Brog

Howdy! Back on the ship, about 6 days sailin’. Sooo ready to be back on land, what with midterms and papers looming and the sea stretching out in infinite blue vastness. Two  addendums to the South Africa entry:  the second to last day, Desmond Tutu came on the ship and gave a speech not 30 feet from me! It was so cool, he is filled with so much energy and love it is unbelievable. The last day I did a thing called Operation Hunger and bought tons of snacks and food for kids in a township called Capricorn. We also had to go to a kindergarten and measure arm circumference and weight and height of all these kids and a bunch of them were undernourished, very sad. It made me regret ever griping about the redundancy of salad on the ship, because at least I have salad to gripe about. Tomorrow is the Sea Olympics, and I signed up for the spelling competition, which I’m nervous/excited about. We stopped in Mauritius today to refuel, and it’s a straight trajectory until India. We are losing hours like crazy, so I think I am 11 hours ahead of California time. My friend Mitzi and I were up until 1:00 last night slaving away at the giant banner for the entire Sea Olympics, and I think I’m getting sick so lack of sleep isn’t helping! I’m getting in the swing of things now, feelin’ mostly groovy except for the occasional moment of boredom or cabin fever. I really really liked Cape Town and wish I was dancing through its streets at this moment!! I also bought plane tickets for my trip in China. I’m sleeping on the Great Wall and going to Beijing and its all super cheap, I’m really excited! My friend Chris and I are also in the midst of planning for a trip around Japan, hoping to take the bullet train to Kyoto and Nara and of course.... TOKYO!! We want to go to a baseball game and a big dance club, but so far the plans for that are pretty nebulous. Missing everyone dearly and really appreciating emails that tell me about your life in the world! I really really like hearing how everyone is doing, I am so disconnected (which is good most of the time-less distraction) from everything that it is nice to have even the tiniest portal into American life! But shipboard life can be pretty fun. Everyone is so near each other all day long that sometimes you just go crazy and scream and run through the hallways in your pajamas and go to snack time and eat like 20 little PB&J’s and play Cranium and start singing the Thong Song at the top of your lungs! Everyone is going to be clinically insane by the time we get to India. 12 days at sea....doesn’t sound like a lot but oh boy, 6 days feels like a year! Plus we have to conserve water because the pier water isn’t sanitary in Chennai so everyone has to take military showers/shower no so often so everyone is shiny and a little bit stinky (not me of course...)You gotta love it all though or else the good just doesn’t feel as great! Time for sleep! Great feats of spelling cannot be achieved on a pittance of shut-eye! Warmest affection to all!!!