do you know that you are beautiful?

... asked the Archbishop as he went from table to table and laid his hands on our shoulders last night at the Ambassador’s Ball. I’m glad I went, if just for that one moment. The Ball was nice. Dinner definitely beat out the normal ship fare. Everyone was dressed up fancy and all of our favorite dining hall crew pulled out the stops for us. There was unscheduled lag time between dinner and dancing/dessert, which was sort of confusing and unexpected and so many faculty/staff detoured back to the faculty/staff lounge for wine and pleasant conversation. My photos didn’t come out great because of the yellow-ish ship lighting which was darkened, of course, for ambiance, but here are a few pictures of the evening.

Desmond & Leah Tutu:

Erika (one of our workstudy students) and her boyfriend, Ryan (my nephew, from my extended family):

Lindsay (another of our workstudy students) and her boyfriend, Ivan:

Andrea (left, my niece) with a friend:

Watching the students congregating in Purser’s Square, from above:

Giles and Kate (they are New Yorkers, can’t you tell???):

Crazy sculpted eagle-dessert:

I’m sure this trip will feel like a dream six months from now. Not least, the part about traveling the world with a Nobel Peace Laureate. This morning he called us "scrumptious" ... I’m trying to soak it in while I can …