All At Sea

The morning started off with breakfast (delivered by room service, of course, because it’s free, so to speak). There was a Port and Shopping presentation scheduled for 10:30, and I went, assuming that there would be discussions of how to navigate the port towns and find quality, local wares. There wasn’t. I felt like I was in a taping of some QVC or Home Shopping Network program. The people around me were whooping and hollering over diamonds, jewelry, and handbags, and whenever the host said, “If you see it, and you like it, BUY IT!!!” the crowd shouted the last part in unison…well, most of the crowd. I was too busy lying on my bench, trying to fend of the sickness and headache caused by either the motion of the boat or what I deemed to be crass consumerism. Don’t get me wrong…I’m a consumer. I consume every day. I love me some Crate and Barrel, and don’t you dare go to an old bookstore or architectural salvage shop without me. I don’t know…it just feels different.

Did I mention that there is an art auction onboard the ship today? They are selling works by Rembrandt, Goya, Renoir, Picasso, Miró, Dürer, Chagall, Lichtenstein, and more. Wait a minute, people can still buy this stuff? It’s still for sale to the general public? The rabid, crazed desire to have it as my own, a desire which filled the hearts of many at the Port and Shopping presentation not an hour earlier, now begins to intermingle with my love of art museums. The thought of having just a slice of these masterpieces in my own home nearly sends me over the edge.

Lunch at the Orion Restaurant found me dining with a group of new folks and setting out on a bit of an internal existential thought process. I feel so out of place on this ship. The stateroom attendant comes in and turns down my pillow at night, leaving a chocolate where my head will soon rest. Room service is free. I dine with cloth napkins and an arc of polished cutlery is neatly arranged around my many plates. Everyone else seems to be above me in social class. It’s like I’m afraid they’re going to find me out, to discover that although I was able to pay for my trip, my current income level puts me just above the poverty line prior to taking into account student loans. But I wasn’t being lavish or foolhardy with my income; I just needed to get away. Away from the oppressive Chicago winter, to somewhere warm. Away from the thought that in a few short weeks, I’ll be finding out the seemingly life-or-death results of an exhaustive process of internship applications. Away from the feeling that because most of my clients’ lives are so entangled in community violence, poverty, and racism or xenophobia, I can’t possibly make a difference. Away.

My thoughts carry me out onto one of the ship’s many decks. There is no land in sight. None. The deep blue water crests in tiny, white-tipped waves on all sides as a deeply penetrating sun bares down on skin that hasn’t been kissed by the sun’s warmth in months. I decide to forgo the quest for skin cancer and retire to my pitch black stateroom for a please-go-away-Mr.-Motion-Induced-Headache-and-Mrs.-I’m-Going-To-Tip-Overboard-with-All-This-Rocking nap, followed by a hey-there’s-a-sushi-and-sashimi-bar-from-5:30-to-8:30 binge. It’s all about excess on a cruise ship. Or so they say.

The Sky Deck

Water, Water, Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drink

The formal dinner seating arrangement for the duration of the cruise began tonight. My tablemates are composed of a quiet, red-faced German man, two German women, and a husband and wife from Ohio. The German fellow didn’t seem too keen on talking, and when I tried to strike up a conversation with the youngest of the two German women, she got that “deer in the headlights” look that I get when someone says something in Spanish that I don’t understand but am expected to answer. By process of elimination, I ended up conversing loudly across the table (due to the music overhead) to the couple from Ohio. Come to find out, they have done a lot of work with the Red Cross and other relief organizations in the Gulf Coast area. They seem nice.

Foods of the Day: Apple Tart with Butternut Ice Cream and Calvados Sauce & Chilled Melon and Mint Soup