It's really the little things that make my days around here - lunches with girls from youth staff and shorex, sodas in the staff bar with talkative bartenders, finding a cute German top for just 10 Euros (please don't remind me what that is in American dollars).
Yesterday I had a lovely day in my favorite port of this itinerary. Warenemunde gave us the most beautiful day for getting, as my cruise director would say, "blissfully lost" around the boardwalk. Valerie and I found a grocery store with the most delicious German chocolates. The Europeans have a great talent for candy. My favorites, as most of you know, are usually any sweets that mix the perfect flavors of chocolate and peanut butter. Here, though, in Germany, they have replaced the peanut butter with hazlenut. These little Kinder candies are my new weakness. Germany has been the biggest surprise of all. I had this pre-conceived image of Germany, mostly from all of my history classes and the one unpleasant German I knew in Ireland. I expected darkness, serious people and cloudy days. I've been shocked. It's bright, beautiful and charming, and the people are so friendly. I really love Germany.
Last night after talking with a friend about our homesickness, I had the uncotrollable urge to call home. I bought a phone card and rang up Tiffany, as it's been about 2 months since I'd heard her voice. With the exception of the few emergencies and special occasions I've had, I've been avoiding calling home. I figured hearing everyone's voices all the time would just make things worse for me. I'm slowly realizing completely isolating myself is actually making things tougher. Most other people around here do it that way. Valerie checks her e-mail once every other week and Anna rarely calls home. I just figured they must be doing it the right way. Quite the contrary, talking to Tiffany made me feel a lot better. It helps me feel connected, like I'm really not that far away. I may have to start buying more calling cards. Guess that means less cute tops in Germany.
Everyone will be happy to know that I have put my journalistic talents to use! No, I'm not putting together any pieces on the breaking news in my ports of call, though that would be pretty cool. I recently put together a commercial, at the request of the hotel department, reminding our guests not to throw their handi-wipes from home down our toilets. I know what you're all thinking (especially you, Rich), but let me explain. We went and shot this in an empty guest cabin and the Cruise Director was called away before he could do the voice over. He turned to my manager and said, "Well, maybe someone else can do it?" My manager, being a native of The Philippines, of course couldn't do it in his somewhat broken english. Both heads turned to me. I accepted the task with a slight shrug. So I sat down and had to write out what I was going to say. I had very little time to do this (much like when I was a reporter) and I had to use the simplest language I could muster (again, like when I was a reporter), since most of our guests speak very simple English. I tracked just the way I did in the dungeons of McEwen. I counted down and did it in takes. When I was done my boss was impressed and said he liked the way I spoke with the microphone. So yes, it is very small and nothing like what my fellow graduates are doing as reporters and producers in the States, but hey, it still came in handy out here in the Baltic. It's also cool to hear my own voice on TV again.
It's really the little things.
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