Day 35...Turkey Day!

Day 35, July 19th:

TURKEY DAY!!! (What sucks is that it is not Thanksgiving!) and SPIRIT DAY!!!

Today is a little something the shipboard community would like to call Spirit Day!  Everyone onboard is representing their sea by wearing their sea’s color in preparation for the SEA OLYMPICS on August 1st.   (NBC didn’t get the contract to show these Olympics on national TV…THE MV EXLPORER CHANNEL 4 got this one!!!!)  I am apart of the Adriatic Sea and my sea color is Dark Blue.  For the Olympics, each sea member must participate in at least one of the events.  I am signed up for the Relay Race.   My sea is even having tryouts and practice sessions for some of the events.  Some of the events include Shave a Balloon, Potato Carving, Crab Soccer, Free Throw Challenge, Asian Ice Cube Scramble, Extreme Musical Chairs, Pull-Up Contest, Pie Eating Contest, Donut on a String, Synchronized Swimming, Lip Sync and Dance Contest, plus many more.  It should be great fun!  My roommate Nick is one of the Sea Team Captains, so he is actively planning all of our events and getting us psyched up! 

Today also is Turkey Day!  That means that we get to spend the entire day listening to people tell us what there is to do and see while in Turkey.  I went to the cultural pre-port put on by the inter-port student and he provided a lot of good tips on places to visit and what to eat.  I also attended a talk put on by the Global Music professor about how to interpret music in Turkey.  This will actually become very useful during my Sufi Dervish Ceremony FDP that I have on Istanbul Day 2.   It was very interesting to see and hear the various instruments that they use frequently.  He even had two of the instruments onboard and he played them along with the Turkish music for us.  It was pretty interesting! 

Tonight at pre-port we were briefed on all of the cultural differences and customs in Turkey, as well as the possible medical issues (we can’t drink any of the water…not even brush our teeth with tap water) and transportation guidance.  This port will be getting us ready for Egypt, which they say will be 10 times worse.  The medical staff is now advising all of us to begin taking pepto tablets before each meal not eaten on the ship to hopefully prevent any bacterial infection while in port.  We can’t even eat uncooked fruits and vegetables that we personally do not peel.  This should be a very cultural experience!  I don’t really know what is in store for Istanbul.  I am trying to jump on a SAS trip with my Econ professor to the Grand Bazaar to learn how to negotiate in a foreign country.  I hopefully can do that, but other than that I don’t have any set plans!  I will keep you guys updated as I go.  I will be sleeping on the ship each night and probably eating many meals on here as well.  We will be pulling into port around 08:00 tomorrow with the pilot coming on around 06:30.  It is supposed to be an awesome port to watch us come in, so I may wake up extra early and see us pull in.  Sad part is that the sun will rise around 05:49 and I will not be waking up that early.  Oh well!  Goodnight! 

Noon report for July 19th:

155 NM since Piraeus with an average speed of 10 knots, 195 NM to Istanbul, sea depth is 912 ft, sea swells are .4 ft, water temperature is 71.6 degrees, air temperature is 75.2 degrees, sunset 20:40, sunrise 05:49, winds from the N/NW at 31 knots and much stronger later in the day, currently +7 hrs from EST, we will pass through the Dardanelles around 17:00 for about an hour (Europe on port side and Asia on starboard side).