MARCH 19, 2008 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRUDY!

LAUNDRY: Yep it’s that time again so this time Ed got up and went to the laundry room at 7:30 am. Now those of you who know him will appreciate what a sacrifice that was. I got showered and dressed and went up there about 8:20 am and things were percolating along. There were lots of husbands in there and they knew what to do including ironing! Amazing. One of them is a surgeon and I was almost speechless when I saw him doing the laundry and ironing!
Because the washers only take 20 minutes, and the dryers take 40-45 min., there is always a wait for the dryers. One woman took clothing out of the dryer, said she had 3 things that still needed some drying, shut the door, turned it on, and left with the other clothing. About 15 min. later, the dryer went off, she wasn’t anywhere around, so a lady who had been waiting for a long while opened the door to remove the 3 items. You simply will not believe this: the dryer was empty and had been running for 15 min. that way! So the legends of the laundry room continue to produce mind boggling vignettes.
COOKING AROUND THE WORLD: Commendatore Alfredo Marzi is back with us again and he regaled us with mushroom soup, tequila shrimp, and a dessert that is customary for Father’s Day, today the feast of St. Joseph, in Italy. It is like a beignet or sopaipilla with raisins soaked in rum and toasted pine nuts in it. After frying (or baking in the oven), you roll them in granulated sugar. Mmmmm mmmmm, delicioso.
SHOW AND TELL: Frankie had asked me to bring my Shanghai jacket to show and tell at 11 am. I told him I had to go to trivia. He said bring it anyway, wave at me and I’ll let you go first. So I did, but he had some women who wanted to make bingo. So they went first. Then there was a lady who had purchased half the inventory of every stall she ever passed (well I exaggerate some), so I left while I still had 10 min. to make trivia.
TRIVIA: We were in full form today, lots less tension (helped by the fact that I wasn’t the scribe and I sat at the far end from Ed), and we WON. We got Princess Cruises world clocks (again). As we get these and we look them over more thoroughly, they really are quite nice. We’re taking bids from the folks at home.
Speaking of world clocks: Ed and I put our Treo on a city when we change time zones. We finally found out that we are now on Dakha Bangladesh time. Some zones are 30 min (near Mombai for example) and there were parts of the Pacific where we had to compute GMT – (and later +) to get the ship’s time.
LUNCH: Some folks we knew. One couple: the wife is OK, the husband is a terrible bore. We’ve been subjected to him before. It goes with the territory.
JAMES BOND: Nigel West amazed us again. He regaled us with the life story of Ian Fleming making connections with his books and events and people in his own life. Apparently, he was not a very likable guy and copied ideas from friends. Still we loved getting all the tid bits.
PORT TALK: COCHIN: This was given by an Indian lady in a gorgeous sari. She talked for 20 min. before getting to the photos, all of which were very interesting. However, she was supposed to talk about Cochin, and all she covered was India’s history and major sites some of which we knew about, many we didn’t. I left in time to get to trivia but I understand from others that she never covered anything about Cochin. We’ve been there before but many others have not.
TRIVIA: Whole group in attendance. Sid was the scribe this time. The quiz was done by a fellow passenger. This is never a good idea and you always know it’s not going to work out well. It didn’t. We made 10 points; the winning group made 12 but just barely. Still we were #2 again. The prizes were Princess Cruises tote bags. I don’t need one but would love to get one. As usual, we chose some answers among us that were wrong when at least one of us had the right answer. Thankfully, no one takes it personally.
Speaking of time zones, tomorrow night we turn our clocks back 30 minutes. Go figure. The politics of that must be a maze.
OVERLAND TRIP: Ed and I thought we were going tomorrow but it turns out we weren’t reading the daily list correctly. We just got our itinerary and he’s complaining about the schedule; He isn’t at all pleased when I remind him to go with the flow, blah blah blah. We have to get up at 4:30 am at least one day; we have a 5 hr bus ride on another day. I just look at the schedule and show up when and where I’m supposed to and enjoy whatever the experience is. He’ll come around. At least he can sleep on a conveyance; I can’t.
DINNER: Twyla, Davie, Bill, Ed and I. Politics got started; not a good idea. Ed and I are the only Dems at the table and Fox news is a steady source of info for the others. CNN isn’t coming in today but Fox is. What does that tell you? Rupert Murdock has it all wrapped up.
ENTERTAINMENT: A fellow who does the music of Nat King Cole. I don’t think we’ve seen him before and if not, then this is the 3rd singer we’ve had on this cruise who “does” Nat King Cole. I’m going to sit at the back and sneak out if I can’t take anymore. If I know Ed, he’ll stay for it all.
GOOD NEWS: Many of you know of our friend from China who was our hostess during much of our China visit. She has been in the states going to nursing school for several years now. We received word today that she passed her licensing exam and is now a Registered Nurse. We are so proud of her. The barriers she endured, and the sacrifices she and her family made so she could do this are unbelievable and too numerous to list. She works so hard and we never doubted she’d be successful on her first try.

MARCH 18, 2008 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TRUDY TOMORROW

We woke up early enough; the sun is very bright in this part of the world now. So we had some fruit to tide us over and I went to the first lecture and Ed joined shortly after. Each day, we both feel somewhat better. It just takes time.
ESPIONAGE IN THE PACIFIC: Nigel West is a Military Intelligence Expert, who gives a very crisp, well organized presentation. He does not use notes and is right on with responses to the questions. Basically, you are never alone, even in the darkest part of the Pacific. He discussed several covert operations, some I had heard of, some not.
TRIVIA: Jeff wasn’t with us as he had been up all night with the St. Patrick’s Day decorations and he had slept late. Maria joined us. There was a lot of tension this morning, at least from my orientation; lots of control issues coming out (I will no longer be the scribe and I’ve changed my seat position). Some remarks were not very kindly stated. Still we again came out #2.
LUNCH: Bill and Lea, Fr. Crispin and some ladies we all know were our luncheon guests. We talked about voyage experiences past and present.
ELEPHANT MASSAGE? There are some lovely photos of Roy around the elephants but none about his elephant massage. Here’s the backstory: Ed had told him about his own elephant massage and encouraged Roy to do that. So on yesterday’s outing, Roy volunteered for the baby elephant massage. But as I already told you, this male massage was different. I had no idea how much as I was too far up in the bleachers to see everything. I saw another passenger have this massage, not Roy. Roy was wearing shorts and the handlers put bananas up his short’s legs and the elephant took his trunk up there to retrieve the bananas while keeping his foot on Roy’s chest so he couldn’t object. There’s more but I’ll spare you. So Roy now says he’s after Ed for encouraging him to volunteer for this massage. We are laughing our heads off, and while Roy’s laughing too, his face is beet red.
THE SCIENCE AND POLITICS OF DISARMAMENT: Scott Ritter, former UN Chief Weapons Inspector and author of Iraq Confidential, talked about his work in the Soviet Union and Iraq when he was a Marine and later, UN weapons inspector. His remarks and evidence are very damning about the initiation of the war in Iraq. I’m very curious to see the reactions of those folks who are great supporters of the war and this Administration.
BEYOND CAPE FEAR AND THE SEA OF DARKNESS: Capt. Mike Irving, a Brit, talked about Henry the Navigator and many Portugese explorers. It’s very interesting but he is using slides which seems terribly archaic but wouldn’t bother me, but he reads his remarks word for word. I like the content but have to concentrate to get past the reading.
TRIVIA: Well we didn’t come in #2 this afternoon; Jeff rejoined us. We weren’t the worst either I hasten to tell you. If we had missed one less question, we would have been #2. But some parts of the interactions are difficult. Ed’s opinion shows in his actions within the group but I just sit back, write down my answers and make a few comments now and then. We REALLY miss Val and Eric, Ro and Murray. Sigh. Reality strikes.
FORMAL NIGHT: We got gussied up, I in my new Shanghai gorgeous jacket, and Ed in a suit and tie. Lea and Bill weren’t with us as they had an invite that conflicted but the rest of us were there and we had a fun time sharing a little of everything.
SHOWTIME: The young kids on board (the dancers) did a bang up job with the show “Words and Music” which featured many tunes with choreography most of it focusing on Broadway tunes. Everyone always enjoys these evenings.