Day Four (Thursday, March 29)
Shooting day! I had to be awake at 530am, not 6 like I just posted.. I was picked up at 6 to go to the location. We drove about 45 minutes, which I slept the whole way! We were in a place called Pilar I believe. We arrived at the studio at 6:45 and sat to wait for the rest of the crew to show up. Breakfast was there waiting for us, so we ate, had some coffee and waited. 730 rolls around and people start showing up, hair was late so I was still told to wait. 8 comes around and they decide since hair is not there, we will start with makeup. I finish my makeup, the hair stylist arrives and I do hair. All of the shenanigans finishes around 10 or 1030, I put my outfit on and I head over to the studio to start shooting! Oh, I forgot to mention my part was a thai girl. Meaning I had to speak thai for almost all of my shots.. Thai is not an easy language.. I know I talk pretty fast, but they speak extra fast! Plus, the language is obviously not my first, so trying to learn it, while saying it really fast... makes the words jumble together sometimes! They brought in a coach that spoke both Thai and English, so she could help me with pronunciation. She told me my Thai accent was very good, that I seemed to have no problem picking up the sentences the script gave me! By the end of my shooting I basically felt like I was thai and could speak it fluently! I finished all of my shots by about 2 or 230, so we took a break for lunch and then a car took me back to my hotel. I get back to my hotel, wash my make up off, brush my hair and get ready to go do some more wandering! 10 minutes into my exploring I get a phone call saying I will need to go back to the studio, they forgot a shot of mine. I go back to the hotel, wait for a car to come get me and at about 6 they arrive, we drive to the location, get there about 715, since I took my makeup off they have to re-do it! After going through the whole beauty regimen again, I wait for the other girl to finish her parts and then I shoot my last one, literally took 5 minutes... but what can you do, its part of the job! I didn't really mind anyway, the crew and clients were really great and very very nice! Once we got the last shot, the director yelled thats a wrap and everyone went nuts!! Shouting, clapping, everything you can imagine! It was so exciting, usually at the end of a shoot everyone is excited, but I have never been a part of a production where they were this excited, it was so cool! After the real "thats a wrap" and getting the final call to go home, a car took me, the other actress, the language coach and the stand-in back into Buenos Aires. That all brings me back to right here, writing these entries for my blog. I am pretty tired after lots of travel time and being up early today, but I have tomorrow to sleep in then the rest of the day plus Saturday morning to do more exploring! I think an area called San Telmo is on the agenda for tomorrow, but I need to check things out a bit more. Another post to follow on my last day and a half in Argentina! Ciao!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Day Two (Tuesday, March 27):
Free day! First actual day in Buenos Aires and I get to spend it doing whatever I want! I google places to go check out and then I head off shopping! My hotel is basically right downtown so it was nice because I could just walk to the places I wanted to go! I left around 1pm and didn't get back until about 7:30 or so! I went down a street called Sante Fe Avenue, which goes on forever with shops and restaurants, then I turned around, walked all the way back and then went to another street called Florida Street. It is a pedestrian street, so no vehicles are allowed and it is also filled with many shops! For lunch I stopped at a restaurant, which I don't remember the name, and got pumpkin ravioli.. sooooo good! The pasta was so fresh and soft and the whole thing was just delicious! Surprisingly, the whole 6 hours I was out "shopping" the only thing I purchased was my food... what the heck right? I came back to the hotel, hung out for a bit then went to bed. Day one probably doesn't sound that intersting..but it was so cool to walk around and see some of Buenos Aires, it's my first time in South America! The streets were very crowded and traffic was crazy! The only time there wasn't a store on the ave was when there was an intersection, where a street would be! How can there be this many stores and them all still open and running? I have no idea.
Day Three (Wednesday, March 28)
Day three started out with another free morning, to do whatever I wanted. I slept til 10, woke up and got semi ready, then went back to a couple of the shops where I saw things I wanted to buy! Of course, I didn't buy any of those items...but I did come across one pair of leather flat/loafer type shoes that i really enjoy, so I did purchase those! After a couple of hours out, I went back to my hotel, where a girl from the production house would meet me. She took me to a hair salon, where I got a hair treatment and my nails done! After spending a couple hours there doing all that beauty shenanigans, I got the car to take me to an area called Palermo. I read that it is basically the Soho of Buenos Aires. Many many streets with lots of shops, more high end stores, not necessarily name brands we know back in Canada, but high end Buenos Aires brands! Still very neat to go look around the area. I only spent a couple of hours there, because it started to get dark and I didn't want to be wandering around unknown streets by myself at night! I got a cab and went back to my hotel, where I ordered room service, watched tv shows on my computer and then went to bed, as I had to be awake at 6am this morning....
Free day! First actual day in Buenos Aires and I get to spend it doing whatever I want! I google places to go check out and then I head off shopping! My hotel is basically right downtown so it was nice because I could just walk to the places I wanted to go! I left around 1pm and didn't get back until about 7:30 or so! I went down a street called Sante Fe Avenue, which goes on forever with shops and restaurants, then I turned around, walked all the way back and then went to another street called Florida Street. It is a pedestrian street, so no vehicles are allowed and it is also filled with many shops! For lunch I stopped at a restaurant, which I don't remember the name, and got pumpkin ravioli.. sooooo good! The pasta was so fresh and soft and the whole thing was just delicious! Surprisingly, the whole 6 hours I was out "shopping" the only thing I purchased was my food... what the heck right? I came back to the hotel, hung out for a bit then went to bed. Day one probably doesn't sound that intersting..but it was so cool to walk around and see some of Buenos Aires, it's my first time in South America! The streets were very crowded and traffic was crazy! The only time there wasn't a store on the ave was when there was an intersection, where a street would be! How can there be this many stores and them all still open and running? I have no idea.
Day Three (Wednesday, March 28)
Day three started out with another free morning, to do whatever I wanted. I slept til 10, woke up and got semi ready, then went back to a couple of the shops where I saw things I wanted to buy! Of course, I didn't buy any of those items...but I did come across one pair of leather flat/loafer type shoes that i really enjoy, so I did purchase those! After a couple of hours out, I went back to my hotel, where a girl from the production house would meet me. She took me to a hair salon, where I got a hair treatment and my nails done! After spending a couple hours there doing all that beauty shenanigans, I got the car to take me to an area called Palermo. I read that it is basically the Soho of Buenos Aires. Many many streets with lots of shops, more high end stores, not necessarily name brands we know back in Canada, but high end Buenos Aires brands! Still very neat to go look around the area. I only spent a couple of hours there, because it started to get dark and I didn't want to be wandering around unknown streets by myself at night! I got a cab and went back to my hotel, where I ordered room service, watched tv shows on my computer and then went to bed, as I had to be awake at 6am this morning....
Argentina!
Alright, to start off.. I am going to be making multiple posts right now, that way the posts don't get to to long!!
First we will start up with the 2 days pre-Argentina. That takes us to Thursday March 22. Just a nice evening in the home of my Auntie Donna in Edmonton, making some tea.. usual evening activities. I am in the kitchen with my auntie while my mom is in a different room, where my phone happens to be. I hear her talking to someone on the phone and don't really think much of it until she says "Courtney". I go into the room she is in and she says "That was Pat" (Pat is my agent in Calgary). "She wants to know if you can go to Argentina tomorrow". Not quite what I was expecting from that!! Obviously my answer was yes! So I called my agent back, getting the few details she had and then hung up. She told me I was an option for a Sunsilk shampoo commercial in Buenos Aires, Argentina and they would need to fly me out ASAP if I was confirmed (this being around maybe 9pm). Freaking out, but keeping my cool at the same time, because i have been options for direct bookings many times, but have never actually booked any of them. I was to wait for a call from Pat and then go from there.. the only issue here being that me and my mom were getting up at 6am to drive to Camrose to tour Augustana and then drive back to Edmonton to tour U of A. I put my phone on the loudest it could go and went to bed. Waking up in the morning hearing no news, we went on the tours, spent the whole day out and then returned back to my auntie and uncles. By the evening I still hadn't heard anything so we assumed it was a no go. That night I went and spent the night at Janna's, thinking oh no need to worry about this anymore! 2:30 am rolls around and my agent from Bangkok emails me, wanting me to fill out a form with measurements and things about myself... of course at 2:30am I am not really in a state to do that, so I leave it until the morning. 8am rolls around and I get a phone call from my agent in Bangkok saying it is urgent and this form needs to be filled out, so very groggily, I wake up, drive back to my aunties and get this thing filled out. Once it is complete she tells me 3 hours and we will know the results. Maybe about 30-45 minutes later, we are eating breakfast when I hear my phone vibrate. We were eating so I obviously don't go check, but when we finish I look at my phone and I have a message from my agent reading "you are confirmed for sunsilk". Thats it. No Yay, congrats woohoo or anything. So I look at it, my eyes go huge as ever and I don't even remember what I said, perhaps "oh my lord". This quickly gets the attention of my family and they say what?! and I reply, I booked it. From then on it was complete chaos in the house! Trying to get my ready to go, figuring out flights etc etc. One stressful day let me tell you! By the end of Saturday, in the evening, I finally get a flight schedule, (saturday me and my mom were supposed to drive back to GP, but obviously this would not occur). I would leave Edmonton Sunday morning at 8am, fly to Toronto so I could re-pack and get my passport and then straight to Buenos Aires! These couple of days were probably the most stressful/exciting I have ever had! and by probably I mean they definitely were the most stressful and exciting!
I get to the airport bright and early Sunday, check in and am very very shocked to see the clients for the job have booked me first class all the way from Edmonton to Buenos Aires! BEST DAY EVER. So I was treated quite lovely, with very roomy chairs, "champagne or orange juice?" and a very nice menu with a selection of delicious food (not the iffy kind I usually get when I fly in economy). I get to Toronto, re-pack, grab my passport and back to the airport I go. This time the plane was so huge!! My seat reclined all the way back to flat, so it was basically a bed to sleep. They gave me a normal sized pillow and a huge blanket! I also got a little bag with socks, an eye cover, lotion, lip balm, ear plugs, toothbrush and paste and mentos! WIN. The menus are the first class flights were nuts, to save space, words and reading, I'll just post pictures of them below! Ahh yes can't forget.. when I was in Toronto waiting for my flight, I had the option to go into the Maple Leaf Lounge, which I never have before because I never fly first class! So I went in, and you get free everything! Food, drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic), wifi, showers if you need too! It was so sweet, but I felt slightly weird and out of place, as I was the youngest by atleast 15-20 years!
Once arriving in Buenos Aires, Pedro, from the production company was waiting with a sign that had my name on it. From there we went straight to the fitting and hair test! I basically just tried on 5000 outfits and they tested my hair to see how it would work with the light and how I would have to flip it etc. After that, day one in Argentina ended and I was taken back to my hotel.
First we will start up with the 2 days pre-Argentina. That takes us to Thursday March 22. Just a nice evening in the home of my Auntie Donna in Edmonton, making some tea.. usual evening activities. I am in the kitchen with my auntie while my mom is in a different room, where my phone happens to be. I hear her talking to someone on the phone and don't really think much of it until she says "Courtney". I go into the room she is in and she says "That was Pat" (Pat is my agent in Calgary). "She wants to know if you can go to Argentina tomorrow". Not quite what I was expecting from that!! Obviously my answer was yes! So I called my agent back, getting the few details she had and then hung up. She told me I was an option for a Sunsilk shampoo commercial in Buenos Aires, Argentina and they would need to fly me out ASAP if I was confirmed (this being around maybe 9pm). Freaking out, but keeping my cool at the same time, because i have been options for direct bookings many times, but have never actually booked any of them. I was to wait for a call from Pat and then go from there.. the only issue here being that me and my mom were getting up at 6am to drive to Camrose to tour Augustana and then drive back to Edmonton to tour U of A. I put my phone on the loudest it could go and went to bed. Waking up in the morning hearing no news, we went on the tours, spent the whole day out and then returned back to my auntie and uncles. By the evening I still hadn't heard anything so we assumed it was a no go. That night I went and spent the night at Janna's, thinking oh no need to worry about this anymore! 2:30 am rolls around and my agent from Bangkok emails me, wanting me to fill out a form with measurements and things about myself... of course at 2:30am I am not really in a state to do that, so I leave it until the morning. 8am rolls around and I get a phone call from my agent in Bangkok saying it is urgent and this form needs to be filled out, so very groggily, I wake up, drive back to my aunties and get this thing filled out. Once it is complete she tells me 3 hours and we will know the results. Maybe about 30-45 minutes later, we are eating breakfast when I hear my phone vibrate. We were eating so I obviously don't go check, but when we finish I look at my phone and I have a message from my agent reading "you are confirmed for sunsilk". Thats it. No Yay, congrats woohoo or anything. So I look at it, my eyes go huge as ever and I don't even remember what I said, perhaps "oh my lord". This quickly gets the attention of my family and they say what?! and I reply, I booked it. From then on it was complete chaos in the house! Trying to get my ready to go, figuring out flights etc etc. One stressful day let me tell you! By the end of Saturday, in the evening, I finally get a flight schedule, (saturday me and my mom were supposed to drive back to GP, but obviously this would not occur). I would leave Edmonton Sunday morning at 8am, fly to Toronto so I could re-pack and get my passport and then straight to Buenos Aires! These couple of days were probably the most stressful/exciting I have ever had! and by probably I mean they definitely were the most stressful and exciting!
I get to the airport bright and early Sunday, check in and am very very shocked to see the clients for the job have booked me first class all the way from Edmonton to Buenos Aires! BEST DAY EVER. So I was treated quite lovely, with very roomy chairs, "champagne or orange juice?" and a very nice menu with a selection of delicious food (not the iffy kind I usually get when I fly in economy). I get to Toronto, re-pack, grab my passport and back to the airport I go. This time the plane was so huge!! My seat reclined all the way back to flat, so it was basically a bed to sleep. They gave me a normal sized pillow and a huge blanket! I also got a little bag with socks, an eye cover, lotion, lip balm, ear plugs, toothbrush and paste and mentos! WIN. The menus are the first class flights were nuts, to save space, words and reading, I'll just post pictures of them below! Ahh yes can't forget.. when I was in Toronto waiting for my flight, I had the option to go into the Maple Leaf Lounge, which I never have before because I never fly first class! So I went in, and you get free everything! Food, drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic), wifi, showers if you need too! It was so sweet, but I felt slightly weird and out of place, as I was the youngest by atleast 15-20 years!
Once arriving in Buenos Aires, Pedro, from the production company was waiting with a sign that had my name on it. From there we went straight to the fitting and hair test! I basically just tried on 5000 outfits and they tested my hair to see how it would work with the light and how I would have to flip it etc. After that, day one in Argentina ended and I was taken back to my hotel.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Here is part two of todays blog..
I went to Phuket to shoot on Tuesday and Wednesday! I left at 840am on Tuesday, arrived at 10am. I was picked up to the airport and we went to eat lunch, it was about 1230 by the time they picked me up and we got somewhere close to the shooting site to eat. After eating we went to the shooting site and I got my hair and makeup done, we then waited for Justin to finish shooting his part (which was in a different location). Once he got there we started to shoot, which was about 430 or 5 and we finished at about 7 because the last shot had to be at sunset, and there is only a 5-10 minute span where the sun is setting! The last shot was me and Justin driving off on the motorbike in the sunset. They shut down the road and everything! People lined the roads to see what was going on and they were shouting things and taking pictures. The director then told me that they thought I was some thai celebrity, and thats why they were yelling things at me and taking photos! It was kind of cool pretending to be this thai famous person for a little bit! After we wrapped for the day, we went to the hotel and ate, then went to bed. I had to be up at 345am the next morning!! Makeup was done at 4 and then we left the hotel around 530 to go to the next location. We arrived at Chalong Pier, where we ate breakfast...which to thai people is regular food, and that days was rice with chicken wings... I refrained from this breakfast and just had coffee and a sandwich instead.. We then all got on a boat to go to where we were shooting. There was a cargo ship type boat out in the water near a different beach where all the camera equipment and camera crew were set up. We climbed onto it and got ready to shoot. I was taught how to steer the speed boat, I didn't have to shift up or down to make it go faster or slower, the professional did that. All I had to do was steer, which is really easy! We shot until about 2 in the afternoon then packed up and headed back to Chalong pier. We ate lunch and then hung out for a bit (our flight didn't leave until 930pm). Most of the crew had to drive back in the vans they had brought, but me, the lady that did the casting, the stylist and then the director and clients were flying back. The stylist, lady who did the casting and myself went and got massages after we ate! After that we caught a taxi to the airport, ate dinner and flew back to Bangkok! The beach we shot at the second day was so nice, the water was so blue! It was extremely hot though, so my black pants and top didn't fair so nicely... I could basically feel the onset of heat stroke as the minutes passed in the day.. but I still enjoyed my time!
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| The breakfast I didn't eat.. |
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| Sunrise! |
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| Chalong Beach |
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| Myself and the makeup artist |
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| Myself and the hair stylist |
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| The scarf I didn't actually wear to shoot..was just to keep my hair from getting wrecked! |
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| Getting the camera ready! |
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| The whole crew! |
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| View from the restaurant where we ate lunch |
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| Day 1 onset! |
I have a lot to blog about today, since I haven't written in a bit, so I'm going to split it into two separate entries! This one is about the sightseeing day I had last weekend.
Me and another model from my agency went out sightseeing with a makeup artist from here. She took us all around and explained what everything was so it was really good! We started at the temple of the Golden Mountain. When we first got there, we bought these little packages that had a sheet of gold paper, a red piece of cloth with thai designs on it, holy water and 2 white string bracelets. With the gold paper, you write your name, birthday and time of birth (if you know that) and you take it with you to the top of the "mountain". Once you get up to the top you go on your knees and pray to the buddha for what you wish for, holding the paper, then you put it in this large pot. Once they have enough of these sheets collected they melt them together and make a gold buddha out of them! With the red cloth that came in the package, you are supposed to put it in your wallet and take it with you everywhere, it it supposed to bring good luck, good fortune and keep you safe. The white string bracelets you are supposed to wear one, and give one to someone else. They are meant for protection from accidents of any sort. The holy water you keep to use on yourself any time. Walking up to the top of the temple, there are 300 or so steps, but small ones, so it wasn't to energy consuming! As you go up, there was a spot where it was just flat, with about 10 large bells in a row and then a huge gong at the end. You are supposed to ring every bell in a row, then hit the gong 3 times. This is so everyone knows your name (this is what I understood from the lady that took us..). Once we got to the top we stayed up there for a bit and looked over Bangkok from above! Near the top, right before you get to the very top, there is an indoor area with buddha laying down and a flame in the front, with a box with sand in it. You take a lotus flower and a bundle with two sticks and a small sheet of gold. You put the flower in the vase next to the sand, then you take the gold sheet out, hold the two sticks in your hand, light them in the flame and then go on your knees and pray to the buddha, then put the sticks in the sand. After, you take the gold sheet and put it wherever you want on the buddha. Around the corner from this, there is a row with 7 buddhas, one for every day of the week. Next to it is a smaller buddha, with a cup and a bunch of sticks inside that are numbered. You sit infront of the buddha and shake the cup until one of the sticks fall out, whichever stick falls out first, you take the number and you go look on the wall where the fortunes are. You read the fortune with the number of the stick that fell out. My fortune was not so awesome.. I'll put a picture of it below! If you get a bad fortune, you go to the 7 buddhas and you put the number of coins in the slot corresponding to the day of the week that you were born. This is supposed to bring you good luck and then you try the fortune sticks again!
After the Golden Mount, we went to Wat In, which is a temple with a very large standing gold buddha. We went inside a prayer room here, where there is a wax figure of a famous buddha, and everyone sits around him and prays. There is a thai prayer that is recorded and played over and over in the room, and all the thai people recite it, then leave. We didn't stay there very long, then we moved on to our next location.
From Wat In, we walked to the Rama 8 bridge, which is a suspension bridge crossing the Chao Phraya River. We walked across it, to the other side and sat in this area to rest for a little bit. In this area there was a skateboard park, which I have never seen in Bangkok! I don't even think I have seen anyone skateboard before in Bangkok! There was also dance classes going on! They blasted the music really loud and anyone that wanted to join could, so we joined in for a bit! It was quite a large fail, but it was so funny! The old thai ladies were showing us up for sure.. After resting for a bit we took a taxi to Khao San Road.
At Khao San Road, we walked around for a bit, then sat down and ate. I had green curry with chicken and it was sooo good. This is one of my favorite thai dishes, but it is so spicy! My face was so hot with the curry and then the heat from outside, I was dying, but couldn't stop eating it because it was so good!! After eating we all went our separate ways and went home, we were all pretty wiped out from walking all day in the heat!
Me and another model from my agency went out sightseeing with a makeup artist from here. She took us all around and explained what everything was so it was really good! We started at the temple of the Golden Mountain. When we first got there, we bought these little packages that had a sheet of gold paper, a red piece of cloth with thai designs on it, holy water and 2 white string bracelets. With the gold paper, you write your name, birthday and time of birth (if you know that) and you take it with you to the top of the "mountain". Once you get up to the top you go on your knees and pray to the buddha for what you wish for, holding the paper, then you put it in this large pot. Once they have enough of these sheets collected they melt them together and make a gold buddha out of them! With the red cloth that came in the package, you are supposed to put it in your wallet and take it with you everywhere, it it supposed to bring good luck, good fortune and keep you safe. The white string bracelets you are supposed to wear one, and give one to someone else. They are meant for protection from accidents of any sort. The holy water you keep to use on yourself any time. Walking up to the top of the temple, there are 300 or so steps, but small ones, so it wasn't to energy consuming! As you go up, there was a spot where it was just flat, with about 10 large bells in a row and then a huge gong at the end. You are supposed to ring every bell in a row, then hit the gong 3 times. This is so everyone knows your name (this is what I understood from the lady that took us..). Once we got to the top we stayed up there for a bit and looked over Bangkok from above! Near the top, right before you get to the very top, there is an indoor area with buddha laying down and a flame in the front, with a box with sand in it. You take a lotus flower and a bundle with two sticks and a small sheet of gold. You put the flower in the vase next to the sand, then you take the gold sheet out, hold the two sticks in your hand, light them in the flame and then go on your knees and pray to the buddha, then put the sticks in the sand. After, you take the gold sheet and put it wherever you want on the buddha. Around the corner from this, there is a row with 7 buddhas, one for every day of the week. Next to it is a smaller buddha, with a cup and a bunch of sticks inside that are numbered. You sit infront of the buddha and shake the cup until one of the sticks fall out, whichever stick falls out first, you take the number and you go look on the wall where the fortunes are. You read the fortune with the number of the stick that fell out. My fortune was not so awesome.. I'll put a picture of it below! If you get a bad fortune, you go to the 7 buddhas and you put the number of coins in the slot corresponding to the day of the week that you were born. This is supposed to bring you good luck and then you try the fortune sticks again!
After the Golden Mount, we went to Wat In, which is a temple with a very large standing gold buddha. We went inside a prayer room here, where there is a wax figure of a famous buddha, and everyone sits around him and prays. There is a thai prayer that is recorded and played over and over in the room, and all the thai people recite it, then leave. We didn't stay there very long, then we moved on to our next location.
From Wat In, we walked to the Rama 8 bridge, which is a suspension bridge crossing the Chao Phraya River. We walked across it, to the other side and sat in this area to rest for a little bit. In this area there was a skateboard park, which I have never seen in Bangkok! I don't even think I have seen anyone skateboard before in Bangkok! There was also dance classes going on! They blasted the music really loud and anyone that wanted to join could, so we joined in for a bit! It was quite a large fail, but it was so funny! The old thai ladies were showing us up for sure.. After resting for a bit we took a taxi to Khao San Road.
At Khao San Road, we walked around for a bit, then sat down and ate. I had green curry with chicken and it was sooo good. This is one of my favorite thai dishes, but it is so spicy! My face was so hot with the curry and then the heat from outside, I was dying, but couldn't stop eating it because it was so good!! After eating we all went our separate ways and went home, we were all pretty wiped out from walking all day in the heat!
My unfortunate fortune...
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The past couple of weeks have not been very busy at all with castings, pretty much just been hanging out, not doing a whole lot! I had 3 fittings for the Honda job I booked, 1 to many really. Then today I did the shoot for the print part of the job. It was easy, didn't have to do a whole lot, and it was a really easy, relaxed shoot which was good. Now for the fun entertaining part,
Lets start with the few casting/job stories I have..
1) When you are at a casting and the person running it tells you "one moment ka", that doesn't actually mean one moment as it should.. it means atleast an hour, but probably longer. In this particular case it meant 4 hours... not my forte
2) Thai people pronounce my name one of two ways usually. Either "caught-kneeee", with little emphasis on the "t" and much much emphasis on the "eeee". The second way is "connie"..and these are only when they get it just a little bit correct.. otherwise there is no way they can pronounce it!
3) At shoots they always tell you, "one more", "one more". Does that ever mean actually one more? Noooo way, not at all. One more usually means atleast 20, but they just tell you one more, so you put in all the effort as if its the last shot.. this is what I assume anyway.
Now on to the driving/taxi stories..
1) I was in a taxi, going to a casting and just my luck he had to stop for gas. So I was in the taxi, while we wait for a pump to be free. There are attendants at each pump, that pump the gas for you. The odd thing is, they lift the hood and pump the gas in there somewhere! The taxi's don't have gas tanks on the side like the vehicles in Canada do! So so odd.
2) Most taxi drivers SUCK at driving. Like unreal, if you are going to drive a flippin standard probably learn to drive it properly!! Most taxi's here are standard, and its not so awesome because there is usually a whole lot of traffic, so there is a lot of shifting etc. NOT AWESOME. I have definitely developed some car sick issues, which is not cool. Even when there isn't traffic, the shifting issue is still a problem, it is so jerky and makes you feel ill for sure. Moral of the story, if you get car sick, I do not advise you to get in a taxi during busy traffic hours!
3) Regarding #2...sometimes taxi drivers that have automatic vehicles still SUCK. Driving here goes like this: Speed up as much as you can, to get as far ahead as you can, then when you need to come to a stop, don't ease in to it, hit your breaks right before you hit the bumper of the car infront of you. As you can tell, this is a slight issue. This type of driving would not fly in Canada! They just weave in and out and even when there is lots of traffic, they still try to go fast and get as far ahead as they can before they have to hit the breaks hard and come to a stop.. another way to make you car sick..
3) Traffic doesn't move for ambulances or anything. I believe I mentioned this in previous blogs from previous years. But when an ambulance has its lights flashing and everything, no one really moves, they just keep going as if its not there.. lesson to be learned: refrain from needing to be in an ambulance in Bangkok...
4) When it rains, it is an automatic signal for drivers to slow down a large amount. It's as if the rain is pure ice that as soon as it hits the pavement it turns into icy madness. Even if it is sprinkling, all traffic slows down to 0km/h I swear. It's so weird and slightly annoying..
Lets start with the few casting/job stories I have..
1) When you are at a casting and the person running it tells you "one moment ka", that doesn't actually mean one moment as it should.. it means atleast an hour, but probably longer. In this particular case it meant 4 hours... not my forte
2) Thai people pronounce my name one of two ways usually. Either "caught-kneeee", with little emphasis on the "t" and much much emphasis on the "eeee". The second way is "connie"..and these are only when they get it just a little bit correct.. otherwise there is no way they can pronounce it!
3) At shoots they always tell you, "one more", "one more". Does that ever mean actually one more? Noooo way, not at all. One more usually means atleast 20, but they just tell you one more, so you put in all the effort as if its the last shot.. this is what I assume anyway.
Now on to the driving/taxi stories..
1) I was in a taxi, going to a casting and just my luck he had to stop for gas. So I was in the taxi, while we wait for a pump to be free. There are attendants at each pump, that pump the gas for you. The odd thing is, they lift the hood and pump the gas in there somewhere! The taxi's don't have gas tanks on the side like the vehicles in Canada do! So so odd.
2) Most taxi drivers SUCK at driving. Like unreal, if you are going to drive a flippin standard probably learn to drive it properly!! Most taxi's here are standard, and its not so awesome because there is usually a whole lot of traffic, so there is a lot of shifting etc. NOT AWESOME. I have definitely developed some car sick issues, which is not cool. Even when there isn't traffic, the shifting issue is still a problem, it is so jerky and makes you feel ill for sure. Moral of the story, if you get car sick, I do not advise you to get in a taxi during busy traffic hours!
3) Regarding #2...sometimes taxi drivers that have automatic vehicles still SUCK. Driving here goes like this: Speed up as much as you can, to get as far ahead as you can, then when you need to come to a stop, don't ease in to it, hit your breaks right before you hit the bumper of the car infront of you. As you can tell, this is a slight issue. This type of driving would not fly in Canada! They just weave in and out and even when there is lots of traffic, they still try to go fast and get as far ahead as they can before they have to hit the breaks hard and come to a stop.. another way to make you car sick..
3) Traffic doesn't move for ambulances or anything. I believe I mentioned this in previous blogs from previous years. But when an ambulance has its lights flashing and everything, no one really moves, they just keep going as if its not there.. lesson to be learned: refrain from needing to be in an ambulance in Bangkok...
4) When it rains, it is an automatic signal for drivers to slow down a large amount. It's as if the rain is pure ice that as soon as it hits the pavement it turns into icy madness. Even if it is sprinkling, all traffic slows down to 0km/h I swear. It's so weird and slightly annoying..
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
So the past few days haven't been that busy for me. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I had no castings so just relaxed and hung out at the house. Sunday we went for brunch at a place called Crepes & Co. which I'm sure I talked about in my blog from last year! It is a breakfast/lunch place that is packed 24/7 and is in a little hidden street in downtown Bangkok. They have quite a large menu, but both times going there we have ordered "The Brunch". It's a sheet that you fill out, choosing a hot drink, a cold drink, one breakfast treat (yogurt, muesli, corn flakes with banana, french toast or cheese toast), a fruit plate or fruit salad, a bakery basket (choose three from toast, english muffin, baguette and croissant), 2 eggs any style you want with sides of bacon, ham, tomatoes, mushrooms, salmon or cheese (only if you want), a pancake (many flavors to choose) and then ending with another hot drink! Talk about food for days right? All of this for under 15 dollars canadian may I mention! It was so good, but was so full after! Good that I had the day off...wouldn't want to be going to castings after a huge meal like that! Monday I basically did nothing, hung out, worked out, nothing exciting really. Tuesday I decided to go venture downtown and take pictures, not fully successful, but I did get some photos out of it! I went to the mall terminal 21 so I could get pictures of all of the "destinations"on each floor. I walked down Sukhumvit road and then went to another mall called Central World. By the time I got back I was so tired, it was extremely hot/humid that day, so definitely tired me out. Yesterday I got some really exciting news.. The job I booked for a Honda motorbike is shooting in Phuket!!! I've never been to any of the islands so I am obviously super excited to go. I think I am there for about 3 days, and I will make sure to take plenty of pictures!
A couple of things I have witnessed/noticed since the last time I blogged.. One day I was leaving the cousins house and I saw someone driving a car with a baby in their lap... I feel like this is a tad on the unsafe side and probably illegal? I was shocked when I saw this! I also noticed that there are different speed limits for different types of vehicles. So cars can go a certain speed limit, trucks another and motorbikes another, weird right?
Thats all for now, I feel interesting things are coming my way soon... so hopefully I will be blogging more often!
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