Settling In...

And the snow continues to melt. The ice is gone off of many of the lakes, although not all. And as routine settles in, I wonder what there is of interest to write. So, do not be surprised if sometimes the blog entries don't come as often as I would have thought. Today's a good day to write. 1. I'm off today. 2. It's a good thing to do while the laundry is getting done. 3. Sunday morning is a great day to do laundry because so many go to church leaving the washers and dryer (yes, that's singular on the dryer) free.

Work is settling into a fairly predictable routine. That said, a day doesn't go by that a guest doesn't come up with a question to which I have no clue what the answer is. Yesterday's question was: Can we bring alcohol onto the ship? The answer (at least for Holland America ships here in Alaska): You must carry all alcohol with you via the gangway through security and declare it. They will allow you to keep wine and champagne in your stateroom. Beer and liquor will be kept by security and returned you the day before final debarkation. I can only hope it doesn't come back watered down. (That's a joke!)

The said thing is that sometimes when you don't know the answer immediately, the guests assume you should and can get cranky. Here is one example in what was said is not what the guest heard. One cranky guest approached the desk and asked where his tickets were for his excursions in Whitehorse and Denali because he said the ship had told him his tour director would have them and his tour director didn't have them immediately here in Skagway. The irate guest told me that this was strike two for me. It was one of those times that I got very calm and spoke to him in a low, soothing, professional voice. The final answer was: he already had his tickets preprinted off his itinerary info he downloaded when he booked his cruise and excursions. He ended with two quotes. The first:

"There were four people - Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it but Nobody did. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody would not do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody."

And the second quote: "In God we trust. All require follow-up." He stormed away and his wife thanked us profusely for all of our help. She knew. Some people just lash out at the nearest thing/person that looks like a punching bag. It has nothing to do with the punching bag herself.

And my final wry note on guests for today was that the tour guide providing narration on the train said she recently had a guest who asked how often the forest service went up and rebuilt the glaciers. Here's your sign. The monthly "Skaguway News"...that's (yes, indeed) the MONTHLY local newspaper has a small column that includes these kind of guest questions. VERY funny stuff.

All that negativity aside, most guests have very good logistical questions...like the one about whether they can take alcohol on the ship and we are all very happy to help them with that, find lost items...often calling dispatch to search the coaches, the WP&YR railroad to search the train and local vendors...vendors meaning both shopkeepers as well as those vendors who provide the excursions. It is a pleasure to help the guests with these matters. And it is a pleasure also to laugh in private about glacier building.

It is still spring here and as the wind blows through Skagway, lilac scent abounds. How lucky am I!!!! White lilacs, light purple lilacs, dark purple lilacs and yesterday near the train depot: darkish purple lilac buds tipped with white. Blessed indeed! Skagway in its various spellings and definitions always has the Tlingit meaning of bad wind, north wind or strong wind. Indeed, we had quite a wind storm the other day with every surface powdered with local dust. Alas, our bedroom had been open while this was going on and we were both at work.

We embrace these lilac scented blessings because they're there and not everything is beautiful. We are extremely fortunate that our view out our "dorm"/hotel window has a vacant lot with grass and a mountain view. My co-worker Sarah's room looks down on the alley and the next building. In the alley are dumpsters and an old toilet. I am grateful. So what do our living areas look like here at the Westmark? Prepare now for some not so scenic photos.


On the kitchen, note the communal towel. It serves as dish towel and pot holder for all bazillion of us. Someone does wash it from time to time. Or some of us have learned to tolerate some mildly toasted fingertips. On the opposite wall to the stove are 3 refrigerators.



We've tried to make the most of our space in our room, using bins and boxes for extra tables and putting suitcases and extra blankets on top of the wardrobes. As for the bedroom, although we are not supposed to put any holes into the walls or hang things, there were already some holes and some things on the walls. So we're able to hang our calendar on a paper clip hanging out of a hole. We also have a North to Alaska map and a Yukon map. It reminds me of just how big Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia are.

Yesterday, our company had a Skagway-division wide meeting. In it they announce the employee of the month. No, not either of us. It was Jared, a most deserving driver who is always pleasant and helpful to all staff and guests. However, I AM proud to report that my wonderful husband was named a Star of the Moment one day for picking up some extra transfers when things got unexpectedly busy. They picked 5 "Stars" from the month of May to win prizes and Mike won a thumb drive! It's a little thing, but I was wanting one and had forgotten the one we had at home and didn't want to pay the premium price at the Skagway Radio Shack. More importantly, I am very proud of him just because of who he is.

Most of my work on ship days, I prefer to work on the ship because I get to goof with the people and, by the way, have a good meal. I posted this photo the other day to Facebook direct from my phone. Let me explain further. It is a STAGED photo, folks! LOL...it was a cloudy day and no one was out on this particular deck, so my co-worker and I checked out the chairs and I handed her my phone and asked her to take my picture with me looking majorly slothful. I was NOT asleep. We sat for about 2 minutes just for the photo op and because we were in uniform, it was NOT a good idea to stay in the chairs. Not cool, at all. But I think it's a funny photo.

More often, I mostly strive to look professional. Rode the train yesterday, although I usually work the ship on "ship days." And it was a VERY FORTUNATE train ride. On train days, we ride up on a motor coach to Fraser and meet the train there. Tour groups are coming down on other coaches from the Yukon and board the train and take it into Skagway. There are more hills and ponds in this area than the steep slopes of Skagway. Soon after we left the Fraser depot, I looked out onto a pond and there...was a moose! The tour guide on the train is in her third season and this was the first time in those three years that she'd seen a moose in Alaska/BC. I yelled, "Moose! Moose! Moose!" Happily, the tour guide had more presence of mind and yelled out: "Moose to the LEFT!" I wish I had a video of all the people on the train car jumping and turning left. Very funny! And an excellent moment in sports!

Coming soon....bios of my co-workers once I get their permission.