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...