appreciate the present hour?

sit and hear your own breathing and look out on the universe and be content.
-lin yutang

2 may 2009
1611 (4:11p)

back again!
since i've last wrote, i got some more information about the panama canal and our last few days on the ship!

i'm currently watching a pbs nova movie about the building of the panama canal; which is incredibly interesting. it's truly an engineering marvel, especially since it was constructed in the 1920s. for those not watching the on-ship movies, the wikipedia article is very interesting and filled with fun facts.

our tenative schedule for the panama canal (tomorrow) is as follows:

            0910-1000  Transit Miraflores Locks
            1050-1130  Transit Pedro Miguel Locks
            1245  Pass by Gamboa
            1445-1705  Transit Gatun Locks

tonight is a full list of activities: dinner, mandatory meeting about disembarkation, explorer's seminar about the panama canal, battle of the bands and then a marathon of all the episodes of road rules: semester at sea edition. i'm so excited for the marathon, to see what the old ship was like and to experience their adventure (and drama..)

tomorrow is panama canal day, cleaning, packing, ambassador's ball, fashion show and dance. i'm excited to get dressed up and to take "prom pictures" with everyone. it should be a great night.

it was rather rainy today, so i didn't miss out on a day of sunshine with all my studying and organizing. hopefully tomorrow will be sunny! i plan on taking lots of pictures, video-ing a ship tour and enjoying the experience of crossing the panama canal.

off to shower, amidst the laundry hung around our bathroom. mckendree and i made quite the mess, looking like washerwomen trying to rinse off our dusty guatemala clothes before we have to pack them up. strange how drawers are slowly being emptied, bags filled and the pictures are coming down off the wall.

then its onto selling my textbooks; there is a painfully slow line and i'm dreading sitting in it. alas, a few dollars towards my ship account (and a few less pounds to send home) are worth it.