Location: Underway to Borneo
This morning, after having the midnight to 4 am watch, I slept in until 9 am and then headed to the saloon to get some work done until lunch. After a lunch of frittata and risotto with lots of asparagus, everyone headed to class. Laurie organized a game of Pictionary as a review for the upcoming midterm exam in Oceanography. As the prize for the winning team was M&M, everyone took the review very seriously. This was followed by MTE, where we began the next portion of the course: navigation. We then had an introduction to reading charts. After refreshing deck showers, most people headed back to watch to catch a nap before their next watch or study for the upcoming OCE exam.
Morgan and Mandy were in the galley creating dinner, a meal of chicken and dumplings using Morgan’s family recipe (spoiler alert for dinner: it was delicious). The cooking went really well, and they finished early, so Mandy and I decided to do some dancing in the saloon. She and I are both glad we have each other because we love to dance around for exercise, but we look pretty silly doing it, and it’s much more fun to look ridiculous when you have someone else looking ridiculous with you. Tonight at the squeeze, I mixed things up a little bit – I wrote everyone’s name down on my homemade catchphrase game, and each of us had to describe or act out the person who we got. The best of the evening was Guilia’s very bad English accent when she pretended to be Kris by saying, “I need my cup of tea.” We have been at sea for… actually, I am not quite sure how long. It’s amazing how the days start to meld together. One of the things I love about our lifestyle (in general on Argo, but even more so while underway) is how simple life becomes. You don’t have to worry about a commute because the average distance to where you need to go next is 30 feet. You don’t have to worry about a car because the boat takes you everywhere you need to go. At the moment, we have no clue as to what is going on in the world, and it is kind of refreshing not to be bombarded by news sites 24/7. We can’t check email or Facebook, and although we definitely miss being in contact with friends and family at times, it is nice to get away from technology and also realize that we can survive without consistently being connected to the internet. When you wake up in the morning, the only things you need to be concerned about are being on watch on time, keeping the boat going where it needs to be safe, doing your job for the day, and keeping up with classes and coursework. Your job of the day is dictated by the job wheel – on any given day, you will be a chef, a deckie, a dishwasher or drier, the “headmaster,” bread maker, or skipper. You have one thing you are responsible for, and the other members of the crew take care of the rest. In doing these jobs, you also learn some new life skills. Although I bet, no one on this trip signed up for Seamester because I want to learn how to cook for 19 people! You will be amazed at the meals that your students will be able to whip up in the kitchen when they get home. Yesterday, I made eight loaves of bread (see photos from yesterday’s blog!) for our lunch of grilled cheese – something we always just buy at the store at home, but we now know how to make from scratch. All of these parts of our life on board just really make us slow down, appreciate the view and the company of the people we are with, and not worry about all the little petty problems that tend to get us down in the “real world.” We definitely work hard, both physically and in our courses, but there is still a sense of calm onboard that is hard to achieve in our regular lives. I hope that I, and everyone else, are able to bring back both awesome bread-making skills and the ability not to get caught up in unimportant details or technology with us when they return home. Until we reach the land of the internet and technology once again, sending lots of love to all of our family and friends reading the blogs.