Polar Opposites

You crawl out of warm, cozy beds

We roll out of squeaky, leaky racks.

You get up at 6:30 to get ready for school

We’ve been on deck since 0400.

You take a hot shower for fifteen minutes every morning

We dump buckets of cold salt water over our heads every week or so.

You walk down crowded hallways

We walk through narrow companionways.

You sit in a little metal chair at a desk

We sit on cabin tops, on deck boxes and in crazy creeks.

You get school cancelled for snow days

We stand watch through squalls.

You zone out in an air-conditioned classroom

We sunbathe during class.

You go to school in a giant concrete box

We got to school on a beautiful wooden Schooner.

You stop class to listen to an announcement on the PA

We stop class to watch a pod of dolphin swim by.

Your class goes on a field trip to a museum

Our field trips are to the volcanoes and boiling lakes.

You have calculus and AP history

We have Nav Sea and Maritime History.

You have pep rallies

We have all hands musters.

You fold paper to make paper airplanes in class

We furl jibs out on the bowsprit.

You see your classmates 8 hours a day, five days a week

We live with ours 24/7.

You end your day staring at a TV

We end ours gazing at a breadth taking sunset.

You don’t know your teacher’s first name

We don’t know our teacher’s last name.

You carry your books around from class to class

We haul on lines to set the sails.

You ripped your paper taking it out of your binder

A wave came over the rail and soaked my whole notebook.

You have 2013 i-pads

We have 1990 radar.

You sit on your couch and play with your computer

We stand in the Nav station and plot ships.

You send 200+ texts a day

We call home once a month.

You have automatic flush toilets

We pump 50+ times every trip to the head.

You wear Uggs and flip flops

We wear Sperry’s and Tevas.

You see your parents everyday

We see our parents once in four months.

Cassidy Bierce