Canada!

First of all...yay only 110 Days! Crazyness...the more crazy part is that I'm actually going down in 12 days for school! But we'll get to that after this...

Yay Buddy!

This was a huge moment.  I was the first one in our house to have it actually sink in that we won and everyone went insane!! Chicago has kicked the Canucks out of the playoffs the past two years in a row, and then we had a really hard go having this series extend to 7 games against last year's Stanley Cup winners.  You could feel all of British Columbia exhaling after the goal...and cheering and screaming and being sooo freaking happy!! 

Another incredible part of Canucks hockey is this...

You may notice that Canuck's fans never want to miss the start of a home game, and this guy is definitely a part of that. Mark Donnelly has been singing the Canadian Anthem at Canucks games for quite a few years now and it gives me chills every time.  Especially when lucky enough to be in the building.  The sound on this clip is a little scratchy..but I think you get the idea ;)

So as you can tell I've been watching a lot of hockey since returned from my road trip! And intense doesn't start to describe it.  I'm so glad we're onto the second round! Go Canucks Go!

Besides watching hockey (and I will admit too many other tv shows) I have been running, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family and trying to unpack, sort out, and repack my room and belongings. I have too much stuff. It actually drives me crazy how many possessions I have and if I could I would go back and unbuy the majority of them.  I think this is a good sign because hopefully it will remind me not to buy stupid things when I'm in Florida!  I've been trying to sort out all my school paperwork and packing and everything and it's been pretty stressful and I will be so happy when I can just be there and work and be good.

I am running the BMO Half Marathon on Sunday (in two days!! ahh!!) and am going over to Vancouver today with my Mum to stay at my sister Kimmy's! I'm excited to see how my little niece has changed in the last almost two weeks! I get back home Sunday night and then work the federal election as a poll clerk on Monday! (It's like 12 hours of crossing out peoples names on a list and telepathic-ly trying to tell them who to vote for. I'm going to bring a book :P

Then Wednesday is my birthday!! Yay! I'm going to have a little celebration with some girlfriends as most of my friends are out of town right now, and then a family dinner as well. Then Kim, Gar and Clodagh are visiting for the weekend and then I'm off Tuesday to Florida! 11 days! Crazyness! Right now however, I just have to focus on my 21.1km run on Sunday and pray it goes well! I'm super nervous. I hope I can do it and it's all okay....

I went and watched the Canucks beat the Predators last night with my dear friend Holly at a restaurant in town.  It was really nice catching up on some of our ridiculous antics from when we were younger and when

Younger versions of us!

we lived in Grande Prairie, Alberta together! Holly and I have come to the realization that we are amazing friends, but just can't live together! haha. We laughed so hard Holly shed some tears - it was awesome! Somehow through all this I convinced Holly to come over and watch the Royal Wedding with me...LIVE! Yup, I'll admit it here first...we watched wedding coverage from 930pm until (are you ready for this?!) 6am! In this time we also played a short lived drinking game (take a sip every time they said Kate or Harry (because he's the cuter brother), we baked fantastic chocolate chip oatmeal peanut butter cookies, spent long periods of time only speaking in ridiculous perfect British accents and we laughed and joked and somehow kept each other awake for that kiss on the balcony!

She is gorgeous!

It was a really gorgeous ceremony and Kate looked amazing.  We also discovered that Kate Middleton's name is Catherine Elizabeth...and mine is Kathryn Elizabeth too!!! So it's almost as if I'm married to the Prince of England. Almost.

Fun Fact: Holly's middle name is also Elizabeth! 

I couldn't believe how long the aisle was! That's a hike and a half to get to the alter.  It was cute seeing Kate and Wills share some looks and smiles and apparently Will said to Kate's dad "I thought this was suppose to be a small affair" or something like that.  Hehehe. All in all I thought it was lovely.  People ask what is the big deal with the Royal Wedding.  I can only answer for myself, but I enjoy the monarch. They don't really have any power in Canada, however they are great figureheads and the Queen is such a strong woman.  I think William is a great humanitarian and a lot of people who love Diana and have watched William and Harry grow up were happy to see him have such a great, happy moment.  I also love weddings in general, and this one was huge, grand and beautiful! It's also a historical moment, we watched the future King of England get married! 

I watched in 1997 as Will and Harry stood as their Mother's casket went past, and it was the first time I ever saw my own Mum cry.  Watching some of the wedding pre-show with her meant a lot, it felt very connected to that moment when I was younger and sort of tied it up into a much happier conclusion.  

 Wills and Kate drove around The Mall so fans who lined the street and waited forever could have a wave.

I also remember singing 'God Save the Queen' in elementary school all the time.  I can't kid anybody...I'm a royal lover. There, I admitted it. Sorry Gareth.  Weddings are a vision of hope, love and optimism, and in an ever changing and uncertain world, the Royal Family is a sign of traditions and stability. Love it.

And that would be...

AN ACCEPTANCE!!!!

I start August 16th, 2011 until August 10th 2012!!!!

More on this later...I'm freaking out.

Greetings!

I hope you enjoyed the interviews this past week and are more excited for Florida! The Walt Disney World Representatives have informed me it was pleasure meeting you and also gave me the enjoyment to be the first to say…

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Disney World would like to offer you a Role in Food and Beverage on the

Cultural Representative Program Starting August 16^th and going until August 10^th, 2012.

I will be calling you to go over the specifics of your role and the Disney within the next 1-2 weeks. In the mean time, please do confirm if you are interested in accepting this position and to work at the “Happiest Place on Earth”!

Please do confirm this acceptance by Friday March 18^th, by 12noon Eastern Standard Time!

If you have any questions or concerns, please do feel free to ask!

Congratulations Once Again and Have a Magical Day,

Kristen

Yummy Jobs

I can't breath. Best. Day. Ever.

My Florida Life!

So I thought that I would give a little run down of the living situation, the job, the perks and all that sort of goodness because I keep getting asked and that way people can just read it. I'm going to do a mix of what the Disney papers/sites say plus my take on it from talking to people who have done it before. Also I may steal from wiki.

Basics

I am going to be working in the Canada Pavilion which is part of the World Showcase in Epcot at Walt Disney World. My program runs from March 24th, 2009 until March 19th, 2010 and then I have one month to get out of the country. I will live in Disney World in cast member apartments. I'm going down on a Q-1 cultural visa which means they are basically getting me into the country by saying I'm going to be educating guests on my Canadian culture. Because of the type of visa I can't work in any other parts of the parks except for the American theatre which is also in Epcot. A little terminology: I'm a cast member not an employee, it's a role not a job, it's a costume not a uniform, it's onstage and backstage, because we are all a part of a big show because Disney is in the 'entertainment business'.


Role

I'm doing Food and Beverage for the year. There were 3 options in Canada: merchandise, F&B, or Attractions (running the 'Oh Canada' 360 movie). You can't switch between areas. I chose F&B because the resturant is a full service steakhouse which I think will give me good experience for when I come back/travel. The resturant is called Le Cellier and provides sit down restaurant service. The interior is designed to give the impression of a wine cellar as its name suggests. Food offerings include seafood and steaks, along with popular Canadian wines and beer. It's located in the main building of the pavilion, Hotel du Canada modeled after the Château Laurier hotel in Ottawa. The resturant has been designed to appear as a wine cellar, with simulated stone arches and dark ambient lighting. (that was definately wiki speaking). I'm not completely sure, but I think I start as a greeter/seater, popcorn/beer cart girl, then become a food runner then a server. Something along those lines. Once a server you apparently can make some pretty good money which will be helpful as I tend to be a big of a shopper... Here's a link to the resturant menu http://allears.net/menu/menu_lcd.htm

Canada

I just recently relearned that the pavilions are sponsored by each countries governments and they are in fac thte awesome people who picked the Canadian costumes. They are based back in the olden days, traditional Canadian clothing dontcha know. I am kind of pumped to sport the plaid, the high necked burgundy is another thing. The Canada pavilion is designed to remind the guest of the Canadian outdoors. The pavilion is decorated with a canyon, a waterfall, gardens, a pool with fountains, and totem poles. The main attraction at the Canada Pavilion is "O Canada!", a Circle-Vision 360° movie of Canada's cities and scenery. This pavilion also includes Le Cellier Steakhouse and the semi-permanent home of the Celtic rock band Off Kilter. The Victoria Gardens which are adjacent to the Hotel du Canada are inspired by the Butchart Gardens near Victoria, British Columbia. The gardens are the largest (and most labour intensive) of all the national pavilions. At one time during the planning stage, the pavilion was to have been divided by a main street of shops and restaurants, with one side representing French Canada and the other English Canada. At Christmas time each pavilion has their countries version of Santa Claus. Even though the North Pole is clearly in Canada, making Santa clearly Canadian, the US gets the Red-coated Coca-Cola Santa, while Canadian's get story time with Papa Noel, who wears green plaid and carries an axe. Because lumberjack Santa has a lot of trees to chop down at the north pole.... moving on.

Living

There are 4 Disney apartment complexes - Vista Way, Chatham, The Commons and the new Patterson Court. Vista Way and Chatham are mainly college program, the Commons is mainly internationals and Patterson seems to be sporting all types of people right now. I'm really hoping to move into the Commons - we shall see how lucky I get. The apartments are 1-4 bedrooms, with each room having two people. Yes, it's like having a double room in Res. I loved my roommate at uni so why should it be any different in florida? Plus this one is a lot easier to change. The housing is between 80 and 100$ a week depending on your apartment and is taken right off my pay cheque. i will not spell cheque the american way. or any words for that matter. what do they have against the letter 'u'? (favoUrite, coloUr, etc). anyways, here is what disney says our rent covers: fully funished apartment, kitchen utensils/appliances, local phone and a central phone, maintenance including pest control (ew), all utilities, computer lab access, high speed internet in our apartment, fitness centres, basketball volleyball and racquetball courts, laundry, pools and hot tubs, 23-hour security, cable, and transportation to a bunch of places. They also hold a bunch of events like pool parties, bbqs, beach trips, formals and such for us. There are 2 types of aparments, wellness and normal. Wellness apartments are where us lucky under 21 year olds get to live. If we have alcohol in our apartments we are terminated. It's kind of like going to rehab. Except no one really wants to kick the habit and apparently you come back a lot worse then when you left.

Odds 'N Ends

With the job come some pretty sweet perks. We get free admission into all 4 disney parks all year. Whenever our little hearts desire we can pop in for some fireworks, a churro, parade, whatever whenever because it's always free:) We get access to Mickey's Retreat which is a Disney Cast Member recreation complex on Little Lake Bryan. It features a lake, beach, two pools, beach volleyball, basketball, tennis, barbecues, an activities pavilion, a soccer pitch and a baseball diamond and i heard paddle boats. 50% off water parks, 20% off merchandise and food, although as a xmas gift word on the street is that disney gave cast members 50% off merch in december. Oh and crazy good discounts of disney hotels. Around 40-60% off hotels depending on some factors (like if I'm staying with the people or not). All they offer their employees (cast members) is pretty great and kind of makes up for the $7.78 I will be working at until I become a server...when it goes down to something like $3.65. Yes I am leaving Canada and moving across the continent to work for $3.65 - and I am soo excited for it! (You get tips on top of the $3, and the food isn't exactly cheap if you catch my drift....) In that map our apartments are around lake Bryan, which I am pretty sure is right near where the arrow is pointing with the writing that says 'to Orlando and international drive.' 74 days!