Aegean Sea wins Olympics! (Sea Social, Easter & Passover too!)

Who woulda thunk it? Certainly not me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my sea, and the kiddos who live with me down on Deck 2 are super cool, but prior to Olympics Day they hadn’t really exhibited much spirit. Even the Sea Olympics Captains for my sea were a bit distraught about getting people jazzed about the festivities. The night before the Olympics, many of the seas were getting together to polish their cheers, plan matching wardrobes, and get their face paint ready… but not the Aegean Sea. A bunch of the RD’s were sitting around playing Hearts in Studio 7 (the Faculty Staff Lounge) discussing the chances for their seas. I definitely said that the Aegean Sea had a chance to lose every single competition. But boy did they make me eat my words.

The Sea Olympics events started with Opening Ceremonies and to begin, they played a video of the crepe paper torch traveling around the ship, and finally being marched into the Union by Desmond Tutu, who officially declared the games open. Next came the Sea Chants. The ceremonies started at 9am, and at about 8:45, my sea slowly assembled, looking tired and even hungover after their time in Mauritius. Luckily they were all dressed in green, and a few of the more exuberant women on my sea were getting people hyped. We got stripes applied under our eyes (football style) our of dark green eye shadow and I started to think they might make me proud. Next our team captains, Colie, Natalie & Mike, handed out our team chant. The chant was set to the tune “Holla Back Girl” by Gwen Stefani. The song was tight! (to quote my sea kids). We ain’t no upper deck sea, we ain’t no upper deck sea!.... Ooo, This our ship, this our ship.” It was really funny, and when our turn came, we all marched in chanting “We are the Turtles, T-U-R-T-L-E-S” (B-a-n-a-n-a-s style). It was a big hit, and our chant was the only one that got the audience involved, clapping with us and laughing along with the whole Turtle routine. Plus, it helped that about 55 of my little turtles were up there chanting their little hearts out… even my TFC thug types got into the act. Many of the chants were cute, and the Yellow Sea’s was pretty darn great, but when they announced that the Aegean Sea had won, the Turtles went berserk. I was so proud of them. I’ll be damned if they didn’t take that momentum and immediately go off and win or place top-3 in every single event that morning. They were third in the Tug-of-War, first in Slippery Twister, Second in the Relay Race, First in Juice Pong, and on it went. By the end of the afternoon, the Aegean Sea was in the points for all but 4 or 5 of the 20 or so events of the day. It got to the point that other teams were just trying to beat “those green folks.” I was loving it. The best thing about it was that the second deck crew came together in such great ways. People came to all the different events to support one another, and they were meeting people on their deck that they had never talked to before. Plus, my folks were great about being positive cheerleaders, and not cutting down the other teams or throwing it in anyone’s face that they were winning. I actually heard from a bunch of people who went to their rooms and changed into green and were honorary Aegean Turtles b/c they just liked the vibe of our sea. In the end, there was no contest, we won’t the Sea Olympics with 120 points, and the second and third place teams tied with 70 points. It wasn’t even close. I was beaming with pride for my awesome 2nd deck kiddies. One of the best things to come from out of the whole experience is that my deck has actually gotten some respect as a result. People always thought that being on Deck 2 was a pitiable thing, but now they come down there, and are envious of our Gangway Lobby “Lounge” and all the cool cats who are on my sea. They like the fact that people down on Deck 2 seem to know one another, and are genuinely friendly. I like to think that my presence is a part of that newfound cache for deck 2, but that may be a little too much pride on my part.

Aegean Ninja Turtles in mid-chant!

Turtle Power! Aegean Sea about to kick-ass in another event!

Everyone getting ready for the big Obstacle Course

A couple days after our big Turtle Pride victory, the Aegean Sea had our Sea Social. Each student sea has an opportunity once a voyage to have a sea social in the Faculty-Staff Lounge. It’s a big deal, and they are usually themed events with catered food and music, and a nice party where the students can have fun and mix with the faculty, staff, and life-long learners. I worked with my social chairs to come up with a theme, and despite my suggestions they wanted to go with a Greek mixer old-standby, the Golf Pros & Tennis Hoe’s Party. I nixed the name, but they were persistent, and we ended up on a Preppy 80’s Country Club Affair. I created invites covered in Argyle inviting them to “the” social event of the season, and instructing those attending to wear their “Brat Pack 80’s best” with popped collars, sweaters around their shoulders, pearls… etc . The music was strictly 80’s and tons of fun. My sea came out in full force, all appropriately dressed, and danced their champion booties off. I was super hyped to see that many many of the faculty and staff members came, and even dressed for the theme. They really got into the 80’s theme and music too. We served pot stickers and egg rolls, and had a couple big ice cream cakes proclaiming “Aegean Sea, Spring 2007 Sea Olympics Champions.” I lied and told people I had ordered the cakes before the Olympics b/c I had such faith in them. Ok, so the fib didn’t go over and they all knew I was kidding, but it was funny at the time. During the party, a few of my kids stopped the music and thanked me for everything I had done to bring them together and inspiring them on to victory. They gave me a goodie bag full of Semester @ Sea items from the bookstore, all green (of course!). Normally, the sea socials fizzle out around 10:30 or so, and folks move to AFTer Hours to drink with their friends, but not my sea. They were there till the last song. In fact, I actually had to kick out a bunch of interlopers who tried to crash my sea social. After the party, a bunch of the other staff members told me that it was the best sea social, by far, and that they hadn’t realized how many of their favorite kids were on my sea. Yep, another moment of pride for Drew. Go Turtles!!

All of that happened between Mauritius and India. The two days between India and Malaysia were a blur of activity, and then I had to kick it into high gear for the trip from Malaysia to Vietnam. The first night in Malaysia the Jewish community on board celebrated Passover. I worked with Stephan, the Hotel Director, to make the Seder as authentic as possible for our students. I got a couple awesome recipes from one of our life-long learners, Joyce Greene (who always wears the color green, cute huh?). So the ship’s chef made her Charosets, and Tsimis recipes, and when we walked into the banquet room for the Seder, there was a table set with the hardboiled eggs, matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, parsley, salt water, and all the other accoutrements of a proper Passover Seder (well, except the horseradish, but evidently, you can’t find it anywhere in Asia). A few of our Jewish were struck speechless, and a couple even teared up when they saw the spread. They said they had just resigned themselves not being able to celebrate Passover this year, and instead they were getting to do it much like they did at home. It was quite a gratifying experience. My students Rachel and Jared and Colie put together a nice Seder and amalgamated all their family traditions. There were about 30 people in attendance, and it really did feel like an extended family of sorts. I’m proud to say I was totally in the loop during the whole service, even if I wasn’t able to read any of the Hebrew. Aunt Joan and Uncle Ed would be very proud of their goy nephew, who really was paying attention during all those Passover’s growing up. Once we left Malaysia, the Jew Crew held an event where we put on a Passover Seder for the whole shipboard community. So many people had asked questions about the holiday, and wanted to understand it better, so 5 days into Passover, the Jew Crew did it all again, but this time there were 175 people in attendance, and the Seder had a much greater educational component to it. Everyone who attended learned a lot, and the matzo ball soup was so good, it might have made some converts.

The following morning was Easter, and when you have Archbishop Desmond Tutu on board, that means a big deal. I worked with Dean Larry for the week running up to Easter to plan a big sunrise service led by the Archbishop himself. I set out a sign up sheet to gauge interest and decide if we should hold the service outside on Deck 4 or Deck 7. After a day and a half, we had over 300 names on the list. In the end, almost 500 people signed up to attend the sunrise Easter service. It was not possible to hold the service outside, so we moved it into the Union. The problem is that the Union only holds about 350 people or so. In the end, it worked out because a bunch of the people who originally signed up decided to sleep in instead. The service was really nice. The Archbishop chose the readings and did a really nice sermon. We had communion wine and rolls for the bread, and streamers, and beautiful Indian fabrics laid over the altar table. I typed up the entire mass, and highlighted all the sections for the audience members to read and it was projected on the wall in a powerpoint presentation throughout the service. It turns out that was an essential element b/c a lot of the people who came, were there to see what the whole “Easter thing was all about” and hear the Archbishop speak. Not many were Episcopalians, like the Archbishop, and many more hadn’t been inside a church in years. If the words, and commands (stand, sit, etc) hadn’t been projected, I doubt anyone would have known what to do. The Archbishop selected the hymns as well, and the day before the service we brought together a big group of people so he could teach them to us. I think we all feared that he would end up singing them himself with 350 people looking on. Luckily, our little group did him proud, and it went over really nicely. As an extra side benefit, we even collected $700 for charity through the Easter Service Offering. At the end of the service, each person received a red carnation, and we all walked through the ship to the back deck, and tossed our flowers into the sea. It was a very contemplative gesture, and people said it was quite beautiful. I wish I could take credit for that idea, but it was all Dean Larry.

Yesiree Bob, things have sure been crazy. Today, a day and a half out of Hong Kong, I realized that we have only 29 days left on this ‘voyage of discovery.’ That thought truly depressed me. It has now been my reality for 2 ½ months, and I’m not even close to being ready to give that up. We’ve started discussing plans for the last port, and for our arrival in San Diego. I’m not ready for all that yet. Sure there are moments when I miss my family, or the beach, or my house, or high-speed internet… but overall, I will miss everything I’ve developed here. I have friends on this ship… more and closer friends than I even have in California (sad, huh?). I never get lonely here, because everywhere I go, I find people who make me laugh and who I respect and care about. Well, I guess I need to refocus my energy and suck every bit of goodness out of these last few weeks. I’ll worry about the future and my homecoming later. Until then, I’ll try to get my Vietnam/Cambodia blog up before I hit Hong Kong… call it a goal. We’ll see if it’s attainable or not.

Love to everyone stateside.
XOXO
-Drew