Four and a half months. Four and a half months since we have left our home, friends and family, far away from our regular daily routine.
The morning my dad drove me to the bus station, where I would meet the other teenagers who were able to start this amazing adventure with me, I was very quiet. I looked out of the window, saw my city Munich passing by in the dark, with all the lights which told me that for some pupils the day had already begun. This was the first time I asked myself where I would be in two to three months and who I would be.
Now, four and a half months later, I am sitting here, in our living room and look around me. Next to me a group of young students are playing cards, drinking coffee and laughing. We have been here for so long, so after all this time we know each other very well, and everybody has developed some rituals or is part of a running gag.
At the moment, a new tradition is starting. We call it „fail of the day“. Every day funny things happen. The action which is most hilarious is the fail of the day. This morning, Leon had the task to hoist the outer jib, but in his motivation he made the mistake to hoist the flying jib.
Another interesting ritual is to do an „ if“ round with Kai. In our „if“ round he is asking us one question which starts with “if” and everybody who wants to take part, young or adult, can say his answer or opinion. It’s always very interesting to learn what the other boys and girls think about love, traveling, social contacts and so on. No matter where we are, Kai always finds time for us to practice it, even on New Year’s Eve or in Panama in the rain forest.
But this is not the only time we are sitting together and talk about nothing and everything. If you are doing the safety round in the evening to check if everything is OK, you will always find some guys sitting in the library, having fun and enjoying the time we spent together.
Six months are long, and we are changing. Not only our character! Our hair gets longer and longer. But no chance if you want to go to a barber in Cuba or Bermuda. We have our own special team for this case. The team „Heißschneider” or “Hotcutter“. Everybody has to go there at least once during our voyage, it’s a real adventure. Our teacher Kai is very happy with his new haircut, and the others can’t complain either.
If during our sentry duty our head of watch has some jobs for us and we all don’t want to do it, we use the „nose-goes“. Everybody touches their nose as fast as they can and are looking at the others. The person who touches his nose as the last, has lost our tradition and has to do the task.
The food here is great, really. But if you are always eating stuff like rice, potatoes or vegetables, the day will come when you miss fast food. Burger and chips, or a simple „Döner“. We would kill for it. But it also costs something, and if you only have a certain amount of money with you, you are careful with every cent. And in the last few weeks, our crew noticed that we are cursing a little bit too much. That’s why our watch three has set up the rule that everybody who is cursing, even if it’s only a word like „shit“, has to pay 50 cent in their „Döner-collecting box“. On the Azores they are going out to eat with all the money.
Even if I left my home for six and a half months, on the sailing ship we have our own daily routine and I wouldn’t like to miss all the fun, adventure and action we have with our rituals and running gags. It is always easier to work if you take everything with a little bit of humor.
And again I ask myself, where I will be in two months. Maybe I will sit in my room, make a call- conference with Teresa and Clara, some good friends from here and tell them like every day on the ship what happened today. Or maybe I will be on tour around Germany and visit some of the KUSis. Who knows? But the first time I asked myself this question, everything turned out well. I’m sure that even after our voyage, we still will have our special rituals, maybe in a different way, but if we all meet again, and here the sound of the Typhon of our second home Thor Heyerdahl, we will look at us, smile and shout: „ Wahrschau Typhon !!“ which means „Be careful, Typhon !!“