Jan 23 & 24

Jan. 23-24

Okay, so I have been informed (thanks, Dad) that this blog needed to be updated. Here’s the rundown of what I’ve been up to for the past few days. J

We’ve been attending mandatory pre-port seminars for the past two nights. Most of it is basic “don’t be stupid” stuff, but the cultural aspect has been interesting.

Last night after a day of classes and getting slightly sunburned we had to attend one of these seminars. It was long, excessively long and by the end I was ready fall asleep. On my way back to my cabin I passed a group of people gathering in the piano lounge for what I’d heard was supposed to be the first of many “coffee house nights.” It’s one of those artsy “come on up and play a song or read a poem” type things that generally tend to be disappointing. The first girl in line was someone named Kaitlin whom Helen and Gabe had heard singing before, so we stopped to watch one, just one song.

SHE WAS AMAZING.

She played an acoustic guitar and sang three original songs. Wow. Her voice was overwhelmingly beautiful and her lyrics were perfect. If she had been selling a demo I would have bought it on the spot. I repeat, wow.

I decided to stay for a while.

She was followed by two guys (Max and Tolan) who started off with a Flight of the Concords cover, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which also happens to be my favorite one of their songs. Seriously, if you haven’t heard it, youtube right this instant. They’re a comedic duo from New Zealand with their own TV show and they’re absolutely hilarious. Max bowed out after the song and Tolan, who was playing an acoustic electric guitar, played/sang a few of his own original songs, which were also quality. I liked Kaitlin’s lyrics better, but Tolan was also ridiculously talented.

Next came a guy from Japan who sang a song from Titanic. He was awful, but he was smiling the whole time and everyone applauded.

Then some little girl got up. Her name is Mischa and she’s a slam poet. She read two original pieces that had everyone in the room (upwards of 100 people) captivated. She has the face and stature of a 12-year-old, which made it even more incredible. I later found out that she’s the 16-year-old daughter of one of the professors. Either way, she’s a baller. Then Tucker read a poem he wrote while on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic.

After Tucker they had to wrap things up. Danny played/sang a Damien Rice song on guitar and Jeff played “Mr. Brightside” on the piano and we had a bit of a sing along, which was a great way to wrap up the evening. I would never have guessed that so many people that are so incredibly talented could be in one room at one time. I can’t wait to see what the next Coffee House Night is like; I’m willing to bet that it’ll be ten times more crowded.
This morning I woke up and everything I set down on the bedside table last night was still there. The sea was so calm that it felt like we were on land (at least in comparison to the last week).

I was heading up the stair on my way to grab coffee around 9:30am when a woman in a SAS sweatshirt asked me to go back down the stairs and come up again, so she could film me. I retraced my steps and apparently my ascent is going to be a blurb. I don’t know where, but keep an eye out on the SAS website or something… I guess. Either way, I like to say that I’ve been “blurbed.”

I didn’t have class until 12:30, so I sat out on Deck 6 and wrote in my sea journal (for my English class). I was quite surprised to see another ship on the horizon. Then I laughed at how surprised I was. Eight days on the Pacific Ocean and I’m already shocked to see other signs of life. Haha It turned out to be a freighter, but it never got close enough for me to investigate too thoroughly.

Later Courtney and I finally sent our first email to our Vicarious Voyage teacher. Correction: we have a 6th grade class, not 5th graders. I’m looking forward to hearing from the kids. Our first envelope goes out in two weeks, so we’ll be picking up postcards, maps, etc. in Hawaii to send them. I’m also going to be helping Hels out with her class, too!

Around 7:30pm I found out that it had been possible to see the outline of Hawaii on the horizon at sunset and that some people were checking it out with binoculars. I missed this. Boo.

We pull into port at 6am tomorrow, which is also when we have to be awake because customs officials are coming aboard and beginning the tiring process of processing every single person on the ship. We’re supposed to be out and about by 10 or 11am.

I have no real plans for tomorrow, but I’m hoping to explore and find an Internet café to upload a few pictures. I think that SASers are planning a mass exodus to the local Walmart in hopes of finding cheap beer. I myself am interested in purchasing a loofah. Hilo isn’t exactly know for its beaches because we’re on the wrong side of the island for that, but there are still a couple and we want to find one. Tomorrow will be relaxing… once we clear customs, go shopping for forgotten essentials and find a beach… haha

I do, however, have plans for Tuesday! Our scuba group is finally finalized. We have 12 people going on Tuesday morning (Me, Helen, Heather, Sally, Alyson, Gabe, Keith, Victor, Ryan, Mike, Alex and Beau). I hope it doesn’t rain!

This is all that has been going on in my life for the past couple days.

The end.

Lovelovelove,

Molly