We took the chance and headed back to our University, borrowed some money from other friends and with everybody chipped in to the fund, we started packing for our new home for the next 30 days. We headed 200 miles ( 330 Km) Southwest from Logan to a small desert town of Green River. This town is in between Moab ( 40Miles away) and another nearest town of 60 Miles away. There were no other services available in between these two towns and Green River became the popular stop over for those traveling in the harsh but scenic region ( the utah desert area has similar scenic view you can find in the Grand Canyon plus more...)
Upon arrival, we were given a room to stay for 4 of us. No cooking facilities were available, so we had to survive on cold sandwiches for the next 30 days. Our jobs as the room cleaners /chambermaids only took about 4-5 hours a day with the remaining time were spent lazing around the Motel's swimming pool. I took the opportunity to learn swimming from Thiep. On some days, we were joined by the local girls who took advantage of free swimming pool, hot weather and our kind hospitality...
Apart from daily swimming, we made our way to local high school dance party over the weekends, thanks to our connection with the local high school girls who frequented our motel's swimming pool. The local boys were however not amused with our presence, some of them even calling us "gooks" but they didn't dare to touch us because we were with JD, our work colleague who was one of the "cool" guy in the town. Oh yes, before i forgot, our other activities were to sneak out at night and steal watermelon and pomello from the next door farm plot. Never thought of being caught then....
Speaking about our motel co workers, we had all sort of people working there starting with John the laundry man, a retired marine who served in korean war and an outcast from New York after his conviction of a murder case. He didn't speak much, with occasional laughter showing his toothless gum. We had Shirley May, the head Chambermaid ( not the maid from Manhattan) who taught us to dig into toilet bowl without even using brush (very gross act indeed) but believe me, after a while , we didn't feel that gross anymore. JD, the cool guy who spoke about girls most of the time and the "fishy smell" terminology. Sarah, our office / finance clerk who took us to party in her trailer home and briefly tangled with Thiep and almost get caught by her own brother. Tony, a general helper in the motel, a witty old man full of interesting stories.We also had the manager / owner husband and wife team Dave and his missus who were kind enough to throw us farewell party with specially cooked Chilies.
After a month in the Motel 6 , Green River, it was time to say good bye and to collect our pay cheques that could survive us another 1 month of 1986 summer break. We celebrated with a big dinner in one of the japanese restaurant in Salt Lake City, Yes, after 30 days of cold sandwiches, we finally got our decent meal, so to speak.
Before i pen off, let me introduce my friends. Thiep, the ring leader from Thailand, then already spent 6 years in the college without finishing his engineering degree. I heard he managed to finish his engineering degree on the 8th year and now residing permanently in USA. Katsutaka, a rare Japanese with permed hair. Another Japanese guy who came to USA believing he could get American girlfriends by being a romantic person, he was wrong. ha ha ( that's another story). Fung Wai Ying a.k.a Jasmine a smooth talker from Sarawak who spent his high school days in Singapore and spoke good Indonesian because of the number of Indonesian in his Singapore high school. He effectively using kretek ( then considered exotic cigarettes) to entice high school girls during parties, another lost soul and not traceable until now. The final member of the group was me, the final year Accounting student who was full time fun seeker and part time student.
