Australia

Australia

So far I’ve done two things I’ve always wanted to do.  I’ve ridden an elephant in Bali, and here in Australia, I finally held a Koala!  As a little girl I had a Koala figurine that would dangle from the fan above my bed and have since the first day I laid eyes on it wanted to hold my very own real Koala.  I entertained thoughts of trying to sneak one onto the boat, but it’s probably for the best that I couldn’t.  Australia has been beautiful, but very very rainy.  There have been two stops so far that I haven’t been able to get off because I wasn’t part of an escorted tour, and while I got to see Sydney, which is gorgeous, as we sailed away, I wasn’t able to go there yet either.  The good news is, we come back through all of these ports and I can’t wait!  I bought a scratch off map which I am just tickled about…yes I recognize that this makes me a dork.  It’s a world map that starts off with all of the continents in a mottled brown color, but as you scratch off the places you’ve been, the colors come out from underneath the brown.  It’s awesome.  So far Australia has been nothing like Crocodile Dundee, which is both disappointing and a relief.  I have to laugh because most Australians find this movie as offensive as they fine Fosters…which is supposed to be Australian for beer.  I have gotten to pet kangaroos, be very near to crocodiles and duck-billed platapuses, and even hang out with an emu.  It’s been wonderful!  I was sad to say goodbye to our last cruisers because they were a great bunch who were very social and very nice to us.  Most of them were from Australia so kept giving us great tips on where to go when we got off.  On one of the excursions I went on, we drove through the rainforest on an old WWll Army Duck which is an amphibious vehicle.  Thank God I didn’t see any snakes, but the spiders here are huge!  At the shop they sold fruit kabobs of all the different fruits that the jungle grew.  I don’t know the names of any of them, but they were all delicious!  I know in this post I haven’t mentioned individual places or dates and that’s simply because I couldn’t even tell you what today is. Everything is bleeding together.  I get my schedule for the day the night before and I’m pretty much where I need to be when I need to be.  I haven’t had to plan ahead or look behind yet.  It’s been fantastic.  On one sour note, when we plugged in the tiny fridge that came with our room, it shorted out our X-Box, and being that all the game systems over here are different than the ones sold in America, even if we bought a new one, it wouldn’t be able to play any of the games.  I’m heart-broken over Skyrim, but I know I don’t have much time to play it anyhow.

Now I feel bad that I didn’t mention places so here is what I can remember…our first stop was at an island that we couldn’t get off (I forget which, but it looked beautiful.)  Then we stopped in Darwin, but honestly it was raining so hard and the raindrops were so fat that it felt like hail, we stepped off the ship and got right back on.  Darwin is a half-hour time difference by the way, which is very strange.  Then we went to Cairns which is where I went on the expedition to the rainforest.  After that we stopped in the Whitsundays where again we could not disembark, and then yesterday we were in Sydney.  The opera house is gorgeous from a distance.  I can’t wait to take a tour of it when we come back through.   The ocean seems to get a little rockier each day and I’m still nervous about the Tasman Sea.  I’m pretty sure we’re on our way to New Zealand.  We’re putting together a Christmas show, and there is an array of giant gingerbread houses and chocolate castles in the lobby that I want to dive into every time I pass.  Again, I am so thankful and happy that I got to do this with Jason.  I will miss everybody else for Christmas and the New Year!  I love you guys!

Bali, Komodo and the Queen of the Flute

Our second cruise started in Singapore, which unfortunately was a port-manning day for me, so I was unable to get off the ship and explore.  The ship requires some personnel to stay aboard at all times for safety reasons and Singapore happened to land on my day.  Since it was an embarkation day, I had to work most of the day by giving people their passports as they left, and then checking the new guests in and welcoming them aboard.  Every embarkation day has a captain’s welcome in the evening where we stand and greet and help guests to their seats.

This week I’ve hosted bingo, golf putting, water volleyball, tea-chat and a musical quiz.  Some activities are more fun than others.  I really enjoyed water volleyball, but I forgot sunscreen!  I didn’t burn, but with subsequent trips to Bali and Komodo, my face is much darker than it used to be.

I got to ride an elephant in Bali which was awesome!  My “driver” even made the elephant run, which was exciting!  The rest of the cast got a personal tour through the monkey jungle, temples and shops of Bali from Jane Rutter.  Jane is recognized as Queen of the Flute and is very famous as well as incredibly talented and personable.  I got to accompany her for two of her shows on piano!  She was extremely nice and I am sad that she is leaving the ship today, but she will be back in March.  Google and Youtube her if you aren’t familiar.

The next island we stopped at was Komodo.  The Komodo Dragons are gigantic and very scary looking.  I went with the guests on this excursion as well, so had to walk at the back of the group.  This was fine by me because it meant I had a guide with a stick next to me at all times.  When I asked him what he would do if a Komodo attacked our group, he said that he would climb a tree.  I’m not sure if he was joking.  Jason bought me pearls and a carving of a wooden Komodo.  There were twenty vendors on each side as we left the island, all calling my name thanks to my nametag.  Overwhelming!  Then, just before we got on the boat to take us back to our ship, all of the guides wanted to take a picture with the American girl.  It was ridiculously hot on the island and everyone was drenched with sweat.  Everybody took a shower when we got back.

We spent yesterday at sea and last night I played the second show with Jane which was an Irish Tribute.  This morning we are docking in Darwin, Australia which means we have to set our clocks forward by half an hour.  Very bizarre.  I’m so excited to see Australia and my goal is to hold a Koala.  I know Jason is excited as Australia is first on his list of places to see.  I hope they have good food!

What was that?!

I am having such an amazing time!  I am so glad I got on this boat!  This week has been so busy as we only have nine days to install and perform all of our shows.  By the way, if anyone is wondering why they’ve seen Jason online but not me, it’s because it doesn’t take him two hours to do makeup and hair!  I would like to share with you some of the awesome, awkward and downright funny moments from this past week.

First of all…

The very first night that we did any performing for the guests was more of a meet and greet showcase where we sat on the edge of the stage and introduced ourselves.  We got to say where we were from, what we studied etc.  Let me preface the next part of this by saying that the majority of the guests have accents from all over and I’ve met only five Americans so far, and none of them at this point.  As I opened my mouth to tell about myself, out came this foreign accent which sounded like a mix of Australian and English.  What was that?  Not only did I start out speaking this way, I couldn’t stop myself!  I did my entire speech in some weird bastardized thick accent!  At the end, the cruise director asked me where I was from originally, and I very sheepishly whispered into my microphone…”California”.

Our first full show was Motown, which I think went very well.  It’s so hard to get used to dancing on a boat especially in heals!  Thankfully, we were docked for this show so it wasn’t too rocky.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it, hooray!

The next night Jason and I did our duet show in the Panorama Lounge which is a beautiful bar close to the top of the ship.  I was pleased with how it went and everyone was still buzzing about Jason’s last song the next day.  He used a pedal with his guitar that allowed him to accompany himself and sing his own backups.  It really was awesome to watch.

Our next show was Opera.  We were not docked for this show.  In fact, we were forging through some rather rough waters.  This show was expected to be the most popular but half the guests were stuck sea-sick in their cabins.  Now you may think, well thank goodness they didn’t have to dance in this show!  I propose that dancing may have been better than trying to stand still and deliver an aria when a wave hits!  We all did very well, but during Conte Partiro where all six of us were standing squarely and facing the audience, a wave struck.  I don’t know how it happened, but every single one of my cast mates was firmly planted.  Everyone!  Everyone but me!  Picture this if you will…six people on stage with three girls in front and three boys in back staggered so that you can see everyone.  Suddenly the girl to your farthest lest goes tottering across the stage sideways dangerously close to taking out the girl next to her, then just as suddenly goes tottering back the other way all while singing in Italian.  Ha!  At least I can laugh at myself.

After Opera our cruise director did an old school Vegas style show in the theater.  It was great!  I love crooners and the passengers certainly loved him!

Last night we were supposed to have a show on deck after a barbeque, but it got rained out, so we moved it inside to the theater.  We did a contemporary Broadway revue which was lots of fun. Then afterwards we met everyone in the bar for disco night which was outrageous!  Everyone was on the floor dancing.    We also finally got off the boat yesterday in Hochiman city, which I can’t spell yet.  The air is so humid!  We were actually out in the city when it started pouring!  We bought rain slickers (which were really mostly just colored garbage bags) for a dollar and instead of making it to the grocery store to buy some snacks, we were distracted by the retail shopping.  It was a great time.  There are so many motorcycles here…really just glorified scooters and not a traffic light in sight!

Meanwhile in my vegan life…There’s plenty of salad, vegetables and bread to eat, and they put out nuts with lunch and dinner, but the café isn’t open all of the time and you have to remember to schedule your time around the times the officer’s mess is open.  I get hungry in-between which is why we were trying to make it to the grocery store, and I would kill for a vegan desert!  But I’m not starving, in fact I’m probably eating healthier than I would otherwise.

I miss everybody so much, but I am so excited that this is my life!

Transit to Hong Kong.

Our first flight was a claustrophobic nightmare.   Our plane was a total of three seats across and my head barely skimmed the roof as I walked wide-eyed and panicked towards my row.   Luckily I only had to feel crowded for an hour and a half.  Thank God for Jason!  When we got off the first plane, we had to walk outside to a shuttle which drove us across the runway in the dark to another wing of gates.  We then had to navigate our way through those gates and back outside to finally arrive at the international section of the airport.  I would have been crying and lost had Jason not guided me through these maneuvers every step of the way.  We made it to our international flight with…hmm…four hours to spare.  Somehow we missed our cast when they first arrived at the terminal and spent three of the four hours waiting alone.  When we finally got together, we rehashed the stresses of our journeys and the excitement of our upcoming adventures.

Jason and I sat together on the plane a full section ahead of the rest of our cast.  We were joined by an Asian woman who was unable to dampen our excitement even though the constant assault of her gaseous emissions became almost unbearable.  I’ve never met another human who could maintain that amount of stench so frequently and for so long.

The plane to Hong Kong was much more comfortable than our plane to L.A.  However, fifteen hours of any small space can become overbearing especially when the electricity in the seats is shorted out three hours into your flight.  No more games, no more movies, no more music.  Not even access to the overhead light.  Fortunately I had just finished watching The Help which was almost completely uninterrupted by announcements of turbulence and which was not a bad movie.

The next twelve hours were spent in the darkness where fits of sleep came and went and where my bladder seemed to time out with dastardly precision exactly when the “fasten your seat-belt” light would click on.  Out of boredom between running to the bathroom and before falling asleep I decided to open the window screen which the stewardesses insisted we closed as soon as it got dark.  Out past the giant wing of the plane hung the stars, suspended and beautiful and bigger than I’d ever seen them.  I’ve never been so close to space in the dark without any distracting lights.  It was truly amazing and it made me think forward to all the night skies I would see out on the empty ocean.

Touchdown!!   Our plane landed amidst the views of Hong Kong.  Huge lush mountains framed by tall skinny city buildings surrounded by water.  Beautiful, warm and humid!  After some confusion with customs as to whom needed to stamp our passes, them or the seaman’s post, we grabbed our bags and headed with our guide Guy towards our bus.  We stowed our luggage and hopped on for an hour drive to the marina.  We disembarked from the bus, grabbed our suitcases and realized we were still a good twenty minute walk from our boat.  Well, we didn’t so much as realize it as live it.  We are all convinced that someone made Guy mad, because we seemed to walk in a circle instead of cutting straight across to the marina.

There she was, our ship the Silver Shadow, docked proudly in front of us.  There was an awkward moment as we passed the cast that was leaving and all I could think was “I hope they didn’t trash our rooms like the cast on our sister ship did”.   When we finally got to our rooms after schlepping around the ship on our official tour, filling out our paperwork and lugging our bags up and down stairs we had only a few minutes before we had to go back out to our safety training.  From there we were kept busy all day from drills to rehearsals to additional tours.  We were informed that we won’t receive our internet cards until the morning so there is no way to get in touch with our families and tell them we are alive and safe and only slightly sea-sick. 

Our rooms are not terrible.  They are bigger than the picture I saw of our sister-ships rooms.  Jason and I have four beds and two closets.  Ok…now that I’m typing so much I am getting sea-sick, so that’s all for now!  I’m still very excited!  I miss everybody!

Ok…day two.  I finally got my internet card this morning, but between safety training, rehearsal, hob-knobbing and our “taste of what’s to come” show tonight, I haven’t had a chance to use it until now.  I’m officially exhausted, but happy.  Also, I feel much better today after the sea-sick tablet I took last night.  That’s all for now though.  I will be drifting off as soon as my head hits my pillow!

On Friday I Fly Away

     On Friday I fly away!!!!!!  I'm off to Hong Kong the day after Thanksgiving to start my new life as a mariner.  I will be singing for Silversea Cruises, aboard their ship Silver Shadow, while being transported from Southeast Asia to Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Russia, Alaska and Canada for the next seven months!  I am so excited I could spit!  I've never understood that phrase before.  I'm not sure I understand it now, but if I had to spit due to the amount of excitement I am experiencing...I would. 

     I am in the middle of packing and repacking.  It's hard to fit the next seven months of my life into two suitcases!  Sadly, there is not room for more...trust me, I've seen pictures of the rooms provided to the performers and they are a far cry from the luxury suites for the guests!  I believe my room will be about the size of their closets!  

     I am so excited and truly blessed to be able to explore the world this way!  I've only been on a cruise ship once and it was during my Honeymoon in Hawaii.  We boarded a dinner cruise and were slightly chagrined when we realized that everyone was speaking Japanese.  Ha!  We had fun even though we couldn't understand anyone!

     Oh!  Did I mention the best part?  My husband is going with me!  That's right!  We get to sail the seas together and experience things I've never dreamed of!  God is truly great and I am so thankful for the blessings and talent that have been given to me, and I am so thrilled to be able to use them in this opportunity! 

...I hope I don't get sea-sick.