At sea

Imagine a mother of pearl sea and sky running into each other so that it's rather like being inside a gigantic, glowing shell: that's what it looks like from our balcony at this moment. The ship is moving at 10.2 knots, the slowest that we have ever travelled on a sea day I think....we must be too close to Vietnam to move faster. How shall I ever get used to living on dry land again?

Last night before rehearsal I went to a gathering of 'reflections on Thailand' by the students. There is no longer any doubt in my mind that they are changing in their attitudes to life and within themselves as they experience and feel other cultures. They used two phrases often; "go with the flow" and, interestingly, "we're all so different....but the same". I think that once we all realise the second, we begin to be concerned for all humanity and think outside the American/Canadian 'western' box....they had some amazing (sometimes bordering on irresponsible) adventures. Two of them decided to sail a kayak from deep in the countryside somewhere to Bangkok! They bought the kayak first (?!), started off in spite of the fact that they were told it would take most people a month to do; literally 'fell' down some waterfalls that spiced up their river route until it dawned upon them that just because they were Americans didn't mean they were able to accomplish something that more realistic wisdom had already informed them was not possible. They had been helped along the way by Thai children and adults who smiled and hauled them out of one scrape after another. The trick for them (both males) will be to keep the confidence but in a more accepting and realistic form....to become more humble, more Budhist!

It is appalling to me how badly these university (mostly rich) kids speak English....have I mentioned this before? it has been annoying me for some time. Without the use of the word 'like' they would be unable to form a sentence. "Like he told me like he was going to like walk those two like long blocks to like a great restaurant with like great food but I was like scared to go down that like busy lane with like tuk tuks and cars like coming from all directions...like I was really like scared man!" No exaggeration, like honestly! My fellow actors in The Persians speak the lines and then when they break into conversation with each other or the director that is exactly how they speak....it becomes almost unbearable.

Today one of those fellow actors is coming to our cabin to experience the forgotten luxury of having a bath. She will have the cabin to herself for an hour or so and may even sit on the blacony alone for a while...she is so excited. You might imagine how guilty this joy at such simple things makes us feel! We discovered while having lunch with our 'family' the other day that 4 out of 6 of them have no window in their cabins. They like the cosiness when its stormy outside but miss dreadfully the loss on a daily basis of natural light.

Off to breakfast of fruit, yoghurt, hopefully oatmeal/porridge, (far too rarely made, we have biscuits and grits every day!!) the inevitable scrambled eggs (G. thinks made with egg powder as during WW2!), croissants or Danish's which are very good. My waistline is not shrinking Oh I forgot to add, the most revolting coffee you have ever tasted! I shall go armed with my Semester at Sea insulated mug and a Lapsang Suchong tea bag....Ian gave us three bags of Indonesian coffee which I had yesterday and it was superb....again thank you Ian!

More later.