Food & Wine

So the day after that was more than slightly insane. We had a bunch of huge parties come in for dinner, so we got a little crowded and backed up, plus prep for the Food & Wine Festival was going on in the kitchen so THAT was crowded, too. But we survived, and yesterday I had a day off! Yay!

The bummer part of this was that I had the day off so that I could go on the trip to get a social security number. Joys. This meant that I was on a bus into Orlando at 6:15 AM. That was more than a little painful. I was mostly asleep the whole way there and the whole way back. The only reason I wasn't asleep during the actual process was because the building was Antarctic. And I was wearing a tank top and shorts. Anyway, so I came home, clicked around on the internet until early afternoon, and then I was meeting up with Rob and Rachel to go preview the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT. This is where all the countries in World Showcase, plus a bunch of countries that aren't normally found in World Showcase, have a little booth where you can get a few different appetizers and beverages from that country. So that was a fun time. Before we hit the countries, though, we had to do a couple of rides. First stop was Soarin', since neither Rob nor I had ever done it before. It was a blast! It's like being in a hang-glider over California, and you get to see everything! I think my favourite part is when you're flying over an orange orchard and you can smell the oranges. Then we had to do Test Track, because Rob had never done that before. We put him on the wrong side of the car, though, so the ride didn't have quite the impact Rachel and I wanted... On to World Showcase! Our first stop was Greece for spinach puffs, which were amazing (sorry Ros, but theirs are better than yours), and then once we were in Canada (which is right next to Greece, didn't you know?) we met up with Rhonda and Deanna to head the rest of the way around the world. We stopped in Japan, Germany, Poland (Perogies!!!! Mom, yours are way better, and Rachel and I would both like some if you are indeed coming to visit me in March).... Deanna and Rhonda stopped in China, and Deanna stopped in Italy..... I don't quite remember where all else we stopped. And then when we were done and back in Canada, we felt all patriotic and decided to see the CircleVision movie. And we sang. Because we could. Then I made everyone traipse back to the UK because we'd passed the Ireland booth earlier and I seriously wanted the lava cake with Bailey's they had there. I was good with my drinks, though! I was jonesing for a margarita, so that was the only time I bought a drink from a booth, in Mexico.

After that we headed back home so that a bunch of them could watch Grey's Anatomy (and I was going to watch Supernatural, but one of my roommates was already using the living room, so I have to look up the episode online later tonight), and get ready for the Throw In to welcome the newest members of our group. That's right, I'm not one of the new people anymore! Yay! So that was a lot of fun, and merchandise is happy that they finally have a guy, because it is currently staffed entirely by females. Then it was 1:00 AM, I was dead tired, so everyone dispersed and I came home and crashed.

Today we're heading to a waterpark. Yay waterpark! I'll let you know how that goes.

Obligatory Update (even though there's not much going on)

So Peever (Dan) trained me on my last training session thingy. Not that there was much to say for that, anyway, since I'd already done AM seating, and the only difference is the removal of a wine glass for empty places and children, and the end of the night cleaning duties. I filled out paperwork, did a little quiz, and then we were good to go. Yesterday I was on my own, though I use that term very loosely because there were actually seven of us on seating at one point. I was only actually "alone" for the first half hour, and that's before we actually start seating, so it was just the cleaning duties I had to do. We had fun. I actually sat a lot of people from Canada that day, where previously it'd only been one or two people.

Last night I discovered something really interesting (read: annoying): I brought the original PS2 instead of the PS2 Slim because, even though it's bigger, it doesn't have a problem playing any of my games. I figured I'd either hook it up to the tv that we'd most likely have in our place, or I'd patch it to my computer, which I've seen done before so I know it works. Here's the interesting part: My tv doesn't HAVE the hookup for A/V cables, which was weird, so I pulled everything out in my room thinking, "Okay, I'll just play on my computer then." The real kicker, as I found out, is that the original PS2 doesn't have a port for a patch cable; that must've been a new feature on the slim, which was what John had when I saw him playing now that I think on it. So I have a PS2 and nowhere to play it. Yay. I am not a happy Mel.

Or at least I wasn't until this morning. I got a great sleep, and woke up and decided to make eggs and toast for breakfast. So that's exactly what I did. And now I'm sitting here finishing off a nice mug of Earl Grey debating the merits of a second cup.

Parks and Work

Animal Kingdom was a blast! We started out first thing with the 'It's Tough to be a Bug' 3D movie. ...I still hate it as much as I did when I was 11. I will fully admit to spending most of the movie staring at the floor. After that ordeal, it was over to Dinoland, USA. I complained that all my fears were the ones to come first (Rob and Carolane weren't overly keen on the idea of Everest), since I have a huge fear of dinosaurs that, yes, I realize is entirely unfounded and a little bit insane. So we walk up to the Dinosaur building, I look up on the sign for the ride that has that lovely little bust of the carnotaurus on it, and all of the bravery I'd built up on the walk (which admittedly wasn't much) immediately left me. I chickened out. I think I'm going to have to go back there one day by myself for the express purpose of riding Dinosaur. ...I'll let you know how that goes. Anyway, so now that the lands that housed all my fears were behind us, we went to Asia, and this is where the real fun started for me. We started out here on the Kali River Rapids, which is arguably one of the best rides in the park. Rob and Carolane were sitting next to each other, and ended up taking all the dips and turns backwards, which they weren't too happy about. I laughed. We were all absolutely drenched, which was actually my aim since it was ridiculously hot out and there was no breeze. I can't speak for the others, but I stayed cool the rest of the day. And because it was right there, we got off the rapids and took the Maharajah Jungle Trek. There was a tiger in the water! It was so cute! Also, I got some awesome pictures of the giant bats, because it was so hot that they all had their wings open to fan themselves. After that, it was time for Rob and Carolane to face Everest. I absolutely love this ride. I think it's my favourite ride on the Walt Disney World property, of the non-classic rides of course. But see, Carolane has, first of all, this thing about roller coasters; secondly, she has a thing about going backwards. I failed to mention that, so she didn't realize it until we were far enough up in the queue that we could see the trains being boarded. *Evil laugh here* I also failed to mention that you go backwards IN THE DARK. And then you go forwards and drop. Rob doesn't like drops. At least he knew this happened at some point. Man, the picture from that ride was hilarious! Rob and Carolane are looking terrified for their lives, and I'm sitting there like nothing's wrong and I'm barely even moving. They loved it when they got off, though. Both of them agreed that it's an awesome ride (I'm not sure how much it would take to get them back on it). Then we moved on to Africa to do the Pangani Trail and Kilimanjaro Safaris. The trail was nothing really special, except that a hippo came almost right up to the glass of the underwater viewing area, but the Safari ride was spectacular! I don't think I've ever seen more than a couple elephants hiding out in the background before, but we must've seen at least 10 or 12 on that trip! It was so cool. We actually saw a LOT of animals, considering how hot it was and stuff. I think there were more crocodiles than water in the croc area.

We were pretty much done everything we really wanted to do at that point, so we grabbed some burgers...or chicken...and I had a veggie burger, so count that as whatever you want. Anyway, I wanted to head over to Magic Kingdom after to do some stuff, since I'd only done the one ride there with Heather, and I've been here for a week and a half so that's just a little bit sad, but Rob and Carolane had to do a run to the store, so I went over on my own. Doing a Disney park by yourself is a very, very strange feeling. I felt extremely odd saying 'one' when they asked how many at the boarding point. Thankfully I didn't do too many rides, because it seems I was cursed to be stopped on every ride I went on! This didn't bother me too much on Buzz Lightyear, though, because it meant I had more time in front of the targets. ...Don't look at me like that, it's totally not cheating because I didn't stop the ride on purpose or anything! The Haunted Mansion stop was a little more annoying, because I was stopped right in front of the hitch-hiking ghost mirrors, and my ghost was sitting on top of me. I actually spent most of my time at the park doing the really long character lines, namely the princesses in Toontown, and Ariel in her grotto. So now I have a bunch of my princess character pictures taken care of (and only how many characters to go?). Then I asked a few of the parade setup cast members if they could tell me where the Fantasia float can open up, since it's so wide there are few places it can actually do so. It seemed like the Frontierland stretch was my best bet, so I parked myself outside the widest part of that road, opposite the Country Bear Jamboree (bet I would've had time to sit through the show, had I been so inclined, but I wasn't up for the torture that night). Closer to the parade start time, people really started filling in around me. This included a couple of girls who decided to bookend me, even though they were together, and lean on me (like, full-on, elbow on my knee kind of leaning) while playing with their toys and yammering to one another in Spanish. Then the lady with the stroller came up behind me, and the toddler decided it was a good idea to sporadically kick me in the back. I've decided I'm never going to a parade on my own again, if only to use my friends as crowd buffers. By the time the parade ended, there was 15 minutes left before Wishes, the fireworks show. I was right across from the path to Adventureland, so I figured I'd see how long the wait for Pirates of the Caribbean was, and I'd ride it if it was less than, like, 10. Well, it was 5 minutes, so I figured 'why not?' and wound my way through the queue (which is ridiculously long, by the way). Turns out it was a little less than 5, because I walked right onto the ride! It occurred to me after I'd boarded the ride that I was riding Pirates of the Caribbean on Talk Like a Pirate Day, so that was pretty cool... in my head, anyway. I'm not sure anyone else would've found it quite as amusing. I didn't mind too much when we were briefly stopped on this ride, either, because we were stopped right at the end in front of Jack Sparrow. So I got off the ride, made a beeline for Main Street, and got a really great place for the fireworks. I took a bunch of pictures, so I'll have to upload them at some point, once I weed out the blurry ones from the good ones.

And then yesterday I worked again. I had my stocker training shift, and was trained by David (the one from the Studios). I had a lot of fun with that, especially since I watched the bartender for a while so that I could learn to cover bar (which I'll probably avoid as much as possible, because there's no way I could be as fast as the bartender is, and then the whole restaurant would be backed up because of me). The night was mostly bussing tables, folding napkins, and restocking silverware and glassware, but I had fun. Though it seems that something goes wrong every time I'm at work. The first day, it was that insanely large party that we had to figure out how to accomodate (not such a huge deal, really); the second day, the buses stopped running for a while, so all our reservations were backed up by about 40 minutes (but when people came out of the restaurant they said it was well worth the wait!); and yesterday, the system crashed and we had to switch to manual for seating. Apparently that wasn't much fun, so I'm glad I wasn't actually dealing with guests then.

Carolane and Rob and I decided to go swimming after work, which felt amazing after the running back and forth for eight hours. I think I'm going to make a habit out of swimming after work. I seem to sleep better. And now today is my last day of training (I'm on PM seating), and then I'm on my own (which is really, really scary). Hopefully all goes well. I have no idea who's training me.

Continuing On

So my second day of work went okay. I was a Greeter, so the tablet we use to check in reservations took some getting used to, but I think I really enjoy the job. I get to talk to all the people who are coming to eat here as I check them in! The downside is, we're the #1 restaurant on Disney property, apparently, (we overtook Victoria & Albert's at the Grand Floridian, which is kind of a big deal because that's jacket-required, nose-in-the-air kind of dining) so anyone who didn't book a reservation 90-180 days in advance has to get told "I'm sorry, but we're fully booked." I've heard stories from people who've been trying to get into Le Cellier for years, so I guess we're kind of a big deal. I feel so bad for all the people we have to turn away every day, just because they didn't set their alarms for the crack of dawn right at the 90 day mark (which one woman told me she did, just so she could get those reservations) and stayed asleep like any sane person would.

Yesterday was my day off, so I spent some of the afternoon by the pool, because I feel like a china doll compared to everyone else down here. Then my legs started to burn, so I went back to the apartment, changed, and headed to Wal-Mart. Got new shoes for work, because the new ones I'd bought the day before had lost their treads between the bus stop and the restaurant. No, seriously. When I got to the break trailer to put my lunch in the fridge, I looked at my feet because I could feel something dragging, and there's the sole with the treads, just dangling by the toe on both shoes. That was a bit interesting. So yeah, got new shoes, picked up a few other things I needed (FRUIT!), and then headed back out to the bus stop, meeting up with Rob and Carolane, who had left a couple hours previous.

We'd talked about doing something last night, so then Rob called me and said a bunch of us were heading to the AMC theatre at Downtown Disney, so off we went to go see Love Happens (Jennifer Aniston). We were a pretty big group, probably at least a dozen of us, so it was a lot of fun. One of the girls had half a baguette she and another of the girls had bought earlier that day, so that was their movie snack. It was kind of hilarious just to watch them pull this baguette out of a bag and then tear pieces off to eat it. The movie was pretty good. I mean, everyone knows I'm not really one for chick flicks, so naturally I think it would have been better if something had blown up during the course of the plot, but it was alright for what it was. Mom, you should see it; I think you'd really like it.

And now it's off to Animal Kingdom in about an hour and a half with Carolane and Rob, neither of whom have ever seen Expedition: Everest, let alone been on it. This should be fun. *Insert giant trouble-making grin here* I'm evil, and I know it.

First Day of Work

So Discovery Day was, succinctly, deadly dull. We watched a video that Walt Disney had made when he was working on the Florida Project about what he envisioned EPCOT to be, and we saw a lot of the concept art and stuff and that was all fantastic. Then they took us on a tour of the park. Most people reading this know how well I know the parks, so you can imagine how much fun this was for me. The guy leading our group handed out maps to everyone so that they could orient themselves with the tour, and he comes over to me, "English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese?" and I was like, "I don't need one." He kinda looks at me funny for a second. "Are you sure?" I smile and nod, "I'm sure." He kinda shrugs. "Okay then." I don't think he believed me.... So yeah, we went around Futureworld, we actually rode Spaceship Earth (Amy, a fellow Canadian, and I weren't really feeling the Spaceship Earth vibe that early, so to make ourselves more interested, we decided to do the ride in German), and then we did a lagoon tour of all the countries because it's more than a mile walk. I was all for it (again I got a funny look from guide dude), but apparently the boat won out. Then we had lunch with the UK guys again, and headed over for a more in-depth tour of our pavilions. The UKs were dropped off with their manager to go over some paperwork, and we went over to costuming to get our costumes. I don't mind mine as much as I thought I would, really. I just wish that the restaurant pants weren't black polyester, because that's uncomfortable in the heat on the way to work.

So that brings me to my actual first day of work. It was.... well, it was insane. We had a lot of big groups come in to the restaurant, including a family reunion group of almost 40 people! We managed it all, though, because we are thoroughly fantastic. Rob and I were training on seating, and we were taught by Allison, who is eternally perky and positive and I absolutely love her. We had a lot of fun, and I now know how to properly seat people in our restaurant. We also learned a little bit about assigning, which is the job of deciding what reservation goes to what table and when. It's really stressful, because you have to deal with the people who come late with their reservation, and if things start running behind it's your fault, but I think it would be a lot of fun, so I'm going to talk to my managers about learning it (it's not something that's automatically offered to us). I mean, it's all numbers and math and planning ahead, and I'm good at all that. Plus I learned the table numbers in the restaurant really fast, so Allison said she was going to suggest to me that I learn assigning anyway. That makes me happy.

Allison, Rob, and I went out for dinner after work last night, because Allison really wanted to go to this Italian bread/sandwich place, I'd never been there, and neither Rob nor I had any plans. It was really, really good. It's called Panero, I think, and they play classical music all the time! Plus the walls are really nice, warm oranges and reds, and the food is fantastic. Apparently they also have free wi-fi, so I think I've found my new favourite hangout spot. It's only a few minutes' walk away from where I live.

So today is my second day of work, and I'll be training as a greeter. A greeter is the person who checks in reservations, makes other reservations, and has to turn away the people who don't have reservations. You're also the first person a guest has interaction with in the restaurant, so the pressure's on to make a good impression. I have no idea who's training me; Allison said she thinks it's Craig, but she wasn't completely sure. No matter what, though, I hope things go well and that the computer system doesn't crash (apparently it did that a couple nights ago, and they had to do everything by hand). I'm working a closing shift, which means that I have to stay until the last guest leaves the restaurant so that I can wish them a good night. Anyway, I'm off to prepare for this, so I'll end here for the day.

More Stuff

So Rob and I did the Studios yesterday, and we had a blast. He'd only been there once before, like 12 years ago or something, so it was as good as doing it with someone who'd never been there before. Especially when that someone has never done the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror before. Hehehe. THAT was fun. Part of me thinks he only really made it onto Tower of Terror because there was a bouncy little girl in front of us, and he knows I wouldn't let him live it down. But we had a lot of fun wandering the park during the day, and waiting in lines, and laughing at the people who were in line in the rain while we were under the covered part of the queue (not that we didn't get wet at all, it's just that by the time the torrential downpour started we were under cover). And then there was Fantasmic. God, I love that show. I mean, the whole thing is pretty cool, but really I like it when the dragon comes out and the lake is set on fire. We had really good seats, too, considering we got to the amphitheatre at 15 minutes to show time.

Today was yet another day of training, this time right in EPCOT. We did another couple hours of computer training (another set of the most boring videos I've ever seen in my life), and then we got a rundown of some of the stuff more specific to us. The woman who led us through all this was really awesome; she's a permanent server at the pub in the UK Pavilion. Then she grabbed the UK Food&Beverage group and we all had lunch together. ....Oddly enough, the entire set of new arrivals in F&B for the UK are guys. It's really kind of strange to see, especially when our own group is 3 girls and 2 guys. Then we went backstage at the Canada Pavilion to meet one of our managers and go over stuff even MORE specific to us.

Tomorrow is my last day of seminar-type training. We have "Discovery Day," where we tour around the park and stuff, and then we'll get our costumes. After that, we start on-the-job (OTJ) training. Rob and I are starting in the restaurant, while Craig (not Magic Kingdom Craig; arrival group Craig) and Melissa are starting out at the popcorn stand. In about a week and a half, we switch places with them. And I have no idea where Amy's going. Anyway, should be fun. But, I am dead tired, so I think I might go have a nap.

Training

So Traditions was mostly a blast. We got on the bus at an ungodly hour in the dark, and were trucked over to the Disney University. There we were bombarded with Disney values and legacy until our brains exploded. ...Yes, I realize that doesn't particularly sound like fun, but the two guys who were running the class were really entertaining. It was kind of a had-to-be-there thing. Then we were handed our schedules for the next two days, and were released. So Carolane, one of my fellow Canadian arrivals, and I headed over to EPCOT to do some rides (she'd only been there once, and just walked around World Showcase) and watch the fireworks. Also to eat and drink, because the food and wine festival is on right now, so we get to eat and drink all over the world! I only grabbed an ale in the UK, though. Best part of the day: we ate lunch backstage at the Magic Kingdom. I'm not really allowed to tell you what it's like or what goes on back there, but suffice to say it's pretty awesome.

Today was more training, this time specifically for Food & Beverage, at the Disney University. Again, a bus in the dark; this time I had to walk to it, because that bus doesn't even come to my housing complex. Today was boring, tedious, and all other synonyms for Dull and Mostly Common Sense, as well as What We Already Covered Yesterday. A lot of it was training on a computer, with some of the most mind-numbingly dull training videos you've ever seen. They were still better than Tim Horton's, though.

And now I'm headed back to Disney's Hollywood Studios with another of the Canadian arrivals. Fantasmic is playing tonight, and I can't wait! Yay dragon and water-on-fire!

Parks

Well, before I even get into the parks, I should probably talk about the party. Except that there isn't really much to talk about. It was a giant welcoming party with viturally all the Canada pavilion cultural reps, and we were so hot all shoved in one apartment's living room that as soon as the obligatory welcome stuff was over, most people left. That was probably less than an hour long, and before it ended my can of beer had gone flat from the heat. Whatever. Met a lot of people, most of whom I won't remember the names of for a while yet, but it was a good time.

So yesterday I had my second day of orientation, wherein I signed another seven pages of paperwork, sat through an immigrations presentation, and then got my card that allows me to get paid. ...Well, I get paid either way; it's the card that allows me to ACCESS my pay. Heather and I were planning to go to Downtown Disney when she got home from late in the afternoon, but then she called me when she was on the bus and was like, "We're doing Magic Kingdom, I'll be home in fifteen, and give me about five or ten minutes to change." So that's what we did. We met up with a small group of Canadians who were finishing up a Four Park Challenge (this is where you do three rides in each of the four parks - the major draw attraction, a classic attraction, and a random choice - and use as many modes of transportation as possible to get there; depending on who you're with and the time of season, there may be additional rules to adhere to) after doing The Haunted Mansion as my first ride as a Cast Member. We lined up for the SpectroMagic parade, watched David pseudo-dance to Hannah Montana, watched the parade (during which Craig got some attention from Pluto and Kim got some from Peter Pan, who is really kind of creepy because he's older than he should be), and then went to the fireworks show Wishes. That was a lot of fun.

Today Heather, David and I headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios to play for the day. We hit almost every show, including Playhouse Disney (NEVER AGAIN. EVER) - we only missed the stunt car show and Fantasmic because they weren't running today - and most of the other attractions and rides. Tower of Terror was as awesome as I remember. There's a new area that was added since the last time I was here: Pixar Land. This is particularly awesome because they have a ride called Midway Mania, and it is one of the most fun rides I've been on in a while. For those of you who've been before, think of the Buzz Lightyear ride, but with the targets as computer-animated video sequences designed to look like midway games. And you wear 3D glasses, which just makes it even better. My personal best of the day (we rode is twice) was 139200, which was a lot better than my first score of 97500. We got group pictures with Woody and Buzz, as well as Mike and Sully, and I have a picture of me with a Green Army Man. Lunch was at the Sci-Fi Dine In, which was really cool because I'd never been there before. You sit in a car-shaped booth in mostly darkness while a giant movie screen in front of you shows trailer after trailer for the worst sci-fi horror black-and-white films of the fifties era (Dad, we have to see some of those). Our server was really fantastic, and brought us out a sundae at the end to share since we were cast members (we could barely eat it, though, because our oreo cookie ice cream milkshakes were filling enough!), and we got glow-in-the-dark souvenir cups (the kind with a lid and straw) filled with caramel corn at the end! All in all it was a fantastic day, but I'm going to get ready for bed soon since I have to board the bus tomorrow for Traditions at 6:15 in the morning. I have to look professional for that, and I'm pretty sure that part of "professional" is "awake."

Moved In

Well, as my mother saw fit to point out, I've been here for a day and a half (though not REALLY, because that marker isn't until 2 in the morning, technically) and haven't updated yet. However, I've been busy. With what, you may ask? Stuff. Mind your own business.

Kidding. Anyway, so after driving all the way here with Daddy, trying to find a new classic rock station every time we lost the previous one and playing the License Plate Game (36 states in 19 hours!), we unpacked my stuff and headed to Wal-Mart. It was a bit strange, because I'm living in a 4-bedroom (8 person) apartment and I was the only new person in it, but when I got here NO ONE WAS HOME. When we were heading out to Wal-Mart, though, one of my housemates came home. Her name is Serena, and she's from China. After getting groceries, finding a place to shove them in the fridge since it's insanely full (we have 2 fridges, but still that's 4 people per fridge), and putting pantry food away in my room (there was no shelf space for me at that point, and again no one was home so that I could ask if things could be moved), Dad left and I started unpacking my stuff. That took a long time, during which I discovered that our apartment had no running water. Joys. So I called security to see what was up, and the man on the phone told me that a pipe had burst somewhere, and that it would be fixed soon. This was at 7pm.; apparently "soon" means "just after midnight." In that time, though, I managed to meet a few of my housemates: Francesca from Germany, Stine from Norway, and Nancy from China. I also met my roommate, who, of all places, is from JAPAN! Yes, I am an anime and gaming nerd, and my roommate is Sayaka from Tokyo. I don't think it gets much better than that (well, maybe if I'd ended up in the same apartment as Heather, since she's a friend AND she's next to the bus stop...). She's really nice, and seems to be amused by my scattered knowledge of her culture.

Today I woke up early because we had our first day of orientation. This included a lot of useless information that is just common sense for someone who's lived in residence at university. Especially a university in Canada. They went over housing and activities and rules and a bunch of stuff that I admittedly didn't pay a lot of attention to. The videos were full of overly peppy, over-scripted, slightly frightening actors. We also filled out loads of paperwork, and had our housing ID cards made. My picture is horrible, as all my ID card photos tend to be, but whatever. It gets me on the buses and into my complex, so that's all I care about. After all that was done, I headed back to Wal-Mart on the bus with one of my fellow Canadians, Rob, after stopping briefly at the pool party that was going on for a pop and cupcake (Mom, the icing on it tasted just like your buttercream! And it was blue and had Mickey sprinkles on it, which was awesome). Then I got home and made a fajita! Be proud, Ros; I didn't burn anything and it tasted almost as good as yours (that may also be because the cheese down here tastes a bit odd). And now I'm sitting here waiting for Heather to get back from her own Wal-Mart trip so that we can hang out before the big 'Welcome New Canadians' party thing (commonly known as a Throw-In). Then I will be off to bed before an afternoon of orientation tomorrow.

Is there anything I've left out? ...I don't really think so. Heather and I are going to do the Disney Hollywood Studios on Friday, and I can't wait!

Oh. Even with air conditioning, I feel like I'm breathing water in this apartment. That kind of sucks.