Quebec day 1

May 10, 2013: Quebec day 1
I worked port day today. The pager has been working about ½ the time, so I decided to go up to Club HAL early with a bag of stuff to do and hang out there most of the day. So, I got everything together and took it to Club HAL to drop it off before breakfast. I get up the stairs and there’s a family there waiting on me. They apparently had just called the front office because the pager didn’t go through. What a way to disorient someone first thing in the morning. The rest of my day kind of followed suit. The family of 4 was signed in all day, from 9:30 until 4. The 3 and 5-year olds were a handful; they’d stayed up late last night because of the dessert extravaganza and hadn’t napped in the last two days. So, they were wild and cranky and grumpy and screaming and crying all morning and afternoon.

I would look away for a few seconds to help one of their older siblings do something and the youngest would suddenly scream and start crying, then blame it on the 2nd youngest, who had been in my line of sight the whole time. The little on I think just liked to blame her own mistakes on her ‘big’ sister. The afternoon definitely kept me on my toes. I was extremely relieved when 4 o’clock came around.

I thought since I had to stay on and didn’t have to work until 7 that I could do laundry. Now, on this ship, there is only one room for laundry; in this room, there are two washers and two dryers. Not only are there these 4 machines for all crew, you have to use a quarter to start them! Carly had showed me how to work them on my second day, so I thought I’d be okay. Not at all. I couldn’t get the machine to start, all it would do was beep at me. I ended up giving up, taking my stuff back up to the room and attempting to nap.

I slept through my alarm and was still slightly emotional because it’d been a long day and it still wasn’t over, but I thought I could make it through a quiet, quick dinner. I got up there, and someone said something to me which caused my eyes to brim over again. I still thought I might be able to get food, but there was a ton of people in the Lido, which didn’t help me at all. I all but ran out to the back of the deck outside and tried to calm down. I did compose myself long enough to make it to the bathroom in the Lido to grab some tissues before escaping up to Club HAL. After a few minutes there, trying to compose myself, Carly came in and we talked for a bit before she sent me down to the room to rest for a bit before going up and getting food, then coming up for pajama party. My eyes were still kind of red when I went back up, but eating and being around people helped.
After work, I changed and went down to the OB to hang out with people until they left to go out for the night, then I went up to the room and watched a movie until it was late enough to go to sleep.