September 15 2010 / MV Explorer

I’ve started abbreviating my classes now, so just be prepared. WIHC is Women In High Courts, CSI is Contemporary Social Issues, GS Global Studies, Antro is Anthropology of Tourism, and… well, World Poetry is World Poetry. 

Waking up early wasn’t too bad due to being up so early all the time at the villages, but it was still a little groggy rolling out of bed at 0715.  I really quick threw on some clothes and went up to grab a couple of bites of pancakes—I don’t really have an appetite because my nose was like “lol, I’ma gonna stuff you up” in the middle of the night apparently.  I am an icky mouthbreather.  Still I guess my throat doesn’t feel as bad, though I have a bit of a sexy rasp going on. 

We talked in great detail about eunuchs in the Byzantine Empire today, which was interesting because they were apparently the intermediaries that could go everywhere because there was a lot of gendered space in that court system, which was interesting.  It’s just that you always joke about eunuchs (well, I guess that’s not really the funniest joke of the time, but you know what I mean) but in reality they were a group of people who had massive political and spiritual power within court systems around the world.  Interesting. 

Global Studies we talked about underemployment and unemployment, most of which I knew already, but also talked about pensions and social security, which was interesting to see in charts and graphs that projected how we were all going to be screwed later on when there were tons of old people and not enough young people to support them.  Japan especially was interesting.  The guest speaker talked so inappropriately fast that at some point I think everyone gave up—I don’t know how anyone doing a lecture thinks that people will be able to follow them and take notes if they are literally whisking through powerpoint slides every five seconds.

I went downstairs and caught up on my WIHC readings, which I hadn’t done yet, and also read my Anthropology of Tourism reading for tomorrow before lunch.  Lunch was massively exciting because it was chicken fajita day and I ate far too much and it was totally worth it. 

Back downstairs I went to read some stuff about poverty and inequality for CSI, which I realized was pretty much exactly the same as Global Studies, so I didn’t feel too inclined to read it.  I started the African poems in our book though, which are actually really interesting and powerful.  I really want to get into the habit of memorizing poems again—I still know Thanks by Yusef Komonyaka, which is still my favorite poem to this day. 

I had a meeting with Donna at 1400, and we talked about Sea Olympics and floor meetings.  Our team color is going to be purple and it looks like the Sea Olympics are on the 9th of October, which will be neat.  I really want to cut up cloth and make cheap bandanas or armbands, but our budget SUCKS and can apparently only be used on ship—there are 7.50 bandanas EACH at the student store, which is like, no thanks.  I also want to make some IN/OUT door signs at our next sea meeting—I feel like that would be a fun art project to get more people to know each other.  I also learned that I have “beverage service duty” every three days while at sea, where I just hang out on deck 7 from 2000 to 2300 while drinks are being served up there and make sure no one tries to take alcohol off the deck.  The only thing that bugs me about it is that I will be working on a “reading day” which I’m pretty sure is going to be Neptune Day, and I kind of wanted to have a drink that night to celebrate.  Btu who knows, maybe it’s okay for us to drink while we’re on the job—I asked Donna about it and she had the same question, haha!

After the meeting with Donna I decided I definitely needed a larger calendar for my wall (four months packed onto one page doesn’t work) so I went to the library and spend sooo much time putting one together.  Still, it feels nice having everything planned out.  More reading happened, as well as putting up a new poster that said “What did you like best about Spain/Morocco?” with a pen (the old one had started getting lots of penises drawn on it—it was time for a new, clean version) and then I went up to dinner at 1730.  I was just finishing thinking about how I have been having lots of meals solitary lately and hadn’t minded when I saw Martha and we sat together outside.  We talked long into the evening about Twilight, Harry Potter, mozzarella sticks, Doctor Who, those KFC monstrosity sandwiches, depression, and Ghana.  We hit all the stops.  I really like talking to her.  :)  When we were finally kicked off the deck because they needed to clean it we went to my room to work on poetry, though we didn’t get very far. 

Julie ended up coming by and asking if we wanted to popcorn read Global Studies, so we agreed and went with Lorelei to hang out in front of the bulletin board.  We have decided the textbook author is extremely biased (“Which county is the worst in India?  Kerala.”)  And I was getting pissed off because he was talking about how men got soooo shafted when women began getting equal working rights in the United States because all of a sudden they were expected to start helping out with domestic duties.  No, I don’t owe you any sympathy, textbook author.  You’ve said yourself these guys desert their wives and spend all of their wives’ money on alcohol, I’m not going to feel bad about how “humiliated” they feel.  It just sort of pissed me off.  But we had a great time tearing it apart, even if we didn’t finish the chapter.   Lorelei asked if I was down “for Ghana” (“For what in Ghana?”  “Not sure!”), to which I said YES!  I’ve loved traveling with her and am only doing two things with SAS, one of which is only a half day thing, so I’m pretty excited.  I hear the nightlife is fun and we both want to do the canopy walk where you walk on rickety bridges way above the trees in the jungle.  Most awesome. 

Now I’m just about to shower and hop into bed.  I’m still operating on Berber time, though I’m sure I’ll get back to College Student time soon.  Three classes tomorrow will probably do it. 

By the way, thank you so much to all of those who have emailed me to say hello and to ask how my travels are doing.  I really appreciate it so much to hear a familiar voice from all the way across the world, even if just in text form—it brightens my day so much.  Thanks for all your support—miss you and love you all.  <3