Docking on the African Continent!! 2/19

We departed almost immediately from the ship with about 30 others help build a small Habitat for Humanity house in a Cape Town township. Over the next four days four different SAS crews will finish the cinderblock house for Ethel, a woman with four children who has been living in a tin shack for 15 years. After the prosperity of the wharf area, it was naturally quite sobering to see how others live, and will continue to live. Habitat has a waiting list of over 100,000, and they are the ones who are landowners. The poorest South Africans and the refugees from Zimbabwe and elsewhere will never even have a cinderblock house. The work we did was hard and therefore gratifying: mixing cement (three wheelbarrows of sand, one bag of cement, add water and mix with a shovel until your back is killing you) and then slowly constructing the walls. Others varnished the door and windows, and we all used sponges to wipe down the walls and smooth out the cement. Ethel served us a milky hot tea for a break, and chicken and veggies with rice for lunch. Incredibly delicious, all the more so for having worked hard. While it is a small thing to give a day toward one small project, it felt good. It all reminded Margie and me a lot of going to Mississippi after Katrina, of course. But some of the students have never done anything like this, and one said it was the most amazing experience she’d ever had. Not bad for a day’s work.

After returning to the ship for a shower and short rest (and feeling very privileged to have such a sanctuary where we can eat and drink and clean up and be completely safe) we went back into the very civilized wharf area with its exclusive shops and touristy mall and had an extraordinarily lovely dinner with a faculty member we ran into. I am not unaware of the juxtaposition of our afternoon and our evening experiences. There were over 250 wines served by the glass, and I had a delicious Pinotage, a variety that is popular in South Africa (there are MANY wineries in the area). Everything from the bread to the rib eye and shrimp was so fresh and delicious, and we three had to sample a dessert with peppermint, caramel, chocolate, and biscuits. Yes, I see you understand! And very good coffee, too. We capped off the evening browsing and buying South African wines before toddling home to bed as we pondered our varied experiences of the day.

At Sea, Dinner with the Captain 2/17

Sorry to be offline for so long, but my laptop had an unfortunate meeting with the floor during our turbulent seas on Wednesday, and the hard disk crashed over the weekend. Most unfortunate. Looking into alternatives here on the ship, but for now I’m using the Lab computers which is complicating my ability to blog and to upload photos! But I will persevere in the face of such adversity.

 NewRumors I heard today:

We will be escorted by helicopters through the Straights of Malay to prevent pirates overtaking us. And there are laxitives in the lettuce.

So, the Captain’s dinner: I want to be a Captain when I grow up! Captain Roman (and his crew) looked so dashing in their black dress uniforms (alas, I do not have a photo, Mary). We had a delicious 5 course meal, preceded by a very civilized cocktail hour with better wine than we usually get. We ate in the larger dining room at around 8pm, after closing. We were divided into three tables (name cards indicated where we were to sit) and Margie and I sat with Mats, the Swedish Chief of Staff, and several other faculty and staff. The entrees were chicken or swordfish (both delicious) and the wine flowed freely! It was really delightful and I tried to catch Captain Roman’s eye to wink and flirt (on your behalf, Mary). Everyone has this delightful experience only once, and we certainly enjoyed it!