*Remember click on pics to see them larger*
So after saying Goodbye to everyone at the hostel and apologizing for my tears I hoofed it back to the train station and by hoofed it I mean ran. Mama was talking to me about what happened and wanted to make me sandwiches so I was held up a bit. I made it with 3 minutes to spare (scary!) and sat back and tried to relax. I realized that I was supposed to go through the city of Faro but I knew I wasn’t and I hoped that Frank, my soon to be boss would still be waiting for me in Santa Clara. I got off the train in some tiny, tiny town and used Caitlyn’s money for a little snack (thank God for her!) My train left an hour later and it was a beautiful landscape the whole way. It was filled with rolling hills and cork trees, which is a big but dying industry here. Only buy wine with cork tops- you’ll be employing people and using natural resources!!
Anyway, when the station pulled into Santa Clara a small white house was the only thing in site. I crossed the tracks and saw a familiar face, it was Frank. His red hair stuck out, he smiled and said in an English accent, “Hi, I’m Frank how’s it going?” I said, “ok and thanks for waiting as I was a bit late. He put my bag full of dirty clothes in the back of his truck and we zoomed off. He said he had just picked up a box for me at the post office and that he needed to stop in town really quick. He pulled up next to a quaint white building and I looked around. I could see a fruit store, a general store in addition to the one Frank was in, another small store with a few cork products in it and a very small church. This was Santa Clara, the only town within 20 minutes of the Quinta. Oh my God I thought, but perhaps we have a lot of neighbors. The last 10 minutes of the drive was on narrow dirt roads and Frank was driving fast.
No one was around so it didn’t matter. When I arrived to the Quinta Frank brought me to my room. It was one of the guest rooms. He said I’d be staying here for the night and then if it was ok with me, moving in with another work exchanger, Matt. I said that was fine. I was hoping it really was fine… I hadn’t met him yet and it sort of depended. I set my bag down and Frank gave me a very quick tour and brought me inside the kitchen to meet Matt and Belinda (2 workers my age). They were very nice and I instantly knew it would be fine to share a room with Matt. He is 19 and originally from Boston but had been going to college in NY before he came. Belinda is from Australia and has been the assistant cook to Frank’s wife Daniela. Matt does more of the man jobs I’m told.
I meet Daniela and she doesn’t seem too excited to meet me but she’s in the middle of making dinner and Frank says she takes some time to warm up to people. She is Austrian and she speaks German, English and Portuguese… impressive… and actually her 3 kids speak all 3 languages as well, including her 6 year old Carolina. She is the only one I have met so far, as the other kids are in France. The Quinta is different than I pictured it. First of all, there is no one even remotely close to us. I can see a small Inn across the lake but to get there you must go by boat and even then they don’t really have a bar. It is so deserted that most everyone who comes are couples seeking some alone time… so I don’t see myself hanging out with any guests. Let alone that a lot of them are Spanish or Portuguese. I learn quickly that Belinda does the cooking when Daniela is away and that Belinda is leaving in one week…which has now come and gone! L She was so sweet. She drew portraits of everyone, even me and gave us all letters. She was in the same boat as me only knowing English and a little Spanish. I add 2 and 2 together and realize that I will be cooking gourmet food for guests. This is scary because not only would it be stressful to cook for 15 or so people but the ingredients are in Portuguese. This will be a funny story when I’m old. Guests pay almost 25 euro for dinner here… that is like $35 American! I’m already learning so much about cooking and if it weren’t for being terrified of really messing up I would be totally excited about this opportunity. Belinda was always in the kitchen with her laptop reading recipes though so I can do that. I think.
Although, I’ll have to think up 3 to 4 course meals. I’m sure once I get more comfortable with Daniela and her with me the pressure won’t be so bad. Actually, they are going away for 2 days soon and I will have to cook everything with Matt helping me. I will make sure to have the recipes ready! He’s not much of a cook but he’s a good server and has been here for 2 months so he knows exactly how to run the place. I’ve got the bar tending down and the booking system but I need to know Portuguese to be of any help on the phone. Luckily Matt has family in Portugal and has been around Portuguese since he was young. He understood it when he arrived but now he can speak it quite well. I’m very impressed with him. He draws well, he reads during his breaks, he works hard, he plays the guitar, he speaks Portuguese, he makes bracelets and he’s only 19. He is young but he seems old. It’s comfortable sharing a room with him. Sometimes we hang out and sometimes we do our own thing during our breaks from 3-6.
Belinda left today which was really sad. I really liked her and it was nice having a girl around that was my age. Now I only have Matt and Daniela’s young kids once they come back to start school… and actually there are 5 dogs here. I am allergic but the company is worth my crazy sore throats and stuffy nose. So the dogs are all so different. I don’t know the types but I’ll take pictures with Matt’s camera soon. Their names are honey, sideways (because he always walks sideways and makes you fall), Mike Tilla (named after a war vet), Pesca (Portuguese for bird I think) and my personal swim partner, Molly.
So the work here is varied. Frank always starts people off with a long tedious task so test them. Belinda had to tile the kitchen, Matt had to move a bunch of wood piles and I had to transfer 1,500 written emails into an excel database, add them to his established email contact list and then organize them into a Portuguese and English speaking list. I researched email marketing companies because Frank wanted me to send 10,000 emails 20 at a time so as to not get sent to the spam folder and I thought that was unrealistic to do in a week. He hired someone so YAY! My tedious task won’t be as long! I still have to separate the group into languages… is there an easy way to do this in excel?! I will find out- 10,000 is a lot.
Today is Friday and each week I will have Thursday and Friday off. Saturday-Wednesday I work 7:45am-3pm and then again from 6pm-10pm, that is about 11 hours a day. I wake up at 730, roll out of bed, put a dress on and head to the kitchen. I put silverware, plates, bowls, cereal, croissants and coffee and tea out for the guests and juice oranges for yummy fresh juice. After that I can eat with Matt, Fatima (the cleaning lady) and Dulce (the gardener). Fatima and Dulce are both amazing women who only speak Portuguese. I think Fatima understands me a bit. I told her my throat hurts and she made me the most amazing honey lemon tea. I want to learn Portuguese because I hate being limited in my conversation with them.
So after breakfast, Belinda goes off to do a lot of laundry and help Fatima, Matt builds rock walls and fixes roofs and I work on my tedious email list until lunch at 2. We all help serve lunch, eat ourselves and then usually get a break from 3pm until we have to set up for dinner at 6pm. During our break we can do whatever we want. It’s still hot out so I always go swimming and usually take the kayak or surfboard out for a paddle. I also like to fit in a few pages from one of the books I brought. I just finished my final day off until Thursday and I spent it sleeping on the dock, reading and getting sun burnt. It was great. Even though we have days off, we still help out. Frank and Daniela rarely get a day off so the atmosphere is such that we want to help. That being said I slept til 10am today and aside from talking with Frank about the email job and learning the booking system I didn’t help out until dinner time. I helped serve food and clean up. I have been dying to catch my blog up and I’m excited that it’s finally happening. Now that Belinda is gone I will assist Daniela by making dessert and or the appetizer and help her plan a meal and Matt will set up the intricate table, steam the silverware and glasses, make flower arrangements, slice butter and pick flowers to decorate it with, get the water pitchers ready, choose music and we will both take turns running the sprinklers.
It is very dry here so every night at 8pm we have to start 6 sprinklers; which are quite far apart and then shut them off at 845pm and then start sprinklers 7-12 and run them until 930pm. I’ve been doing it a week and still need a map and still get soaked. A lot of them go around in circles and you really have to run fast and know the land in order to stay dry. Matt has been here 2 months and he still comes back wet so I don’t feel bad. He runs through the bushes but I did the flower arrangements the other day and noticed the huge spiders so I stick to the rock paths… which makes it nearly impossible to stay dry. Anyway, dinner is served when the gong is rung, around 8-830. We serve bread and butter and the “entrada” (entrée in English) which is confusing because to us, the entrée is the main course. In Portugal, the entrée means appetizer. After the appetizer comes the ___ followed by the pudding, which is dessert to us. After dessert we pick fresh mint from the garden and make fresh mint tea which is so good after a long days work. We clean up the kitchen and Matt (and Belinda until tonight L ) head to the area known as the kid’s room to relax with our mint tea and watch television from England. We only get like 3 channels but even that is a welcome treat. Matt and I both fall asleep within an hour of watching and eventually make it to our room.
After my emailing job, which sort of blows since I’m inside all of the time I will have a few roofing jobs and some rock wall jobs. Matt and I will likely work together on these ones so that will be a nice change. I really like learning new things so I am happy that the work is varied. I haven’t spent a lot of time in the garden but Dulce will be off soon so I will be tending it a lot more. We get a lot of the food from the garden but Daniela is from Austria. The cuisine here is certainly international and heavier than I thought it would be. For breakfast we eat toast with butter or jam, lunch is buffet style with multiple veggie salads (like shredded carrots with apple, cucumbers with tomato and onion and tuna salad with olives and main things like Shepard’s pie or pizza… both made gourmet style (with lots of goat’s cheese and rich things like that). I’ve had a tummy ache nearly everyday but I haven’t stuck to my lactose free diet either. I didn’t want to make a fuss about anything so they don’t know that I need to eat lactose free or that I am allergic to dogs. I’m getting more comfortable so I’ll mention it at some point! Oh and I’m allergic to Tide and that’s what they use to laundry detergent… you should see my poor rashes lol! It’s funny at this point. I feel like I’m always telling Matt about some new problem! What can I say I am a sensitive girl!!
Anyway it’s 1am and I have finally gotten a lot of things out and I’m happy about it. The internet is really touchy here which means no skype or gmail video chats! L That is a huge bummer but I am happy that there is at least internet sometimes! I hope you are all doing well and I will try to give updates more often! Love you all. P.S. They call me “Mel,” short for Melissa but also in Portuguese it means “honey”… sweet huh
No comments:
Post a Comment