“A few of my favourite things”

If you’ve seen the movie “The Sound of Music” you will recognize the words “these are a few of my favourite things” from one of the songs. So as I sit here with the song in my head I reflect on “a few of my favourite things” on board The Scholar Ship. Or in other words what do I like to do when I’m not in class.

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens” (no, no, that’s from the song . . .)

Having a massage (just had one yesterday – it was wonderful)

Have a drink with colleagues or students in the staff lounge or student centre (just had one yesterday – it was also pretty good)

Reading the books from Davis’ grade 9 English curriculum (there’s some good stuff)

Early mornings on deck (watching sunrises, enjoying an “okay” cup of coffee, chatting with colleagues or students or accessing email when very few people are on)

Writing and reflecting (some of it you see on this blog)

Those extra hour days (we’ve had two more recently)

Morning workouts (alternating between the bike and the treadmill and upper and lower body)

Engaging conversations with students and staff (at meals, at meetings and even in classes)

Being out on deck (enjoying the sun and sea)

Meal times (even though meals are starting to be repetitive and just okay, it’s still a great time to converse with others)

Class preparation (yes, one of my favourite things is to read course material and determine how best to facilitate student learning – as we all know the best way to learn something is to teach it)

Catching up on Davis’ day (we don’t seem to see much of each other even though we’re roommates)

So on that note, over to you Davis . . .

Ken

Days seem to fly by while on the ship. There is so much to do during the day that it is sometimes hard doing everything you planned.

I like to…

- Hang out with my new friends a lot. Most of my time is spent with them.

- Lay out in the sun and tan; occasionally jump in the pool.

- Work out. It is a good way to keep the sickness off of you. Sweat it out. I won the muscle contest yesterday. I had to go up and show of my pipes in front of the panel of judges.

- Lay out in my hammock. I had it up where nobody would find me, so I enjoyed reading or playing the guitar while up there, but someone stole my ropes, so I took it down.

- Playing the instruments set out. They have a bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, a keyboard, and a grand piano. I realized I need a lot of work to get back up to where I was playing piano. I may want to start playing again…

- Participating in the theatre production group. It started yesterday, and it is super fun. We play games and such, and we will write and produce our own play by the end. We practice every class day.

- Napping. It is tiring on this ship!

- Going to the snack bar and ordering a pizza or a smoothie.

- Lastly; homework. Since there is nothing to do, I sit in my room and do a whole bunch of my homework all hours of the day.

-Davis