Christmas Memories

12-17-10

Christmas is soon approaching…but honestly, it doesn’t feel like Christmas to me. This is the first time I will be without any family during Christmas, I’m a little sad-but still so grateful for all the wonderful Christmases I’ve been able to enjoy in the past, and I’m sure this one will go in the books as well. It’s funny that out of the three Dillette children, I am the youngest and only girl-but somehow I became the first to not come home for Christmas.

I was laying out on the deck the other night while we were sailing and I got to thinking about a few past Christmas memories, one in particular, our family trip to Disney world in…?? Not sure, but I was maybe 7 or 8. We visited all the parks…magic kingdom, universal studios etc. We kept going on all these kiddie rides you know-watching the little Disney movies etc and finally I decided I wanted to go on a “scary” big kids ride- Space Mountain. And can you believe, that no one wanted to go with me? My whole family was scared to go! My two big brothers, my dad and mom, they all thought I was crazy. Of course, I didn’t care-I was willing to go alone, as the ‘aggressive’ adventurer I seem to be, but Daddy wouldn’t let me go along & ended up coming with me. I was just reflecting on this story and how it was one of so many shaping experiences that have made me the person I am today. Without that strong support of my family, there is no way I’d be here today adventuring along the African Cape.

When I decided to apply for this internship, I didn’t even think twice about the support I would get from my family-nor did I think at all about the fact that I would be traveling through the most dangerous pirate waters in the world-but hey, what would life be like if we thought about eveeerryything before we did it right? Nope-I just called home one day and said, I’m going on The World! 

I will be missing you all! 

A few pictures from a late night of Christmas decorating on the ship...and a few pictures of great Christmas memories!

I guess we've grown a bit? 

Even though we talked bad about your pie...I'm gonna miss it this year mummy :) Eat an extra slice for me!

My first snowy Christmas! 

My two beautiful Grandmothers

Definitely a Daddy's girl

Christmas 2009 after an afternoon of kiteboarding 

Chef Alana~!

12-16-11

Part of my internship is to rotate through various departments in order to understand the entire operation of the ship, specifically the F&B department. The past few days I was transformed into Sushi Chef Alana! On my first night in the sushi bar-after a short lesson that morning, I joined the Executive Sushi Chef Cipriano in working on the sushi orders for that evening. At around 6 o o’clock, we got an order for 3 rolls from In Residence Dining. Cipriano pulls out a sheet of seaweed paper and starts on the first roll, while I proceed to do the same. I start making the second roll and he turns to me and says “What are you doing?” I say, “I’m making the other roll”…he smiles with a bit of a shocked look on his face and then says “wow, you’re aggressive aren’t you, I like that”-so, after a few laughs we proceed. As we get more comfortable throughout the night he tells me that he’s never had someone come in and just take charge so quickly, but hey I figured, I had learned in the morning from his Assistant, so now it was time to get in there & help. I was confused…but apparently, I’m out of the norm. I guess I have a few skills though, because I made rolls all night-the more simple ones of course-but still! He said it takes people weeks to be able to do what I did in one day-and that if I ever wanted to be a chef I would be a great sushi chef J I felt pretty proud J

I also spent a few days in pastry-which I absolutely loved! The one thing I miss about being at home is cooking! I can’t wait to come back & try all the new recipes and tips I’ve learned. Part of Christmas onboard is 30 custom made gingerbread houses which I was lucky enough to help with.

Here are a few pictures from my short lived, but very exciting days as Chef Alana. 

 A little gingerbread house action...30 in total! 

Some of the almost finished products 

Maputo, Mozambique!

MAPUTO!

12-16-11

We are now in Maputo where there are hurricane force winds, but no worries…the captain turned up the engines so we would get here a few hours earlier and avoid the open sea once the winds picked up. I went for a run this morning, the city is pretty nice, a bit dirty and congested, but that was to be expected. The water is brown so I didn’t go in this time around. However, I did go out this afternoon to the local market where they had small shacks selling amazing woodwork, fabrics, bags, paintings, jewelry etc. It was very art inspired, there were so many things I wanted to buy there…but then I thought of how much they would collect dust and probably get put into a closet eventually. So I took my mothers wise advice and went for a painting. As you can see from the pictures, there were a few hundred of them flying freely in the wind for us tourists to select from. As soon as I entered the market, one of them caught my eye and I kept thinking about it my whole walk through, but decided I would take a look around before choosing that one. First of all-it was massive, extremely colorful and had a pretty unique look to it…but I loved it! Not quite sure where I will put it yet…but I have this vision of having a room one day with a wall full of paintings I’ve bought all over the world-kind of a creative inspiration board-just a thought, but for now they will have to be happy in my little auburn apartment. I was also lucky enough to meet the artist himself Jhamba-(or so I understood him to say it that way-but we had a little trouble communicating).

Here are a few pictures from the market below.  

The many many beautiful paintings to choose from!

With the artist himself...and the painting that caught my eye! I know-I have weird taste, but I love it :P!

I resisted buying yet another bag... but they were also beautiful!