Mayes Family Adventures: Crossing the Pacific and Konichiwa from Japan!

Before boarding the ship in San Diego on 1/2/16:

First (Real) Stop: Japan

A big thanks to Erica Y. (U.R.) and Erika N. (S.P.E.S.) for the information that you gave us about Japan. We are very excited to visit and learn more about this wonderful country. We just arrived and will be here for 4 days before heading to China.

The Pacific Ocean and “Ship Time”
We intended to write an update from Hawaii, where we stopped for a day to re-fuel, but did not have the opportunity. Since leaving San Diego on January 5, we have slowly been making our way across the Pacific Ocean. Here are some observations, updates, and photos from our experience so far aboard the World Odyssey:

· The Pacific Ocean is MASSIVE. It’s one thing to think about this in looking at a map or globe, but another to travel on it by ship -- i.e. similar to driving or taking the train versus flying across the United States. It has taken us 16 full days of non-stop travel, a total of 4,500 nautical miles, to cross the ocean.

· Getting our sea legs: We hit some rough waters upon leaving San Diego. Ben and Ali both had an issue with seasickness, thankfully short lived, but certainly unpleasant. The ship is usually rolling a little, occasionally swaying considerably, so we are all getting used to doing normal daily activities with this reality (walking, eating meals, talking with people, studying/teaching, taking showers, etc.). That said, it has been much less of an issue than we expected.

· Constantly Moving West (and getting extra sleep): One of the nice benefits of moving west is that we have pushed our clocks back an hour many times during the trip. The only issue we are having is that we are now tired by about 7:00 p.m. and struggling to stay awake until 8:00 p.m. (not unheard of for Jen anyway). We crossed the International Date Line last week and lost an entire day: January 16, 2016 never happened in our lives. Hope it was a good one for you!

Life on the Ship

· The boys have made friends and are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Their school days vary, depending on when they finish all of their work, but they tend to have school from around 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (with breaks mixed in) and then participate in activities with other children their age. There is a ping-pong table, shuffleboard, giant chess set, board game room, and several organized activities for them each day. They have a lot of freedom to eat with their friends and play cards and board games in a special game room, which they love. There is no Internet connection, which we thought would be difficult. At this point it is “out of sight, out of mind” and we don’t really think about it anymore.

Boys and Ali doing school work in our room:

· Ali is enjoying being part of our “school routine” every morning (thank you again, Mrs. Cook, for all of the terrific activities you sent for her to do!). Fortunately, she self-entertains well and is (generally) content playing, coloring, etc.

· We are getting to know the students. We have signed up to be a “host family” to 9 students, meeting with them regularly, and also are grateful for two particular students who have been helping to tutor the boys, particularly Tim in Algebra II and Biology.

· In general, we are all appreciating the simplicity that life on the ship provides.

Teaching:

Rick’s classes have gotten off to a good start, albeit without Google available (the Internet, when it exists at all, varies in speed between weak dial-up and carrier pigeon). Everyone is adjusting to what studying and classes were like in the pre-Google era. Students actually have to go to the ship’s library to find information in books and journals and to read various assignments. On “A” days, Rick teaches “Intro. to Comparative Government” and on “B” days he teaches “Public Health” in the mornings and “International Public Policy” in the afternoons. With 3 preparations, he is always either teaching, grading, or planning the details of his next class. His Comparative Gov’t course is on the top deck of the ship near the bow, which means that he literally has to sit down or hold the lectern during the entire class to keep from falling over (the ship pitches and rolls so much).