Crew Appreciation Day- Saturday, March 5th, 2011

Crew Appreciation DAYYYYY!!

Sooo the post that says "Recap of  Thursday, March 4th, 2011" is really that of Friday, March 4th. I also forgot to mention that we had a sea meeting later on that night and passed out the sign up sheet for the Assassins game, afterwards our "Show and Tell" -Both Amy and Julie shared their individual artwork via slideshow, Stephanie-flexibility, I read my "signature" poem, Sarah talked about her African dance experience...

Everyone who came to the Sea Meeting signed the huge banner/card thing that I'd made for Joseph and Armando our two cabin stewards. We truly do appreciate them for the
work they do. I mean, they clean our rooms, make our beds and a ton of other household stuff. It's quite a task and we thank them everyday. The other thing was that
some of the crew will be leaving from this point forward since their 6-month contracts are up. Armando will be leaving when we get to Hong Kong. We also heard that his second
child was born this February. The crew are incredible and just thinking about what lives they leave behind in various countries (Armando & Joseph- phillipines) to come aboard and work
with very minimum breaks, is noble.

Earlier that day I had also made personalized cards for my 3 favorite 5th deck dining stewards (Peter, Linval, and Clive). They will all leave in July. Peter back to St. Lucia, Clive and Linval back to Jamaica. After our voyage in April, there is a short voyage and a summer one until they leave. I have such amazing conversations with them and regularly look forward to them. They are awesome.

As I walk through the ship and even my hall, there were signs for the stewards and just thanking them in general. My roomies and I left some as well. Most people gave their stewards a day off, I know we did. Armando works so hard. There were blank appreciation and thank you cards passed out to us just before getting into the dining halls by students so that more students could give to those behind the scenes who may not receive as many (or any) for their invaluable contributions (kitchen stewards, cooks, purser's desk etc)

Around 7:30 pm, we piled into the Union for the India pre-port meeting. Ritika had been teaching a number of SAS students an Indian dance to perform for pre-port. She was something like a drill sergeant (I've sat in on her practices) but it was totally worth it. They were immaculate--absolutely fabulous! The sea salts also did some type of routine to an Indian song. This has been a week of India activities (lots of presentations with Ahshok and Ajay-Indian interport students, Indian workshops in the union with Ritika and Raja), that it is surreal to believe we were arriving the following morning. Dr. Bill and Laura had a lot of precautions regarding food. Pepto Bismol was a recurring word and they did a funny musical presentation with the dependent children on the ship about diarrhea. Apparently the ship can be impounded and denied entry into San Diego if a certain number of voyagers have diarrhea which was surprising news. We came close in Ghana they said and they expect the numbers to go up in India, but since they are giving all of these tips (take Pepto Bismol frequently before and after meals to lessen), we hope for the best.

The hardest challenge I would say is having homestays and following the food regulations. We aren't allowed to drink the water, eat fresh fruits (that are unpeeled) and vegetables...but it's rude to turn down food at homes even if you are concerned how or in what water/way it was prepared. I have my Rotarian homestay (3 days and 2 nights) so that will be my problem but I am excited about eating. Food is just awesome in general. lol.

After pre-port, I had my psycho-therapy meeting with the onship psychologists and some of my peers. We hadn't met in a while and it was nice to do so. We expressed many of the same sentiments about the social aspects of the ship and adjustment issues in many aspects. Very effective. Came back to my room talked to Mandy for a period of time about my church upbringing... Went to bed.


What happened on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011:

There was the Ultimate SAS'er competition-3 rounds, 1 winner. First was international wear, second was talent and last was q and a. Kinda pageant-esque.  There was great people in it- Dan, Jamie and Amanda, Alyssa and Raja, Serena, Alex, Will... The international wear was pretty comical because very few pairs look were tied together...they kinda had random gear from every country we'd been to so far. The explanations they offered was also hilarious (for most people) as they mocked modeled. I liked Amanda and Jamie's cohesiveness in that compartment. They had a Ghananian look going and wanted to focus on one country that greatly impacted them and they gave the reason why. For talent, they also had a great presentation...they sung and kinda danced to "let's give them something to talk about?" i can't remember the actual title but know it when I sing it haha. Dan and another guy did some type of waltz it was pretty funny...but he was pretty stiff and those who knew him were wishing he would stop looking so awkward!!! haha. Then Serena and her partner did the High School musical theme song and just when we thought it ended, the song changed to a fast-tempo Indian one and they went at it! It was fantastic! There song selections was a crowd pleaser. Alyssa and Raja danced to single ladies- hahaha. It was good though. A girl I think May(?) did some river dancing- she had clearly been trained and excellent. It was kinda unfortunate for her partner though because it was obvious he was still learning...Will and a girl whose name I think was AnnaChristine(?) and did a variation of dancing some waltz, tango, etc. It was also very beautiful. Alex...Alex oh Alex...If I tell you this guy and his partner (Aaron??) is a riot. He is. I actually don't know him but I wanna after their performance. They confessed to not having any "talent" and knew other people would be singing or dancing so they put together a slideshow of "data" they researched and compiled as statiticians. They also finished each others sentences...Just that idea was funny so they had everyone's attention. All of their charts/graphs were drawn by hand and were of various comical projections... some included the percentage of women on the ship who weren't on doxycycline, the number of seats available in Global Studies as the voyage continued, where the best place on campus to fart was, the level of attractiveness in remembering the names of girls on the ship, etc. A ton of people have taken videos and that is the best way to understand what I am talking about. The Q and A was entertaining as well. 1st place went to Will, 2nd-Serena, and 3rd-Jamie. They did a great job... but I was disappointed even though I'd voted for Jamie. I was conflicted with Alex... turns out they were also tied for 1st place so that was great news =)