The Big 3-0

When I arrived at work early Monday morning, our lead rep greeted me at the door and told me to follow him outside to show me something. He asked me if I had seen someone's name tag over the side of the porch. (I should have caught on at this point but didn't!) He kept saying someone must have lost it and kept asking me if I saw it. I looked over the side and of course saw nothing. After a few minutes of this, we decided neither of us saw anything (he said maybe someone found it). So we walk back in the office and I see black streamers in the back room, but I still had not caught on. I walked into the back room to put my lunch in the fridge, and all my coworkers were there! They had this cake with purple and black flowers, all lit up with 30 candles. After singing to me, they encouraged me (a little too enthusastically) to blow the candles out. I attempted. But they were those crazy sparkler candles that won't blow out! So after a minute or so, everyone joined in. By this time, they were getting really close to being completely melted. We tried pulling them out by hand while still on fire and dousing them in water, but there wasn't much left to grab. So wet fingers did the trick. I don't think anyone ended up with burnt fingers, fortunately! The candle wax did drip all over the cake, and in the picture, you can see a nice big black smear from burnt frosting or something. It was great fun! (Oh, and I forgot to mention the purple balloons. Someone obviously knew my favorite color!)

Summer Sledding

Last Saturday a coworker and I took the tram to the top of Mt. Roberts. We hiked through the snow to the base of what looks like a sledding hill, atop which is a giant wooden cross. Typically there is a nice circuitous trail to the top, but that was invisible due to the snow coverage. We decided to hike straight to the top. It was not very far but was quite steep. Once we reached the cross, I knew there was only one way down. But there was no way I was going to do it. Instead, I tried walking down, but it was just too steep and I gave in (or rather fell on my rear) and slid all the way to the bottom! I was a little freaked out at first but it was such a rush! I would do it again, but next time I would wear snow pants, rain pants, or take a sled!

And Summer Begins

Mother's Day. Coffee and scones with mom. One-year since I graduated from college. (Woohoo!) Sunny. Gorgeous. What else can I say!

Today was an extremely long day and very exhausting. It feels like we didn't do much today, but I am so tired. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I have not worked this much in over 8 months! I am very happy with how today went, though, because I am finally getting used to the way things work. Nothing is second-nature or old hat yet, but things are making sense and going well.

I was working with a couple tours that were crazy busy (the ones when people first get off the ship), and also with a couple that were starting after the ship had been at dock for a couple hours. I enjoyed those, because I was able to interact more with the passengers. There was more time to chat and talk to them about where they were from and about Juneau. (They find out I am from Juneau and suddenly I know everything. hahah!)

My favorite ship so far is the Serenade of the Seas, which is a Royal Caribbean ship. It came in last week. It had a huge (HUGE) set of windows in one section, from top of the ship to bottom! I will have to try to take a picture of it next time it is in town. It is amazing! Tomorrow we have a Princess ship that I hear is pretty amazing, too. I better make sure to have my camera!

Training

This is me and Sarah Noelle, a new friend from Allen Marine training.  On Saturday the 2nd, we did our safety training.  I will not actually be working on a boat, but I participated in most of the boat training anyway.  Part of our safety training included practicing loading a life raft.  We loaded a 25-person life raft with 46 people!  It was quite an experience.

So far work has been mostly training.  Last Wednesday (April 29) we had our first cruise ship and yesterday we had our 2nd.  It has been fairly straightforward and fun.  Next Sunday we get our first 3 cruise ship day, and that's when things will start picking up!  

I have been spending as much time outdoors as possible and have been taking tons of pictures.  I am figuring out how to load my pictures from Picasa into a web album so hopefully will have more pictures easily available for you to view.