if you are still checking this, stop it and just call me!

Home!!!

So here I am, finally home!!! My whole family came to meet me at LAX, even though it was almost 1am. They were waiting at the bottom of the escalator just as I was leaving the terminal. The first thing I saw was five pairs of feet all in a semicircle, and those feet looked like they could be familiar...which they were!! They had a big sign that said welcome home, Andrea, and screamed a lot when they saw me. It was awesome!!! They even had some cold root beer waiting for me since I've been missing it so much. :-) I got a bit emotional and probably look awful in the pictures my dad was taking, but I was so happy to see them. Six months is a long time. The whole night was so surreal...like one of my many dreams of going home that I had throughout my contract. We went to In 'N Out before we drove home.....nothing like it!!! I couldn't have imagined a more perfect homecoming.

So now I am at home, resting and recovering from being sick. I'd like to be feeling better before I start hanging out with all my friends at school this weekend. I plan to rest and really enjoy these almost two months at home before returning to the Summit. I've enjoyed keeping up this blog and have loved reading all your comments. My next contract is only 3 months, but maybe I will continue doing this blog...let me know what you think! If there are people who'd like to read it, I'll keep writing. :-) So let me know. Thanks again for all your prayers and support during my contract. I can't believe its over. I made it!!! I am so glad that I did it. It was an amazing experience. Until next time!!

New York, New York

So today has been another one of those longest-day-of-your-life sort of days. Last night I was up almost all night long packing, cleaning, and saying goodbye to friends. I got about an hour of sleep, and that in my clothes with the lights still on. By some miracle I finished everything I needed to do, and went to sleep just before 4 am. Then I had to get up again at 5am, showered and finished up some errands in order to pick up my final paycheck at 6am. After that I had a quick breakfast before bringing my carry-ons down to our meeting point at the gangway. We were all supposed to be leaving the ship at 6:45, so there we were, ready to go…..but security wasn’t, so we sat there for an hour. Once we got off the ship and into the cruise ship terminal outside it turned out that our airport transportation wasn’t ready either – so we sat there for two more hours, and didn’t actually leave the port until after 10am. (Why did they make us get up so early!!!!??) The neat thing about that delay was that I got a chance to meet my replacement. His name is William and he’s at least 60 years old! And this is his first contract! Wow. I’d have liked to have heard his story, but I only had a couple minutes to talk to him, answer his questions, and wish him a good contract. But I was really excited to get to see him.

So I had a good time playing some games with my friends last night, and said goodbye to everyone. It wasn’t too hard to say goodbye, because I found out that when I’m on the Summit in January it will be in port with the Galaxy, so I’ll get to see my friends again. It was a bit hard to say goodbye to Hayden, though, just as it was when Marie left. He really was my best friend on the ship. We said goodbye last night and then he stopped by my room this morning to give me one more hug. I will really miss my New Zealand brother. I already miss him. ☹

So anyway, we finally did make it to the airport on time (Barely – I walked straight through every checkpoint right onto the plane and it left shortly after I got on), and by the grace of God, no-one gave me any trouble about my luggage (DEFINITELY overweight) or my instruments (one checked, one carry-on), or my carry-on backpack (oversized AND overweight), or the extra purse and camera I had hidden under my sweatshirt (both of which caused me to exceed the two carry-on limit)…..Yay! I guess I shouldn’t count my chickens yet, I’m not quite home….but I’ve already gone through customs and security here so I’m sure I’ll be alright. I don’t have to do customs in LAX since now this is a domestic flight. Woohoo!

So now I am sitting at my gate, 2 hours early, writing this post as per suggestion by my wonderful family, with whom I just got off the phone. I am pretty tired, since my day has already been extended 7 extra hours, and will be extended 3 more hours by the time I get back to LA. When I add it up, I will be arriving in LAX at 11am Sunday morning Mediterranean time, 30 hours after beginning my day after my one hour nap last night. These time changes are already confusing me. Anyway, it has already been a long day (right now its 2am in my brain) and it isn’t over yet! I’m about to complete the final leg of my flight, six hours to LAX. And another 3 hour time change….ok, now I’m really confused, so I’ll stop thinking about it. ☺ I’m content to sit here and listen to the funny New York accents on the P.A. system announcements. I am back in the U.S.A after 6 months!!! Wow! ………..and the funny New York accent just told me that they changed my departure gate and my flight is delayed 20 minutes. Come to think of it the accent doesn’t seem that funny anymore….sad day. I want to go home now! Not 20 minutes later than an hour and a half from now. Sigh. Well, I guess this post is pretty much over cause I have to switch gates now. Ok, bye!

going home!

I have so many thoughts right now....I'm sitting on the couch in the staff bar with my friends, my last night on board. I'm finished with work and packed....I can't believe I'm finished. The last couple of months flew by so fast. I am a little sad to leave. I will really miss my friends here. But I can't wait to come home and see you all!!!!

Last night was my last church meeting, and because of that they asked me to preach. Which I did, in Spanish. I was nervous, but it went really well. They loved it, and they don't want me to leave....I think they finally trust and accept me even though I'm not from their country and Spanish isn't my first language. They told me they've never had someone from the US be commited to church meetings on any ship. They were all so friendly and so genuinely sad to see me leave. We had a party for my leaving and ate "valeadas" - something they are used to from home. It was really wonderful. I am about to run out of batteries so I must wrap this post up, but I will see you all soon, and write a final couple of posts. Later!!!

Kusadasi Overnight

Well, the pyramids were amazing. I saw them and the sphinx, and got a pendant with my name spelled out phonetically using heiroglyphics....its pretty neat. I know you all want pictures of the pyramids...you'll just have to wait. I'm about to go to bed. :-)

Tonight we had a split show - Claude-Eric and Mark Donoghue, basically my two favorites. they are definitely my closest friends among the guest entertainers. We went out tonight after the show and all spent some time together in Kusadasi, which was fun. So today I had quite the adventure - Claude-Eric and Hayden and I got up early and did our own excursion. Eric has been wanting to see this place for years and tomorrow is his birthday, so he treated himself (and us) to a trip there. It was three hours in our little rented Fiat EACH WAY!! Talk about bonding....the three of us had a blast, and barely got back in time for rehearsal. Yikes! I hate being late....but its my first time ever being late, and it didn't matter, so I think I'll be forgiven. :-) Anyway, we saw a petrified waterfall and some rock formations that were amazing, and had so much fun hanging out together. I will miss these good friends here.

Well, my computer is out of batteries and I want to send this tonight, so I'll end things here. Goodnight, Neverland!

Between Egypt and Cyprus

Well, I can tell its time to leave Europe. I've gotten to the point where 2000 year old ruins kindof bore me.....I went on a tour in Cyprus and it just seemed like stuff I had already seen. I think I've reached my limit of European ruins...temples, roman baths, mosaics, etc. I need a break so I can start to appreciate it again. I was pretty bored on my tour. :-) The guests were nice, though. I met a man who is apparently a knight or Duke or something...he showed me his id card and it said Sir something or other....he acted like he expected me to recognize his name....but I've never heard of him. I don't even remember the name. Ha ha. :-)

Tonight we have a female vocalist, who insists on being turned up really loud in the sound system. It was really painful, but she wouldn't turn it down. My ears were ringing...I think the whole brass section is going to stuff toilet paper in their ears tonight. I'm not kidding.

And tomorrow....the day we've all been waiting for. Tomorrow is the day that I see the pyramids. I really can't wait. Its going to be a lot of fun, because I have to go on the crew tour due to work, and pretty much all my friends (the whole entertainment staff) is going. Woohoo! I haven't been on a tour with my close friends, well, ever! It will be great!! And don't worry, mom, I will try not to be pickpocketed. :-)

Last Rhodes

So we've had an interesting couple of days here... Yesterday we dropped anchor in Santorini around 10am, only to be told that due to high winds it wasn't safe to transport the guests ashore in the tender boats. So we pulled up anchor again and we gone by 10:30am. What was supposed to be a port of call became a quick photo opportunity, followed by another day at sea. We were cleared to go straight to our next port of call (Rhodes) early and dock overnight. So we arrived just before seven pm. While this really sucks for the guests because they were cheated out of Santorini, it was great for us. Rhodes is probably my most beloved port, and if not for this turn of events I never would have been able to see it at night. And so, after I played a jazz set Lisa and I went out and walked around for about an hour. It is a completely different place at night - much more serene and much less touristy. I really enjoyed it. My jazz set was only so/so...first I was sick, and then second Elliot Finkel himself decided to show up and sit right in front of me....which may well have been one of the most intimidating moments of my contract. I don't mind trying to play jazz in front of guests who don't know any better, but Elliot....wow. I dread to know what he thinks of me after hearing that. Yikes. I tried to act totally calm and comfortable, but inside I was cringing a bit.oh well, nothing I can do about it now. And the good news is, I only have one more jazz set to play, and then I'll have made it! I'm actually really proud of myself for doing something that is difficult for me and for getting better at it. I also had a good talk with Lisa while we walked, which calmed me down and gave me back some perspective. We actually talked until 2 in the morning last night - I feel a lot closer to her now.

Well, right now I'm actually in between shows - tonight it is my favorite again. :-) I love Claude-Eric's show....I know I've said that already. Anyway, I get to go do it again in 23 minutes. :-) We had a good first show.

Our new trumpet player Ernest is a decent player, although he is not as consistent as Ben was. He is a tall black guy, 28, with a really enthusiastic laugh. He's a great guy, although he seems caught off guard by what is required of him here. He will soon catch on, though. He has a good sound. He is very likeable, though I must admit that since I am leaving in 10 days I am much more motivated to enjoy what time I have left with my good friends here than to invest in much of a friendship with him. We get along fine, but I'm going to focus on taking advantage of the few remaining days I have here to enjoy the company of already close friends. Well, i really have to go now - I'm due to be backstage in 4 minutes! Yikes!

Oh, one more thing - tomorrow we go to Cyprus!! Yay!!!

Last Napoli

Today was a lot of fun – there is a castle on top of a big hill in Naples, and I’ve wanted to hike up there ever since the beginning of my contract. I mentioned it to Hayden and he said he’d go with me, so off we went. The easy way is to take the funiculare to the top, but we wanted to see if we could find our own way up. After an hour and a half of backstreets, alleyways, forgotten staircases, and switchbacks we finally made it. The castle was really great and impressive. We walked all around and inside it and had a good time. I was very satisfied with my very last day in Naples. I am very stiff from all the walking we did, and it didn’t improve my cold, but I have no regrets. I don’t want to just sit in my cabin waiting to get better – this cruise is my last chance to explore!! And explore we did. And got lost a few times, which is half the fun. Luckily for me and my over-developed need to do things, tomorrow is a sea day, so I will sleep in and relax as much as I can. Hopefully I can kill this cold after that. Also luckily, all we had to do tonight was play a comedian on and off stage. We do have a show tomorrow (Elliot Finkel again), but other than that I plan to sit in bed and read. ☺

En Route to Civitavecchia

We just played Ben's last show! Yikes! It was Elliot Finkel again, a split show with Claude-Eric. Elliot has some really hard charts - especially a medley with about 40 different Disney songs that changes tempo and time signature every 4 bars or so and is nearly impossible to play... To top things off, our drummer Ellie got sick in between the shows and told us 5 minutes before we were supposed to start that he couldn't play the second one! Umm...now what?? Luckily Tom, the drummer in the dance band, used to be in the orchestra several years ago, and had played Elliot's show a few times....so someone ran and got him from the lounge where his band was playing and he ran up just as we were starting. He NAILED the show. He was sight reading, and he was still much more solid than Ellie was even after a rehearsal (hope he's not reading this...) We had a great show - Tom saved the day. The second show was a lot better than the first, interestingly enough. :-)

We just got our grid (schedule) for the new cruise, and its hard to believe that this is my last one! As soon as we get through the list, I go home. After half a year at sea. Wow. And I'm going to see the pyramids this cruise! I can hardly wait. But I am fighting a cold and am really starting to get sick as of today, so your prayers are appreciated. I'd like to really enjoy my last two weeks without sickness getting in the way.

I had a feeling about a girl in the cast named Natalie - so today I just asked her straight out if she was a Christian. And she said yes! It was another confirmation to me that Christ really can shine through us....and you can just tell by being around some people that they know the Lord. I'm sure she and I could be really good friends - its too bad I won't really have the chance to get to know her. But we did have a nice talk, and hopefully we'll get to hang out a bit during my last cruise. Well, I have to go to the team meeting now, so I'll end things here. Goodnight, everyone!

At Sea

Last night we played Claude-Eric's show, and I had a blast. I really could play his show every night. Afterwards he treated us all to drinks in one of the lounges, and I had a good time talking with him and a couple of the cast singers. I'm really glad Claude-Eric is on the ship for a few weeks - hopefully we'll get to hang out a bit in some of the ports. He's lots of fun.

Last night after church we had a party because two of our members are leaving. I enjoy that because the food they prepare is always something traditional from Honduras, and I sometimes I really feel like I'm living in their country. I really enjoy learning how they do things, and I think after 6 months with these guys I'd be ready to move to Honduras or any Spanish-speaking country. Don't worry, I'm not going to..... :-) Anyway, because of said party I didn't get back to my cabin til almost 2am...Lisa got back at the same time, and we were both surprised to receive a call from our band leader at that time, telling us we had a morning big band set, of all things! He just found out about it at like 1am....no one told us anything. So he had to call us at 2am and tell us to be ready to play at 11am. Its already completely unusual to do anything like this - we've never had to before in my 6 months here. But not to tell us about it until 2am....thats a little frustrating. If we had known we'd need to be dressed and warmed up at that time we might have planned our evening differently so it wouldn't be hard to wake up. But oh well, we made it there and had a good set. Just one random set at 11am...weird. Anyway, now I'm relaxing and waiting for the evening craziness to begin. We have three big band sets tonight as well as two ceremonies in the dining room. Woohoo! Another busy formal night on board the Galaxy.

Its hard to believe that tomorrow is Ben's last day on board, and that in 2 weeks it'll be my turn to go. It hasn't hit me yet that I'll be playing with a strange new trumpet player next to me all the time....I've gotten really used to Ben and it will be weird without him. I hope the new guy is good. All I know is that his name is Ernest. :-) Time will tell.

I am starting to get to know the new cast a lot better - they are actually really friendly people, and don't have the tendency to exclusivity that usually comes with the territory. I like them a lot and I enjoy going to their shows to support them. Also, they almost always come and see our shows as well, and scream really loudly for us when the entertainers acknowledge the band. Ha ha, yesterday at our first show, two of them started clapping as we walked on stage (we always go on two minutes before showtime to get set up - usually everyone just ignores us), and then because of they were clapping the guests thought they should clap, too - and the whole audience started clapping for us! We were cracking up - we're so used to being like wallpaper before the show starts. That has never happened before. Thanks, cast!!

Kusadasi

Kusadasi again....

Yesterday we had a day off, which was really strange since it was a formal night. But of course I'm not complaining. I played Monopoly with Hayden, Ben, and Ellie, and I won!!! I haven't won a game of Monopoly in quite a while. I was pretty excited.

I'm really excited with the guest Entertainers we have right now. We just played a show for pianist Elliot Finkel, whose show I have been hearing about since I arrived on board. There is a lot of hype surrounding his show because it is very difficult but also very fun. He is pretty famous, as is his entire family. He is quite a character, as well. He is a 6 foot 6 Jewish man from New York, pretty big, and had a huge cuban cigar in his mouth throughout the rehearsal. The show was really fun to play, although I was exhausted afterward. And then tomorrow we play Claude-Eric Brunelle's show. If you've been following my blog you might remember that he was on board at the beginning of my contract and was a good friend as well as my favorite show to play. I am really excited he is back on board. We had breakfast together this morning and right now he's actually here with me and Hayden at the Burger King stealing internet. :-) I can't wait to play his show again - it is so much fun and he's such a talented singer. Right now he's trying to arrange a little day trip for us next time we're in Kusadasi - we have an overnight and he knows about a really cool petrified waterfall thats about an hour drive away. Hopefully a bunch of us can go and see it.

Well, the three of us have been fighting for bandwidth here and alternately kicking each other off the network, so I'm going to post this while I'm still connected....ha ha.

Bosphorus straights!

The past week or so since I wrote my last post has really been a lot of fun. I’ve spent a lot of time with the guys in the band and with my other friends on board. I am really comfortable with everyone now, and with myself, so I’m able to be more relaxed and just enjoy being around them. I recently found out that Hayden (tenor sax) is a Christian, which has been a huge blessing. We’ve had some great conversations and we really get along well, so in a lot of ways he has filled the hole that Marie left. We usually end up spending a lot of our off time together. Yesterday we kept each other company during almost 6 hours of using the free internet in Istanbul (I had a lot of catching up to do!), and then we managed to get into the dining room since pretty much all the guests were off the ship and didn’t turn up for their dinner seating. Ben came along with us for that, and the three of us enjoyed another amazing dining room dinner. I’d like to do that just one more time next cruise, hopefully with the whole band, to celebrate the end of my contract.

Tonight we are playing another guest entertainer’s show – his name is Ralph Heid, and he plays xylophone. Bit of a novelty show, you might say. Honestly, the show isn’t designed very well, but he can sure move his hands fast. He is very technically proficient, I suppose - as he can hit a lot of notes with accuracy. But having a percussionist brother makes me a little skeptical of him...he plays from the wrong side of the instrument (on the low end, with the keys stacked away from him, lower to higher – instead of on the side of the instrument), plays with what looks like wooden spoons wrapped in masking tape, and his xylophone itself doesn’t look normal to me. Tyler, I wish you were here so I could hear your evaluation of this guy. :)

Lisa is making a really great roommate. She and I are both pretty clean (stop laughing, I really am!) and conscientious of each other. I like living with her, and it has been fun getting to know her better. Her English is really improving a lot. We have a couple of inside jokes now. Last night while she was out I cleaned out one of the storage areas in our room, and to my surprise found some Christmas lights! Who knows how long they’d been buried back there. I got excited and put them up in our room, along with 5 fake candles that I also dug up. I left Lisa a note that said “Surprise!” and told her where I found them, and then just left everything on to surprise her when she came back. I heard her come in and laugh when she saw them. She loves them as much as I do. I figure that the rule for Christmas decorations going up hasn’t been broken – I waited until November started and Halloween was over. :) Plus, I’ll be gone long before Christmas, so this way I can enjoy the lights while I’m still here. They are exactly the same small colored bulbs we always use at home on our tree, so they give me lots of warm fuzzies. :)

Istanbul/Naples ;-)

(I'm in Istanbul right now - and I'm so sorry for the gap between posts - my internet has been down and the ship's Data Systems Manager has been fixing my computer. But it is now fixed, so I can stop going crazy. What follows is a post I wrote on October 26th, in Naples, and was unable to send until now. I will write another post very soon!)

Tomorrow I start my second to last cruise! Its coming down to it, now….Today we are in Naples and its rainy again. I would like to go out, but I’m not sure if I can talk any of the guys into going out….I think they are all lazy today. That’s alright, I really should practice, anyway.

Last night we played a really cool show. The entertainer was Scott Record, and he does singing comedic impressions. He is really amazing – he has dozens of different voices and can imitate anyone’s singing style. Apparently he’s really famous as well – he’s going to appear on David Letterman in a few weeks. The show had the band laughing so hard we were in tears the entire time. One of the most interesting things he does is an impression of Frank Sinatra singing New York New York, but as it would sound on a skipping, warped record. It was amazing! And of course, the chart for the band is interesting, to say the least, with lots of offbeats and strange time signatures. Scott makes all the skipping sounds with his voice, and whoever put this chart together is pretty much a genius. Another of his songs is a 60’s medley – with about 40 different songs and therefore voices that he imitates. He presents it like one of those TV commercials advertising a set of 4 C.D.’s for $19.95 – if you know what I’m talking about. It only has about 4 measures of each song, which makes it another really crazy one for us to play. Anyway, we had a really good time.

I’m a bit tired from last night, because not only did we do the show twice, as usual, but we also played our short end-of-the-cruise ceremony in the dining room for both seatings, as well as played two 45 minute jazz sets for the Captain’s Farewell Toast before both of the shows. So we were running around like crazy people all night, from one thing right to the next, and then doing it all over again. It was a bit hectic.

The second English church meeting went really really well. Unfortunately we didn’t have as big a turnout as I would have hoped, but it still went well. I had a late night rehearsal with my new friend Earl, who plays guitar. He brought me a keyboard, and we put together 5 worship songs for the meeting. All of my Spanish church friends were shocked by the fact that I could play keyboard. They are still talking about it all the time. ☺ I wasn’t that great – its been months since I’ve played, but it still felt really good to be able to contribute my music skill to the church and give something back to the Lord in that way. And it was so neat to sing the songs that I grew up with again – I’ve missed worshiping in that way. I loved hearing everyone sing those songs so loudly and with so much passion and energy. Praise the Lord – He is so good.

Tonight my friend Mark Donoghue is back for another show – his second this cruise. I’m excited to hear some of the other songs he has in his repertoire. Its always fun to work with him, and it will be a good way to end the cruise.