What a Weekend

A glorious 3-day weekend for me. Excellent! I was scheduled to have Friday and Saturday off and then I got another girl to take my Sunday shift so I could to church. Oh how I'd missed going to church! As I am not a fan of excessively lengthy posts, I will keep these three days short.

Friday:

Catch some summer sun, fill a prescription, call the BYU advisement center to schedule a phone appointment to talk about my future, and watch a movie in the comfort of my apartment since it is dang hot outside! In case you're wondering about my academic advisor, I am still technically a Chemical Engineering major. I know that's NOT what I want to do, but I'm not quite sure what I'd rather do instead. I am leaning between Biophysics and Physical/Developmental Biology right now with the hope that I can either start a family or go to medical school upon graduation from BYU. If I do end up studying medicine, I think I'd like to be either a dermatologist, a pediatrician, or an otolaryngologist (an ear-nose-throat doctor :) And maybe I'll even serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints along the way. In any case, I need to make sure I'm on the right track to graduate in this decade :)

Saturday:

Some more sun, shopping at the Magical Warehouse of Super Cheap Disney Stuff (aka Cast Connection), and a Puerto Rican birthday party. I've started my Disney merchandise collection. I got a ton of stuff 75% off, including this fabulous Mickey Mouse watch! I love my life!! The birthday party was probably my favorite part of the day, though. I work with a guy from Puerto Rico. His name is Waldemar, but we call him Wally :) His birthday was on Tuesday and to celebrate, he wanted to make food for all of his friends. Kind of backward if you ask me. It was fun though and the food was...incredible!! I went with an open mind but I was prepared not to like it and just be polite. But it was nothing like the Mexican food I was expecting. I am a chicken when it comes to spicy, but this was nothing of the sort. Wally and his neighbor are excellent cooks and the food was so flavorful and delicious. If you ever have a chance to go to Puerto Rico or eat their food, I highly recommend it. I was pleasantly surprised and quite impressed. I may also have some new Puerto Rican buddies :)

Sunday:

Go to church (yay!), catch up on all the happenings with my BYU roommates, and take a wonderful nap in my new Disney hoodie - my, how comfortable 75% off a $55 sweatshirt feels :)

All in all it's been a great weekend but I am excited to go back to work tomorrow. TTFN

Improving My Language Skills

I have spoken more Spanish in the last two months than I have in the last two years. This is awesome! There are so many people from Spanish-speaking countries that come to Walt Disney World, both as guests and cast members. I work with a lot of puertoriqueños (Puerto Ricans) so I get to hear it around the kitchen. But also, like the 55 Brazilians the other day, I get to play charades with lots of guests. I speak as much Spanish as I can and they do the same with English. It's pretty entertaining and I feel like I'm being compassionate :) I have gotten better with my numbers as that is a big part of working on the register. When I started, I could translate single digits just fine, but multi-place value prices were not so good. I've still got some practicing to do, but I'm much better already! TTFN

A Breath of Fresh Air

Today was an exceptionally long day at work. I was one of those "I kept looking down at the clock which only made it worse" type days. I don"t know what I was so anxious for. Oh well, I guess time still exists in Disney World. I did, however, have a very heart-warming interaction right at the beginning of my shift. It caught me by surprise because I had just started my day and this woman had evidently been had quite the morning. Or maybe just a hard week. Either way, it went like this: I was at the register, being my normal, cheerful self, taking orders and wishing magic to everyone. I greeted the next guest in my queue, an older black woman, with a "Hello, how are you doing today?" [smile], expecting a "Fine, thanks" or "Doing great" etc in return. What I got was "What a..[smile]..oh, you are just a breath of fresh air." I thanked the woman modestly and continued to take her order, inside feeling pretty fine that I could...be myself...for her. She kept thanking me for being so sweet and delightful. I felt ashamed of whoever she had just dealt with earlier today who had apparently not shown her the Disney standard at its best. At the end of our 2-minute interaction, she asked me to "never change". I wish I could have told her how much I would be take her advice. I love working for Mickey Mouse and upholding the traditions Walt Disney inspired in his Cast Members. I definitely want to take what I have learned this summer and apply it to every job I will ever have. It makes work more fun, and random Wednesdays more...fresh :) I love my life! TTFN

"The Good Old Days" and 55 de Brasil

So tonight, I ate my dinner standing up in the kitchen. It reminded me of my Daddy and "the good old days" when it was just him and me in the Bungalow, at the kitchen sink, watching TV and eating dinner after a long day at work. As fun as that was, I'm kind of glad I have a bigish family. One of my coworkers is going to college in the fall and he was telling me how he is getting a dorm to himself because he hates sharing a room. My mind was blown, my socks were knocked off. I have shared a room my whole life and loved every minute of it. I guess people are just different. (Well duh!)

Disney is as fabulous as ever!! As we get farther into summer, we get busier and busier. The days are nice and warm and muggy. I sometimes wonder why summer, the most unpleasant time of year in Florida, is the busiest season for these Parks. And then I remember that some people (most people) have to plan around school. Oh well. It makes my days fuller and more fun and exciting. Today, we had a tour group of 55 Brazilian come in and order an outrageous amount of food. Then again, anything is outrageous when you are 55-strong :) I was working in the kitchen at the time and let me tell you what: I have never put so many burgers, tomatoes, and lettuce on a bacon cheese bun in so little time! It was pretty epic. As always, I love my job and love sharing it with y'all. Whoever y'all are... :) TTFN

May the Force be with You

I love Hollywood Studios! So every year we host Star Wars Weekends, a collection of Star Wars character and actor appearances. It's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for four weekends in the Spring. I have never seen so many Jedi and Star Wars junkies, outside of a formal convention, in my whole life! :P So I got off work a bit early last Friday and met my roommate to play for a few hours in all the Star Wars fun. It was awesome!! I got to meet Chewbacca, an Ewok, and Queen Amidala. Then we watched the Hyperspace Hoopla at the end of night, a combination of Star Wars characters, comedy, music, and dancing. I loved it!! I was laughing and cheering the whole time. To share my fun, I thought some pictures would be fun. So here are some of the ones I took. TTFN

We had so much fun dancing and playing with these guys. We saw them a few times around the area. We got to be good friends :)

Chewy really is that tall! And the Ewok was so cute and tiny. I got a mini little hug from him and a huge Wookiee hug from Chewbacca :)

Future Senators in Training :)