The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

I have survived one month of work as a Vintage Cellar Hand at Oyster Bay Winery. It hasn't been as glorious and as rejuvenating as I imagined it would be. In fact, this past week was a roller coaster ride...more about that later. Last night was my first night off in 14 days. I wasn't even supposed to have the night off because they cancelled all time off because harvest is underway and there is a lot of work to be done, but I knew if I didn't get a night off then I probably wouldn't make it to the end of vintage. So I asked and they agreed to let me have the night off. I cooked a nice pasta dinner, painted my toe nails, gave myself a facial and then went out for a couple beers in Blenheim. Overall, it was a much needed, relaxing evening. I made myself stay awake until 4 AM this morning so I could keep my body tuned to the night shift cycle.

Working 84 hours a week has it's advantages. I don't have time to spend money, I earn about $1200-$1300 a week before taxes and rent and in the end I know that I will appreciate my time that I have off more. I have made some extraordinary friends here from around the world. Each one brings a different perspective about the job, about wine and about life. They have kept me motivated to stick with it and I appreciate that.

The Bad
Imagine going to culinary school and once you arrive you are assigned one job. Maybe the job is checking to make sure all the ingredients are there for the recipe or mixing sugar, flour and baking soda together. But for the whole 3 months you are in culinary school, this is what you will be doing. You don't get to see how the product moves through the entire process because you are assigned one task only and you do that task day in and day out. Well, that is what it is like here at Oyster Bay. It is a factory for wine. I transfer wine from one tank to the next tank and sometimes if I am lucky, I get to move wine and warm it so I can start the fermentation process. I love doing this! I get to work with different yeasts and it is fun watching them grow.

I almost quit about 3 times this week, but I had to take a step back and realize that this is an experience that I need to finish. The work might not be exactly what I had imagined or hoped for, but I have met a lot of great people and I am living in another country. So I am going to take it for what it is. In the end, I will have saved up some money to travel to Fiji an Australia before I head back to the USA.

The Ugly

My legs and arms are covered with dark bruises, my feet are sore from my rubber steel toed boots and yesterday I sprained my right hand! It has been over a month since I started working in the cellar and it is tough work. The city girl in me is dying to go out on the town. I have cut all my fingernails off, my hair is a disaster and I miss my heels and makeup. When I get back to the USA, I am going to be changing my outfit at least twice a day. In two months, I have only worn my heels 5 times. 5 times!

I miss everyone--friends and family and my cat Javier, I miss the Chicago nightlife and I especially miss shopping and wearing my high heels. As they say here in New Zealand, Sweet As Bro.

Cheers!
Becky