My colleagues and I..

Hello dear ones,

as promised, I'm writing to you today about my past week. I had assumed that it would be so uneventful that I saved something from last week to report this time, but my week was not that uneventful.

At work, I had a nice relaxed day on Monday, because I was given the important task of being a spotter. When we have to work at a roundabout, there should always be a person between our truck and the roundabout on the traffic island to watch the traffic so that the others don't get run over. Basically, it means standing around and watching the others work. Great. My back was definitely happy about it. But I only got this task because Rob, our supervisor, unexpectedly flew to Dunedin to lead a project there. Then we also started planting flowers, which is not so easy with such a huge spade. But I think our flower beds look very beautiful.

On Tuesday, Tony was unfortunately sick, so Psycho and I were practically alone. But then we were quickly adopted by Dave and Ben, who then took us to New Brighton to continue working on our tasks. Dave is close to retirement, but still super fit, and set a great pace for both planting flowers and mulching and digging up beds. Ben is about my age, but not very talkative. They also don't take the 4 inches so seriously and usually just dig a little bit and pull the edge nicely so that the mulch stays there. No wonder they are so much faster than us. It's also nice that we now always drive to the pier parking lot for lunch and eat by the sea.

Wednesday evening, I went to our bar with a few girls I met here through a mutual acquaintance. We actually wanted to go bowling, but unfortunately the lane was already fully booked. But Oskar and the regulars were happy that there were some young girls in the bar. The only disappointment for them was that we refused to sing karaoke.

On Friday and Saturday, I was back working in the bar, and both evenings were relatively relaxed, which suited me just fine. Especially because the music was really good again and we could enjoy it better. On Saturday afternoon, I also went to view an apartment with one of the girls, because she didn't want to go there alone.

On Sunday, I got up relatively early and baked a cake, because one of my roommates had black bananas and would have otherwise thrown them away. It worked out well because Gerrit, one of my former roommates, had his birthday this week and we were all meeting up to play billiards in the evening. So he also got a piece of birthday cake and could be happy.

Now let's come to the description of my colleagues. Rob, my first supervisor, is now in Dunedin. Rob is older and somewhat well-built and takes rules and work very seriously. That's why we often had to dig up a bed, fill it with mulch, and then realized that it wasn't dug deep enough and we had to move the mulch aside without getting it dirty with soil, dig the bed deeper, and then fill it with mulch again. Sounds just as great as it was.

Tony is around 50 years old and likes to talk about his experiences and has great tips for me on what I don't have to look at and where I can go hiking. Unfortunately, he doesn't work with me anymore because his bosses don't like him and gave him a new shitty job, his words. Tony always made sure that consideration was given to the fact that I am a girl and don't have as much strength as the men.

Dave, my new supervisor, is close to retirement and thinks that whoever signs up for the job can do it, regardless of whether they are a woman or a man. Or he just likes me better than Psycho and wants to work with me and drive the truck, also a possibility. Dave also doesn't take the rules so seriously, or he is simply more liked by his bosses, because suddenly we don't have to dig 4 inches deep anymore. He also likes to talk and doesn't let himself be pushed around, as he gave Psycho a warning on the second day.

Ben is about my age, maybe a bit older, and seems to be relatively cold-resistant, as he often walks around with rolled-up sleeves while the rest of us freeze. Ben is also not very talkative, either because he doesn't know what to talk to me about or because he is not a morning person and needs a coffee first. During the day, he seems to become more talkative.

Now let's talk about Psycho.. Psycho is 25 years old, has already been to prison, has a star tattooed on his cheekbone, and always turns into a gangster when he feels observed. He likes to talk to himself or talk to others. Most of the time about something totally stupid, like how funny it is to bake a cake and improve it with grass and mushrooms and then bring it to unsuspecting people for their birthday. He also always worries about how he looks while working. That's why he usually walks around in rubber boots because he finds our steel-toed boots too ugly and then can't concentrate on his work. I also find his attitude towards women great. Virtually every woman who passes by is his type and is first looked at like a piece of meat. His girlfriend, whom he doesn't really like but who can easily pay for everything, can hardly do anything right and is treated like dirt. A great guy... But before you start worrying now, I'm almost never alone with him and so far he has been peaceful. If that changes, I always have some tool in my hand that I can hit him over the head with.

That's it for this week. My newest acquisition, a hot water bottle, is now keeping me company. Since it's now late, we'll say goodbye and go to bed. See you next week.

Jessi