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Published: November 8th 2006
The Mousetrap
Notice the mouse on the roofIt all started when Jake (the owner/manager) of the Mousetrap asked me whether I was able to make beds...contrary to what my mom would say I have CHOSEN not to make my bed pretty much my whole life and am not unable to do so (of course I will deny any knowledge of know-how when I'm visiting home 😊) Startled I asked whether he meant putting on a bottom sheet and a top sheet and he said "yes, and putting on a duvet" - I was thinking "Duh" but said that I could...boy, I was WRONG!!! Turns out that there is an exact science to making a bed and that it takes longer than 30 seconds...it's all about tiiiiiggggghhhhhtttt bottom sheets and the top sheet and duvets have to overhang by exactly the same length else it just doesn't feel right...also the overhanging bits have to be between 4 and 6 inches (???? hellloooo metric system) and the pillows placed at a 45° angle...if I forget the exact dimensions I can always cross reference the LAMINATED instruction sheet...
The cool thing about Jake is that he knows he's pedantic and can happily joke about it...I guess as the owner/manager of
the backpackers he is allowed to have the beds made up however he wishes...
As one of 4 cleaners my job is to clean the dorm rooms (again tiiiiiggggghhhhhtttt bottom sheets)...I also get to clear the trash and separate the different colours of glass for recycling purposes - that baby is going on my CV!!! Then I get to don a spaceman outfit (the vaccum cleaner is the "strap-on backpack" kind) after which I mop all "surfaces" so that all the guests can leave their footprints all over MY nice clean floors...at least they have the courtesy to apologise 😉 Some days I get to clean kitchens and scrub toilets (yip Moeks, I know how to do these things to but again I will deny all knowledge in future) and I've also leant out of 3rd story windows to get them squeaky clean! The best job I've had so far was the day I got to babysit Pippiana (Jake and Nikki's 2 year old daughter) she is such a happy, adorable child and when I got told that looking after her was my task for the day I thought I had hit the jackpot...turns out looking after kids is
The Honesty Box
Shop attendants BEWARE: you can be replaced by a box hard work (who knew 😊) - I took her to the beach and we had so much fun but I was EXHAUSTED afterwards (was only 2 and a half hours)...hoping she slept well afterwards...I sure did!
At night I get rid of the spaceman outfit and head for the bistro attached to the local fishing club...there I get to run orders through the till, tell people what we do have in stock (at the moment that list is shorter than the one of stuff we're out of), make salads, entrees and desserts (always fun when you have no idea what they should look like, or contain, and the chef is too busy to show you), run the orders to the tables, clear plates, run to the supermarket to buy food we're out of, wash dishes and mop floors...in my spare time I enjoy reading and counting my split ends...my manager is a lovely man but not the world's best manager and so I'm in a bit of a tizz at the moment as I don't enjoy working for Paul the manager but don't want to let Paul the person down...for some reason he has decided to call me Sally
Ann (apparently all his waitresses get called that) - at first Char (the other chef) always corrected him, now she's calling me Sally Ann as well and then I got asked how people came up with Mez from Sally Ann...the bistro atmosphere is really laid back and the cool thing is that Paul encourages chatting to customers (when we are not busy) and so I get to find out all the good places people have been while holidaying in NZ. Turns out I am quite the linguist - all were truly impressed (or at least they should be) at the manner in which I explained to a French patron which fish he was eating...I simply pointed at my blue shirt and then my nose i.e. Bluenose, he made understanding noises (could be that he was simply telling his wife to smile and nod in French - which she then did). I haven't quite mastered the art of keeping all my fingers out of the food as I am carrying the plates up, but I'm getting quite good at disguising this 😊
Will be looking for another job soon as I am keen to stay in Paihia till just before
Parking Genius
Bumpers aren't actually touching... Christmas, but cleaning stops next week (already extended my stay by a week) and the waitressing isn't guaranteeing me a set number of hours. I told Paul that I would be looking for another job and he seemed suprised as he maintains that we will be run off our feet when summer comes...he's been promising me that "next week will be busy" ever since I started so I'm not holding my breath anymore.
Through waitresing I met an awesome South African girl (Marna) who has just immigrated with her British boyfriend...we get along famously and it's been awesome practising my Afrikaans while sampling NZ's finest wines (actually cheapest).
It's been so cool staying here for a while as you really get to know some awesome people...Yuma from Japan came to NZ to improve his English that was plan A, think plan B incorporates not going to a place occupied by German backpackers...he's very dedicated to practising pronunciation and I spent some time going over some tongue twisters with him...it really amazes me how different languages use different sounds and learning new/different ones are so hard (my German pronunciation is pretty shocking)...the phrase "high roller, low roller" created knots
in his tongue as he pronounces an "r" as an "l"...despite being a backpacker at the end of his budget he spent his money on smokes and beer when I suggested that he could make better buying decisions (food for instance) he explained that smoking and drinking is sociable and that by being sociable he was practising his english...creative...Magnus (guess the nationality) has been around for ages and was supposed to leave on Monday but has extended his stay each day as people keep organzing activities that he wants to do...he has the smallest handwriting known to man and insists that it is beneficial as his diary can be expanded very cheaply...not sure whether benefits outweigh costs as he will need to buy a microscope to read it...Julia drove us to Keri-Keri one day as we were looking for a specific CD, the girl behind the counter could tell us that they had one copy but couldn't tell us where it was so Julia, Magnus and I spent an hour going through every rack trying to locate the CD - we didn't and so returned home disheartened...that evening Magnus asked me what the name of the CD was that we
BBQ Chicks
As usual the girls end up doing ALL the work ;)
(Hannah, Jana & Sandra - all from Germany) were looking for...we are still wondering whether the CD actually wasn't on the rack or whether he simply didn't know what we were looking for 😉...Alex is one of my roomies and has been in Paihia forever...he bought a van in Auckland for $1800 and has since spent over $4000 on repairs...any suggestions of cutting his losses and selling the van are not appreciated-he really loves the van...he works at the supermarket and drives to work (when the van is working) - a full 800m away...Lea, another roommate, is just lovely so are Jana and Jess (from Hong Kong) the other cleaners. We've had a few weird guests the highlight being a German woman who kept speaking German to me (despite my warped pronunciation of my only sentence "Kein Deutsch bitte") and who seems to think that all backpackers exist solely to assist her...she required biscuits to be provided, WWOOFING farms to be organized and wanted to go on a trip to Cape Reinga but was adamant that she only wanted to do sandboarding and none of the other parts that ALL of the tour companies include in their trips...she was adamant that she only wanted to sandboard and so
Golfing Gals
Janina, Jana & Lea - all from Germany in the end it was suggested that she go with one of the tour operators and stay on the bus until the sandboarding part was reached...sigh, hard work! In the mix as well are Amy & Jess (2 American girls) who are awesome and Johannes, Barbara & Janina (again all German and all so nice) who make up the crowd...obviously people come and go all the time but the above have been around for prettty much my whole stay...a great tradition is the pot luck lunch which occurs whenever enough people are around...everyone chucks in a few ingredients and we end up with awesome meals...occassionally we upgrade this to a BBQ but as no one can afford meat we all end up bringing salad and sitting outside so no difference really...great for the vegetarians!
Been reading a lot and have been flying through books...am well acquainted with the book exchange store just down the road...when not reading/working/having lunch we go shopping (Paihia has 3 souvenir stores AND an ice cream shop). Actually we just kind of come up with plans spontaneously...been to play mini golf (awesome awesome course), gone to some hot springs, running, walking, playing a bowling sort
Strategy Seminar
Janina, Lea, Jana & Magnus - guess which country they're from ;) of game and watching the full moon over the bay from a spot on hill.
Paihia is one of the stopover places for a bunch of cruiseliners and on one day when the ship was in the bay we were shopping for a birthday present for Pippiana...we were in a souvenir shop which was crawling with passengers and Magnus made some comment to the shopkeeper about all the tourists...he was there with a Japanese, a South African and another German none of whom speak without accent - it was hilarious!!!
All in all I loooove living at the Mousetrap...the people are awesome and the building is just so cosy...feels like home!
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Saranne
non-member comment
Glad to see you smiling!
Hey Nimsie! Lol! sounds like you're having a FANTASTIC time and its just getting better and better...Thinking of you - have a great rest of week. Love reading about your travels so don't stop writting! Love Ya!