Last November 2007 I received an email from my daughter who is a snowboard instructor at Boyne Highlands Ski Resort MI. She received the email from her boss, Tony Sendlehofer. Tony Sendlhofer is an Austrian Ski Instructor who is currently in charge of Snow/Sports at Boyne Highlands, Michigan. He has been working at Boyne for 30 yrs. and has never had a return to work problem before—UNTIL NOW.

Tony emailed me, “Boyne has the tradition of an Austrian Ski School since the get go in the fifty’s and it would be a disaster for the business and the individuals. I’m just sick about this! I don’t think people or companies who have been in the program successfully (and legally) for years should be penalized”.

According to VP of Ski Operations John D. McGregor, “The H2B visa is vital to our operations not only for our Ski School but for other areas of resort operations as well. As you know not only Boyne is affected, but the entire resort industry in Michigan as well as the rest of the US”. (Besides Tony’s 30yrs., the core group within the remaining Austrian ski instructors have 60yrs. at Boyne.)

Austrian Ski resorts use ski instructors (guest workers) from Australia, Czech Republic and other European countries. According to Rick Kahl Editor of Ski Area Management magazine: “In an ideal world, the work force in the ski industry would be truly international–with many members working in the Northern Hemisphere in our winter, and in the Southern Hemisphere in their winter. The work force has been headed in that direction, but the current H2B gridlock has thrown a monkey wrench into that.”

Ski Instructors is one example of a seasonal job that may not fit the needed skill level of an average citizen or their work/time/location availablity. Unfortunately, I believe that the liberal element in the U.S. encourages government intervention/help/support/control in so many levels of a citizens life. Citizens must remember to use their own initative in life and be careful to rely on government to “take care of them”–usually at the expense of the rest of us in forms of more taxation, etc. This situation can contribute to a lack of interest in seasonal work. The following article (somewhat lengthy)also makes some good points regarding the availablity/interest of American ciitizens for seasonal work:

http://www.cobizmag.com/articles_printable.asp?id=1718

In my opinion, some of us have become a little spoiled and look for the “perfect job”. And if it is not available or not to their liking, they simply quit or look to the government for help.

The following utube video link is a snippet of an upcoming Documentary Film by Adrian Muys about the New England Crab Industry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzHKsBar7Ko

Have a good day…from a fellow Bohunk…

Did you know that it was a Czech girl who invented the Polka style of music and dancing? Most people think it was started in Poland.

I think the mid-west is the majority settling point for Bohemians and Czechs. Especially Chicago. I think that may be where my ancestors came to before moving to other parts of Illinois.

I have been trying to learn Czech for about 2 years. But I found out that if you don’t keep up with it at all times you forget what you’ve already learned. Now that I have a little exposure to it I have some pen-pals that I talk to and need to catch up with. I found them through a Czech social network site, http://www.lide.cz/

I have managed to find family in Bohemia. We email each other in Czech. And send pictures.

Mej krasný den :)!

Originally from Detroit, I now live in Fenton, MI. Haha…hi neighbor. I always wanted to learn Czech, but my parents did not teach us. My twin sister and I were the last of 5 children (actually a surprise); I am guessing that my oldest brother (and the first child) had more exposure to the language. I remember the next child, my older sister, had a dance costume and was in a dance troupe–unfortunately I never went to any of her performances. My dad was going to have my sister and I go to a Sokol Czech cultural center (gymnastics, dances, etc.) to take classes, but I think my mom did not think we would like homework??? Anyways my parents and their family/friends spoke and I was a little sad/ticked-off that I could not speak.

My twin also wanted to speak Czech. We should have started speaking Czech while we were in the womb; we probably heard it being spoke outside the womb. That would have been sweet; I heard that twins can actually create their own language; my sister and I would have just used Czech!! I remember that my parents could communicate pretty well with our Polish neighbors.

I also believe that Czech-Bohemians are hard workers; I see that in myself and my children. My husband’s parents have a mixture of German, English, French and ? but he is a Bohemian inside: a hard worker and he LOVES polkas. I grew up listen to the Czech music station that was aired on Sundays; my dad did not like Polish style polkas; he preferred the Czech style–which was more German in style.

I have a lot I want to share about the H2B visa and the “returning workers extension”, but right now I will simply say “haló”. Mluvit s, k tebe zas. Mít jeden blaho čas! (InterTran website Kathy Bunyash (sounds like something growing on my foot…

Thank you for that informative interview. I read most of it. and skimmed through the rest of it. I will get back to reading all of it soon.

Throwing money and food at problems without the problem getting solved is a pet peeve of mine.

Now if we could get the Governor and the legislature to approach this situation with half the thought and seriousness DeVos just did in the course of a single email we might actually get somewhere… and somewhere other than a new monopoly system with billions in rate increases over the next few years.

–Nick
http://www.RightMichigan.com