Entries this day: First_P-B_meeting One_week_to_go...

First P B meeting

11:50pm JST Saturday 14 May 2005

Awesome day today.

These are the definitions of everyone's names, mixed up:

indraaa "Nice to meet you" (greeting)

mik - mystery of the future on PB

itoyakoy - language difference within different dialects of English

hasen - having something in common

apt - a nature loving person

orb - the bubble around a floating person

sutet - life with no music

femi - everyone farting in an elevator

ymra - can't stay in one city for a year

tarmb - free and easy thinker

idavd - fast talker

icarass - donkey flying too close to the sun

sasicar - beautiful journey

genala - good friend vibe

cinole - great beautiful smile

amya - loving Kyoto too much

wayiku - someone who loves sake

mirohi - being a super Miro fan

atmi - person who is always to me

preta - the sound hair makes when flipped

ktretan - (silent k) the sound hearts make when soul mates meet

lejo - he can go far

krimayo - cheese spread

wansh - like something too much  "I wansh some ice cream"

sirk - flower of the party

kisshoya - best kiss one has ever had

neyserig - unexpressible feeling

mayarnan - cute Texas cowboys

pipe - one who wants to experience something new

lietana - person who is interested in other cultures

kayu - peaceful

For the rest of the day, a good balance between get-to-know-ya games and working to develop a working definition of Peace Education.

Heal a little bit at a time.

12:36am

Chillin' now with Dave and Nat (Auds just vamoosed mid-sentence) while Nicole is zonked on the other side of the room. Dave and Nat seem to have had a few more tasty beverages than other people.

Audrey was telling us how the coolest thing she's done was raise 8000 dollars which allowed some village to build a bridge from point A to point B. They sent her pictures and the whole bit. She says she's raised 30,000 other dollars, but didn't specify where it went.

One week to go...

One week to go...

Hello from Tokyo!

As predicted, the seemingly endless days before my trip have suddenly begun to
collapse under the weight of deadlines and general chaos trying to pack my room. 
What started as a careful examination of each item, deciding its fate, and
cataloguing those I planned to send to my friends and family in the US, became a
frantic garbage bag filling panic, tossing all that seemed inessential.

We are only allowed 1 (one) carry-on bag when boarding the ship.  The rest of our
luggage must be sent by courier to the ship.  By tomorrow I am supposed to have
packed the bulk of my stuff, so I can bring it to PB office from which the
courier will pick it up.    During the day today I re-read the information pack and
learned that I can call the courier company myself and arrange for pickup; that way
I can call them on Saturday or Sunday.  And by "I can call them," I mean "I will
have one of my Japanese friends call them for me."

About a week ago I rode TJ Bike to Kellie's house.  She made a lovely Mexican
dinner of tacos (using corn chips for hard-to-obtain taco shells) and fajitas while
I archived TJ Bike on her back porch, locking him to a pole, to himself, and wired
a blue tarp over him.  I archived his saddle bags in an adjacent storage box, using
its weight to hold the tarp down over it.  Super special thanks to Kellie for her
balcony, and to Sumidasan and Brandt, each for their offer of storing TJ Bike.

My room, without TJ Bike, and without the maps and posters that succumbed to the
garbage bag frenzy (the maps were folded and offered to my building mates), looks
pretty empty.  Almost as if I can finish packing in time to go.  Pictures may be
taken soon.

Today is my ByeBye party for my apartment building, good ol' Millennium House. 
Festivities have been arranged by Ikumi and Hitomi; I'm thankful to them for their
efforts.

- - - -

Hitomi surprised me recently by saying that she too will be on the same PB
voyage with me!  I was a bit freaked; I had been expecting an opportunity to
completely re-create myself.. to just start over with all new people.  With several
hundred people on board I should be able to do that 99.9% new people, but there is
certainly an opportunity for me to continue with old habits.  (( During the
interview in mid-March, I was asked how I would handle a 'bad roommate.'  I
basically said I trust my angels to provide me with what I need.  If I need to have
a 'bad roommate' then that's fine.  If I will already know 0.01% of the people,
then that's fine. ))

- - - -

I'm writing this update before attending the first real meeting of all the teachers
who will be on board.  I do not really know what we'll be doing each day on the
ship (teaching 4.5 classes and...19 hours remain each day.)  I don't really know
what we'll do at each port.  I don't really know the answer to What Does PB
Do?

Peace education around the world?  How does that work?  How will I help?  How will
I be affected?

I expect that after this weekend I will feel a bit more relaxed, up until *next*
weekend, when we actually leave!  I even have a bit of free time available next
week.

- - - -

In other news, I am in the middle of being certified to scuba dive!  A friend of
mine is a trainer, and we went for my first dives this past Monday.  I had some
trouble equalizing my ears, but once I got past that, I was pretty successful at
the skills required for certification.  Mask Clearing, Sharing Air, etc.  All
things basically geared toward staying alive under water.

We surfaced for lunch then went back to diving.  This time was a bit different for
me; I seemed to feel even more anxiety, like a feeling of "oh no, not this
sensation again!" even though the previous time hadn't seemed so bad.  The second
time I seemed completely unable to equalize my ears.  The pain was unbearable (or
was it the fear?) and I was only able to float around 1.5 meters below sea level,
trying every method I knew to send some compressed air carefully through my
Eustachian tubes.   Chris waited patiently, watching me from various vantage points
between above and below where I finally gave up.

He was quite more positive about the whole thing than I was.  I had to watch myself
to keep from directly apologizing (for wasting his time?), but I did say "I must
say I'm disappointed."  I had wanted to be the best diver ever.  I've been
practicing clearing my ears this week.

- - - -

Now, three things with addresses:

1) I have the list of addresses for the different ports we will visit!  If you'd
like to send me something (small or edible), feel free.  Please leave ample time;
things won't likely be forwarded if they arrive after the ship leaves.   The URL is
http://robnugen.com/travel/pb/49/port_address_info.shtml

2) Please send me your snail address if you'd like a card from me while I'm
sailing!  I have some addresses, but not everyone's.  In the next couple of days,
if I remember and have time, I will send an email to those people whose addresses I
have.

3) This email is being sent via my new email sender.  It ensures I won't email
everyone in the TO field again like last time.  Also, if you wish not to receive
these, just click the link at the top or bottom of the email.  If you wish to
change your address, click the link and email me with your new address.

- - - -

It's 2:18am on Saturday night.  I'm supposed to be in Takabakabaka (an hour away by
train) at 9:45am.   I've basically packed the one big bag I'll have sent via
courier to the ship, except my socks are still wet.  In the morning I'll stuff them
into the small spaces, lay my suit and dress shirts on top of that, cram the case
closed and go.

           With Love to All
             - R O B !