Day One and Two (E-mailed)

Hey Guys! So I boarded the ship around 230p on Sunday. Things went very well as we went through security and I was shown to my room. I was quickly taken around the Deck One, running around following Phillip (A Canadian) the Head Broadcast Technician. I got a quick tour through the broadcast center, a view of Studio B and we quickly went to training as Phillip showed me all the racks, it has been quite overwhelming looking at all the gear surrounding me, but I have no doubts in being able to do this job. Navigating however...thats a different story! Holy crap is this place confusing! Everywhere looks the same and all the doors look like emergency exits that would lead me out onto the street (of a building), so I hesitated to use them at first, but today I finally started walking through them and getting to where I need to go. My position as a Broadcast Technician includes a 2-stripe rank as Staff/Officer placing me above the crew. Crew are people who take care of housekeeping, the engine room, and a crap load of other things I'll figure out at some point! I knew that I was getting myself into a whole crap load of new yesterday and that fully describes it! Learning to walk around has been another conquest in itself. This boat, scuse me SHIP, is huge but as it pushes its way through the cold front on its way south hits EVERY wave in the ocean! Luckily, it turns out I have a good stomach for this and haven't felt too badly yet! Today in training I was following the other new hires down the hall and its funny to watch all the people shift from one side to the other as the boat rocks! I compare it to walking on a bus in motion! Except its everywhere, I'd also throw the description drunk in there too, cuz the floor hits your foot sooner, sometimes your light, sometimes your heavy! haha One of my favorite things to do on the ship is take the opportunity to talk to people. I said this in Beijing and it applies here as well. Everyone in America has contributing factors of people from other countries, so when I see a person, I can get an idea of where they may be from and expect an American accent. Here, I still expect an American accent (NYC, Boston, Redneck....) and I get a mumble of who knows what!! haha, or I get a bright return in a British, or Canadian accent. I don't know the numbers, but I don't think that the Americans are dominant aboard. So that's been another fun challenge. My room... It's only temorary until the next voyage when Phillip leaves for Vacation, but talk about small! The far wall has a bunk bed, I sleep on the bottom and store a chair and my luggage on the top bunk. Theres a small table next to the bed with a small metal frame cushioned chair. The room is maybe 4 inches longer than the twin bunk bed and in front of the chair (also alongside the bed) is a shelving unit which has outlets and a 13" TV/VCR. A small refrigerator is apart of the cabinet which has 4 drawers to it's left. above is a couple small shelves for very little storage. further left is two 6' wardrobes, maybe a foot wide each? So I have some clothes in there. Further left is the "Full" bathroom consisting of a stand up shower, toilet, sink, double cabinet mirror and a god awful smell(not my fault!)!! Hope all is well with you, I'm just hangin in the Broadcast room right now. Informative enough?! Haha, - Ben