Sea’Lympics

Whew. What a day!
The Sea’Lympics was a huge success, so I’m feeling pretty good right now. It was a great day for the whole shipboard community – lots of smiles and laughter… and some pretty amazing, crazy energy!!! I think we needed a day of fun, particularly since India was pretty tough on some folks, and also because we’ve had some negative energy recently with 5 students being discontinued from the voyage.
It was hilarious to see everyone up and awake by 7am – out practicing for their events, yelling their cheers and dressing like fools! Usually we can’t drag the students out of bed for Global Studies at 9:20, but for Sea’Lympics… it was no problem.
One of the best parts of the day for me was that I got to be “the voice” for the day. For those of you who have done SAS before, you know what I mean! It’s fun to be the one who gets to make all of the announcements over the loud speakers broadcasted throughout the entire ship.
I was running around literally all day – from 8am to 11:30pm – just making sure that everything was running smoothly, people were happy, and that each event was as fair as it possibly could be.
Just so you have an idea of how this works, there are 9 “seas” and 9 Resident Directors that go along with each sea. In addition to the 9 seas, we dubbed the remainder of the shipboard community (the faculty, staff, family, and other adult passengers) the “Pacific Ocean.” So, there were 10 teams competing all day in different events ranging from tug-o-war to synchronized swimming to egg toss…
Some highlights:
o My sea – The Caspian Sea – bringing it home with 1st place wins in dodgeball, volleyball, and root beer pong… gives you a sense of my sea, huh?
o My boss – the Director of Student Life – winning first place in Ping Pong (with his fancy-schmancy $60 ping pong paddle!)
o The executive dean, academic dean, global studies professor, doctor, and a few professors doing a HILARIOUS synchronized swim routine in the pool. I could not breathe, I was laughing so hard.
o An absolutely ENDLESS game of 10-cup root beer pong – we’re talking 4 hours long… which MY SEA WON. (proud mama).
o Our incredibly intricate obstacle course, which involved spinning around a bat, pushing one cheerio on the ground with your nose, crab walking, playing Catch Phrase, tossing water balloons from one deck to another, eating peanut-butter filled saltine crackers, crawling under deck chairs, and finally shooting free throws… it was a little dramatic to try and judge this event, but everything ended up being okay. Small controversies, but I kept trying to remind people that the Sea’Lympics are a day to have FUN, not to get crazy over winning.
o Joe almost bringing in the bronze at the hot dog eating contest (yuck!!) It was absolute CHAOS at the hot dog eating contest. I had to yell at the top of my lungs to get people to shut up so we could start the competition – people were cheering for their seas SO LOUD! Each person had to eat as many hot dogs as they could in 3 minutes. Of course, after 3 minutes we had a tie for 1st place (14 hot dogs – no buns), so I had them do a 1-minute playoff. Not a good idea. They tied again (4 more each), so I just gave them both first place. I wasn’t about to make them eat another freakin’ hot dog.
o The Talent Show to close out the evening was definitely one of the highlights. My sea did a skit called “Joy’s Night Out in Vegas” which started out with one of my students singing an “Ode to Joy” on the acoustic guitar, which had… um… slightly inappropriate lyrics. He is an amazing singer, so people were very impressed & laughing hysterically. Then some of my girls performed a fancy ladies dance – Vegas-style. And THEN… 7 of my most burly, athletic, testosterone-filled boys performed a choreographed “Chip ‘n Dales” type dance that they had practiced for 3 days straight. It was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. I love – absolutely love – my sea. I start to get teary-eyed when I even think, for a second, about having to say good-bye to some of these guys. You form such a different sort of bond on an adventure like this.
o We were winning the whole thing for much of the day, but in the end – we got beat in the Talent Show, and came in 2nd place overall. My sea had lots of sad, puppy dog faces, but I told them that they are ALWAYS number #1 to me!!!!

It was, by far, my most favorite day on the ship so far. But… I’m glad it’s over!!!
I know, I know… I haven’t even written about India yet, but don’t worry – it’s coming!!!