Raindrops ...

You never know what the day may bring. As I was leaving for work this morning, right after I had left the house and walked about a block, it started to rain. A very nice, light rain on a warm day. It’s getting to be fall here now and NZ has lots of rain in the fall and winter. As I had just left, I thought dubiously about whether or not to return to grab my umbrella. Thankfully, I returned, grabbed it, and kept on moving towards work. Of course, the sky opened up and poured. The strong winds blew and I just laughed as my legs got soaked. It was a wonderfully quick storm. It was intense and fierce with gusts of wind really pushing all the water around. It was just long enough to last most of my walk to work. There remain some clouds in the sky, but I’ve also seen quite a bit of sun today. Luckily I was wearing my teva sandals and a skirt, so most of the damage wasn’t too bad. In addition, we have a uniform to wear at work, so I changed as soon as I got here and my hair has eventually dried.

Until Friday of this week, I’m staying with a very nice lady named Alison. She’s a graphic designer, has a lovely house that is 15 minutes from work, and is renting me her “sleepout.” Unfortunately, it’s only available for 3 weeks – as much as I love the place and could see myself staying with her until I leave the island. To give you an idea, check out the album.

Alison's Sleep Out

The great news is that I’ve found a place for the longer run. I have to give them 2 weeks notice before I leave, but otherwise it’s a pretty flexible arrangement. It’s a bit far from work (probably a good 40 minute walk one-way) but it is in a decent enough spot. It has the basics – a bathroom, bed, table and chairs, kitchen & laundry access. Its certainly nothing flashy, but I don’t need that anyway. The couple that own the house (Paul & Claire) run a bed and breakfast out of the place during the peak season (roughly October – April). They take a “flatmate” during the winter and they have a sleep out off the side. I’ve rented the sleep out off the side of the house. I move in on Friday. Yippie!! It’s so exciting to be settling into a place.

I’m learning just about everything at Cable Bay. I’ve been trained up in the restaurant so that I can help out when needed or if they get a big rush. I’m just this week learning the ways of the “wine celler” or the wine tasting room. I’ll be a regular in there on Mondays and Tuesdays because they generally are very slow and only have a few people coming in and the lady they had working in there just quit. I’m also helping to take the inventory and doing all the group functions. So I have quite a bit to do and I get to do different things all the time. It is very enjoyable. Most of my co-workers are quite friendly. Some of them commute from Auckland city, but most generally live on the island. I have Friday and Saturdays off for my “weekend” but most people work here on those days. I’m still on the hunt making friends as I go. All is well so far.

Our big grand opening is on Thursday night. I am somewhat excited. It shall be a very big and important party to get us started. Yet, I’m working the party so I’m not really sure how much fun that’s going to be….