Hi there!🙌 I keep practicing at Irina Lutsenko’s brilliant Write For Real course, here is the next piece (had fun trying to include some stylistic devices:)
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“Will she make it?..”

This thought kept shooting through my mind. Too many challenges have ganged up on my daughter. Maybe it’s time to evacuate her back home?

When Katie signed up for the US Work & Travel program, her job description included “stocking and packaging camping equipment”. The employer promised “an enriching experience in a team of local and international staff”. But about a month prior to her visit, a massive fire destroyed half of the equipment, so the tasks changed dramatically: clean up the debris and wash whatever survived the flames.

Let me briefly list the oh-my-god-she-won’t-make-it challenges my daughter faced:

Challenge 1: the trip. Travelling from Moscow to a quaint town tucked away in the hills of Vermont is no mean feat these days: a five-hour flight to Qatar, a twelve-hour stopover in Doha, a fourteen-hour flight to New York City, a ten-hour stopover at JFK airport, a 1,5-hour flight to Burlington and some more in a car, but who’s counting by now?

Challenge 2: work. Scrubbing disgusting black soot off the tents, wetsuits, and boots for 6-8 hours a day is not exactly the same as stocking camping equipment. The warehouse still smells like fire, and Katie has to wear a mask for protection. In +32 Centigrade (no air conditioning, obviously).

Challenge 3: friends. Katie is a bit of a social butterfly, but there is no “team of local and international staff” to socialise with – just her and the boss (there was one more Work & Travel girl from Dominicana, but she couldn’t handle it and left).

Other challenges: fix a bike. Sort out a bank card. Buy food. Food can only be bought using money. Money will only reach her account in two weeks. Any cash left? Zero, zilch, zip, nada, nil.

If you were me, wouldn’t you also be worried sick? But at the same time, I can’t help but admire the stamina and grace with which my daughter is handling these challenges - she found the second job at a local restaurant, then the third – at a cafe; got acquainted with cool local kids, dealt with all minor problems. It is as if she grew up literally overnight. So I know without a shadow of a doubt –

She will make it.

#WritingForReal_4