May 10, 2011 - Nab Cottage

So, I had my first yoga session last night, which lasted about 2 hours. Tim leads a yoga group every Monday night in the "big room" upstairs in the barn (which is no longer a barn but a workspace with 3 classrooms, a bathroom, and the staff sleeping area, which now includes me). Luckily, I wasn't the only newby there, as there are 6 folks here that arrived Sunday night for a 10-day corporate retreat/team building. They are also working on their english as part of the package. They all work for the same company (as supplier to Ikea), but none of them work at the same facility. They are from Poland, Czech Republic, and Russia (2 females, 4 males). Anyway, none of them had ever done yoga before either, so we all struggled together :)

Then, my first day working today and I had trial by fire. Wojtek was supposed to show me the ropes today, but decided to take today and tomorrow off instead. There were 12 guests this morning. I helped serve breakfast and keep everyone happy and then once Liz was done with the cooking, she had to leave to take her daughter to a job interview while Tim had a class to teach for the corporate folks. So, I was left with a list of chores to do without any guidance, which included clearing the dining room and cleaning the tables, doing all of the dishes, cleaning 2 rooms and 2 shared bathrooms, and removing the linens and towels from a room where the guests had checked out. It was a little overwhelming, but I handled it as best I could and was told I did well...so at the end of the day, that's all that matters. I am told that another worker, an Austrailian female, will be coming this weekend, so there will be extra help available soon.

After work, the weather had cleared up (because it rained last night and most of the morning) so I took one of the trails in the area around Rydal Lake. It was about 3 miles and a very pleasant walk with lots of folks out on the trails, most of them retirees. I haven't seen so many seniors in one place since I left Arizona and it was nice to see them out walking and enjoying the beautiful countryside. The photos below are from my walk today.

Looking forward to exploring other trails soon and visiting the poet William Wordsworth home, Dove Cottage, which is only about 2 miles from here in Grasmere Village...