a bit.....homesick?

Jen - (written 2 days ago but the internet has been crap lately):

Yesterday was the first day EVER (in my life) that I’ve been really homesick. Liz and I had a bit of a crappy day. We woke up, cleaned here at the hostel, had tea, and then went to clean at the 5 star hotel down the road. Cleaning at the hostel is always fine; yes, we have to clean, but the music is on, we’re with our friends, and we’re cleaning the bathrooms and kitchens that we also use. So it’s really not that bad at all. Plus, afterwards, we always have tea and biscuits with the owner, Jack.

But spring cleaning at the hotel is HORRIBLE. Liz told you how we spent almost 3 HOURS cleaning one kitchen. Yesterday, we spent ANOTHER 3 hours washing walls and vacuuming the carpets. And because this was spring cleaning, we even had to {gulp} clean the part of the toilet where the hinges of the seat are. DISGUSTING. Luckily for me, Liz took one for the team and cleaned it while I was vacuuming.

The hotel is owned by a couple. The husband is so nice. He was practically apologetic about us having to spring clean and he would come in from time to time to chat. When we were finished, the wife came in and without saying ANYTHING about the good job we had done, she just told us that we missed this one thing. And then left again. And we had spent HOURS on this. And yes, yes, I KNOW my room at home is always a disaster. But Liz and I have pretty good work ethics and if our job is to clean something, we CLEAN it. This place was SPOTLESS.

And so we left just kind of feeling down and crappy. And then when we got back, I went over to the hotel next door with a few friends (Liz had to work) to help them unload the bags from a tour bus and put them into the hotel rooms.  This is awesome, because for a half hour of work, we get a free $30 buffet dinner at the hotel. AND THE FOOD IS SO GOOD.

But all of our jobs are serving jobs. Whether it’s cleaning here at the hostel, spring cleaning at the hotel, carrying bags, or even waitressing at the restaurant, we’re always catering to other people. Being the bottom of the chain. And after a bit, it’s just kind of demeaning. It makes you feel low and kind of worthless.

The weather was quite crappy yesterday as well: COLD and rainy. And after carrying bags I made a skype call to Colin in the US which just made me miss my life at home even MORE.

So what did I do? I went to the buffet and promptly ate 4 bowls of ice cream. AHA! (Don’t worry – I haven’t eaten ice cream at ALL since I’ve been here!)

At the buffet, there was an older gentleman staying at the hotel who couldn’t speak English. He was trying to convey to the waitstaff that he only wanted a plate of macaroni and cheese. None of them spoke Spanish.  Luckily our friend Fio is from Peru. She jumped up and acted as a translator for the man, who was from Argentina on holiday.

It was great. The older gentleman asked if he could join our table and for the rest of the meal, there was nothing but Spanish back and forth, SO FAST, at our table. The German girl and I sat there amused, putting in what little we could. 

And later, when Liz got back, we joined the two new Scottish guys who recently joined our cleaning team at the hostel. These two guys are HILARIOUS.  They remind me of little brothers. One is 19, born in Ireland to an Irish mother and an English father and then raised in Scotland. The other, 20, was born and raised in Scotland.

Let me replay part of our conversation:

Louis (the 19 yr old): Wouuld yew tew like sum sewp?
Liz: Um, sure! What kind of soup?
Louis [proudly]: We made it!
Jen: What’s in it?
Louis: Tatties, nee-
Liz: Wait, “tatties?”
Louis: Yes, tatties.
Jen: What are tatties?
Louis: Yew don’t knoh whaht tatties ahre?!
Jamie: “Lewwis, thehy’re fhrom Amerrrrica! They don’t know how to speek English!
Louis: Tatties. Tatties. Like. Taters.
Jen: Taters. Ohhh, potTAToes! Wait, “tatties” are potatoes?!
Jamie (amusedly exhasperated): YESSS!
Louis: So, in dah sewp, weh’ve goht tatties, neeps, chic-
Liz: Wait, neeps?
Louis: Yes, neeps!
Jen: What are neeps?
Louis: Neeps! Like, sweeds!
Liz: Sweeds?! What are sweeds?!
Jamie: Whaaawt?! Yew two hahv nehver heard of sweeds?!
Liz: No! We’ve never heard of sweeds! Or neeps!
Louis: Jaihhmie, goh on. Show ‘em a sweed.
[Jaime going to the fridge to pull out a rutabega like vegetable.]
Louis: Soh, hahve yew tew eveher ‘eard ohf hagus and neeps and tatties?
Jen: We’ve heard of haggiss, yea.
Liz: Isn’t hagus sheep bladder?
Louis: Welllll, most people think thaht it’s juhst the bladder, but it’s the intestins tew!

The rest of the night continued in similar fashion. The boys had us rolling with stories of the stupidity of sheep (one of the boy’s father owns a sheep farm) and pranks played on unsuspecting school teachers.  The f-word also was used about every other sentence, making all of the stories for some reason even funnier.

We learned a lot about Scottish pride, that the Scottish invented golf, and that Irish whiskey is shit and not real whiskey. 

After a while talking with Liz and our Scottish cleaning mates for a while, I went to bed much happier. And then Liz and I woke up and went for a hike in the rain, finding a clementine tree (the clemintines were so good and so little!) and some CRAZY birds. 

Liz has also been feeling a bit homesick. At home, even if our jobs aren’t the greatest, we still are always surrounded by our families and friends. Here….the jobs aren’t the greatest….and we’re not surrounded by all of our friends and family.

Don’t get me wrong, though!  We are having a great time. It’s absolutely beautiful and more people from all over the world are coming into town every day. The restaurant work great. Plus, Liz and I both have each other. : ) AND WE’RE QUITTING THE HOTEL CLEANING IN 1.5 WEEKS! Thank. God. I think sometimes we each get a bit overwhelmed when we think about actually living here...and the fact that we're not just on vacation.

But then we pull ourselves together and say, “Ok! We’re fine!” And then we go out and do enjoy New Zealand.

Miss you all!