Safari So-Goody

Hello again! You're probably shocked to be hearing from me again so soon! 

Now I'd like to insert here that there is going to be a lot of mentions of boats in the post you are about to read. At jungle, we spell boats "botes" because of a certain joke. I will not be doing that because auto correct does not like the word bote. 

I decided to make a list of weird things that happen quite often at jungle that you wouldn't expect to happen very often. So here it is. 

Five things that happen at the jungle: 

1) Somebody comes up to me and starts speaking fluent Spanish thinking I understand them. Now you probably aren't too surprised at that, but it is surprising how many people ask if I'm from Brazil. Apparently Julia is a very popular name there. 

2) I get a boat full (or at least half full) of people who don't speak any English. The whole time they just loudly point out all the animatronics, especially "Elephante, elephante!!!" All. The. Time. 

3) I get a boat with a person who thinks they're funny and either finish my jokes or respond weirdly to them. This doesn't happen to me as much as it sounds like it does to others. But it does happen and a couple of times it's been a fun person that I can joke with, but other times it's just annoying. 

4) So this one calls for background information. When we load or unload people from the boats, we hold our hands out so people who need help can just grab our hands. When little kids get in or out of the boats, I lower my hand so they can grab it easier. Kids always think I'm offering my hand for a high five. Always. I've also had an old Italian man kiss the back of my hand. People are weird. 

5) One of my favorite things is entering the temple. I don't speak in the temple because it echoes too much, so I think people feel awkward with the silence and decide to point out what's happening in there to their kids/parents. Well, the tiger is the first thing we see in there, and at least once a day I hear someone say "look! A lion!" It happens all the time. It makes me laugh every time.  

Now here's a list of really good things that have happened recently:

1) I got two "you're fired" slips in one day! I don't know if I've explained those to you, but if someone gets off your boat and tells someone that you did a good  job, we "fire" the skip. The joke is that you're not supposed to be funny or good on the jungle cruise so they need to be fired. It happened twice in one day though! I do have people tell me personally that I did good while they're getting off my boat, but they usually don't say anything to someone on the dock. I was just really happy about that. 

2) Sometimes people who were sitting in the back of the boat will get out and walk around to the front to talk to the skipper in the boat. These two little kids came up to me and said "thank you captain skipper". It was SO cute!

3) After one of my cruises that people laughed but not that much, this little girl who was sitting right next to me gave me a hug. It was so sweet. 

4) My roommate Holli came and rode my boat the other day. She could not stop laughing at my joke in the hippo pool. That made things hard for me because I couldn't stop laughing at her laughing at me which made it hard to spiel. But now she keeps talking about how funny my boat is which is relieving to me that she wasn't just being nice. 

5) There were these girls who seemed like they could have been cast members on my boat the other day and I overheard one of them saying "I love her" after one of my jokes that they laughed quite a bit at. I like to listen to what people say on my boats while I'm spieling. 

6) I did park clear last night which means that I stood in a spot and sent everyone without wristbands for the Halloween party out of the park. I had been hearing horror stories about people being really rude and angry and yelling at you. As you can imagine, I wasn't really look forward to that. Well, I had no problems. It was actually kind of fun. Not like a treat shift, but it's just fun to be in the Halloween party atmosphere. Everyone was really nice and understanding and usually, they already knew and I just sent them to the fastest exit. Well there was a group of black ladies who looked like they might get angry at me when I told them they couldn't stay in the park. Here's the interaction I had with one of the ladies: "hi guys! Are you going to the Halloween party tonight?" *insert worry about their answer* "no we are actually just leaving" *relief* "great! Well your fastest way to exit is actually going to be this way" "thank you! I like you" *even more relief* "I like you too!" I think that might have actually been one of my best interactions of the night. There was a little more to it than what I wrote, but that's basically what happened. 

7) There was a great boat a had a couple of days ago. This was probably the best boat I've ever had. I think there was only like one group that wasn't laughing. And there was one particular group who were all loud laughers (which is the best). At the end two of them told me that they had never seen someone do all of the jokes I did and it was great. Now, the boat I was in was one of our slower boats which allowed me to use most of my jokes. But it was nice and they liked it.

8) Probably my favorite thing that has happened here was after a great cruise and an older man came up to me and said that he's been on the jungle cruise quite a few times and I was the best skipper he's ever had. I don't think I was able to convey my gratitude to him well. It meant so much to me. 

These things are pretty little, but they make my day every time. And I definitely have plenty of bad boats, but I've found that at the jungle, if you stay positive and fun it is much better, more easy, and more fun for everyone. I have coworkers who hate jungle, and I think it's because they're always looking for the bad and not having fun with it. They also don't like interacting with guest which I love. One of my favorite things to do is stand on dock and say goodbye to everyone leaving. I also like being at load because we get to talk to the guests while the next boat is pulling up. I also love greeter because your whole job is welcoming people and talking to them. I really just love interacting with the guests. 

So earlier this week Chloe texted us and said that she got audited at work and Dannah texted back and said "wait, what did you audition for?" It was HILARIOUS to me, and I got a little carried away... here's what I said: "I think it was an audition for the hit musical "Safety: it begins with us" it's about a band of resort custodians who have a self discovery and realize that if they want to stay safe, they need to look outside themselves. It's truly inspirational. I tear up a little just thinking about it. I hope you got the part Chloe!" And then Chloe said "I think my rousing rendition of "This Is More Than Just A Code V" got me the part!" Killed me. 

Annie's birthday was on Saturday which makes this week birthday week. On Thursday (I think is was), Annie had a rough day at work and texted us to come get ice cream with her. I was the only one who was able to. It was a lot of fun. On Friday, we went to the Polynesian and had pulled pork nachos. We were on the bus at midnight, so we had the whole bus sing happy birthday to her. On Saturday, Annie and I went to magic kingdom and met Cinderella and Elena. Then we went to Epcot and ate at this Italian place that she had been wanting to go to. They had really good pizza and pasta. Then we met Snow White. After that, I had to go to work. After work, Annie and I ate cake and watched emperors new groove. Tomorrow we're going to Tony's for lunch as roomies. We might do something for dinner too. On Friday (the last one) Chloe decorated the apartment with streamers and balloons. She also made a delicious cake and then shaped it like Mickey Mouse. Annie loved it. Can we also talk about how fantastic Amy did on that picture for Annie. I'm going to go pick it up now and give it to her tonight. I'm so excited for her to see it!! Thanks again Amy! 

My friends are coming this week and I am so excited to see them. Shayla, Jasmine, Diana, and Robyn are coming. It's going to be so fun! Speaking of Robyn, did you guys hear that she got her mission call? She's going to Chicago, Illinois English speaking! She is going to be such a great missionary. I'm so excited for her!!

I am having a great time here. I'm eating and drinking (mom and dad) and partying (everyone else). I am still so excited to be an aunt! I see little babies and think "hey we'll have two of those soon." I love you all and hope you're all doing well!

Now get out. 

Oh sorry that was rude. 

Please. Get out.

PS-  this post was from October 17