Trees. Paperwork. Dolphins.

Yesterday was mostly uneventful, but certainly still busy. 

I went to global studies in the morning and there was a guest lecturer – Cathy Rodgers – who works for IBM and does a lot of guest speaking on the topic of sustainability (one of SAS’s major themes).  It was a good presentation, but once you’ve seen Al Gore give his “Inconvenient Truth” speech, it’s hard to see something brand new on the topic.  She did have a twist at the end: for every person who comes to listen to her speak, she plants a tree.  And in anticipation of speaking on the ship, she has already made arrangements for a tree to be planted for each one of us outside Nairobi, Kenya (I believe).  I think she rounded up and planned for 1000 trees.  They will also be tagging the location on Google Earth so we’ll be able to watch our own special tree grow. 

Then I had meetings meetings meetings….

Yesterday was also the last day I had to finish my stack of customs and immigration forms.  Geez.  This was a two part process – I started on Friday, got really frustrated, and then had to finish yesterday.  It was basically a giant stack of paperwork that needed to be completed before arriving in Ghana, Mauritius, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, and Japan (nothing for South Africa or Hawaii). 

Lunch seemed to be a highlight for many people today because there were French fries and macaroni.  I haven’t given much of an overview of the food, but I will now:

Breakfast is by far the best meal of the day, but it’s only open from 7am-830am, so I don’t always get there.  There’s always mini boxes of cereal, English muffins, yogurt, fruit, and then there’s hot stuff (eggs, potatoes, etc).  I just stick to cereal and fruit, because it’s what I’d eat at home (and because the one day I had some eggs was the first day I got seasick….so…..yeah, done with those).

Lunch and dinner: My stomach turns just thinking about it.  I mean, I give the guys in the kitchen a ton of credit because they get extremely creative about their recipes and themes.  But it’s the same ingredients in every meal and some days it’s rough. Iceberg lettuce, shaved carrots, slimy cucumbers.  Roasted potatoes.  Some kind of chicken or pork.  Some kind of fish.  Pasta.  Rice.  Over-steamed vegetables.  Cheese cubes.  Peanut butter & jelly.  Ughhhhhh.  Mealtime is not a happy time.  Right before we got to Spain, there was Taco Day and everyone was just as happy about tacos as they were about getting to Spain.  No exaggeration.  I ordered chips and salsa for my sea social tonight, and they were falling over themselves thanking me.  (Yes, I’m guilty of buying their love). 

There is the Pool Bar on the 7th deck with food items for sale, but we’re all tentative about going down that road because even though stuff is cheap, it can add up super quickly.  We’ll all be getting our first shipboard account bill on September 22, and it’s going to hurt a bit.  We all bought field trips for half the voyage, we’ve all visited the campus store several times, and I know faculty and staff have been getting drinks many nights since we left Norfolk 4 weeks ago.  It’s not going to be pretty.

Last night also featured a student meeting, an Explorer Seminar, a game night for my sea, and then some planned fun with coworkers last night. 

Also: I was working up in the faculty/staff lounge, and a bunch of people were outside with their binoculars.  I went out there and it turned out we were sailing past Senegal and could see the giant statue in Senegal that was recently built.  It’s apparently taller than the Statue of Liberty.   And THEN I went back inside and saw everyone yelling and running to the other side of the ship.  “DOLPHINS!” they were screaming.  So I jump out of my seat, rush out the door, and I get caught behind the guy with the cane.  So no dolphins for me.  I did see a flying fish though.  Woo. 

It’s raining outside right now.  It’s the first time I’ve seen that happen in 4 weeks (although I guess it drizzled for a minute when we were in Halifax).

One update: Mary, the woman I told you about who got bit by a monkey, is doing much better.  She decided not to return to the US for treatment for the other disease that certain monkeys (monkies?) can carry.  I made her a sign for her door that has a monkey underneath a "prohibited" sign (like a No Smoking sign).  She's not done with the rabies shots yet, but will be soon.  She came into our meeting today with her lunch (which included a banana) and she turns to us and says "no jokes about me eating a banana."  At least she has a sense of humor!

Enjoy football today.  I’m going to try and keep an eye on NFL gameday upstairs in the lounge later via the internet. 

xoxo