Strahan Madness

 My second arrival in Strahan brought confusion right from the start, I just didn’t know it yet. Before I left Tasmania to pick up my luggage, the manager Suzanne rang me and said I would start working at View 42 on the 28th (a few hours prior Kate called me to tell me I would start working but she said it would be Hamer’s). When I got here Nadja briefly said “I think you will start earlier”, but neither of us knew specifics because my contract hadn’t been sent to me yet. At some point Kana, who works up at View, told me that I was already on the roster and set up to start work three days before the date I was expecting. Of course I was excited about that but I was also confused. I had no official accommodation assigned to me yet nor my contract (I learned today that both come with each other). Anyhow because of this reason I went down to the reception today to enquire about accommodation, contract and uniform. Suzanne wasn’t in town but luckily we could reach her on her cell phone and I asked wether I could stay in the detached room next to the house Nadja lives in. With her it was no problem but she made sure I really understood that I did not have bathroom or kitchen attached to that room and that I would always have to traverse into the main house, which I already knew. I don’t mind it because I obviously know Nadja and like Mai and Jenita, the other flatmates, a lot too. So that was settled. Since Suzanne obviously wasn’t in town I asked her when we could take care of the contract because I was scheduled to work tomorrow. Good thing I did, because then the chaos broke out. Suzanne said that I was never supposed to start before the 28th and that I couldn’t work until I had the contract. She said she would have linen brought up to the room and call Adam about the roster.

Okay, I was taken and figured I should best go up to View and tell Dee, the manager of the restaurant, that I couldn’t work. At first she snapped at me saying “Suzanne said to put you on the roster and that’s what I did.” I wasn’t sure what to do and was lost for words but then she said it wasn’t my fault. Although she scared me a little with her first reaction I found her pretty nice after that. She was pleased with my English and polite speaking and said she wanted me to work before James left, so he could train me a little. Monday, when I am supposed to start, is a public holiday and will therefore be very busy and so she wanted to have the contract fast tracked and called Adam. From her voice and tone I knew something worrisome had come up and was so nervous that they wouldn’t give me the job anymore. After she asked if I had been staying on federal property and I said, yes sure, I was staying at Nadja’s place. According to Dee “they found out” and wanted me to pay rent. I was confused even more because when I stayed with Nadja during the week prior Susanne knew I was staying there and didn’t care. Luckily it didn’t bother Dee and after I mentioned that I was in Melbourne in between my stay she said it shouldn’t be a problem then.

So I went to my third stop which was Adam. After a short wait he asked me in and I was happy that I had already met him at the pub and knew him a little. In the beginning we talked about the contract and he said he was sorry about the confusion and that they would set it up as soon as possible. Then I would have to come in for wifi and fill it all out with my details and so on. If I am lucky I can start tomorrow although it doesn’t look like it. Adam then asked where I had been staying and I said with Nadja. He explained that she was supposed to let them know I was there in the case of say a fire, so they know how many bodies they are looking for. He didn’t say anything about having to pay rent although I wouldn’t mind paying some. It really isn’t much compared to hostel prices. After chatting a while with him about other stuff I came back to put a dress on because it is an unexpectedly warm 21 degrees outside.

The location of the house is really nice and I am excited that Suzanne agreed for me to move in there. All the other houses I have been too look much nicer though and this one isn’t very well equipped. We have, how many cups? Maybe just four? While I know other places have way too many and even two fridges! Cupboard and fridge space is very sparse and all my stuff is crammed into a tiny cupboard at the moment. My room actually consists of three rooms. One with a bed, one with a TV but no chair and one with desk (no chair) and closet. I don’t know what to do with so much space and would prefer a little fridge over the TV but I still like it. 

Something for the eyes: Photos from our trip to Burnie yesterday. Credits for the Tshirt go to Anthony from France :*

Apart from this job terror life here is pretty relaxed.

Watching out for snakes while making our way to Neckisland is kind of like this:

Reon: “Yeah, yeah, I’ll just make noise while I walk.”

Otherwise people take night trips to the beach, though i decide against going yesterday, and everyone invites everyone to everything. Therefore I hope I will soon learn to cook Korean style with two guys from Southkorea. Once I work at the View I will apparently be able to take food home from the buffet after work but I am excited for cooking as well.

We drove up to Devonport yesterday and Nadja and I did a huge shop with veggies, dairy products, carb supplies, fruit, baking ingredients and so on. We bought everything and got excited about the specials. You see, Strahan only has a small super expensive IGA. I am hoping to bake brownies and hefezopf soon and make delicious lasagna with Nadja. I also can’t wait to have my own closet again and my own space. What luxury!

I hope I can keep you up to date with things. I myself have no idea what to expect from the next months and hope I will get the hang of my job soon, because at the moment I am frankly scared to mess up. 

Talk to you soon with hopefully exciting news,

Skipper