the stars sing

One of the joys of being onboard a culturally diverse ship is that you get accustomed to hearing a lot of languages. Today, I had "Happy Birthday" sung to me in English, Welsh, German, Swiss-German, and Xhosa. Beth was on duty today, which means she can't leave the ship. We celebrated the good ol' American way with pizza, ice cream and a movie.

Tomorrow, I'll be learning how to surf in the huge waves of East London. Surfing school for super cheap. Then after spending the night at a backpackers inn venturing on to a Game Reservior that offers safaris for another over night stay. The people of East London have thoroughly welcomed the ship into their home and offered to bless the crew in a multitude of ways. Not only are a lot of the businesses supporting us through discounts, but the people are volunteering as dayworkers onboard too.

I just finished The Great Divorce by Lewis yesterday. It's an amazing book with so many ideas packed into it. It's stirred up a lot of ideas about how our choices everyday will have ramifications not only for now but for all eternity. I continually struggle with the two extremes of thinking that today's choices don't matter at all or feeling like they are the end of the world. There needs to be a balance in realizing the importance of my actions and thoughts but not over-emphasizing it where it controls everything I do with no concern for the future.