The 28, 29, & 30 have all been days of consistency, rest, and falling into a restful pattern after the exciting week that was solstice.
JUNE 28: Apple has begun to be much more mellow at night, and his cuddles are welcome after each day. He even joins the customers in the coffee area as everyone finds helmets and enjoys coffee before we start. I've been enjoying doing the safety speech at the helmet fitting and beginning of the tour, and Lisa thinks my speaking is amazing which is both an ego boost and mildly hilarious as I've taken to using a lot of slang to make the speech go by faster. We had a super fun two tours as we've become super comfortable with out guide horses as of late--Flóki, Eldey, and Mola. In addition to those, we always are able to leave one horse behind usually, and as some of our horses are developing girth wounds (from our part time fourth coworker tightening the girls so tight we can barely unhook them...yet our manager keeps blaming us for. Not that he would every believe us if we told him that, so we go along with it. There are bigger fights to embark upon) we are riding them as guides with a hanging girth. So far Fra and Katla have the worst, and I usually pick Katla to ride as I think she's quite fun for a customer horse. She doesn't like to stand still in the roads (at Rvk we cross some roads so we have guides stand on either side to hold traffic) but I've been taking a whip with me and now prefer to ride with it (as Elisa said I would).
Our last tour of the day was with 15 people and Axelle took a 3 person private tour that had more audacity in their small minds that some white frat boys. They were Austrian, and showed up to the normal tour and immediately said to me "we don't ride with beginners, we are advanced and do not want to walk the whole time." Sometimes we have this, and it always shocks me because when you book the tour, it blatantly says "for beginner riders" and outlines the expectations. Of course they were loud enough that they got their way, and even though they paid the same price as the other customers, the manager had Axelle take them a *special route* and let them tölt the entire time. Judith and I finished with our 15 person tour at very good time, and we waited for Axelle in the hay box so we could help her untack and let the horses into the paddock as quickly as possible. Elisa told me that the winter guides once took their duvets and slept in the hay box--when a fresh roll is in there I can defintely understand why. It smells so warm, and is so comfortable and soft--plus you can stay with the horses through the night! Judith and I debated taking a nap, but deicded that might look bad if we didn't wake up when Axelle got back and her snooty customers saw.
It took her forever, and both Judith and I were delirious beyond reason by the time we were throwing the private tours saddles on the racks and giving the horses extra hay. I can't image having to drive back to Ölfus this tired--more power to Judith. Apple, Axelle, and I later took a 3 hour naps (4pm-7pm...oops), but Lisa, Axelle, and I are tired enough these days that we can still sleep easily at night regardless of hours long naps or not.
When it came time to put the horses in for the night, we tried to do so just by yelling our usual "UP UP UP" at them, but realized they're either a lot dumber than we think, or they're super needing affection. It's probably the latter option, as thall overworked, but they're quick action to cuddle with each other is always too cute not to photo.
Also, as I know you're all wondering: Adam is thriving and doing quite well. I have not been feeding him, but he seems to be doing quite well on his own next to the open window. :)
JUNE 29: The tours today were both long and big. Now that summer is fully in swing we barely have below 16 tourists per tour each day, so every horse has to walk twice. We try to give the really injured horses only one tour a day (as a guide horse with loose tack, which gets our manager in a right state as how dare we be considerate of the horses and try to keep them used and exercised so we don't have to ask the boss to switch horses around--where we'll most likely get yelled at by him for and then the horses will definitely be thrown fully into tours at Ölfus by him regardless), and we try to give Moa (the oldest, smallest horse) mornings off, but there's not much we can do. It helps to have each other, and we can't complain that we operate extremely efficiently on our day to day schedule. Today though our manager did fully berate us for the condition of the horses. Apparently them being exhausted is our fault, as well as all of their wounds (whether it be loose/broken/missing shoes that obviously have more to do than how we treat the horses than the fact that the boss only pays for shoes twice a year for each horse OR their girth and saddle sores which again are OBVIOUSLY our fault and not the broken, wire splitting, ill fitting tack, lack of the boss' belief in saddle pads, or the fourth employee's habit of pulling girths tighter than a jam jar). Its really amusing to the three of us--as equestrians for most all of our lives--to hear our managers reasonings for every time he yells at us for something that we brought to his attention out of our own concern. First the "don't ride with your heels down," then "the horses don't need mineral/salt stones," and onto "the horses aren't tired the customers are just too fat," finishing with "girth wounds are your fault for making them too snug" but making a point to tell us in front of customers that our girths are too loose. I could go on and on. Either way, Axelle and I are well stocked with beer and mead, so cheers to that. We definteliy aren't perfect equestrians, or guides, but at a point some things might be, shockingly, out of our personal control.
After Axelle & I had our happy hour, we all shared some cuddles with Apple, before Iti called us asking if we wanted to go for Pizza and shakes. Of course that was a no brainer, so we put the horses in and loaded up into the company van to grab our dinners--swinging two doors down by Rikke's to grab Iti, Rikke, and one of their acquaintances. When we arrived at the place, we found out it was BOGO on pizza + shake combos if they were for takeaway, so takeaway we did...back to the van for a camping style dinner together. Maybe it was the long day, or maybe it was the crisp air with warm company, but that meal was BUSSIN. I also have tomorrow off, so I'm extra enjoying every bit of my "friday night meal." The girls and I have also started watching "too hot to handle" at night, and it's the funniest way to end our evenings--at least we know there are more ridiculous people out there than what we see on a daily with our tourists.
JUNE 30: MY DAY OFF! I didn't have any plans today other than to drink my mead (the best mead ever oh my god), watch some movies, and journal. As of right now I'm waiting on my dinner to finish in the oven, and sitting in the living room with Axelle and Lisa as we do our own things for a minute. This morning I woke up to Apple cuddled under my duvet, and I let the girls get ready and out the door before getting out of bed at the GLORIOUS time of 9:45. Truly magical for someone who's been getting up at 7 every day. I started my laundry and put some tunes on while I snuck some coffee from the common area after the first tour had headed out to get on their horses. Judith was in to cover for me today, and I got the funniest video of Axelle stealing her horse as I was stripping my bedding to take down. Sometimes watching Axelle without context is the funniest thing ever:
After the laundry was started I decided I needed to clean the apartment. It's livable right now, but I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of our clutter--so I went to work. Within an hour I took out all of the trash (we had quite a bit), cleaned all of the kitchen surfaces and dishes, cleaned the couch and coffee table, swept and mopped the floors, and opened some windows to air out everything. It truly feels like an different apartment after it all, and just as the floor was drying the girls came in and definitely approved! Lisa made the cutest face and was so joyed--I know she's a pretty tidy person, and the fresh space I think will make her especially feel a bit more at home. It feels good to have done something productive for a part of my day, so when they left for their afternoon tour I took all of my finished laundry out, made my bed and folded my clothes, and washed our common area blankets before cracking open my first bottle of mead, grabbing a snack, and putting on Black Beauty.
I genuinely forgot how emotional of a movie it is, and I was 100% bawling as the girls came back, which I'm sure was a funny sight for them to see. Soon after the day ended and we'd caught up on all of the schenanigans that happened as I was tucked away in the apartment, Iti came over (per our ask) and we all watched some too hot too handle. Iti and I determined our life's mission is to go on the show and be total fools, taking bodysuit swimsuits and snorkels, and splashing in the pools completely unbothered and acting oblivious to the he-said-she-said gossip and emotions around us. At least we know we wouldn't loose any money, thus we'd be rich. I also might have put some bagels in the freezer that didn't fit, so Iti fully let me know how inconvenient that was...oops.
At this point in time, I can confidently admit I am 100% team Reykjavik. While there's parts of Ölfus I miss, I think the joy and cozy that radiates from the apartment and community here more than makes up for it. I can't even write into words how much I look forward to spending the rest of my contract days with these girls. On another note, RIP to Lisa's cake she left unattended just now on the table, and RIPx2 to my clean floors--Apple you little shit.
But what a cute way to wake up on a day off :)
**I think it's key to also note that other than really annoying flies that bother us on the tours, Iceland doesn't have any other bugs, so sleeping with Apple (something I'd never do back home) is more than fine. It's actually super warm :). Furthermore, as someone who usually relies heavily on Zyrtec, I am astonished to report that the animals here rarely evoke even a thought of a sneeze out of me. I know the air is different, but wow. ON TOP OF THAT, Apple doesn't shed, so I guess the cats are magic here too--and trust me, I'd be the first to tell you all the issues with him as I'm not usually a fan of cats
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