New York City!

We have just arrived today in New York City, and this has been the strictest
country for us to enter.  All passengers were individually screened, and all the
passengers had to be screened before anyone could get off.  Well, save the crew;
they were allowed to get off before we had all been interviewed.

Everything had to be taken off the walls in all the classrooms and our bedrooms;
the dining room that serves buffet meals had to be closed (for cleaning?) and the
dining room that normally serves buffets in the morning had to serve a set meal. 
Carpet was replaced in several parts of the ship where it was a bit worn. ....  I
apologized in the GET Meeting (teachers' meeting) on behalf of Americans who are
not quite so uptight about such things.  "This is embarrassing."

We just spent 8 days at sea, crossing the Atlantic from Dublin to NYC.  I had
expected (hoped for) really rough days at sea; I enjoy the antics of people weaving
around the halls as we walk.  I like imagining I'm walking a straight line as the
boat rocks below me.

A bit about life onboard:

We 16 GET Teachers (GET stands for Global English/Espanol Training) all teach two
classes a day on 35 days of the voyage.  During our free time we have the option of
being quite busy with lectures and myriad activities on the ship.  (( One of the
biggest "problems" on the ship is deciding what to do next!  Every room usually
teems with activity. ))  Somewhere during all that (usually at night when we've got
several hours before classes) we plan lessons, with each teacher designing his or
her own curriculum to fit the students and hopefully coordinate with the ports
we're visiting, etc.  One basic philosophy allows the students to immediately use
the English they're learning.

GET Teachers and CCs (Communication Coordinators (translators)) room together,
separated by gender, with usually 3 or 4 people per room.  We're on the 3rd floor
of the ship, the lowest level for passengers, with only crew below us.

Right next to my room is a Water Tight Door.  Every night it closes around 11pm and
opens around 6am.   Its loud clanging rumble no longer wakes me, but simply gives
me a general gauge of how much longer I can sleep.  I have a plan to stick a piece
of cardboard in as it shuts to see what happens, but so far this plan hasn't been
executed.

Very close to my room are stairs (and elevator) which connect all the floors, and
in about 10 seconds I can leave my room and arrive on the 4th floor in the dining
room called Topaz Dining.  This dining room usually serves buffet style meals in
the morning and set meals for lunch and dinner.  During the set meals, we must
arrive within a 20 minute "seating window" to make things simpler for the cooks and
wait staff who really work hard to provide excellent customer service.  All the
waitstaff can speak English and Japanese (at least the niceties) and their own
languages.  I have learned Good Morning and Thank You in Bulgarian, Thank You in
Chinese and Filipino (though I already knew the Chinese version), and I try to use
the correct words depending on who is serving our table.

On the 5th floor is GET Street, the name of the hallway which contains 10
classrooms where we teach our lessons.  Basically there are 30 English classes a
day, with each teacher teaching 2 classes.  (Adriana teaches Spanish.)  I am in GET
Room 9 from 8am to 9:25am and then GET Room 4 from 9:30am to 10:55am.  A computer
in each room (new for this voyage!) allows us to use multimedia during our lessons:
powerpoint, music, movies, etc.  I also use it to take notes and define vocabulary
words for the students and give them a printout after the classes.  The rest of 5th
floor is filled with passenger rooms.  And the infirmary.

In addition to many rooms, on the sixth floor (but on the other end of the ship) is
the GET Office where, last cruise, all the lesson planning was done.  I can't
really imagine what it must have been like for 15 teachers all vying for time on
two old PCs with a single printer and cranky copy machine.   This voyage seems to
be like a transition, as some things are still done in the GET Office, but most
things are being done down on GET Street.  Also on the 6th floor is Reception, next
to which we usually dis/embark the ship.  Reception is staffed 24 hours and
basically works like a hotel reception desk.

On the 7th floor most of the daily P B activity takes place.  Broadway is a
large meeting room that spans the back of the ship.  Lectures happen there during
the day and performances at night.  A theater is next up from Broadway where they
play ping pong during the day and various movies at night.  I haven't played ping
pong nor watched any movies there.  After that are some storage rooms and then
Peace Center, which seems to be staffed 24 hours, by diligent workers who produce
the daily schedule in Japanese and English and the daily paper with ship news.

The schedule is a monstrosity in itself, with nearly every minute of every room
filled.  The schedule is quite dynamic; people come up with new activities they
want to do and vie for time in various rooms.  The English schedule is usually
quite entertaining with misspellings and funny translations.

"Let's 1970!"  or "Let's 21 years old!" or "Let's learning Korean drum!"  or
"Sawing Circle" or "Bleak Dancing"  "Frag Semaphore"  (the last two being R-L
mixups) "Scream out the name of the person you love"

Next on the ship is the Free Space, next to Hemingway Bar (a piano bar).  Then
there is Winjammer Lounge (variously spelled with or without a D) which is nearly
as wide as the ship save for a hallway on each side.  A small gameroom and meeting
room are past Windjammer, and then several nice passenger rooms.

The 8th floor is outside: basically the deck around the perimeter of the ship, and
sports deck (above Winjammer, which sometimes gives stomp-enhanced lectures) and
then a small room called T-Club next to the small weight gym), then the front deck
(where we are not allowed to jump because passengers may be sleeping below).  The
back of the ship on 8th floor is an always-buffet dining area called Yacht Club
during the day and a Japanese style bar at night.

The 9th deck is near the center of the ship.  It's called the pool deck because
...... there are two pools and a jacuzzi available when we're in the middle of the
ocean.  Next to the pool deck is Sunshine Bar, an outdoor bar by the pool.

- - - -

Today I'm hanging out with Paige (who was a GET Teacher on the 45th, 47th, and 48th
cruises) and who is ever so patiently waiting as I type.  (She also got her
toenails painted cherry red.) New York City is her favorite city in the world, so
it's lovely to have a well-versed tour guide!

   Be Well
    - Rob!