Open mic tonight!!!

Ship life from South Africa to Mauritius…

There is never a dull moment on the Explorer…well yea there is. It’s so easy to get cabin fever yet when there’s something going on…it can be awesome. like tonight, we have open mic tonight. I’m not performing…this time but maybe at the next time. Events like these are awesome b/c it gives people a chance to showcase their talents and damn there’re some really talented people on this ship. It’s awesome because there’s students, faculty, staff, everyone performing. Definitely a way to avoid studying…although I don’t have anything to study for at the moment anyway, so it’s more of a way for others to get out of studying versus me. it’s also a really good way to see other people talents and learn a little bit about them, especially when you’re surprised by the immense talent you didn’t know someone had. Exhibit A-one of the guys in my Emerging Markets course group played the guitar and sang and is amazingly talented which is something that I probably never would have learned had it not been for open mic.

What else…class and work keep me pretty busy, as well as friends. I’m still meeting new people which keeps things interesting and I’m always introducing my friends to other people( I’m sure this is a readl shock to those of you that call me mayor) having people of all ages is something else that makes this journey so different too…there is literally an age difference of almost 90 years on this trip, literally. Yhe oldest is 90 and the youngest is Griffin who’s only 16months old and the happiest baby alive.  Conversations range from work to love to politics…basically anything is fair game and you really learn a lot both about yourself and others.  I did a lot of planning for Mauritius this week which is where we will be arriving on Thursday so that’s been keeping me busy. Plus some school work and group projects too. Everyone seems to have varying amounts of work on the ship. Some teachers don’t assign much work due to how sporadic our schedules are and others do journal entries as a part of our grade because it’s hard to do hardcore research papers since we don’t have unlimited internet minutes. Work also threw a surprise party for the work studies which was pretty cool. They asked us to show up at 7pm to work for about a half hour randomly the other night. It was pretty odd but we didn’t mind b/c we all actually love work usually. I was the third to show up and it turned out they had ordered appetizers, and chips and salsa and a cake for us! it was soooo awesome. The best part was the cake that said “you’re all fired.” It was pretty epic, and a lot of fun. It was a nice way to distress and get away from everyone for a while because our office is in an obvious spot but really hard to find and it’s impossible to tell if someone is in the office b/c of the way it is set up. The only time you def. know people are there is during our desk hours but other than that it’s like a secret. Work is def. a good thing to have on the ship. I really enjoy going to work b/c it gives me something to do and also gives us a little insight to how intricate the SAS program really is. I also work with awesome people and have awesome bosses. I know I’ve talked about the Field Office before but it’s worth mentioning again. Having the opportunity to work on the ship has proved to be an awesome experience. We have our field office family which is nice to have. With a lot of the work study positions, it’s usually just one to one(student to boss) and often the students are given a list of things to do or they just man a desk like at the library or student activities. In the field office there’s a lot of communication and also a lot of responsibility. It also gives us a chance to work a little closer with other staff/faculty members who lead trips/organize them for their classes.  I can honestly say that I really enjoy going to work every day and there are days where I will willingly go there and do work just to get away for a little while.

Well we’re halfway done with classes for the semester. We have 44 days of classes and 64 days where we either have reading/exam days, or are in countries.  It’s a pretty fantastic way to spend a semester. Once we get back on the ship after Mauritius we have 5 days of classes and a reading day and from the 21^st of October (our reading day before India) until the 23^rd of November we have 6 days of class and 3 reading days, the rest of our time is spent in countries…yay!!!! It’s going to be a whirlwind. I think I’m still getting used to the idea that I’m sailing around the world. I’m not sure it’s something I’ll ever get used to. I think it’s a good thing though because it keeps me grounded. Every day I wake up and remind myself I’m on a ship and it seems like a dream. A wonderful and surreal dream and I don’t know how I’ll react when I “wake up. “ I do believe anything in my life will be able to compare to this. Every day I count my blessing and reflect on what I’m doing and the people I’ve met and the opportunities I’m getting.  48 days down, 60 to go…dozens of thoughts, dreams, wishes, experiences “over”…countless more to go.

I’d Like to be a Teabag

I’d like to be a teabag and stay at home all day,
And talk to other teabags in a teabag sort of way.
I’d love to be a teabag and lie in a little box,
And never have to wash my face or change my dirty socks.

I’d like to be a teabag…an Earl Grey one perhaps,
And doze all day and lie around with Earl Grey kind of chaps.
I wouldn’t have to do a thing, no homework, jobs or chores,
Comfy in my caddy of teabags and their snores.

I wouldn’t have to do exams and tidy up art rooms
Or sweep the floor or feed the cat or wash up all the spoons.
I wouldn’t have to do a thing, a life of bliss you see…
Except that once in all my life I’d make a cup of tea!

Now painting is such fun to do, a hobby you might say,
But now they want to dry me out to live another day.
So first I’m slit and emptied out then graded and I’m sized,
They store me in an empty box…I wait to be surprised.

The lid is opened, I’m lifted out, oh what’s my fate to be?
I lie all brown and look forlorn but soon you’ll smile at me.
I’m painted gold and black and white the patterns are quite funny,
They glue me onto bits of card and sell me for some money.

~with apologies to Stephen Dixon, we just took your idea a bit further


*to be explained later…but it has to do with an awesome group I met in South Africa