day in the life of...

This blog will be a tad bit longer, so maybe read it when you have time or read it in chapters but after today, Monday the 20th of September, I thought I should maybe give you a REAL look into the life of…. So…

MONDAY, 20 September

Today I was on a lunch dinner shift, so 11:30 – 15:00…might I just add here, at this point…THIS was the most DISGUSTING shift of my life… as I sweated a good and solid 2 litres from my back, which as I have mentioned before accumulated on the top of my ass… pictures to follow…. The pants are in fact NOT two-toned…YES friends the top dark colour is WET…sweat…. But we laughed it off. 30 guests in house for lunch as the other 12 were out diving all day. 2 servers one barman and our manager. 30 guests sit at once. SLAMMED. This was fun in its own way though.

The difference in the day was that I actually woke up at 09:00 and swam a few laps in the ocean. Endorphins make people happy and happy people are well…happy…. And full of energy I was laughing so much today even though I was DRENCHED in my own sweat. Dear diary…today was fun.

Ok so I am now in my room in my PJs after night service, it is now 02:15 and I clocked out at 23:45, after which we had a few, 3 beers. Tonight, is a night I chose not to remember as I lost all dignity and femininity… tonight…I sweated triple as much as this afternoon my ass was so soaking wet I actually didn’t know what to do, to the point where after service my body was still so hot that the sweat stains just kept on running to my knees… I heard the comment tonight ‘ilse, how did your pants get so wet? ‘ ‘Chris…I don’t want to talk about it right now k….’ today I felt violated… its harsh but I got violated TWICE today where EVERYTHING was just drained out of me… EVERYthing but I feel good because I know I worked, who needs exercise, I’m pretty sure I lost AT LEAST 5 kgs today ;-)

TUESDAY…, 21 September

Today I worked the same shift, i.e lunch and dinner… Prepared, I took a long an EXTRA pair of shorts… from 11:3- - 13:30 I wore one pair and then (overdue though) changed them for the next hour and they were still a little wet. After work ran home jumped into my cossie and I and my bathroom buddy ran to the beach where we just swam hung out and lay in the sun for a few moments before getting MUNCHED by sand flies. **back to work*** ONE pair of pants, tonight…

Tonight I was the food runner, and I absolutely hated it, indeed the chefs and many of the men we work with were rather more crude and chauvinistic than usual, with a new chef in house and a bunch of old staff, younger chefs, with different levels of skill, tonight was not fun at all. Maybe I am tired.

WEDNESDAY , 22 September.

DAY OFF! Lucky me and a friend booked ourselves on the dive boat for today, full day outer reef. 2 dives and a buffet lunch. About an hours drive (by boat) from the island we reach one of the world’s top 10 dive sites ‘the cod hole’. We are to tag at the back, being staff and we get to be on our own mission, being a rescue and an advanced diver. We see a white tip reef shark and many more beautiful things. The thing about diving here is WAY more than the fish and things you see but the absolute beauty of the whole experience, about the coral and the absolute beautiful clarity of the water. I have never seen such stunning sparkling blue water. After we get back on the boat we drive a fair 5 or 10 minutes to the next reef…. ‘No name’ WOW…what a stunning place. We have lunch here, prawns, chicken, salad, rolls, etc etc. wonderful. DIVE….STUNNING…wow… definitely one of the most beautiful sites I have been to. Just stunning- and the visibility was quite murky at least a 15 metres or so, but the large schools of fish and the LIFE down there was just beautiful, the wall just drops down to about 40 metres or so but we stayed up at about 14… one more time STUNNING.

After the second dive, cookies and fruit and we head back. As we pull in the bay we feed the hugest Queensland groper I have ever seen in m life, this fish is the size of a small mini car… I KIDYOU NOT it could swallow a baby child!!! From the boat we jump into the side of the restaurant as we are JUST in time for the wine tasting / education. After which I go home, shower get dressed go eat and then head over to the social club where tonight is ‘movie night’ and screening ANCHORMAN..' you ate a WHOLE wheel of cheese...??? i'm not even angry...i'm AMAZED!'

Day awesome, done.

THURSDAY, 23 September.

After a day off and a bunch of unhappy and bitchy people it’s kind of hard to get all pumped about work… anyway, woke up at 10:30, went for ‘lunch’ at 11 and then jumped on the paddle skis and went to the bay next door where we just tanned and cleared our heads…. I was on set-up shift; 14:30-17:30 and dinner shift 18:00-00:00. Smashed it! ‘A quick game is a good game’ but I need to get up early tomorrow because I am kind of feeling over it right now… MONOTOMY is a curse….

FRIDAY, 24 September

This morning I woke up, had a little cereal, then slathered my body with oil, put on a frock, book in hand IPod in ears, BEACH TIME. Tanned for an hour back home, ilse-time. 14:30 start, set-up – cruisey. For dinner service I was a floater ad served the degustation menu on the beach, 60 odd guests at once…CRUISEY, GOOO team! Had a drink after work ‘debriefing’. When I got home I heard loud noises and laughing from balcony, BOOM, party-now! ‘ILSE!! We waited up for you!!! ‘So we drank and danced and laughed, let’s just say I’m very glad I only arrived after 12. After it died we ran over to the chef’s place where they were chilling and just hung out there for an hour or so and had a laugh. To bed.

SATURDAY, 25 September

Besides going to bed at 3am I was up at 8am, did some washing went up to the staff mass and played around on the net, (need to start planning the next move) anywho, came back down to the Bronx, put my washing in the dryer, got my cozzie and goggles, went for a quick swim, surrounded by a school of tiny fishies and then bigger ones, AWESOMENESS. Had a shower, me and my balcony mate tried making French toast but then heard the rumours about the pizza in the mess and I went to go collect to containers full. Now we are hanging in our hammocks, pizza in one hand and water in the other, she is passed out cold and I am working at 14:30.

Work = shitty. Today was my official three months on the island.

SUNDAY, 26 September

Woke up this morning had a coffee, in my hammock chilled out with my balcony buddy and fellow neighbour, went up to the mess and spoke to my mom, sushi for lunch today. Came back and went for a walk to the mangrove beach, down the airstrip, we couldn’t do too much as it’s been raining. But we sat on the beach and watched one of the other staff members kite surfing. We sat we chatted geared the stalker seagulls, and well just relaxed. It started raining and we just sat. Bliss. After an hour we tracked back and 14:30 I was at work. Pretty cruisey night at work, 66 covers. Usual pain of after service set up where everyone seems to disappear, well all the ‘chiefs’ leaving the measly Indians to do everything – anyway let’s not get into that…been pretty ‘good’ at not staying at work too long after work, drinking etc. one beer and bed and I think my body is loving it!