Goodbye Yokohama, from the 59th Peace Boat

The 59th Peace Boat voyage departed Yokohama with charged fanfare. We popped the champagne for the 1000 passengers and together shouted a big KAMPAI. We have incredible 110 days ahead of us to circumnavigigate the globe. Its hard to believe!

The GET (Global English Tuition) program has yet to begin but already we’ve had plenty to do. Our gang of 15 English and Spanish sensei went through a full-on training orientation a week before departure. Since then we’ve discovered our sea legs in the lumpy seas around Japan and put on a presentation for about 200 people about the English and Spanish language programs. We’ve run interviews for the students and created classes. We’ve essentially created an English School onboard a floating village.

Of course we’ve had pockets of downtime in which to enjoy the jacuzzi, bars, sports deck and at night, the stars. Our Vietnamese onboard guest, Mi Doan, gave very personal lectures about her experience of the Vietnam war. Her courage in speaking of such suffering supports my view that any war is always an admission of failure. Pre-emptive invasions, as in Iraq today, are criminal. As with Vietnam, they are unjustified on any level when weighed against civilian loss of life and a generation of consequences.

I’ll be posting some pics of life on the boat soon

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