The seas are choppy today, but we must be acclimating because none of us are feeling it! Hopefully that holds true for the shipboard community! The days that it is very rough, we see quite a number of patients in the clinic with symptoms related to motion sickness. Many of them are appeased with a cyclamen patch or an oral tablet. Some require an injection which essentially knocks them out for the next 24 hours! So far so good with the clinic... I have mostly seen routine primary care complaints with the college students. Dr. Chris takes care of most of the older community on board. Our nurse Stephanie is great too - unbelievable sense of humor and excellent critical care skills.
Today was taco day...! I never knew a taco could taste so good! I thought Anna was going to lose her mind when she heard that was the lunch choice today! She ate two heaping full tacos, Layne even ate nearly two! Ah, the little things in life!
Things are really getting in full swing with the kids' school. As many of you know, we are responsible for homeschooling Anna and Layne while at sea. There are 23 children onboard (under age 18)which make up the Dependant Children's Program. Every day that we are at sea, the children are expected to attend. It is held in one of the dining halls on the ship. It's from essentially 9-11:30am with an hour break for lunch, then again from 1:30-5. Anna, for example has about 4 hours of study time. She does about 2 hours of math in the morning and 2 hours of language arts in the afternoon. We are so fortunate to have some great one on one tutors to work with them which is great for everyone! Anna is doing a great job staying pretty focused on what she needs to do to keep up. She is loving the individualized attention from the "teenagers!" Layne, naturally wants to play! We aim for about 1.5-2 hours of "schoolwork" per day. The other time she has a modified PE class a few times/week with the other 5-6 year olds, a dance class, a Spanish class, and art. Declan has two hours in the morning with two different students who come and play with him for an hour each. This morning he was particularly tired and not so thrilled. Most mornings he is happy to go for a walk with one of them or play in the basketball court. There is a pair of two year old twins that he plays with too! The older kids (8 and up) are loving him and he is getting lots of attention! He is missing his Annie though!
Johnnie had a tour of the "bridge" today. I'm sure he'll tell all about it in his next posting. I had clinic this morning and got to see Archbishop Tutu and his wife. I asked them if they had ever been to Guinea-Bissau before - no. They are such lovely people. I look forward to getting to know them better. We are so lucky to have them aboard!
Tomorrow we will arrive in Spain! It has been 18 years since I've been in Spain which makes me feel old! We will spend the first three days in Cadiz as I am on call and expected to stay within an hour of the ship in the event that anyone has a medical emergency. The other days we may venture to a small town called Puerta Santa Maria where we'll go to the beach, and perhaps Sevilla, and Ronda where I lived for 2 weeks as part of a training period when I studied abroad in Granada. Our former au pair Lisa will travel from Germany to spend a few days with us! We are very excited to see her!
We look forward to sharing our insights on Spain. The girls are going to have a reoccurring theme that they will compare / contrast in each port we go to. Anna is going to look at "how people carry their babies" in each country; Layne is going to look at "animals" in each country. Stay tuned...!
Traci
Today was taco day...! I never knew a taco could taste so good! I thought Anna was going to lose her mind when she heard that was the lunch choice today! She ate two heaping full tacos, Layne even ate nearly two! Ah, the little things in life!
Things are really getting in full swing with the kids' school. As many of you know, we are responsible for homeschooling Anna and Layne while at sea. There are 23 children onboard (under age 18)which make up the Dependant Children's Program. Every day that we are at sea, the children are expected to attend. It is held in one of the dining halls on the ship. It's from essentially 9-11:30am with an hour break for lunch, then again from 1:30-5. Anna, for example has about 4 hours of study time. She does about 2 hours of math in the morning and 2 hours of language arts in the afternoon. We are so fortunate to have some great one on one tutors to work with them which is great for everyone! Anna is doing a great job staying pretty focused on what she needs to do to keep up. She is loving the individualized attention from the "teenagers!" Layne, naturally wants to play! We aim for about 1.5-2 hours of "schoolwork" per day. The other time she has a modified PE class a few times/week with the other 5-6 year olds, a dance class, a Spanish class, and art. Declan has two hours in the morning with two different students who come and play with him for an hour each. This morning he was particularly tired and not so thrilled. Most mornings he is happy to go for a walk with one of them or play in the basketball court. There is a pair of two year old twins that he plays with too! The older kids (8 and up) are loving him and he is getting lots of attention! He is missing his Annie though!
Johnnie had a tour of the "bridge" today. I'm sure he'll tell all about it in his next posting. I had clinic this morning and got to see Archbishop Tutu and his wife. I asked them if they had ever been to Guinea-Bissau before - no. They are such lovely people. I look forward to getting to know them better. We are so lucky to have them aboard!
Tomorrow we will arrive in Spain! It has been 18 years since I've been in Spain which makes me feel old! We will spend the first three days in Cadiz as I am on call and expected to stay within an hour of the ship in the event that anyone has a medical emergency. The other days we may venture to a small town called Puerta Santa Maria where we'll go to the beach, and perhaps Sevilla, and Ronda where I lived for 2 weeks as part of a training period when I studied abroad in Granada. Our former au pair Lisa will travel from Germany to spend a few days with us! We are very excited to see her!
We look forward to sharing our insights on Spain. The girls are going to have a reoccurring theme that they will compare / contrast in each port we go to. Anna is going to look at "how people carry their babies" in each country; Layne is going to look at "animals" in each country. Stay tuned...!
Traci
I so love reading these posts and how you each have a different perspective to share. Keep them coming for those of us who are living vicariously through you guys. The kids and I are following your trip along a map back here in Tennessee. I start posting their questions soon as Ethan is full of them (mainly if you've seen any sealife).
ReplyDeletexoxo:: s.
I loved reading your blog, Traci. It was great to learn the girls and Declan's schedule. How wonderful to have such individul attention.I appreciate the back and forth between you and John. Thank you both for taking the time to keep us "living" with you. I am looking forward to Spain.
ReplyDeleteBless you all!
Love Connie