Details on Disney! How to prevent Heat Stroke?

It's hot at Disney Land & Disney World and no one wants to suffer from heat illness or stroke while your working or visiting Florida or California. I've given you tips on what to pack, now let me give you some tips on how to stay cool - the Disney International Exchange Program IS the coolest experience, after all!

click above to go to the video!

It's easy to get caught up in the magic & pixie dust and want to try your hardest at being the best cast member ever! But your health should always come first. Take the time to have a rest when you need it and always drink plenty of water. To learn more tips please click the picture and go to my video.

Again PLEASE feel free to leave comments here or on my videos about anything else you would like me to answer during our 6 month stay in the program. As always I will be posting more blogs and videos during my stay in America, so please continue to visit :)

New Allergy Poster Protection

To honour the efforts made during May's Food Allergy Awareness initiatives, Allergic Living created an educational poster to help in the fight for Anaphylaxis Awareness & Prevention.

It's efforts like this that makes living with food (or non-food) based allergies a little easier one day at a time.

You can download your own copy here but to summarize the poster for you, I've made a list of the Top Six that Saves Lives...


1 - Know the Symptoms
Signs of a serious food allergy reaction (otherwise known as anaphylaxis) are 2 or more of the following after eating a suspect food:

• Hives, itching and/or skin redness

• Swelling of the tongue, lips or throat

• Breathing difficulty, wheezing or coughing

• Stomach cramps or vomiting or diarrhea

• Feeling faint / drop in blood pressure (If only this 1 symptom, it is still anaphylaxis.)

2 - Use the auto-injector right away & Call 911
Epinephrine shots are given via the auto-injector to the outer thigh muscle. This is considered a very safe drug. Antihistamines are acceptable as secondary medication only. Just remember that they won’t halt anaphylaxis and you still need to see medical professional attention.

3 - Time is of the Essence
With anaphylaxis, prompt use of the shot is always essential before a reaction progresses too far. *See Tip #2 above :)

4 - Go to the Hospital
After taking an emergency epinephrine shot you must be taken to hospital for observation. *PLEASE see Tip #6 below :) During transport, IF symptoms have not improved within 10 to 15 minutes, a second auto-injection should be given.

5 - Reclining is Best
During the ambulance ride, the person having the serious reaction should be lying down, with the legs raised (this improves blood flow). NIAID guidelines recommend the patient receive oxygen and IV fluid.

6 - Don’t Go It Alone
No person should be expected to be fully responsible for self-administration of an epinephrine auto-injector. Assistance during anaphylaxis is crucial - always make sure the family and friends your with the most know how to handle any possible situation.

The Six that Saves allergy poster from Jessica Dunning

'Get in the Habit' by Being Proactive, Habit #1

The paradigm for being proactive is that 'I am a product of my choices' not of my circumstances.

The principle being that 'I am free to choose and am responsible for my choices. Our behaviour should be to pause and respond based on that principle. To use proactive language such as 'let's look at our alternatives' or 'I will choose an appropriate response or different approach."  The result is a greater sense of initiative and self-awareness. Becoming the creative force of your life.

You can choose to go through the motions in life, or you can be proactive and create a future that you want. Become ambitious at work and take on new projects or let your boss know your interested in learning more and helping out. Continue expanding on your education whether it be for personal or professional reasons.

 

Pause & Respond based on Principles

 

Reactive behaviour lets your outside influences (moods, feelings, circumstances - the things in your circle of concern) control your response.

Proactive behaviour gives you the freedom to choose your response based on your principles and desired results. Your freedom to choose expands as you use the space between stimulus and response.

"Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change."

Expand your Circle of Influence

Your circle of influence includes those things you can affect directly. When people focus on things they can influence, they expand their knowledge and experience. They build trustworthiness. As a result their circle of influence grows.

Your circle of Concern includes all those things you care about. It's the external factors you worry about such as the economy, fighting or time delays. When people focus on things they cannot control, they have less time and energy to spend on things they can influence.

 

Up Next: 'Get in the Habit' with the End in Mind

Peanut vs. Tree Nut? The fight for Legume supremacy

In today's society most people think if your only allergic to 'peanuts' you cant be allergic to anything else. They try to lecture and explain to you about your own allergy when you've been the one to deal with it for so long - not them.

Now a days there are tones of people allergic to nuts, shellfish and multiple other kinds of foods. Doctors cannot simply write 'allergic to peanuts' on someone's medic alert protection and expect it to be alright. If your fatally allergic to one kind of nut there isn't any reason why you couldn't potentially be allergic to another. Because that's what they are - different "legume family or not' they are all types of nuts whether that be a peanut or tree nut.

People grow into allergies and grow out of them so fast that one day you could have a reaction to something that you've been eating your entire life and then in a year or two the allergy is gone. In situations like that it's safer to just avoid the food or food product for as long as possible unless you want to risk getting tested.

I've had people ask me multiple times if I would ever get tested to see if I could eat different types of nuts... That question is so idiotic that I sometimes don't want to warrant it with an answer. If someone is fatally allergic to a type of food then how potentially harmful can it be to be tested with other types of the same food? I'm sure my friends that are allergic to citrus don't get tested once a month to see what fruit to avoid - you simple just avoid it for your own safety. Life is too short and precious to do anything but.

Thinking of these situations did make me realise most people don't know the difference between peanuts and tree nuts in the first place. So I have compiled these lists for a better understanding...

ALLERGIC LIVING describes tree nuts as not just one, but a group of allergens.

In Canada, for food labelling purposes, the following are considered tree nuts:

Almonds
Brazil nuts
Cashews
Hazelnuts
Macadamia nuts
Pecans
Pine nuts
Pistachios
Walnuts

In the United States, the list is longer. It includes:

Almond
Beech nuts
Brazil nuts
Butternuts
Cashews
Chestnuts
Chinquapins
Coconuts
Filberts/hazelnuts
Ginko nuts
Hickory nuts
Lichee nuts
Macadamia nuts/Bush nuts
Pecans
Pine nuts/Pinon nuts
Pistachios
Shea nuts
Walnuts

Details on Disney! What to pack for Florida State

For anyone who has been accepted into the Disney Exchange program, or anyone who is going to study at Florida State university (in beautiful Tallahassee, Florida) I have made a video for you explaining what to expect.


click above to go to the video!

Let me remind you that it is only for 10 days so be lenient with your packing. Your meals are all provided along with bedding. You receive supplies for class and towels. There's a small walk-in closet for anyone who cant live out of their suitcase and a full desk with wifi. Please watch the video to find out more!

Again PLEASE feel free to leave comments here or on my videos about anything else you would like me to answer during our 6 month stay in the program. As always I will be posting more blogs and videos during my stay in America, so please continue to visit :)

Living the not so 'Vista Way'

It's hard for anyone not only considering the Disney program but any kind of cultural-educational exchange - especially if you have medical concerns.

Having to live in a house with a stranger is never easy - let alone up to 5 of them. It's also never easy to be the last roommate to arrive when everyone else has been there almost a month before you. They've already had time to get to know each other, settle in and build a daily/weekly routine. Girls can be rude and it's hard to come in and ask for everything to change just for you - whether it's life threatening or not.

It's hard to explain in a way that they will fully understand how easily one product or food spill can harm you. There are nuts in food, cleaning products, candies, alcohol and beauty products... among many other things. You do have to live with these people for 6 months (more or less depending on your exchange program) so upsetting them by telling them what they can and cant do could pose potentially harmful. We've all heard the stories of immature jealous girls smearing peanut butter on lockers and doorknobs and wiping it off so its not visible... just to get back at a stupid misunderstanding.

You can lecture someone and educate someone until the cows come home. But in the end people are going to eat what they're going to eat and buy what they're going to buy, whether they remember or not. This not only goes for my roommates but anyone's roommates anywhere, or coworkers, or friends - even family forgets sometimes.

Now don't get me wrong, I am really starting to like my roommates. They aren't inconsiderate or anything, they have just never had to deal with this situation very often. One of my roommates even has a shellfish allergy. My first week after Check-in they did go out and buy new kitchen soap and disinfectant wipes. They asked me about the specifications of my allergy. My one roommates always notifies me when she's going to open her peanut butter and asks if I want my bedroom door closed - I like her the best so far.

But it is always hard to try to 'fit in' when you have to be so cautious. To walk into your kitchen after a day at work and wonder if their dishes or the sink is clean, or the counter has been wiped down, or if there's that possibility of cross-contamination on the door handles of the fridge or drawers. Its even harder in a country where (next to Asian style cooking) Americans consumer the most amount of nuts and nut products I've ever seen and without any concern for anyone around them.

Although I feel bad for purposely secluding myself because I did come to Disney World to make friends (and believe me some of my roommates have commented on it) no matter where you go, live or work your #1 priority must be your safety first.

I keep all of my food in a separate container in the fridge and I don't keep anything in the pantry. I keep my food in another container in our storage locker/closet shelves. Any other food I keep at other friends houses - when your travelling its good to have people who understand and try to help you out. I try to do most of my cooking at their houses as well. I also keep a set of my own cutlery and dishes in my room and I rarely sit at the kitchen table or on the couches in the living room.

But again, this all sounds bad but you get used to it. It becomes part of your daily/weekly routine just like... reading the ingredients list of every single thing you buy or asking the waitress about the products they cook with when your friends do drag you out somewhere. Which is fine for me. Our dishwasher's cleaning capabilities and our buildings lack of cleanliness in general leave something to be desired anyways...

I refuse to be the one of the only 2 out of 6 women in the house to clean. Especially when I don't feel comfortable touching anything due to my allergies. I came here to be a room-mate not a 'room-mom.' Although they have been keeping the kitchen cleaner since our first inspection and our bathroom is getting better. But can you blame them? Vista Way is the oldest out of the 4 complexes... so how many years of students have been dirtying up the buildings before we came?

Going anywhere in the big world can be difficult at times whether your moving out on your own for the first time or dealing with any type of allergy or condition. It helps if you can surround yourself with people who understand and love you for who you are. It also helps if you can come to terms with the fact you're going to be dealing with this and people the rest of your life and try to make the best of things. I try to stay optimistic and positive... or at least try make funny humour out of it so it's less awkward.



Adapting to Disney Culture

Our first assignment in our Intercultural Communications class was to write an essay about how we have been adapting to Disney life/work since our arrival. For your reading pleasure I have posted it here, although I've made some alterations due to confidentiality of my other cast members :)

 

Dear Diary... How are my first weeks at Disney going? What am I enjoying the most? What have been the challenges?

My first few weeks at Disney have been a whirlwind of emotions and new experiences. I was suffering from separation anxiety during our first night after we all departed for our complexes. For some reason American # text messages don’t come through to my phone so I couldn’t get in touch with anyone to help them move, or unpack, or hangout after we all got settled.

My roommates are all American; which I was highly disappointed at even though I have grown to love them. The first comments they made was that I didn’t have an accent for being Canadian. We’re starting to get along better now; we even went out for lunch together for the first time and took pictures in the Italy pavilion at EPCOT.

I have even finally managed to gain 1/3 of a shelf in our fridge so now I can buy some groceries. Having 5 women share one small fridge isn't easy... They are pretty understanding of my allergy but for my own personal safety I still keep a lot of my non-perishable food in the pantry shelve in my closet, and I cook a lot at other friend's houses so that I can also visit them too.

I bought a rice cooker and am also leaving it at a friend's house; we are all taking turns buying bags of rice and cooking at their house. I’ve become friends with their 2 other French roommates. I recently learned the proper way to cook rice and found out that 'Minute Rice' is a blasphemy among Asian culture. We even had our first sleepover/pizza party with some of the Macau and Canadian girls since coming to Disney.  I'm very excited to meet the July group of Brazilian, Macau and Mexican students.

 

I have fallen head over heels in love with my job costuming at Hollywood Studios. Working at ‘The Show Must Go On’ Character building has been my favourite location so far. Almost all of my fellow cast members are so nice and helpful and welcoming. I’ve made some Hispanic friends, and a fellow Canadian, and a become friends with someone from South Korea and Haiti and some American friends too.

A lot of the character performers I’ve met are nice to me too and I’ve even danced backstage with some of them. I enjoy helping Mickey and all of his friends get dressed everyday (except Wreck-it Ralph could stand to lose a bit of weight and Sully sheds his fur a bit too often.) I’ve always been a creative person and I would give anything in the world to work professionally backstage building props, costumes and set-pieces.

I’ve just started working at the Fantasmic! Show; helping dancers & stunt performers with quick-changes, helping Mickey and his friends get dressed and pre-setting for each show. The performers are very nice and tell me jokes when they’re not on stage. I’m very happy here so far because I used to volunteer at a theatre back home but had to take a hiatus due to school – I’ve missed it very much.

The biggest challenge has been the culture shock in America. It is hard living in Canada as a ‘White kid’ when you have an African-American appearance. Most of the close friends I have still make jokes or comments about it (even if they don’t intend to hurt my feelings.) But coming to Florida has brought a whole new outlook on African-American people for me. Most women in Canada are not as large or thin and don’t ‘dress’ like the general population here. Men don’t try to grab you on the street for your attention and we don’t listen to the same kind of music. Many of the Haitian people I work with expected me to fully understand them when we’re talking and it’s hard to explain to them that I don’t. It’s hard to deal with people passing by glaring at me wondering why I’m walking around with Caucasian or other people not of my Ethnicity (I guess African-American people travel in packs here?) I feel almost compelled by peer pressure to braid my hair because a lot of girls around me have braids or dreadlocks (or they don’t know how to straighten their hair properly and it’s poofy and short.)

I spend a lot of time visiting the Macau girls living at the Commons complex. I've grown to love my big FSU family and I like to always be there for them when they need someone to listen to them or to laugh at.

Doing this has piqued my interest in potentially finding a job in intercultural communications at Disney or any other company where it’s hard to break language, culture and lifestyle barriers within homes and workplaces. Overall I can honestly say that this trip has been well worth the money so far and I’m having the time of my life.

Details on Disney now on Youtube

It's taken longer than expected, with orientation, check-in, training and getting to know Disney World (yes I'm a first-timer) but I have finally finished my first video about the Disney Exchange program.

click above to watch the video!

For those of you who read my first post 'Why Disney...Why' and have been dying to know more, I hope this sheds a little more light about what's going on...

The initial cost of the program (not including groceries, thing you need to buy once you get here, plus you DO have to still pay for your current year of school even though you won't be there..) housing, job opportunities and other things to do!

Again PLEASE feel free to leave comments here or on my videos about anything else you would like me to answer during our 6 month stay in the program. As always I will be posting more blogs and videos during my stay in America, so please continue to visit :)

'It's a hard-knock life... for a Costumer'

Other cast members may be working in merchandise (or 'merchantainment',) food & beverage or quick service... but I'd like to give you all an example of an average day working at Creative Costuming.

Belle & I (Beast was napping)

There are 13-14 tracks that specify your assignments for a shift, ei: laundry, deliveries, repairs, cleaning..etc. Your first 3 days are training; the first day is usually tours around the park, getting to know the area and helping 1-3 of Mickey's friends get dressed. The second day we watched a couple of shows/performances backstage, practised driving the pargos, learned about the laundry facilities, did some computer/paperwork and again helped a couple friends get dressed. The third day you practise doing laundry your entire shift and that is what you do for the first couple shifts you have. This laundry shift is called 'Track 9.'

So without further adieu, (to the best of my ability because again I cant give away Mickey's secrets) my daily life on Track 9...

12:30-1:00pm  Check detergent levels & clean washers and dryers
Many of our friends wear different styles of clothes and materials, you cant give Daisy a bath using the same soap as Genie because Genie doesn't have any feathers. You cannot wash Mickey's tuxedo in the same soap as Jafar's cape or Wreck-it Ralph's overalls.

1:00pm-4:15pm   All Back laundry
This means to break down all the friends clothing and separate them. Some clothes must be sent to the dry cleaners like Minnie's dressed and Goofy's shirts. Other items like accessories cannot be put into the washing machines like buttons, collars, special pins, belts or shoes. Those need to be hand washed or disinfected gently. Other articles like gloves or socks need to be washed separately and treated to keep their colours bright. We cant have Lilo's red dress in the same machine as Mickey's white gloves after all..

4:15pm-4:30pm  Pick up Play & Dine costumes
Have any of you been to Play & Dine? Well we're the ones who keep their clothes bright and clean for your visit! Simple as that.

4:30pm-5:15pm  -/-
Usually you get your lunch break around this time, because we are so busy your 30min-1hour and your 15min breaks are smushed together.

5:15pm-8:00pm  All Back Laundry
Usually around this time all of our friends start to come back from performing or meet 'n greets and we start helping them undress and give them baths (No one wants to hug a smelly Stitch - phew!) We comb feathers and brush fur, polish shoes and sew any tears. After all the laundry is washed we put it all back so that the workers on other tracks that come in in the morning/afternoon can get it ready the next day.

8:00pm-8:30pm  Check drying room
Since some clothing or accessories cannot be machine washed, the same goes for machine drying. So a lot of our articles get hung and put into our drying room overnight. So we periodically check it to take out the dry articles to make more room for the new wet ones.

Then your day is done! You tell everyone your leaving and to have a good night (and usually the cast members that are done 30min after you all cheer because your leaving, ha-ha!) And you do it all again the next day with a BIG smile because you're working for the BEST company ever!