My Extended Family!!

Yesterday was such an exciting day!! On the ship, they have created something called an Extended Family. Basically some of the faculty and most of the Lifelong Learners take a group of students under their wing and mentor them and meet with them over dinners or have game nights every so often on the ship! Since we're all so detached from the real world, it is a nice idea to feel a little bit more connected :)

Last night was the first night most people met their "families" for dinner. My "grandparents" are named Barb and Phil. They are life long learners of the ship and were some of the nicest people I've ever met!! They've already done this voyage before so they are a great reference if we have any questions. My family has seven girls (including me) and two boys. Everyone was really nice, but the boys were pretty hysterical. It was a nice way to meet new people and see what other people are planning in the different countries, etc. We decided to meet again after Japan to catch up and see how everyone's trip was... I can't wait!!

This morning I met Deirdre's "grandparents", Doreen and Bob, over breakfast. They are lifelong learners as well and are one their third voyage!! They were the cutest couple and such world travelers!! They are cutting out of this trip early and ending in Viet Nam where they are going to Cambodia to help out with their daughter's orphanage she created over there and then heading out to Bangkok where Doreen's brother has a condo and staying there until they fly home to Canada! We ended up staying and talking with Bob for a half an hour after breakfast and listening to some of his stories. They were all so entertaining and informational. He told us a lot about Beijing and Hong Kong, Viet Nam and India and got us really excited, even more so than we were, for all those places!! He gave us a lot of great information particularly about Beijing because we are going there to see the great wall independently!!

It's really refreshing to have the lifelong learners and the kids of faculty on the ship because it makes the boat seem a little bit more like the real world!!