Most all of us made it back to the ship on time, and we are now on a 9 day journey to
We crossed the International Date Line on Tuesday April 15th, so the following day was also Tuesday, April 15th – sort of like the movie Groundhog Day, it was so nice, we did twice! Remembering that this is Tax Day in the
We have been one day ahead of you for quite some time, so now I think we’re back on the same schedule. We’ll continue to reset the clocks and lose an hour of sleep every day until we reach
Whoever named this the Pacific (peaceful) Ocean had a good sense of humor – it’s been rocking and rolling on board since we set off. At dinner, the food sloshed all over, the cabinets opened and all the cups fell out, and some of the diners ended up on the floor!
4/18
Today was a free day – no classes – so Jim held an all-day meditation retreat on board for his daily meditation group. We started at 09:00, and alternatingly sat, walked, and chanted until 17:00, including a silent lunch and hot tea breaks in the Vipassina Buddhist tradition. We had about 10 students, many staying for the whole experience, and a few coming by for just part of the day to see what it was all about. A quiet time was had by all.
4/19
Today was Crew Appreciation day, so I will tell you a Customer Service story. We have almost 200 crew members on board – room stewards, waiters, busboys, cooks, spa attendants, sailors and officers. They are hired in the
Mezraim Josephs is a waiter from
He learned what we like, “two coffee with cream, am I right?”, and then went above and beyond, “I heated up the cream so your coffee will be nice and hot”. He sings to us, sometimes songs that we know, and sometimes songs that he makes up for the occasion. He is always gracious, upbeat and totally attentive to the needs of every person with whom he comes into contact.
Now, Mezraim is no longer young, a bit grey at the temples, and has overcome physical problems – he walks with a slight limp and wears one built-up shoe. His wife, grown children and grandchildren are home in
One morning I asked the meaning of his name Mezraim. He said it was from the Bible, but he really didn’t know where. Me being me, I logged onto the computer right after breakfast, and Googled “Mezraim”, expecting the biblical reference to come up and point me in the right direction. Imagine my surprise when practically the whole first page of citations were for “Mezraim on Semester at Sea”. I opened each link to read the blogs of current and former voyagers, extolling the virtues of Mezraim Josephs – how he helps the kids who were homesick, how he reminds them of father, uncle, friend, how he takes such good care them, warms their hearts and makes sure they are doing all right.
I did find the biblical reference after a while – Mezraim was the son of Ham, grandson of Noah in Genesis. He is credited with bringing chemistry to
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