix it. In it, he talks about how competition – which is valued in the western world and central to our lives – doesn’t make us happy. It has the opposite effect. Cooperation, which can be seen extensively in the animal world as well as more traditional societies, makes us happy. And after working at this job, I think this is very true.  We cooperate, we work together, and it is so much nicer coming to work! If I ever run a company, or an office, or anything, this is how it will work, no exceptions!

Now onto something else that the director talked about in this movie, and that I was talking about with someone at the bar last night, money doesn’t make you happy, and I’m learning that now. Currently I’m living pretty much paycheck to paycheck. I am trying not to touch my American savings at all and thus living only off what I’m making here in NZ. I make maybe $600/week. I spend $260 on rent, try to put $100 into savings here, and thus have only $240/ week to cover all my other expenses – food, clothing, care expenses, cell phone, transportation costs, entertainment, everything. And $240/week doesn’t go far in NZ since everything here is really expensive. But I think I appreciate everything more. When I go out for coffee, or buy a nice loaf of bakery bread, or what not, I enjoy it. It is an experience to savor. It would be nice to eat out everyday, have lots of new clothes, spend money on great entertainment all the time, but I just can’t and so each thing I do I appreciate more. I make wiser decisions and I enjoy them. I am learning about my priorities in life as well because I only have so many resources that can only go so far. I spend quite a lot on rent, but I want to live somewhere nice and comfortable. I don’t go to the bars often because I would rather use that money to travel around on my days off. I appreciate good food and like to go out for one or two really nice meals a week and thus eat tuna and eggs for every other meal. It’s fun to learn this about myself, and watch myself going through the process of figuring this all out.

Okay, my head is hurting from being hung over and now staring at this screen for the last hour. I think I’m going to stop writing for now – I’ll post this as soon as I get Internet.

Hope you have all enjoyed reading my post today. Any thoughts/feedback/comments would be greatly appreciated. What have you learned from traveling? What about your work situation, what do you like/not like about them? How about money – does it make you happy?

And as a note – if you have e-mailed me recently I have gotten your e-mail, read it, and loved it. Especially Stephanie and Kristine, you guys send the best, most thorough e-mails ever! I will respond in time, I’ve just been so busy working I haven’t had to time to write a good response back and thus haven’t yet. Keep the e-mails from home coming. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from everyone!

Best!

And as a side note, the documentary I mentioned above – I would highly recommend watching it. Things in my life keep reminding me about it and it is ringing more true for me every day. It’s also quite short, maybe one hour, and on Netflix so should be quite easy for you all to watch.

The End.

Found a library with WiFi and posted from there about 15 minutes after finishing my post.