The summer season has officially begun! I can't believe I have been here for 4 weeks now. Time has been flying by! So the first cruise ship came in on Friday afternoon and there was only one. And I found out about an hour or two before that, that I would be giving a tour. I was pretty much freaking out. I haven't even been on a tour myself. I drove around once with one of the native drivers, but I was still completely unprepared. It ended up not being that bad. It wasn't good, but it could have been a lot worse. Saturday is when things got pretty ugly. I was put in a booth on the docks, just to watch and learn. But then we sold some whale watching/city and glacier tour combos. Which only fits 6 people. Which meant it was up to me to give another tour, as well as take them to their boat. Well I had only been out on the boat once. So I went to the harbor where we had taken the boat out. It was the same place the other driver told me "this is where you drop off people for whale watching." Well, it wasn't. I couldn't figure out where to go. I was walking these people around and had no idea where I was going. It took a while and a lot of phone calls back to the office to realize that I was at the wrong harbor. It still took me a while to find the right boat. It was so so so awful. I don't know if I have ever been more embarrassed. I cried the whole way back to the office. It obviously wasn't my fault, since no one had ever told me where to go. But I was the one that ended up looking like a complete idiot. It was a pretty bad day. It made me a little homesick for the first time since I've been here. But I survived. And drank lots of wine after that.
There were no ships on Sunday, so Kally, Sky and I all went on our own little tour of the city. They took me around to some spots I hadn't seen yet, including the Shrine, a little church "out the road." It was soo pretty! Makes me appreciate where I am. And less homesick.
Today I was on the docks, selling. I liked it a lot. I was freezing, but it was fun. It's competitive out there, but I think I did a pretty good job of keeping up. Shuttles to the glacier are easy to sell, so I just sold a shit out of them. And I had a decent number at the end of the day.
Seeing bears yesterday was definitely one of the highlights from my trip so far! I had been wanting to see some so bad! And I would have driven right past them. I guess these Alaskans have better eyes for that sort of thing. It was exciting :) And of course, I had been charging my camera battery so the only pictures I got were on my phone and the zoom isn't as good. Oh well. Hopefully I will see more soon!
PS I'm an iPhone snob now. And I hate to admit it, but I LOVE it!
Stay in Alaska long enough, you will get the wildlife eye. I still find myself scanning the highway for moose and I have been out of Alaska for 10 years. No moose in Juneau, and I still scan Egan all the time when I am there. Probably a good idea because of the deer. But I dont think I will ever lose that skill.
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