Wednesday, November 11

Since we had spent the first days around the resort and we hadn't really purchased anything we woke up early and walked the 20 minutes into Playa Del Carmen (we had to go early in the morning and only for a bit because the wedding was later in the afternoon!). We were told by Julie our excursion guru that it was better to go at night after the cruise ships left because prices went down. We went to just see what was there and the plan was to go back at night and maybe get a good deal on stuff we had seen. The walk to town wasn't bad. We saw some really nice vacation homes and we passed by some ruins.

The only thing about the vendors were that they were so annoying and persistent and wanted you to come into their shop/booth and I got tired of say no. I hate being watched and pressured. We did end up buying some stuff while on our quick morning trip at like an outlet store. T-shirts were $5 each (later in the week when we went back I ended up buying so many shirts because they were dirt cheap)! A picked up some cheap tequila and some Mexican vanilla. A had to leave early to get back to the resort to start getting ready for the wedding and Joseph and I hung out around town for a little bit more. The walk back to the resort seemed to take forever! It got hot and I was carrying around all my purchases. I went back to the hotel room and chilled in the super cool air conditioned room before I took another shower (I was taking at least two showers a day because I was hot, sticky, and sweaty - yuck!) and got ready for the wedding myself.

A cool coloured house I really liked - the bright orange and white = swoon

A & I at the mini ruins on the way to town

Playa Del Carmen

Joseph & I walking along the beach on the way back (you can see some of our shopping bags in the picture *grin*)

A tree with cool root things

The wedding was at 3pm and it was nice short ceremony. While the bridal party went all over the resort for different pictures, the rest of us went up to the lobby bar where we were told appetizers would be served. They never were *tear* I hadn't eaten lunch and I downed three drinks in quick succession so some food would have been nice! *grin* After all the photographs were finished being taken we all went down to the Brazilian restaurant where we had reservations for dinner. It started off with a salad buffet and then waiters came around with different types of meat on long skewers. Oh my. Meat overload!!!!! After dinner we went back up to the Lobby Bar and hung out in a big group but we all called it an early night because it was a long day for all of us!

The wedding party
Where the wedding took place

Sarah and I

What to do while waiting to kill time? TWIRL!!!! *grin*

Just chillin and waiting

My third drink in a very short time...I was told there was going to be snacks and there wasn't, I was a tad happy and was renaming drinks to what I think they should be.

Cheers!

More chillin

Aren't I so pretty? *grin*

Meat overload!

Tuesday, November 10

Ahh, Tuesday was a nice lazy day. A and I slept in (we missed the breakfast buffet *tear*). We spent another beautiful day on the beach. While making reservations for dinner for the rest of the week we ran into our American friends again. We "rented" as paddle boat for a few moments later in the afternoon and paddled around a bit (the resort allows you to take out paddle boats for free, it is the cool stuff like wave runners that they charge you for). We didn't stay long on the water because it was choppy and I was getting sick-ish.

he he another towel friend

For dinner we had reservations at the Japanese restaurant. We walked in and it is a small small restaurant. It only maybe had at max 15 tables. No wonder some of the reservations filled up so quickly! I'm not a big fish person (especially raw fish!) but some of the sushi roll things we got were filled with veggies and one had roast beef and cream cheese (that one was uber yummy). At the restaurant we were able to pick which starter we wanted, what main course we wanted, and what dessert we wanted (and the whole table shared the sushi). I got a chicken and noodle dish for my starter, a teriyaki chicken for my main course, and deep fired bananas for dessert. All in all it was a pretty good meal. And heck, if I didn't like anything and if I was still hungry after dinner (which I wasn't) I could have gone to the buffet *grin*

The group of us out for dinner

Me trying some sushi

Dressed all fancy for dinner

After dinner our plans were to go to another Riu hotel and watch their Michael Jackson shop at 9:45pm. We got a little distracted by the vendors who are allowed to come to the resort at night and set up booths. Joseph and A (mainly Joseph - funny story about that later!) haggled and got a good price from the guy doing the spray can paintings. We were able to pick up four for $50. Joseph got two and so did we. There was one painting I liked but it was in black and white so right in front of us the painter dude re-created it with the colors I wanted it to be:

Making the waves

Drawing the palm trees

The awesome part: setting it by setting clear spray paint on fire!

The photographer for the wedding got four done into one big picture. Really cool!

After we got our paintings done we went to go look at at hand carved Mayan mask. Here is where the funny story comes in. We aren't very good hagglers. At all. Joseph grew up in Uganda so it is second nature to him. We totally used his bargaining skills during the trip to help us get a better deal. The negotiating with the mask people took like 30 minutes! Joseph kept saying "my friend, that is too much". The mask started at $100 and we got it for $50. It seems like a lot but it is a big mask and you can totally tell it is hand carved and we had seen some other masks throughout our trip and the one we got is by far the prettiest. I joked that I should give Joseph half of what we saved on deals he worked for us!

Because haggling took a bit longer than we expected we were a tab late to see the Micheal Jackson show at the other resort. We still got some pretty good seats and had a couple drinks and it was all good.

Yummy drink that our American friends recommended: Miami Vice

Mexican Michael!

After the show we went back to the resort and ordered in room service. It is 24hrs a day and free so we totally had to take advantage of it! *grin*

I've Got A Job!!!!!

I got the call late this afternoon. I accepted the position at St John Ambulance. Ever since the interview yesterday afternoon I was torn on which job I would accept (I was being very optimistic I would get both). I made a mental list of what each job offered and what I wanted and I had somewhat decided on St John (I didn't want money to be an important aspect in my decision but I would be lying if I said it didn't matter).

NAIT:
Good:
- It is a school = job security (not the position but the "company" - no mergers in the future!)
- Able to take Continuing Ed courses for free (if available), just have to pay for the books and any extra fees
- 11 days off PAID over Christmas
- Pay similar to Petro
- 3 weeks vacation & benefits
Bad:
- Admin work. But in a cool division (Corporate & International Training)
- Don't know about room for advancement

ST JOHN:
Good:
- Training Coordinator = can utilize my education; more responsibility, out of admin work
- Room for growth/advancement (so the impression I got)
- 3 weeks vacation & benefits
Bad:
- Pay is more than they usually start at but I may have been able to get more at Nait (maybe?)

Okay, so I am hung up on the money even though I didn't want to be (and at this moment Nait hadn't offered me the job and I know what the wage range is but I don't know what I would start off at). I already accepted St John and I am starting on Monday. I think a thing I'm not looking forward to is to calling Nait and taking my name out of the running (especially after my old boss said Nait HR said I was the top candidate). Ug. After two months of nothing I have to make decision. I hate making decisions like this. I always double guess my decision and agonize over if I am making the right one.

Monday, November 9

On Monday we had to get up bright and early (for being on vacation) to meet with our Sun Quest guide, Julie, to learn about all the different tours we could go on. The meeting was at 9:30am so we had to be up, showered, and had breakfast before we met her. We woke up and it was raining and we weren't too happy about that because before we left we checked the weather forecast and it was supposed to rain all week and waking up to rain was not a good sign. The rain had stopped by the time we went down for breakfast.

Julie told us a bunch of different tours we could go on. It was already decided by the bride that we would all as a group go to Excaret on Friday. Some people in the group thought the boat charter tour would be cool but A, myself, and our new friend Joseph from Toronto thought that Tulum Extreme would be cool so we booked that for Thursday (Wedding on Wednesday, Tulum on Thursday, and Excaret on Friday = we were tiered!).

We got back to the room and it was still a little overcast but it was getting warm out so we decided to spend the day at the beach. When we got back to the room the maid had been in and left us with a nice little towel animal.


I should say the the hotel was awesome! Walking in the night before they had this stained glass ceiling and beautiful chandelier. I normally am cheap so don't spring for something as nice as this hotel was. The whole hotel was tile (made it easier to clean up all the sand that was trudged in) with really nice borders and patterns and different colors.

The beautiful ceiling

The view from our hotel balcony!

The Lobby Bar

We spent most of the day on the beach. Because of Ida, the water was pretty choppy but we still managed to get in and enjoy it (but it was super salty if you weren't careful and got some in your mouth!).

Matt, Sarah, myself, and A enjoying the ocean

At 4pm we left the beach to meet up with everyone and book and pay for our extra excursions. We weren't able to get reservations for any of the restaurants on site so we had to have a buffet dinner (it was still yummy and a fabulous assortment of food). At dinner we were seated next to a couple who we ended up talking to (and because the resort was small-ish seeing them everywhere we were for the rest of the week). We learned their names were Ed and Lori and they were from Michigan. They were a nice couple albeit a bit strange.

A picture of the four of us on our last day

Monday night was the bachelorette party and we all watched a show at the Theater - Greece. Ah, it was funny watching the Mexican Sandy and Danny. They just lip synced to the words and did a bunch of dancing. It was very well put together though.

After Greece some of the girls went off to a different Riu resort to the disco (we were in a Palace Riu Resort so we got to visit all the other Riu Resorts but they couldn't visit our resort). I didn't go and sat chatting with Joseph for a little bit then called it a night and headed to bed.

Sunday, November 8

We had to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport (we had to drive to my parents house and drop my car off and they drove us to the airport). Our flight didn't leave until 9am but the recommend you get to the airport 3 hours ahead of schedule. We got to the airport at around 6:30am and the line up at the Air Transat counter was already full so we had to wait in line almost 3o minutes until we could check in. We made it through a super slow line at airport security and caught up with the rest of the Edmonton group at the gate. We ate a nice breakfast at one of the restaurants and went back to wait some more until take off. Because of Hurricane Ida out flight was delayed an hour (crappy). Thank goodness we were only delayed one hour (Toronto folks were delayed 6.5 hours at the airport! There flight was supposed to leave earlier than ours and it is a shorter flight to Cancun from Toronto so they had to wait longer for the storm to pass (they were to get into Cancun at 10am while we were to get in at 5pm). The plane was HUGE! I haven't been on a big plane like that since I flew to Greece in 1999! It was 9 seats across with 2 isles! The plane was full and I overheard one of the flight attendants say she saw eight wedding dresses get on the flight! It was a long 5.5 hour flight to Cancun. We didn't each have personal tv's in the head rest like I am used to in the last couple of years so we didn't get to choose what we could watch. Our movie choices were Land of the Lost and Night at the Museum 2. We were also served a egg and ham sandwich for free (all the other flights you a) get nothing or b) have to pay). When we finally landed we had to wait on the plane like 15 minutes until we could get a free gate to unload.

Going into Mexico you have to fill out three separate forms to get into the country! The first form everyone on the plane has to fill out and it is your visitor visa. You have to go through customs when you land and they stamp everything and give you back part of the form you need to save and give to them to get out of the country when you are leaving. Because of the Swine Flu everyone also had to fill out health form where you had to check yes or no if you had headache, cough, fever etc in the last two days. I did have a headache the day before but it wasn't cause of the flu (I was stressed because of packing and my interview) so I checked no. The last form was a family form just asking if you had plant/animals etc and you gave this form when leaving the airport (one you collect your baggage and it gets scanned again). Once you hand in this form you press a button and if you get green you are good to go, if you get red they stop and search your bags. Thankfully everyone in our group got a green light!

Stepping out of the airport it had stopped raining but it was muggy and hot. Walking out of the airport there are also lots of people wanting to take your bag and help you. All they want is money so as soon as we got out of the airport we started practicing our "no thanks" that we would need for the rest of the trip (the street vendors, anyone really, is super pushy!).

We got on the bus that would take us to our resort and there was another big group of people that were on our plane that were going to our resort also for a wedding. Two guys from the group could not wait the hour bus ride to the resort to start drinking. They bought beer outside the airport and half way through our one hour bus ride they tipped the bus driver big and the driver pulled over at a liquor store and these guys got out and bought more beer!!!!! Our little group was not super impressed. (Later on in the evening we ran into the group again at the lobby bar and the one guy who we named Annoying Newfie was tanked and yelling "lets go Oilers" and threatening to beat people up....thank goodness we didn't really run into them the rest of the time at the resort!).

We made it to the hotel (the Riu Palace Riviera Maya) and had a little orientation meeting where we were given a yummy drink, a wrist band and keys to our room. Alexander and I collected our luggage and went to what was supposed to be our room and our key wouldn't work and then a lady opened the door. She told us that she talked to the manager and was only going to be in the room for another hour and then move to a different room. We went back up to the desk and it turns out that they wrote our room number down wrong so they upgraded our room for the mistake. Instead of facing another hotel on the ground floor we got a room on the second floor that faced the courtyard and that had a king sized bed instead of to twin beds pushed together.

We all did a quick freshen up and hit the dinner buffet because we were all starving. I was super worried about water and what foods to eat/not eat because of all the horror stories I have heard. I've got a steel stomach and didn't get sick at all. At dinner we met everyone else that had flown in; 9 people from Toronto, 3 people from Calgary, and 10 people from Edmonton. We had a few drinks at the lobby bar and called it a night.

A having his first drink of many

Awesome watermelon sculptures!

An ice sculpture

Some of the group

I'm Back!

And suffering from post vacation blues. The suitcases are unpacked, laundry has been started, and there is food in the house. Things are slowly getting back to normal. It was loverly to be away from "real life" for a week and not have to really worry about anything (but I still did a bit). We got in late last night and this morning I found out that a job I heard about from a friend and sent in my resume to before we left had tried to call me while I was away wanting to schedule an interview for today. Since all I had planned for today was cleaning etc and they had a spot available at 2pm for an interview I went in. I thought this interview went well. I think I just needed to get over the whole haven't been to an interview in 3+ years hump. Since the position is vacant and they need it filled asap I should find out by Wednesday. My interview with Nait, I thought I crashed and burned. Everything I practiced and sounded wonderful at home I didn't say in the interview but when I checked my emails this morning my old boss at PC/Suncor emailed me saying Nait called for a reference check and he gave a rave review and the HR lady told him I was their top candidate. So I should find out about that job (maybe) this week. I'm holding positive that I'll get both (being super optimistic) but after two months of nothing all of the sudden I have two options and I don't know which one to choose. They both have their own unique positives. Ug. There could be worse things in life to choose though. I think I have to make up a list of all the things each job offers and decide from that (while money will play an option I don't want to make it the be all end all final decision making aspect).

I'm uploading my pictures so just a warning you will see a bunch of pictures/posts posted in the next little bit so I can document everything that happened on our trip so I don't forget later on.

I am Freakin Nervous

You think I wouldn't be because I took my interview class last week and this is the one and only interview that I "studied" for so you think I would be prepared and calm. Nope. I think no matter how prepared you are you are always going to feel apprehension. I was told the interview would be for 30-45 minutes. I have to talk that long and relate my experiences back to what the job is looking for? My brain is going to hurt after! *LOL*

On the plus side I am looking hot. I looked in my closet and didn't have any interview pants...I had a pair of dark brown cords but the were too big and were like mom jeans with a high waist. I commandeered Morna yesterday and I had a fabulous time shopping at Rickie's at West Ed. I have never had a bad experience with them. I think going during the day was better than weekend/evening because there weren't too many people in the store so I basically had a sales lady help me out/be my personal shopper the whole time I was there. She would make me try on different pants and different sizes and see what I liked best and go from there. I walked away with fabulous black dress pants and a beautiful emerald green top to wear today. When I get the job I'll go back and buy another pair of dress pants that I liked as well.

Anyways, wish me luck!

Say What?

So I locked my blog because I wanted to try to make changes to it...I tried and failed (as you can see it looks the same as before). Oh well. Someday I will be come adept in blog code and photoshop. Someday...

I've got some good news! I have my first (finally) interview from all the resumes I've sent. Woo hoo! It is for a position at NAIT. They called me yesterday and wanted to interview me on Monday the 9th but I will be in Mexico. I asked the HR lady that called me if I could come in earlier and she said she would have to find out. I spent the next few hours kicking myself in the butt because I didn't know if she would call me back with an earlier time or right then and there remove me from the candidate pile because I couldn't make the scheduled interview date. Obviously they did call me back because I'm going for an interview tomorrow at 1pm! I haven't yet started to be nervous. Last week at the career transition place I attended a interview technique class so I actually feel pretty confident in what I have to offer and what I can say. On my list of things to do today is do some more research on NAIT and the department I applied for and practice some more with interview questions I might be asked. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much about getting the job, right now I am trying to just be happy that I finally got a nibble on a resume and I don't feel like such a failure (it is kinda a blow to the self esteem to first get laid off and then to not have anyone call you for an interview). Now I can head off to Mexico next week not feeling like I'm wasting a week of job searching while I am away.

And The Saga Continues

So, they "lost" my paperwork. Lovely. They are processing my ROE today and I should get all the money (or the rest of what they owe me) on Friday. Now because of their screw up, I gotta make sure that all the information they gave to EI and what I gave jive. EI is pretty particular and I don't want to get into trouble!

Onto happier things:

- I applied for 3 jobs today! I applied for a couple last week too. I hope I get a phone call back soon. Every time my phone rings and I don't recognize the number I get a little excited.

- A and I saw Whip It last Monday. Going to a afternoon movie on a holiday is nice. It wasn't super busy and there weren't many people in the theatre. It was a good movie. I enjoyed it.

- I met up with Lisa S on Tuesday at TM to scrapbook. The scanner isn't working and I haven't taken pictures of my layouts yet to share. Sometime. I mean really, I've got time on my hands...

- Started tanning last week. So far so good. No rash or burn or anything. I'm keeping it at super small amounts so nothing will happen. I've done 14 minutes so far and I can already see a tan line. But really I am so pale already I would hope it wouldn't take forever to see results!

- I'm feeling kinda crafty today. Christmas crafty. Haven't managed to get anything done (the whole looking and applying for jobs thing) but I'm going to make some room this week and get projects that I didn't get done last year started (Hello Christmas Countdown Calendar).

- I got my haircut on Friday. It was so long and thick I was almost at the point of chopping it off myself. The only thing I hate is I get a haircut I like and you can never duplicate it. It is always a bit different each time.

- Had to go to Ikea twice this weekend. Saturday was to pick up a bookcase for A's parents and on Sunday it was to return it and get a new one (it's hard to explain what happened but they cut a groove for the back piece of the bookcase to high up and it was really visible). I know Ikea is cheap (well, cheaper than "real" furniture) but we have had some problems with other stuff before so I don't think I will be buying any big purchases or furniture from them any time soon. I'm going to do what my friend Gail Vox-Oxlade from Till Debt Do Us Part recommends and to save up and buy a nice piece of furniture something super nice that will last forever. Yes, that might mean my future house starts off pretty barren but it will be worth it in the end.

Are You Kidding Me?

So last week I had a question about my first EI claim so I called them. During the phone conversation I learned that they had not received my Record of Employment (ROE) from Suncor yet. All Suncor told me in their polite we don't need you anymore letter was that there were going to electronically send my ROE in. I called them today and I told them EI didn't have my ROE yet the guy asked for my name and employee number. He looked me up in the system and according to what his computer pulled up it still showed that I was on the payroll. Huh? Yeah, I've gotten some money deposited into my account by I thought it was my pay in lieu and vacation pay out (because it wasn't my regular amount I had always gotten). So he said he would investigate further and call me back. He calls me back a couple hours later and it turns out, according to what he could find out, that they got me mixed up with another employee or something and that I had not been processed yet. So I re-sent this guy my signed paperwork I sent way back on September 17 (!) that thankfully I had saved so I forwarded it on so he can see when I originally sent it in. According to Employment Standards I should have been paid what was owing to me within 3 days. It has now officially been one month. I called EI and they are putting in a request on my behalf and sending it to Suncor telling them to get me my ROE asap. From what I gather there isn't a "fine" that Suncor can get because they screwed up and have not sent my ROE in in a timely manner. Arg! Right now I am pissed. My voice is raw because I've been on the phone to employment standards and EI and my parents all afternoon. At this moment I am so pissed I was to hire an evil lawyer and sue someones ass off. On top of losing my job I now have to deal with this. Thank goodness I am not hard off and am not hurting and needed the money yesterday. But I really would just rather get it over and done with and move on.