Curacao

I feel like I’ve made a whole new family already. And I’ve learned more English words in the last few days than probably the last year of my life. For example, “peckish” is when you’re feeling slightly hungry, but not famished. “Feffering” is when you lollygag and really don’t have the time, but continue to take more doing useless things. Half the time I just nod and smile when my friends talk because really, time is the only that will really help my understanding of their crazy assed version of the English language.
Yesterday we were in Curacao, which has the seventh most difficult port to dock in. We entered in a small channel and docked right in the center of town. After doing a couple hours of work, I was free to wander the town, which Natalie and I did for a few hours. The town itself is really quaint, a small colorful Dutch town in the middle of the Caribbean. Though it was warm, it was ridiculously winding toward the end of the afternoon so I spent the latter half of our day either holding my skirt down or hopelessly flashing tourists when it flew up. My manager will probably forever remember me as the girl holding her skirt in place; he kept making fun of me about it. For pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2094403&id=28201959&saved#!/album.php?aid=2094403&id=28201959
We left Curacao at about midnight and because of the small nature of the channel, we backed out of the port. I’ve never seen a cruise ship back out of anything before, but it was a surreal thing to watch from the bow of the ship. With drinks and some pilfered pizza, three of us sat on a large metal box at the very front of the ship and watched Curacao get smaller and smaller. Even at night the weather is balmy. Oil platforms were on the island and one produced a small continuous flame that illuminated the entire night sky. The trip to Aruba that night was relatively short as the islands are very close, but the ship was put out to see to avoid extra port fees.
Apparently cartoons are a common form of escape for those on board. So last night Natalie, Arron and I all curled up on Natalie’s single bed and watched cartoons until we were all so curled up and entangled and warm that we fell asleep. It’s very cozy for having just met them a couple days ago, but the speed with which you get to know someone’s character in such a tight spot is remarkable. The strange thing about being around other photographers is that more pictures of me have been taken in the last three days than in the whole of the last four years.
For the last two days of the cruise were at sea going back to Fort Lauderdale. I’m told that formal night and the last day of selling is chaos, according to Natalie, though chaos seems to be one of her favorite words. That and the phrase “that’s the way!” in her English and slightly South African accent. It applies to everything apparently and I start cracking up when she says it to guests because I know it’s her standard go-to answer for everything whether or not she’s paying attention. So far I like the job, though my feet have been killing me since we’re on them all day long. I’ve gotten so used to the rocking of the boat that I was having problems walking in Aruba today and once I got tired, I found myself rocking just slightly. It was ridiculous and I’m going to look like a total loon once I’m back on land.