Stuff I did while crossing the Atlantic Ocean

Feb 5

Hello America!
        I guess it has been a little while since I updated my faithful followers (my mom) on my life at SAS.  Honestly, I have no idea what day of the week it is, or what time it is in the US, or when I last posted, or what it is like to sleep for over six hours.  But really, my sense of time is completely off.  The first week or so, I probably didn’t know what day of the week it was, but at least had an idea of what day it felt like.  At this point, I don’t have the slightest guess as to what day of the week it is or what day I think it should be.  It is actually kind of liberating being “lost” in relation to a normal sense of time or succession of days.  In the states, every day of the week has certain tasks, follows an order, and each day is probably pretty similar to the way that day was a week before, or the way that day is going to be a week in the future.  Here however, the word Sunday or Thursday means nothing.  Two weeks ago I was listening to classical music in Manaus on Sunday.  Last Sunday, I had a “regular” day of classes while in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Tomorrow (which I’m pretty sure is Sunday) we will have arrived in Ghana and I will be visiting slave castles.  Next Sunday, I think we will be off the coast of South-Western Africa somewhere on our way to Cape Town.  Along with the confusion of days of the week, we have had 23-hour days, about every other day for a week, which doesn’t help when it comes to sleeping.  I think we are either 4 or five hours ahead of EST, but that will probably change again tonight.  Any way the past few days have been a blast and here’s why:
       
Bridge Tour:
        I signed up (well, actually forgot to sign up and snuck into) a tour of the bridge of the ship, which is basically the cockpit, for those not nautically inclined.  It was really cool to see all the instruments and to interact with the crew who run the ship.  The bridge basically stretches the entire width of the ship and has a bunch of monitors, buttons, graphics, joysticks, throttles and electronics.  However, the area is very neat and orderly, and the steering wheel for the ship fits nicely into the palm of a hand.  I was able to talk with one of the Cadets (officer in training), who are responsible for navigation.  He showed me how the position of the ship, despite the most high tech electronics and GPS available, is still plotted by hand on nautical charts and double checked with a sextant twice a day.  He let me plot our latest position and determine our speed, all done by hand.  I also got to talk to our Captain, Jeremy, for a while, during which he briefed me on the protocol for pirate attacks, massive waves, and hitting a whale, all of which he didn’t seem very concerned about, but it was fun to joke with him and offer my assistance to fight off would be pirates.  I also was able to petition the Captain to have my duck tape returned to me, which apparently is a restricted item and was seized during a search of my room.  We will see what happens. 
       
School Work:
        So here’s the deal:  classes are a complete joke work wise, but I am actually learning stuff.  It’s actually fun to go to class sometimes and interact with the professors.  I think this type of learning, where students actually want to learn stuff, and aren’t treated as idiots or required to memorize random stuff the night before a test, should be tried elsewhere in America.  I think the lack of a good educators and educational philosophy is why so many kids, including myself, really can’t stand going to college.  Of course, the fact that three of my four classes don’t have any tests except a final, and that my only other assignment are open-ended essay questions due once a month makes me like school more.  I think I lucked out in my classes though, because a lot of other people have been studying a lot.        

Sea Olympics: 
        The Sea Olympics are a SAS tradition, where each sea competes against one another for the right to disembark the ship first when we arrive in San Diego and for bragging rights.  The “seas” are basically hallways, or decks on the ship, similar to a college dorm, and there were 10 of them.  They are named Red Sea, Caribbean Sea, Baltic Sea etc… My sea, which is the entirety of deck 2, about 70 students, was the Aegean Sea.  Decks 3 and 4, each have 4 seas (I think) and then there was also the Luna Sea (get it?), which was the faculty, and the Sea Salts (who were the life long learners.)  Each sea had a unique color, and sat in a certain section of the Union, which made for a really neat panoramic shot of all the different colors and students with face paint and head bands and decked out from head to toe in their sea’s colors.  The “Opening Ceremonies,” which took place Tuesday night, consisted of each sea making an entrance and cheering as loudly as possible.  We were then judge on our sea’s banner and our chant. Because I was working in the AV booth, I was able to design a whole music and light show for our sea’s chant, which was pretty cool, and we got second place in the competition.  The next day, Wednesday, everyone pretty much sleepy in till around noon and then woke up for the first events, which started at one (I woke up at eight to study for a test and get breakfast.)  In order to have the requisite energy needed for such a momentous occasion, about a dozen of the guys on my sea all shot gunned a couple red bulls at the pool bar in quick succession.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much that night.
I think that there were around 15 events throughout Wednesday afternoon, ranging from hula-hoop, crab soccer, tug of war, synchronized swimming, trivia and limbo.  The synchronized swimming was one of the more hilarious hours I have ever experienced in my life.  The creativity that was displayed is too funny for words, but ill try to find links to the You Tube videos that will be posted soon.  I competed in the tug of war, in which we placed a respectable third, after stalemating and losing to the eventually champs in an epic minute long battle.  The rest of the day was filled with obnoxiously cheering on my sea mates, running around the ship and generally having a lot of fun.  When the results were in at the end of the day, our sea got second, by less than ten points.  It was actually a really tough loss, because the expectation had been to win since we first boarded the ship, and we came really, really close.  Anyways, I suppose being the second group off of the ship allows me to sleep in a little more, but still be allowed off early in the day, which I’m told is a huge deal.

Weather:
        The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the entire trans Atlantic leg.  The seas have also been incredibly calm.  Partly because I’m used to the rocking, but mainly because the seas are flat, I don’t even notice that we are in a moving boat. The ocean is beautiful, and for me being on the water is a very peaceful and relaxing experience.  In one of my classes, the professor allows us to look out a big window at the ocean during class, and encourages us to interrupt when we see something cool.  It’s pretty interesting when someone yells out “bird!” and the whole class stops and crowds around the window.  It is also difficult to pay attention when it is so easy for me to get lost just staring across the water.

        Tomorrow morning we arrive in Takoradi Ghana, and I will be on a slave castles and dungeons trip for all of Sunday (President Obama took his family here after his inauguration).  I expect it to be a very surreal experience, and hopefully it will be one of those transformational travel moments we all seek.  After that we will try to watch the Super Bowl in the city, but if not, it is supposed to be streamed to the ship.  Monday I have free, but I think I am going to the beach or possibly joining a Habitat build.  Tuesday we are taking the bus to Accra and visiting some schools with Andrew Brigg’s organization.  Ill be in Accra for a night or two and then return to the ship Thursday to start our voyage to South Africa. 

Good Things,

-Ben