weekend update :)

 

good morning! it has been a busy couple of days & with only 23 hours to work with, we are all feeling a little rough. i keep trying to remind myself that i will be glad to be on spain time once we are there, but waking up doesnt get any easier.

 

a few nights back, er, friday, was open mic night. this was a great way to spend the evening. so many kids on the ship are super talented. we had a special performance from 4 year old christopher in his captain's suit. he was precious and sang a little song about love. so cute. they even joked that he is the first person to put down a deposit for a 2026 voyage :) there was a lot of guitar playing, sing alongs and even a melodica. it was so much fun.

 

saturday we had class. that's a new one. classes went well and we had an explorer seminar on food in spain. this was led by david gies, a super smart professor who is quite the expert on spain. he has written 13 or so books and was knighted in spain. he had a great sense of humor, told us where to find the best wine and gave a really entertaining presentation. he also provided a cheat sheet of spanish terms which should help us all out.

 

sunday, yesterday, was also a class day. funny enough, however, it didn't feel like a sunday. usually at school the weekend can't come soon enough. here, however, no one quite feels like we need a weekend yet. i woke up late for my class and got there just in time. all this time changing is starting to catch up. i got through my classes, had a really interesting lunch and took a serious 3 hour nap. it was definitely needed.

 

after dinner there was another explorer seminar with a documentary. the filmmaker was there and he was able to answer questions about the documentary afterwards. called, "finding face," the documentary covered acid violence in southeast asia. it was a very powerful story following a young cambodian woman who has been unable to get justice in her country and recieved asylum in the united states. marina was only 15 when she got involved with the undersecretary of state of cambodia. she didn't know he was married. when she found out, he abused her and threatened her family. the undersecretary's wife found out and searched for her. they found marina in a market and beat her to unconsciousness and then doused her with acid. over 100 people witnessed the attack. all the witnesses could point out the attacker and yet no one, to this day, has been arrested or tried in her case. that was 1999. the story went on to discuss how her family has dealt with the attack, marina's care at shriner's in boston and how her life is now. this attack, because it was so publicized, led to a rise of acid attacks in other countries. the film was heartwrenching. afterwards, the filmmaker discussed why the film has not yet been released. apparently, even to this day, marina's family is at risk in cambodia and the release of the film would certainly result in retaliation from the undersecretary. we were only the second audience to see the film. they are working on releasing the film but the safety of her family is the priority.

 

we lost another hour of sleep last night, and sunrise was not until 0830. i got to see it while eating breakfast, which was so nice. i'm off to global studies, which has been much more fun the past two days. we have had david gies leading lecture, which makes it fun. i think all of you should be sleeping now, as its only 0400 on the east coast.

 

missing you all!

two days til spain! :)