I'm a shellback!

Today was Neptune Day. Really it should have been celebrated the day we crossed the Equator, but due to our having just started classes the deans didn’t want to give us a day off until now. So classes were cancelled for the day and the entire student body slept. Well maybe not everyone, but Kathryn and I definitely did. We took a two hour nap after lunch which has left me feeling quiet revived.

But anyway, so it was Neptune Day. At 7:45 all the students were awakened by the sound of drumming and whistling up and down each hall. Crew members giggled as they paraded the building, their faces painted, wearing silver hats made of foil. The drumming and pounding on the door didn’t get Kathryn and I out of bed for long and we were soon passed out again. At 9:00 “Queen Minerva” sang a tune over the loudspeaker about how the opening ceremonies were about to begin on deck seven and that all the pollywogs who were brave enough to become shellbacks should report. We pulled ourselves out of bed and still wearing our pajamas, climbed the stairs to seven. Have I mentioned yet that I live in the basement of the ship and that I walk sooo many flights of stairs each day?

The captain of our ship was painted completely green wearing a long wig and a crown and one of the deans had creepy red paint on his face and he too was adorned in some type of “sea god” outfit (really though it was a white robe with bows stuck all over him). Anyway, they made this big deal out of Neptune Day and all the shellbacks talked in deep voices about how we were entruding on their territory.

Eventually the initiation started and student after student lined up to have “fish guts” poured on them. No one’s really sure what the fish guts actually were, we’re thinking a mixture of oatmeal, water, and something else…but regardless, they were being dumped on all these people who would then jump into the pool immediately after. Before leaving the pool each student, or teacher as there were many of them getting in on the action too, had to state that they honored the ocean and kiss a fish, which was probably the most disgusting part of it since it was a real fish and we had to kiss its head. Kathryn and I stood watching as more and more people were convinced to join in on the ceremony by peer pressure. We refused. We hadn’t worn our swimsuits up to the deck like everyone else had and that was our excuse.

But then Carrie arrived and I could tell that she sort of wanted to be a part of it…and I did too. So we sprinted down to our rooms and threw shitty clothes on and made it back up to the deck as the line had ended and the sea gods were searching for more victims. The fish guts were dumped on me, I jumped into the pool, and I kissed a fish…I am now a shellback!! Kathryn eventually gave into the pressure too and had fish guts dumped on her as well.

After the initiation, the head shaving began. Crowds of students gathered around as a variety of people, both boys and girls, had their heads shave. One family of two boys all had their heads shaved, including the mom. It was hard to watch some of the girls become bald in a matter of five minutes. Don’t worry, I didn’t give into this method of initiation.

So yeah the rest of the week will be somewhat monotonous since our “no classes” day is over and we don’t arrive in Cape Town till Monday.

Oh and they covered our porthole again!! It’s so frustrating. It’s hard enough for me to stay awake on this ship as it is, but now to have no sunlight whatsoever? I took a nap in complete darkness today and slept an hour later than I had planned, I blame it on the whole no window thing.

K. I have to watch a documentary on Guns, Germs, and Steel; a book I have not yet read. They’re airing the second part of the documentary tonight and I’m totally hooked by the theory that geography has determined the fate of all societies. Read the book.

Much love.