summer fun cont'd

After much deliberation, loss of sleep, gnashing of teeth, etc. I've decided to stay in Markham for the summer. Alaska looks fantastic, it really does but I think I've just got too much on my plate to orchestrate that kind of a transition at this point.

These are a bunch of the cons that tipped the scale

• I'd need to pay for a visa ($585 CAN for the summer, plus a $180US SEVIS fee...whatever that is) because I guess it's harder to work illegally in the US than it is in Thailand ("What? Who said that! *looks around*)
  
• None of the jobs will pay for me to get to anchorage, which means I get to shoulder the plane ticket on top of my visa (some of the companies were generous enough to offer to take the cost of your plane ticket out of your wages over time so you didn't have to pay it up front, but that was the best they offered)
  
• Minimum wage in Alaska is $US7.15/hour, which is what I'd likely be getting as a first year worker at an entry level position. This means on a 40 hour work week, working ALL summer I would gross $4195 CAD. Then we subtract taxes, plane and visa costs, potentially food and rent as well and I'm left with like 85 cents. Thanks Alaska.
  
• If I'm somewhere remote, food isn't always provided with all of the jobs (and if my experiences last summer working in remote Northern Ontario were any indication, that's going to mean some hefty food bills)
  
• Housing in Anchorage is expensive
• A lot of the jobs require you to be a US citizen to apply
• A lot of the ones that don't are already filled
• I will be able to get there at the beginning of June at the earliest (and that's still with less than 2 weeks turn-around time) and would have to be back at the beginning of September to get back to things school-wise which would mean I didn't qualify for any of the "End of Season Bonuses" many of the jobs offer to reward people for staying for the full season.
  

I've concluded that this is something I should look into in the future, but I think I'm too crunched this summer to get it together.

Pro

• SUMMER IN THE CITY (back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty)
  

In other news: the passionfruit vine I transplanted from the farm to a planter box my balcony has begun growing again after a few months of dormancy and is looking rather lovely, if i do say so myself.

Now I've got to go eat a sandwich and study Thai before my Thai teacher gets here in an hour (her new apartment doesn't allow any foreigners (racism much?) so she's begun making house calls)

the great white north indeed

I've been looking at summer jobs in Alaska. Fishing lodges, adventure tours, summer camps and National Parks are all on my list to look into.

Pros:

• I would get to spend the summer in Alaska
  
• The money is really good. I guess they figure they've got to do something to attract workers from out of state because I feel like the domestic labor pool would be pretty sparse
• I'd be gaining valuable...skills...or so the websites tell me
  
• Alaska is awesome
  

Cons:

• The cost of living is pretty high so I might not end up banking as much as I hope what with rent (most of the jobs don't cover it), fun and food.
  
• I'd have maybe 2 weeks to deal with the reverse culture shock of returning home (I expect to be a mess. You've been warned) before flying out again (and potentially dealing a whole new breed of culture shock)
• I'm pretty sure a number of people who were expecting me to be home for the summer will want to kill me.
• I don't really have any related work experience for any of the jobs I'm looking at, save the summer camps
• I would likely arrive back home at the end of the summer in a really messed up place...leaving friends/a life in Thailand, home for a few days, Alaska over the summer, back to Toronto at the end of August saying goodbye to all the awesome Alaskans I would've befriended by that point, just in time to recommence the downward spiral of insanity that is university life.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.