Thursday was a day when we realized that we really were learning a variety of lessons on this year, and not only the expected ones. Today's lesson was how to break into a caravan, and we passed with flying colors. The gardening team of which we are now a very established part has their tea and lunch breaks in a caravan in the garden compund. It is a cozy little room full of couches with only a kettle, TV, and microwave as amenities. it is not a whole lot, but it is a great place to retreat to for a moment of relaxation in the exhausting chaos that is the project right now. Anyway, Thursday morning arrived and everyone seemed to have forgotten their keys at home. So we found ourselves poking a wire through a hole in the window, to undo the latch, and then crawling through this tiny space to crash onto the couch and open the doors from the inside. Only a few days as employees and we already had the place pretty well figured out.
That night our position as official employees of a major business became even more exciting, as we were invited to our first ever Office Party. It was frighteningly like a scene out of Steve Carrel's "The Office." The party took place in the computer room at the financial office of the spa, so the festivities were interrupted by the fact that everytime the atmosphere got good, someone would go back to their computer to look something up (buzz kill) or worse, work! But there was still Mexican beer (the party was Very loosely Mexican themed, that is two paper cactuses on the wall and, well, the Mexican beer) and pizza. And we chatted with coworkers and had a pretty good time. It was hilarious watching the awkward conversation and even more awkward flirting of the various coworkers. Everyone was very mixed up about how social they were meant to be and whether they should treat their boss as their boss. This is all at 6PM right after work. Around 8:00 people started to leave and by 8:30 there were only five or six left, plus us. And then, shockingly, out came the tequila shots, and then we observed a real office party. Let's just say, the Managing Director did some things she probably isn't thrilled were captured on camera.
The next day was an exciting one because we installed the beds, mattresses, and chairs into half of the hotel rooms (the hotel part of the spa is divided into two parts, only one of which is currently finished, Block A). This involved about 20 gardener's, coworkers, and Spa Girls (an all inclusive term for masseuses and other health therapists who are forced to help out with heavy lifting work even though they couldn't possibly be less interested, or qualified) lifting massively heavy furniture up three flights of stairs and distributing them to various rooms. It was a massive, sweaty job, but a satisfying one, as we got to watch the rooms slowly transform. We then vacuumed the entirety of Block A which was full of mud and dust on the freshly lain carpet.
We were also treated to a walk-through (or rather a run-through) tour of the whole project by our boss, Paul Cronk. Cronk (affectionately known by Cronkie by his employees) is and old mate of my dad's and a very funny guy, who has been working on this spa project for about 10 years and, as it is in its final stages, is in Hyperactive mode 24/7. But he showed us around the whole spa, which is currently a serious construction sight. Plaster, concrete, wood, glass, electrical cables and dozens of constructions workers running, shouting and working (was it my imagination or did they work much harder when Cronk walked past?) furiously. The spa includes a grand entrance, an airy atrium, a pool and hot tub, a 5 star restaurant and bar, a juice bar, a library, and dozens of treatment rooms for everything from acupuncture to massage, pyschotherapy, pedicures, and The Oriental Treatment (a mysterious 3-hour long extravaganza, at the end of which you get to lounge and nap for an hour to recover. Wow.). This place is incredible, and is very much under construction. The question on everybody's mind is whether it can be completed by the opening date at the end of this month. Walking through a construction site it is easy to be doubtful, but the work is moving at an incredible pace, and it is possible.
We are now kitted out in brand new work boots (steel toed and very impressive), high-vis neon green Hutton Construction vests, and Hutton Construction hard-hats. Pictures, of course, to follow.