Home is where the heart is...

I'm a total mess...up, down, up, down, so try and bare with me here.  You'd think I was lying if I even tried to describe how amazing the friends I've met down here are...Eeva is my Finish sister.  She's amazing - well educated, witty, funny, beautiful, and she's lived EVERYwhere.  She speaks 4 languages and I have no doubt her and I will be life-long friends.  Jenny is the first "friend" I made here...she's a Kiwi (from New Zealand and I actually studied abroad in her home town).  She came over last night to watch movies and cuddle...she's genuine and everything about our friendship has been organic seems right.  Elise and Crystal have also become like family.  They're both French Canadian's with the most laid back sense of humor and they've been doing a great job taking care of me in my "homesickness state"...I call Crystal my candlestick - she's seen Beauty and the Beast so it makes sense ;-)  Matt, James, and Matthew are all great guys as well, and the crew parties have opened up more doors for friendship than I ever could have expected.  But even with that, and the true amazingness of all that's going on around me, I'm so homesick it hurts.  I miss being able to be myself - my total sarcastic, quick-witted self (with all the cultural differences I never know if/when I'm offending someone so I've learned that it's best just to keep my mouth shut.  I miss my foul mouthed, burping, boozing, retardedly amazing friends who love me in my most demented/ugly state.  I miss my home...the only place I could go to and feel completely at peace.  I miss Halloween in Minnesota...although I'm in THE Halloween capital of this country (only way I can describe it is: Fort Lauderdale is to Halloween like New Orleans is to Mardi Gras), today's just not the same.   K, enough of that...like I said I'm so back on forth on loving it here and then wanting to move "home"... but when it comes down to it I left Minnesota for a reason and my heart just isn't there.  Truth be told I have no effing idea where my heart is...I'm trying to listen to it and just go where it wants to take me, but the logical/planning side of me is making that pretty damn hard.

Update on the job search.  Eeva and I went to a party the other night - a chef on this 185 foot boat was cooking for the crew and invited us to come (Eeva and Erik are classmates).  Anyway, I meet a guy at the party and we start talking...he asks what I'm down here for and I tell him I'm looking to be a Stew.  He says they just hired four and are looking for a fifth so we walk over to check out the boat and I fall in lovE!  It's a 180 foot FEAD ship with the most amazing interior and GREAT charter schedule!  He's giving my CV to his Chief Stew tomorrow morning so we'll see what happens :)  They ship out in 6 weeks to head to the Bahamas so I'd have a lot of daywork to keep me busy and I'd be able to live on the boat...so keep your fingers crossed for me, oh and there's a helicopter on board!!

The Boat Show has been amazing but I'm glad to be wrapping up tomorrow.  I've been told to only post things on my blog that I'd want the entire world reading so I'll keep this story to myself, but I will say my current boat "partner" has made me realize what I want and DON'T want in a crew member (I can give you details that will make your skin crawl but it'll have to be in private).

All in all, it's been a great week but I'm definitely confused on the idea of "home".  Any thoughts or wise words are definitely welcome :)

Miss you all, and I hope to have good job news in the near future.

xo,
mE



P.S  Here's me and my Finnish sis, Eeva.

Dear God...is this real life??

I'm so tired I can barley move...nothing like a day's work hasn't meant shit until tonight!  Alarm didn't go off so I woke up to a roommate of mine getting out of bed...was already 45 minutes behind schedule so I took a 2 minute shower and said screw breakfast, screw makeup, grabbed one of the outfits I bought last night and ran out to catch my cab.

Side bar - I took the bus last night...just thought you all should know.  Those of you who know me well, know the extent of that accomplishment ;-)  I went for a mani/pedi with my Finish roommate (the cutest, skinniest blond chick I've ever met who has two college degrees and has been traveling the world since she was 22) and realized half way through that I had zero clothes for the boat show so I ran to the nearest bus stop and when the driver stopped I walked up to the door and asked "does this go to a mall with real stores?" He said yep and I hopped on.

So back to the boat show...I pull up at 7:15am and it's even more amazing than the day before.  People everywhere, hauling flowers/tables/props/signs/flags and every boat sparkled like they were made of diamonds.

I met our Broker who introduced me to a friend of his, and his friend just happens to be a boat owner and world traveler who is looking for a Stew ;-)
The pay is great and the boat has over 1600 hours (all to tropical/beautiful places) and it sounds like it could be a great fit...I'll keep you posted!

K time to shower and head back out...this still doesn't feel like real life!

xo,
mE

Ok ok, I'll blog about it!

So after like 100 e-mails/text/phone calls & messages asking where I've gone and what I'm doing, I've decided to blog about this amazing adventure!  Here's a quick re-cap before I dive into it all...

I've lived in the same house my whole life, gone to school (grade school, high school, and college), worked, and purchased a condo all within a 20 MILE RADIUS of 55417, and after 26 years I've decided a change of scenery is a must.  I go to the same bars, meet/see the same people, and do the same GD thing every single weekend and although I have girlfriends who have become my sisters and a job I absolutely love, I know I have to get out.  I've been talking about moving away for years now, so what the hell - why not sell my car, quit my job, rent my place, and move down to Florida to become a boat Stewardess!?!  Logical?  Hell no.  But then again, that's the point.  To leave everything that's "logical," safe, familiar, comfortable and experience something completely foreign...to stop going through the motions of life and actually LIVE it!

So I signed up for a package deal off some random website (four yachting classes/certificates for $2,000), bought a plane ticket down to Fort Lauderdale, booked a hotel, and off I went.  I've been down here for a little over 3 weeks now and let me tell you, NOTHING about this trip has been predictable/easy/or comfortable but EVERYTHING has been absolutely amazing!!

I got down here on a Sunday, checked into my hotel and got ready for two weeks of class.  The first day of class I meet a Canadian named Kendal who thinks pregnant chicks are hot, and bam I've got a new "friend".  He introduces me to his housemates the next night after class and now I've got a South African and Bohemian friend.  So after two weeks of classes, parties, yacht networking, friend making, and moving (I moved out of my hotel and into a crew house - which can only be described as college co-ed dorm gone bad), I hit a slight bump in the road.

First hiccup: Don't make fun of me when I say this...or call me 'Grandma', but the day before I came down here I got a crown put on my tooth.  The dentist apparently went to 3 years of dental school instead of 6 because he fit my tooth wrong, and I was forced to book a f#cking plane ticket home for another horrendously painful dentist appointment.  When I got home my dad gave me an untimely letter he'd picked up in my forwarded mail.

Second hiccup:  The letter says - "Dear homeowner, congrats on your tax credit.  If for whatever reason you decide to do any of the 1,00,000 following things, you have to give it back.  (I.E - I owe a shit load of money).

Third hiccup:  I'd been down in FL for a week when I got an e-mail from my bitch of a front office lady saying she has no info on the people living in my condo and I need to fill out a rental license ASAP...if I don't fill one out I owe 50 bucks per day for every day they live there without a license.  Fortunately I had to go home for my dentist appointment anyway, so after getting my 'notice' I went into her office and said "look, this is still my primary residence, I'm dating one of the guys living in my place and every time I come home I stay at my house."  She says - I've looked into it and you've had your mail forwarded to another address, you're clearly not living there, you're required to have a rental license, end of story.  I tell her NO WAY so she says she'll bring my "case" in front of the board at their next meeting.  I ask her when the meeting is taking place, she tells me Wednesday morning.  I was supposed to fly out Monday so I cancel my flight, re-book my ticket for a week later and attend the meeting.  I explain to the panel that all my shit's still at my place, one of the guys living there is my boyfriend, my mail was just temporarily forwarded, etc etc etc so case closed.  They approved my request so I got my ass back on that damn U.S Airways plane and here I am!

I got in Saturday night (midnight),  snuggled into my new bed at my new crew house with all new roommates, woke up Sunday morning so lonely and sad I could hardly breath, so I decide to head over to my old house to say hi to my "friends".  As I'm sitting there with Jenny (my New Zealand friend), a girl who I'd met at Waxy's (a pub where Captains & Crew hangout) comes in and offers me a job.  I drive down to the boat, meet the First Mate, and start the very next morning.

And here I am!  I've been working as the sole Stewardess on a 78 foot ferretti Motor Yacht and it's been amazing.  He offered me a job through (and at) the Boat Show which gives me free access to all the docks/boats/parties/events and cash money for the next week - p.s yachties pay ain't 1/2 bad!  So the boat's interior (which I'm responsible for) has been cleaned upside down and inside out and she looks AMAZING!  We pulled her into our slip this morning and I have to be back to the docks by 7am tomorrow to meet the lady I ordered our flowers from (cross your fingers I did a good job...if these flowers are horse-shit I'm screwed).

So there it is ladies and gents, my first official blog :)   I'm exhausted and literally out of breath/finger strength so I hope you're happy!  Wish me luck tomorrow and I'll be sure to post pics of these MASSIVE "boats" and all the hot deckhands - sexy, sexy men let me tell you!

Welcome to my life for the next 365 days, it's sure to be one hell of a ride!

xo,
mE