2012 in Review

Here is my 2012 in review.  The dates are from Facebook statuses.  

January 13: 

"I ate filet of kangaroo, got hit on by a guy named Patti Fatti, stood in a tower where Protestants were held prisoner, and the day's not over..."

January 21: 

"This week I baked 5 desserts, hosted two dinner parties (one with 9 people the other with 15), cooked two meals (one for 9 people one for 20+), babysat, had a friend over for dinner one night...all of that with some awesome help. And I still managed to work this week. Happy heart. Exhausted body."

January Best Book: The Help

February 8: 

"Today I wore long-johns, knee high socks, wool-lined boots, corduroy pants, a short-sleeve undershirt, a long-sleeve undershirt, a knit turtleneck sweater, a short-sleeved sweater vest, a scarf, a wool coat, a hat, and gloves...and still came home frozen to the bone."

February 17: 

"My elevator has been having a conniption fit all day long. It's stuck on my floor, and the doors just keep slamming open, and then closing...every 30 seconds or so. It's driving me CRAZY."

February Best Book: One Thousand Gifts

March 1: 

"I walked 7 miles today, discovered a street market that reminds me of Paris (bliss), got hit on by two teenage Dixie boys, looked at a quirky apartment, was asked by a complete stranger to make a quilt for her grandbaby, made a friend, enjoyed the sunshine, and rolled a Yatzee. Not too shabby of a day."

March 6: 

"One of the realtors today showed up with her dog in tow! Only in France."

March 8: 

"I GOT APPROVED for the most beautiful apartment I've ever seen! Thank you so much for praying!!! He is able do more than we ask or imagine!!! I sign early next week and move in April."

March 23: 

"I almost just found my future French husband...until he ate his burger with a fork and knife."

March 26: 

"Ladies, let's review:
Leggings are not pants.
Tights are not pants.
See-through tights are not only NOT pants, they are borderline obscene.
Daisy Dukes shorts over hose look ridiculous.
Please clothe yourselves. Thank you."

March 30: 

"The man said to me, "Vous êtes chez vous," and handed me the keys to my apartment, where my name is on the door. Oh happy day."

March 31: 

"My Dad just came up with the idea for the name of the sitcom of my life: A Broad Abroad. Haha."

Best Spring Break: Relaxing in England with Creedance and then introducing CSI to Paris

April 3: 

"Talking on the phone for an hour in French with the electric company having to say a million numbers and use words like "matriculation" = NOT EASY. However, once the power was on, I may or may not have run giddily up and down the hall waving my hands in the air like I just don't care."

April 8: 

"Stuck in my elevator."

April 11: 

"Sign that I'm a true bibliophile: I meant to buy a bed and mattress today but bought bookshelves instead."

May 7: 

"My neighbor just leaned out the window, holding her dog well away from the ledge, and let him go to the bathroom. Oh, Marseille."

May 30: 

"Just saw the Prime Minister of France and men on stilts to greet him. I can't even make this stuff up, folks."

Worst May Moment: The non-delivery of my couch

June 12: 

"An American leading a group of Jordanians around a German grocery store in France = my Masters degree in Intercultural Studies at work."

June 15: 

"Here's how I'm gonna make my millions: Invent a contraption that, upon opening the front door of an apartment building, is connected to the call button of the elevator, so that by the time I've checked my mail and gone through second door...the elevator is waiting for me. Pure Genius, I am."

July 25: 

"It's entirely possible that I am the worst bunny killer in the world."

July Best Book: Blink

August 1st: 
(after telling Pantene that I bought a hot plate for the kitchen)

"I'm still laughing about:
"Why don't you just buy a stove?"
"Cause it costs 600 euros."
"OH.""

August 26th: 

"I think the people at the security gate of the airport should hand out free stuff to the people who help friends and family get all the way there but aren't allowed through because they're staying behind. Free stuff would make goodbyes feel a little better."

Best Visit: The Real McCoys come once again

September 5: 

"So apparently I hit the 10-year mark with my company today. For a girl who can only think in 2-year increments, that is quite the feat."

September 19: 

"This song has SOOO been stirring my heart to worship for the last few weeks.

"So break my step and relent/You forgave and I won't forget/...So I'll be bold as well as strong and use my head alongside my heart/So take my flesh and fix my eyes/That tethered mind freed from the lies/Raise my hands/Paint my spirit gold and bow my head/Keep my heart slow...But I'll kneel down and wait for now/I'll kneel down and know my ground/I will wait for You.""

Best Music Album: Babel by Mumford and Sons

October 11th: 

"Victory in Jesus Day! Lost sheep found!!!"

October 25:

"I just watched two package delivery men rip open two packages, stomp on the brand new dvd's that were enclosed to make the boxes smaller, and then shove said-smaller boxes through the mailbox hole. It was very enlightening to my postal difficulties in France."

October 31st:

"It's finally here! Goodbye la belle France, hola España!!! Leaving by train as a packed mule (pray for me!). 2.5 days of flamenco, paella, Gaudi, and Art Nouveau. BIG WHITE BOAT on Saturday!!!"

Best TV Show: Duck Dynasty

November 17: 

"I'm back in the good ole USA!!! Hands down--taking a big white boat is the best way to cross the atlantic."

November 24: 

"Back in Sweet Home Alabama staring at my awesome brother Not via webcam but in the flesh!!! Happy happy happy."

November 29:

"‎(After days of trying to learn how to use the world's largest tv/dvr remote control)
Me: Have I lost my remote control privileges?
Dad: You haven't even earned them yet! You're still on training wheels. And the rate you're going, you'll never receive your license!

The irony of this conversation is that happened after I finished watching Jeopardy, and got most of the answers correct."

Best Vacation Ever: BWB!

November Best Book: Robin, Lady of Legend (The Classic Adventures of the Girl who became Robin Hood)

December 9:

"Sign you've lived overseas a long time: "Hey Dad! Can this shirt of yours go in the dryer?"
"My collared, button down, office job shirt? Of course, why couldn't it?"
"I don't know...I figured it was fancy and fancy can't go in dryers?"
#Idon'townamicrowavemuchlessadryer"

December 12:

"I don't know which is more entertaining: watching the concert for Sandy relief or listening to my parents' Peanut Gallery comments on the how old the bands from their generation in the concert look/sound. Winner: "Keith Richards looks worse than Gollum.""

Best Movie: Les Miserables

December 31:
50 books read + 4 countries visited + 1 apartment made HOME + 2 lost sheep  found + 5 bodies of water cruised through + 14 days spent on a BWB + 54 cubic feet of a crate packed + 1 brother graduated + 365 days blessed + 1 Awesome God = 2012.

Celebrating in Sadness

This Christmas season, I've been reading a book called Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas.  The author takes the Christmas story as presented in scripture and imagines the fullness of how it may have happened, and presents each segment and each character in fiction form.  It has been a good read so far, to remember how the birth of the anticipated One was not as easy and sweet as we'd like to make it out to be.  It was not a silent night.

In a Christmas season where my heart has already been heavy and sad for friends who are experiencing hard things like unrequited love and miscarriages, Friday's sadness in Connecticut felt like it sucked the joy out of the season entirely.  How can we worship and celebrate when that community is hurting so?  Yesterday in church, the pastor had all the school children, their parents, and any teachers come forward, and we prayed over them.  We thanked God for them, for ours, and prayed for His continued protection over them.  I prayed for the kids of the Suits, of easternjourney, of the Real McCoys, and other kids dear to my heart who haven't been named here.  We prayed for those in Newtown.  I continue to pray for them.  

Then, this morning, I read in Touching Wonder nearly the same thing the pastor had pointed out in his sermon: there were those who celebrated and worshipped (Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the magi) while so many other wept as the ruthless slaughter of the innocent (at the hands of Herod's massacre).  We thank God for the birth of the One while we weep with Rachel and Newtown over the loss of little ones.  His coming brings Light to this darkness, and we long for His Coming again.  This Christmas looks like the one so many years ago.  

From Touching Wonder:

"An Angel:

To say that His birth was opposed is to touch the limits of mortal language.  The Mighty One has been hated since the pride of the bright one led many away.  Your word war comes close, but even then, believe me, you have no idea.  

We sang that night as we had never sung before.  Those shepherds believed they were the primary audience.  True, they were important--the Mighty One has always favored the lowly.  But there was much going on that night.  The other reason we sang in the fields was to hallow the ground where Rachel would weep over her sons.  There the graves would be dug, the graves for the little boys of Bethlehem.

Harold's rage soon stripped dozens of firstborns from the breasts that nursed them.  Those so fresh from God, so quickly silenced.  Slaughtered like animals.  So much blood.

The town had no room for Mary, as Herod's heart had no room for another king.  He would not share his glory, He would destroy this threat if he had to go through all the firstborns in the kingdom.

Although we do not exist in time, there are moments when the affairs of earth are hard to endure.  Even angels desire vengeance.

'Vengeance is Mine,' declared the Mighty One.  'Justice is coming.  I need you to sing.'

And so we sang:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,

Peace to all men and women on earth who please Him.

And Gabriel said, 'Again, louder.'

We sang again.

'Again, louder.  The Mighty One said, 'Prepare the way!'

What the shepherds heard as an anthem, the innocents would hear as a lullaby.  We sang as we had never sang before.  A song to bring Him into the world, a song to guide them safely from it,  and a song to help her endure it:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,

(Fly, fly to the breast of the Father,

This wrong will be righted,

Jesus is here.)

Peace to all men and women who please Him.

(Rest, rest in the arms of the Father,

His fury remembers,

His love holds you dear.)

Many do not sing of this horror at Christmas.  That is understandable; it was an unspeakable deed.  But I remind you that His birth was opposed.  You have no idea."

Then the author, John, writes a letter to the Father.

"Vengeance is Yours.

I think I want justice, so my thoughts are of vengeance.  But I know it's mercy I want and need.  The world does too.

Grant me the courage to drop my fists and sing."

(Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas, Chapter 10, Kindle Edition, by John Blase.)

So I will continue to sing this Christmas.  I need to worship in thanksgiving that He sent His Son to bring an end to this darkness.  My prayer during this advent season: "Come quickly, Lord Jesus.  Come quickly."

As another blogger said it (so much better than me):
"And in those depths, is the realization that mourning brings comfort, that above all, there is a God waiting to rescue in our darkest hour. 

The dysfunction of this world will be tangible, again and again. We cannot escape it—though we desperately try—it will sneak in amidst the safety of our carefully crafted worlds. Because this place is not our home and has not fully been restored. But Advent reminds us God did come and he will come again. Until then we are called to live in the tension of the brokenness that is now, with hope for what is yet to come. 

So we faithfully proceed: hoping, praying, comforting, mourning, seeking and obeying God’s will as we prepare our hearts and our world for the coming King. In so doing, we bring light into the darkness and God’s kingdom bursts through. Even now, even here."
(A Connecticut Winter: Why Our Hearts Break, by Rebekah Lyons, on www.qideas.org)

Sheldon

I recently bought a new Mac.  One of the things I love about Macs is how easy they are.  I don't have to figure out how to do anything, everything always almost always works the way it should, and I never rarely have any kind of problem with them.  No viruses, no crashes, no rebuilding from scratch because of some glitch in the system.  They're great.

So when I got the new Mac, I had to transfer the information off the old to the new one.  In theory, in the wonderful world of Mac, that should be easy breezy.  I should be able to plug in my Time Machine (back up hard drive), and voila! the Migration Assistant would walk me through moving the stuff over.

Except that it didn't work that way.

I plugged in the Time Machine, and the Migration Assistant didn't appear.  I tried to figure out, without the Assistant, how to move the things from the Time Machine to the new Mac.  No go.  I'm no computer whiz.  Ugg.

So I went to the Mac Resource store.  Not the shiny Apple store with the hipsters working there.  The Resource store, which I discovered is where Sheldon works when he's not filming The Big Bang Theory.  (Unfamiliar with Sheldon?  Watch this.)  I explained my problem to Sheldon, who, while looking anywhere and everywhere but at me, said that the Time Machine should have worked.  However, since it didn't, I could use a Firewire cord to connect the old Mac to the new Mac and transfer that way.  I bought the cord and left geeky Sheldon to breathe peacefully now that the female had left his 5 foot radius.

Well...the Firewire didn't work either.  I went into total near stress-out mode as my computer guru dad tried to help me.  I gave up on the cord and tried the Time Machine again.

Wouldn't you know?!  It worked.  So everything got transferred.  Yay!  Now time to take the overpriced non-functioning cord back to the Resource store.

I walked in, and there was Sheldon.  He saw me and immediately started darting his eyes everywhere in the room but at me.

"Hi.  I believe you were the one who sold me this cord the other day?  I tried it, but it didn't work.  I'd like to return it, please."  (Sidenote: oh, the beauty of America and easy returns.)

Sheldon gasped.  "It didn't work?  How did it not work?"

"Well, I plugged it in to both computers, following all the directions on the Apple help page, step by step, of how to transfer the old computer using it, and it didn't work.  The new Mac never could locate the old one."

"It didn't work?"  He started talking in a language that I suppose must be computerese, but I don't speak that language, and besides, I'm determined to only speak English while in America so I just tuned him out.

"No, it didn't work.  I may have not used it correctly, but the point is that it didn't work, and so I would like to return it."

While Sheldon continued trying to sort out the phrase, "It didn't work," his coworker said, "Sheldon...it's not worth arguing over.  Just giver her the refund, she has a receipt."

If you've ever watched the Big Bang Theory, you can imagine perfectly Sheldon's reaction.  Silence for a few moments, pursed lips, while doing exactly what he's supposed to do, and then...

"I'm sorry.  Just for curiosity's sake, did you..." and he went into more of the diatribe of computerese, still all the while never looking directly at me, as if doing so might cause him to spontaneously combust.

I remained quiet and waited for him to sort out his confusion over "It didn't work" until he'd handed me my refund, and then left.  Until today, I didn't realize that the Big Bang Theory is real and that there are real people like Sheldon and his friends out there.  I thought it was an exaggeration, a stereotype.  I was wrong.

Sheldon works at the Mac Resource near my folks' house.  I've met him.  He's probably drawing on his dry-erase board right at this moment to make sense of why a Firewire cord didn't work to transfer my files from one Mac to another.

Bless his heart.  Hopefully one day he'll be able to look a female in the eye.

Debarkment Day: New Orleans

The last day on the BWB, it was super windy and cold, probably the coldest we'd experienced, so we didn't go outside much at all.  (Which is weird really.  You'd think that of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, the latter would have been the warmest, not the coldest.)  Something really neat about that last day was seeing all the oil platforms out in the Gulf.  We saw them all day long.  In the evening, we entered Louisiana waters, and began cruising up the Mississippi (which meant we'd been in five different bodies of water in our trip!).  The Mississippi was also neat, because some of the oil rigs we passed were so close it seemed like we could hop off the boat onto them!

It was strange to think we'd wake up in the morning in New Orleans...and then suddenly there it was.  I hadn't thought I'd be ready to ever get off the boat, but once we got there...I was ready to get to my family!  I almost didn't make it off the boat...my card that let me exit the boat didn't work, and so when I went to leave, it gave a big gong sound.  They just wrote on a piece of paper that I'd left and let me continue on.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip.  I would (and hope to) do it again...and again...and again.  I've said that it is the best way to cross the ocean, in my opinion. 

Day 14: (at sea) Lecture Lady

So here's a story.

While we were touring Alhambra, there was a woman who stuck by the tour guide's side like glue.  She asked so many questions that at one point the tour guide had to give her the calm down hand and asked her to allow others to ask questions.  To me, she just seemed a little quirky and really wanted to know everything she could learn about the place.  

I was in my own little zone looking at all the pretty pretty.  As I do often, I held my camera out to take a picture of myself...and with an iphone that has a front camera, it's because practically impossible to take a bad self-portrait.  Lecture Lady saw me taking my own photo and offered to take it for me.  I let her, just to appease her, and went right back to my little prettypretty zone.

 Later, in the garden, I was taking a picture, not of myself (I already had one), but of the garden, when she asked if she could take a picture of me...with her camera.  I thought that was weird, but well, she didn't seem normal, so why not?  I think she realized it was weird, and offered, after clicking the picture with her camera to take one with mine.  So here I am.  I then stayed clear of her the rest of the time we were at Alahambra.

Well, on the boat, they offer lectures about the ports-of-call, and various other topics for those who are interested in going.  Mama and Papa G decided they wanted to go to the first one.  At lunch, they reported back to us that is was so boring, and that the woman who taught it was all over the place, chasing rabbit trails, and was just really hard to listen to.  I decided from that, to not go to the next lecture.

A few days later, I was flipping through channels on the TV, (they always replay shows and lectures from the boat, as well as some other things on board for you to watch from your television), when I stumbled upon the Lecture Lady.  "CRC!  That's the kooky lady from Alhambra!"  thecamelridingcowgirl looked at the telly and agreed with me.  "That's why she was asking so many questions...she was going to have to teach a lecture about it once back on board!"  We kind of laughed about how it made sense to us that the kooky lady from Alhambra was the boring Lecture Lady her parents later told us about.

Well..(yes, it goes on).  One of the things I did not enjoy about the boat was that every breakfast and lunch, I had to make small talk about where I'm from (a question I hate as a third culture kid who still lives overseas as an adult) and what I do (a question I'm uncomfortable with in my line of work).  Over and over and over again having to talk to people I don't know and will never see again.  Where were the Bridge Buddies eating?  Where were our dinner dining table mates eating?  Couldn't I be put at a table for four with the rest of my group instead of at a table for 12?

After several extremely unpleasant meals with some overly obnoxious people, thecamelridingcowgirl had had it.  We found her parents and the Bridge Buddies and practically begged for a table for just the 8 of us.  It was the final meal that I'd have to possibly eat with strangers and I really just wanted to enjoy myself.  No unpleasantries.  No awkward.  No kooks.

So all of us are laughing and enjoying one another when I notice past thecamelridingcowgirl's shouder the Lecture Lady is at a table just past ours.  Oh no!  I thought I'd dodged that bullet once and for all.  I was about to whisper to the CRC about Lecture Lady when I see that she (LL) is looking at our table and pointing me out to her table.  I started to tell the CRC that, when oh no!  Lecture Lady gets up.  As I'm whispering that she's headed our way, I see that its even worse.

She's bringing a terribly awkward looking smiley man with her.

She approaches us and says hello, and how she'd been looking for us again ever since Alhambra, but never saw us until now, on this last day.  "Why didn't you dine at the solo traveler's dining room?" she asked.

"Because I'm not traveling alone.  I'm traveling with these friends of mine.  So I dine with them."

"Oh."  Kooky awkward moment of silence.

"Well, this is _________."  (I honestly don't even remember his name.)  "He's from England.  And I just thought, you both seem so nice."

Incredibly kooky awkward moment of silence.

"Well, nice to meet you."  At this point, I think the Bridge Buddies were trying not to laugh and make it worse.

I can't even remember how the awkwardness ended, but they eventually walked away.  Mama G said--"That's why she took your photo.  To show it to him."

ACK!

Note to self: Never, ever, ever let strangers take your photo.  There's never a time it's not weird.  And really...just because I'm single and he's single and we're both on a cruise does not a happy couple make.  But thanks for trying.

Day 13: (at sea) Food

Well, I think I've already blogged about what I loved on the boat.  Being on the boat.  The waves.  Staring at the water.  Reading for hours.  Have I mentioned that I loved going to Music Trivia?

So what haven't I told you about?  THE FOOD!  It wouldn't be a cruise if we didn't talk about food, now would it?  The food really was great.

Every night, there was a cold fruit soup as one of the appetizer options.  The first night, I had a watermelon getspacho that was to die for.  Not until the very last night did I have a fruit soup that was as good as that first one (even though the rest really were great).  The last night, we had a raspberry pineapple soup that was just divine.  

My absolutely favorite appetizer was a smoked duck breast salad.  I could have eaten it every night.

Before the cruise, my dad warned me not to eat lobster every night.  Turns out--that wasn't an option.  I only had lobster twice.  It was so yummy...but my favorite main dish was a coq au vin.  Look how Frenchy I've become!  

On a cruise, you can order as much food as you want...which obviously can get out of control.  But the portions are small.  And you don't have to eat all that they bring you.  Its a good chance to try eating things you wouldn't try before because you don't want to spend the money on a risk.  That said--I tried alot!  It got to where we called it "The N Special" if you ordered two appetizers, two main dishes, and two desserts.

I made sure to walk alot to work off all that I ate!  Also, I never visited the round-the-clock food.  I only ate at mealtimes and that was it.  In fact, I never once had ice cream!  While I enjoyed the breakfasts and lunches, dinners really were my favorite.  Dressing up, hanging with the same crowd each night at our table, good food and our awesome waiters made dinner the highlight of each day.

Well, second to Music Trivia.  Haha.

Day 12: Nassau, Bahamas

I woke up early on the Bahama Mama morning to watch as we approached land.  After six days at sea, I figured it would be fun to watch land appear on the horizon and get bigger and bigger.  It didn't disappoint.

 Can you see that line of Caribbean blue water on the horizon?  That was awesome.

 First clear glimpse of Nassau and Atlantis.

 Okay, this was cool.  This boat had the word "pilot" painted really largely across the side.  Because ports are different and usually changing, ship captains don't drive the ship into port.  A port pilot will come on board and he's the one to pilot the ship safely into it's parking spot in the port.  (Yes, I know that I am not using any correct words except "pilot" and "captain."  I don't know the right words.  If they'd given a course on board about appropriate boat language, I would have taken it.)  thecamelridingcowgirl even saw the pilot jump from his little ship onto our Big White Boat.  I wish I would have seen that!

 I, along with many others, went up to the helipad to watch the boat come into the port.  It was really neat watching that big ole ship go exactly through small little barriers.

 There's Atlantis off in the distance.  I really liked this view as we went by.  I had a little friend with me who kept asking all sorts of questions, especially--where are the dolphins.  Sadly, we never saw any.

 I've been to Nassau and Atlantis before, so I wasn't real into the idea of doing a planned excursion.  So me, thecamelridingcowgirl, and her parents just walked into town to do a little shopping.  The famous straw market (pictured below) was fun the first time I saw, and a bit too much stimulation for me this time around.  Next time...I'm staying on the boat.

The best part of the Bahamas, this time around, was the coming into them.  Once we got back on board, I headed to the Schooner Bar for some trivia.  (Shocking, I know.  I'm a creature of habit.)  However, because most of the passengers were off the boat, the host, one of the cruise director's staff, let us shoot a million questions at him about working on board.  I'd been wondering lots of things about what it was like, so I really enjoyed the spontaneous q&a time.  Just two more days at sea (well, at Gulf), and we'd be back in America!

Day 11: (at sea) Formal Nights and other Fun

One of the things I was looking forward to on the boat was getting to dress up all fancy.  Its not often that a girl gets to do that anymore (except for a wedding), and well...I love getting dressed up fancy!  There were 3 formal nights, and 3 (or 4?) semi-formal nights.  I dressed up for all of them, and a couple other nights too!  I didn't take pictures every night, though.  Anyway, here's the first formal night:

 Another fun thing to do on the boat: play putt-putt!  It was one of the few gorgeous days we had, and so we took advantage.  Let me just say this: I'm terrible at putt-putt on solid ground.  I'm horrific at it on a boat that was constantly moving to make my ball roll away from the hole.  But I can't even blame the boat for the time I hit it hard enough that it bounced off a rock wall, went over the ledge, falling down to the deck below us, where it thankfully did not knock some elderly person out.  There were quite a few antics chasing it down as it continued rolling further and further away from the hole...

 The Black and White Ball.  Everyone on board dressed up in black and white.  It was pretty awesome.  That's one good looking crew, isn't it?

 On the last formal night, thecamelridingcowgirl loved her black and gold dress she decided to where it again.  I'm glad she did...isn't it so pretty?!  I wore one of my favorite dresses to dance in.

 For the last night on the BWB, we decided to dress up again.  You can't quite tell, but thecamelridingcowgirl's shirt is all shimmery.  It was pretty awesome.

One of the fun things to do on a formal night was sit near either the entrance to the theatre or one of the restaurants, and watch all the people pass you by.  The gowns were so elegant and all so different.  The men wore various tuxes with all sorts of different colored bow ties, and a few men wore kilts or military uniforms.  That was neat to see the various military uniforms from different countries.  It didn't matter where they were from, they still looked "dapper," as thecamelridingcowgirl said.

I'm down with dapper.  :)

Day 10: (at sea) Entertainment

Royal Caribbean sent me a detailed, very long survey the other day about my recent experience with them.  I'll say it over and over: I had an excellent experience.  I would recommend cruising to anyone and I'd recommend cruising with them.  That said...I would not rate the entire trip a 10...there were a few areas where they could use some improvement, and I made sure to let them know those in that survey, alongside my extremely high satisfaction.  One are where they did not meet my expectations was in the area of entertainment.

They promised Broadway shows on their website, and instead, we got one night with a collection of very random Broadway songs.  They promised quality entertainment and the opening night's signature act was of a juggler.  There was more than one night that I got up and left.  

There were more nights that I stayed and watched.  The entertainment was fun--it just wasn't what I expected.  For example:  this comedian/magician tied himself up in a straight jacket, and while balancing on a simulated surfboard (and while on a moving boat), got himself out of the straight jacket without falling off the board.  I can't make this stuff up, people.  Check out the terrible-quality photo for proof:

The surfing magician was actually pretty funny.  Funnier than the Music Impressionist.  He would do musical impersonations of famous singers.  It wasn't even good enough for a photo.  In complete contrast to him, were the band The Legend Continues: The Platters, who sang songs by, you guessed it, The Platters.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I hadn't really heard of The Platters, nor did I know many of their songs...but this cruiseship audience sure did!  They loved this act.  And with good reason: they were truly excellent.

The ballroom dancers were lots of fun.  You can't really go wrong with that, no can you?

Also entertaining?  Our dining room staff.  Our main waiter, Ashwin (on the right), had a super dry sense of humor that was awesome, and Christian (on the left) was the sweetest, most gentle man.  They were awesome as our wait staff...but if you haven't cruised before you may not know: The wait staff sings for you!  Ours only did it twice, but it was fun to watch Ashwin be funny about it.

When the wait staff sing, it's some kind of tradition to wave your napkins in the air.  The crowd might have been even more entertaining about this than the wait staff!

Also, being greeted by a towel monkey is pretty entertaining, I'm not going to lie.

One of our favorite performances was the Ice Dancing Show.  Yep, an ice skating rink on the moving ocean.  Talk about hard!  They had all kinds of fun costumes and routines to fun music.  That would have been entertaining enough.

But each time they lifted a girl in the air, or did a spinning jump and landed it...I was impressed.  How do you spin, jump, and land on ice when the ground wasn't where it was when you took off?

Then they brought out the Human Hamster.  This guy put himself into the hamster wheel, and rolled around on it...again, on ice...on a moving boat.  How he didn't get seasick is beyond me.

My favorite show, though, hands down, was El Gaucho.  (thecamelridingcowgirl says he came in second for her, and that a singer who I didn't go hear was her favorite.)  El Gaucho did this multi-faceted show with comedy (he had me in stitches), music (he played the drums, piano, and guitar), dancing (he did a sort of tap dance), theatrics, and well...I can't even explain the other stuff.  It involved whips and spinny thingys.  You just have to watch the clip to really get the full impression.

So...that's what I did pretty much every other evening after Music Trivia.  I didn't get a Broadway show, but I did at least get to sing along to Momma Mia and Dreamgirls.

Day 9: (at sea) Music Trivia

Many people have asked me what was my favorite thing about the BWB, and I usually say, "Well, besides being on the boat?  Easy: Music Trivia."  I went to Music Trivia early into the trip, to the "What's that Abba Song?"  I did very poorly.  I went back the next night to "What's that Classic Rock Tune?" expecting to do very well and bombed again.  Not about to be beaten I continued to go, determined that I knew my music better than I was demonstrating.

Thecamelridingcowgirl joined along on "What's that Love-Movie Theme Song?" night.  When the host played the music to Ghost, thecamelridingcowgirl, in an attempt to throw off others who might be listening to our answer, yelled out "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!"  Because that is a well-known Love Movie.  She was quite amused with her antics and decided to keep it up.

On "What's that Michael Jackson Song" night, she kept yelling out songs by Prince.  "Purple Rain!"  "When Doves Cry!"  So on "What's that Color Song" night when the music for Purple Rain played and she said in all honesty, "Oh, I don't know this one," I responded, "Are you kidding me?!"  I wrote the answer down, and she saw the true humor of her antics.  Oh my, that woman.

We were pretty excited about Motown night, and even listened to my Motown playlist on my computer while getting ready that night for dinner.  When we showed up to the Schooner Bar, there were twice as many people as usual.  I thought, for certain, with that many people and most of them raised during the Motown years, that there was no way we'd win that night.  

Each song clip would come on, and thecamelridingcowgirl and I would have fun singing along with it. We'd write down our answers and feel pleased that we were having fun...even though surely someone else would get more correct than us.  She began to notice, though, that not as many people were signing along to every word like we were.  Could it be possible?  Could we beat the old folks as their own generation's music?!

Normally, after the papers had been scored, the host would start with 0 and work his way up to who had 20 correct.  We'd gotten 18/20 right--the best we'd ever done at Music Trivia.  This night, however, he started at 20, asking how many people got 20 correct.

Silence.

We started to feel excited that we'd tie for first--which will get you a prize.  The team next to us, who'd graded our papers, began getting excited with us.

Then, who got 19 right?  Silence again...to which we started jumping up and down.

Who got 18 right?  We began clapping and cheering, and 100 people old enough to be our parents turned and looked at the two youngest contestants in the room.  We were the only ones who got 18 right!!!  The host asked how many were on our team, assuming that there were more than the two of us, and the old folks had helped us.  

Nope!  Just the two of us!  Amazed, he asked our team name, and we cheekily answered, "Not Even Old Enough to Be Born in the Motown Years!"  

We made many a friend that night!  :)  It was super fun, and we won luggage tags on top of the bragging rights to being Queens of Motown!  

We never did win any more Music Trivia, although we did continue to go and have fun with all the other regulars.  Once night, this one couple started dancing an awesome jig to Black Water and I was so bummed I didn't get them on video.  Well...at the final Music Trivia: "What's that Elvis tune?", it seemed like the whole boat showed up, and the host had the crowd sing and dance to Hound Dog...and I got my video then.  You can see the one couple dance the jig again.  

Day 8: (at sea) Rainy Day Awesomeness

As I said in yesterday's post, we took a different route across the ocean due to a low front, but even still...we stayed on the edge of it and had a few grey days at sea.  One day was a particularly awesome rainy day.  It was one of the days that I woke up at 5:30am and stayed awake.  I decided to go find a quiet spot, hopefully alone, somewhere on the boat.  Due to the cold wind and rain, I opted out of my favorite outdoor spot on deck 4, and headed up to the Cloud 9 lounge.  But first, I took a few photos of the lovely lovely lovely grey sea.

 I loved that low-lying storm cloud.  One night, thecamelridingcowgirl and I stepped out on the deck to see what the it looked like at night.  It severely creeped me out, so much so that I stepped back from the railing.  Staring out into the pitch-black void was scary to me, but mysterious to her.  Staring out at this rain cloud--THAT was mysterious to me.  I suppose the line between mysterious and scary (for me) was visibility.  When I could see the deep, I was fine.  But when I looked out and saw void, I didn't know if a squall was approaching.  Or a giant whale was next to us.  Or an iceberg was out there.

Seriously?  Look at the contrast between that deep navy blue and the icy blue near the boat.  It is interesting to me that the ocean only seemed huge to me when I would stop to actually think about the enormity of it.  I don't that my mind could comprehend it.  I would look at the surface and couldn't begin to grasp how deep it was below us.  I would stare out at the horizon and it would just go on and on and on, and I couldn't fathom how far it was in any direction.  

I also loved all the various colors.  Different shades of blue and grey.  I could use this pallet to decorate my whole living room, I do believe!  Over the two weeks on the BWB, I totally fell in love with the icy blue color that the waves made when they hit right next to the boat.

While I sat up in Cloud 9, I stared out at those waves for the longest time.  Here's a little video of the different kinds of waves we experienced while out at sea, and the one labeled "rolling in the deep" is from this particular day.

 

The enormity of the ocean made me think of Ephesians 3:17-21: "...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded (anchored?) in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and forever, Amen."  His love is like that ocean, and that was one deep thought when staring out at the ocean.

When I would look at the ocean and try to comprehend its size, and then realize that its just one small part of the earth, which is one small part of this galaxy--knowing that He is the Creator of it all, and the grandeur of it all--I was awestruck.  And His love for us is even bigger and more glorious than all of that.

The water, despite the rain, was extremely calm sometimes.  Even when calm, it was still constantly moving and rolling.  One of the things I never got tired of laughing about was how hard it was to walk on the boat.  The constant motion made walking a straight line, climbing stairs, and so much more...difficult.  I would imagine that, with how hard it was to walk on the boat, that walking on the actual water, even when calm, would have been difficult.  I know, I know, Jesus walking on water was already a miracle in itself.  But when I imagined trying to walk out on that rolling water...I became more impressed with the miracle.  But Jesus walked on stormy water!  Water with waves big enough to scare Peter.  I suppose I always pictured Him walking on still, flat water.  But when I looked out at the real thing, I understood that I couldn't even imagine what it looked for Jesus to walk on water.