Egyptian Rat Screw and Typhoons
Trip Start
Aug 23, 2007
1
3
10
Trip End
Dec 07, 2007
Yokahoma, Japan
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Hello Hello,
So much has happened since last we spoke. Croutons have been reintroduced into the menu, Breakfast is the new hot thing (it's always reliably good) and they served us Ice Cream and French fries with lunch the day before Hawaii!!! Life's simple pleasures...
My new favorite things (other then the croutons, cause they are obviously number one): Egyptian Rat Screw, the fifth deck smoking area, "family meal time," and my work study job.
Egyptian Rat Screw (or as I call it, Egyptian B***H Slap)
So we have been playing poker every night on the pub deck, but that is really slow paced. So we started playing a new game. I don't know if any of you remember it... but it involves a lot of quick flipping, card slapping, and intense, competitive focus. There is a game going from around 7:00pm to around 1:00 or 2:00am. We usually play out on the smoke deck or in the very back of the 5th deck dining room. The obscenities and screams of defeat and triumph echo down the halls, so we have to get out of ear shot. Crew members come and check on us multiple times during the night fearing that the screams are because someone went overboard, or a drunken brawl has broken out. I f-ing love it, and find myself a whole lot closer to my friends after a night of non stop laughter and name calling. Oh! And there are pink pong tables on the back deck... also a jolly good time.
The Fifth Deck
The boat has only ONE designated smoking area. I know what you're thinking, "um, there are five decks you can walk around outside on... but only one tiny section of one deck for smoking??!!" Believe it! The good thing is, the crew that are smokers are the cool ones (elder family members can hush, and retract any e-mails that might contain news paper articles revealing cancer rates from cigarette smoke... thank you.) It's a meeting place, and a great one at that. You get a great view of the ocean, while shielded from the sun. Also, there is a sense of solidarity among the smokers, and we have mind expanding conversations. Also, when all the ass hole frat boys get tipsy and come outside to bum cigarettes and hit on the women folk, we stare at them defiantly with straight faces, and cigarettes delicately pressed between our fingers and "reply, sorry, none of us have any cigarettes... or lighters." Then we generally slap our pockets in a mocking fashion as if we are trying find one such phantom lighter. We never do, and eventually they wander off. Even the Captains and his officers come out to talk with us a couple times a week about the weather or philosophy. So, long story short (which we ALL know I am INCAPABLE of) I am out there constantly and me and my friends are the coolest!!!
Family Meal Time
This one is quick. Basically, all my friends from the fifth insist on eating all meals together, kind of like a really awesome form of peer pressure. So we find the largest table or booth possible and squish in. The best seat is in the middle of the booth, because you can't get up, and you can make everyone else get dessert or coffee for you. We had a moment the other day when David came back to the table with his P.B. and J. and he'd made a smiley face with his jelly, and tried to hide it from us. There was a lot of laughter... and it lasted for a while. We're a weird little family, but a family none the less.
My Job
My job on the boat is to work in the AV booth. Yeah, I'm an AV geek. There are plans in the works to get AV tee shirts, and maybe some of those pants that have an 'A' on one butt cheek and a 'V' on the other...no, not really. My job is very, very easy. I have many things to do, but none of them complicated. Every morning Core class is broadcasted into all the other classrooms on the ship (there are nine), because all 650 students can't fit in the Union where the teacher is teaching. So on 'A' days I have to be at work at 7:30am. Which kinda blows, but all I have to do is walk to each classroom, hit some buttons, unlock some cabinets, and we're good. ALSO, I have two bosses and both of them are frick'in fabulous. Work is actually one of the best parts of my day, and I often work three hours a day, spread out into three separate shifts. My first boss is a guy named Allen, a.k.a. Sparky. He is from the Philippines, late 30's early 40's, and he always smells intensely of soap. This is strange, but always welcome. He was kinda hard to understand in the beginning because he has an accent, and often mumbles or makes noises when he doesn't remember a word, but he is always smiling and cheery, and I enjoy laughing at him. He is never offended by my sarcasm, and he thinks I'm a very "beautiful, smart, but silly, American girl." My second boss is a guy named Jeff. He is around the same age, American, and he is on the boat with his wife Yvette and son Ralston who is the cutest thing on two legs. Ralston also has a small stuffed lion he named Sparky... we play hide and go seek with the Lion, and I made him a paper air plane out of the lining from a macadamia box from Hawaii. Now Sparky smells like chocolate. Jeff did an SAS trip when he was my age, and this is now his second voyage with his wife, and now with his son. They live in L.A. and he does production and consulting. (For my family members reading this, he is exactly like Don). So every morning we have little dish sessions, and I tell him about the dumb students/teachers, and he gives me travel advice and every now and then gives me an errand to do. One of the best parts of my job is the TV in the AV booth... Actually, the TVs need their own Section...
The Tv's!
There are TVs in every cabin. The TVs have about four channels. One is "The Boat Channel." This channel shows a corny media shot of the boat on one half of the screen, and then a map with our coordinates, speed, and date and time on the other. T this point everyone can guess within a mile or two what speed we are going, but when the boat starts to vibrate and rattle in the middle of the night, it's reassuring to turn on the boat channel and see it's just because we're slowing down. Then there are a couple channels that are devoted to the film students. The film teacher loops two movies 24 hrs a day that are related to what ever port we are headed towards. Right now there are a couple documentaries about sweatshops on. Then there is the announcement channel. They loop the day's announcements, including meeting schedules, and blinking warnings when we have to set our clocks back. On the way to Hawaii we had to set our clocks back four times. It was excellent. Every night we got an extra hour of sleep... and an extra hour of play time. However, there are secret channels that only get broadcast into crew decks, and only on crew TV's. They play old movies like "Frankie & Johnny," or newer romantic comedies like "How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days." Yesterday they were looping "School of Rock." This morning I watched "D.O.A." Does anyone remember that movie? It is this 90's fight movie based on the Mortal Combat video game... anyone with me? Okay, so anyways, I like sitting and chatting with my bosses and watching movies that nobody else can.
So something very exciting has surfaced. Well, exciting for me, and most likely terrifying for anyone one at home reading this. Word from the captain is that there is a typhoon in between us and Japan. We are about 2,000 miles and seven days from our first stop in Japan, and the storm is so big we can't sail around it and still make out port of call. So it looks like we're going through it.
For the past week and a half on this boat, I have woken up every morning to the sun beaming in through my port hole. However, today I woke up and saw absolutely nothing because the fog was so thick there was nothing to see but vapor. I still had some time before class so I rushed up to the fifth deck and witnessed the first rainstorm we've hit so far. It only lasted about 20 minutes, but it was amazing. The rain was hard to see through the fog, but it made it all the more interesting because the rain was flying onto the decks from nowhere. By lunch time it had cleared, and now the sun is out again... but everyone is a little nervous because they realize that was a small fraction of what we're about to sail directly into. If the seas are too ruff they can't dock, and then we will have to take the lifeboats to shore in order to get into port. Don't worry, I'll keep you guys updated, and I'll take as many pictures as possible. (personally, I'm really excited!)
Okay, today is "Ladies Sauna Day" at the spa on 7th Deck, and me Kara, Christen, and Jordyn are going to go hang out for a while before dinner. Oh poor me. If you've gotten all the way through this blog entry, or the last one... I applaud you. You are truly a great friend, and officially have no life. Miss you all, E-MAIL ME, and I'll talk to you soon.
Kim
P.S. Pictures and videos are coming.
