The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

It's been 4 months since I started a job that I like and that makes me learn new things everyday. There are guests coming and going everyday - some of them are nice, give us cakes, smile to us everytime they pass by and there are those who try to get more that they are supposed to, who wouldn't smile back no matter what you do and who just want to shout at someone. Talking with the nice guests is fun, but it's those irrate guests that teach me more. I feel quite stressed about dealing with angry guests, I believe with experience I will learn how to deal with them properly.

But for now I'm counting days to my holidays. In exactly one month I will be in Malta, burning myself in the sun and drinking sweet, red wine. I'm travelling alone, but meeting some people there. It's not gonna be the first time I'm travelling alone, so I don't feel weird about it, I'm just soooo looking forward to it. I bought new bikini, new flip-flops, Malta guide book is ready, everything is ready to go. Just that I still have one month to go.......! I want the time to go by faster this month!

Malta, wait for me!!!!!!!

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

It's been a while since I wrote a post that I usually commit here, not a good-food-post or an advertisement of a chain bakery, but just my own style not informative at all type of post. So here it is. I just want to write about my last month, which I spent mostly at work. It was quite intense, so intense that I had to give up quite a few events, and which was also a reason a few people got mad at me, cause I'm always busy. High schools friends say that I'm mean because I don't want to preserve our friendship and it's sad. Because I can't give up work, which gives me this satisfaction! Because it does. I love it, because I am learning everyday. And not only me, but every worker in the hotel needs to go through trainings from time to time. It's like at school, you have to learn and pass a test later on. That being said, tomorrow I have a 'basic revenue management' training, which name was quite vague for me until I decided to consult it with wikipedia. Thanks Ms. Wikipedia, you were a huge help!!!

And when I'm not working or sleeping dead after work, I go to trainings and prepare for the next performance. Meeting Japan's prime minister's wife wasn't quite as I imagined it. She was very nice, and taller than I though she would be, she took a photo with us, but when I expected that the so-called "dinner with Mrs. Abe" will be a real dinner with Mrs. Abe - sharing the same table and chatting happily, it turned out that she is too much of a VVIP person to share a meal with a common people like us. She left with all the important people - Manggha Museum's director (who was rude enough to come late and make a ruckus during our performance - damn her), our Japanese studie's Main Professor (he's my idol, seriously <3 ) and some embassy people and ate with them, while we were given some buffet food, a duck and potatoes.

It was quite yummy.

But I was quite dissapointed.
This time we will dance in the same museum with one only difference, we can invite some people we know. We only got 10 invitations per whole dance group, but suprisingly my friends turned out to be quite interested in attending. The dance I'm practising is not really something one would be crazy about, but it's fun for me. I really hope that the people that comes won't be too bored and dissapointed!

Kraków - spot no 2

On a unexpected date with Ellen, who was shopping in Bonarka City Center we went to eat some cakes in a small stall inside the mall and I even took photos of the desserts we tried.

1. Czarny las
The one that Ellen ordered. That's a must-try for people who like chocolate, because it was intensively chocolatish. The white cream was awesome too.

2. Macadamia cake
...is what I chose. A creamy cake with macadamia nuts. It was quite sweet, very very very sweet, so if you prefer something less sweet, but more fruity, go back to my first post about cakes from Krakow ^^

The cake... and someone's sneakers in the background.

And I have another thing I want to add. I went to the Buczek Bakery again and I tried truffle muffin. It was sweet and tasty, but a bit dry. But it matched cappuccino just fine!

 

Oh, and let me add a cake I tried in our hotel's restaurant! I don't have a clue what kind of cake that was. It had a light milky cream on shortbread and a strawberry on top. Delicious! (And free~~!)

 

Well, enough cakes for now!

 

 

Krakow places - Spot no 1.

It's been 1,5 months since I started my new job. It's still not a full-time job yet, but it's a job I want to do, in a great environment and opportunities. Today I got my contract extension till the end of this year. To celebrate I went to my usual place after work. It's just another chain bakery where I was buying bread sometimes one year ago, when I was still eating bread everyday, at least 3 times a day. Never had I expected this bakery to develop so much as to change into a nice and cozy hangout for myself.

Walking to my bus stop, the bakery I want to talk about is halfways. A perfect location to tempt Pam into going inside. Another being window seats. Yet another, free wireless internet connection, with no passwords needed. The bakery is called 'Buczek' (read: boochehk) and it's one of countles Buczeks scattered around center of Kraków. Orange-red colour of its logo and interior design makes it quite distinctive next to all the gray buildings around. The Buczek Bakery offers variety of breads, buns, cakes and desserts, as well as cheap, but tasty coffee prepared in something looking like a good quality coffee machine. I go there everytime I work in the morning, so this month it wasn't that often. But I had a chance to try a few items from their "menu".

1. Peach & Passionfruit musse.

A delicate pudding/musse with peach and passionfruit taste, finished with a coctail cherry. A very satisfying treat. Not too sweet, not to dull either. A perfect dessert for hot days and a cup of coffee.

2. Blackcurrant roll.

Blackcurrant jam/jelly filling in a thin sponge cake. I'm not a fan of black currant, so I didn't like the sweet-sour taste, neither the consistence of jellyish filling. The best thing for me personally was the thick layer of white chocolate on the top and decoration made of almond flakes. I wouldn't recommend it to people who have similar taste to mine, but if you wish, try and judge it yourself!

3. Fruit tartlet

Fruit tartlets are never a bad choice. White cream with a surprise of marmalade inside, delicate shortbread and variety of fruits on top. I spcifacally chose the one with both strawberries and kiwis, it had also one pineapple piece!

4. Coffee
I always drink cappuccino with no sugar (thanks to Ellen I started to drink it like this) and it's okay. Not a coffee which makes you sight with amazement, but a good coffee to start or end (in my case) your day at work. Everytime you buy something in the bakery, you get a post-it with discount printed on it, which makes the coffee cost 3 pln next time you come ^^)/ How awesome is that!

Buczek Bakery is cool and if you have a chance, try tasting some of their delicacies!

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. (Vincent Van Gogh)

I was reading blogs about people wroking as night auditor in the hotels, and I knew I know a lot about working at night, as I was working night shifts already earlier (in the small small hotel that I was writing about before). But now I know that I knew nothing.

Well, let's see how my night schedule combo worked out. Three night shifts in a row passed by as following:

Night No1
Right at this moment I am standing at the reception watching the darkness of the night dissapear gradually to change into a bright (or not so) day, while my older (when it comes to both age and experience) colleague is taking a nap in the back. Quite a long nap, if you would ask me. It's been 2 hours already. At times I'm doing everything especially quietly, thinking how sweet it is that he felt asleep, but then I get angry. Why the hell is he sleeping while I am completely awake?! And I want to turn on the vacuum the loudest possible or shut the door with all my might..... but well, who cares anyway.

Although the weather has been dim and rainy for a few days now, the guests seem to be enjoying night life. The group of guys who came in Hammer comes back slowly one by one (or two). Some are dancing around the lobby while fighting their drunken state, some of them are quietly slipping inside the elvator. Some are waving to me and saying hell and asking me what am I still doing here. Good question ^^;

Well, I love my job now. I get free food too! On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays our hotel organizes buffets - which means you can buy a ticket and eat all you want. Last month it was Indian food, this month - asparagus dishes. I never tried eating asparagus before. It's weird, but tasty, I think, now that I tried it. We are getting the leftovers. Yummy~! Much better than Indian food and red-coloured chicken, believe me!


Night No 2
I've just put down the phone, but I'm still feeling something close to displeasure or disgust. Oh, while I was writing this sentence the phone rang again... damn, and again.
The time I was waiting for has come, but instead of amusement and fun that I had been expecting, I feel all the things that I just wrote about. Boring.

You know, when you're working at night, especially over the weekend, the thing you should expect to happen sooner or later, is a prank call. It has to happen at least once. And I was quite anticipation it. I know of The Jerky Boys doing all kinds of phone pranks, I was always enjoying them and I wish to be the one on the phone. I wished to be a part of smart and funny prank call....

I'm picking up the phone. 'Blablabla How can I help you?' - I ask after introducing the name of the hotel and its location, just as I am taught.
'I am calling from FBI. We were getting some calls from this number. I think it must be some kind of joke.' - I hear.
'I'm very sorry, sir. But I'm not aware of anypne calling you from here'
'But we were getting a lot of calls today and it's getting out of hand already....' - the caller is continuing.
Ok. It's interesting, I'm thinking, but for now let's play along.
'It might be one of our guests, sir. It might be that our number is showing when they are calling outside numbers from their rooms' - I reply.
'Oh, actually the caller said he's name is Rodriguez'
'I will check that, sir' - I replied, and, believe me or not, I actually checked it. Just in case it was real (sic!) - 'There is no guests like this in our hotel'
'But he said so, he even told me his first name, it was....'
'Sir, if it were a prank call, the caller wouldn't tell you their real name anyway' - I said.
'Errrr...' - I guess the prank is over, I thought, but no! At this time someone started talking in Polish: 'Why are you calling me, please don't call me again!'
Sigh.
That's when it started. They started connecting the call with other people, making weird noises, saying kinda perverted things (to be honest I didn't really get what they were saying, I just heard nipples, so I didn't want to hear the rest).
I hung up.

Another call. Another bullshit.

Another call. Weird noises.

Another call. No sound at all.

Give me a break, man! Think of something more fun, dammit!


Night No 3
This time, we're three people working the night shift, and I really don't know what to do with myself. The two co-workers working with me are professionals, they complete all the tasks before I even think about them. Well, I can learn a lot. But then again one girl is a shift leader, so this time I can waste my time, like I did yesterday for example. She also seems to be quite particular and detailed. Which is a good thing again. The bad thing is that every time I'm on the same shift as her, the food in our canteen for workers is bad. Seriously.

The guy who works with me everyday over this weekend is sleeping as usual in the back, the shift leader went to find some food in the kitchen and I'm secretly writing this blog. This night was no special at all. I got a sunflower seed cake from one nice girl from housekeeping and that's all. Man, I'm tired!

Oh. And one funny thing. To log on to our hotel system we have special logins created from the first letter of our given name and two letters from the last name. Mine is POK, so obviously I gained a new nickname, which is...

... Pokemon....

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

It's been a while since I wrote something. And a few things changed over the past weeks. First of all, we have spring already in Poland too. The weather was very unstable lately, giving us snow and sun, rain and clouds, but finally the weather forecast seems promising with temperatures around 18-22 Celsius degrees, sun and little rain.

Secondly, I am continuing my part-time job in 5 star hotel and gradually I'm getting used to procedures, nature of the guests and the whole atmosphere at work. Everyone is very nice to me (one person even called me Pam!!!), we have free food (sometimes we even get some exquisite desserts), I got my own stamp with my name, so I can mark all the invoives made by me. I meet Lufthansa flight crew everyday, as we always have 10 rooms for the crew. They are usually coming twice a day, 5 people at once and leaving also 5 people a time. And the other thing is, we have a lot of important people coming.

This month we have a so-called Off Camera Festival on in Kraków, so many actors, actresses, script writers and directors are coming to participate. Although it's an independent movie's festival, the most famous actors in Poland (and also some foreign ones too) came. I'm not a fan of Polish movies or TV series, so I'm very thankful to the notes someone left next to every guest's name, like 'an actor', 'director of this and this movie', 'script writer, won a competition somewhere'. Last time when some people came to check-in, one of the bellboys stood next to me, took a piece of paper and wrote: "Did you watch today's 'Good morning TVN' programme on TVN channel?". I denied withut hesitation, I don't even have a TV in my room. "This guy was in the programme. He's famous" - was another thing my colleague wrote. Oh cool. I looked at the guests, who didn't stand out of other guests coming to our hotel everyday. Well, maybe the tattoos everywhere made him look a bit underground, but it didn't make him look famous or anything. Everyone was talking about who will stay in our hotel and how famous they are, but I didn't know those people at all! Am i that ignorant to our Polish fames? I asked Mr. Google about some of the people others were talking about. They really were famous actresses! He really was well-known script writer! Oh, and the other nice guy was actually a movie director! Ah, and the smiling lady was quite famous too! They were all marked as VIP guests, and we had some small gifts waiting for them in their rooms (our best rooms of course). But honestly, famous people are people too. I don't know what is more rude - to recognize those famous people and be so excited about it, or not recognize them at all (of course, the VIP status is marked in the system, so no way one could forget about it).

To end this post, I want to share my discovery. A small shop next to my block of flats has a new item on sale!

Extra sour, Liquid filled CAMEL BALLS!

 The new type of bubble gum called Camel Balls, gluten free. I really wonder how did something like this happen? I mean, how could someone think of creating camel balls bubble gum for children. Would you dare to chew on camel balls? What if the kids take it too literary and when they go on a trip to Egypt and they try to chew on the actual ones?
I think I'll buy a few for my nephews! ;)

Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.

After quite not as big failure as I thought it was (look: one post earlier), I started my new job.

'Trainee' means don't get angry on me, Mr Guest.

It's as cool and as hard, as I thought it is this time. It's never boring at the reception. In my earlier job, I was sitting there and waiting and wishing for someone to go inside and then, even not caring anymore, as all the rooms were already taken and I was checking my facebook for the 10000th time and watching movies on my night shifts and it was a job I could actually learn in 2 days and be able to do it normally already.

But here it's different. There is always something to do, things to check, guests coming in and out to ask for your assistance. Hotel system is the most popular one in big hotels, thanks god not Fidelio, but Opera, which looks quite similar to the ones I was working on in China (although still more difficult). I will get my uniform next month maybe, all the stamps with my name, IDs for systems and official e-mail address will be created for me as soon as I deliver them some missing documents.

But, as it is a hotel, it's work connected with people. And believe me or not, this is what I like the most. On my very first shift, I could meet a group of older Americans, who looked like Asians actually, with a nice tour leader called Mike, who sometimes was nice and sometimes I was thinking that he's slowly crosing the thin line of what is a joke and impertinency, but there was actually nothing I could do, but give him a killer smile and thank him for everything (making me slowly loose my patience). There was also a situation in our room, where a guest peed on his bed, which made the matrees damaged. It added him 150 pln to his room charge and a terrified looks on receptionists' faces when we heard about it on the shift-change meeting.

Another thing is that after my Emirates fail, I'm still not over the flight attendant idea of mine. And working where I work from now, I will not forget about it. Why? Because everyday we have at least 5 people from Lufthansa flight crew staying with us. But when I told my new coworkers that I want to see stewardesses in uniforms, because I think it's cool, they laughed at me. "Come on, the flight attendants coming to our hotel are usually older ladies" - one girl said. "I'm working here for 1 year and 5 months and I've only seen around 7 beautiful flight attendants from Lufthansa" - one guy added with a serious face - "One came yesterday".
"But the pilots are better" - added the Girl No 1 - "Although they are older, they look quite ok". I think I can believe her statement, because I saw her husband, who's quite a guy. No matter what they say though, I want to see uniformed staff of some airlines and I'm looking forward to it.

I had another reflection too. I think all the things that I plan or wish about doing come to me very slowly. Like, when I started Japanese studies, I wanted to go to Japan, but it became possible only after considerable amout of time passed. When I started thinking about going to China, it was more than a year after I managed to. Working in a good hotel? It took me quite some months to start my current job. So, every year can be named somehow:
Year 2011: LD year (ok, now, that's a shortcut for something I'm not really ready to confess yet haha)
Year 2012: Chinese year.
Year 2013: I hope it will become Hotel&Dance year.

And 2014 is MY year, the year of Horse, so I believe it's when everything goes my way~~~!

The turning point really is just knowing you're an imbecile.

Well... What can I say.

Till now, everything I wanted came quite easy, so it was just right that the good vibe had to end one day. But why now? Couldn't my good luck wait a bit more?

As you guys know, I decided to try for Emirates just one month ago. I was preparing every aspect of myself to pass the interview. I did things I would never think I would do to get this job. And you know what the funniest part is, I got eliminated on the first stage. Wow. My first impression sucks. I have to fix it.
I know why actually. I was nervous and I was chaotic and I was talking very fast. This is what I was aware of to not to do. And I did it. It was my first experience, so after I woke up from shock and depression I decided not to give up.

Where should I go next?

A few people (even some who I've never met) encouraged me a lot before the interview, and helped me after it, although they might not be aware of it. I want to thank them and try my best next time. I can reapply for Emirates only after 6 months, so in between I will try for different airlines. Even if I don't get any job before those 6 months pass, I will gain confidence and I will know how the whole interview business works.

I asked Mr Google, who told me that I can apply for Qatar Airways till 30th of April. Probably on 30th of April an Assessement Day will take place in Gdańsk too. Gdańsk is a far far away place, but I was thinking that I should go anyway! It's a so-called 'May weekend' in Poland, so I'll ask for a few days off at work and go. At least I will apply online first, which is required in QA. And talking about QA, I also found a blog written in Polish by a girl (from Kraków) who is a Qatar Airways flight attendant. She described all the training, her first flights, her later experiences, and I love all that she wrote.
This is a link for Polish speakers (other people should try it with Google Translate, but it might become weird then)>>> Polish QA flight attendant's blog


Now I'm still at my old workplace finishing my last shifts (the last last last one is tomorrow night). Starting from 3rd of April I'm beginning my new job too. This will also be a challenging job. And I also hope to be able to attend our dance group's performance on 13th of April in Kraków.

I though April will be lazy month, but I think it's going to be a busy one again. And I love it <3

The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.

Phew... The busy weekend is over. Many things happened over the last few days. I signed contract for my new job...

...and if I don't do well, they will dismiss me without paying anything.

I received magnetic card, which I have to use to open staff door, a key to my locker in our changing room - no 30, my name tag with letters Trainee_Pamela on it and of course my contract - only for two months for now, but if I do well, I will get a long term contract, is what they said.

Unfortunately the next day wasn't too lucky at first, thanks to some circumstances which I couldn't control I was late for the make-up lesson, but I managed to catch up with everyone and I could apear on the photos, which we took as an advertisement of our dance group.

Sakuramai Poland or 桜舞ポーランド yay!

After photo session we had a harsh training, it's the last one before our performance, and then off to dinner with a pint of beer. It was a very tiring day, but I couldn't sleep much, as I had to be at work at 6 am the next day, which meant that I had to wake up at 4:30 am.

Let's stop the time for a few more hours and I'll get some more sleep...

But in the end everything went well and I slept enough on Sunday. And on Monday I sent an email to work that I want to quit. My idea was to send an email for a few days before I'm at work, so that when I talk to the manager personally, he is calm already. Too bad, just a few minutes past since I sent the e-mail, my mobile started ringing like crazy. I set a meeting with the manager for the same day and well, what can I say, he seemed really sad that I'm quitting. I told him about an opportunity I got in Radisson Blu Hotel and that I love my job now, but I just need to get out of my comfort zone and reach higher. He said he understands it well, athough he was planning for me to work more and do more responsible job too. I'm sorry, Mr Manager. I like you, but I need to leave. He praised me a lot lately, so I was a bit embarassed about the whole situation. He was asking me if it's him that did something wrong, or is my pay not enough... I feel bad, because I did feel like I'm belonging somewhere. But I cannot resign for this opportunity given me in the new workplace. It's gonna be difficult and harsh training starting from 3rd of April!

And I'm still thinking about my Emirates career. Of course, I will attend the Open Day and pray to pass it, but even if I do, the actual work or training starts around half a year after the Open Day, when I really need work and cash. I will not give up on my Emirates job. If I fail this time, I will try again!

Generation of people born in 90s! Cheers for our future!

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

From yesterday it's snowing like crazy, changing the almost-spring-like weather that we had to another winter season. If I was not mistaken, I heard Christmas song in a supermarket when I was shopping yesterday. But wait, during the time when we were supposed to have winter, it was not snowing that much. It was actually not snowing at all. Well, spring in winter and winter in spring. Easter and Christmas should be changed ^^

I love you snow, but why are you coming this late????

The next few days will be something that I can call 'the busiest weekend of March'. Starting from an early morning (4:40 am), through 8 hours work, meeting at my new (from April) workplace, visiting my friend at work where I have to write a thank-you card to my dance teacher, as I can call Emiko-san, who teaches us Japanese dane and then I have little time to prepare for Saturday's activities. Then Saturday: morning shift, performance make-up lesson, dance practice, dance group party. Sunday: 12-hour shift at work and then few hours to prepare for Japanese class on Monday noon (yes, it's me who's teaching).

My Emirates future went a bit vague after I discovered that my burn mark, which I got in China still hasn't disappeared. And Emirates doesn't allow any scars or tattoos, so no burn marks allowed either, I assume. So, I started curing my burn mark intensively before the interview, so that it's not visible then. I have to wear a skirt then after all!

My moon-shaped burn mark.

And meanwhile, I'm still preparing for the Big Day, when I will pass interview to became a FA (haha confidence is the basic, right?). I'm watching reality show called 'Flight Attendant School', which shows the harshest of the harshest trainings for Frontier Airlines in USA. Each episodes someone is kicked out of the school be it because they were late, or failed some exams (more than one - OUT!).

.....NOT YET!

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.

After quite a busy weekend, I decided to take a break during the week. I have no shifts on weekdays, as the other workers from my hotel got angry that I'm taking their shifts away. Okay then, I'm not saying anything, just looking for another job in the meantime. And this week, I decided to cut on the time I'm spending in from of the computer. Well, my mobile broke down, so I'm temporarily using my old old one, which makes me unable to check facebook or gmail all the time, which I used to do. And there are some problems with the wifi at home too (well, ain't I lucky?), so I decided to use this opportunity and forget about computer for a while. Just now, I'm sitting in the library and because I don't want to go home, I decided to write this post.

The weather today is brilliant. The sun is shining and it feels like spring already! When I was waiting on the bus I felt the sunlight on my face and one guy on the bus stop, age around 30-40 years old, was sucking a pink-colored lollipop. It's spring, I thought again. Even if the winter weather comes back again, I feel that something is starting anew. I have a few new things, which I want to try to accomplish to. New possiblities, new opportunities. For now, till 30th of March I'm busy preparing for an important thing (which my friends knows what it is). The Emirates Open Day. I feel that my friends are supporting me and helping me a lot, so I just cannot not try my best!

Well then, I'm going back home to study my 'Air Travel English' book published even before Pan Am bancrupted. By the way, talking about Pan Am, the series called 'Pan Am', realised in 2011 is a great series, which I started watching at my night shift and I love it. The whole action takes places in 60s of XX century and it follows the life of Pan Am crew. It's great! I think not only people interested in the job of cabin/flight crew would be interested in the series!

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.

I posted just yesterday night, but I have to add new post today. Why? Because once again, I'm surprised how people can be nice! And once again, I understood that I love people!

I decided not to hide my problems at my company, and I talked with a nice HK department lady, who advised me to fight for my rights! She was very understanding and told me not to give up.

One guy who is taking care of repairs in our hotel smiled to me and was so nice! When I first met him he didn't seem to friendly. He was not talking much and he rarely looked at me even when I was talking to him. He seemed to be quite indifferent about anything. But now that I am on the shift, he sat next to me, talked quite nice and I understood how wrong it is to judge people by the first impressions. Maybe it's important on a job interview, but in man-to-man relations, never ever judge a person by their first impressions. Sometimes people are being shy at first, sometimes they just need to get used to you.

I love people~!

I think it's unfair, but they have the right as fallible, screwed-up humans to be unfair; that's the human condition.

Well... that's how the life goes. I had a terribly enjoyable shift yesterday and I thought to myself then 'Hell, I like this job'. Even though it's not EXACTLY where I want to work, I was learning a lot... And really that shift was cool.

I started off with long, boring talk with the manager, which was boring and funny at the same time, because the manager treats me like stupid, trying to check my knowledge. I felt like a primary school kid and felt quite silly telling him how to do the most basic stuff with our hotel system. To be honest, as a person who was born in 90s I was growing up with computer, so it's no magic for me. I have no problems learning computer system, especially after someone tells me how to do everything.
Then I listen to the same remarks as always, about some mistakes, which I never did, but as I am the newest worker here, so of course it's me to blame for all that. Well, I could just smile and say 'Yes, I got it'.

So after the manager left, I had half of the day left. And guess what! A Japanese guest came! I was quite nervous, but I did ask him in Japanese if he's Japanese. Ok now. I know it's a stupid question to ask. Especially using Japanese. Anyway, that's how I started the Japanese check-in for the first time in my life. I was so nervous, I forgot some words, so I said them in English and it was an interesting mix, but the guest seemed to be ok with my Japanese, so I was so happy~~~~!

And then some nice guests came, one of whom asked me....
The Guest: Are you French?
Me: Why, no?
G: Your Polish sounds a bit French...
Me: Oh really?
G: I had a friend once and she was French. She talked in Polish just like you.
Me: I'll take it as a compliment then!
G: Will you work here tomorrow too?

Oh, was it some kind of pick-up line? I'm happy then! I was wearing my favourite dress then (I wore it twice in my life and it already feels a bit too small for me now.... wait! Am I still growing? Damn...).

One of the guests came to talk about tv remote control which seem to be out of order, but we googled for the instructions and we found out we can fix it.

I also got a call which made me laugh for 2 hours or more. The other hotel from our small hotel group called to ask if we have room no 101 in our hotel. We did. "Oh, then your guest got stuck in the room!" Whaaat? Hahahah ^^
I went to check on it and yes, indeed. The guest was quite unlucky. He had some other problems with the room earlier - something connected with electricity and then there was no hot water in the bathroom for some time..... Did I mention why this place is not exactly where I want to work?
The guest was very understanding, he didn't shout or get irritated at all, instead he looked really scared. Every time he went out and came back he was telling me to rescue him in case something happens ^^



And of course when something nice happens, something less nice must happen too. And that is work meeting to make schedule. Suddenly it turned out they don't really want me to work normally. They want me just for weekends, while I have dance practice on Saturday evening, so I can only take either morning or night shift. Normally it shouldn't be a problem. But it became one. Forget about the fact that I was hired to work full time and suddenly I became a part-time weekend worker, which I didn't really wish for. But other workers are unwilling to compromise. And who else is there to blame if not the newest worker? Of course. I left the meeting with a feeling of disgust for myself and for the other receptionist.

People working in China were so different. They were working really a lot. Their salary was more or less the same as ours here, just that they were doing hundred more things than here. And they never complained about 4 days off a month. And here the people are just... Working in a hotel means working weekends, Christmas, New Year's Eve... But it doesn't mean that one worker works every weekend. They cannot hope to work Mon-Fri in a hotel.

But they do.

And they work like this.

That's why I need to protect my dance practice and my dreams. And I have to move on. I plan to hand in my resignation. Why? Because that's not what I was hired for. I want to work normally. I like hotel job. And I think the higher rating on booking.com is partly because of my contribution too. I want to work somewhere where they admit that I am an important worker and they will appreciate my hard work! Is it really too much to ask for?

So the storm passed and everyone was happy.

Lately, I was going around irritated and depressed, maybe because I didn't have much to do. I was saying things I didn't mean and being all mean. I blame my pms for it.

Anyway, I was thinking a lot. And I thought that maybe I should try more to write coherent posts on my blog. Well, it's not like many people read it anyway. I want some people to read it, but some of them clicked on the link I had sent them once and then forgot about it. Which is quite sad.

One day passed and it's still alive! Big success!

Year 2013 is difficult for me. I'm standing on the crossroads, not sure where to go. I have decided about the place where I want to reach, but there are many ways to go there. Every day I'm changing small things in my life. I'm trying to remember about my morning excercises routine. I bought a flower to deepen my hope for spring and I need to remember about watering it every day. I decided to go to Warsaw with my dance group to have a public performance, which makes me scared and excited at the same time. I'm trying to learn more about the friends that I know for some time already.... hey, don't you feel it sometimes? You know a person for a  long long time, but actually you never knew much about this person. I think me and some of my friends are ready to talk about new things now and I want to ask a looot of questions (yes, Kate - it's also about you~). I want to learn how to cook. I want to bake more cakes.

Spring spring spring spring spring spring..........................

But there comes dilemmas and problems to be solved. Opportunities come and go and I need to learn how to filter them. Because I don't want to try to do too many things at the same time. I want to decide on one way to go and concentrate on it. And now, I'm totally lost.

 Our 5 people Foreign Department from China.

I miss China and my life there and who I was there, so maybe that's why I'm still thinking of going back there, but I don't know if it's really what I want to do, or is it easy (relatively) to settle down there and that's the only reason I'm thinking of going again.

And hell........... I sent a small package in a bubbly envelope to Japan on the 5th of February, but it still hasn't been delivered yet. Is it lost? Where did it go??????

Oh, and at the end of this post I want to proudly announce that our costumes for performance in March are in process of being made:

A coat looking traditional Japanese happi. Made in Japan ^^ Handmade in Japan!

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.

After working for half a month already, finally I was upgraded to morning shifts. After 22 hours of training I was only allowed to work night shifts at first, to not to be able to mess things up too much. After few night shifts, I found the courage to say that I can move to afternoon shifts, but I was still afraid of the mornings. Apparently the mornings are the busiest shifts of all. Really?

So, I have to wake up when the sun is still down, which makes me feel like I'm actually working the night shift. Even before other people living with me think about waking up, I have to wait for the bus already. Surprisingly there are many people riding this bus, even though it's the very first bus in the morning. I already recognize some people riding all the way with me.

I'm getting off at the last stop and run to my workplace, just to open the door to my hotel at 6:00 am. The same happened today, although before opening the door some nice things happen to me earlier. Let's go a bit back in time. I woke up before 5 am to get ready. At 4:58 am I was entering my kitchen fully dressed and ready to despair about contents of the fridge (it's always full of things that I don't eat), but I saw a pot of rice ready, a pack of candies and a small note from my mom saying to eat it at work and have a nice day. Wow. That's like the first time since I was 10 years old that something nice happened to me. Especially when it comes to my mom! ♥

Then, while getting off at my stop, I noticed that my friend is getting of from the same bus! Which means that we were riding it together from half-way! She was going to work too, which is a hostel quite close by to. Her first day shift too. Fedior ♥

And now, although it's only 8 am many guest were so kind as to wake up early and start to check out. Great! Everything is so nice today!

Also, yesterday I went to dance practice. Only 6 people came somehow, but it was fun. I have to admit I am quite fascinated about one guy in our group. Fascinated, not like in being in love with, but he is a very interesting person. He is half-Japanese half-something, who came to Poland to learn Polish language. He has a Japanese name, but tells everyone to call him Paweł (totally Polish name). He speaks in Japanese like a Japanese person and sometimes he says something in Polish, although very rarely, well, we use Japanese during the practice too, sometimes he doesn't seem to understand what we are saying, sometimes he does understand it too. I feel such a strong dismatch that I can't take my eyes of him when he's talking.
Well, but what I wanted to say is that a friend of mine, who came to the training with his girlfriend, who is the funniest person in the world (at least, one of them), advised me to drink orange juice and eat garlic to cure my cold. I didn't have the orange juice, so I made a garlic toasts and.... DAMN, it worked! Today I'm not coughing as much as earlier. Runny nose seem better too.

Kids, eat garlic to cure colds!

And just now I got a chocolate cake from lady from Housekeeping and I sat down with her and another girl working with her, and we had a nice chat. Earlier I also got shoes from the same lady ^^; Apparently she bought them for her daughter-in-law, but they were refused, so she gave it to me, as it's my shoe size. They fit perfectly. Good!

I'm going to figure out group reservation now! See you!

If I didn't try to eavesdrop on every bus ride I take or look for the humor when I go for a walk, I would just be depressed all the time.

Quite some time ago I wrote about buses, as I recall. Bus is like a gate to another world for me. But one bus was especially important in my life, and still is. The Bus No 179.

Photo taken from http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/regionalne/krakow/rewolucja-w-komunikacji-miejskiej-co-sie-zmieni,5296697,10850739,artykul-fotoreportaz-duzy.html

This bus took me to all the place I belonged to, from my high school years. No, even earlier. I was riding 170-bus even in middle school. So: middle school, high school, university and now my workplace. The same bus takes me everywhere, even to my dance group practice. If I want to go to the center - the same bus. If I want to take a stroll next to the Wawel Castle - here it is. I even have a friend, who I met in high-school, but who is my bus-buddy. His bus stop is earlier than mine. He was usually getting on earlier, I was joining him one or two bus stops later. His girlfriend's place was another few stops later. Few stops more and I was getting off to go to my university. He was getting off sometimes one stop earlier than me, sometimes at the same stop, sometimes somewhere further. Anyway, what is important is that in high-school we were only exchanging greetings like 'Hi', 'See you' and nothing more, while on the bus we were talking about all sort of things. About his travels, about my studies. And I have to admit he's one of a cool guy, he travelled to place which I've never even dreamed about. So, having him as a conversation partner for those 15-20 minutes on the bus is nothing but pleasure!

The other bus-connected story is my bus-crush-sad-love-story. There was a guy. He was a senior on my university, the same faculty. I never had a chance to talk to him between classes, but!!! He was taking the same bus as me in the morning, so the days when we were starting lectures at the same time, we could meet in the bus! A great occasion to start a conversation, acquaintance, friendship and who knows what more! And there is also another character in this story. My, well you could say "best" university friend. She likes the guy too, as it turns out. If you ever watched any series for women on TV you must already predict some drama involved. Indeed it was so.

No need to tell the whole story. The ending is that my "best" friend and I stopped being "bests" (makes me loose hope for a real friendship huh), she started dating the bus-guy and they moved in togather, as I suppose, since I've never seen the guy in my bus again. I hate to write about this story, I'm still not over it at all. Forget about the guy, this friend was a very interesting person, who really appreciated me too. But hey, it's always guys fault when something happens, right? :P

Well, at least, it's not the bus' fault. Cheers for the best bus in Krakow! 179 forever!

I'm always busy, but I'm lazy as well.

My mistake mode is still on. Beginning with the big one, small ones come in jumping around me like bumble bees flying around the beehive. I'm trying to deal with them alone, but as easy as it seems, it gets more difficult as much as I'm trying to figure out the solution.

I was enough forgetful to take the reception keys home and falling asleep for another 4 hours and make the receptionist on the morning shift nervous about not being able to open the cash register. I sold a room to a lady, who was a total fox. Half an hour after checking in she decided she didn't like the room and I had to cash out the money back to her. Well, it must have been on my shift, of course. Not mentioning that the only Japanese guests that we were expecting cancelled his reservation. Damn it.

I don't know if it's me making mistakes that made our manager to take a leave. He's got a week off, so I'm not really sure whether I can call him in case of any problems or not. Better not. I bet he's making out with his girlfriend right now (no, please no, I'm not gonna imagine it yuck).

The snow fall from Wednesday continued non-stop for the whole day, so now the whole world around me is covered in a thick snow layer, which in a way makes it look nicer, but in a way not. It looks nice where I live. It looks dirty where I work. The city center and the snow is a no-no combination.

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday, which... we might not spend together... and no, not because of me. I will wake up in the morning to bake a cake for her, but she already announced that she's going out around 11 am for a few hours. And I have my dance practice at 5 pm, which makes it impossible to coordinate. I guess the celebrations will take place around 7 am in the morning. Thanks god, I'm not working the night shift today!

Happy birthday, mom!

I have so much chaos in my life, it's become normal. You become used to it. You have to just relax, calm down, take a deep breath and try to see how you can make things work rather than complain about how they're wrong.

I was sent to another hotel from our group today again. And hey, it's actually quite cool! I caught a cold almost (if not more than) one week ago and it's getting worse and worse, so at least I can work in a warm place. And seriously, is it some kind of irony that there are so many Japanese guests to arrive here? There are at least 5 or 6 reservations made by Japanese citizens here. In my usual workplace, we have only one reservation from Japanese guest, who is to arrive on 9th - the day when I work on the night shift. On the other hand we have many Chinese guests. Is it some kind of sign?

Well, this night shift seem to be a very calm one. It's Wednesday - that's one. In the whole hotel here (and the hotel is REALLY small) there are only 4 rooms occupied. No reservations for today either. The only disturbance might be the football game tonight. Poland plays agains Ireland and after 34 minutes of the game it's still 0-0. I had to fight the tv remote control...

Wait! Goooaaaaalllll!!!!! Ooops, it's a goal for Ireland!

So, anyway, the tv here seems to be working quite fine. It's hanging just in front of the reception desk. But when I started to watch a movie about American air forces, a guest came out of the room to ask about a few things. One - ironing desk and iron. Done! Shower gel - he refused soap and took shampoo telling me that it IS a shower gel. Ok, done! Can he and his chubby daughter watch a game with me, because the television is the room seems to have some problems? Ok, no problem, sir. But the television here.... The remote control looked like it had a looong and hard life. It took me around half an hour to figure out how to change channels. But as for the volume, no matter what I did it didn't work at all. The guest himself took the remote, pushed every button possible and discovered 'the' button. And so, I am writing my blog while watching Poland-Ireland game, blowing my nose and replying to e-mails sent by the guests.

It's 42 minutes into the game... Still 1-0.

How would it be to work in a hotel like this?

Today I saw an offer which made me think.... about Dubai. A city-state full of high-class hotels. The most sophisticated and posh place to go on holidays to. My chances to get a job in a hotel in Dubai are quite low, but trying never hurt anyone. And it makes me imagine a lot. With new flight connections from Warsaw (the capital of Poland) to Dubai, I'm beginning to think how cool would it be to go to Dubai! Have you ever been there?


EDIT:

It's 4:30 am now and it started snowing! When I went out to see it, I was amazed. It just looked so beautiful. Next to the hotel there is an old church too, so looking at the snow with such a beautiful background was delightful! I took some pics with my mobile and although not of a good quality, maybe it will give you some insight on my feelings:

That's what I see when I go out of the building.

I love snow!

And cars... I love cars :P

Making mistakes is the only universal form of originality.

I started a new job. I signed the contract. I had a few hours of training (22 hours altogether). I was avoiding doing many things on my first shift. And although it's only my fourth day, I know I'm on another stage now. It's the mistake stage. I'm using my courage to do things now, not making others do it, and as a results I'm making lots of mistakes, as the one today. I'm still mentally unprepared for talk with the manager, but as soon as he learns my mistake, I'm too scared to think what he will do.

But on the other hand, I started my shift with the mistake, so it couldn't get any worse from then on. And I was right. It got definitely better. It got so much better that I even received an award-like present from one of the guests. He came at the beginning of my shift, finally he took a room and he left the hotel in the evening. He came back at 4 am in the morning telling me how much he likes it here and the beer here too. He took out bananas, chocolate and bread from his bag and gave it to me complimenting my looks and explaining that he's saying it only because of the beer which had made him honest. I didn't want to tell him that I am sick, I look like I was working for 48 hours already, not for 6. But I ate one banana after mister Security Guard refused it.

This month seems like it's gonna be a hard one. Lots of options and opportunities are coming and going. I feel like some of them are just waiting for me to grab them. On the other hand I don't want to take the easy road, although to be honest, lately I seem to be thinking about an easy way out. Like going to China again. Changing jobs. Choosing another career path.

I'll eat the bread I got from my guest. Soon I'll be going home for a short nap just to come back to work again. Hate it but love it. I like being busy. Busy bee!

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

I'm writing this post accompanied by sounds of chatter, singing and dining, as today I have a night shift in a different hotel! That's right! And no, I still haven't quit my job, neither have I found another. It's another hotel from our small hotels group. They didn't have anyone to work tonight, so of course they sent some fresh blood here. That is me, a person whose experience is limited to 22 hours of training and 2 night shifts in my hotel. Great.

The hotel i sgreat. It looks very cosy. The entrance leads you to the Mexican restaurant Manzana, reception is at the end of the corridor. Sitiing at the reception I can hear everything that's happening in the restaurant, and if I were to start shouting suddenly, I guess they would hear me too. It's very tempting to try it empirically, but I'll try to pretend I'm serious for once.

I came very early, almost one hour before my shift's start, because I wanted to see how it looks like and hear some instructions from the earlier shift's worker. She didn't seem to talkative, she scanned my attire from above of her glasses and she left after telling me that it'll probably be very calm and boring tonight.

Little did so.

I started off with selling some trips and one room, after showing it to the guests (and hell it took me long enough to find it myself). Then chats with the guests started.

"Wooof, it's so warm!" - said an older lady entering with her husband, her coat in her hand, reddish face and as warm a smile on her face.
"Indeed mean, it became warm so suddenly" - replied I, thinking that we really do have an early spring. Never expected it to became THAT hot though. I feel cold even with my coat, scarf, gloves and hat on.
"Oh..." - she said a bit confused. - "Good night"
They left.
Wait, something's wrong, I thought. I sat there for a few minutes... Aaaah! They came from the restaurant! That's why they felt so warm. Thanks god they haven't commented on my abset-mindedness, or maybe they should?

Another guest approached the reception to take his room keys. After confirming that it's no 20 that they're looking for I hear a question. "Pardon?" - I didn't understand it at first.
"Are you Sylvia?" - I'm sorry, I'm not. Again with the "oh..."?

Well, what is left for me to do is: wait for a guest that called she will come aroun 1 am (btw, she's still not here!) and after that I can consume my dinner packed by my loving mom, which consists of spicy, warming creamy carrot soup and potato pancakes. Just thinking about it my tummy starts talking to me with a sad voice: Don't care about the guests Don't care about anything Just give me something to eat Quickly I'm dying dyyying...

New ideas pass through three periods...........

...
1) It can't be done.
2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing.
3) I knew it was a good idea all along!

I talked with my friend, who hanged out with me in China today, ust to hear the great news. It's not anything big, but it made me so excited!
When I was in China, one friend asked me to help them put with one thing. He and his friends were opening a small hotel, rather hostel, if I may say. Even before opening the rooms were somehow reserved. It's a mystery how they conducted advertising, but no matter what it was, it worked. They opened a hostel-hotel in a nice style, the interior and everything was done by them personally. Those friends have two different shops already, one is called 木里 and is a nice cafe, decorated in a very raw style. Another one, which was actually the first thing they started was a small flower shop, whichh luckily was located close to the place where I was staying in China. Actually this small flower shop started everything.

The Flower Shop.

Everything that I experienced in Xiamen, started from this small Flower Shop. People I met, places I saw, friends I made. It's all thanks to this special place. The name is 花骡子, which is partly a name of an owner. But of course, Chinese names have their meanings, so if I were to translate it literally, it means Flower Mule (you know, Mule like an animal).

So, what I was saying is, the guys who started the Flower Shop, opened a hotel this time. And I suggested them to put it on hostelworld.com website to get some foreign guests too. They conceded and I was asked to help with correcting English desciption of the hotel. And so I did it. I uploaded photos, added my description and I was waiting for my friend to do something more with it.

My time in China passed by quickly, and everyone forgot about hostelworld. As I said, the hotel's business was doing quite good, but it was popular mostly by Chinese tourists.

Here is the hostelworld page about my friends' hostel. It's called Shop No 2, as it was created in a style of Flower Shop, which is the first shop. The interior design is very unique and a bit of an Asian style but a bit modern in a way. It's hard to explain in words, the photos on hostelworld might not be enough either, but click HERE and check it out yourself!

And the good news I heard today was that the first reservation came! Apparently my friend added updated rates and prices on the website, and today they recieved the very very first reervation, made by two UK girls. I already gave some piece of advice to my friend, making him angry almost. Well, but the first foreign guests! It's going to be a big day! 13th of February!

Today is a good day~!

I had a dream that I was awake and I woke up to find myself asleep.

Here I am, first night shift (and first in general) in my new workplace. It's not as fascinating as one might want to, but not as boring as I expected it to be either. Time is moving slower and slower ever since it showed midnight and I'm here, accompanied with one nice security guard, who's quite eager to chat, sometimes maybe too eager.

Till now, I talked with a few guests. With one only through the intercom, when he asked to open the door for him. Then his girlfriend came. On the reception desk, in a place where the guests' eyesight doesn't reach we have a tv, which looks like it experienced a lot, which showes the security camera's view. After letting the guest in, letting his girlfriend in, I could see like a movie scene in the tv, where Mister-Room-No-003 and his Lady were hugging in front of the room for around 3 minutes 45 seconds, kissing a bit and then moved inside the room.

Then, a drunk guest from room no..... somewhere on the second floor, came down to ask about some convenience store or a place where he could buy cigarettes. It was no top secret that he was a bit tipsy (ok, 'a bit' is too diplomatic), as the vodka-smelly breath reached my nose which is big enough to smell all. Mr Security Guard showed him the way, but before it happened the Vodka-Breath-Guest showed me his membership card for our hotels group with pride reflected in his eyes. 'Yes, sir. We are very happy you are staying with us'.

Another guest passed by the reception quickly hiding his face, but both me and Mr SG saw that the guest must have had been in a fight, and he probably hadn't won. But as scary as his face looked like, he seemed very nice, because he properly greeted me with 'Good evening'. I want to believe it was not him who started the fight. I bet someone must have been in trouble, and he just wanted to save the person in need, so he got punched in his face. For a good cause!

It's still only half past one, so I need to take my time doing things. Till 5 am, I have no real job to do, so I'm going back to reading blogs about night shifts in a hotel. They have some nice stories to tell. If you're interested go there:

1. Graveyard Shift Chicago

2. Tales from the Night Shift

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Today, I managed to succeed in a tiny, little thing, which is getting the job. I was having training for a few days and today I had to write a test, which was supposed to check whether I am ready to work. For 79,5% I am ready, it seems. After getting my results, I was told about all details concerning contract and job itself.

My favourite place in Japan - Osaka Castle.

To be honest, it's not a good job. I mean, it's not anything big. But, it's a job connected with what I want to do, so I consider it as a small step towards the things I decided for myself. So! Wish me good luck!

I still hope I will be able to move to another workplace, where I had an interview at the beginning of January. It was for a hotel, which is still not opened, so even though they were interviewing people, they could offer employement only from the end of March, which means that till March I won't know if I go the job or not.

The contract that I am to sign soon is for 3 months, till 26th of March. Till then I can concentrate on what I'm doing now, but in March I will have to make another decision. Should I stay or should I go?

That's how the kindergarden children are taking their first steps...... to take over the Osaka Castle.

This is a nice quote, which I found somewhere by accident:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

My year 2012 was a year in Asia. Year which will become my inspiration and motivation for the next year - 2013. And now, two first weeks past and I found a job. Tomorrow I will start new stage in my life. I already started few things, which will occupy me this year, and that is Japanese folklore dance, job in a hotel and saving money for a trip to Japan.

The first meeting of Soran bushi dance group - Sakuramai Poland.

For now, I'm slowly getting used to living in Poland - eating bread instead of rice, going to buy vegetables and going back empty-handed, because the vegetables looked bad, talking in Polish and waiting for bus, which comes late, looking for a job and expecting a low salary.
But it's alright. Because now, that I have a PLAN for this year, I will live well and do well. I'm very nervous because of tomorrow. I will have the first, initial training at work. The first 4 hours in new workplace. I will do my best~!

Let the Year of Snake begin! (Wait, it's too early, the Year of Snake begins around February....?)

If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.

Here it is - year 2013. And it follows year 2012, which was full of emotions, adventures, feelings, new people, reconciling with people from the past, learning, struggling, fighting, crying, laughing...
This past year was full of everything, which can be called a part of life. I grew up a lot. I don't regret anything. I do have thoughts sometimes, what would be if I had made a different decision now and then. But I decided to look forward now. Maybe the thing that I call my dream, which I became aware of in 2012 is not actually my dream, but it became my direction for now and I don't want to loose sight of it.

Start of work that I came to love!

This year, I have one main New Year's Resolution and a few smaller to accompany it. The job that I started in China, I want to become a professional in it. That's why I want to work in Poland in the same industry for now and I want to study about it on master course too. This year should be full of only this work related things. Work & Study. Other than that I wish to go on AIESEC internship again, but this time maybe to Japan. Decision about moving the area of my studies to a different direction was very difficult for me, as I love Japanese studies and the language, which I'm gradually starting to forget unfortunately. That's why I wish to gain as much knowledge about my job as I can, so that I am able to work in Japan too one day.

Friends that I came to love!

This year, just like the year before, I will slowly but tenaciously go forward to reach my dreams!
And I wish everyone to be able to realise their New Year's Resolutions this year too!

Happy New Year!