Work Begins

15/04/2011

Alas our short holiday has ended and we looked upon King, the manager, with a certain sense of dread at what type of work he had in store for us. As it turns out our first job for the next two weeks was one that we openly said we wouldn't mind; working in the kitchens. Because I, personally, have been gorging myself on two amazing 3-course meals every day since we first arrived, I was happy at the prospect of learning the secrets that made the food at Sanctuary Olonana so delicious. The only down-side is the start times (6:30 a.m.) and work hours which, depending on the nationality of our guests, can drag out to over 12 hours (at the moment we have a large amount of spaniards who traditionally like to eat late into the evening at a slow pace; our breaks are naturally hindered by this, annoyingly).

But at least there are plenty of colourful characters in the kitchen to keep us entertained. There's Ambrose, the Sous-chef, who is my mentor and has a surprising amount of patience with me as I try to adapt to the large kitchen. There's John, a Masaii kitchen cleaner, who loves to sing and take full advantage of my eagerness to learn Swahili by mis-informing me about the true meaning of the words he is teaching me (I immediately suspected something was wrong when, after proudly repeating my new vobulary to other workers, they laughed in my face). I now refuse to learn any Swahili from him. There's Emmanuel, the king of starters and salads, who has been teaching me delicious, secret Olonana salad dressings and is always ready with a song and dance. His sister, Lucy, also works in the pastry room with Caitlin and has managed to create some amazing deserts. Then there's James the other pastry chef, a cheeky football enthusiast who constantly tries to arrange a marriage between Caitlin and Masaii warrior. Finally there's Big John who, needless to say, is big. He's also the head-chef, and his avid desire for perfection at rush hour in the kitchen sometimes clouds his amicable personality. Only when the kitchen is quiet does his true character show and fortunately he is just as kind as everyone else.

Xav