Friday, July 8, 2011

Rafiki Ya Wanyama

Hi all! As promised, I have an update on my last few days of training. Also, if you want to know what the heck the title of this entry means, it's Swahili for "Friend of the animals." The kids who complete all 6 of our KDCs earn a "Rafiki ya wanyama" stamp in addition to an activity book. I love this phrase, especially because it reminds me of The Lion King.

So Thursday the 30th was a day off for the presenters. A computer repair man came to my apartment to fix the right click button on my laptop touchpad and replace the framing around my screen, but Dell hadn't sent the palm rest that was necessary to fix the button. (They later called to say that they don't have any in stock and may not for a while) Thanks, Dell. I appreciate your help. I'm glad you realize how hard it is to function without a right click button. 

Anyway, after he left, Sonia and I went to Magic Kingdom for the first time since we've been here. Unfortunately, the second we boarded the monorail, the clouds opened up and a torrential downpour started. While we waited for the rain to stop, we talked to a CP (college program) student from Harrisburg that goes to Penn State. I love meeting fellow Pennsylvanians! Unfortunately, within 2 minutes of getting off the monorail, we had been walking in water up to our ankles. We ran for cover inside Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, and it was so COOL! It was an impromptu comedy show with the monsters from the movie, and it was hilarious!!! After riding a bunch of rides, we saw the "Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it!" parade, and then headed out. Our GPS got us super lost while on a quest for food, so I was very happy when we finally got home.

Friday, July 1st was a relatively uneventful day. We had more classroom training, and learned about some of the mammals and birds in our collection. Then we went through a presentation about biodiversity and the different kingdoms (basically a review from every college class I've ever taken). On an unrelated note, when I got home, I found out that Jagr and Talbot had chosen to sign with the Flyers over the Penguins. Let's just say I was not a happy camper. Of all the teams, did they have to pick Philly? Oh well, at least they got the money they wanted.

On Saturday the 2nd, we took a more thorough tour of DAK in small groups. That day, a light bulb went off in my head, and I finally started to remember a good bit of info about the KDCs and animal exhibits. After a fun day at work, a bunch of my friends and I went to the pool at Cumberland. It was definitely good to cool down and just relax.

Sunday the 3rd was another day off, so Sonia and I went back to the costuming building to get a few different sizes of costumes (my shorts could have fit another person in them). Then we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to explore. It is a really neat resort with savannah animals right outside the rooms! We went to Chipotle for lunch (I haven't had so much rice and beans since the Galap!) and then went home so I could nap. We, along with Cassie, decided to go see the Independence Day fireworks at Magic Kingdom. The sun was just setting as we arrived to the park on the ferry, and it was soo pretty! It was an absolute mad house when we got there. I felt like we were all sardines, stationed in front of Cinderella's Castle. The show was awesome, and I'm glad we went that night instead of the actual 4th of July when it would be even more chaotic.

Our last day of classroom training was on Monday! In the morning, we completed a sort of scavenger hunt slash way-finding activity. My group didn't finish everything, but it kind of helped us get more oriented within DAK. The highlight of my day was definitely the Flights of Wonder bird show in Asia. IT WAS EPIC. They had an Abyssinian Groud Hornbill, Bald Eagle, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Red Legged Seriema, Gray Crowned Crane, Harris Hawk, Toucans, and Macaws, among others. When I go to the show as a Guest, I'm going to try and volunteer so I can sit onstage and take a video of the hornbill flying right at me. I was so jealous of the Guests that got to do that!

After lunch, we did a role-playing activity and then took our assessment to make sure we knew the information from our training manual. I'm hoping this is the last test I ever have to take, because it made me feel like I was back in college again! Next came a tour of Conservation Station. We saw a Tawny Owl presentation, looked into research windows, heard rainforest sounds, and saw Rafiki, Jiminy Cricket, and a very pale Pocahontas. We then reviewed our test (I did better that I'd expected), and left work early!

That night, Sonia, Cassie, Alyssa, and I went to Epcot for the real 4th fireworks. They were probably some of the best ones I've ever seen. Half of my pictures look like the sky is on fire because they were so bright and filled the air with a lot of smoke. Probably one of the cooler parts was when we saw fireworks from Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios in the distance. So we saw them from three different parks in one night! Pretty neat, I'd say.

One more thing that I've been thinking about...Every time I go on an attraction at Disney, I look at all the details in the artwork and architecture, and see the themes that they create to help the Guests immerse themselves in their own imagination. I've decided that one of my dreams is to be an Imagineer. I'd get to help make Walt's visions come true by designing exhibits, rides, and shows to keep the Disney magic alive. I think that would seriously be the coolest job ever.

"They say if you dream a thing more than once, it's sure to come true."--Briar Rose, Sleeping Beauty

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