Before every shifts at the Shelter, we gather together and pray for each other and for the guests. After reading some in God's Word and praying for fifteen minutes, the manager smiled at Bethie and me and asked us who was on reception and who was cafe. Confused we looked at each other and explained that we were both on cafe, as is normal on a Friday. As it turned out, Ryan was supposed to be on reception and had overslept. The nightman stayed a few extra minutes and covered for him, so that worked out just fine.
The morning cafe shift is usually quite busy, because breakfast is complimentary so everyone wants one. We have a few options for breakfast, which sometimes takes a while to explain to non-native English speakers. Fortunately breakfast is delicious, so language difficulties aside, people usually leave happy.
Having already had our major rush fairly early and with a surplus of French Toast in the pan, Bethie and I felt confident enough to turn off and clean the grill half an hour early. Our confidence was misplaced and we received five more orders which we had to make in a pan on the stove instead. We had to close the kitchen a bit late, but at least the grill was clean early.
The second part of morning cafe is cleaning the kitchen and preparing for lunch. For lunch we set up a table with bread and sandwich making supplies, plus leftovers from the night before if we have any. We opened the fridge, ready to get out cucumbers, tomatoes, etc, only to find that we had somehow run out of every single vegetable and the nest delivery wasn't due to arrive for three days. I was at a complete loss, but Bethie had the idea to use some left over noodles to improvise a pesto pasta dish instead of the normal spread. About halfway through making this masterpiece, our progress was interrupted by the very early arrival of the Monday delivery. While Bethie finished up the pasta, I sorted out the new veggies and set out the usual spread in addition to the pasta. Fortunately in addition to the normal staff members and cleaners eating lunch, we had some former staff and guests, so everything got eaten.
My shift ended at one, so I headed home after lunch. After a bit of a rest, I did my weekly chore of cleaning the showers. Cleaning the drains is not so pleasant, but I prefer to sign up for it because otherwise I tend to blame whoever was supposed to clean for the nasty smell that develops every two days. If I clean it, then I know that it was clean at one point at least and that it is no ones fault there is no ventilation in the bathroom (seriously, though, the windows don't even open. It's awful and muggy and smelly).
After taking a shower myself, I headed back to the hostel to help with hostel night! Every other Friday we provide a free dinner for the guests, with some sort of theme and a Christian message. This nights theme was "Funfusing", meaning fun and confusing. We played some games, which were very confusing at my table especially. There was four of us: me, a girl from Taiwan who spoke English pretty well, a girl from France who spoke less English, and a guy from Italy who really did not speak English at all. We made it work and had a lot of laughs despite the language barrier! Elizabeth spoke for a bit about how in the confusion of life, God is a constant. After the dinner was over, guests stayed in the cafe playing some of the games we provided. It is such a good feeling to be part of a team bringing people together like that.
Finally my work was done for the day, so I headed back to the community house where I hung out with fellow staff members and got to skype with some friends back home.
So that's what a day here can be like! Some days it's way less busy and other days it feels like I'm living at the hostel. Even though it's an inconsistent way to live, I like it for now.
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