Neptune Day...

So updates…the second day back from Brasil was Neptune Day, which meant no classes! Except we thought we would have a morning to sleep in, but nooo. A little before 8 we heard drumming, yelling, and people pounding on our doors, we had to wake up, get breakfast, and go up to the Pool Deck to see King Neptune (for he was very upset with us because we did not pay our respects to him when we crossed the Equator). But it was fine waking up early I’m almost used to it, except for the fact that we have pushed out clocks ahead 1 hour the last three nights. We are now 5 hours ahead of VA. So moving on.. ate breakfast, walked upstairs to the pool deck. Soon the Captain ( remember he is the British Guy) walked up with his whole brigade, he was painted green all over, with a green hula skirt as a wig, a hula skirt as pants, and a huge crown, and all the others were dressed in white sheets with tin foil hats and shoes, and Christmas bows all over them, I guess they made use with what they had. They did a pretty great job, and everyone was very into it. Now because it was our first time crossing the equator we were all paddlewacks ( I think that’s how you spell it) and we had to become shellbacks (people who had crossed the equator). To accomplish this task or to become “worthy” as the King Neptune called it… a frothy white mixture (later found out to be stale milk and flour, though many believed it to be fish guts as it was in the past) would be dumped over our heads and then we would jump into the pool, get out to kiss two dead fish, kiss King Neptunes Rings, and be knighted as Shell Backs. Although I was pressured I did not partake in the festivities, though I did take great pictures of the event. By the time I really thinking about going, the pool was a foggy white, the whole deck smelled, and I convinced myself I was pretty much a Shellback since I had been splashed numerous times. So I changed into a bathing suit, bathed myself in Sunscreen, laid out til Lunch, took a three hour nap, showered, and went up to the Pool Deck again for a Sunset Barbeque!! It was a wonderful, relaxing day.

I must mention one more thing…another tradition of Neptune Day is to shave heads. Well I thought most of the guys would, maybe a few girls, but it turned into a head shaving extravaganza. Guys and Girls, young and old, it didn’t matter, I would say at least 1/3 of the ship now has a shaved head. I heard that when we dock in South Africa, we are known as “the ship of Cancer Paitents”, oh man. And I have to say, some do look a little sad. Some look great though. For a lot of the girls it really brings out their beautiful faces, but it will be interesting to see how the hair grows out. If I had done it, I would most definitely have a very long boy stage of curly brown hair sitting on my head, glad I didn’t do it! I’m thinking I would look something like Justin Guarini of American Idol fame, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

As we have moved into the Horse Latitudes, the water has become smooth and glassy, and the sunsets are beautiful! But since our ship is the fastest passenger ship ever made, we’ve had to slow down a bit in order to hold off our arrival in South Africa another few days. So the past few days the ship has been rocking a lot back and forth slowly, I feel like we are a little sailboat. But it has been beautiful weather, and the rocking is very nice to fall asleep to. Though it does make it a little hard to stay awake in class! Well that’s all for now, I promise I will write more about Brasil before I get to South Africa, only two more days!!