Class Day "B13" at sea

Today is class meeting day "B13."

On the agenda for me is the following:

• 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 "Cinema and National Identity" (Time:  1415 - 1530)
• Meeting of groups going on trips in India (Time:  1800 - 1830)
• Semester at Sea DVD Preview (Time: 1900 - 1930)
• Logistical Pre-Port Briefing for India (Time:  2000 - 2100)

Update:

I attended the meeting of the group that is going on my Agra/Delhi/Jaipur trip at 6:00 pm.  I'm not the trip leader this time so I didn't have to disburse any important information - instead that job was left to Brenda (the nurse practitioner) and Stephanie Sue (one of the resident directors on the ship).  I found out at the meeting that I would be roommates with Stephanie Sue in the hotels we'd be staying in.  I haven't had a lot of chances to talk to Stephanie Sue yet, but she appears to be in her late-20s or early-30s.  She hasn't really hung out with the rest of the people in our age group at any of the Dalit Village parties, but then again, she doesn't live down there because she lives in a cabin along the residence hall or "sea" she is in charge of.  I know that she currently is from North Carolina originally and I think she said she currently lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.

At the meeting, we luckily learned that we would be allowed to bring 3 oz containers of liquids/gels on the plane with us and we would just have to put them in a ziploc bag to go through security at the airport.  We had previously been told in the Dean's Memo (a memo that gets issued every day while at sea) that no liquids or gels would be permitted on flights.  This got everyone worried because that meant no deoderant or toothpaste.  The updated information we received at this meeting was good news because now I won't be fearful I'll be without those things.  I already had gone to the campus store earlier in the afternoon and bought some DEET bugspray wipes there because I knew that I wouldn't be allowed to bring on my bigger spray pump of DEET.

We also were told that we should take the batteries out of whatever we are bringing with us and to put them in another ziploc bag to go through security.

At the meeting Brenda did most of the talking...which I was a little concerned about because she didn't project her voice at all.  She basically spoke in her normal speaking voice to our group (which is going to be 52 people in total...but some people didn't show up at this meeting even though it was mandatory).  No one could hear her toward the back and in addition to speaking to a large group, she also had to contend with two other trip groups that were meeting in the Union at the time as well - so the trip leaders for those groups were speaking loudly and no one could hear Brenda on top of that.  I just hope she will project more once we are on the trip.  Maybe I am just used to shouting and projecting toward the back of the room because I have to speak to groups of students all the time - luckily whenever I lead a trip, I feel like I'm shouting but no one ever tells me they can't hear me.

After the meeting, I went to the cafeteria to get something to eat and sat with a few people, including Lynn (the field office coordinator).  We were talking about the classes I was teaching and how they were going and Lynn told me that all of the students she's talked to rave about my classes and that I'm apparently a well-liked professor on the ship (always good to hear...beats the alternative!). Lynn had told me earlier in the voyage that she sat with one student at dinner who said that the "Intercultural Communication" class I teach has been the best class she's ever taken in college - which surprised me because I don't feel like I'm doing anything particularly stellar!  It's always so hard to gauge student interest in a class.  Hearing from other people though, I guess I'm doing something right!  I wonder how other professors are regarded on the ship.  I haven't had a chance to sit in on anyone else's classes because I don't have any time and the classes are very full so I wonder how everyone else is doing.

After eating, I went back to the Union to view the preview of the voyage DVD that Joe (the videographer) and Jon (the video editor) have been putting together.  The main purpose of this preview is obviously to generate more sales for the video.  The preview lasted about 20-25 minutes and I caught quick glimpses of myself.  In one quick clip, I was speaking to my class about something while standing at the lecturn in the classroom and in another quick clip, I was shown speaking about gestures in Brazil during the Cultural Pre-Port we had prior to Brazil.

After the screening, I had about a half an hour to kill before going back to the Union to attend the Logistical Pre-Port.  Essentially the main thing we learned at the Logistical Pre-Port is that there is more bureaucracy when going through customs for India than there has been for previous ports.  We will have to meet with customs officials face-to-face tomorrow in the faculty/staff lounge and then we will be called up to the faculty/staff lounge again in order to obtain a "landing card" and the customs declaration form we filled out a few days ago at the purser's desk.  During our time in India, we will need to keep our passport, the landing card and the customs declaration form with us at all times.  When we are ready to depart India, we will need to return these forms back to the purser's desk and we were told that we might have to meet with customs officials face-to-face once more prior to leaving.  It is expected that we will finish the customs procedures sometime between 10:30 am and noon.

Given that my trip leaves at 3:30 pm tomorrow and we have to be in the Union at 3:00 pm, I think I will probably just stay on the ship during that time because I don't want to risk not being back in time.  I originally wanted to go buy some Indian clothes and decorative bindis (It is obviously advisable to do so so you don't stand out as much and you show that you are interested in Indian culture to local people) prior to going on the trip, but I don't think it will be possible given how long we will take to go through customs.   We were told last night in Cultural Pre-Port that there is a store in Chennai called Fabindia that apparently is the place to go to get fine-quality Indian fabrics and handicrafts.  Since I'm not sure how far it is from the ship, I will probably err on the side of caution and hold off on going there because I really don't want to miss the 4-day trip I'll be going on!  I will hopefully have a chance to get some clothes at some point during my trip.  In the description of the trip that will be posted tomorrow, I believe there is time in the schedule for a shopping excursion at some point.

Following the Logistical Pre-Port, I made sure to buy some Pepto Bismol where they were selling it down in Purser's Square.  The doctor on the ship swears by it to prevent gastro-intestinal problems that we are likely to encounter from the food so everyone on the ship made a mass exodus down to buy a box of Pepto (one box has 30 tablets in it - we were told to take 2 tablets prior to each meal).

Another tidbit that I learned today was that there were apparently around 500 dolphins swimming alongside the ship yesterday.  I wasn't on deck during that time to see them.  I heard a few people say that they saw some dolphins swimming next to the ship today too. 

Luckily, I am friendly with Micah, the photographer on the ship, and his wife Theresa (they are 29 and 28 and they live in NYC).  Apparently Micah isn't contractually allowed to sell any of his images while onboard the ship.  However, after the voyage, he will be selling them to students.  He has apparently offered to make a lot of his images available to his friends on the ship for free though so hopefully I'll get included on this deal when he is ready to share his photos after the trip.  He apparently has some really great photos of the dolphins from yesterday.