08.09.2016

Hello dear friends! My name is Sapabekov Amirkhan. I’m studying at KIMEP university with specialization of finance and holding full-paid scholarship of Yerzhan Tatishev Foundation. The summer of 2016 I’ve spent in USA by “Work&Travel” program. The trip left a bunch of impressions and emotions about the culture, the people and the country as a whole. This trip helped me to understand that the so-called “American Dream” can be carried anywhere. To reach it, it is only necessary diligence, patience, and commitment to your dream.

I lived and worked in the smallest state in America – Rhode Island, in a small town no one knows. For total immersion in the program I will describe you my normal working day. I worked three jobs. My day started with the awakening at five in the morning, washing, having a breakfast and going to work at MacDonalds, where I worked as a cashier. This was my second job. However, as elsewhere, my work functions were not limited to the standard customer service in terms of their order. Also, my duties included cooking and spills of coffee, tea and other beverages, the issuance of orders, cooking French fries, etc. Change began at 6 am and ended at one o’clock. Then I went to my primary job in a supermarket, which was across the road. In the supermarket I worked as an assistant manager in the department of «La Carte». It was the Department of finished products. On arrival there, I usually went to the home freezer and shipped on the truck frozen food that I prepared. In our department it was a bunch of ovens, grills, etc., where everything is actually prepared. Since we also were selling “fried chickens”, then harvesting of chicken was on me, too. They came plucked and frozen. They had to roll in flour, sprinkle with spices, etc. The work was not easy as it seems at first sight: there is a special recipe, and there is a whole scheme, so they have turned out the same juicy and crispy as in KFC. At the end of the shift, which ended at 9 pm, we had to wash all the dishes (because our washing machine was broken), to prepare all for tomorrow, sweep and wash the floors. The bus to the house was at 11 o’clock, so after work I was usually walking around the neighborhood waiting for the bus. At 11.30 I came home. Shower, dinner, talking to family on Skype – this is how the evening went. Then I felled asleep near two o’clock in the morning. Catching sports all my life, work was physically not so hard. Rather, it was hard mentally from the constant routine work day after day. Since the weekend paid more, I have worked over the weekend and asked the manager to put my legal holiday in the beginning of the working week. The third job was in the company of restoration and landscape design and I’ve worked there when I had days off at the other two jobs. But as the program is called «Work & Travel», in August, thinking that it is impossible to earn all money in the world, threw the third job and took fewer working hours in the remaining jobs. That’s how I spent my summer of “American worker”, as most of the country lives in this way.

In late August, a week before departure, I went to New York. This city of contrasts! Of course, the list of site visits included a standard list: Empire State Building, Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, and, of course, the Statue of Liberty. About the Statue another story: I have forgotten the important documents and was forced to go back to my staff that day, when I was scheduled to visit the Statue of Liberty. Well, on arrival back, it is usually not enough time to visit it. What I mean is: there is a sign, if you go there, you will no longer come back to the United States. So I was not a bit disappointed and I am sure that I will return to States many times! After all, it’s worth it! You will get invaluable experience from this trip, not mentioning the money you will earn. This summer, left an indelible impression in my mind. Moreover, it brought me together with fine people from different countries, who have become very close to me this summer. I have found friends and relatives all over the world: Russia, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Croatia, Romania, USA. Undoubtedly, this was the best summer of my life!

Amirkhan Sapabekov
The Scholar of Yerzhan Tatishev`s Foundation, year 2014
The 3rd year student of Almaty Management University