St.Thomas & Antigua

Yesterday we docked for the first time in St.Thomas (near Charlotte Amal) which is part of the Virgin Islands. Having never been to the Caribbean before, I was in awe of it's beauty. The weather was beautiful, very sunny, and 30 degrees!!! I need to start getting used to this kind of temperature. I had 4 hours free to explore on my own. The port town is very commercial and tourist (as you can imagine) which is why many people do excursions further into the city and rural parts. I mostly just walked around the shops and made my way to the Kmart to pick up a few things. I was surprised to see a Scotiabank! I also got a phone card and made a few calls to people. I didn't bring my computer with me, otherwise I could have used the free wifi.

Today we are in Antigua, and the port area is very similar (but more colourful!). All the shops sell the same kinda stuff: expensive jewelry & watches (almost every other shop!), typical souvenirs (postcards, t-shirts, shot glasses, nicknacks, etc.), perfume & cosmetics, really cheap booze & cigarettes ($10 bottles of rum, $25 carton of cigarettes). It seems like all the crew on the ship smoke. There's only 1 place you can smoke (crew bar) but people are allowed to smoke in their cabins (if their roommate doesn't mind) so the hallways always stink of smoke. And you can imagine how smokey the crew bar is. I went there last night for the first time. $1.25 Heinekens & Coronas :D most people buy them 6 at a time (a case) lol. I had about 4 and felt drunker than I was because of the motion of the ship. But I am getting use to that motion (getting my "sea legs") and the small bit of sickness I felt is all gone.

Right now I'm using free wifi available from a cafe near the port, but I should have gone a bit further I think. There's many people here so the connection is slow. But still faster than onboard the ship. I'll try and get some pictures up.

I am the only "traditional English" speaker (as they say) in the photo team, so everyone keeps asking me questions like "how do you say this?" *points to a cupboard* or "what is the difference between here and there? Do I say over here or over there?" I'm glad to help them, but sometimes it makes me second guess myself, like why do we say this and not that, and all the other funny English rules. Since my English is the clearest/easiest to understand, I do a lot of interacting with the guests, and I think I will even be the narrator for the Cruise in Review DVD.

I have been learning so many different things, from my job training to the ship's training, and adjusting to a whole new way of life, I can't even imagine trying to learn a new language on top of all that!!

There are lots of Canadian guests on the ship, which is nice, I have something to talk to them about (I even met someone from Mississauga!). Also lots of people from Greece are onboard. I met a few musicians, who are all laid back and love to party (easy for them, they only work 3-4 hours a day), 2 of them are American (one from Detroit, I duno about the other) and a drummer from France (who is very quiet, I think because his English is not so good). He is a new hire like me, so we always see each other in the ship's training sessions. Everyday for at least 2-3 hours there is training (safety, environmental, ethics, harassment, diversity, etc.) which is pretty boring. Today we went into one of the emergency life boats (which was actually kinda scary, even though it wasn't an emergency!) It's good to be prepared, I just hope I never have to be in that situation! I might forget everything I learned. I had to pass a safety quiz and so I studied all night. When I got the quiz it was such a joke. Multiple choice questions with the obvious answer worded exactly as in the book, and all the other answers were totally a joke (Q: What to do if you show up to your emergency station without a life jacket? A: call the bridge and complain LOL)

I shot my first pictures today! I was just shadowing the other photographers on the gangway and one needed to use the restroom so I took over, I only shot about 4 pictures, but it was fun. I don't think they turned out good (one too loose, one too tight) but I'll get the hang of it soon, with more practice. I mostly just work in the gallery selling photos, cameras, accessories, etc. which is good because that's where you make commission :)