After the most epic dance party on the most epic voyage ever last night we all awoke to a nice brunch. I sat around talking to friends and eating the nice brunch food which included everything from eggs and pancakes to stir-fry and rice.
After lunch I got my swimsuit on and made my way up to the 7th (top) deck. Up there it was like a scene from spring break…minus the excessive drinking and wet tee shirt contests. Literally everyone was up there either laying out in the sun reading a book or talking to friends, or sitting the shade doing the same. I hadn't planned on staying outside all day, but all of a sudden it was already 5pm and the day had disappeared. It's so easy to lose track of time here, especially when there are so many interesting people to talk to. During the mid-day announcements we got an announcement that made everyone's already awesome Mauritius day even more awesome. Stuart (our assistant Dean of Education who makes all the announcements) got on the loud speaker and did the usual list of the daily activities and evening activities. Then he explained that we were scheduled to get into Mauritius at around 10PM for refueling…now for the good part. After much deliberation, number crunching, and discussion, immigrations will make their way onto the ship at around 6 am for face-to-face immigrations, and we will be debarking from 8am to 12pm. At this point the entire deck erupted in cheers, excited screams and clapping so the rest of the announcements were pointless….WE'RE GOING TO MAURITIUS!!!!
Tonight we had our pre-port and it was much unlike any of the previous ones. The feeling in the room was such gratefulness. At first, everyone made jokes about Stuart taking all the credit for our ability to debark in Mauritius since he was the lucky one that got to deliver the news. As he got up the microphone [planned] audience members asked questions like Stuart, do you think you could use some of your awesome super powers that got us to be able to debark in Mauritius to give us an extra day in Singapore? Stuart, can you explain to me how you single-handedly made it so that we can get off the ship tomorrow?...etc. We all laughed along with him. He then explained to us the reality that we all already knew…It took a TREMENDOUS effort by not only all of the staff on board (including the staff and crew) but even the people back at UVA to work out the numbers and make sure that we could do this. We were all reminded something that in the back of everyone's minds, we already knew…how much this community cares for one-another, and how much the authorities really want us to do well and experience great things.
Four hours. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a whole lot more than nothing. I'm so grateful for the people that made this a possibility. The pre-port was full of cheers and smiles and not once did anyone ask for more time.
At 9pm I made my way up to the observation deck with my friend Rheana. She is from Trinidad so the idea of an island nation isn't so foreign to her. Well, she must have heard me say that I couldn't believe where we were about a million times. I mean think about it, I'm currently docked at a location that takes up no more than a tiny dot on a map….needless to remind you that that dot is located in the middle of the Indian ocean!!!!!! As we neared the island I was shocked at the amount of industrialization that is here. It was interesting coming in at night and seeing the lights. It was surprising to see so many lights. This place looks beautiful at night, there are tons of lights with the outline of tall beautiful mountains in the background. This experience so far has really taught me one thing…how every person around the world is really the same, and how the only difference is something that was determined completely out of our hands before we could even speak…the location and situation to which we are born into. So, if that is all left to chance…what makes me so different from the Emmanuel in Ghana, or Jerome in Dominica? So, I can't stop thinking about the people born here in Mauritius…this tiny little island so far removed from anything else…imagine that being all you know your whole life?!
During the pre-port we were told a little of the islands history and current situation and this place sounds like an oasis to me…there is free health care for all citizens, free education, and not only do they not have an unemployment problem, in fact they needed to bring in foreign workers at one point because there were so many jobs and everyone was already employed! I can't wait to get off the ship, even if it is for only 4 hours, and see as much of this little island as I can and meet as many of the islanders as I can!
TALK TO YOU AFTER MAURITIUS!...BTW scroll down for South Africa Day 3!
Steph
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