This was supposed to be sent over 2 days ago, but there were problems with the email server, so just play along :)
News of the week: crossing the international dateline (sob).
Five days in to our 12 (or maybe 11?) day trek across the latter half of the Pacific Ocean, we are finally crossing the dateline. We were supposed to do it yesterday, but since I'm pretty sure its exact location doesn't matter whatsoever, and more people have birthdays on February 2nd than on the 3rd, they decided that all 700ish of us would never experience Wednesday, February 3, 2010. Disregard the time stamp on this entry everybody, because at this instant it is 2306 on Tuesday, and in one hour, it will be 0006 on Thursday! So this February has not 29 days, not 28 days, but a lonely 27. I personally thought it would be hilarious if we were sailing the opposite direction and got two Groundhog Days (heh...).
Tonight was full of celebration and mostly confusion, as our Global Studies professor held a contest for who could best explain this curious thing called the International Dateline. After a quick examination of the applause-o-meter, my friend Zach won, great thanks to his explanation of his Peruvian rodent friend Carl and the unfortunate loss of his tail. If you think I'm crazy, you're wrong. You clearly just don't understand the dateline well enough! Anyway, Zach got a free sweatshirt and I'm jealous.
If you're just dying to hear some real news of my trip, I'm sorry to say that inter-port shipboard life isn't all that exciting. We had class all weekend, I watched lots of films about Mao Zedong, and I had some form of potato in every meal. Last night, however, in celebration of our "No Class Day" today, we had a dance! It was somewhere between a middle school dance and a frat party (a rock and a hard place?) where there were chaperone-ish people (we do live with our professors, remember), yet everyone is in college and recognizes that the opposite sex generally has no cooties. It was pretty funny every time the ship rocked and the entire population of the dance floor fell over in unison! And it was probably pretty hilarious to all the people watching their in-room TVs that none of us dancing kids had any idea we were being videotaped!
Anyway, Japan could not come sooner. If today is the 2nd, and tomorrow is the 4th, and we get there on the 9th, then I still can't figure out how long I have!
Miss you all back home, and please send me emails! I can't remember if my email address is on this site, but its amharburger@semesteratsea.net
And a shout out to my new niece Molly Anne Harburger: I wish I could have been home when you were born, but in Hawaii my new friends and I all welcomed you into the world, even though I feel like I'm a world away. I miss you and love you, and can't wait to meet you!
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