Note: Monday, May 17th was lost due to the crossing of the
International Date Line.
Ahoy 5170 Century Builders,
Yesterday at lunch was the big moment, the reason Sunday is to be protected
at all costs. 
Cindy recorded the moment when the Executives of the Ship, the Captain, the
Chief Officer, and the Chief Engineer received their bowls of ice cream.
It is an old photographic trick learned by Cindy and that is if you
want people to smile take a photo of them while they are eating ice
cream. It certainly works with Ron. (the photo of the Captain's table
has from left to right Chief Officer Uwe Rugies, Steward Eria Tebuako,
Captain Bernd Schwalger, and Chief Engineer Horst Hanchen)
While we packed for the trip Cindy suggested that we bring along several
cans of sweetened condensed milk so that we could show the cook how
to make "Dulce de Leche" and share it with everyone. We did
this on the previous freighter trip that we took and they were so thrilled
with it that we thought we would do a repeat on this trip. We knew they
liked it on the last trip because the next morning it was all gone.
The Chief Engineer on the M/V Columbus Pacific was notorious for his
sweet tooth and admitted that he got up in the middle of the night and
finished it off.
After lunch I went up to the cabin to get the cans of milk and "Dulce
de Leche" and was worried, as most people are that the can might
explode when we told him to boil them unopened for 3 hours. I told him
that as long as the can was covered with boiling water there would not
be a problem. If he lets the water evaporate and part of the can is
above the water then it might blow up. I suggested that we check the
can every hour to make sure it is under water.
Talking to the cook was interesting, He comes from Manila and I mentioned
that when I was in the Navy I had gone to Manila from Subic Bay by public
bus. He said that now Manila and the Philippines are very dangerous
to Americans and Europeans. I mentioned that it was true even when I
had been there. The Third Officer who also comes from the Philippines
and the cook are very concerned about their elections which are going
on right now.
While we were in the kitchen the cook pulled 2 banana cakes and
a carrot cake out from the refrigerator. I told him that Cindy loves
carrot cake. Boy was that a mistake. We got half the cake with our 3PM
tea. Cindy is overwhelmed but happy (it¹s good carrot cake). (the
photo of the Steward, Eria Tebuako, as he is serving us the low calorie
3PM teas which he does daily).
At breakfast the Captain gave us the daily newspaper which was 3 pages
long. It includes world news, business news, sports, arts, entertainment,
culture, science, technology, USA news, USA politics, and most importantly
the German first league soccer standings. Next week is the last league
game and Bremen has locked up first place. Most of the Germans on board
come from Rostock and the bad news is that the Rostock Soccer team is
in the middle of the pack.
This wonderful newspaper which has one sentence summaries in all of
the subjects I listed earlier is the product of Monika Steinfurth. Monika
is one of the Secretaries in the home office in Rostock. She puts the
whole thing together and it gets emailed by satellite to the ship daily.
Thank you very much Monika Steinfurth, you have provided an important
link to the outside world and most importantly you did it very skillfully.
Speaking of the outside world when we went up to the bridge this morning
after breakfast we found out that there is Super Typhoon Nida in the
Pacific Ocean near the Philippines. It is heading north and it is anticipated
that it will reach Tokyo around May the 20 th in the evening. The ship
will reach Tokyo May the 20th in the morning so it appears that our
crossing will have been smooth all the way to Japan.
Hi this is Cindy. We pass the days leisurely chatting, reading,
eating and visiting the Bridge for an alternate view of our location
on this ocean.
At home I normally attend CURVES for Women , for my daily fitness
workout. I¹m sure many of you know it. It¹s a recently popular
fitness club for women which originated in Texas. So to help us keep
some type of workout routine I have brought a "Xertube" to
help us keep fit. A Xertube is like a big rubber band with handles on
either end. It came with a brochure that describes various exercises
and was recommended by the ladies at Curves. Walking up and down the
stairwell from floor to floor does afford quite an effort for our legs
and lungs but it does very little for the upper body therefore that
is where the Xertube fits in. Not that we¹re so fit but we must
try.
Ron succeeded in finding another video in English, it had German
subtitles. Last night we watched it, it was a film titled "Under
Suspicion" with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freedman. It was kind of
a strange movie but it was somewhat haunting and we found ourselves
talking about it today several times.
The conversations we share with the crew & officers are always
an opportunity to learn about different cultures and traditions and
we thoroughly enjoy that.
Saying goodbye from around 50 miles east of Ostrov Urup Island on the
Great Circle Route to Tokyo, Japan Until we see you on the website tomorrow
Ron and Cindy
