Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sometimes adventure sneaks up on you.

Sunday night I was watching a movie with my roommates until fairly late, and then checked my phone to find I had missed a call from my good friend, Erin Klein. Erin has been looking for a job for the last month or so, so when I listened to her message and all it said was, "I have a better idea than getting a job. Call me back," I was intrigued... but not enough to call her back that late. In retrospect, I wish I had.

So I finally called her back Monday afternoon to see what her brilliant idea was. She proceeded to tell me very passionately how much she wanted to apply to be on the TV reality show the Amazing Race, and that since I wasn't too attached to anyone or anything at the moment, she wanted me to be her partner. She then informed me that if we were going to apply we needed to put everything for the application packet together that night, because the applications were due the following day (Tuesday) at 5pm. She was planning on flying to California Tuesday morning to turn in the packet in person (thanks to her mom's Jet Blue flight benefits) and fly back the same day.

It took me only a few seconds to decide, "sure, why not?" And then I asked if her mom had a buddy pass I could have so she didn't have to go to California on her own. Sure enough she did. So, I told Erin I'd come over after work and we could start working on the applications and our 3-minute video.

While waiting out the last couple hours of work I went online to look over eligibility requirements for the Race, and saw that either a copy of a passport or proof of a request for a passport was required. My heart sank, because I had neither. I was about to call Erin and tell her to hold the plane reservation, but then I realized there were still a couple of hours before the passport part of the post office closed. If I leave right now...

I had half a thought to tell my boss I was sick as my excuse to leave early and use the same excuse the next day to explain my absence, but thought better of it and just told her the crazy truth instead: "Can I leave now so I can get a passport so I can fly to California tomorrow so I can be on a reality show?" Surprisingly, she was completely and totally supportive. For as spacey as she is, she's also a very free spirit.

So in the next several hours I applied for a passport, we filled out the 13 page applications, took pictures of ourselves and printed them, and made our 3-minute video of why we should be chosen. Our selling points were: a) we met working at a girls camp together where we learned a lot about resourcefulness and adaptability, b) we were single, unattached, and had useless bachelors degrees under our belts, and c) we were so intent on being considered that we FLEW to California to get the application in on time. This is the picture we included of us for the application:

After we got everything together we went to bed at midnight and woke up four short hours later to catch our flight at 6am. This is me, happy to be on the plane:

This is Erin, finishing her application while we wait for the plane:

This is what it looks like...


...when we're about here in our flight:

Long Beach Airport is essentially nothing more than a large relocatible. See, look:

So we landed and set out on our next task: trying to navigate the bus system. Erin had printed out basic instructions on how to get to the address on our package, so we started from there. We got on a bus which dropped us off at a Metro station, at which point we decided to go into Carl's Jr. to use the restroom. While politely waiting for an open stall, Erin and I exchange embarassed glances while we hear the unfortunate sounds of someone with SEVERE indigestion in one of the stalls. I use the restroom and as Erin is about to take my stall, a heavyset man emerges from the other stall and walks straight out the door. You heard me... a man, in the women's room. Furthermore, he didn't wash his hands before he made a beeline out the door. This was just our first encounter with the characters in the Long Beach area.

Next, we weren't sure we were getting on the right train, so Erin asked a man at our stop, "does this train go to Compton?" He merely nodded, so we shrugged and got on. As we found a seat I notice the man who had nodded sat right across from us, but Erin obviously didn't because she said rather loudly, "I'll bet that guy doesn't even speak English." I give her a look, and she realizes shortly thereafter that the guy was right next to us and had heard her comment. When we both made eye contact he smiled, pointed at a map on the bus, and said, "Compton." Erin just about melted into a puddle of embarassment while I laughed at her. This is the speed limit right outside the metro stop:

And this is Erin clutching our precious cargo, right before she put her foot in her mouth:

At the Compton stop we hopped onto another bus, but were wondering out loud whether it was the one going in the right direction. A handful of people on the bus told us that we were in fact on the wrong one and were all at the same time telling us how to get back onto the right track. Thanks, team metro 125!

This is me, once we HAD found the right bus. At this point we hadn't seen another white person for about half an hour:

We finally got off the bus about 45 minutes later in El Segundo. The bus had dropped us off on Main Street, and that was the address on the package. So we wandered up Main Street only a little ways until we hit our destination. It wasn't a big CBS studio and we weren't greeted by the producer of the show like we were hoping... in fact, it was a UPS store and we were greeted by a woman who had a big bucket of packages for the Amazing Race similar to ours. We consoled ourselves with the thought that surely no one else had come as far as we did to hand-deliver their package. But still, Erin was not as thrilled about it as she looks in this picture:

Well, our purpose for being there had been fulfilled, so we backtracked to familiar territory so we wouldn't get too lost for the rest of the day. On our way back to Long Beach we found this staircase at the metro stop:

At this same metro station I used a $20 bill to purchase a $1.25 metro pass, and ended up receiving $18 in Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. My purse was suddenly ten pounds heavier, and I was suddenly more inclined to give money to the homeless people who would ask for it, just to get them out of my purse.

Upon boarding the train we were shortly thereafter joined by these two characters. One, wearing a ball cap on top of a cowboy hat. The other, reading his paper with his face about two inches away from it, with a pair of perfectly good glasses in his left hand. These were the only two of the many characters we encountered that we were able to photograph without being noticed.


On this same train ride a black man with one prosthetic eye started talking to us like he was continuing a conversation he had already started (which perhaps he did, but we weren't privy to it.) He was telling us about how a lady in the train behind us had her purse stolen and was giving us all kinds of tips about how to keep that from happening to us, because we were white (still are, in fact) and seemingly easy targets. He then proceeded to tell us about how he had been mugged by three guys, one of which had cracked him in the back of the head with a baseball bat and had knocked his eye clean out of his head and into his hand. He painted quite the picture, and we got the message: if we wanted to keep our purses and eyes in tact, keep them close and be careful.

After finding our way back to Long Beach we ate a quick lunch from Albertsons (after our encounter with Mr. Indigestion in the women's room we didn't dare eat at any of the fast food establishments around us), and then boarded a bus that we thought was taking us south toward the ocean and the Aquarium. It was in fact heading north, which I didn't figure out until about 20 minutes into the bus ride, so we hopped off the bus and waited for the one coming in the other direction. It was at this point that the 2 or so hours of sleep we had received the night before was starting to catch up to us, and Erin discovered this under the lid of the Sobe drink she had. It pretty much summed up how we felt about the Long Beach area generally:

We finally made our way to the Aquarium and saw a lot of cool things. My favorite part was the touch pools, where they allowed us to touch rays and sharks and sponges and things like that. Here's Erin demonstrating:



After the Aquarium we made our way over to the rocky shore and sat, staring out into the ocean for 45 minutes or so. Then we took our buses back to the airport, and ended up landing back in Salt Lake at 10:45pm.

It was a lot of fun and we had a really good time, and it gave us a taste of what navigating strange cities will be like if we do indeed make it on the Amazing Race. It also gave me a greater appreciation for everything I have, because spending the day on California public transit and being surrounded by those who were pretty severely without made me realize how blessed I truly am. But more importantly, it made me realize how I really should learn how to tell North from South without the Wasatch mountains to guide me before I attempt any kind of Race, Amazing or otherwise.

18 comments:

Erin Klein said...

This indeed was a trip to remember. Who knew you could meet so many interesting people in one day?

The picture of Haley holding the pamphlet was on the 125. Right in front of us were two Polynesian women, one of which clearly had a rough Thanksgiving and was telling the other- and the rest of the bus- how much she hated her mother, loved her sister, and did so half in thug-English half Samoan or Tongan or whichever island she was lucky enough to have descended from.

Just after the photo of the the Newspaper Man and the Double-decker Hat Guy was taken, a large black woman, her stroller caddy pimp, her sista from the hood and three of her six children got on the train. The oldest of the girls was maybe 4 or 5. She asked us where we went to school, what grade we were in, and where we were from. Cute, inquisitive girl, but didn't know how many three was and I doubt she knew what a toothbrush was as all of her visible teeth were decaying. The youngest of the girls was an infant not more than eight months old. The mother merely propped up the child against her large thigh and would replace the pacifier in the baby's mouth AFTER it had fallen on the floor of the train. Suckin on hepatitis, for sure.

Can you see why Sobe said it so clearly with "not my scene"???

Lastly, the aquarium. I love sea life and was thrilled when I found out they had a "petting zoo." I was even more thrilled to find out there were sharks in one of the touch pools. My biggest fears are sharks and spiders. My close friends know of a thrill-seeking game I play in which you slap animals for points- the scarier the animal the more points you get. So, I slapped the shark. How many people can say that!

This was our amazing 24 hour race to finish the application for the Amazing Race. We won this leg of the race because we completed all assigned tasks and made it out of Long Beach with our purses and both sets of eyes in tact.

Haley, you are great to go on spontaneous, potentially hazardous, adventures like this with me! I would have done it alone, but your company, humor and $18 in Susan B. Anthony coins made it 1000 times better!

Robin said...

Holy cow. Erin is always coming up with crazy adventures. Hey, I thought she was still in Scotland!?

Bonny said...

ok the double stack hat and newspaper picture is hilarious!

Your story reminds me of my life in georgia. i'm usually the only white person on the bus and the 12 year old girls next to me are holding their own children. yikes. I guess I should carry my camera more often.

I am also never sure which direction I am going without the darn mountains to set me straight.

Sounds like an awesome trip!

reminds me: i need to go to the atlanta aquarium

Ben Gutierrez said...

Woah. Compton is an adventure!

Hey, do you have an IM that you use more often than that YourAudience one? We have some catching up to do!

garrett said...

First, Haley, you're awesome. This is a fantastic post and I'm completely jealous I a) didn't know how/when/etc. to apply as a contestant on The Amazing Race, and b) I don't have a spontaneous friend who would initiate the application process.

Second, ERIN!!?!!? Do you remember me? I think the first day we met, we floated down the Logan cannel starting up in the canyon, through the golf course, and stopping at someone's (yours, maybe?) aunt's house to sit in a hot tub to get warm. The reason I was in Logan that Summer/early fall was because I applied for, interviewed for, and didn't get a job in Logan, which was made all the more bitter and sad because of the budding friendships I had made while spending weekends on Jason's floor and meeting the new Continentalites. Bonny will remember that because I called to get her brother's phone number to beg him to bring my portfolio for the interview.

Anyway, good luck to you both! If there's any sort of audience interaction on the decision making process, let us know if there's something we can do to get you guys in!

Erin Klein said...

Garrett! Buddy! What have you been up to? Did you know that you were discussed while on this very 24 hour adventure? Yes, you were. Floating down the canal was brought up as were the four participants. Remember how I inhaled some kind of bug or spider while trying to flatten myself under a very low bridge?!?! Yeah, that was traumatizing. And it was my aunts house we stopped at for a little warmth in the hot tub. Ahh, good times!

Cassidy said...

WOW!! I am so impressed. Its adventures like this that make me wish I had done something besides spend all of my time in the library while going to school and at work when school was out. I am so boring.
I hope you two make it on the show, that would be so cool!

Nathan Winder said...

Way to go Haley! I hope all your network television wishes come true. I've been to the Long Beach Airport and you're right- it's pretty much just a relo.

Jentry said...

I am so impressed I would've chickened out and rented a car. You are awesome and doesn't everything seem possible when you are with someone who you met at camp?

Unknown said...

Holy cow! I am so dang excited for the two of you I can hardly stand it. If you two make it I will be so into watching it again (it's been a little while). Erin (lol, it's funny to call you that), if you see this, you look awesome! I haven't seen you (or at least a picture) in forever!! Yay! Do you know when you'd hear back -- like how long it'd be?

Kara -- aka Sassy

Jake said...

Haley Sue,
I hope that when you are racing across the world you will be very careful. I would hate to have you get lost in some other country where you could never come home.
I bet if things get really bad, though, the camera crew following you will help out.

Good job on the one day Cali trip, though. Awesome.

Anonymous said...

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. if you get lost close your eyes picture yourself in SLC, put the sun on which ever side it should be on according to the time of day, point your finger in the direction you need to know, north, south... for instance if it's morning close your eyes, face the sun and imagin the beautiful moutains. this works best in the morning or evening, if it's noon your kind of SOL.

Matt and Jenny said...

I'm so jealous! If it weren't for a dang husband and kids I would so love to be on the amazing race. :) Oh well, hopefully they'll still have the show in 50 years and Matt and I could be the really old people that you just hope make it alive.

Anonymous said...

Hey! I met the guy who does the music for that show once! He'll write you guys a good theme song, he will!

Anonymous said...

I think your team name should be double decker reading glasses mamacita's! What do you think?

Christine said...

Your whole blog is entirely entertaining... I love the double hat and guy trying to read the paper...

Good luck on the amazing race... I completely hope you get on it!!!

Kristi said...

Hey! I was blog hopping and found your blog through Cricket's I think or no, Chunky Monkey's. I am Fiddle from Oakcrest 2001. . .and coincidentally Nathan Winder's cousin (married to Blaine Bassett), that was random to see he commented on your blog. Anyway, I love that you guys did this! My biggest regret in life is that I didn't do more things like this in my life. Kind of hard now with the two kids and husband and all, but I can live vicariously through you, right? I hope you make it and if not, it sounded like an amazing race experience just getting to the studio. Awesome!

Nathan Winder said...

Oh, hey Kristi. Nice to see you around the internet. I guess we both know Haley.