The Middle East, India, Etc...

Woah, I guess I haven't done one of these in a while. Chances are good that some stuff has happened since my last post. Let's see...
A stage staff member got fired for going into a guest's room (he knew the guest from home and nothing sexual happened.) Hooray!
We did some pirate safety training, but unfortunately never had to put any of it into action :(
In the last 2 weeks I've been at sea for all but 4 of the days.
The pyramids were amazing. Even though it was incredibly hot, even though the locals were the most pushy and rude I've seen yet, and even though there was a 3 hour bus ride to get there, it was still one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Them things are old!!
Jordan was a total unknown before I got there. The deserts between the port and the ancient ruined city of Petra had a mystical, magical presence to them. It was humbling to see the nomads in the desert doing exactly what they and their ancestors have been doing for thousands of years. Petra itself was absurd. I'm not even bothering to upload any pictures now because the internet is so bad, but I'll get 'em up ASAP when I get back to Ithaca.
Goa, India was perhaps the saddest port I've visited so far. The poverty there was awful. Many people were sleeping on the sidewalks or approaching us to beg for money. They followed us for blocks to try to get us to buy their cheap souvenirs or take a ride in their taxi, no matter what we told them. There were stray dogs and cats everywhere and dead rats and birds littered the streets. The heat was incredible. We stopped at a small cafe and ordered some drinks and food. My falooda was creepy in texture and appearance, but it basically tasted like ice cream, which is mostly what it was. Our whole bill between the four of us was only $10.
Today we're in Cochin, India but because HR failed to get us our seaman's books (kinda like a seaman's passport) in time even though they had months to do it, we can't get off the ship. Instead we're doing the production show Rhythm and Rhyme 3 times, tech run and 2 performance show times. Only half of the new cast made it to the ship on time due to more clerical errors (big surprise.) This means that half of the old cast had to stay on the ship longer and some of them had to learn additional parts to compensate. The poor dance captain has to lip sync one of the singer's parts for the show. It looks terrible no matter how good a job he does. I hear we're doing the other production show on the first day the second half of the new cast is showing up. That means that morning is going to be bonkers with tech runs and rehearsal and its still likely to be a train wreck disaster.

Alright alright alright 13 days to go. Next stop is Malaysia, then I dunno Thailand or something and then we reach our next home port of Singapore. From there I will have two three day cruises and then home I go. I can't even tell you how much pizza and ice cream I'm going to eat. Gary better look out because he's going o be pet until he can't stand it anymore.