This is from the finale of the past American Idol season. It is hilarious. It features Gladys Knight and three new "pips": Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. They were promoting a movie they were all in. So simple but so funny. This is why I love Jack Black.
This is a comparison of the punch dances from "Footloose" and "Hot Rod." "Footloose" has Kevin Bacon, but "Hot Rod" is so funny because it is imitating "Footloose." I laughed so hard when I realized that Andy Samberg was doing the punch dance and it was the same music. Both are on this link.
P.S. I love YouTube.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Beijing Olympics day 4
The Olympics are AMAZING. What can I say? Today I got to watch some men's water polo and white water kyaking. Tonight was kind of a slow night because the swimming and gymnastics were live so we had to wait until they actually happened. We saw the synchronized diving and the Chinese dominated yet again. Then we went to the pool. Michael Phelps won his 10th gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly and 11th in the 200 meter freestyle relay. Both were won easily and in world record time. An athlete like Michael Phelps is not likely to happen for a long time. Then it went to the women's gymnastics. USA put up an outstanding effort, very solid and hard routines but the Chinsese women were even MORE perfect and had harder things. China ended up with gold to match the men and USA got silver; they weren't very happy with their finish.
Nastia Liukin
USA Women's silver medal team
One thing that I've noticed is that when the Chinese athletes win it is gold or nothing; it is also for their country and not for themselves. China is so bent on positioning themselves as such a power in the Olympics. When athletes from the USA win they have country pride but they are more proud of their own achievements rather that what it means for their country.
It is scary the lengths that China will go toward making top athletes. The girls gymnastic teams are handpicked at age three. They are sent away to gyms and only get to see their parents once a year. The olympians are supposed to turn 16 years old in the year of the olympics but more than half of the chinsese team looks like they are 13 or 14. The Chinese claim they are 16 because their passports declare they are, but many people question the validity of this statement. Also, the Chinese men's gymnastic team is supposed to win at least 5 gold medals this olympics. Anything less will be failure.
Another statement on China and their overambition to present a certain "image" to the world. In the opening ceremonies a little 9 year old girl sang a song. News has come out saying she lip synched the words while a 7 year old girl actually sang. The 7 year old was deemed not "cute" enough to be the one in the actual performance; it was actually in the nation's "best interest" to have the best voice go with the best face. In the U.S. there would be a huge outcry to the unfairness of the thing, but the 7 year old says it was an honor just to sing for the opening ceremonies. There is also news that some of the fireworks were digitally added in for television effect. The Chinese weren't sure they would be able to be seen very well. I'm also guessing if China does not end up with the most total gold medals, not just medals, it will not be happy with that. I know that the U.S always has a kind of arrogance that we are the best and are going to win, but China is in a different way. I shouldn't talk though, if the U.S. men's basketball team gets less than gold it will be a failure. But it won't affect the U.S.'s status in the world quite like a similar situation would be for China. It will be interesting to hear how China views the olympics after they end...we shall see.
Jiang Yuyuan
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Beijing Olympics day 3
Another great day, I got to see some men's beach volleyball and the women's water polo match against China. Both teams won. Congrats to the swim team for yet another great night. American's got at least two medals in many of the finals. Michael Phelps got another gold today tying him with four others for most career golds. He also set more world records. That guy is such an amazing swimmer and his body was just built for it. Watching one of his races on one of his turns he gained almost half a body length without any strokes. He will definately be remembered for a long, long time. USA also got repeat gold in both the men's and women's 100 meter backstroke, Aaron Peirsol repeated gold for the men and Natalie Coughlin repeated for the women. Both swam very fast times against hard fields. Another notice of the night was the men's gymnastic team. They had some flubs on their qualifying round and are missing both Paul and Morgan Hamm so they weren't expected to do very well. But the men put in a solid effort and were even leading at one point during rotation. The Chinese are too much to deal with though, they do absurdly difficult stuff and score really high. The men ended up getting bronze but Jonathan Horton was solid on event after event. He proved that he was worthy of the Olympic team. He really turned in an impressive performance for the night.
Aaron Peirsol
Aaron Peirsol in Athens, 2004
Natalie Coughlin
I love the commercials during the Olympics. Companies usually put tons of money into advertising and have really good ones. My favorites are: Visa which has Morgan Freeman narrating about different past Olympic stories, sometimes they make me cry; Nike which has a montage of a bunch of different sports that aren't even in the Olympics but they have people winning medals and falling down during the race, the part that makes me cry is when they show Lance Armstrong curled up in a bed, bald from chemotherapy, and the next image is of Lance on a bike in a yellow jersey leading the Tour de France; and Oreo which has a little red haired girl on a train with her mom, she looks out a window while eating her Oreo and a little Chinese girl is in another train next to her with an Oreo also mimmicking the same actions as the first girl. She waves after eating her Oreo, when she turns to get her mom to look at her new friend the train has pulled away, it's very cute.
New one I found with Jackie Chan and Yao Ming.
I love Bob Costas. He has the coolest job in the world and he is hilarious, just listen to him commentate sometime. He is always making jokes if he can.
New one I found with Jackie Chan and Yao Ming.
I love Bob Costas. He has the coolest job in the world and he is hilarious, just listen to him commentate sometime. He is always making jokes if he can.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Beijing Olympics day 1 & 2
The Beijing Olympics have been wonderful so far. The only thing I can complain about is that with only having one channel I am restricted to the sports they show me on NBC regular. They show swimming and gymnastics. The heats and semis for everything. I'd rather watch some water polo or something. **Side note-I am actually not sure if I am getting everything on the right day. China being some 15 hours ahead of my time zone makes tv broadcasting difficult. Some events are live, some are not. They have an agreement with the swimming to hold the finals in the morning so that they can be broadcast during primetime in the U.S. So I do the best I can with getting things to the right day. Today I watched Michael Phelps swim at night in Beijing and then after getting a good nights sleep he came back and swam some more. Isn't tape delay wonderful? ##Other side note-I hate the NBC lady at the swimming pool. She is a terrible interviewer. Please get someone else.
Day 1-Michael Phelps wins his first gold of the Olympics well on his way to set more records. The highlight of the day was probably USA going 1, 2, 3 in the women's sabre competition. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson, and another 18 year old beat everyone else in the quick paced competition. Zagunis repeated gold from 2004.
Day 2-USA vs. China in basketball. The basketball team has gone from the "Dream Team" to the "Redeem Team" because apparantly they are embarassed about only winning bronze in Athens. USA spanked China but it was fun because Yao Ming got to play for his country. USA dominated in the swimming arena. The men's 4x100 freestyle relay was supposed to be won by the French. Some French swimmer even made some snotty comments about the USA team. They wanted to come back to their gold medal having been beaten in Sydney and Athens. Michael Phelps led the team and put in a solid effort. Garrett Webber-Gale put in the second leg and helped keep the Americans in contention. France and Australia were both putting on good shows. During the race many teams were ahead of world record pace. Cullen Jones swam the third leg, he slowed down the Americans a bit but still put in a good effort. Jason Lezak was the anchor and final leg of the race going up against France's Alain Bernard. Lezak was right behind Bernard for most of the leg. Bernard was leading at the 50 meter mark. Then with almost 25 meters left to go Lezak really turned on the burners and caught up with Bernard. The race was so close that it was only decided who won by looking at the times. USA won!!! They got the gold back and beat those Frenchies. Lezak is considered an older competitor but he came through for team USA. They also beat the world record. As did four of the other teams which meant it was a very fast race. People are calling it probably the best relay of all time. Congrats to the men's relay team for winning in such dramatic style!! Go USA!
Day 1-Michael Phelps wins his first gold of the Olympics well on his way to set more records. The highlight of the day was probably USA going 1, 2, 3 in the women's sabre competition. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson, and another 18 year old beat everyone else in the quick paced competition. Zagunis repeated gold from 2004.
Day 2-USA vs. China in basketball. The basketball team has gone from the "Dream Team" to the "Redeem Team" because apparantly they are embarassed about only winning bronze in Athens. USA spanked China but it was fun because Yao Ming got to play for his country. USA dominated in the swimming arena. The men's 4x100 freestyle relay was supposed to be won by the French. Some French swimmer even made some snotty comments about the USA team. They wanted to come back to their gold medal having been beaten in Sydney and Athens. Michael Phelps led the team and put in a solid effort. Garrett Webber-Gale put in the second leg and helped keep the Americans in contention. France and Australia were both putting on good shows. During the race many teams were ahead of world record pace. Cullen Jones swam the third leg, he slowed down the Americans a bit but still put in a good effort. Jason Lezak was the anchor and final leg of the race going up against France's Alain Bernard. Lezak was right behind Bernard for most of the leg. Bernard was leading at the 50 meter mark. Then with almost 25 meters left to go Lezak really turned on the burners and caught up with Bernard. The race was so close that it was only decided who won by looking at the times. USA won!!! They got the gold back and beat those Frenchies. Lezak is considered an older competitor but he came through for team USA. They also beat the world record. As did four of the other teams which meant it was a very fast race. People are calling it probably the best relay of all time. Congrats to the men's relay team for winning in such dramatic style!! Go USA!
Michael Phelps, Garrett Webber-Gale, and Jason Lezak
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Olympics-Opening Ceremony
I just watched the opening ceremonies for the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing and I am pumped. I LOVE watching the Olympics. The opening ceremonies always inspire a sense of patriotism for America and a hope for world peace as I watch the athletes marching and representing their countries. I also get excited for the days ahead that promise to hold great stories of triumph and even failure. I get caught up in the stories of the athletes and how hard they have worked to get to the Olympics to even compete. There are many countires where the athletes have no hope of winning a medal, but they are still proud to represent their country just the same.
Now the opening ceremonies tonight represented a lot for the Chinese people. They want badly to show the world that they have become a great nation that should stand as a superpower once again. I really enjoyed the creative dancing and all the performances. I always get a little emotional when they have little kids. This time they had chinese children dressed up in costumes singing a song to welcome everyone. Bob Costas said they were the best opening ceremonies ever, but I'd have to say Salt Lake or Sydney's were better.
My favorite story of the night was this: Yao Ming is a famous basketball player who plays for the Houston Rockets. He is 7 feet 6 inches and was chosen to carry the flag for China. As he walked in there was a little boy who was waving around two little flags, one was the chinese flag and one was the olympic flag. Then Bob Costas told us why he was there. The little boy's name is Lin Hao and he is 9 years old. Lin was in school when China suffered the devastating earthquakes in Sichuan Provice that killed 70,000 people in May of this year. After the earthquake destroyed his school he pulled himself from the rubble and then pulled two of his classmates from the rubble also. When asked why he did this he stated that he was a leader in his class, he was the hall monitor and it was his job to take care of the others. Lin Hao was brave and only thought of helping others. He represented a lot when he walked along side of Yao Ming and the Chinese flag. The earthquake hit the country hard and devastated the lives of many people. Lin Hao is a picture of hope and healing for all of the Chinese people. Later on, he probably had the best seat in the house as Yao Ming lifted him up and held him so Lin could be able to see over all the people. He should have had a great view from the 7 foot 6 inch Ming.
Now the opening ceremonies tonight represented a lot for the Chinese people. They want badly to show the world that they have become a great nation that should stand as a superpower once again. I really enjoyed the creative dancing and all the performances. I always get a little emotional when they have little kids. This time they had chinese children dressed up in costumes singing a song to welcome everyone. Bob Costas said they were the best opening ceremonies ever, but I'd have to say Salt Lake or Sydney's were better.
My favorite story of the night was this: Yao Ming is a famous basketball player who plays for the Houston Rockets. He is 7 feet 6 inches and was chosen to carry the flag for China. As he walked in there was a little boy who was waving around two little flags, one was the chinese flag and one was the olympic flag. Then Bob Costas told us why he was there. The little boy's name is Lin Hao and he is 9 years old. Lin was in school when China suffered the devastating earthquakes in Sichuan Provice that killed 70,000 people in May of this year. After the earthquake destroyed his school he pulled himself from the rubble and then pulled two of his classmates from the rubble also. When asked why he did this he stated that he was a leader in his class, he was the hall monitor and it was his job to take care of the others. Lin Hao was brave and only thought of helping others. He represented a lot when he walked along side of Yao Ming and the Chinese flag. The earthquake hit the country hard and devastated the lives of many people. Lin Hao is a picture of hope and healing for all of the Chinese people. Later on, he probably had the best seat in the house as Yao Ming lifted him up and held him so Lin could be able to see over all the people. He should have had a great view from the 7 foot 6 inch Ming.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Vacation Chronicles Part 3
In this next, and hopefully last, post on my cruise I will go through some of the things that happed during each day of vacation.
Thursday June 26th-Stephen, Jillian and I leave for Portland. Mom, Dad and Gretchen have gone down earlier to spend a few days at Disney World. Somewhere on the highway a truck has caught on fire and that slows down traffic for awhile. We get a little lost finding the hotel but a u-turn takes us to the right spot. I caught a little "America's Best Dance Crew" but we had to go to bed seeing as how we had a 5:00 A.M. wake up call. I was happy I brought my earplugs because hotels are usually noisy and Stephen breathes loud when he sleeps.
Friday June 27th-Early in the morning we headed for the airport. Stephen left his car at the hotel and they shuttled us over. Stephen's plane actually left an hour after ours but we all had to go together. It was the first time I had been through airport security since I had broken my femur and had a rod put in so I was kind of hoping it would set off the metal detector but pretty sure that if it did I would pee my pants. I did not set off the detector and I am still pretty bummed about that. Jillian and Stephen got something to eat because we had a long day ahead of us. Mom was worried about us eating ok, she called us several times before we left. Jillian and I flew from Portland to Salt Lake where we had to change planes. I thought we had huge amounts of time so we bought lunch but it was really gross because of some fancy mustard. Well we lost track of time and while we were eating we heard a page "Meagan and Jillian Carr please report to gate B 15" Oh crap, we were going to miss our plane. We made it because those nice ladies called us but we didn't get seats together. After we got on the pilot annouced that we were flying to St. Louis. I was scared because I thought not only did we miss our plane but we are going to be only halfway to Orlando! It turns out we had a stop that we didn't know about and we continued on to Orlando. Once we got off the plane the humidity hit and I was reminded why I don't live there. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Jillian's hair started to frizz out immediately. We met Stephen at the terminal and went to go collect our luggage. I made Jillian promise me not to tell anyone that we almost missed our plane from SLC. We called the hotel and the shuttle came to pick us up from the airport. It wasn't too far away. We checked in and then went looking for somewhere to eat. The hotel guy Dave offered to drive us but we said we wanted to walk since we had been sitting on a plane all day. We walked a few blocks to Chilis and had dinner. It was a good thing it didn't rain while we were out. We decided not to stay up for the rest of the family because they would be in Disney World until late. Jillian rolled into me in the middle of the night and kept trying to get close to me until she realized it was me and not a wall.
Saturday June 28th-We woke up and had breakfast at a really good contential breakfast bar provided by the hotel. Dad was doing laundry. We had a while to wait until we would go back to the airport to get the shuttle to take us down to the cruise ship. I watched Harry Potter #5 for a little while. When we got to the airport we met up with Uncle Randy, Aunt Tracy, Bethany and Emily. It didn't take long for Uncle Randy to start annoying everyone and start bashing on teaching. The shuttle came, we got on it, drove to Port Canaveral. The trees go up to the highway so there is nothing to look at as you drive. At the port there were massive amounts of people unloading, people taking luggage, and Dad forgot to print out the luggage tags. They worked it out and were able to send our luggage to the right room. We got security checked, passport checked, and given our sail and sign cards. Then we boarded the ship and checked out our rooms. They were bigger than I thought they would be and I was suprised to see that the bunk beds came out from the ceiling. Grandma was having a cow because the rooms weren't working out. She had to have someone over 25 in every room when she booked but was planning on switching people when she got there. It wasn't working out in her mind and Uncle Russell was planning on having all his family sleep in one room. But we worked it out and Grandma calmed down. Jillian and I went and toured the ship, entered for a free spa treatment, and tried out the ice cream cone machine. The first of many. We found a large chess board and I pretended to be Harry Potter #1 and said "Knight to H-3!" We had the boat drill and then went to our first dinner. Gretchen, Jillian and I were assigned to eat at the same table as Uncle Russell and his youngest kids so it wasn't very fun the first night. There wasn't a lot of chatting. Then we went to a welcome show that wasn't very exciting. Then Russell's kids got in trouble because they weren't where they were supposed to be and were grounded to their room. I think we tried to play cards that night but it wasn't too exciting .We learned that we were going to be bored a lot. Russell's kids had stupid rules that didn't make any sense. Mary and Libby couldn't go anywhere unless they were with Adam who was younger than Mary. But they trusted him because he was a boy. But they didn't trust the kids with any of their cousins who were all 18 or older. Plus the girls were on diets and told they had better come home from the cruise having lost weight. Ridiculous. Those girls are skinny already. Their mom is out of control.
Sunday June 29th-we slept in, Jillian and I went to the gym. Then we went to the pool which was little and full of salt water and people. Then we laid out in deck chairs. After another ice cream cone I think we went in to shower and get ready for dinner which was the first of our two formal nights. The waiters sung an Italian song to us. Grandma made everyone mad by trying to switch up the seating at dinner. She wanted people to get to know one another. We went to another show that was singing and dancing but it wasn't very good. The girls were dressed like vegas showgirls half the time. I don't remember what else we did, but guess what, we were bored.
Monday June 30th-Cozumel Mexico-we had to get off the boat a little eary because we had an excursion. I didn't get to see much of Cozumel but it looked cool. We got on a ferry that took us to the main land, it rocked a little bit and Stephen got a little seasick. After walking throught the city a little bit we got onto buses. We drove and stopped at a store where they sell Mayan handicrafts. Dad really liked the black onyx sculptures. We got back on the bus and our guide Manuel told us a little about what we would see. He also told us that Mayans are born with birthmarks on their spines, and that the birthmarks are similiar to the ones mongolians get. Manuel was a mestizo which meant his race was mixed. His dad is Mayan and his mom was from Spain. We got to the national park in Tulum and these guys were hassling people to buy their hats. They were putting them on our heads. I gave mine back but mom bought one. She had already gotten burnt at Disney World. We walked down the trail and I was already buring up. It was so hot there. I think the hottest place all vacation. Then we entered through a tunnel and could see the really cool ruins. It was interesting to learn about the Mayans and how much knowledge they had about math and science. There were different temples and buildings for the royalty. The buildings actually used to be painted a tealish blue but it has worn down over time. There is one special building in the ruins of Tulum, Mexico. Because of where it is situated on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, when the sun gets in the right place in the sky, a beam of light shoots through the building and splits the valley. Thousands of mayans come every year to witness the event. It is so cool that they knew that much and were able to use their technology. After listening to Manuel for a little bit we got to walk around and look at the buildings. Then it was too hot. Jillian, Stephen and I went down to the beach to go swim. We made the mistake of not wearing our swimsuits underneath so Jillian had to hold a towel up while I changed and I had to do the same for her. Gretchen eventually came down too. The ocean in Tulum was really salty and had great waves. I tried to body surf and made it a couple of times. There is a coral reef just off the coast and it is the second largest in the world after the great barrier reef in Australia. Manuel said it is what makes the water so green and blue. The color of the ocean there was amazing. Really turquoise. We walked back to the bus and I was chaffing a lot. Gretchen had met a LDS guy who studies the ruins and talked to him a bit. He told her to stop by on the way back but we couldn't find him. He has all these things that he thinks are old Nephite things in the ruins. They gave us a cold towel to cool off with when we got back to the bus. It was amazing. Then we also got snacks, mexican lays potato chips, ritz cheese crackers, and cupcakes with frosting in the middle called pinguinos. I loved it! Then we had a good nap on the way back and also on the ferry back over to Cozumel. We were almost the last people on the boat. I don't remember what we did that night but safe to say it probably wasn't exciting. Maybe that was the night we went to Karaoke. I don't know. I'm glad I went to Karaoke though. There were a lot of songs I wanted to try but I'm glad I sang Journey. I made Bub sing it with me and mom had a hoot! I want a Karaoke machine for Christmas. I really liked Tulum, Mexico because it was so cool to see the ruins and learn about the history. It was really hot there, Oh and we saw the mormon missionaries visiting there on their P-day so we said hello! It was crazy. Tulum was awsome and it was fun to swim in such a picturesque setting in a warm ocean.
Ok, my fingers are cramping up, I will finish later...
Thursday June 26th-Stephen, Jillian and I leave for Portland. Mom, Dad and Gretchen have gone down earlier to spend a few days at Disney World. Somewhere on the highway a truck has caught on fire and that slows down traffic for awhile. We get a little lost finding the hotel but a u-turn takes us to the right spot. I caught a little "America's Best Dance Crew" but we had to go to bed seeing as how we had a 5:00 A.M. wake up call. I was happy I brought my earplugs because hotels are usually noisy and Stephen breathes loud when he sleeps.
Friday June 27th-Early in the morning we headed for the airport. Stephen left his car at the hotel and they shuttled us over. Stephen's plane actually left an hour after ours but we all had to go together. It was the first time I had been through airport security since I had broken my femur and had a rod put in so I was kind of hoping it would set off the metal detector but pretty sure that if it did I would pee my pants. I did not set off the detector and I am still pretty bummed about that. Jillian and Stephen got something to eat because we had a long day ahead of us. Mom was worried about us eating ok, she called us several times before we left. Jillian and I flew from Portland to Salt Lake where we had to change planes. I thought we had huge amounts of time so we bought lunch but it was really gross because of some fancy mustard. Well we lost track of time and while we were eating we heard a page "Meagan and Jillian Carr please report to gate B 15" Oh crap, we were going to miss our plane. We made it because those nice ladies called us but we didn't get seats together. After we got on the pilot annouced that we were flying to St. Louis. I was scared because I thought not only did we miss our plane but we are going to be only halfway to Orlando! It turns out we had a stop that we didn't know about and we continued on to Orlando. Once we got off the plane the humidity hit and I was reminded why I don't live there. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Jillian's hair started to frizz out immediately. We met Stephen at the terminal and went to go collect our luggage. I made Jillian promise me not to tell anyone that we almost missed our plane from SLC. We called the hotel and the shuttle came to pick us up from the airport. It wasn't too far away. We checked in and then went looking for somewhere to eat. The hotel guy Dave offered to drive us but we said we wanted to walk since we had been sitting on a plane all day. We walked a few blocks to Chilis and had dinner. It was a good thing it didn't rain while we were out. We decided not to stay up for the rest of the family because they would be in Disney World until late. Jillian rolled into me in the middle of the night and kept trying to get close to me until she realized it was me and not a wall.
Saturday June 28th-We woke up and had breakfast at a really good contential breakfast bar provided by the hotel. Dad was doing laundry. We had a while to wait until we would go back to the airport to get the shuttle to take us down to the cruise ship. I watched Harry Potter #5 for a little while. When we got to the airport we met up with Uncle Randy, Aunt Tracy, Bethany and Emily. It didn't take long for Uncle Randy to start annoying everyone and start bashing on teaching. The shuttle came, we got on it, drove to Port Canaveral. The trees go up to the highway so there is nothing to look at as you drive. At the port there were massive amounts of people unloading, people taking luggage, and Dad forgot to print out the luggage tags. They worked it out and were able to send our luggage to the right room. We got security checked, passport checked, and given our sail and sign cards. Then we boarded the ship and checked out our rooms. They were bigger than I thought they would be and I was suprised to see that the bunk beds came out from the ceiling. Grandma was having a cow because the rooms weren't working out. She had to have someone over 25 in every room when she booked but was planning on switching people when she got there. It wasn't working out in her mind and Uncle Russell was planning on having all his family sleep in one room. But we worked it out and Grandma calmed down. Jillian and I went and toured the ship, entered for a free spa treatment, and tried out the ice cream cone machine. The first of many. We found a large chess board and I pretended to be Harry Potter #1 and said "Knight to H-3!" We had the boat drill and then went to our first dinner. Gretchen, Jillian and I were assigned to eat at the same table as Uncle Russell and his youngest kids so it wasn't very fun the first night. There wasn't a lot of chatting. Then we went to a welcome show that wasn't very exciting. Then Russell's kids got in trouble because they weren't where they were supposed to be and were grounded to their room. I think we tried to play cards that night but it wasn't too exciting .We learned that we were going to be bored a lot. Russell's kids had stupid rules that didn't make any sense. Mary and Libby couldn't go anywhere unless they were with Adam who was younger than Mary. But they trusted him because he was a boy. But they didn't trust the kids with any of their cousins who were all 18 or older. Plus the girls were on diets and told they had better come home from the cruise having lost weight. Ridiculous. Those girls are skinny already. Their mom is out of control.
Sunday June 29th-we slept in, Jillian and I went to the gym. Then we went to the pool which was little and full of salt water and people. Then we laid out in deck chairs. After another ice cream cone I think we went in to shower and get ready for dinner which was the first of our two formal nights. The waiters sung an Italian song to us. Grandma made everyone mad by trying to switch up the seating at dinner. She wanted people to get to know one another. We went to another show that was singing and dancing but it wasn't very good. The girls were dressed like vegas showgirls half the time. I don't remember what else we did, but guess what, we were bored.
Monday June 30th-Cozumel Mexico-we had to get off the boat a little eary because we had an excursion. I didn't get to see much of Cozumel but it looked cool. We got on a ferry that took us to the main land, it rocked a little bit and Stephen got a little seasick. After walking throught the city a little bit we got onto buses. We drove and stopped at a store where they sell Mayan handicrafts. Dad really liked the black onyx sculptures. We got back on the bus and our guide Manuel told us a little about what we would see. He also told us that Mayans are born with birthmarks on their spines, and that the birthmarks are similiar to the ones mongolians get. Manuel was a mestizo which meant his race was mixed. His dad is Mayan and his mom was from Spain. We got to the national park in Tulum and these guys were hassling people to buy their hats. They were putting them on our heads. I gave mine back but mom bought one. She had already gotten burnt at Disney World. We walked down the trail and I was already buring up. It was so hot there. I think the hottest place all vacation. Then we entered through a tunnel and could see the really cool ruins. It was interesting to learn about the Mayans and how much knowledge they had about math and science. There were different temples and buildings for the royalty. The buildings actually used to be painted a tealish blue but it has worn down over time. There is one special building in the ruins of Tulum, Mexico. Because of where it is situated on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, when the sun gets in the right place in the sky, a beam of light shoots through the building and splits the valley. Thousands of mayans come every year to witness the event. It is so cool that they knew that much and were able to use their technology. After listening to Manuel for a little bit we got to walk around and look at the buildings. Then it was too hot. Jillian, Stephen and I went down to the beach to go swim. We made the mistake of not wearing our swimsuits underneath so Jillian had to hold a towel up while I changed and I had to do the same for her. Gretchen eventually came down too. The ocean in Tulum was really salty and had great waves. I tried to body surf and made it a couple of times. There is a coral reef just off the coast and it is the second largest in the world after the great barrier reef in Australia. Manuel said it is what makes the water so green and blue. The color of the ocean there was amazing. Really turquoise. We walked back to the bus and I was chaffing a lot. Gretchen had met a LDS guy who studies the ruins and talked to him a bit. He told her to stop by on the way back but we couldn't find him. He has all these things that he thinks are old Nephite things in the ruins. They gave us a cold towel to cool off with when we got back to the bus. It was amazing. Then we also got snacks, mexican lays potato chips, ritz cheese crackers, and cupcakes with frosting in the middle called pinguinos. I loved it! Then we had a good nap on the way back and also on the ferry back over to Cozumel. We were almost the last people on the boat. I don't remember what we did that night but safe to say it probably wasn't exciting. Maybe that was the night we went to Karaoke. I don't know. I'm glad I went to Karaoke though. There were a lot of songs I wanted to try but I'm glad I sang Journey. I made Bub sing it with me and mom had a hoot! I want a Karaoke machine for Christmas. I really liked Tulum, Mexico because it was so cool to see the ruins and learn about the history. It was really hot there, Oh and we saw the mormon missionaries visiting there on their P-day so we said hello! It was crazy. Tulum was awsome and it was fun to swim in such a picturesque setting in a warm ocean.
Ok, my fingers are cramping up, I will finish later...
The temple in Tulum, Mexico
The beach in Tulum, Mexico
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Vacation Chronicles Part 2
I said I wanted to write about the people on the ship. First of all, most of them are foreign. A lot are from Asia. Most of the people in the spa and gym seemed to be from South Africa. All of the stewards, waiters, and food service people were from Asia especially Indonesia. I'm still trying to decide if it is because Carnival wants the ship to look exotic or if they can pay them less. I also learned that they sign contracts for 4 to 6 months at a time and then get like 2 months off. I feel so bad for them. They have to be away from their families for so long at a time. Even when they get off duty the employees still have to stay on the stupid ship. Some people might like it but I certainly wouldn't. Most of the employees I ran into were very friendly and said hello.
Although we never met the stewards I felt a connection with them. They cleaned our room all the time, made our beds, pulled the covers down, left mints and fresh towels especially the towel animals. Really good service. And this was done while we were gone from our rooms. Sometimes the most exciting thing was go see what animal was on our bed after dinner. Here is one:
Our waiters were the people on the ship we got to know the best. They assign you dinner times and tables so you have the same people every day. We sat in the Golden dinning room lower and were at table 115. We had the best waiters in the world! Walter was the headwaiter and Made (Mah-day) was the waiter. We got to know them a little bit on the first night. Walter is from Peru. His english was very good but it was hard for the older people to understand him sometimes. Gretchen told him I knew Spanish and he tried to speak with me. I understood him just fine but I am terrible at speaking. I wish I could have spoken with him more in spanish but I felt like a privlidged little white girl who thinks she's bilingual trying out her spanish on the native. But he was cool about it and usually asked how I was doing in spanish each night at dinner. He had been working on the ship for about five weeks when we got there and was signed up for a 6 month tour. Walter has been working on cruises for about 6 years. He was so good to us. Grandma left it up to him to decide what to eat every night. He picked the appetizer, main course and dessert. Usually he picked well. One night Grandma had a pork chop or something and he offered to cut it up for her. Every night after that Walter cut up Grandma's food for her. Jillian even had her food cut up for her a couple of times. Walter was patient with my large family crowd. He would joke that he would bring us warm chocolate melting cake every night because my family liked it so much. He also started bringing us two things of ice cream because one was not enough to eat the whole cake with. Walter was a little shy though, he didn't get really crazy on the nights of the singing and dancing. Dinner was an amazing experience. They would replace our silverware after each course. They had service plates you don't eat off of but they take them away depending on what food you get. Dad's goal was to keep his because he thought Walter took his away because it was always messy. Dad finally asked why they took his plate away and not others. That was when he learned the truth. Made was from Indonesia. His english wasn't as good but he was friendly. I think he has a teen son or daugher at home. Made wore these crazy glasses during the dancing and singing. The eyes looked like they were spinning out of control. Walter and Made made dinner fun and we didn't want to eat anywhere else because they treated us so well. Walter even tried to get my little cousin Eve to eat when she would only eat bananas and yogurt. I felt sorry for Walter because sometimes he had to work the late eating parties they had, after his usual shift of dinners. We saw him at the midnight buffet. I often wonder how he felt about all these people being so glutonous on food. Did he think we were weird for eating so much? Does his country have a lot of underfed people? It must be interesting experiencing the opulence of the cruise ship and then returning to one's home country that may be a lot poorer. Since we saw them every night we got to know them a little. I really enjoyed Walter and Made. They are some of my favorite memories from vacation and I hope they are well wherever they are!
Me and Walter
Jillian and Made
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