Day 20. 20!?!?!
Trip Start
Sep 02, 2007
1
28
92
Trip End
Dec 25, 2007
The Atlantic Ocean,
Greenland
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I've come to the conclusion that nothing happened today, but I feel like I should write about something. It's another class day (World Lit and Global Issues) and therefore it can't possibly be very exciting. I'm really disappointed about the World Lit class; we could be doing so much more and learning so much more if we had a better professor. I find myself missing Nancy Esterbrook's classes more every day. We're working on poetry now, and about to finish it up with an exam that takes place conveniently right after we get out of port in Panama. All the exams and essays coming due in that block, as if they think we'll study for them while we're in port. Yeah right.
Class this morning was actually not so bad; each person in the class brought in a poem to share so the second half of the class was more student-based and relevant. People had some really great stuff to share. I took Walt Whitman, of course, "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer" and people had poems from all kinds of different places and backgrounds to share with the group. A couple of people brought in poems they wrote, too, and I wished we'd had more time to share things like that. It was refreshing to hear from the students, (mostly) uninterrupted, and hear everyone's thoughts in a context we all could participate it. During the discussions about the assigned poems, no one ever speaks up or answers the questions because the minute we do we've said something wrong. It brings back way-too-present memories of English II and Lord of the Flies. And she wonders why no one shares their experience with the poem in class. Personally I have better things to do with my thoughts and feelings than have them thrashed by someone who can't possibly understand and refuses to try.
I did get lots of chances to go down to the contemplation room and work on some mime today, though, and I find I'm learning a lot just by working little by little on things. I also spent a lot of time in the library and got caught up and even a little ahead on my reading since tomorrow there are no classes. This way I can thoroughly waste the day tomorrow and get away with it.
I did catch the sunset; it was just me and Ganesh, a professor from India, up there watching it and it was a really peaceful end to the evening. We were talking about crazy philosophical things, like how our lives are like the ocean and how peacocks dance in the rain. I don't know how we got on that subject, but apparently when it rains the peacocks put up their tails and dance, and then when the rain is over and all that's left is mud and their feet get muddy, they cry. At one point Ganesh made an interesting point about philosophy: that people are only philosophical when they're in trouble, and when they're at peace. Good news for me, since I'm not in trouble very often.
The salsa class was cancelled tonight because it's the Chinese mid-autumn festival and the Chinese students are throwing a huge party. I went for a little while but I wasn't really in a party mood and I'm boring and no fun at that point. So I'm going to bed early. Wow, what an uneventful day. Not a bad day, necessarily, but an almost tragically uneventful one.
I find it's much harder to be social on the ship, because there are so many easy places to hide and so many excuses not to hang out. Studying, for instance. And really all the hanging out happens in the bar with loud music playing and you all know I'm not really into that. The good news is I'm stocking up on sleep for when we spend all our nights at salsa clubs in Panama. Apparently the ship will be anchored, not docked, and little shuttle boats will have to take us back and forth. These of course won't be running 24 hours so if we stay out late we have to stay out all night. The good news is the hostels are really cheap and there will be a lot of people doing the same thing. Well I'm off to bed. 'Night!
