I continue with my daily assignment at the Dentists' office. I wash the counters and floors, while David (my chauffeur) sits in the lobby and reads Science Illustrated. Occasionally I work a few hours at the Academy.
Things have started to pick up again at the hotel. I am one of two employees from last year that have stayed on in the restaurant. This makes for lots of training of new people and hoping that they stay more than one shift. This past Saturday, I working in the restaurant for three hours and then went downstairs and was the bartender for the next five hours. It was the first time I have been a bartender for a whole night and it went reasonable well. That is except for being completely exhausted on Sunday.
I'm off to the dentists' office now, future updates will include health, weather, and school!
Showing posts with label bar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bar. Show all posts
Monday, November 9, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
A Weekend in Wonderland
After school on Friday we went on an adventure to Åmot. That is, we visited the liqour store. We knew we had a big weekend ahead of us, but managed to not buy the entire store. We headed home, made dinner and took naps. Around nine we called for a taxi up to the hotel.
I wanted to show my friends where I work. The hotel is decidedly more interesting than the dentist's office on a Friday night, but it still wasn't that busy. We hung out with the rest of the staff that had gotten off work, complained about the music, and looked at the paintings in the lobby. The crowd never reached critical mass to hit the dance floor, but that could have something to do with the music never being dance music. We took a taxi home and crawled into bed, happy and tired.
Saturday was loaded with potential. We started the day with mimosas (and mimosa floats) which may or may not have influenced the brilliant idea to build an igloo. Six hours later we had rolled some monster snow balls and formed them into the first two layers of a kids' igloo, right outside Åslaug's window. We were freezing, but I can't remember the last time I've had that much fun.
We went inside for some hot chocolate and wound up taking naps. We hadn't quite decided what we were doing with the evening, but we were certain that we weren't paying cab fare up to the hotel again and figured the local pub would be a good change of pace. We were right.
The bar was about half full. People looked at us like we were aliens. We acquired beverages and sat down. After about five minutes, a couple local guys (one in particular) decided that Rania and Christa were about the most interesting thing next to snow mobiles and started chatting them up. Rania, who is married, made a tactical bathroom break, putting Christa in the hot seat. Christa happens to be a pro at dealing with drunk small town boys.
They were about five minutes into conversation when he proposed marriage, which Christa declined. When the bar was closing, his friend wanted to head up to the hotel. We went with them, because that's where the rest of my friends were. We piled into the cab, the oil engineer, the factory manager, the fishmonger, the musician, and the law student, and headed off to breathe life into the the party at the hotel.
Christa's new best friend wasn't very exciting once we got up to the hotel. He mostly slept on the couch next to her. It gave me a chance to relax and talk to all of my friends, and there was definitely more dancing that evening! We waited for the bartender to give us a ride home, since he lives around the corner from me.
Sunday we had another long breakfast, this time without the champagne. We packed a lunch for Rania and took her down to the bus. She had to be back in London on Monday morning. Christa finished rolling snow balls for the igloo, while I cooked for the party I was hosting that evening. Åslaug came out to help us put the last layer on the igloo.
Christa and I managed to take a nap before my friends showed up for dinner. Usually, we don't get to enjoy dinner together at the hotel, so it was really nice that they could come down and spend time talking. The season ends while I'm in Seattle, so I won't see many of them again. It's a little sad, but a good excuse for a party.
Christa left on Monday for a business trip to Germany. I'll meet her again in Oslo on Saturday and then we'll fly back to Seattle together. It's crazy to think how soon I'll be home!
I wanted to show my friends where I work. The hotel is decidedly more interesting than the dentist's office on a Friday night, but it still wasn't that busy. We hung out with the rest of the staff that had gotten off work, complained about the music, and looked at the paintings in the lobby. The crowd never reached critical mass to hit the dance floor, but that could have something to do with the music never being dance music. We took a taxi home and crawled into bed, happy and tired.
Saturday was loaded with potential. We started the day with mimosas (and mimosa floats) which may or may not have influenced the brilliant idea to build an igloo. Six hours later we had rolled some monster snow balls and formed them into the first two layers of a kids' igloo, right outside Åslaug's window. We were freezing, but I can't remember the last time I've had that much fun.
We went inside for some hot chocolate and wound up taking naps. We hadn't quite decided what we were doing with the evening, but we were certain that we weren't paying cab fare up to the hotel again and figured the local pub would be a good change of pace. We were right.
The bar was about half full. People looked at us like we were aliens. We acquired beverages and sat down. After about five minutes, a couple local guys (one in particular) decided that Rania and Christa were about the most interesting thing next to snow mobiles and started chatting them up. Rania, who is married, made a tactical bathroom break, putting Christa in the hot seat. Christa happens to be a pro at dealing with drunk small town boys.
They were about five minutes into conversation when he proposed marriage, which Christa declined. When the bar was closing, his friend wanted to head up to the hotel. We went with them, because that's where the rest of my friends were. We piled into the cab, the oil engineer, the factory manager, the fishmonger, the musician, and the law student, and headed off to breathe life into the the party at the hotel.
Christa's new best friend wasn't very exciting once we got up to the hotel. He mostly slept on the couch next to her. It gave me a chance to relax and talk to all of my friends, and there was definitely more dancing that evening! We waited for the bartender to give us a ride home, since he lives around the corner from me.
Sunday we had another long breakfast, this time without the champagne. We packed a lunch for Rania and took her down to the bus. She had to be back in London on Monday morning. Christa finished rolling snow balls for the igloo, while I cooked for the party I was hosting that evening. Åslaug came out to help us put the last layer on the igloo.
Christa and I managed to take a nap before my friends showed up for dinner. Usually, we don't get to enjoy dinner together at the hotel, so it was really nice that they could come down and spend time talking. The season ends while I'm in Seattle, so I won't see many of them again. It's a little sad, but a good excuse for a party.
Christa left on Monday for a business trip to Germany. I'll meet her again in Oslo on Saturday and then we'll fly back to Seattle together. It's crazy to think how soon I'll be home!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Update, continued.
After the fire drill on Wednesday, we had an evening concert with Nobody's Jig. Their performance was overshadowed by the best night I've had dancing here in Rauland. I danced and danced and danced and didn't play my fiddle at all! This week, we have a rotation for who is playing for dancing, so no one gets stuck playing all night and everyone gets a chance to dance.
Over the weekend I worked and worked and worked, and then I partied. Let's start with the working. Friday night the hotel had a 9 person Irish band from Stavanger (I think). Every room in the hotel was booked. The entire town was at the party. They drank us almost dry. The hotel had purchased several pony kegs of Guinness - they were gone before the evening was over. The guests also drank almost all of the regular beer we had. It was the party of the season!
Saturday was much, much calmer in the bar and the restaurant. There wasn't any live music. Just some very drunk Lithuanian carpenters, a handful of hotel guests, and a few locals. On the way home that evening, we found one of the locals attempting to walk home. I would guess that it's about 15km from the hotel to where we dropped him off. His buddies had disappeared and he was determined to make his way home. For a drunk hitch-hiker, he was a pretty entertaining guy.
And then there was Sunday. I started the day (around noon) by working at the dentist office. Around five we met up and headed back to the hotel for the staff party. Free drinks and food, games, a scavenger hunt, one short speech, and dancing. It was a great party. I spent most of my evening talking with a nice Swedish guy, who is a friend of one of the cooks. That is the time I wasn't dancing, chasing around in the snow and the dark looking for the clues we were supposed to find, or dancing some more.
Anja and I had planned to head back to town (either get a ride or take a taxi), but with a little incentive in the form of free lodging in the hotel and friendly conversation, we managed to spend the night. Naturally, we made it to school on time; before the instructor in fact!
We spent Monday learning tunes from Leiv Solberg. Today we worked on our concert program. Wish us luck tomorrow! We've got a big day and night ahead of us.
Over the weekend I worked and worked and worked, and then I partied. Let's start with the working. Friday night the hotel had a 9 person Irish band from Stavanger (I think). Every room in the hotel was booked. The entire town was at the party. They drank us almost dry. The hotel had purchased several pony kegs of Guinness - they were gone before the evening was over. The guests also drank almost all of the regular beer we had. It was the party of the season!
Saturday was much, much calmer in the bar and the restaurant. There wasn't any live music. Just some very drunk Lithuanian carpenters, a handful of hotel guests, and a few locals. On the way home that evening, we found one of the locals attempting to walk home. I would guess that it's about 15km from the hotel to where we dropped him off. His buddies had disappeared and he was determined to make his way home. For a drunk hitch-hiker, he was a pretty entertaining guy.
And then there was Sunday. I started the day (around noon) by working at the dentist office. Around five we met up and headed back to the hotel for the staff party. Free drinks and food, games, a scavenger hunt, one short speech, and dancing. It was a great party. I spent most of my evening talking with a nice Swedish guy, who is a friend of one of the cooks. That is the time I wasn't dancing, chasing around in the snow and the dark looking for the clues we were supposed to find, or dancing some more.
Anja and I had planned to head back to town (either get a ride or take a taxi), but with a little incentive in the form of free lodging in the hotel and friendly conversation, we managed to spend the night. Naturally, we made it to school on time; before the instructor in fact!
We spent Monday learning tunes from Leiv Solberg. Today we worked on our concert program. Wish us luck tomorrow! We've got a big day and night ahead of us.
Whoah! Where has the time gone?
Ok, so I've been a little busy. Let's see, since I last wrote I had a few more days in Kristiansand. I had my (very successful) shopping excursion. I bought winter boots, several work shirts, and hand cream. My last night in Kristiansand I got to attend a birthday party. The birthday girl was 92, she is the mother of the relative I was visiting (her husband was related to me).
Then I was off to Linköping and the Linköping Folkmusik Festival. If you are ever considering a Fall trip to Scandinavia, this is a phenomenal festival. Let me say that again. It was outstanding! Fantastic concerts, three dance floors with great music, and workshops during the day. It was really unbelievable how much they packed into that weekend. For me the highlights were Vegar and Patrick (like Anna and Ingrid, they don't use their last names; they just have an award winning CD or two to show for it), Frikar (OMG wow), and did I mention - THREE DANCE FLOORS!! Nätt og Jämt gets an honorable mention on the highlights list, especially since they played one of the dance stages. I recommend going with a group of friends that dance, or totally alone. I had a pretty good time getting dance partners when I was alone, but it's always more fun to dance with your dance-buddies.
I don't recommend driving to Linköping. At least not from Rauland. It took us 11 hours to get there and longer on the way home. At least we got to sing the whole way there and back!
Upon returning home, we cast ourselves back into the extremely busy rehearsal and class schedule. Our first concert is tomorrow and we hadn't really started rehearsing before then.
I, of course, also have two jobs to occupy my free time. This has a number of benefits. One of them being that I'm too busy working to spend money (or energy) partying. The other is that I'm earning money at the same time I'm not spending it! Two weekends ago, the hotel had a group of 140 members of a single's club as guests. I'll let you use your imagination regarding their behavior.
That Saturday, I started helping in the bar after dinner. I don't mean pour drinks or taking orders; I mean collecting the empty glasses and washing them, chilling them (we don't have enough glasses for them to cool to room temperature before they are needed again), and putting them back out so the bartenders can pour more drinks. This works out fine because I get a ride home from the head bartender. At 4:30am
Last week was mostly more of the same: Rehearsals, classes, cleaning at the dentist's. The highlight came mid-week with the fire drill. I'm used to fire drills where the alarm rings and everyone files out into the parking lot waits for the signal and returns to class. In the corporate setting we file out, get a latte and come back. In Rauland, we sat through a twenty minute presentation covering how quickly a room can succumb to fire and the various uses of all different types of fire extinguishers. Then we filed out into the parking lot (without an alarm). The instructor, clad in fire fighting gear, set out several hand held fire extinguishers, poured a few liters of gasoline into the large square metal container he had placed in the middle of the parking lot (at a safe distance from everything), and lit it. Then we got to practice putting out a pretty ferocious fire. Every time someone put it out, he'd light it again, until everyone had had a chance to practice putting out the fire. That's a fire drill.
More soon - I've got to check the laundry and get ready for tomorrow's concert!
Then I was off to Linköping and the Linköping Folkmusik Festival. If you are ever considering a Fall trip to Scandinavia, this is a phenomenal festival. Let me say that again. It was outstanding! Fantastic concerts, three dance floors with great music, and workshops during the day. It was really unbelievable how much they packed into that weekend. For me the highlights were Vegar and Patrick (like Anna and Ingrid, they don't use their last names; they just have an award winning CD or two to show for it), Frikar (OMG wow), and did I mention - THREE DANCE FLOORS!! Nätt og Jämt gets an honorable mention on the highlights list, especially since they played one of the dance stages. I recommend going with a group of friends that dance, or totally alone. I had a pretty good time getting dance partners when I was alone, but it's always more fun to dance with your dance-buddies.
I don't recommend driving to Linköping. At least not from Rauland. It took us 11 hours to get there and longer on the way home. At least we got to sing the whole way there and back!
Upon returning home, we cast ourselves back into the extremely busy rehearsal and class schedule. Our first concert is tomorrow and we hadn't really started rehearsing before then.
I, of course, also have two jobs to occupy my free time. This has a number of benefits. One of them being that I'm too busy working to spend money (or energy) partying. The other is that I'm earning money at the same time I'm not spending it! Two weekends ago, the hotel had a group of 140 members of a single's club as guests. I'll let you use your imagination regarding their behavior.
That Saturday, I started helping in the bar after dinner. I don't mean pour drinks or taking orders; I mean collecting the empty glasses and washing them, chilling them (we don't have enough glasses for them to cool to room temperature before they are needed again), and putting them back out so the bartenders can pour more drinks. This works out fine because I get a ride home from the head bartender. At 4:30am
Last week was mostly more of the same: Rehearsals, classes, cleaning at the dentist's. The highlight came mid-week with the fire drill. I'm used to fire drills where the alarm rings and everyone files out into the parking lot waits for the signal and returns to class. In the corporate setting we file out, get a latte and come back. In Rauland, we sat through a twenty minute presentation covering how quickly a room can succumb to fire and the various uses of all different types of fire extinguishers. Then we filed out into the parking lot (without an alarm). The instructor, clad in fire fighting gear, set out several hand held fire extinguishers, poured a few liters of gasoline into the large square metal container he had placed in the middle of the parking lot (at a safe distance from everything), and lit it. Then we got to practice putting out a pretty ferocious fire. Every time someone put it out, he'd light it again, until everyone had had a chance to practice putting out the fire. That's a fire drill.
More soon - I've got to check the laundry and get ready for tomorrow's concert!
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