Peace Boat (continued)

Before I continue with my glowing report from the previous post, I should probably mention a few potential challenges.

One downside was that sometimes there were events that sounded fun but which I didn't have the Japanese skills to really appreciate. The ship does have a group of great, super hard-working volunteer interpreters. However, they could not cover the vast number of events on the ship, so there were some events I felt I couldn't fully appreciate. Also, it is nice to sometimes get things 'first hand' rather than through an interpreter.

A second problem is seasickness. This really wasn't such a big issue as I feared. I have been quite badly seasick on small boats, so I had a mental image of spending the entire journey prostrate on the floor. However, it wasn't like that; although a lot of people got seasick once or twice on the voyage, it wasn't for very long, and the seasickness pills were effective. Small boats are worse! After seeing so many movies like 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'Forrest Gump' and others with dramatic, swelling waves and boats pitching madly, it was a relief to find that mostly, ships travel nice and smoothly!

A third potential problem is that journeys are quite long - at least 80 days, and often over 100 - so it can be a long time to be in the same environment, with the same people. Generally, there was so much going on, especially working as a teacher, that I didn't find it claustrophobic. Perhaps towards the very end, the last long stretch at sea, I started to look forward to getting back to dry land.

There was 'so much going on'? Let me explain more.

You should be aware that this is not a luxury cruise. As a result, the facilities are not super deluxe; also, they don't have a lot of professional performers, no casinos, etc. However, what they do have is, in my opinion, great, and makes for a real sense of community. It's a system whereby every passenger on the ship is a potential event organiser. Anyone on the ship can book a public space and hold their own events. This is *massive*; I mean some days there are over 60 individual events. There's a daily 'newspaper' with all the events for the day.


Events could include anything from hula dancing classes, photo workshops, playing the harmonica, watching a documentary about the environment, learning Spanish, meeting up for drinks with other people your age or from your hometown, making posters for peace, playing board games, a reggae night...

There are also many, many random, weird and fun events. If you ride the ship, you'll also have the chance to take on leadership roles and help organise things if you want to do that.

In addition to these events run by passengers, there are also bigger events organised by Peace Boat itself. These include lectures and events by guest educators onboard the ship, as well as larger parties and themed nights, festivals and much more.

Of course, as a passenger you can kind of control your own pace; some people get involved in loads of events and volunteering opportunities; others do very little and just lounge around reading. As a volunteer teacher or interpreter you will naturally get involved in a variety of random things just as part of your job.

Here are a few of my personal highlights from the trip.

Highlights

Watching the first full moon on the Indian Ocean... absolutely still and quiet, and then seeing flashes of orange in the distance, where a lightning storm was raging

Camping in the desert in Jordan, and getting up to watch the sunrise, with the desert stretching on forever and no-one else to be seen...

Participating in my first full-blown, Japanese-style undoukai (sports festival).

Having a 'fjords party' as we went through the Norwegian fjords. It was summer, so even at midnight they sky was not quite dark, and we stayed up to watch the sunrise.

Reaching Europe and strolling around Athens on my own, albeit running into random students and other teachers for random photo ops. Meeting random students and seeing them using their English in real situations was a nice experience for an English teacher. ^_^

Singing a duet in front of a big audience. Being an emcee. Giving a lecture. It was a nice chance to practice being up on a stage; something I hadn't been very used to.

The strange feeling of staying in a hotel that delivered me to my destinations. That is, being able to get up, have a shower, get dressed, grab my handbag, walk outside - and into a new country. It felt very surreal but very cool.

Walking on a smoking volcano in Guatemala, which had erupted only days earlier.

Having a big party with the other vols near the end of the journey - and then everyone rushing to the side to watch twenty or more dolphins jumping alongside the boat.