As I write this--at around 6:30 AM our time (8:30 AM yours if you live on the west coast of the US, 11:30 AM if you live on the east coast)--the ship has slowed for our arrival in Hawaii. Lots of people are up on deck--I just popped down from there to write this--to see the big city lights: it is otherwise still pitch dark. Folks are quiet because of the early hour, but the mood is wonderful, unique to situations in which lots of young people are all anticipating great things, as most of us are, with day trips planned for this brief stop. It is hard to know exactly how to think about the two brief re-fueling stops on the voyage, here and Mauritius, both magnificent and fascinating places that we probably would not stop at if the ship didn't need fuel. Two pre-port briefings, on the last two nights, prepared us all for this day, the best and biggest part of the work having been contributed by a group of students from and/or studying in Hawaii. Trips today range from visits to Pearl Harbor to a climb along a volcanic crater to a two-hour shopping trip at a big department store. By tonight we'll all be back on headed for Japan. My own cell phone isn't calling, in spite of lots of signal lines from a US carrier, so if you're a parent and you're not getting a call right away, imagine technical difficulties, though in fact the more likely explanation is that your child is happily caught up in just the sort of collective glee you'd be hoping for during moments like this. I will go back up to the deck now to see that glee just as much as to see the city lights.
