Disposable underwear and other stuff

Q: Where do we now live??? A: It is Manta Walk, Yulara!!!

Kristy and I have moved from our “share-share” accommodation to “Manta Walk” accommodation. “Share-share” means that we have to share half of our accommodation with another person (the kitchen and bathroom), but Manta Walk means we have a whole one-bedroom unit to ourselves! And, it is the same rent as “share-share”!! We were up-graded with our accommodation because of my new job at the Resort Spa, and while our new unit is small, we like it because it is all ours. Moving to this new unit wasn’t hard - our new place is literally 10 seconds walk from our old place. The distance for the move was easy, but the rain on the day was a bit of a bummer, why does it always rain on moving day??????? We just did the ‘grab and throw’ move, we had to... the rain!! I have set up our new home as well as I can, given what I had to work with. And I have drawn some new pictures and blue tac-ed them up, draped blankets where I could (towels in some cases) and put desert flowers in empty wine bottles (plenty of those empty bottles, let me tell ya!!!) and spread the “vases” throughout the unit.

I miss Lizzie though, Lizzie is the blue tongue lizard that would sunbake out the front of our previous unit. We still see the family of rabbits, they hop everywhere at sunset! Bunnies!!!! Cute!!!

So, I have now officially started working at the Resort Spa. The first massage I gave, I was given a $25 tip! (Kristy was so proud – it was very cute!!) $25.00 is quite a big tip in this business – it is more than a Spa masseur makes in an hour! Masseurs who work for organisations/businesses (anyone who doesn’t work for themselves basically) get paid pretty low money, and this is incongruous considering that, for example, a one hour massage at the resort Spa that I work at costs a client $125.00!!! Yes, the mark up is huge. Once the Trip-Around-Australia (or as I like to say, the T.A.R), is over, I am thinking of starting up my own Spa, but of course I will be paying the masseurs and beauticians a very decent amount (like DOUBLE the current market rate!). I think well paid workers are more likely to be loyal and committed. Plus, they deserve to be paid for the work that they do!!!!!!

Anyhoo, despite the hourly wage, I am enjoying working at the Spa. Aside from providing Deep Tissue Massage, which I am already experienced and qualified in, I have now also learnt to do:

• 30 minute facials (called the “taster facial” - gives people a chance to experience the products)
• Aroma Stone Therapy (hot rock massage)
• Body Scrubs (great all-over- the- body exfoliation)
• Foot treatments (which include foot exfoliation and foot massage/reflexology) .

I have learnt new skills and I am glad for this (my list of quals and experience is growing evermore diverse and eclectic!) Although in the massage/beauty business, I am finding that my brain is HANGING OUT to be challenged. There is not a lot of brain work required for what I do, well... in comparison to my previous jobs in Melbourne, writing up units of competency for the DHS Diploma of Management. However, this is a short-term job, and while I am doing it, it can teach me to “get into the zone” and to meditate while I am massaging, exfoliating, scrubbing, ect (maybe the Universe is telling me to rest my brain?) . All of my clients say that I have great “energy” (or things along those lines), which is a good thing, because it would be pretty hard to give a client a relaxing experience if I had crap energy!

I have to say though, that while I am not being mentally challenged, I do like making people feel good, and I make sure that every client that steps into my treatment room is given the best experience I can possibly give them. I figure, they are paying so much money that they deserve to feel good. It is sometimes a bit harder with the arrogant clients, the ones that think they are “too cool for school” and treat me like a plebe, but I remind myself that they are paying a lot of money for the service, and it is not their fault if they don’t realise that I am being paid lowly wages, and it is not their fault if they haven’t learnt to be respectful and gracious to everyone, despite job or position. I work on being very kind and gentle to these people as I figure they deserve it (lots of people must really dislike them for their attitude!). But, on the other side of the coin, OMG – I had the most cutest of clients the other day – she was 84 years old! How awesome is that! She is 84 and she flew from the USA to see Uluru! I so admired her, and I made sure I gave her an extra good treatment! I love old people!

Oh, a slightly funny thing happened at the Spa the other day. I had just shown a lovely German couple into the change rooms (they were booked in for a double massage) and after a little while, the man comes out and calls to me, and says that he is not sure how to put on the disposable underwear (his girlfriend/wife is giggling behind him and he is beetroot red with embarrassment). Well... I wasn’t going to show him or help him, (aside from, ahhhhh...no! I couldn’t even if I wanted to because even I am not sure with the boy’s disposable underwear – it is some weird, paper g-string for the boys). I just handed him a new lot of the women’s disposable underwear, which is a very simple pair of black, high-waisted, crepe, strange leg-shaped panties (veeeeerrrry attractive! Must get a number of pairs to wear every day... oh yeah... right), and told him that these were “uni-sex”. While they are not appealing in a catwalk type of way (any type of way really), it is very easy to work out how to wear the women’s disposable underwear. Footnote: we mostly use the men’s g-string underwear as hair scrunchie’s for women who have come for a treatment but haven’t tied their hair back (they never know this, we tie their hair back when they are on the table!). And yes... of course they are clean ones! It is DISPOSABLE underwear people! Once we use it, we throw it away!!!!!

Oh, and the uniform that I wear – it is dark blue scrubs. Picture an operating theatre – I wear something similar to that (without the hat and foot covers). I love the Spa uniform so much that I am considering adopting it as my usual attire. Yes, it is very flattering... not.

I have now also started with my Certificate IV in Fitness (this is helping my brain to not atrophy completely). Have my first exam tomorrow, not sure if I am prepared, but will give it a go. Undergoing my fitness qualification means that I am virtually forced to go to the gym (one of the reasons I enrolled), so while I don’t go as much as I would like (working two jobs, and studying, cuts down on my time at the gym a little), I am still motivated to work out at least 3 times a week. I should have lost stacks of weight, yet, no, I have not. I blame Kristy. She keeps buying chocolate and leaving it in the fridge. What can I do but eat it??

With my two jobs, and Kristy working 5 nights out of 7 (note: she starts at 5.30pm and finishes anywhere between 1.00am and 3.00am), we can go days without really seeing each other (aside from a few hours from when she crawls into bed, and then I crawl out of bed when my alarm goes off for me to get up for work). Kristy leaves for work before I get home, and then I leave for work before she gets up in the morning! But we do manage to get a few days to spend together, not many, but some. Anyway, we are only stopping here at Yulara for a while, to re-energise, experience carpet (was surprised at how much I missed carpet!!), sleep in a bed without wheels, and to save some money before travelling the next leg of the journey.

I have to change my Victorian drivers licence! If residing in the NT for over 3 months, it is law to change your licence (and car rego) over to NT. I suppose it is about time I got myself another licence, considering how Kristy snapped my current licence in half (how embarrassing, and yet fun(!) it has been to hand over my licence in 2 pieces whenever I am asked for ID!). K broke it because she was trying to fix it (God I love irony!) To explain - my licence had a bend in it and so she decided to straighten it, and instead she broke it into 2 pieces.

I have now made a few additional new friends - my circle is extending! There is Darren (assistant manager of Sails in the Desert) and Mike (the star talker for the Sounds of Silence dinners). The Sounds of Silence is an activity where guests pay an extraordinary amount of money to eat a buffet, at night, in the desert, and while they eat, be told about the star constellations above their heads. Kristy and I are definitely going to do this (because we are here, and because we love a buffet, and because it would be fun, and because we might get a discount, and because we now know a star talker, and because there isn’t a lot of choice about what to do here, and because... well... why not!?) I just have to talk to Kristy about our schedules to see if we can synchronize our watches enough to make the dinner booking. Of course, I have also made friends with my co-workers at the Spa (Julie, Karen and Kerrie) who are just lovely and working with lovely people makes the day go by so pleasantly.

Kristy has been HANGING OUT for a bath (we have only been showering for over 4 months now), and today (on my day off from the spa) I made an appointment for Kristy and I to go and have a VERY flasho bath at the spa. We sat in the huge (big enough for 6 people easily), black (once you’ve had black....), roman-type, square bath, filled with luxurious, skin-softening products, looking up at the sky and gum trees, and soaking up the serenity. Ahhhh, this is the life. This bath normally costs $80 for couples, but because I work there, we got a bit of a discount. It was so bloody lovely to have a decent soak, and we are planning to do it more often!

If anyone is ever planning to come and see Uluru, then seriously guys, NOW is the time to do it. I can get you major discount on rooms at any of the hotels here. And I mean MAJOR discounts (100’s and 100’s and 100’s of dollars off the usual price). Kristy and I are planning to be here until at least the end of January 2011. Of course anyone who comes is welcome to stay with us if you want to pay nothing for accommodation, but if you want privacy or more room, I can get heavily discounted rates on the hotels here. Tomorrow I am finding out exactly the discounts I can get, so stay tuned to this bat channel and I will advise. If you are even vaguely planning, considering, contemplating, hoping for, imaging or reflecting on a trip to the centre of Australia, then email/text/call me and we can start working out the details of when and where. Come on... I know there is a number of you out there that are wanting to come to Uluru... don’t be shy... don’t be hesitate... just do it! (you know who I am talking about!!!). Is one life (that we remember anyway) so at least make sure that you see, in this lifetime, the iconic Australian rock!

BTW – how funny is The Big Bang Theory? We have just finished watching the first and second seasons on DVD! Hysterical!