Tenerife, Canary Islands 12-24-10

Tenerife, Canary Islands 12-24-10

Christmas Eve off the coast of North Africa. It appears we have left winter behind us for good. Today the skies were bright, sunny, and in the mid seventies. The water is blue and sparkly, and the native language is Spanish. We got a whole 3 hours (5 for me)! After the rough waters of the North Sea and the Bay of Bisque, it feels FANTASTIC to get off the ship awhile. I will say that even though I KNOW I was standing on solid ground, it sure feels like its rocking around like the ship.

I kind of want to move here. Its like the city is built around being outside. The streets are wide, but not for cars, and the trees are all trimmed and trained into providing shade for the outdoor restaurants and pedestrians. I'm reminded of the time I spent in Merida, but the difference is, the people around don't all look the same. There's a huge amount of diversity on the island (and no wonder, considering that its a prime vacation spot – close to Europe and not too expensive). We hand a chance to spend the last of our euros, and the fresh seafood we had for lunch was delicious. I've never had calamari that wasn't even slightly rubbery...but maybe that's because the majority of the states I've lived in are landlocked.

We finally have some kids on board! Its great to be able to play and spend time with them. Most of them anyway. A kid puked all over Sam the other day. Gross. I showed some kids how to make some sweet paper airplanes yesterday, and I think I've opened Pandora's Box. Great way to pass the time though, ten hours a day is a long shift if you just stand around supervising. All I can think of is that scene from Hook. “Play!” Today this little boy, maybe four years old, brings this sheet of paper up to me and says, “I want a jet!” So I took about ten minutes, folded a pretty complex plane for him, and handed it back. He replied, “Not like this! I don't like this!” immediately unfolded it, and said “Like this!” He then told me why it was completely wrong and ran off. It reminded me of that scene from Wedding Crashers where the kid goes, “Shut your mouth funny man, and make me a bicycle!” I must be some kind of artistic genius, because they are never appreciated in their own time.

I've never worked with younger kids before. I'm assigned to the Club, which is designed for 7-10 year olds. We get 3-10 year olds though, especially since we have so few children onboard at the moment. I have figured out that I don't know how to talk to 3 year olds, and its pretty much unnecessary anyway. They don't seem to mind WHAT you say to them, so I just make stuff up. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what I do with ALL of them, so its no worries. Kind of cool how easy it is to get them excited about things though. A little different than teenagers, thats for sure.

Speaking of, I'm super jealous of the six or so counselors in the teen space. I love working with that age group, and besides that, their costumes are kind of like a uniform version of what I wear on a daily basis. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little uncomfortable in my uniform. Not that its weird or anything, just not all that comfortable in polyester I guess.

12-11 Settling in

Disclaimer: I'm not sure how much we can post about what, so easily googled terms and names will be changed to protect the confidentiality of the Company and identities of those involved.

Sitting in a small port city in Germany, its easy to get lost in the surreality of our present situation. Only days ago we were living in a basement in Utah, trying to not to drive our family (part of one, anyway) crazy. If we thought we were cramped into a basement bedroom Utah, imagine room below the water line of the ship roughly one third the size of the smallest dorm room you've ever seen. Small as it is, I have to say, its a remarkably efficient use of the space. As I type, I can take five minutes, walk down approximately 7.8 miles of corridor, up (or down) approximately 38 thousand stairs, and spit over the side rail into the North Sea (not recommended). Its not easy to adjust to an eight hour time difference, as my space age self setting alarm clock will attest to – it doesn't have European time zones programmed, so I have to interpret AM as meaning PM – nor is it easy to adjust a schedule from waking up at the crack of noon to waking up before dawn.

After receiving our flight info, we discovered we were scheduled for different flights. Even though we were scheduled to leave SLC within minutes of each other, and arrive in Amsterdam within minutes of each other, we were on separate planes. Bucket's made it on time, mine was delayed a total of six hours between weather and planes. Shoutout to Dave at Bennigan's in Dallas – thanks for the free burger and beer dude. I left you a book.

The hotel was shmancy, though I was disappointed that I didn't have time to get into the city to explore. The weather sucked anyway, but it would have been nice. Not that I didn't expect it, this being Amsterdam and all, but the floor we stayed on smelled...whacky. A bunch of the other new hires form the UK were super pumped to go to...wait for it...KFC! I didn't get it, but whatever.

The next day we had some training, then got on a bus to drive the four hours to the ship. I learned at one of our gas station stops, bathroom grafiti doesn't change much wherever you go. I couldn't read it, but I'm guessing it said “Hans Gruberg was here” and then underneath someone crossed out “was here” and wrote “is gay.” This happened just before I noticed the naked ladies gracing the condom machines. Apparently, America is pretty repressed...

We were all exhausted, but way too excited to sleep, and the first glimpse of our new home didn't disappoint. The weather sucked, but the fog and drizzle made the steam funnels with that Mouse's silhouette outlined in red and purple look really cool. All I could think was “its BIG.” Then I saw my room...

I will say this: I didn't even know you could use Marble as a building material on a boat. But dude, you can. And you can make it look good. Well, maybe not you, but whoever designed this 128000 ton floating magic kingdom.

Initially, we weren't assigned the same cabin, but today I moved into Bucket's room. She hasn't had a roommate since we got here, which is nice for her, but not as nice for us (the room I was in with Gleek was bigger, though not by much). Funny how a few days sleeping in different spaces makes you start to like being around each other again. Still in bunk beds for now, but plans are in the works for an illustrated “Kama Sutra on the High Seas,” so check back for publication dates.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I totally saw the Mouse the other day! And the Duck! And I took a picture with the Captain: this is kind of a big deal. Seriously, this guy is the Cruise's first employee. His ID number is 0000001.

Internet here is unreliable at best, and having some trouble with my camera. Besides that, the Company is being pretty strict about what is actually posted, at least until things are “Show Ready.” Someday we'll post some pictures and video, but for now...Tot ziens! Auf viedersein!