First couple of days

Hello everyone - just letting you know that I've arrived in one piece to the ship, and have made it through my first couple of days here.

The Voyager is HUGE and beautiful. I have hardly even seen any of it yet, but I've been impressed by what I have seen. The band is 9 piece - two trumpets, 2 saxes, piano, bass, drums, guitar, and me of course. Its already been fun to play with such a big band. I won't go into detail about the players yet, because I haven't really gotten to know them yet. I did get to go out for pizza today in Naples with a few of the guys, though, my first real social interaction since I've arrived. I've been a bit busy with training and settling in, but I know I'll know everyone well enough very soon. I am the only girl in the band again. Apparently I just missed a girl drummer, but her replacement signed on when I did. So I'm roomed with a girl named Sandra, from Colombia, who is the Spanish Hostess on board. She'll be here until we stop sailing from Barcelona, which means I get the bottom bunk in December - Yes!!

Other fun things about this ship and the band in particular - we get personal Aviom systems (expenisive equipment which means we each have control of a personal mix in our own headphones, no need for moniters), and I have a little mic that clips on the bell of my trombone, so I don't have to worry about playing into a mic or arranging a mic stand so it isn't in my way. Working in a real theater is nice as well, the theater was make-shift on the Majesty. Its also a nice change from Continental tour to be able to show up to the gig and have everything already be set up for you, music stands, mics, avioms, stand lights, etc...even a spit rag is there waiting for me (aren't the techs thoughtful?). :-)

So far I've played a welcome aboard show, a big band set, a broadway show, and tonight a vocal impressionist. Since we have week long cruises, things will soon settle into a routine, so I'll explain more about all that later. I've also been told that we almost always have a night off every week. Hooray!

Well, thats all for now. Myfingers are tired from pushing the keyboard letters so hard on this ship's computer. :-)

Surprises and Blessings

Here I am finally posting again! Let me fill you in on what has happened in the past few days - hang on tight 'cause its quite a ride. On Wednesday afternoon I was enjoying a day visiting my best friend Hannah when the phone rang. I got a call from my agency, asking me if I would be willing to take a contract that began on Sunday, but which would require me to fly out early Friday morning. After some salary haggling (I got a raise!) I decided to take the contract, which is 6 months on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas, a huge 3,100 passenger ship - the biggest I've ever been on. So less than 48 hours later I was on a plane to Barcelona, where I'm now in a hotel, joining the ship tomorrow. This has all happened so quickly I've hardly had time to process it, and my head is still spinning. But having a steady job for the next 6 months is a very exciting process, as is working for a new company.

I promise to fill you in with more about the ship and job itself soon, but I wanted to share a little bit about the blessings God has given to me today. The first and biggest was a surprise last minute meeting with my old and dear friend James Middleworth. As I sat in Texas for 4 hours waiting for my next connection, I looked ahead at my itinerary and noticed I had about a 6 or 7 hour layover in Heathrow airport, London. My dad suggested I try to get ahold of someone I knew to pass the time, and I remembered that James lives not too far from London. A phone call later and we figured out we could actually see each other! James has been in the London area for months now, and it was so unexpected and wonderful to get a chance to see him. In the time I had, he took me on the Underground (aka the tube) into central London, to Hyde Park, where we walked around for an hour or so. I got to see the famous Peter Pan statue erected because of J.M. Barrie's time writing bits of the story there in the park, as well as monuments to Princes Diana and Prince Albert. It was a beautiful crisp fall day, and the park is lovely. After that we made a quick stop in front of Buckingham Palace, basically so I can now say I've been there. James was a fantastic tour guide, and he even sportingly dragged my wheeled backpack for about 5 miles around London. (I was carrying my trombone) What an amazing day! A totally unexpected chance to see and catch up with a great friend, plus seeing some of London for the first time. I kept feeling like I needed to pinch myself and wake up - there was no way I could have been home yesterday and strolling through Hyde park with James today. Did that really just happen?? I can hardly believe it. God gave me that layover for a reason, and I'm so glad he did!!

A couple of other blessings came my way today - a technician named Charles Digg did me a great service by helping me print a document I absolutely needed in order to join the ship, which was emailed to me only after I had departed. Without him things would have been so difficult for me. And ontop of that, after he rescued me we had a great talk about all sorts of things, for about 40 minutes, and he was such an encouraging and lively man. I loved meeting him. Tonight I got to my scheduled hotel only to find out there was no room at the inn (literally), so I had to take a cab to this hotel. It is much nicer, though, and I was brave enough to eat my dinner with two ladies from South America, neither of whom spoke more than 3 words in English. I did pretty well holding a conversation with them, and was pretty proud of myself. And now, utterly exhausted, but happy and grateful for the day's blessings, I'm going to sleep. Wish me luck on this new adventure!!