29th-30th May

29/05

Woke up at 630am early morning, baojing and I intended to join the tourist bus to travel around yellowstone. The theme of this tour is called "circle of fire". Jiayen wanted to online with gf, so he decided not to join us. There was not many tourists, so we managed to join the tour with 6 other employees. 8 of us are all girls, Baojing met her ex-classmate and her bms seniors while I met the sporean girl who went to usa embassy with me in spore last time. It was such a coincidence!

The bus drove into grant village to pick up more visitors. The next stop was yellowstone lake. It started to rain when we reached there. About 15 minutes later it snowed. We ran out from the lake hotel to take some photos and rushed back again. Snowing really make ppl feel sien =.=

Then we headed to canyon village. We visited the lower falls, upper falls and grand canyon in yellowstone. It was great!! Lower falls was such an amazing beaut. I wish I could explore all the trails of the village if there is any other chance to visit to this fantastic place again. I really love it sooo much!!! (Photos will be uploaded in facebook in the future :p)

After that we went to the other attractions. We saw bisons and elks again. This time I had lost my interest to them. I was too lazy to take photos of them again as they are considered quite common and easily-to-be-found animals here. Saw them for too many times already :p

On the way, we saw a lot of people standing along the roadside and focusing their super professional camera with tripod to the hills. They were waiting for bears and wolves. However, we didn't see anything because the bus have to reach the oher places on time.

There was a couple sat behind us. The husband is american and the wife is taiwanese. Surprisingly, the husband can speak mandarin very well. His pronunciation didn't have any "guai lou" slang. So geng, his wife must be very proud of him.

I was so tired that i fell asleep immediately everytime i got into bus. Then there was 30 minutes visit to some mudspots, geysers and hot springs. I found that I'd totally have no more interest on them lol. The little rain outside made me rather sleep in the bus.

The whole tour was nice but quite rush. We just visited the main attractions in each village. And i think it is not that worth for the tourists to sign for this trip. I began to notice how important it is to have a car in yellowstone.

30/05

It is Friday again! We went to recreation hall to register for new trips. There is a trip to grand teton on 20th june. My dream place!!!!!!! However, we went there late and there was 3 vacancies left only. Aiks...so sien...cannot travel together with rachel, dawn, louis, terrence and faith. They let me, baojing and jiayen sign for the trips. We were so disappointed. There are hundreds of employees in old faithful but only 9 vacancies for this trip. How stupid it is!

Nvm la...14th june still can go bozeman shopping with them. Heard faith said that bozeman does not need government tax because that place is too "kampung". I want to buy a lot of things hohoho~~~

27th May

Yohohoho...finally i went to biscuit basin today. Jiayen n baojing work dinner shifts, so faith accompany me to go there. The weather was good, no more snowing lu~ So we just spent about two and half hours back and forth.

After two weeks in old faithful, i feel quite sien about the geyser and springs now. Not feeling excited anymore when there is any geyser erupt, lol. There are still some places that i wish i could go and explore in old faithful. They are observation point of the hill, Mystic falls and Fairy falls.

Oh ya...kok wai should be in yellowstone now. But he didn't contact me. If anyone sees him online please ask him to find me, thanks ya!

23rd May

Went Mammoth village with Amanda, Faith, Baojing and Jiayen. Mammoth is a small place. The scenery is great. We spent 1.5 hours on the trails to see the beautiful hot springs. However, some of them are dry except spring season. So nothing much to see. After that Amanda fetch us to Gardiner to have dinner. We ate CHINESE FOOD!!!!! Taste well but quite salty.

I don't really understand Americans. They love to eat salty food. Their bacon and ham and many other food are all damn salty =.= They love cold drinks also, we still serve ice water everyday even when it is snowing. We asked Amanda why...and she said, "ice water taste better" =.=lll really zadao...

The second thing is, they love alcohol, very very much. I think half of their whole life is in drunk condition. The third one, smoking. Almost everyone smokes here. And not only them, those girls who come from england and ukraine also smoke. It is just like a trend, no, a very common habit, or lifestyle in western country.

Luckily i'm not one of them...

22th May

thursday and friday off
So sien...snowing again
can't go anywhere coz too cold =.=

19th May

Today after my lunch shift, baojing, jiayen, faith and I went hiking. Oh yeah, we had a lot of fun and played all along the trail. We took a lot of photos...really a lot -- each of us brought our own camera, and each camera contained about 100 photos...lol. At night, we went to the old faithful dining room (our working place) to have dessert. Haha...it was so weird. We are customers now. At lunch time, i'm still Joe's server assistant. But at night, I become his customer and he has to serve me. Wahahahahaha...the desserts are so so so delicious. It was a happy day ^_^

18th May

很久很久
已经没有像这样
哭得唏沥哗啦了
没办法控制
那泉涌而出的眼泪

曾几何时
刚强的心变得如此软弱

原来啊
是在那一瞬间
崩溃了

15th May

baobao wrote a nice blog about this trip...pls go to read--http://littlesquid1030.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!D44F1D841D904A82!210.entry

Today i'm going to talk about bao jing.

Baobao is a cute little girl. Yesterday night before we sleep, jiayen said something to baobao. He said that there will be "someone" watching at her from the window. This sentence made baobao had a nightmare that night. Wahahahahaha~~~ Baobao kept asking him to close the window. And she dared not to sleep before he did so. Then today jiayen and i had breakfast and lunch shifts. Baobao stayed in the room alone. She still remenbered that sentence very well and dared not to open the window for whole day. LOL

And big yesterday night when me and jiayen had dinner shifts, baobao got "yan yu". She went to a handsome guy's room and played poker with that guy and his friends. She admired that guy so much that she kept mentioning it to me when i came back from work. Geng ler...a little tiny girl went into a room with all "guai lou". She really "dim"...被帅哥迷得昏头昏脑....hahahaha

Today during breakfast shift, jiayen and his trainee Carlos helped me a lot. I aprreciate it very very much T_T. So after that i share a little bit of my tips to his trainee. After lunch shifts I wanted to go hiking with jiayen. But then the road blocked by the rangers because people saw a bear around that area. So sien cannot go hiking =.=

13th May

Yesterday was my off day. Baojing work breakfast lunch and jiayen dinner. I spent the whole morning sleeping while jiayen was msn-ing with his gf. After that it was his turn to sleep and i spent my afternoon playing viwawa and online.

We had dinner at 4 because jiayen had to work at 430pm. I asked baojing to watch the "old faithful" geyser together when sunset. Oh forgot to mention the sun here. It is rising everyday at 5am and setting at 9pm. We also asked another server assistant (singaporean- faith or wan ai) to go together with us. She was planning to go to the general store. So we met up there at 530 and started our photographing journey. Wahahaha~

We took a lot of photos with snow because we were afraid that there won't be any snow scenery soon. We went into the old faithful snow lodge and met a couple with their baby. She is such a beautiful baby. So we took a photo with her lol. We walked around in the snow lodge and then went to "old faithful" inn. Old faithful inn is the oldest building in old faithful. It is an ancient building made by wooden. We took jiayen's yao yeng photo during working hahaha. Later on we went for the sunset geyser before hiking. It was a great experience.

When the sky turning dark, we walked to the old faithful inn again. We heard a fire alarm when we were shopping in the gift shop. Faith said she saw smoke at somehwere. Everyone was evacuated outside the inn. Some family came out with their pyjamas and thin shirt. It was so cold. We saw them shivering and squeezing together. Fireman came and solved the problem in a couple minutes. We were told that the smoke was caused by chemical spills. Jiayen so pity...first day work dinner shift already met this problem. Our new schedule also out. This week me n jiayen got the same off day. But baojing is different =.=. She is trying to swop with other people so that three of us can travel together around here. And i got 4 dinner shifts this week. Baojing got 3 and jiayen got 1 only. Dinner shift can earn a lot tips lo...jiayen really so pity aiks....

12th May

Yesterday was Monday. I worked for breakfast and lunch session. Jiayen off and baojing dinner. Oh man, it was 6am in the morning and outside was snowing heavily. I can see the snow flew horizontally in the sky and the wind was just so strong. The staircase and the ground were full with snow and it was so slippery.

During working, i began to know a girl called Rubyn. She is a pretty and friendly girl. She is a bit taller than Jiayen and was his trainer in the first day. Haha jiayen so syok...got a leng lui teach him. Jiayen and Baojing think that she has a sexy lips. Hmm i think she is very sweet too. We chit-chatted a lot when there is not many customers. We also help each other to carry dirty items and set tables. Felt quite good and happy to know her.

When I back from work, I saw Jiayen waiting for me in the staff canteen. I was surprised when he said that we have already moved to the new dormitory. Oh yeah so happy. Finally we can stay in the same room. ^_^

After that, baojing went to work. Two of us went to the general store and gift shop. Oh shit, snowing again. Strong wind and very very cold. =.= Found a lot expensive souvenirs there. The jackets and sweaters are so nice. So I will buy one for myself before i leave lol.

Photos uploaded in facebook again~

11th May

Today is Sunday. The schedule of our job for this week was released yesterday. Jiayen and baojing got almost same working time. And me? totally different la so sien. They work for breakfast and dinner session today while mine is dinner. =.= Then our off day is --- jiayen : monday ; me : tuesday ; baojing : wednesday . @.@ So i got nothing to do now, sienzzz.

Breakfast and lunch session cannot earn more than dinner session. People usually tips more for dinner. After few days, we've made some friends here. Two sporean - Dawn and Kai lun, they are worm's coursemates, what a coincidence lol. And a few msian - my ex-coursemate(phoebe)'s ex-roommate (pui ee or rachel) , evelyn , sze ying , terrence and another girl i forget her name :p. They accompanied me to have breakfast just now coz baojing n jiayen were away for work. They are quite nice and friendly. And we've known some americans, one of them - jenean is a pretty and nice girl. She taught me a lot of things about our job. I work for different servers everyday. Some are nice but some are not so. But my conclusion is, guys are more helpful and more generous. I got more tips from guys than gals.

The dining inn is a lot more highclass than my previous employer in msia. We must tie our hair in a bun, keep our nails clean and wear uniform appropriately. Everyday beore working, we must line up in a two rows an let our manager to have uniform check. All the food and rubbish must be differentiated and dump into different trash for recycle use. The trays here are big. Everything is just so heavy. When we clean the tables, we have to put the super big tray beside the table, put everything onto the tray, set the table and then carry the tray into the kitchen for cleaning. The problem is, the tray is really so damn heavy and big that everyone has to use their shoulders to carry the weight. So you can imagine how hard it is for me to carry these. Baojing is a lot more lucky. Everytime she put the used glasses and dishes onto the tray, there will have people to help her to carry into the kitchen. And she got more tips than us also.

Yesterday night, I worked for two servers - jeff and jonathan. Both of them looked friendly. But jeff is more helpful than jon. Overall both of them are better than my previous attached servers. I broke two wine glasses ytd. It was my first time. I hit the wall in the kitchen when i was carrying the tray on my shoulder. But it doesn't matter. Those very tall guys break more glasses than me before that lol.

I noticed that baojing also uploaded our photos - http://littlesquid1030.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!D44F1D841D904A82!180/cns!D44F1D841D904A82!204/

But i think my facebook got more lol.

7th-8th May

Today, we were fetched by the YNP shuttle bus to Yellowstone early morning. We registered at the office located at North part of YNP. It took about two hours ride to the office and we had our procedure done and got our uniform there. Then we went south to our assigned village. On the way, we dropped at "mammoth" village to have lunch.

I'm working in "old faithful village" of yellowstone national park. The place is famous with geysers and hot springs. We reached there at about 3pm and were told that we will start working in the next day. So we walked around to explore the attractions. We saw many people waiting at the "old faithful" geyser. It was so lucky for us that we watched the very first eruption of geyser in Yellowstone. The scenery was gorgeous. Water burst very high up into the sky. After the geyser show, we went to explore other geysers and springs. Strong wind blew upon us and we feel very cold as we were only wearing t-shirt and thin sweater.
When we were visiting this visitor center, it began to rain. Surprisingly, the rain slowly changes to snow. It became extremely cold that we couldn't stop shivering. We had no choice but walked back to our hostel under the heavy snow. Wow...i don't know if it is lucky or not. We experienced snow falling in the very first day we reach here. The weather is just too extreme. Luckily, we still survived under the heavy snow...phew~ but it gave us a lesson. We started to understand the importance of umbrella and wind sweater.

Oh let’s talk about the dormitory. We were told that there was no any empty room in this week. So we got different room. Jiayen and I were so unlucky. Our rooms are triple sharing one and they are so messy and dirty. Fortunately baojing got a double room and her room is clean and nice. I moved my stuffs into her room and share a bed with her.

The next day at around 7.30am, we started our job as server assistant. It was training day. We were separated into two teams which are team A and team B. Both teams serve each other for breakfast. Jiayen and I were in A team while baojing was in B team. I had a buffet breakfast and paid with a fake credit card given by boss. For the dinner, I got 7 bucks tips in 3 hours, and I ordered the most expensive dish(31 bucks) in the menu when it was my turn to have dinner. I ate a half-cooked bison (a cow-like animal). It tasted not bad, but pretty hard to bite.

Photos were uploaded in facebook.
jiayen’s blog : http://jiayen87.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!6A71E94C2F407BB1!655.entry

To be continued…

My first experience to USA

5th may to 6th may

First flight - from Singapore to Taipei
Second flight - from Taipei to San Francisco
Third flight - from SF to Salt lake city
Fourth flight - from SLC to Bozeman
Then - shuttle bus from Bozeman to Yellowstone

So it is. My journey to Yellowstone National Park. It took about 2 working days to reach here. During our flight, tv is available in the first flight. Second flight is very torturing because it took 11 hours, and our neck, waist and butt were so pain after so many hours of flight. After that, we waited in SF airport for a whole night to transfer the flight in the next morning. We met some problems in the third flight. Jiayen's boarding pass was missing during the custom check up. It was the mistake of the staff and finally his boarding pass was reprinted. USA custom check up was very strict that we have to pass through an "explosive door" just to make sure we didn't bring any explosive items. We had to take off our shoes and our bags were also checked thoroughly. A lady and a bus driver were waiting for us when we reached Bozeman. We did some procedure for our job and checked in to a hotel called "Holiday Inn". Three of us had our first paid meal in "Arby's burger". Then, 7.30am in the next day, we started our journey to YNP.

to be continued...