Miracles in Koraput

“Everything will work out for Your glory. When I see You, I know I’ll understand.”

I am so excited to share some of the miracles I have just witnessed with my own eyes.

Through prayer and by the grace of God…

• I saw a crippled girl walk freely for the first time in three years
• A young boy, around 10 years old, who had been deaf his whole life began to hear for the first time. I watched as he danced to music, a strange sound that he had never experienced before
• An old lady whose old age had robbed her completely of her hearing for years, began to hear again

Glory to God!

I don’t always understand why God doesn't heal every time I pray for someone, but I know that He can and I know that He has. I guess I must trust that everything will work out according to a greater plan and that one day I will understand.

Crippled girl walking

On the twelfth day of Curry

We have flown 14 hours from Australia to serve the churches of India. I am so encouraged by what God is doing through the church here. Every time I walk into a church meeting, I am reminded of Psalm 100, that says:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God, it is he who made us, and we are his,

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.

And I am reminded that joy is not related to money or material possessions.

My favourite thing has been sharing the Gospel on the streets of remote villages and praying with the people.Every where we go, we preach the Good News of Christ and we feed the villages and pray for the people there. There are many people accepting Christ as the one true God. And I have never eaten so much curry in my life. To our amusement, one of the boys literally cries when he eats curry here because it can be very spicy.

There is great poverty in the places we visit. Side walks and fields are covered in litter and faeces, and people literally live on the streets with the wild animals. One place did not have a single toilet in the entire village. I am shocked and surprised at what people are managing to live through. Please pray for the people in this country.

Hubli Hubli Hubli

I'm glad to be ministering with my good friends. Franky and I have been leading the children in song and dance, and reading them a picture story book called Cecil the Lost Sheep based on the passage in Luke 15. The story is about how important we are to God. Nathan has been a great team leader and I love hearing him preach. I am so proud of him!

We have spent a few days in the Childrens' home in Hubli. The kids are loving, playful and energetic. I met Hanna, the world's most famous sponsor child. Nathan has talked about her for as long as I've known him. I taught the children how to photobomb and dance to Gangnam Style. I hope they grow up to know that they are greatly loved. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ. 

This morning Francis and I went for a run around the local Hubli sports ground. At 8 am on a Sunday morning, there were already 300 people there playing cricket and soccer - and I was the only girl! Franky ended up joining the 12yos for a game of soccer. The Indian kids are really friendly and always welcoming to Westerners. They always want to shake his hand and to take photos with him. He plays a lot of soccer back home so it was cool that he could do something like that with the kids, they really loved it.

Chai Ho!

We are having an amazing time in India. I am here with a team of eight, and we are ministering in some of the churches in India. I've always found the hardest thing about being away from home was being away from your support networks, and that's why I'm stoked that my good friends, Nathan and Francis are here with me.  Two of the funniest people I know, keeping my life fun. And I know they'll be there for me if I struggle with anything! Each day has been so different and we are loving every single one.

White people are such a novelty in India. Today, a random person came up to Francis and shook his hand.  The other day he gave out an autograph to a kid after we spoke at a youth conference. We are all pretty easy to spot, because there are no other tourists in the places we have visited ie. everyone else is Indian.

The overnight train was quite an experience. I can't even describe the chaos of the train station and the sight of people crammed onto trains. (Like I mentioned before, the entire population of Australia is the same as the population of Mumbai, just one city in India) The most traumatic thing was seeing a stray dog leap onto the train tracks as a train steamed through the station. We could hear the train coming closer and closer and still the dog refused to budge, seeming preoccupied with something he'd found buried in the dirt on the tracks. Passengers on the platform tried to shoo the dog away but it wouldn't move. I swear the train missed the dog by a whisker, because it finally decided to take a casual step away from the train only a second before it would have been hit. I think I screamed.

We passed time on our 15 hour train ride by playing cards, drinking chai tea and adopting a little Indian boy that we named Steve. He was still his pyjamas and didn't speak a word of English, but he talked to us as if we understood him. Francis bought about 15 chais from the coffee cart that came up and down the train every five minutes, calling "Chai... coffee... coffee... chai". They were 5 rupees each, which amounts to about 10c.

Steve copied everything Francis did, and would stop the chai coffee man as he came down the aisle and ask Francis, "Chai?" And when Francis would shake his head and say "no no no no" and Steve would do the same to the coffee man, as if he was speaking on behalf of Francis. Steve would also take Francis's money and pay the coffee man every time they bought a chai. After 15 hours when we arrived at our destination, the boy said something to his father who translated it for us as being, "He wishes that you are on the train tomorrow when we take the train again to the airport." He is just one of the many children we have fallen in love with over here. 

There are some seriously beautiful people in this country. And we are seeing the most amazing things.

Slumdog Millionaires

The Mumbai Slums

We visited a church in the slums today. I’ve seen nothing like this before. It was like a giant wasteland, with thousands of black tarps next to each other. We crossed littered creeks and hiked hills to get to small room near the top of the wasteland.

Inside gathered some of the most beautiful people I have ever come across. They were a group of Christians who live in the slums. They sang and prayed and welcomed us with such joy. They were so passionate about life. When I asked one of my new friends which of the tarps was her “house”, she didn’t understand. “Where do you live?” I asked again. “Oh, my room is over there” she beams. Yes her home is smaller than my bedroom, and is right next to another family's "room." She also shares the land with goats, chickens, pigs and stray dogs. But she doesn't complain.

Home in the Slums

It makes me wonder about Western society and how I came over here thinking that maybe I could help these impoverished people in some way. But maybe they can teach me something instead.

It reminds me of when Jesus said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” Maybe quality of life is not related to wealth or clean water or hygiene. Because these people have none of this, yet they are happier than what I see at home. They are more grateful than we are at home. They live fuller lives than we seem to at home. Home, where we have everything and more.

It's getting hectic in here...

Mumbai is run down but I see it as beautiful. Something comes alive in me when I experience another culture or another lifestyle. They don't have road rules, not even proper lanes - its just wherever you think your car can fit on the road. Pedestrians cross when and where they want. The line between footpath and road is very very blurred... almost non-existent. Everything about here is chaotic. The amount of people who live in Mumbai is the same as the amount of people living in the whole of Australia. It felt like they were ALL on the roads tonight.

We're on our way to India

We will be friends until forever, just you wait and see

Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would, I'd never leave 

- Winnie The Pooh 

The great thing about Orlando was that there is always something fun to do with people. Instead of merely "catching up", we did stuff. Fun stuff. So often in my world, I find myself working or at school for the whole week and then when I do get to see my friends, we sit down and talk about work and everything we've done in our busy week. It's like we live mostly separate from each other and only get to tell people about our lives. Not live them with each other. 

You jerks. This is me in the Princess Parade

At Disney World there were the theme parks: rides, characters and food. On my birthday, my friends and I tried "character dining" at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (Norway) in Epcot. The Disney princesses visited each table at lunch and paraded around the restaurant to music with all the little girls. My friends thought it would be funny for me to be in the parade, so they suggested it to Sleeping Beauty who immediately dumped her bouquet of flowers into my lap and demanded that I take part in the parade, before she danced off and I was forced to follow her... Around the whole restaurant... With all the little kids. Parades were part of my job in Entertainment at Disney World. During shifts and in full costume, I would wave at children and dance with them and they would be star-struck and overjoyed. In this parade on my birthday, I was not in costume and I was not part of the Disney show. I was just me. I tried to hold the hand of the little girl behind me but she ignored me. I waved at a kid in the crowd and he cried. 

It rained heavily after lunch and we spent an hour trapped in the German glass/crystal store trying to escape the rain. When it finally eased, we emerged relatively dry and wandered around the Park only to be caught right in the path of a random tantrum thrown by the gigantic fountain near the entrance of Epcot. The attack was the size of a tsunami and the effect was four girls drenched in dirty theme park water from head-to-toe, to the amusement of at least one passer by who stopped and laughed - a little too hard, if you ask me.

I will never forget the night that my American friend let me drive his car home from a restaurant. It was only a short five minute drive with three turns, but it required me to turn out onto busy main roads in the dark and I had never driven on the opposite side of the road before. I drove with deep concentration and just as I was turning into the carpark of my final destination (and I was silently celebrating my win in American driving) I instinctively turned into the left lane and heard the yells of my three passengers: "WRONG LANE, WRONG LANE, WRONG LANE!" Luckily, there were no other cars but it was a shock. When we got out of the car I said to my friend, "Don't ever let me drive your car again" to which he replied very seriously, "Okay." But I have received a letter from him since that said "I loved it when you drove my car." :)

When Magic Kingdom was open for 24 hours straight to celebrate the leap day, my training buddy Sharleen and I hung out until about 2am doing all sorts of things which included joining a big conga line at the Castle Dance Party. I fell over in the conga line. Like, I tripped on a crack in the pavement and stacked it in front of everybody and brought the line down with me. I also think I twisted my ankle. 

My friend Tyson and I often ended up at the gym together on neighbouring cross-trainers in the far corner of the Chatham gym. We shared an obsession with food and weakness for all things chocolate and fatty, which required a serious dedication to exercise.  Tyson worked as a guide at the Maharajah Jungle Trek at Animal Kingdom. He tells people about the tigers and other animals you can see on the trail. One day when we were on the cross-trainer, he told me that a lady had approached him on the Jungle Trek and said, "So... lions are boys and tigers are girls right?" All credit to him because he kept a completely straight face and explained that lions and tigers are two different species. Then the lady's four-year-old son pipes in, "Mom, mom! Lions can be boys and girls because Simba marries Nala!" Yep.

In Melbourne: We still hang out!

There are many more stories that I want to write about. Maybe I will get to it eventually. I don't know who would be interested, but I guess it would be cool to read back on this in years to come and be reminded of the moments that made me happy. The experiences that added value to my life. Not that any of them are in itself impressive or interesting, except for the fact that I did them with you.

When I began this journey, I was starting to believe that friendships were fleeting and that people eventually leave. But this restored my faith in people and friendships and fun. Even though I find myself 9732 miles from Orlando and distance is a perfectly acceptable reason to lose touch with friends, we are still a part of each other's lives... and we've committed to be. Thank God for technology - for phones, Skype and letters... I now believe that the people who want to stay in your life will always find a way. Thank you to every person who has been part of this journey and the incredible memories that I will keep close to my heart for the rest of my life. 

Because life, living can be an adventure

Everyone on the College Program lived together in housing located just outside Walt Disney World. Each apartment housed 2-8 people of the same sex and no, it wasn't free. I paid $98 in rent every week. I thought that since we paid rent, we would be able to do whatever we wanted within reason. But there were so many rules and restrictions. 

No more than 15 people in one apartment at a time.

No air drying your laundry on your balcony. 

Then, no going out on your balcony at all (they taped up my door with police tape)

No visitors after 1 am. 

No guests sleeping in the apartment. 

I lived with two other girls in the back of Chatham Square. Living in the corner was quieter, but it meant that every morning, when I was no doubt running late for my bus, I would be sprinting across half the complex over wet grass and concrete to reach the bus. More often than not, I would see my neighbour Tyson doing the exact same thing. "Can't talk, I'm going to miss my bus!" we would yell. The College Program buses stopped outside our complex and brought us to every part of Walt Disney World. 

I shared my room with a Japanese girl. I had day shifts and she had overnight shifts, so we crossed paths only a few hours and day and it was almost like I had my own room. My other housemate was from New Zealand and she became one of my best friends, if not my best. We were both in our mid-twenties and wanted to lead a low-key quiet lifestyle, and we spent a lot of time together at home just hanging out, laughing like crazy and sharing our lives. She worked at Speedway in Magic Kingdom - one of the oldest and worst rides at Disney World, and she always came home with a funny story about a guest or work mate or how much she hated her job. 

She was constantly frustrated about people not being able to understand her accent. Sometimes, I couldn't even understand her accent. She has the thickest Kiwi accent I have ever heard. Especially when she said the number "seven." Unfortunately, her job at Speedway required her to count off numbers to guests. This meant that she was saying "seven" a lot to mainly Americans and South Americans who would stare at her blankly and repeat the question. She eventually resigned to not speaking and holding out the number with her fingers instead. And of course, she was a size seven in shoes so whenever she visited the mall and asked for her size, she would have trouble requesting shoes. Her solution to this was online shopping. She also had many shifts starting at seven etc, so life was just hard for her. 

One day, she walked in the door and exclaimed in bewilderment, "Did you know there's a channel on TV for black people?" She was referring to Black Entertainment TV, and yes that is a channel in Florida. She went on to explain how she had been watching TV in the break room and she started to notice that everyone on every show and commercial was black. "Don't you think that's a bit racist?" To my amusement, she tended to think out loud a lot. "I don't know how I feel about that. If I were black, I would think that was weird."

She was neat and I was not. During our first inspection week, she was determined to win the "White Glove" award for having a clean and tidy apartment. That was never going to happen, sorry.

This was what my house mate was like with her groceries.
And sometimes me.
And maybe everyone on the College Program after a trip to Walmart

She ate frozen meals every day (they are only $1 from Walmart) because her boyfriend was a chef and used to cook for her every night at home. She didn't like rice so wouldn't eat anything I was cooking. She would only go grocery shopping once every couple of weeks, but would come back with a truck load of stuff that she would drag a long way from the bus stop back to our building and up three flights of stairs to our apartment. Frozen meals and an impressive collection of candy, was what she usually brought home. She was also a bit of an impulse buyer, often coming back with random items from Dollar Tree which appeared to be her favourite store because everything is a dollar. Most of the things she got were pretty nifty though. She would come home with gifts for me ranging from necklaces, to M&Ms to soft toys and my favourite: a toothbrush holder. It changed my life. 

She was a great friend to me and I am so grateful that I was housed with such a quality person. I was probably uneasy about moving in with complete strangers and I have heard so many horror stories from friends on the program who had major housemate issues. But it was never like that for me. It was always comforting to know that if I ever had a rough day, I was always coming home to one of my favourite people. I miss you!

FAQs about Kangaroos

Q: Do you have Kangaroos in Australia?
A: Yes.

One of the girls at work asked about kangaroos during a break at work. Let's call her Kayla. Jordan and I tell Kayla that not only do we keep kangaroos as pets in Australia, but we ride in their pouches. Standard Australian bluff because our day hasn't been exciting enough. The entire break room of about 25 people falls dead silent, eager for her reaction. A look of amazement briefly crosses her face, then she frowns. "Are you lying to me?"

And this is when Jordan does his best work. "No!" he exclaims in an offended tone. "Just like you grow up riding horses, we grow up riding kangaroos. It's just what you do. You should look it up on Google images."

I give him a bewildered look. What is he doing?

Kayla scrambles for her phone and starts typing and staring with deep concentration. After what seems like the longest silence (because everyone in the break room is still watching) she exclaims, "OH MY GOD! There is a person riding in the pouch of a kangaroo."

My eyes widen in shock, but Jordan keeps his cool and whispers something along the lines of , "I knew there would be... Photoshop..." to me as Kayla shows everyone in the break room the image on her phone. Even I insist on seeing it. Sure enough, there is a kangaroo and grown man is in its pouch. 

"Do you eat kangaroos?" she asks excitedly.

Jordan pipes up again, "Oh yeah, kangaroo meat. There are soo many kangaroos in Australia, it's becoming a big problem. The government pays us three shillings a skull to shoot them off so that we can use the meat in cheese burgers."

First of all, what is a shilling? I don't think they have used shillings since I've been alive... or even since my parents have been alive. Secondly, okay everything that came out of Jordan's mouth in that exchange is just wack! But I nod in agreement.

Kayla: "You put kangaroo meat in cheese burgers?"

Jordan: "Well we don't have cows because it's just too long of a voyage to import them from places like America so we don't have beef."

Kayla: "Ohhhh wow. Australia is so cool. I love Australians. Can we hang out more?"

Everyone else in the break room is stifling laughter and I'm just looking at Jordan wondering how he even comes up with this stuff. There are basically only two people in the entire room who believe him, but that's all you need for the other 25 people in the break room to be entertained. Some people need to get back to work but they don't want to leave, because this is hilarious.

When Jordan and I finish our break, we leave the room and go out to our shifts. When we come back to the break room, Kayla says slowly, "Both my mum and my boyfriend said that people don't ride in kangaroos." She had called her mum and her boyfriend in excitement and told them everything Jordan had said. Bless her soul!

Jordan, this is my favourite memory of you. Life is funnier when you are around.

Peace, Love and Ice-cream

The ice cream aisle in Walmart is one of the craziest things in America. In my local supermarket in Melbourne, ice cream shares the aisle with frozen vegetables and pies/pizza and every other type of frozen food. At Walmart, ice cream gets an entire aisle to itself. There are a variety of flavours including tubs of "Birthday cake" flavoured ice-cream and "choc-vanilla with pretzels" - and even ice-cream for pets.

I began eating ice cream in Florida because I no longer had my sister around to bake me cakes. Ice cream was easy and soothing in the Floridian heat, and there were just too many flavours that intrigued me. I would pretty much eat ice cream every day. Sometimes I would only eat half my dinner so that I could eat a double portion of ice cream for dessert. On "Free Cone Day" at Ben and Jerry's, I had ice-cream for dinner.

Here are some of the flavours I tried. The creativity was exciting. I swear in Australia, we have pretty standard vanilla, chocolate and berry - and cookies and cream or coffee flavoured ice cream is about as extreme as we get! I loved my American ice cream adventures:

Frozen Treats at WDW

Walt Disney World serves some great frozen treats as well. Here are my top 5 picks for a cold sugar fix at the Parks:

1. Kitchen Sink Sundae at Beaches and Cream (Yacht & Beach Club)

This is basically everything they have in the kitchen at Beaches and Cream, thrown into the one dessert and served in a kitchen sink. That is 8 scoops of ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate and coffee + hot fudge, peanut butter, butterscotch sauce, pineapple topping, strawberry topping, a whole sliced banana, chunks of brownie, angel food cake, bundt cake, candy bar, Oreos, real chocolate syrup, sprinkles, nuts, a bunch of maraschino cherries and can of whipped cream.

= SUGAR HEAVEN.

We shared between seven and that served us enough without feeling like we had overeaten. The menu suggests that it serves four, and I think we could have managed that too. This is my number one pick because it is a fun dessert to share and make memories with your friends and family. There is an announcement to the entire diner every time the Kitchen Sink is ordered and it works out to be pretty cheap if you split it between a few people.

2. Dole Whip Float at Aloha Isle (Magic Kingdom)

This is the best dessert to get on a hot day because it is so refreshing, but beware it is big and filling! Dole Whip is an irresistably creamy soft-serve ice-cream that comes in vanilla, chocolate or pineapple (I chose vanilla) and it floats on top of sweet, cold pineappple juice. I saw someone on the internet describe it as cooling you off "a thousand times better than spitting camels or misting tikis." So true. Choose the dole whip float!

3. Mickey Ice-Cream Sandwich

A cheap and convenient option, these are available at ice cream stands around the Parks. Premium quality cookies and cream ice-cream sandwiched between two rich chocolate cookies. Best cookies and cream I have ever tasted.

4. Mickey Bars

Yeah these are definitely tasty. Simple creamy vanilla ice cream coated in rich chocolate served to sugar-sweet perfection and won't disappoint. A Disney World classic and fan favourite, available at ice cream stands around the Parks. Let's face it, everything tastes better in Mickey-shaped form!

5. Sand Pail Sundae at Typhoon Lagoon

This is like a smaller version of the Kitchen Sink served at the Disney water parks. It is chocolate and vanilla soft-serve ice cream, waffle cone pieces, cookie pieces, sprinkles, hot fudge, caramel, strawberry sauce, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry; layered into a sand pail to be scooped out by a shovel. Eat it quickly because the fudge melts the soft-serve and soon you'll be left with ice-cream soup! Ice cream soup is still bangin delicious, but can get a bit messy especially if you're sharing. The presentation in the pail is fun and you can wash it out and use/keep it as a souvenir when you're done.

I want to conclude by saying that my interest in (some would say, addiction to) ice cream has led to some wonderful friendships at Disney World. In the week of the Buy One Get One Free Ben & Jerry's sale at Publix, I began at least four really good friendships by telling friends (who told their friends) about the sale. We ended up having an ice-cream party that night and begun to hang out heaps after that. I visited them on the other side of the country after my program ended and we still text, Skype and write letters etc. They are some of my favourite people I met on the program and it all began with ice cream!

Some of the ice-cream at the BYO ice-cream party we threw during the
Buy One Get One Free Ben & Jerry's sale at Publix

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival

- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

The Disney College Program is a really great place to make friends. Everyone on the program is in a new place and wants to meet new people. I have come to appreciate this, since being home. Here in the real world, people are so busy with life and already have too many friends who they've grown up with or go to school with etc. You can have a good conversation with a person and never see them again. At Disney, being alone in a new place meant that whenever we clicked with someone even briefly on the bus or at work or even around housing, we would always want to get to know that person better and gain a new friend.

There was always something exciting to do with new friends around Disney World - like riding rollercoasters, eating delicious theme park foods and visiting the fancy resorts. Having fun and making incredible memories was easy. The mindset of everyone on the College Program was to be friendly and make friends. I think the busyness and familiarity of our normal lives (or at least, my life) at home, means that we don't often pursue friendships in the same way. I think in that sense, we are missing out.

The first friends I made were the people in my training group. We spent a week together in boot camp! This was us on one of the first days together. There are five Aussies and six Americans and we made so many memories in those first few days that I will always remember!

After our training ended and we were scheduled different shifts in different areas of Walt Disney World, my  friends and I still caught up regularly over dinner and shared stories and recipes.

Remember when:

• Maxime, the French cast member got lost on his first day of work and ended up getting off at DAK Wardrobe with us - so all the girls decided that we should invite him into our van and drop him off at Animal Kingdom. Then we asked Connor to speak French to him.
• Jordan didn't know there was a kid standing next to him and freaked out when he finally realised
• Max ran into a palm tree in front of all the guests who were lining up to see him
• We played charades and Sharleen didn't know how to act out "Hannah Montana"
• When we were video'd dancing to the Cha Cha Slide and the Australians didn't know it was an instructional dance song, so we were doing crazy, inappropriate dance moves for most of the song. And then the moment of awkwardness when we realised that EVERYONE ELSE was doing the proper dance moves. (We'd never heard of the Cha Cha Slide)
• We had to introduce ourselves and name our favourite vegetable. We all went round in a circle and when Courtney said "avocado" we all tried to change our answers to avocado.
• We all realised that Courtney looks like Kate Winslet - and Devon would call her Kate.
• At the end of each training day, we had to go around in a circle and describe how we were feeling in one word and the trainers would write it down. WHY?
• Jordan forgot people's names and referred to Crystal as "Nice Hair."
• Jordan was dead sick during training and was breathing really heavily
• Jordan was talking about smoking "fags" (cigarettes) on the bus and he didn't know it was a rude word, and Connor wanted to die of embarrassment
• Connor wanted to die of embarrassment every time we used really Australian sayings
• Devon and Eeyore sang and danced to "Sexy And I Know It" 
• Chip told everyone that he took his girlfriend to McDonalds
• The Americans mentioned "strip malls" and the Australians thought it was an adult shopping centre
• Jordan cried when the Princesses waved at him in the cafeteria
• We got confused when Jordan said he wanted to marry Mulan and Pocahontas
• We had character dinners!
• Courtney made vomit dip and Jordan kept eating over the bowl like it was his own personal bowl and all his crumbs fell into the dip, yuck.
• We would end a night sipping on Crystal's Texas-sized hot chocolate
• Sharleen would always bring chocolate muffins to dinner, no matter what the theme was
• Crystal showed us pictures of her guns
• Connor made bread and Jordan kept saying that Connor thought he was too cool for normal bread (but it was delicious)
• Jordan did some weird wet willy thing to Connor after a dinner party and I have it on video
• Crystal kept talking about "Bisquits and Gravy" and we were all grossed out because a biscuit is a cookie. But then she made it for us and I liked it, but Jordan and Sharleen didn't want to finish theirs.
• The Americans tasted Vegemite and hated it
• Jordan was pimpin when the girls rode with him to Publix to buy 2 for 1 Ben and Jerry's
• Crystal hosted dinner and called it "Crystal Palace" and dressed up in a Crystal Palace uniform
• We did the Kitchen Sink and Jordan wanted coffee ice cream but forgot that Courtney is a Mormon doesn't consume coffee, and so he told the waitress that he "forgot he was allergic to coffee"
• We were always doing impressions of the old man at Epcot who loves leading warm-ups... and "5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
• We watched Wishes together on our last night and lost Jordan after the Fireworks. He had followed two random short people back to Main St thinking it was me and Sharleen. The plan was to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad together because it had just opened. We waited for him in Frontierland and told him we would ride Splash Mountain while we were waiting. We got off Splash Mountain and we still couldn't see him. Then I get a text message saying "Wow Splash Mountain isn't very fun on your own." !!! Instead of meeting us outside, he had lined up for Splash Mountain and ridden it by himself! We lined up for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad without him because it was going to close and when we got to the front, we held up the line so that Jordan could catch up. It was pretty funny. We finally rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad together yelling "BOOM!" at every turn and it was the best ride :)

We devoured the Kitchen Sink together at Beaches and Cream:
8 scoops of ice cream: vanilla, choc, strawberry, mint choc and coffee
Hot fudge, peanut butter, butterscotch saucePineapple topping, Strawberry topping, a whole sliced banana, chunks of brownie, angel food cake, bundt cake, candy bar, Oreos, real chocolate syrup, sprinkles, nuts, a bunch of maraschino cherries
And a can of whipped cream

Courtney hates Vegemite at our Brinner Party

Making Magic! The Best Job Ever.

College Program participants work in a variety of different areas around Walt Disney World (WDW). Many of my friends complained about work. Apparently working at an attraction (eg. Speedway in Tomorrowland) was too repetitive and working as a Lifeguard at the resorts and water parks was boring. Restaurants and quick-service food were always so busy and the hours for Merchandise were long and late. 

When I tell people I was a character performer, they always ask if it ever got hot. Yes, of course it did!   And no, there was no ventilation! Florida has a tropical climate and it was 20-25 degrees Celsius (68-77F) in the winter/cooler months and consistently over 30C (86F) in the Summer. Early mornings were always the better times to be outside. We also had indoor shifts which were often worse than being outside because there was no breeze and managers tended to be stingy with the air conditioning. Indoor shifts were like being in a sauna.

There was one random freezing cold day in the Winter. I hadn't come prepared for the cold, and I think I wore ALL of my clothes at the same time to work that day. It was 1C/34F and it felt great to be in costume that day. That was the only day that I felt like I was at a normal body temperature while on the job.

We would be wearing several layers and perhaps it would not have been as uncomfortable if we were just standing and occasionally waving. But a character performer is always moving around on the job, greeting guests, signing autographs and "animating" in character. It was tiring but it really was the best job in the Parks, and the best job I've ever had.

This was for several reasons:

1. Although it was hot, we generally worked only for about half an hour, then we were allowed to go backstage and take a half hour break. In this break time, we could do whatever we wanted. We usually watched TV (Disney movies and Ellen were always break room favourites), play on our phones, ate and slept.
2. Every morning before we were due to appear on set, we were required to do strengthening and conditioning exercises with a trainer. We got access to weights and yoga balls and all sorts of equipment, and were paid to do these sessions. 
3. Acting and dancing, especially when you can keep your identity hidden, is FUN!
4. Guests were always excited to see us. They never complained to us or angry with us. We were like celebrities. 
5. I played with adorable children all day 
6. It was challenging to respond to the questions asked by guests on stage and to keep in character 
7. We were required to be so active on set that I was able to eat as much fatty/sugary American foods as I wanted and still lost 3kgs. As soon as I came home, I put 3kgs back on!
8. Each day was different, because we were scheduled in many different character roles at all the different theme parks. So I was taking a different bus to work, doing different things in character and working with different people every day. 
9. We got paid the most (but only a dollar or so more than most other CPs)

I met Debby Ryan from the Disney Channel show "Jessie" when she visited Jake the Neverland Pirate at Hollywood Studios. But most guests were a joy. It was so wonderful to be part of the Magic and make memorable experiences for Disney fans! My favourite guests were of course, my own friends who would come and visit me in the Parks on their days off. That would always make my day!

However, a good friend of mine has a horror story. During his shift, a man picked Tigger up and threw him in the air. Tigger landed awkwardly on his back and had to be carried off-set by his character attendants. He was injured for months and was put on modified duty (in Merchandise, nowhere near as fun). The culprit, who was there with his family and whose own children had witnessed the incident, was ejected from the park and banned from WDW for life. The other guests in line got together and ripped into the man for being so disrespectful and for being a douchebag basically. 

Here are some pictures from my time working at Walt Disney World. The best job ever!

100 Days of Post-Disney Blues

It has been 100 days since I left my job at Walt Disney World.
For 100 days, I have suffered from Post-Disney depression.

I miss Walt Disney World.

From January to June 2012, I took part in the Disney College Program. Basically, I travelled from Melbourne Australia (home) to Orlando Florida to work at Walt Disney World. It's a long way and a lot of money to go, and a lot of people do it to gain practical experience for their university course. For example, many of my friends were studying Tourism.

But I am a law graduate. To me, Disney World was about adventure and gaining independence and life experience. My life was due for a decision from left-field, a shake up, for change.

I remember the precise moment that the insane idea of working at Disneyworld entered my brain. I was spending the weekend in Paris, and was forced to decide between spending the day at the Louvre or at Disneyland Paris. Telling this story has made many of my friends cry... because I picked Disney over the Mona Lisa. And it was watching the 3 o'clock parade down Main St on that day, that I decided that I should be a character performer. You could say that day changed my life.

Prince Ali-Ababwa at Disneyland Paris #ilostit

Disney takes both local and international college students/graduates to take part in the program. Information sessions and interviews are conducted twice a year in Australia/NZ. For more info, see: https://www.disneyinternationalprograms.com/

The prospect of international adventure occupied my thoughts during the final year of my degree. A fair share of my hours on the computer in the Law Library were actually spent looking for temporary work overseas, instead of writing up assignments and reading text books. I came across the website I posted above, which listed information about the Disney International College Program. In a completely rash decision, I attended an information session and applied for the Program two days later. The American recruiters only visit a couple of times a year and they were in Melbourne at the time. I had to act fast.

While waiting for the outcome of my application and interview, I wondered if this was what I really wanted... to leave home on my own for six months. I had made the decision so quickly. Suddenly, I was terrified.

I am a Christian and was primarily concerned with what God wanted for my life. Was I just wasting time wanting to take a gap year? Should I just begin my career? What was in His plan? When I was finally offered a job in Entertainment in the Disney College Program, I wasn't sure whether to take it. I referred to a word that a couple from Church had shared with me specifically:

"God will open doors regarding jobs and what to do next year and everything that is next for you. These (specifically) will seem more natural than spiritual, but God is behind it all and you don't have to be afraid."

I accepted the job offer and began preparing myself for half a year at Walt Disney World. It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.

My friends and I often say that we would do anything to go back to January and do it all over again. I have been suffering from these Post-Adventure blues ever since I left the Land of the Free. Real life is just not good enough any more!