Day 2

Today was my first official day of work. I thought yesterday was tough, but try working with someone that you can't understand! There was a lot of pointing and head nodding done today. Some words I need to find out what they mean for tomorrow are: Balle, Eso, Mucho Rapido, Facile, Bueno, Non Bueno, Donde? I know most of the words, but I just need to reiterate so that I remember them. My morning started at 7 and I took a shower in a bath tub with no curtains. I live in this huge house, I hear people talking when I'm in my room, but I've only seen two people in the house so far. A young lady named Pauola and little girl around 3 anos. The bath water only has two temperatures, which are cold and freezing. I have no idea where the closest convenient store/ pharmacy is so I have to make due with these soap packets that say bath oils. I am on the third floor which consist of my room, a bathroom and two other rooms that I don't know who they belong to. So I had no clothes this morning because the airline was nice enough to lose my luggage, and I'm pretty sure I'm a 40 minute ride from the airport, so I wasn't sure how that was goin to turn out. I showed up to work in jeans, an undershirt and a cravate. The gate was locked to the hotel and I had to ring the bell, an older lady answered. I forgot her name but she was really friendly, but she just kept asking me questions in Spanish, and she thought if she said them louder and slower I would eventually understand. But I never did, and that's where I continued to nod, smile and say "Si". The first people in the kitchen were me Luis (supervisor) and Eric (assistant). They were preparing a breakfast (desayunos) that included chocolate croissants and thick sliced bread with pan fried with butter cream. They also served them with fresh fruit and Cafe. We made breakfast for what seemed to be 17 people. As soon as breakfast was over, I enjoyed some food of my own and the coffee was the best thing I ever tasted. The lady who gave it to me said it's because it's con leche (with milk) y americanos cafe con agua ( americans make coffee with water. Then she laughed, and I smiled nodded and said "Si". After breakfast, came lunch , this was a difficult menu. I can describe all the meals, but I would rather just post the pics on facebook and let everything speak for themselves. Anyways, Maruicio (head chef) is obsessed with Mise En Place, he kept saying it before I started making anything. Mise en place is preparing the plates and setting out all the ingredients before you do any actual cooking. Not only did we cook food for the guests, but once we finished, we had to make food for the staff. The best part about that, I got to enjoy that food. Paella Negra, ( basically seafood paella, with roasted peppers chifron (squid) and fish). It was garnished with cilantro and fried tomatoes. Lunch was amazing, and I helped make it. I got a chance to meet more of the staff , and they were all nice, but nobody knew any english. I said basic information about my self, like how old  I was and where I was from and how I just finished school at Le Cordon Bleu. Anytime I tried to break out in English and say more than a few sentences there would be a silence followed by someone sayin no inteindo. After lunch Maricio told me to leave and come back at 7. It was 2 pm and I had the next few hours to myself, so I walked down the road a half a mile and there was nothing but fields and mountains, then I did the same thing the other way but there was a wine vineyard and a couple houses. There must be no shops or stores for at least a couple miles, but hopefully I'll find out tomorrow. I took a few pictures, went back to my room and jet lag took over and I knocked right out. I woke up at 6:30, walked across the street hung out in the gazebo for a couple minutes. It was such a beautiful day by the way, very calm and peaceful, no sounds of traffic, cars, airplanes. I got some good news that Airport found my luggage, Thank you God, I was down to my last pair of clothes. Dinner service began, Mauricio seemed a bit more aggravated. Still under control, but he said mucho rapido a lot more. There is so much to say about the making of dinner but I will let picture speak for themselves. Mauricio is a very talented chef, and likes to test my  knowledge. He'll ask me questions that he knows he told me earlier then he will laugh when it takes me a minute to get it. We made lots of great dessert, cleaned and that was the day. I've already wrote too much, but I just got my luggage and I need to unpack now and rest for tomorrow. I will post more pics tomorrow! Hasta manana!
-Senor David.