Haiti

I just finished our first revenue cruise. It was only 4 days but a good taste of what my life will look like for the next 7 months. Holy Moly!! So busy and hectic. Time will fly by and I'll make my way back to Texas soon!

I spent a few hours in Labadee, Haiti yesterday. It was the first time I felt real heat since September. It felt soooo good. I love the sunlight, the ocean and fresh air.

I gave my first seminar yesterday and I was very pleased for it being my first presentation. Life can be difficult here at times. I feel very disconnected and it's really easy to get consumed in the bubble of the Oasis of the Seas. So please send me some physical mail!! It's hard to get online and a piece of mail would really make my day :-)

Christmas is coming soon and it will be fun to spend it with my new ship family, but it makes me sad to know I can't be with my real family. I knew it was a prerequisite to the job, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I'm having a really great time and learning so much. My days are jam packed and the some of the people that get on these cruises are very interesting. And when I say interesting....I mean crazy! I love it :-D

Gotta go back to the ship now. Miss you all!

Life After the Crossing

Warmth. Sun. Blue water. Great friends. Calm before the storm :-p I love the ocean!! Miss you all! xoxo

The 2 week crossing across the Atlantic was quite the experience. Rough waters made even the largest cruiser in the world toss and turn a bit, but we got to Florida safely and are preparing for work.

The VIPs are onboard now and our first real revenue cruise isn't until December 1st. Good Morning, America has been on the past couple of days and will be featuring some areas of the ship. The aqua team will be on tomorrow. I'm very excited for them. I'm becoming pretty good friends with a few of them and they are AWESOME. So everyone watch tomorrow!!

Don't have much time to write tonight. But I have an address--SEND ME MAIL!!!

Oasis of the Seas

Attn: Tiffany Jentsch

Spa

PO Box 019301

Miami, Florida

33101-9301

More to come later. Lots of love!!

Out to Sea

Well we finally left Finland and are in route to warmer weather. The ship is starting to come to life. Woo hoo!! I haven't seen real sunshine in over a month and I'm dying to experience fun in the sun when we reach Florida. It's very cold and extremely windy at the moment-the ship is rocking a lot and I like it. It's incredibly soothing. I just came out of a bamboo massage and woke up to a beautiful view of the white cap waves in the uneasy water. Amazing. It's absolutely amazing.

At 1:00 am this morning I escaped from a giant party in the Royal Promenade to view a very special event. We passed under the largest bridge in the world that runs from Denmark to Sweden. Royal Caribbean paid 100 Euros for a retractable smoke stack just to clear the bridge 1 time! The planning involved in accomplishing that is astounding. So many variables to consider. We cleared it by only 2 meters and I witnessed the whole thing from the top deck. It seriously looked like we were going to hit it! Everyone was cheering and high-fiving...very fun. I stood next to the man responsible of the planning and building of the ship. Very interesting fellow. I really enjoyed our chat--I'm meeting so many interesting people.

We crew are responsible for stress testing this massive vessel so we all get to be guest during our 2 week crossing. I'm also getting some much needed practice teaching classes. I have to learn to teach Gravity, Spin, Boot Camp, Yoga, Pilates and Kinesis. It's a lot but I'm determined. I'm learning a lot about nutrition and detox and conducting consultations and seminars on those topics.

My spa manager is excellent-the best in the business. She's taking me, Kallum and David (my fitness partners) out to dinner tonight so I must go now. More to come later.

I miss all of you so much. xoxoxxoxo

BRRRRRRR!!!

Well, as you can imagine, Finland is COLD! I'm having a great time so far and actually enjoying getting all bundled up. Of course, I'll be happy once we venture into the warm weather. For those of you who don't know, I got placed on the largest ship in the world! Royal Carribean Oasis of the Seas. It was very exciting when my teacher made the big announcement in class. This is the ship everyone wants to be on, so you can imagine how proud I felt when he said my name :-D I worked so hard and got on the best ship out there right now. The work will be intense, but worth it. I still have a lot of studying to do. I'm feeling relaxed right now because i got a temporary break from the long days and no sleep in London. Yesterday was traveling, intro to the ship and coworkers then drinks in the city. Today I slept in , had lunch and came to the city to hit up an internet cafe for coffee and writing! Tomorrow, work begins. I look forward to it, but having a day off is much appreciated. In London I was in class from 9am to 11pm and stayed up studying til 2 or 3am, then woke up at 5 or 6 am to study more. I'm exhausted and the bags under my eyes are now permanant. I don't remember what a rested Tiffany looks like anymore, and I won't be reaquainted with her for 10 more months! I'll have to go home and have my mom take care of me for a few days after my contract!!

The ship is still under construction so we dress for it. Coveralls, big coats, steel toed shoes and hard hats. This ship is AMAZING! I can't wait to start watching everything come together. The gym is awesome (the crew gym is also great!). I can't believe I will be living and working here for 9 months. I have my own room for the time being. When the second contractors start to arrive I may have to move, but i'm taking advantage of the situation now. The accomodations are nice and I had the best sleep ever last night! It is so great not living at the YMCA anymore. And the food here--fabulous. I don't know if i just think it's fabulous because the Y food sucked so bad, but I'm in Heaven right now!

There are a lot of people here from the academy in London, so I'm in good company and beginning to feel right at home. The people working on the ship are all so nice and helpful. The place is a maze--especially because it's still being built--so nice, helpful people are essential! And everyone is so happy to be here. The energy around the ship is really great. We all feel very fortunate to be a part of this. I'll post some pictures soon. However, we aren't allowed to share pictures of the ship until we have our first passengers and have the big unveiling! I can't believe this ship. It has a park on it. An actual park with grass and trees!! Incredible. The list of amenities is a mile long.

There are only 3 fitness instructors on board (me, Callum and David) and the ship accomodates over 6,000 people!!! I will be working harder than I've ever worked before. David and Callum are experienced cruise staff and great teachers. I will learn so much from them.

Well, that's it for now. I could go on and on for hours about the things I've experienced, but I may bore you to death! Plus, I don't have a lot of time.

I miss everyone so much. Sometimes I have a lapse of sadness but I acknowledge it and let it slip away. The home sickness comes with the job, and we all have it. Just keep sending your love my way. It keeps me going :-)

All my love. xoxo

Baptism by Fire

Good Lord! What a day. This is definitely a lot to take in for having had NO sleep in 2 days. I didn't sleep on the flight over and the valuable sleep time the night before I left was occupied by dreams of missing my flight, not being packed and people trying to make me pack things that I couldn't fit in my bag!

I have been walking around like a zombie today. The train situation turned out to be nightmarish because my card wouldn't swipe at the quick ticket kiosks. And it is soooo hectic and fast-paced. I was really regretting ordering that cafe americana after the first train. Trying to lug all of my bags around with a cup of coffee in the middle of that chaos was almost too much to handle. Thank God for Vipassana!! "This moment has arisen only to pass" :-)

I have been leaning on my experience for those 10 days in order to keep my sanity. On my last train transition I actually had to run up a large flight of stairs with my 45 pound bag (that doesn't include my carry-ons), jump a couple tracks, then run down the stairs just in time to get on while the doors were closing on me! Whew! That was close.

What I really want to do is go up to my room and go to sleep, but it's only 5:30pm here and I'm trying to stay awake until bed time. I walked around town and stopped at a cafe for food and a glass of wine, but those events are already a blur. I just got back from the cafe about 20 minutes ago :-p

I don't know if it's the sleep deprivation, but the people are not very friendly here. It's weird to be nice to someone only to have them look at you like you're nuts! Granted, I am a little nuts. And I'm rambling like no other right now. I must go. I don't think I can fight the sleep anymore. My thoughts are scattered, my eyes are burning and even the symbols on the keyboard are in different places here! Too hard!!

With all of the bitching of my tiredness, I just got an invite to London tonight, so we'll see if I can make the trip.

Til next time...

Departure is Near!

This is officially my first blog. I am not "Tiffany abroad" just yet, although I am and always will be Tiffany, a broad (shout out to Larry!) I am actually sitting in a small coffee shop in Austin, having a glass of Shiraz and winding down from dinner and great conversation with one of my favorite people, Mr. Tony Kelly, whom I will miss dearly.

I leave on Friday and felt this was a good time to get my blog up and running. My nervousness is overshadowed by shear excitement and my urge to get the hell out of here! No offense to anyone, of course. I'm just ready to get the ball rolling and start this adventure I've been anticipating for months. I just made my 5th (and hopefully last) run to Goodwill today to donate more of my stuff. I feel so light and free. Woo hoo!

I want to thank everyone for all of their help and support which has made it possible to get me to where I'm going. I have received wonderful gifts, encouraging words of wisdom, car loans, rides from here to there, shoulders to cry on, couches to sleep on and a comfortable place to rest my head at night. I have amazing friends and I am so grateful to have all of you in my life. I will miss everyone sooooo much!

I know there is nothing interesting about my boozing it up in an Austin coffee shop, but I gotta start somewhere! Stay tuned for the good stuff...