Entries this day: Dream GPPAC_opening_session New_York_City! Paige_and_Sarah PeB_presentation life-onboard zzz_Frank_and_no_Frank

Dream

7:24am ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

Steve Feinstein was telling me he was dictator of SF games in YRUU after I had left, so that was cool. He dropped me off and my glasses were bent, and one of the temple's covering was made out of a worm. And I was totally disgusted by it and ripped the worm off and no longer had any covering at all on the temple.

I went to breakfast with Katt this morning.

GPPAC opening session

7:57am ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

Everyone is well dressed, prepared to head to the United Nations for the opening of the GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict).

It's apparently 105 degrees F outside.

Oops; the bus leaves at 8; not 8:15.

8:40am ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

We went through the security tent of the United Nations building.

And are now milling about looking at the history of tattoos and scarification and body stretching featured on the walls.

The stamps here in the UN are cool holographic stamps.

10:15am ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

The Pb drum performance RULED. I was really truly impressed.

12:35pm ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

Other than the Pb drums, and the speech given by basically the original PB guy, the whole ceremony was basically boring as turds.

I'm thinking like, "if this had been a right wing something something, there would have been more calls to action - more uplifting cheering let's do this thing!" Why??

New York City!

New York City!

We have just arrived today in New York City, and this has been the strictest
country for us to enter.  All passengers were individually screened, and all the
passengers had to be screened before anyone could get off.  Well, save the crew;
they were allowed to get off before we had all been interviewed.

Everything had to be taken off the walls in all the classrooms and our bedrooms;
the dining room that serves buffet meals had to be closed (for cleaning?) and the
dining room that normally serves buffets in the morning had to serve a set meal. 
Carpet was replaced in several parts of the ship where it was a bit worn. ....  I
apologized in the GET Meeting (teachers' meeting) on behalf of Americans who are
not quite so uptight about such things.  "This is embarrassing."

We just spent 8 days at sea, crossing the Atlantic from Dublin to NYC.  I had
expected (hoped for) really rough days at sea; I enjoy the antics of people weaving
around the halls as we walk.  I like imagining I'm walking a straight line as the
boat rocks below me.

A bit about life onboard:

We 16 GET Teachers (GET stands for Global English/Espanol Training) all teach two
classes a day on 35 days of the voyage.  During our free time we have the option of
being quite busy with lectures and myriad activities on the ship.  (( One of the
biggest "problems" on the ship is deciding what to do next!  Every room usually
teems with activity. ))  Somewhere during all that (usually at night when we've got
several hours before classes) we plan lessons, with each teacher designing his or
her own curriculum to fit the students and hopefully coordinate with the ports
we're visiting, etc.  One basic philosophy allows the students to immediately use
the English they're learning.

GET Teachers and CCs (Communication Coordinators (translators)) room together,
separated by gender, with usually 3 or 4 people per room.  We're on the 3rd floor
of the ship, the lowest level for passengers, with only crew below us.

Right next to my room is a Water Tight Door.  Every night it closes around 11pm and
opens around 6am.   Its loud clanging rumble no longer wakes me, but simply gives
me a general gauge of how much longer I can sleep.  I have a plan to stick a piece
of cardboard in as it shuts to see what happens, but so far this plan hasn't been
executed.

Very close to my room are stairs (and elevator) which connect all the floors, and
in about 10 seconds I can leave my room and arrive on the 4th floor in the dining
room called Topaz Dining.  This dining room usually serves buffet style meals in
the morning and set meals for lunch and dinner.  During the set meals, we must
arrive within a 20 minute "seating window" to make things simpler for the cooks and
wait staff who really work hard to provide excellent customer service.  All the
waitstaff can speak English and Japanese (at least the niceties) and their own
languages.  I have learned Good Morning and Thank You in Bulgarian, Thank You in
Chinese and Filipino (though I already knew the Chinese version), and I try to use
the correct words depending on who is serving our table.

On the 5th floor is GET Street, the name of the hallway which contains 10
classrooms where we teach our lessons.  Basically there are 30 English classes a
day, with each teacher teaching 2 classes.  (Adriana teaches Spanish.)  I am in GET
Room 9 from 8am to 9:25am and then GET Room 4 from 9:30am to 10:55am.  A computer
in each room (new for this voyage!) allows us to use multimedia during our lessons:
powerpoint, music, movies, etc.  I also use it to take notes and define vocabulary
words for the students and give them a printout after the classes.  The rest of 5th
floor is filled with passenger rooms.  And the infirmary.

In addition to many rooms, on the sixth floor (but on the other end of the ship) is
the GET Office where, last cruise, all the lesson planning was done.  I can't
really imagine what it must have been like for 15 teachers all vying for time on
two old PCs with a single printer and cranky copy machine.   This voyage seems to
be like a transition, as some things are still done in the GET Office, but most
things are being done down on GET Street.  Also on the 6th floor is Reception, next
to which we usually dis/embark the ship.  Reception is staffed 24 hours and
basically works like a hotel reception desk.

On the 7th floor most of the daily Pb activity takes place.  Broadway is a
large meeting room that spans the back of the ship.  Lectures happen there during
the day and performances at night.  A theater is next up from Broadway where they
play ping pong during the day and various movies at night.  I haven't played ping
pong nor watched any movies there.  After that are some storage rooms and then
Peace Center, which seems to be staffed 24 hours, by diligent workers who produce
the daily schedule in Japanese and English and the daily paper with ship news.

The schedule is a monstrosity in itself, with nearly every minute of every room
filled.  The schedule is quite dynamic; people come up with new activities they
want to do and vie for time in various rooms.  The English schedule is usually
quite entertaining with misspellings and funny translations.

"Let's 1970!"  or "Let's 21 years old!" or "Let's learning Korean drum!"  or
"Sawing Circle" or "Bleak Dancing"  "Frag Semaphore"  (the last two being R-L
mixups) "Scream out the name of the person you love"

Next on the ship is the Free Space, next to Hemingway Bar (a piano bar).  Then
there is Winjammer Lounge (variously spelled with or without a D) which is nearly
as wide as the ship save for a hallway on each side.  A small gameroom and meeting
room are past Windjammer, and then several nice passenger rooms.

The 8th floor is outside: basically the deck around the perimeter of the ship, and
sports deck (above Winjammer, which sometimes gives stomp-enhanced lectures) and
then a small room called T-Club next to the small weight gym), then the front deck
(where we are not allowed to jump because passengers may be sleeping below).  The
back of the ship on 8th floor is an always-buffet dining area called Yacht Club
during the day and a Japanese style bar at night.

The 9th deck is near the center of the ship.  It's called the pool deck because
...... there are two pools and a jacuzzi available when we're in the middle of the
ocean.  Next to the pool deck is Sunshine Bar, an outdoor bar by the pool.

- - - -

Today I'm hanging out with Paige (who was a GET Teacher on the 45th, 47th, and 48th
cruises) and who is ever so patiently waiting as I type.  (She also got her
toenails painted cherry red.) New York City is her favorite city in the world, so
it's lovely to have a well-versed tour guide!

   Be Well
    - Rob! 

Paige and Sarah

5:45pm ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

Today after the GPPAC thing I met Paige and we walked down to Union Square to meet her friend Sarah there. We went to Whole Foods and chowed yummy Whole Food cookies courtesy of Sarah, and just enjoyed talking about travel and whatever we talked about. I got one of the huge _Whole Foods Odwalla Superfood Micro Nutrient Fruit Juice Drink_ bottles cause I love that stuff, but all too soon I had to head back for this thing we are doing tonight on the ship. Sarah was like, "I'll see you again," and I thought ??? really?? and she goes, "you know how these things work out."

So I specifically took a moment to memorize her face. She looks a lot like (Marcel's) Kayse to me.

I then took the New York subway for the first time, and was pleased by its raw energy and rough old minimal appearance. Flat $2 to go anywhere one wants in the system. Took the train from Union Station to 50th and 8th Avenue, then walked to 50th and 12th Avenue where the ship is parked.

PeB presentation

Tonight we are supposed to have between 750 and 1000 people on the ship, which grew from having a couple tours of 50 people. I am stationed in Windjammer where we will talk about GET, but more just talking about ourselves.

8:45pm ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

The first presentation was great: I did some beatbox and Audrey sang a crazy fucked up song about stuff and things and we did funny stuff because..... no one showed up for the presentation.

life onboard

##02:18 Tuesday 19 July 2005

We 16 GET Teachers (GET stands for Global English/Espanol Training) all teach two classes a day on 35 days of the voyage. During our free time we have the option of being quite busy with lectures and myriad activities on the ship. (( One of the biggest "problems" on the ship is deciding what to do next! Every room usually teems with activity. )) Somewhere during all that (usually at night when we've got several hours before classes) we plan lessons, with each teacher designing his or her own curriculum to fit the students and hopefully coordinate with the ports we're visiting, etc. One basic philosophy allows the students to immediately use the English they're learning.

GET Teachers and CCs (Communication Coordinators (translators)) room together, separated by gender, with usually 3 or 4 people per room. We're on the 3rd floor of the ship, the lowest level for passengers, with only crew below us.

Right next to my room is a Water Tight Door. Every night it closes around 11pm and opens around 6am. Its loud clanging rumble no longer wakes me, but simply gives me a general gauge of how much longer I can sleep. I have a plan to stick a piece of cardboard in as it shuts to see what happens, but so far this plan hasn't been executed.

Very close to my room are stairs (and elevator) which connect all the floors, and in about 10 seconds I can leave my room and arrive on the 4th floor in the dining room called Topaz Dining. This dining room usually serves buffet style meals in the morning and set meals for lunch and dinner. During the set meals, we must arrive within a 20 minute "seating window" to make things simpler for the cooks and wait staff who really work hard to provide excellent customer service. All the waitstaff can speak English and Japanese (at least the niceties) and their own languages. I have learned Good Morning and Thank You in Bulgarian, Thank You in Chinese and Filipino (though I already knew the Chinese version), and I try to use the correct words depending on who is serving our table.

On the 5th floor is GET Street, the name of the hallway which contains 10 classrooms where we teach our lessons. Basically there are 30 English classes a day, with each teacher teaching 2 classes. (Adriana teaches Spanish.) I am in GET Room 9 from 8am to 9:25am and then GET Room 4 from 9:30am to 10:55am. A computer in each room (new for this voyage!) allows us to use multimedia during our lessons: powerpoint, music, movies, etc. I also use it to take notes and define vocabulary words for the students and give them a printout after the classes. The rest of 5th floor is filled with passenger rooms. And the infirmary.

In addition to many rooms, on the sixth floor (but on the other end of the ship) is the GET Office where, last cruise, all the lesson planning was done. I can't really imagine what it must have been like for 15 teachers all vying for time on two old PCs with a single printer and cranky copy machine. This voyage seems to be like a transition, as some things are still done in the GET Office, but most things are being done down on GET Street. Also on the 6th floor is Reception, next to which we usually dis/embark the ship. Reception is staffed 24 hours and basically works like a hotel reception desk.

On the 7th floor most of the daily Peace Boat activity takes place. Broadway is a large meeting room that spans the back of the ship. Lectures happen there during the day and performances at night. A theater is next up from Broadway where they play ping pong during the day and various movies at night. I haven't played ping pong nor watched any movies there. After that are some storage rooms and then Peace Center, which seems to be staffed 24 hours, by diligent workers who produce the daily schedule in Japanese and English and the daily paper with ship news.

The schedule is a monstrosity in itself, with nearly every minute of every room filled. The schedule is quite dynamic; people come up with new activities they want to do and vie for time in various rooms. The English schedule is usually quite entertaining with misspellings and funny translations.

"Let's 1970!" or "Let's 21 years old!" or "Let's learning Korean drum!" or "Sawing Circle" or "Bleak Dancing" "Frag Semaphore" (the last two being R-L mixups) "Scream out the name of the person you love"

Next on the ship is the Free Space, next to Hemingway Bar (a piano bar). Then there is Winjammer Lounge (variously spelled with or without a D) which is nearly as wide as the ship save for a hallway on each side. A small gameroom and meeting room are past Windjammer, and then several nice passenger rooms.

The 8th floor is outside: basically the deck around the perimeter of the ship, and sports deck (above Winjammer, which sometimes gives stomp-enhanced lectures) and then a small room called T-Club next to the small weight gym), then the front deck (where we are not allowed to jump because passengers may be sleeping below). The back of the ship on 8th floor is an always-buffet dining area called Yacht Club during the day and a Japanese style bar at night.

The 9th deck is near the center of the ship. It's called the pool deck because ...... there are two pools and a jacuzzi available when we're in the middle of the ocean. The water is pulled straight up from the ocean, so it's the same temperature as what the fish are experiencing.

Next to the pool deck is Sunshine Bar, an outdoor bar by the pool. This bar is not as popular as the others, but people often spend a little quiet time there.

zzz Frank and no Frank

9:25pm ADT Tuesday 19 July 2005

I just met a man named Frank who is 75 years old and just had a cancer operation. He was like, "I'm too old for *dancing* and stuff.." and we talked about the history of the ship and stuff.

Right now I'm about to go meet *my* Frank out and about in New York City. I'll take Francois and my toothbrush just in case.

12:08am ADT Wednesday 20 July 2005

Never met Frank; I called him and left messages about every 30 minutes, but never got a response.

From: Frank
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 02:14:14 EDT
Subject: nightmare
To: rob@robnugen.com

R,
 
Lost my fucking cell phone. I got your voicemails. Total nightmare for me.  
Sorry for the fuck up.
 
F

Oh man; that sucks. Frank *never* does fucked up stuff like that. I knew something big musta happened.