"keep your eyes on your own paper"

we came out of the Amazon onto the Atlantic ocean the night before last, leaving behind land & people and into the vast horizon of only sea, which I longingly missed since my last sail in 2006. I was looking forward to this for two reasons~one in anticipation of really settling into a routine and secondly having the rest of the community do so as well...but a spiritual guide of mine, Jacob would say, "keep your eye on your own paper, friend"...so what occurs to me as continued (calm) chaos will eventually drive me crazy if I am too busy being concerned with what others are doing or not doing! So, I decided to be of service instead, where there may have been chaos, I volunteered to help out~I became a YES to life on board! Still continuing to get done what I also need to do! So, the other day, Marti was running behind on getting the Captain's dinner schedule to the Hotel Manager so I volunteered to complete the project and yesterday it was revealed that the Olympics were in 2 days and we needed to have the faculty/staff be a team-so we picked a color~pink~and we are meeting tonight to organize ourselves at 2130! Instead of getting wrapped in the chaos, I thought I would become the rah-rah yes gal that I am and make things happen-everyone is happier then and I am having a much better time!

But back to a routine...I also wanted to get my routine in order but "Brazil belly" had something else in store that I seemed to have caught~along with many others. Randy Sue said many have ended up in the clinic and quaranteend...so I decided to do so myself, basically sleeping and emptying my stomach! Krista (from SB)was kind enough to share here grapefruit seed concentrate...so the combo of that and pepto bismol seems to be working! I am feeling better today and actually ate something other than ginger ale and saltine crackers for the first time at breakfast. In light of this, I thought a good name to call our Fac/Staff Olympic team would be the Pep-to Diss-mals! We will be voting on it tonight...

In the past 2 days, many other things have happened~ we also met our "extended family", which is where the students are paired up with adults to create a bond together to hang out and meet once in awhile as a family-here is a pic of our family, minus a student. Deb and I got paired together, as both our positions later in the voyage will get crazy busy, so this will work out perfectly! There were over 400 students that wanted to paired up so this was not an easy task to coordinate-but Barb and Bill did a fantastic job and we all ended up having dinner together on the same night!


our family

I am also in the choir, which John (Randy Sue's husband and  an amazing musician) is coordinating and we are going to sing the alma mater for the first time (that he happened to write) at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, so we practice on Adays.  It has been a fun mixed group of faculty, staff, students & Life long learners!

We also met with our "bookclub" group so that we could check in with everyone on their experiences so far. This is intended to have smaller groups of students linked with faculty and staff. It originated with everyone reading the book "Three Cups of Tea" and talking about it~which we did at our first meeting. It is nice to have a smaller group of students to get to know and talk with in a more formal setting. Krista, a faculty member Todd and I are leading our small group.

It was also Marti's bday celebration. Marti (who is the voice and Asst Executive Dean) and I sailed together on my first voyage in 1988 as Resident Directors. It has been fun getting reaquainted and meeting her partner Suzanne and their 8 year old daughter Sydney. It never ceases to amaze me that this was 23 years ago!


Suzanne, Sydney & Marti

Otherwise, life is par excellance~the Ambassador team is great and the alumni and auction committees are just beginning to jell together, with only 2 meetings. We have a good start to our list of auction items and already have a 3 day trip back to Brazil at one of the resort louge's from Brazil Nuts and she is also coming up with another package and then a student who's family has a cabin who is willing to donate it! We have slowly begun to put it out to the community, and sure that they will respond with flying colors! We have already picked our theme which we are going to reveal at the Africa pre-port, flash mob style! Saty tuned.

So, that is all for today~next time, colorful pictures from the Olympics and 1/2 time of our 7 day crossing to Ghana....

until then~
worldly heart ro

Authentic Connections~committed to a world where peace, passion and love are present for everyone ​as they transition gracefully from one chapter of their lives to the next. 

https://www.worldlyheartcoaching.com

"Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor." - Oliver Wendell Holmes