Endless Summer Tiny World

I’ve been back on ship for almost two full weeks and so far it is going well. As always in my two first weeks I keep wondering what am I doing here? But that generally goes away after a little while! Haha! I am working at the coffee bar on ship which means that I have to be awake and at work at 6 am everyday so that is starting to get a little rough, but I’m hoping this saturday I’ll change bars to one that is open only at night!

I am living all the way forward on ship which means lots of walking but that is always good for shaving off those vacation pounds!! Haha! I live with a bar server, and it was just me and her for a week which was extremely nice, and now with a waiter. They are both nice people and good roommates. I also have jen baker just one floor above me which is great to be so close so we can hang out! Chelsy and I are trying to get back in shape so we hav been trying to spend a good amount of time in the gym on my nights off! Also Chelsy and I got a car yesterday in Hilo and headed up the shore a little ways to some pretty lookout points and a couple parks. We stopped on the way back for a sandwich and found the best thing ever: a disposable grill!! It is a grill w built in charcoal and when you’re done cooking you throw it away! It is great so we can have bbq’s! And this thursday were gonna grill on the beach! All in all it was a good day.., just nice and relaxing and seeing a new area!

So things are good so far! I’m staying excited and hoping I an buy my ticket, or at least the first part of my ticket to travel soon! The dates when I go all depend on September’s wedding, but I’m hoping to know all that soon!! Keep in touch everyone!

I’m coming into my last couple of days of vacation and head back to the cruise ship on Saturday. I have had an absolute blast this vacation though! I spent the first week or two between Duluth and the Twin Cities. I had a weekend down at my dad’s and Bear came down as well. We had a really good time…. headed out to the local winery for lunch then went into Muscatine, IA for a river days and a weinie dog race. That was so cute with hundreds of weinie dogs coming from all over. It was so hot and the races kept getting pushed back that we didn’t even stay for the races, just watched all the dogs come! We then went out to the campgrounds clubhouse for a Karaoke. All in all it was a really good weekend and it was nice to show Bear what the good part of Iowa is!!I got back to Minneapolis just in time to pick up Greg Ward, “the other Greg”, from the airport. We just hung out with Lindsey for a BBQ at her house and then hit up the Mall of America the next day. That afternoon Jen Baker, another ship coworker, flew in and we headed to Wisconsin Dells. We spent three days at Wisconsin Dells going to Noah’s Ark and Devils Lake State Park. We stayed right off the strip and had fun at night at our favorite bar, Showboats. This place had great live music and also one night gave away free bacon all night – weird!! After Wisconsin Dells we headed into the middle of nowhere Wisconsin for Flam Bam. It was a blast this year just as every other I’ve gone, just a little bit wetter this year. On Saturday night we got a lot of rain and everything got wet! At the lodge which we had taken over the power went out, and even though that is sometimes a bust with so many of us there we kept right on partying and even all sang songs together! haha! After a couple days showing Greg and Jen around Duluth I had to say bye until we are all back on ship again. But it was amazing having them here and being able to show them around and I hope they had a good time as well!

I then headed off to Cabo with my BFF Lindsey for a week. We stayed actually in San Jose del Cabo about 20 miles from the city of Cabo. We had a great time relaxing and just having a blast! We went on a snorkeling trip and saw stingrays jumping out of the water… that was amazing! I didn’t even know that they could jump out of the water like that. We also went to what we think was the bast place in the area to snorkel, Santa Maria Bay. It was a really fun trip. We spent an afternoon having a beer or two up in San Jose del Cabo and they actually shut down the town square on Sunday night and we watched the locals singing different songs. One day we took the local Mexican Public Bus and went to Chileno Bay. It was a really pretty beach with probably some great snorkeling except the waves were too big and crazy so they shut the beach down to swimmming. But the rest of the Beach had built in palm umbrellas that Lindsey and I curled up and enjoyed. We had a great time and had lots of fun at all the shows and local bars and of course it was just great to be on another vacation with my BFF!

The rest of this vacation has been spent at my dad’s. This weekend I convinced my sister to come down and visit with her Fiance and we all had a blast. I have a couple more days here before going back to Duluth for one night for my flight back to Hawaii.

It has been a great vacation! I couldn’t have asked for it to be any better. I caught up with so many people, and of course there are always more I could visit and more time to spend with those I saw, but at least I got to see all those people I was lucky enought to see! I am looking forward to seeing everyone back on ship again, but am definitely going to miss everyone back home. My sister is also possibly moving her wedding up! yay!! So I may end up on ship a little longer than planned, but not too much, only a month or two but only time will tell, and we will find out when she actually sets a date!

Well a lot has been going on here. I have finally become a permanent bartender, which is great cause when I come back for my last contract I’ll be able to be bartending the whole time without worrying about having to bar serve. I also got moved from a small bar by myself to one of the largest bars on ship that I am running. And apparently my bar manager thinks I’m doing a great job which is nice. My birthday was last week and the unfortunate thing was my schedule changed last minute so I wasn’t able to celebrate on our over night, but my good friend jen and I had fun by sliding up and down our slippery floors in the back of the bar. I also think I had happy birthday sung to me about eight times. Twice in front of our entire crew in crew mess when I would walk up to the bar table to eat and everyone stood up and sang to me! I also got some very nice gifts as well… So all in all it was really good and I enjoyed it, thank you to everyone who helped to make that happen! Last week was a crew volleyball tournament in Kauai… It was a lot of fun, I was only cheering but my buddy Brian and I joked we were coaches of the bar team and we were the water boys and sunscreen police too, it was a blast. I head home this Saturday coming up. It’s been another 5 months that have flown by. One more and i think I’ll have all the money I’ve wanted to save and I’ll be able to head on my way around the world, so those of you planning to come here to visit better plan for next February! I am so excited to go home and have seven weeks of vacation!! I don’t have too much planned yet, but I plan to spend about a week with my mom and sister, a week with my dad, go on a short vacation with my bff lindsey and possibly get to NYC or Denver. I am also gonna have my friends jen and Greg visiting so that should be a blast but most of it I’ll plan when I’m back!

Those of you I’ve talked to know that I had been bar serving for awhile because we had a lot of our permanent bartenders back. Barserving is very boring after bartending a busy bar where you’re always using your mind and doing stuff. But I’m finally back to bartending!! I have my own bar this time and even though it’s slow it could be worse. I bartend in our theatre bar and have been told that I am basically supposed to be permanent hopefully before I leave for vacation! So I guess we will see if that is true or not!My last two weeks barserving weren’t too bad because I was in a bar that is pretty chill with a bartender that I am good friends with! We spent lots of late nights up there due to a large Mexican group being on ship and having our bar be their favorite bar!I have been able to have a few adventures to some new beaches, a couple in kona and a couple on Maui and Sonja, my old boss from umd was on Maui this week so I got to meet up with her for lunch and breakfast and I’ll get to see her again this saturday to go to the swap meet in Honolulu! I’ve been enjoying myself lots recently and can’t believe there’s only 5 and a half weeks left until my seven week vacation!!

A week in Minnesota was great! I spent the first couple days with my bff, Lindsey, which was great! And then headed up to Duluth with the girls on Friday… In the snow! Yes I just said snow in may! It snowed horribly on the way up Friday and there was still snow on the pitch for our game on Saturday! Friday night a bunch of us went to dinner at the brewhouse and then we headed over to carmody’s for drinks and live music. There were probably at least 30 to 40 old ruggers at the bar that night… it was great just seeing everyone and catching up with them all! Saturday was the big game, which the saggy ladies won of course, even though it was super cold! It warmed up and the snow melted for the guys game, which we all watched. After the games it was shower time and then off to green mill to to meet wIth some of the girls for bloody marys! Then we went off to thirsty pagan brewery for beers and then over to dublihn bar for more drinks and lots of rugby songs and some shooting the boot! we had a large crowd out, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were around 100 people, which made things super fun!  I had a great time and there were so many times that we all commented on how it felt just like old times and like we had never left! And I didn’t want to leave again! It was a short visit and I was back in Hawaii in no time! It was an absolute blast and I was not ready to leave again!

But since I’ve been back I’ve been hanging out at the beach with the girls whenever I can. I also did the kona ironman swim again but this time there were dolphins all over, some even jumping only about 5 feet from us! It was so amazing! I am bar serving now, which is pretty much terrible but I only have to deal with it for another two weeks before I go back to bartending, so even though it’s two torturous weeks at least it’s just two weeks! I also found out that my vacation extension got approved so I will be home from July 10 to august 28! So that is super fun and I’ll make sure to let you all know my plans!

So I’m headed home in a couple hours for a very brief visit! I am so excited though! I have a one week work break so I can head home for my rugby teams alumni weekend! It will be great to see everyone, play some rugby and of course cause some trouble! Today I rented a car for the first time this contract… Unusual…. I know! But it was great! I headed up to the iao valley and iao needle with Chelsy, Ryan and Sean, then dropped them at the ship and headed out by myself! I drove most of the road to Hana. It was beautiful! A great coastline to drive, lots of great trees and vegetation, waterfalls and lots of birds and even a weasel or two running across the road! I picked up some home made banana bread on the way out to enjoy too! I’ve been a little fed up and irritated about work… I know I know, how is that possible when you work in Hawaii, but it is! So I realized today that I need to make sure I’m getting out and heading away from the ship every once in awhile! Today was a great day for me, I went and explored a place I hadn’t been and I watched the sunset, the mountains turn as blue as the clouds and I just got to enjoy Maui a little it was great!! I just need that a little more often, which im sure I will since Chelsy is back! So I’m headed off tonight and going enjoy all my close friends for a weekend of fun!

So I think the beach I said I’ve been looking at from the ship is one of my new Favorite beaches in Hilo! I am back at the beach hanging out with mostly local families and a couple fishermen, just enjoying the sunshine we are getting in Hilo!! Normally it is rainy here so this is a great change of pace. I picked up some Ono pickled mango from some locals to try and I’m not so sure I like it too much. It is very different and I’m happy I tried it though! It tastes almost like pickles to begin with but ends sweet! our itinerary is different this week so we are here on a sunday instead of tuesday so there are so many people at all the beach parks!! We are going to have a sea day tomorrow which means craziness on the pool deck which is my bar!! But I only have one more week of bartending before I go back to bar serving for a couple weeks so I am enjoying it while I can!!

Last Thursday was my friend amanda’s birthday so we actually ended up renting A two bedroom condo about 15 miles from the ship! It was great to get away for the night, to not have to see the ship and everyone we wanted to be there was there! We had a great time and nights like that make us want to rent condos all the time! The previous Monday we borrowed our friends rented car and went to the Maui brewery in kaanapali to hang out. It was only four of us but it was still so nice because we could get out, do something different than the usual overnights and feel like it was real life!!

I have one week before I head back for rugby alumni weekend for a week work break! I can’t wait! It is going to be a blast and it will be great to see all of my friends even if just for a short while!!

So right now we are in Hilo and I am sitting at the Japanese gardens under a giant, very green tree that reminds me of trees you see in Disney movies like the lion king. I can see the oceanfrom here, and the weather is a little cloudy with sprinkles here and there. But I am loving it! It’s crazy to think that Hawaii has so much sunshine that I tend to love days that are a little overcast!As of right now this is my last week of bartending 🙁 and on Saturday or Sunday I am supposed to go back to bar serving! I really hope for some reason that changes, you never know what can happen on this cruise ship, but I’m preparing myself for the worst. Hopefully one or two permanent spots will open up and then I never have to worry about going back to bar serving!! But only time will tell what is going to happen!Chelsy is due back in one month and I can’t wait to have some adventures with her, though this time with her gone has been good for my bank account! I also fly back to Minnesota in a month to go to our rugby alumni weekend! I am really looking forward to that! It should be a blast and it falls almost exactly half way through my contract so it will be a nice break! I’m still working hard, and enjoying the beaches and working on my tan! Hope everyone else is starting to enjoy the nice weather I hear you have been having!

So sorry I haven’t been posting more! My days are literally filled w going to work in the morning, the beach or sleep in the afternoon and then back to work in the evening so there’s not much for me to write about! This Sunday we had a crew party at Waikiki bar on ship, they are always super fun! Also, last Thursday we had crew bowling. They rent out the whole bowling alley, only Ncl crew are allowed! That is super fun as well…. Everyone found out I’m a terrible bowler so then every time I didn’t get any pins down I had to do two push ups! So I ended up doing lots thru out the night too! Haha!This Thursday should be fun too, Greg and I save all our cash tips for going out on Thursday night and we have almost $120 for Thursday so well be able to pay for dinner and drinks! It should be a good time!So this us probably the least I have done in a contract so far but it’s been good anyways and it’s helping me save money so that when Chelsy gets back hopefully we can have tons of fun!! She just told me her vacation has gotten extended another week and I was not a happy camper! I’m ready for her to come back!

I have finally made it to the beach I’ve been staring at everytime I’ve worked the pool deck on a Tuesday for the last year!! Haha! It is salt and pepper sand, a little lagoon, and a mini little bay protected by lots of rocks with little kids playing everywhere. And there are some massive waves rolling in near by that are crashing on the rocks in front of us and exploding! It’s great!!The last week or two has been busy but super great! I love working at my new bar! It has a great schedule but best of all is that I am never bored! There is always something that needs to be done! No more standing around bored!! Greg, my partner in crime and bartending is great and we make a great team and love bartending together! Last week was mostly filled with going to the beach during the day when not working and going out on the ship at night! Sunday on our overnight in Maui one of the guys had rented a car so six of us headed out on the town in kehei! It was a blast, there was some kind of art event going on at the tiki bar so there were all kinds of people dressed as animals and It was great people watching! We also stopped at dog and duck, and a bar called ambrosia to get our dance on! There was about 6 of us out and it was so fun and great to be doing something a little different than the ususal Sunday night on the ship!! We went out to eat On the ship last night and we will probably head out again on Wednesday to celebrate st. Pattys day! I’m gonna try to take some time on Sunday or Monday this next week to try to get some pictures to all of you! Oh and I can’t believe I forgot but my smelly roomie moved out on Sunday and I super cleaned my room so it smells nice and I think now another bar girl is gonna move in tomorrow! She’s super fun and it will be nice to have another young girl and another girl who is in bar and on the same schedule in our room!!