Ship Life by JJJ 1.11.20

Ship Life by Dr. JJJ 1.11.20

Today is our 11^th day on The MV World Odyssey. Tomorrow we will visit our first port, Honolulu, Hawaii. I am looking forward to seeing Auntie Barbara and Auntie Mary, eating some good food and seeing some natural greenery 😊.  Here’s my list of thorns and roses for the voyage so far:

Roses:

·        My body has been a fucking champ with seasickness. I’ve been seasick so many times in other environments and it is the worst feeling.  Patches seem to really work for me and aside from super dry mouth in the morning and my close-up vision being messed up, I have felt great the entire voyage so far.  I actually really love the rocking now. Wally and Chris had a bit of a rough go earlier on but right now all Johnson-Lecks have their sea legs!

·        Wally and Rigley have both found friends close to their age and they love playing together. Rigley is rooming with two other girls and their room has become the hang out spot for all of the girls in that age group. During this leg of the voyage they have started a small business making bracelets. They are going to sell them poolside after our stop in Hawaii.  All of these kids are super smart, kind, fun, and adventurous. The boys in Wally’s age group love Pokémon and Dungeons and Dragons. They play D and D at night and Pokémon in the afternoons. At meals they talk about this stuff non-stop. It’s so sweet. 

·        The faculty and staff are talented, smart, friendly, and committed to doing a good job. 

·        I have been religious about writing in my journal. I have taken a long hiatus from journaling which used to be a regular staple to my every day. It is so fun to have it back in my life. 

·        Due to the time changes, I am waking up very early in the morning which gives me time to use the exercise room, and have some quiet time to myself before the rest of the family wakes up.  I like to use the time to write cards to people I have met here, to write in my journal, and make my to do list for the day. It’s no puggle walk, but it is precious time to me. 

·        Every day after breakfast I go to Global Studies and learn about oceans, cross-cultural communication, and future ports. My role in that class is to help generate text questions for the future. So, I take copious notes in the class and then later write the questions.  It is so fun to pretend to be a student again. The content is really interesting, and the lecturers are really skilled.  I am learning new content and facilitation strategies by watching them. 

·        All of the labor affiliated with running a household (which is now nonexistent) has resulted in more leisure time and more opportunities for quality time with the kids.  I have had time to play games with the kids, to read a free reading book, and to sit on the deck and look at the ocean.  The pace (compared to life in Fort Collins) is very manageable. 

·        Calling room to room via telephone is a thing.  It feels so vintage and funny to me.  It is hilarious to watch the kids develop phone etiquette.

Thorns: 

·        I am really missing Euchre, particularly our morning walks along the river in Fort Collins. One day I walked into our cabin and thought he was laying on the couch. Alas, it was just a brown blanket.  If anybody reading this sees that guy, give him some extra snuggles from his mom.

·        My leadership class is taught in a difficult space.  During the day, the large lecture hall is divided into four teaching spaces, each surrounded by curtains.  It’s very tight—the chairs are jammed u against one another. Additionally, I like to do a lot of activities and I worry that the noise is disruptive to the other three classes happening at the same time. Our Academic Dean said that once the weather becomes more predictable, we may be able to go outside. I’ll need to figure out a creative way to manage this in the future. 

·         I’m missing Colorado blue skies.  It’s been super cloudy pretty much the entire voyage and today it is cloudy, windy, and rainy. I’ve been hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars but thus far have been foiled by the cloud cover. 

·        I am having FOMO big time. Juggling parenting, teaching, socializing, exercise, computer work, etc. has been hard.  There is always something going on, and sometimes I feel guilty for not being able to be in two places at once.  Sometimes my obligations as a parent prevent me from connecting with others in the way I might want to (i.e. I sit next to Guthrie at meals and help him behave vs. sitting with students). Because we are in such a small environment, I can literally SEE what I am missing.  It is hard to walk away from something that looks fun. 

·        The kids, especially Guthrie, have had more screen time than I would like them to have. We haven’t quite figured out our rhythm in terms of time management, dividing roles, etc. Giving them a screen is an easy solution. Plus we have a TV in our room and one channel always plays a Disney movie. I think the kids have watched Moana and Toy Story 4 about 100 times each. Ugh. Chris and I talked about this before Global Studies today and we are going to take a breath in Hawaii and then try to regroup after that.  We may need to engage some more help – pay babysitters to entertain the kids and see if we can get more help. We want their time to be meaningful while on the ship – not just sitting in front of the TV.

·        It’s supposed to pour rain all day tomorrow, our only day in Hawaii ☹