This post is quite boring sorry..

Just a little update on my not-so-very-exciting life these last few days...

Not exciting for you, but very exciting for me!

Last night there was a big art event on at the hotel where basically the ground floor where all the lounges etc are was converted into a gallery. I was called to help the cooks in preparing millions of amazing delicacies for these lucky people who came to the exhibition! It was, for me, probably the highlight of my whole time here, which might sound wierd unless you understand that I don't respect almost anybody more than the staff who work here. They are incredible. Especially the cooks, as you might have already picked up... so just being able to work in the kitchen rolling dough and helping make everything from absolute scratch was actually such an honour for me.

It was challenging too, being given instructions in German by a chef I haven't met before who didn't seem to realise I had no idea what she was saying, especially since she didn't look in my direction when she spoke. Also because I couldn't understand her, I was pretty sure she always sounded angry at me and freaked me out a bit. I started looking at Annamarie for a gesture or a little nod that translated my task. In spite of that I felt totally at home in my zone in the kitchen!

My work got rewarded by both these chefs, even the angry one, and this was passed onto the big boss who came in to tell me how pleased they were. Happiness. I can't believe how many plates of tiny pastries, prosciutto bread, tiny strawberry sponges and cocktails etc went out.


Today is Sunday and I went down to the town and trudged around in the rain (there is new snow on the hills now. Getting people annoyed because they want summer) wondering if I might catch a sight of a church I could gatecrash. I only saw one and it had 2 people inside, a bunch of incense and a large statue of Mary that (no disrespect intended) I found kinda frightening. Then I thought well maybe I could go sit in a cafe out of the rain, but a town like Bad Gastein virtually shuts down on a Sunday.

Oh yeah, and in other exciting news, I went to the supermarket (if you could call it that) and stocked up on a pile of edible gifts for people back home. I was carrying a baby-sized armload of these lolly bags around, got laughed at by the woman in front of me, commented on by the old man behind me, looked at strangely by the checkout girl. Then realised they gave me no bag so had to butt back into the long queue to buy a bag for 19 euro cents. Then trying to get them all into the bag spilled lollies on the ground and got laughed at further. Bag was so heavy it was cutting into my hand on the walk home. Walked into hotel and got asked if they were all for me.

Then I realised just how much its gonna cost to get such a load back home! Ah well. I sampled some schoco-bananen which are like marshmallow bananas dipped in chocolate, but made from actual real banana so they taste kinda sour and wierd.