Friday, October 8th

Friday was another late start, as expected, since we stayed out so late the night before. The day was spent packing, participating in last-chance activities, and refining the tan lines. "Controlled tanning" was the term most commonly used.

I went to the spa, cause they were having specials that day. Was really good, almost fell asleep during the facial. Felt very relaxed and calm and clean afterwards =) But of course, I went rock climbing afterwards!! Actually, I *tried* to go rock climbing, found out how weak I really am, and that I was pretty tired still, so came back down without finishing. I think I would need a lot more upper body workouts before I could ever get up the wall. That or lose weight so that my measly arms could get my body weight up the wall.

I went back to the stateroom to pack and clean. It takes me awhile, I'm a slow packer, never mind the fact that I don't like packing and unpacking. Got it all done, eventually, and even went down to order my prints of our posed photographs. Got it in the nifty folder thing as a surprize for my parents.

During dinner we were chatting with Adrian, and asked about him and his future, whether he wants to stay on the ship, etc. He told us about wanting to go home (he's engaged) and that this was a job to save money to bring home. In Romania, it's hard to save money, even if you have a good education, because of the economy there. Then he dropped the bomb: he is educated as an accountant!!!

We all cracked up, and told him that we were ALL accountants! All 6 of us (excluding mom and dad of course) were accountants and were still in public practice! He thought the coincidence was just as amusing as we did. He had figured out that I was there with my parents, but wasn't sure how everyone else knew each other.

The after-dinner show was the wrap up of the cruise, including brief performances from the singers and the dancers, as well as the viewing of the Cruise In Review video. You can prolly imagine how shocked we were to see ourselves in the video, as well as the shrieking laughter that followed both incidences.

I went back to the stateroom to finish packing (cause I'm slow), while everyone else headed up to the Jazz club to watch the four singers perform. I had promised Ryan I'd go watch him sing in the Karaoke contest, so I went there first, before heading up to the Jazz club. Unfortunately, just when I got there, Carl had finished singing, so I had missed my chance to sit close and watch and listen to him sing too!! But no fear, we devised and alternate plan. When they were done performing, we found Shawn first (he was closer), and took pics with him. GKY really wanted to go meet Kristin, who happened to be with Carl =) So we went over and started talk to them. Of course, I wasn't paying much attention to Kristin, haha...

Carl's a great guy, and arm candy too! I was totally hooked, not only was he cute, he also had an English accent, having grown up in UK. I think he was more excited to talk to us, than we were to talk to him. He was especially excited because we were Chinese, and that we spoke Cantonese. Being mixed (father from Hong Kong, mum from England), he was always looking for Chinese people to hang out with and practice Chinese with, but opportunities are rare. I found out that he was 20 years old (SO YOUNG!!!!) and that he'd been doing singing and dancing gigs ever since he was about 6 years old. He never went to university, and wants to go live in Hong Kong for a couple years. We all laughed at how his Cantonese is better than ILC's =) He asked how we all knew each other, and who else was with us, and when I mentioned that my parents were here too, he was SUPER excited and wanted to meet them! Unfortunately, I had no idea where they were at that point.

We took pics, and said our goodbyes. We headed back down and ended up at the piano bar again, with some toggling with the Dungeon. My parents arrived at the piano bar too, which was perfect timing because I looked over and there was Carl! So I brought my parents over to the other side of the piano bar, and introduced them to Carl. He was SO excited to see Chinese parents, it was the funniest thing! And of course, my dad being my dad, started to do a very bad imitation of Carl's dancing, and ask how come you always stick your foot out, and wiggle your bum, etc (half in Cantonese, half in English). I was utterly embarrassed, but Carl thought it was hilarious! He told me that my dad reminds him of his own dad, that his dad does the same thing! My mom asked him (in Chinese) whether he understands, and he was able to carry on a very short conversation with mom in Cantonese. Not bad =) Mom asked him whether there were any other Chinese people working on the boat, and he said none that have guest interaction, those are all Filipinos. The only place where there are Chinese people are all in the laundry services!

Carl got paper from the waiters for him and I to exchange email addresses, as well as our written Chinese names. He had pretty decent Chinese writing skills, especially in comparison to my chicken scratch!

We wandered back down to the Dungeon, hung out there for awhile. Eric was at the Dungeon, so he again tried to get me to dance. Instead, he danced for me, which was pretty amusing. Carl ended up at the Dungeon too, along with Kristin. It was really funny, there was a group of European kids who all looked like they were 16 or younger and as soon as the girls saw Carl, they got all giggly and started pointing at him. Then the DJ goes and announces that anyone under 18 were not allowed in the club and that they should proceed to the nearest exit!! The Europeans didn't move, but the announcement was obviously directed at them! But I definitely was not the only one to think that Carl's cute!

Wandered back up to the piano bar. Ran into John again, he told me that he was looking for me, cause after the Jazz show, him and his wife and others went into the piano room and had some worship time! Too bad I missed it, his voice is so moving!

Listened to some more songs at the piano bar, went up for some more late night pizza toppings, went back to the Dungeon to get a pic with Eric, said bye to Bing at the piano bar, and headed off to bed.