Today we passed the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the equator, or zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude. It doesn't really mean anything, but everyone was pretty excited about it. They tell us that only 1% of the population of the world has travelled outside of their home countries. How many of that number have passed this point? There is even a name for those who have passed Sea Zero: "Golden Shellbacks."
We have had a lot of neat programs on the ship during this leg of the voyage from Capetown to Ghana:
- A Saudi prince, Fahad al Saud, told us about his job working for Facebook and setting up the first Arabic page, which had a role in the "Arab Spring" and is instrumental in letting many Arab women set up and advertise their own home based businesses.
- A lecture on current day vampires by a professor who is an acknowledged expert and wrote a book about them.
- A lecture on the Dalai Lamas by an art professor who lives in Bhutan
- A presentation on "How To Be a Clown" by a lifelong learner who went to clown school
- A presentation on the replica of an ancient Hawaiian boat that a lifelong learner is preparing to join in a voyage around the world, using only the ancient navigation techniques that they used to sail millions of miles of ocean in the past. The navigators, who study it all their lives, were a dying breed until they imported one from Yap Island to teach at the University of Hawaii twenty years ago.
- Presentations on slavery, human trafficking, and pirates
- My presentation on volunteering in Africa!
We have such a breadth of knowledge and experience on this ship. Three ports and less than three weeks left. I am excited to move back into my home after two years of wandering, but I feel like I could go on like this forever. My budget won't stand for it, though.
Jackie the clown
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