In which I ask myself a question and then answer it

Man I miss my blackberry...

Halloweeen

Things that I liked about Halloween this year:

1. Disneyland went crazy and throughout the week there were giant magical scary mythical creatures parading/leaping around in the dark on stilts with magic atmospheric lighting and drumming. I kept trying to talk about that part in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe when the White Witch summons her minotaurs and spectres and boggles to be in her army, but no one here has read that so never mind. Still pretty amazing.
2. There were pumpkins everywhere and everyone in the kitchen was given one and told to carve it. My friend Papa-D (whose real name I can't spell or pronounce so Papa-D will have to do for now) said "Sara - do mine for me?" SO I GOT TO CARVE A PUMPKIN! Which was partly gross but mostly AWESOME! I made mine with the silhouette of a ghost. THEN, it turned out it was a competition, and I won second place! Hooray!
3. Riikka, Rachael and I decorated our apartment in proper Halloween style. This was one of my favourite parts - especially my Halloween mobile that I made by tying household items to bits of string and hanging them from the ceiling. I found the forks and spoons the most frightening.
4. People came to our apartment for drinksandlols after work on the 30th which was funny.. as no one dressed up except for Riikka, Rachael and I.. But that's fine. I was a cat. It was lovely and relaxed and we drank, but not too much, and laughed and laughed and that was fun.
5. At work on the 31st, Disney had brought in these professional make up artists who were there specifically to paint the faces of Disney employees. HOW GREAT. So that was sick. I was a cat (again) and prowled around the restaurant. Throughout the entire evening customers would miaow and purr at me and I loved it. I lost count of the number of tables. And sometimes I'd forget about my feline face and be really confused... That was really fun I have to admit. There was this table of little Spanish kids who shrieked and wooped every single time I walked past "Gato Gato Gato". Purrrrfect.
6. That evening we heard talk of this soiree that someone from the Boiserie was putting on. Riikka, Danielle and I decided to give it a go. It was in this sort of Party Hall place with a DJ and lights and cobwebs everywhere. Slightly weird evening though - Very frightening considering the number of skeletons and zombies who were creeping around.. (not to mention the European boys - who in my opinion can be just as creepy) But it was fab and I had a lot of fun dancing and 'pretending' to be a cat. (I was a cat)

I was a cat.

BEST DAY

James and I met Mickey and it was too cool

James and mum came to visit me! It was so lovely. SO lovely. Unfortunately Dad couldn't be there too, but it's so great that I've been able to show all three of them my life here.

Living away from my family for the first time has really made me realise how munch they mean to me and how much I enjoy spending time with them. Literally, I would say that the day I spent exploring Paris with Dad and my day at Disney Land with Mum and James were two of the best days of my life.

Mum and I with a height difference and a coffee

Wednesday - I went to the station to pick them up (and I wore my parisian beret-style-hat so that I looked the part.. it was great) and then after dropping things off at my apartment and chatting on the bus we went straight to Annette's so I could show them where I've been working. It was so fantastic how normal it felt to be on the bus at Disney Land chatting about Poppy's eating habits and exam revision techniques. Really lovely. And it was great at work too, James and Mum really enjoyed the restaurant (even at lunch time) and everyone came over to shake hands and say "enchanté" and it was just perfect.

Merch

Thursday - We decided to go and see how much it would cost for the three of us to go into the park with my cast member discount.. The answer - NOTHING. The three of us stumbled into the park in a kind of giddy "omg.. we just got into Disney Land Paris for FREE" haze and it was absolutely brilliant. Highlight of my time here I think. PLUS, Everything that we bought there, or in Disney Village, we got a 25% discount. Another great thing was that at the entrances to the rides I managed to blag us a fast entry through the back or fast track entrance by pleading in French and showing my I.D. It was amazing. I felt like a celebrity. James and I went on all of the rides (Including Space Mountain - which we LOVED, and also the horrible horrible Tower of Terror.. Which I hated once again) AND THEN we persuaded Mum to come on some of the "not scary" rides... WHICH WERE DEFINITELY SCARY! And it was absolutely hilarious. Mum screamed in a really really high-pitched way throughout, while James and I spent the duration laughing and laughing. My favourite was Big Thunder Mountain. It was the perfect day and I was SO pleased that James and Mum were able to appreciate why people love places like Disney Land. Mum kept remarking that the park looks just like it does in the adverts - especially in the evening when the castle was lit up and the lights went on - "it really is just a DREAM isn't it". We finished off the day with another trip to Annette's - this time with Show Time included.. And I got pulled up to dance along with mum. It was fantastic!

Disney Castle Disney Castle (twice because it's magical)

Friday - To Paris! James and Mum had to leave at 5 that afternoon, so the three of us got up early and got the train into the city. After a coffee in a particularly French cafe, we went to take a look at the Pompidou Centre. It was amazing. I'll probably write a whole post about that (if I get round to it) because it is somewhere that everyone should visit if they get the chance. The building itself is a work of art for goodness sake. But yes we had a look at the modern/contemporary kooky art pieces on the 4th floor and also some more by people like Picasso and Matisse (who I liked a lot) and also Dado (whose paintings were scary cool).

Dado - Struwwelpeter and Reminiscence, after Luca Signorelli, 1956 at the Centre Pompidou

(His paintings remind me of scary mythical creatures. It's like he can see the things in the world that we've all forgotten how to see)

Henri Matisse - Portrait of Auguste Pellerin (II), 1917

I like this one.

Then they went home which was sad, but also happy because the three days that they were here were SO good.

Annette's

So I've now been working at Disneyland for a whole month (and 5 days to be exact) and I've suddenly realised that I have written very little about the work itself. Soz about that.

I work in "restauration" in an oldschool 1950's American Diner - with jukeboxes, neon lights, boothed tables and Elvis Presley music. It is totally awesome. I mean, the work is hard.. and it's a definite definite change to Grills and Greens back home, but of all of the places that there are to work at Disneyland, I've struck lucky.

The costumes are pretty cool too (I think). Cropped pink trousers with a white blouse and pinny plus little pink hats. I think we look pretty on trend right now. The guys also look pretty cool in their Pink shirts. Also, some of the more experienced and less disaster-prone waiters zoom around on roller-skates.

Another AWESOME thing is that at about 8pm, everybody has to s

top what they're doing and do a sort of rock-and-roll show time! The managers say that it's obligatoire and encourage us to stand on the bar or on the tables. The other day after dancing to Greace Lightning this French guy gave me 5 euros.. which was cool.. But also a little weird. I felt a little bit like a stripper. But hey-ho. 'Show TIme' is probably the highlight of my night, even though I still don't properly know the choreography and end up freestyling to my heart's content to Aretha Franklin's Think. SO much fun.

The work itself is a little less fun. The thing I really liked about Grills and Greens back home was that we were literally in charge of ourselves.. We took the orders.. got the drinks.. brought the food.. cleared the tables.. made sure everything was done well. It was really satisfying and also, I felt like I was a little bit good at it. At Annette's there's a different person for each job.. Each section of the restaurant has a different waiter (not us newbies - People who have been working there for aggeess), and then other people (us) bringing the food, the drinks or the desserts, others sorting cutlery and others who seat/welcome guests. It's tiring work, and pretty thankless to be honest. My favourite is to be on the Accueil as the Hostess, because then you get to chat to people.. and practice languages and they do thank you a little. With carrying drinks the stress is far too much and doing cutlery has given me nightmares. Not fun. Plus, its different here because it is OH so much bigger.. 150 tables on two floors rather than 30. It makes me laugh now to think how much the prospect of a table of say, 8 freaked me out at Grills and Greens when it's very very normal here.

Everyone is very friendly, and young & they all chat and help you out if you need them. I will do another post shortly about some of them, because there are some pretty funny characters here.

Today, I had just cleared a table and was balancing the biggest tray you will ever have seen (bigger than.. two pillows) and I thought I was doing SO well, but then one of the glass bottles of coke FELL to the ground and shattered in an explosion of glass. I was utterly shocked and sort of stood there in the middle of the restaurant dumbfounded about how to react. In that moment, Natascha rolled past on her skates, but a shard of glass got caught in one of her wheels so she stumbled and dropped one of her plates - WHICH luckily, I caught, but it caused an even bigger fuss as she screamed out loud and I sort of half laughed half wailed. That was over, and I swept up all of the mess and scuttled back to the waiter's station to exclaim to David and Riikka and my supervisor about what a clumsy idiot I am, but one of my more vigorous handmovements caught a glass that was on the side sending it also crashing to the floor… OH MY GODDDDD. Luckily.. no one was cross.. In fact it amused most of the customers - which is a plus - and this french couple actually gave ME tips (which is pretty unheard of) and said that I was doing a good job and to keep courage" - which was amazing. Now I'm going to sleep.

I feel better now that I feel like you have a vague idea of what I'm actually doing here..

(P.s. - Extra note written a day later - I DROPPED ANOTHER GLASS TODAY AND EVERYONE JUST CLAPPED ME. I feel like Calamity Jane.. except not a Cowboy.)

Updates on plates

Hello internet. It's Sarah. Sorry for not really writing anything interesting of late. I didn't want to.. So I didn't.

1. It was my Birthday last Sunday! (Hoorayyyy.) and I am now 19 years old (wooooo). It was a little weird to have a birthday not at home. Instead of running downstairs and open presents with mum, dad, james and poppy I was running to catch a bus to go to work. But it was great. Presents and cards came sporadically in the post, which was cool because it means I get to feel loved over lots of days rather than just on one.. It was also weird not to be with my friends from home for my birthday. For instance, I think this was the first birthday in about 15 years that I have spent without seeing Jess Gall. Oddd. But I did have a really lovely time anyway. We went to Billy Bob's on the Saturday night and consumed lots of alcohol (I didn't have to buy ANY drinks which was super fun) and danced and laughed and wore lots of lipstick. Then we went back to our apartment and drank and danced and laughed some more. Also someone broke our loo seat.. Awkward. I then had work really early the next day, exhausted and hungover, which was the source of much amusement for my co-workers. So that was great. Then, that evening, Jade, Rosie and Chiara came over to re-watch Tangled with me and eat cake and drink wine, which was also lovely. AND then on Monday Riikka and I went for Sushi and got given a complimentary glass of wine and some nibbles and things. So yes. I had a really nice time.

2. My Dad came to visit last week! It was great! We spent the first evening exploring Disney Village, because I was keen to show him where I work. We had starters and cocktails at the Rainforest Cafe, a pint in the Sports Bar, hotdogs and icecreams at Annett'es (where I work) and then more drinks later at Billy Bob's - although Dad was a bit perturbed by the Line Dancing Lesson that was going on there that evening. The next day, we had an early start and headed into Paris, which I absolutely loved. I had been to Paris once before, but I was young, it was pouring with rain and I don't remember much. This time however, I was absolutely struck by how FRICKIN AMAZING this city is. Oh my god. Seriously internet people, it's beautiful. The roads.. The squares. The buildings - their roofs. I have never been so enchanted by a city before. I felt like I was walking along the Seine in a daze. I doubt there is very much I can describe about Paris that hasn't been described before, but, I'll just say that all the time that I was there, I couldn't stop picturing myself living there - in some arty studio, on the 5th floor, with no lift, with flowers and washing lines outside the window and Paris on my doorstep. And I'll admit, when Dad and I got a coffee in the window of a cafe by the Tour St Jacques, I definitely felt the part. The whole time, as I sat looking out, I kept thinking to myself "I'm DOING IT!!!" - haha as though I was in a film or something. But it was lovely. Mostly we just pottered around, walked down the rues and alleys and popped into the Musee de Cluny (which I got into for feee) for a "quick look" - which ended up being a 2 hour browse. It was a tiring but wonderful day, and I can't wait to get back out there! It was also lovely to see Dad. I miss my family a lot. <3

3. I feel like my French is improving a lot. Well.. quite a lot. It's difficult, because I only really speak English with my friends outside of work.. But in work I'm kind of forced to give it ago. It's difficult because I'm able to mostly understand everything that people say, it's just I get nervous when it comes to replying because I am so aware that I must sound like a three year old. It's also tiring feeling like an idiot the whole time. At home I love playing around with words and abbreviating and punning to my heart's content. Here, it's definitely not possible.. Actually now I say that, I did make a joke yesterday.

quelqu'un: Sara, quel est ton âge?

moi: Ohhh… Cinquante-huit ans.

quelqu'un: Quoi?

moi: Ouii… je mange très bien.

It was hilarious.

Trust me.

Disneyland Paris 3

I'm a little bit tired and grumpy tonight.. so here are some Disneyland pictures for the time being and I'm sure I'll get back in the mood to write in a little bit. I've run out of tea bags.

Disneyland Paris 2

Adjusting to being in such a new place, for me, has actually been a pretty tricky business. Moving out and moving on is a challenge that everyone must face, and I guess, until about now, I've been finding it a lot harder than I expected. I'm not sure why it was so difficult, but it was. Don't worry, I'm not going to be all mopey and self-pitying, but I will say that I'm glad that I stuck it out.

True, it was hard to be so far from my family, especially when told stories of family meal times and bickering (that I still miss more than anything). It was hard to see so many facebook updates about crazy freshers evenings my friends were having and all the fab new friends they'd made and been in photos with, especially when I was sitting alone in my shared bedroom with dodgy internet, feeling that my pitiful linguistic skills were stopping me from having ANY of those moments. It was hard to start working at a new restaurant, especially when nobody else there really spoke any English and everything was so different to back home at little old Grills and Greens with the regulars and the 30 or so tables.

But actually, I'm now thinking how lucky I am to be in the position I am in. Thank you so much to all of the virtual shoulders I have been given to cry on (specifically you C, J & A) and the real ones from my friends here who have supported me in excepting what seemed like such a massive change. An extra special mention goes to C - whose blog post about a pretty similar thing really inspired me yesterday. It's here if you want to read it.

"Of course ‘work hard, play hard’ is the cliché I could drop in here, but I think the experience you have depends heavily on what you, and only you input into the huge life style change. If you sit in your room and lock yourself away, then you probably will feel homesick and isolated. It’s amazing what just propping your door open can do."

This part sort of brought things into focus for me. Being miserable and mopey won't make me any more cheerful. Grumbling about what I was missing at home would only make me miss out on what there is on offer here. I know it sounds obvious.. But having sorted that out in my head, things are looking much brighter. I have some lovely new friends, some who I know I will keep in contact with regardless of which country we're in. The flat is looking really nice - I bought a colourful clock and Riikka moved in and brought with her wine and beer. Work is actually really cool - I love the outfit, the dancing, the rollerskates and the people. PLUS my Birthday is in 3 days, my family have sent me packages and I'm seeing them all soon. Yes. Life is good.

Today I got a cup of coffee and just sat at the gare. Just sat. And looked. And lived.

Life is good.