Work in progress…

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. – Charles Addams”

This is still work in progress… here is a first draft of what is to come.

Nathalie 🙂

 

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I took my time to start the writing of this adventure thinking I could be able to give it a positive angle, only a positive and funny on.  It is pretty much how I see life, always a great lesson and a learning behind everything, something to be grateful for when found, and something to help me grow wiser. But for the people reading it, it would have not been fair as we do not have all the same view about life and we do not have the same baggage, either of experience or wisdom. So writing it as the observer I became, came to me when I realized that I did not even share the truth with my own kids. I shared some part of it so they would know a little what I was doing while on board of the ship and on my mornings off, but I kept the rest for myself as it was sometimes harsh and negative and abusive situations, and I thought I knew better than sharing something that does not do any good to anyone.

My experience wasn’t that bad! I saw beautiful places, met wonderful people from around the world, either colleagues or guests and also learned more massage technics, solutions selling technics. It was like going to University then having internship, somewhere new on the beautiful planet, to put all that in practice. My experience wasn’t that negative as I also know how to see and understand people’s behavior and because I can always see both sides of a medal. I have that gift. I found myself to often be the devil’s advocate since as far as I can remember, probably because I can see why people act certain way and I can understand behaviors and feelings, therefore my experience can be seen through pink glasses or black ones… you chose. I decided to be an observer.

When I told just a little bit of it to my sister-in-law, sharing few things here and there, she spoke her reflection out loud about how can we find a way to give a voice to those people, referring to the housekeepers and stewards from the Philippines, Indonesia and India countries on the ship I worked on, because I was telling her about their working hours and salary that were worse than my own experience. She did not need to say more because I have been trying to convince myself not to write anything negative and not to drag anyone in it, including employers and way of doing, for so many weeks, but when she said that, I told myself: “Oh man! Really? Will I be that voice? Can I be that voice?”

I left that thought alone and today a week later, after a chat with my daughter, realizing that even my kids I felt like protecting by not telling them too much about what I experienced or saw on the ship, and not wanting to fall into any victim type of stories by sharing all, I wasn’t in sync with my calling… writing my experience as it was, writing as an observer, so you can make your own opinion on what is right and what is not, what is cool and what is not, depending from which part of the world you are from.

Coming from Canada, such a company would have lots of legal suits for work abuse, intimidation and many more reasons, but I also know from making friends from around the world during that adventure, that for some of them, the work they were doing was no different than back home where it is all legal and normal, and the salary was quadruple what they were having back home, so for some this situation was a “good” one in a way. So bear in mind that whoever you are and wherever you are in the world reading this, there is always two sides of a medal.

Like I said, I won’t be dragging anyone down and I won’t be blaming anyone, because we all have the liberty of choices. Choosing to continue to work on such contract is a good option for some, and a not necessary one nor a good one for others. There is nothing straightly good nor bad. There is nothing only positive nor only negative. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody’s head to keep working to any places. The ones that remain have their own issues and reasons to do so. And it all depends on the cruise ship you are assigned to work on.

I personally knew the first day I got on the ship that I wasn’t going to stay nine months. I knew this wasn’t the contract that I was expecting when I took that step to work abroad and to live the adventure that was calling me for the past two years or so. I wasn’t expecting a particular ship or a particular part of the world, and I wasn’t expecting a specific monthly salary either.  I knew the number of hours I was going to work per week. I knew a little bit the kind of hard work I was getting into. I knew I was going to feel homesick, or seasick, or literally sick. I knew lot would be variable depending on the ship we were assigned to.  I knew what I was getting into because I did my research before and I was ready to experiment it. I also knew that managers could be tough, but unfortunately some employee need that push to perform so I was not going to take any of that personally.  I was prepared. I was expecting though to see some nice places around the world and to make money enough to pay some bills I left behind, to spend a little of that income in time off and build up a little financial nest while on the ship where there is no rent to pay, and in the best case scenario, to pay the flight tickets for my kids to come and spend a week on the cruise ship I was going to be on.  I felt the very first day it wasn’t going to be it, but I was going to live the experience to its best. The second day, after a few hours of work, I put my emotional switch to off to become an observer and live the experience until it was time to go, until I could no more financially afford it, which was two months later.

I talk about the emotional switch off and on because to survive and to remain yourself, and to keep your self-value as intact as possible, like I knew to keep, being an observer and not a victim would be the way to succeed. By becoming an observer without crying my heart out every night, that switch needed to be off. So I did… or so I thought I did.

For the ones that do not know me, over the past few years, I worked as a Global health therapist developing tools and helping people in reaching their authentic self and being grateful in the hardest situations life can bring you. This cruise ship experience was an extreme life situation one, but a very fulfilling one on the self-value growth.

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I had the pleasure writing and remembering lots of great moments I cherish.

 

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Chapter titles (in progress)

1. It’s all about positive perception, experience and age… I said
2. The preparation
3. Keep calm and go to London
4. The Academy… or the Stepford Wives’ switch
5. Sea survival ❤
6. Costa crociere here I come!
7. Italy? Me? Really?
8. Canada! What are you doing here?
9. The new weekly calendar
10. Deck 10
11. Behind the elevator
12. Smile, makeup and tears
13. The cruise ship à rabais
14. Gangway
15. Embarkation day… the terminal
16. The vegetarian nurse, the mess
17. Roomatesss with sss
18. Laundry room
19. The biggest one and the worse one… no blame
20. The United Nation team
21. Port days
22. Sea days
23. Sea sick
24. Time off you said?!
25. French guests
26. Boat drills or 149 stairs down, 60 stairs up and 30 down again… plus 20 more down
27. Port manning
28. Managersss, you gotta love them
29. Daily meetings
30. Sharks on board
31. You don’t speak Italian? You have an attitude problem 😉
32. International sign languages 🙂
33. No parlato Italian but my mano international 😛
34. Internet access
35. Messenger with friends and family
36. How it looks fabulous on FB for my friends
37. Water… SOS hair… SOS skin
38. Inside my bra 😉
39. The truth or not the truth?
40. Numbers
41. Pay day may day
42. Have you seen Christmas?
43. New year’s eve, to dance or not to dance?
44. After work activities
45. Canada! What are you doing here? You make more here than in Canada?!
46. Transfer or no transfer
47. Where do you live between contracts?
48. It’s all about positive perception, experience and age… and reality
49. Signing off
50. My last day
51. Getting my brain again
52. It’s Friday, OMG it’s Friday!
53. What now?