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Hello everybody! (31st of March 2010) Seaday
It's been a while since I wrote something, but that's mainly because I haven't had the chance to use the internet and because of a very busy schedule the last 2 weeks. Some ports we visit have no internet connection so that doesn't help either.
However, I'm writing this now in my cabin, hoping I have a connection soon!
Tomorrow we'll be going to Hoh Chi Minh (Vietnam) for the 2nd time, but no internet there, and I don't want to take my laptop into that dirty city!
Ok, so what's been going on here on the ship? Well, we finished all our premieres the last 2 weeks, and everything went pretty well! Our dear choreographer David left and it was very emotional! He's been the best teacher and friend to us the 2 weeks he was here, to get us through every premiere and rehearsal. He wasn't just teaching or directing, he really was there for us, with his heart. It was very sad to see him leave.
Some of us had an amazing last day with him though! Me, Melanie, Sara, Christoph, Silvia, Victoriia, Maxym and David went to Pattaya (Thailand) a couple of days ago. Especially me, David and Christoph were planning this trip for a week in advance for mainly one reason: We wanted to get our feet eaten by fish. Those little fishes that eat (suck) the dead skin of your feet and leave your feet all fresh and new! In europe it's very hard to find places that do that, and it's very expensive. However in Pattaya, you can have it done outside on the street in very big beautiful fishtanks with a little couch that you can sit on. It was wonderful and only 3 euros per person! It was very scary at first, and it felt insanely weird! It's quite ticklish and there are a lot of fishes sucking on your feet at the same time! Christoph was so sweet to put it on our theater schedule, it said: Fish, Starbucks and Beach. We managed to do all 3, and even some shopping in a beautiful big mall. Maybe not very cultural but it sure was a great day! The beach was quite dirty but it was nice to be in the water and swim! Temperatures were very hot of course!
We had to go back to the ship though because it was the first day of the new cruise again so we had to rehearse again for our sail away show Earth Wind & Fire which we did in the evening, just like 2 weeks ago when we had our first day on the ship!
It felt so much better to do the show this time. Everybody was used to the stage by now (it's a pooldeck show, so outside in front of the pool with a big stage with 3 levels). The passengers loved it and we had fun! However, after our little run-through on the pooldeck David really had to go, but we'll see him again in Hamburg!
In the night after the show I was very tired, but it was our last overnight in Bangkok and me and some others wanted to go back to Pattaya to see how the nightlife is, because we heard many many stories about it! We took a taxi at around midnight and went into Pattaya. Me, Sara, Melanie, Lorant, Silvia and Faust. We went into Walking Street which is the biggest going out street there. It was insane! Prostitution everywhere, girls that are boys but really look like girls, everywhere there's guys trying to get you to go to all these crazy sexshows (most famous: ping pong shows… i won't even explain what it is, but you can imagine). We went to one of the shows and I don't think I will ever forget what I've seen there. It was kind of tragic in a way because that's they're way of making money there, and they don't have much else. The culture was so different there, it was very intense, but good to have seen once. I don't really need to go back there though! Which we won't, because it was our last time in Pattaya. It would have been nice to see Bangkok but our harbor was Laem Chabang and Bangkok was too far away, Pattaya was only 20 minutes.
Another city I've managed to see is Hoh Chi Minh (Saigon) in Vietnam. I woke up very early in the morning together with my lovely friend Jannike to go see this city. We had very little time because our rehearsals started around 11, so we had from 8 till 10:30 to see something of the city. When we left the boat the vietnamese people ran up to us straight away trying to get us to take us on their moped (those little motorbikes). They were pulling you by the arm and everything, and Jannike and I were freaked out straight away. We chose 2 persons (because only 1 fits on the back of each bike obviously) and asked to go to the market place. When we arrived they suddenly wanted more money and we almost got into a fight which was quite scary and we ended up paying way too much. But hey, it still wasn't much for us, and we were where we wanted to be. A very big marked place, they sold everything… al these fake handbags, purses, wallets, perfume. Loads of clothing, fish, dirty looking meat, everything…. We decided not to eat anything because we were scared of food poisoning so even my can of coke was scary to drink, but it was fine. We almost had to throw up when we passed the foodmarket because they had all these fishes that were still alive, crabs, octopuses, every sort of seafood, all still swimming in their little tanks, just waiting to be chopped up into pieces. It was interesting though and I took some pictures, but the smell was very very bad!
Jannike just had to buy a fake Burberry handbag, and I just bought a t-shirt that got ruined after washing 1 time, because the Hoh Chi Minh logo was suddenly gone, but hey, I only payed about 2 euros for it.
We wanted to see some more culture so we asked the next taxi to take us to something cultural. They took us to the Palace of Independence. We had no idea what it was, but there were loads of tourists buses, groups of people everywhere, so it must have been famous. We payed our 80 cents of entrance fee, and went in. It was pretty boring because loads of areas were closed, and it was a bit too busy in some of the tiny hallways so we tried to leave after 10 minutes already. It was nice to see though, because on top of the building a helicopter rescued some people, and that's the helicopter you see in the musical Miss Saigon. This sounds a bit vague, but that's because I don't quite know the history of it, which is pretty embarrassing. After having seen this beautiful palace we went back to the ship, again on those mopeds! It was insane how they drive by the way! We were pretty scared the first minute, but then you find out that they're really good with those motorbikes. There seem to be no traffic rules and they go against everything. There's thousands of those bikes everywhere and also cars. It was crazy crazy crazy! I filmed a bit whilst we were driving! Crazy!
However, we had a nice day. The city was insanely dirty and the smell was everywhere, the air in the city was really bad and made you want to take shower straight away. However, it's just a different culture and it was very interesting to see! We're back in Saigon tomorrow, and I might go have a look again together with Sara this time, although I don't know what to do there yet! She's very adventurous though so we'll find something!
The passengers that are on this second cruise now are pretty different than the last cruise. First of all, there are more people, but mainly more younger people and more kids (not so happy about that). I went to the disco last night, and normally it's 50 percent crew and the rest is passengers, but it was totally packed. Filled with passenger partying, which is nice of course, but I like it better when it was little more quiet. However, the energy coming from the people when we do our shows has grown as well! They are very enthusiastic during our shows, which is a very nice!!! We did Leinen Los (our welcome show, so not the sail away show) and people where singing along and loving it! Great fun!
I'm gonna visit some interesting places this cruise! Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Singapore (again), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Cochin (India)! Can't wait to see everything!
Yesterday I had my first experience with the gym on board and it was very nice. I went with some collegues after the show and it was very quiet because it was in the night. You see the dark ocean whilst you're on your workout-machine. Tonight we're going again! Maybe I'm gonna get this six-pack happen this time! I'll keep you posted :-P
We're very lucky this cruise to have 4 off shows, and in my case 5 because I don't do Boney M. Five free evenings is a very big luxury because it never happens normally. You play every night! It's because of rough sea, and because of some overnights when people won't be in the theatre in the night. However, we can't get used to this because it probably won't happen again.
Today is one of our off days, we only had a clubmeeting which took half an hour, and our pax-drill in the morning, which you have every cruise. I spend a good couple of hours on the crew pooldeck sunbathing and lying in the jacuzzi. Beautiful! My roommate Eric got really burned, poor guy, but he should put sunlotion on…
I can't wait to do our Disney show this cruise, because we have so many kids! Last cruise people loved it already but we had as good as no kids on board, so now it's probably gonna be crazy! Very exciting!
I hope I can post this message soon, but it might not be until Singapore which is the 3rd of April, which is pretty soon!
Hello guys! (1st of April 2010) Hoh Chi Minh / Vietnam
Today I had a nice day in Hoh Chi Minh (Saigon). The air seemed to be nicer than last time when it was really foggy and smoggy. I went out with Silvia, Sara and Pip and we took the Mopeds again into town. We went to visit a big Catholic Cathedral which was a bit weird. Inside there were many pictures and jesus statues but the weird thing was, they actually used neon-lights as the halo's and for other stuff as well. Neon lights you would normally see in crappy window displays for kiosks or something, saying: Open or Closed. But here it was used for decoration of the Jesus and Maria statues. Crazy! I took some pictures so you can see them.
After that we went to the big marketplace again ilke where I went last time. I bought some little things and we walked around for a while. It was even hotter than last time, so we were sweating and feeling dirty straight away! Our taxi guys were waiting for us outside to take us to China town, which was really bad. It was a very big market in a building, but really packed and busy. You could hardly walk there, and it was so full of people and smells and everything that we felt like leaving straight away. Pip and Silvia left to the ship and Sara and I took a walk around, followed by our taxi guys. They took us to another place to buy some postcards and stuff like that. After that they brought us to yet another place to have some food. I ordered some rice, but got a full plate of vegetables and beef and chicken and seafood with some rice on the side. It was nice, but way too much. It was very nice though, but it was time to go back on the ship which we did.
It was a sweaty but interesting day, seeing a lot of Sai Gon. The city is busy busy busy, everybody is very friendly but almost too friendly. They grab you on the market to get you to buy their stuff. It's too much sometimes, but this is how they work. You never pay them what they ask, but you always have to go lower. Sometimes you get it for half price or even less even though it was cheap to begin with. Especially if you pay in dollars they give you a higher price than when you pay in Vietnamese Dong.
I'm back on the ship now, and have a little rehearsal later for Schlager Poolparty, the show we do tonight. After that we do spacing on the pooldeck, and later a run-through. I like Schlager, it's very happy, German and a bit too much, but it works great with the passengers. I need to take a second look at the lyrics though because I keep forgetting all the german phrases, but I fake my way through it (don't tell anyone).
Tomorrow we have another seaday and the day after tomorrow we're in Singapore! Finally I'll have an internet connection at Starbucks from where I'll be posting this. Maybe not very cultural but I just want to spent some time getting my pictures and stories up, and speak to some people at home. It feels so weird to experience all this without my man!
Crazy noises coming from the ship which means we're sailing away now from Hoh Chi Minh. Bye bye weird city! It was nice to be here!
Bye bye guys! We'll speak in Singapore!
XXX
Hi Guys! (2nd of April 2010) Seaday (on our way to Singapore)
Well, we were supposed to do our Disney show: Sei Hier Gast tonight but that din't quite happen. We were supposed to rehearse today around 12 and we all showed up, but not only Silvia was still very ill and without voice, but also Jannike had a hight fever and swollen glands, and Sara was also pretty ill and with no voice. Which meant our 3 singer girls were out of the game. They decided to let the Guest Artist play tonight instead of tomorrow which means tomorrow we do Ich Glotz TV so that Sara will have an off show and Silvia almost doesn't have to sing anything except for a few little things. Also for Jannike quite an easy show vocally.
Because of the guest artist, me and Lorant had to do guiding. Guiding is one of our duties when we have no show and there's a guest artist playing. One night the dancers do it and the other night the singers. Just me and Lorant this time because the girls were sick and Marthy, Jannike and Melanie are excluded anyway because they have extra duties because they speak German.
So what do we have to do? Too simple for words, and very boring… we stand at the theatre entrance to welcome the guests. All we have to say is: Guten Abend, viel Spaß! That's it. Some passengers are really stupid and bring their cocktails into the theatre, or even worse the little bowls of peanuts that are supposed to stay in the bars. So we have to tell them to bring it back, and that they're not allowed to drink anything in the theatre.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that before I go to bed, because I'll be getting up early tomorrow to get some breakfast (breakfast is only available till 8:30) and than me, Eric and Marthy go into Singapore.
I'll finally be able to post this blog because I'll be going to Starbucks where there's internet! WOOOHOOOO! :-) I'm really excited, it sounds stupid, but it's just weird to not know what's going on at home, and have so little contact!
I miss you guys!
Big kiss from Aida Cara!
Aloha! (3rd of april 2010) Singapore
Hello guys! Finally online! In a big mall in Singapore right now! Me, Marthy, Eric and Lorant had a great day here! We finally had some time for sightseeing and doing more than just shopping! We got up early in the morning and took the subway into the centre. We saw the famous Merlion (see the picture) and saw some beautiful buildings. The city is almost too clean and industrial but nonetheless beautiful!
I'm not gonna write much now because there's enough already! More next time!
XXX From Singapore
- comments
Irene Hee poepie!! Wow, wat een avonturen allemaal!! In mijn hoofd ben ik al je shows aan het afspelen, en dat ziet er hoogstwaarschijnlijk heeeeeel anders uit dan de realiteit! Van de week zal ik je weer een update sturen uit het (koude, natte) Dordt ;) Miss you!!!
Carla Hoi Dennis! Wat een verhalen heb je weer geschreven. Leuk om te lezen hoor. Je kan ook hier aan je tenen laten knabbelen hoor! Ha Ha. Ik wil je ook bij deze van harte feliciteren met je verjaardag. Hoop dat je het daar ook nog gezellig kan vieren. Groetjes uit Den Helder.xxx
Ellen Dag jongen, Wat een avonturen allemaal, je ziet zo nog eens wat van de wereld. Heel verstandig om niet zo maar vanalles te eten wat je op straat kunt kopen.... Ik begrijp heel goed, dat het moeilijk is om deze ervaringen op te doen zonder Matt, dat zal het voor hem ook zijn. Ik vond het geweldig te horen dat hij vijfde is geworden op de wereld ranglijst! Hou je taai en val niet overboord.... Knuffel, Ellen