Friday January 10th
(The day I was supposed to start training)
I used the privilege of having a free morning to sleep in. I was still asleep around 11am when the phone started ringing in the kitchen. Everyone else was at Traditions so I got up. It was recruiting telling me I needed to go to the VW Pavilion straight away so I could go and re-do my drug test as it had come back as a diluted negative. In other words, I had drunk too much water prior to my last test meaning my sample was too watered down. Are you kidding me!?
Anyway I got dressed super quick, didn't have a shower, breakfast, or go to the loo (!) and wandered down to the Pavilion. There was a group of latecomers who had arrived the night before and were having their paperwork processed. Once that was all done one other girl and I, Emily- who had arrived late the night before, were driven to the local hospital clinic type thing by a Disney staff member and were told to wait there until we were called through. The two of us sat in the waiting room filling in all these forms with information we did not yet know off by heart so were half making up (Address, ph number etc). After about an hour of waiting I was called through. Turns out I should have taken my passport with me for ID, but no one had told me to do this. Yikes- what's a girl supposed to do around here? Thankfully, the nurse was nice and said she would accept my NZ Drivers License so wrote down its number. I'm not sure if that will work in the long run.... but let's all keep our fingers crossed. I did the deed and went back out to wait until Emily had her turn. The hospital was surprisingly religious. It had phrases from the bible written on the walls, and free bibles to take home with you if you so wished. Emily was called through about 15 minutes later. We then had to wait for the free hospital shuttle to come and drop us back to our complexes.
(The day I was supposed to start training)
I used the privilege of having a free morning to sleep in. I was still asleep around 11am when the phone started ringing in the kitchen. Everyone else was at Traditions so I got up. It was recruiting telling me I needed to go to the VW Pavilion straight away so I could go and re-do my drug test as it had come back as a diluted negative. In other words, I had drunk too much water prior to my last test meaning my sample was too watered down. Are you kidding me!?
Anyway I got dressed super quick, didn't have a shower, breakfast, or go to the loo (!) and wandered down to the Pavilion. There was a group of latecomers who had arrived the night before and were having their paperwork processed. Once that was all done one other girl and I, Emily- who had arrived late the night before, were driven to the local hospital clinic type thing by a Disney staff member and were told to wait there until we were called through. The two of us sat in the waiting room filling in all these forms with information we did not yet know off by heart so were half making up (Address, ph number etc). After about an hour of waiting I was called through. Turns out I should have taken my passport with me for ID, but no one had told me to do this. Yikes- what's a girl supposed to do around here? Thankfully, the nurse was nice and said she would accept my NZ Drivers License so wrote down its number. I'm not sure if that will work in the long run.... but let's all keep our fingers crossed. I did the deed and went back out to wait until Emily had her turn. The hospital was surprisingly religious. It had phrases from the bible written on the walls, and free bibles to take home with you if you so wished. Emily was called through about 15 minutes later. We then had to wait for the free hospital shuttle to come and drop us back to our complexes.
I had some breakfast and relaxed in the apartement. Everyone was still at Traditions.
A short time later the busload of CPs (College Programmers) arrived back. They were all in good moods as they had been shown around Magic Kingdom, been told the goals of Disney, been presented their official name tags by Mickey Mouse, been provided their staff ID (which provides them with access to the parks), and each given a set of Mickey ears. I asked them so many questions, but they were adamant not to tell me too much so that there is some surprise for me on Tuesday. But I just want to know EVERYTHING!
I had a few hours up my sleeve before I needed to get the bus to go and meet Lizzy, Emma, and Amber. We had worked out that since I can no longer get into the parks on Saturday as I don't have my ID yet, I would go and stay the night with them at their hotel. We had worked out that if I could make my way to Epcot, I could then hop on their hotel shuttle and head back with them for the night. Thank goodness I was still able to see them :)
I headed off with my packed backpack for my night away from my home away from home. A few of the other CPs were having a pool party so I walked past them on my way to the bus. The Auckland girls had spent the day at Epcot, so I had worked out I could take one of the work buses to Epcot and then go and meet them by the park entrance. Despite my good intentions, upon arrival at Epcot I discovered that in order to get through to the park entrance I would need my staff ID to get through the building. As you know, I do not have this yet. I realised this annoyance just in time for me to be able to run back to the bus I just got off, and get back on so I could get to DD somehow.
A short time later the busload of CPs (College Programmers) arrived back. They were all in good moods as they had been shown around Magic Kingdom, been told the goals of Disney, been presented their official name tags by Mickey Mouse, been provided their staff ID (which provides them with access to the parks), and each given a set of Mickey ears. I asked them so many questions, but they were adamant not to tell me too much so that there is some surprise for me on Tuesday. But I just want to know EVERYTHING!
I had a few hours up my sleeve before I needed to get the bus to go and meet Lizzy, Emma, and Amber. We had worked out that since I can no longer get into the parks on Saturday as I don't have my ID yet, I would go and stay the night with them at their hotel. We had worked out that if I could make my way to Epcot, I could then hop on their hotel shuttle and head back with them for the night. Thank goodness I was still able to see them :)
I headed off with my packed backpack for my night away from my home away from home. A few of the other CPs were having a pool party so I walked past them on my way to the bus. The Auckland girls had spent the day at Epcot, so I had worked out I could take one of the work buses to Epcot and then go and meet them by the park entrance. Despite my good intentions, upon arrival at Epcot I discovered that in order to get through to the park entrance I would need my staff ID to get through the building. As you know, I do not have this yet. I realised this annoyance just in time for me to be able to run back to the bus I just got off, and get back on so I could get to DD somehow.
I ended up taking the bus to one of the other apartment complexes and then hopping off there and switching to a bus which would take me to DD. Once at DD I got in a taxi and set off for the girls hotel. I had given the driver the address and she had programme it in to her GPS. She is the dumbest driver I have ever seen. We had just left Disney property and when the GPS told her to go straight, she took a right hand off-ramp which we circled around, and the GPS then told her to turn around and get back onto the interstate she had just left. All this time the money clock was ticking over. I text Emma and told her the ID number of the taxi I was in in case I went missing. Thank goodness I had let them know I was in the taxi as I almost died a few minutes later. The GPS had helped this clueless woman reach the street on which the hotel was on. I was looking at the street signs and as she drove straight past the road we needed to turn down I said 'that is the street we need to go down'. She slammed on the breaks and swerved into the street. She then proceeded to drive down the street on the wrong side of the road. The side we were meant to be on was separated from us by a grass median strip. It wasn't until another car was coming straight for us that she drove down the grass median strip ditch and up the other side back onto the correct side of the road. Thankfully the hotel came into view. She said to me 'we are in the wrong place, my GPS is telling me to turn left'. I said, just let me out at the entrance to that hotel right there. She was adamant it wasn't the right place, but I just wanted to get out of the car. I still have no idea how I made it in one piece.
I called Emma to let her know that I thought I had arrived at the right place and was waiting in the lobby. A minute or so later she arrived to take me up to their room. We chatted for a while, I talked about/ ranted about my day and various other things which have been getting me frustrated! Nothing like a good bunch of friends who will listen.
I was also very lucky as Lizzy had brought me some treats on her travels. She got me a snowglobe from Norway which will live on my bedside table while I am here, a sweet little Christmas angle decoration which I will hang on my notice board, and an assortment of British lollies. Woohoo! I am very lucky! Thank you again Lizzy xxx.
We headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I order some mild chicken bites. However when they arrived they were hot hot hot. I could only eat about half, but they filled me up. We then went out and sat with our feet in the pool for a while, before heading back up to the room for some more talking, a few games, and some beautiful singing.
We ventured back down to the shop to get dessert. As it was a special night I treated myself to a Resses Pieces Icecream. Yumbo. What a treat.
I had such a fantastic time with the girls. A relaxing, yet hilarious evening with some great friends. I shared Emma's bed with her. It was super comfy and didn't squeak when I turned over! I slept extremely well!
.Dreams: Last night I dreamt that we were on holiday with Dad's family. We were at a holiday home near the water side. We were sitting there and all of a sudden I realised that there was about to be a volcanic eruption. I shared this view with everyone else, but no one seemed to believe me. That was until I made them feel the water in the ocean which was extremely hot. At this point everyone was on their feet and we were running/climbing to the highest point we could find. As we found a house on the hill top in which we could hide (weird), from within the ocean sprung a new island. We raced inside into the basement of this house so we could hide from the massive amounts of lava which were spurting in every direction. Thank goodness we were all ok. Phew