Sea World Time!

Hey everyone!

The main focus of this post is going to be Sea World, because it's taken up most of my time the last couple of days. We started our orientation yesterday at 8 in the morning (Sea World is about a 25 minute bike ride from our motel, so I got up about 6:30) and they basically went over the overview of the company and the park. It was all very general stuff that didn't relate to our job at all, and honestly we could have easily done without, but I was happy to be there and get started. The best part was getting our uniform at the end of the day, which includes black shoes, blue shorts/long pants, a white Sea World polo shirt, a red apron-type thing, a red Sea World hat, a name-tag, and I was lucky enough to get a very nice Sea World vest which I plan on keeping at the end of the summer.

Today, we had our second orientation(this one STARTING at 7...so it was a very early morning). This was a much more hands-on orientation, starting with a tour and an overview of our job. I will be doing vending for the shows like the Shamu show, the Dolphin show, the Sea Lion and Otter show, etc. Basically I'll be carrying trays of popcorn, drinks, hotdogs, ice cream, etc. up the steps of the stadiums and selling. I'll also be preparing the drinks and making popcorn and the other snacks before shows to get ready. After lunch, we got to practice on a show with both the preparation and selling. I filled up lemonade cups($9.75 for about a 35 oz. cup...wow) and got to sell popcorn at the show. It was a rush to have people screaming at you for popcorn and I sold almost all I had before we had to leave.

I will begin working officially on Wednesday with my regular shifts, and I'm looking forward to meeting some co-workers, making some money, and really just having a good time. I've never been to Sea World before, and it seems like a great place to visit and work. The leads, supervisors, and basically everyone we've encountered so far is very pleasant and just enjoys working there. I think it's going to be a very rewarding summer job.

Not much else to report. A major concern that has continued to exist is the job search for many of the project people that couldn't get Sea World jobs. Alot of people are still struggling to land jobs and some are talking of having to go home if they can't get a job for the summer. I'd ask for your prayers that everything would work out and they could stay....it's going to be a life-changing summer for alot of people out here.

Well, time to head out...we're having a reflection, prayer, sharing, and worship time down at a local park and my ministry team is helping to lead it, so I have to go get ready for that.

More to come soon.

albo