Parish welcomes summer workers

Garish yellow resorts, comfortable green motels, rustic log-house timeshares: Pressed up against one another along Route 9N, they house summer vacationers who arrive in droves to relax at Lake George.

For resort owner Mary Lou McGurl, however, summer isn't synonymous with fun; it's work, with cottages to clean, guests to pick up after and maintenance to do.

Like other Lake George property owners before her, she relies on two main sources to staff Twin Pines, her Trout Lake resort: local teens out of school for the summer, and European immigrants, who once composed a large base of Catholics in Bolton Landing.

Welcome to U.S.

Many of the Europeans who work for local resorts are participants in work-exchange programs, like CampAmerica, which promise university students jobs as maintenance workers, cooks, waitresses and maids at American resorts for 12 to 16 weeks.

For a number of years, Mrs. McGurl and other parishioners at Blessed Sacrament Church in Bolton Landing have provided a support structure for the students, who, while fluent in English, may be experiencing "culture shock."

The parishioners offer trolley schedules, places to access the internet and phone numbers that workers can call if they need help or have concerns about their working conditions.

This year, parishioners are also collecting bicycles to loan to the workers, and scheduling get-togethers and barbecues so they can meet one another and the locals.

Earning income

The work-exchange arrangement isn't easy for the workers, said Mrs. McGurl. Their time in America isn't supposed to be relaxing. Like American college students, they're earning money for tuition, books and other college fees.

"They have two, three jobs here. They work and work hard. They're here to earn money, not to have fun," she said.

The students are required to adjust very quickly to a new culture, work life and language.

Fitting in

An example is Zuzana Duricova, 23, from Slovakia, who works at a resort. Before a recent get-to-know-you barbecue on a Lake George picnic island, she sat on the dock, wiping away tears. She had been at the Bolton Landing public library, where she had a bad experience with a woman who misunderstood her intentions regarding internet usage. The woman, she said, yelled at her.

"It's a bit difficult to adapt," she said. "I am here alone. It will be different, not having my friends here. I need to work to get money for going back to the university next year, but I would like to see Niagara Falls, too."

Elena Karnaukhova is a linguistics student from Russia who is fluent in English and German. Next year, she will begin studying Spanish and Chinese. This summer, while working as a housekeeper at Twin Pines, she has noticed a number of cultural differences.

"In Russia, nobody smiles," she said. "Here, everyone smiles. While standing at the airport, my face was just set -- and an American man asked me if I had a problem! I said, 'It's okay.'"

Getting around

She and two other Russian young adults -- Maria Eltsova and Julia Kuskova -- plan to visit both New York City and Niagara Falls before their visas expire.

"Why do people travel?" asked Ms. Kuskova. "To see America! America, the language and the culture, is studied in Russia. You need to see the place you're talking about to really understand it."

(7/03/03) [[In-content Ad]]