Hey folks, it's been a while

What's up everyone, sorry it's been awhile since I blogged!

To be honest, not that much has happened since I last wrote, hence my lack of posts, but, I'll recap for you anyways!

Today is the first day of the next cruise for us, we finished the bottom end of the circumnavigation cruise. It was certainly an interesting one!

In Adelaide I went with Brian, Nick and Emma to a Wildlife park where we pet and fed kangaroos and emus and saw Koala bears and a few other animals. It was so cute, Kangaroos are SO soft!!! I also bought a gorgeous Opal ring for myself in honor of my promotion. Don't judge me! It's pretty simple, just a sterling silver band and an oval shaped semi-black opal in the center, but it's a good-sized gem. Even though it's called "semi-black" it's kind of a white-green color, but the fact that it's "semi-black" puts it in the higher quality of Opals, apparently. Did you know that 90% of the world's Opals come from Australia? I had no idea.

In Hobart a few days later, Brian and I borrowed bikes from the ship (we can get them through our HR center) and rode around, got some wifi and lunch and then went back to the ship. I hadn't been on a real bike in Lord knows how long! It was really nice, except when Brian kept trying to get me to go uphill and that just didn't work out, also we had to be on the streets instead of the sidewalks and biking on the left side of the road what quite an experience. Brian said to me at one point "Are the turning hand signals the same here??" and all I could do was shrug and say "Your guess is as good as mine!"

Once we left Australia we crossed the Tasman sea to New Zealand and we had the second rockiest seas we've ever had, second only to those we had around New Year's. We were scheduled to have our production show on the first of these sea days but we postponed it until 3 days later because the seas were just that rocky! I didn't get seasick but I did take some tablets because I was getting a mild headache from the moving.

The New Zealand ports were the same as usual, I bought a small carry-on sized bag in Dunedin and filled it with the souvenirs and gifts that I have for everyone. It's pretty full, but, I'll feel safer having it with me in the plane than leaving it to possibly get lost in my big duffel bag. In Wellington I talked to many of you online, and finally bought a paper copy of the book "The Hunger Games" which I have heard rave reviews about from a lot of you. I read it in 2 days, so, you were all right!!! I need to find books 2 and 3, apparently someone saw book 2 in the "Crew Library" so I think I'll look there later today when I'm back on the ship.

Yesterday we had some really strong winds at sea that crept up on us and made the whole ship vibrate all day as if we were in an airplane with turbulence. I was laying in my bed so I didn't really notice but at one point the ship listed about 3 degrees to the Port side (I think) and one of the cast members was in the Salon and he said that a whole bunch of products came crashing down to the floor. A few minutes after that the Captain came on over the PA system and explained that we had a sudden gust of wind that nobody saw coming which tossed the ship to one side and that they were doing everything they could to turn the ship so that that wouldn't happen again. He explained that the gusts outside were around 80 knots/113mph/190kph and apologized for any worries or damages that were done by the unexpected lurch. "The wind came up like a car out of the sack" he said, in his thick Norwegian accent. That was the funniest part about it, not gonna lie!

This morning we arrived in Sydney again and I got off with some of the cast members to see the movie version of "The Hunger Games" which recently came out. It didn't disappoint! Now I'm sitting in a cafe just finishing my lunch and enjoying the beautiful weather. I have to work at 3pm on Wheelchair duty and then tonight for the show, after that my team and I are going to one of the specialty restaurants and then we'll set for the production show tomorrow! We've got a 12 day cruise ahead of us, then we'll be in Sydney again on the 5th and then the 18 day cruise to Honolulu via Auckland (New Zealand) and French Polynesia and then I will be home!!!!! If only I could make time go faster :)

Love you all and counting down the days (in case you hadn't noticed)
xoxoxox
B

"This curtain should be open, it's civil rights, this is the 90s."

March 8, 2012

                We’re in the merry, merry month of March! I’m writing from the little town of Esperance, Australia where I am wearing jeans, flip flops, a t-shirt and a cardigan with ¾ length sleeves. This is important because naught 3 days ago, I was sitting in a café sweating my face off in 95* heat and now it’s about 70*!!! YES! The only problem is that with the drastic temperature drop in 24 hours myself and my roommate seem to have come down with scratchy throats…bummer!! Nonetheless, I am eating a delicious piece of Cookies n’ Cream Cheesecake from a local café and loving it.

                I have officially started my position of Head Stage Staff, which is pretty cool. Nothing much has happened so far except more phone calls than usual, which Kerwin had warned me about. Having my own phone will be a blessing and a curse, I think!

                We have loads of birthdays this month! There are I think around 7 people in my division with March birthdays, which is pretty awesome. Though, I’m the only one at the very end—the one closest to me is on the 18^th and that’s our Light Tech, Nick. Speaking of birthdays—if any of you intend to send me a card I would suggest sending it to my house and I’ll get it a month later when I’m home. Miami will send us mail in Sydney when we’re there on the 24^th, but that will be the last time I will get anything since the next Sydney there won’t be any and after that we’re back in the states and I’m home! Yay!

                I’ve had the itch to write lately…most of you will know that I used to write when I was in middle school/high school but it wasn’t anything substantial…but either way I certainly feel like writing something, I just don’t have any clue what to write about. I guess that’s why I decided to blog today, because I just needed to write *something*! 

                Since my last post, we finished the top end of the circumnavigation of Australia, stopping again in Bali, Port Hedland and Geraldton. I didn’t get off in Bali because Jared and I switched Duty dates so that I could see the Great Barrier Reef and he could see Bali. It was a really rainy day, however, so I definitely kind of lucked out. Dave, the Musical Director, and I were talking about how we did so well the first time in Bali it seemed silly to go back out and try to see more, since we saw so much and it was so awesome. So, I worked all day and went out to the covered parts of the Pooldeck and watched some of the thunderstorm that afternoon which was really cool—you all know how much I love thunderstorms! Then Port Hedland was just like it was last time—hot and dusty—but Kerwin and I hopped on the shuttle and went into the “shopping center” where we bought a few necessities and had a quick lunch in a local tavern.  After that was Geraldton which is a small beach town, we were there on a Monday but it was a Public Holiday so almost everything was closed, save for a few restaurants.

                After today we sail to Adelaide, after two sea days, and I am so excited because while I am supposed to be on duty at that time, Jared switched days with me again so that I could go back there since he doesn’t like that city but I do. When we were there last time Brian and I found a place similar to Chipotle and had delicious burritos and I certainly intend to go back and get another!

I think that’s about it for today, I’ll post again soon!

Much love,

B