| 29/6/2007 This'll be a bit hard to believe but yesterday I got fired. At first I panicked because I imagined anyone getting fired to be marched off the camp in about 30 minutes, forced on a bus, buys their own ticket at Boston and flies home, leaving their parents with a large bill to pay. Well thankfully it's not so bad. For one thing, I had to get a bus to New York and stay in the International Hostel (Hostelling International actually, but that's just the company). One thing I never counted on was being paid for my time worked already. Yep, that happened. I got paid all $291 for the 13 days I worked. Because Nancy (Camp Director) had to call BUNAC New York (since they're obligated to take care of me) some of my '20 minutes to pack' got sorta...decreased. So I got asked (that's right, asked not told) to pack in about 10 minutes. Then I had to wait 20...maybe 30 minutes until they finally got my locker open. I had money and passport in it. I needed it open. Part of my problem was that I could never open it-I always had to rely on someone else. Well, the maintenance guys found out why: the combo was wrong. It never clicked on the last number. Dumb. I was driven to Portland in a minibus with 6 other girls, 'cos they had the day off so I was just put in the same vehicle as them. One of them was Rachel, who rounded up all the Tripp Lake workers on the plane over. The girls gave me just the right pity, suggestions for changing my situation (as in, I could just transfer to the Work America programme-never thought of that before it was suggested) and even waited to check I got on the right bus. Hmmm buses, I was first on Vermont Transit and then the Greyhound. Unlike the National Express, the seats are wider, they give more leg room (and for some reason, no coach in the USA has seatbelts). Those are the only good things about the Greyhound. The National Express is slightly more expensive but it's worth it since it's clean, has decent toilet facilities and is punctual. The coaches I travelled on always left late and arrived late as a consequence. Plus it was weird being in a coach station in Boston and seeing a screen that said 'London/Manchester'. What the hell? Were the old settlers of America so unimaginitive that they named new settlements London and Manchester? Must've been. Tripp Lake Camp is in Poland...in Maine. Getting to New York, I was advised to get into a taxi. I think it only cost more because there was so much traffic it had to drive along more. And it was seriously big. It's not a big car, but it was the most spacious taxi I've ever been in-except that minibus taxi in Germany. I'm in the Hostel, as already stated and my room and breakfast was paid for by BUNAC. But considering how long it's taking to sort out my next camp placement, I think I'm here tonight as well. I find it dumb I'm in New York and I haven't bothered spending today to see something worthwhile (except Central Park, that's nice). Thing with this hostel is that it has comfy rooms and good leisure facilities. I'm in front of a humongous screen right now and...I really want to change the channel. |