hanging out in boston

May 18, 2013: Boston
Carly, Jacqui and I went out today. They wanted to go to Nordstrom Rack, so I flagged down a taxi and we went on a shopping adventure. There were quite a few stores around there, so we split up to go where we each really wanted to, and agreed to meet in Panera at 11:30 (it was 10:30 by the time we split up). I wandered around a few stores before determining that I really didn’t want/need to buy anything, so I wandered down the street. I probably should’ve taken pictures, but I was focused on walking and exploring and being back on time. One of the churches I walked by had a fence around it. On the fence were tons of strips of fabric, there was even a tie amidst the torn pieces of other fabric. People had written prayers on the fabric and tied them to the fence, prayers for the bombing that happened the other week in Boston, and for anything and everything. It was really cool.

I wandered back to Panera and the three of us had bagels for lunch before walking around a bit, ready to head back to the ship. I flagged us down another taxi and we headed back. We got to the terminal to find it in chaos. Apparently the tide went down and they couldn’t move the gangway, so there was no way to get on/off the ship. Carly was freaking out a bit because she had to work Open House in 30 minutes and they said the tide might be back in a good place in an hour or so. She managed to make them let her upstairs to wait in the front of the line. Jacqui and I didn’t really want to wait in line, so we went to the Seafarer’s area, looked around a bit, then walked around outside the port before getting in a slightly shorter, but definitely moving line. It took probably an hour to get through the line and back onto the ship. I’m very glad we’re not guests embarking because the check-in line was just as long as the line to get up and through security!

I changed and went up to help Carly with the last bit of Open House and wristbands. I attempted to find Jenn because I’m supposed to move into her room today, but she was nowhere to be found. After the drill, I packed, then Carly and I had to go to the sailaway party in the Crow’s Nest. We did our time ‘mingling’ and found Jenn, so afterwards Jenn helped me move all my stuff since I hadn’t been given a key yet. Jenn, Donna (the party planner… well, now the Culinary Arts Center Host), and I went to dinner early where Carly joined us. So, we had an “On Location team” family dinner. At 7, I had to go to the Crew Office so I wouldn’t be homeless any longer. All my stuff was in the new room and I couldn’t get in! I was 5th in line and had to wait 30 minutes before my turn. I think the 10 people behind me were very glad I didn’t have to take a long time there because they were all new-crew with lots of papers to sign, pictures to take, and IDs to make.

I helped Carly with the kids for a while after I put a sign on the Loft door as soon as I finished in the crew office. A few minutes after 8, some of the teens came looking for me. I had 4 of them within 15 minutes! Looks like these teens are going to want to hang out. We played Phase 10, MarioKart and went on a pizza hunt (all the food areas were closed though). All the younger kids left and Carly got me to help her clean up and discuss two situations that had come up tonight. When I got back to the Loft, the four had left and our snack of pizza had just arrived. Two teens (who I found out later are actually 19 and were just bored) came for a while and we chatted until they left. I waited to 11, and they didn’t come to take the snack tray down, so I cleaned up and took it down myself before changing and heading to the OB to play Scattegories with Marc, Johnny, Carly and Jacqui.