• I saw Jupiter! The sky was clear and the ship bow turned of its lights so any takers could view the Eastern Hemisphere near-Equator night sky. Beautiful.
• My ship family got together – it was filled with girly things… painting nails, watching The Office, and looking at Indian Vogue magazines. Their Vogue is a bit different than ours…
• The ship’s crew put on a talent show! Boy, they are quite talented! Singers, dancers, comedians, painters, and more dancers filled the stage for quite a fun night.
• Halloween! This is interesting on a secluded ship… people really had to be creative with outfits considering we only have limited supplies that we boarded with 2 months ago! I went as a zombie… because… my hip-hop dance group performed Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance! Yeah, that’s right! Nearly every ship community member was packed into the Union dancing at the Halloween party. All of a sudden the lights started to flicker and creepy growling sounds came on. Then we zombies creepily crawled on, “Thriller” started to play, and everyone cheered as we performed the dance. Oh, it was SO much fun!
• After the dance party was over, my friends and I headed outside to look out at the night as we passed through the Strait of Malacca. This strait runs between Indonesia on the southern side and Malaysia and Thailand on the northern side. Oh, what a creepy night for Halloween! Heat lightening stroked far in the distance, continually lighting up the ocean and silhouetted ships. The water was completely calm… almost too calm. To top it off, we were in fact in pirate territory once again, but even closer than when we were in the Indian Ocean. Crewmembers constantly did rounds on every corner of the ship, looking to make sure no small boats were growing near and no armed pirates were climbing on. We freaked ourselves out a few times seeing small boats come closer to us and wondering what would happen if we actually got attacked by pirates. A few times the captain would pick up speed to make sure we escaped any possibilities of pirates. Our nerves were calmed knowing our ship is one of the fastest in the world (seriously, it is!) and that the crew was on high watch. And obviously we made it through since here I am typing to you. How realistic of a Halloween night!
• We had another fuel stop… this time in Singapore! So this time around we were chilling between Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand… pretty sweet!
• We have been preparing for Vietnam the past few days. It is definitely still a sensitive subject for some on board, understandably. We’ve had factual lectures and heart-felt discussions about the Vietnam War and its effects on both the U.S. and Vietnam. It’s especially neat to have people from Vietnam with us who also share their perspectives. Our time in Vietnam will surely be humbling for everyone.
After hearing many people’s stories about their time in India and also living on the ship, I began to really think about how we spend our time conversing with others. A man shared a story from India in which he rode in a rickshaw around Chennai. At the end, his driver thanked him… because now the driver’s family was able to eat that night. A girl told a story about her taxi driver. He offered to take her to his house to meet his family. Although this is a risky situation, she did and he sincerely just wanted his family to meet an American and show her his life. Every day crewmembers on board serve us lunch, fix our classrooms, and clean our rooms and hallways. The rickshaw driver, taxi driver, and crewmembers all serve us… but they have lives outside of these jobs. They have families they care about feeding at night. Their basic needs are not guaranteed like most of ours are. Our priorities are so different… we get caught up in drama and silly daily things, while they are struggling just to survive. Why can’t we cross over these differences and show a sincere interest in their lives? They are honored when we get to know them as more than just their taxi driver or food server. And they are so much more than just that simple role their job title gives them. So how do you spend your time conversing? Do you take time to know people outside of the role you see them as? Do you talk to them in a sincere and encouraging way? I hope that we can all look past titles, seeing a person for who they really are and willingly make an effort to show our appreciation for their presence.
We port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam tomorrow morning. We enter the Mekong Delta at 8 am and will travel 3 hours up to dock in the port. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with you.
I’m currently reading “Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service” by Mary Poplin. I’d like to end by sharing one of her prayers with you and hope that you find yourself meaningfully repeating it.
“Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly, that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus! Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others. The light O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be ours; it will be you, shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example. By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our heart bears to you. Amen.”
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