Week four

Double posting this weekend. 

Finished with week four!  It's so hard for me to believe that I've already been working for a month, and that I've been down here for a month and a half.  It simultaneously feels like I just got here and like I've been here forever.  I'm so much more used to work now: I know DAK pretty well and I am more comfortable jumping into all of our badge locations.  Some fun stuff from this week:

• Fun fact: scorpions fluoresce under UV light (Check it out!) No one knows why, but it is super cool to see.  This week we saw a scorpion glow during pre-shift (our meeting at the beginning of the day) and then we got a black light out with us at our insect badge location to show guests.  I was so happy.  Not all of the guests were quite as excited as I was, but for the ones who were it was awesome. During the period I was out there with the scorpion, I also had a reasonably lengthy conversation in French with two guests from French Polynesia about insects.  
• Another cool language interaction: I had a kind of long conversation with a family from Argentina about the Wilderness Explorer program and animal rehabilitation.  That completely pushed the limits of my Spanish, but the family seemed really pleased that I was trying to help and answer their questions. 
• I also heard Afrikaans spoken for the first time ever. 
• On Saturday I got to take out an African bullfrog (Check it out too!) for park opening, which was so much fun. The African bullfrog is the second largest species of frog in the world: the males can grow up to 9 inches and weigh 2 pounds. People were so excited to see the frog and hear about it. Many people actually mistook my frog for a rock, so they looked inside the box I was holding and were really confused about why there were no animals. I was only out with it for an hour and I spoke to a huge number of people. 
• Also on Saturday, I had an interesting time at our flamingo badge. The Wheel of Fortune crew was there filming for the show, so while I was at the badge location Pat Sajak and Vanna White were maybe 15 feet to my left. Tarzan was to my right (we share a covered location with him for his meet and greets). Tarzan also pointed out a hummingbird feeding on the flowers that are planted by there, so I got to see maybe the second or third hummingbird I've ever seen. I think I was most excited about the hummingbird to be honest. 
• On Saturday evening, I had dinner with a friend from work and a friend we met in Germany at Epcot. It is so cool to me that I work in a place that employs people from all around the world, so I can meet them and get to know them. 

I only had a one day weekend, so even though it's Monday I was back at work today. Yesterday a few of us went to Universal again and I got to do some rides and experiences I hadn't done before. Like watching a wand choose the wizard at Ollivanders and walk through the lobby to go down the lift into Gringotts. I also did the Jurassic Park ride for the first time and the Spiderman ride for the first time in a long while. That one makes me think of my brother, so it's one of my favorites :)

Ollivanders!

Goblin at Gringotts

Hogsmeade is so pretty

Super excited for next weekend because my mom is coming to visit!  So four more days of work and then I'll see her :)

Roomie weekend (belated)

Happy Sunday!

I never posted about last weekend, so I'm going to cover that now.  I had a full roomie weekend and it was awesome. 

On Sunday, Erin and I went to Magic Kingdom and did some of the things that neither of us had done before, or at least that we hadn't done recently.  Like riding the train around the park and Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Tiana told us that Louie stole some beignets

And Rapunzel talked about wanting a dress with pockets, which Erin and I thought would be great for Pascal hitching a ride

We also saw Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, which was fantastic.  It's the new castle show, and the story is that Mickey and Minnie have invited some of their friends over for a celebration.  Characters from The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and Frozen all came to visit and sing.  We got there early enough that we were right up front :)

The view while we were waiting. We both kind of had to pinch ourselves

Tiana and Naveen

Rapunzel and Flynn

Roomies!

After the park, we went over to Disney Springs for dinner.  I'd read about a vegan sausage sandwich that I was super excited to try, so we went and found the stand with that.  And found out that neither the pepper/onion mix nor the roll for the sandwich was vegan, so I passed.  We ended up at the Wolfgang Puck Express restaurant for dinner instead, and it was actually quite good.  We then of course found our way over to Erin McKenna's for dessert, and split a piece of chocolate raspberry teacake.

Nom nom nom

Disney Springs has a bunch of outdoor stage areas, including one right by the bakery.  Erin and I sat down there to eat our cake, and then watched two performers: first a sax player, and then a boy band.  They both did cover songs and it was a lot of fun.  We thought we were only going to stay for 20 minutes or so, but we ended up staying for both of their full sets.  

Photo with the lead singer of the boy band

After Disney Springs, we went to Jellyrolls.  It's a bar with two pianos, and the pianists sing and perform songs all night by request only.  There's no cover charge on Sundays for cast members, and there's also free popcorn.  We didn't stay for too long, but it was really fun to check out and the performers were excellent. 

Jellyrolls!

On Monday, Erin, Liana and I (Haley had work) all went to Wekiwa Springs State Park.  Only ~30 minutes away, $6 to park for the day, and absolutely gorgeous.  We started off with a few hours of hiking and saw a whole bunch of animals: golden orb spiders, skinks, a fawn, a tortoise, cool birds, many anole lizards... It was also a different environment than I was familiar with, so it was fun to check out.

Partway through our hike it started to pour. It came down so hard and we got completely soaked.  It was also thundering and lightning, which was kind of scary but also cool.  We basically just became little kids in the rain, running down the path and jumping in puddles.  So it was awesome. 

Our poor shoes

The map was a little hard to read after the rain...

After lunch we went to the spring.  It's a natural, aquifer-fed freshwater spring.  And it was beautiful.  The feeling around the spring was kind of similar to a town pool, but without the chlorine.  You can also rent canoes, kayaks and paddle boards, which we didn't do this time but probably will at some point.

We were all pretty tired after the full day outside, so the car ride home was almost silent.  It was an excellent weekend with friends :)

Week three

Hi everyone,

Another great week down. 

Highlights (both work and non-work) :

• I absolutely love working in a place where I get to hear so many different languages on a daily basis.  So far I've heard (and I'm probably forgetting some) French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish and Hebrew.  I often can understand a good part of the French being spoken, some of the Spanish, a little bit of the Portuguese, and then pretty much none of the others.  Which is awesome.     
• The badges we give out are stickers that go in your wilderness explorer handbook. While I was helping a mom and her daughter get started with the program the other day, the mom was rummaging around in a bag she had with her.  I gave the girl her player badge and told her "This tells everyone in the park that you're an official wilderness explorer" and the mom handed me a sticker and said "This tells everyone what you are."  It was a sticker that said "You are beautiful" and made my day :)
• I registered for the Disney Princess Half Marathon! Which I'm super excited about.  It's not until February, so I'm going to hold off on starting to train for it until it cools down a bit.  But I've wanted to do a half marathon for a while now, and I cannot imagine a better place for my first one than Disney World. 
• Maggie and I had a Chipotle and Trader Joe's date on Thursday and it was delicious and perfect.  I was very happy.

My vegan burrito

• A few other presenters and I stayed at DAK after work on Friday and rode Expedition Everest three times.  Not actually something I recommend doing (at least not three times in such quick succession), but it was fun. And we got a sweet photo from it. 

The Wilderness must be explored! Caw caw! Rawr!

Explorers

Explorers plus friends and roommates
(Please appreciate the guy photobombing our picture as well)

• I had a very enthusiastic small child yesterday grab my chin in order to tell me something.  I'd squatted down, so in order to get my attention before telling me something that was apparently crucial, he just reached out and grabbed hold of my chin.
• When you earn all 31 of the badges in our program, you become a senior wilderness explorer and you get your senior wilderness explorer badge.  People usually come to our headquarters (HQ) to collect those later in the day, so you often only get to give them out if you're working there in the afternoon/evening.  That is one of my favorite parts of the job.  Pretty much no matter what age the explorer is, he or she is super excited to become a senior wilderness explorer, and it's actually my job to make that moment special for him or her.  Each presenter has a different way of celebrating this achievement, but I've never had a ceremony be anything less than awesome.  Especially when you get to give the badge to a little kid and you can just tell that you've made their day by shouting their name and recognizing what they've worked for. 

That about sums up this week.  Today I was finally able to sleep in, which was 100% necessary.  I'm planning to hit up one of the parks later with Erin (my roommate) and then tomorrow I believe we're going to a state park for some hiking and swimming. 

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Birthdays and Universal

Yesterday was two of the presenters' (Ashley and Bryan) birthdays, so a group of us went and spent the afternoon/evening at Epcot to celebrate. 

We wandered around World Showcase and did some of the rides/attractions in Future World.  This week there's a Bruce Springsteen tribute band performing in America each night, so I went with friends to see one of their sets.  The Bruce music reminded me of home, so I really enjoyed it. 

A little weird seeing the tribute band after having seen Bruce in April, but still fun.
(Sorry I don't know how to rotate the picture on here)

I love all parts of Epcot, but something I'm recently realizing is a really cool thing to do while at the World Showcase is simply to talk to the cast members there.  Each country is staffed solely by people from that country, so you get the chance to speak with people from all over the world in one small area.  Last night we made friends with Julian in Norway and Susan in Germany. 

Julian and our troll friend

The group

Bonus photo is actually missing: My friend Maggie made these absolutely phenomenal vegan chocolate cupcakes that were stuffed with cookie dough.  I should have taken a picture of mine but I was too busy enjoying it to do so.

Today I went to Universal with another group of friends.  We stopped at Waffle House before going for breakfast, which was my first experience there.  It was a very good thing I had eaten before going, because I don't think there was actually a single vegan option on their menu.  Happy to have seen the inside, though. 

I purchased an annual pass to go to the park, because I get the Florida resident discount and it makes more sense to buy the pass if you plan on going at least three times.  As always, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was amazing.  

Candy at Honeydukes
(Kiddie lit friends: these made me think of Prof Gleason's lecture)

Vegan blood pops?

Durmstrang boys

Beauxbatons girls

Hermione's dress

Today was the first time I'd been over to Diagon Alley (it wasn't open yet when I went down with my family a few years ago) and it was so incredibly well done. You get over there from Hogsmeade by taking the Hogwarts Express, which is amazing.  You sit in a carriage that looks so much like the ones in the movie, and watch out the window as you leave Hogwarts behind, pass through the Forbidden Forest and then reach London.  

Upon exiting King's Cross, you go around a corner and through a "hole" in the brick wall to enter Diagon Alley.  It is so intricate and detailed and beautiful, and I actually just walked around with my mouth hanging open the entire time.  I'm pretty sure my friends thought I was crazy...oh well. The main ride there is Escape from Gringotts, which we did without too much of a wait. 

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Gringotts Bank, complete with fire breathing dragon

Inside

Needless to say, I had a really nice weekend and am ready to start week three!

Goodnight everyone :)

Week Two!

Happy Sunday!

I have officially finished two full weeks at work, and I'm still loving it.

Some highlights from this week:

• On Tuesday, I was heading for a break and I walked by a little boy and his father who saw my costume and stopped me.  Upon learning that he could do the Wilderness Explorer program again this trip (they'd done it two years ago), he actually started jumping up and down with excitement. 
• At our Animal Call badge location (where we talk about animal communication), I had two little ones roar at me quite loudly.  When we teach the Wilderness Explorer call, part of it is "RAWR!", so I'm used to children roaring at me loudly when I ask them to.  However, these children roared at me without any prompting and quite enthusiastically. 
• I'm getting more comfortable using my very basic Spanish at some of our badge locations, which in turn is motivating me to work on improving my Spanish more.  I've only had to call on my French once or twice, but I'm also planning to work on that.  It's a really good feeling when I am able to communicate with guests in a language other than English. 
• One of my friends at work, Maggie, made the most delicious vegan treats this week and I was very happy. 

On Wednesday evening, a group of us went to Magic Kingdom after work to watch Celebrate the Magic (a show projected onto the castle), Wishes (the fireworks show), and the Main Street Electrical Parade.  While watching Wishes, I was reminded of how lucky I am to be working in a place where going to see this spectacular show was simply something I could do after work on a Wednesday.  I'm not forgetting that being here is something people pay loads of money for and plan months and years in advance, and I am very grateful to be here.

Celebrate the Magic
(Please appreciate the artistically placed Mickey balloon :P)

Wishes!

Last night, my roommates and I all had dinner together.  Erin and Liana made mofongo, a delicious dish made with plantains and oil and garlic.  All kind of mashed together, and we had it with broccoli, carrots and onions.  It was actually the first time we'd all gotten the chance to sit down and eat a real meal together, so it was lovely.

Two of the presenters have birthdays today, so after a lazy morning and some grocery shopping, I'm heading to Epcot to spend time in the World Showcase with a group.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Fourth of July

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!

I was lucky enough to watch the special fireworks show at Magic Kingdom from the Polynesian resort on Sunday night, and they were absolutely fantastic. The normal fireworks there are only set off from within the park's boundaries, and these were also set off from around the perimeter. Which was beautiful.

Fireworks are remarkably hard to photograph

Yesterday I went with a group of friends to Cocoa Beach and spent the day there. We alternated between hanging out in the water and lounging on the beach and it was great. Except for the sunburn. That wasn't so great. (I put sunscreen on and reapplied, I swear!)

Kind of a pretty beach...

Today starts week two of work. Here we go!

First week

Happy birthday to Mom (today) and Dad (last Sunday)!  And Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone!

I have now finished my first full week of work. (My weekends are Sunday/Monday)

The most important thing I have learned about my job thus far is this: I love it.

Other relevant things:

• I speak to a lot of people each day
• I work at several locations throughout the day, so I get to talk about a bunch of different topics
• Kids are adorable and really are excited to learn

Highlights:

• From a big family that I'd seen twice in the same day: "Thank you so much for your enthusiasm...you even have our 2-year old interested"
• From an explorer's grandfather: "Thank you for what you do"
• From a young explorer after I gave him a badge: a hug. Which isn't that unusual, but his mom told me after that he hadn't wanted to hug anyone else that day :)
• Have conversations at one of our badge locations in French and Spanish.  My Spanish was super broken, but I was able to get the message across. 

End of day two!

Bonus photo comes with a story for this post: There was a professional intern mixer on Thursday evening, which I went to. I asked one of the waiters there whether the vegetable dumplings were vegan and found out they weren't.  I was fine, and just got myself some pita and fruit.  About 10 minutes later, the waiter came out and found me with this plate of vegetables.  I was pretty amazed and so incredibly grateful.  I just got up and gave him a hug :)  It was my very own magical moment, and it made my night.