After we went CP for the last time to settle the admin stuff and handed in our employee badges, and also visited the ppl at Resort Gate, it was back to our quarters to pack all last min stuff into our bursting luggages (i kid you not). I never imagine I had so MUCH stuff to pack into my luggage AND bag pack, considering the fact that i did ship back 2 huge cartons of stuff back home.

We were kind of happy, no, make that estatic to have survived the whole summer ordeal thing. Add that to the feeling of can't wait to start the travel part of work-and-travel programme.

Yep, pretty much cleared out the entire room. Empty bed, empty cupboards, empty mess in the corner, empty bedroom except for a few hangers.

And it's off and away for good from Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio! In a white sleek limousine. Don't judge a book by its cover though. The limou may look all glam and high society, but the inside was kind of tacky decorated with shiny neon plastic frames and fake wine glasses. But that aside, I'm glad I can now say that I've been chauffered in a limou before. Haha. Here's the pictorial evidence.

But the short lived experience lasted only for an hour when we reached Cleveland and it was now on our own (estimated an 8-hr drive at first) to New York.

3 drivers out of 5 travellers in the car. Last stretch was my turn becos I kind of hate driving along straight expressways lest I fall zz. Give me crazy New York City traffic over boring endless expressways anytime. Directions were pretty straightforward, it was I80E all the way till we reach New York.

Along the way, we hit a few traffic jams that slowed us down to a crawling speed of probably 20mph. One of which was so serious we stopped on the expressway without moving an inch for like half an hour. That jam was due to an accident along the expressway i think. Seriously, how do you avoid accidents in the States especially when the roads arent street-light lit, the expressways wind left/right/uphill/downhill and the cars (even humongous trucks twice the size of SBS buses) travel at 80mph?

Got pretty bored sitting in the car and not moving that we switched off the engine and got out of the car along the expressway. Save gas and enjoy the breeze, like what ppl in the other cars were doing too.

In the end, the lanes cleared up and we picked up speed once again. We missed our exit (either that or we exited too soon) and ended up in an unfamiliar suburb that wasnt marked in our driving directions. But thank God we werent too far from our destination and all the roads in New York City - or rather Queens - link together. Upon driving a few miles and looking at road signs, we managed to make our way to PH's friend's place.

The whole journey took a grand total of 11 hours, with some restroom stops and a dinner break, a few traffic jams and also missing our exit and getting lost. Cleveland (OH) - New York City (NY).

Very last day at CP.

A picture with Tommy, who's always working at the Resort Gate. Had a fair share of fun at the Resort Gate for a few weeks with Pat, Dalia, Niyoshi, Michael, Tommy were working there. Resort Gate's good in the sense that it's away from the mindful eyes of the supervisor at the Main Gate, not as boring and extremely cold/hot as Beach Gate facing Lake Erie and the employees coming-in-and-out Marina Gate.

And there's Tommy with his infamous bouncer pose. Beneath that "dao" look there's actually a pretty funny guy who cracks some lame jokes now and then.

The bus stop where we normally wait for the bus back to the apartments. It's just outside the guys dorms. VERY aptly located, if u ask me, for some reasons. ;-) Such as a certain Czech Ryan-Gosling lookalike, u know the one that u guys are so sick of hearing.

And a photo with the nicest bus driver in CP - Brandon (aka Usher).

Last day of work!

A very much long awaited day indeed.

Bittersweet feelings when I put on my uniform (one of the more decent looking uniforms in CP) and got on the bus for work. Glad that the days of slogging in the unpredictable weather - almost unbearable rain/cold/hail/heat - are gone. But then again, it's time to bid everyone a final goodbye. It's like we never know when we'll see each other again, some probably not for the rest of our lives, though some, HOPEFULLY, we'll meet each other again should there be a chance.

A lot of up and downs during the days I've worked at CP but I'm always glad about the friends I met there for they make work much easier and happier.

People like Michael, whom I always work alongside with in the 2-persons cashier booths. He's been a source of laughter even when things get crazily busy, we still manage to make each other laugh till the customers think we're 2 lunatics in the booth.

I remember working with him at the Resort Gate with Niyoshi, Dalia, Pat and Tommy. It was a really fun 2 weeks then, though we never really got a chance to take photos at the Resort Gate come to think of it, all of us together.The picture above reminds me of how he would always take ion ages to count his money at the end of his shift. Like forever. Haha, because he sucks at multi-tasking and it is really so super easy to distract him that he will lose count of how much money there is and start counting all over again.

Maria from Michigan!


I remember when I first met her she really looked super intimidating because she put on a fierce face. Plus she was always cursing at the customers behind the booths (I think the window panels of the booths are kind of soundproof so the customers cant really hear us if we bitch about them - that's what Michael and I always do haha).

But anyways, Maria turned out to be really sweet in the end. She taught me the cashiering stuff and we would also end up bitching about CP and everything.

Susanna from Ecuador.

I only met her nearing the end of my work period because she came in pretty late. Anyways it was kind of nice working with her because we wont run out of topics to talk about, which is good. Becos it's totally boring to work with people whom u juz cant clique with and there're those awkward silences and what-should-I-talk-about-next moments.

Natallia - Ukraine siao-cha-bor.

Haha, she's pretty amusing and entertaining and so full of life. Probably because she's young (19). She has got the most amazingly long lashes I've seen and those big eyes of hers.

And so, Pat and I had to take our obligatory last photo together in the CP admissions office in our red and purple sweatshirts.

We took a photo with Sava too.

And Dariuz, from Poland. Haha, too bad he had his cap on because he juz had a mohawk haircut. Pretty cool.

Brokeback connections here, with Dariuz struggling to break free from Sav. Hah.

Then after we were done with all the photo-taking at the Front Gate, we went on our last CP tour.

We went on the Ferris wheel =)

Nice to see CP from the top with all the rollercoasters.

Millenium Force being the one on the extreme left, followed by Power Tower in the centre and Dragster on the extreme right.

The spinning thing in the background is MaxAir. Basically it's just spinning as it's swinging in the air. I didnt get on it becos I dont do up downs and swinging objects. Although I wouldnt have mind getting on Power Tower (that goes up then down) ;-)

And that's Wicked Twister in the background. A rollercoaster that twists and turns when it's going up to the highest point there in the picture.

Then we went to the Resort Gate to pay a visit to those working there.

People like Matt, the Michigan police officer who can be seen patrolling the Resort Gate area and entertain us with lame jokes. He's one of very few people who can differentiate between Pat and me, since a lot of our co-workers think we look alike and keeps on calling Pat by my name. Hah

Dalia and Ukraine girls were working at Resort that day.

Some photos we took nearing the end of our term.

It has really been a great summer all in all. Made many friends from all over the world. Shared jokes, forged friendships, shed some tears, gave hugs, smiled for photos.

These girls here have made my summer.

We'll probably be the only gals in Admissions keeping in touch.

Random pictures from all over the place.

T.G.I.Fridays gigantic margaritas. Yep, they were as huge as Pat's face, which is very humongous. Haha.

Too bad we forgot our I.D.s so we couldnt order us all each a Margarita.

Carlos at Lost Persons

Me and Lina in Season Passes.

Robyn, team leader at Season Passes.

Pat, Lina, me and Natallia

Season Passes has got to be the most relax job in Admissions nearing the end of the Season becos all we did there was talk, take photos, pretend to work, read, eat and whatever we can do without getting caught.

Anyways, me and Heather on her last day I think.

Me and Savel.

I think we just went Go-Karting or something. Probably the only time I'll ever get to Go-Kart for free becos Savel had free tickets.

And it costs like $8 in Singapore for one round plus the sky ride at Sentosa. Havent tried it but the sky ride seems pretty fun so I might pop by Sentosa one day and give in to consumerism/the tourist trap. Sigh.

This is Town Hall Museum. I was stuck working there for a few days because they were short of people. Basically all I did there was count the no. of people who went into the museum, and measure kids' height so they can go on rides, and also answer stupid questions like, "Is the rain gonna stop?" Like how would I know? Yeah, just gimme a minute while I page God...

All of us in Mariya's room after Robyn finished braiding her hair.


Louie's.



Random picture of me, Lina and Amanda on Amanda's last day of work.

Me and Pat with Blaga on her last day of work. It was a rainy day, which explains the rain suit.

I think this was at Red Lobster. It was really one of the best meals in Sandusky, which explains the lack of photos because we were all too busy stuffing our faces, me, Pat, Geri, PH, Agnes and Leon - the only Singaporeans left.

Red Lobster was the best meal in Sandusky, I swear. The lobster was like, super succulent and trust me, it's paradise compared to the crap we ate everyday. Fresh lobster, good steak, creamy soup with lobster chunks in a bread bowl...I wish there's Red Lobster in Singapore.