May 10, 2008, 9:25 p.m.
Original Intent
The original intent of this blog was to keep in touch with people while I was abroad, to record my adventures for posterity, and to allow whomever I met to keep up with my travels. I am thrilled to return to this original intent because it means I’m traveling again, and because I like what I’m doing!
For those of you who haven’t heard, I am working for Club Med at their resort called Turkoise on the Caribbean island of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. I started May 1st and signed a six-month contract, which I can then choose to re-up, either here or for another Club. Club Med has resorts all over the world, including snow Clubs in places like Sahoro, Japan, and all over the Alps in France and Italy. Club Med was originally a French company and is now a multi-national with a distinctly French influence. The people who work here are G.Os (general organisateur), the guests are G.Ms (gentil membres), and managers are Responsables de Service (RDS). All the G.Os live on-site, and we get our meals and all activities free around the resort. We aren’t paid much, but we have almost no costs, either (Club Med also provides health coverage, including dental).
Club Med is an all-inclusive resort, which means you pay one price for the flight, room, meals, alcoholic drinks, entertainment (nightly shows), and all the activities except certain paid ones, like SCUBA diving. Here at Turkoise I work in the Excursions office, so I sell the tours we give around the island (one of the other few things that costs extra). All of our tours are water-based, so we have things like snorkeling catamaran sails, including one where you dive for your own conch, horseback riding on the beach, renting jet skis, deep sea fishing, champagne or wine and cheese sunset cruises, and half-day or full-day kayaking trips. I have yet to go on any of the trips, but I get to do them all for free (as do the other G.Os). Activities around the resort include: kayaking, windsurfing, sailing (four-person catamarans), trapeze, SCUBA diving, volleyball (beach and hard-court), snorkeling, tennis, soccer, baseball, water polo, fitness classes, and a 24-hour gym.
Turkoise is beautiful. The water here is that bright, clear, unforgettable Caribbean shade of perfection - the color of tropical waters, my favorite. I am in love with the beach. The sand is perfect, soft and silky, and the whole beach to the right of Club Med is a National Park, so there are no resorts there yet. There are a few gorgeous houses, but other than that it is just sand and sea. It is often empty, too, which I really like. I like that feeling of being alone on the beach, scratching images in the sand and playing in the water, the whole perfect scene all to yourself. The Turks and Caicos islands are not volcanic, like other Caribbean islands - they are actually made of limestone, and very flat. They only rise a few meters above sea level, and the reef around them is substantial, to say the least. In places it is only 3 feet deep, so to sail here you very much have to know what you’re doing. The fact that the islands and the surrounding reef is so deep makes for spectacular SCUBA diving and snorkeling, as well as the incredible color of the water.
In terms of my personal life, I had a hard time adjusting here for the first few days. We work long hours, and I didn’t have very much time to rest or very much time off to just be. I was tired. I was also disappointed to find that my job was sitting in an office selling tours, rather than actually being out on the water. However, I experienced a turning point the fifth day. I finally had my first real time off, and I jumped on it to go to the beach. I went swimming, and it made me so happy that I actually laughed out loud. Somewhere amidst my aquatic summersaults, diving all the way to the bottom, and smiling up at the Caribbean sun, I experienced pure joy, and I knew that this was right for me.
After adjusting, I have decided that in actuality I like my job - because of my hours. I work six days a week from 10am-2pm and 6pm-8pm, so theoretically I have a four-hour break every day. In actuality, I often work other hours - for example, if there’s a tour leaving at 7:50am, I have to be there to see the people off. And if there is an arrival at 3:45pm, I have to be there to wave (every guest is personally met by G.Os at Club Med) and take people to their rooms and explain things about the resort. However, there are definitely days (like tomorrow) when I have a real four-hour break during the day and I can go to the beach, take a nap, work out, and do an activity all in one day, which I love. I’m also getting used to the office - it’s not so bad. I can read different books, write in my journal, study French, do visualizations, or just chill out. Turkoise has a modest book exchange corner, and today I couldn’t believe my luck - I picked up a Michael Crichton book I have yet to read (State of Fear). YES! As it gets to be even hotter and muggier here, I think I will also appreciate that I spend the bulk of the hottest part of the day inside, in air conditioning.
Shows: A big part of the reason I came to Club Med was to be in the nightly shows. Here in Turkoise there are 5 nights of dance shows and 2 nights of trapeze shows. Club Med is known for having trapeze at many of their resorts, which the guests are welcome to learn. This resort also has trampoline, which I have yet to try. I just tried trapeze for the first time yesterday and loved it! I used to take gymnastics and I’m a dancer, so I’m somewhat of a natural. I had no problem swinging and being upside down, etc., so next I’m hoping to learn how to catch (when you swing from one bar, let go, and catch the arms of someone on a different bar). Eventually I’m hoping to get good enough for them to put me in one of the trapeze shows.
The other dance shows are fine, but not stellar. I knew before coming that they weren’t going to be super high-quality, so I wasn’t surprised, but I’m hoping that the new choreographer will put in some ‘real’ dance numbers. I was particularly concerned when I arrived because the first show I saw had a lot of lip-syncing and looked more like a high school production than anything else (I have since decided that that specific show is my least favorite show, and the rest are all better than it). Also, Club Med contracts run from May 1st to October 31st, so right now is changeover time - there are a LOT of new G.Os and a lot of people leaving. That means the new choreographer, Fernanda, just arrived a week or two ago (like me), so we are still performing old choreography. She has ideas for new shows and new numbers she wants to do, including a can-can number, a Chorus Line number, and perhaps an around-the-world type of show. I also told her I do hula, so hopefully that will be included in one. And I might even sing the song Fever for one of them! I have been here for a week and have already been in one show, for which I did two numbers and for which we rehearsed for a grand total of 30 minutes (hence the generally low quality of dance numbers). Our costumes are great - Club Med has an excellent open-air theater here, with very professional costumes, lighting, and sound. I am impressed with the quality of their productions in terms of technical prowess, but not in terms of the creative talent. I’m hoping to work a bit with Fernanda to push more ‘authentic’ numbers (for example, we have a lot of Latin G.Os, from places like the Dominican Republic, Mexico, etc., who could dance salsa, or Brazilians who could do samba). Personally I think it makes more sense to start by assessing the dance skills of the G.Os rather than choreographing easy, simple dance numbers and then teaching it to them. But I’ve only been here a week, so I’m still learning the culture and figuring out how it all works. I will keep you updated. I’m happy to report that one person already complimented me on my dancing, although that was just for me on the dance floor, not in the show (to be honest, though, it actually meant more to me that the person noticed my ‘normal’ dancing than to my dancing canned choreography). So - yay!
I am happy here. This climate fits me much better than San Francisco. I love being hot - actually, really, sweating hot. I like wearing short skirts, fun shoes, and anklets. I like running on the beach instead of on pavement, and finishing my workout by jumping in the ocean. I like wearing flowers in my hair (there’s plumeria here, whee!). I like how social the atmosphere is, including eating dinner with new people every night. I like working with people from all over the world, practicing my French and Spanish every single day, and improving each, slowly but surely. I like that my commute consists of walking across the resort - I can literally get to work in 90 seconds if I hustle. I like that I get to try all the activities here, including doing my open-water dives for SCUBA and then exploring different sites (they even have a night dive). I like that I’m going to get good at trapeze and expand my repertoire as a dancer. I like getting to know the other G.Os and starting to feel like we are really a team, all in this together. I love that I live on a beach - this is my element. I also love that this is my actual mailing address (oh, btw Marina, this is my mailing address ;) ):
Melanie Curtin
Club Med Turkoise
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands
British West Indies
So, all in all, this was a great move for me and I am thrilled. At some point during my application process (and at other times, as those who know me well can attest to) I obsessed over the question, “What am I doing with my life?” I have a Master’s degree from Stanford and I’m applying to Club Med? What? Then I was chatting with a friend one day, and I repeated my plaintive query (“What am I doing with my life?”) and he said something very wise: “I prefer not to think of it as, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ but rather, ‘What am I doing with this part of my life?’” He eliminated my angst in one fell swoop - I no longer felt guilty or strange or abnormal for being highly educated and intelligent and attempting to get a resort job. This is what I’m choosing to do with this part of my life: return to my Caribbean roots and live in a climate that makes me giddy; gain experience in performing and choreographing; improve my French and Spanish; make friends from all over the world; and dance a lot out under the tropical stars. Not bad, right?
Language spot:
Who knows where the following poem is printed?
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus, 1883
