End of April

The month of April has flown by! I think because I've been having so much fun. The past 2 weeks I went swing dancing, AND a spring fling dance party. It was my first time swing dancing and it was a lot of fun! A Mexican guy from church came to my apartment complex and taught a group of about 8 of us how to swing dance. Afterward we all went to "atomic ballroom" in Irvine to practice our new skills (at a beginner level of course). The ballroom was crowded that night, and WOW I couldn't believe how good some of these dancers were! I definitely have a new appreciation for swing dancing.

Every Monday night here at the college program we have "mashed-up mondays". Basically just something fun to do on a Monday night. Normally consists of ping pong, movies, Disney trivia, etc. But this past Monday we had "open-mic night". I knew this night was coming so I spent the past 2 weeks writing a song for this mashed-up Mondays open-mic night. The song is called "Mashed-up Mondays" and it's to the tune of "Manic Monday" by the Bangles. The song was a parody of all the various events we've done in the program and some inside jokes regarding our living situation from roommates to our landlord. The song was a big success and they had me play it again at the end of the night for all those who didn't hear it. I gave the lyrics to our housing office manager and he's going to e-mail the lyrics out to everyone in the program. I'm glad I can still make people laugh with my guitar (maybe they're laughing at me though, not with me).

Work is getting better and better. 2 days ago I started "tram training!" This is where I stand on the back of a 200 seater tram and give a 2 page speech from memorization over the loud microphone system. The speech is hard to remember but I think I have it completely memorized (I better have it memorized as I'm taking my final test today at 3:00pm - super nervous!).

It's interesting, when I tell people I work at Disneyland they immediately ask where in the park I work.... to which I tell them - I work in parking. Normally the person says, "I'm sorry" or "haha!" but believe it or not I wouldn't have it any other way. See I'm sure it would seem cooler to say, "I work on Indiana Jones" or "Space Mountain!" But man, I do not want to sit on a chair all day pushing a button and maybe if I'm lucky be transferred to ANOTHER button. Now that almost 4 months have gone by, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is sick of their jobs - except for the 10 of us in parking. See, our job isn't routine, sure at times we're parking cars, but 90% of the time we're in charge of keeping guests company while they wait for shuttles to take them or pick them up from the park. And now I get to make speeches on trams on a microphone!

We're not stuck in one position all day either. I walked a foreign couple 200 yards to get them where they needed to be for a shuttle to LA. The whole time I talked to them about India and the surrounding countries. Unfortunately many people don't have this opportunity to help guests out the way parking can because they're stuck in costume at their specific place.

Imagine being at the park all day then having to leave.... you have to wait 10 minutes for your shuttle that takes you back to your car... then you can leave. What an awful process! But imagine while you're waiting you get a guy (or girl) from parking come up to you with a super cheerful smile and they totally make your day by acting goofy or just saying something nice and being genuinely awesome to you. Wouldn't that make that awful process of leaving just a little bit better? :)

If you're thinking of doing the Disney internship and you get put in parking, don't be quick to judge. It's the most fun in a job you'll probably ever have in your life. You won't believe you're getting paid to have this kinda fun.