Hunters Run, My New Home & Family

By Alicia Vosloo

From packing, to goodbye tears, checking in, exchanging rands into dollars, boarding, and not to long after that, being on a flight leaving South Africa. From that moment on it was all excitement running through my body.

On the plane, me and about 30 other Workaway participants from different country clubs were having dinner and getting ready for the long flight ahead, with lots of entertainment and hospitality that was out of this world, such as very friendly and helpful staff. From dining, to movies and getting some sleep, the people of South African Airways helped us to remain calm and continued to help us throughout the flight.

Several hours went by before the pilot announced that we would be landing in about two hours at John F. Kennedy International airport New York City, one of the biggest airports in the world. The most unforgettable moment was to land in New York City. We went through security to get our bags, checked in, and went to terminal seven where Jet Blue, our next flight to Fort Lauderdale, was waiting for us.

On the plain and ready to take off, about two and a half hours went by before they announced that we will land shortly. Then, touch down! We landed in our new home town of Florida where we all went and waited for our bags. One of the Workaway representatives from Florida welcomed us warmly and split us in to our Country Club groups, in which we needed to go to our buses that took us to our new homes for the next six months.

The exciting part just began, the bus driver said he was going to stop at Walmart. This is a super market with all the things you could need to buy. We bought soda, bread, bagels, my new favourite ham pastrami and all sorts of goodies before paying.

Next stop, our new home at Ashley Lake Park, roughly fifteen minutes away from Hunters Run. What a beautiful tropical place to be and I can call it home.

They gave us time to settle in, recover from the jetlag and explore. Days went by and finally the day that I had been waiting for arrived, my first day at Hunters Run. I was a little bit nervous but very excited to finally meet the Hunters Run team. This included Mrs. Watkins (Chief Operating Officer) and all of the managers as well as the executive chef and other staff. We had breakfast and then the presentation began where everyone introduced themselves and you got to meet everyone personally. They really made everything so easy. Wells Fargo Bank met with us as well and briefly went through everything with us and explained how every thing works.

Hunters Run welcomed us at the Shining Star Awards where there were staff who had been working there for more than fifteen years and still they were so proud to work for Hunters Run and displayed dedication to excellence. The next few weeks we will be training to be the best servers and friends in order to do our jobs to perfection and be a part of the winning team.

The Country Club is beautiful and everyone is helpful and friendly. Everyone is so warm and it feels like we’ve already been here so long. The members are friendly and everyone makes it feel like home. I can’t wait to see what is still in store for me. I will learn from the best in order to be the best! I am so proud to be a part of the Hunters Run team and their dedication to excellence.