Where there are Koreans, there always seems to be disorder in the shop. That is what Clara said it is like when a Korean group comes to visit the monastery. Well it was just my luck that such a group decided to visit on Tuesday. It was a very small group of Koreans, about 15 people or so, but they managed to create chaos inside the shop.
Whenever the group is done selecting whatever it is they are looking for, they all bombard the register expecting you to be ready to collect money and give back change. I was glad to have Clara there to help me today, because they were just so many hands reaching out trying to get some attention. I had to stop trying to put things into bags and just hand it to them hoping they would save me the trouble. And today they all apparently wanted the same item; this handkerchief with St. Benedict's face printed on it. They cleared out the box in a matter of minutes and had to search to find more. I think everyone in the group of 15 bought at least 3 or 4 for themselves. I just gave up trying to fill the box back up and pulled out the draw and placed it on the counter. Once the dust settled and the shop was cleared, the Koreans spent a total of 500 euros. Just imagine if they had been a larger group. So I guess one good thing came out off all that confusion.
The Abbot was in good spirits today coming into the shop and pretending to be a boxer throwing some light jabs. I was also in a good mood today, because I got to see something awesome. A double rainbow. If you look very closely at the picture, you can notice the second one a little to the right of the very visible one. I also got to see where the end was, but unfortunately no pot of gold. Do you want to know what's at the end of the rainbow? It's a waterfall. Some of you might be disappointed, but I think it's a pretty good treasure. I mean who doesn't love waterfalls?
Man I thought yesterday was hectic, but I was completely unprepared for Wednesday. Clara told me yesterday that I would be helping her do some weed cleaning outside above the shop. I thought it wouldn't be so bad, considering the shop isn't but so big. Well I was wrong. When she came back down from cutting, she was covered in tiny pieces of weed. I knew I had my work cut out for me.
When I made my way above the shop, the entire ground was covered with recently cut weeds. I had to collect them and place them into a pile to be burned. When I was halfway through collecting the weeds, I noticed the pile had gotten taller than me. Well I told Clara this and she decided that now was a good time to start placing some of these weeds into plastic bags to be carried down to the dumpster. Three bags later and the job still isn't finished. I think this will be continuing into next week depending on the weather. Looks like I will have some long days ahead of me.
The afternoon started off with me being run over by a large group of Germans. I was surprised by them when I open the door to the church. I already knew that this was going to be a very exhausting afternoon. Shortly after the German group went inside, I began to hear the voice of little children and I was of course alone in the shop. I was hoping that they wouldn't come into the shop, but I might as well have hoped that I could speak fluent Italian. Luckily they did not stay too long in the shop, because their tour was going inside and I could breath for a second; that is until the German group made their way into the shop. Just when I needed some help, Don Ignazio showed up. Even though he doesn't know all the prices of the items, he was able to take part of the load. I just had to tell him what the cost was and he would take care of the rest.
Once we finished with the German group, the kids showed up again. This time they meant business. When kids come into the store, I was told by Clara never to use the machine to print prices, since they sometimes don't have the money for what they want. So this took longer telling the kids how much everything cost, figuring out what they could afford, and getting the money. It was so busy and hectic that even the Abbot started to help out with some of the purchases. This is a first for me, because he usually walks into the back room and surfs the Internet. I guess he saw how much I was frantically running around and decided to help out. I look forward to tomorrow, since there is nothing on the schedule. A peaceful day I hope.
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