Week 11 of 14: August 1 - 8, 2007

Wednesday August 1st: Vancouver, B.C.

This is my second full day of isolation and the rest has been very much needed. I have slept a good portion of each day and still fall asleep by 1 am each night - late for me I know but after sleeping a good 8 hours of the day or more as well that’s sorta early.

I ordered room service for lunch today, the kind dining steward wakes me each morning to inquire if I would like breakfast but today I was too tired and slept until 10:30 am. Around 11:30 am I called them back and ordered a grilled tuna melt with tomatoes and fresh fruit. I haven’t had a huge appetite, but I haven’t completely lacked one either so that’s good.

I read part of a book that my roommate recommended for me and watched TNT for a few hours (Law and Order re-runs is the staple for that network I think) and then fell back to sleep until dinner around 6:30.

I have to say on a side note that the stewards have all been so nice when they bring my food and I call on the phone. It’s great attending the Sunday night fellowship with a bunch of them because word spreads and they are all taking really good care of me. When I call the caller ID tells them it’s my room and they greet me each time by name and then kindly ask what I’m in the mood for and then if I don’t call around the next meal time they call me back and inquire if I’m in the mood for the next meal. That has been really fabulous. :)

I also had the distinct privilege today of updating my blog in the morning as I didn’t have to work. I really needed this rest and am really thankful to have gotten it.
Thursday August 2nd: First Day at Sea

I went to the medical office this morning to be cleared for work, even though my stomach is still rumbling I definitely do NOT have Norwalk - that would have been constant symptoms for 24 - 48 or more hours. So I’m going to feign total health and go back to work. I do have sinus issues going on - that comes from living with a smoker (I’ve been sick all summer because of the heavy perfumes she sprays to cover up her odor) but otherwise I’m peachy and ready to work.

My kids didn’t know me because I missed the first night of activities and some really gave me a cold reception - wow. I was told that certain ones were super sweet and cute and suprising enough those are the ones giving me the problems. Hopefully they simply don’t trust the “new girl” and they’ll warm up after awhile.

The ship was rocking a little bit today and the kids were slightly seasick, but thankfully no incidents in the room. I can tell sea wise that we are slowly transitioning into fall weather in Alaska because the sea is gradually becoming rougher on the first, last sea days and Glacier Bay evening when we are in exposed water rather than the protected Inside Passage. I will say though that compared to last summer it’s so much better and much much more beautiful on this run from Vancouver. If any of you desire to sea Alaska by cruise ship I highly recommend Holland America (very traditional and not a party ship compared to the other lines) and also would highly recommend the Inside Passage cruise from Vancouver. It is well worth the hassle of flying or driving into Canada as the port of origin.

Tonight we had our photo scavenger hunt and the kids were SO WELL BEHAVED. I was really amazed at how wonderful they did. They really worked well together, got along really well and had great teamwork/ sportsmanship. That really makes my job fun when I have such a conscientious group of kids.

After work I played Spider Solitaire on my computer. My friend Kim emailed while I was in isolation and asked if I was playing that again like I did last year when I was isolated because of my roommate. It actually hadn’t occurred to me this summer to play that game in my spare time until I was reminded. Way to go Kim, now I’m addicted to it again! :) I have also rekindled my passion for reading, another something I don’t think of doing when I have the internet and TV so readily at my disposal at home. I have TV here but not much of anything to watch and the internet is way too expensive to use it for entertainment purposes, so reading it is. It’s free and educational!

Friday August 3rd: Tracy Arm / Juneau, AK

It is so gorgeous today in Tracy Arm. The glacial ice is so aqua I kick myself for always forgetting to bring my camera to Club Hal on this day. Maybe next week I’ll remember. Tracy Arm is a very narrow passageway carved by a glacier that our ship must slowly navigate and make very sharp turns super carefully. A few weeks back we canceled Tracy Arm because we couldn’t see well enough to navigate it safely and not hit any of the icebergs. Not wanting to be a modern day Titanic we skipped it and sailed straight on to Juneau instead. Today though it was gorgeous.

In Juneau I wasn’t able to get off the ship until late because we had a meeting for all members of the Passenger Notification Team at 4 pm. So I took my camera and went to the Governor's Mansion and the Capitol building.

Tonight’s theme was supposed to be Brave the Night, but I had one boy (Henry) show up. He started out the week quite shy and withdrawn but tonight we had a great time together. He is very courteous and respectful and helps to pick up without being asked. He looks for ways to help out. I love that in a kid. Well, I asked him what he wanted to do and he didn’t care he said I could pick and he’d be fine with it. Wow! Well I insisted that we do what he was interested in, so we finally picked out a game to play and towards the end of the night one other boy finally showed up that was Henry’s age. John and Henry really hit it off that night and became fast friends. The boy’s ended up playing foosball for about 30 minutes using John’s tokens and then they helped me clean up the room and reset it for the next day.

Saturday August 4th: Skagway, AK

Today I walked around in Skagway once again but my journey also took me on some beautiful new trails. If the weather cooperates this next cruise I plan to pack a picnic lunch and spend the day at this new location because it is so relaxing and makes me feel like I’m either at my grandparent’s old cabin in northern MN or back at Camp Forest Springs in northern WI. The climb is 500 ft almost at a 10:00 type angle until you get to the top and then it levels out to a beautiful wooded trail and mountain lake. It is called Lower Dewey Lake. Moira, if you read this you need to go there when you get back on board before the Z leaves Alaska because thought the climb is steep it is so worth the effort when you get up there. There is a picnic table and some beautiful trails and it is so quiet and serene it’s completely amazing. And yet I didn’t worry about bears because even though I hiked independently there were lots of other people coming and going the whole time so I was never technically “alone”. Look at my album this week to see a brief snippet of the beauty of Lower Dewey Lake.

Tonight our Country Carnival was a huge success. The kids had fun and were very well behaved. The night started out really slowly, but by the time we got to the carnival games they were very animated and eager to play for prizes and win tickets. All in all a fun evening with fun kids. It’s really cute watching the older ones help the younger ones and they did it willingly.

Sunday August 5th: Glacier Bay National Park

It was warm and sunny today in Glacier bay - at least 65 degrees with the sun heating the air to maybe the lower 70’s when it came out right at Marjorie Glacier. This week we didn’t see quite the magnificent calving that we saw last week, but just enough small chunks to keep the kids waiting for more until it was time to go in for lunch.

This afternoon the weather was still amazing and the Park Ranger and guest singers came up for their activities. Afterwards I sent the kids out on a scavenger hunt and then we ate ice cream. How great is that! I love the kids this week - they are so super sweet. I’ve been so fortunate to have had 3-4 groups in a row of good kids. This trend can’t possibly last can it?

Movie night was good and there was no late night baby sitting so I was able to make it to the fellowship meeting. I had prepared sufficiently to lead the message portion, per a request from two weeks ago when I ended up with late night baby sitting, and was thankful that my stomach was hanging in there because the sea is quite rocky tonight. The meeting went very well, I feel so blessed after going and know that in that group are true friends that care about me in a right way. After the meeting we sat around and sang praise songs until about 1:30 or 2:00 am (thankfully for ME tomorrow is Ketchikan and I don’t work until the pm, but unfortunately the others still have to get up in a few hours and go back to work).

Monday August 6th: Ketchikan, AK

Today I slept in for a bit and got off the ship around 11 am. I went over to the local internet cafe and purchased 5 hours of time for $20.00 (not quite half price as the ship but almost) and finally filled out my FAFSA form for student aid and signed up for one class. I now have to wait until Juneau to see if it was approved and then fill out the request for loans from UWM and US Bank. Hopefully I can get it all to go through rather quickly as I only have a month until classes start. I already know though that I’ll receive a rejection notice in the mail because of a notice on my credit regarding a misplaced wallet from 3 years ago. Now all online credit approvals are rejected and I have to call an 800-number to approve the application being filed in my name. This is fine by me, but the timing had to be worked out so that when I apply for aid on Friday it will have 2 weeks to come in the mail as rejected and then I’ll have to call and take care of it right when I get home and then hopefully I’ll have approval and disbursement before the 3rd week of classes when payment is due. It wouldn’t matter if I’d done it earlier because I wasn’t home to receive the rejection notice. So anyways, I finally got that all taken care of using high speed internet. That’s one thing I’m really looking forward to having again when I get home, but I have been so thankful to have internet in my cabin this summer I am not complaining about the slow speed (I don’t know anyone else that can get it in their cabin, I just happen to live right across the hall from the hotspot).

After going to the internet cafe I then walked to City Park and sat on a bench and called friends. It was overcast, but not raining and so it was really peaceful and pretty. I enjoyed the tranquility. I love the fact that I can safely find places to be alone and have such gorgeous surroundings.

Tonight’s theme was more scavenger hunts. My kids are so great working together in teams that I let them pick their own and they did 2 scavenger hunts for prizes. I even broke out the good prizes because they are such great kids.

Tuesday August 7th: Final Sea Day

Today we hung out in the Loft and played UNO and then went to Playstation and the cooking class. This afternoon they did another scavenger hunt and had an ice cream eating contest.

For the farewell party I brought back the Brave the Night theme night for most of the games because we didn’t do that earlier in the week and I thought they might enjoy it. So with a few of those games combined with t-shirt decorating and some other stuff we had a very fun final night together. I’m going to truly miss these kids. :)

I hope that your week was a fabulous one like mine and I look forward to hearing from you! :)

T