Sunday, September 2, 2007

Week 7


Week 7 begins with the conclusion of a most relaxing week off. Flying to Spokane provided a great opportunity to visit with dear, dear friends, loved family, and run into some casual acquaintances. Oh to hang out with Jenn again! Oh the girls’ night out with all the lovely ladies whose friendship has lasted all four years of college! Oh the Auntie/Wuncle and Niecey hang out time! Oh the hours of running around doing errands to make up for the past six weeks of working! Oh the lot of new material goods I acquired while “resting!”
One unimportant piece of information I now posses: the right kind of skinny jeans aren’t as nightmarish as I had previously thought on my curvy derriere.
One important piece of information I now know: if one is supposedly over an ex-boyfriend, then gossip about him should not bother or intrigue one’s person.

I was indirectly scolded on the flight from Spokane to Seattle: while boarding, I was wearing sunglasses, tired, a bit under the weather by choice, and not fully awake. This meant I hit my head on the low ceiling above the seats. “#@$%” was uttered under my breath. On our way off, the steward told us the local time, temperature, and reminded us to watch our heads while getting off. “If you can’t watch your head then at least watch your tongue.” Great.
The flight from Seattle to Sitka had one very interesting element: all the flight attendants were male. And not just male, Alpha male. When does that ever happen?

People
I was happy to see everybody again, actually. Our tradition of calling each other “mama” is a cute one and it doesn’t work on anybody else. The first few days back were rewarded with a deluge of appreciation and thanks for doing such a thankless job in a cheery and friendly manner. “What?,” I said surprised, “what makes you think I’m cheery and friendly?” Apparently the guy who replaced me while gone didn’t handle it too well. He’s a PhD candidate. Funny how two of the most educated crew members are the ones performing the lowliest job. He felt humiliated. I feel humbled.
Hattie and I got serious about our physical health. I’m doing my best to follow an eating program based on the French diet. She is controlling her portions and counting calories to fulfill 2,000 daily. We work out together almost every day. We should be able to fulfill our goals of physical wellbeing by the end of the year. w00t.

Work
After a week off, one would assume that I would return to work with fresh energy, closer to fulfilling my goals than before and therefore cheerful while washing a bagillion dishes. Think again. This is becoming tedious, monotonous, brain deadening, and just plain boring. There is little variation to the days; every week offers the same diversions with the exception of a change of faces with passengers I rarely interact with. I dislike always having my hair up and of course one strand will not fit into the 4,000 bobby pins and manages to tickle my face until I shove it under another pin in annoyance with a wet, gloved hand. I tire of the memorized dishwashing routine: dining ware, glasses, silverware, cooking ware.
The mamas are good to me though. If there’s cut up fruit leftover from the pax’s breakfast, they’ll give it to me for my bucket o’ breakfast. They’ll thank me, scratch my back, ask me if I want or need anything to drink, offer to help. There’s really nothing to complain about, other than my own boredom.

Cousin
I got to see Cousin on Friday. Albeit short (again), we had enough time to do tours of each other’s boats. She couldn’t believe how small the Contessa is, the almost inexistent security measures, and how nice our rooms are. I couldn’t believe how enormous the galley is on the Empress (they have 6 dishwashers), the strict security, and the number of staff/crew. It was wonderful to see her though. We talked, hugged, tripped over each other’s sentences, and in a month we should be working together. Finally.

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