Jaime At Sea

I'M HOME

2009-01-03T23:26:00.001-08:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't had time to update my blog since I've been home. Here's a few pictures from Costa Rica and the Panama Canal.

COSTA RICA BEACH HOUSE

PANAMA CANAL

I made it home safe and sound! Thank you all for following my blog while I've been traveling! I hope you enjoyed my stories and pictures. Love you lots!!!

Japan

2008-12-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

KOBE, JAPAN!!!

DAY 1
The immigration process in Japan is pretty intense and they warned us that it would take a long time to get everyone cleared and off the ship. I got to be in the first wave of people getting off because I had a homestay that left pretty early in the day. We gathered in the terminal waiting for our group. The first thing I fell in love with in Japan were the vending machines that they had everywhere. Usually I don’t like vending machines because I don’t drink soda, but these ones had everything! Including iced coffee! So naturally I spent my first yen in a vending machine to get a delicious iced coffee, the first of many. We found out that our families were waiting downstairs for us. So we went down to this big open room filled with our Japanese families holding up signs with our names on them. I went around the circle once and couldn’t find my family! So then I got really worried, but I must have walked right past her because someone pointed to her holding up my name. She gave me a huge hug when I told her I was Jaime. It was such an exciting moment. There were a couple other girls that she was gathering as well because we were going to meet up with their families later. She told us she lived in Kyoto and we were so excited because I really wanted to go see that city. As a big group, we played a game and did a little song/dance as icebreakers I guess. One of them was like this intense game of rock paper scissors. We left with some other people headed to Kyoto and took a few different trains to get there. We got lunch at a restaurant in the train station. Outside the restaurant there was this glass case that had all of the dishes they served. This was a common thing in Japan. We just pointed to what we wanted and once we sat down, our mothers ordered for us. The tea came first and then our platter of food. In my food and cultures psychology class we discussed the art of presenting Japanese food in different dishes and in special arrangements. I noticed that this held true in our lunch presentation. We had some mystery tempura that was pretty good, with rice, miso soup, ice cream, and some other mystery foods. We talked about the HIPPO program that they were a part of that hosts international families and send their children abroad to do the same thing. I think it’s an exceptional program and I could tell they were all very proud to be a part of it. So we left to continue our journey to Kyoto and our moms paid for our lunches! It was so sweet of them. We were worried that we wouldn’t remember how to get back on our own the next day. My friend Darren was taking pictures of all the signs to try to remember. We finally got to our stop and took a short cab ride to her apartment complex. My mom, Rify, apologized in advance that her house was small. I assured her that I was just thankful for a family to stay with. She was so sweet. She didn’t speak that great of English so I knew that would be a challenge, but she asked a lot of questions and I started to figure out what words to use to help her better understand what I was saying.

We arrived at her apartment and it was very small. We took our shoes off in the entrance and walked around to the kitchen and dining area. Their bathroom had this state of the art toilet, which is the thing to have in Japan. It had a bunch of buttons and a seat warmer!

They had lots of decorations up in the apartment and it was very cozy. It’s been a while since I’ve been home so it was nice to be in someone’s home. The other girls, Katy and Darcy, and I sat down at the table and had some tea. My mom asked us what we’d like to do so we started naming some things we were interested in. Darcy’s mom came over to meet us and she was so nice! She knew English much better than my mom, so she kind of became a translator. They decided to take us to the Golden Temple, a famous temple in their area that apparently Brad Pitt proclaimed he’d like to live in. We took my mom’s very futuristic and super nice van to the temple. The GPS system had images of buildings as part of the street map. And when we got to the parking lot, it created lines to follow for her to back up into a parking space. It was nuts! The temple was absolutely gorgeous. And we couldn’t have picked a better time of year to be there. The vibrant fall leaves created a beautiful background for the flashy gold temple sitting behind a reflective pond.

We walked around some more and watched the sun go down. There was this place you could try to toss coins into a little cup for good fortune. I missed, tragic. The place was really beautiful. We headed back to the house to get back for a dinner party in my parent’s apartment. Darcy and I stopped at her family’s apartment just down the hall and helped her bring her food over to the other apartment. By the time we got there, pretty much everyone was there. It was our two families, some younger girls (about our age) and one other family who brought their little kids. I had told my mom that I wanted to learn how to make sushi and I saw some of the girls making the sticky rice, stirring it to kind of air it out or something in this bamboo dish. Then she put out lots of different types of raw fish and another dish with cucumber and some yellow Japanese pickle. We just wrapped it with the rice and seaweed and it was sooo good! Some of the other food was some tempura vegetables and seafood, this beef and squash thing, and then they had two bowls that had soy beans, a very strong flavor. Someone also brought a creamy pasta dish, too. There was sake and a variety of different Japanese beers as well. Basically, it was quite a feast! There was an adult table and a kids table where the moms were with the little kids. One of the dad’s was originally from Peru and had learned English before he moved to Japan so he was able to talk with us a lot at dinner. Surprisingly, two of the younger girls visiting were both studying French in college so I spoke a little French to them! It was almost a better idea than trying to speak English haha. I guess I never thought I would use my French in Japan of all places. After we were all pretty much done eating but still chatting, they started a game of bingo! Which is a great universal game to play…with letters, numbers, and one key word…it was the perfect game. It was so fun! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, I loved being in a home again. Once everyone left, my poor mom finally got a chance to eat dinner from what was left over. I used their computer for a little bit and it was cool because it was really low because I was sitting on the ground. I showed them pictures of my family and friends. They wanted to see a picture of George, too. The son finally kind of came out to hang out and we all played UNO. I told them about home and they asked me all about Ichiro. They let me take a shower before I went to bed. The bed was so cool, it was set up on the ground in this room separated with shoji screens. I slept really well that night.

DAY 2
I woke up and had breakfast with my mom, dad, and sister. We had a fried egg, a chicken nugget, rice with seaweed (this really good Korean kind), miso soup, and some other pickled vegetables. It was probably the best breakfast ever. But eating the egg with chopsticks was a challenge. After breakfast, I packed up a bit before we met up with Darcy and walked around the courtyard in the middle of the apartments. While we were wandering, there was this group of little boys playing a card game. Darcy and I asked, “Pokemon?” and they kind of nodded their heads and went on playing. We were waiting for Darcy’s mom to meet us and one of the boys came up to us and handed us each three pokemon cards. We thought he wanted to play with us, but my mom translated and he wanted to give us the cards. We thanked him and tried to take a picture of him but he ran away backwards. He was such a little goofball.

My sister had us try this flower that was super sweet and yummy. We had some more time to kill so we wandered through this discount grocery store (which was great because everything is sooooo expensive in Japan). It was almost exactly like a Smart and Final or Cash and Carry. There were two rows dedicated entirely to candy! Once we met up with Darcy’s mom, we walked to a local market nearby. We had to stop to get money out and all of a sudden we noticed the little pokemon boy as he came up to us. He handed us each an unopened pack of pokemon cards! We literally couldn’t say a thing to him except “Thank you” in Japanese. We wandered through the market down this covered street. Right at the entrance, there was this fish place that kind of reminded me of the popular fish market at Pike Place Market in Seattle. There were people yelling and a bunch of people standing around waiting to get their seafood. There were clothing shops, tea shops, and random little restaurants and street vendors. People were riding their bikes everywhere. And what I couldn’t believe was that people just left their bikes outside without locking them up, some even had stuff in their baskets. But no one steals them! They were confused when I said my bike got stolen from my house.

We stopped for lunch at this little coffee house, took off our shoes, and went to this cool loft to eat. We sat on the ground at the table. The lunch wasn’t very Japanese though, we all had this pasta and salad with coffee and we ate with a fork. My mom, Refi, was trying to talk to Darcy about something and she couldn’t understand what she was saying. It was so cute because she looked to me to translate for her! I guess I was just able to pick the right words that she understood. They talked a lot to us about the HIPPO program which is what they’re all a part of. It’s pretty much like a home exchange program. They’ve had people from all over the world stay with them, and in turn, they are able to send their kids abroad to live with families as well. I think it’s a great idea. So after lunch we needed to start heading back because we had to catch a train to get back to the ship. We stopped at this street vendor to get a little dessert I guess. He was making these pancake type things filled with red bean paste and another sort of custard. We took them to go and went back to the apartment. I had wanted to see a tea ceremony at some point and I was lucky because my little sister had just learned how to do one in school. So once we got back, she gave a simple version of the famous Japanese ceremony. They use a green tea macha and make the tea in special way. Then you take the cup and turn it twice clockwise and drink the tea. After we finished the tea, we had our snacks from the street vendor. With only a little bit of time left my sister taught me how to make an origami crane! Mine didn’t turn out as pretty as hers but I couldn’t believe how well she knew all the steps. It was just about time to head to the train station. We met up with the other students and their families so that us students could travel back to the ship together. We took pictures, hugged, and waved good-bye to our families. It was so sweet to see them waving to us as we walked towards the trains. Getting back was a challenge because we had to switch trains a number of times. Luckily, after one or two stops, SAS kids stick out like a sore thumb in these foreign countries so we were able to follow them back. Their families happened to be with them so we knew we were set. The train system in Japan is incredible. They have all sorts of different kinds of trains depending on the distance, destination, and time you’re willing to spend traveling. The train stations were much nicer than most I’ve seen. Finally we made it back to the ship and I stayed on that night and the next day as we sailed to the next port in Yokohama.

On the ship though, they played Oprah on our closed circuit television setup. Someone must have had the best of Oprah DVD. So I sat in my room for most of the day relaxing and crying to Oprah. That night since there were only a couple hundred people on the ship, we got a fancy dinner. Ali and I dressed up a little bit and got a table with a couple other people. There were multiple forks and knives and the server took our order from a simple menu. We had five courses! It was so fun! I’m glad I stayed on the ship even though most of my friends were traveling to Tokyo and some other cities. Japan is really expensive and I felt like I got a lot out of it already from doing a homestay.

YOKOHAMA!

DAY 1:
Ali and I got up fairly early to go wander around before a trip to the Ramen Museum. But as we were walking, we realized that not much was open that early in the morning, except for McDonalds. Right away, I really felt at home in Yokohama. It had this crisp, clean feeling to it that made me feel really safe. I guess Japan in general was like that; very clean and safe. Ali and I discovered lots of fun places to visit later. And there were those vending machines absolutely everywhere! We traveled by bus to the Ramen Museum with the SAS group. I really didn’t know what to expect for a museum dedicated to noodles, but I think that’s a good thing because it wasn’t anything like I could have imagined. It was technically a museum/amusement park and once inside it was this two story replica of a town in 1958 Japan. There were eight different ramen shops scattered around each representing a different region’s version of ramen. There were other little shops and things as well. Ideally I would have loved to try little bowls of each kind of ramen, but it was expensive even for the smallest bowl and they were still very filling. The interport student from Japan, Eriko, came with our little group to try one of the ramen bowls. It was delicious! So much better than top ramen! We added garlic to it and that was the trick! This particular one had pork with scallions. Eriko explained that this museum was important because it represented her whole family considers “classic” Japan. Even though she did not live through that period, it is still an important part of her culture. It was a strange contrast between an old style museum and a really futuristic and modern gift shop. Even the toilets at the museum were the crazy ones like at the house. Poor Adrienne tried out some of the buttons and couldn’t get it to stop shooting water!

We headed back to the train station to get back to the ship. Eriko showed us a cheaper way to get back. We walked past a baseball field and Eriko told me all about her boyfriend and her job. She was super nice. I told her about how different Japan was from China. Chinese people were much more aggressive and she explained that Japanese people are more patient. I wanted to check out the mall so Eriko and I went and shopped around for a little bit before I headed back to the ship. We met our friends who had been traveling to Tokyo and Ali and I had found a Mexican restaurant that we wanted us all to go to. So we all got ready and set out on a mission to find this restaurant. All we had was the name and that it was close to the train station we had been at earlier. It was a long walk and we had to ask a lot of people to try to get close. We walked out of our way a bit before we finally found this place in the basement of a building. After at least a half an hour of walking, we went down to the entrance and it was closed!!! We were so bummed!! But we found another place to eat near this karaoke place. The restaurant had pretty good Italian food. After dinner we went to the karaoke place where we got our own little room for an hour. I was sure it was going to be awkward but it was a ton of fun! We sang our little hearts out and an hour went by really fast!

DAY 2
The last day in Japan was spent just wandering and picking up snacks and souvenirs. The weather had been wonderful. The leaves were orange, the sky was blue, and the air was crisp. Ali, Sara, and I had mochi, tacos, and Starbucks in holiday cups!!!! We got back on the ship and ready to sail across the entire Pacific Ocean.

CHINA!

2008-11-29T23:26:00.001-08:00

HONG KONG to BEIJING to SHANGHAI

So I should explain that in most countries I haven’t traveled independently the entire time. My friends and I picked China to be the country we explored completely on our own. We probably chose the most difficult country to travel in not knowing the language or having an English speaking guide to help us out. In addition, our group was getting bigger and we’ve all learned that traveling in big groups is always trouble. Before we left there was some big time drama about booking hotel rooms. Long story.

DAY 1
Anyway, we arrived in Hong Kong and it didn’t just look like another city, which I’ve been getting used to when we pull into ports. There were buildings on all sides of us as we pulled into the port and looked to Hong Kong Island across the way. Small ferries were going back and forth between the islands. The port was kind of strange because we walked off the ship and right into a mall. Sara, Ali, and I went to a deck on the top floor of the mall to see the city and the view. There were these two Chinese women taking pictures so I offered to take a picture of them so they could both be in it. Well after I took the picture, they wanted a picture with me in it (which they communicated with a combination of hand motions and nodding). So us girls pretty much had a photo shoot with these women five minutes after getting off the ship. One of the first things we want to do once we get to a port is eat. The ship food is sub par to say the least and gets old very quickly. There was a food court so we got some Indian and Thai food for lunch. Everything was pretty expensive in Hong Kong and especially in the mall we were in. We decided to venture out beyond the mall after getting some Starbucks to see the rest of the city. It was the day after the elections so we picked up a newspaper with a huge picture of Obama on the front before taking a little ferry to Hong Kong Island. We took a bus to the Peak Tram that was this oldschool tram that took us up this super steep slope to a lookout area over the whole city. It was a little hazy out but the view was incredible of the huge buildings separated by a small stretch of water and the hills surrounding it. We got a drink and a little food at a cute restaurant with a view (much more expensive than we expected) before we took the tram back down. Instead of taking the bus back to the ferry, we decided to wander a bit and find our own way back. When we got back across to the other island, the sun was just going down and we watched the sun set over the massive city.

That night after dinner on the ship, we had a great view of the city from the 6th deck where we watched a nightly light show with the huge skyscrapers. It was pretty impressive how many buildings were a part of the show and how long the show lasted. Since it was our only night in Hong Kong, Sara and I decided to go out to experience the nightlife. We caught a cab and just told him to take us to a happening area. We got dropped off amongst tons of bars and didn’t have the slightest clue where to start. We just picked a place to have a drink and then we’d check out a different one. One place we went to because some locals told us they were going there later. We sat at the bar and noticed that there was someone sitting on a couch in the darkness singing into a microphone. Kind of like karaoke but more depressing. The area we were in was not that exciting so we decided to go to Hong Kong Island to a fun nightlife area we’d heard about from someone we met. That was definitely the scene. Sara and I had a fun time exploring the busy city even on a Thursday night. As I mentioned before, this was the night that Kurt was hit by car and killed.

DAY 2
Most of the next day was spent traveling to Beijing. Hong Kong has this great public transportation system that allowed us to check into our flights from the subway station on Hong Kong Island (very close to our ship) and then take a subway to the airport. We found out that day that we didn’t get the hotel room we were supposed to. So while we were at the airport, we were able to get wireless internet to find another place to stay. I’m not used to cutting things that close, but I’m learning to let go of having plans all the time. The flight was amazing. All of the flights I’ve taken in different countries have been so much more enjoyable than those in the U.S. The food in particular has been very impressive. I definitely recommend flying AirChina because the meal they gave us was delicious and they played WALL-E. We didn’t get to Beijing until late and we still had to go through customs because we flew from Hong Kong. All we had was the address of the hotel written in Chinese characters to find our hotel. We were all so happy when we went outside because we were finally in a cold place! It felt so crisp and like winter! Anyway, we found a shuttle bus and someone told us to get off at the 7th stop…whatever that was. Well it ended up being the Beijing Train Station which was close to our hotel. The only problem was that it was after midnight and we had no idea where to find the hotel. Cab drivers didn’t know what we were talking about. They just told us to go towards the station. We went into a nice hotel hoping they could help. They were also able to point us in the right direction. As we were walking, a man on a bike rode by and laughed at us. But then we stopped him, showed him the address, and he was able to show us the way to our hotel! We never would have found it because it was totally in a back ally and completely hidden. Of course, he asked for a lot of money once we got there. I was hoping maybe he was just helping out of the good of his heart. When we originally got there we weren’t sure how many people they would let us have so five of us came in and two stayed outside. When we realized it wouldn’t be a big deal we asked if our friends could stay with us. We made up this dumb story about how they were meeting us in ten minutes. So we waited in the lobby and then went outside to get them after ten minutes hahaha. We had two rooms with two twin beds each for seven people. In my room, we pushed the beds together to make more room to sleep. The pillows were like bean bags and I’m pretty sure there was no mattress, but we were all so happy to finally be there and have a place to sleep.

DAY 3
On our way out of the hotel, we stopped at this little tourist table and booked trips to the great wall the next day and to see a Chinese acrobatic show that night. We went across the street to this little restaurant that we call “Chipotle” because the name was written in a similar style to what Chipotle looks like. There was this huge group of mostly Chinese men eating and drinking and it wasn’t even noon yet. We sat in a little room with glass walls that looked like it could have been a bathroom at one time. The food was pretty good and very cheap. The server didn’t speak any English but somehow with pointing and holding up a number with our fingers did the trick. Trying to travel in China is like a giant game of charades.

After our early lunch, we set out to find the Forbidden City. We knew it was somewhat close on a map, but Beijing is a big city, so we really didn’t have a clue where we were going. We’d made the smart assumption that people in nice hotels would be able to speak English, so we went to the Marriott near our hotel to get directions. We ended up just taking cabs from the hotel which was great because it was so cold! There were seven of us, as I mentioned before, so we always had to take two cabs which sometimes got a little difficult. We got to the Forbidden City and started to walk around. We didn’t really know where we were going or what we were looking at once we got inside, so we followed where most people seemed to be going. We got these automated guides that started and stopped based on our GPS location, that way we would know what we were looking at. I think it was called the Palace Museum, but it really wasn’t anything like a museum. It was all outdoors and then we’d walk through a small building or covered walkway and into another opening. The architecture was incredible. That was one of those moments that I realized I was in a completely different country and very far from home. I love getting that feeling when it hits me that I’m traveling the world. Anyway, time was short and the museum was large and a bit repetitive so we decided to regroup and check out another site in the area. Before we left though, we stopped to get some coffee and tea to warm us up and ran into some SAS kids we knew. They gave us some good news and bad news. Somehow they found the same random hotel we were staying at and got a room there too! But that was also when they told us about Kurt’s death. At the time, I couldn’t match a face to his name until I got back to the ship. We were all shocked and really didn’t know how to react at all. We had so many questions but none of us knew what exactly happened. Trying to regroup, we realized we lost Josh. We were just about to split up in groups and plan a meeting spot when he showed up in his bright white jacket. We walked through the rest of the area and made our way to Tiananmen Square. There wasn’t much to see but it was really cool to be standing there. Some of my friends saw this little kid whose pants were split in the bum and it looked like his diaper was sticking out of the pants. So that was pretty funny.

We decided to go check out the Temple of Heaven, another pretty popular tourist spot since we still had some time left before we had to be back. Catching a cab was nearly impossible. Anytime we approached cabs, they would wave us away or drive off. It’s like they didn’t want to deal with Americans and the language barrier. We even shopped around and bought gloves because it was so cold as we waited for cabs to show up. Finally we got a couple cabs to take us to the Temple of Heaven. As we were waiting in line to buy tickets, Matt was the last one in line and this Chinese couple cut right in front of him right before he got to the window. Even on the plane, people seemed very pushy. Our only explanation for this was that I guess if there are 1 billion people in your country, you’d be pushing through people too. The area around the Temple of Heaven was this really huge and beautiful park. Instead of paying to go in, we just walked around the park. It’s been so nice to be out of hot, muggy weather and actually feel like it’s fall. The leaves on the trees were yellow and orange and made for some great scenery. Getting back to the hotel from the Temple of Heaven was another challenge. We split up in two groups and the second group ended up only getting a rickshaw willing to take them. So they fit three people in this tiny rickshaw and it didn’t even take them all the way to the hotel. I was in the first group and on our way back we ran into two American guys that gave us some great suggestions on what to do and where to go out. They were so nice and it was really refreshing to be able to communicate in English! We all made it back in time to catch our ride to the acrobatics show though. Our other friends from Semester at Sea were able to come too. We got the cheapest tickets, but they sat us in like the 3rd row. Carla realized her seat was broken when she tried to sit down in it. It was hilarious! The show was absolutely incredible. It wasn’t a super nice place but the talent made up for it. They fit 10 people on a little bike! And there were so many other acts, it was crazy! I couldn’t believe that people were capable of moving their bodies like that.

After the show, we didn’t have a ride back so we went to find one of the places that our American friends suggested. We had to walk a ways while we tried to catch cabs and as we were walking, we saw groups of people dancing on the sidewalks. It was so cute! They had a boom box playing music and these older couples were dancing with each other. We ended up at this row of bars that seemed pretty cool. It was the middle of the week so there was no one really out. We went to this one place because a guy who worked there suckered us into it. We got some food and drinks, but the drinks were much more expensive than we thought. There were some other foreigners at the same bar. They ordered a thing of popcorn for our table in honor of Obama. The ladies who sent it were from France and they were traveling artists with the “Freakshow,” whatever that means. A little later in the night they had dancers that made everything really awkward. We left to go to a different bar, but everyone was getting pretty tired so we headed home. Plus we had a big day the next day at the Great Wall and we were meeting the bus super early in the morning. But my group stopped at McDonald’s before we went back because we never really had dinner. I tried a Big Mac for the first time in my life. McDonald’s felt pretty much the same as home. They had an English menu that we could point to when we ordered. Carla had to go to the bathroom so I went with her to try to find it. To get there, we followed the arrows on the ground that took us through and dark and empty mall. It was probably the scariest thing ever. When we finally got to the bathroom all freaked out, there was a mystery woman in one of the stalls. We pretty much ran all the way back.

DAY 4
We pretty much woke up at the crack of dawn to meet the bus for our tour to the Great Wall of China. Our tour guide spoke English which was awesome! The bus wasn’t full yet so I thought we were going to have the bus pretty much to ourselves. But we ended up making a few stops to pick up other people from different hotels. The bus seated 19, and once we were full we were on our way. The trip including some other activities and tours before we went to the Great Wall after lunch. First we stopped at a jade gallery and learned about different ages of jade and how to tell if it’s real jade and how aged it is. Older jade is darker and more valuable. We also learned that women are supposed to wear the Buddha necklace and men wear one with a woman on it. We wandered around the gallery for a while and I got suckered into buying a cheap little jade necklace. Sara got a bruise from the ladies forcing on a jade bracelet. Once we left there, we headed to the Ming Tombs to take another little tour. The Ming Tombs are in an area near a hillside and there are tons of tombs, some underground, in the area. They are all very elaborate. We were walking inside of a huge room looking at jewelry and other relics in these glass cases and a bunch of Chinese people would ram into us and push us out of the way to get past us. It was hard not to take that personally, but I guess it’s just accepted in their culture. It was a beautiful, crisp, fall day. Perfect for taking pictures. We’d noticed that many of the big tour groups wore the same hat and sometimes even the same clothes to keep track of everyone. On top of that, they would have this little pole with a flag or something noticeable on the end to hold up as they were walking. Our tour guide just had a little pole with this goofy doll hanging from it. I think she was decked out in a silver work out outfit for her to be easy to find. We really enjoyed her as our guide. She would say something in Chinese and then switch languages to tell us the same thing in English. I couldn’t believe that ability to switch back and forth between languages.

Our next stop was to a Chinese medicine doctor where we actually had lunch too. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. We got a short little tour of the facilities and an explanation about how their culture views medicine and how they diagnose their problems. Sara and I went to the doctor together. I didn’t say a word to him, not that he could understand me anyway, but he took my pulse on my wrist in a few different spots. Then he did the same thing on my other wrist. The translator asked me how old I was, and she told him. That was all I said. With no medical instruments, no explanation of what my “symptoms” were, he told me what was going on with my body. He said I have poor blood circulation and that it was affecting my lungs and that I should be careful working out. He told Carla that she had cold insides and that if she doesn’t take his medicine she won’t be able to have babies. So the moral of the story is that I’m not sure if I believe it. Then we went into this strange, huge room with a stage where we had a really good lunch. We sat with the three other people in the group that spoke English. One guy was from Italy and then the other guy was from the U.S. but he was visiting this woman from Beijing. After lunch, we were finally headed to the Great Wall. The little bus took us up windy roads into the mountains. We finally go to the base and took what they called a pulley car up to the wall. That was the only way we could get to the highest point. On our way up, there were these very trained bears that you could throw fruit at and they would catch them. There was nothing but a short railing separating these bears from the tourists. As we got closer to the pulley car, we realized it was more like a roller coaster ride than what we pictured. Each person got to sit in their own little car and ride it up to the top. It was pretty cool. Once on the wall, it was so crowded! There were people everywhere, pushing and shoving to get pictures and make their way along the wall. We spent a couple hours up on the wall admiring the view and the amazing structure. It was quite a hike to get to the top but we made it just in time before we had to head back down to meet our group. Once back on the bus, we headed back to our hotel as we dropped people off along the way. We were all exhausted but regrouped to go out to dinner for our friend Lindsay’s birthday! We went into town and as we were walking we stopped at this store and I was trying to find a shirt for George but I couldn’t communicate that I wanted a big size, so I said “Yao Ming size,” they understood and brought back the biggest size they had. Haha! Unfortunately they don’t have very big sizes, just like in Vietnam. We found this restaurant called the Golden Jaguar that was an all-you-can-eat buffet but with really nice food. They had everything from sushi to pizza. We stayed there for a while enjoying all the food. They had some pretty crazy foods you’d think would be in China too. Carla brought back this really gross ox soup and we all tried a little bit just to say we did.

DAY 5
We had a flight in the middle of the day so we decided to utilize the beginning of the day and check out the Olympic stadiums. It was an interesting challenge to describe bird’s nest and water cube without any English. Using our new charades skills we imitated a bird and a nest and eventually found someone to take us there. I didn’t watch much of the Olympics but it was really cool to see such unique structures. I was surprised at the amount of tourists still coming to see them. We didn’t have time to go inside either but they were both right next to each other so we got a good look at the outside of them. Instead of going inside we took lots of pictures instead. People were fascinated as we took jumping pictures. One lady even tried to do the same thing right next to us. Some other Chinese tourists were taking pictures of themselves with us in the background. One guy asked Carla to be in a picture with him. People are really mesmerized by blondes. We had all of our stuff with us to go straight to the airport. We ran into a couple friends that were planning to stay with us, but we got separated. They weren’t very happy to see us because we pretty much ditched them, but there was really nothing we could have done to find them. We were starving and couldn’t find anything to eat because everything looked nasty at the airport. Carla had to bought a bottle opener the day before to open a bottle of Great Wall wine. She forgot about it in her bag and got stopped in security because it had a knife on it too. They also questioned her about her EpiPen (she’s allergic to peanuts) so they wrote down her name because I think they thought she was a threat. Just a side note, Carla’s sister Laura gave her these laminated pictures of peanuts and people getting really sick to show to people that didn’t understand English. Anyway, we caught our flight and headed to Shanghai. The flight was much shorter than it was to Beijing but still just as nice. We got some more great airplane food, too. Unfortunately the airport we flew into was almost an hour away from the port and we had to take a taxi. We didn’t know where the port was so we kind of had to guess but we ended up making it there. It was pretty late and we were tired so we stayed in that night even though it was the only night we had in Shanghai.

DAY 6
Carla and I got up before sunrise to go on this trip to do sunrise tai chi. It was sooooo early but we thought it would be really cool. We went to this park on the side of the road where we met our tai chi master. She didn’t speak any English but we had a translator with us. I almost didn’t even notice the sun coming up as we were learning what she called the “strongest” tai chi. As it got later, more and more people showed up and stared doing tai chi or some other types of dancing. It was a fun way to start the day. I didn’t do much that day except for some shopping and internet café. We found this internet café that was in this creepy abandoned building. Sara and I went to this area that we heard we could find some fake stuff. The second we got out of the cab, this woman came up us (dressed like a soccer coach) and had us follow her into a strange entryway in an alley. Somehow we ended up in this weird shop with all these fake purses and watches and whatnot. It was pretty funny to be there. We left but the lady followed us and tried to get us to go to another spot. She showed us into the mall that was filled with little shops selling pretty much everything fake. We wandered around a bit, got some udon lunch, and then went back to shopping some more. The people in the shops all had a back room that they would take you in. We tried to bargain with people, some people were nice, but most were pretty rude. Sara was looking for watches and she found some that were slightly damaged so she was able to get a pretty good deal on them. Sara’s good at bargaining. We headed back to the ship after shopping for a while but we had to wait in line for a little while because we cut it a little close to on-ship time (which is when everyone has to be back on the ship the day we leave a port).

So we left that night on our way to Japan. A lot of people, like in China, were planning on traveling independently from Kobe to Yokohama while visiting other cities in between. I had a homestay planned for Yokohama and my friends were leaving before I got back to go to Tokyo and I heard everything in Japan was super expensive, so I decided to stay on the ship for a day in between Kobe and Yokohama. So while everyone else was stressing figuring out what there plans were, getting rail passes, and booking hotels, I was relaxing knowing that I wouldn’t have much to plan. I was a little bummed that I wouldn’t be going to Tokyo or Hiroshima. I also heard that Kyoto was a really cool city as well. But I wasn’t passionate about seeing any particular city, so I figured my experience in Japan would be just as substantial. The two days on the ship between China and Japan in the East China Sea were actually really rocky. Luckily it was only a couple of days, but it was almost as bad as going around the cape in South Africa.

I'll add more soon...here's vietnam and cambodia for now. enjoy!

2008-11-25T14:57:00.001-08:00

BREAKING NEWS:
I’m sure some of you have heard the news, but one of the students, Kurt, on the ship was hit by a drunk driver in Hong Kong and died instantly. We held a meeting to hear the details and honor his life. And some of his friends put on a service for him a few days ago. I was not close with Kurt but I definitely knew who he was. I think this event has made everyone think twice about how fragile our lives are and have made us all a little homesick. The saddest part hits when I think of his family and his twin brother…they had no idea that Kurt would leave on this trip and never come back. So keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.

VIETNAM and CAMBODIA!!!

DAY 1:
I should explain what type of port we were entering when we came to Vietnam. We had to travel up a river in our huge ship to get to the port at Ho Chi Minh City. Because of the narrow waterway, we were much more affected by the tides. We didn’t get to the port until noon and my trip for Cambodia left just a couple hours after so I didn’t get off the ship until we left for the airport that afternoon. The airport was surprisingly nice but the airplane was unexpectedly small. It took less than an hour to get to Cambodia and most of the time was spent filling out forms to enter the country. We spent some time at the airport in Phnom Penh to get our visas which wasn’t the most organized process. By the time we were all cleared, it was time for dinner. We were taken to this beautiful Cambodian and Thai restaurant called Khmer Surin where we had an amazing meal. Their well known dish is called amok and it’s a delicacy I guess. We finally got to our hotel in a kind of random area and got to relax. Sara and I were sharing a room and everyone else had rooms close to ours. Instead of going out, we decided to get massages at the spa in the hotel for very cheap. We had time before our appointment to wander around the area for a little while (we told the rickshaw driver that we wanted to go to the store and he told us it was far away…when really it was just around the corner. Rude!...we didn’t take his offer though). Sara and I both got an hour long aromatherapy massage but there wasn’t much aroma involved. It was pretty much a full body massage which was really relaxing. It made us both really sleepy so we just went to bed right after. One thing that is nice about SAS sponsored trips is that we stay at nice hotels with TVs…so we’re able to watch the news.

DAY 2 (HALLOWEEN!):
This was a very busy day. We woke up early for breakfast in the hotel which was really tasty. After checking out of the hotel, we left to go see the killing fields a ways out of the city. Not exactly the best way to start the day. We arrived at the site and it wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would look like a huge open battlefield if that many people were killed there, but instead it was like a small old graveyard with grass growing over it. There were only a couple headstones but they were for Chinese or Vietnamese. The field was full of sunken down mass graves. There wasn’t much to see but grass with some informational signs here and there…so it was really up to our imaginations to create the images of such a horrible time. As we walked around, we saw pieces of clothing from the buried people that gradually came up out of the ground. It was also common for bones to do the same thing but luckily I didn’t see any. We didn’t spend much time at the killing fields but there wasn’t much to explore. Our next stop really reinforced the severity of the genocide in Cambodia. We visited an old school that was turned into somewhat of a concentration camp. Apparently the Khmer Rouge targeted the educated as the most important people to be exterminated in order to hinder the potential advancement of the survivors. There were four main buildings to tour. The first floors of each building were turned into individual cells and the other floors were used for mass detention. We saw pictures and paintings of many of the ways they tortured and killed these people and they were absolutely horrific. I felt like I was back in Germany visiting the concentration camp there.

I don’t even know how to describe the type of affect this has on us Americans. But something that upset me and my friends was this: why didn’t we learn about this is school? We barely learned about the Vietnam War and what we did learn was very vague. How do you just skip over a genocide in Cambodia? Why did I learn about the Silk Road and not this in my world history class? Which one can we learn more from? One of my friends was saying that she was inspired that day to become a history teacher because of what we were learning only from being in Cambodia. One of the most important things that I’ve learned over the course of this entire trip is that there is so much that I don’t know. And I want to learn about it all. What frustrates me is thinking about if I didn’t come on this trip. Would I ever be interested in learning about genocide in Cambodia or the water crisis in India? This trip has opened up so many doors for me and I am so thankful for that.

Sorry for the tangent, back to day 2. After our depressing morning, we moved on to
Something quite different: the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda were a bunch of very elaborate buildings. The Silver Pagoda was a place of worship for Buddhists. It was a stark contrast from the school turned into a concentration camp to a showcase of some of the most beautiful architecture and ornate designs in Cambodia. The building where the king sometimes resides was pointed out to us while we were there.

After touring the Royal Palace, it was lunch time. We had a Chinese lunch in town and had some extra time to wander around the area. There was this huge market nearby so I went with a few friends. It was like a maze trying to make our way around the little booths. They had everything from jewelry to some pretty nasty looking dried meats. Getting back to the bus was a challenge just because we had to cross the street. The roads are pretty much a free for all. So the strategy is to try to follow a local crossing the street. They’ll just start walking even when cars and motorbikes are coming but they just kind of weave their way around it. I could never drive in a country like Cambodia. It was sort of the same in India and Vietnam. We took a short flight to Siem Reap just in time to catch the sunset at the top of a hill overlooking the city. We weren’t the only ones with this idea, there were tons of other tourists rushing up the trail and to the top of these ruins of what was probably an old temple. The sunset was beautiful. Once the sun went down, we headed back down in the dark and got bombarded by little kids trying to sell us bracelets, postcards, and bags. We finally headed to our hotel which was super nice! I’ve learned that SAS trips usually arrange very high class hotels. That night we went out to a bar nearby for Halloween. There were a bunch of foreigners and a few people dressed up for Halloween. It was cool to see other people traveling to Cambodia because it felt pretty random for me to be there but exciting to see that other people thought to travel to Cambodia as well. It was pouring down rain and Sara and I took a rickshaw home in what felt like several feet of water in the road.

DAY 3:
A small group of people including myself and Sara woke up before the sun came up to go watch the sunrise over the famous temple, Angkor Wat. I would imagine that this is like the Taj Mahal of Cambodia. The sunrise was not as spectacular as I expected because it wasn’t that colorful but it definitely looked a lot different than when we saw it later in the day. Once we got back to the hotel, we had a huge breakfast buffet. We hopped in the bus again and started our tour to see a few of the hundreds of old temples in the area. First we went to the Bayon temple. It reminded us of the show “Legends of the Hidden Temple” because there were faces built into the temple. Sara and I got an elephant ride around the temple. We rocked back and forth as the elephant took each step. We got to see all sides of the temple. After the ride, we didn’t have enough time to explore the entire place but we walked through part. Nothing really made sense; there were no rooms, just windows and narrow walkways. Our next visit was to a very unique temple, the Ta Prohm temple. We walked into the woods to find it and what made it so special was that tree roots were built into this ancient structure. The roots actually helped keep the temple in tact over the years because it added strength. It’s hard to describe what it was like but I think I got some good pictures to make sense of it. I thought I was in the Jungle Book. We took a lunch break back at the hotel and got all packed up. Before we went to the airport we went back to Angkor Wat to tour it during the day. I was really blown away by such an elaborate and massive ancient structure. It was fun to wander around inside the temple looking at all the different random rooms and stairways. We spent a good amount of time at Angkor Wat before we went to the airport to fly home.

It was late by the time we got home so we didn’t try to explore Ho Chi Minh City that night. Sara, Tori, and I decided to be a little adventurous and we took the shuttle (from the ship into town because the roads are so dangerous) to go find a pho restaurant. On our way we met up with some people and they took us to a great little pho place. It was the perfect end to our day. Even a mini bowl was so filling and delicious! We didn’t last long before we headed back to the ship to get some sleep.

DAY 4:
The entire trip we’ve been planning to shop in Vietnam because the exchange rate is really good for us so we can get things for cheap. So Sara and I headed to the main market after having another delicious pho meal. We expected to spend an hour or two at the market, but it turned into an all day affair. We got really into bargaining and looking around at anything from candies to tea sets to shoes. Some vendors were friendly but I’d have to say that most were not. Especially after a lengthy bargaining battle. We stayed at the market even after the daylight was gone and the vendors moved some of the booths to the streets. I wanted to find a some sort of new top to wear so I looked around in a few booths. But everywhere I went the people told me they didn’t have clothes that would fit someone of my size. Finally I started to ask people what their biggest size was to see if it would fit. Maybe I was just embarrassed but it seemed like one of the men was shouting out “MAXIMUM SIZE?” I guess that was a little humiliating but I tried not to take it personally. I’ll have you know that I bought a shirt that fit me just fine from that man. It was pretty funny though to hear him yelling that. I’m pretty sure a fight would break out in Nordstrom if someone yelled that to a woman shopping. Anyway, that night we were exhausted from shopping so Sara and I stayed on the ship.

DAY 5:
One of my favorite things to do in port is to get up early to go get coffee somewhere. Sara and I found this super cute coffee shop called Highlands Coffee and we tried pretty much every drink on the menu and some delicious fruit with yogurt for breakfast. After people watching for a while, we got on with our day. We had heard everyone we ran into on the ship that the War Remnants Museum was something worth seeing. We got there about an hour before they closed for lunch so we had enough time to see about half of the museum taking our time to read everything. Having not been part of the generation that experienced the Vietnam War either at home or in Vietnam, it seemed very foreign and pretty vague to me. This museum gave me a powerful perspective on the war. There was this picture of three American soldiers and one Vietnamese woman lying on her back. She had a cloth over her mouth and water was being poured into her mouth and I read that then the men would stomp on her stomach to make it come out of her nose. The worst part was not that they were torturing her; it was the look on their faces. They were all smirking. That’s when I lost it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one crying in that museum. I kept walking and reading about Agent Orange while looking at pictures of deformed children years after the war. I cried again reading about some of these children who were not only denied a normal life because of their deformities but also because they were orphans. My heart hurt trying to imagine what kind of life they lived and how different it was from mine.

This brings me back to my feelings in Cambodia about the genocide. I learned about the Vietnam War in high school and learned that there were protests and that the U.S. used a toxic substance called Agent Orange, but I never felt anger or embarrassment like I did that day in Vietnam. I know it was a different side of the story, but the pictures didn’t lie. If the government pays for schools, why wouldn’t they want to make sure they have a positive image throughout history? But how can we learn from our mistakes like that? I guess the museum was an eye-opener and really made me think more critically about the way our government conducts war and what they hide from us back at home. Did you know that people in Cambodia make a living through bomb-hunting because of all the exploded and unexploded bombs we dropped in their country? Cambodians risk their lives searching for our metal waste that we’ve dumped into their territory. I just can’t imagine a life like that.

Throughout the voyage, professors and other alumni told us that there would be one port among all the others that would make an obvious impact on us. This port, Cambodia and Vietnam, was that port for me. I knew this voyage would foster self-development but I didn’t know how. It didn’t happen all at once like I thought it might. But as a sort of self check in, this is the development I think I’ve noticed so far. And I must say that I think it’s not a change, it is development on a personal level. (I’m cheating and writing this after I’ve left Japan). I’ve learned that I need to learn more. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but it’s like this feeling where all I want is to have 3 years to watch documentaries, read newspapers and every book, and meet people from different countries.

OK back to the last day in Vietnam. We rode in these little carts behind bikes and went back through the market one last time. On our way out, we were looking for this restaurant so we started to ask some cab drivers. None of them knew what we were talking about and we were getting really frustrated. But randomly this young guy, in perfect English, asked us if we needed help. It turns out he was a college student in Alabama but was born in Vietnam. He visits often and that day he was hanging out with some friends on a mission just to help people out. They chatted with us and walked us to the Rex Hotel where we were able to get the address to the restaurant written in Vietnamese. They were so kind and friendly, it was really refreshing. After a long adventure in a cab, we finally made it to this restaurant where you cook these little shish kabobs on a hot plate in front of you. The language barrier was particularly frustrating that night but we managed to get enough ordered to eat. The food was really good but took a while to cook. Asking them to turn up the heat was a challenge! We ran into our friend Josh on the way back to the ship and ended our day in Vietnam.

ELECTION DAY:
So right now I’m sitting in our big lecture room called the Union listening to the radio while they’re trying to get a live feed from MSNBC but they can only do it if everyone stops using the internet. We don’t know who our president will be but right now it looks like Obama is dominating. Everyone cheers when Obama wins another state. And a few cheer when McCain wins a state. Class was moved to later in the day and one of my classes might be cancelled to watch the election today. It’s November 5th here so it feels a little strange. Also that we don’t even know exactly where we are right now…somewhere between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Hong Kong. It’s almost 7pm on the west coast so things are really picking up. We’re getting a live feed from MSNBC but it cuts out every once in a while and people get freaked out. YES! My professor just sat right in front of me…that means class is cancelled!

And the winner is…OBAMA!!! Pretty much everyone around me is crying for joy and jumping up and down. There’s this older couple on our ship (she’s got to be in her late 80s) that I watched as they announced the winner. She was sitting next to me and my friends, he was taking pictures up front and I watched them look for each other to share their excitement. He found her and blew her a kiss before he ran over to her. They hugged and I watched her cry for joy. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. But there were a ton of people crying…it was intense. I almost felt bad that I wasn’t passionate enough about it to cry. I’m happy though because being in foreign countries has revealed a bit of an ugly reputation of America. Everyone was interested in our elections and rooting for Obama. Obama isn’t perfect but I think already other countries will be more willing to support our country. One thing that I really enjoyed about the election gathering was that this whole trip we’ve had a chance to learn and sort of pretend to be a part of different cultures. Each country takes us a little further from home. But this was a chance for us to be American together on the ship. I think it was really important for us to realize that we have a country of our own to be a part of…even if we are on the other side of the globe.

2008-11-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

INDIA CONTINUED and on to Malaysia...I'll have Cambodia, Vietnam, and China posted soon! I'm almost to Japan!!!

DAY 3:
We got up really early for tea and coffee before we left to visit a school in a nearby city called Erode. We were greeted by some students who put the marking on our forehead as we walked in. The school was huge! 6,000 students go to that high school and 700 of them live at the school. I guess Americans are one of the only cultures that eat something different for breakfast, so we got another regular meal for breakfast. They would offer us bread and butter too because they thought all Americans like bread. We weren’t at the school very long before we left for another location. First we went to a small community outdoor Hindu temple. It was all outdoors and very beautiful. By then, we had been getting used to taking off our shoes to go into the house but it felt weird to be walking on dirt without shoes on. After the temple we took our buses to visit a carpet weaving factory. On the way, I sat next to a woman who worked at the school. She was very sweet and kind of took me under her wing. We talked about cooking and how she only has enough servants to clean so she is stuck with cooking all day long. She looked at my dress and asked me where I got it. I told her I got it at a place called Old Navy back at home. She smiled and said, “Oh well we made that here. I know that fabric if I see it.” Later I checked the tag and sure enough it said Made in India. She also told me about her family and her daughter. She was very passionate about only having one child as her responsibility to the population growth problem. She was convinced that the corruption of the government and most other problems in India can be accredited to the over population.

Our next stop was a much larger Hindu temple. The temple was very spread out with different areas to go pray at. Our guides explained some of the stories of the Hindu gods as we walked through. One I remember is about Shiva’s wife. One day she was felt so empowered that she just created a son. She went to bathe and told her son to guard the bath and not let anyone in. Well Shiva came looking for his wife but the son wouldn’t let him in. Shiva got so mad that he cut off the boy’s head. Shiva’s wife found out and made Shiva repair what he had done to their son. So Shiva replaced the head with an elephant head. And that is why their son has an elephant head on a human body. Interesting right? There was also a trained elephant their and my new friend made sure that I got blessed by the elephant. So I handed some money to the elephant, he took it in his trunk and then he blessed me with his slobbery trunk! Since we were still in a small, rural area we made quite an impression on the town. A reporter came up and had us pose as a group looking at the temple for the newspaper.

Next we visited a carpet weaving factory. You might be picturing a huge factory, but this place was no bigger than the first floor of a medium sized house. Two men and one woman were working on the looms when we got there. I got a chance to take one of their places and work on the loom! At first, I was having a lot of trouble figuring out their routine but eventually I got it. Our next stop was a disabled children’s school and training center. We were greeted with a traditional welcoming, one that they would use to welcome the president or someone of that stature. Our host picked me and one of the leaders to be presented with a huge flowered necklace. They smashed a flaming coconut to honor our presence as well. Then we all received the marking on our foreheads and went into a room with all of the students already sitting waiting for us. The other leader and I walked in and were seated in the front of the room. All of the little kids were especially excited when we walked in because they must have thought we were extra special. Haha! The youngest were in front and the oldest in the back. Right away I noticed this cute little girl trying to cover up her badly burned legs. They put on a performance for us and you could tell which of the kids were badly disabled. One of the girls’ hands was permanently disabled from polio and she was supposed to be playing the drum. We were pretty pressed for time but we did get a chance to sit with some of the kids and interact with them. Which is always kind of awkward at first when some one just says “ready, set, interact!” You know? The kids were super cute and even though we couldn’t verbally communicate with most of them, we giggled and took pictures.

We went back to the school for some free time to hang out. They took some of us up after lunch to a room with some beds and told us to rest…a little strange if you ask me. But we were surprisingly tired and enjoyed a little nap. Even though it was after school hours there were still a ton of kids around. The students had prepared a couple dance numbers for us in their gym. We got up and performed for them too! But while they had cultural numbers choreographed, all we could offer was the electric slide and singing the national anthem. We were supposed to leave the school to visit another site but our train departure got changed so we stayed at the school for dinner to make sure we could make the earlier train. The train ride back was much less stressful because I knew I would be fine. I met some fun people in my area and we chatted about a business idea that I thought of (when I have time, I’ll try to write about it…but it was inspired by the trip to rural India).

DAY 4:
We arrived back at the ship early in the morning so we had some time to go back to sleep. My friend Ali and I spent most of the day shopping around Chennai. We went to a mall nearby (the one we tried to get to the first day and never made it). Our rickshaw driver waited for us for hours while we shopped. He didn’t take any money from us until we were back at the ship. OH and the security was heightened in India so we had to show this shore pass and a customs form whenever we wanted to get back to the ship.

That night Sara got back from her home stay and we met her family on the ship! They seemed so nice and Sara had a really great time. Ali, Sara, and I went out that night for dessert at a place called Mocha. They had hookah and really good milkshakes! Quite the combo. This outdoor restaurant was very interesting…instead of sitting at a table, we sat on a bed. Oh and half of what we tried to order was not actually available.

DAY 5: Last day in India
I had two FDPs the last day. The first was on the ship which was nice because I didn’t have to dirty anymore clothes. A lady named Geeta spoke to a group of us about human rights in India, specifically for women and children. I wont get into all the details but the main concern is that even though the government has passed laws in favor of women’s and children’s rights, the laws aren’t making an impact. Many people are too far from the legal system to be heard in a courtroom. Anyway, it was very interesting what she had to say about the powerlessness of the laws that cause many people to be trapped in undesirable situations. After the discussion, I went on a quick trip to see the socioeconomic problems in Chennai. Well it didn’t end up being such a quick trip. Throughout the week we learned that Chennai has terrible traffic but this day in particular there was a political demonstration which turned our 20 minute drive into an hour and a half there and two hours back. We only got to spend 30 minutes in the village. The houses were on the beach, but not the kind you see in Newport Beach. We weren’t allowed to take pictures because the conditions are so bad. People lived in shacks surrounded by smelly garbage. The people didn’t seem excited to see us as we walked by them. The little boys were playing games they made up with marbles on the sand. I would have never known it but these people were affected by the tsunami. Our guides explained the efforts that their organization is taking to help get women working to make some money for their families. The men are mostly fishers and if they tend to dry the fish so that they can preserve them longer. We saw the men sitting in a covered area drinking to enjoy their day…but of course no women. So far, each country we have visited reveals slums in worse and worse conditions. India is by far the most appalling.

MALAYSIA!

DAY 1:
Porting in Malaysia was a different process than every other port. Because there was not room for a ship our size to port on a dock, we did something called tendering. The ship was anchored a short distance from shore and we took our lifeboats into shore as a sort of shuttle. Sara and I were on the first tender boat out because we had a trip going to the Tropical Fruit Farm and Tropical Spice Garden. Unfortunately the first day it was pouring down rain…and we happened to be walking outside all day. To get to the tropical fruit farm, our bus took us way up a mountain up these narrow and curvy roads. Our guide, Luke, was very energetic and fun to listen to. He could make a simple sentence sound like a dramatic story. Our guide for the fruit farm was kind of the same in that sense. He was very dramatic in the way he spoke to us. After a short, rainy walk past many fruit trees, we finally got to taste the fruits! Some of them were bitter and some very sweet. I had the best mango and watermelon I’ve ever had! We got smoothies as well mixed with many tropical fruits. One of my favorites is the dragon fruit. There’s this other famous fruit called Durien and it is such a strong flavor and smell that people will not allow it on buses or in hotels. I tried some…it’s really gooey and has an aftertaste like brie cheese (not in a good way). Anyway, that’s what you’re all getting for your souvenirs so get excited! Haha just kidding…you’re not getting souvenirs.

The next stop was the tropical spice garden, which looked like a small zoo but for plants. The tropical forest that we were in was what I expected to see in the Amazon oddly enough. I was really curious to see what spices look like as plants because I’ve never really thought of them like that. Spices are all dried up and in jars…but who knew they came from the ground? We saw lemon grass, citronella, aloe, ginger, allspice, beetlenut, pepper, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, and turmeric. There was this giant swing that was kind of like the one we used to have in our old house because it was hung from trees and it was on a platform so you could swing over the hillside with all the plants in the jungle. It was really fun! We had a buffet lunch at the spice garden that was our first Malaysian meal. Malaysian food is hard to define because they don’t really have their own cuisine. They have a lot of Chinese and Indian food but they don’t have much fusion. Anyway, I had a chocolate, oatmeal, and ginger cookie that was really pretty good. We headed back to the ship after our meal.

Traveling back to the ship was a pain because it’s such a long process to wait for a tender, get back to the ship, then do what you need to do on the ship, and then wait for another tender to get back. It was definitely a cool experience and I’m glad I can say I’ve done it, but I’m also happy we don’t have to do it again. Anyway, I went back to the ship to get ready for the Welcome Reception, something we have in each country the first night as an introduction to the country’s culture. I hadn’t been to one yet so my friend’s and I figured this would be a good chance for us. The reception was at a local university and we were there to watch a shadow puppet show, something very indigenous to the Indonesian region. We were treated to a little buffet and then watched the puppet show with live music. Some parts we didn’t understand and others were kind of jokes about Americans which I guess was kind of funny. I got to try one of the instruments after the show and we got to see behind the scenes of how they put on the show. We were still really hungry after the show so we went to a restaurant to get some food. Surprisingly, it was very American food so on the way out we tried to order some naan bread from a street vendor. Somehow he didn’t understand what we said and after waiting for a while, he came back with some chicken thingy. I was really bummed…I really wanted to try naan. We went back to the ship pretty early to make sure we could get a tender back because we had to leave the next morning for our trip to Kuala Lumpur.

DAY 2:
Carla and I both slept through our alarms but woke up 10 minutes before we had to meet our group in the Union on the ship. Luckily we were already packed and ready to go. A few of our other friends were on the trip so when the group got split up, I ended up with a good group of friends including Carla, Todd, and Adrienne. I was kind of upset because we were supposed to stay at one hotel and so my other friends traveling independently booked their room there so we could all be together. But then my group got sent to a different hotel. It’s not like I could call or text them either to let them know. Everything worked out but I was just frustrated we couldn’t all be together in Kuala Lumpur.

The four hour drive out there was long but scenic. As we got closer, we saw these huge caves that had been turned into temples. Finally we got to the hotel and I got to room with my friend Adrienne. Unfortunately our room wasn’t ready so we camped out with Carla and her roommate until dinner. We had a little time to explore the area before we left for dinner. Kuala Lumpur reminds me a lot of Seattle. It’s a pretty big and developed city with many malls, restaurants, and big buildings. Most importantly, there were multiple Starbucks there!!! I felt right at home because of the Starbucks, a monorail, and a tower that looked a lot like the space needle. Dinner was a huge buffet and cultural performance at a beautiful restaurant. There was so much food! And after the dancing I was one of the volunteers to go up on the stage and learn some of their dances. It was pretty embarrassing but fun at the same time. After dinner we tried to go out to some bars in the area. I noticed an interesting trend at the bars. Almost every place we went to had a Malaysian cover band playing a lot of American songs. It was a funny sight. The last place we went to was this super nice bar on top of a building with a lounge and swimming pool. We ran into Sara and my friend Ali when we got there so I’m soooo glad we went! It was weird not having planned to meet and we randomly saw them there.

DAY 3:
This was a big touring day through Kuala Lumpur. BUT before that, I got up earlier to go to Starbucks. I figured that even though the mall opened at 10am, Starbucks would definitely be open by seven. But I was wrong. I waited for ten minutes until 8am to have my Starbucks. The people were really nice and thought it was really cool that I’m from Seattle…the home of Starbucks. I felt so at home in that store, it was really not much different than any other Starbucks I’ve been to. We started the morning with a breakfast in the hotel. It’s still pretty surprising when I see that these other countries don’t eat much differently in the morning than they do for the rest of the day. We visited the palace first and took pictures with the guards on horses. The horse turned when I was standing there and hit my butt with it’s nose! And then I was standing around while people were taking pictures and an Asian woman came and stood next to me while her friend took a picture of me and her! Haha! Then we visited the museum and wandered around. It was a beautiful museum but kind of difficult to follow exactly what was being depicted. While waiting for the group to finish, we saw this stand selling cups of corn…something we ended up seeing very often. I thought it was the strangest thing ever that people enjoyed corn like eating cereal. After the museum we went to the National Monument and took pictures…without much explanation of what it actually represented. Our next photo stop was the National Mosque before we got to the Dataran Merdeka. There we saw the world’s tallest flagpole and took some more pictures. Riding around in the bus all day stopping at the tourist sites was less than exciting but I realize that my pictures of these places will seem like I have done a lot more than I felt like I did. The coolest place we went was the KL Tower, kind of like the space needle, where we could see the entire city from up above. We could get a good view of the famous Petronas Towers (two super tall twin towers).

After all of our touring, the groups split up again. We had a choice to either go see the fireflies near a river about 2 hours away or to visit a pewter factory and the temple in a cave nearby. So I decided to stay closer because it had been raining which meant that the fireflies might not be as abundant. The pewter factory was clearly not that exciting but still interesting to see. We took pictures with the world’s largest beer stein. The cave was the best part! We climbed 272 stairs to get up into the cave and once we walked through, there was another opening. We saw lots of places of worship and lots and lots of monkeys! It’s hard to describe in words what the caves are like but hopefully pictures will help. That night my friends and I went out to dinner in the city at Planet Hollywood! We went to another club to dance and had so much fun!

DAY 4:
We had a little time in the morning before we left so I took my last chance to go to Starbucks again. We left on the bus to make our way back to Penang and the ship. The way back was pretty anticlimactic but our tour guide always had interesting things to say. We stopped at a rest stop that had a bunch of fruit stands. The fruit in Malaysia was incredible and so exotic. I read a newspaper with classified ads and found it very interesting companies were allowed to specify age, gender, and ethnicity of who they were looking to hire.

We got back to the ship midday so we were able to go out that night with some of my friends who were already back from Kuala Lumpur. Once we got off the tender boat, we walked a bit and looked for a cab that could take us to a Thai restaurant. The cab took us to a Chinese restaurant. But I guess that’s what happens when there’s a language barrier. The restaurant was called Steamboat and it ended up being very good and super cheap. It was kind of like a Melting Pot for Chinese food. After that we headed to the popular area to go out and we met some of our friends there. Our last night in Malaysia was a lot of fun! There was, of course, a Malaysian cover band playing a bunch of popular American songs.

DAY 5:
Our last day in Malaysia! I had an FDP later in the day so we got up early to do some last minute shopping. We found this coffee place though that let us sample pretty much any kind of coffee possible. It’s white coffee and instant and pretty much amazing! After that we got lunch at this cafeteria type place. We weren’t sure how to order but somehow we ended up with a decent and cheap meal. Our cab driver was staying with us for the day so we asked him to take us to an internet café next. It’s always nice to be able to check email without worrying about it costing an arm and a leg.

So then I met my group to go to St. Joseph’s Orphanage right in the city. For some reason the sense of time is a little off in Malaysia (and in India for that matter)…the bus driver said it would take 20 minutes and it took 4 minutes. Anyway, there were twice as many students as there were children so it was a little overwhelming for the kids when we got there. I felt like we had to bombard the kids to get their attention. One girl was really shy but I got her to do a puzzle with me. She probably didn’t say more than two words the whole time but she really liked doing puzzles. Then I taught a girl how to draw a dog with a cute little story (thanks nat!) and she really enjoyed that. She came up to me and gave me a hug before I left. I feel so sad for these kids living such lonely lives. Their rooms are plain and some have parents that visit but most don’t. I just could never imagine how I would have turned out without social interaction and loving parents and family. I am so thankful for a family that not only wanted to keep me but that loved me.

PICTURES!

2008-11-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

I forgot to bring everything that I typed but here are some pictures from my recent adventures! Enjoy! (Sorry they're in a random order)

Malaysia - Buddist Temple in a Cave!

Malaysia - the largest beer stein in the world!

Malaysia - National Monument

Cambodia - Angkor Wat

Cambodia - more temples

Cambodia - Elephant Ride!

Cambodia - Angkor Wat at Sunrise

Cambodia - Sunset

Cambodia - Royal Palace

Cambodia - School turned into a Concentration Camp

Cambodia

Vietnam - The River on the Way to the Port in Ho Chi Minh City

Malaysia - Tendering Process

Malaysia - Orphanage

Malaysia - STARBS!!!

Malaysia - Cave Temple

Malaysia - KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers

Malaysia - Shadow Puppet Show

Malaysia - BEACH!

Cambodia - Tropical Fruit Farms

2008-10-25T21:43:00.001-07:00

INDIA!!!
So I have been falling behind on my blogs so I'm posting the first couple days just to give you a taste but I'll post more later.

DAY 1: Exploring Chennai
Just like we always do, my friends and I woke up early to see us pull into port. So far on the trip we have not been too lucky in getting a clear view of the city as we approach it (except for maybe Salvador). Anyway, when we went outside the ship was stopped about a mile or two off shore waiting for the pilot boat to come guide us into the port. Instead of the usual fog, it was a thick cloud of smog that hindered the view of Chennai. Even from such a distance from shore, we could smell the distinct smell of India. The smell intensified as we approached the port. It’s really hard to describe the smells that we experienced but here’s my attempt…

How to make the smell of India (makes one square block):
3 parts garbage (let sit in direct sunlight for 4-6 weeks prior)
2 parts acid rain
4 exploded Porto Potties
1 part stinky foot juice
Pinch of fresh air
Sulfur to taste

Combine all ingredients and just add humidity.

I must add though that visiting India has been the most powerful experience thus far on the voyage. I’ve already left so I get to say that now, but I definitely had my worries and hesitations about what I might see and do in India. The biggest concern about India was the water. We had been told that 80% of us would get sick from the water.

Before disembarking, I tried to catch up on some sleep to help fight a sickness I was getting while my friends were at some FDPs on the ship. (An FDP is a faculty directed practicum where a professor leads an activity while in port and we’re required to attend 3 for each class over the course of the semester). We didn’t leave the ship until 3pm so we only had a few hours to go explore before I had to be back to leave for my home stay that night. The port was in an industrial area so we had to walk a little ways to get to the gate closer to the city. Very few people right off the bat looked clean and healthy. Most people were filthy, barefoot, and were most likely homeless. Children came up to us ruthlessly begging for money. It was just me, Josh, Carla, and Mark and we split up and took two rickshaws (the tiny cars that serve as somewhat of a taxi) towards town. Our rickshaw swerved in and out of traffic…lane lines are an afterthought. I couldn’t believe that we didn’t hit a single other car the entire day. We shopped all day until after dark. Everyone we met knew we were from the ship and they were all very friendly and welcoming. We made it back to the ship in time for dinner. So at this point I had still not had any Indian food, which we had all been warned to be careful of (in addition to water). Even though we barely did anything that day, we were all exhausted. I think that helps describe what it is like to visit India: exhausting. The exposure to poverty and an unfamiliar lifestyle in your face is draining and hard to digest.

That night I left for my overnight trip to a rural area of India about 400 kilometers southwest of Chennai where we were ported. I was definitely scared to go on the sleeper train that first night, so nervous I barely slept.

Traveling by train in India was definitely part of the experience though. Despite the horror stories I had heard, no one stole my bags or tried to climb in bed with me.

DAY 2:
That morning, 20 of us arrived at our house in Jayaramapuram. The house was huge and very empty and open (and on a farm). We took off our shoes to walk through the door, which was into a room that was technically outdoors (had no roof).

The house was barely furnished besides one table and some plastic chairs set up for us visitors. The daughter-in-law of the couple living at the house stayed with us that day because she spoke English, unlike everyone else in the town. Her two younger daughters were there too and spoke a great deal of English as well. I felt uncomfortable when one of the several servants brought us all coffee and tea (some of the best I’ve ever had). The coffee was grown on a friend’s farm!

Once we all had a chance to socialize and have an incredible breakfast, we took a walk around their farm. They took us to the coconut trees where there were men climbing and chopping down the coconuts. We drank the coconut water and ate the flesh…quite tasty. We visited some local factories and the tiny school in town.

I won’t go through all of the factories now, but remind me to tell you about them later (coconut rope and sugar cane). The kids at the school were so happy to see us and loved taking pictures. They didn’t know a word of English but somehow we were able to enjoy our time together. On our way back from these visits, we saw people working on a rice patty (all women). A group of us took off our shoes, rolled up our pants, and got in the mucky water to help plant some rice. The women all laughed at our attempt to walk through the water. But it was the most amazing experience ever to be there in India doing what these women do everyday so that I can eat rice. Speaking of which, since rice is grown in the southern part of India and wheat is grown in the north, the cuisines follow the same pattern. That explains the tragic truth that I had no naan bread while I was in India. But the food I did have was absolutely amazing, no complaints.
Anyway, we took a midday siesta after lunch and before we went to the local market. The meals were all made by the servants sitting on the ground. They also use a bio diesel stove. At the market, we were stared at by people who seemed like they had never seen white people before. There were people selling spices out of burlap bags and tons of beautiful vegetables on display. For dinner we sat on the floor and ate traditional dinner with our hands and served on a beautiful banana leaf. As if our day was not loaded with enough entertainment, we went outside to find a group of drummers there to perform for us. They warmed up their drums by the bonfire and we danced with them while they played under the stars. What a day! I didn’t know I was capable of sweating that much! It was soooo hot in India, something I’ve never experienced before (probably even worse than North Carolina in August). So I took a “shower” before I went to bed. The power went out (it is common for power to be shut off for several hours at random parts of the day, even in a busy mall) so I scooped up the water from a bucket in the bathroom, in the dark…now that was an experience.

2008-10-25T21:01:00.001-07:00

7 DAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA!

This is going to be a long one…and my picture's aren't loading so I'll try again later to add in some pictures. I'm actually in Malaysia right now at an internet cafe so I'm a bit behind on posting but I'll try to keep up.

DAY 1: We got up for the sunrise again because we heard Cape Town was the best one to see. But again, the weather was awful and we could barely see anything. Usually we have a diplomatic briefing but maybe because of the political drama there was no one to come on the ship. So we got off the ship without any delay.

I’ve only spend a few hours in South Africa so far because one of my day trips to Robben Island (kind of like Alcatraz) was cancelled. I went to a museum downtown called District 6. It was a museum honoring people who lived in an area named District 6 and forced to relocate during apartheid. It was strange and sad to see a museum in reflecting on an event that happened relatively recently. Since we were downtown, we walked around a bit before heading back to the waterfront. The downtown area felt like a normal big city with skyscrapers, lots of restaurants, and shopping. One thing I’ve noticed is that there is an abundance of coffee shops! There was even one called the Seattle Coffee Co hahaha. The waterfront area, right near our ship, is extremely nice and clearly a tourist area. There is a huge mall and lots of little shops and restaurants. It doesn’t feel like Africa at all. In fact, the cold weather is still really throwing me off too.

I met up with my friends later to get dinner and we ended up walking to this German restaurant on the waterfront. It was a strange sight to see African waiters and waitresses dressed in lederhosen. There were like two things on the menu that didn’t have sausage haha. But don’t worry, I found those two things very quickly. This reminds me, in Africa ketchup does not taste like normal ketchup. It’s sweeter and almost has like a nutmeg or cinnamon flavor to it. There was this funny live performer singing all of these American songs that we sang along to.

DAY 2: CAGE SHARK DIVING!!!!!
Before we started the shark diving adventure, Sara, Ali, and I had to take advantage of the coffee shops available so we got a really nice breakfast and coffee before we left. This was a whole day thing…we met the bus at 10am and were surprised to find another large group going with us to make a total of about 30 people (all from Semester at Sea of course). The drive out to meet the boat was 2 ½ hours!!!! But the good thing about that is that we got a tour of parts of South Africa that we probably wouldn’t have visited. South Africa has much more greenery and mountains than I expected. It is a beautiful country! Anyway, we got to the offices for the diving and got a good breakfast. I started to get nervous while we were watching the videos from previous trips. We passed the sign “Great White Capital of the World” on our way to the boat! On a side note, we have been hearing that the waves around the cape are worse than anything that we’ll sail through. That is because two oceans come together (Atlantic and Indian) and because it is so far south, waves can travel all the way around the world allowing them get huge! Trust me…we were in small boat and they even said it was a pretty calm day but the waves were massive! Tons of people got sea sick and were puking over the side of the boat especially when we were finally stopped at our diving destination on the water.

They put the “chum” (or bait) in the water on a line with a buoy. The first group got in and we all watched for the sharks to come. It didn’t take long before we saw the first GREAT WHITE SHARK!!! That’s when I started getting super excited! I just wanted to be in the cage! The cage is set up on the side of the boat and there is enough head room to hang out above water waiting for the shark to come. Then when they yell, you take a deep breath and dive down to see the shark. Before I got in, a shark snuck up from right below the chum and no one saw it coming until it launched out of the water with the chum in it’s mouth! When I was in the cage, the shark activity had calmed down a bit. But at one point a cute little seal came up and was twirling by our cage. The guide said he probably thought we looked like seals in our wetsuits haha. But then all of a sudden the seal pooped and bolted….because a shark was coming after it!!!! Don’t worry, the seal pooping is on the video I got! Haha! I can’t believe I was sharing the water with Great White Sharks!! It was such a rush! On the way back we got to see a couple Southern Right Whales. (LONG LIVE THE POD!!! LULULULU) The camera man was saying that people never get to see what we saw because it’s illegal to get within 300 meters of whales. But the whales came to our boat…less than 50 meters away!

DAY 3: Sara and I set out on an adventure. We walked to where we thought there was a market but ended up at this super cute little coffee shop/food store called Melissa’s Food Shop. Both of our breakfasts had bacon and typically we had found that everywhere we went didn’t make the bacon very crispy. So we asked for extra crispy bacon…which translated like EXTRA bacon. Haha! As we were walking out, this old man asked us where we were from and we started chatting. We asked about how to get to Long Street and he told us. But then he and his wife were leaving at the same time and his wife offered to give us a ride to Long Street! They were so nice! One thing I’ve appreciated about the people that I’ve met from these different countries and especially in Cape Town is their interest in our enjoyment of the area. I can tell that they are very proud of their city and want visitors to see all it has to offer. So we went to a market called Green Square Market right off of Long Street. We saw a lot of the same stuff as in Namibia and unfortunately realized that we got ripped off on a lot of things we got in Namibia. That’s what we get for being American I guess. We headed back to the ship before we negotiated a cab ride to the wine lands about 30 minutes away. All Sara and I knew was to go to a city called Stellenbosch and there were supposed to be wineries. So our cab driver just dropped us off in front of this café. We wanted to look for a place to book a tour but it was already late in the day (like 2pm) to book a tour, and we didn’t have a clue where to find an agency. So by a twist of fate, we introduced ourselves to a man who looked like a tour guide. Sure enough, he was and within 20 minutes we jumped in the van halfway through his tour. There was a family of Swedes and a couple from Belgium. We only stopped at one winery for a tasting but it was such a beautiful day up in the wine lands that they had the tasting outside. One of my favorites was a blend of a chardonnay with a pinot noir. The best of both worlds in my opinion!

It was getting late but the guide wanted to show us one more wine region called Franschhoek. It was the cutest little town I’ve ever seen. We got a chance to take a stroll through it. And on another twist of fate, we ran into a very lively group of friends while looking for a bathroom. I think they were closing the restaurant we were walking by and opening a new one somewhere else. So we signed a tablecloth and went to the bathroom. But by the time we came out, they had already brought a round of drinks for everyone! Haha! They were very interested in where we came from and why we were visiting South Africa. We had to meet up with our group so we couldn’t chat for long but I was so happy that we met them! We had the tour group drop us off at a winery called Spier because we were planning to have dinner there. On the way, we stopped to see some zebras and other exotic animals. We had left a note for Carla (my roomie) and everyone else to meet us there for dinner but we weren’t sure if they would be able to make it. Unfortunately they never did, so Sara and I had our own little dinner date. Spier winery is incredible! They have a place you can cheetahs and play with baby cheetahs (but it’s really sad because I’ve heard they heavily drug the cheetahs before letting them out). We didn’t see the cheetahs but we explored the premises a bit before we went to their restaurant called Moyo. Moyo is probably the most memorable restaurant I’ve ever been to. We ate in a tree house, our faces were painted, we had live entertainment at our table as well as a big performance by the buffet…yes I said buffet. The food was incredible!!!!! We could go back for as much as we wanted! I tried springbok (kind of like an elk or deer) and ostrich! There were a bunch of other traditional dishes that we tried as well. I didn’t have a single bite that I didn’t like. Sara and I split a bottle of local wine and with the buffet it ended up being $36 each (including tax and tip)! A dinner and experience like this at home would have been at least $100 each…probably a lot more. That was a long and exciting day that began with no plans at all. One thing I’ve been learning is how to live without plans. I don’t even have a planner. That’s a first for me. I already know how to plan, and that’s why I have to learn how not to plan because that’s when the most exciting things happen.

DAY 4: The next day, like most days in Cape Town, began with a trip to a coffee shop. But once Sara and I got back, it was time for a trip we’ve both been looking forward to for a long time…the Cape Malay Cooking Safari! I guess this supplements my lack of Food Network in about 7 weeks (but who’s counting?). We broke up into smaller groups of 10 and then the first thing we did was visit a very old spice market. It smelled fantastic! I got to put my culinary knowledge to the test trying to guess spices with just one whiff. The area we were in was a Muslim community and we happened to be there during Ramadan and so everyone was fasting. Luckily the fast ended that next day because they saw the moon come out (marking the end of Ramadan). But the lady cooking couldn’t even taste what she was making us because of fasting! That’s dedication! Before we got to the lady’s bright green house, we stopped in a butchery where all of the meat was slaughtered in a certain way and already prayed over so that was where everyone in the community got their meat. The woman’s house was right across the street. We greeted her by saying “Salam” as we walked into her house. The table was already set and there was a demonstration area set up as well. She was nervous because she had only done this a few times before. But she got more comfortable as it went on. Had you asked me the day before, I would have told you that I don’t like curry, but now that has all changed. She made a chicken curry with some of the spices from the spice market. We also the bread that they use to eat the curry with (no utensils are used). There were a couple other deep fried creations that we learned to make as well. I have the recipes so I’ll see if I can help recreate the amazing meal we had. The woman was so sweet and happy that we enjoyed the meal.

Sara and I met up with our friend Ali and we decided to do some shopping. It was Sara’s last chance to shop in Cape Town before she left for her safari the next morning. So we got in a cab and he ended up convincing us to go to the biggest mall in Africa: Canal Walk. We didn’t want to lose him so we had our new friend Marcus walk around with us in the mall. He was this little guy and he would walk a little ways behind us. We were trying to find a place to wax eyebrows so he started asking around to help us find a place. He was so nice! We didn’t buy much but I did discover that my new favorite candy is Astros. Seriously they’re awesome. We learned a lot about Marcus’ family and his thoughts on the coup that just happened with their government. That night Ali, Sara, Mark and I all went out to a really nice sushi dinner right on the waterfront. It made me excited to go to Japan! I don’t know if I said already, but I got into a one-night homestay in Kobe, Japan. I really want them to teach me how to make sushi!!

On a side note…I’m doing a homestay in India as well. And we have inter-port students from each country (except Namibia) and I met the two from India the other night on the ship. I told them about my homestay in Erode (a long way from Chennai) and the first thing they said is that no one will speak English and that it’s a very rural area. Rural India should be really interesting! Also to keep you informed, there was a rumor that because of all the bombings in tourist areas lately in India (like in Dehli) we would not go to India and go to Thailand instead. We’ve been informed that that is not true. If something major happens (which apparently bombings in tourist areas aren’t major) in the next 11 day then we will change routes.

DAY 5: The weather had been getting worse but I still hadn’t been to the top of Table Mountain. It’s really cool to hike but because of the cloudy sky, it was better just to take a cable car to the top. So Ali and I went to the top of Table Mountain. It was so strange because it felt like we were floating in a cloud. Every once in a while the clouds would break and we would get an incredible view of the coast. I was just happy that we were on the top and we can now say we’ve done it!

After the mountain, we shopped a bit on Long Street. There were some really cool boutiques. There was one with super cute clothes and bags and you could see the person with a sewing machine in the back. In another store, we met the designer’s mom because she came in to check on the store. She was so nice and helped us pick out clothes that “did something for us.” Haha! Then we stopped by this hotel I had heard about called Daddy Long Legs. It’s this really unique art gallery hotel so each room is designed differently with some sort of artistic theme. I had been staying on the ship every night and I wanted to have a fun place to stay downtown for my birthday so I got a couple rooms (very well priced and I got a student discount!!!) for my friends and I. We had a pretty relaxing rest of the day. It was nice not to be on a safari because even though I didn’t want to leave, I felt like I had a lot of time to see the area. That night Ali, Spencer, and I went to a restaurant just to get free wireless internet but my stupid computer died after an hour!

DAY 6: For classes we have to do certain field programs and I had signed up for one that was to go see the Amy Biehl Foundation. I didn’t know about it until I got on the ship but I don’t know if other people would have known but I’ll give you the short story just in case. Basically Amy Biehl was an American student who was passionate about making the world a better place. In particular she was interested in the terrible apartheid in South Africa. So she went to study in Cape Town. Two days before she was to leave to go back to America, she was driving some of her black friends home to a township, got stopped by protesters, and because she was white, she was stoned to death on the side of the road. Four years after her death, under the Truth and Reconciliation Act, her murders applied for amnesty. To everyone’s surprise, Amy’s parents came to the hearing and granted both men amnesty and they were freed. Now, both of these men work for the Amy Biehl Foundation started by her parents to help prevent violence and improve education in townships. They do this by creating after school activities and supplementing education systems with the arts that they lack like choir, dance, and band. We got to see some of the kids perform for us. They all have incredible talent, it was bittersweet to see such poverty in the townships but then to see these children smiling, singing, and playing like normal kids. I wish we could have had more interaction with the children but because it was there spring break, only some of the kids were there just to perform and then be taken home. We went to another area, a much nicer area, for lunch at a restaurant which was more like a woman’s house that she was able to expand by working two jobs. She told us that she works as a nurse at night and that she had not been to sleep yet when we showed up in the afternoon because she had been preparing our food. The food was very authentic and really good.

That night Archbishop Desmond Tutu came on board the ship!!! He had sailed with a voyage in the past and I remembered reading all about it on the Semester at Sea website. But I felt so lucky that he could come speak to us that day. He was so charismatic and everything he said sounded so wise. He would laugh at his own jokes and kind of skip around every once in a while. He was a little guy and so goofy! He was especially inspiring to our generation because he said he was energized just being surrounded by all of us and he has so much faith in the power that we hold. He gave an example of Berkley students whose protest ended up changing a presidential decision. My memorable and wise quote he closed with was this: “You will never win the war on terrorism as long as there are people in the world who are desperate.” I tried to tape it on my camera but it isn’t loading on my computer so I’m a little upset. After Tutu spoke, the killers of Amy Biehl came on the ship and spoke for a while about their experiences growing up under apartheid and about their lives now. I was only able to see part of what they had to say. But it really is no surprise why they had so much anger built up against the other white. It is just so tragic to think that if they knew what Amy Biehl stood for, they would have been on the same team.

Anyway, that night was the night I celebrated my birthday! Most of my friends were gone on safaris (Sara, Carla, Mark, and Josh), but I went out with some other good friends, Ali, Trevor, Karly, Emily, and Spencer. We checked into the Daddy Long Legs hotel and our rooms were soooo cool! One had small black and white photos all over the wall that made a bigger picture of a face. The other was my favorite…it had pictures of sunsets all over the wall! It looked awesome!

We went to this restaurant called Cape to Cuba. Trevor and Karly had been earlier in the week and made good friends with the manager so he was excited to see them again and definitely gave us special treatment! The first thing he brought me was these HUGE pink feathery wings to put on! Then he brought us a bottle of champagne which came with a bunch of oysters! I tried oysters for the first time…they weren’t that bad, but I don’t think I’d ever order something like that. The food was great and we had a really good strawberry coconut mojito. He reserved a table for us in this secret upstairs bar/lounge! It was set up like a library and I’m assuming it was supposed to be a cigar smoking room. I felt like we were VIPs! After a little while we decided it was time to go out. So we went to this place called Hemisphere that was a bar on top of a skyscraper building. It was pretty much full of all Semester at Sea kids so that was kind of a bummer but fun to see some more friends. We danced and looked out at the city…it was really cool. And then afterwards we just went back to our lovely hotel. It was a great way to celebrate my bday! I definitely was missing my family and friends from home though. It never really felt like my birthday I think because instead of people just knowing that my birthday was October 2nd, I had to tell everyone.

DAY 7: The last day in Cape Town! I did NOT want to leave! Everyone was really sad to leave, especially because the long stretch to India means midterms and papers. There wasn’t much left to do besides stock up on snacks and run other little errands. It was a pretty lazy day. Dinner on the ship was so sad because it was back to bad ship food. But it was good to see my friends who had just gotten back from their safaris. My friends had ordered me a cake on the ship and I was so surprised when they brought it to our table! They’re so thoughtful! We went outside as we were pulling out of the port to see us leave. While outside the voice came on and told us to secure our belongings as quickly as possible. I hurried to my room and before I could get there, the boat was already rocking like crazy! We had been hearing that going around the cape was really rocky, but I didn’t know it would be so soon! I had a group project due the next day so I had to meet with them but everyone was getting sea sick so it was a quick meeting. I decided just to go to sleep before I could get sick and just wake up early to do my work. I woke up a few times to the intense rocking. It was crazy! Luckily in the morning, it was much better. The captain has chosen to stay fairly close to the shore to avoid intense waves. Apparently we got lucky the night we left with only 8-10 foot swells and we were expecting 15 foot swells. I’m glad we were lucky.

BACK ON THE SHIP:
There’s a lot of work to be done in this big stretch. I’m not looking forward to midterms and papers. My presentation went well yesterday but the stabilizers are on and so it would get really loud during our presentation at some points. We have some fun things going on over this stretch too. We have Sea Olympics where each Sea competes in different events. We’re divided into seas depending on where our rooms are. I’m in the Arabian Sea. Our sea has a social with the faculty tonight in the fancy faculty lounge.

2008-10-03T13:24:00.001-07:00

I’m soooo sorry, this is so late! I’m already back from South Africa but I ran out of internet minutes and just got some more. I’ll catch up soon and post on South Africa before we get to India. I’ll have to cut back on pictures because that counts against me for my minutes. Anyway…

Namibia: The Wyoming of Africa

Facts
- Least densely populated country in the world
- Home of the oldest desert in the world: Namib Desert
- Only became independent in 1990
- Was colonized by the Germans
- The only constitution in the world that includes the environment

WOW. I don’t even know where to start. If you can imagine, a huge desert meets the ocean and made way for a few beach towns. On our way in, it was soooo foggy we couldn’t see the city at all. In fact, there is an area called skeleton coast because ships are known to get lost in the fog and end up washed up on the shore. We learned that there is a lot of upwelling which results in nutrient rich water…which allows for a lot of marine wild life. We ate a lot of fantastic, fresh seafood, but there lots of people saw tons of seals, flamingos, and dolphins right on the coast. We ported in Walvis Bay…within a day we had explored pretty much all it had to offer. We discovered some grocery stores because we had all been anxious to stock up on snacks and things we were running out of. For some reason in Salvador, no one was able to find an actual grocery store. Stepping off the ship one of the first things to surprise me was the temperature. I figured that Africa is always hot…not true. I was wearing jeans and a wind breaker pretty much the entire trip. The first night in town we went to this bar in Walvis Bay on the water on stilts. It was super crowded and very understaffed. I don’t think they realized that so many Americans would be arriving and overwhelming the place. By the last night in port, this popular spot for us Americans learned to have at least 7 bar tenders haha. This is the first time that Semester at Sea has visited Namibia so it was very important to make a good impression so that they will allow us to come back on future voyages. I guess some girls were so disrespectful in one the hotels that they got kicked out and the owner called the ship to tell them that they will never let Americans stay in their hotel ever again. Yikes!

The second night I went on a camping trip in the desert. On the way over, our driver stopped to let us climb their famous Dune 7. We took off our shoes but the sand was so hot that we couldn’t make it that far. Oh well. The desert camping experience was not what I expected. Instead of being in a flat area like you might picture a desert, our campsite was tucked in between large rock formations. Our tents had actual beds and a back compartment to change and wash up if we wanted. We were not really roughin’ it. When we got there, we had time to climb around and I bouldered with a couple girl friends. It was really fun to be climbing and the views were awesome. We had to be careful though because there was a lot of loose rock everywhere.

This is our campsite in the desert. The tents were so nice!

After a nice dinner, we hung out around campfires and had some surprise visitors. This African singing group came to perform for us! I kept looking around like I couldn’t believe that I was in the middle of the desert in Africa listening to traditional African songs being performed right in front of me. Being out in the middle of nowhere, the stars were incredible. Unfortunately our group didn’t get to meet with the star gazing expert (I even brought the compass Justin sent with me) because we were watching the show. But we ended up pulling our beds out of the tents to sleep outside under the stars. It gets really really cold in the desert at night but we were all cozy in our beds! The best way to describe the view at night is like a Disney ride: The stars looked super close like the sky does in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the rocks looked fake like in Indiana Jones or Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was unreal.

After breakfast and some more climbing in the morning, we headed back out of the desert to Walvis Bay. I was really impressed with the way that the vans were able to drive through the desert with no paved roads.

Right after I got back and had a quick lunch on the ship, I met up with my friends and we went up to a popular city called Swakopmund. We rented ATVs and went on a tour through the dunes. It was soooooooo fun!!!!!

We would go super fast up the sides of dunes and then turn and go straight back down and all around the desert. At one point we stopped for a view of the city of Swakopmund, the dunes, the ocean, and a shipwreck on Skeleton Coast.

What a sight! Sara and I ended up staying the night with our friends who had already booked a little bungalow with 6 beds. Unfortunately we didn’t plan for it so we ended up looking nasty when we went out, slept in our clothes, and wore the same thing the next day! Haha! We did stop by a grocery store to buy toothbrushes but didn’t realize that no one brought toothpaste! That night when we were walking to dinner on the beach and Sara and I got to walk through a movie set! This TV show (Prisoner something) was being filmed in Swakopmund. Dinner was awesome as we watched the sunset on the beach. The cuisine was pretty American and had a lot of seafood. They’re known for their excellent oysters but I didn’t try them. I trust that they’re as good as they say they are. We went out to pretty much the only bar open on a Sunday night and found a bunch of other Semester at Sea students there. It’s always a bummer to be surrounded by all Americans in a foreign country. But luckily Sara and I met some locals and a friend visiting from South Africa. They were very friendly and fun to talk to. After the bar closed a group of people went to the beach for a bonfire! At that moment, I couldn’t believe that I was in Africa sitting by a bonfire on the beach…it was perfect!

Sara and I found this super cute coffee shop we had heard about in the morning. We had decent coffee for a change (the coffee, and food for that matter, is awful on the ship) and homemade bread and muffins. We went to the wood market, which is where a bunch of vendors lay out things made of wood and other trinkets. They would say things like “Hello, welcome to my shop. Come look around. I give you good price.” But I’m pretty sure we got ripped off because we’re American. It was a challenge bartering and finding what exactly we wanted and how much we were willing to pay for it. Some people were nicer than others and made the experience more enjoyable. It was so hard to convert the prices because they would say something like 100 rand and I’d be like “YA RIGHT” but then I realize that’s only like $12 American.

Bartering really wore us out, we had a delicious seafood lunch and headed back to Walvis Bay in a sketchy cab. Because there are usually not 700 American students visiting at one time (we definitely made the front page of their newspaper!) not many cabs operate all the time. So this guy stopped to ask if we needed a ride to Walvis Bay and we asked if he was a cab…his friend pulled out this dinky little cab sign from the glove compartment! Haha! As we drove back, we talked a lot with the friend. Like pretty much all Namibians we had met, he was very friendly and interested in talking to us. He explained that he’s working with foreign investors and gave us his email just in case we know anyone that would like to invest in Namibia. Since Namibia is still a young country, they have incentives like no business taxes for international companies to operate in Namibia. I was surprised by the strong infrastructure that is already in place. With the wealth that the newly advancing uranium mine (although currently owned by the French), they have potential to have a strong economy in the future.

Unfortunately because they were under apartheid before their independence in 1990 there is still a considerable amount of racism. And it is very obvious. Store owners are white, other hired workers are black. There are certain places that you will only see whites and I’m sure other places that you will only see blacks. Here’s an interesting story that I heard: A student in the post office was waiting in line and the next person in line was a black woman and behind her was a white woman. When a window opened and someone called “next,” she looked behind her and asked the white woman if she would like to go first. The white woman did not, but I think that illustrates a lack of progression of the racial segregation in Namibia.

Anyway, the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful besides more good meals not on the ship and time to grocery shop a bit. Because Namibia still includes remnants of colonization, it was difficult to see any sort of identity. That is why I think this country is hard to describe in words. The people were so kind and their country is beautiful. I hope to go back some day!

BRASILIA!!!

2008-09-18T00:08:00.001-07:00

Salvador, Brazil

We pulled into port early in the morning so we got up to see the city from afar. It was a lot more developed than I expected. It is located where two tectonic plates meet so there is an upper and lower city connected by an elevator.

The first day we no plans so we just explored the city of Salvador. It was a Sunday when we arrived so a lot of places were closed. But it was also Brazil’s Independence Day so more people were out to celebrate that.

After shopping a bit we had the most delicious meal ever! We had a dish called Moqueca that was basically a rustic stew with fish…it was really tasty! Later that night we went out to experience some nightlife but since it was Sunday, it was pretty quiet so we just enjoyed being in Salvador at some outdoor restaurants.

The next morning we left for the Amazon!!! It was hard to get really excited about leaving because packing was really stressful and everyone was worried about bringing bug spray in our carry-ons. But security is much more relaxed in foreign countries and we were all fine. The flight was not as long as we thought but we did have to stop in Brasilia before we got to Manaus. I made a friend next to me from Manaus on our flight and we even exchanged emails so we can keep in touch! (She's in the middle)

We met our awesome tour guides at the airport, Thiego and Wetson. After a short bus ride through Manaus (where a lot of companies are opening plants because they don’t have to pay taxes there) we got to our boat.

It’s two stories: the first story is where we had our meals and used the bathroom (no flushing allowed!) and the second story is where our hammocks were hung.

We saw the “Meeting of the Waters,” where the Rio Negra meets the Amazon and there is a clear line between the two different colors of the water. Later we went out on an excursion to see some wild life. We saw an anaconda, other snakes, sloths, and alligators. I got to hold a sloth but it bit me! It was clamped down on my finger and I ended up having to throw it off me! I’m totally fine, but it makes a great story.

An action shot of that Sara got of me getting bit by the sloth! HAHAHAHA!

The next day we got to explore the jungle where we saw some strange bugs and learned a lot about different medicines and remedies that originate from their jungle. These medicines help with anything from indigestion to malaria. We drank milk and water from different trees! We had a chance to swim in the Amazon, too but we had to be really careful about ingesting any water because it could make us sick.

One of the highlights of the trip was that we got to visit this small village right on the water. We spent a lot of time there touring around and meeting some of the locals. We played soccer with some of the locals and I ended up playing on the Brazilian team with one other girl from our trip. I was so intrigued by the fact that we didn’t have to verbally communicate to be playing soccer on the same team. Our team definitely won!! After visiting the village, we had a cookout on a beach and had so much fun playing games.

The last day we went piranha fishing but didn’t end up catching anything. We visited another little village where we got to see some of the processes of harvesting and preparing food. It was eye opening to see a completely different and isolated way of life and that the people were completely content. We got to go to a show at a resort on the river where we saw Brazilian dancing in very elaborate costumes. We also had a chance to learn some of their dancing. We took a red eye flight back that night. Traveling in a big group was such a pain…lots of people were sick, and you could tell that the Brazilians were not excited to see an overwhelming group of Americans.

Brazil went by sooooo fast!! And now we’re on our way to Africa! It was nice to get back to the ship and shower but it’s back to classes and boring food on the ship. I made a lot more girl friends on the Amazon trip so I’m excited to hang out with them more. As we’ve crossed the Atlantic, we’ve been losing hours and hours going through the time zones. So essentially we’ve had a bunch of 23 hour days…which surprisingly makes a big difference. I think we’re all just really anxious to get to port especially because we only have two class days in between Namibia and South Africa. But that makes it so hard to concentrate because it’s like having spring break every other week.

NEXT STOP…NAMIBIA, AFRICA!!! (Tomorrow!!)

LIFE ON THE SHIP

2008-09-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well I started classes on Sunday, here’s what I’m taking:
- Global Studies: The Rising Power of China
- Communication Across Race and Cultures
- Intro to Sociology
- Psychology of Food and Culture

I have two classes each day. So far the classes seem really interesting and not too demanding. The University of Virginia is sponsoring the voyage and they have enforced that classes be more challenging than they have been in the past. So that will be interesting.

We stopped in Puerto Rico for a day but we weren’t able to get off and walk around because we stopped off the shore to fuel up. I definitely count it as one of the ports though!

A typical day is waking up in complete darkness, because we have no window to the outside world, then going to breakfast, going to classes, meeting up with friends for lunch (it’s soooo hard to find people sometimes so we usually just plan before to meet at a certain time at one of the cafeterias), more classes/working out/hanging out on the deck/reading for the rest of the day before and after dinner. They have something called “Pub Nights” where they serve alcohol on the top deck by the pool and a lot of people go drink and hang out kind of like it’s a bar. They have quite a complicated system to limiting drinks that involves a stamp card. I haven’t used one yet but I should probably check it out soon.

There are a few stores to go to in our spare time as well. One for textbooks, one for clothing and whatnot, and another that has school supplies and other random things that we might run out of. I bought a map today to track our progress and hopefully get people to sign it at the end. I had my laundry done for the first time so that was kind of exciting. On one side of one of the decks there is a sport court that has a net surrounding it (so a basketball wont fly into the ocean) and some outdoor weight machines. There is also a gym inside by the wellness center (where you can get haircuts and manicures). I’ve been having fun meeting the crew as well. One of the guys who works in the dining hall already knows my name! I’ve been hanging out with my friend Sara, my roommate Carla, Carla’s boyfriend Mark, Mark’s roommate Josh, and other people here and there. I’ve also been hanging out with my friend Todd from Chapman and his roommate Greg. It has only been five days on the ship and it feels like I’ve been hanging out with them for weeks!

These are some of the guys in our group (from the Right to Left): Greg, Todd, Josh, Mark, and Spencer

September 5th

We had classes on Sunday and Labor Day but we took a unique holiday today. No classes on Neptune Day…a celebration of crossing the Equator. It’s quite the ceremony and apparently an important maritime tradition that includes shaving heads (guys and girls), being drenched in fish guts and kissing a fish! I'll add pictures later...for some reason they're not loading right now.

Actually the day before is when we crossed the equator and Carla, Sara, and I found that out when we went out to look for the North Star before it disappeared over the horizon. I brought my compass (thanks Justin!) and my flashlight (thanks Georgie!) to look for it. But we couldn’t find it and were told that we had already crossed the equator.

September 6th

TOMORROW WE GET TO BRAZIL!!!! We’re all sooo excited to finally be on land and be at our first port! We’ve had lots of meetings to brief us on safety and culture and whatnot. I think we’re going to have a blast. I don’t have a lot of time to write because I have to get to bed soon…we’re going to wake up for the sunrise and watch us pull into Salvador. I fly to the Amazon (a seven hour flight) on Monday and we get back on Thursday. So I’ll try to post an update about adventures in Brazil when I get back! The letters have been awesome…thank you to everyone!!!!!

August 27th-30th

2008-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

GREAT NEWS!!!
I have a FREE email account that I can use whenever I am at sea! My new email is jlallyne@semesteratsea.net. The only restriction is that I can only send and receive text.
I have a lot to catch up on since I just got this internet working today on the ship. It takes minutes to post a blog so I might not post as often as I would like. So here are the updates on what happened since the second day in the Bahamas to the second day on the ship.

August 27th, 2008
SAS Social Outcasts

After sleeping in for a while, Sara finally opened the curtains to shine the light into our room. We can see the ocean from our window! Unfortunately the first part of the day was spent trying to get ahold of Semester at Sea and Sara’s mom because she didn’t know to bring a certain document that we needed to get on the ship. After doing everything we could, we headed to the beach to relax. The water was sooo warm and absolutely crystal clear. Men were coming around the beach advertising for parasailing, boat rides, selling toy turtles, and coconut drinks. The man selling the drinks used this line “I’m the doctor. The feel-good doctor” haha. We decided to go check out the pool area after that and first went on this tubing “rapid river.” It was really cool and a great tour around the gigantic pool area.

The beach by our hotel…with the Feel Good Doctor

Since everything is ridiculously expensive at the Atlantis, we decided that the most economical option was to split a pizza. A medium pizza was $22! Anyway, there were three guys working at the pizza place started talking to us and LOVED Sara! They were all locals and wanted us to go out with them! We chatted about fun places to go and what a typical night for them is. Let me tell you…Bahamians love to party. They call any kind of alcohol “rum.” And it is not uncommon to stay up all night and go to work the next day on no sleep. We asked them about the local food which is typically conch salad and grouper fish. It was fun to get a feel for what the culture is like there. Later that night two girls in the hall asked if we were on Semester at Sea and invited us to the lobby where apparently everyone met each night at 10:30. Well we went down at 10:30pm and no one was there. It was like we had just been invited to a “costume party” but no one else was wearing costumes…a bit humiliating and discouraging. We were the outcasts.

August 28th, 2008
Day before departure

The first thing we did was go to the straw market. It is this huge covered market with a bunch of vendors all lined up in rows selling mostly purses and things made of straw. I think that’s our warm up for bargaining. People are really aggressive there and everything was probably more expensive than it normally would be because of the cost of getting the goods to the island. It was really fun to wander around but difficult to keep walking past people as they were trying so hard to get you to stop and look at their shops. One woman told Danika that she would never be good in business because Danika only wanted to pay $10 for a fake purse!

Danika in front of the Straw Market

We had to split lunch because everything is so expensive, but at least we ate at a place right on the water so that was beautiful. We went back to the hotel to go on the water slides and other rides. We went on a slide that was soooo tall and it went through a shark tank! But as we were waiting at the top of the tower, Sara and I looked out to the ocean and we could see storm clouds coming. You could see the line in the water as the storm moved closer and finally it hit us while we were about to go down the slide. It was sooo wild! For five minutes it felt like we were in a tropical storm. And then everything was back to normal.

At the pool at the Atlantis

We decided that we needed to be social and meet other people from Semester at Sea because the whole time we had been in the Bahamas, we felt like the outcasts. My friend Todd called our hotel and told us that people were meeting up at this bar, so we hesitantly went. We felt really awkward and were afraid to start conversations with people. But we ended up having fun and meeting people. The best part was that we could see the top of the ship lit up from the bar! It looked sooo huge! I did feel a little old because we realized that a lot of the people on the ship aren’t 21 yet so this is kind like being in Mexico on spring break for them.

August 29th, 2008
ON THE SHIP

This morning we got up and headed right to the ship! There was a huge line of people already at 8:00am. It was really hot already so everyone was lugging their bags around and so sweaty. It was well organized but there were a lot of different stations to go to and security checkpoints. We got our ID cards and our room numbers and got on the ship! The ship is beautiful! Its not as big as the other cruise ships we were docked next to, but it is definitely a well-thought out ship. I got to my room before my roommate and didn’t even know what to do. I looked around the tiny room for a while and tried to figure out which bed was more comfortable. I couldn’t decide, they were both tiny and pretty uncomfortable. There’s a TV with one channel that plays music and shows us the location and speed of the ship. I unpacked for a while before my roommate got there. Her name is Carla and she’s from Colorado. She is soooo awesome! I was so relieved after I met her because I knew we would get along really well. She’s a senior too and her boyfriend is on the ship!

My roommate Carla and our tiny room!!!

This whole day has felt like a week long! So much has happened! After we checked in and unpacked, we just explored the ship a bit while people were still checking into the ship. (Sara got on and they figured out the yellow fever thing so she’s good to go!) We had a lifeboat drill today before we could leave the port. But once we left it was really exciting and scary to leave on the ship. That’s about when people started to talk about the reality of the ship. “I can’t believe this is really happening right now…” is what we’re all saying. The image of the open sea is really exciting and I know it we’ll get used to it and it will get old. The meals have been pretty good so far…but I think they’re trying to impress us right away.

Getting prepared for the lifeboat drill

I’m not sure if you knew but there are two hurricanes in the area right now: Gustav and Hannah. Tonight I found out that we’re taking a slightly different route to try to get around the hurricane. But the seas are still pretty stormy. I’m doing ok with the sea sickness thing so far and I’ve only had the sea band on….so I’m hoping I’ll be fine. Right as I wrote that the ship rocked really hard! Haha! Tonight Carla, Sara, and I watched the electrical storm that’s going on outside right now. It’s crazy to see how the lightning can light up the sea. And there was definitely a lot of it! We have a big day of orientation tomorrow so it should be a fun day. It’s been easier to meet people on the ship and I’m definitely making some more friends. I hang out with Sara, Carla, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s roommate all the time (aka just today which has felt like forever).

Carla, Me, and Sara as we were about to leave the Bahamas

A FEW INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE SOCIAL SCENE:
- the student body is made up of 75% women.
- 25% of students are from California
- University of San Diego and University of Colorado are the most highly represented schools
- there are girls here who look like they spend more than an hour fixing their hair and make up every morning…I’m very thankful I don’t have to share a bathroom with any of them
- there are people that have made their main focus to party: one time I heard a guy say “Dude, that’s like a legit bar” (imagine that in a California surfer voice)

August 30, 2008
I hate circle rolls.

“Circle Rolls” are what my roommate and I decided to call the really bad waves that we feel. They don’t move in one direction, it’s more like a circle effect. Hard to explain. Anyway, at the moment the circle rolls have forced both Carla and I to be on bed rest on a Saturday night on the ship. We were both fine with sea sickness last night but tonight it was particularly rough and to make matters worse we were in the front of the boat on the top level aka the least stable part of the ship so we were swaying all over the place. But even in our cabins its still pretty bad.

Today was orientation so I expected ice breakers and fun games. But instead we got meeting after meeting about policies and procedures. It was all important information but just a lot to take in all in one day. Breaks for meals were the highlights. At dinner we watched the sun set from the back of the ship.

The living quarters are divided up into “Seas” so I am in the Arabian Sea and we have an LLC who acts as a resident assistant for our “Sea.” She’s super nice and we have had a couple meetings with our sea already. I guess one thing that people really look forward to is something called “Sea Olympics” which is where we compete in events. So my team is the rest of the Arabian Sea and if we win, we get to get off the ship first when we port in Miami. And that is a big deal! There are lots of other activities on the ship, too. They’re having an activities fair tomorrow to feature all of the clubs and opportunities.

Almost out of Internet...

2008-08-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

We have about an hour left of internet at the hotel so I don't have time to post about the rest of the Bahama adventures but I'll make sure to post as soon as I can on the ship tomorrow! Yes, that's right...we move onto the ship tomorrow morning!

The good news is that as of a day ago, the hurricane in the area (Gustav) will not be affecting our journey. PHEW! Anyway, here's a picture from today playing in the beautiful water with Sara!

2008-08-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

This picture is of Sara (my friend from Chapman) and Danika (the girl who joined us in our room) and this is a great spot for pictures of the Atlantis hotel

Here's some sharks we saw at the resort just by one of the pool areas...the fins would stick out of the water!

The beach by the hotel...the water is absolutely amazing and soooo warm!

BAHAMAS Day 1

2008-08-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

FYI: I wrote this yesterday but didn't get internet til today.

All of the traveling began this morning at 7:20am when Jordan took me to the airport. Poor Jordan had to sleep in the car because her allergies were acting up in Carmen’s house. But at least I could count on her being in the car, ready to go on time.

It all hit me as we got closer to the airport and I could see the drop off point. I was so scared to leave everyone behind. Jordan and I had so much fun and it was really sad to say goodbye. The Raleigh-Durham airport is much smaller than I thought and I ended up at my gate a solid two hours before my flight (which ended up being delayed an extra half an hour or so). Needless to say, I had plenty of time to enjoy the airport. I tried to keep myself busy so that I wouldn’t start to think about leaving and get emotional again. So I went to the bookstore to find a book or at least spend some time staring at them. I told the woman I wanted an inspiring and enjoyable book that took place in any of the countries that I am going to. And I warned her that I did not want anything depressing because my heart just couldn’t handle it. She picked out “A Fine Balance” which takes place in India…and is over 600 pages long. I guess I’ll have time on the beach to do some reading.

One thing you should know about me is that there’s this thing about me and airports. I tend to meet more people than usual. I think it’s because I get dropped off and I get lonely so I want someone to talk to. Before I even got on the first flight, I talked to an airport security man about North Carolina versus California, some random man about my trip (he gave me his card), and to employees of both bookstores I went to. I told everyone about my trip and they all were so excited for me! The guy I sat next to on the plane helped me navigate my way through the JFK airport to make my connecting flight. Then I went straight to the ticket agent at my gate to double check that I was all set for documentation. I asked him if I needed to show my passport right then or when boarding the plane. He said that they check when boarding…but then he said “but I’ll check yours out now.” EW! So eventually I ended up showing it to him and he stared at it forever before I finally grabbed it back. When I was boarding, the SAME GUY was there and he said “My friend said I should ask for your number.” I said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea…” and I walked onto the flight. The man I sat next to on that flight was really nice and helpful in the Nassau airport because he lived there so he was able to direct me around to get through customs and whatnot.

I sat at the window seat and I couldn’t believe the view of the ocean. It looked like someone dropped turquoise food coloring and swirled it in the ocean close to the shore. It was an absolutely amazing sight. I got to the beautiful ATLANTIS on Paradise Island where I met my friend Sara in the room at about 5:30pm. I was so relieved to see her and we both were still in shock that we were actually in the Bahamas together at that moment. Everything here is ridiculously expensive. Sara and I looked around for the cheapest food and we split a bill of $26 for two dinky hamburgers and one small order of fries. In case you’re wondering, you could get that for $3 at McDonalds. But I guess it’s worth it to be at such a beautiful place. We toured around the resort and found this incredible aquarium! We saw sooo many beautiful fish, big and small. We walked to the beach and around the rest of the resort…it’s huge! There are so many pools, walkways, restaurants, towers, etc EVERYWHERE!

After Sara and I explored a bit we headed back to the room and met our roommate Danika! She is so nice and I’m really glad she was able to meet up with Sara and I to share a room at the Atlantis. We all just chatted about boys and everything we packed or didn’t pack for the trip. I pretty much felt super unprepared after Danika went through all the little things she brought…but I guess there’s not much I can do now! She thought of things like: a map of the world (go figure), shoes to throw away after being ruined in India, a travel pack of toilet seat covers, and a calculator to convert the currency in each country. So I’m feeling a bit uneasy about my preparedness.

THANK YOU!

2008-08-27T18:49:00.001-07:00

Before I put up my next post I just wanted to say THANK YOU soooo much for the package with all the notes! I waited like I was supposed to and opened it on the plane to the Bahamas and I was so pleasantly surprised! Thanks so much to Justin and Alex for putting it together and thank you to everyone who contributed to it...I can't WAIT to open all of the notes! It makes me so happy and loved by this gesture. I am so thankful for all of you!

Duke vs UNC

2008-08-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

BEFORE I BEGIN: This is a story of something that just happened to me. Jordan and I were walking through campus and I was texting someone on my phone. This guy walks by and says "Excuse me, you dropped something." I look back and before I could tell that I wasn't actually missing anything he continued, "...your smile. And you don't even need to stop to pick it up." I'd say that's a first for me.

ANYWAY....

While I've been having a blast at UNC with Jordan and all of her friends...I figured I should check out their rivals as well. Colin, a friend from high school, goes to Duke and showed me all around campus. I couldn't believe how beautiful it is! I felt like I was in a completely different state than where UNC is. If I had to pick which school I'd like to go to, I would choose Duke and here are some reasons why:

1. The campus makes so much more sense. Even though there aren't really any signs on the buildings, the campus is set up into sections (housing, classes, dining hall/union). Whereas the buildings on UNC's campus are all scattered around and the overall layout doesn't make much sense.

2. I like smaller schools anyway. UNC is too big for me, I just feel like it would take a long time to feel like I fit in.

3. The architecture is way more exciting and I didn't trip over their walkways like I did on UNC's uneven brick walkways.

I still reallllly love UNC for these reasons:

1. They definitely have the athletics in their court (no pun intended)

2. UNC has a better store and they have a Starbucks on campus

3. I have way more friends at UNC than I do at Duke now

4. Franklin street is where it's at. Duke can't really compare to that. Sharry!

Unfortunately it doesn't really matter what school I would pick because my time has passed. But both schools are amazing and I'm so happy that I've had the chance to experience both.

North Carolina

2008-08-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

So I guess I forgot to mention that my first stop on this whole adventure is on the east coast. Last Friday (the 15th) I flew to North Carolina to meet up with Jordan (my younger sister). She started school on Tuesday and I've just been hanging out at University of North Carolina with her. UNC is soooo huge compared to tiny little Chapman University. I've had so much fun meeting her friends and roommates. I've been hanging out on Campus a lot pretending that I go here. And unlike at Chapman, no one notices an unfamiliar face. BUT I have seen some important people: Ty Lawson, Marcus Ginyard, and Tyler Hansborough! I've also been able to see both my aunt and my uncle, Kristin and Carmen. It has been really fun to finally come to North Carolina to see more family.

A few things that are different from Washington:

Heat - I start sweating 30 seconds after I step outside, but it's good prep for the trip
Bugs - I've collected quite a few bites on my legs
Trees - There are no fir trees...and I'm pretty sure there were bamboo trees outside a house we went to
Men - Three complete strangers have already asked for my number or given me theirs.
Language - I can't get enough of the "Y'alls" and "Ma'ams," I'll probably have an accent by the time I leave :)

That's about it for North Carolina so far. I'm really proud of my ability to navigate around such a huge campus and a new town. I guess its training for being able to navigate through new counties as well.

I'll try to get a picture or two up of Jordan and I before I leave the country on Tuesday. Feel free to leave comments as well!! Love you all!

Welcome to my Semester at Sea Blog!

2008-08-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

If you don't know already, I am spending this next semester doing a program called Semester at Sea. I will be traveling around the world on a ship, taking classes on the ship, and exploring the countries where we port.

This is my first post and I don't really know what I'm doing yet. But what I am hoping is that this blog can be a place where you can come whenever you want to find out where I am in the world and what I am experiencing as I go along. I will write as often as I can and I will post pictures as well!

I am so excited for this journey and even more excited that you will be able to follow my journey as well!

Click on this to see a bigger view of my itinerary

2008-08-12T16:54:00.000-07:00