Intrinsic | for students and youth
by Sandy Man, 2005 WATUSA Participant
Sales Associate at Crater Lake National Park, OregonPreface
Work and Travel in USA for the summer, seemed to be a very attractive thing to do. I remember a friend from the P.E. class, in early 2004, who talked about her plan to participate in the Work and Travel, USA. My friend Windy (also a 2005 participant) and I were so excited when we heard about the program. When we asked for details of the program, the deadline had unfortunately passed and we had to wait until the summer of 2005.
My First Step
After waiting a whole year, the 2005 enrollment finally came. Although I excited about going to the USA, I didn’t know much about the program. At that time, my aim was to meet more friends and improve my English. When the time finally came, I passed my interview and chose a job in Crater Lake, which is a national park in Oregon. I was given a choice of 5 jobs and decided to choose the job as cafe' crew.
The state of Oregon is not known by most people in Hong Kong. Why did I choose Oregon as my destination since some there are famous cities like San Francisco or New York that are well known and have many Chinese? I decided to choose a destination with fewer Chinese so I could learn the culture of the US.
After both my destination and job were determined, with the assistance of David from Intrinsic, I passed the interview in the consulate of US and got my J-1 Work/Travel visa. Everything went smoother than I expected. I contacted my employer to learn more about my job. I was very upset when I found out that hat the post of cafe' crew was already filled. I almost decided not to go to the US, but I knew it was a valuable opportunity. With the help of the Intrinsic staff, I found another job in Crater Lake as a gift shop retail associate salesman. Everything was settled at last!
Being Alone
I departed on 31st May. This was my first time to travel alone on a plane for more than 10 hours. Although it was a bit boring during my flight, I was still very excited about my Work and Travel in US. When I arrived in Portland, I was very proud of myself for having the courage to go by myself. By following the map, I rented a taxi to the hotel that had been booked for me. When I opened the door of the room, I really felt lonely with the king-sized bed in the extremely large room. Since I am a girl who loves being in crowds, I suddenly felt hollow in my heart and wanted to go back to Hong Kong immediately. When I called home to let everyone know that I arrived, my eyes could not stop crying and tears ran from nowhere. I yelled from my heart, “I miss all of you, I miss Hong Kong, and I do really want to come back!” Anyway, I truly wanted to develop myself and I decided I must persevere and give up the idea of coming back.
After I felt better, I went to the social security office to obtain my social security card. This was the first time to walk on the road in US. The feeling was so different from walking in Hong Kong! There were shops are on both sides of the road, there were no tall buildings and they were far away from each other. I was excited to see housing that was so different. Reaching the office was not difficult at all. I used the English, which I learned from kindergarten through university, to communicate with the staff there. When I finished at the Social Security Office, I returned to the hotel and asked to use a computer so I could talk with my friends in Hong Kong. Due to the time difference, that night was extremely long.
My Workplace
Finally, I went to Crater Lake the 2nd day on the bus that was sent to pick me up. It was full of Americans. They spoke too fast – faster than I could understand. Nevertheless, they were very kind and tried to talk to me. They asked about China, etc. I started to open up and tried to chat with them. After 2 hours of chatting, we went up to the top of a mountain. I saw the snow on the trees! It was the first time I saw the “real snow” – it was so beautiful!
After completing all the necessary forms and delivering general stuff, we were led to the place where we lived. It was a triple room, which felt like a university dormitory. I settled down and had a view of the outside. It was snowing! Wasn’t it summer here? Was it a miracle? This was the first time for me to see snow. I was so excited by what I saw!
Start Working
We had a 4-hour orientation on the 2nd day of arrival, and I was guided to the working place where I would work for 3 months – the gift shop. The manager introduced everyone to me. I was a cashier and words can not describe how nervous I was since I didn’t know US currency! Fortunately, the manager trained me for some time and I picked it up finally.
Even though I was only a cashier there, I encountered various things and started to understand the people there. Their attitude was so good. The staff would say “how are you doing today?” to every single customer and they would try to satisfy customers’ needs. Even when the customer didn’t like what they bought, they would make a refund to the customer. They demonstrated “customers always come first” to me. In addition to learning customer service, I would chat with customers from all over the US and learn more about the country. I loved to chat with them.
Other than gift shop, I had worked in the laundry for 4 or 5 days. The colleagues there were a bit more mature and I was the youngest among them all. They cared about me and treated me very well. When they knew that I was cold, they arranged me to work in a warmer place. They let me feed the birds in the spare time while I was working. At the time I left, they gave me a lot of gifts and didn’t want me to go. I do really love them all.
What other participants are saying? »
Apart from Work
Although I have been working there for 3 months, which is not a long period of time, I learned a lot about the US culture. Americans love driving to travel around the US so they can enrich their life. They work with joy which reduces work pressure. On the other hand, supervisors worked close with staffs, joked around, and taught me some slang to include foul language. I had a very interesting experience and I felt like we were friends more than supervisors and staffs. Every time when I asked about US culture, they were pleased to explain to me. In contrast, they would ask about China and Hong Kong. That’s really a cultural exchange!
Apart from working, I also traveled around the country. On my holiday, I went to nearby towns with the friends I met in the national park. I remembered once, we applied for 3 days holiday and drove 5 hours to Portland and stayed 1 overnight there. Then we drove from Washington State, along the coast of Pacific Ocean, to Oregon. There were beautiful beaches and towns around. We had our lunch, which we made ourselves, on the beach and we enjoyed the views. What a fine day! That made the trip unforgettable.
After 3 months work, I had to leave my workplace. It was hard to describe how I felt when I was leaving. I loved my workplace as well as my colleagues. As the environment of my workplace was really attractive, I will never forget the lake with no bottom and the clearest water I have ever seen, also the natural environment all around the national park. They are all places that you can never easily find in Hong Kong. When I sat by the lake side, many little squirrels walked by me and were so friendly. While on the roads, I saw deer strolling. Besides all these, the sky of Oregon impressed me the most! During day time, I could always see a clear blue sky with only few clouds. When it’s sunset, the sky and the lake are all orange making it feel like the 2 become 1. At night, since there were no buildings blocking our view, it looked like a picture. I didn’t want to close my eyes for even a minute. I yearn for those days when I was there – I really loved it.
Travel Time
After I left Crater Lake, Windy and I went to California for 2 weeks. We went to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon to relax and to reward ourselves for 3 months of hard work. Since the places to which we traveled were so different from my workplace in Oregon, I learned more about the US. I have very fond memories that I will remember forever – it was really worth going!
Return with Achievements
After coming back to Hong Kong, Intrinsic held a re-orientation meeting so all participants could share their experiences from the US. Though the re-orientation lasted for only couple of hours, all of us were really excited to share our own experiences, no matter happy or sad. We also watched some videos and photos that we took in the US. It was real funny! There were all kinds of jokes, talking and food. We felt like were family. We were so happy and warm!
After participating in the Work and Travel US Program, I don’t know whether I was influenced by the American culture or not. I feel I am much more polite than before (though I had never been rude before, haha…XD) and I really feel that if you want somebody to respect you, you must respect others first.
I felt very lucky that I had an opportunity to participate in this program, and I am glad that I didn’t give up because of any tiny obstacles. These programs not only gave me chance to work in the US, enhance my English communicating skills and meet many new friends, it also enhanced my knowledge of the American culture. It gave me a chance to test and train myself to become more independent as well. As soon as I arrived in US, I was confronted with culture shock and I was skeptical. After I overcome all of them one by one, I finally made it! These experiences will last forever on my road to success.