Great Neptune's Beard!

Another blog entry? So shortly after my last one? Say it aint so!

Fast asleep in dream land this morning, I hadn’t a care in the world. We had a no class day scheduled, so sleeping in was the only thing on my agenda. Well, that, and reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe for class, but sleeping in was definitely much more appealing. Anyway, while I was floating through unconsciousness, drums started to beat in the hallway outside. Whistles blew as well. Thinking it was a bunch of goons playing Ghanaian drums, I stayed in bed. Later on, the noise came back. Suddenly, their was pounding on the door. It didn’t go away, so I got up and was met with a camera flash and cheering staff members. Neptune Day had finally arrived.

Okay, most of the above is a lie. We all knew Neptune Day was scheduled for today because it’s always the day SAS crosses the Equator. So, yes, I’m in the southern hemisphere. For the first time in my life, I’m below 0 degrees latitude. The captain blew out a horn to signal the moment we crossed over the proverbial line of lore. I suddenly felt really far away from everything, but that feeling went away quickly. Admittedly, though, I can’t wait to flush a toilet and see it spin in the other direction. Is that a weird thing to get excited over?

Anyway, Neptune Day is a fabulous little SAS tradition. During breakfast this morning, nobody really knew what exactly to expect because they kept everything pretty hush hush from us students. When it was time, King Neptune (Captain Jeremy) summoned us to the 7^th Deck. Anxiously standing around the pool, Neptune and his Court marched up to us mere polliwogs. After a brief introduction and kneeling before him, the festivities began. In order to become a shellback, we had to go through a rather vile process involving having fish guts (really just some kind of green slime) poured on our heads, jumping into the pool, and kissing a slightly gross fish. We were then knighted into our new glory. For the really brave, you were given the option of shaving your head. Three plastic chairs lined up in a corner were open to anybody on the shipboard community to rid themselves of hair. It’s a tradition among sailors to shave off all their hair in respect to King Neptune after crossing the Equator. At the same time, there was an epic dance party. Getting down in the middle of the sea is SICK. What was the result of being presented with the choice to shave my head or not, you ask?

I did it. Gone. Done. No hair. You may be thinking I got caught up in the moment, especially considering I kept saying it would be a day-of-decision, but I had been thinking for quite some time about taking the plunge. The thing is, the best way to get as much as possible out of any experience is to throw yourself into it as much as you possibly can. What better way to show my growing love for the ocean to keep up with a tradition like something as simple as shaving your head after crossing 0 degrees latitude. Yes, I loved my hair and felt like it was part of my identity, but I can feel myself slowing changing as this semester goes on. So many people are walking around with freshly bald heads. Men, women, young, old, every type of member of our community embraced the tradition. Some cried as the razor cut away their locks, but afterwards their tears were replaced with cheers. Catch that sweet rhyme? Bet you poets liked that.

My hair will be back eventually. It’ll be as long as it was yesterday probably by Christmas. Until then, I’ll be rocking the bald and short haired look. Everyone on this ship looks amazing, bald or not, but it’s so amazing to see so many people rocking this new look so well. My love for the people around me continues to grow as we continue to hop from port to port, slowly transforming ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually into new people with endless stories to share. There lies the magic of Semester at Sea, something that I’m continuing to try to understand. Maybe I won’t until after the voyage comes to a close, but I know now that what I am doing is special, so much so that it requires a level of empathy for the world and its problems from anybody brave enough to take the plunge. At the end of the day, we’re a bit spoiled, but with the number of people giving back and slowly becoming different people, that hardly matters. Like I said before, so many people shaved their heads, and all of the hair is being donated to Wigs for Kids. The people that didn’t shave aren’t bad people or any worse than those that did. For me, though, it became simple as my time in Ghana was drawing to a close. Besides, at the end of the day, all hair really is is dead protein on your head. Ghanaians (and to a certain lesser degree, Moroccans) celebrated the simple things, so why can’t I?

Five days to South Africa!