America the adventure begins...

A brief rundown of what has happened so far

Day 1: Landed at Jo-burg airport to discover Goolam Raja collecting hundreds of cricket bags at the baggage claim. Obviously the Proteas had returend after their win in P.E. (the last proper sport I saw before leaving). I took this as a good sign but soon found myself waiting by the BA check in for an hour and a half before Cole arrived. Oblivious to me his flight had been delayed and I had a moment fear that I was off without my partner in crime. Amazingly we found Fran Thring on our flight also headed to the Sates. For those who don't know Fran was a close friend of Mel's at Howick and has just finished her BA at Rhodes. We survived the two long flights and landed in Denver after a good 40 hours or so of travel.

Day 2: In Denver the three of us caught two buses and walked a few blocks before finding the youth hostel. You pay for what you get and we payed very little. An ugly establishment, but it was warm and we were buggered.

Day 3: We said good-bye to Fran, but found a cheerful Kiwi called Dyaln at the hostel who went with us to the Grayhound station and was on his way to Aspen. Public transport is so beyond the comprehension of South Africans, but here it is wonderful and is safe, efficient and always on time! Finally Vail and the travels and worries are over or so we thought... We hadn't tsken into account that it was a saturday! So the human resorces department in Vail was closed for the weekend and the wheels came off our well designed plan. We took several buses all over the place and found the human resources department in Beaver Creek was open yay. Beaver Creek is a resort next door to Vail and almost next door. They could pretty much be classified as one giant place as opposed to two. There they offered us jobs as lift opperators which was great money and good hours with accomodation for staff at a good price. However our delight was foiled as they saw out visas are only until Feb and they need people throught to April. Shit! So finally we settled that we would ahve to saty at the Roost Lodge for the night. It is the cheapest hotel where everybody starts, but is still very expensive. So we found two Argentinians checking in and shared a room with them to minimize our costs.

Day 4: Sunday and the made job hunt begins again at the crack of dawn. We went to every ski rental shop in Vail and Beaver Creek and then a few in Avon. I lost count but there were about 33 shops we tried at and filled out about six application all saying come back on either tues or wed to find out if we got the job or not. Then at the last store in Avon we were hired on the spot YAY! A job at Sports Authority, which is a giant store almost identical to Sportsmans warehouse in SA. Plus there is a rental section where we will be working for 1o dollars an hour plus a kind of comission for every set of skis we send out. We stayed in the same room at the Rosst still with Fabrisio and Melissia the Arentinians.

Day 5: Monday and we start work at 7am to get accainted with the store an begin our training. We are working for free at we need training to become rental technichians and need to learn how to adjust and fit the different kinds of skis and snowboards. This is much harder than it looks. We mostly wax returned equipment and slowly learn. A Burger King for lunch (first food in a day as eating wasnt a priority. We discover that we must take three tests to become certified. The accomodation hunt continues in vain. Another night at the Roost, this time just the two of us in a room (ouch thats expensive 48 dollars each).

Day 6: Thats today Cole went off to work and I had to take a bus to Gleenwood Springs to apply for my social security number, as that will allow me to work and I cant be paid without one. An our and a bit by bus and then a long cue. Then the dicovery that although the office is better it is rather like home affairs and it will take about 3o days to get my card, and they wont give me the number until then. But the receipt should be enough for me to start work. A whole day wasted as I only got back to Vail at 4.

Summary: Lots of South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, Argentinians and Brazilians in Vail. All looking for jons and most without housing. The Argentinians struggle to understand Cole, but understand me perfectly, so obviously I speak better than him and have a better accent hehe. Most people like our accent here, weird! The search continues. I must apologise for the newsy style of this post, but didnt have a lot of funny stuff to say and lots of news. Its stressful here right now, and havnt had any fun yet, but hopfully next week will be great. Once the accomadation is sorted out then this place will be fantastic.