November 29, 2011
I had a very successful day in Auckland today!
Nick, the light technician, and I got off the ship around 10am and started off on our mission to find his girlfriend some good birthday/Christmas presents (her birthday is December 12). We wandered around for a while and thankfully our mission was successful, and I was able to get something for my mom, too! Then we kept walking around and had lunch, but my lunch wasn’t very good—I ordered a Hawaiian Pizza but the pineapple wasn’t sweet at all and there were surprise onions in the pizza! Those of you that know me well will know that there isn’t much that I hate more than onions, yuck yuck yuck. They were in big slices, thankfully, but then some were hidden under the cheese and I took a bite of one and gagged a little, I just hate them so much! So that was a sad moment for me, but, oh well, you live and learn!
We continued our aimless journey of the main streets of Auckland and what oh what did I find? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I came across a small little store that you might have heard of called Dunkin’ Donuts! Sure, there are McDonald’s everywhere and I’ve seen Burger Kings in the bigger cities, but, not yet had I seen a Dunkin’ Donuts! They have a similar chain called King Donut (or something to that effect) but no, this was a real life Dunkin’ Donuts! America runs on Dunkin’, and so does Auckland, apparently. It was, ironically enough, located next to an EB Games and a block away from a Wendy’s!! My mind was absolutely blown. I decided that I wouldn’t be that tourist and eat at both of those establishments in one day (DD and Wendy’s) but that I would pace myself…and seeing as how I can’t get bagels and DD iced coffee on board I went with DD and what a great choice that was. Happy Brittany was happy!
Next we went and found the base of the Sky Tower (see my Facebook for photos) and we were going to go up to the top but it was $25 and we didn’t feel like spending that money. Instead we (I) took a photo with the small replica of the tower that they had near the escalators and saw some burly men setting up Christmas decorations (again, see the photos on my Facebook). After all that we made our way back to the ship to get to work for an hour or so and now I’m off again until 6:45pm, and I think my body is begging for a nap.
Take care of yourselves, everyone, and as the winter comes upon most of you, try not to picture me in flip flops and a t-shirt on Christmas ;)
B
December 1, 2011
Well, kids, it’s already December! It’s hard for me to believe that fact…and the fact that I’ve been on the ship for two months now. It’s truly amazing the differences I feel now from what I felt in the early days. I knew that of course I’d find my way around and that I’d get the hang of things and I’m just happy to see that that actually came true. This voyage I did all of our production shows without my run sheets (aka the sheets that tell me what each of my cues are during each show) which is pretty nice, and I am feeling more and more confident when guests ask me where things are and even new crew members.
I won’t be writing much tonight because I’ve got a Latin Night party to go to in the Crew Bar. The party is actually a fundraiser for one of the Facilities guys who had to go home several weeks ago because his daughter was killed in a car accident. The company doesn’t consider that emergency enough to pay for his ticket home so he had to pay around $4,000 out of his own pocket to get home to his family and he isn’t paid anywhere near that on the ship. So the Adventure Ocean manager has been organizing ways to raise money for Barrie to give to him to help pay for the ticket and so the orchestra members are playing in the crew bar and people are encouraged to bring money to donate to the cause. If every crew member donated $5 it would come out to $4,500, so that’s what they’re shooting for.
Speaking of car accidents, as a few of you know my hip has been bothering me a bit more and more this past month. I spoke to the doctor on board the other day and he explained that if it’s arthritis already developing then there’s nothing they can really do about it on board and so he gave me super-strength ibuprofen and it’s been helping a little bit but not greatly. I am worried that it is indeed arthritis and that I won’t be able to do the ship thing for a long time because I’ll need to be home where I can be treated for the problem as needed—whether that’s with steroid injections (which is what this doctor said) or by getting my hip replaced sooner rather than later. Ugh. I am trying to stay positive and optimistic about these things but it’s really hard sometimes!
Anyways, Lauren is out of the shower so I’m going to go hop in and then go to Latin night. More to come soon my dears.
Xoxoxoxox
B
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