First Days

July 1 and 2
Life on a ship is insane. I’ve had a crazy two days and they’re not even over yet! It seems like weeks ago that I was flying out from Charlotte.
I met Erica, the other new youth staff at breakfast Sunday. We ate and talked until the shuttle came to pick us up. We got through security and went to the ship; we had to take a steep ramp to get up onto it, I had trouble dragging my suitcase. Funny thing is that ramp is one of the least steep ones they have! Crazy.
New staff had to sit through meetings. Erica and I met our supervisor and she took us to our rooms (guest rooms they had available) then gave us a tour of the ship. She never took the same elevator/stairs twice, and half the time took shortcuts through crew areas, etc. I still have no idea where half the stuff she showed us is. We had a meeting at 10 that lasted until lunch. Then, I got to go up to Club HAL and help with open house stuff before doing our job with the fire drill on the ship (Club HAL has to make sure everyone under 13 has a colored wristband so we can help them meet up with the parents). I went back to my room to unpack some and met my roommate for a few minutes before she left again. We had another meeting with parents about Club HAL, and I was told that my roommate and I had to move. Our room was going to guest entertainers. So, I had to pack up all my just-unpacked stuff. Great. Then the watertight doors were closed and we couldn’t get the trolley down there, then the keys didn’t work…. Luckily, after all that, we had night work, which cheered me up and kept me awake.
This morning, another meeting, the last planned thing of our training, the only other thing we have to do is online stuff (on our own time). Lots of other little stuff happened until afternoon work, which was fun, I got to play supermario on the Wii. I can actually feel the ship rocking back and forth, but only if I’m not focused on something else. If nothing interesting is going on, I kind of doze off and start swaying with the ship; it only really gets to me when I’m not fully focused on it. If I want to, I can focus fully on the rocking, moving with each sway and watching everything slightly shift; it’s even more successful if I’m near a window to see outside, I watch the horizon slowly move up and down through the window. Focusing on it completely calms me, as does focusing on the kids!
Thus far, it has kind of been a horrible two days. I had to move, I’ve had a headache since I arrived in Seattle, I haven’t gotten enough sleep, and I really don’t fit in personality-wise with the other youth staff. I mean, Ashley the other tween counselor and I get along, but she kind of keeps to herself more so I can’t really talk to her.
I really didn’t know what to expect, but I don’t think this was it. I like it when I’m with the kids and have something to do, but other times when I’m lost (physically or occupationally), it’s not good.


So, after I typed all that, took a nap had dinner, and went to work for the night session, I was feeling quite a bit better. The headache had dulled to something I could ignore. So, I decided to walk around the outside deck on the deck Club HAL is on. It was around10:30 and the sun was just about finished setting. On one side was land (which I was very glad to see!) and the other just water, but straight ahead was a gorgeous sunset! I only took my compact camera (it was COLD!) so I have some okay pictures. That just reminded me one of the reasons why I wanted to get on a cruise ship-to see the world. God reminded me of that tonight, and He reminded me of just how small I am in His vast creation-even only on Earth. It was beautiful, even with the freezing cold and wind, I stayed out watching for about 15 minutes.
God has made me learn a lot, really quickly these last few days, and I’m still learning them. During my nap, when my headache was worst and I was seriously reconsidering my wanting to do this for a long period of time, God reminded me that He never gives us more than we can handle! So, He trusts that I can handle this, and if God trusts me with this, what reason could I possibly have to question it! :)