Solving World Mysteries!

Panorama of Dubrovnik on Wednesday.

Sunset leaving Croatia. Had a perfect full day off.

Joao from Portugal, the new fitness instructor.

The water is sooooo clear!

My favorite restaurant, I was tour guide for Yuri and Joao, we had pizza and fresh fish soup, then naps after in the breeze.

Ok, I have finally solved one of life's great mysteries!!! Haven't you always wondered why Europeans always ride their bikes so slow and swerve in the streets? Like in the movies and on TV, they look drunk and about to fall off the bike. It is because there is no air in the tires. My few trips on bicycles in the cities, the air pressure is so low, that you cannot steer, you cannot ride fast, you are playing with your life on a bike! The maintenance of bicycles here would make a bike shop mechanic go crazy.

By the way, I am currently recovering from the Russian party last night at the Crew Bar or Back Deck as we call it. Vodka running down an ice sculpture directly into my mouth is what I call a party! I don't party much on the ship, but when I do...

Best yet

So I am really happy because I have really been honing my sales technique with my guests. Yes, I have to sell Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Some people may be uncomfortable with that terminology, but it is a fact. Not many people are familiar with the medicine, what it can do, and the amazing benefits they will receive. So, I have to sell. I have a lot of sales background, starting from my highschool and college jobs in telemarketing and retail, and running whole dealer networks in the telecom industry, to selling bicycles and having my own business of professional bike fitting. I have been in sales a long time! A lot of it now comes naturally, it takes a lot of learning and practice. Anyone who didn't have that before coming into a position like this will either sink or swim if they don't learn. And it can be learned! This has been my best week yet in terms of financial gain. The cruise guests do make a difference though, and it can fluctuate greatly on what kind of clientele we get week to week. I will keep practicing and every week will be better than the last.

I am getting to know more people on the ship. Sometimes having a hard time connecting with them. Well, I think I have that problem on land too. haha no change there! I will just keep living in my own little Noel World. It is a friendly place from what I hear. We had a big crew party last week, the theme was Rock and Roll. There are some good DJ's on board, and I heard all the American rock I could have hoped for. Free drinks and whole fish to eat don't hurt either.

AHHH, now I am gaining weight, desserts.....you will have to stop tempting me now, please...just stop!!!! I do work out at the gym at least 3 to 4 times a week, so that helps. I kind of miss my Boulder bike rides though. I pretend I am climbing Flagstaff when I am on the stationary bike. :)

All and all, life is good. It is great practice here to take one day at a time and live in the moment. I don't have to worry about a lot of things here, and it is a nice break from reality world. When you don't have a lot of stuff, you don't worry about losing it as much. I will take all of these lessons and continue to live them on the sea and the land. You can too.

Here are some pictures. Beach day in Dubrovnik, Croatia with my friend Robert, followed by lunch and wine before getting to the ship at the absolute last minute!

A nice moth-type friend, they are all over the flowers sucking nectar.

My friend Inge in Ravenna, just a cool shot. She is from South Africa.

Lunch in Ravenna with the local wine and their specialty of piadina, kind of a boring sandwich, pita thing. oooh, big deal....

Moon

The moon over the water is beautiful. And the sunsets, oh the sunsets....

My birthday turned out to be a great day. Went to Venice at night for dinner with all the spa team, about 25 of us at least. We had the waiter running around like crazy, he was sweating, but smiling. And of course a complimentary Limoncello after calamari, fries, pizza and tiramisu! Just what a birthday dinner should consist of.

This week on the cruise, the number and type of passengers was very different from before. The kids are back in school, the parents are home. It was a lot of older couples this week. Still had great patients though. If I don't make at least one patient cry a week, I am not doing my job I decided. Got to get these Brits and Americans to open up and stop repressing all of their feelings...here, have a Kleenex.

Going to work out, go to Venice to try and find Alesandro again and speak some more Italian.

More later...

Pictures: The first is one of the sunsets in Venice as we are sailing away. My first time in Ravenna, bikes, bikes everywhere!! I got a free bike to ride around, had a lovely picnic of prosciutto, stracchino cheese, pane, and a tomato, delicious!

Picture of marzipan fake food, love it! (Venice)

Ship Pics

Here is my room with Telma in it. She left to go home back to Portugal today, too homesick, lasted a month. :( Small bathroom, but big bed! I can't imagine sharing this space with a roommate. So tiny. I decorated nicely though and I feel settled now. The water isn't too bad at all. Really don't notice a difference. They have a large water treatment facility on board. It is very sensitive though to any chemicals. Royal Caribbean is very conscious of the environment. Recycling, nothing overboard, energy efficient. Pretty impressive.



I am waiting to do a ship drill, it is over an hour late. Frustrating because it is on my time off. When I hear Charlie, Charlie, Charlie over the speakers, my job is to go search for suspicious things like a bomb. Remember, this is just a drill.

It is my Birthday today! Kind of weird having a birthday on the ship away from close friends. I am going i

nto Venice today and tonight with people for lunch and dinner. My friend is taking me to a nice seafood restaurant.

Drill is over, I didn't find the bomb.


Here is my one of my treatment rooms. I treat on the half hour, two patients an hour. I am busy.

Here is a Filipino party in the engine room. They always have tons to drink, great music and good food. They love having guests of the opposite sex. haha

Another Filipino party. Also, Yuri and I having dinner at the Windjammer, the buffet for guests that we can eat at too. The other day I finally had all you can eat lobster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick Stop

Just arrived to the port of Bari several hours after schedule. Supposedly those damn, lazy Italians are protesting about working or something. Dude, they don't work now!! Every port in Italy, half to more than half of the stores are closed at any given time. People are on holiday, napping, or just don't open up! Especially this city. It is a bigger city, all shops have been closed for the last month at least due to some holiday. Nothing is open...ever. So I am not getting off the ship today. I am really busy with work too. I am starting to treat higher up officers in the ship. That will eventually get me more patients as well. Right now I don't want more, I am running around with my head cut- off like a chicken. Cluck. Cluck. I have probably treated or talked to over a hundred patients already in just a few weeks. Crazy.

Yesterday I had a lazy day, had a facial, took a two hour nap in the middle of my work day. I also decorated my room. It is super nice now. I am now trying to get new carpet put in. I need to find the right people to get 'er done. So far I am not successful.

The other day I saw my first clouds in a long time, there was actual thunderstorm, it was nice to see lightening. The moon at night over the water with nothing else around is pretty breathtaking. I wish I could take pictures of everything I see and show you.

It has been nice, we have a good sports channel here on the ship and I have had non-stop coverage of the US Open, I have seen parts of every single match. BUT, it has to be the worst commentators ever!! It is for the English, so it is these two boring Brits who really have no clue about tennis. I usually watch with the volume turned off it is so bad, haha!

I think next week I am going to start trying to see some of the shows on the ship.

update on Dessert Picture Project: None taken, I forget my camera every single time, because I am so hungry. But still an average of two desserts per lunch and dinner, and still losing weight!!

Happy Labor Day.

Quick stop

Just arrived to the port of Bari several hours after schedule. Supposedly those damn, lazy Italians are protesting about working or something. Dude, they don't work now!! Every port in Italy, half to more than half of the stores are closed at any given time. People are on holiday, napping, or just don't open up! Especially this city. It is a bigger city, all shops have been closed for the last month at least due to some holiday. Nothing is open...ever. So I am not getting off the ship today. I am really busy with work too. I am starting to treat higher up officers in the ship. That will eventually get me more patients as well. Right now I don't want more, I am running around with my head cut- off like a chicken. Cluck. Cluck. I have probably treated or talked to over a hundred patients already in just a few weeks. Crazy.

Yesterday I had a lazy day, had a facial, took a two hour nap in the middle of my work day. I also decorated my room. It is super nice now. I am now trying to get new carpet put in. I need to find the right people to get 'er done. So far I am not successful.

The other day I saw my first clouds in a long time, there was actual thunderstorm, it was nice to see lightening. The moon at night over the water with nothing else around is pretty breathtaking. I wish I could take pictures of everything I see and show you.

It has been nice, we have a good sports channel here on the ship and I have had non-stop coverage of the US Open, I have seen parts of every single match. BUT, it has to be the worst commentators ever!! It is for the English, so it is these two boring Brits who really have no clue about tennis. I usually watch with the volume turned off it is so bad, haha!

I think next week I am going to start trying to see some of the shows on the ship.

update on Dessert Picture Project: None taken, I forget my camera every single time, because I am so hungry. But still an average of two desserts per lunch and dinner, and still losing weight!!

Happy Labor Day.

Why thank you, but no I am not 26!

Sleeping cats at my favorite, most chaotic bookstore ever in Venice.
Venice sells these hand-painted masks EVERYWHERE.
No description needed, just the best gelato flavors ever!
Rialto Bridge (using filter)

Everyone, I mean everyone thinks I am 26 years old! When I tell them no, I am actually 36 next week, they are amazed. I guess when you don't smoke, don't drink like an alcoholic, eat fairly healthy, exercise, maybe that has something to do with it. It happens almost everyday, either the crew and staff or my patients. It is now kind of funny, I just have people guess my age, and yep, 26 is the answer everytime. Also, probably doesn't help that I have the maturity of a 14 year old. I almost bought an ice creme shaped ring today, looked yummy!

This past week was a good week, more settling, more working, more exploring. Went swimming in the clear waters in Dubrovnik. This time I brought my goggles and just watched fish all day. I love floating in the salt water, it is so easy. And then my friends laughed at me when I questioned them on why they always talk about the water being so salty! I said isn't it all the same salt? I guess in different areas of the ocean, it is different levels of salt and you can taste the difference. No, I didn't grow up on the sea and didn't know!!

Today was one of my best exploring days in Venice. We are at port, getting new peeps tomorrow for me to stick with needles. Also, stock arrived. You should see the huge amounts of beer, apples, bags of cake mix, etc. that came on board today.

Anyways, I was looking for Teatro la Fenice to see an opera, alas it wasn't playing. So I walked around, stepped into a little market to finally buy some Stracchino. It is a soft white mild cheese I had at Bacaro a few years back. Long story short, the owner invited me to eat lunch with him in the back of the store while he drank a beer and I had a Coke of course, me being the American. We could barely speak each others language but were able to talk a little. I am getting a little better at Italian slowly. Oh, and yes he was cute! Alesandro. Married with kids though, still will have to keep looking for my Italian lover....

I bought some posters to decorate my cabin room. It is a little tough having no window. I will post pics of the ship soon!

Qiao, qiao