One Month

I have now been at the Castle Zaman for a little over one month, woot woot! As always settling into a work place is tricky. There are new personalities, routines, expectations, egos, and norms to deal with. I tend to think finding a happy medium between the norms of a place and my own personal standards and behavior is the hardest part of any job. I also tend to think places such as this hire you in some way because of your personality so you should not lose it. Maybe they will still like me after month two!

Here is daily routine....
Wake up around 8-9 am, by 9:50 am be outside to double check the cleaning guys have swept and cleaned up properly. Go down to the house and eat some breakfast. An old chef just came back and reinstated the daily tradition of fresh baked pita bread, yummy cheese spread, cucumbers, tomatoes, soft boiled eggs, and olives for breakfast. I love it. By 10:45 or 11 am start opening the bar. When there were three of us Rebecca and I would open the bar while Laura did the accounts. Now Rebecca has left (although she is coming back when Laura takes a vacation to Canada land) and either I do the accounts and Laura opens or the other way around.

This is the bar as you walk into the castle.

The doors open at noon and the first meal can be served as early as 2 pm. Then the day is pretty simple; serve drinks, set tables, show people around, chat with nice tourists, try to understand large groups of Russians who want fresh juice, open and shut the treasure room door, navigate various cultures, try to communicate with front door man in my super limited Arabic, and tell people my personal Egypt story over and over and over. We close as late as midnight or as early as 9:30 pm depending on how many guest we have/when they leave.

The castle. Under the thatched awning is the bar and main outdoor seating area. We have a sauna and a fresh water pool. I am spoiled.

Here some problems I run into...
Apparently I need to dumb down the English on the phone, people aren't getting me. Also no one likes my music or it is to "American," so I listen to stuff they have here. All in all small problems, I can deal.

I have come to conclusion that America still has a lot of work to do abroad to repair our horrible reputation. The whole Obama winning theNobel Peace Prize did not seem to hurt, also did not seem to help. Little ironic I think that he won a "peace prize" when he is the elected leader of the country that just BOMBED THE MOON! How not peaceful is bombing the moon, even if it was in the name of science?