Life Lessons Learned Through Waitressing

After having worked at Nuvolari for a decent amount of time now, I have collected some interesting life lessons that I’ve learned about myself and others. I thought I might share a few with you.

• Apparently, people will stop at nothing to score a free meal. They will even claim physical disabilities like blindness and deafness to avoid paying. Shame on them!
• Americans are the most demanding customers and the worst when it comes to treating wait staff with respect. And yes, despite being an American myself, I can honestly say I hated it when Americans were in my section. Give me a group of non-English speaking people any day.
• Speaking of groups, when dealing with more than eight people who would like to pay separately, it’s important to confirm their orders more than once and assign a name to each dish. It’s inevitable that some idiot will forget what he/she ordered and take someone else’s food, leading to a huge mess up and pissing off the kitchen.
• The longer I work in hospitality, the more I realize that I am definitely not cut out for it. Of course, I’d known this before – that I’m not exactly a people person – but having to smile and be polite hours at a time just solidified that fact.
• In America, customers are always right and can customize their orders no matter what. (This is most likely the cause of #2.) In New Zealand, there are only a limited number of changes that can be done, and even then, the kitchen hates to deviate from the menu. So who’s right? As a customer, I’d prefer the former; as a waitress, I definitely appreciate the latter.
• Waitressing is probably the best work-out plan I’ve done. It involves cardio (walking up and down stairs all night), weight training (carrying racks of glasses into and out of the dishwasher) and core training (balancing plates of food in one hand while serving more food with the other).
• Whether you’re working in a corporate environment with hundreds of people or a small restaurant with less than 20, there is still a power struggle and a social hierarchy that reigns supreme. That’s just the way it is.

Rugby and Shots at Seismic Gastrobar

After work one night, a couple of my restaurant buddies and I went to Seismic Gastrobar in Rotorua to watch some rugby and have a drink. When we arrived, the atmosphere was high-energy with non-stop cheers and jeers. I gotta say that these Kiwis really get into their rugby. Having never been to a live match, I can only imagine what kind of shenanigans go on.

As the match progressed, one drink turned into a few shots of God knows what at this point. I do remember my shout was the tequila, but as for the other ones I can’t remember. For those of you who don’t speak Kiwi, a “shout” is when you buy your friends a round of whatever.

By the end of the match, I can honestly say I was feeling very giddy. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard for a long time. I guess I might’ve been on my way to being drunk. Fortunately, I have a pretty high tolerance even though I don’t drink often. (It must be in the genes.) To the surprise of many, especially considering my age in life, I’ve never actually been wasted before. For starters, I don’t like the taste of alcohol and it’s insanely expensive in New Zealand (and Australia for that matter). But, who am I kidding? The real reason behind it is psychological. I hate not being in control, and as we all know, you don’t know squat once you get a bit tipsy.

Even after all those shots, I’m happy to say that I haven’t broken my streak of not being “all buss,” to use a local slang from back home. I was able to walk away on my own and perfectly straight too as I recall. All in all, this was a great night out with friends and an interesting way to see the locals in action.

 

Surprise Birthday at Lava Bar

Sometimes it’s hard to celebrate your birthday when you’re so far away from home, your family and your friends so the Crank staff decided to throw Lasse a surprise party at Lava Bar. Radek was working the night shift at The Warehouse and Charlyn was tonight’s night porter at the hostel so we had to make it short and sweet.

Radek, Charlyn, Nina, Nynke and I headed to Lava Bar at around 10:30 pm to make sure we arrived before Lasse. This was the first time I’d been out in Rotorua, and to be honest, I wasn’t especially impressed by the joint. I know we were pretty early, but there weren’t many people, the music was downright atrocious and the drinks were expensive (although the price of New Zealand drinks are just outrageous in general).

We were supposed to surprise Lasse at 11 pm when he arrived with some other friends. As we waited for the birthday boy to arrive, we all got a round of drinks to pass the time. The music leaned more toward top 40 pop with a mix of techno. Bleh! I looked around the room and felt utterly and completely too old for this. I don’t think I’d start making this a habit.

When Lasse finally arrived (to spare my ears from being assaulted by bad music), we sang him “Happy Birthday.” He seemed shocked to see us there. Guess this was one successful surprise party.

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International House of Housekeepers

Due to the unfortunate departure of the Malaysian girls, we had two spots to fill on our housekeeping squad. Nic, one of the hostel’s owners, hired Nynke from Holland and Nina from Germany. The ranks of our international housekeeping team quickly filled up and it was back to normal again.

Prior to joining Crank, Nynke had spent time in Tauranga with her extended family who had moved from Holland to New Zealand several years ago. She was relieved to finally be on her own again as living with her aunt and cousins had been a bit stifling. Shortly after being hired, she also took a second job at a hotel and worked with guests at the reception. Like me, she was working at the hostel for accommodation and working at her second job for wages.

Nina, however, was visiting New Zealand on her own. In Germany, she worked as a graphic artist and her long, hot pink hair just screamed out her creativity and individuality. Besides working in the creative arts field, she also did some stints in promotion for large companies and festivals.

I’m not sure how Lasse felt about having to share a room with three girls again, but for me it was a grand old time. Nynke and Nina were great to have around and we had a lot of fun conversations when we could all find the time to hang out together.

As Nynke took more hours at the hotel, she spent less time in our room. Soon, she was debating whether she should get her own place or not. On one hand, it was a bit difficult living in such close quarters and not having too much personal space. On the other hand, she would save more money if she stayed. In the end, she decided to rent a room and try to live the life of a local. That was part of the reason she came to New Zealand in the first place so I think it was a good call in the end, even if it meant we’d be losing another housekeeper and friend.

Kiaora Japan Oishii

I had a craving for rice and decided to try Kiaora Japan. This was the first time I had Japanese food in New Zealand, and  it turned out really well. For $20, I got the shrimp tempura teishoku and a soda. The box set included miso soup, green salad, teriyaki chicken, rice and shrimp, fish and vegetable tempura.

First off, the rice tasted really good. I’m not sure if that’s due to the fact that I haven’t had real rice in so long, or if it was maybe the teriyaki sauce from the chicken that was making me want to scarf down the fluffy white stuff without stopping for breath. The teriyaki chicken was also good. The chicken pieces were moist and the sauce wasn’t overly sweet. The true joy of this meal though was the tempura. The panko they used to batter everything was light and flaky, just as tempura should be. It was amazing!

The restaurant’s décor is really cool and helps to bring Japan to New Zealand. There are beautiful kimonos and paintings on the wall. Small lanterns adorn the tables. Even the presentation of the food is artful and lovely. I can’t wait to come again!

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A Walk in Kuirau Park

On one of our last days together in Rotorua, Voon, Reena and I took a walk in Kuirau Park. The weather was a bit cold, but the sky was blue and the flowers were in bloom. It was a nice day to be out of the hostel and surrounded by a bit of nature.

After strolling through the flower gardens and around the small pond filled with ducks, we wandered around the many bubbling mud pools. Rotorua sits atop some major thermal activity. The heat from the earth pushes up to the surface of the ground. This causes many naturally heated streams and ponds, which are one of the many reasons why people visit the area.

When there isn’t any water to heat, the steam (and sulfur) push up through the ground causing spots of bubbling mud of varying sizes. The mud pools at Kuirau Park are fenced off and there are warning signs telling visitors to stick to the paths. I suppose these thermal sink holes, if you like, could pop up anywhere so its essential for you to stay on the paths that are already deemed safe. As you walk around, you can see small fissures in the ground where the steam is rising.

In addition to the sulfur, which smells a lot like when you visit Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, there are minerals that rise from the earth. Mineral pools and hot baths are extremely popular activities in Rotorua and many accommodations have their own private hot pools.

The girls and I had a great time snapping photos and just hanging out. I’m really gonna miss them when they leave. It’s weird how traveling seems to bring people together and friendships form so quickly. It feels like we’ve known each other for ages and ages even though it’s only been a couple of weeks.

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Farewell Dinner with Reena and Voon

Two weeks at Crank Backpackers passed by in happy monotony if not for my shifts at Nuvolari. I’d work at the hostel for two hours each day, then head off to the restaurant for a split shift where I work a couple of hours at lunch and return for dinner.

Before I realized it, Reena and Voon’s time at Crank was ending. On one of my days off, we went to Fat Dog Cafe & Bar. Between the three of us, we got the beef nachos, bacon and cheese pie and a Bailey’s cheesecake. The cheesecake was to die for and I haven’t been able to find it since no matter how many times I’ve gone back!

The girls also decided to share their Malaysian Chinese cuisine with the staff by cooking us dinner. Yum! After lunch, I joined them on their grocery shopping trip to Pak n Save. We returned to the hostel and got right to the prep work. Apparently preparing the food would take just as long as the actually cooking. I didn’t believe it, but I was so wrong. There was so much chopping and dicing and slicing going on that Charlyn jumped in to help as well.

Luckily for me and everyone else who planned on eating the food, I was put in charge of making the rice. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. I’d just wash the rice and pop it into the rice cooker. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a rice cooker so I had to do it the old school way – in a pot on the stove. Yikes! I had never cooked rice this way before, but it wasn’t too hard and turned out okay. The girls did all the hard stuff and made chicken curry, sweet and sour pork and steamed and stir-fried veggies.

With the food steaming hot, the staff met up in reception and dug in. It was delicious and I really loved the chicken curry. We hung out and chatted, which was a really nice way to celebrate our time together. It really felt like we’d been working together for months when in fact it was only a couple of weeks. While the rest of us – Charlyn, Radek, Lasse and I – were staying in Rotorua, the girls were heading to tropical Fiji before Voon returned to Malaysia and Reena continued her journey in New Zealand.

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