September 3, 2012
It feels like it’s been a really long time since I last posted. In a way, it has; I had my last day with my teens, and now we have 7 kids (in all age groups: 3-17) on board. I’ve also changed rooms.
Let’s see, last time I wrote it was Bar Harbor morning. I got off work a little late because of the whole lunch fiasco, and called Kayley to meet up and get off ship, but she wasn’t in her room. Eventually I gave up and went off the ship on my own because no one else was answering their room phone either. It was nice being back in the US, using my phone as a phone to text and call and not having to search for wifi to get on the internet for a few minutes. I shopped and talked to Mom until I walked into a drugstore to see if they had Dr. Pepper. In the drugstore, I found everyone I’d been trying to call all morning. There apparently had been a misunderstanding about our plans. I got to hang out with them for about 10 minutes before they all got back on the ship. I walked around some more on my own, and researched what churches were in town. I got back to the ship 30 minutes early (Bar Harbor is a tender port, so it’s best to head back early because the last few tenders fill up quick). I fiddled around my room until dinner, then work.
It was my last night with the teens. They were all in the Lido when I went down to the Half Moon room, then came about 20 minutes later. We played card games until we went to Club HAL. They really like playing spoons, especially when I hide the spoons all around the room and they have to try to find them. It would be more fun if we had a Loft though, because there would be more places to hide them. In a room of two tables, and a bunch of chairs, there aren’t many options. Back in Club HAL, we chatted and played more cards until we went down to the Lido for a snack (after already having devoured the ensamadas that had been delivered to the room). Have I explained what ensamadas are yet? They’re basically buns covered in butter and sugar. They’re amazing.
After work, I met up with Alyssa, Kayley, Glenn and Edison in the Lido, then we went to the Crow’s Nest to hang out with the DJ on his last night (very few people go to the Crow’s Nest at night on this ship it seems. Every time I’ve been there, it’s been empty). Then, we went down to hang out with the rest of the crew leaving.
Saturday we returned to Boston. I was going to get off with Glenn (we have to take a bus to get where anything is and I didn’t want to do that for the first time on my own), but I woke up late, and he realized that he had to play at 1, so I didn’t get off at all. I did text a little when I was helping with Open House. A total of one family came in during my hour. There are 8 kids under 18 on board this week. Two 2-year-olds, a 6-year-old, 11-year old, three teens and a 1-year old. I haven’t even seen some of them this week even though we’ve combined all the age groups.
Dinner was interesting. Alyssa’s best friend on the ship came back on after going through special training (she’s a photographer), so they spent a lot of time catching up on everything that happened in the past two weeks. The two three year olds came in a little late, one of them left before 9, understandable because they need to go to bed early. The 11-year old came in after that, and Jacob brought up the one teen that showed up. So, three youth staff with three kids of ages 3, 11, and 17. That was different. I ended up building stuff with jenga blocks with the 3-year-old while the others played cards. He left before 9 and the five of us remaining played two-on-two foosball, switching out every turn who sat out. It was fun!
Alyssa and I got off kind of early and went down to talk to our friends in the photo gallery before going to Deck 6 and walking around, enjoying the water.
Sunday was Bar Harbor Day. I was planning on getting up early and going with Kayley to a church in town. The ship had other ideas. I worked at 12, so I wasn’t going to have much time, but I was determined to get to church finally. After breakfast, I checked with Alyssa to see if open tender had been announced yet. She said it wasn’t and that the Event Manager was looking for me. I went down to see her and I was told that I was changing rooms. Alyssa’s roommate, the librarian, was moving to another cabin and I was moving in with Alyssa. That began the change in my plans. I had to pack up and get new key card and stuff now too. I still thought I could get off, so I went by Kayley’s room and we chatted while waiting for them to call for open tender. 11 o’clock came (the church started at 10), and I gave up on getting to shore. So, I packed up and had a long lunch before work. It turns out that only one of the tenders was working, and it was having problems (I knew it sounded bad on Friday!). That explains why things were taking so long.
I didn’t have any kids for the first few hours of work. One man came in just to look around and take pictures, but I got to sit and play Lego Harry Potter for a long time. Tara, the 11-year old, came in and joined me for a while until the 3-year-old arrived. The three of us built with blocks and played foosball until time to go. I spent my break unpacking again in the new room with Alyssa. Still need to organize stuff, but at least I know I’m not moving again. I told the Event Manager about my moves on the Oosterdam and she promised to keep me in this room until I left!
Last night, it was pretty much the same as the first night except the 3-year-old that left before 8 didn’t come. I played with the other 3-year-old while Jacob and Alyssa hung out with the other two. I’m going to be an expert at block building by the end of this week I think. I also am learning to read stories out loud. We have a lot of children’s books and I read a few of them last night, probably will read more tonight as well. Tara left not long after the 3-year-old, so Alyssa and I got to leave early again. We changed into formal wear (well, I was in my formal blue dress, Alyssa was in black pants and a shirt) and went to the show. Then we ended up talking to Edison for at least 30 minutes while waiting on Alyssa’s friend to finish working on something. Edison and I went up to the Lido to meet up with the rest of the group and get something in our systems so we wouldn’t feel bad. The ship was moving a lot, so I was lightheaded and a lot of the others were a bit seasick.
Today, I was going to get off the ship around 9:30, but Alyssa was in the shower when I wanted to get up, so I got up after she left and was at breakfast by 10. It was a good thing though, because I met Brandi as I came down from breakfast and we got off the ship together. I didn’t realize it was labor day; all the shops were closed so there wasn’t a whole lot to do aside from walk around in my allotted hour. I got back on the ship and accidently walked the wrong way to get to my cabin. It was very confusing for me when I couldn’t find the stairs. I did find my way at least, only with less time to spare for lunch.
When I got to the grill, the line was moving very slowly, so I had about 7 minutes to eat before work. I took some of it with me up to Club HAL anyway. There weren’t any kids there. I read some, studied a little Italian, played Lego Harry Potter again, and worked on an I Spy book. Finally, the teen showed up and helped me with the level in the video game, then Tara came up and watched us play until 4. I got to start laundry after work! It was very exciting to find the washer and dryer fixed (at least two of each have been broken since I arrived; there’s only 6 to begin with!). I walked around outside and watched us move away from the dock before I came back to the room to write some postcards and type all this out!
Tuesday September 4, 2012
Both of the three year olds came last night! And of course Tara. I need to talk to Alyssa and switch it up some because I’ve been entertaining the three year olds while she’s just played cards with Jacob, the teen, and Tara. I read stories for an hour straight, until my voice gave out for a bit, then I convinced them to eat snack, which lasted about 30 minutes. The girl and I finished our popcorn quickly, but the boy ate very slowly, and then got another bag; so, we watched the other 4 play cards. They both stayed pretty late considering their normal bedtime is around 8 or 8:30. The boy stayed almost until 10, his mom came to check in on him every 30 minutes to see if he was ready to go. Of course, he wasn’t; we read some more and played with blocks (I’m getting better at building stuff with Jenga blocks now). We did get to leave a little early at least, and got to see the whole show! After the show, I made plans to meet up with everyone at the Crow’s Nest to hang out during Karaoke night. I looked through the book, and discovered 4 pages of French songs! Brandi, Kayley and I had lots of fun dancing and trying to get Glenn, Edison, Alyssa and everyone else in the room to dance too. We stayed up just hanging out.
I had work at 9 this morning, which meant that I had time after I got ready to go get breakfast! I had 20 minutes to myself, then the 3 year old boy came in, with Jacob right behind to cover for me while I attended a make-up drill. There were 8 of us in that drill. We’d all been working during the Coast Guard drill last week, so had to do our own this week. And there’s another general drill tomorrow; apparently they have one of those every week. Why not once a month or something? The new people will still get it in their first few weeks, and it’s not as troublesome for everyone that way. Oh well. Our make-up drill lasted maybe 10 minutes, and I went back up to Club HAL. I read stories for another hour until my mouth was so dry, I could hardly speak; I tried to distract him from wanting me to read more, but he isn’t easily distracted, so it took some time before we got out the beads to make bracelets. The girl came in not long before Jacob came and we took the two of them down to lunch. Even though there was only two of them, I helped out and ate with them since I needed to eat anyway. After I finished, I met up with Edison and sat with him for a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment