Sea Olympics and Halloween!

11.14.12

Hey everyone! I know I've been lagging on the blogging, but hopefully
this week won't be as hectic as I think it might be and I'll have some
time to write! (The shipboard drive starts this week!!)

Anyway, on to more fun times here on the MV Explorer! Every semester
(except summer) there is a competition between the seas called the Sea
Olympics! The seas are determined by where you live on the ship. I'm
part of the Red Sea, and we're one of the smallest seas!

Well the events started with our opening ceremony to which each sea had
the opportunity to do a lip sync. Our sea used songs from around the
continents that we went to, including The Lion King's "Circle of Life"
and the movie Rio's "Let me take you to Rio." I have all of the lip
sync's on video! So in order to rally our sea, everyone wore bright red
and we painted our faces with tribal symbols! Jacques, the Sea Olympics
Coordinator, got up to say a few words before the competition began, to
which our sea started chanting, "Moses, Moses!" He told us later that
it took everything in him not to start bursting out laughing!

There were over 30 events for people to participate in, including dodge
ball, a few relay races, Jeopardy, a scavenger hunt, and even more!
There were two secret events, and I was a part of one of them...it turns
out that the two comedians on the ship were going to try to make us
laugh and we couldn't even smile! Can you believe I was one of those
who tied for first?! Crazy isn't it haha. Actually, Jacques was
surprised at how many people didn't get out-I think about 6 per round
(there were two rounds) all tied for first!

Overall, the day was pretty fun, but our sea came in 7th place. This is
partially attributed to the fact that we are smaller than over half the
seas! (The biggest seas have over 70 people!) But, it just means we
get to sleep in a little bit longer I suppose, and have more time with
the ship! The prize for coming in first in the Sea Olympics is getting
off the ship first in Florida when we come back to the states!


Then there's Halloween on the ship too! It was also a great day! I
dressed up as a pirate, how ironic haha. A lot of people actually
dressed up though! Grace and Owen, the twin 2 year olds were Mickey and
Minnie, while their older sister was Ariel! Some other people were
zombies, dolls, nerds, etc. Danielle was Katniss. Amy didn't have a
costume, but she lives in the Caribbean Sea on the ship, so we wrote
that on her Sea shirt and we became Pirates of the Caribbean!

Dean John wore this really bright orange shirt. I told him the last
time he wore it that he looked like a giant pumpkin and he should wear
it again for Halloween...so what does he do? He wears it again, and
lets me make him a face out of construction paper! :) I can't wait to
show everyone the pictures! It was definitely an awesome costume, if I
do say so myself! :P

Later that night, we had a dance party in the Union, and the music was
basically all the hits of the 1990s...it was a throwback for sure! But
it was a good night too! During snack time, I gave my pirate hat to one
of the crew members so he could have a costume for the crew party that
was going on at the same time! I'm glad he was able to use it! :)

When the waves aren't so treacherously huge, life on the ship is pretty
normal and a lot of fun! I know for a fact I'm going to miss this when
I get home!

SH