Entries this day: AM_busy AND...._we_go! An_amazing_escape! Bite_to_eat Chotto_nap Copies Fast_first_GET_meeting Good_meeting Good_news,_Bad_news,_and_Great_quote Good_productivity

AM busy

8:51am JST Monday 26 December 2005

We three (Carl, Dan and I) woke up at 7:00 and all three zipped through the shower in succession, then charged upstairs for the 7:30 registration. Went outside the ship to get our bags so they could be scanned (a complete riot, considering all the luggage we brought on already) and helped move Carl's big bag (he had surgery recently and can't do heavy lifting), and turned in his passport because I thought he had gone ahead, causing him great consternation because he had actually gone back to look for his passport. Whoo! Great shenanigans as we got that sorted out!

Now going upstairs and helping the passengers get their stuff on...

10:41am

Five hundred 「おはよございます」 and 450 passengers so far, and I've been sent down to get suited up for the champagne pouring, serving, toasting, departing extravaganza!

AND.... we go!

12:36pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

I didn't cry during this departure ceremony, and no one came to see me from the port (that I noticed). I called Hitomi and she called me back to say bye. I plan to call her tomorrow when we are in Kyoto to pick up the rest of the passengers.

Super duper uper looper special thanks to Hitomi for having funded my housing for the 10 days before PB. I could hardly of survived in a tent, I'm sure. And she fed me a lot, which was great!

I hung out at the front of the ship, having no interest in the traffic jam near the 'stage' onboard and onshore. I met Aiya at departure, and her mom took pictures of us from the pier.

According to my watch, we left a couple minutes late, though I was busy collecting paper ribbon streamers at the moment we actually started moving. I wadded them up into a ball and threw toward the pier (wanting as much garbage off the ship as possible because otherwise a lot of it gets dumped), but... the throw went a bit short and landed in the water. "Fuck!"

Oops; passengers all around, hey.

An amazing escape!

12:44pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

Holy shit!!

As we headed out, a boat pulled up beside ours, and reminded me of the time 'pirates' boarded our ship as we pulled close to Singapore. It was so close that I couldn't see the interface between our ships. I heard a clank and then the boat veered away from ours, sporting a brand new person! Someone had jumped off our ship onto some other ship while we were pretty much hauling out to sea!! I would love to do that! (except for the not being on PB part. Maybe come jump *onto* the ship!)

Bite to eat

1:06pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

Just chowed in Topaz Dining with several of the GET Ts (in our own little clique; oops!) and now I'm about to go upstairs to Yacht Club to get a bit of a snack.

2:39pm

Talked briefly with Christina in Yacht Club; she asked after Francois and specifically asked if he was clean. I hadn't gotten to talk to her after she washed Francois and returned him at the end of last voyage. Christina told me she would be leaving for vacation once we reach Singapore, but assured me Genoveva (sp) would be staying for the whole voyage, and I should keep an eye on her. And Francois.

Christina is my favorite on the waitstaff; she usually works in Topaz, and always seems to enjoy chatting up the passengers and joking around with them as appropriate.

Chotto nap

4:04pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

I zonked out for about the first 30 minutes of the orientation, telling about how to find our rooms and how to use the phones and where to get seasick meds and stuff that I basically already know..

Stayed awake after that by combing Kellie's hair with my fingers (putting her to sleep; oops!) and then woke her up when they started talking about kisen limit (not "kissing" but "kisen" which apparently means time by which we must board the ship in ports) and made dimpled designs on my hands and fingers by tightly wrapping them with a long ball-chain nametag holder that someone had discarded.

There are a couple of repeating passengers on this voyage: Kenji (for whom this will be his sixth voyage) and Rie is on her second voyage, I believe.

Copies

5:46pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

Fun times, getting stuff takin' cared of. Not enough time to plan for the Orientation presentation, but enough time to doubleside photocopy my schedule for Carla, whose schedule was stolen or misplaced...

Fast first GET meeting

6:54pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

Finished the GET Meeting in 45 minutes, including a Secret Santa exchange searheaded by Petra! Maruan seemed pleased with receiving zartan from Palestine; that makes me feel good about the idea and getting it over, etc.. Everyone looked pretty happy with their gifts.. though we opened them all at once, so I didn't see what everyone got.

Karen gave a travel chess set, a bar of Free Trade chocolate, *and* a blank book that I'll use as my journal in ports of call! It has a cute little fish on the front cover.

Good meeting

8:48pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

Nice! Just had a wonderfully productive meeting with Carla, Petra, Karen... Really hashed out the issues ... allowing us to present each different country, but not leaving any one out as a single to do some silly dance all alone on stage. I think we nailed it in the end.

Everyone come out in a line sorted by country, then we mix and match our huge nametags to some silly music (yet to be chosen) and get them wrong when the music stops a couple times, then line them up right and then each country at a time announces their names and where they're from!

Good news, Bad news, and Great quote

10:21pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

Good News and Bad News

1. Good News:

   We have just finished a meeting that I described to Daniel as my least favorite meeting (so I was glad to get it over with), but in the end, I've changed my mind to saying it's my least understood meeting. As in why do we do it?

   In the meeting, they gave us good news and bad news:

   1. Good News:

      There will be a PB office in NYC starting in April 2006! ((They didn't announce this, but) Allison will be working there, so I'm really happy for her!) I'm wondering about the possibility of working there, and if I could work there *and* come back for the 54th voyage. That would rule.

      Wow... me living in New York City!

   2. Bad News:

      Due to the rising cost of oil (thank you, Mr Bush and Iraq War), this will be the last PB voyage in the southern hemisphere. It's really expensive to get fuel in the little polynesian islands..

2. Bad News:

   My big toe poked through my (really old) right sock.

3. Great Quote:

   spoken by Masae as she introduced this meeting:

   "We know this is the first day and everyone is really busy so we are going to try to finish this meeting in thirty hours."

Good productivity

11:53pm JST Monday 26 December 2005

It's only the first night, but I'll accept this as a success: I have done laundry (by hand) and hung it up to dry. It's just a few items - mostly socks, but getting it done seems better than waiting for it to become a big pile.

Also called reception to see if they can replace our showerhead which turns showertime into what Carl described as "pure chaos." And then called them to see if they can check on our slow draining drains.

AND put a glasses holder above my bed, styled after the one I had last voyage, but using what would have been a wasted plastic bag instead of plastic ribbon.

There's a part of me (somewhat tired) that wants to go upstairs and see what kind of festivities are going on. However, the desire seems based on some baser instincts, so I'm basically going to brush my teeth and go to bed, but allow for some reading time.