How to hang ten and cause cash register malfunction

Hi friends.

I wish I had the energy to update more often. Lets see, I left off thursday night. I am doing really bad at updating often, I apologize.

Last Friday morning we had an optional bible study as a project activity, which I went to since I have been forced to miss a lot of activities due to a crazy training schedule. It was awesome. It was led by one of my fellow project-ers, Holly. After that, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Blizzard Beach for the day. It was a lot of fun. I somehow found the courage (a.k.a I was forced against my will) to ride Summit Plummet. It was amazing. And terrifying. I don't know if I have ever been that scared in my life. I screamed really loud for the first few seconds and then I was worried I would drown so I stopped. If I was not so tired, I would probably spin this into some analogy about life and faith, considering the worst part was waiting in line for 35 minutes, building up anticipation. But I am tired, so it wouldn't have the full effect. I need to be awake to analogize.

Friday night we did something else, but I can't remember what it was.

Saturday I had more training, this time back at Disney University. 6+ hours of learning how to use a cash register. It was fun. Sorta. Then we had another movie night I think. I am really having a hard time keeping all the movie nights straight.

Sunday I went back to Celebration Community Church, which I still really really like. The pastor talked about how when we don't have much, when we do give, it means a lot. He was speaking monetarily (the church meets in a high school auditorium and is trying to build an actual church) but it is very applicable to life. You don't need to have a lot to make it count. It was awesome. A bunch of us went to Wendy's for lunch, then our small groups met. After that, we played more sand volleyball, went on yet another Super Walmart run (I am really starting to hate that place) and then spent the night at Magic Kingdom. They have a new fireworks show for the summer. It was wonderful. I don't want to give too much away, but lets just say one of my favorite movies ever was well represented. Arrrg.

Monday we had group bible study (an actual project coordinated one, the other one we kinda made up on our own) and it was really really cool. I have never been in a co-ed bible study before and I liked it. We are going through material this summer called the Gospel Centered Life, and we talked a lot about the ways we judge people this week. First impressions or not, we got down and dirty with every person's tendency to judge others, which can all be related back to certain standards that we hold ourselves to. For example, we may judge someone on their body type because deep down, whether we know it or not, we hold ourselves to a high standard in regards to body type. I had never really thought about it that way before.

After bible study, we went to Hollywood Studios. I ended up just sticking with a group of four other girls the whole time, which was nice because we did a lot of girly stuff, like the Little Mermaid show and the Beauty and the Beast show, stuff I never usually get to do in big groups due to being vetoed by men (usually my dad and brother). We had a lot of fun.

Tuesday was amazing. We drove to Cocoa beach and spent a few hours just talking to people vacationing there and using a tool called Soularium to talk about things concerning faith. It is a box of fifty photographs and a set of questions like "which three images best describe your life?" "which three images represent what you WISH your life was like?" "which image best represents your view of God?" etc. The photos are all beautiful and range from a baby bird to a barbed wire fence to a fishing hook to mountains to an old couple holding hands and walking down the path. It is such a cool way to find out more about people. We buddied off, and Alex and I talked to this older couple who were adorable. They both said that true happiness was living the rest of their lives together. So sweet.

Annnnd, after that, we all went to Ron Jon Surf Shop and rented surfboards and went surfing! IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!! I had a blast. I was in the second group to go. Our staff team went a few weeks ago and was able to help us learn and give us a push when we were out there. The weather was kinda gloomy but the waves were apparently perfect for learning- 1-2 feet. I got up three times!!! I felt like I was flying. It was incredible addicting, I can't wait to get back out there. A bunch of people are talking about going again before the summer is over.

Today was my second day of training in the store. We started at 10 and got off around 630, so it was a long day. I was on a register most of the day and cannot even begin to list the ways that one can screw up on that machine. It is really high tech, which is sometimes awesome, but sometimes really complicated. One time I meant to key in the price of $4.95 and ended up keying in the quantity as 495. My guest nearly fainted from what came up as a $2,600+ total. The manager had to come over and fix the cash register, which had a meltdown when I tried to void 494 of them. I almost had a meltdown too, but luckily utter disaster was narrowly avoided. There is so much to remember with every single transaction that sometimes I forget to do things like breathe. I made change so people could press pennies in the machines outside, searched through a maze of a stockroom for items I knew we didn't carry, and almost took my finger off trying to cut the plastic wrap off of an autograph book so a kid could get Goofy's signature before he went away. I also taught some Norwegian men how to use American money. That stuff was interesting.

But the best part of the day was definitely when I got to just walk around the store or stand at the doors and greet/entertain/ interact with guests. I stood at the front of the store with Mickey gloves on and gave kids High-5, or High-4's since Mickey only has four fingers. I gave crying kids stickers and thought their parents were going to crown me queen of the universe for quieting their sunburnt, exhausted children. All the little girls came in wearing princess costumes and I would say "Hi Princess!!" and tell them how pretty they were. One little boy came in wearing a full out pirate costume and I pretended to be scared and hid behind a display. He looked at me like I was insane. Clearly I got more of a kick out of that game then he did. I also embarrassed a dad by making the whole store sing Happy Birthday to him. I love people.

Tonight a bunch of us went to one of the resorts that was showing Toy Story on a big screen TV in honor of Toy Story 3 opening Friday. They are showing the second one tomorrow night.

Tomorrow I work again. My feet hurt really bad from my $7 Walmart work appropriate shoes. I may need some insoles. But I can't wait to get back to work. How often can someone say that? I can't wait to go stand on my feet wearing an itchy polyester costume and deal with cranky parents who ask when the rain will stop and why it is so hot and why everything is so expensive. I can't wait for that because along with all the bad stuff comes little girls whose faces light up when you call them princess and sweet old ladies who find the perfect shirt for their grandson and little babies who giggle when I contort my face for them. That makes it all worthwhile.

That was long. Thanks for reading. Love you all.
Kel