Live from the Maasdam..

[spirithaven]

Thanks for all your information. Board her 2 weeks from today.

[caribbean girl]

I just love the Australian accent. It's very distinct and interesting. If you are not used to listening to different types of speech/accents, it's hard for some Americans to decipher, especially if people speak fast. I also love the concept of respect in these cultures, which is something we talked about with the S. Africans and Australians on the ship. Parent stress and demand children behave and speak respectfully to adults, and even though these ship employees are adults, they still practice this approach. I 'protested', when they kept calling me 'Mam', even after we had been talking pretty regularly. And they said it is just habit, the way they were trained. I appreciated it, but it made me feel old.;)