Today was an odd day because we were “bunkered” in the bay by Gibraltar (between Spain and Morocco). It was strange because we were anchored all day for “refueling operations.” Another ship came to refuel us while we just bobbed in place all day.
These past 3 days have just FLOWN by…there’s been a ton of stuff going on, but I’ll just give you the highlights:
On Wednesday (August 4), I ran around like crazy trying to get caught up with everything…but also somehow found time to volunteer to help with the Alumni Ball registration which will take place on one of our last nights on the ship. The theme is going to be “A MED-Summer Night’s Dream.” So adorable, I know. I also helped to proctor the ship-wide Global Studies exam at 8 PM in the union. Later that night, we had a Mediterranean Sea Bronze Medal Celebration! We had chips and salsa to eat which was a huge hit (you would not BELIEVE how much I have been craving some good Mexican food…I need to go to Don Pablo's/Chevy's asap when I get home!). I also made everyone a “bronze” medal out of paper and yarn so that everyone could remember their awesome performance at the Summer 2010 Sea Olympics.
One interesting thing that happened on Thursday (August 5), was that we had an awesome guest lecturer in the Global Studies class named Ruth Sutton, professor and author, who has written a piece called “Living Between the Question Marks.” She was an excellent speaker and she explained all about what happened to all of the Jewish people who had been living in Morocco and in the Mediterranean area. The Global Studies class is taught from a “conqueror” perspective (which is a pretty controversial topic in itself), so it was nice to (finally) hear about a culture which has struggled to exist in this region of the Mediterranean. It was an interesting lecture and quite moving when Ruth talked about her roots as a Moroccan Jew.
On a lighter note, one of the cool things that happened on Thursday night was the much-anticipated Crew talent show. It was so awesome! A ton of the crew worked really hard to put a bunch of acts together and the union was PACKED. There were dance routines, vocal acts, and musical instruments performances. It was crazy to see the crew out of their uniforms and in “real clothes.” The dance routines were the best, because you think you know someone’s personality when you see them every day, but you really have no idea what they will be like on the dance floor! I cheered especially loud for my cabin steward, Achilles – he is the absolute best and can really shake it on the dance floor! Another memorable performance was from Allan (who’s a part of the dining room crew) doing a bartending/bottle twirling act (of all things). He was really good, though, and I think he should sign up to be on those competitions that they have on the Food Network. : )
Today (August 6), the coolest thing that happened was that I was eating lunch with some friends in the dining room and I saw dolphins right outside the window! (Ok, so at first I saw one and THOUGHT it was a shark, and yelled “SHARK!” but it was actually a pod of dolphins! Oh well…) Dolphin sightings have actually been pretty common this summer (REALITY CHECK PLEASE!), but this was the first time that I had been the first one to spot them! Usually, someone yells “DOLPHINS!” and everyone jumps up and trips over everyone else running to that particular side of the deck. It was soooo cool. They are adorable – they just look so happy to jumping through the waves. : )
Tomorrow, we dock in Casablanca. It’s definitely bittersweet because it’s the last port left before home! I’m excited to see everyone again soon, but there’s no way I am ready to leave this ship!
Everyone is saying that there are rough seas ahead this evening…YIKES! Before I went to bed, I saw the crew tying ropes across all the books in the library to secure them to the bookshelves. Hmm…I’m going go out on a limb here and say that’s probably not a good sign… Not to mention, Tom (the assistant dean) made an announcement before bed saying that everyone should take things off of their shelves and put everything in drawers/closets if they are not secure...Oh boy…I think I am going to take some Dramamine as a preventative measure. I want to be ready to go tomorrow morning in MOROCCO!!!
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