It started with a cross-country drive with 3 guys I'd never met and getting 0 sleep since leaving. We drove from li'l old Utah to Kansas city on Sunday. The drive was ridiculous, we started on the Northern route until we hit severe snowstorms in Wyoming and had to take a massive detour that put us on the Southern route. This meant we didn't reach Kansas City 'til about 3 in the morning.
We crashed at the seediest of seedy hotels in the seediest part of town. Their "continental" breakfast consisted of cold Eggo waffles and stale bagels. The world clocks on their walls were all twitching with their second hands stuck at the 6 and Paris was long-gone. The hotel shared a parking lot with two condemned and obviously haunted buildings. When we arrived we stared at the concierge as he repeated "The ahn-trahnce is on the othah side" about 6 times before we realized he was pointing out the entrance. And in the morning, we filled up at a decayed gas station with no attendant and only one working pump. I'd downloaded the Walking Dead soundtrack as a joke to get in the mood for Georgia but hadn't actually expected to walk into a post-apocalyptic scenario.
We ate lunch in Metropolis, Illinois near the Kentucky border the next day. Cutest tiny town ever dedicated to superman fanaticism. This Southern boy named Buck made our sandwiches at the local Quiznos and had a story for each of our orders. Then we hit Tennessee and encountered a massive rain and thunderstorm that essentially blinded us for minutes at a time. Most of the rest of the drive was slow and daunting with my little Hyundai hydroplaning and nearly getting blown away by wind gusts and drastically-maneuvering semi's. Eventually we made it to another hotel, much nicer and cheaper than the one in Kansas City where the man at the front desk greeted us with some filtered water and a sofa.
The next morning we headed to the home office for 8-10 grueling hours of training for the boys while I hung out in the stuffy break-room reading a book and waiting for them to get done. I talked to some of the Terminix employees and found that one of them was LDS. He gave me a rundown of the local YSA activities and meeting spots and was super nice.
Finally, the guys were done and we headed to our apartment. Which won't have furniture until the 5th. And we're basically squatting here because only 1 of them has a contract and the apartment I'm supposed to be in won't open up til the 5th. Also, the AC's been broken up until about an hour ago.
My bed
My office
One of the most bizzare moments when we arrived was when we met our new neighbor. I had been soaking in all the Southern charm from our previous encounters - such as the ladies at Chick Fil-A who would pat my arm and call me "baby". Then we walked up the steps to find our neighbor smoking heroin and adjusting her weave. One of the guys cheerfully shouted "Hi, we're your new neighbors!" which obviously caught her by surprise because she backed away saying "Don't judge me, don't judge me." until she'd withdrawn into her apartment. We're off to a great start.
So the boys have been sleeping on the floor and being the only girl they felt the need to be all chivalrous towards me and give me the master bedroom with my own bathroom and the only cot we had. Which is no softer than the floor so I don't feel that bad taking the stupid thing. Since then, I've had very little to do so I've mostly been wandering the area and hanging out at the local Starbucks to siphon their internet since we have none. The baristas already know me pretty well.
I haven't had any work to do while I wait for the guys to start making sales so I've spent the day catching up on Korea prep and scaring the maintenance man -
I was watching Jimmy Fallon when he arrived and had my headphones in so I didn't hear anything when he knocked on the door. I smelled smoke for some reason though (probably the guy's cigarette smell) and was creeping towards the kitchen to investigate when I heard someone fumbling with the door. I jumped out of the hallway and shouted "HEY!" thinking it was an intruder and the poor guy clutched his chest and squealed like a girl, nearly falling to the floor. I felt real bad when he told me he was just there to fix our AC.
The area's really interesting because it's a big city but you can't see anything through all these gigantic, lush trees. Our apartment's tucked away into a wooded area by the highway so we get a mix of traffic sounds and birds chirping through our windows. Oh and the humidity. Ohmigosh, I'm gonna look like a sweaty Hermione Granger all summer but I'll rock it. I have yet to try the famous peaches but their tomatoes are really sad and puny. But I think I'm really going to like it here. Good radio - no more obnoxious outdated hip-hop and worst top 40. And the scenery is beautiful. Only downside is the traffic, which is completely awful. Oh my gosh. So bad. Oh and tornado warnings every minute but I have yet to see one. I'm kind of disappointed but honestly, I wouldn't know what to do if I saw one. I'd probably just stop, drop, and roll.
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