The first morning off

To be honest I've no idea what to do with this sudden spare time we got. The transfer to the next SD, which will most likely be our first LD depending on our qPCR data, will take some 14 hours and since the CTD was malfunctioning during our last SD we were late on leaving.

I figured that I could write about some random stuff just for the fun of it, and then visit our modern gym down below. Hell yeah! I'm glad I brought a resistance rubber band.

1: During the day of transfer from the IRD to the R/V L'Atalante it was really hot and humid and carrying heavy boxes in such conditions takes a heavy toll on you. So I ran into the largest supermarket downtown to buy some water and salty crackers. Unfortunately I'm again not very skilled in French so I ended up buying magnesium enriched water and sweet biscuits. The water tasted terrible, which I loudly complained to everyone about until someone came up with a great idea. Apparently there's a lemon tree in the backyard of the IRD, so I went there, picked my own fresh lemons and made my very own lemonade on the terrible water. Much better! Thank you very much! The biscuits I forgot in the car... oh well...

2: There's a New Caledonian guy in the crew, who just loves football and since New Caledonia is French his favorite team is of course Paris Saint-Germain. I suppose you all know where this is going by now. Anyway, I spoke with him a bit in the beginning of the cruise, although he is far from fluent in English. His name is Franck anyway, and he asked me where I was from. It was a bit difficult to explain about the country of Sweden, until suddenly, his face shone up brightly and he asked "Zlatan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic?". When I said yes, that just made him even happier.
From that day forward, every time i meet him anywhere on the ship he says "Zlatan!" and gives me a high five.

3: So the reason for my "big" cash withdrawal before the departure of Nouméa is simple. I had found out that they would sell beer on board. Naturally that is something I would like to end every long workday with. It's far from the best I've ever had but at least it tastes beer. I also realised when on board that I would have the opportunity to buy phone cards for the satellite phone. I'm happy I brought a big note!

4: Just an interesting observation the other night. Me and my colleague sat down on the dimly lit back deck for a beer after a long workday filled with miserable failures. So I took the opportunity, while sipping my beer, to look up at the night sky. I couldn't see too much at a glance, but I spotted one star, a really bright one which was moving.
I nudged my colleague and asked him about it. Naturally he didn't have an answer either since it was moving rather erratically. However, the more I looked the more "moving stars" I saw.
I then realised how stupid I was at that moment. The ship was obviously rocking back and forth in all directions and I didn't even notice... We've only been out at sea for a few days so I suspect that solid ground after 6 weeks will most likely be weird at best.