Daily Report Struggles and Costa Rican Adventures

Date: 27.01.2024
Position: Don Eli Coffee Farm
Etmal: 0 nm
Total: 6325 nm
Ship: Regina Maris

Let’s be honest: We all have stuff that we’re not really looking forward to. In Germany, that might be a math exam, the upcoming bad-weather period, or a dentist appointment. When you do an Ocean College voyage, the things you’re not looking forward to are a little different. Here it is, for example, doing the heads and showers, cleaning the dishes, or the daily reports.

Our Perspective: One Year Ago

Last year around this time, we were all super addicted to the Ocean College homepage and the daily reports that were published on it. We were the very first ones reading it and analyzing every single detail.

The first thing we did after waking up was checking if a new one was published. Some of us also read all the daily reports from every single voyage before. You might think now: „Weird, don’t they have any hobbies in their lives?“ To be honest, we used to be like junkies.

But hey, it was our dream to participate and we were (and we still are) super excited for the adventure of our lives <3. Some individuals even stalked the living crap out of, well…EVERYTHING. Not gonna name anyone…

The Perspective of Those Who Stayed in Germany, etc.

I suppose it’s not a surprise that basically all our parents, other family members and friends really enjoy the daily reports. I mean, they give an inside view into what’s happening in their children’s lives, so what more do you want as someone who stays at home and waits for news?

Ja nomaaal, we would say. From my parents and friends, I know that they check the homepage every single day and greet each other in the morning with: „Have you already heard they are currently in…” And I mean, if my friend would be six months away from home, I would react the same. BUT: From our perspective now, the situation feels a little different…

Our Perspective: Now

Well, let me explain the struggle: We all know the person that has the daily report the day before us, so we already know: Oh shit, it’s my daily report tomorrow.

This is the case for most of us. The really smart ones already gather ideas before and start to write it a few days in advance. Props to these people (including me, hehe)!

Talking about some individual cases, they completely ignore their daily report until they forget that they even exist. So they start at eight pm when Mats reminds them that they still have to hand in the daily report. Upsi…

In General

If you prepare yourself well for the daily reports, it is actually quite relaxed. Even though it is not our favorite task on board, it is just as necessary as doing the heads and showers.

If you don’t do it, it’s a bit shitty. And we won’t even have a daily report once a month. Also, our beloved families and friends (and future OCs) really love to hear from us, so it’s worth it.

But What’s Missing?

The job a daily report should fulfill is not done yet. Since a daily report’s job is to REPORT about our day, I’m gonna do exactly that.

Today, it’s Isy’s birthday; we got woken up by a very happy „Geburtstagskind“ with a big grin on her face. Of course, we sang a very melodic „Happy Birthday“ with our beautiful siren voices. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

In the morning, we enjoyed a coffee-tasting, with three different kinds of coffee. The way you prepare the coffee is always the same. First, you rinse the filter with hot water, so what you taste is coffee and just the coffee.

Then you grind the coffee beans with a grinder that looks a little bit like the ones you use for pepper. To one gram of coffee, you add 15 milliliters of 90 to 95-degree hot water. That process should take you about three to four minutes so the coffee can develop its best taste.

We tried Tarrazú, which looked incredibly red in the light. It wasn’t very bitter and had a strong taste of cacao. Anaerobic was very fruity and sweet, kind of weird to our European tastebuds. Geisha was also a crazy one.

It should have tasted like tea and some fruits but in our opinion, it was just very bitter and not as flavorful as the others. We also got to try a tea made out of the fruit that is around the bean.

You either loved or hated that bomb of caffeine. We were allowed to buy the coffee just from where it’s made, so of course we all bought a lot of coffee. Dear families, please prepare yourself for an empty bank account and another bag full of presents we will bring to Amsterdam.

After that, there was some more work on the plantation. The fruit of the coffee tree which was already separated from the bean does not just get thrown away.

No, over time it rots to compost that you can use for the coffee trees. But for that, it has to dry out completely. So we mixed around the fruits to rotate the layers.

We finished our „hard work“ with a joyful (and adventurous) ride in the truck downhill. After a good mixup of our stomach content (almost felt like seasickness was back 😉 ), we were ready for a filling and delicious lunch.

We used the afternoon for a (again very adventurous) truck ride to a beautiful river with a waterfall. The river was only knee-deep but was somewhere about 15 degrees. So it was veeery cold.

Some of us caught a cold during the last days, but that is only temporary and who would skip such a beautiful experience just because of a cold?! Well, I guess that’s Ocean College logic. We ended the day with Isy’s birthday cake that Lilia and Lizzy baked for her. I guess we can all be very thankful for a cool day like this.

Greetings:

Franka: Liebe Grüße an Yari, Mama, Papa, meine ganze Familie, Elisa und meine Freunde. Ich hab euch sehr lieb. Auch liebe Grüße an alle zukünftigen OC’s, es wird die schönste Zeit eures Lebens!

Lilia: Nicht persönlich nehmen wenn ich mich erstmal nicht melde, mein Handy ist kaputt 🙂