Weekend 4: 30,000 steps
Friday night the school seemed to clear out - big weekend for people to get off campus and travel. Only three out of seven in my house remained for the weekend. I jaunted over to a classmate’s house and had wine and cheese with a few girls who had remained - Roisin, Gabby, and Nicola. It was the perfect end to the week as it devolved into what girls drinking wine always devolves into - getting catty. My girls back home know.
Saturday was my big day of the weekend. When I woke up it was gorgeous and sunny out. I thought Ireland was supposed to be rainy? I’ve had much more good weather than bad here, sorry to brag. I usually only run to the ocean but wanted to mix it up and try a new route. That was my mistake as I accidentally ended up running a hilly 6.5 miles, although the views were very pastoral and lovely. But still, too long, not the vibes.
I then met back up with the same girls from the evening prior to walk down to Garryvoe beach for a swim and sauna. I know I do this multiple times a week and every time I am shocked with how amazing I feel afterwards. Unbeknownst to me, John has a little coffee set up out the back of his van. What an entrepreneur this man is. So I got to walk home with a cappuccino and see a rainbow. Magic!
I had to hustle though because I signed up for a shift at Ballymaloe House that started at 2pm. Any student at Ballymaloe can sign up to work shifts in the kitchen of the hotel that is associated with the school. It is quite fancy and is certainly the most intense kitchen setting I’ve ever witnessed.
It turned out that there were two large events that day - a wedding and a corporate lunch - in addition to normal dinner service. Needless to say there was not copious amounts of time to entertain me. So for the first few hours they stuck me in a corner and gave me jobs that would keep me out of their way like peeling a billion shrimp and picking and chopping herbs. I respect them for this, I would also want me out of the way!! I did become very efficient at peeling shrimp.
During dinner service I got to watch the kitchen and sort of help plate some soups. Mostly I tried to figure out their expo station where all the orders from the dining room came in and let the kitchen know what to make, in what order, etc. It felt like I was cracking an ancient code but of course I couldn’t do something silly like ask what everything meant. One of the cooks at the end of the night asked if I had worked in a kitchen before. I said I worked in a bakery and he told me he could tell I had kitchen experience by the way I mopped. I’ll take that as a compliment!
When I got into bed that night my phone told me I had taken 30,000 steps that day. Arguably too many! As for Sunday, I’m writing this blog. Not just this post, like literally the entire blog as it stands on this day October 20th. Safe to say I will be averaging more like 30 steps.
*Author’s note - I actually walked to the convenience store and got myself a soft serve. I miss Vinal General Store =(
