Our Three-Week Routine

Riding on a high from our recent job loss, life seemed good again. That is, until we realized that we were losing money fast... and now we weren't earning any.

I had about a half a day of panic before the next job rolled in from one of the other temp agencies. This time, I would be working as a housekeeper at Arrowtown House, a luxury boutique hotel run by one couple. It would be every day for the next three weeks. It was PERFECT! Except for the whole waking up at 6am every day, without a break for weekends... But with money on the mind, I accepted immediately.


As it turns out, I was rewarded not only with consistent pay, but also with delicious leftovers. As their only housekeeper, Steve and Jeanette gave me all of their leftovers. And Jeanette cooks gourmet food. We didn't pay for groceries for at least a week, eating whatever I was given after a day's work. Unsure of what to do with the large buckets of roasted fruit, we started making smoothies several times a week (resulting in us being known as the "Smoothie Girls" to a hostelmate or two).

The weeks suddenly started going by very quickly, what with jobs, friends, and football (which I ended up playing on the beach pretty often). When in doubt, we went to the beach at Lake Wakatipu. In case that sounds boring to you lake-savvy Minnesotans, here's what Lake Wakatipu looks like:

So yeah, life in Queenstown was pretty good. We bonded with our roommates in Room 13 at the Black Sheep Backpackers, as almost all of us in this 8-person dorm room stayed for a full 3 weeks. One or two of the boys were a bit too familiar with us, waking us up with drunken stumblings at 4:30am or snoozing an alarm for an hour starting at 3am, causing us to say a few choice (aka unapologetically aggressive) words in the middle of the night...but overall it was great in Room 13. Our room was also notorious in the hostel for being absurdly messy, what with all of our belongings sprawled out in disorganized piles... Imagine my bedroom (you especially know what I'm talking about Dejan, Kayli, Mom, Dad, and Willie) but eight times worse. Housekeepers refused to vacuum our room, and eventually we were all told to move into different rooms for our last day there. It was a sad day for Room 13.

After the three weeks of work, we had some exciting things ahead... Mariah's mom and her friend Val would be visiting us! That meant no work and all play: an entire week of tourism. Updates on that coming soon...