What did you do on January 21st?

Hello Mrs. Simpson's class!

What did you do you January 21st? Was it really cold in Bancroft? Did anything really exciting happen?

I'm asking because here on the MV Explorer, January 21st never happened! We skipped it! Yesterday it was January 20th and today it is January 22nd. January 21st was our Lost Day.

I already told you that there is a time difference between Bancroft and where I am. This is because we have been moving farther and farther west on the Pacific Ocean, passing through many time zones. However, last night we passed the International Date Line.

I've been learning about this in my Astronomy class, so I am going to give you a short lesson. The world is divided up into many sections, kind of like the inside of an orange after you peel it (only in scientist's imagination though, there aren't actually visible lines running all around the world). 

These are called meridians of longitude. The starting line is called the Prime Meridian- it runs through a town in England named Greenwich (also a place in Ghana where I might be visiting!). Starting at this line, you add or subtract hours as you travel either west or east! This is where time zones come from. On the complete opposite side of the world of the Prime Meridian is the International Date Line.

Because we've been adding so many hours to our day (the past three days I've set my watch back an hour every night), those hours had to come from somewhere! So we're skipping a day!

Two students on the ship had their birthday on January 21st so they skipped their birthdays!

We arrive in Japan in 7 days!

Rebecca