Jour 1 in the Plaza patisserie

So orientation day was a piece of cake compared to my first day in the kitchen. It's hard enough to drag my lifeless carcass out of a cozy warm bed at 6 am, let alone baking, trying to understand another language, and trying not to mess up and get yelled at.

The first half of the day was actually quite nice. I spent the morning in the boulangerie portion of the patisserie making petit pain, croissants, pain au chocolat, and pain au raisin. Well, technically I helped out a lot. The two boulanger chefs are joksters and not what I was expecting for my first day. They were really nice to boot!

Well, that was the first half of the day. The second was a lot of work, followed by fatigue and a few embarassing moments. I'm too exhausted to think clearly, let alone be funny... so maybe a list will suffice.

First day highlights:
1) Uberfriendly boulangers
2) Coworkers willing to speak slowly in French and motion w/ their hands as if you're 'special'
3) Witnessing amazing desserts take form
4) Working next to CM (though I don't think he works much... more like gives orders and tinkers around in the kitchen)

First day downers:
1) Work from 7:30AM-6:30PM
2) Having to say "Je n'ai pas compris" (I didn't understand) many many times
3) Almost tripping and the Alain Ducasse boulanger asking me if I've been drinking
4) Splattering strawberry juice all over my whites
5) Running into CM after spilling juice all over said whites
6) Coworker telling me I have juice on my face...an hour and a half after spillage
7) Being told I need to remember to work 'intelligently'... but hey expecting someone to use a 2 foot ladle to ladle juice from a huge bucket high up on a countertop into plastic bags isn't quite ergonomic.

Well, I'm sure it will get better with time. My main goal at the moment is to not horribly maim nor embarass myself. I think that's maybe doable. Wish me luck!