I straightened up my work jacket and smoothed out my pencil skirt. I then looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. Today was a special day. A day like no other.
I made sure that no hair was out of place on my head and then applied mascara. I never usually wore that much make-up when I worked but I think the special occasion that was today definitely earned some sort of primping to my face. After make-up was applied, I then fixed my special Liverbird pin-badge on the collar of my clean, white shirt and smiled at myself. Of course I had to remind the special guests today of my love for Liverpool Football Club, even if all of them didn’t agree with it.
I had no reason to be afraid today, but I was entitled to be a little bit nervous. Besides, I loved what I did here at Hotel Stary. Working on the reception of this grand, beautiful 5 star hotel was like a dream come true; it’s so weird to say but I actually daydreamed about working in a big fancy hotel when I was younger and now I was living that dream. The people here in Krakow were also very nice and although I didn’t speak very fluent Polish, most of the guests here admired what I did. The hotel was also based just 100 yards away from the main market square in the centre of Old Krakow and the place was just beautiful. I loved walking down to the market in the evenings to pick up my shopping or to just walk around each stall and appreciate what the Polish people of Krakow had to offer.
I checked the clock on the wall and braced myself for the upcoming events of today. I wandered to the door, took a deep breath and opened it. Nobody was to be seen down here in the basement of Hotel Stary which I was thankful for. The basement, although it wasn’t the biggest floor, housed most of the staff that worked at this hotel and I was glad that this morning I wasn’t to be bothered by any human contact; I was just too nervous!!
I made my way up the marble staircase to the ground floor in which the restaurant was situated. Most of the staff here were eating and merrily talking to one another and I happily took a tray and grabbed some toast, a banana and a glass of orange juice. I wheeled myself round to look at all my fellow employees and immediately spotted my good friend Pablo in the corner where we usually sat. He had his head in a book. Again.
“Good morning,” I called to him as I made my way to our table. Along the way I nodded to the people I worked with and gave them friendly smiles.
“Ah, Bella,” Pablo smiled as he looked up from his book. “How are you today, chica?”
“I’m well,” I sat down opposite him and he whipped off his glasses. Without them, I must say he looked very handsome. And no wonder, his mother was Italian and his father was Spanish. This made his accent and his looks ten times sexier, trust me!
“Looking forward to today?” he grinned at me and I grinned back at him.
“Of course!” I took a bite of my toast and looked down at his book which seemed to be some sort of Polish dictionary. “Still trying to figure out those Polish phrases?”
“Yep. Without success though,” Pablo sighed and sipped his coffee.
Pablo had only migrated to Poland from Italy a couple of months ago and, like I had when I first arrived, was having many problems getting to grips with the language.
