Working and Going Out

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. I've been quite busy working and going out, both of which have made me quite tired and without time to write on my blog. Let me try and look back over the last few days....

Thursday I worked and then maybe went out for a drink with my friends? I really can't remember. It was quite a long time ago.

Friday I worked again and then went out with people from work for a drink after. We went to Racket, a bar near out work. There were lots of people there from Ortolana and a few from Rosie another restaurant owned by Hipgroup near out restaurant. Hung there for a bit and then a bunch of them went to the club. Because I had to get up early on Saturday to get coffee with Tom I didn't tag along on that. Instead, Julie and I and her roommates went to 1885 (a club/bar) for a drink before my next night bus which I ended up missing because I got the time wrong. I ended up having to wait 30 minutes at the bus stop for the 2am bus. Let just say I didn't get much sleep on Friday night and was thus quite tired on Saturday.

Saturday I met Tom and his 2 year old daughter Maggie for coffee at 9 am. It was very nice to see them and catch up. After coffee I had to rush home to get ready for work to get there by 12. I worked 10 hours on Saturday and I was exhausted when I got off. I went right home, went right to bed, and ended up sleeping about 11 hours. I sure needed that! I felt much better after that sleep.

Yesterday - Sunday - I had a shift in Milse, the dessert restaurant next to Ortolana also owned by the HIpgroup. For the first 3 hours I was on the cabinets boxing up food for the people and it was terrible. I'm never doing that again. At 5, however, I moved to tables and it was fun! Starting at 6 pm they do specialty desserts that are made to order by the chefs. We are supposed to focus on selling these and I did - and I did a great job. I sold 60 which is a record for Sunday night. I pretty much just didn't allow people to order cabinet food (with a few exceptions). But my plan worked great!! After work I was going to go out with my co-workers for a quick drink which turned into 4 hours out at the club! Out boss, Jonathan, was nominated for an award and the ceremony was last night. Marijke (Holland), Chantal (NZ), and I did not go tot he show since we were working but met up with them after at the after party and stayed out all night. I was quite proud of myself because I was able to make it the entire night without paying for a drink. This is very hard to do in NZ but I managed last night. This was also helpful since I have almost no money now from my car and have to take a taxi home since I can't walk to where I live. Soon, however, I'll be closer to the city and cabs will be cheaper and I won't have to worry so much about this expense.

I do alright with Taxis here though. In NZ you can bargain with the Taxi driver for a better fare off the meter, something we don't do in Mpls. I can usually find a taxi driver to take $15 cash for a ride home which is quite good to where I live since I think it runs about $21-22 on the meter. Did that last night, got home about 4 am, went to bed. I didn't sleep all that well but that's life I guess. Probably a 7 or 8 hour shift today. It's the Queen Birthday holiday here in NZ so time and a half today - nice! Maybe a drink or two after work again and then it's my day off tomorrow! Nice!!

Okay, that's all. I have to get up now, take a shower, rake the garden, and then get to work.

Best!