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!

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....

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.

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!

The breakfast I didn't eat..

     

                                                                                                                                                                       

Sunrise!

                                       

Chalong Beach

Myself and the makeup artist

Myself and the hair stylist

The scarf I didn't actually wear to shoot..was just to keep my hair from getting wrecked!

Getting the camera ready!

                                                       

The whole crew!

View from the restaurant where we ate lunch

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!

My unfortunate fortune...

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..

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!

Alright so I'm a tad behind on this whole blogging keeping people up to date situation.. but I have lots of stories now!

First off, castings have been keeping me quite busy the last week, which is a good thing, but hopefully some of them will turn into bookings real soon! I finished fairly early all week which was nice, making me home for dinner time. I also got clean makeup brushes two days in a row....this is almost unheard of in Bangkok I swear! I casted for everything, clothing companies, shampoo, detergent, cereal drinks, property jobs, etc etc etc. Lucky me I have apparently come to the age where I look like I could be a mother.... I probably went and auditioned for atleast 3-4 mother roles this week, what the heck right? My thought "uhhhmmm hi, I'm 19.... this 6 year old child you are putting me with makes me pregnant at the age of...." you get the point. Anyway, the mother role has come upon me and apparently I'm good at it, according to the thai people running the castings..good for me I suppose. I booked my first job, which is for some kind of motorbike not really sure what brand or anything yet. In the casting I had to pretend to drive a boat, so not quite sure how this will all fit together.. I definitely did not think I would book this job, but it always happens that the ones you don't think you'll get, BAM it's yours!

Okay enough about that side... now more about the bangkok taxi experiences I have been so lucky to be in.
Lets start off with this one, la dee da dee daaa, courtney is in a taxi, going from one casting to another. All of a sudden something (such as a mosquito) bites her leg, so she swats at it (classic move when a mosquito bites you). She then looks down to realize it was a cockroach.. WTF RIGHT! I basically threw up multiple times consecutively in my mind after realizing it was a roach not a mosquito. WHY THE (insert bad word) IS THERE A COCKROACH IN THIS TAXI?! I don't have the answer to that, but that's what you are probably thinking and it is definitely what I was thinking.. gross. Now that the gross story is out of the way.. I spotted a lovely A&W while driving in this same taxi, curious I googled bangkok A&W just to see what the menu was like. They have waffle sandwiches!! Weird right? So basically it's a chicken sandwich, but instead of bun, you get waffle! Seriously check out the bangkok A&W website if you're bored..it's interesting. Ahhhh yes, now onto the music. Most times taxi drivers play thai radio stations, which is completely understandable as they are thai. Sometimes if you are lucky they realize you yourself are not thai, so they change it to the english or american radio station. The only issue is that the music is not completely up to date sometimes.. example 1: Venga Boys and Mariah Carey Christmas music? Both issues, as I'm pretty sure the Venga Boys were "cool" in my elementary years and it's January, so Christmas won't be coming for another 11.5 months (making it much to early to play the music). Example 2: thai acoustic versions of every popular upbeat song Canada/America has to offer. Enough said. Last but definitely not least of the good ol' thai taxi stories. The radio is on, I'm just chillin, waiting to get to my destination and on comes an ad for scented shoe laces... interesting on it's own even before the scents are announced. Here comes the good part, bubble gum (classic), cotton candy (not bad), bacon and eggs (wtf....), pickles (well thats gross). Yep, I'm not even lying, and they even said "it even comes in pickle!!" all excited and everything.... I might have to find these gems and see how they turn out.....

So this entry is coming to an end, but not before I tell you about my Terminal 21 experience! Terminal 21 is a new mall here in BKK, opened a couple months ago. Me and my cousins took a gander there on Saturday and it was AWESOME! Each floor (terminal) is a different destination, tokyo, istanbul, rome, hollywood, san fran, etc. Very very neat, I will definitely take some photos next time I go! That's really all I have to say about that, but I'm sure I can conjure up some more awesome stories from it by round 2 of the Terminal shopping experience.

Ta ta for now, it's been a slice!

20 hours in plane rides, a 2 hour layover and I finally arrived in Bangkok! I was picked up at the airport by Brandie and Mekayla (cousins) and they had a greeter meet me, so I didn't have to wait in customs lines or anything, I got to go to a priority line and went straight through! We got back to their house and I stayed awake until around 2am, tried to go to sleep, which was very unsuccessful and finally got out of bed at 6:40am.. not my forte. Probably for the first time ever, I had a taxi driver that actually had the full seatbelt situation in his car, meaning the belt and the buckle part too, that never happens! While in this taxi I witnessed a guy driving next to us while also reading a paper...safe driving for sure. Sunday I had a full day of castings, left the house at 11:30 and got back sometime after 8 at night. My second casting, I played a cavewoman for a toothpaste commercial..weird right? So they did my hair in a really enjoyable, take forever to brush out, back comb situation. My entire head of hair was back combed..I was not super impressed obviously, as I would have to brush it out after, but what can you do! After this I continued on to 3 other castings, which brought me to 7:30 and finally home time. That day tired me out completely, thank god, so I ate and then went straight to bed. I had a solid 6 hour sleep, which brought me to a way to early 4am. I can't wait for the day where I'm used to the 14 hour time difference, it will be really great let me tell you. Today I have another 5 castings, JIM is really keeping me busy this time! 6am is about to roll around, which means everyone will be getting up soon, since school started again and they go at 7 or something ridiculously early like that. I'll blog again when something wildly exciting occurs, ciao for now!

Travelling time has come around once again!

I arrived in Toronto last night from Grande Prairie, staying here until tomorrow. Just to basically unpack some things and re-pack again (yay...). I also discovered I would be in/at an airport 6 times from yesterday until Saturday, soooo much fun (nat). On my way from GP to TO my carry on bags weighed equivalent to my body weight I'm sure, so I decided I needed to change this situation.. meaning I went and bought a rolly bag, wooohooooo. No more sore shoulders and back, win! Anyway, so I'm in the midst of re-packing my things, trying to downsize as much as possible..
Tomorrow I leave TO at 12 in the afternoon and will arrive in Bangkok at 10 something pm on Saturday (joy). I go here to Tokyo which is a whopping 13 hour flight and then 2 hour wait in Tokyo, then off to BKK I go with a good ol' 7 hour flight. Basically the time of my life (KIDDING). I can honestly say I am not looking forward to this flight, but who would really?
I must get back to packing though, those suitcases won't finish themselves!

Heyyyoooo!

Long time no blog. Just a little update/heads up on what is to come!

I'm currently living in Toronto doing my modelling/acting thang here. I also had a part time job at a clothing store called Scotch and Soda, it's from Amsterdam if your wondering, check it out on ze internet, it's pretty snazzy. That pretty much sums up the last 3.5 months in a nutshell! I did two jobs for MuchMusic while I was here. One being a promo ad with The Midway State (which also aired during an award show...either the EMA's or AMA's...can't remember). That was a fun shoot, lasted until about 5 am. The second was an internet thing, for Shell and MM, partnering together to do a contest for environmental issues. Also fairly swell. The most recent job I did was for the Toronto Bridal Show, which I also did the spring one in April.. all I can say is I ate to many cupcakes!
Next stop...HOME!!
I am set to leave the big TO on the 16 to go back to good ol' GP where there is snow and weather below 0.. I shall reside there until January 4, which will then bring me back to Toronto for a day and then jetting off to Bangkok for another 2-3 month trip! Shall be a great time I'd say. Can't wait to catch up with family and friends back home!
Bangkok on the other hand..
I will be living with my moms cousin and family, so that should be fun and exciting, no more lonely large apartment in Wangthonglang for me! This will also keep me away from the stray evil dogs....

I may possibly blog through the holidays but we'll see how busy or if not busy, lazy, I am! If you don't hear from me, then I'll be picking up full swing come January!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night..

Okay so since I last blogged a bit has occurred over here, so I'll fill you in. First, I had a job on the 25 and 26, it was a fashion show. There were 8 of us girls, all from the same agency. We thought it was for clothing, but when we got there it turns out it was for jewelry. It was at some Gem and Jewel fair that is held at this big convention center thing. We arrived at 7am on the 25, the show not starting until 130.. what the heck right? Long story short, they made us rehearse a ridiculous amount of times, and made it way way more complicated than it needed to be. They gave us all name tags (mine being spelt "Coutney"). We basically had to teach them what they wanted instead of them teaching us. They had us all color coated and drew it out on a board and everything, but when it came to teaching us, apparently they were clueless! So we basically figured it out on our own. There was a lot of waiting around to say the least! The jewelry we had to wear was a different story.. Not to be mean, but this is going to be mean, it was all fairly unattractive.. many of the pieces looked very outdated and sort of like costume jewelry, not what I expected at a huge jewelry convention fair thing. Anyway that was 2 days, one show on the 25 and 2 on the 26, by the end of it all of us were going crazy! The people were very unorganized and were getting on everyones nerves. Oh did I forget to mention that there was only 1 hair stylist and 1 makeup artist. 8 girls. They started doing hair and makeup about 2.5 hours before the show is supposed to start. Picture how that went.... Girls had to start doing their own makeup because we wouldn't of all finished in time! Talk about a slight mistake in the pre-show preparation. 1 makeup artist and hair stylist for 8 girls doesn't exactly work out so great! After the show on the 26, I went to ISB, where the International Food Fair was! The food was great! Soo good. Beaver tails were great, so was the poutine, apple pie etc etc.. I probably ate more than I should of, but it was so good who can stop? I spent Saturday and Sunday there, just hanging out as per usual. I don't know if I mentioned in previous blogs or not, but they got a new dog! His name is Leo, so so so cute! He is a chow chow, purple tongue and all! He is somewhere between 2 and 4 months old and he is so fluffy! They are only little for a short time though, they grow to be quite large dogs! On Monday I had another job. It was for one of the or the biggest department store in Thailand. CentralPlaza is the name. There are Central malls in cities across Thailand, Central also being the name of the department store inside. So me and another model did this ad for the "Summer Trend Update" together. We shot at the mall in a vintage furniture store, which was pretty cool! The ad should be coming out at the end of March, so once I receive it, the rest of you can take a look! Yesterday I didn't do anything, either than decide that I want to go home. I was originally supposed to go to Hong Kong after here, but I decided I don't want to anymore, I would rather just go home, so once Sunday rolls around I'll be heading back to the cold, freezing temperatures of Canada! (obviously that being the downside, along with the year long plane ride to get there!). Im so excited to be coming home though! Today I went to the agency and finalized all my expenses and all that jazz, tomorrow I have to go back to do a final casting video, one for basically everything and anything (skin care, lotion, drink and who knows what else). They want to do it so that when I'm at home they can send the certain video to clients and then can direct book me! Friday I have my last job before I leave. After Friday I will be able to say I have appeared in 2 music videos, thats the job, another music video! I don't think it's for the same band, but I'm sure it will be something similar. Saturday I plan on going to Brandie and Myron's for one last time and then Sunday morning I leave to go home! I don't know what time my plane leaves from here to Hong Kong, but I leave Hong Kong at 1230 in the afternoon and I will arrive in Edmonton sometime after 2:30 pm. Just a short 2 hour flight! NOT. Forgot to mention that I will be going 14 hours back in time, I'm basically just a time traveller, no big deal. I guess I'll get 2 Sunday March 6's, instead of 1! Lucky me. A couple of things to mention before I end this huge blog entry:

1. In Canada we have Colossal mascara, in the yellow tube. Here, its the same brand, same tube everything, but it's called Magnum, not Colossal. Weird right?

2. I used a payphone the other day and put in the 5 baht it asked for. After I hung up the phone, it gave me back the money I didn't use! I thought that was kind of cool. In Canada, if I am re-calling correctly, you put in your 50 cents or whatever and thats it, you lose the whole thing, don't get any of it back.

3. A huge fad I noticed here are these nose inhaler things. I don't really know the purpose of them, if it clears your nose or if it smells nice or both or non of the above.. But so many people here have them! I always see people taking these little things out of their pockets and putting it up to each nostril. Odd right?

4. I am in a taxi today, I look over, a man driving a car, in the passenger seat his wife (I assume) with a child in her lap! Uhhhh I do think that is illegal? Does every person not have to have their own seat. WTF is all I can say basically. I feel this is thoroughly unsafe for your child, especially considering the driving here is ridiculously crazy! Weaving in and out of traffic, lots of traffic all the time, people cutting you off, people ignoring speed limits (if there are any), taxi drivers that do not know how to drive a standard (terrible shifting technique, really jerky and just bad). Note to mother and father of this child: put the kid in the back seat where he belongs, with his own seatbelt!

5. Taxi's don't have seatbelts, only the front seats do. DANGEROUS. As you would have read above, the driving is unlike anything you've seen or experienced in Canada, it is mega wild and dangerous and any other word similar. Which brings up the question, why the no seatbelt? I feel like there is a definite need for them here! Also because the accident rate is probably like 8 out of 10 cars. Who knows, but I feel like it should be that high, seriously.




6. Last but not least, I went to MBK today, a large mall here. I bought to phone cases for my phone, one that looks like a shoe (has the laces and everything) and a hello kitty one (obviously a classic buy for someone in my position). Clearly both purchases that needed to be made. I mean I love shoes, I have many pairs, so why not buy one for my phone? And I'm Asian, which brings on the stereotype of the love of Hello Kitty, which is true in my case, sooo yea I'll post them below!

The jewelry fashion show my name spelled wrong as well as our lovely outfits and jewelry...

This one is from the Central job

Nothing to interesting happening over on this side of the world lately. Castings have still been slow, not many for me to go to, maybe its just because all of the castings are for jobs that will be shooting after I leave.. not sure. I'm still sick, same thing as last week, still not really getting any better. I went and got medicine from a pharmacy that is close by, and the lady spoke english which was good. She gave me two types of medicine and they didn't seem to help! My mom thought I might have a sinus infection, as my symptoms apparently told her it could be that, so I went back to the pharmacy yesterday and got another kind of medicine, which will hopefully make me better soon!! On the weekend I went out to Brandie and Myron's again, for our girls weekend. We watched a movie, made nanaimo bars for the International Food Fair that is at the kids school on Saturday, got foot massages and just relaxed all weekend. I was still feeling pretty crappy, but took Neocitron and some Canadian cold medicine! This apparently didn't really help my illness, so hopefully that means I have the sinus infection (since the cold medicine didn't work) and that this new medicine I got yesterday will help! So far this week I've had 4 castings, so it seems to be picking up I suppose, hopefully I land one of the jobs! Friday and Saturday I'm doing a show, its for dresses, not really sure what the company is, the dresses looked all different and I think they were even different brands.. Anyway, that is Friday and Saturday starting at 7am and finishing around 330pm. After Saturday's show I am rushing over to Nichada (the area where Brandie and Myron live) and going straight to ISB (the kids school), to attend/help out/eat all of the food at the food fair! I am so excited for that, should be tasty! Brandie is in charge of the Canadian booth and they are making nanaimo bars, poutine and beaver tails! yuuuuummmmmm. I can't wait to see what the other countries make! That is from 5-8 and I said I would help out at the booth, as well as cleaning up afterword. I will also get time to go around and taste all of the delicious food! Other than that I don't have anything else to talk about, minus one taxi story that I feel should be shared..
So I am going to a casting the other day, which means I needed to get a taxi to get there. I wave this one down, get inside and show him the map, he knows where it is so off we go. As I am sitting there I notice the music that is playing. At the time it was Can't Be Tamed by Miley Cyrus. I assumed it was just the english radio, because why would this male taxi driver be playing that? After that song finished another one came on, Rude Boy by Rihanna. Next up was Need You Now by Lady Antebellum, quite the selection of music this "radio" was playing. Last before I got out of the taxi was I Never Told You by Colbie Caillat. I looked at the little screen for the radio and saw that it said MP3 and that it was song 35 or something. Meaning, this was a CD, not the radio... I kind of wanted to laugh at this point, because this is a 30 something maybe older thai man playing a CD, that is obviously his, which has Miley, Rihanna, Lady Antebellum and Colbie Caillat on it!.... interesting choice of music for him I would say!

So since last time I wrote not a whole lot has happened. The castings seem to be coming slower now, but hopefully it will pick up soon! I ended up staying the whole weekend and Brandie and Myron's, not having any castings all weekend. Friday Brandie and I went for foot massages at a place near their house. It felt soo good! Not only did they massage our feet and legs, they did our shoulders, neck and arms too, it was great! The rest of the day was just spent relaxing, not doing a whole lot. Saturday Hunter had a baseball game, so we went to that. Sunday we went for Valentines brunch at a Mediterranean/French restaurant called Crepes & Co. It was so so so delicious! They had crepes, obviously, pancakes, every other breakfast food and lunch and dinner foods as well. If I could I would go to this place everyday, but first its to far from my apartment and second, I'd probably get real large, real quick! After that tasty meal, they dropped me off at a casting that was close to the restaurant. It was for Isuzu. This casting did not go to well.. first, when I was getting my hair done, the hair dude dropped the flippin curling iron on my shoulder! Not cool. This made me a tad grumpy. Then when I went to do my casting, the lady boy (its male, but dresses female etc.) doing the casting gave me a pair of shorts and handed them to me, saying "these look big enough for you, they should fit". Oh thanks, what are you trying to say to me, huh? So that added a tad to the grumpiness. Next, apparently I couldn't do the "angry face" correctly, so I had to do it over and over and over! One thing about castings here is that they make you do it over and over and over again until its perfect. But its just a casting, its not even the job, and the chances that you will get the job are 1 in how many! Oh well though, I guess if it helps you to get the job then its worth it. Monday was Valentines day and I treated myself to a delicious sundae at an ice cream place called Swensens. It was two scoops of ice cream with that marshmallow stuff and chocolate sauce drizzled on top, with maltesers and chocolate chips, mmmmmm. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Tuesday was spent doing nothing, I was feeling a tad under the weather and basically just stayed in my apartment either than to go to the gym and for a little walk around Town in Town. Today I had one casting, for some kind of facial product. After that I just came back to my apartment as I thought I was going to die. Still not feeling good, and getting/got worse as the day progressed. Runny nose, sore and phlegmy throat, plugged ears and possibly a slight fever? Fun stuff I tell you, fun stuff.. My body has some serious issues and needs to sort them out! The other day I was in a taxi and of course the radio was thai music. On came a rap song.. in thai. Odd. Very odd. Last but not least, whenever I come into my apartment, before opening the door I always have to make sure there are no guans aka iguanas aka mini lizzards, waiting by the door to scurry into my room. Apparently I didn't check well enough a few days ago.. I open the door and look around the corner (another habbit I do, just to make sure of the guan situation) and guess what I find?! A FLIPPIN GUAN. He ran into my room so fast! They are light pink and creepy and skinny and gross! So I freaked out for 2.5 seconds and then went to go get my umbrella to hit the wall near it so it would run out the door. I finally got it out and shut the door immediately. One problem.. I had to leave my apartment again shortly after, meaning the guan could still be near by. As I go to leave my apartment guess who comes for another visit? My little lizzard friend. He runs into my room for a second time. So again, the umbrella is used, but he takes a little longer to leave this time, running up the wall, up the side of my desk, behind the fridge and then finally out the door. I waited a few minutes and then ran quickly out of my room so he couldn't come back in! Thank god he didn't and he hasn't been back since. Thats about all I have to share with you for now. This weekend I am going out to Brandie and Myron's again, as Myron is gone to Houston for work meetings, so we are having a girls weekend plus Hunter, but may be sending him to a friends house for part of the time! Will write again next week to update on any other great experiences that occur to me. Oh wait, I forgot one thing.. When I was at their house on the weekend, they had gotten an email from a friend that lives in their area saying that a snake was spotted. It was about 12 feet long, the head being in the bushes on one side of the road and the tail being on the other side of the road in the bushes.. yuck! It was a constrictor I think and was seen coming out of either Brandie and Myron's yard or the neighbours! Scary right? Everytime we left or came back to the house we would look for it, but no such luck spotting it!

Ahh last thing I promise! The magazine which I am on the cover on came out! The pictures are posted below.

So lets see whats on the agenda for today:
1. Friday: rehearsal for Walls TVC job
2. Saturday + Sunday = Shooting Walls TVC job
3. Monday until present events

From the top, number one, Friday. Friday I had to go to one of the job sites to do a rehearsal with a couple of the harnesses, just so I could be used to them and they could figure out where they needed to cut the dresses to hide the harness. I had a casting for UOB bank in Singapore first, and then at 3pm I went and did the rehearsal. There were 2 harnesses, one for me to lay on, on my back and another to lay on, on my stomach. It was like a metal piece covered in foam and then a strap that went around my waist area. The motion was diagonal, like I was going down a slide. And I was moved by human power. The harness I was in was attached to some wires, which were being pulled by however many men there were pulling them! So they controlled my speed, the direction I went, if I turned etc. After Friday is Saturday, which was day 1 of the job. I had to be at the place for 6am, so I arrived and started my hair and makeup. We started shooting at 8am. Saturday was mostly all the stuff on the ground. So the scenes where I walk out of the office building, realize how hot it is outside, am uncomfortable from the heat, see the fruit stand and become excited by the refreshing fruit, walk over to the fruit stand, go to touch the fruit, (the fruit peels back and out comes the popsicle), I react to this happening, me jumping out out of the tornado, walking away and the one shot not on the ground, eating the popsicle and then being pulled away into the fruit tornado. The last part was so cool! They brought in this huge crane, which they attached this bar type thing to. Then the put me in a harness that was around my hips/thighs, attached the wires to each side of my hips and then man powered again, they pulled me and shot me up into the air, about 20 feet! It was so much fun! I thought I would be scared, as I am afraid of heights, but totally the opposite, it was sooo much fun, I didn't want to stop taping this scene! We finished at around 7pm, so that makes 13 hours of shooting. The next day was the 2nd day of shooting, starting again at 6am. This day was at a different location, in a large studio, having everything infront of a green screen. This day there were 2 harnesses (the ones discussed from the rehearsal) and 2 water slides! Each slide had 3 different covers, one for each fruit, watermelon, passionfruit and lychee. So they would change the cover depending on which fruit we were taping for. They even colored the water to correspond to the fruit to make it look like the juice from the fruit! It was pretty cool. Sunday I was basically in water all day, talk about one chilly day! There was a smaller slide and a larger one, the larger one they had to attache a harness to me to control my speed going down the slide, and when I got to the bottom they would just drag me back up! Sunday took much much longer.. we shot for 21 hours, making "the wrap" at 3am. One long day for sure! By the end I was exhausted!! I spent all Monday sleeping and watching House in bed, I was so so so tired! Even Tuesday I was still exhausted! Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't do much, one casting each day and then not much the rest of the days, still really tired from the weekend! Today I came out to Myron and Brandies house and went to Kalista's play that her grade put on, Alice in Wonderland. It was really good! I am still here, staying the night, then if I have nothing tomorrow probably most of the day tomorrow as well! All in all it was a busy week and weekend and I just want to sleep forever! Thats about all I have/can remember for now, anything I remember or any new events come up I'll let you know tomorrow or some day after this!

Okay to start where I left off.. After Friday came Saturday, which I was sick, all day. I left the apartment to go get juice and water twice, then the rest of the day was spent in bed, wasn't doing so hot! Fortunately the illness, whatever it was only lasted a day and I was doing a bit better Sunday. I decided the cause to this sickness was the ritual of Courtney being in a foreign country for 1 month. Every place I have gone to so far, I have gotten sick 1 month in. Not sure why, but it happens! Anyway, Saturday passed and Sunday came, I went out to Brandie and Myrons and spent the day/night with them. We went to go see a movie called Gullivers Travels or something like that, it was actually pretty funny! Oh yes, one thing about the movie theaters here, not only can you get regular popcorn with butter and salt, you can also get caramel corn, bbq and cheese popcorn! Yum!! After the movie we went and had supper, went back to their place and hung out a bit and then I came back to the apartment. Monday I can't remember what I did, so I'm going to skip this day.. Tuesday morning I had to wake up at 6:30 to be at a job for 8. The job was for a travel magazine thats new to Thailand, there have only been 4 issues so far. Cool thing about this is that... I'm going to be on the cover!!! woohooooo, my first cover! Its just a small magazine, but who cares, thats friggin sweeet!! I'll also be on the inside as well, so that will be cool. We shot with a Porsche as well :D I'll put a picture below when this is done! Wednesday was another job, for another magazine, but it was beauty shots this time, so makeup and hair. The concept for this one was that I was in the sun etc etc. They made me tanned!! What the heck right? Thai people LOOOVE white skin, so I was confused as to what this concept was about.. Anyway, they used makeup to make me looked tanned, which was fairly odd.. I'll put another picture of this, your gonna flip.. I look like a guido from Jersey Shore I swear, regarding my fake tan and such. So that was an interesting shoot! Wednesday night I booked a massage at a spa called Urban Retreat. It was a four hand oil massage, which was 2 massage therapists massaging me at the same time. It was so cool and was really relaxing! Thursday, today, I had a fitting for my commercial that I am shooting on Saturday and Sunday! It is for Walls ice cream. Walls is the brand. I had to be there at 9, and I was there until about 130, then had to go to a casting, then went back to the fitting again! The shoot is going to be flippin craaaaazy! It involves me in a harness, which is attached to a crane, which will lift me 20 feet or so in the air! There is also a water slide/slip and slide involved, an unknown amount of H20 aka water, a what I believe will be an imaginary fruit tornado on set, but a "real" one in the commercial and probably many more wild activities! I am afraid of heights, so this whole harness situation is going to force me to get over that.. Tomorrow I go for the rehearsal for the commercial, to test out the harness and get used to it so I don't flip my lid or pee my pants on shooting day! hahaha. Thats Friday so after that is Saturday and Sunday, which both days I will be shooting the commercial. There are 3 different flavours of this popsicle/ice cream situation so I will be eating ice cream all day! Sounds yummy now, but I'm sure by the end of the day I will never want to look at it again (which probably isn't a bad thing ;) ). Monday will be my first day off, so I will be sleeping in and relaxing, hopefully only one or two castings so I won't have to do much! Before I end this never ending post I have a few Thailand interesting stories:

1. I was in a taxi the other day, when a car pulled up beside us. The driver had a child sleeping on him.. This child was like 5 or 6 years old I'm pretty sure and his head was on the drivers (probably the dad) shoulder, his body being against the dads and then legs straddling the dads lap (classic child holding position). Anyway, what the heck right? There was a mother or a woman in the passenger seat, so the child couldn't sleep there? Or how about the safest route, IN HIS OWN SEAT IN THE BACK?!

2. I was at the gym today, two things I saw. First being a girl on the elliptical with her hair down. Uhhh yea hi, your at the gym, no need to keep your flowing locks down, put em up I suggest, otherwise your gonna sweat like crazy and you wont look as pretty as you probably hoped.. Second: a girl running on the treadmill, not only was her hair down, but she was talking on her cellular device. Uhhhh how about turn down the treadmill to a walking pace if your going to talk on your phone, or don't talk on your phone at all? Interesting gym behaviour I thought.

That's about all I got for now, check the pictures below from descriptions above.

Interesting huh? I can say it does look better when the whole look was complete. With the hair done, the eye makeup etc. But that this point it was just odd..

Eff my life. That basically sums up my day today. Lets start from the very beginning, meaning 12am, Friday, January 28. Courtney is still awake. And if you read my last blog, you would know I had to get up at 4:45am. 4:45 minus 12 am = 4 hours and 45 minutes of sleep. Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough for that. I probably didn't fall asleep until 1230 or maybe even 1. I don't know what the deal is, but apparently I can't fall asleep before 12am these days! Anyway, so I woke up at 4:45, barely functioning as I didn't have much sleep. I put my contacts in, eyes burning like no other, got ready and went out into the darkness of the morning to get a cab to go to my job. I get to the "job site" if you would like to call it that, at about 6am. I start my hair at around 6:15. First note: the hair dressers here always find it necessary to part my hair the opposite of the natural way. They feel the "cow lick" look is nice I guess. Which in their defence, sometimes it doesn't actually look to bad, depends how they do the rest of the hair.. Makeup starts sometime between hair and 7am. At about 730 the hair and makeup people along with other workers take a break to eat "breakfast". Second note: breakfast here means rice and chicken or noodles and chicken or beef or pork or whatever meat you want. In other words, breakfast here is like dinner in Canada or any other part of the world. I start shooting at 8 or soon after 8. Third note: property jobs = no fun at all. It was only print, so it was basically most boring time ever. A really easy job, but so so so boring!! We shoot one setting, then we move areas to a new one, shoot that setting move, etc etc. By the time we finish at this one location it is about 1230 and are ready to move to our next location. Our second location is about an hour away from the first, so I went with the hair dresser and makeup artist. We get lost a few times, but eventually find it at around 2 pm. We eat lunch and then start the last shot (we travelled for an hour for 1 shot..). Anyways, we finish it all at about 5pm, thank god!! I really condensed this day, but it was so so so painful, I cannot even describe. I guess I shouldn't be complaining because being here is a pretty sweet deal, I mean, I could be at school.. But I am currently exhausted and slightly bitter about the day if you didn't already notice.. it was just so slow and monotonous as well as A LOT of waiting around. I was at the job for 11 hours total, but was only actually in action, shooting, for about 4 maybe 5 hours.. That means 6 or 7 hours of waiting around! NOT FUN. Especially when you have a slight impatience problem such as I do.. We leave the site shortly after 5 and I am so happy the day is done and I can go back to my apartment. Unfortunately for me, the ride home took about 2.5 hours. OH MY LORD. I was basically have a freak session in the van. First off, I hadn't been feeling so well all day, probably from the lack of sleep, so a 2.5 hour ride home didn't help (it taking so long because of traffic). I also had to pee extremely bad, but when your in a van in the middle of a large traffic situation, this is slightly difficult. Oh yea, to add to the traffic situation, we sat at a red light for 25 MINUTES. Your thinking, "oh come on Courtney, stop exaggerating". But I'm not! For all I know it could have been longer! We had been sitting at this light for not sure how long and I eventually check the time, its 6:17. By the time the light turned green, it was 6:42 and the light stayed green for a whole 15 seconds, not allowing us to get through. Fortunately, the next red light only lasted 3 minutes, so we were able to get through the next one! Second last point on the agenda here today: at this job, there were copious amounts of mosquitos. Mosquitos love Courtney, wahhhhh. I am now back at my apartment with 5 bites on my left leg and 3 on my right. Joy. Last but certainly not least (this does not pertain to the job at all, but thought it was worth a mention): there are these stores here called "Fresh Mart". When you hear Fresh Mart, your probably thinking fresh produce and fruit and all that jazz. Oh no, none of that is here. Its ALL frozen, packaged food.. Now tell me, how does that qualify as "fresh"? Trying to keep my chin up after a not so lovely day, I'm sure tomorrow will be better and I know Sunday will be, as I am going to be hanging out with my cousins! Later days to whoever is reading this, I'll keep you posted on events to come!

Today is going to be short and sweet, as I don't have a whole lot to talk about. First off, I did my second entry on modelresource, but I don't think its up yet, so give it a few days and check it out! The past few days have been quiet, not many castings, so basically have just been watching House and hanging out. Today I went shopping for the first time I've been here! Crazy hey? I've been here for 3 weeks and today is the first day for shopping, I must be sick right? I bought shorts, a tank top and a belt, woohooooo. Oh and to add to that... all from a store we have in Canada... forever 21.. haha. My bad! Oh well though, this one is large and probably has stuff the Canadian store doesn't, but who knows. Tomorrow I have a job, some kind of print job for property. Not really sure what that consists of, but I was just told for property, so maybe condo, apartment? Not really sure, but I'll let you know after I find out! Unfortunately this job requires me to get up at 5 am (sad face). Last, there is this cafe here, close to my apartment, where they make waffles, mmmmmmmm. I had one. My gosh, it was sooo good. I decided if I was going to have this treat I mine as well go all the way and get the best one. This included the waffle (obviously), vanilla ice cream, bananas, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. I'm basically drooling as writing this. Below is a picture of the delicious "meal" I ate :)

So this week didn't bring anything to interesting, but I do have a few mentionable things that occured or I saw or whatever. First of all, I had my first job on Tuesday. It was for L'Oreal, an event launching a new Kerastase hair product. There was me and 5 other models. 4 of the models wore gold dresses and did a rehearsal, while me and one other model sat there waiting, wondering what we were wearing and what we had to do. Turns out they made us put on a nude boob tube (as I call it) and a pair of nude long spandex shorts type thing. They came up to just above the bottom of my ribs and ended just above my knees... attractive right? Anyway, so we had to wear this, then they used this gold dust stuff, mixed with baby oil (to turn it into paint..?) and put it all over our arms, chest, stomach, back and legs. In other words we were covered in this stuff! They also tried to put it on the spandex stuff, but that didn't work out so nicely.. This is what we had to wear. No joke. We had to stand on either side of the entrance where all the guests came in. GREAT. I felt ridiculous! Kind of like I forgot to put my clothes on and was painted gold.. fun. Oh yea, and there were photographers there for publicity and stuff, so those pictures will be circulating in the media....even better! (not). Next on the agenda.. I had gone to a casting last Sunday for a Mazda commercial. On Wednesday my booker texts me and tells me I have to go to this Mazda casting again. So I call her, tell her it's okay, I already went, but she tells me they want to re-cast me. I think okay, well maybe its a call back? But no it wasn't it was just another casting, the reason they wanted me to go re-cast was because they wanted to change my hair. Thats it. Just my hair. HAVE SOME IMAGINATION PEOPLE! Come on now, you work in the modelling industry!! They did my hair basically the same, just didn't back comb it as much, so it was a bit more flat than last time. As you can probably tell, I was just sooo impressed... But hopefully that means they really liked me and wanted everything just right? Fingers crossed. Today I go to a casting for Vaseline, there are 2 stories tied to this one.. first, as I am waiting, the guy next to me stands up and is walking around. I notice there is some kind of sticker or patch on his pants and I look, its one of those Parent Advisory signs, like from CD's with "explicit content" or whatever and its on his crotch... weird and slightly inappropriate to wear to a casting I would guess? Second, I show up at this casting at 2:45, there are a bunch of people there, so I sign in and then leave, my apartment was really close so I just walked around and ate lunch etc. At 4 I return and it's still not my turn! They do my hair and makeup and I get changed. I don't go into the casting room until 615 and didn't finish until 7! Talk about waiting! Thats all for now, tune in in a few days or maybe a week to see what happens next..!

So I'm about a week behind on my blogging. Not a whole lot has happened in the past week, so that's possibly why I didn't update you sooner! The week was filled with castings, eating, sleeping, skyping, watching House (thanks to Myron and Brandie for lending me seasons 1-4!!), more castings, going to the gym etc. Fun right? This past weekend I stayed over at Brandie and Myron's house. I went there Saturday afternoon and got back tonight, being Sunday here, around 8 ish. On Saturday they took me on a tour of the kids school. It is called ISB or International School of Bangkok. OH MY GOD. You should see this place! It's from grades 1-12 and it's unbelievable!! It's honestly like a flipping university campus! First, it's huge as ever. It's gated all around and there are guards and gates to get in to the parking lot at the front. It's all open, like obviously there is a roof over the classrooms, lockers etc, but inbetween the hallways its open and stuff. So cool! They have everything here, its unreal. There are separate cafeterias for grades 1-5, middle school and then high school. There is a soccer pitch, a full track, swimming pool, indoor gyms, a couple outdoor gyms, basketball court, baseball diamond, tennis court. You name it, they have it. There is an art building, and auditorium, everything! It is a crazy huge, wild school. I think the whole time we walked around my jaw was dragging on the floor! Kids don't need to bring lunches, it is provided to them at the school. There are different sections in the cafeteria for different kinds of food, sandwiches, noodles, whatever else there is. Also their lockers, at the end of the set there is a door with this square on it, you swipe your student card over the square, go to your locker and open it. Cool hey?! I was just in awe of this school, so thought I'd share it with you! The rest of the time we basically just hung out, watched normal tv, meaning english, no thai, criminal minds included, wooohooo! Nothing to exciting occured during this week that I can remember right now. Oooh except that I am now also blogging for ModelResource! (www.modelresource.com). Just blogging about my adventures overseas modelling, basically like this, but a tad different. I am also the featured model right now too, so check it out! Before I end this for the night, a few things about Bangkok that amuse me, so might amuse you as well:

1. Sometimes drivers like to make their own lanes. I am in a taxi on my way to my moms cousins house, we are on a major road or freeway or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, there are 3 lanes, clearly marked by the dotted white lines. But somehow there are 4 lanes of cars...? I guess the road is big enough, so drivers just get fed up of waiting, fixing the problem by making their own lane? I was slightly confused when this was happening. By the way, my taxi driver was in the fourth, technically non existent lane.

2. People up and down major roads selling these flower things that people hang on their rearview mirrors. They walked inbetween the lanes of cars at red lights. Slightly dangerous I would say? Sometimes there are people selling food too. I guess I can understand that, as sometimes your waiting at a light for literally 180 seconds (it counts down for you at the light).

Thats about all I have for now. Be sure to check out my other blog on modelresource as well! That one will only be updated every couple of weeks though. I'm off to watch House though, check back in a couple days for another update!