Kiaoraforhello

Kia Ora!

I picked up a shift on Thursday (yay for 6 day weeks…) to help out a girl who was trying to give away shifts (if only karma came into play here… :/ ). It wasn’t bad. I hadn’t opened Greece before but it wasn’t hard. I quite like my Friday 9.30-3.30pm shift and this was the same shift. Unfortunately it meant I didn’t get a sleep in 2 days in a row (and since I had a late night the night before I was kind of drained).

I was surprisingly tired after that shift and just wanted to curl into a ball and sleep. Especially since I was stressed and upset at the same time. Yes, this giving away previously approved shifts thing, was hard. Especially for the days I needed. They were possibly the hardest days of the whole festival to manage to give away/swap!


I felt bad since I was meant to hang out with Michael afte rmy shift but was too tired to go to Disney Quest. We did hang out a little in the evening though. You see, I wanted to cook, since i actually felt like it and had the evening off. The situation did not agree with my mood though.
I was kind of annoyed, but typically (I should have expected it I guess) all the pots and pans were dirty or being used. Was I going to tip out pans with weird food in them? Was I going to clean all their dishes?
Nope.

So we went to Wendy's. ....and it was a cheap-ass person's dream come true. A 99cent menu? Really? ...and Micahel gave the server a fright by asking for everything on the menu, and being serious. A good Kodak moment.
That was a yummy (and admittedly cheap) dinner.

I needed to get some extra things like milk and so we went to Walgreens. When I got back to the apartment things got sour. One of my flatmates (she basically replaced evil girl) yelled at me and swore at me. She was so horrible and even said "get out of here!"
Ok first ....uh, I live here too.
Second... B*************tch.
Third, no girl has ever said such evil things to me before. ...and they were unjustifued. If you had witnessed the situation you would agree.

I was so upset I took cover at Micahel's for afew hours before returning.
Sometimes my fire for wanting to move apartments grows. This was one of those times. ...and often I really do prefer being at work than at my apartment.
No crazy hormones and slamming doors and yelling and bitchy girls and tantrums. Ergh.


Anyway.
I managed to find the answer to my worries the next day. Yes, it was a miracle. Yes, someone with a Saturday off. Too bad they were not willing to give it up to help me. …but I practically begged and then she gave up eventually and said she would help me. :D Yay! I felt bad for pestering her but I so badly needed it off unless I wanted to get all these points on my record. Which I reeeally didn’t want. ..and man I would be so mad (yes, if this happens brace yourself for a ANGRY/UPSET blog.) if after everything my shift giveaways/swaps weren’t accepted. Basically my hopes rest on one particular manager. …and I really will be tempted to hug him if he sorts it out for me. …I wonder if I would be allowed to do that?

My Friday shift was pretty good once I got that shift sorted (well, my mood was dampened once I was told that they weren’t letting anyone get next weekend off – but I shall fight to the DEATH for the days!!! I mean, would they prefer I find the people to do the shifts, or that I call in and then they have to do it?)

The day got even better, too. One of my cast member friends (who drives, btw ;) ) and I decided to go to Arabian Nights! …and we even managed to get tickets for half price. Woooop. :D We had to pick them up from a discount place, but since my friend had a car it was all good.

When we got there we got to see and participate in a pre-show. It involved a belly dancer. We watched her perform and then she asked for volunteers. I felt weirdly brave so offered. I got to go on the stage and attempt to follow her dancing. It was hard but I figured I would never see the people again so it didn’t matter. Hehe. The lady asked if I had done it before and said I was a natural. Awesome. Possibly since I dance (Richard I miss going to dances with you!!!!) but who knows. She called me ‘dancer girl’ after that.

The show was interesting. There were some impressive parts, some pretty parts and then some boring parts. The storyline was pretty terrible and unoriginal, but I liked the horses! The costumes were pretty neat too.

The food wasn’t bad. I liked everything. The dessert could have been better though. Oh, and I would have preferred to have come out without a bad that smelt a mixture of wine and bread. :S

I got some pretty jewellery and a pin to add to my memory lanyard (which is looking pretty awesome I must say).

…and yes, I do have photos. I will put some up….eventually. haha. I really do need to have a massive photo evening when I get back. :P

Today was Saturday. Therefore, it was busy. In fact it wasn’t even normal Saturday busy. It was double the pace of a normal Saturday. I was confused as to why it was so crazy. It made the day pass quicker though. Which I like. :) I opened a crazy amount of wine today though. I must have opened in the hundreds. I am a pro.
What did I learn in the USA? What skills did I gain?

…uh, well. I can open wine and champagne bottles as well as pour beer. Is that helpful?
Yup, that’s something pretty useful to add to my resume. Hehe.

Lately I have been receiving a lot of mail. Which makes me happy. I love mail! Most of it is Amazon orders (the beauty of living in the USA!) but amongst it is cruise mail. It’s so exciting, I now know where I will be on the Disney Magic (3rd floor – pretty nice location!) and I even have my bag tags. Impressive, yes? How many days till my cruise? 35. Just over a month. EXCITING!

...how many days til Louisiana? 6…well, let’s say 5. Since it’s almost Sunday!

I love all this fun stuff ahead of me. …and Christmas is such a cool time to be in Orlando. Not only do we get all this stuff but there’s extra stuff to do (like the Osborne light spectacular at the Studios and Epcot Christmases around the world as well as Mickey’s Very Merry and resort decorations).

You know what is also cool? I got a banana and apple after work today. Isn’t it nice how they hand out token food at the end of busy days? I think it’s lovely and thoughtful. ^_^

Random thing. Some guests crack me up. Here is one example. One lady asked how we say "goodbye" in NZ. I was like "goodbye"(I couldn't remember how you say it in Maori). Then I decided to offer "Kia Ora" as hello.
I was like "you an say Kia Ora for 'hello'"
...and she was like "kiaoraforhello ...that's pretty long"

I couldn't help but laugh. Her friends were laughing at her too. She eventually got what I meant. :P


I also have been humbled by the amount of guests who see I am from NZ and say nice things about it. Many say it's their fav place in the world and that they loved when they visited (or that they really want to visit - in this case they usually ask for advise on places in NZ to visit, which I gladly offer up!). It's so nice to hear people actually know OF NZ, and like it. :) NZ represent! ...and yes, I am the only NZer working for the Food and Wine festival (go me! I think it's pretty cool).
People have all these nicknames for me like "hey kiwi" and "kimmmmmie" [in weird deep voice] and "wicky wicky wicky" and "hey NZ". I think it's kinda neat. It's almost like being a mini celebrity.

I would have to say I am etting so good at talking to people. I even enjoy it. I make friends with prettymuch every culinary person, for instance. Actually, some of them I play with, but they play back so it's fun. :)


Love Taylor Swift's new album Speak Now. < 3

Okay. Off to bed. I get to sleep in tomorrow! Yussss.
xx