the Lisa you all know...

And now for a brief intermission from my travel log to tell you what I think and how I’m doing.

You all know me pretty well but you may or may not know that I require a certain amount of solitude. I made the mistake of not respecting that fact when I interpreted the week long cruise to Alaska. That was tough. I am paying more attention to my own needs when I have breaks. So far those have been spent writing to all of you and arranging my pictures. This morning I sat on deck and drank a latte.

My mornings have been full of work and 4 of the 7 days so far have been spent interpreting excursions for 6-9 hours. In the evenings we dine at a table next to the deaf folks and are at their beck and call. After dinner there are either stage shows or games. In a 15 hour day, we’re lucky to get 2 or 3 to ourselves. The days spent at sea are better. Today I worked from 8-10am and I’m off until 2pm. I woke up this morning at 6:30am local time and turned on my phone hoping for a text message from Kevin telling me what happened in the presidential election. OBAMA Baby! I am being careful of my roommate’s feelings since she is devastated but I am hopeful for the future. I am thrilled.

Most of my nights have been spent at different bars on board with 3 of my cohorts. We sang karaoke a couple of nights. The best was “Love Shack” by the B52s and “Jitterbug” by Wham. Darn amusing. We are semi-famous around the boat now as “the girls”. They assume we are all drunk…they are ¾ right. I’ve had a drink a couple of times but drunk I am not. I wish I liked the taste of wine since it is a huge part of this culture. I spend my time at the bar flirting with a man who works on the ship. I’m willing to bet not one of you is surprised.

The hardest part of the trip has been the negative attitudes of the other interpreters and the constant complaining. I’m sure they are sick of my positive attitude and my constant looking on the bright side. I’ve become pretty quiet when we are together and semi-shut down. I let them rant and piss and moan and eventually decisions are made and I go my merry way. I check my emails, I check my phone for texts from my darling boy and I smile because I love my life. I look at the sea, the sunsets, the beautiful country side and I am at peace.

I love you all and count myself as lucky to have you in my life.