I’ve been staying at the Hyatt House, Houston. It had been a fairly regular hotel stay over the first 5 weeks. However, within the last week, things have gotten interesting.

First of all, the staff members here are wonderful. Our small group of 5 student get dropped off and picked up from work each day by the general manager, Rene who takes a keen interest in our work activities and is always good to have a chat to at the end of a tiring day. He even assures us that the guy who’s giving us exams “will be taken care of.”

I have also brough a small furry friend with me to the US. He listens to my problems after a long day of study and he doesn’t pass judgment. He laughs at all of my jokes and loves all of the same TV shows as me. So needless to say, we’re great company for each other in the evenings. Everyone meet Joey and saw Awwww.

I’ve been tucking Joey I into bed each morning, with his little head on the pillow and the sheets pulled up around his neck, in the hopes that I would make the hotel cleaners smile. For 5 weeks I was unsure if I was making a difference in their lives, but then one day they sent me a message.

Day 1: I walked in the door to find Joey sitting on top of the television, looking at me as I walked in. I laughed for about 5 minutes, hoping that it was done intentionally.

So, the next day I tucked Joey back into bed with a little message for the cleaners. Introducing Joey and telling them what a wonderful time he had on the TV yesterday and he couldn’t wait until the next excursion.

Day 2: I walk in and to my delight Joey had been roaming around the apartment only to end up on the desk chair practicing his writing skills. (I think he’s going for his pen license soon.) He had written “I love the hyatt house”

Day 3: I walked into the apartment this day with anticipation bubbling up inside me, waiting to see what they had done today. Imagine my laughter and delight when I opened the door to find cute little Joey in a little bed of his own, snuggled up on the couch.

I won’t have the cleaners in over the weekend so I will have to wait until Monday to see just how creative my cleaners can be. I’ll be sure to post more of Joey’s adventures next week. Let’s hope the cleaners keep playing my game.