Overslept again, woke up very late, and had to rush. I hope this doesn't happen again. My legs didn't want to pedal at all this morning. But at least work was easy. More than half the rooms were already occupied, and we spent almost 3 hours doing housekeeping. Cleaning rooms. It's not hard, and nobody was breathing down our necks. Plus, I guess we've just learned how to do it well. Today we found out that we get to keep the tips, instead of our landlady taking them. That's a very nice little bonus!
After work, our neighbor Anya needed to go to Rio Grande to apply for a Social Security Number. Our landlady drives everyone who rents from her there. This time we went with them to finally get to Walmart. The Social Security Administration closes its doors at 3:00 PM and only serves those who made it inside by then. When Sonya and I went there, there was almost no line, but today there were about 10-15 people ahead of us. To avoid wasting time, Trish took Sonya and me to the store while Anya waited in line. We finally bought a big, big pot! For only 7 bucks. That's kind of cheap, even for the USA.
If you ditched your employer and came to a different place...
Anya was supposed to go to Montana based on her offer, but shortly before her flight, the employer stopped responding. To avoid the risk of being left without a job in the middle of nowhere, she flew to Wildwood. Where, as everyone knows, there are inexhaustible employment resources. However, Montana is listed on her DS-2019 form and all her other documents. Anya was worried about whether she would get her SSN here, and we were worried for her too. Everything turned out very well. According to her, she just explained the situation to the worker while keeping a smile on her face. He understood everything and accepted her application. By the way, no one I know has ever needed the 'Dear Social Security Officer' letter. Same goes for the I-94 printout. However, if you're supposed to take them – take them!
Trish showed us a couple of shops in Rio Grande that we definitely need to check out. One of them is something like a thrift store, but all the proceeds go to help sick people in need. And you never know what you'll find in that store. It could be anything: furniture, clothes, dishes, toys. After that, we all went home together.
It was a free evening for me, so the girls and I went for a walk. We took a series of photos of the Wildwoods. There are no tourists there in the evening, so you can take pictures without anyone bothering you. True, by the time we reached the boardwalk, it was completely empty. All the shops were closed, and the only people around were local kids and troublemakers (as we say in Russia) sitting on the benches.
Tonight, for the first time, I felt homesick. It felt like we had come to the middle of nowhere, to the sticks. No company, nowhere to go in the evening (because of our age). Let's see how the situation changes later.
