Hooray for Reading Day!

Last night was our first talent show onboard the MV Explorer.

You would not believe how excited everyone got for this event!

People started lining up over an hour before it started to get good seats. We were waiting outside the union like packed sardines, shoulder to shoulder, shoving for a closer place next to the door (people really do crack me up sometimes).

Almost three hours and 28 acts later, we had had our fill of talent…ranging from funny to impressive to just plain ridiculous…but all applause-worthy nonetheless.

One of my favorites was a song performed by all the dependent children on board (many of the faculty have their families sailing with us, which means there are children ranging in age from 18 months to juniors in high school on board). They changed the words from “We All Live In A Yellow Submarine” to “ We Are Floating On A University”, and they each played a different instrument. (The little boy playing the cowbell was so incredibly adorable, he half killed me!)

My other favorite act (and by far the most touching of the night) was from a life long learner named Ray (you may remember him from an earlier post where I mentioned him and his wife Gretchen). Ray suffers from some condition (I wish I could remember the name…aphasia maybe?) where he has slowly lost the ability to verbally communicate. He has the words, but they won’t come out. Normally, he carries a pad of paper around on which he can write, but even that is becoming increasingly difficult for him with age. This is a truly devastating condition, as I know that Ray has so much to share with us. Well, little did we all know that Ray is a beautiful saxophone player! With his instrument in hand, Ray needs no words at all to express what he has within.

In other news, today is the first of several “reading days” we have throughout the semester (This is the title of all non-class days when at sea. Still not sure exactly how much reading gets done, but they’re wonderful all the same).

I let my lovely neighbors Madeline and Christina and my lovely roommate Allie drag me to my first Zumba class this morning.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Zumba movement, think Jazzercise with a heavy Latin flair (the basic movements of Zumba are rooted in the Latin dances). This was absolutely hilarious and potentially the most humiliating thing I’ve done in a long time…mostly for my lamentable lack of coordination and ability to move my hips. But I’m a thorough believer that small doses of humiliation are good for the soul every once in awhile, so gold star to me for sticking it out and for continually being able to laugh out loud when I turned the opposite direction as everyone else time and time again, right?

Happy Saturday, dear friends!

Love. Anna