Reflective Vest and Hand Wands

Yelp, if you haven't heard, I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesooota. I hopscotched four states north for awhile to intern with the non-profit here. As you can imagine, I'm getting paid more with experience and little monetary means. So in order to pay rent and clothe my body for my first winter, I needed to get a part-time job. After a couple of weeks of job hunting, I got hired on at the airport. Not what you think, more like this. I will be working outside on the ramp marshaling in airplanes, loading cargo, and driving tugs to push the planes back on the runway. Yellow reflective vest in the dead of a Minnesotan winter marshaling in planes with orange signaling wands. Aside from the entertainment value this job provides, the reason I applied for it was because of the flight benefits. I can fly anywhere for free as a standby passenger. Some international flights require a small international fee, but I'll be flying first class. I keep thinking of all of these different places that I've been wanting to go like Prague, Morocco, Papua New Guinea....the list is endless. I plan on going to as many places as I can within this next year. One weekend, I plan on walking into the airport getting on the next available flight out of the country, wherever that might be and just go. Take as many pictures as I can for a couple of hours, eat a meal, then flight home. Granted, we are not getting paid much to work outside in the winter, but seriously, best benefits ever.

When I found out I got the job, I planned on approaching it as a sociological study of what it's like being a woman doing what is traditionally-known as 'man's work'. Mainly, because I'm nerdy like that and seemed fun. Observe, experience, and write about it. Also, it would be a way of tricking my mind into thinking that I had a purpose for being outside marshaling planes in negative 15 degree weather. Some kind of reason to etch into my mind to make the winter seem less harsh and the wind's sting more bearable. Why am I loading someone's 60 pound leopard-printed suitcase into the cargo bin of a CRJ-900 in the dead of winter with a reflective wands in my hands? Oh yeah, I remember, because the sociological world needs me to. Mostly psychological, but I have a feeling this will make for some good stories, so I plan to write about it. Although, there is a small hiccup in my study. My training class is not exactly what I expected. There's a pretty even split between men and women. My focus may have to shift a bit, maybe a look into the world of traveling ramp agents or something. I still plan to write about my experience, but it might be through a slightly different lens. Although, my class is an interesting one. We have quite an array of people present with ages ranging from a few 20 somethings to a woman in her mid-60s. A lot of middle aged people, some retirees, a few college kids, a couple of internationals --- and we're all there for one reason: free flights. We want to see the world and have someone else pay for it. Most people there have other jobs and will just be working 10-15 hours a week at the airport for the flight benefits. After a week of classroom learning about belt loader operational procedures, proper hand signaling, and aircraft safety precautions, I'm feeling ready for on-the-job training next week. Oh, boy. Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself. When I applied for the job, I didn't even know what exactly I was applying for. I just saw the flight benefits and I was in. This should be interesting.