The Norway Pavilion Epcot

Yesterday it was the official mourning day of the terrorist attacks in Norway that so far have killed 78 people, shocked a whole nation and led to a incredible unity of a small country. It was marked in Norway with big peace demonstrations all over Norway, in the capital Oslo over 200.000 people were gathered to show their support, what was meant to be a torchlight march just became a big still standing marking. In my city Stavanger, with 160.000 inhabitants, over 75.000 people were gathered in the torchlight march, commentators say it haven’t been this many people together in respect and silence since the peace days in 1945.

The Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who is the a person who lost several of his political youth colleges and co-workers in these horrible terror attacks, has been strong throughout this tragedy and kept our nation together in an incredible way. Im incredibly proud of our him. At 12.00pm the PM started the official national wide 1 minute silence, its never been so quiet in Norway for years…

In the Norway pavilion, we also had a memorial marking for the terrorist attack yesterday. Which was first put onstage outside Akershus on the scene, but put backstage later on for the cast. I bought several of flowers, a light, an angel etc so that we also could have something to mark these attacks, because I feel its important to have something to mark what happened and a gathering point. A lot of guests stopped by and paid their respect at the scene I heard, we got flowers from some of the guests as well and a teddy bear from Disney International Programs office. Its touching. Thank you all!!

Yesterday was my only day off, after working nearly 60 hours last week, and the same for this week. I spent the day with Animal Kingdom, which was a blast, Epcot and finished with watching the new Harry Potter movie.

After Animal Kingdom I went to Epcot to get a friend to join me for the cinema, but first I decided to take the Norway ride “Maelstrom”, which is my favorite ride in Disney. The only problem is that its 23 years old and need refurbishment, I got a new hint of that when the ride broke down and had to be evacuated, which took nearly 1 hour.

The boat was going up the ramp to the viking village when it suddenly stopped a voice said: “Please remain seated in your boat, we have encountered an unexpected delay. A Cast Member will be with you in a moment. Remain seated, please. Someone will be with you soon.”

They tried to start the ride a few times, but it just broke down again. In the end they had to evacuate the ride and building, the line which was around 40 minutes long was not so happy about that. We had to sit for around 45 minutes before we got evacuated from the ride, and Im sure the guests in the boat weren’t too happy about that either… I sure wasn’t.

Its time for someone to do something about that ride so it does not break down all the time and works properly. Disney have taken some issues seriously that Ive taken up with them. Now its time for a refurbishment of the Maelstrom ride! The ride is great and I do love it, its just not so cool with electronics from the 80´s that don’t work anymore.

Disney have done some improvements on the Norway pavilion lately though, and redid the Helly room in merchandise, Puffin´s Roost. Its the first room the guest enter in merchandise after the ride and movie, I believe it has become really great.

Nice, don’t you think? I love it!
This is some of how it used to look:

So, I went to work today after waking up to the horrible news that Norway had been attacked by a terrorist, the government buildings were smashed, my party office was smashed, people I know were hurt and some people were dead. When I left for work it was around 7 people dead they thought…

I first of all want to thank Disney for providing support through this time, we got an email at 3 pm about the all the help Disney could offer us, free phone lines to Norway, Disney´s own support in catastrophes etc was all ready and available for all the Norwegian Cast Members if we want it in the coming time. Our managers were also very clear on that we were allowed to use our phones at work today if we needed to get information or try to contact anyone, they lent some of us their phones to call back home as well. They offered helping out with tables if needed, they let the persons affected by this tragedy go home if they wanted to… Thank you so much!

Throughout the day I checked the news and Facebook a lot on my iPod, and got more shocking news every time. I was shocked and started to cry when I read it could be up to 30 people dead according to witnesses. In the end of the day when I was going to bank out, I read that the confirmed number was 80 people dead from the shooting at the youth camp. 7 people dead from the bomb with the government buildings in Oslo.

The person arrested is a strong right-winger, Norwegian man in his early 30´s who lived on Oslo west side his whole life with his mother… He is most likely the only person behind this insane terror attack. He have been planning this for a long time most likely, since he started a farming company some years ago which made it possible to get hold of big amounts of fertilizer.

I must admit that I also believed that it was someone of another ethnicity who did this against my country, but I was clear on that I would not become racist because of this, I know that there is bastards all over the world, and it does not matter if he is black, braun, white etc… An asshole is an asshole, no matter which ethnicity. But as I wrote in my first post this morning, I hoped it wouldn’t lead to a massive hate against immigrants… I realize that I apparently have some prejudice as well and Im sorry about that… Im sort off happy that it was a Norwegian person who did this, not that Im happy at all it happened, but it would lead to a total racist wave in Norway where we would take huge steps back in our tolerance and respect for each other as humans.

I have found out that most of my friends I know in Oslo and Utøya is all right through Facebook and phone. But yeah, I know some people that were injured and shot at. My thoughts go to all affected by this horrible incident!

This reminds me of the song played after the fireworks in Epcot:
We go on, through the joy and through the tears
We go on, moving forward, now as one
moving on, with a spirit born to run
ever on, with each rising sun
to a new day, we go on!

I am proud that we now stand together and condemn these actions and don’t play any cheap political points on this.

So its happened, Norway has most likely been attacked by terrorists today, and still being under attack!

A bomb went off with the government buildings and killed over 2 people, a lot is injured!
A person claiming to be a police man took the ferry to Utøya, where the Labor Party Youth had their summer camp, and started to shoot at the sosial democratic youth camp. The police is currently on their way there…

Its all over the news channels here in America as well, Im pretty shocked right now…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14252515

My first impression is that this will lead to a massive hate against immigrants… Which is horrible.

Yesterday (saturday) I called in sick for the first time.

I was hoping to finish my program with a very clean record card. But I felt like I had to call in to try get better so that I can go to work and actually be functional. As said, Ive been having a terrible week, but now Im pretty much better, just need some more rest… So Im going to call in today as well and try getting back to work on monday and be my best.

The Norway pavilion is unfortunately number 1 in the whole Walt Disney World when it comes to calling in. So compared to what we have in average, me calling in for the first time after 224 days of my program, is really not that bad. But I don´t like calling in as long as I really can be out of the bed, but for my own sake and for me to be as healthy as possible to give a good service to our guests, I feel that this call in is necessary.

After a not so good week Im considering that something needs to change…

All my friends have been terminated or are finished with their program, ofcourse there are some very good ones left, but they will be gone soon too. I have been terribly sick the last week and just felt so homesick. I actually been to work all my scheduled days, so still NO CALL INS on my record card. But don´t feel that have done to good on my body, and now I only have one day off, before we head on to a new, rough week in service, which I still don´t feel I got the total hang on… I mean, all my tables have loved me (it seems), but the stress and time pressure to get everything done within that short time is not healthy….

I´ve considered to go back home to Norway, but I really wanna finish my program so I can get a good resume. I might go out of service after some more time if I can´t adapt too much too it, maybe switch over to another location…. Well, time will show…

Today I finished my first week in service. It have been a fun week, but still trying to adapt better to the speed our system requires.

Today it was pretty bad weather in Disney, and actually the power disappeared for some second leaving the Maelstrom down and restaurant dark for a few seconds. I also think Im about to get the flu (again!), so trying to avoid that… Now Im off for two days, then back to a new rough week.

Today Im maybe going to see the last space shuttle launch with some friends visiting from Norway.