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.