Changes

                                                 Changes                       

                                            By: Lucy Vannini

                There are lots of difference when you live on a boat. No matter how hard you try, it won’t be the same as a house. Some things you wish you have but you don’t, some things are way harder. There are lots of different tweaks and changes you have to make when you live on a boat. Changing your lifestyle completely one might say. The benefits overweigh all the cost another might say. On a house you can’t swing on a hammock over the water, on a boat you can’t walk to school everyday with friends. You can decide what you think, but first let me explain life on a boat versus one on a house.

                Changes are hard. They sometimes make you sad. Everyday routines vary a lot depending where and what you live on.  Yes, we all live on Earth, yes we all live on the same ground, but how we do it, is the key. It makes everyone special, I am going to start by talking about how that affects me.

                Morning is about the same. You wake up. What you do differs though. In a boat you normally wake up do all the morning things; brush teeth, comb hair, etc. When you get up, you don’t have to rush to be out of the door by 8 o’clock but you do have to start school at a reasonable time. Yes, sometimes reasonable time stretches when we wake up at 11 o’clock the day after we started early. In the morning on a boat there is a lot more freedom to when you start things as long as you finish.

                Mid-day (school time). School. It is like a octopus in the waves. It always is there sucking on to you. But….you can make school more fun then the word “school.”  Homeschooling is like regular school plus lots more attention and freedom minus spending some time with your friends. An average school day on homeschooling is about 3-4 hours versus the long and ever lasting 7 hour school days. So, in my opinion that’s a plus. Another difference is that in homeschooling you can work wherever you want and can take more breaks. You can also play music, chew gum, and more things that you wouldn’t  necessarily be allowed to do in public school.

            Being able to move. I would have never thought before I moved on a boat that your home could get stuck in a sandbar or tangled up in riverweed. Being able to move your home wherever you want is fun! You can be in Alabama one day, and Florida the next. There are always new fun experiences in the new places. You can see lots of differences in what you do in just two states. Although some places aren’t as great as others, you can always not spend as much time there, and spend more time in fun places.

             Cooking, whether you are on a boat or house you still cook, you can cook the same things. The difference is how easy it is. Houses are easier to cook in, but boats give you more opportunities to cook things all the way from scratch. For example an dinner at your house might be pizza for example. So, you can just Domino’s and get it delivered. But on a boat you can make the crust and sauce and add toppings. On a boat you can make things from scratch that are better because you don’t get the option of ordering pizza to your boat.

     Friends.  They are special. You miss them. On a boat it is a little different making friends. Basically any kids you meet become  you friends pretty quick. On the river, there was one other kid that we barely even met,  we were with them for two days. We didn’t have that much time to meet each other unfortunately. So, once we get to the Caribbean, we will get to meet new people and kids. Both from the islands, and boaters. Basically, once we become friends with the boaters we can maybe change our path according to where they are going. So right now, I haven’t met that many friends.

     There are lots of differences when you live on a boat. No matter how hard you try, it won’t be the same as living on a house. Some things you wish you had but you don’t, some things are way harder. There are lots of different tweaks and changes you have to make when you live on a boat. Changing your lifestyle completely, one  might say. The benefits overweigh the cost, another might say. On a house you can’t swing over the water on a hammock, but on a boat  you can’t walk to school with friends every day with your friends. Happiness is not a destination, it is a journey.