a gentle and wise guide..

..always shines the light on the most forgiving pathway home 
–robert l. castellino

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20 march 2009
0045 (1245a)


global studies was a challenge this morning. we had two professors, a husband and wife, discuss the vietnam war. our technical guy, bob, sang a war protest song. our vietnamese inter-port lecturers were introduced, and we will have pre-port with them tonight.

there was a lot of crying in global studies today. i suppose it is hard for many of us to grasp just how our professors feel about the topic of the vietnam war. we simply have not had enough education about the situation. most simply know that it was a protested war and that there was a draft. it is hard to imagine what life would be like, attempting to avoid the draft or to see friends and family head off to war and to never come home. i have often said, in attempting to grasp the emotional toll of vietnam, that iraq will be our generation's vietnam.

i no longer think that is true. for one, we do not have any experience with a draft. there were speculations of a draft, though nothing has become of it. plainly, we simply do not get it.

and now, we're a day away from being in ho chi minh city, formerly saigon. i found myself wikipedia-ing the war to clarify my facts about the war. however, the personal accounts from professors who avoided the draft to others who simply protested. our generation needs to come to grips with the vietnam war so as to learn from our mistakes.

after a rather heavy global studies, which ran late, i headed to my third class, languages of the world. in the class we are now watching a pbs movie, journey of man. an odd film, indeed.

i lunched and then napped before editing my field reports to hand in. hopefully they are good! i need these grades to transfer!

after a nice girls-only dinner, we staked out seats in the union at 1900, 01 hour before pre-port and 02 hours before the evening program.

our pre-port was a little rough around the edges but was delivered by our sweet inter port student and the inter port lecturer, thai. there were videos, songs and countless images of traditional vietnamese dress. the whole experience was rathe long.

i LOVE our crew. every last one of them, from dining to housekeeping to the engine room. i love them all. 

let me back up for a second and explain why.

tonight was the crew talent show, which followed our cultural pre-port. there were over 20 acts which consisted of guitars, bands, solo singers, dances, skits, jokes and overall crazyness. it was fantastic.

hosted by nic, the school store manager from holland and heidi, who works in the snack bar and is from the united states, the show lasted over two hours. nic is impossibly cute and very european, i think some of the sas boys have crushes on him. how do boys get to be so pretty? the duo were dressed in button-down shirts and ties, and spent the majority of their time stalling while the acts were prepared.

clearly the entire show had been rehearsed and a significant amount of time was dedicated in creating the performances.

the majority of the crew were in their street clothes, which is fun to see. so many have great style (the single boys were so cute! more on them later..) and its hard to recognize them out of their strict uniforms!

amongst the acts was a crowd favorite, bar flare. three crew guys took turns spinning and flipping and twisting wine bottles and made pretend drinks. i've seen youtube videos of this sort of bartending before, and its incredible in person. i was able to get a front row seat and took some really neat action shots of the guys. it was so much fun to see the crew in different roles, and to be dancing around to pop music!

some of the acts were more creative; our a/v director, sparky, wrote a sweet song about life on the ship and how sad we'll be when we get off. it nearly brought tears to my eyes. the snack bar crew ad-libbed 'leaving on a jetplane' to talk about the things students often ask for.

there was a great dance by the housekeeping staff, all dressed up in sailor outfits. much to our dismay, andrew (our cabin steward) was not in it. we saw him sitting in the corner and cheered for him anyways. he loves us :)

two of the women on the crew, did a great skit with two of their housekeeping friends. the girls sat in chairs and the men were behind them, acting as their arms. they did a skit of getting ready for a day on the mv explorer that made everyone roar.

after laughing hysterically and snapping photos/taking video, the show came to an end. crew members representing 23 countries (of which the crew is comprised) gathered on stage for "we are the world." it was such an incredible night! and everyone is even more in love with the crew.

at the end of the show, we were told that we could donate to the crew appreciation fund. the money that we donate helps the crew to get christmas presents or to arrange trips for them in countries. i was glad to contribute and i think most felt the same. these wonderful people are away from home for 6-8 months at a time and work hour after hour to take care of us. we are treated so kindly, it is the least we can do.

i am now utterly exhausted and must head to bed. all the laughing and smiling has made my cheeks hurt!

some of the single boys made up a dance and every girl in the room was in love. unfortunately, due to the strict no fraternization policy, no luck for us.

hand's down ---- i love the crew!

xo xo from a sleephead :)