Today was two days in one. The first was amazing...
I played soccer with a three-legged cheetah named Circa. A staff member took me to her enclosure to feed her and play with her. Her favorite toy is the soccer ball, but she did take a break from that to wrap her mouth around my ankle for a moment.
After this, I worked on the farm’s green initiatives plan, which the owner wants me to update for him. This I feel very confident about doing and doing well.
I also met Anna, one of the pre-schoolers who will be in the kindergarten. I gave her a Milky Way that was left over from the plane and, when I ran into her 15 minutes later, she was still sucking the paper.
Then I went on a leopard and cheetah jeep tour with the guests. It was very exciting to see more cheetahs close up and to watch a leopard eat his meal… though if I’d known about these jeeps and these bumpy, gravel roads, I would have brought a better bra.
So all of this was wonderful and I found myself very happy to be here. But then the second part of the day came…
The other volunteer, Claudia, and I were told to begin preparing the guests’ dinner table at 6pm and serve everyone’s food and drinks at 8pm, and bus the table throughout the meal. If this continues, it means that, of the 5-6 hours a day I am supposed to be working, four could be taken up with waitressing and bartending. Plus, they want me to spend three hours a day in the kindergarten AND help out with the management plan, gardening, and other things. At this point, I feel like I’m doing nothing here but taking a job away from a local person.
And to top it all off, the manager is charging for the “sundowner” drink she offered me last night at the hippo pond; and she’s charging me for the glass of table wine I had at last night’s dinner. Really? :-/
So, it is very interesting here. I have to find a way to focus on the good and not the bad because I don’t want to spend the next 26 days feeling like the hired help… especially since I have NOT been hired.
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