Soooo a few things have happened in the past couple weeks since my last post. Nothing too interesting as ship life can sometimes be a little on the boring side (lack of alcohol, abundance of rules, cabin fever etc). Crew bar has been the good old crew bar, nothing but foosball, the jukebox and some terrible dancing. Same old antics (trying to order Grill at 3am, defacing each other with sharpies, TERRIBLE singing of Bohemiam Rhapsody, Bundles etc). I decided to spice my life up by 0.05% and get a spontaneous ear piercing in Airlie Beach a few days back.
Work has been great, the usual, working with kids... having them wet themselves in their harness'... throwing up on instructors when they're at the top of the Flying Fox (massive zipline), or at the Titanic Experience (which we have just had our 4th proposal on, and our 4th "yes!". Standard. We also got even closer to those Whales on the last cruise, a mother and baby breaching about 50m away from me when I was at the front of the ship. I can't complain too much about my office when I get to see things like that everyday. Here's picture I've stolen from Oli's facebook. I'm quite lucky to say I've had very few bad office's.
So after a few (somewhat heated) emails to our shoreside team it has been confirmed that I am staying on the Dawn rather than the original (and preferred) plan to get back on the Jewel with my homeboy James. I'd be lying if I said that I was chuffed with the choice, but with nothing I can do I've decided to do what I always do and embrace it. It's a shame because it means I'm stuck doing the same to Lifou, Port Villa and Noumare; Airlie Beach and Port Douglas when I should be going to Fiji, New Zealand, all the Pacific Islands and more. But they always say it's the people you meet who make the experience worth while so for the moment they're stuck with me and that's okay becuase the crew here are great. It also means a few pennies in the pocket for when I set off travelling later in the year.
wreck in Port Vila from a cyclone a few years ago
I'm also here to do a job, which is great because I love it and after kinda bumming around this winter (y'know lounging around on beaches in Tenerife and bombing it down on the slopes) it's refreshing to have a job I actually care about. We have this motivational incentive called Proud and we have cards that guests fill out at the end of their trip if they want to and I'm making a small collection of those. But not only once, but twice on the last cruise (only 4 days up to Airlie Beach andd back!) I had two young girls, Eliah and Jessie, from seperate families tell me that because of me when they're older they want to do what I do. I forget that working with kids, even for such a short time, can impact their lives so much. I still remember meeting instructors and animators when I was on camps and holidays and the impact they had on me to make me live the life I have now. And even though in a years time they'll probably forget my name and my face it's wicked to know that there's been a seed planted in their brain to stray from the conventional lifestyle of -Education-Work-Marriage-House-Kids-Retire- (which obviously something I strongly DO NOT belive in). And to have parents telling me that "you're all the kids keep talking about!" which is something I haven't heard since the days of the Holiday Village when I was known as Crazy B.
before a cheeky 3am grill
Stephan's last night
crew at crew bar
beach partyy
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