Class Day "A13" at sea

Today is class meeting day "A13."

On the agenda for me is the following:

• Teach "Mass Media Systems Around the World" (Time:  0800 - 0915)
• Sit in on the Global Studies core course that the entire ship "shuts down for" daily - it is held in the Student Union area of the ship with the lecture being broadcast on the closed-circuit TV system of the ship to the various satellite classrooms on the ship for those students who can't fit in the Union (Time:  0920 - 1040)
• Teach "Intercultural Communication" (Time:  1045 - 1200)
• Meeting for faculty/staff who are leading trips in India (Time:  1800 - 1900)
• Cultural Pre-Port Briefing for India (Time:  2000 - 2100)
• Sea Social #5 (Time:  2100 - 2230)

Update:

For the past two nights, I've stayed up all night trying to catch up on all the paperwork I have (ie. grading papers).  I've decided to just start giving credit or no credit and checking things off that students hand in - both to save me time and to reduce student stress.  Students on the ship are complaining about being overwhelmed with work and faculty are overwhelmed as well.  There are so many things scheduled on the ship and no time to just catch up between classes, meetings, social events, etc.   In the last faculty meeting, we were told that we could cut out some assignments and reduce the workload for the sanity of all involved so I gladly did so.  I figure that the midterm and the final exam in each of the classes I'm teaching will be enough to weed out those who deserve As, Bs, Cs, etc.  I gave two midterms today and I will grade them following India.  I give another midterm tomorrow.

Essentially today I went to my classes and then met up with the interport students at 1:00 pm (the Academic Dean suggested I meet with them to discuss a communication presentation in Cultural Pre-Port so I left the two students a note on their door this morning to try to meet up with them to discuss important points for students to know).  I figure I will just let them present during Cultural Pre-Port because this information is far better coming from them than it is from me.  Also on the ship are an Indian couple who are friends of the Academic Dean (they met when they were in graduate school).  They will obviously play a big role in the Cultural Pre-Port as well.

Some of the information I learned and/or reviewed with the interport students is as follows:

• always eat with your right hand in India - the left hand is associated with personal hygiene and is considered unclean
• wobbling one's head back and forth in Southern India indicates that someone is saying "ok" - it's a subtle movement, but one that often confuses people not familiar with Indian culture
• bring toilet paper with you because it's not always available
• gift giving is done in odd numbers (ie. someone wouldn't give 100 rupees - they would give 101)
• red powder in the part of a woman's hair indicates that she is married - in films, this is often overdone, but in real life, the red powder appears at the beginning of the part (not through the entire part)
• personal space is a bit more distant among Indians (compared to Americans) when casually speaking to each other
• owls are considered bad luck symbols in India
• holding up one's pinky indicates they are looking for the bathroom
• bargaining is a must when shopping - it is expected and is a cultural norm

After meeting with the interport students, I slept until just before Cultural Pre-Port.  Cultural Pre-Port lasted an hour and a half as opposed to just an hour because there was so much information that was presented. 

Following that, I went up to the Sea Social (a sea social is w hen one of the residence halls or "seas" on the ship has a party - each of the 9 seas has a party throughout the course of the voyage) that was being held in the Faculty/Staff lounge.  I was getting hungry though because I hadn't gone to dinner so I went to the back of Deck 7 to get a veggie burger at the snack bar that is near the pool deck.  After eating that, I felt extremely tired for some reason so I went back to my room briefly with the intent of getting back up again because I knew that there would be an after-party in the "Dalit Village" (ie. the front of Deck 3 where the staff people have cabins - cabins that are really converted crew cabins).

I felt asleep and awoke at 1:00 am to the sound of loud knocking on my door.  I knew immediately who is was because of the location of my room and the time it was.  Mark (the Global Nomads Group director) frequently goes to smoke on the only deck of the ship where people are allowed to smoke - the back of the starboard side of Deck 5.  To get to Deck 5 from the Dalit Village he either has to walk outside to get to that part of the deck or he would have to pass by my room on Deck 5.

After the knocking stopped, I took a few minutes to get up and then I headed to the smoking deck where I was correct to assume I would find Mark.  Ben (another Global Nomads Group guy and Mark's roommate) and Emily (the nurse) were out there too keeping Mark company as he smoked.  I said hi to everyone and asked (already knowing the answer) if they had just knocked on my door.  Mark sheepishly pretended not to know what I was talking about, but eventually admitted it and told me I should come down to the party that was going on down there.  I told them I would and that I was glad they woke me up because I wanted to come down but ended up falling asleep.

After Mark finished smoking we quickly stopped by my room to bring one of the bottles of wine I had bought in South Africa.  Mark stuck it down his pants (so that students wouldn't see us transporting alcohol because they aren't allowed to bring it on the ship) and we headed down there where people were already a bit drunk.  

video from the "Dalit Village" part of the ship after the Sea Social (Deck 3 forward, crew quarters where some staff were housed)

(click here for bigger version of the video)

I hung out there until about 2:30 am or so and then when Mark was heading back up to smoke again, I told him I'd head back up to Deck 5 too because the party was dying down.  After briefly hanging out with him and some students who were on the smoking deck (me being the only person who wasn't smoking and barely tolerating the smoke), I went to bed at around 3:00 am.