In my last post I forgot to mention the birthday dinner Courtney threw for me. She made a reservation at one of the ships fine dining restaurants. It was at an all you can eat Italian restaurant and was absolutely delicious. Our dining mates included the following: A robust Romanian woman whose right eye twitched a bit, a quiet petite woman from Malta, a domineering red headed Canadian woman, Courtney, and me. It was the most obscure and random mix of people from varying ages and backgrounds. Now I have never been a drinker. I do enjoy wine, but have never consumed copious amounts of it. That night there was a lot of wine. I just sat back with my glass and observed the absurdity of what unfolded and wished that it was socially acceptable for me to use my GoPro at a social dinner of this nature.
It all began with everyone quietly looking at one another. None of them are very familiar, but are among the small group of women working on the ship and came together in an effort to give me a “girls night out”. I love these awkward scenarios oh so much. The Romanian woman broke the silence with an explanation of how butter back in the Soviet Days was much better for you. The following is a direct quote please mentally read this with a thick Romanian accent: “You know, the girls back then didn’t have cel… celious… cell… you know fat legs.” This led her to explain that her current status of being overweight is not due to bad food as a child because in fact she along with all the other Romanian girls of that era was very thin. According to her she is currently 30 kilos overweight due to being viciously attacked by a dog when she was in her mid-twenties. Apparently she was so emotionally distraught over the attack that she turned to food for comfort and is now seeking psychological treatment in an effort to curb her appetite. “My doctor is trying to hypnotize me to make me forget the dog bite. It was very bad you know. Now all I have are these white scars across my face. Can you see them? They are very clear under a bright light. I hate having bright lights in my faaace.” It took every ounce of my will power not to laugh. Not that I think someone having a traumatic experience is funny. What was funny was how random it was and the story told in that accent was like a film. In my head I kept thinking, “Yep, I have just stepped onto a movie set. Where is the director? Can I have a leading role?” Then it was time for the Canadian to tell us the 40 minute story of how she tried to cross the Zimbabwe border without proper paperwork. Keep in mind none of this conversation was linked nor did it contain any sense. Meanwhile the woman from Malta struggled to remove lipstick from her teeth and remained silent. Surprisingly, I too remained silent. My normal womit (word vomit as my friends like to call it) was held back due to the sheer enjoyment of observing. Courtney coaxed me to take a bit of her basically raw steak, I said no. At one point the hotel manager approached and asked while looking at me, “Who is paying for this meal?” I piped back in response, “You are!” I was of course kidding, but he did. Thank you kind sir. At the end of the meal I made it back to Courtney’s cabin in spite of wearing her overly tall high heels and having consumed more wine than normal. As soon as the door was closed she looked at me sheepishly and kind of apologized. All I could do was laugh.
My 28th birthday wasn’t celebrated with my family nor my best friends, but it was enjoyable and made me realize that no matter where you are in the world there are good people to share life’s events with.
It all began with everyone quietly looking at one another. None of them are very familiar, but are among the small group of women working on the ship and came together in an effort to give me a “girls night out”. I love these awkward scenarios oh so much. The Romanian woman broke the silence with an explanation of how butter back in the Soviet Days was much better for you. The following is a direct quote please mentally read this with a thick Romanian accent: “You know, the girls back then didn’t have cel… celious… cell… you know fat legs.” This led her to explain that her current status of being overweight is not due to bad food as a child because in fact she along with all the other Romanian girls of that era was very thin. According to her she is currently 30 kilos overweight due to being viciously attacked by a dog when she was in her mid-twenties. Apparently she was so emotionally distraught over the attack that she turned to food for comfort and is now seeking psychological treatment in an effort to curb her appetite. “My doctor is trying to hypnotize me to make me forget the dog bite. It was very bad you know. Now all I have are these white scars across my face. Can you see them? They are very clear under a bright light. I hate having bright lights in my faaace.” It took every ounce of my will power not to laugh. Not that I think someone having a traumatic experience is funny. What was funny was how random it was and the story told in that accent was like a film. In my head I kept thinking, “Yep, I have just stepped onto a movie set. Where is the director? Can I have a leading role?” Then it was time for the Canadian to tell us the 40 minute story of how she tried to cross the Zimbabwe border without proper paperwork. Keep in mind none of this conversation was linked nor did it contain any sense. Meanwhile the woman from Malta struggled to remove lipstick from her teeth and remained silent. Surprisingly, I too remained silent. My normal womit (word vomit as my friends like to call it) was held back due to the sheer enjoyment of observing. Courtney coaxed me to take a bit of her basically raw steak, I said no. At one point the hotel manager approached and asked while looking at me, “Who is paying for this meal?” I piped back in response, “You are!” I was of course kidding, but he did. Thank you kind sir. At the end of the meal I made it back to Courtney’s cabin in spite of wearing her overly tall high heels and having consumed more wine than normal. As soon as the door was closed she looked at me sheepishly and kind of apologized. All I could do was laugh.
My 28th birthday wasn’t celebrated with my family nor my best friends, but it was enjoyable and made me realize that no matter where you are in the world there are good people to share life’s events with.
