Day at Sea

Thirty foot seas, giant waves, bobbin’ and tossin’ – plus sea serpents and mysterious life forms ------- OK, it was a pretty boring day at sea. The “rough” seas never materialized, thank goodness. There was a little bit of motion, but nothing to even talk about. Phew!

There are some wonderful lecturers onboard. I especially liked the one about baseball. Did you know that Abner Doubleday did not invent modern baseball? Some English dudes who emigrated to America named Cartright and Carmichael did. That’s my history lesson for the day.

Michael and I worked today. There were nine tables for the intermediate lesson and ten tables for the bridge game. The noise was incredible. Everyone has an opinion about every single card, hand, board, game, partner. I had to play today and did OK. I refuse to be intimidated by the really good players, so I just do my best. I didn’t screw up anything too badly today, so that makes me happy. There was a four-way tie for last, so I was in good company. I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot of bridge play on this cruise.

On event that was out of the ordinary was Rosh Hashanah services (the Jewish New Year). Rabbi Morris Hershman conducted an abbreviated service in both English and Hebrew (because the ship has time limits on all activities), but it was nice and was good to feel a part of something special. It was very well attended. I had trouble reading the text as I must remember next time to bring reading glasses. Drat, I hate that; I have enough junk to carry around with me. I have to say that the Rabbi did not have a very good singing voice and we missed Moshe’s booming baritone. They served wine, an edible chopped liver, gefelite fish and delicious Challah bread. There will be more services for the high holy days, but we won’t be able to make most of them as they conflict with bridge.

We joined another table for dinner tonight and had a rip roaring discussion about politics, the economy, medical insurance, taxes and anything else we could think of with a couple from Australia and some other Americans. They were astounded with the amount and type of taxes we pay. As for medical care, well they really felt sorry for us. America is great, but we don’t always have the best/right answer for everything. It is interesting to hear what foreigners think about America.