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| Sports Day |
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| The Autumn team use their superpowers to batter
the other teams into submission |
Why do we have a Sports Day onboard halfway through
the Atlantic Ocean? Why is it such an eagerly anticipated part of
the onboard programme? Perhaps it's essential to break up the monotony
of ten straight days at sea. Or is it the friends one makes; the new
faces after a month and a half together at sea? The eleven events
ranged from the classic tug-of-war to the original "Superman" race
in which the lightest team member is bounced along a chain formed
by their team mates arms before being hurled into the pool in a Superman
pose. Other games included the calmest possible chopstick and bean
relay race, and the most brutal of brutal chicken fights, one member
mounted atop three teammates' shoulders wrestling, poking and prying
the enemy team's head band off. The Spring team left the others in
the dust, despite being the smallest team with fewer than a hundred
members. The amazing thing about Sports Day, a seemingly random event
for unadulterated fun and silliness, is the solidarity that grows
among teammates, their only point in common being their season of
birth. In the lead up to Sports Day, participants young and old banded
together to make posters and paint strange-shaped props, before appearing
on the day ready to cheer each other on until their throats were hoarse. |
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| Arts and Crafts Exhibition |
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| Crafts produced by groups onboard |
Three months at sea provides ample opportunity
for passengers to learn a new skill. Some take Taiko lessons, study
a language or discover a new area of interest. Many also take advantage
of the workshops and lessons provided by other passengers, eager to
share their knowledge. On Sports Day, when people outside were diving,
treading water, running, passing batons and cheering, a calmer event
was running indoors. The Music Salon, a cool oasis from the scorching
heat of the Neptune Deck, provided an exhibition space for different
crafts like Mandala art, origami, pop-up children's books, pencil
cases and beautiful Japanese-style bags and quilting. Some items had
a clear practical purpose, such as the bead purses, coasters, juggling
balls and delicately embroidered bags. Others were made purely for
display: collages, photos, portraits of people in ports of call, sketches,
and paintings. The exhibition was a long-awaited chance to show the
rest of the passengers what six weeks at sea had inspired and the
constant flow of people proved that their efforts were appreciated
and did much to brighten up the space. |
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| Peace Boat's
39th Voyage index |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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