The First Time I Woke Up Reluctantly for Work

Monday
21:42 hours
C-17 (Girls’ room)
Four Seasons Resort Maldives Kuda Huraa

Surprise, surprise! ☺ Yes, it is the first time that I was reluctant to work after nine days in Maldives. I am in the girls’ room now as I have no internet connection once again and I am supposed to be helping Ms. Candice with her work as a ‘sommelier’, like RIGHT, sommelier. Not someone who’s fresh and NOT out of school.

I slept late as I was up chatting past midnight, a habit that has not seen light since eons ago, because of dear friends from Singapore. It’s not like in Singapore when you chat ‘cause you just have nothing to do, being away you really wanna make full use of the time online to communicate with friends and family.

As my tonsillitis was still in full effect, it was 05:30 hours when my alarm rang and I let it snooze til 05:55 before I jumped out of bed, washed up and got myself honey water as breakfast was yet to be served but there was honey on the table. ☺

The housekeeping office was locked and vacant which was a bit of a shock, so I had to ask one of the boys at laundry to help call for someone in charge.

It was then I met Nassir, who was my trainer for the day. I was quickly led into the public areas and I started my job first in the washrooms. Never have I imagined that I will be cleaning toilets but I did and due to hygiene concerns, as much as some areas I clean are drop dead beautiful, I don’t think I want my hands any where near my Fuji camera (Yes old school).

It is shocking, the amount of work that one public attendant has to do in a short span of three hours; gym changing rooms, lobby area, library, Mathige lounge, dive centre washrooms, lobby washrooms, gift shop glass windows, and furniture in the lobby area. Not only clean but also replace amenities.

Although it sounds challenging and I was all up for it, the lack of sleep and my trainer’s good working attitude and desire to teach me right resulted in my sleepy self during his demo and it was not before long that I slapped myself mentally and literally grabbed the dust mop from his hands and started cleaning when he was on the walkie.

Boy was it fun, tough, but fun nonetheless. ☺ So many areas, so little time, and bad weather conditions meant repeated visits to the same areas in a cycle over and over to make sure it looks spick and span.

I quickly learnt what chemicals are used for various purposes and how to use them; how hazardous they are, amount to be used, where to replace them.

I came here with the mindset that anything there is to do, I will do, anything there is to be learnt, I will learn, and boy I did today. Nothing feels better than putting in a hard day’s work, and having time fly by. Before I knew it, it was breakfast break, and before I knew it, it was lunchtime.

Lunch was good but my throat felt worst and I visited Dr. Imateyaz again only to discover this time the swelling went up in the unaffected tonsil and on the affect an ulcer grew. >.< Was given some antibiotics and paracetamol to fight the infection and my fingers are crossed for it to be over soon. I feel great except the annoying obstacle in my throat that hurts from time to time, especially in this dry and hot weather.

After lunch it was going through the repeated cycle again as the winds would blow sand and particles into the areas and also guests walking in and out would bring sand, plus the gents and ladies would be used.

The gratification comes from knowing it’s a challenge to clean up all areas in limited time, walking away from the public areas you cleaned and seeing that it is spick, span and spotless, tangible evidence of your work, and ultimately I love cleaning!

But today during work I realised that this is the first time I see a lack of teamwork in Four Seasons and that it is tough to be Four Seasons in a rural environment. The locals here, not all, but quite predominantly lack professionalism and some maturity.

In addition, you start to learn about the culture here and although most of them are friendly to you, there are some black sheep who are not really friendly and are just here to get by and it is basically… A job.

Then again, this is a learning experience and you should learn as much and as far as I am concerned, I have been adapting well and the experience so far has been good and I have been lucky enough to get excellent trainers in each department.

I hope tomorrow with another trainer would be as challenging as today. ☺

Today Wilson left for home in the Philippines after finishing a year here with Four Seasons. Had a good final chat, exchanged email addresses and we said to keep in touch.

Most of the evening was spent with Yamaki-san, who’s the manager of recreation centre and he is what I would call a common comrade in my quest of self-discovery.

He graduated from school at 18, went into Nikkei stock market as a broker for 8 years, then to Okinawa to guide people diving and then to the island of Palau as a tour guide for six years and he’s now here for a year as the manager of Seawalker.

To travel the world, experience different cultures, meet people from all walks of life, and basically, to just see the world and in search of a final retiring place, that’s the life.

We talk about his life experiences and largely I asked him to help brush up on my Japanese and to learn about Japanese culture.

Okay I think I need to call it a night, down for work at 06:30 hours and it’s now 00:11. Good luck to me!