I'm Singin' In Brazil, Kinda..

Alright ya’ll, my apologies for taking so long to update!!!!! We have had some intense news within the cast that has affected me directly. Whitney, our Girl 1 singer, needs to fly home to Florida to take care of her mom. She emailed the office a while ago but of course, her replacement is now going through the visa issues. Wes has asked me to step in as G1 until Tatiana can fly to Brazil and join us. When that will happen, nobody knows. We are literally at the mercy of the Brazilian government so it could be anywhere from two weeks to two months. I have been in rehearsals to learn her blocking and movement and I’ve been given her sick track to practice with. I won’t be singing live, just lip synching to her voice. Although, Derrick (the vocal captain) wanted me to sing live or record my own voice. But, I would have to sign a new contract to let them use my voice recording and if I sang live, they would have to start paying me a new salary so they would rather have me just pretend until the new singer can come. Who knows, maybe further down the road if it’s taking too long, we can persuade the office ;)

Honestly, this is a break that I greatly need. My body had been hit pretty hard with my old injury from last contract beginning to flare up again, and my ankle injury. And if that wasn’t enough, I twisted my OTHER ankle in the second Boogie show on Sunday. My theory is that because I’m not continuing to strengthen my ankles with a daily ballet class, they are weakening and are more prone to injury. It doesn’t help that I’m jumping in heels!!!! I’m just grateful that my ankles are built up enough from all my years of dancing because both incidents have been severe enough that they could have snapped the bone.

So I believe God has blessed me with this chance to “rest” but also a new challenge. And I am absorbing every second of it! I’m working on being more “pedestrian” with my movements because when I’m “singing” my movements can be too much dancing and not natural. And I need to start practicing my “singing face” in the mirror so I can be believable to the audience. This experience has helped my confidence in my singing voice and I feel if I were given the green light, I would record the songs and use them! :D But for now, I will just settle on lip synching and matching her pitch, and start taking singing lessons from Michelle. I’ve even considered singing for the crew talent show, but I think I would have to ask Derrick or someone to join me!!!!! HA HA.

There isn’t much to report about this weeks’ ports, I’ve stayed on the ship mostly because of rehearsals and practicing on my own. Last Salvador was quite a new experience though. We started the day off with a short trip to the mall, supposedly the largest mall in South America. I must say, it has nothing on the Mall of America in Minnesota, even though I’ve never been there myself. This mall was about the size of the Aventura mall in Florida, so I feel confident that my statement is correct. We walked to the beach from there and I spent the day playing football with the boys and swimming in the ocean. We took the bus and headed back into the city for some dinner. We ate at a little restaurant but I was still full from lunch so I just had ice cream :D

The nightlife began at about 7 o’clock. We could hear the drums procession in the main street and after we paid our bill, we ventured over to watch. I’m not sure if it’s a company that does this show every night or if it’s new people every time. The group is made up of adults and kids with all sizes and types of drums, all beating different rhythms that somehow flow together and vibrate in your chest. We followed them down the street and found several concert-type activities going on along the alleyways. We stopped at the largest one, facing packed bleachers and listening to the singer and his band. I was enjoying the Bob Marley type melodies when all of sudden, I was standing next to a circle of cops frisking a guy and confiscating the paraphernalia they found on him! There were too many people to shift an inch so I stayed next to them as they continued to bring people down from the concert and search them. It must have been such a strange picture, this Brazilian drug scene breaking out next to this young, obviously American, white girl. It’s a good thing I grew up in A-town, Colorado and I know how to hold my own against these thugs. (That was a joke, Mom…)

I’m not sure what adventures I will have in these next few weeks, I guess it will depend on when I have rehearsal and how much time I will have off ship. I still want to scuba dive in Ilhabela, so that will be on the top priority list. Last Ilhabela, I went on a van tour with Michelle and Derrick. They took us to a waterfall to take some pictures and then to a beach. It was across from the private island I learned about last year, where a famous author lived. We rented kayaks and circled the island, marveling at the gorgeous mansion he built. JEALOUS!!!!! 

I’m looking forward to my brother coming to cruise, I’m trying to convince him to scuba dive but I think he might only snorkel :( You can probably still see the shipwrecks from the surface but you won’t get to DISCOVER THEM!!!!! Jess and I have officially taken our snowflakes down so our walls are ugly and bland again. I wish I had use of a printer so I could make a dream board but alas, the crew one is never working.

I successfully completed the Twilight series and I’m now working on a series Jessica recommended. The first book is called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. There are a lot of conspiracy theories behind it because the author “mysteriously disappeared” after releasing the books, which supposedly contain dangerous information. There is a tour in Sweden for him and his story so I need to finish the series before we get there so I can know what to look for!

Well that’s all to report for now. I would like to shout out to my Mommy because I miss her so much and I want her to know that I’m thinking about her always. She’s the best Mom in the whole world and I love her so much. It’s so hard to be away but I’ll be home in 5 short months to take care of you Mommy!!!!! I LOVE YOU.

It's Going To Be A Great New Year!!!!

I rang in the New Year with my friends off the coast of Copacabana, watching fireworks surround the famous Jesus statue. It was spectacular. I must admit, brought tears to my eyes when I took in how blessed I was to be there, surrounded by good friends, in Brazil. Words can’t begin to describe how I felt. I was told that last year, Rio had the second best fireworks in the world, following Tokyo’s performance. I’m interested to know how this years show ranks, it was even better than last time.

The two weeks following New Years have flown by!!!! When we were in Ilha Bela, a small group of us took a cab up to a resort in the island's mountains. It was a waterfall park, built around the natural playground. We used ropes to guide us into the depths of the water, the first took us into a cavern. The second level you could go under the waterfall. Us girls took a "shower" in the freezing water. The last level was the water slide, which was literally sliding down the slippery slope of the rock. I was so scared to do it but hey, you only live once!!! Jess got a pretty funny video of me screaming the whole way down!!! :D Even though I lathered myself with the thick, honey-like, professional-heavy-duty-Brazilian bug spray, I still got bit in several places. And their bugs here don't mess around!!!! They will last for months. :/

Yesterday we were in Salvador. We took the elevator ride up to the upper city and ate at one of the many buffet restaurants. We walked to a church with a statue in front of it, and learned that the slaves were whipped at the foot of the cross. It's interesting to have discussions with Gabriel about Brazil's history, and then be able to visit key sites that shaped the future for this country.

We are on the same schedule for the next 10 weeks so I am looking into getting scuba certified in Ilha Bela, since we go there every week! Jessica is already certified so once I get my required classes out of the way, we can go on several dives together!!! :D

That's all to report down here, hopefully I will have fascinating dive stories for you in the future!!!!