Work and Travel (A Moldovan youth’s vacation)
I believe my first exposure to the concept of work and travel was through an NPR program “This American Life”. One of their stories was an account of a group of late teen’s from some post-soviet republic who worked in one of those mega rest stops, you know the kind with a Sbarro and maybe burger king with a bunch of trucks lined up outside full of dozing truckers on your way through the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania or Virginia. I have a vague remembrance about the story. Students come to America for the summer, work long hours on minimum wage, live in fairly poor housing, and usually end up in some state like Idaho or Alabama, really not the states one thinks of when they think of America as a foreigner. I believe the general slant of the story through American eyes was as follows, these kids are getting tricked into thinking they are going on this nice American work AND travel experience, but instead they end up with a false bill of goods.
Jump to Moldova. Over half of the Moldovan youth I have met here have experience work and travel program in some way. When I arrived, my host family’s neighbor’s son was going to Alaska to work 16 hour days for the summer. This has increased knowledge of American state names dramatically within Moldova. To me, this seemed like a pretty poor deal. Insanely long hours, menial work, little travel, and low pay. I understood the necessity, the allure of the spending money, but in looking at work and travel websites, I felt there was some misleading advertising going on.
Here is what I have learned from talking to a handful of Moldovans about their experience. (I stress that it is only a handful. These views may not be indicative of your experience with the program)
Where do work and travel students work? It’s a broad range, but since they are summer help, mostly in the service sectors manning the laundry rooms and dishwasher rooms of hotels, casinos, and national parks across the country. They get paid roughly 8-11 dollars an hour and will work from 12-16 hours a day for 5 or 6 days. They have to pay for housing, though it is subsidized through a contract between employer and property owner, and they have to pay for food, but they may end up getting free hotel food or restaurant food, or just taking left over food that we have to, by law, throw away in America (the amount of food wasted is astounding if you have ever worked in food service, but remember, one bum burger could shut the joint down with a lawsuit). Some of them do get to do a bit of travel, after their jobs terminate of course, on their own dime, and with no help of the work and travel organization. So really, it should be more aptly called, travel to work in my opinion.
They generally end up walking away with $6,000-9,000 dollars for the summer. To a Moldovan that is a staggering sum of money. Most villagers can’t make that in a year, let alone a summer. You think that would be the only true driving incentive for such long, long hours of work. However, I am surprised that no one says, “O, I only did it for money, otherwise I didn’t like it.” They get the opportunity to meet and live with other Moldovans, and youth from other countries, generally living in a dorm room like atmosphere, that most don’t get at their own universities, and they get to be in America, from what I have heard, is a country full of really nice people. Most of them recount tales of things they did with their newfound friends which stagger my mind considering they occur after a 16 hour work day. I have generally only heard positive things about the experience, though.
Work and travel is a classic case of the gray areas of working standards between developed and developing nations. Perspective can play a big part in determining what is fair. In a couple of cases I have even heard Moldovans complain about not getting the full 16 hours. I have to say I admire their industrious nature, and though I wish I could give them more travel and a greater American experience, I do understand how alluring such an opportunity as this is, regardless of if it is New York City or off the jersey turnpike in Newark.
I have one final word on the matter. Most of the people who participate in work and travel are people you will see on your summer vacations, serving your continental breakfast or cleaning your hotel rooms or working at your rest stops . I know that travelling in a car on long, hot summer days can get nerve wrecking, but please try to give a nice smile to these people. To them, you will forever be their image of America. Also, vacation travel may be stressful, but I promise you it is nowhere near as stressful as going to a foreign country alone, in a culture you have never experienced, and working in a language that isn’t your native tongue.
Note: I realized after I wrote this, that this perspective is coming from someone who is working for free for 2 years under very similar circumstances, something that is often very difficult for Moldovans to understand. I guess that is why the cross cultural education is needed)
