20240926 Thursday, September 26, 2024. Off Russia’s Kurile Islands
Our original room has been restored and readied for reoccupation, so we did move some of our clothing and items back into it, but have having been in the Penthouse suite, we are kind of dragging our feet about moving back into the much smaller room. However, we did get a gentle nudge from Guest Services on the phone today, so we’ll officially move out tomorrow. One Day More!
We have been sailing about 150 miles off shore from the Kurile Islands, which extend between Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and the Japanese Islands. Some are in dispute between the Russians and Japanese, but we should be well into international waters. We have seen a rare whale spout and a variety of sea birds from time to time.
Not much change to our sea day routine, but the wind has picked up so walking the promenade deck is a bit challenging on the forward windward side.
Today was our 4th session of progressive trivia. We did better than yesterday, eeking out a score of 12/15. We missed what year Baseball was introduced to the Olympics by 5 years (1992), and missed the number of African nations by 3 (54). We also didn’t know the first Chinese author to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. Interestingly enough, the official answer Mo Yan won his Noble Prize in 2012, but in 2000, Gao Xingjian, born and educated in China, and who wrote the majority of his works while living in China before immigrating to France in 1997, and who still has a teaching position at a Taiwan University, won his Nobel Prize in Literature, but in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party, he is persona non grata, and officially disavowed as “Chinese” by the CCP, so officially he is a French author who won the Nobel Prize and not the first “Chinese” author with that distinction. Gao Xingjian’s later works were critical of the CCP, thus his excommunication. Mo Yan is a pen name that literally means “Don’t Speak” in Chinese. His real name is Guan Moye.
When the scores were announced today, there were multi way ties for second and third place, but we came out on top by 2 points, widening our progressive lead to 8 points.
Several days ago, during one of the evening theater shows, a man sat immediately behind us and was coughing and hacking up the entire performance, and wasn’t wearing a mask or making any attempt to cover his cough. Well, Ben has started clearing his throat and coughing, indicating the start of an upper respiratory tract viral infection, undoubtedly spread by the evil theater cougher. But with no fever at all, it’s not likely Covid. But it’s still annoying that someone could be so thoughtless, especially in this post Covid era, about not covering his cough or masking while ill.
Our last Manfredi’s dinner reservation was tonight. We both made an effort not to over order or over eat because they simply bring out so much food there. Ben has not had much luck with their steaks, which have been overcooked and overly grisly. The Chef’s table certainly does a better job with steak.
Clocks move back yet another hour tonight.
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