FEBRUARY 29, 2008 – KAGOSHIMA, JAPAN

The tap tap tap of the razor was the first sound I heard before the shower’s dripping. Ed dressed and left a little before 7 am. I got up and saw the sunrise over the mountains as we approached Kagoshima. I am excited to be seeing Japan in person. A country and culture which have long fascinated me.
YIPPEE! We turn back the clock one more hour tonite. Such a treat.
JAPANESE IMMIGRATION: We had to complete some questionnaires and sign them earlier in the week and turn them into the purser’s desk.
We lined up at our appointed time and when it was our turn, we were escorted to gather our passenger landing permit. With this in hand, we waited again until we appeared before Japanese immigration officials. They were all in business suits, and of all ages. All were friendly, courteous and spoke better English than some Americans. They had the latest finger print technology. You had your fingerprints taken (via computer: no ink) and your photo was taken. Your permit was stamped and you were off.
KAGOSHIMA PORT: First off: It’s cold here! Locals are in coats with fur collars. The ship’s sale on sweats did well.
This is a brand new pier, and we think we are the first cruise ship to land here. There was a big Welcome Pacific Princess sign on the terminal, and there were tents outside with samples of rice cakes, green tea and sake. You immediately notice how clean, pretty, orderly everything is!
I took Ed over to the flowered “Welcome to Kagoshima” lawn sign so I could take his photo in front of the volcano. A Japanese man with a serious camera around his neck, motioned that he offered to take our photo together. I smiled and gave him my camera. He led us several blocks away from the ship site to the point of the pier and positioned us on a staging area there with the volcano in the rear and took that shot. But he wasn’t done yet! He also took us around to another view and took our photo with the ship in the rear. This is really an interesting picture. I’m going to try embedding photos into the blog but I’ll also put them in the gallery in case it doesn’t work.
They havc a post office, bank, and international phone services available in this small terminal. While I was waiting in the terminal, I was interviewed by a Japanese documentary crew about Kagoshima. They had questions such as: Do you know what Kagoshima is famous for? I answered the volcano and they were very pleased. Did I like sushi? Alas, no. What did I like to eat? I said Yaki Soba, -- blank looks – then noodles – more blank looks, then buckwheat noodles? No recognition there either. I wonder if these are Japanese American dishes?? They moved on with other questions and eventually left to speak with someone else.
Ed got some Japanese yen (100 yen = $1 USD) and we returned to the ship to get warmer coverings. We had a quick bite to eat since there is no food on this changed schedule (due to our later-than-planned arrival). Because of our tour, we had to miss the plaque exchange program on the top deck with the Captain.
TOUR: We got on a modern, comfortable motorcoach which took us to a ferry for a 15 minute ride across the bay to see Mt. Sakurajima, the local volcano which erupts with some regularity adding to the land mass around here and the anxiety of the locals. We had the good luck to see some shadows and sunshine here and there on the volcano but alas none of our photos do justice to it.
So we took the bus back to the ferry: the bus drives onto the ferry. You can stay on the bus or go up top for a view but the ride is only 15 minutes. Now we headed to a villa with a large, gorgeous garden. These lands were traditional, old Japan. There are some shops on the grounds and a modest museum with many artifacts from the feudalistic era. But most of all, we saw CHERRY BLOSSOMS! It’s cold here and this is a type that blossoms in this weather.
Along the route, many other sites were pointed out to us. We note that the apartments and houses are obviously very small, as are almost all of the cars on the streets. There is an robust trolley network for transport.
TAIKO: 5 busses arrived at the same time and so we had a little wait in the cold wind to rejoin the ship. Everyone was supposed to be on board by 4:30 pm and there was a drum group scheduled for 4:40 pm. We got on board promptly at 4:30 but there were many others yet to board. And the drummers began before we got on the ship. We had invited Twyla and Dave to join us on the patio for the drum concert and when we called, they were ready.
You have to imagine multiple drums including the enormous, several ton Taiko drum, on the pier. There were initially 5 drummers; later we established that they were all girls. If you’ve never seen a Taiko drum demonstration, you won’t be able to appreciate what a treat this really was. The girls played non-stop for over 45 minutes. In addition to being excellent musicians and athletes, they are also graceful in the choreography of their movements.
The girls were later joined by two men, one older, one probably 20, who began to play drums also. Along the way, one of the girls played the shakuhachi (sp), a Japanese flute. There were many Japanese dignitaries around along with what looked like locals and news media. Among these was a lady in traditional kimono who began dancing gracefully with some young women in business suits who had begun to dance to the drumming.
The Captain was watching this all from the extension of the bridge on the side of the ship. The last person to return to the ship was the physician from the clinic. When the concert had ended, he began the process of loosening the lines. The people on the pier continued to wave to us and call greetings back and forth for some time after we were away from the pier. The taxi drivers put their white gloves on their windshield wipers and turned them on to wave goodbye to us (how clever is this!).
As you can imagine, this was a really outstanding visit for many reasons but the icing was the hospitality and reception from these local people. They really wanted you to experience Japan and Kagoshima in particular.
DINNER: The Fab Four as usual. Twyla said they saw Erna on the shuttle bus and adopted her for the window shopping in town. She’s really worried about Henry as he isn’t bouncing back as she’d hoped; he’s in bed most of the day. We understand and share her worry but he wouldn’t be better off anywhere else.
I downloaded the 200+ photos Ed and I took today and reduced the size of the ones in this blog.
ENTERTAINMENT: A hypnotist who’s supposed to be funny. You know how I feel about this kind of “entertainment.” Ed enjoys it though and I was surprised when he said he was tired and wasn’t going.
So: I didn’t get nearly enough of Japan but I look forward to seeing more of it in the future. For now, we’re on our way to Shanghai where many on the ship will get off to go visit the Great Wall and other sites in Beijing.
FEBRUARY 28, 2008

WHEE! The ship was up and down, back and forth, around and around all night long. Tilt a whirl it was. As we were cruising (well this is much too genteel a term) along last night, one of the casino workers, stumbled over to the window, looked out and said: “Captain, what in the hell are you doing?” He was trying to outrun a storm as it turns out. The final impact means that we will be late into Kagoshima as you really can’t run a ship very fast in a storm.
We woke up late as it turns out but I got showered and ready pretty quickly to make it to the first talk of the day.
THE SMALLEST ROOM: Our Japanese cultural speaker talked about the bathroom, baths (including sand baths which I gather some passengers are going to seek out in Kagoshima), and the various architectural differences in Japan. She always creates a tasteful and very Japanese looking stage setting as the backdrop for her talks. As with so many of these speakers however, I wonder about some of their background which is often left empty. The theologian is one example and she another. She clearly has traveled and lived in Japan many times and her business is around ikebana and such, but more details in writing would be interesting.
TRIVIA: The crocks were in place and ready. Eric has some sea sickness and that explains why he lays down almost flat in the chair and appears to go to sleep for these sessions. Val tells him: “go to sleep, darling. I’ll wake you when we need you.” And she does wake him when we need his input on a question, usually one around a date, whereupon he’s usually right and always adds the admonition: “I know because I was there.”
We had a phobia and question and the resident with the ethical challenges looked it up (she did find this one it turns out) and gave the answer. The group had already settled on an answer (which as it turns out was wrong and was my contribution which was an educated guess backed by some rationale) and Ed and I gave her feedback about how it wasn’t fair to change it, etc. etc. Val was our scribe and she didn’t make any changes so it stayed that way.
We didn’t win and we didn’t see the prizes for today so we didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.
I’ve been trying to think of how to describe Val and Eric so you could get a clearer picture of why I enjoy this couple so much. Val has a Maggie Smith quality about her: almost imperious but not really and always with a genuine sweetness and charm. Her accent is (to my untrained ear), that rather upper crust British accent. She’s quite bright and indulges Eric in a rather “of course” manner. Eric is white haired and white moustachioed with a wide smile, usually seen after he’s accomplished something mischievious. The closest description I can give is of a British officer in India in the helmet and khaki uniform – with without the pomp. You could mistakenly think he’s a little dotty if you didn’t pay attention. He’s obviously bright but clearly has some health limitations which they never discuss but clearly mean they must adjust some of their activities to manage.
LUNCH: the service in the dining room is horribly slow since Sydney and the new personnel. We finally left after our entrees were finally facilitated by Rod who was walking by, when it became clear we were not going to make Prof. Giles’ last lecture if we didn’t hurry.
Back in a corner a large table had been created with a dolphin balloon and a birthday party for the (now) 7 y/o on the cruise. Fr. Cribbin had been invited I’m sure because he gives the girls all his trivia win prizes. It was a cute event to see here.
FINAL AIR OFFENSIVE: You know I don’t care for battle stories, photos or movies, but I enjoy these lectures with their stories, photos and such when done by folks who have a direct connection. I am especially appreciative of Prof. Giles compassionate treatment of the conditions of the Japanese citizens and soldiers. He clearly lays out the environment in which their militaristic bent was developed, but this was a function of the leadership more than the population, which like most citizens in countries, are merely followers of such doctrines as they continue to try to live their everyday lives without making more trouble for themselves.
PHOTO CHALLENGES: We invited Dave and Twyla to come up to our room so we could download Dave’s photos to the hard drive and put them on a disk for him. He has about 700 by now, some quite good, and some of things where we didn’t get the shot or the experience. He didn’t have the cable for his camera to computer hook-up since he didn’t bring his computer. We did manage to find a way around that and multiple other problems we encountered (running out of hard drive space—we had brought our external hard drive and found a way to get around that) until we finally got them all on disk.
Now I’ll spend some time showing Dave how to do some basic editing I’ve learned in Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
PASSENGER TALENT SHOW: We ran down to see this since Eric was the finale. We came in as the two little sisters on the ship were doing a skit where the younger girl plays a ventriloquist’s dummy to to the older sister’s Edgar Bergin.
As you may expect, most of it was funny because of how bad it all turned out. One lady who has a little bit of a ditzy edge read some poems she had brought along, not because she’s a gifted reader, but merely to have some spotlight for a few minutes. One fellow deludes himself into thinking he’s a comedian and embarrassed himself by telling some highly inappropriate off color jokes. I had already heard them all but they were not fodder for this event and you could see how uncomfortable everyone was. The staff didn’t have a way to cut this short and no one seemed to know what to suggest. Mericifully he ended rather quickly,
So then Eric appears, clearly fresh shaven but still in his shorts and sockless loafers. He introduced another well known Australian song and began to sing it. They asked all the Auzzies to join along, but not many did. After a minute or to, a lady joined Eric on stage to sing; she carried a teeny Australian flag from a cocktail pick. A little more time and a tall fellow also joined, and eventually, Val and one of the crew appeared waving a very large Australian flag as the body all now joined in song. I’m not even Australian and I found it moving. I loved every minute of it all.
By the way, if you want to ferret out the Auzzies in your midst, simply call out “Auzzie, Auzzie, Auzzie!” very rapidly and it will quickly be followed by a chorus of “uuooh uuooh uuooh!” No I don’t know but it is funny when it’s done.
CAPTAIN’S ANNOUNCEMENT: Because we were slowed down by the bad weather, we will be at least 2 hrs late getting into Kagoshima. We did find out later that the immigration officials will come on board with the pilot so that we won’t lose time on the ground to immigration procedures.
PHOTOS OF DANCERS: Claude stopped us at the photos kiosk to give us two photos from the Guam dancers the other day. One is of Ed dancing with the little girl who directed him in dancing with her, and the other of us with the troupe of dancers. He has a wonderful camera and these are terrific shots. The gift of such memories in the form of a photo is a priceless gift.
DINNER: The six of us again. Hank is still very ill and Erna is very worried. Hank is a cancer “survivor” and is on long term chemo for it so that is very much complicating his recuperation. Still there’s nothing to be gained by trying to get back home to Hawaii. He’s got room, board, a medical clinic and friends here. At home, he’d be alone and have to fend for himself.
The conversation flow was a little better tonite than usual. Ed sits near one couple, and I near the other. I feel like I’m the hostess at a large banquet who’s job it is to keep the guests involved and not feeling isolated.
ENTERTAINMENT: This was an Italian singer who looked Middle Eastern and had a similar sounding last name. He has a good voice but it wasn’t one I enjoy though Ed thought he was terrific. I did like his selection of songs. I did feel a little sorry for him as he tried to get the audience to sing along with him, almost always with little success except from those who drowned his voice out. He was wear a Chinese jacket in black with red trim. I wonder if he thought this was Japanese perhaps?
MEDICATION SCHEDULE: My medication schedule these past few days has required a medication nurse to follow me around. Upon arising, I have a nasal spray, 2 puffs from one drug which are separated by 10 min., then 2 puffs from another drug which also requires a few minutes between puffs. One drug by mouth to be followed 30 min. later by another drug. And 10 cc of Robitussin which I absolutely hate.
And once a week on Tuesdays, we take our malaria pill.
The nasal spray is twice a day, the puffer drugs are three times a day, the oral drugs are four times a day. I made myself a schedule like one I’d do for a patient and I’m still trying to catch up. Everything tastes like Cephalexin and thank God I’m almost finished with the Robitussin as I’m not sure how much longer I can deal with it (Oh come on now Bonnie: you’ve been through worse and you’ve given much worse!)
WEATHER NOW: By this time, the ship is fairly well gliding along the top of the sea and the speed is barely perceptible. I don’t know if I’ve told you, but when we have dancers, the Captain slows down the ship so they won’t be injured in the swaying and bucking of the ship. As soon as the show ends, you can perceive the speed picking up again.
CLOTHES DRYER: We’ve found a way to dry clothes faster in the room. The little refrigerator is in a closet and it stays warm and dry in there. So we hang things in that space for a quicker drying time.

FEBRUARY 27, 2008 – IWO JIMA

I woke up, felt around and determined that I was alive, and said: “Thank you Lord for another day above ground.” Actually, I learned this from Rowena. This is all to say that things are moving along in the lungs and I have hope of normality in the foreseeable future.
I turned on the TV and there was a movie with Renee Zellweiger as Beatrix Potter which I watched. The trouble is, Ed is mesmerized by anything on the TV. So I was losing hope he’d go exercise today when, mercifully, the movie ended. So I headed out while Ed went to walk the plank, I mean the deck. I had cleaned up the spam in my email and headed for the library where I began to read the USA Times. Then I had a coughing attack, and though I had managed to make it to the staircase outside, the hacking surely disrupted the serenity of the library. Amber brought me water and one of the red hat friends took me into an adjacent room where I finally managed to move around without pulmonary spasms.
It was time for Trivia, so I called the cabin to ask Ed if he was going to make it on time (he rushed—except for me, the crocks cheered his arrival). We were able to see Iwo Jima from the windows in that room so we got double duty.
TRIVIA: It was the usual suspects again today. The questions were tough today as well. I’m amazed at what we pull from the recesses of our minds and I felt very useful when I knew what logorrhea is. Well actually it’s because I have a chronic case of it! (I leave you to look it up for fun). Nonetheless, we prevailed by 1.5 points! We were almost stunned. So we cheered ourselves on and collected our prizes: ID cases for around your neck. I announced that after the next time we won, we’d have to rechristen ourselves “the awesome crocks”.
LUNCH: Ed wanted to get a Japanese lunch from the buffet and watch the island from our balcony. I went to the dining room and Fr. Cribben and I shared a table. We discussed American politics and shared funny stories about life experiences. I told him we’d have to quit meeting like this or people would begin to talk. We both had a good laugh out of that since we talk about the rumor mills on board.
I then went up to the top deck for the afternoon ceremonies and found that two whales were between the ship and the shore. I did get to see them but I don’t think I got any photos. The weather could not have been more perfect! Absolutely clear with a stiff breeze.
IWO JIMA: This unpretentious piece of volcanic ash was the site for the loss of 25,000 men in 1945. It’s astonishing to contemplate. The total size is only 8 square miles! Today a few people stay there to maintain equipment; it was returned to Japan in 1968. Atop Mt. Suribachi is a flag post marking the spot where the famous Joe Rosenthal photo was taken.
The ship had a wonderful Iwo Jima Commeoration with the Captain and ship’s officers, Father Austin Cribbin, Professor Andy Giles, Cruise Director JJ King, 3 WWII veterans: one 95 y/o, one who survived this island, and one who was on a Navy ship nearby, plus the daughter of a veteran who died on Iwo Jima. Just as Fr. Cribben got up to recite one of the prayers, two jets screamed overhead and made a return pass back; it was a Hollywood moment. Most think there was some coordination for this to happen at exactly the right time. I haven’t a clue but it was an impressive sight and added to the solemnity of the occasion.
It’s impossible for me to convey how moving this experience was. I cried all the way through it. Each speaker was truly profound and thoughtful in their remarks (and I don’t throw those words out randomly).
The Captain, veterans, and Fr. Cribben went to the upper deck where a wreath (biodisposable) was pitched toward the beach. It all ended with the playing of the US Marines song. On the front row with us was one of our Galapagos trekkies, and he stood proud and loudly sang all the verses of this song. It was something to behold.
TEA FOR TWO IN TWO HOURS: This was a quiet, interesting talk which went far beyond a discussion of the tea ceremony alone. It was a perfect way to decompress from the emotional energy of the ceremony on the top deck. Today there was a yakata on display where the kimono had been yesterday. It was also very pretty.
BOAT BUILDING CONTEST: I told you on the Diamond Princess about how funny this event was, so I was disappointed when told it had been rescheduled indoors because the weather by now was rainy, dreary, windy and cold, not to mention the sloshing of the water in the pool. Well, I can’t imagine that this was as much fun with this change. They should have rescheduled the event for a time when we could see how “sea worthy” these home made craft were.
SHINTO: THE HEART OF JAPAN: This lecture was given by the “theologian” traveling with us. There were lush photos and lots of quotations from reputable sources. I was disappointed that I had one of my coughing spells and had to leave. I’ll have to watch it on TV tonite to fill in. Ed said it was very interesting.
AFTERNOON QUIZ: One couple has suggested that we (not just us but all of the crocks) come up for the afternoon session, so we decided to do that today. Since this time is Val and Eric’s happy hour, we were joined by two Brits (we screened applicants as we needed a Brit or an Auzzie to fill out our reference section). We did very well actually but lost by 1.5 points. One of the questions was about a 1980 (?) duet song. We didn’t have a clue about the answer (Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) so we put down Barbara Streisand and Kenny Rogers. Since I was the scribe for the group, I put a happy face beside this line (we never leave an answer empty: we’ll put something in there even if we know it’s wrong). When it was returned to us after scoring, Brian from the group “Nice People” (this title makes me suspicious right away) had put a frown by that answer. We got a good laugh out of that.
You may recall the ethical dilemma I described to you a few days ago. It continues but Ed has dealt with it each time by tell her not to do it, it’s cheating, it’s only a game, and so on. She continues to refer to these teeny tiny reference pages she carries. Today we had a phobia question again, and we had the answer very quickly—still she looks on her list, which, as it turns out, did not have this particular phobia listed. There’s an irony to all this since there isn’t one answer she’s ever been able to find that related to any of our questions from her stash. They are only on to Singapore so I suppose we just have to continue to be her conscience and notice how pathetic this behavior is.
POLITICS: I promised John Hargis I’d put something about the political scene in the blog. I think Hillary needs to rein in those teenagers she’s got running amuck in her campaign. The photo of Obama in African garb is so stupid and any fool would know that it would do more harm than good. Obama has gained polish along the way but I’d like more real substance to fill in for the generic fill ins. Poor John McCain has his hands full with his own party members.
I saw Bill Richardson interviewed earlier today (CNN seems to get better reception where we are now) and while I’d like to see him shave his beard, I still think he’s got good experience and skills for any President’s needs. Which brings up the question of who the possible VP candidates might be. Now there it gets really interesting. Ed thinks Biden would be a good Dem. VP because of his national security expertise. There are numerous possibilities to consider for VP but I don’t hear any female names, nor any minorities except for Richardson. One thing’s for sure: politics is never dull. Stupid often, but never dull.
DINNER: Twyla and Dave with us tonite. Dave got some terrific whale and wreath photos today. Somehow we discussed the ways Southerners name their kids. I recognized this as a mine field when Twyla told us the names she gave her boys.
The dessert tonite was Bananas Foster courtesy of the Head Waiter. Delicious as always. Their ice creams are made fresh each night and they are the smoothest, creamiest ever. And Dave said the Key Lime sorbet tonite actually had enough flavor to make you pucker.
PHOTO CONTEST: Twyla told us the photos were on display so we had a chance to see them. Boy there are some really interesting ones. Sunsets, sunsets over volcano tops, a close up of a hermit crab perched on a branch on the beach, A bird looking into an unusual color and shaped bird’s nest, ours of course, and many others. One very interesting one looks totally blue from a distance. But if you look close, you see that it’s an underwater photo of a sting ray which is visible at mid distance in the photo. Very unusual.
I would not want to have to judge these contests. So many of these photos are breathtaking in their beauty, composition, uniqueness, colors, you name it.
ENTERTAINMENT: This is a violinist/fiddler. I opted to stay in the room, finish this blog, and catch up on the parts of the Shinto lecture I missed.

FEBRUARY 26, 2008
TOMORROW IWO JIMA

Since we got an extra hour last nite, it was easier to get up this morning, by comparison anyway. My sore throat wasn’t appreciably better so I made up my mind to go to the clinic. I went to the buffet to get hot herbal tea and fruits and Ed joined me there. He said the gym is closed when the seas are heavy.
HEAVY SEAS: Well if there is one barf bag taped in the stair wells, it’s heavy seas. When there are two barf bags to the trash bins, you know it’s REALLY heavy seas. So I don’t know what to tell you except to report that some stairwells have two, and some have only one. Perhaps the missing second one had been used by someone but I have to be honest, I’ve never seen anyone use a barf bag on a ship or on a plane, I have seen folks grab the nearest potted plant however.
CLINIC VISIT: I took all my pharmaceuticals with me so I could show them to the people just in case. They have an intake form for you to fill out and the bottom section is all about respiratory symptoms: sore throat, ear pain, trouble breathing…you get the picture. While I was waiting, a woman was worried about being charged for the visit as she didn’t think her insurance would pay for the visit. I don’t know what her problem is (this time) but she had been into the clinic on two separate occasions for the norovirus. The nurse explained that she was not charged for those visits. After a lot of conversation and the MD trying to reassure her, she agreed to be seen (for whatever her current problem might be).
Several of the ship’s personnel were there; all looked terribly young. On one ship, I recall they had a separate entrance; on yet another ship, they had their own onboard MD.
My vitals were taken and I had a slight fever but nothing like last night. My BP was up a little from coughing; no surprise there. The nurse interviewed me; she’s a cute little gal who is probably a closet gothic after hours. She has spikey black hair. Very cute. She knew about lymphedema and asked me some questions about that. This is the first nurse I’ve encountered in an episodic visit who knew what the sleeves were about.
Then I saw “Nikolas”, the German MD. (Everyone on the ship has their first name, job and country on their name tag; I’ll have to look close and see if this is true of the Captain too.) He read all the notes on me, listened to my chest and then said all he could give me was “advice”. That was fine with me; that’s what I wanted. He needed to clarify what a few of the drugs were that I was carrying, then adjusted the dosages I was taking to more frequent ones, also telling me that while we think this is viral, he’d put me on Cephalexin because of my asthma. The only other thing he’d consider was perhaps an expectorant. I told him Ed had Robitussin with him and so we agreed on that. So I came away feeling validated and glad I had had this consultation to get a second opinion on how aggressive I should be. The cost for this visit was only $60 which I felt was very reasonable. Ed looked at the bill and remarked that the diagnosis was “COPD”. I guess this was new to him but it’s consistent with my bronchitis and asthma.
And along the way I got to see their facilities which are larger than I would have expected for a small ship like this. I’ve seen large ships with clinic areas smaller than this. On the other hand, if you’re going to be going on a 102 day voyage, with a population of these ages, you probably want to be able to accommodate more patients. I saw 4 patient examining areas each of which would match an ER room anywhere in the US. I can’t tell you what was behind the doors of the cabinets.
By afternoon I was feeling somewhat better though still with my tail between my legs.
PORT TALK: I met Ed in the port talk and listened until the ending. He was ranting about the mistakes the speaker made this morning including a photo of the famous mounting of the flag on Iwo Jima which showed the statue of this event. The speaker said it was on Iwo Jima. Ed said you could see the Washington Monument and the Capital in the background. There were more, but I’ll spare you.
VETERANS GET TOGETHER: I would have loved to have sat in on this discussion, led by Prof. Andy Giles, with the WWII vets on board. I thought it would be intrusive to do so but I did hear some of the remarks in passing. I suppose it’s not surprising that many of the vets have emotions as strong today as they were in 1945.
TRIVIA: We are the “crocks” once again. I was asked about my cold and described the visit. Eric piped up that “all my pills are white.” He has such a hang dog face and dry manner that this statement was hilarious. Murray has some experience with drugs and so I suggested we find a Tuinal for Eric so he’d have a pretty pill to take. I haven’t seen one of these in years but they were such pretty capsules: almost red on one end, and a vibrant blue on the other, and a violet where they join.
Eric had commented earlier in the cruise that his son saw their arsenal of medications they were taking on this trip (it seems we’ve all done this) and asked if they’d fill his prescriptions for him if he brought them over.
So Eric suggested we have a ship’s event called “Show and Tell” where everyone brings their pharmaceutical and herbal stash and shows it all to others. Thereafter at every opportunity, we made some joke about the drugs we were carrying on board.
We really did very well today. Our downfall was: name 3 movies that have garnered 11 Academy Awards. The answer: Titanic, Ben Hur, and something about Kings—a very old movie. Our other troublesome answer was the golf course where the Master’s Tournament is held. Augusta (as in Georgia). They wanted Augusta “National”. We objected, fruitlessly as it turns out. So our final score was 18.5 out of 20. Very respectable. The group who calls themselves the “geniuses” (This is Fr. Crispin’s group) won with 19.
The staff member had told us before we began that the prizes today were a brand new product and they were fortunate to be able to get it for us—or some blather like that. So when we had lost by a half point, we were crushed….until we saw this “special blah blah blah” product: a squeezable Princess ship.
Now we didn’t feel so bad…What the hell would we do with it? Well at least Fr. Crispin has takers for his prizes: he gives them to the two little girls on this cruise.
LUNCH: Father Crispin joined our table with his usual Irish take on events. Bill (for our dinner table) arrived as well along with another couple from Palm Springs (and Idaho) and a single lady. A discussion arose about how awful the port talker is and the mistakes he makes. The single lady valiantly, but clearly unsuccessfully, defended him. (Poor dear, she must be very deluded.)
Now, since he’s so inaccurate, why are his talks so well attended? For the photos? To find something to complain/talk about? Out of boredom?
Speaking of complaining, Fr. Crispin told of a very high brow (at least she thought so) woman on one cruise who had been dubbed the “Countess of Complainia”. She was expounding about how awful something was at the table one evening, and Fr. Crispin remarked that it certainly wasn’t Maxim’s in Paris. She thought he’d been there (he couldn’t afford a glass of water there much less a meal) and so they immediately were tight friends. It was all very funny, particularly as he related it.
TWO STICKS AND A FLOWER: the Japanese art of Ikebana. This is such a genteel, relaxing topic to see and hear about. And the beauty is undeniable. The speaker has a breathtaking wedding kimono on display in the background, small shoji screens, and various artifacts related to her topic on display on a table.
IOW JIMA AND OKINAWA: Prof. Giles went over the history of these two locations and their WWII battles. He has incredible archival photos, some of which are very graphic with dead bodies, maimed and deformed, and poignant shots of American and Japanese soldiers both dead next to each other. Iwo Jima is a very small island; it takes only a few minutes to go from one end to the other in a car. Yet it took 36 days to capture. When it is explained to you, you can see why.
I had not realized what tunnel rats the Japanese were on these islands. And on Iwo Jima it was especially interesting since Iwo Jima is an active volcano (the island is expanding in size actually) and so the tunnels get hotter and hotter the deeper into them you travel, and the sulfur odor becomes more intense. Andy Giles brings tour groups of WWII vets to these islands and he has photos of many of them and shares their stories (he hopes to finish a book soon with their stories). Especially touching was the experience of a soldier whose job was the get the dead and bury them. You can only imagine.
AFTERNOON TRIVIA: There is an afternoon trivia and I considered going but figured I’d be restless if I didn’t catch up with my blog.
DRINK OF THE DAY: Ed’s favorite: Caipirinha. However, I don’t think I should have any since I’m on all these meds, and Ed is doubtful that they put any real Cachaca Rum in them.
DINNER: Six of us present and accounted for. Hank is still fighting his cold and they prefer lunch anyway. I find these meds seem to decrease my taste; that or the food wasn’t very tasty tonite. I could stand to drop a few pounds anyway especially since I’m not walking stairs if my destination is more than 2 levels while my lungs are crappy.
ENTERTAINMENT: They had a song and dance show this evening, special to this cruise, called “Tribute”. It had a lot of oldies but goodies you’d all recognize. Some of the costumes were way out there! The acoustics seemed to be off and didn’t do justice to the singers as they usually do.
There was some question as to whether they’d be able to do the dance routines because of the pitch and sway of the ship. They are troopers. While it’s calmer than earlier today, still it isn’t easy. You’d never know there was any problem at all viewing the show.
SHIP SHUDDER: Someone said today that when the ship shudders, it is because the screws were out of the water. “I didn’t know that!”

FEBRUARY 25, 2008—GUAM

You see some of these islands and you wonder why anyone gives a damn about them. Then you think geopolitically and you understand because they provide stop off points to other strategic locations.
We woke up before the sun was out. We had ordered room service to save time. It seems odd to us that Guam is an American territory, yet this is where we have to appear with our passports, questionnaires, and be physically seen by our officials. They are very friendly and I teased one guy that he was a long way from home. It didn’t go quickly though because of the numbers of us. We again relinquished our passports to ship’s personnel (it was fun to see all the stamps from the places we’ve been though!), and were given a green piece of paper that said we’d passed immigration inspection. Reassuring to know we wouldn’t be tracked down as illegals.
TOUR: It wasn’t great but it would have been almost impossible for us to do this on our own. I wasn’t feeling great to begin with and the air conditioning in the bus wasn’t working properly. Despite assurances that another bus was on the way to replace this one, it never happened. The temp is in the 80s so that’s not so bad, but the humidity is above 80% and it did sprinkle a little.
We were taken to many high areas where the Japanese watched the Allies land on the beach. My word: I can’t imagine how we ever took over this place! Soldiers on the beach were sitting ducks! As you expect, there are numerous memorials here and there. One about Pearl Harbor listed the Guam soldiers who died there and their ships. At one place, a vandal had stolen the brass plaques with the names of dead soldiers in order to sell it for scrap. He was found but the plaques were damaged, so those have been replaced with plastic ones.
The beaches in these places are breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful. The water is crystal clear and clean and you can see all the way to the bottom for a long distance from shore.
There were two busses for this tour and a lot of folks who wanted to be dropped off in town for shopping. So it took almost an hour for this shuffle to occur. Jeesh. I can’t imagine why it’s that important to find a local souvenir made in China.
To be honest, many folks had boxed up their purchased to date and were looking for a UPS store where they could ship them back home.
SHUTTLE BUS: there was a free shuttle bus into the town from the ship, but I was really worn out from the heat and humidity, drippy nose and hacking cough, so we passed.
LUNCH: I had a little to eat and then spent time watching parts of the movie “Around the World in 80 days”. I had forgotten that Cantinflas was in it.
CHAMORRO CULTURAL DANCE: At 3 pm a troop came on board with 4 males from ages 7 or 8 to 30 something, and probably 10 females from age 4-5 to probably mid 30s. They were very good and their costumes, dances and music were completely foreign to us though you can see the Polynesian influence.
But the youngest girl stole the show. People were falling all over themselves to get pictures of her. She did a great job with the movements only occasionally looking around to check out the moves with the other females. There will be some fantastic photos of that kid!
We were sitting on the front row and Ed was chosen to go dance with the dancers (many others went up too). The girl who asked him was about 8 or 9 yrs old. I was watching from the side and laughing because I could see her giving him directions on what to do next, such as twirl around. The dance was a cha cha type and he said she directed him to stomp on each beat, not just slide across them. Well you can imagine how much fun he had and we had watching.
DUST UP AT THE OK CORRAL: This ship is very prompt about everything it does. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it is run by Germans. But we were supposed to leave the pier by 5 pm. We lose daylight at 6 and there are reefs to sail beyond before the ship is home free. 5pm came and went, the dock cleared off except for police and some workers who release the ship’s tethers. Everyone was sitting. We could see the captain on the extension of the bridge, just looking around as if he were waiting. Ed said he heard someone holler down: “You (expletive deleted) wouldn’t take cash!” So he suspects it had to do with port fees or something. In any event, after about 30 min., something gave, the guys released the tethers, the cops left with a wave to the passengers watching, and off we went.
ENTERTAINMENT: I didn’t feel like going to this evening’s entertainment so Ed went to report to me hee hee. It was the yet-to-be-released, world-premier, only-to-Princess movie “Bonneville” with Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange and Joan Allen. Ed said I’d have enjoyed it. Other men’s remarks indicated it was in the chick flick genre.
SUNRISE:SUNSET: I keep forgetting to remind you that we are on 12 hour days again since we’re near the equator. So we have almost exactly 12 hrs of daylight and 12 of darkness. This limits how long the ship can stay in a port since, in many instances, you need to leave for the deeper seas during daylight. This is especially true in these areas of a lot of reefs, many submerged, and war detritus just below the surface.

FEBRUARY 24, 2008, CONT…

EMAIL FROM HOME: Ed brought me a copy of a nice long email from Mike catching us up on the news from home. Mike is a good writer and these notes paint a fun picture of events. He writes of his kids taking over the BINGO games at the home to assure that Rowena wins---well that’s not quite what he said but I like my version better. Mom continues to integrate with the population there at the home, is eating well (and filling out accordingly), and overall doing better than several months ago. She has to be reminded that we are away on this cruise but everyone reminds her we are away and Mike will bring her copies of some of the photos we post. Too bad we don’t have a scanner on here: I’d scan some of these photo studio photos they’ve done on the ship.
PASSENGER TALENT SHOW: Ed said one of our least favorite show offs stole the show…legitimately. He’s a man in his 80s and loves to be the center of attention—which he manages to grab far too often. Apparently he printed off some jokes, some of which had JJ cringing, and delivered them with zest. People were laughing til they couldn’t catch their breath. Just as well I wasn’t there: I’d have died of respiratory failure.
INTERVIEW WITH MARTY ALLEN: I’m sorry I missed this as we really enjoy this on the Prinsendam last year and he loves to interact with people. He has little of the Hollywood big shot disease refreshingly.
THE THUNDER FROM TINIAN: This documentary by Prof. Andy Giles was on the cabin TV this afternoon and I watched part of it. He really does a nice job with these weaving photos from all eras, video clips when he can find them, recent footage and interviews with participants. If you are interested in the Pacific Theatre in WWII, I’d say they are a must.
Certainly I’d consider seeing the two Clint Eastwood movies about these campaigns after being here: Flag of our Fathers and I’ve forgotten the name of the other one.
DINNER: Ed didn’t want me to go to the dining room because of my cold. Enuf said.
ENTERTAINMENT: This was the last recital for the young Russian pianist. Ed enjoyed her as much now as at any time. I stayed in the cabin playing sick.

FEBRUARY 24, 2008—ON TO GUAM

Ed woke up before 7 and I couldn’t tell if he was going to take a shower or what. So about 7:30 I hopped into the shower to see if I could feel a little better. I went to the buffet to get some fruit and hot tea and saw Val and Eric there. Ed joined us in his exercise clothing. When we were all done, he went to exercise.
PASSPORT PICK UP: for some odd reason, we have to appear before the US immigration from Guam on the ship tomorrow with our passports and declarations in hand. I managed to get both of our passports by giving all the important info from them; my passport photo they could see though I did have my glasses on as colds make it difficult for me to wear my contacts.
LAUNDRY: I figured I’d try my luck with the laundry room, so I sorted out the clothes, and headed down there like a beast of burden. Amazing! There were 2 washers and 2 dryers open. I filled them up and tried to read for a while. Some men came in and one even ironed his stuff. He was one of the entertainers.
I had left Ed a note on the bed that we needed more quarters as we didn’t have enough. Since the washers take 20 min and the dryers 40 min, I figured an hour was plenty of time for him to show up. One load in the dryer didn’t get dry enough and I only had 2 quarters. It will only operate with 4, so I asked if anyone had two quarters I could borrow and I asked his cabin number. I thought he said 7024 but later when I knocked on that cabin door to return the money, the lady said no, it couldn’t have been her husband. Oh dear…Not sure I’d recognize him outside of the laundry room.
Eventually Ed showed up asking if I needed quarters (despite putting it in writing and laying it on his pillow, he’s still uncertain? Further, we had discussed the need for more quarters after the last run to the laundry room).
This time I left him with the dryer full of his clothes to fold and bring down when they were fully dry. I shlepped the other bags to the room and put everything away.
TRIVIA: I took the elevator. Figured I have so much gunk in my lungs that it wouldn’t be necessary to prove my low oxygen saturation. Besides, the Atrovent I take makes me shaky and sometimes it feels like my knees are going to buckle.
Maria was already there; she’s a few days ahead of me on the cold. Val and Eric came. Ro came but her husband wasn’t feeling well, and Maria’s roommate joined us. Ed came after it was all over.
Eric is a howl. Today when he didn’t know the answer, he’d lay back in the chair and snore loudly. We came close to winning and he reminded us that if we had taken his answer of 1997 for the year Hong Kong was turned over, we’d have won! This doesn’t come across right in the telling but he has this very dry sense of humor.
BRUNCH: They had a 10-2 brunch today so we went down and I had a few things and then came back to the room and curled up in the bedspread. Ed joined me later to watch one of Prof Andy Giles’ documentaries which was on the TV. We missed his lecture this morning on Guam, Saipan, and Tinian: The Thunder from Tinian.
When that was over, he went down for the passenger talent show.I’m still running a fever and trying to become human again as we have a 3 hr. tour tomorrow on Guam.
No library or internet today…

FEBRUARY 23, 2008 TRUK, OR CHUUK?
WE CROSSED THE EQUATOR AGAIN SO NOW WE’RE BACK IN THE
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE.

I woke a little after 5 and peeked out the window to see the sun beginning to show behind the clouds. Ed was in the bathroom. Eventually, he dressed and went to the jogging track to kill two birds with one stone: getting exercise and watching the passing scenery. I tried to sleep a little more and then got up and got dressed when Ed returned.
Originally this was to be a tender port; however, they were able to tie up at the pier. This is another of those great natural harbors in this region of the world. The locals seem to have not a care in the world; they sit endlessly just watching the ship. And US postal rates apply. I always carry postage stamps so I was ready. And the local currency is the USD.
This place is a commonwealth of the US (whatever that means). I tried to look it up in the dictionary since Ed and I have a difference of opinion about the postage issue, but couldn’t find the dictionary in the library, assuming it has one.
BREAKFAST: I had some hot tea helped a little and my usual fruits. It is such a luxury to have fruit ready at most times of the day. Marty Allen came in, greeted most of us and proceeded to order his wife’s breakfast. He is just funny to look at and is very friendly with everyone.
After this we went to the library to read the paper, do the crossword puzzle – not nearly so esoteric today – and then to the internet café to catch up on email. I was surprised that I couldn’t find a dictionary in the library but then the crew member wasn’t there today (we are in port).
LOCAL “DIGNITARIES”: I see the captain and others escorting locals around the ship. They have cameras and videos like any tourist and are dressed in mumus and other tropical casual clothing.
We had a quick tropical rain mid day and then overcast which keeps the heat index down a little. Still you are aware of the humidity.
MOVIES: I had planned to watch Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age but Ed beat me to the TV; he’s watching West Side Story. So much for him going on shore right now. Elizabeth was shown from 10 p last night in the Lounge on the large screen so today it’s on the TV.
COLDS: Well, if I HAD to have a cold, this was as good a time as any to get it. Chuuk is hardly a must see port unless you’re a WWII buff. So I’ve decided to stay inside today and nurse myself. I haven’t had a cold in over a year and was beginning to be hopeful that I wouldn’t get one this season. A lesson in humility.
LUNCH: I decided to tackle the dining room because I wanted hot soup. They had empanadas as an appetizer so I shared the 2 with Ed. Then the cheese and ham soup was so delicious and it seemed just right for a head cold. And finally I had a fruit plate with a yoghurt dressing and samples of walnut bread.
Ed then went onshore while I went back to the sick room. Have to get my strength up for the climb tomorrow to the:
TOUR OF THE BRIDGE: We signed up for this after someone told us the secret. It seems there are a lot of things one has to find out by accident here. We told Dave last night about the free internet credit. He didn’t realize that the allotment was greater since this is a very long cruise. Reminds me of when I was a doc students at USC and wasn’t told that we had a certain amount of free mainframe time! Here I had visions of putting us in the poor house using the mainframe to run my data.
So we got a nice invitation to a tour of the bridge tomorrow morning at 9:45 am. We can take still photos but no video. We’ll see how many folks they’re taking this time.
LATE ENTRY: Due to my cold, Ed told them we couldn’t come so they will reschedule for another date.
EMERGENCY DRILLS: When we are in port, they hold a lot of these: fire, man over board and such.
CHUUK: Ed did go off the ship to walk around this little burg. It didn’t take him long and he was back.
DINNER: Ed went down and ordered a tray for me from the dining room menu. I enjoyed it but it is more complicated than simply ordering from room service.
ENTERTAINMENT: Ed did go to this; it had a skit by Marty Allen and his wife and he said it was hilarious. And he does look exactly like a dammit doll in person.
They also had a sail away party on the upper deck—moved to the Pacific Lounge because of sprinkles, and it had a King Neptune skit in it. I’m sorry we missed it but I was really dragging. Tried to go to sleep at a decent time.
DEAN MARIE COWAN: My UCLA colleagues have notified me of the death of Dr. Marie Cowan, Dean of the UCLA School of Nursing for over 10 yrs. Marie was a special person in my professional and personal life. Last year she was named a living legend for her research in cardiac care. Dr. Cowan was diagnosed with colon cancer shortly after arriving at UCLA. She has continued to work all through many recurrences. During one of her periods when she was “tumor free”, she remarked that she needed to start attending national and international meetings so they’d know she wasn’t dead. Early on, long before one saw it in the literature, she said to me: “Remember Bonnie, that cancer is a chronic disease.” Now that idea is seen regularly in cancer literature.
Dr. Cowan influenced several generations of nurse and medical personnel and her absence will create a void hard to fill.

FEBRUARY 22, 2008

Up to hear port talk on Truk and Guam. Despite all the mumbling and complaints about the speaker, the room was pretty full. He does have gorgeous photos after all.
CALLING ALL DIVERS: These places are a diver’s paradise with lots of colorful marine animals and hundreds of WWII relics on the islands and the bottom of the ocean. This is a better place to dive than Rabaul because at least here there is likely to be safe food to eat.
Did the usual run to the library and internet café. No luck in the latter: it was full and when I got to a terminal, I kept getting bumped off the ‘net.
AMAZING RACE: This was a game held prior to trivia. I still don’t understand what it was; probably some kind of scavenger hunt. But teams of two people were straggling into the lounge with paper panties on their heads and maybe cold cream on their face. All participants had some spa products delivered to their rooms. The Captain was there to give out prizes. The first place winners got a free meal in the “alternative dining” steakhouse on board. Two guys won it. We had a good chuckle at this especially since one was very short and one was very tall. They were fun winners.
TRIVIA: Today’s questions were hard but our group, we now call ourselves the “crocks” (guess that could be taken two ways), we tied with 3 other groups! So on the first tie breaker question, none of the groups got the right answer. (The question was: on computers, what does the abbreviation http stand for? Ed was close but no banana. The answer is hyper text transfer protocol.) So we had a second tie breaker. Each group had to send a representative up to the crew member. Then the first one to correctly guess her age would win for their group. Ed (hurrah!) correctly guessed 21, though I agree with Eric, this young lady, Lauren, seems more mature than that. She runs a tight ship for trivia, thank the Lord. So we all collected another Princess line logo novelty item.
LUNCH: I went with Ed because I wanted some soup; the minestrone did not disappoint. And the ossobucco was terrific. We had a nice assortment of Brit, Auzzies, and Yanks at the table so the conversation was wide ranging.
THE CENTRAL PACIFIC OFFENSIVE: This was another lecture by Prof. Andy Giles on the WWII events in this area of the world. He has written, directed and produced documentaries about the history of this area. His interest began because his father was a Marine here in WWII and was killed when he was 4 y/o.
BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI: This was this afternoon’s movie and we watched the end of it. Though I remembered that the bridge was blown up in the end, I had forgotten that Alec Guinness falls dead on the dynamite handle to start the blast. Still a good movie after all these years. Apparently, there’s a tour to see this site at some point. Eric actually knows a lot about it and when I have a chance, I need to get his take on it all.
SUPPER: Just Dave, Twyla and us. Twyla is still having neck problems that radiate into her neck so she was only eating soft foods. I managed not to spread too many germs (I think). Hank went to see the MD today because his cold is in his chest. The head waiters made a peach dish for dessert tonite. I was only going to eat my fruit plate and steal some of Ed’s peach delight, but Rod brought me my own serving and I can’t stand to see food go to waste (waist?).
ENTERTAINMENT tonite was the singer who imitates Nat King Cole oldies. I sure didn’t want to see that. Ed and I tried to watch the Texas debate of Hillary and Barack. CNN was frequently frozen or not being received. However, (and I know this won’t surprise any of you!), Fox news came through loud and clear.

Select "all groups" or such to see the photos I'm posting because occasionally they get posted to the wrong group!