Who knew haiku was a team sport?

But my team came in second on the ship!  "Study day" had a few distractions with the Semester at Sea Olympics.  the opening ceremony featured team banners and cheers.   Will's kickball team lost to students in an early round, but he put in a strong showing in the backward spelling bee!  The faculty, staff, and life long learners were together as a team, and the students were organized in their residence units.  In addition, the kids (17 and under dependents) fielded a team -- the Loch Ness Monsters.

Events included the frozen t-shirt contest, musical chairs, SAS trivia, rock/paper/scissors (done as ship/captain/wave), and tug of war.  Imagine synchronized swimming in our pool, only slightly larger than a hot-tub.  Teams of 4 danced, splashed, jumped and rode on shoulders.  Our team, the Golden Odysseys, had two people who really knew how to do synchronized swimming, and they recruited two others to stand nearby and wave their arms to the music.  

Overall winners will be announced tonight at the closing ceremony.

Haiku had a Semester at Sea theme and could be composed ahead of time.  I wrote many, and had teammates vote on their favorites at lunch to narrow it to six.    After the contest, those who wanted had a chance to read a few more.  The first was my team entry; some others might not make sense if you were not here.

Vanishing pole star,

Gibbous moon over aft deck --

Now the southern cross

Aft deck sunset,

Layers of clouds, golden light --

Students at the rail

Tropical island

Rainy sugarcane vistas --

Fermented to rum

Imaginary

Line across the night sea --

Must placate Neptune

Anointed with goo,

Dripping, now kissing the fish

And Neptune’s diamond

First, Aloha shirts,

Kimono, longhi, sari --

Now elephant pants