A Sniffle as BYU Starts Without Me

Well, school starts tomorrow for all you BYU people. Graduation is a great thing, but enjoy your time there. It seriously is SO weird knowing that everyone, EVERYTHING, will go on without me. The KMB and all it's drama will still exist, dealings at the HFAC (with freshman girls running through glass walls.. ha ha) will still go on, and trips to Smart Cookie and J-Dawgs will occur several times daily, and I won't be a part of it. Yeah yeah, I'm sentimental, but I will miss those good ol days. :-) I am happy to be where I am now- life is good- but it's just kind of a reality check when you know lots of your friends are still at school... and now I have a diploma that tells me I accomplished something and don't ever have to go back into the HFAC or KMB ever again. Ok. Sure. I'll go to Hong Kong. :-) Hee hee. Anyway, above are some pics... happy memories of my time at the "Y"!!

"I Love Belle" and Other Adventures of Sunday in HK

Kaitlyn Sloan (6) drew this picture for me during Sacrament Meeting today. She overheard me talking to her parents about the fact that I am playing Belle in a show at Disneyland. The best part is that she noticed that I am a blonde, but Belle is a brunette. So, she drew me in a wig with some blonde hair coming through. TOO, TOO CUTE! In case you can't tell, the picture says "I love Belle." This kid was adorable- with a cute little Austrailian accent and everything!

The handles in the train to Hong Kong Disneyland. Too cute.

Disney even went all out on the trains that take guests to the park! This train is FANCY!

So the last couple days have been great. Yesterday (Saturday) I explored Hong Kong a bit. The train system here is pretty simple to figure out, so I'm not afraid of it anymore! :-) Hee hee. I am excited to get into the show and a work schedule so that I can really get out and explore now that I kind of have the transportation thing figured out. I was able to get to a grocery store (YAY YAY!), and I also found a Pizza Hut- where PS- they have Hawaiian pizza. Yup, I can survive here. Ha ha. It's still really humid here. Ugh.

Today I took the train and the bus to get to church in Discovery Bay. The branch there is very small, and full of many different nationalities. I went to church today with Phillipenos, Koreans, Japanese, New Zealanders, and Americans. There were probably other nationalities represented there but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head ;-) Everyone was SO friendly and basically attacked me- the new American girl. Like I said, this little girl Kaitlyn, who sat behind me, was so adorable. I will keep the picture she drew for me forever! Where's my scrapbook?!?!?! :-)

I am scheduled to be on stage on Saturday! YAY! I am anxoius for that because that also means I will be able to move into my apartment. That will be really nice. Yup, life here is going just swell! :-)

I AM TAKING RESERVATIONS AT THE "AMY'S APARTMENT IN HONG KONG HOTEL." It's a first come, first serve thing, so reserve your dates now!!! :-)

Today in Hong Kong...

Well, with one week left of rehearsals, I am happy to say that we are now in run-throughs and I personally feel almost ready to go on! YAY! Today was great- we did four run-throughs of the show, and I got to, for the first time, sing with my mic on the stage. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! Seriously, I had a rush of giddiness as soon as I heard my voice on the mulit-million dollar sound system that they have in that theatre. (I assume it's worth millions anyway...) :-) AH! It was just SOOOO much fun and I am so thankful to be here. I miss everyone at home dearly, and I'm sure those feelings of missing home will be more and more intense in the months to come. But for now, Hong Kong is my home- and I'll make it that. :-) Anyway, like I said, that mic check today was awesome. It made me feel, for the first time, that I am REALLY working in a professional setting- "Working" in what I have a degree in- I have a job and am making money. WOW! It's a good feeling!!! (Especially after -cough... SEVEN YEARS... cough- as being a starving student!!!!)

Thanks tons to everyone who looks at this and posts comments and everything. It's fun and gives me an easy way to keep everyone updated. Keep posting!!! Loves to you all! I will get some pics up as soon as I take some. :-)

A Happy and Nerdy Amy in Hong Kong

So, most of you know that my worst habit and guilty pleasure is eating out. (My roommates from last year know this especially!) Anyway, so tonight I was sick of living off peanut butter sandwiches- NO MORE- I said! (At least for one meal...) I ordered myself room service. And know what? IT TASTED LIKE AMERICAN FOOD! THIS IS THE BEST MEAL I HAVE HAD IN TEN DAYS!!! YAY! I won't get addicted to the room service here, but let's be honest- I've been here ten days now. This is my reward to myself. YAY FOOD. I love food that tastes good.

Yes, I am a total nerd and had to take a picture of myself dining alone. :-)

This penne pasta was the best thing I have tasted since the last American meal of French toast I had the morning I left. Life is GOOOOOOD tonight. :-) (Those are VEGATABLES on top... nothing sketchy!) :-)

Uh- HELLO BANANA SPLIT!!! I was in HEAVEN with this thing. The States could learn something about banana splits! Vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice creams, blueberries, strawberries, bananas.... YUMMY. Happy me.

We won't talk about how much it all cost me. :-) ;-) :-)

Rehearsals went well today. I wish with everything in me that I could take pictures and put them up, but they won't let us. The media here in Hong Kong does ANYTHING to get dirt on Disney, and a few months ago a tape (full of who knows WHAT dirty stuff from the men's dressing room) made by some cast members was discovered by the big people. Those guys were immediately fired and all videotaping and picture taking backstage was prohibited. ("Backstage" here means ANYTHING that is behind the scenes of the actual park. I can't even take pics of the buildings I rehearse in). It stinks, but there's nothing I can do. Today we learned my "Beauty and the Beast" segment. It's fun. Now I know the entire show! YAY YAY YAY! An end to rehearsals is in sight!

-Love from the Nerd who posts pictures of her food

The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

My home, for the time being, is the Disneyland Hotel. I posted a couple pictures earlier, but here's a great view of the back of the hotel. It's pretty sweet. If I had a kitchen I could play house here forever! It's like living in a castle!

This is one of the chandelier's in the lobby... there are three of them! Monday and Tuesday were great. The rehearsing keeps on going, but it's nice to have the show almost completely learned! My "on stage" date is September 9- so in a little over a week. I feel completely confident that I'll be ready. :-) We run each number 4 times so that all the new people on the same track can run it once, but I am the only new "Belle" as of right now. So I run each number every single time we do it. Needless to say, I have what I've learned down pretty well.

The weather here in Hong Kong today was BEAUTIFUL!!! The skies were blue and the air was completely clear. (It's always smoggy here, so seeing the building on the other island was AMAZING). It was just gorgeous and I was glad to be here! YAY HONG KONG.

Soooooooo... who is coming to visit?? I am now taking reservations for the extra room at my apartment. I WANT VISITORS!!! :-) Love.

Mary Kay Day at Hong Kong Disneyland

Well, today was my first day "off" here in Hong Kong. I planned on going into the city with the other cast members, but when I woke up they had already left. Whoops. I slept in because last night I had an AWFUL headache. Oh well... so I was here by myself... what to do.

Obviously I went into the park. I had not yet seen the actual place where I'll be working: Hong Kong Disneyland. It seriously CRACKS ME UP to see all these Chinese people wearing Goofy and Winnie the Pooh hats. GROWN MEN wearing them. It's seriously way too cute. The park is like the other Disney parks, but a lot smaller. Chinese people don't care about the rides very much. In fact, Space Mountain is their LEAST popular ride. What is the MOST popular? "The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." THAT is their favorite ride here. Hee hee. (Hey, but to be honest, Peter Pan is my favorite ride in California...) Anyway, so the MAIN reason people come here to Hong Kong Disneyland is to TAKE PICTURES. You know how at home there are bus loads of oriental people taking pictures? Magnify that by a few million and you may have a glimpse of what I saw today. It was great.

Apparently today was Chinese Mary Kay day in the park. These pink umbrellas were EVERYWHERE. It made me smile. There were little makeup ladies everywhere with pink umbrellas and matching bags. Hee hee.

I also got to sit and watch the other live show here in the park: The Festival of the Lion King. It was BRILLIANT!!! AHHH! It just gave me chills and made me giddy that I am working for Disney. They do good stuff!!! :-) WAHOO! Anyway, here are some pics of the show.

By the way- any BYU people wanna come out here and join me, please?? :-)

More Pics of "The Golden Mickeys"

Well, can y'all tell that I have plenty of time to blog while I am here in Hong Kong?? :-) Well, the good news is that today we started rehearsals!!! WAHOO! The last few days we've just been going over policies and whatever as we sat in a classroom. Today we finally got started on the show and the opening number was finished in three hours!!! Yay! Tomorrow I have a musical rehearsal- which I am excited for- and we also learn my other two numbers tomorrow- "Friendship," from "Toy Story," and "Be A Man" from "Mulan." Yes, I am in a song called "Be A Man." WHATEVER. I am just really anxious to be done with the rehearsal stuff and into a normal work schedule. Do the show a few times a day, then go home. I am also getting anxious to get into my apartment where I can cook. I don't like having to search for somewhere to eat- things would be easier too if I could access cash from my account. (Sigh... my cards STILL won't work here... sad.) ANYWAY... but all in all, things are great! It rained really hard here tonight, so the air cleared out. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love it! :-)

Anyway, I had a chance to watch the show again today- so I took some more pics. So here are some pictures of the fun little show I'll be doing for the next seven months!

My really cool ballroom!!!

The Finale

More Beauty...

Oh YAY! My Beast is now a long haired, greasy Prince!! I am so happy!

Under The Sea (This scene is really amazing)

This is Tarzan. I WISH I could get a good picture of it, but it moves really fast. Anyway, this song, "Song of Man" is BRILLIANT. AH! I wish you all could see it!!!

Mickey Croutons, Enormous Amy, and WEIRD American Names!

OK- well, today (Wednesday) was full of interesting discoveries and excitement. First of all, I bought a salad from the Disney Hollywood Hotel. There were Mickey CROUTONS. Disney goes all the way, don't they?!?!!? :-)

I also had my first costume fitting today!!! WAHOO! I was excited because the Belle dress is stunning- BUT I had three other costumes to put on BEFORE I got to put on the Belle dress. Can I say, first of all, that a costume fitting is REALLY unnerving when Cantonese speaking people are poking and proding at your body and you just have to stand there and wonder what comments they are making about you??? :-) Yeah- well, I could get the jist of it all that I am HUGE and way too tall for all of the costumes they pulled for me. Every single pair of pants I put on were seriously 5 inches too short- at least! Oh, it was funny. I also have never considered myself even remotely fat, but wow. I feel really weird when everything I wear is "large." That has never happened to me before!!! ACK! Ha ha. I am acting like such a girl. Anyway, Amy, WELCOME TO HONG KONG and LITTLE PEOPLE. :-)

All the people that work here in the park have American names: The winners of today are "Hippo" and "Elk". Uh, did no one tell these girls that those aren't NAMES... they are terms for ANIMALS. Hee hee. I laughed out loud when I saw "Hippo." Maybe she just thinks it's a pretty name???

Anyway- so all is well here in Hong Kong. The cast is out "clubbing" tonight. I am here blogging. :-) Hee hee. Love!

First Full Day in Hong Kong!!

Today was BUSINESS. Lots of business. We went downtown to get Hong Kong ID cards, then we had to open Hong Kong-ian bank accounts where Disney will deposit our paychecks. Then we ate lunch....

Heaven bless the California Pizza Kitchen (Alan Sackett, if you are reading this I immediately thought of you and wished you were there with me) Anyway, so we went to the California Pizza Kitchen for lunch because Winnie, the girl taking us on errands, didn't think we could handle real Chinese food yet. For this I felt blessed. Seriously, just walking around the "food court" made me wanna die. All those smells of things that came back up when I was on tour with YA's last year kinda made me ill. Ha ha. I will be fine, I just need to experiment and find what I do and don't like. HOWEVER, we also went to a supermarket where they have food from all over the world. INCLUDING Honey Bunches of Oats, DiJorno Pizzas, Skippy Peanut Butter, and the same brands of CHEESE as in the States. I will grow to ADORE that supermarket.

I currently have no access to my US accounts- so I have no money. A PROBLEM. However, the guys have been wonderful to me and keep lending me money. I HATE borrowing like that, but hopefully I will get all the issues with Wells Fargo worked out before tomorrow!!!

I am the one vocalist they hired among a bunch of dancers. LOTS of the performers here are Aussies. I like their accents. I want one. Ha ha. There is another "Belle" vocalist coming, but she'll be here a week late.

Sooooo... the show. Today we sat and watch the show. CHEESY, but really fun and entertaining. AND I have NEVER, EVER, seen a more eager audience. All these cute little Chinese people BOUNDING- seriously, BOUNDING and BOUNCING into the theatre. The show is REALLY high energy with GREAT special effects and costumes. My gold dress is fabulous- in fact, I like it more than the one I wore at the Orem Hale, even though that one was stunning. I realized, when I saw the other Belle, that the reason I was cast is because of my gigantic eyes. Seeing the other girl was like looking in a mirror almost. FUN!

Anyway, so here I am sitting in my great hotel room again. Blogging. I'm a geek. Everyone is still suffering from jet lag or just being plain tired from the days events, but ya know... they all solve it by drinking then crashing. So I opt to hang out here for a little while. There is one girl who is too young to drink, so I think the two of us will become buddies. Hee hee.

Anyway, here are pictures of the hotel. One is the front of the hotel, another the view of things from my room balcony, and the other of the ocean outside the cafe. I've also put up a few pictures of my section of the show. WAHOO!!! :-)

My Last Days in Utah

Here are some pics from the last couple days before I left for Hong Kong. Thanks to all the people who called and took me out to eat, or to those who just showed up on a lunch break to say goodbye to me. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

So a couple days before I left I took my cousins Kallie and Matt waterskiing up at Pineview Dam. IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH FUN to watch Matt do all that stuff for the first time and to see Kallie giggle and squint because she couldn't wear her cute glasses in the water!!! :-) We also had a baby shower for my cousin Melissa who is due to have a baby, Nathan Reid, in only a few weeks! I also got to see my cousins Mary, Katrina, and Chelsea who I hardly ever see! And now Katrina is a regular on my blog!!! YAY! Anyway, here are some pics!

I AM IN HONG KONG!!!

A few observations I made during my LOOOONG flight...

This new policy of no liquids or gels stinks. It especially stinks for those contact wearers out there... like myself. Sleeping and then having your contacts suctioned to your eyes with no means of wetting them is ikky. Hee hee.

So I got all sad because the last time I was here in Hong Kong I was here with 32+ of my favorite people. Now it's me. Just Amy. :-) Well, Amy and her Heavenly Father... so hey, good bonding time, eh?? :-) There are five other new cast members, I am the only vocalist among the whole group. They are all dancers... two of them worked in Orlando for awhile and three other girls came from Austrailia. They all seem nice and cool and stuff, I was just SOOO tired and zoned tonight that I decided to stay in my room, write a blog, and go to sleep!! I think all of us who came from the States pretty much felt that way. :-)

It's HUMID here. Yeah- I knew that before... but it's humid here. Did I mention it's humid here? I am afraid things are going to mold!!

I left my toothbrushes at home. I like hotels that have them for me. :-)

I am staying at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel for the next three or so weeks. It's nice cuz it's right by the park where I'll be rehearsing and all. It's a nice, nice place. In a few weeks I will get to move into my apartment, which I am excited for!!! But for now I am soaking up the Disney Hotel experience. I walked into the lobby and the first thing I saw were two teenaged Chinese girls walking around with "Eeyore" and "Rabbit" headband ears. DISNEY. Cute.

OK- well, more later. I'll try to get some pics up soon too. :-)

5 DAYS!!!

Well, today I got my flight plans, and it looks like I am leaving the good state of Utah on Saturday morning at 11:59. YIKES!!! It's all exciting and scary and everything! I fly into San Fransisco and then to Hong Kong where I arrive at 6 PM Sunday!!! AHHHH!

I spent the last four days up in West Yellowstone at the Playmill. That place makes me happy and brings so many fun and happy memories!!! I ADORE IT!!! More later...

On Stage Pics of Crazy For You!

Yes, my new computer finally came. Well, the REPLACEMENT for the one that didn't work finally came. This is actually a pic of me with the one that didn't work... (with me sporting my lovely after-show hairdo) Anyway, so I bought my iPod yesterday and have spend the last three days of my life loading music onto my computer for it. Hee hee. Unfortunately, tons of my CD's are busted up from an accident I had four years ago when I left them on top of a car as I left West Yellowstone for the weekend. NOT a good feeling when you look behind your car on the highway and see your CD's scattered across the road!!!! We saved a bunch of them, but they're all pretty sad looking. :-) BUT, most of them are still working to put on my computer. Amy is happy.

I leave two weeks from tomorrow. Well, I THINK. They haven't got me my flight plans yet.... that would be nice. Anyway, all is well.