I SPY AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Yes, we are only a few miles off the shore of eastern Africa.  The captain heard my prayers from last night for calmer waters and he answered them.  Yesterday we were hit with huge swells all day.  I was able to distract myself from feeling sea sick by playing ping pong and volleyball for hours upon hours.  However, that was a bad idea because I wasn’t staying hydrated; and as soon as I stopped playing volleyball, I was struck with dehydration AND sea sickness and was bedridden. This brought flashbacks to the first 24 hours of being on the ship in January.   But luckily I didn’t have any plans so I bought water, Gatorade, and a power bar and called it a night.  I went to sleep at 6:30pm and woke up at 7:30 this morning. Thirteen hours, as well as an extra hour from the time change last night! It was a great night’s sleep with some really funny random dreams.  And then I woke to find great emails J

    Today is crew appreciation day.  Sally and I made our beds (for once) so that Shane wouldn’t have to today.  And tonight is the crew talent show which the entire ship is excited for.  I’m sure we’ll have to get there at least 2 hours early to get seats.  This is pretty much the only time that the crew is allowed to interact with the shipboard community and the only time we will be allowed to take pictures of them.  The crew on the ship is AMAZING!  They are so nice, so helpful, and so fun.  The ones who work in the dining halls are some of the favorites on the ship because we are able to talk with them while we eat. They always have the most positive attitude that brightens my day.  One man named Mezrum who has a thick Jamaican accent likes to walk around the cafeteria while singing.  I love it.

    Yesterday was South Africa Day.  Classes were canceled because there were seminars and performances all day long to learn more about South Africa.  One talk I went to was about sharks.  Dr. Abel focused mainly on Great Whites. I don’t know how good of an idea it was to attend this lecture since I’ll be swimming with Great Whites next week.  I am excited and now terrified as well.  I am mostly excited to take pictures with my underwater camera.  That will be cool!

    The day before that the water was so calm, it is funny how it changed overnight and yesterday it was a pain.  I saw my first dolphin that day.  It was easy to spot the dolphins because there were no white caps in the ocean for once so when we saw the splashes of water we could tell it was an animal.  Actually, by the end of the day, I saw two pods of dolphins. J

    This is to all of my volleyball girls from back home: I have a new form of volleyball…. I call it: “Ultimate Extreme Volleyball”.  Consider playing volleyball in these circumstances: outside in the sun, confined to a narrower yet longer sports court with nets, extremely windy, and 20 ft. swells.  It made for an interesting game, yet very fun.  We played where the nets and walls surrounding all four sides were playable.  On one side of the court the sun was in your eyes so you couldn’t see the ball until it was a few feet from your face.  The wind took nearly every ball.  And the best part was the rocking of the ship... you’d be running after a ball and it would either be a lot more difficult to run because you were going against the ship and running uphill or all of a sudden you would crash into a wall because you were running with the ship and it made you run a lot faster than you wanted.  Jumping was also interesting.  If you went up to hit or block, you would come down in a different spot depending on the boat rocking or rolling.  It made for a fun game.  I can’t imagine what it would be like if alcohol was involved…not safe that’s for sure.

    So today is a beautiful day.  I am feeling much better. All I want to do is lie out in the beautiful sun yet my two papers are calling my name.  I must discipline myself and get this done before the crew talent show.  Bye everyone! Talk to you later. Hopefully I can finish my Vietnam blog by tomorrow night before I get off the ship in Cape Town!