pollywogs to shellbacks

we received an email last night about neptune day saying:

       SUBPOENA to all POLLYWOGS,

       You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS, because it has       been brought to the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS, that the good ship M/V EXPLORER is about to  cross the equator and enter those waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of the RULER OF THE DEEP.

       THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that The Royal, King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will, with his       Secretary and Royal Court, meet in full session on board the offending ship M.V. EXPLORER on the 9th day of February, A.D. 2009 at 0900 on     Deck 7 aft, to hear your defense.

       Regards,
       King Neptune and His Royal Court

the day began early, around 0700 to the sound of drums, whistles and banging on the doors. i jumped to the door and saw a parade of crew members walking by. all dressed in white with tin-foil helmets, tritons, drums, and shell necklaces. deciding not to go back to sleep, mckendree and i got ready for a day in the sun. head to toe in my spf 50, we packed our pool bags and headed upstairs with our neighbors, kelsey and ren.

once on the 7th deck we scoped out lounge chairs, left our belongings there and had a nice quiet breakfast. apparently everyone wasn't too pleased with the mornings parade and took their time waking up. the top deck filled up quickly as everyone tried to claim a spot. we saw the crew preparing fish guts, saw some whole fishes (for kissing..) and awaited the arrival of king neptune. unfortunately, however, the deck had to be cleared. this meant we lost our prime spots and would have to put all of our stuff on the ground -- good thing my bag was waterproof.

at 0900 the court arrived. this included the crew, some faculty, life long learners, the young kids and any person who'd crossed the equator before. there is a 4 year old girl, abi, and her dress was so cute! the court had long dresses, face paint and "seaweed"all over them. following close behind was king neptune and his queen, who were painted entirely in green. some would say that the king looked strikingly similar to the captain but if that were true, who was driving? maybe otto from airplane. :P

after some silly words from our dean, luke, the rituals began and chaos ensued. one stood in the shallows of the pool, had fish guts (oatmeal &food coloring.. no one is sure; it was green.) poured on their heads, had to jump into the deep end, get out, kiss king neptune's big ring and kiss a fish. afterwards you were "knighted"and headed off to shave your head. this part was deemed optional, though many participated. we then became shellbacks!

neptune day is a longstanding tradition, though it was modified to fit the times. the crossing of the equator used to mean a day when the shipped stopped and pollywogs were dunked in the water and participated in blood-letting. clearly the new ritual is safer...

so many people shaved their heads! no word on an official count but it makes identifying people harder! there were a few girls who went completely bald-- down to the scalp and others left an inch or two. my favorite would have to be one of the lifelong learners, a woman around 65 years old, who just decided on a whim. she was too cute, and everyone is in love with her. i'm sure it would have been fun to shave my head, for about a day. and then i think the novelty would have worn off and i'd have missed my hair. i'm glad i still have it! many of the girls look simply gorgeous-- like natalie portmans. others, not so much. anyways, it was great fun. oh, and lots of boys shaved their heads too but its no big deal. except for the telling them apart aspect.

the rest of the day was spent laying around in the wonderful sunshine. it was like the first day of summer. music was playing, the pool was refreshing (and salt water!) and all i wanted was a big margarita. everyone was in high spirits, running around and just having a grand old time.

for dinner we had a special treat: a barbeque. it was amazing. i normally don't care too much for "picnic food"but i was so excited to see hamburgers and hotdogs! there was evern corn on the cob-- though not nearly as good as poppa's &they put cinnamon (?) on it. strange. -- ice cream sundaes rounded out the meal and everyone was beyond content. the perfect way to end the day. its hard to believe its february!

everyone is so tired now, they're laying low. being up so early and outside all day has left us all tuckered out. and many are burned. i'm a little pink but i re-applied my spf often so i think i'll be okay. i hung around the dining area for a while but came back to the room to catch up on emails and had a nice time with mckendree. we were listening to music and looking through old pictures. and now i'm nearly sleeping and typing at the same time so i should go.

classes begin again tomorrow, boo, and i'll be up bright and early. around, oh, 0200 east coast time. lovely.



hope my tales of warm weather don't bug anyone too much, i know its been chilly on the east coast. i wish you all could be here too! for now, know that i miss and love everyone!! stay warm!