The Spanish and Pool

My hours have now changed, again. I’m working day reception 9am through to 6pm with no break in between, and apparently these aren’t my final hours they’ll be changing again. I now do room checks first thing where I just have to go around checking all the room that people have checked out of to make sure that there is no damage etc.

Another thing I do is room shows, where once you’ve been checked in we show you to the room and do the standard “This is your key, to work the electricity put it in here……” The worst thing about doing room shows is remembering where the different rooms are in the maze of buildings of The Pink Palace.

Even though I now finish at 6pm the weather is still that good I can go down to the beach and sunbathe until about 8pm, before heading back up to the room to get ready for dinner.

The toga party of the Saturday just been was the worst one I’ve been to all because of the fact Spanish boys are here, in the middle of the Greek dancing they got up and decided to go into the area where the dancers were, the bus boys then tried to move them off and fight occurred, many more fights and mayhem happened throughout the night with people appearing at the top bar with bags of ice pressed against their faces, and blood smears.

The next night they were still fighting but not as much, and tonight there’s been no fighting so far that I know of. Just played a few games of pool with Emma, which then got taken over by Ledjo and Luci who decided that to start the games the balls had to be in a straight line not a triangle and you just had to pot the balls not be stripes or solids, and the white ball became a normal ball to try pot in the holes. Anyways in off to bed now after 2 nights of partying some sleep is in need.

Shrimps On The Barbeque

No main events have happened so far, I’m starting to understand the rules of football as at 2/3am the TV goes on and its football. New chairs arrived, and wow they’re comfy and the wheels on the work! Once again spent more time at the pool with a big group of us there the other day, and the childish happenings of who could push people in the pool unexpectedly.

For the past 2 nights/mornings the same people have been at the bar at nights and then are still there at 7am when I’m going back 2 of them are from England and one of them has the most over used phase so far most sentences started with “I’ve put a few shrimps on the barbeque in my time but……” Of which most of us were ready to slap him one.

Tonight there is a toga party and I think they are opening up the top part of the Palladium (the part with the eating hall and the night club) So far we have been eating in the nightclub each night but as numbers are starting to increase now upstairs going to be used, which is a far nicer place to eat with a beautiful sunset at about 8.30 each night.

A well done to my Mum who did her midnight charity walk successfully.

Work

Canadian Day was good fun, everyone in togas lots of people with red and white face paint on, Greek dancing and a champagne circle instead of the normal ouzo circle. I then spent the afternoon lounging by the pool again and got sunburn on my bum and back although the sunburn on my back resembles a maple leaf from where I’d half managed to reach parts of my back to put on sun cream.

When I got back up Dr George was there and told me which area I was going to be working on, and I’m now working on night reception 10pm till 4am. So last night I learnt the basics of the reception work, meaning I didn’t get to celebrate American Day with everyone but oh well.  I missed breakfast and just had a lovely chicken wrap for lunch and now I’m off to the pool again.

Hope everyone is okay and having a lovely start to their summer.

Goodbye England, Hello Corfu

A big red sunset, not a bad last view of England for 2 months, joining the push and shove of people trying to get window seats, families boarding and parents getting annoyed because they aren’t walking fast enough.

Flying with a bad cold is something I never want to do anytime in the near future, with my blocked nose making strange squeaking noises that I’ve never heard it make before during take-off and then on the way back down a feeling as though someone was forcefully poking my forehead.

I’m now safely at The Pink Palace despite a bit of a mess up, forget the Strikes in England and the politics in Greece meaning I didn’t make it as smoothly. I hadn’t realised I needed to ask for the minibus to be sent to pick me up, so after waiting 40 minutes at the airport I decided to give up and make my own way there.

After getting a Greek Airport Security man to help me make sense of the bus timetable, I made it to the central bus stop in Kerkyra, which is the main town in Corfu, where I waited for another hour for the next bus to Agios Gordis. English Health and Safety would have a hissy fit over the buses in the centre of the town, driving along with the door open the whole time, cracked wooden seats that aren’t properly fastened down. As for Greek drivers well I’m not even going to go there, driving on one side of the road, I think not.

I had a brief meeting with Dr George, after which I was still no clearer as to what my job was going to be for the next 2 months, he just told me “Relax, I will tell you later”. Today he’s still said the same thing, but I’ve been told he does it to everyone. So I’ve spent most of it relaxing by the pool.

The accommodation is basic but alright, I’m in a dorm with 3 other girls who are all lovely, and none of them snore, which is even better. I’m sleeping on a top bunk with a mattress that is very squeaky and the kind that you can feel all the springs in it. The room has a balcony with a lovely sea view which we share with the boys in the room next door.

The 2m by 1m bathroom could use a bit of TLC with mould on the walls from moisture, a toilet with the noisiest flush, a tiny sink with a 70’s looking tap. It’s interesting to have a shower as its one of those taps with a switch that changes the direction of the water from a shower tap to a bath tap, why we’d need a bath tap I don’t know when there no bath. The shower head doesn’t have a stand, so when you shower you have to do everything with one hand and concentrate on managing to not coat the place with water with the shower head in the other hand.

I reckon when mum is reading this she’ll be comparing it to the rooms we’ve stayed in at The Pink Palace twice before, with a nice size bathroom, big shower, comfy bed and air conditioning!

Its National Canadian Day here so most people are wearing red and white, and there’s a toga party later on in the palladium, which will be the first time it has been used since the start of the winter season.

Goodbye till next time.