March 19, 2010

     Today was a very cool and exciting day.  First of all, at 2:45am we crossed the equator.  I thought that we weren’t going to cross it until tomorrow during Neptune Day, or else I would have stayed up and watched as we sailed past that imaginary line in the Indian Ocean.  We have now sailed in all four hemispheres of the world.  How exciting!  How many people can say that they have sailed through all four hemispheres during one trip?  SO COOL!

     The sun was directly over us at noon today.  Well, we were told that technically only twice a year the sun will be directly overhead. It occurs on the equator at noon.  One of the dates is March 21^st, the first day of spring, so unfortunately we just missed it by 2 days.

    Secondly, the ocean and sky looked ridiculously amazing today!  The ocean was so calm! It was like glass.  (Even more still than Shaver Lake! I wanted to water ski on it!) The water was so memorizing, I could sit there and watch it for hours.  And the sky… I don’t know if it is because we are near the equator, but the clouds were so close to the water and they went on forever and ever.  And way off in the distance the clouds were a different shade, a vibrant white.  These clouds sat right on top of the horizon.  I have never seen the clouds and ocean like this before.  Oh and not to mention the sunsets lately….Oh My God!  Beautiful!

    Lastly, tomorrow is Tina’s birthday.  She is my mom on the trip.  My father planned a surprise party for her with their two extended families, some students, and faculty.  However, that was canceled because of Neptune Day.  So I sent my father an email saying how sad I am that it was canceled because I was looking forward to it.  Couple hours later when I was working out on the top deck, I see him and run over to tell him how sad I was to hear that it was canceled.  He said that he got my email and replied back right away with another offer. Then he called my room and I wasn’t there so he went on a ship wide search to tell me in person.  And that’s when he found me on the top deck working out.  Turns out I was exclusively invited to a “special occasion dinner” (which is a HUGE deal on the ship…you dress up really fancy, its amazing food, 5 course meal, glass of Champaign…SO nice!) . Only 30 people could be invited so he invited 24 faculty members and five students.  I was so honored. And among the faculty members was the dean, my philosophy professor, the librarian Warner, and some other fun professors I know pretty well.  Basically, it was so cool ‘hanging out’, having a super nice dinner on the ship with all of these important professors and administrators.  After our delicious meal, Lee surprised Tina with a necklace which Tina was eyeing at the jewelry store we went to in Jaipur.  She loved it.  And then, another surprise…he made a slide show of Tina and their family with pictures since 45 years ago…they were so cute and sooo funny. Tina had a different hair style in every picture! Haha. And it was nice because I finally got to see their daughter Kara Lee who they always talk about to me because of our same pronounced names.   Basically, I had a great great time!  I am so honored he asked me to join and so happy I accepted!