day 110
on tuesday, shore excursions was offering spaces to crew to go on the dolphin and stingray encounter (usually $150 for guests) for $45. in the name of "team building" my supervisor arranged it so that all of us technicians could go with no one being left behind.
the guys promised me that i wouldn't drown, in fact, one is a life guard, but no promises about getting teased. and really, there wasn't that much teasing about my awkwardness in the water.
dolphin encounter was first.
i laughed my butt off the whole time. i'll post the pics later. we couldn't take our own pics, but with a little help from our smooth talker mark, we got ours for free (guests don't).
petting, kissing, dancing, singing, water fights, and rides.
then we took a pontoon boat a half an hour away to a sand bar to chillax with some stingrays. who knew they'd be so cool to pet? i even held one. they are so docile. the big ones are the females and the little ones are the males.
once you get used to them touching you when they swim past and get over the fact that they have a terrifying stinger, the only thing that really freaked me out was feeding it. and for a girl who grew up with horses, this should be no big thing right? ACK.
you know you miss your pet (oh daytona!) when you don't want to stop petting the stingrays.
love and marine life,
jamie
21 October 2010
13 October 2010
Ja-makin-me crazy
Day 102
I am in meat shock.
Our itinerary changed this week due to Hurricane Paula. The first half of the week our course was normal, stopping in Grand Cayman yesterday.
So we are in Jamaica at Ocho Rios today, instead of in Honduras; two days at sea instead of Belize and Cozumel; then Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday.
Went exploring in Jamaica with friends. We hired a driver to take the 7 of us on a tour. Ya mon! The flora and foliage are superb. The spiders are terrifying. The grapefruits are sweeter than normal. Chawed on sugar cane. Bought earrings made from coconut shells.
$15 got us all we could eat at a Jamaican/Asian buffet and Red Stripe beer by a waterfall.
And the meat shock I mentioned above is because I binged on Jerk Chicken and Curried Chicken. I have been vegetarian for 6.5 years and it has been 4.5 years since I have eaten any meat.
I sampled the pork and my feeling was exactly as I had hoped – I was not desirous of it, and in fact, grossed out. But the chicken!
I hope it satisfied my sense of nostalgia and that I’ll continue to be able to stick to my values and not have to ward off meat cravings again.
I have a feeling of adrenaline and a slight headache.
I’m disappointed that all of the good looking t-shirts were at least $25.
One of the vendors was willing to sell me one for $18, and I bet I could have gotten this one I wanted for $15… but I haven’t had a debit card in over 2 months, so I’m struggling for cash. There are only so many opportunities to pay a bill for a meal with friends with my credit card and scoop up their cash. I already owe a nice sum to my roommate who has generously covered me in my inconvenience. I’ll forgo the cool t-shirt to avoid owing her more money.
Those earrings are my only tangible souvenir from Jamaica, and my last $5.
Jamaica is beautiful and I don’t have to work until 10:15pm. So great.
My sign off date is 9 January 2011.
Love and flesh,
Jamie
I am in meat shock.
Our itinerary changed this week due to Hurricane Paula. The first half of the week our course was normal, stopping in Grand Cayman yesterday.
So we are in Jamaica at Ocho Rios today, instead of in Honduras; two days at sea instead of Belize and Cozumel; then Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday.
Went exploring in Jamaica with friends. We hired a driver to take the 7 of us on a tour. Ya mon! The flora and foliage are superb. The spiders are terrifying. The grapefruits are sweeter than normal. Chawed on sugar cane. Bought earrings made from coconut shells.
$15 got us all we could eat at a Jamaican/Asian buffet and Red Stripe beer by a waterfall.
And the meat shock I mentioned above is because I binged on Jerk Chicken and Curried Chicken. I have been vegetarian for 6.5 years and it has been 4.5 years since I have eaten any meat.
I sampled the pork and my feeling was exactly as I had hoped – I was not desirous of it, and in fact, grossed out. But the chicken!
I hope it satisfied my sense of nostalgia and that I’ll continue to be able to stick to my values and not have to ward off meat cravings again.
I have a feeling of adrenaline and a slight headache.
I’m disappointed that all of the good looking t-shirts were at least $25.
One of the vendors was willing to sell me one for $18, and I bet I could have gotten this one I wanted for $15… but I haven’t had a debit card in over 2 months, so I’m struggling for cash. There are only so many opportunities to pay a bill for a meal with friends with my credit card and scoop up their cash. I already owe a nice sum to my roommate who has generously covered me in my inconvenience. I’ll forgo the cool t-shirt to avoid owing her more money.
Those earrings are my only tangible souvenir from Jamaica, and my last $5.
Jamaica is beautiful and I don’t have to work until 10:15pm. So great.
My sign off date is 9 January 2011.
Love and flesh,
Jamie
03 October 2010
chapter 2
day 92
today is embarkation day, which means new team members sign on and old ones sign off. a lot of people were planning on this. many friends signed off today.
one of them found out at 4am that he was fired (and immigration was at 5:45am today).
there are a lot of changes going on around me.
a few good friends left today.
i have a new supervisor.
we have a new cruise director, so the variety shows are going to change a bit.
the new cast is still in rehearsal and will open their 2nd show on thursday.
i think my woes last week originated from hormones. i guess i got a bad batch last week. (can i get a refund?)
my pal chris signed off today. he's been counting down the days with eager anticipation.
i realized last night that i've been absorbing this energy of leaving and change and getting mixed up in it. i felt my body relax as i walked away from saying goodbyes at the bar last night. i had been feeling the stress of changes and moving as if i was also about to sign off.
my mindset all along has been to be open minded to the revolving door that are our contracts. in the time i have been here not many of my friends have signed off. so, i've been looking forward to the experience and the change. only for a moment last night did i dread it. i suddenly realized that the comfortableness of the routine i was in with this set of people was about to be broken.
it dawned on me this morning, as i walked solo across the bridge from the port of miami to downtown, that i lost track of where i originally was on my personal journey. not to say that i have been sidetracked and haven't learned anything, just not what i was originally intending to work on.
i have been wanting independence and possibly routine. my routine turned into always making time for whomever asked for it.
granted, i have been busier with work. but i haven't been reading so much anymore, or going to the gym much (mainly work and illness impede this), or lying in the sun, orr eating only when hungry, or sleeping whenever i want, or knitting, or studying language much.
when written out like this, they sound like simple and strange goals, but damn it, i'm on vacation! wait...
those are just the expectations i had coming into this. i anticipated being much more isolated than i actually am. i can't list all of the good side effects from the experience i am having. the point is that i just remembered i want to return to those other points of interest.
love and growth,
jamie
today is embarkation day, which means new team members sign on and old ones sign off. a lot of people were planning on this. many friends signed off today.
one of them found out at 4am that he was fired (and immigration was at 5:45am today).
there are a lot of changes going on around me.
a few good friends left today.
i have a new supervisor.
we have a new cruise director, so the variety shows are going to change a bit.
the new cast is still in rehearsal and will open their 2nd show on thursday.
i think my woes last week originated from hormones. i guess i got a bad batch last week. (can i get a refund?)
my pal chris signed off today. he's been counting down the days with eager anticipation.
i realized last night that i've been absorbing this energy of leaving and change and getting mixed up in it. i felt my body relax as i walked away from saying goodbyes at the bar last night. i had been feeling the stress of changes and moving as if i was also about to sign off.
my mindset all along has been to be open minded to the revolving door that are our contracts. in the time i have been here not many of my friends have signed off. so, i've been looking forward to the experience and the change. only for a moment last night did i dread it. i suddenly realized that the comfortableness of the routine i was in with this set of people was about to be broken.
it dawned on me this morning, as i walked solo across the bridge from the port of miami to downtown, that i lost track of where i originally was on my personal journey. not to say that i have been sidetracked and haven't learned anything, just not what i was originally intending to work on.
i have been wanting independence and possibly routine. my routine turned into always making time for whomever asked for it.
granted, i have been busier with work. but i haven't been reading so much anymore, or going to the gym much (mainly work and illness impede this), or lying in the sun, orr eating only when hungry, or sleeping whenever i want, or knitting, or studying language much.
when written out like this, they sound like simple and strange goals, but damn it, i'm on vacation! wait...
those are just the expectations i had coming into this. i anticipated being much more isolated than i actually am. i can't list all of the good side effects from the experience i am having. the point is that i just remembered i want to return to those other points of interest.
love and growth,
jamie
01 October 2010
half-way mark
Day 90
Due to the weather, we were unable to visit Grand Cayman. It was quite rocky Monday and Tuesday. I didn't get nauseous, but for some reason the constant motion was pretty exhausting.
And we opened the first of the two shows with the new cast, so we were in the closest thing you can get to being in tech rehearsals with a cast change - so lots of hours on the clock.
I have been pretty stressed out the past couple of days for reasons to be explored. Maybe it is the compounded exhaustion. I really didn't think it had much to do with work, but as I finally got it off my chest last night, and I kept mentioning things that indicate that I'm stressed about my job performance.
But I feel good about my work and that I'm doing well.
Well, whatever it is, I bawled my eyes out a couple of times in the last 24 hours, didn't get much sleep, and at one point was hyperventilating. Unusual.
Today I feel much better, so don't worry.
I do have cycles where I just release tension by having a good cry - this was just a bit much.
I have a new roommate, Amanda. She’s the horn section of the showband. Alto and tenor saxophones, flute, and clarinet. She's from Victoria, BC, and therefore naturally awesome. There are predictions that we're going to be too dynamically diabolical and that we should be separated. I say our friendship is going to be a beautiful thing.
Went out to supper club again last night - second time this month! It's so nice to eat well crafted food. And with friends! Unfortunately I had to leave my party early to get to work, so I took my leftovers and my dessert to go. I was 10 steps from my room when I got stopped by the ASSt. Chief of Security, who asked me where I was going with these plates of food and then told me I had to throw them out. We're not supposed to have food in our rooms, although we all do. I even have a refrigerator! And why would I be able to take it out if I can't take it?
I understand where the no food policy comes from - to prevent negligence and critters, but I don't agree with the principles of the enforcement of the policy, the inconsistency, and the hypocrisy.
And I would have discussed this with him, but I chose to not get into it so I could be on time for work with less of a headache. So I marched down in my formal attire and heels to the crew mess where you have to do your own busing and violently flung the food off my plate with my fingers. The act was satisfying enough to not regret having not just snuck back to my place another way. I couldn't have thought of that anyway while seeing red and with the aforementioned exhaustion.
Opening for the new cast went really well. That's a bonus.
I posted pics of my musician friends playing the Marcus Anthony show. He's a fly-on performer (not pictured) whose show we did every Friday. He's going on tour and won't be coming back for many weeks. So, in his place we have a juggler who tells terrible one-liners. I hate it.
Love and venting,
Jamie
Due to the weather, we were unable to visit Grand Cayman. It was quite rocky Monday and Tuesday. I didn't get nauseous, but for some reason the constant motion was pretty exhausting.
And we opened the first of the two shows with the new cast, so we were in the closest thing you can get to being in tech rehearsals with a cast change - so lots of hours on the clock.
I have been pretty stressed out the past couple of days for reasons to be explored. Maybe it is the compounded exhaustion. I really didn't think it had much to do with work, but as I finally got it off my chest last night, and I kept mentioning things that indicate that I'm stressed about my job performance.
But I feel good about my work and that I'm doing well.
Well, whatever it is, I bawled my eyes out a couple of times in the last 24 hours, didn't get much sleep, and at one point was hyperventilating. Unusual.
Today I feel much better, so don't worry.
I do have cycles where I just release tension by having a good cry - this was just a bit much.
I have a new roommate, Amanda. She’s the horn section of the showband. Alto and tenor saxophones, flute, and clarinet. She's from Victoria, BC, and therefore naturally awesome. There are predictions that we're going to be too dynamically diabolical and that we should be separated. I say our friendship is going to be a beautiful thing.
Went out to supper club again last night - second time this month! It's so nice to eat well crafted food. And with friends! Unfortunately I had to leave my party early to get to work, so I took my leftovers and my dessert to go. I was 10 steps from my room when I got stopped by the ASSt. Chief of Security, who asked me where I was going with these plates of food and then told me I had to throw them out. We're not supposed to have food in our rooms, although we all do. I even have a refrigerator! And why would I be able to take it out if I can't take it?
I understand where the no food policy comes from - to prevent negligence and critters, but I don't agree with the principles of the enforcement of the policy, the inconsistency, and the hypocrisy.
And I would have discussed this with him, but I chose to not get into it so I could be on time for work with less of a headache. So I marched down in my formal attire and heels to the crew mess where you have to do your own busing and violently flung the food off my plate with my fingers. The act was satisfying enough to not regret having not just snuck back to my place another way. I couldn't have thought of that anyway while seeing red and with the aforementioned exhaustion.
Opening for the new cast went really well. That's a bonus.
I posted pics of my musician friends playing the Marcus Anthony show. He's a fly-on performer (not pictured) whose show we did every Friday. He's going on tour and won't be coming back for many weeks. So, in his place we have a juggler who tells terrible one-liners. I hate it.
Love and venting,
Jamie
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