September 19, Saturday

The Talent/No Talent Show was last night and yes, I did my “The Thip” pome to thunderous applause. People in the back couldn’t hear cause I forgot to turn on my mike. Oh well, they got the idea. I was one of three or four LLL’s who had the audacity to get up there. What the heck: if you aren’t willing to make a fool of yourself once in a while, you miss out on some good fun. The place was packed. Some of the acts were hilarious; I can’t wait for Halloween to see what these kids come up with. No doubt many came prepared. Anyway, the AV people recorded the show and someone said they were going to put it on the SAS website. Two whole hours?

We’re heading towards our next port: Ghana. There are a couple of Ghanian students who came aboard in Morocco and have been giving presentations and mixing with everyone. Very interesting to see the similarities: people are people. Many of the adults have commented about the quality, the maturity and poise of the students as a whole. They are impressive, demonstrating intelligence and …and…I don’t know: I simply haven’t seen any sloppy drunks staggering around this ship. They seem to be just nice, normal kids, serious enough about their work, grateful to be on SAS, silly, studious and having fun. The trick is not to get kicked off the ship. Tom Hogarty the “Community Resource Director”, or law and order guy, who patrols the halls all night long and is in the know, says these kids are extraordinary. And that’s not to say that one or two didn’t overindulge in Casa, but for the most part they seem to be steering clear of trouble. In my book they are all darling and I’m looking at them and seeing you, Greg and Emily and Taylor and Ben. Wish you all were here; maybe you will be soon!

In the Jazz class I attend, the prof has been talking about Ghanain music using recordings and demonstrations. It’s amazing what he can do along with the recordings, stomping his foot, beating tables with drum sticks. One of the field trips I’m going on is a workshop in music and dancing. The Ganain music reminds me a little of the music our marimba group played in Santa Fe although that music is from East Africa – Zimbabwe. This music is wild with multiple rhythms and tunes all at the same time. Some would call it loud noise. I’ll try to get some good pictures at the workshop.

Several LLL’s will be leaving the ship in Accra and in Capetown so there was a special dinner in their honor. Earlier this week there was a reception for Staff, crew, faculty and LLL’s. All the ladies got dressed up, except for a couple who just don’t ever get dressed up, I guess. What did I wear? White pants, coral pink E. Fisher short sleeved sweater and the scarf you gave me, Elise. I can assure you that I looked fab. I got there a little late and was looking for a place to sit down or a group to join. There were three bright white uniforms sitting alone so I decided to join them. Meet some new people, you know. Two were from Bulgaria and one from Greece – chief engineer, assistant engineer, and the air conditioning engineer who looked like a giant Robert De Niro. He said people tell him that all the time. 50 years old. Three months at sea; three at home. Wife. 2 kids. 2 grandkids. With a bit of a heavy accent: “I come home and my wife, she complain to me. I tell her she should not give her life to the grandkids…etc.” I told him: “The minute you get home, take her to a lovely dinner and a nice hotel for a few days. She’ll be fine.” The older guy, the one from Greece wanted to know why I was on this voyage – “Just to see the world?” as if: what’s the big deal to see the world. “What you do all day???” he asked as if we adults should be back where we belong. All in all it was fun talking to these guys. We had plenty of laughs.

I can’t help but compare this experience to the one I had in 1951 when we sailed across the ocean and then lived in France for three years. For me it was the adventure of a lifetime …like going to Mars. Europe was SO far away, so different, so old. There were no jets so people weren’t traveling much and, of course, it was right after the end of the 2^nd world war so we saw plenty of the destruction from the war – bombed out buildings etc. Going to Europe and seeing so many things you’d read about in history books was not something people could easily do. Yes, they went on ships, but traveling the way we do now was impossible. I wonder if anyone in the Williams Family remembers that clay pitcher I found on a field trip with our history teacher, Mr. Fay (upon whom, by the way, I had a huge crush) who took us to see some Roman ruins near Chateauroux. To this day I can see the mounds of dirt around some broken down piles of stones that had been a Roman house or barn or something. The pitcher was probably made in 1940 but Mr. Fay and I both agreed that the pitcher was from Roman times. Remember, we used to serve lemonade in that pitcher? Okay, so which one of you has it????

One of the activities planned is the Neptune Day celebration. Now children – all of you who are school age, including the children at Trinity School in New Orleans and those at Canterberry and those at Karlthorpe and Elmhurst middle school and St. Whatchamahoodles in Chicago etc. when I tell you to look up a word or to Google something, I want you to DO IT AND REPORT BACK TO ME. My e-mail address is: earubin@semesteratsea.com. So tell me what you find out about Neptune Day Celebrations. Who or what is Neptune? What happens on Neptune Day? What happens to people who have never celebrated Neptune Day? You kids have gotta git on the stick here and PARTICIPATE!!!! Annabel…Elia…Sarah?

What does that word, “participate” mean?

After Ghana we’ll be going to South Africa. Who knows where it is? What is apartheid? Who knows anything about Nelson Mandela? Who knows anything about Nelson Mandela and rugby? Taylor????

Well chilluns, granny has to go to the Lounge for the daily gathering of LLL’s. It’s cocktail time tra la. I wish those engineers would show up again. I don’t think they’re allowed.

Love you all.