Greek Goddess

Greek Goddess

14th May 2011

As you can guess we are in Greece today. After formal night and finishing at 1am it was a struggle dragging myself out of bed at 5am. The only bonus was that I was dressing up as a Greek Goddess. 

Tugging my bed sheets off at 6am and numerous failed attempts I managed to get the sheet to look something along the lines of a toga. In the end about three people were helping me as I wasn’t quite ready when the gangway opened. We used my belt to fasten the sheets around my waist. If there was a strong wind, the guests would be getting a glimpse of my very unflattering cow pyjama shorts. Lou from Spa lent me a wired head piece with white flowers and greenery wrapped around and a Greek style bead bracelet.

Stu arrived a little before we headed onto the gangway and helped me sort the sheet a bit more to make sure it was secure. Stu was also in costume – a Greek God. He was luckily enough to have a Greek God costume. A bed sheet was simply used to go across his back and drape around his arms. In true style Stu wore his dirty Converses which stood out like a sore thumb against the whiteness of his costume. This caused a few laughs amongst the guests.

Jeni was shooting the rail. David was photographing Stu. All were shooting at the back exit of the ship. This was where all the tours were departing from so the area would be busy. Luci was shooting me at the forward exit. This exit was for guests who were going out and about on their own. Our section was far quieter but most people were saying yes to have their photo taken. Having said that, we weren’t giving them much choice. As soon as they walked out I’d put my arm around them, literally trapping them into having their photo taken, while Luci took the shot. She was standing there ready so the second the guest looked up, she’d take the photo and we’d move onto the next. People were lining up to have their photo taken; what one does, the other follows. Most guests just joined the queue without knowing what it was for.

When things didn't go quite to plan or I'd freeze up a little with nervous, Luci was straight on my case. "Grab them!" and "Don't let them go!". Having Luci on your case can be hard going but it makes you push that little bit harder to get over your nerves, get the job done and get her off your back! Luci's a great teacher to be fair.

Towards the end of the 4 hour stint on gangway Stu, Jeni and David came up to our part. Stu had a moan at me for not smudging enough. That was kind of ironic as Luci and I had the quietest section yet double the photographs!! When I started smudging he told me to not smudge the guests he’d just had a photo with. This boy was doing nothing but complain and nag me and it was starting to get on my nerves. For a while we were both having our photos taken with the guests. Athena on one side and Zeus on the other.

After gangway Luci and I headed to a great little café to use the internet. The café makes its own pizzas and pastries. The food is absolutely delicious! The place was empty so we had a reasonably fast internet connection. Unfortunately the parents weren’t online. I’m used to not seeing them all the time but I do miss speaking to them every day or every other day. Maybe another day.

Back on the ship I was in gallery. Stu was displaying the prints from gangway so I thought I’d give him a hand. The gallery was fairly empty. It was great seeing the gangway photos in print! Again, everything that I did was wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t have done, but I pointed out that it feels like he’s now being overly critical. Some of the images were about half a centimetre out and he’d move them along so all the prints were directly in line. It was the small nitty gritty things that he's picking at. Stu quitely reminded me, rather needlessly, that I’m a Photog 1, he’s Photog 2 and it’s his job to show me how things are done and how to do it properly. He’s only trying to help. That may be true, but it still feels like everything I do is wrong and it’s putting a real downer on me. When Stu talks really quietly, you know he’s doing it to avoid an argument – not that I was looking for one! I just wanted to know why the hell he was on my case so much. Hernan doesn’t get the same amount of shit I do. Thankfully a couple of guests came over so I could get away from him for a bit. I have no idea what’s up with him at the moment. Normally Stu’s a great laugh and I love working with him but at the moment, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Natasha left the ship today. As nasty as it may sound, there were a few sighs of relief. Before she’d resigned she’d been giving so many people grief and it only got worse when she handed in her notice. I’d quite frankly had enough of being spoken to as if I’m a servant and getting shouted at. David and Hernan were the same. On embarkation she had a go at Hernan for something that wasn’t his fault. He asked a couple to stop and have their photo taken and completely buggered up his English and took a couple of seconds to recompose himself and carry on. By then, two couples had walked past. She said he wasn’t doing his job properly etc. It’s easy for someone who only speaks one language.  Even though I speak fluent Spanish, I sometimes fluff my words and get muddled up. And yes, sometimes you do have to take a second or two to recompose yourself when you get nervous and/or embarrassed about not being able to get the right words out at the right time, and more importantly, doing it quick enough! Hernan’s English is getting much better – sooner or later he won’t have half as much troubles as he does now. It’s just a matter of time and practise.