Had a great conversation with Andrei tonight. Found out that he and the others are not from Bulgaria, but Moldova and they speak Romanian. I had to look up where Moldova was; it's tucked in there! He showed me videos of traditional dance performed by his nieces, and pictures of his wife and little boy, who will be one on June 1st. We used his handy dandy translator software to work out the kinks in our conversation, but for the most part, we were happy to chat. He is really excited to be working on his English.
While he's in town, he works as a house keeper at the Baranof hotel, but at home, he is a Chemistry PhD student. He has completed his research and will complete his dissertation when he returns. We started to go into what his research was on, but I wouldn't know the right words, even in English, let alone what he was trying to add to the field. But, he is happy and excited to return in three months.
It was another wet, foggy day in town. There was a lift for a moment when I had a tour at the hatchery, but it was definitely a rain gear day. I also had the pleasure of being on a tour that was over sold, with six very unhappy people that were guaranteed they would be traveling with their friends. From my point of view, I understand that this can happen from time to time, but apparently, tours were oversold left and right today. There were lots of people being given refunds or offered other tours. It's embarrassing. We are supposed to be a company that is organized and professional.
After I got rolling, my group calmed down and were happily distracted by my commentary and Sarah Palin references. And no, you can't see Russia from here.
This is the driver's lounge. This is where the paper work gets filled out, and the plentiful storage of peanut butter and jelly are. There is one woman who keeps bringing in tubs of both from Costco, saying we are welcome to it. The percentage of returning drivers is about 60%. This woman is a mother to us all, especially the 40% first years, making sure we get something in our tummies to make the 14 hour days seem tolerable.
Also today is Val's 27th birthday! Happy birthday Val! Wish I could be in your back yard enjoying the BBQ and company.
:)
ReplyDeleteanother great post