Day 6: (at Sea) Best Bridge Buddies!

The first morning we were at sea for the week, I met someone at breakfast who suggested I go to the bridge class.  I honestly can't even remember (or think of) how in the world the topic of bridge came up!  Maybe I asked what they were planning on doing that day, and they said they were going to class?  Anyway, thecamelridingcowgirl knows how much I love to play games, so she encouraged me to go to the beginner's class and see what I thought.

I actually have played bridge in the past.  Back when I lived in the UAE, I played quite often with a few friends who taught me how.  But the thing with bridge is that it takes 4 to play, and usually the people I know who know how to play are married and thus, have a built-in partner.  I have no built-in partner, and so it's usually hard for me to find one to make an even 4 for the game.  Plus, its been a good six years since I played, and I was a beginner back then.  So...a class for beginner's sounded good to me.

I walked into the class alone and a little overwhelmed.  Remember that feeling of walking into the junior high cafeteria and not knowing who to go sit with?  Yeah, that feeling.  As I was standing there, three people walked up behind me, and one of them seemed to have the same face on hers that I had on mine.  She asked what was happening, and I asked if I could tag along with them, since they were three.

Who knew that a main thing from trip would form from that little moment?  That's how I met the BBB: Best Bridge Buddies!  Cynthia is married to Fred, and she already knows how to play.  (I think she just stuck with Val and Fred for moral support, because she didn't belong in the beginner's class!)  Val is married to Phil, and he's already a pro at bridge, so he wasn't there when I met the other three.  I suppose maybe he sent them to the class so that the four of them could play together?  It worked out great, though, that they met up with me, because then one of the two who knew how to play could help the newbies out.  We didn't much enjoy the class...but we sure enjoyed one another, so I met the BBB every day to play bridge for an hour.

One of the things I learned in bridge was to bid "double."  Basically, Val had bid 2 hearts (meaning that she'd win 8 tricks), and I had enough hearts in my hand that I had been planning on bidding hearts.  I knew there was no way she would make her bid.  But she wasn't my partner...and so I had no idea how to bid or how this situation would work.  I called over Cynthia, showed her my hand, and she said to bid "double."  So I said 4 hearts (that's double of 2, right?).  She and Phil laughed and told me no, to say "double" which lets Val know I'm saying, "There's no way you're making that bid."  So I turned to Val (on the left in the photo below), pointed my finger, and said, "There's no way you're making that bid!  I'll take you down!"  Fred and Phil started laughing so hard they made us reenact it on film.

 When you play bridge, the partner of the person who wins the bid will lay down their hand on the table for all to see, and the bid-winning partner plays both hands.  The partner who doesn't play the hand is called the dummy, and they just watch the hand.  As you can imagine, that leaves plenty of room for joking about somebody being a dummy!  Fred, on the left, had a hard time learning how to lay the cards down facing the partner who would play the cards.  I'd say Fred's a pretty funny guy who kept us laughing, but honestly, all the BBB were so funny!!!  They were definitely most of my comic relief on the boat.  (I say "most," because y'all know that thecamelridingcowgirl is hysterical!)

On multiple occasions, Fred had us laughing so hard that Cynthia (his wife) would be crying she was laughing so hard and I'd have to just lay my head down on the table.  One time, he asked what the trump was, and after we told him, he began laying his cards on the table...even though he wasn't the dummy!  Cynthia said she was going to start calling the game "Bridge according to Fred."  Cause really...with any card game, you never want to show your cards!!!

 Here we all are on one of the formal nights.  My camera didn't take great photos with the lighting in the dining room, so they took a photo with their camera too.  They were so sweet: they printed it out for me and gave it to me, along with a signed deck of cards before we said goodbye.

 Here we are on the final night on the boat, just after music trivia.  Phil was supposed to help me win a few more luggage tags at the What's that Elvis Tune?, but well...let's just say I already had enough luggage tags that I didn't need the ones we didn't win anyway.

 Fred, Cynthia, me, Phil, and Val.  Hopefully we'll be able to connect on another cruise to play some more cards!

Thanks for all the fun, friends!  I'm glad y'all were the friends I made on the boat.  Have fun on your Christmas cruise!!!