Birthday in Helsinki

Yesterday was my birthday! This will be my 4th birthday at sea, that has fallen during one of my ship contracts. I had everything planned out for the day - a nice lunch with friends at a certain restaurant in Stockholm, then an evening in the crew bar with all my friends and some nice wines that I have been picking up in a few different places in the Mediterranean. But when we awoke in the morning we found ourselves not in Stockholm, but in fact still at sea. Weather conditions or engine troubles had caused a decision not to try to navigate the narrow passageways into Stockholm's harbor. So….now what?? I stayed in my cabin with nothing to do most of the day, finally making it to the gym in the afternoon. I got to call home and talk to my parents, and opened some wonderful birthday presents from family.
The decision was made to head on to our next planned port of call, Helsinki, and get there in the evening a day early and stay there overnight. Now, I think I have explained to you how excited crew get about having an overnight, there really isn't anything better as far as itineraries go. So we were all very very excited to have an unexpected one. The word "overnight" has a magical quality for us…..for guests going out means going to the restaurant on board, or to one of the lounges to hear music or ballroom dance, but for us, who live and work here, going out at night off of the ship is our idea of a great night. I wasn't working that evening, but most of my friends were, so I waited for them to finish work and then we met up in the crew bar and then went out on the town, to see what we could find as far as nightlife in Helsinki. I did some research online and came up with a list of recommended places, and we ended up choosing Club Havanna, a place known for salsa and cuban dancing. I really wanted to dance, so that was where we decided to go. My partners in crime were my friends Christy, Adrian, Gianni, and Luis. After a few failures, we found a taxi driver with no compunctions about letting the 5 of us squish in his 4 seater, and he took us downtown. We found the club, and after checking it out for a few minutes decided it was indeed a good place to be. Christy knows her latin dancing, and she wasn't shy at all and helped me find some partners. There are some amazing salsa dancers in Helsinki, who knew?? We met a guy from Peru who now lives in Finland, so I got to practice my spanish. We also ran into one of the Ukrainian dancers, Victoria, from the ship, who had also looked up this place online and had come on her own. She taught me a few new moves, and even danced a few dances with me, with her doing the leading. She is good!! There were also a few songs where a leader stood in front and directed the dance, and everyone else followed, kindof like a line dance (or a zumba workout, mom??). It was an amazing night, we stayed and danced until the place closed, at - (dare I write this where my parents will read it???) - around 3am. We decided to walk back to the ship, which ended up taking about an hour. I couldn't have asked for a better night for my birthday - friends, dancing, meeting new people, learning new dances, fun and lots of laughter. I had the day off the next day, so I had no excuses not to stay out late and enjoy being overnight in a place I may never get the chance to be again. Oh, what a night…. :-)

ABC's

Today I went to Above Bar Church (ABC) here in Southampton. I had walked past it a few times on past days here and seen their Sunday service advertised, and finally today we are here on a Sunday!! So after a morning breakfast at the Standing Order (an infamous seafarer's pub with free wifi) I wandered over to the church. You would never know a church is inside the block of shops and buildings, but inside a little door and up some stairs and I felt right at home in a packed and thriving church. I loved the music and the message, which I felt could have been speaking directly to me. Thanks for today, God! I also met quite a few really nice people that were so welcoming, two older couples, a retired navy chaplain, and some medical students who play in the band there.

Our dixieland set the other day was quite a hit! It went very well, and we got a standing ovation after the second show. The singers and dancers all came, and absolutely loved it. After the show they converged on me and were asking all sorts of questions about the trombone and the music style....I really felt like a star. My solos all went well. It was filmed, so I'm bringing a recording of it back with me. In fact, the night went so well that we will likely be forced to do it again next voyage. :-)