ANOTHER DAY AT SEA!

We woke up to CALM waters this morning!  There was no creaking and groaning, no rocking or pitching!  We enjoyed a late breakfast at a table with a view of the calm China seas!

Birds had been flying beside the boat since we left Ishigaki!  

We caught the end of the FUTURE VOYAGES PRESENTATION (interesting!) and spent time in The Library, talking to a lovely couple who had retired in Florida and recently relocated in San Diego.  The lady had spent the entire day yesterday in bed with motion sickness.  (She said, “BAD MOTION SICKNESS!”) It would have been interesting to find out what percentage of the passengers couldn’t handle all the motion yesterday!  (Sooooo glad it didn’t bother us!)

It was a beautiful day, however, too chilly to even sit in the sunshine.  (We would have loved to!)  Some people braved it (wrapped up in blankets)!  BRRRRR.

We attended THE SPEAKER’S SERIES / China’s Communist Revolutions and learned about Mao’s bloody upheavals to Communist-controlled capitalism.  (It didn’t take long before I realized I was still NOT a history buff! 😳)  But it was interesting (painful) to learn about the history of the country we will wake up in tomorrow morning!

John and I booked another cooking class, WORLD OF FLAVORS: STREET FOOD!  Chef Erin was our instructor once again! (She is amazing!)

The first thing we ate (devoured) was a Sicilian Arancini, and was it ever delicious!

And we enjoyed drinks!  (Of course!)

Next on the menu was Malaysian Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce,

and more drinks!  (Of course!)   Everything was DELISH —the satay, the peanut sauce, AND the wine!

The next course was something we’d never even heard of, a Saint-Malo Buckwheat Galette.

and more drinks!  (Of course!)

Our last creation was Indian Onion Pakoras with Green Curry.  They were AMAZING!

Our class ended with dessert—a scoop of Ravello Lemon-Basil Gelato!  Divine!

At 6:00 we had to be back in our rooms and ready for a BLOCK PARTY!  Everyone on the floor came out in the hallway, glass in hand, ready to MINGLE!  We were served wine and appetizers and got to meet up with our neighbors!  It was a great idea and a lot of fun!

Even the Captain made an appearance!  (He looked YOUNG!)

The after dinner show was the one that had been postponed twice, Divos and Divas.  We finally got to see the singers and dancers onboard the ship perform.  It was an amazing show!

We have a BIG DAY planned in Shanghai tomorrow so we went straight to our room right after the show!

If all goes well tonight, we should wake up in CHINA tomorrow!