Watermelon Dance - 21 November

It’s been a gorgeous day on the sea today as we chug toward Spain. The temperature is rising after Croatia and that makes everyone really happy. Business was brisk in the library again as everyone worked on their papers that are due before we reach Spain. The students are starting to feel the crunch for the end of the semester and their studying has a frenetic feel to it now.

Around noon the ship was cranked up to top speeds and veered slightly off course due to a medical emergency. The husband of one of the professors collapsed and needed medical attention as quickly as possible. Around 9:00 pm we saw the lights of a city and soon a Spanish coast guard boat was pulling up to the ship. They had a devil of a time stabilizing the craft due to the waves and the ship had to be repositioned three times before they were able to offload the patient, his wife and the nurse. I didn’t see that part of it because I had scheduled a library meeting with the student employees right around that time. Eileen and I met with the students to talk about end-of-the-semester issues and schedules. It’s odd to realize that December is almost upon us and we will soon be pulling into Miami.

After the meeting, Eileen and I made our way to the faculty lounge which was in party mode because it was the Executive Dean’s birthday. It was a classy affair with champagne and chocolate cake. But we also learned how to do the Watermelon Line Dance. What a goofy name! The woman who is in charge of the computers on the ship hauled victims onto the dance floor to teach us how to line dance. I don’t know what possessed me but I got up to learn the dance. What a catastrophe! We were shown how to do the shimmy, part of the Charleston dance, and the grapevine move. Zut Alor! We were led the steps at a slow pace that was actually manageable but then she played the music and the pace was twice as fast. We dropped out like flies at that point. I quickly realized that (a) I stunk at line dancing and (b) looked like a total idiot doing it. I scurried back to my glass of champagne and looked furtively around the lounge to make sure that no one had been focusing on my pathetic attempts at country dancing. The brave individuals who remained at the point did a heroic job at trying to follow the steps. It was fun to watch faculty members do the Watermelon Line Dance. I have to give them credit for following through to the bitter end even though their dignity was seriously dented.

After the ignominy of the line dance, I decided to call it a night and returned to the sanctuary of my cabin and read a book for the rest of the evening.