Rhythms

Well, the shipboard community is starting to settle into a bit of a rhythm.  Everyone knows where there classes are--except those 25 folks standing across the way who are in the drop/add line.   That's part of a rhythm, too, because students everywhere are changing their schedules.  They have started to have groups and activities. Believe it or not, there was a big knitting community meeting together last night and a huge group of kids playing charades.

The Explorer Seminars began last night.  These are classes/lecture/workshops that are "extras".  I attended a seminar by Jonathan Spence.  Prof Spence is a retired professor of Chinese History and an expert as evidenced by the body of his publications.  What a great resource to talk about the history of China.  He will be on the ship for part of the voyage as part of a special program.

The library is hopping.  I've included a before/after shot. Students are reading reserve materials, checking out other books, consulting reference sources and  devouring the big selection  of travel guides that we have.  The reservations for the next group of Semester at Sea trip is due in a couple of days.  I have to believe that if students planned the rest of their lives like they plan their trips, they would be well-served.

The library on the ship was the casino on the former incarnation of the ship, and everyone who sits at the bar says he feels like he should order a drink.  We're trying to find a tip jar.  We did do some major re-arranging of the reserve materials since they are just not wanting to stay on the shelves.  Now many of them are under the counter. We also discovered that cheezy romance novels make a great item to cram in the end of the shelves to wedge the books tight so they don't move.

And finally, I wanted to say a word about cabin bathrooms.  I don't spend much time there, but ours is quite cozy.  One of the rhythms for me was to figure out which way the unique shower handle needed to be turned to produce hot water.  There were two incentives--not standing in cold water for too long and conserving water.  I now know how and can get hot water pretty quickly.  That's good since the water consumption on the ship was 295 liters per person on Tuesday.  As a sustainability theme, we're looking for ways to bring this down, and now I'm doing a little part.

As a last comment about bathrooms, there is a small stainless steel contraption on the wall next to the toilet.  It can be swiveled 180 degrees and forms a small bowl like a possible ash tray.  Since there is no smoking in cabins, I don't think that's it.  I would appreciate any ideas.

I'm still rising early, but I'm usually rewarded.