Hey Everyone!!

Two more weeks until I'm on the ship!! I'm going crazy with excitement! Terry and Mary will be leaving either this Saturday, or next because their medical results took too long due to the holiday. They are pretty happy because now they will be able to finish their training before getting on the ship. I'm also happy since now I won't have to be alone for the next two weeks!

We had real clients for the first time last thursday. It went really well! I got to do all of the different scrubs/wraps and massages that we have been trained in, including one that costs nearly $300! So that's great to have under my belt before I actually start on the ship. I will also be working in the spa all of next week, so that will be good too. Training has been going good, we have a specific section just on how to sell products. The company really pushes selling retail, so there is a lot of pressure. If we don't reach certain quotas for each week, we can be put on "probation" and even kicked off the ship! Luckily, the products basically sell themselves and we've heard that it is really common for clients to buy retail. They also have really specific ways to sell the products so that should also be helpful. Things have changed now, but apparently their techniques for selling used to be telling people they were fat or ugly and basically convince them that they couldn't live without the products! I'm glad they have changed their ways....

So even though we had to work all day on Thursday, we still had Thanksgiving! For lunch anyway Mandara provided the spa with a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry/pineapple sauce. And all of the spa employees also brought in Pupus (appetizers) and desserts! Although it wasn't a home cooked meal with the fam, it was awesome to have turkey and pumpkin pie on thanksgiving! There was also a Holiday Parade this Friday! It was pretty decent parade. There were marching bands from Tennessee, Minnesota, Georgia, Missouri, so it was a pretty big deal! The bands had lights all over their instruments it was totally cute! They also had Pearl Harbor servivors in Chevy Mustangs! And of course all the regular parade things like fire trucks etc. (I will put up pics tomorrow!) That same night we also saw an actor from the movie Waiting, Luis Guzman, he was one of the cooks. We didn't get any pics, but it was still pretty sweet!

This past weekend, our friend Clark drove us up to the North shore where they are holding the O'neil World cup of Surfing. Unfortunately the waves weren't big enough, so they had to cancel the competition for the day. Clark locked his keys in his car though, and a pro surfer helped us get them out, so that was sort of fun ... it felt like home, cause I lock my keys in my car ALL THE TIME... hahaha We might try to get up there again before I leave on the ship, so I'll keep you all updated on that for sure!

Well that's pretty much it for this blog! Love you all! <3