.:never gone:.: firsts

1. i've never spent so much time in toilets before.

2. i've never seen so many blacks before, many of whom do not know how to flush a toilet and ask me how to do it.

3. i've never said hi and smiled to so many strangers in my life before.

4. i've never feared people asking me questions until now- cos most of the things they ask me about the park, i'm clueless about. like "where is diggin' doggies?" or something to that effect. hey, i wasn't even given a proper tour and although i think i swept the whole park today, i still haven't covered every inch of it.

5. i've never wiped so many dustbins in my life.

6. i've never swept and mopped so much in my life.

7. my legs and waist are aching. my shoulders too, actually.

8. i've never touched a dumpster in my life, till now.

9. this is the first time i've seen a trash compacter operate.

10. i've never re-filled so many toilet rolls in my life.

11. i've never picked up so many coins in my life! a mixture of 1 cents, 5 cents, dimes and quarters, giving a grand total of more than USD1. and i didn't even pick everything.

12. americans (esp the non-whites) are quite retarded. they don't turn off the tap and they say the flush is not working when in effect they don't know how to use it. oh and they are damn dirty. whoever said only PRCs are dirty?!

13. whites act friendly but when they don't act wholeheartedly i can see behind the superficiality of them trying to act nice. blacks don't even bother acting. most of the time they just can't be bothered i guess. there goes so many wasted and unrequited smiles of mine.

14. it feels good when ppl show appreciation. there were 3 nice white women i encountered today. the first one is a guest who said thank you when she left the toilet, the second is a ride operator who used to work in ecology and said i was keeping the toilet really clean. the third is in ecology and has a walkie-talkie tho i don't think she's a supervisor and i just felt she was nice. they're all middle-aged or pretty old.

15. for the first time in my life a group of teenagers called me "maam" and asked me where the "grizzly" was. i guess they were just being polite. it's pretty rare i guess.

16. a coworker Bernard who's 32 guessed that i was 19. second guess was 21. hahaha.

17. most of the supervisors are younger than the workers they're in charge of.

18. it seems that the majority of virginia's population is made up of blacks. i don't have anything against them- it's just a different culture entirely.

19. i went to VCC (Virginia Centre Commons) last night! it's a single-level shopping centre, and i bot an american eagle bag and a tee from wet seal :)

20. yesterday was spent picking trash in the mini forest-islands in the waterpark and cleaning birdshit from the steps leading to the top of all the water rides. oh and i ran all the way back to the hotel to catch the bus to VCC. it was rewarding because I HAD CHINESE FOOD. damn, i miss all the chinese food. i'll never get sick of it the way i get sick of burgers, pizza and fried stuff. western food really sucks, it's oily, salty and unhealthy and somehow the macs in SG serves better burgers!

21. food here is expensive. the cheapest groceries i've come across is in walmart or that $1 shop. apparently Nesquick is quite popular here. But 1 bottle from the staff canteen costs like USD2, and that's alr the cheapest i've seen.

22. these 2 days have been pretty hot and humid. i've been sweating alot. there was a little rain today, and i was raining in my raincoat the whole day. heh.

23. i miss my chinese food, and i want to catch the squirrels and hares.

24. i think i've had enough exercise to make up for 2 years of laziness and inactivity. i'm going home with muscles all over my body!

25. i think i have to handwash my yellow uniforms if not the colour will run onto my other stuff :( and i think i'm allergic to my slippers cos after a day of wearing them ytd, my feet are red and sore around the edges of the straps. they can't be sunburnt cos i applied sunblock and the rest of my feet are fine. and i got a few funny itchy bites :(

26. i'm getting my pay tmr! but i think it's only for the first 3 days. hope they don't miscount our hours though.

27. everyone i've spoken to is going to L.A, san francisco and maybe las vegas or florida. they plan to go to NY when they're still working. like if they have 4 days of break in a row. i think we're the only pathetic ones who plan to travel to NY after we end our work and return to SG so early. most ppl travel for 10 days or more.

28. i get hungry and full very easily here. like i'm always hungry but give me a slice of pizza and i'll feel damn full quickly, prob cos of all the oil and fat. so gelat. i think i'll go eat the chinese food everytime i go to VCC. it's cooked by PRCs, so it's authentic, and they won't overcharge us since we speak chinese :)

29. All these pics were taken with my 2mgp phone too :) Advantage of having to climb up all the stairs to do cleaning is tt u get unobstructed picturesque views with no ppl in them.