To backtrack to the 18th a little:
The boss has started doing this thing where, if we aren't moving around the house enough for him to see at 7:30am, REGARDLESS if we have 2 or 8 horses to tack, he will walk into the house, through our bedrooms and clap over us to wake us up. All the while yelling "UP UP UP." It's not even the fact that we could be sleeping an additional hour that is aggravating, because I could care less about sleeping in here, its the invasion of privacy and consideration for us as humans for meeeeee. (Not to mention a senior man should not be walking into my bedroom as a 22 year old woman who is usually starting to get dressed for the day. While I have no problem with it in a body-image kind of way bc there are bigger fish to fry in life than nudity, it's just the lack of thought process that makes me irked). Lo es muy inapropiado por él hacer y no bueno para mi. Ese hombre es no mi favorito persona a este momento. Ah los cosas yo podria escribir aqui porque el no comprende espanol, pero yo no quiero él a hacer ese mucho trabajar solamente por este blog. Mejor cosas a hacer con mi tiempo. A veces yo hablo a él en espanol cuando yo necesito gritar a el, porque yo no necesito estar en conflictos a la fin del dia. Lo es que lo es.
**Before I continue on, its key to note that, there's four of us, and usually we only have 2-6 people on our 9:30 morning tour, meaning we only need to to brew coffee and prepare 3-8 horses before 9:30. There's no need for us to start saddling at 7:30...a task that takes 30m herding to girthing for 8 horses and 2 people (well, for most of us.). The boss knows this, but prefers us to be waiting in the coffee area instead of saddling closer to the tour, so I decided to take the matter into my own hands. If theres one thing I won't stand for right now, its having his hands clapping over my face--urging me to essentially be useless for an hour--be the first thing I see when I wake.**
My solution? I have begun waking up at 6:45. It takes me 10m to brush my teeth/wash my face and dress, and I leave the house by 7, start the coffee house brew and get bridles, herd the tour horses into the paddock and sort them by the ones we need, and begin taking the picks to the tacking rail. Its usually about 7:30 as I'm going back and forth with my horses when the boss will speed past--where he waves to me and asks where my coworkers are. I of course lie (duh. I'm 23. I make bad decisions.) and say 'brewing the coffee' or 'going to the bathroom,' because I honestly don't give two shits if they're still sleeping--no one deserves him bursting into their resting or dressing space regardless. If I can do one kindness for them this summer--Elisa in particular as she said he'd do this to her a lot during winter?!?!?!?! and she's been an angel to me this summer--I'm more than happy for this to be it. Usually one or two (usually Elisa first haha) of our crew will appear around this time and he'll go off--leaving us to saddle the horses by 7:45/8:00, and sit in the coffee house drinking an entire catering sized container of coffee and creating tinder accounts for the horses (see post SPONS) or reenacting tour bloopers...for an hour and half...until the 9:30 people show up. In a way I kind of like beating him to start the day here, I feel like I'm pulling my work load enough, and I like even more that he sees me halfway done with the prep before he's made it down the driveway. It's definitely an ego thing, but also I feel like if theres one thing the man can't stand, it's direct, metaphorical eye contact.
Yesterday in particular we spent an hour and half in the coffee house and had a less than average number of tours—it was literally just one family in the morning (which Sabira took on her own) so I stayed behind to do stable work before Elisa and I had to go get the long break pasture horses from the furthest field. The boss went with his car to block one of the ways and Elisa assured me they wouldn’t run into the construction site so all things considered I was pretty excited. She took Zorro and I took Nota, and what a blast we had. Sabira’s group's grandmother had stayed behind to relax, and ended up getting a super cool video of Elisa and I hearding in the horses, and I finally worked up the courage to film the ride earning me a dope video before we hit the barn stretch. Once the tour got back and Elisa and I untacked the tour horses to begin planning for Rvk, but the boss decided he needed to switch horses around between Ölfus and Rvk RIGHT THEN. Of course he took horses we told weren't the best picks and that he could catch easily/were already tied up. I felt so bad, right after the tour got back an already exhausted Krona was included in the Boss' game of go-fish and whisked away to Reykjavik where she ended up collapsing on the afternoon tour there. Of course we tried to talk to our manager about it but he said the same—“neiiiii the customer was just toooo heavyyyy for her.” MMMMMMMMM okie dokie artichokie.
Speaking of our manager (I'll move on to today after this I promise) he gave us a 'safety lesson' the other day after the Disney tour, in which we took the OLDEST horse and proceeded to display "correct" mounting and riding position indoors (see selfie, but I wasn't aware NONE of the standard riding rules and posture applied to riding here but what do I know). He also informed us we weren't cleaning enough (honestly pop off king, you're kind of right. I can't defend us on that one.) but his reasoning was so off the wall I had to stop myself from laughing. Honestly I deserve an Oscar for the concerned and serious performance I put out. He said, AND I QUOTE:
"We have to be thinking of the dirt in the corners here. Most of our customers are women, and when women come into our space and use our bathroom they notice if its clean and cozy more so than men. Women sit down to go to the bathroom, and when they use the bathroom they look around and notice the dirt closer to the floor."
I'm absolutely done for the day. No more comments. Glad I know how to properly take a piss and ride a horse now.
(all of us for the entire day)
But speaking of today:
It was the PERFECT Sunday in Ölfus, with misty rain shrouding our valley all day and no bookings in sight--so of course the gals and I spent it lounging around watching movies back to back as the clouds spilled over the mountains. It was rejuvenating to just exist for the morning and make coffee together, do our own thing silently and then laugh together at a movie or two. It felt familial. The wall of windows to the mountain side case the gentlest light through the living space from the clouds, and watching the mist dance around outside along the mountainside was nothing short of magical.
We decided it'd be fun to go to the Sky Lagoon since the day was so relaxing, and after Elisa asked the boss if we could drive to the city (a courtesy really. I doubt he'd even realize or care if we were gone) we packed out things and headed out. We invited Rvk but they decided against it--but we ended up seeing them later anyway.
At the lagoon, we all jumped around in the warm water, enjoyed the foggy view across the bay, and indulged in some ciders/beer. It was fun for me to see the groups of tourists around us talking and taking photos, and feeling somewhat like a local with my coworkers all around me. Even if we are all temporarily enjoying this lifestyle, it's nice to fall into it all the way.
This one group behind us was talking nonstop about how overrated Dallas was and it made me thankful I had a group of Europeans (being very general here, but also because I mean look at the group) to hide in. I think one super niche part of the "American experience abroad" is how genuinely safe it feels to not only have europeans like you (because we always assume they despise us), but to have them call you a friend and want you in their group. It makes me feel super geeky to admit, but I know my buddies at home will understand it. The best analogy I can think of is getting to sit at the adult table instead of the kid table. Not that every American I know is a child and every European is an adult, because that's obviously not the reality, but I think of it like this: The kids always welcome you at the kid table as one of their own, and will include you and quickly get you into the conversation and fun. You don't really want to be at the kid table, but its familiar, and where you usually are, and nice to feel like you're wanted in some capacity I guess. Whereas when you get accepted at the adult table you feel more chosen as 'one of the crew' and in an entirely different (and capable) way. You're not there by proxy, you're there because they want you there. You get to see into more real conversations, and situations, and be a part of a bigger collective energy than the should-we-see-who-can-fling-the-mashed-potatoes-across-the-room-further. It makes sense in my mind, but probably makes no sense on here. In all honesty I'm a little tipsy from the hot water and ciders. SPEAKING OF -- Sabira was definitely feeling her ciders by the time we went to leave, and as we were soaking (lol literally) up our last few minutes we got the message that Iti had gone off on the manager and quit. I later picked my jaw up from the Botton of the lagoon and we hustled to get dressed and head to the Rvk stable (with a very drunk Sabira in tow).
We were in good tipsy company at Rvk, where Iti was obviously warm after her bottle of vodka and emotional phone call with the manager, and Axelle was beside herself with passion over the entire ordeal. We all huddled on the couch and listened to Iti's recount, and then formulated a list of issues we had with the treatment of the horses to present when the next one of us decided to brave a convo w the manager. It was a long convo, and we headed back to Ölfus later than we probably should have, considering I still have to work in Rvk tomorrow.
My intuition tells me that tomorrow Iti's pending departure will transform into my beckoning call to move to Rvk permanently. This I have mixed emotions on, but I'm not getting into them unless that situation actually occurs.
Stay tuned for Iti & Elisa's takes on this specific day of the summer, as I'm sure they probably have some sort of hilarious emotions or thoughts about it all.
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