Alright, where do I begin! Things have been horrible and amazing all at once, haha. I feel like I have thrown myself into an intense (both good and bad...) emotional roller coaster, filled with high-highs and low-lows. The bad with the good, its amazing and I am glad I have taken the plunge to go and experience life!
Early in the week when I started working, things were really hard. I definitely was not used to such manual labor in a non-air conditioned hot hostel with no friends to share in the experience. I worked hard, sweat a lot, then didn't have much to do with my time in the evenings other than to walk around alone and sleep a lot to catch up on jet lag. I was going through some serious doubts earlier this week, feeling lonely amongst thousands of people. I even had a 'cry yourself to sleep' moment thinking about what am I doing and why do I feel so lonely when surrounded by this many people? (Perhaps lying in an 'emergency' bed in the middle of a huge dorm hostel didn't help either...)
The plus side to all of this, is that I quickly came to realize how important it sometimes is to question things and feel lonely, thus you can appreciate when things go well and you begin to make new friends! Wednesday I finally got my own official bed (pictured here!)
which doesn't look like much; but its MY nook. Its where I will be for the next month, and I love it. Its not in the middle of the room, it doesn't sink down in the middle, and since I'm the bed maker, I have extra sheets and pillowcases for my own comfort :)
Since then, things have really been looking up; the cleaning team is a team of 3; I arrived and started working Monday, and the other two cleaners left Thursday, which made me the veteran! My two new cleaning buddies are Nohossat from Paris, France, and Ceilya from Spain. They are both great people, and we work really well as a team! Nohossat is assigned in bathrooms and she doesn't really want to do beds (which is awesome, because I don't want to do bathrooms!!) and Ceilya and I are on beds/rooms. I currently work on the girls floor, so what happens is every morning from 10-10:30 we do morning charge, which right now I'm doing outside (I sweep up cigarette butts & change the garbage both out front of the hostel and out back on the patio). Then from 10:30-11:00 we have Bible Devotion - interesting; the Cleaning Supervisor generally comes with a topic; reads from the bible, etc. and we have a short discussion. The best part, is that Nohossat, Ceilya and I have all never read the bible....haha, SHHHH!!!! :)
Then after that, from 11:00-1:30pm we do our main chores. Today was a SUPER busy day; we had to change 70 beds in total (WHICH IS A LOT!!) and I did 30 on my own, which my supervisor said he's never seen before, so that's pretty awesome :) After we finish beds, we have to clean sink/mirrors, change trash, vacuum and mop each room (7 rooms on each floor). I am actually growing to kind of like doing the work; it really makes me appreciate the housing and food that I am given; I definitely earn it! After that we have lunch from 1:30-2:00pm, then from 2:00-3:00pm we do afternoon charge, which right now Ceilya and I are on cafe, so we stack chairs, vacuum and mop, and we generally get done before 2:30 and are done for the day, which is nice!
Then after that, SHOWER TIME! (which is a VERY satisfying moment!) and depending on the day, I either go hang out with Nohossat in the afternoons, or I will also be beginning my promoting job (Starts tomorrow, yay!) so I'll be doing that some days for a few hours after cleaning to earn some cold hard CASH!! :) My boss at Boom Chicago is really cool, his name is Jesse, he's from California and he's lived in Amsterdam for 2 years now; he gave me free tickets to the show the other night so that I would know what I was promoting, it was super funny, improv comedy, very similar to the show 'Who's Line is it Anyway?' except live. I get to go for free which is awesome, because they have two main 'themes' for their shows going this month, so I want to go check out the other one hopefully tomorrow night.
Other than that, its the people I'm meeting that are really making this trip so amazing. Nohossat is a ton of fun; she's excited to continue working on her English in hanging with me, which is great because I don't speak ANY French!! Last night, we met an English guy, Laimen, and hung out with him the whole night. We had a blast; explored tons of the city, had really good and interesting conversations, and best of all, I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time!! Its so neat to think we are three people who have just met, yet we are hanging out and it feels like we've known eachother forever. An American Girl, a French Girl, and a British Guy, like three peas in a pod! New friends and connections for future travels, no doubt!
I've been contemplating my next move lately as well. Yes, it SEEMS early in my month still, but with how fast this week has already flown by, I don't want the end of my stay to come as a surprise! I'm looking at a few options; as of now, I don't have any major plans until about the 14th of August when I go to Sweden to meet up with my friend Christina, and then on the 16th we go to the Greek Islands for a week! BUT...that means I have about two-and-a-half weeks to figure out what to do! I'm contemplating Lisbon, Portugal (a few people mentioned a cool hostel to work at) or maybe someplace in Germany to polish up on my German; perhaps Hamburg or another city I haven't been to yet! The world is full of opportunity, so its up to me to decide where I desire to go to next! :)
Anyway, until next time, much love!
-Casie
