Week one of the next great adventure!

The beautiful Silver Cloud

 Right now I am sitting in my window nook, coasting down the Amazon River and waving to the locals and their naked children as they paddle their boats alongside our ship.  It is absolutely beautiful here which is helping to allay some of my fears that a giant Anaconda is going to leap from the water and swallow those tiny native boats whole.

A very blurry Amazon

 

My journey started on the 13^th of November.  Unfortunately, so did my fever.  I usually like to be prepared a few days ahead of time for any trip, but I had not been feeling particularly well, so our things were stuffed into our bags last minute and we were off to the airport in Las Vegas.  Our flight left from Vegas at 7:30PM and we landed in Los Angeles about an hour later. We then waited two hours for our flight to Miami where we then spent four and a half hours sleeping on the floor of the airport before we were transported away to Barbados. 

Grenada

Devil's Island

I wish I could describe Barbados to you, but I was in a serious fog and feeling even worse than when I had started, so I don’t really remember it at all.  The next few days are also a blur, but we managed to get Motown on its feet as well as a standards show that we put together ourselves.  I sang Close to You and It’s Too Late with what I hope turned out to be a breathy jazzy sound because my voice was kaput!  I should mention that day after I arrived on board, I went immediately to the doctor who began to nebulize me because the gunk in my lungs was causing me to wheeze and have difficulty breathing. 

Make me well!

The night after the standards show, Jason and I did our duet show, “Yes, We’re Married” on the stage, and even though my voice was still very breathy, it went over well.  Our duet show includes the story of our lives and how we met and it’s always a pleasure to compare notes with guests afterwards.  Everyone still lights up when they tell us how they first met. 

 By the way, the guests have been especially nice on this journey, as has the staff.  The thing I have been most grateful for, however, is our room!  Jason and I get to share a bed in a proper room as opposed to the bunk beds we had for our last contract.  We even have our own window this time!  This is the life!

Best part so far!  My own window! (I take naps here like a cat).

Yesterday I was finally beginning to feel better and breathing became a bit easier which is fortunate because last night was our opera show.  My voice is definitely not one hundred percent, but I made it through and celebrated with a well-deserved Brandi in the company of some sympathetic and supportive Australian guests who say Jason looks just like Guy Sebastian, the first Australian Idol winner.

My gorgeous opera dress paired with H Stern jewels.

My first trip off the ship in Belem, Brazil.

Today I can almost take a full breath without coughing and it should be my last day on the nebulizer.  Hooray!  Thankfully, after the pub lunch this afternoon, we have two nights off where my only requirement will be going to dinner!  Again, I wish I could describe more of South America, but I feel like today is the first day I have really seen it.  So far, it’s fantastic!  I miss everybody and as I promised my mother before I left, my blogs will be more frequent and with better pictures (hopefully)!  Love to you all! 

A picture from Devil's Island.  Jason took this when he went ashore. So far, he's the better photographer!

Where to begin...

Where to begin…

We’ve traveled through Indonesia, China, Japan and South Korea since I last wrote.  My favorite place in Indonesia was Bali.  The monkey forest there was amazing and worth the trip, it’s also where I rode an elephant the first time we passed through.  The rest of Indonesia was interesting but uncomfortable.  The other places we visited were mostly Muslim which meant in order to explore I had to make sure I was mostly covered.  We did not have to have head coverings, but no shorts or short sleeved shirts were allowed.  For those of you who know me well, I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear that this caused a feminist fire to stir within me.  I had to restrain myself from both ripping the head-scarf off of any passing woman and from staring down all of the men.  I generally think of myself as religiously tolerant, so I am not proud of the way I reacted.  On the other hand, why pick one of the hottest climates to live in and then demand that the women have to be covered in wool?!  If I for some strange reason ever had to cover myself that way, I would demand that we move to the arctic so at least I could be in an atmosphere conducive to such clothing.

Japan was amazing.  Tokyo especially was very impressive.  Everything was exceptionally clean and everyone was incredibly polite.  Unfortunately, in Japan I sampled Indian food, Chinese food and McDonalds because none of the Japanese restaurants we went to had English translations or pictures.  It also turns out that the Muscle Park we were planning on visiting was shut down and the next closest was too far away.  Muscle Park has obstacles from Ninja Warrior (if you don’t know the show, look it up, it is awesome.) and I was looking forward to failing miserably at all of them.  The ship also took us to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  I found both places to be very eerie.  There were excursions to memorial domes and museums, but I did not go as huge disasters freak me out.

South Korea was surprisingly beautiful.  We spent most of our time in a photo booth taking pictures that we could edit by making our eyes giant and adding colors and doodles to the photos.  I would post some of them, but of course my computer has stopped reading my photo card. It was a lot of fun.  There were tons of fish markets, but I couldn’t talk anyone into getting the giant flat jerked squid and eating it.

I don’t have much to write about China as we do not have our Chinese visas that we did not know we needed, so cannot get off of the ship and onto the mainland.  For this stretch through China, we are currently on our second day of not being able to leave the ship for twelve days. 

The Yellow Sea…it ruined my life for a complete 24 hours.  I hate being sea-sick. 

I miss everybody! 

Don't Panic!

I remember as a child my brother jumping on my bed and screaming earthquake.  I hated waking up to fake disasters that made my heart jump.  Now I know I should thank him for preparing me for actual catastrophes.  This morning…and I urge my parents to stop reading immediately…I woke up to the ship in the throes of strong tremors as a loud crunching sound resounded through the bowels of the vessel and into our room.  With only time enough for my heart to stop, the emergency alarm quickly split the air.  I thank you Doug for the years of torture that prepared me to react.  I got out of bed, shrugged into a jacket, grabbed my extra bag full of water and my identification, strapped myself securely into my life vest and followed my similarly prepared husband out of our room.  We proceeded up to deck five amidst a sea of orange vests where we both have assigned duties at our muster stations.  As we came through the door, a world of fog opened up before us, so thick and impenetrable that I felt like we had walked into Silent Hill.  (Parents, if you are still reading, Silent Hill is a game/movie reference.)  I was assigned to lining up the guests in front of the life boats.  Then the waiting started, because you don’t actually abandon ship until the captain gives the order.  Five minutes into the wait and no order came yet, although people started crying and a few had to be pulled out of line and calmed so that panic would not spread.  Apparently, another ship had come out of the fog and ran straight into us.  We are somewhere in the waters between Nha Trang and Chan May, and parents you may breathe easier as our ship did not sustain any “imminently dangerous damage.”  I thank God that it wasn’t more serious for us. We will be docking in Halong Bay where they will further assess the damage to our vessel.  I love and miss everyone!  Don’t panic!  Crisis averted!

Be My Valentine

Every cruise there is a Not-So-Newlywed show which consists of married couples getting up on stage and answering questions about each other.  For this cruise, and ironically because it was only a few days before Valentine’s Day, only two couples volunteered to play.  Therefore, by default, Jason and I played as well.  I will preface this next part by saying that we were not expecting to play.  We won of course, even though technically we were ineligible to win.  The points we won were split between the two other couples. 

First the boys were asked to leave the room and the wives answered questions about their husbands.  I did very well and got them all right, hooray me!  Then the wives were asked to leave the room while their husbands answered questions.  Jason got them all right as well, much to my chagrin, as one of the questions was “What color underwear is your wife wearing right now?”  Any guesses as to what the answer was and why I can no longer pass any guest without them making comments about my panties?  Superman.  That’s right, they were red and blue superman underwear with the slogan “This looks like a job for superman” on the back.  My knickers were the hit of the show.

I mention this story because a few days later for Valentine’s Day I decided to do something very romantic for my husband, something he has always wanted to do…skydiving.  Yes I took him skydiving and since my superman underwear were residing in the laundry, naturally I wore my batman underwear.  He loved it…the skydiving, not the underwear, although he thinks the underwear are cute. 

I will never skydive again.  Not ever!  It was so unbelievably scary.  I planned it as a surprise for Jason.  Julian and Matt, the two other male singers on our ship went with us.  I do have to thanks Julian for setting everything up, as I almost hyperventilated every time I even thought about it.  We skydived in Melbourne, Australia over the beach and it was absolutely beautiful.  I had plenty of time to enjoy the view while plummeting towards the earth.  

We jumped from 14,000 feet in a tiny bright green eight-seated plane.  We jumped in tandem with people who have done it before.  The only reason I actually jumped after having watching everyone before me as they were ripped out of the plane and tossed to the wind is that the man who I was strapped to in tandem was much stronger than I was.  When my questing hands and feet found no hold, I didn’t have a choice but to succumb to one of the craziest things I’ve ever done in life.  Now I’ve checked it off my list, even though it was never on my list to begin with, and I won’t go back.  I got the video and as soon as my computer stops thwarting my uploading efforts I will be posting it for all of you to enjoy.  Yes those are my screams that you can hear over the wind and the superimposed rock music …

After the adrenaline rush of the day, we retired to the Grand Hyatt in a King’s Suite which was Jason’s gift to me.  I seriously got the best end of the gift giving that day.  There were a dozen roses, a huge tub with jets and room service awaiting me in our gigantic suite with its beautiful view.  Now that’s a good life!

The two pictures:  The first picture is the very first moment after I was pushed out of the plane.  I wanted to include it because it shows exactly how far away the ground is and how terrified (if horrible) I look.  Yes that is the ground over my left shoulder because we started out plunging head first towards the earth.  The second picture is when my parachute finally opened.  This picture hopefully captures how relieved I am, and also that I’m now willing to take in the view.  Ha!

Love from New Zealand

Sometimes I forget that it is okay to give everything to your art.  Why do I need reminders?  I have no reason to reserve energy as if I’ll need it for some greater future project.  There is no excuse for sheltering the pieces of myself that are vulnerable.  Those are the only pieces worth showing.  If I am unwilling to share completely, what am I sharing for?

A guest entertainer pianist played on board tonight.  She was absolutely stunning and excellent at piano.  If only I had practiced more…  Although, then I would have had to have done all of that practicing…

We are still in New Zealand at the moment, which is a hiker’s paradise as there are no poisonous animals or plants here.  There are lots and lots of trees of all different sorts and too many new plants for me to remember the names of.  I ran through some tall grasses the other day like I would if I were a little girl.  It was an experience I recommend to everyone.

I had to ask someone today what month is was.  That’s how much time has blurred together for me.  The sea has expressed more than its share of rockiness lately.  Last night we did our Motown show.  It was an awkward array of bodies falling into one another to the sound of Motown.  We finally got to the number where I get to sit on a stool (Tracks of my tears), and  I was very relieved to be off of my feet as they weren’t behaving well and kept threatening to pitch me onto my face.  Unfortunately, the sea sent up a giant wave and it wasn’t my feet that betrayed me, but the stool.  I “gracefully” (as described by guests witnessing my near death experience) got back up, caught the stool and resumed singing the rest of the song.  Luckily, most everyone was seasick so only about thirty guests saw my shame.

It’s been very rainy lately, but I’ve been shopping and bought some amazing dresses.  I never do that.  It’s been different, but nice.  I have been trying to decide what exactly to do for Valentine’s Day because we have an overnight in Melbourne, but we also have a deck show that night at 9PM.  I’m not sure anyone will be there and frankly I’d much rather go out for dinner than do British Invasion to an empty deck.  Hopefully it will all work out.  When we go back to Australia we will be sailing up the west coast this time.  Have you seen all the horrible floods they’ve been having?  Yes, I have been watching world news.  I know, I’m just as surprised as you are.

Someday soon, I will start writing these when I am fully awake and they will make more sense and be less stream of consciousness…but today is not that day.  I miss everyone so much!  Especially my parents whom I have been hoping to run into on facebook…hint hint.  Perhaps one day we will skype together?

 The picture above is from Auckland.  It is Jason being a painting on the waterfront.