Easter surprise

We just spent six days in Cape Town, so it’s not clear to me why the ship did not have time to gas up, but I guess the gas station is not a particularly good place to have passengers embarking and disembarking, so we have spent all of today bunkered.  We sailed from one side of the docking area to the other and my view changed from water to gas tank.  Every once in a while, the staff captain comes on and reminds us that we are not allowed to smoke while the ship is bunkered.  (So polite:  Why not just say, “Stop trying to blow up the ship”?)

The worst part of this unannounced delay is that, after a week of high winds and clouds covering Table Mountain, today is a day when you could actually go to the summit.  If you could get off the ship, which you can’t.  Anyway, it should make for smoother sailing when we actually do leave. 

Today is also Easter, which I celebrated by wearing a skirt.  And earrings.  It turns out that holidays don’t really register unless advertisements make you aware of them.  It’s hard enough to keep track of days of the week when your only distinction between days is whether you’re moving through the water (sea days, when we work) or not (port days, when we don’t).  Valentine’s Day slipped by virtually unnoticed, since we were in Viet Nam celebrating Tet at the time.  On St. Patrick’s Day, the Lifelong Learner Coordinator, Deb, handed out Mardi Gras necklaces, I supposed because she forgot she had packed them.

A lot of us are reassessing what we packed and what we purchased, and trying to figure out how to get all of it home.  Several people mailed packages from Cape Town.  My plan is to stuff my coat of many pockets full of everything that won’t fit in my luggage. Some insane person actually brought a Le Creuset dutch oven and cookbook as an auction donation.  That's half the allowable weight of a suitcase!

The Field Office coordinator, Karen, a person of incredible energy and dedication, has been sorting through cabinets and drawers, organizing materials that are useful, and getting rid of things that aren’t.  Today, she found…teeth.

Yes, teeth.  This is m y voyage for teeth.  Not one, but two sets of dental models from an orthodontist in Charlottesville.  (Perhaps this is because I didn’t pick up any of the dental casts in Yangon?)

Best answer to “What were they thinking?” gets a more traditional, and quite lovely souvenir from my trip.  Your ideas in the comments.