*every moment in life is a gift*

recollection of memories,
treasure of presence,
pursuit of dreams...

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Thursday, October 14, 2004
11:10 PM

Parachutes at Six Flags

This is another interesting ride in Six Flags. It is simply a slow and smooth ride up. Normally, the chair can sit about 2 people, but because the three of us are pretty smaller in size than the Americans, we were able to squeeze onto the chair. The view from the parachute is quite pretty. However, the ride is certainly not those adventurous type. And it might be unsuitable for those who fear heights. I must say that this parachute is safer than the ferry wheel ride though.

memories*

G-Scream Machine

I did not try this rollercoaster. By the time we wanted to queue, there was already a long queue for it. And we got no time to play any more of the rides. (There was rain in the afternoon too. That's why we missed some of the rides.) However, the rollercoaster certainly looks scary (just as the name suggests I suppose).

memories*

Newark Liberty International Airport

This is the airport where I transfered domestic flight to Atlanta. It is also the place where I waited for my flight to Taipei. The airport is located very near to the Statue of Liberty, but I missed the chance to see the statue for myself. It is also a place where many will travel to if they want to go New York, because of its proximity to the city (the airport is located in New Jersey).

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Disney Castle at Night

The castle looks mystic at night. Yet it is still so magnificiently stunning.

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More dolphins

There is a particular time when visitors can buy fishes to feed them. These dolphins will then swim towards these fishes. Meanwhile, the excited visitors like me will take this opportunity to touch them gently as they swim past us. In addition, they are fast swimmers. Thus, I had a hard time trying to touch them gently. However, my patience certainly paid off. I got to feel them for once or twice. In fact, not only children were excited over these cute creatures, but also the adults were so thrilled to see and feel them in the pool.

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Seals

There's a name for these creatures but I forgot. They might look as attractive as dolphins or whales. Yet, they seem very gentle creatures that live in the sea. Quite a close-up view of these creatures in the themepark - SeaWorld Orlando.

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Robinson Crusoe's house

I suppose we can only imagine how Robinsoe Crusoe's house looks like from the description written by the author. Well, the themepark actually build Robinsoe Crusoe's house on an "island" (it's a piece of land surrounded by trees). It allows visitors to walk into the story and see the house for themselves. I personally think the stuffs there look very real, and they certainly allow me to imagine how Robinsoe survives on the island. In fact, I think he is very smart in that he can come up with his own tools. But is there really such person on earth who can survive on the island with his self-made tools? Perhaps only on the reality show - "Survivor".

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Adventure Boat Ride

I realise there is lots of usage of water and fire in the themeparks in Orlando. This ride, on the other hand, has something more interesting. The guide at the front of the boat will talk and talk, getting the passengers on the boat to get into the mood of cruising along the "river". At the end of the ride, I was just wondering how many times the guide has to repeat his lame jokes in a day. The jokes might sound lame, but they sound fresh (as if the guide has said them for the first time).

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Disney World 02

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Mr Disney & Us

Without Walt Disney, there won't be Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. There will also be no Disneyland. In fact, it is very impressive how Disney is able to create a themepark that can draw so many people annually. The dreams and hope they instilled into young children with the elements in the park. Even young adults like me are drawn to the park.

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Disney Castle

It is amazing how the colour of the disney castle changes as the colour of the sky varies. I guess it's like a dream for a kid to travel to Disneyland. In fact, this is the castle in Magic Kingdom, one of the themeparks for Disney.

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SeaWorld Orlando - The Shamu Adventure

Shamu - the name of the whale at SeaWorld, Orlando. I think they name every whales there Shamu because it is like a symbol to the park. Anyway, Shamu is really clever. It knows how to perform a lot of tricks, according to the instructions of the trainers.

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Commercial Buildings in Downtown Atlanta

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Two Wierdos & Me

I went to BK to visit my colleagues the last time before I left Atlanta. I met these two wierdos, who are in fact customers at BK. They initiate to take a photo, so I just agreed. Anyway there's no harm. While I was still chatting with my colleagues, they already stood in their positions ready for the photo taking. Well, all I did was to stand in the middle. In the end, these two guys did not even ask me about how to get the photo, so I simple ignore them and went back to my hotel room.

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Wayne & Me

Wayne is one of my colleagues at retail stores. She is a very nice collegue. It's nice working alongside her in the store. (But we are rotated daily, working for different stores each day.)

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My vietnamese friend, Nam & Me

Nam is my colleague at BK. She is from Vietnam. I think she has migrated to US long, long time ago. Besides the Thai students, she is the first Asian I met at workplace. In fact, there are quite a number of Vietnamese working in the airport. I met them subsequently as I worked for some time in the airport. Nam is very hardworking. I really admire the speed she prepare the burgers. She is so trained at everything in the kitchen. I guess she must have accumulate a lot of experiences from working there. Beside working in BK in Concourse E, she also works in another food outlet at the Atrium of the airport. So some days she will rush to work there after work at BK ends. Very impressed by her work attitude!

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Nure, Xing & Me

During my last four working weeks, I was transfered to retail. I took turns to work on the watches carts and the newstands in Concourse C. Nure was one of my supervisor. He is from Ethopia. He is very nice to all employees. However, sometimes he is too serious at work. Working in retail outlets, I got to interact with more customers from all over the states and sometimes met people from all over the world too. I gained a lot of insights from the interactions with these customers.

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Sally & Me

I was at the airport to send Sally off. She is going back to her homeland (Thailand). So here's my last photo taken with her. She has been very kind and helpful during my stay in Atlanta. In addition, she is a great cook. She always cook delicious Thai food and invite me to go over to her room to eat. Before she left, she even gave me some food products and taught me how to cook vegetables with the sauces the Thai students and she bought.

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Sending them off at airport before work...

Some of the Thai students took leave from work to travel to Florida or New York. They left in groups in the morning. As I have work in the morning, I could only send them off before I left for work. That's why I was cladded in my BK uniform.

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Yam & Me

Yam works in the same Burger King outlet as me in Concourse E (of Atlanta airport). She is an exchange student from Thailand. Without her, I guess I wouldn't be able to adapt to the working life in BK. She is very helpful, and teaches me a lot of tips for work. Sometimes, she will also share with me the little stories of various colleagues. That certainly helps me to better understand my colleagues.

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Girls at Hotel Lobby

I met the group of thai students in Atlanta. They are exchange students like me, who are also on the Work & Travel in US programme. Although we worked for the same company, we were working for different outlets in the airport. Some work in the food and beverages, while there are others who work in the newstands.

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Golden Mickey

This mickey mouse was placed in Underground Atlanta. This is part of the celebration of Mickey's 75th anniversary. There are other designs of Mickey Mouse placed within and outside the shopping mall.

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Underground Atlanta

A shopping place located in the heart of the city. There aren't many shops around. However, there is a few stores, which are pretty nice to shop around. There is this particular shop that sells flags from all over the world. Big ones, small ones, etc. You name it, they should have it. There is also this shop that sells a lot of pecan products (It is common to find pecan and peachy products in Atlanta.) The shop is normally crowded with people. The moment I walked in, I just can't stop myself from buying something for my family and friends because the food products the shop sell look very delicious.

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Beautiful scenary on the top of Stone Mountain

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The wind is real strong up there!

The view from the mountain top was simply marvellous. It was as though we could clearly see the whole of Atlanta. The weather is very good too. Wind keeps blowing. We could hardly stop our hair from covering our face when we take photos. Later, we even climbed down the mountain to experience the walk down. (Imagine this is a mountain, not a hill like Bukit Timah Hill). The walk down is pretty cooling though, but I wonder if I really can slim down abit from the little walk downt the mountain.

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