Thai Cowboy
February 8, 2011 § 8 Comments
Dom and I are going to learn how to drive around bears, elk, wolves and moose during blizzards.
My dear friend Isabel and her husband Wyatt will teach us this and many other adventurous things as we move out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming from April-October.
Wyatt works as a manager for Grand Tetons Lodge Company’s stores, which is under Vail Resorts. During the summer season, they hire temporary workers since around 3 million tourists visit this small town of 8,000 residents. Jackson Hole is close to Yellowstone National Park, and sprawling with the Grand Tetons mountain range’s natural beauty. It’s also where Harrison Ford and Sandra Bullock have ranches, and where other heiresses and elite people dwell.
He told us about the temporary jobs, and after much thinking and praying, we are going for it. Dom will do an office job for the lodge, and I will be a waitress in the lodge’s Pioneer Grill diner.
I feel like I’m going back in time to college days, but this time my husband will be my roommate in the seasonal employee dorms, and will sit next to me in the mini-Lenoir Dining Hall-style cafeteria where we will eat our three meals a day—room and board for $140 a week. Hopefully Dom and I will find time together in the midst of our typically 48 hour work weeks.
Dom wants to get his foot in the door and work for his first American corporation, and hopefully one day get a permanent job as a network engineer for the company. He now has a spring in his step as his childhood dream of working abroad is slowly falling into place.
For now, we are searching for a used, reliable Subaru that will win any fight against a moose, buying warm layers of clothes, and relearning how we can make a dorm room feel homey.
Of course, if by some random miracle, Dom gets a permanent job as a network engineer somewhere before April, we will go with that option.
But for now, we set our sights on the West where we will ride horses, mountain bike around the Grand Tetons, go white-water rafting on wild rapids, visit Yellowstone for the first time, and love on people from all over the world who want to visit the American West— just like us.
Indian Job Recruiters
February 1, 2011 § 6 Comments
Dom’s been to India. It was when we had just begun dating. He went for two weeks over Christmas with a friend who had invited him to go to an Indian wedding.
He called me when he was on the plane before take off to India. I remember the gushy, heart-throbbing feeling I felt after I realized that I was the last one he called before he left Thailand.
He enjoyed the spicy, flavorful Indian curries, but the carnivore in him didn’t like the tradition of not eating any meat at breakfast. The cows on the beaches were fun company in the sun. He loved eating slithering goat brain. The wedding that lasted for days where he watched the shy couple meet for the first time was a priceless cultural experience.
I’m saying all this to say Dom does enjoy India, Indian food and of course his Indian friends. But he does not enjoy chatting with Indian job recruiters from call centers in Mumbai who work for American companies.
About every other week, I answer a call from a long unknown number.
“HellothisisSamimayispeakwithDominic?” rhythmically flows into my ear like a lovely song.
But as I run to give the phone to Dom, I sigh, for I know frustration is on its way.
“What was that? Can you repeat that?” Dom says with angst furrowing his eyebrows together.
It is hard enough for me to understand Indian-English over the phone. Many times if an Indian recruiter leaves a message for Dom I have to listen to the rapid voice mail two or three times with the volume on high before I catch the person’s name.
But for Dom, who is used to American English only, it is not just hard, it is defeating. He hangs up after each call feeling like a failure since he can’t understand someone who was speaking the same language as him.
Yet Dom presses on. Even after he hears the lilting Indian voice on the line, he fights on to share his experience as a network engineer, hoping he is understanding the questions correctly, and they are understanding him.
I wonder if getting Indian food on our next date will magically help him understand Inidan-lish better? It’s worth a shot…garlic naan and chicken korma never fail me. Anyone know any good Indian restaurants in Charlotte?
America: Through an Immigrant's Eyes 