sit down, you're rocking the boat

so, on our three day sail from hong kong to kobe, japan, we hit some
pretty bad weather. the ocean was all riled up, with waves crashing
as high as the seventh deck. on that first day back at sea, i was
only standing up for maybe two hours of the whole day. i spent the
rest of it in bed trying to stabilize my body so i wouldn't get
sick. although these waves were nothing compared to what the ocean
is fully capable of, they still kicked me in the butt. and not just
me...the entire ship was so quiet on the first two days that you
could hear a pin drop. it was almost eery.

the other thing that was eery about this crossing was getting a
glimpse at how wealthy some of the students on this ship are. every
voyage, the students of service organization arranges a charity
auction. all proceeds go to a few charities chosen by the shipboard
community. items for bid include homestays around the world, donated
by passengers on the ship, special meals with the deans and steering
the ship, just to name a few. i hoped to participate by bidding on
some items, telling myself that i could spend up to $150. well, that
was quite the joke. students were bidding between 250 and 600
dollars on most items, with a couple of items going for $1000 or
more. i couldn't believe it. i was stunned. i had such an uneasy
feeling about watching these students spend money on items like a
private movie night on the ship, including candy and popcorn (which,
technically could be done for about $10 if you arranged it yourself,
but the winning bid was $650.) i was dying to ask these students who
was going to pay for these items and if they even had to discuss it
with their parents before committing to such a payment. i'm fairly
certain they didn't, which only made me feel more uneasy because i
can't fathom having that kind of disposable income.

i know i wasn't the only one having these feelings because
afterwards, a number of my residents came up to me to talk about how
crappy they felt about the whole thing. one of them said, "i don't
even have enough money to help the charities because all of the bids
were WAY out of my range!" and i knew exactly how they felt.

so, overall, it was a interesting sailing to japan, and i am really
glad to be here. but more about that later!!