First 10 days

With a room sorted, it was now time to look for a job. It was soon apparent that in Boston, it was no easy task to find a job. I trawled the streets, spent hours filling in application forms, spoke with managers and supervisors, followed up and phoned about positions that sounded promising. But no joy. It was extremely demoralising and as each day went by, the prospect of the seasonal work positions being gone was a stark reality. The problem was fourfold.

1. You were competing for jobs that American's themselves were competing for. College students were returning back home to the Boston area and applying for the same positions we were. With the weakened American economy, there is no doubt that the employers will favour local American students over non-national people.
2. You could work for the season only, many wanted workers who would stay and work on into the fall.
3. The main positions going, were the seasonal staff in Irish and other restaurants in the Boston area. However, these places favoured females. A group of male Irish J1 students asked in "Four Green Fields" if there were any vacant positions. They were promptly told, no and went on their way. The next day, a group of girls from the same hostel went to "Four Green Fields" and were hired within the hour. 
4. The visa is very restrictive. There is a long list of restricted jobs, working in construction, warehouses, landscaping and manual labour are all out. These jobs are typically male orientated jobs.

While searching, I felt it was important to also enjoy myself as it is very demoralizing to be applying for so many jobs and not getting any results. I toured and got myself more familiar with Boston and planned some excursions. I also continued to analyse the american idiosyncrasies and philosophise!

Sport is quite big here. Over many nights I enjoyed the basketball. The Boston Celtics were playing Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA. The teams play a best of 7 series, and it went all the way, providing much excitement over the 10 days. Unfortunately Boston lost the series in the 7th game.

Rajon Rondo

LeBron James

Baseball is also very big here. Boston is home to the Boston Red Sox and they play at the oldest ground in Major League Baseball, Fenway Park. Fenway Park is quite close to Downtown Boston and is conveniently located next to a stop on the underground system. My friend Kelly and myself  went to a game, The Red Sox vs Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox are not doing well this season and lost the game, 4 runs to 2. I found baseball to be quite boring and difficult to engage in as there is little to no excitement in it.

However the event itself was the most revealing part of American culture. It was a showcase of America. All stood and held their hands to their heart for the anthem which was sang by a very good singer similar to Christina Aguilera. Durimg the game stewards spent their time walking up and down the stand selling everything from Chowder to Pretzels, at extortionate prices. It was akin to a Ryanair flight.

Fenway Park

One incident that made me think was after the 4th Inning, around the half way point in the game. A soldier was paraded to the crowd and he received a standing ovation. It highlighted the paradoxical nature of American people. Here they were saluting and heralding a Captain in the Marine Corps, yet very few of them will give the hundreds of veterans begging outside the stadium as little as a quarter. It made me think and hope that this Captain would not end up like his older generations when he gets a little older.

I also did many other things such as hang out with friends and go to various parks and walk around and see more of the American culture.

In the meantime I was successful in finding a job, albeit being the worst job in the world! Im essentially a Chugger! My job involves going door to door trying to raise awareness and money for Environment Massachussets, who are trying to lobby an upcoming bill about a Solar Power Plant for the Boston area. It is something that will pass the time, allow me to meet many other J1 students and keep CIEE, my sponsor, off my back! I dont think I will stay long at it, but I will see how it goes. I start the job on the 18th June, so one more week free! One thing that stood out to me was how little the people understood about energy production, quoting pseudo-scientific figures to strengthen their flawed arguments about solar and coal and gas power production.

I think a bigger and better avenue for them to pursue is the use of vehicles with humongous engines that are incredibly wasteful of gasoline. Considering the speed limits here are much lower than in Europe, such large engines are not required. It seems to be linked to the national pride that exists here and their emphasis on making money. "I have one because I can" seems to be the answer here. They dont think of the bigger picture, they see everything from one dimension. Perhaps if things were to change and Americans started using cars with smaller, more efficient engines, the demand for oil would drop resulting in lower prices and less wars!

Truck the size of a Toyota Land Cruiser with a 5.7L V8 engine!

   So that was my first ten days in a nutshell. I also managed to apply for a Social Security Number and open a bank account. After this I had a trip to Maine, a state North of Massachussets, to look forward to over the weekend!