Post-Olympic Quietus

It was like someone hit the mute button on the ship yesterday.  Maybe it was the contrast in the sound the previous day during the Olympics, but things were definitely quieter on the MV Explorer. In the library, people are now speaking in hushed tones for the first time.  They are taking tests and turning in papers.  I walked by a classroom yesterday, and guys were wearing suits and making a presentation.   Groups were hashing out how they were going to complete a marketing survey on the ship.  We are full-blown into the academic experience, and the conversations have changed.  I'm overhearing things right now out in the hallway about "sustainable" and global impact as a group works out a presentation.  We are checking books in and out and showing kids how to get scholarly articles on Sufism off the UVA databases.  I am so in my element.

They work hard, and they play hard.  We are in the tropics and a part of every day is spent by many of the kids on the 7th deck, sunbathing.   While many of their friends at home are on Spring Break, they are doing their own spring break sunning right here on the ship. Swim suit cover-ups are the outfits of the day for moving about the ship.  We have found that the sun here can burn you in 15 min if you are not protected so small doses are good. The major excitement for the faculty is "dolphin spotting" with a number of pods swimming by.

After we had stopped the ship the previous day to allow us to view the Nicobar in the daylight, we got that view.

This is a shot of a ship that was aground for some time.  I'm not sure if it is from the big Tsunami or not.  There are still 3 indigenous languages spoken on the islands that were created when the oceans rose and covered some of the land at the end of the great ice age.

It's still strange that after a number of weeks, I still see a student and go "I've never seen that guy before", but he sure didn't get on after we left.  There are still strangers--I introduced two UVA kids to each other yesterday.  But, I'm seeing more and more kids who are looking like couples.  As the Olympics coordinator mentioned in the ceremonies, the Olympics helped to better foster a sense of community.  I can see close-knit friends.

Nancy and I had an ice cream time for our extended family last night, and we all had a good time eating and talking about our plans for India.  Kelly would have you believe that she ate all that ice cream, but this is one area where I can hold my own.  It should have been a sea olympics event.