Datum: 24.12.2020
Author: Manasse
Position: Curacao
Nautische Position: e.g. 12°06,6N  068°55,99 W
Etmal:  0 nm (Total: 6384 NM)
 
As we are an English ship and in England Christmas is celebrated at the 25th of December, we had German Christmas today.

Visiting Curacao
We had some hours of shore leave. My group went swimming at the beach. The water was very clear and at the beach there was not a lot of garbage. Later we went shopping and went to an internet cafe. We called our families. It was nice to speak to our families on Christmas. So we could hear how they celebrate Christmas this year. I also called some of my friends to wish them a merry Christmas. The city of Curacao is very beautiful and colorful. Curacao is a Dutch colony, because of that the houses look very similar to houses in Amsterdam. On the island people speak Dutch, Spanish, English and Papimiento (a mix of the three languages). 

Christmas singing
The afternoon was very nice. We sang a lot of Christmas songs and shanties. It was for many of us a little bit strange. The temperatures were between 25 and 30 degrees and we had not the normal routine from home. We were not with our normal family and the mood didn’t feel like Christmas. But it was a very good mood too. Everybody was very happy because we had a Christmas tree which we built with sails, bands and a lot of others staff. We decorated the place a lot. After the singing, we talked and laughed a lot.

Trash gift exchange
We also played a game: Everybody of us searched for something he or she doesn´t need (trash gift) or something from the lost and found box. Then we had to wrap it and we put them under the christmas tree. After that the first person starts to roll the dice. Every number had a different meaning. For example with a six you were allowed to take a gift from the Christmas tree and with a two every gift was passed to the person sitting on your left side. At the end everybody had a gift. I ended up with a pair of boxer shorts. I brought them later back to the lost and found box.
All of us were very happy about the fact that we were allowed to celebrate Christmas with so many people.