it's ghana be good

In two days it will be Shelby's birthday. A member of Team Tokyo, and my
final acting partner for Acting class, she is one of the people on the
ship I am very thankful for having met. We celebrated her birthday today
because

Dawn and I had been working on a treasure hunt for her birthday - well,
I say Dawn and I, but really I just provided moral support and the
occasional sarcastic sounding board as Dawn masterminded this 10-clue
hunt that spanned the ship, inside jokes, and Shelby's personal history
before ending in a pizza party and cookies on the 7th deck.

It had begun to rain an hour or so before, and sitting on the 7th deck
felt hot and sticky (we did just pass the Equator after all) but the
rain was a welcome coolness. Someone suggested we dance in the rain, and
so we did, and then someone too seriously considered jumping in the pool
and soon I was leaping into the pool, holding my the folds of my dress
with one hand and glasses with the other.

Eight of us, full clothed, in the rain, in the pool, laughing.

I silently mourned the fact that I had just had the dress washed
(laundry is a luxury) and then celebrated the moment. The dress now
hangs in our bathroom and I suspect it will take days to dry.

A few minutes later we were changed and ate cake in the dining hall,
giving out the pieces we couldn't finish to other SAS students who
wandered by, would wish Shelby well, then tuck into the cake.

Just one of those un-capturable moments.

- - -

We arrive in Ghana tomorrow. I am incredibly excited for a port that I
have few plans for.

I never thought I would feel okay "winging it" in an African country,
but I'm with three girls who I know I will have a blast with. The
journey is the destination after all, right?