buenos dias

hey party people, i think it's been a while since we last spoke because my last email was written while watching house and now with that season ended, i'm on Gossip Girl episode 3 or 4. i really think vanessa is better for dan than serena but things have changed since she left....that's for sure. the ship plays one episode a day of GG...or whatever show the Broadcast Tech, Jason, decides . i've befriended him in the last week and i'm thinking of nuzzling my way into getting ABC's the bachelorette but its too soon to tell.



ok where did i leave off, ah! i went on a free tour to Rome which was UNBELIEVABLE!!! it was surreal to be standing by the colloseum (where i met 3 girls from pasadena who took my poorly framed and only picture of me and the building). i loved it and we had a 3 course big italian meal which i thought was only 1 course...which means i regretfully filled up on break only to have to scarf down pork, green beans, a salad, tiramisu, 3 glasses of wine, and a coffee.....after my lasagne.

then i finally got seelcted to go on a crew free tour legitimately....not borrowing someone elses ticket. Monaco, Nice, & Montecarlo. For you info it was beauttttttttiful wonderful, felt fake it was so pristine and perfect and precious. And Montecarlo was so exactly how they say....Bentlys & Mazeratis pulling in, rich people everywhere, the coast for miles, a lovely jazz band playing...and yes...the casino. I knew i had to gamble a bit there but i spend about 5 euro a day so i ended up risking 2 hands of 1 euro black jack. two back to back losses and ii was outta there!

and yesterday was Livorno where you can take 2 busses and a train and get to Pisa. so i did the whole push the tower over thing with 3 other counselors from the ship.

today was barcelona and i went to sagrada familia to....see it...with 3 other counselors i met up with accidentally. its really fantastic seeing people you know (crew or passengers) when u are in port, it makes me feel like the worlds a little smaller and warmer and nicer. The church was really impressive, i'll put pictures up soon...still havent gotten fast enouh internet. maybe ill try 1 or 2.

oh thanksgiving! it was great, my boss invited me and the only other amiercan on our staff to a french bistro on the ship for thanksgiving dinner with 5 other guys who are in the band. we had a rip roaring great time, and then the cruise director whos from US too set up a little get together with the promise of turkey....though only cheap wine showed up.

i havent fallen in love and i think hes like 35 or something, but i think i've met my comedic soul mate for this trip. hes from alabama and he had me dying laughing all thanksgiving dinner. dryest humor ive met in a while. i hope for more of him in my world...kind of a kenneth parcel type.

speaking of falling in love, ive taken an italian lover...octovio our bus driver to Mt Vessuvius bought me my first espresso in italy. he has fingernails grown out like guitarist have...but on both hands "for the ladies". sick. he coudl only say in very perfect english "I dont not speak english"....it took me a while to believe him because of his stellar pronounciation.

and lastly, today in barcelona in a park i challenged a spanish park sitter man to public ping pong....it quickyl became USA vs Espana tournament...all the park (3 people) were cheering and YES I WON!!!!!!

love to all of you, fill me in! thanks to kai for her update. lovin the twins and 2xs the diapers!

this week i'm back to 2-5 year olds...wish me luck! this is the cruise where we go across the atlantic...rumors in the crew bar that sseas are gonna be rough!!!! free seasick pills in the medical center.

Eruptions

yes! i finally got 1) to babysit a girl all day with two dads 2) a tour of the Herculaneum and Mt Vessuvius! Both equally as facsinating I'd say the tour wins slightly.

highlights, seeing 2000 year old preserved town. flirting my way to a free coffee with the italian bus driver who perfecltly could say "i do not speak english, only neopolitano italian" and nothing else in english whatsoever. so our coffee talk was limited to gigantic hand gestures and my amateur spanish.

tonight we had work 7-1030 since we are in port and i was assigned to help with the 6-9 year olds....lovely but i really missed my 10-12 year olds. espeically lydia...this 11 year old from boston who was sporting flannel and cordoureroys the minute i met her and has remained equally as cool as each day passes. she has a little brother nicky that is on his way to coolness who is 8 so it was nice being with him today...but i miss her. tommorow i will be back with the 10-12 year olds and we wil hopefully play timebomb...a dodgeball game that involved just pegged the crap out of each other from close range for 10 seconds.

after we went out to Bliss a passenger nightclub that was mainly inhabited by crew. my boss bought me yet another drink which means the drinks bought for me today count is at:2. that's how i like to keep it.

i also made some friends in the smokers lounge...a dancer girl that i befriended in safety training who then introduced me to the dance captain of the team. he asked for my number and wants to be my "girlfriend" so i think i'm doing alright.

tommorow i have another tour (the one today was given to me by my roomate smiley who already went on that tour last year) and tommorow to rome was given to me by my other roomate eyore who has training tommorow and can't use her tour. so the tour operator must hate me because i've signed up for 8 tours without getting picked, but will have gone on 2 unofficial tours as of tommorow. suck it shore excursions.

more to come, and hopefully pictures to follow, i gotta find some fast internet. as for now here's one of me and mt vessuvius and some 2000 year old ruins.

Spanish, Streets, & Secrets

today was another delicious success! i woke up at 645am and couldnt wait for the roomies to wake up so i set out on barcelona solo! a 30 min walk to las ramblas with no getting lost i was high on life. i wandered there, found some fre internet at subway. all the vendors and street performers were setting up so i thought id find a postcard landmark and then go there....park guell it is! i went to the tourist shack and found out the bus i needed to take $1.50 euro, found the bus stop after a few "donde esta la parada?"s but luckily realized the underground was cheaper and faster! so i did that, then walked from metro to the park. its up up on top of the city and they have even installed escalators in the actual street. lovin it.

the park itself is magic. its also the set of americas next top model finale in gaudi halls in barcelona. look it up.

i had a cheese sandwich i made at the buffet and hid in my city map from the cruise officer and listened to phil collins. ryan adams "love is hell" and some patty griffin also graced the barcelona playlist.

today was day 1 week 2, new kids and i'm on a team for the 10-12 year olds. im so excited because i know a little bit more about how to entertain them. there was only 6 of them, but we had a twister tournament and the semifinalists (3 boys) challenged ME! Sonar! i won, and put my but in an asian preteen's face....generating dreams for years to come.

i went on the staff deck to watch the stars with a girl youth counselor tonight. it was fun, i introduced her to sufjan stevens and then out of nowhere she said "OK! I GOTTA TELL SOMEONE THIS SECRET AND YOU SEEM LIKE YOU DON"T GOSSIP"....YES!!!! anyways, ironically i am telling u all but dont worry girl your secret is safe with me...kind of a let down because i already suspected the thing she told me. boo...why can't people drop bombs like they used to.

well tommorow is a sea day, that means double the work hours which is boo but its all good. Tuesday i work all day but have the night off, adn same with Secret Girl, so me and her and going to dress up for Formal Night and go out to a restaurant and a show. Whadupwhadupwhadup!

highlight: the little 2 year old greek girl from malta came running to me when she arrived at the kids center which erupted in a giant hug and giggle fest.
lowlight: too many cookies today
diamond in the rough: preteen twister

The Pants

Nicey Nice

update C:

hey people, its been a while since i last wrote...well feels like a while but prob only a few days. we left off in Civitaveccia....or something like that.....If you were wondering, the gelatto was FANTASTIC@!! and huge!!! ive never eaten that much ice cream ever. i have pictures but have to get to a port to upload them or else itll cost about $2 a picture...worth it? i duno, worth a thousand words...definitely. Is the cost of a thousand words $2....i haven't checked lately. ok what was i saying...oh ya....crew party!?!?!

The 80s prom throwback crew party was amazing. Best staff social i've had...but thats due to the fact that it was about 500 people shakin it and breakin it on the dance floor. not to mention we finally got to slide out of those highwaisted pants and throw on some makeup!!!!! jk guys, i still haven't had to wear makeup, lets hope for the best. i had an hour talk with my boss in Cannes today and she didn't bring up my appearance so i think i'm safe til 2 week evaluation. anyways, the party, wow im scattered today...prob because I just lead a team of 7 spanish speaking kids thru the ship on the Amazing Race. I have become the go to spanish speaker if Rico and Tango are both off duty (as they were tonight). Pretty sweet, they are all around 9 or 10 and super cooool. and i translated jeopardy for them and we could cheat a little because no one else understood what i was telling them...bueno.

After Civitavechiwhat?, we arrived in Livorno. 20 min train out of Pisa and 1 hour out of Florence. Livorno itself leaves much to be desired but i think the cruise ships like that fact...because then people buy their tours. Business Travel And Tourism. So we went to Florence and WOWOWOWWEEHWAH, i love it. I think im going to go to Pisa next week since we only have a half day in port. But the 3rd trip to Livorno (and last) im going back to florence to hit up St Marcs Square, Duomo perhaps, and just basically soak it up.

Today was Cannes, France. WOOWOWOWOWOWOWOEWEEEEEEWAHHH, even better than I could have dreamed! I decided to fly solo in Cannes (sometimes it just feels right ya know) and wandering around this place was magic. Today was my best day i think. And it has all to do with the fact that I found a tiny little shop on the outskirts of town with a "Before 11am, espresso & mini croissant for $1.50!!!!!!!! It was my first thing to buy (other than a shared panini in Florence that was about a 6/10). Anyways, I told the waiter who spoke little english and looked Chinese that i worked on the cruise ship and would be back next week. He gave a big smile but his need for me to repeat the word "ship" in as many synonyms I could think of worries me. UPdates to follow if he remembers me.

For those of you who are new to this blog...welcome...and welcome to the world of my mind stream of consciousness writing. There's not structure, plot, or spell check so enjoy the ride.

I'm on my break right now (worked 3-7 and then 9-1030) so pretty decent considering I toured france today too. We are having a pajama party so (i think) i get to come dressed in pajamas. Update to follow if I was in fact supposed to or if just the kids are and everyone is in their uniforms when i come back.

In unrelated news, Bernadette must be summoning my spirit back to her in LA or vice versa because I have been wandering into Hello Kitty Stores, ice cream cones, magazines, photos, post cards, etc.

Ok feel free to write me back and give me some updates because me writing these things feels a little egocentric when no one tells me what theyve been up to.

Ok, I will upload pics as soon as I can as there are some real winners, but til now...Ciao and keep it real.

lovelovelove
al

Malta Pictures!

Click here for more!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=35124087&l=cfde58fdc1&id=10801606

Oh Whaddup

HEYYYYY

(sorrry for the typos but im writing fast and i hear 10 languages (5 real/5 baby talk) a day so my english is depleting.)

update 2. 2 girls are slepping so il make this quick. i went out to the crewbar tonight. it was jammin's (youth counselor) last night and i thought i should because everyone on my staff does. i was nervois if i would find them, be accepted, make conversaion, etc. but it went off witout a hitch and my coworker and future superviser come dec 19 bought me 2 drinks. i even stayed out later than my roomate who has been doing these rodeos for years.

anyways, i was scared but now i am feelin alright. hopefully my gesture of going out when we have a passfail exam 8am tommorow wont go unnoticed. im really nervous for it and for the homework we must turn into lenny...the ex brit navy guy.... i havent been this stressed over homework since 6th grade goldrush project.

well im gonna try to go to bed, got my 2 beer in an hour buzz on and the ship is rockin which adds another brew to my center of gravity.

ive been showering here....well once so far since LA...but its real nice. staying hydrated. making friends. attending shows. my next misssion is to get dressed up and get cocktails in the passenger areas well some girlfriends (dont worry LA girlfriends....they aint got sh@& on you! seriously, everyone ive met is lovely but they are in the "cruise mentality" which i dont think i am. many girls are on their 5th or 6th contract and this is their element, where they thrive. ps theres a party in teh cabin next to me. its louder than hannon on opening weekend.

day 3. woke up early to sit by myself in the staff mess hall to study. i got my first glimpse of malta from the window i sat next to and i almost started to get a little misty. it was so beauitful and it was so surreal. but then i got a hold of myself and drank my passionfruit guava juice!

ANDDDDDD i missed 2 on my exam out of 60! yes!!!! and i passed my written evacuation exam too so now i am living life so happy. i was pretty stressed...so stressed this mornign that i forgot we didnt have to work til 3* and wore my crew uniform to the test while everyone else was in their street clothes. the pants rising so high really stress me out so its amazing i only missed 2.

*i woke from my nap to go to work at 3 only to be told at 430pm by my boss that i wasnt scheduled til 5. haha. not.

back to the monring: then i found out that i didnt have training until 1130 so i met up with 2 youth counselors and we went out to malta. malta is seriously beautiful and wildly romantic ...almost everything is made out of limestone so its very fort-esque and the streets are narrow with little shops carved into the stone. i didnt go on a tour and only had an hour and a half there but we took some good pictures and i feel like i got a little taste of the place. it's fancier than i thought with tons of tommy hilfiger shops and burger kings and jewels??. ok i dont shop.

a highlight was talking with a fisherman who was selling 1 shark on the street. there was a tour sign that said "the malta experience" and we asked him to take our picture under it...he could absolutely not understand why we thought it was funny/worth a picture. hes like...this way with the beautiful view! this way with the market! this way with the horses..!?? no, this way...with this silly sign please sir. half exasperated, half intrigued he bid us a friendly malta aideu.

ok im going on break with 2 counselors, we are going to the passenger buffet which is amazing!! indian food, ice cream, crepes, etc. im going to grab a cappucino and read and i think they are doing hte same. work back at 7pm til 1030pm. pretty easy day i think .

kizzzes, as you can see im not roughing it with the spa and malta and passenger buffet. the only hard part is not being able to share it with you people that i love.

update1: ok we are in naples this today. i work 7pm so after training at 1 i am going off the ship for some pizza i hear is good...updates to follow..

miss you people
last night i had 2 horrible dreams and one of them was i was confined to a pitch black box and i woke up and i was sleeping in my bed iwth the curtains closed....in a pitch black box essentilaly. dreams do come true

update: naples was a little lackluster. the thing to do here is climb mt vessuvius & go to pompei. also you can go to sorrento which is supposed to be beautiful ....but naples....eh ....theres a bunch of trash everywhere and construction, granted i only had 1 hour there to walk around with Elmo...a nice phillipino girl from canada who is also a youthcounselor who was here 2 weeks before me but slept at every port town last 2 weeks so is touring with me as her first time seeing these places too. she is trigger happy with the camera which means ill have a lot of me standing giving thumbs up and peace signs in random places.

update 3: sorry for all the updates ...last one for now. its 645am and i cannot fall back asleep so im listening to some pattty griffin and writing you lovely people. i have evacuation drillls from 930-12 today while we are in port in chitiavecia sp? or something...very near rome. we have 12 to 4 i think in rome. apparently we are going for world famous gelatto here. i am very excited.

ok officially im done for now. love love love. tonight is a crew party with everyone on the ship that work. thats like a 1000 person party. the youth counselors happen to be hosting hte event so its in the spinnaker lounge (see Ncl.com desc of my ship The Gem for goof photos of the ship) I volunteered to bartend for 1 hour of the night which is just opening beer and wine and a good chance to meet people. its 80s throw back prom night so im feelin good about that!

love
al pal

First And Foremost

hey everyone,
(send this on to those i missed)

ive abstained from email the first couple days because 1) i was afraid it would make me homesick 2) i wanted to be fully present while learning all there is to learn for this job. 3) other?

but im here, i have 5 mins before I have to go to more training. I've done a lot of training...a lot. but they made me work my first day at 730pm to 1030. that was last night. everyone on my staff 15 youth counselors like me and 1 supervision who is a combination of jen dingman and coach thompson....most of you only know either one or the other so that is a really bad explanation. anyways, shes super cool.

everyone has been soo friendly. i got in the hotel in barcelona at 10pm and there was 5 philipinos eating dinner and they invited me to eat with them. i see them all over the ship now and its so funny to think they were my first friends. small world.

big boat. the boat is huge. bowling alleys, rock walls, full spas (which are open to crew after 1030pm. ) a few of us went to the spa last night. it was awesome, imaigne the nicest spa u can imagine and then think nicer. i couldnt believe it. and free.

speaking of free, all the tours are free to staff and we have 90% of port days off! the ship is incredibly overstaffed for youth. today me adn 3 counselors...all in their mid 20s...played ringtoss with 2 little girls...one from malta, amy, with impeccable english but some more or rainman thing going on...and the other, marissa, from..??? where no one knows. 2 days of playing with her and i dont know what language she speaks.

did i mention im assigned to age 2-5 this week. pretty bummed at first, or unprepared or insecure even but actualyl its working pretty smoothly. the teens are a separate program but i will try to weasel my way in.

the uniforms pants go above my bellybutton and we tuck in our shirts. do the math. i look like a clown.

thats all for now...there's a few rebels in the youth program who are trying to encourage me to go out to the crew bar everynight with them and "not remember" much but that seems a little scary to be honest and not too fun. i'd rather forget a night when i know i wont wake up in a Nicaraguan's crew bed wearing nothing but a banana peel and using a maraca as a pillow.

ok gtgo to training. theguy who runs it is ex brit navy and late is NOT AN OPTION. he even has a retractable metal wand to point to things on the screeen.

what else, ...im not sad or homesick or anything. they say it will come but i really hope it doesn't. i miss you guys but in the most wonderful way where it doesn't make me sad it just makes me feel love and happiness. hopefully that keeps going cause otherwise it could get dark in this 4 bed cabin with high waisted pants and all.

ill send pics next thyme......(i meant to mispell that...add a little disorder to my orderly lifestuy.)

ally