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January 29 of 2016---tonight was our fourth formal night.
Today's big activities were:
A classs learning to make "poi" by Maori instructors who boarded the ship in Tahiti (after the French Polynesian team left). Poi is a ball attached to a rope that is used as a tool by women to keep hands flexible for weaving and by men to train for strength and coordination in battle. They put a large stone in a bag and swing the attached rope to strengthen arm and wrist muscles.
Yesterday, the tattooed Maori team gave lessons on the Ka Mate Ka Mate dance and a popular folk song.
Our team won 5PM trivia. I enjoy contributing many answers unknown to others. My favorite was "What is Prince's last name?@ I know it is Nelson.
4th formal night: Bowlers (derby like hats) and Bumper Shoots (parasols). They supplied these items during dinner. The dining room was festive with alternating gold and black bowler hats for us at each seat and London patterned parasols were suspended from the ceiling throughout the room. The waiters were greatly challenged by the low hanging props because they still had to navigate through the "jungle of unbrellas" while holding trays loaded with 8 or more meals.
Unfortunately, table talk was mostly about politics, spurred on by one person who is enamoured with Trump! Horror of horrors.
After dinner, I spent time in the Crowe's Nest to enjoy the sunset, which is happening later and later, in fact it was after 8 PM. Our first day, the sun set just before 6PM. I forgot about dancing and the live band there so I danced upstairs with Bob and Rob before the show. Rob showed me a new dance, west coast 2-step.
For tonight's show, I sat with Asia and her parents, Raymond, Steve, and sailor Patrick. The duo, La Musica, performed opera songs and he played the piano. They have lovely voices!
After, a group of us moved in the Ocean Bar to ballroom dance. The dancing is getting better and better, more and more fun, as we loosen up and get to know each dance host's idiosyncrasies.
The band ended at 10:15 so we moved up to the Crowe's Nest. Erin was spinning popular tunes including a Pitbull hit. I told her I love Pitbull as I jumped around with her and one other couple. She told me the man was Pitbull's lawyer. I shouted to him, "I love Pitbull." That (much older chic) couple was singing all the lyrics to the song. Next, I asked Erin to play Pitbull's ,"Dont stop the party" and Black Eye Pea's, "I've got a feeling". We stayed on the dance floor and sang at the top of our lungs the words to those songs. They even knew the words to " It's all about that base"..... and were sticking their butts out. I laughed so hard…..lol!
When a slow dance song (I cant help falling in love with you, by Elvis....) played, 3 couples got up to dance and Judy said I cant let this song go to waste, I'm going to find a man to dance with me. She dragged a young bar man (in uniform and hat) onto the dance floor and twirled around with him. She is a woman who knows what she wants and goes for it!
The crowd who saw the 2nd show came up as the band started their 11Pm set. The energy intensified as many of the "cool people" joined the party. They included HAL CEO's wife and daughter, performer Bobby Wilson, the French mom and sons, some officers, and more. I danced free style to contemporary music and ballroom danced with Bob and Rob to classical tunes. At the end we did the electric slide and wabble (line dances.)
It was so much fun. I must have danced 20 songs in a row. I felt alive!!
