Snail Mail on the Explorer

Hello everybody, I thought just before Christmas I should send you my snail mail address so you can send me postcards and/or German chocolate....haha. No seriously, I would love to receive some "real" mail. And yes, I'll be running low on German chocolate soon.

So here it is:

Anna Esau
Youth Staff
Explorer of the Seas
14 Terminal Boulevard
Bayonne, New Jersey 07002

Please make sure you copy it correctly otherwise it won't make it all the way into my precious hands.

So I went to this really amazing beach in St. Marteen like 2 weeks ago and it was very cool, something completely new to me. When you see one part of it you might think it's a normal beach:

Maho Beach in St. Marteen

But when you turn around you see this:

an airport!

small jets flying in...

...and big planes taking off.

Some of the guys holding on to the fence while the plane is taking off right in front of them, causing the sand to hit our faces and the rest of our bodies so hard that it hurt.

And when I'm not on beautiful islands in the Caribbean I'm actually working and enjoying different kinds of skylines, like the New Jersey one.

Newark, New Jersey

Or I hang out with my friends after work, here with my german/dutch friend I roomed with the first two weeks we got on board.

And yes, I dyed my hair :-) And Julia doesn't always look that scary. She is just really excited to take that picture with me...

So that was it for today. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends, einen schoenen ersten Advent an alle meine deutschen Freunde, and hope to hear back from you!

It's been a month already!

It's been a month now that I signed on the Explorer. It actually feels longer than this in a good way. Once in a while I miss German food and my nephews and nieces, but most of the time I feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to work with kids (which I enjoy for the most part), travel the world, see new places, and meet amazing people along the way. This combination is made for me!

Visiting the places we travel to (Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Dominican Republic etc.) sometimes puts me back in time when I was living in Costa Rica. I went to a Capernwray Bible School there called Portantorchas. In those almost two years (first as a student, then working as the cook of Portantorchas) I learned to love Ticos (people from CR call themselves this), their way of life, and of course their very beautiful country with the rainforests, mountains, and beaches. Lots of good memories there. And though most of the places I'm going to with the ship are new to me I reminisce about my time in the “Rich Coast”.

St. Kitts

The Explorer had her 10th birthday recently and in honor of that we had a huge BBQ by the pier in Bermuda.

Samana, Dominican Republic

Feels Just Like Home

I'm safe and sound in my new home! It really felt like coming home which was great. My roommate is half Dutch half German so we get to speak German all the time. I love it! We are on (my first and last) New England and Canada run right now. It's pretty chilly up here and I can't wait to get back to the Bermudas where my first cruise took me. Here a few pictures of the last couple of days.

at the King's Wharf's beach (Bermudas)


We went to a place where you can swim with dolphins if you have enough money. I took pictures of those beautiful creatures instead.

my good friend Vicki that I met on the Navigator who is also working on the Explorer now, here on our way to Bayonne, NJ (home port)

Bar Harbor


Lobster is a MUST in Bar Harbor. It was pretty amazing too!

7 weeks of vacation

I have had 7 weeks of vacation which are almost over. Why do all good things come to an end? Anyway, I will be going on a different ship now. Same size and kind, different name and itinerary though. The Explorer of the Seas will be my new home for the next 5 months, starting Oct 9th. I'm looking forward to travelling to new places, meeting new people, and learning new things. Home port will be Cape Liberty in New Jersey. New Yorkers, here I come!

Californication

I made it to California and back!

A week before I flew to Palm Springs I booked the ticket, only a few days after Andrea had left. Now it might seem like Andrea and I cannot live without each other but we figured there would be probably no better timing than visiting as soon as possible since neither one of us had a job yet, therefore no real obligations. Before arriving in CA, Andrea told me not to expect too much since she didn't know if she could start work soon. So I thought, sounds great, I'll relax and spend most of my time sun tanning by the pool. Turns out that I hardly had time for that because all of a sudden our schedules were full of things to do! And oh, what fun we had...

The first night, I had just arrived in Palm Springs, we went camping. Andrea's family and family friends had spent the Labour Day weekend in the mountains, so we joined them for one night. We slept in this gigantic trailer.

A few days later we drove up to Anaheim to go to Disney Land. My first time ever. What a blast!
at the entrance


we got lucky and met Mickey in his house

trying on Forrest Gump's shoes in Santa Monica

that's how far we've come!

in Coronado, San Diego by the Hotel Del Coronado

In Las Vegas! Man, did we have fun gambling...here also with Andrea's mom. And we weren't actually allowed to take pictures but whatever.

the strip

the water show in front of the Bellagio, just like in 'Ocean's 11'

Andrea's family taking me to the airport

Berlin

So Andrea and I went to Berlin and enjoyed every minute of it!

"To The German People"

waiting about 2 hours to get in

inside the bulb of the Reichstag

the Brandenburger Tor

we took a boat trip on the Spree

Berlin - City of Peace

the Brandenburger Tor from a closer perspective

"The wall is gone! Berlin is back to being Berlin!"

my two favourite girls to see Berlin with

the Berlin Dome

Roomie Madness

Andrea and I have become really good friends over the last few months. Shortly she'll be gone, leaving me by myself for another 2 weeks on the ship. BUT we figured, since she's in Europe already she should just come and visit me in Germany! And that's what we are going to do. She'll stay in Rome with her family for a couple days and then we'll fly to Germany the day I sign off. She'll be visiting with me for 10 days and I cannot wait for her to meet my family and friends as well as for them to meet her! Und jetzt noch einmal fuer meine deutschen Freunde: meine verrueckte Mitbewohnerin vom Schiff kommt mich direkt nach Ende meiner Zeit auf dem Schiff besuchen, da es fuer sie guenstiger ist, von Deutschland aus in die Staaten zu fliegen als ein Ticket fuer einen Flug direkt von Rom nach Kalifornien zu kaufen. So verrueckt kann es manchmal sein! Ich freue mich also riesig, ihr mein zu Hause zu zeigen als auch ihr meine Familie und Freunde vorzustellen. Und wer weiss.....vielleicht flieg ich sie dann auch schon sehr bald besuchen ;-)

What is there to do on a ship? Part Two

It is funny, once you get used to your new surroundings you don't even notice how beautiful it is and everything is so normal. Lately I've been running around with my camera just in case I saw something on the ship that seems so normal to me now but is actually really cool. So here are some more pictures of my home that I will have to leave in a few weeks. Yes, my time on the ship is coming to an end and I can hardly believe it (like always when something seems so big at the beginning but then becomes the most natural thing).

We have a great ice cast on the ship. And yes, we have an Ice Skating Rink here and it is the most amazing thing. The cast has an awesome show every cruise and it is really amazing how well they handle the relatively small rink. Also, when there are no ice shows, all the guests are allowed to ice skate. We offer skates in all sort of sizes, even choosing between hockey skates and regular ones.

One of the ice dancers

A cruise ship without bars and pools is probably like coffee without caffeine ;-). I don't even know how many bars we have but have 3 pools. Unfortunately, crew is not to go into the pools if there are 5 or more people in it. And the pools are ALWAYS crowded!

We have a pool area called Solarium which is for adults only. Whenever I walk through the solarium, I just want to stay there because there are a) no kids, b) it's so peaceful, and c) almost all of the guests are sleeping and looking so relaxed and I really need some vacation soon!

Talking about relaxation, we have a wonderful spa where you can get massages, hair cuts, facials, manicures and pedicures, and what not. So, come in, relax, be transformed, and leave lots of money there!

Once you've had enough of relaxation and you think of getting in shape, only one deck lower is the gym. And you won't believe how many people are coming there daily! It's crazy.

Like every ship, you need someone to navigate it and the place to do so is called the Bridge. I got to go on a tour there a couple days ago and it was a very special moment. That place looks very fancy and they have tons of security to let only the most important people in there, so you can imagine how exciting it was for me to be where our Swedish captain spends most of his time.

The beautiful view out of the bridge onto the helipad. In case of an emergency we could have a helicopter land where you see the 'H'. Guess what that stands for ;-)

Since the bridge is wider than the rest of the ship, you can see the side of the ship where the balconies of the nicer rooms are as well as the life boats (yellow).

Bonus

Some funny/random pictures

Andrea and I in Teneriffe, Spain

in Egypt

big fish in Kusadasi, Turkey

only in Turkey can you find this kind of advertisement!

tree in Rhodes, Greece

besides of entertaining kids, taking picture is one of the hardest things in our job
(here in the collosseum in Rome, Italy)

T-Shirt design I found in Barcelona, Spain