So we celebrated Neptune Day, a day that celebrates passing over the Equator, a few days ago and boy was it a celebration!!
At 7:30am in the morning, the crew was responsible for waking all of us up, and this was done by them dressing up in tribal Viking-like gear, and banging symbols and banging on all of the doors. It was hilarious and very entertaining, to say the least.
We went up to the fifth deck, got some breakfast, and proceeded up to the seventh deck, where all of the festivities would take place. We get up there and everything is set up, from the chairs where the King and Queen (Dean David and Sue, Executive Dean) and of course, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife, Mrs. Tutu. There is music playing and everyone is having a great time.
All of the faculty and crew, who have passed the Equator before are all dressed up and it just gets everyone pumped.
The beginning of the festivities involved two crew members taking green slime (fish guts as people were calling them) and students standing in the pool, having the slime dumped on them and then jumping in the pool. Once out of the pool you kissed a fish, kissed the king and queens rings, and were “knighted”. I, along with all of my friends, took part in this portion of the celebration. It was actually a lot of fun, even after getting out of the pool with slime all over you and smelling horribly. Who cares? We all smelt after that.
This is also the celebration in which people shave their heads. I knew that a lot of people did this, but I was surprised at just how many girls went through with it. There were girls who had been growing out their hair for so long that decided to shave it all off. For guys it is not as big of a deal, although for some guys it is, but I feel like a girl getting up there and shaving all of her hair off is a bigger deal.
I knew that Amy had been talking about Neptune Day since before we even applied, but I didn’t know just how into this she actually was. She mentioned a few days ago that she was thinking about shaving her hair and I was a little surprised, but deep down I knew that she would be the one out of all of us that would do it and be okay with it. I knew that, personally, I would get caught up in the moment and shave off my hair but five minutes later be balling my eyes out over what I had just done. I knew that and was okay with it. But Amy knew that this was what she wanted, and she went for it. She got up there and had her head shaven. She no longer has hair and it actually looks good!! In that moment I realized just how strong of a person she really is. She is my best friend and I am so proud of her for making this decision about what she wanted, because there were a lot of opinions coming her way in the days leading up, but she took them in and made her own decision about what she wanted to do, not anyone else. I hope that by the end of the voyage that I am able to be that strong and just do what I want when I want to and be ok with it. Every one that got up there and shaved their heads is so strong and should be proud of themselves!! Archbishop Desmond Tutu even got up there and shaved his head! It was so cute. He got up there and participated in the events with everyone else. There was such a sense of unity on the ship. It was great!!
I am now an Emerald Shellback. Emerald Shellbacks are those who have crossed the Equator. No more being a pollywog for me J
South Africa in 2 days <3
Until next time..
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