Settling In

Typical Dinner

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of discovering our new home with many new friends, new interests and experiences. It’s somewhat bittersweet to approach the end of our first leg in LA and bid goodbye to our newly acquired friends. We are losing about 500 passengers and gaining an equivalent number for the remainder of our world voyage. Some of my favorite new friends are a lady from Fargo, ND who happens to be my bridge partner, a federal Judge with whom I’ve had several interesting discussions, an ex secret service guy who shared many stories about Carter, Bush and others, and last but not least a neat couple from S. Carolina (teacher and insurance man) from a family who owned and operated car dealerships in the South East.

My daily routine is evolving. Sea days are filled with bridge, a competitive trivial pursuit game, attending one or more interesting lectures, enjoying “afternoon tea” then taking a quick nap before changing for dinner. This is usually followed by the evening show and finally a nightcap. I’ve averaged about a mile and a half walking every day just doing the above.  Port days vary wildly and walking distances are easily doubled or tripled depending on the chosen excursion. I pass the gym everyday and have no guilt just passing by.

Unfortunately we had to skip visiting a couple of ports on the itinerary for a most unusual reason, and I expect this will happen more often. Our Panama stop was extended by two days to allow divers to scrape barnacles per Australia/New Zealand regulations. Many were disappointed, and speculated it was done in Panama due to lower labor rates.

Finally, a couple of days ago, I was at tea, trying to decide where to sit and wait for my friend. An interesting looking lady was sitting alone and I asked if I could join her. On asking where she was from, she replied EGYPT!  She attended MY HS and was “head girl” which was quite an honor. Sonia graduated the same year I did but unfortunately I did not know her because  the boys and girls school were separated after 8th grade and I  left for the US after my junior year. What are the chances that with 8 Billion+ population, two individuals would reconnect on an infinitesimally small ship in the middle of the ocean.