Saturday August 24th Stockholm, Sweden.
I was up early for disembarkation, 7am. There were suitcases everywhere,
I could barely walk out of my corridor to get to breakfast. I ate what I thought was a sausage, still not too sure what it was, powdered eggs and toast. No difference in staff food since losing the drunk chef! I stood at the gangway of deck 5 and said, “Adios,” to the passengers. I was terribly uncomfortable, my feet hurt, it was cold and my hair was not sitting right on my forehead. We finished around 1040am.
I quickly changed and went out to get internet in the port. It was decent, I was able to speak to Mum and Popsicle. I wrote a couple of emails, tried to skim through my Facebook page to see what everyone back home was up to. Then I went to catch a Hop on Hop off bus. I waited at the bus stop for an hour and a half. It never showed up. By that time it was 2pm and I had rehearsals at 430pm so I didn’t even have time to go into the center if the bus had shown up. I stopped by a little café to have a salad and a beer for lunch, because I had missed lunchtime on board by that point. I got Internet again for a little bit and then bought a magnet.
On board as I walked past the Safety Office, they stopped me and said, “come in.” I did and sat with the safety trainer and safety officer. One is Romanian and one is Italian. We just talked and laughed, it was so much fun! Then other people kept joining in, thinking I was the life and soul of the party, which of course, I was! In my cheerfulness I booked myself a bicycle for tomorrow morning at 8am. I will probably regret that but I really need to get out and see some sights.
Sometimes Manu leaves me a note on my pillow,
I took an hour nap, and then went to rehearsal. We rehearsed the last number that I needed to learn for tonight’s show, 1 SHOW DOWN!!! 3 to go. Roman had a problem with one of the lifts he does with me, but instead of telling me he had a problem, he just stood and stared at me. I said, “what are you staring at me for?” When he told me I got irritated and said, “I’m new and have only done this twice before and am not perfect!” He is very stubborn, it’s his way or the highway. No one here knows how to communicate properly. Bori, head dancer, is very rude when something doesn’t go right or when I mess up and she stops everyone and says, “go again, it was no good!” I think they should learn how to give constructive criticism, I don’t mind bing corrected or being told that I need to work on something, but the way it is said to me as if I’m an idiot is terrible!
Now I am just hanging out until we have our show in 2.5 hours. I am very tired, but if I go to sleep I won’t want to get up to do the shows and it’s my job now!!
After some dinner the first show went really well. I was in all the numbers! It was so fun!! We have a lot of free time during the welcome show and Manu and Leechy (Lydia) lie on the floor on towels as if they are at the beach,
it’s a funny sight.
During the 2nd show in the Pitbull number, we have a couple of 8 counts of improv. I was just doing calm things, and I went to do a kick with my right leg just as Sergi was coming up from the floor with a roundhouse kick…we kicked each other. My character shoe came off, my toes were out and I had to improve to put it back on! I didn’t feel anything then but after the show when we were greeting the passengers, my right foot started giving me a lot of pain. It is now swollen and hurting a lot!
I went to have something to eat and took some fresh air with Javier before changing to go off board to get on the internet for a while. It was terribly dodgy.
Now I have Icey-hot (or the Hungarian equivalent) on my foot and I am ready to pass out! Night night world!
Sunday, August 25th, Stockholm, Sweden/at sea
I got up early to go to rehearsal, turns out we didn’t rehearse until 11am so I could have slept for another hour. I learnt one dance and then went off to access internet and returned to ship to eat lunch. I napped in my uniform because at 330pm we had our weekly passenger drill immediately followed by a pool party where we danced around in the sun. It was good! Straight after that, we had rehearsal and a run of the show. I showered and ate dinner and prepared for the shows. After the shows I ate a second dinner of lasagna and visited the crew bar. I was only going to stay 10 mins but it was Peter’s birthday, any excuse for a party. When that was over we were all going to go to sleep, but Peter had some alcohol in his cabin, so why not go and have a cabin party!?
At 6am I watched the sunrise; it was stunning!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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