Meilin at Sea

The peace has returned in the English Channel. The wind has become slower and school started again.
On the 20th of May we celebrated Jeltje's birthday. During her watch (12-4) she got a plate filled with chocolates and a sandwich with chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag, in Dutch).
On the 21st of May I enjoyed a regular watch day. My last normal watch day! I can't believe the trip is really coming to an end. Time seems to have flied by, I can't imagine myself at home anytime soon. We are probably arriving in Oostende, Belgium tomorrow morning. Here we will stop, Lambert will come back and so will one of the students who left and the project leader.

When I woke up for lunch we were swaying much more then we usually did. I then knew that the rough winds that were planned to come, had arrived. My watch started at four so in between lunch and four I decided to do some school.
When it was about 15:30 I decided to start getting dressed. The icy winds made the weather extremely cold so I had about five sweaters on. Sietske and I were on our way outside together with Wouter and Till when Els said she preferred Siets and I stayed on "stand-by". This basically means sit inside during the whole watch, doing the chores inside, and coming outside when help is needed. Siets and I decided that was everyone wasn't feeling there best we would help the kitchenshift and take care of people. So we started out by vacuuming the downstairs hall (watch job) then supplied drinks for everyone and after that helped chop veggies, etc. After a while we decided we would really like to get some fresh air because we were getting slightly queasy. So after asking several times we were allowed to go outside. The wind was exactly as I had imagined it, icy and hard. The waves were huge and occasionally hit against the ship which caused them to splash all-the-way over the backdeck. We enjoyed our last half hour in the fresh air for the next two days.
Els came down and told everyone that watches would be put together. This meant that there would be no school as everybody was too sick to do school anyway. We would also have only four (of the 8-10) people steering since they didn't like to many people up. If we were every to go outside with these winds we had to put on our life-line.
After dinner I went to bed and woke-up at four for my third watch in a row. We just had to sit in the living room, just incase. We cleaned the living room, tried to stay awake, and made coffee and tea. The four hours passed slowly, staying awake was hard. The next day we had watch together again and at night, yet again. That would be my fifth watch in a row. When I was getting out of bed I was told that I was the only person who could do a kitchenshift the next day and that I had to take over someone's kitchenshift. Great, I thought. So they woke me up just to ask me if I could do a kitchenshift when obviously no one else "could" do it the next day. I went to bed but didn't sleep. With about four hours of sleep I started my kitchenshift with Siets and Siebrand. Sietske is in the same watch as me and as Joost was sick it would mean only Wouter and Till had watch. So obviously this wouldn't work. After the lunch I went back to bed to so at four I would have watch, again. Luckily, Dianne took over my kitchenshift so they still had three people.
After this long tiring day I skipped dinner and went straight to bed.
Luckily, we did go fast with the hard winds so we had now entered the English Channel.

We are at sea again meaning, yes, yes, school starts. When I started this trip I thought there wouldn't be an end to the amount of work I have, but now I actually think I will manage to finish all my work. It's a miracle!
Anyway, besides school we of course had watch. My watch is still four to eight, which I actually quite enjoy. We have a lot of fun during our watch.

We also saw whales again! Well, one whale. I finally got a proper whale picture. The ocean was really calm, which is the best time to spot whales.

On the 13th of April, which was Friday the 13th... I had my kitchenshift! But luckily, nothing bad happened. Well except for the fact that we were planning to make Wienerschnitzels, but took out the wrong meet so we ended up making pork with potatoes from the oven and a salad. Dinner was pancakes and we wanted everybody to have two so 45 times 2. We had to make at least 90 pancakes plus some extra for the watches. In the end we made 110 pancakes. Merwin, however, burned his finger. So Willemijn and I spend the majority of the time making the pancakes, luckily some people came to help us.

Sunday I had watch and it was extremely cold in the morning. Especially at four, which is probably the coldest hour of the day. I think I wore about 5 sweaters, hat, scarf, gloves, thermal underwear, and my rain/sail-suit. You would think I wouldn't be cold with all these layers, but I definitely was. After sleeping till the lunch we had lunch, obviously, and then the regular big clean-up. Together with Yke I had to clean out the fridge. It takes a while, but definitely isn't the worst job. Unluckily, some eggs fell in the fridge which wasn't exactly the nicest to clean up. In the evening, after my watch, Valerie (one of the crew) introduced to us the game of 'Mystery Murders'. Basically you on little folded pieces of paper, the name of a person, the place, and the item they need to be "killed" with. The game can last as long as you want. The point is to touch the person with the item at the location given. It seems easy, but sometimes you can get impossible combinations. It was quite hilarious. For example one of the teachers ran through the hallway by the sleeping huts with a big boei to kill someone and it actually worked!

Well, after spending 24 hours in the bush we definitely enjoyed the night in our beds. After breakfast we had to clean and weren’t allowed to leave the ship till it was shining. With some effort we got the ship clean by 10 and then set off to explore Horta. Together with Steffie I went in Horta and we looked around. Horta was filled with small shops and cafes. We found a small café/bakery which had cappuccino’s for 75 cents and croissants for less than a euro! Considering the coffee on the ship is really bitter and not drinkable, we were extremely happy to finally have a taste of normal coffee. There we sat, in between all the Portuguese. We left the cafe and looked around a bit more, then we went to the marina for some internet. But I was getting used to being wifi-less so instead I joined some people along to the supermarket where I bought two bars of chocolate 'for the harsh times'. Which basically means when the food doesn't turn out well or if I have a sudden craving for chocolate.
While we had been strolling through Horta, Daisy, Sanne, and some others had painted a logo for our ship in the harbor. This is a tradition, that is why the whole harbor is filled with paintings. So if you ever visit Horta make sure to look for our painting!

Anyway, we went to the painting to put our names on them and add the names of people who were busy doing other things (kitchen shift, etc).
In the evening we left Horta for our next stop somewhere in the English channel. I felt the trip was truly coming to an end. The Azores was our last planned stop. On one hand I really want to go home see friends, family, and take a proper shower, eat loads of fruit and veggies, etc. but on the other hand I know I am gonna miss the life we had, constantly being busy, and of course some of the friends I had on this ship.
- Meilin

Hey everyone!

On the morning of the 9th we started packing our bags for the 24 hours alone.
The rules for the 24 hours were the following: everyone gets 20 by 20 meters somewhere in a forest without any electronics, you are not allowed to have contact with anyone except for the teachers who check up on you twice, and you have to make sure you have a place to sleep.
From School at Sea we got a thermos-can, a sail, and a rope. We had to bring warm clothing, a mat, sleeping bag, and I brought trash bags.
The 33 of us left the ship with our big bags and layers of clothing. I was really nervous; I had no idea how to make a tent or how I would keep everything dry. From the ship we went to a supermarket where we got 7.50 euros to buy food for the 24 hours. We were actually supposed to take a bus to the location and then walk a bit, but we kind of missed the bus and the next one only came a couple hours or so later. Plan b: walking to the location! Azores is basically made-up of volcanoes meaning we had to climb up hill. In the beginning it was quite okay, but at a certain point it got really steep. After three or four hours of walking we finally arrived at the nature park. Here we got a small explanation as to what was going to happen and then we went off and were assigned certain locations.
Els brought me to a piece of forest with a little stream. It was quite beautiful. I had a forest and a bit of grass and the stream. However, it got kind of steep so it was quite hard to find a flat bit. The flat bit I had found wasn’t very big, but big enough. Here I set up my tent. It actually went kind of well, but it was too bad I had made it so low. The tent was a triangular prism. I had used two branches to hold up the middle and strung a rope in between so that it would be higher. In the front of my tent I had hung a trash bag so that the wind wouldn’t come inside. I used branches to keep the tent attached to the floor. Then I went to eat my noodle soup. During this Els came and took the photo of my tent and gave me a writing assignment. I decided to get into my tent because it was getting dark. After doing some writing I went to sleep before it was dark and I got scared. However, when I got into the tent one of the branches broke. Luckily there was a tree behind so I strung the rope to a branch, which actually worked better.
The rest of the time flew by. I even went down to the stream to wash myself. I had breakfast and went to sleep a bit more when I thought it was about 1 or maybe 2 o’clock. Then Els came and told me time was over. I couldn’t believe it! 24 hours had never past so fast without me knowing.
Then Jeltje came and it was kind of weird to see her after being alone for 24 hours. Anyway, together we walked back to the rest of group. Everybody talked enthusiastically about their tent and what they did the 24 hours. After this we walked back to the ship together where the stores were waiting for us. Stores are basically when new food is brought on to the ship and we have to store them. So after 2 or 3 hours of walking back down, we did the stores; never a bit of rest on the ship. Then we had dinner and the kitchen needed to be cleaned because it hadn’t been done properly. Haike, Sietske, and I thus cleaned the whole kitchen and at around 11 we went to bed. Completely tired.

- Meilin