Not Lost

I know, I left you all in wondering how the rest of my trip went, I promise I am planning on finishing that saga...eventually.  I've thought about adding to it several times in the last week, but I get distracted.

For those of you that didn't know, I went on my second trip of the summer already.  This adventure took me to my family reunion at Lake Tahoe, my hometown in California, and then up to Oregon to visit some of my bestest friends.  I did all the driving by myself clocking in just over 30 hours behind the wheel and almost 2,000 miles!  I'm a little tired of the car right now to say the least.  At least my next trip will be with other people.

In the meantime, I am working on crossing things off of my summer to-do list, very slowly, but they are getting crossed off.  Today I attacked the closets in my bedroom...that's right, I have closets (plural) in my bedroom (not plural).  I had to rip one apart (literally) before my trip as it had an awkward built in shoe rack in the bottom and I wanted to put in some "shelves" and needed a flat surface.  I like using pry bars, hammers, and drills they make me feel accomplished.  Today was the reorganizing of the stuff in said closets.  Hopefully, this set up will work for me and be easy to maintain.  I have again realized that I might possibly have too many sweaters, don't worry, I put two more in the DI bag to give away after the realization, but I still have too many.

I've also been helping a friend paint an apartment.  There is definitely a certain joy when working on a project for yourself (see last summer's projects), but there is also a satisfaction in dropping everything on your list to work on a project for someone else, plus, I didn't have to make any of the final decisions, I just paint what I'm told to paint.  It also makes me happy because I did all of my house projects last summer and didn't have anything left to paint at my house.  What are you supposed to do with a summer and nothing to paint?!

Lately I've found myself really thinking about what I really want.  I thought I had things figured out, but recent interactions and experiences lead me to think that I might not have things all lined up how they should be...not that my original plan was bad, but that this could be better.  There aren't many drastic changes in my thinking or large epiphanies, but rather a reconsideration of priorities.  What do I really see as important?  What are necessities and what are just nice to have?  Now I must apologize to those of you that have been around me lately in my deep thoughts as you probably see me as being more reserved or maybe even regressing, don't worry, I'm just trying to put my ducks back in a row, you could always pull me out of it by asking a question, the ducks can always wait a few minutes.

Good News!

So, as I take a break from telling about my cruise adventures, I thought I would pop in real quick and tell you all the good news.  I got an email today from a person at the State Office of Education letting me know that I was chosen as a state finalist for the PAEMST!  I was a bit surprised as last time it took until August to hear about being a finalist.  The state could send up to three finalists to be judged nationally, last time they only sent two, but I now have at least a one-in-three chance of hitting it big.  The email said I would know by spring 2013 what the national judges have decided, last time I found out in May, so we'll see and I'll keep you all updated.

Cruise Day 4

Day four was our first day in a port and off the ship so we took a whole lot more photos, I tried to choose a nice smattering for you.  On this day we were in Cozumel, Mexico.  As we were traversing the many waters to get to Cozumel, I started thinking how we were traveling to another country and how they probably didn't speak English there but that it would be ok because I had gone to China just a couple of months ago and they didn't speak English either and it all worked out.  My next realization though was that while in China I was traveling with someone who could speak Mandarin and he translated for us if needed and that I would feel a lot better if we had someone who could translate for us.  It was at this time I remembered/realized, "Wait a minute!  I speak Spanish!  I can translate!" Yeah, I can be a little slow sometimes, but my Spanish did come in handy a few times.

That morning, we had perfect timing for breakfast as we were early enough to get ourselves ready and also beat the rest of the ship to the buffet lines.  After eating, we went back to our room to get sunblocked up and gather a few things.  Our excursion for the day to the Mayan ruins of Tulum was planned through Carnival as all of the private tour guides were charging the same amount so we figured to go with a guarantee.  We met up with our group on the ship in the Firebird Lounge where we got our special stickers saying we got to leave the ship first.  OUr bags were checked to make sure we weren't bringing any food/fruit with us.  As soon as we got off the ship we headed for a smaller boat/ferry to take us to the mainland.  Colette and I really only spent about ten or fifteen minutes in Cozumel, maybe I'll go back and actually spend some time in Cozumel.  Once on the ferry, we found our new friends from dinner the night before.  The ride over was very pleasant.  At one point, we all saw evidence of a joke in the making as the bathroom light wasn't working so a lightbulb had to be changed and apparently they were having difficulty with the task.  So if anyone ever asks you how many Mexicans it takes to change a lightbulb, the answer is apparently four.  The ferry took us to a town called Playa del Carmen.  The water was beautiful and the beaches were too.

After the ferry, we got on a bus where our tour guide, Lily, started telling us a bit about the area and the Mayan culture.  On the drive to the ruins, we stopped at a large gift shop where we were given time to take a look around and maybe buy a few items.  Everything had the price in both pesos and US dollars.  We finally arrived at the ruins.  Tulum was a fortress by the sea that was used as a trading post/town.  There were a lot of structures to see and walk around but we couldn't climb any.

There were iguanas all over the place.

The main temple where it is believed human sacrifices were made.

The fortress of Tulum was located on the coast.  We went down some stairs that took us to a small beach area.  This beach is listed as one of the world's top five most beautiful beaches.  We decided not to swim but we did stick our feet in the water and enjoy the scenery for awhile.

After the beach, we decided to get out of the sun as Colette's eye was still bugging her so we wandered around a few of the shops in the area.  We found all of the shops with air conditioning.  I looked for a silver charm to add to my charm bracelet of travels, I found one that looked really neat and would have been perfect except it was Aztec instead of Mayan so I didn't buy it.  I did buy a postcard for a co-worker though.  We met back at the bus where we were given a cold towel and a snack (a chocolate cookie and a bag of potato chips that tasted more like french fries).  The bus ride and ferry back were very relaxing.  We didn't have any time after we got back so we had to head straight to the ship.

Proof that I was in Mexico.

Once we got back to our room, we showered and then got ready for dinner since we really didn't have a lunch.  We sat with new people for dinner, but they weren't nearly as fun as our friends from before.  The dessert also wasn't that amazing either.  In the dining room we noticed that the ship wasn't having water as smooth as the previous day.  I thought it was pretty funny when we were walking out of the dining room and everyone in front of me all walked to the right and then back to the left in unison with the rocking and swaying of the ship.  It was like we were all drunk and a bit tipsy (don't worry, we weren't in fact I don't think any of the drunkards would have been able to stay standing with all that movement).

That night was a family friendly comedy show so we watched it.  On the way out, we ran into the two fun couples from dinner the night before.  We chatted again and told each other about our excursions that day.  They also checked in on Colette and her eye, they were very motherly to us (it was kinda nice).  Colette and I went back to our room for a bit and chatted, had a bit of a impromptu devotional/discussion on faith.  The big show of the night on the ship was another comedian.  We went but he just wasn't very funny and sometimes inappropriate so we left and went to bed.

Towel creature of the night--I believe it's an ostrich

Cruise Day 3

Day three was spent at sea.  The ship scheduled quite a few things to keep us busy most of the time.

We started off not having our wake up call like we planned, but that was a good thing because we figured out the real way to do it so we'd have it the next day which was important.  We had breakfast in the dining room as it would be the only morning we would have time to do so.  We ate with a nice couple from Ohio.  We talked about education and our trip to Ohio that we have scheduled later this summer.  

We went to a couple of informational presentations so we would know what to expect the rest of the week.  We then attended the art auction on board.  My parents always end up coming home with a few pieces of art when they cruise so I decided to check it out as well.  Colette's contact had been bothering her eye quite a bit this day so she eventually left to take care of it.  I didn't purchase any art, but I enjoyed watching everything happen and got a couple of small pieces for free.  

After the auction, we decided to check out the pool.  It was quite the happening place.  We sat out there for about an hour and then went back to our room to get dressed up as it was elegant night.  We ate dinner with three couples, two from the DC area and the other I don't remember.  I had a delicious strawberry bisque and some prime rib.  Colette let me try a bit of her lobster, I was ok that I didn't order that for myself.  The two couples from DC were really fun to talk to and were really concerned about Colette's eye.  We ran into them a few more times throughout the cruise and had great conversations each time.  They were definitely our favorite dinner companions.  The other couple ended up going on the same excursion with us the next day.

The towel creature of the night was a rabbit:

Cruise Day 2

After a restful night at the hotel, we woke up and had a pretty good breakfast from the hotel (except the eggs were cold).  We had arranged the hotel to take us to the port and met a nice family from Kentucky on the shuttle ride over.  Once we got there, we had a porter take our bags and we stood in line.  I kept having thoughts of Ellis Island go through my head as we stood in the many lines and waited for our turn.  I thought our trip was pretty comparable at the moment except our ship had mini golf on it and I'm pretty sure those going into Ellis Island did not.  Once we got on the ship, we were told we had some time before we could go into our cabin so we explored the ship and had lunch at the buffet on the lido deck.  We eventually got into our room and dropped our backpacks off.  We went up top to watch the ship leave port.

We had a muster drill to make sure we'd all know what to do if there was a problem.  Throughout the whole thing people kept mentioning the Titanic especially when the words "plenty of lifeboats" and "unsinkable" kept being used.  We overhead a few conversations as well.  In fact, there was a family that brought their teenagers not only that, but they let them bring friends along.  I could understand letting your child bring a friend on like a camping trip or maybe even a road trip but cruises are not cheap.  To make it even better, the friend the fifteen-year-old boy chose to bring along was his girlfriend.

The first day on the boat was mostly exploring, but we did manage to get a free piece of art for pre-registering for an art auction and a free charm to go on a charm bracelet (nothing too fancy though).  The ship had a few things planned to keep us entertained including a game show with contestants from the audience.  I should have gone up because I knew pretty much all of the answers.  One of the helpers that we briefly saw during the game show and then multiple times throughout the cruise looked an awful lot like our friend, Jake.  We were a little surprised.  Now I've found a Chinese doppelganger of one friend and a British doppelganger for Jake.

That night we had dinner in the dining room and sat by a nice couple.  I had a steak which was ok, but not my favorite.  Afterwards we went outside to check things out and noticed a few stars, we tried to see more but the ship was too bright.  From our viewpoint, we decided it would be a good idea to never be lost at sea.  Since we couldn't find the stars, we found the ice cream machine instead.

That night, the first show onboard  was a welcome show.  It was ok, a bit random but ok.  At the beginning, the host and cruise director, Kirk, gave a shout out to all the servicemen and women and veterans in the audience and had them stand to be recognized.  He also had any firefighters and policemen and women stand.  The last group he had recognized were teachers and educators.  I have to say that was a first for me.  Throughout the week, I had a lot of opportunities to talk to people from all over the country and world about education and it was interesting to hear their comments as they were all good and supportive which is not what I get from a lot of parents.

We decided not to go to the comedy show for adults so we went back to our room and found our first towel critter waiting for us on one of the beds.  We easily recognized it as a dog, others were not so easily recognized.

Cruise Day 1

Day one started out going to the SLC airport.  Not too much happened there other than a lot of sitting around and waiting.  It was raining so our flight was slightly delayed leaving.  While we waited, we had a nice conversation with a guy who was a counselor for EFY so Colette asked him a few questions as she'll be doing that this summer.  While we were waiting, my mom called me and arranged a drug deal.  She asked me to be her mule and pick up some medications while I was in Mexico.  We later decided it wasn't such a good idea and figured it might be hard getting them, so that plan was scrapped (don't worry, we aren't druggies or drug dealers...some legal medications are just cheaper in Mexico).  We finally flew out of SLC and landed in Denver just long enough to use the bathroom and walk onto the next plane to Tampa.  On this leg of our journey, I sat by a nice, older gentleman.  I read a book I picked up from a roommate's left behind stash most of the way there but wasn't quite done with it as we were landing.  The nice man told me that I couldn't get off of the plane until I finished the book...don't worry, he still et me get off the plane with about 60 pages left to go. After collecting our luggage, we headed outside to meet the shuttle to our hotel for the night.  As we walked out the doors (at 11 pm), we ran into a wall of humidity.  I had never experienced humidity quite like that.  Needless to say, we did not wear our jeans the rest of the trip.  After we checked into the hotel, we found a complementary bottle of water and a package of Oreo cookies, we could tell we were in a good place.

Summer has Begun!

Sorry I kind of dropped of the face of the planet for the last month or so, school was plenty busy and nothing much else was happening to blog about.  The good news is that school is out and I have a lot more free time.  The bad news is that school is out and I have a lot more free time.  I plan on traveling quite a bit this summer which means I won't be home to update everything right away which means spurts of posts off and on throughout the summer!  In fact, I just got back from my first trip just last night/early this morning.  Colette and I ventured off for our first Caribbean cruise.  We left the day after school got out so things were definitely busy for me trying to wrap up the school year and pack for a week and a half long vacation because after the cruise was over, we joined Sara in Orlando to play for a few days.  I uploaded most of the pictures today so get ready for some great updates!