The day before Guatemala, I started a little rumor that turned ship-wide that we are being diverted due to Swine Flu and an anticipated earthquake. Some people even believed that they were taking us to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The announcer voice came over the loud speaker and said, “despite the rumors started, we are STILL going to Guatemala, and we are NOT being diverted, so we’ll see you at the pre-port meeting at 20 hundred hours.” Well, there wasn’t any swine flu in Guatemala, but we all had our SARS masks that we got in China just in case.
Gillian, Mary, Cecily and I went to Tikal, Guatemala. Tikal is in the north-east part of Guatemala, and it is known for the famous Myan ruins, the oldest ruins in the world. The ruins were built in 600 B.C. and remain there in the jungle. On the way to the airport, and throughout the ruins and even in the hotel we had 24 hour armed-officers for protection. There is something like 40 murders a week in Guatemala…crazy town. We were craving some Guacamole and tortilla chips, so we went to a restaurant across the street and we probably wiped them out of their avocados, but we got our fix. Early the next morning we checked out of the hotel and went to the Jungle to see some ruins. It was an all day hike through the jungle, and if there wasn’t a path to follow, we would’ve needed a machete to get through the trees. We saw Howler monkeys, and a baby howler monkey too. They were throwing their breakfast at us from up in the trees. We also saw Tucan’s, and other wild peacock/turkey looking birds. Jungle trekking was fun, but after a while the ruins start to all look the same, so we made it interesting.
We sat on the monuments and took pictures in front of signs that said “No Sentarse en los monumentos” or climbed up the monuments when it said, “No Subir”, we were able to climb most of the ruins, but there were some forbidden areas that we had fun exploring. On top of the highest ruin was the most beautiful view of the canopy of the jungle, and we could see all of the ruins poking out from the trees. It was soooo beautiful. But this was not a task for old people or those afraid of heights. The purpose for some of really tall ruins was to sacrifice ones self to the gods by climbing up, letting someone chop your head off so the blood could drip down the temple. No one wanted to be sacrificed, so we left the jungle and returned to Puerto Quetzal.
Getting through the airport terminal was quite a task for me. Since we didn’t have security at the airport on the way to Tikal, I assumed we wouldn’t have it on the way back to Puerto Quetzal—but we did. I bought a machete with a wooden and bronze Jaguar handle with a special blade that has a side for heavy-duty severing, just in case I get lost in the jungle. The leather case has a jade rock and a cool design. I put it through the security bag check hoping that the guy watching the screen would look the other way when my bag went through—but he didn’t. So they pulled my bag, they took me out of the security check point and detained me for 20 minutes in a private office. I wasn’t allowed to leave until I spoke with the head security officer. I was really scared that they would take away my machete, or arrest me. The officer was really understanding—I have a feeling they’ve dealt with this situation before—and he wrapped my machete up in packaging and had someone check it for me. Then they let me pass through security and I didn’t miss my flight or get in trouble or anything. And I also snuck my machete onto the ship…shhhhhhh.
That night, I wanted to go to Monterrico beach to meet up with a bunch of our other friends who rented bungalows on the black sand beach at this hotel called Johnny’s. We met the driver around 10:30 pm. We got extremely lost on the way there, and our two drivers had no idea where we were, or cell phones or anything. I had my cell phone, so after an hour of being lost, we found our way and got to Johnny’s safely around 12:30. When we walked into the hotel area, there was a pool filled with naked friends. Then there was a bar filled with other friends, and on the beach, more friends running around in the dark. I knew within the first 15 seconds that this was going to be an epic night at the last port on Semester at Sea. The beach was the scariest thing at night. It was hard to see with the black sand against the pitch-black sky, but the water was so warm and tempting. Jason threw my glow stick in the ocean, so I had to go rescue it, and that’s when I realized the waves were probably too strong to really go swimming in it. Mary, Gillian and I got split up into different bungalows, but we weren’t actually planning to go to sleep anyway. I actually ended up taking care of a girl who split her chin open (I’ve been there before)—she found a cat in her bungalow, so she went down to the beach to free it, and couldn’t see b/c it was so dark, and she tripped and fell. She really needed stitches, but it was too late and probably too dangerous to go to a hospital. Poor girl. I slept for about 3 hours, and went back to the ship with her and a few other girls. I wish I could’ve spent the day on the beach, but the night before was enough fun for me. The last port was so much fun!!!
After Guatemala, I had one more final. Then we transited through the Panama Canal—an all day event. The panama canal is a set of these dam-like water gates that lower/lift boats through the canal. The canal is too shallow so that is why they have to manage the water flow. People staked out beach chairs before breakfast even started Then we had the Ambassador’s Ball where everyone gets dressed up in their global attire and we eat fine dining style, take pictures with the captain and dance in the Union. I wore the red dress I had made in Vietnam, but other people wore Indian Sari’s and other weird outfits. It’s amazing what kind of shenanigans went on throughout this night. Including me. I was in a friend’s room waiting to go to sleep in her roommates bed (b/c I don’t sleep in my room anymore b/c I can’t stand my roommate, who never sleeps, and stays up all night on the computer and the complaints could continue). Then a bunch of other people came into the room, so we were making jokes and messing around, and someone was DESTINED to get hurt in this situation—the boat was rocking a lot too and we were all hyped up from the dance. My good friend CJ accidentally shoved me, I lost balance and fell into the night stand. I busted my lip and chipped my tooth. This is where the night ended for everyone because I couldn’t stop crying and I was miserable. CJ felt really bad but I don’t hate him. Once I calmed down a little, Gillian and I walked around the ship and sat outside in the fresh air. The next day, I decided to embrace my new look after Dr. Steve assured me he could fix it as soon as I get off the ship. Gillian drew a tattoo on my arm that said “Mom” encircled in a heart, I also wore a wife beater and huge shorts, I looked everywhere for a trucker hat, but I couldn’t find one. Basically it was battered white-trash dress up day for me.
Right now I am looking forward to getting home! We arrive in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow morning. At this time, my friends are blasting music and screaming out of a classroom singing the Team America song “America, Fuck Yea” and eating an American Flag cake…oooooh man. So that’s the journey around the world.
Xoxo
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Guatemala
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Japan!
Japan is one of my top favorite ports of ALL. Japan and Thailand tie as my favorite countries. Coincidentally my favorite types of food are Japanese and Thai. I’m glad that Kayuga and Brown Sugar are both within a block from my apartment at home because I have an even deeper appreciation for them. So if I start permanently shopping at Super88 and only eating Japanese/Thai food, it’s because I loved these countries so much. Not only was the food a major highlight, but we were lucky enough to be in Japan during Cherry Blossom Season.
I went to Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hakone, Tokyo, Yokohama in 5 days, and I spent the first night in Osaka, the second night in Kyoto and two nights in Tokyo. This was all made possible by the efficient train system and bullet train in Japan—the U.S. cannot afford this type of luxury yet. But it was one of the most impressive systems. And very easy to navigate through, but in general the Japanese are pretty good with their English. Better than the Chinese.
Day one in Japan, I went to a town called Osaka to check into the hotel. Then Jason and I went to a town called Nara. To-dai Ji is the main attraction in Nara. It’s a huge temple and inside sits the largest Buddha in the world. There’s a hole carved out into one of the temple pillars. The hole is supposed to be the size of the Buddha’s nostril….sooooo I crawled through it. I had no problem fitting through, but when Jason tried, he got stuck cuz his shoulders were wider than the gap, some Japanese people gathered around and laughed, and I stood there taking pictures, laughing hysterically, but I finally pulled him out. The temple is also the largest wooden structure in the world. One of the most unique things in this park and anywhere I’ve ever been are the deer that populate the streets. They come right up to you—expecting to be fed—but they live among the people in Nara, and they are approachable too but I didn’t want to touch the stinky wild animals. Nara Park also had the most beautiful Cherry Blossom fields I’ve EVERRRR SEEEN. Blows away D.C…even though I’ve never been to the Cherry Blossom row in D.C. I cannot imagine a more beautiful sight. I am surprised that more of our friends didn’t visit Nara—my favorite pictures are from the day at this park. That night, we met up with our friends in downtown Osaka at an underground club. It was cool because it was like a cave bar and Semester at Sea friends dominated the scene.
The next day we went to the Osaka castle and peaced out to Kyoto. Kyoto is known for their abundance of temples, gardens, castles, and palaces so we spent the day walking through these. I also visited the most famous cherry blossom tree in the world—yea the cherry blossoms were inescapable. I prayed at a Buddha, ate local foods from vendors. Japan is so clean that it was actually the only country other than the U.S. in Hawaii that we could drink the water and could safely eat the street-vendor food. But we were on a mission to find sushi in this town. Everyone I asked said that there is no sushi in Kyoto, but when there’s a will there’s a way. I actually ate sushi every single day in Japan, because it’s so FRESH and DELISH.
Kyoto has one of the largest train stations in the world. Inside the train station is a mall and TONS of great restaurants.
One of my other favorite things about Japan are the toilets. I know that sounds weird, but they are just as advanced as their transportation system. They have heated seats, an on command sprinkler/bidet with water temperature controls, vibrating seats, a fake flushing sound, a dryer…they were extremely fun to mess around with, and each one has a different feature from the next.
Day three. On the way to Tokyo we ran into Cecily and Karen who were trying to go see Mt. Fuji from an onsen. An onsen is a hot-spring bath. So we stopped in Hakone, went to an onsen, Mt. Fuji was way too far away, so we found one next to the train station. I was absolutely not into this hot onsen. There were about a dozen old naked Japanese ladies in there, sooooo I didn’t want to go in, but at least I can say I saw one and put my foot in.
When we got to Tokyo, we went to the baseball game. Fighters vs. Mariners. This was a fun event, the crowds are rowdier than American fans believe-it-or-not. Their chants were intense. The snack vendors also wore bright neon colors. Genvieve, Tanya, Jess and Brittany met up with us, and behind us were a bunch of other SAS friends. I didn’t spend much time actually watching the game, but it was fun. The rules are really similar to American baseball too. The couple in front of our row spoke English so we talked to them. That night we went to Roppongi—the bar district. There were lots of different clubs/bars to go into and promoters all over the street. I think we went on the wrong night because it wasn’t busy whatsoever. The next day we went to the busiest intersection in the world with the diagonal crossing paths. We also went on a scavenger hunt to find the Chrome hearts store—wasn’t labeled or anything, but we finally made it there. We also went to the Sony flagship—more like a sony museum. That same day we also went to the technology district—it was so nerdy and cool, and I even played some video games…guitar hero drums. I also went to a Kabuki theater show. I am glad I saw it, but it was incredibly boring. I can appreciate it for being a very traditional and prestigious art form that is still popular in Japan. The focus is supposed to be on the actor’s skill, so the actors are the most famous in Japan. That night for dinner I tried Kobe beef at a hibachi-style restaurant. Kobe beef is like butter. It’s so delicious. They also made shrimps right in front of us, however they were still alive when they hit the grill, and they sizzled and convulsed right before my eyes.
The next morning we woke up at 4am to go to the Tsukiji fish market. We missed the fish auction part because we got on the wrong train, but when we got there we saw a bunch of our friends and got in line with them for sushi breakfast at 5:30/6 am. This is the freshest fish you could possibly eat—off the ships for about 30 minutes, onto my plate, and into my mouth. The best was the fatty toro. This sushi was absolutely the most unbelievable tasting sushi anyone could ever have. Before going to Yokohama we went to the Harajuku district—supposedly this is where Gwen Stefani was inspired to incorporate the harajuku dancers into her performances. I was thoroughly angry at the Tamagachi store for not having Tamagachi’s in English. Yea, remember that childhood obsession??? One of the first things I want to do when I get back home is buy a Tamagachi as my Japan souvenir…really badly. And attach the key chain to my cellphone.
Then it was time to leave Japan. I really didn’t want to leave and I even considered missing the on-ship time. I’ll go back though. We had 9 days between Japan and Hawaii…I was swamped with work because the Professors assigned everything to be due at the end of this week, after having virtually nothing due before that week. I can't believe this is almost over!!!
xoxo
China!
China
First we docked in Hong Kong, I went to Macau, Beijing and Shanghai. I spent 5 days in China and my favorite city was Hong Kong. We pulled into a port in the middle of one of the largest malls in the world including 3 Chanel stores, 2 Louis Vuitton Stores, a couple Prada’s, a couple Dolce’s, a fendi, a burberry etc... During the first day, I went to Macau, also known as the “Las Vegas” of China. Macau, like Hong Kong, is independent “special administration region” from the mainland China, so I was excited to get an extra stamp in my passport that most people didn’t get. My reason for going to Macau was not to gamble, but to jump off a sky-scraper building. 763 feet. The highest bungee jump in the world. The highest sky-scraper in Macau too. The building looks like the flying saucer building in Seattle. It was not only the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, it was also the most exhilarating thrill I’ve ever had. I jumped with my friends Rory, CJ, Eric, and Rachel. I had to convince Rachel to sign the waiver because she was almost chickened out but after she saw us dressed and ready to go, she was easily persuaded. To my disappointment, the AJ Hackett people made me jump last, so I had to watch everyone do it before me. I have a video, and some crazy pictures of the descent. They strapped us in with harnesses, and a safety double harness, and to keep from getting whiplash from the recoil, they attached cables to the bungee to slow me down. At first I wouldn’t let go of the guys hooking me in and in the video you see him ungrip my hands from his arms and held them so I couldn’t grab him again. I remember screaming for a few seconds, but then something happened where my mouth and eyes were just wide open with no noise coming out. We all had the same effect so we call it the Silent Screaming Face.
That night was the finale of the Rugby Tournament, so Hong Kong was crazzyyyy. We went to this bar strip and there were tons of people dressed up in costumes and raging in the street. My friend Dylan has a friend who lives in Hong Kong who took us to a bunch of nice bars and an authentic off-the-beaten-track Chinese dinner. One place had an ice bar inside of it, and upon entering they give everyone these huge faux-fur coats to wear. Some European men gave me theirs when they ran out, and three of them proceeded to go streaking in the ice bar…I think they were kicked out, but it was funny.
The next day I flew to Beijing with a group of people. I ate Burger King for the first time in approximately 8 years , so Ashley took a picture for proof. It was extremely hard to get through China because NOBODY speaks English. I had a translator write everything and everywhere I wanted to go in Chinese characters so I could just get in a cab, show them the characters and get there. Also to my surprise, it was freezing in China! That night I met up with Jason, Murphy, and Gabby, and we went to Banana Club where they had crazy communist security blocking people from taking pictures. I wish I snagged a picture because we were the only American’s there dancing on one of those vibrating, bumpin dance floors. I was happy that they played American music too, and every Chinese person knew the Soldier Boy dance--I guess they like our music even though they cannot understand it. The following morning, I went to the Great Wall. It was huge, obviously, and I wish I could’ve taken a helicopter tour instead of climbing it. My legs were shaking by the end of the Great Wall climb. The trek down was significantly harder than going up. We went really early in the morning for the sunrise, so there weren’t that many tourists around on the way up. There were tons of Asian tourists who wanted to take pictures with us, particularly the blond girls. Peace signs up and everything. They were fun, and I tried to talk to some of them. It’s funny because they talked to me as if I knew what they were saying.
Later that day I saw the Summer Palace, which was pretty. It was boring actually. Then I went to a Chinese acrobatics show, very similar to the stunts that they do in cirque du soleil with contortionists, and human catapults, lots of stunts, it was amazing. Close by to the venue was supposedly the best Peking Duck restaurant. Not only did we order duck, but we ordered turtle and other weird food. It was disgusting, though I’m glad I tried it. My favorite food I have tried so far is Ostrich Carpaccio style. I know I’m a weirdo--I eat a lot of raw things.
Day three I went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and I went back to the Chinese Acrobatics show again b/c it was so much fun. Interestingly enough, the Tiananmen Square “Tank Man” incident during the 1989 political protests really is a forbidden topic—if you ever go to China, my advice would be not to ask anyone about it, b/c they were almost offended by our questions. These sites were cool to see, but I was bored out of my mind, so Ashley and I made a music video at Forbidden City to a song in Mulan, the Disney movie. That night after a long day of site seeing and drinking boba bubble milk tea and eating great Chinese, Murphy, Jason, Gabby, and I went to a Chinese Karaoke club. We got our own private room, and there were lots of English karaoke songs for us to sing. The best act of the night, was Jason singing Cher, Do You Believe in Love After Love???…he didn’t even need the lyrics on the screen...I have a video of his performance which I will save for future embarrassment…PRICELESS!
The next day I left Beijing and went to the Great Panda Zoo and the Olympic birdnest and water cube. Lexi, Ashley and I each did a gymnast routine in the middle of the Olympics field, and we just hung out and walked around. The shopping we did in China was mostly counterfeit. There was a mall with five floors of just knock off EVERYTHING, called the Pearl Market. It was an incredible sight, and a sad one too that the bootleg market is so huge. Then we flew to Shanghai late that afternoon.
I woke up early in Shanghai to explore. Even though Beijing is the traditional capital of China, Shanghai is more of a business capital and trying to become more like Hong Kong status. I went to a garden/palace called Yuyuan Gardens. Surrounding that were little shops. After that Jason and I went to lunch at the Jin Mao Tower, a huge tower with the highest hotel in the world on the upper levels. I really wanted to go to the Flagship Barbie store, but I couldn’t convince him to come with me, nor any of my girls either. Instead we spent the rest of the time walking around the port area and Annie, Ashley, Mary, and I had some last minute drinks before getting on the ship.
byeee for now.
xoxo
Friday, March 27, 2009
Vietnam/Cambodia with MOMMY
I also made mom wear a pointy rice hat around the city. We rested in the hotel room for a while (because I was coming off of a high fever between Thailand and Vietnam). She went for a swim, I took a long, solid nap. We also had lunch at the local fast food chain called Pho24. Pho is what they call the rice noodle soup they eat for EVERY meal. It was delicious for fast food. Then we got ready for dinner and we met up with Annie, Ashley from Fairfield, and Jason for dinner. We went to Vietnamese House restaurant and ate authentic food and drank local drinks. This was my favorite meal in Vietnam—the food exceeded my expectations. We had things such as pumpkin leaves stuffed with shrimp, and weird dumpling green things. Then we went to the Rex Hotel—another famous bar. We had drinks on the rooftop and even went for a horse ride! JK. After Rex, we all went to a club called Apocalypse Now. We danced for a little while and called it a night. Mommy is obviously the best mother in the world, but my friends and I had a great time with her during our first night in Vietnam.
The next day we were off to Cambodia for a few days. This Cambodia trip was action packed. In my suitcase were about 8 different outfits, but I only ended up wearing 3 because we never had an opportunity to relax or change or REST WHATSOEVER. We went to Pnenom Penh and Siem Reap.
In Pnenom Penh we visited a Grand Palace-esque temple village. Same Buddhist influenced architecture made in 17th century. Then we visited a national museum where we saw a superfluous amount of Buddha Heads and statues. Unfortunately on our way out of the museum there was a construction accident so there was a huge crowd surrounding a fellow who broke his shoulder.
We also saw monks! They were cute! The one that spoke English told me how old they were, and when they became monks. They inspired me to buy artwork of monks too in the Russian Market.
We also visited an orphanage founded by Semester at Sea Alumni. We had to cross a high-way to get there…scariest thing in the world. The children were adorable and greeted us half way down the street to their orphanage. A little girl named Leapd clung onto me for the entire time. She had a pretty pearl necklace, and she looked to be about 8 years old. The children are uneducated, and sometimes ages are unknown, so that is my estimation. Mom had a couple little boys and girls that loved her too and clung onto her. It’s hard to not bring one back on the bus…We drew pictures, played games, AND THEN there was a blackout in the town! I could feel some of the parents and students getting panicky, but I thought it was great. The kids got so excited, the stars were so beautiful, and it made the night so much more interesting. We brought them stickers, crayons, markers, coloring books, etc…it was also one of the nicest orphanages I’ve ever seen. They had electricity, running water, toilets, bathtubs, and good care by former SAS-ers.
Other sights we visited in Cambodia included the Genocide Memorials. I remember learning about the genocide that took place during the mid to late 1970’s subsequent to the Vietnam War. In school, there was very little emphasis on the impact it left in Cambodia. At one of these ruins we could see the bones in the ground still, stepping over the remains of bones and clothes of the victims. It was surreal, and extremely moving.
Day 2, We flew to Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat—which is equivalent in terms of popular attractions to the Taj Mahal of India, or the Grand Palace of Thailand. It was built during the 12th century and “lost” and restored. That night the kids (minus parents this night) went to Pub Street where we met some tourists, went clubbing/to bars. The bar most well known there is called “Angkor What?” and they give out t-shirts with their specialty bucket drinks. Two hours after we got back that night, we woke up for the “non-Sunrise” at the Angkor Wat. The sun never actually came out, so we were disappointed that we basically pulled all-nighters to wake up so early. This day was rough for me—I fell asleep on every bus ride, regardless of how long we were traveling. Then we visited other temple ruins from the 12th century. One is where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. Huge tree roots grew over these ruins and in between them. The ruins were really cool and are recognizable from a National Geographic magazine issue a few years ago. The next ruins sight was even more innate than the Angkor Wat. I climbed up one of them, and once I got to the top I asked my friend if he saw another way down…and he didn’t so I was stranded on the top and had to go back the way I came. This was scary because the ruins are so worn and shaky, the conditions were challenging. Afterwards we flew back to Vietnam.
The last day in Vietnam we went to the Mekong Delta. We took small wooden boats through the palm tree canals. It was hard for me to imagine in that heat, soldiers dressed in their gear going down the same canals 35 years ago sitting in the same boats. We tried local coconut wine shots, tea with tamarine and local honey, and ate an authentic River meal. Mom and I didn’t like these shots, but we were laughing at our guide who took shots with every table! The entertainment of the day award goes to Smith and his father. They bought a $40 cobra, and two locals chopped the head of the cobra off (which I couldn’t look at, but the sound of it was enough to make me shriek and get nauseous) then they poured the blood into some rice wine, and tore the beating heart out of the snake and ate it. Smith’s father ate the gall bladder, and Smith drank the blood mixture. I pretty much lost my appetite for lunch and did not eat. But lunch was local Elephant fish from the Mekong River—besides, you couldn’t pay me to eat anything coming from the Mekong water.
Then it was time for Mommy to leave as soon as we got back to the hotel. We said goodbye (so sad) and I went about in Saigon. We had such a great time in Vietnam together. It was fun meeting the other parents too. I am lucky that my mom was able to come visit me half-way across the world!
I will be in China in two days!!!
xoxo
Thailand! Spring Break SAS '09
The day after I went trekking through the rainforest, canoed down a river, and rode an elephant through the rainforest. The rainforest had bamboo trails and mountainous rock cliffs and I was the only one who thought to bring a raincoat to the rainforest. That night I went out in the town, walking the streets popping in and out of the bars. We quickly realized the culture is really sexual, and prostitutes and trans-gender boy-girls sightings are frequent. We even accidentally stumbled upon their “special menus”. If this were the U.S. there would be trouble for them, but I suppose it’s normal and acceptable in Thailand. Shocking.
The following day I went sea kayaking and island hopping. We visited an island where James Bond 007 was filmed...The Thai people didn’t know which movie it was, only that it was James Bond filming destination. The islands were gorgeous, and the caves were really scary. Because the tide was so high we had to duck into the kayak so that we wouldn’t hit the top of the cave, and I must add that there were bats inches from my face dangling from the cave ceilings. We also visited some beaches and just went swimming and jumping off the top of the boat. We also saw some huge jellyfish with huge tentacles. The water is green, but it’s murky so they are hard to see. My friend Jason got stung on his neck!
That night we celebrated St. Paddy’s day. We went to Molly Malone’s Irish Pub—I think it’s a chain. Coincidentally, my friends and I all forgot to pack St. Paddy’s day green, so we had to go find some outfits. My friend Ryan got a custom green suit made and definitely gets the best outfit award. We all found these green tank-top type shirts with the logo of their local beer, Singha. I bought an XL so I could wear it as a dress. A bunch of us wore these shirts to match. To get downtown, Jason and I took a motorcycle ride to town—my first time on a motorcycle actually. I dare admit that it was too much fun, so I insisted we take one back to the hotel too. We spent some time at Molly Malone’s and celebrated my friend Naz’s 21st birthday at midnight. Then we partied in the street for the rest of the night. There were street vendor people trying to sell their souvenirs, and we all bought bracelets that said Thailand among other places. Molly made me laugh the most this night. Molly bought this ugly Pig-face mask and wore it around going up to locals and tourists and trying to scare them. The entire night was a laughing sesh…inventing new ways to make each other laugh using the resources of our surrounding environment. I took the bracelet peoples displays and walked around trying to sell them to tourists and my friends. I also helped a local promote his club by waving around his sign. I guess you could say I was contributing my services to the community in a helpful way.
The next day I went to Bangkok. Molly, Rachel, Erika and I got in a Tuk-Tuk and just told the driver to take us to a great Thai restaurant. He dropped us off in the middle of a Night Bazaar with restaurants and local shops. I bought some Buddha heads and bootleg DVD’s then headed over to Vertigo Restaurant and Moon Bar at the Banyan hotel. This is one of the most famous bars in the world for its 360 view of Bangkok. The view was breathtaking and I could see the city of Bangkok all the way into the horizon (because it’s such a huge city). We hung out on the top of a 63-story building and talked/relaxed.
The next morning we visited the Grand Palace, which I would say is the “Taj Mahal” of Thailand. There were gold structures, Buddhists shrines everywhere and of course the largest jade Buddha in the world. After the most delicious pad-thai lunch I returned back to the ship. I LOVE THAILAND SO MUCH AND I WANT TO GO BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Everyone had an amazing time in Thailand.
xoxo
Jai Ho! INDIA
We spent a lot of time traveling on a tour bus. Our itinerary was packed with sight seeing, and we saw 5 towns in 5 days. Highlights of the trip include the city of New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) and two cities in between. Jaipur is a city that was painted pink during the 17th century to welcome the Prince of Norway (I think). They kept the salmon color of the city, and we saw the King’s palace and other touristy sights. We also did an elephant ride up to a deserted castle...I love elephants. Along the way we saw many Hindu temples and ruins and took a crazy jeep ride back to home base.
Unfortunately the heckling and begging is overwhelming in India. As soon as they see white people, children and adults rush to you begging for money. Even when our buses drove through towns the kids came to wave to the bus and beg for money. Once you give one child some money, more appear. The time I gave a little boy money, he brought it back to his mother and she was off on a scooter with the money. Other mothers and children came to the site disappointed and angry they didn’t receive anything.
Generally there is lots of contempt for Americans in India. Maybe my own ignorance of the culture contributed to that. One day we went to an Astrology museum where there were huge sundial structures everywhere. There was also a cute little pyramid structure that I wanted to take a picture in. Without realizing what it was, I jumped inside of it and posed to take a picture. An Indian woman comes running over screaming at me in broken English, “You are stepping on our God! Take your shoes off! You cannot go inside there, and you cannot wear your shoes!” This was sooooo embarrassing because her entire posse (30+ ladies) were just chillin on the grass next to the Hindu shrine where they pray and I was stepping all over it with my sneakers. They made me terribly uncomfortable, and that’s when I booked it and ran away…barefoot after all.
One night at the night market I also got my first Henna tattoo which has lasted 3 weeks on my hand…I really wanted to wash it off once we got back to the ship. Oh well. At night there was not much to do. No one felt compelled to go out and and check the party scene, so I put the tv on and watched Bollywood movies, but mostly danced to Indian music videos with Gillian in our room.
The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful tomb in the world. It didn’t seem real that a King could build such a vast tomb for the love of his life. I found a local “professional photographer” who took Gillian and me around the Taj Mahal to capture the best photos from the best angles. He also taught us some yoga along the way, so Gillian and I were striking scorpion poses and meditating all over the Taj Mahal premises. I am convinced I have the best photos of the Taj.
Our tour guide, Taj, wanted us to experience and realize that not all of India is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. From my experience, we only saw villages and cities that looked like the slums in the film. I would have liked to go to Mumbai to visit Bollywood, and see what the economic contrast is like. India is unlike anything I ever imagined. People went to the bathroom at any time, anywhere in the street. The people also live among cows (which they let loose after they can no longer produce milk…too sacred to kill and eat also), dogs, goats, monkeys, whatever other creatures roamed through the streets. They use their left hand for wiping/gross things, and their right hand for eating.
The last day I also did a service visit to a school grades Pre-K-12 grade. All of the students speak Hindi, but their textbooks and classes are supposed to be conducted in English. I was surprised to find that they still didn’t speak English. Every morning they pray in Hindi, and report Global Current Events in English. I wonder if any of the students understand them. We spent a few hours playing with the kids, singing, and they put on a dance performance for us as well. They were so excited to have us there, and we were the 4th U.S.A. visitors to come to the school. It was also a private school, tuition is $350 a year and only 10% are on scholarship. Regardless, this school was still extremely poor, and sad to visit, but it felt good to make them smile for the day and exchange stories. They put so much time and preparation to host us for the day, that for once I felt like Indians were happy to see Americans for purposes other than begging.
I am glad that I went to India, but as of right now, I do not have a desire to return anytime soon.
Dock time in Mauritius
I had dock time. Why did I have dock time? Because I took a nice nap after the South African wine tour and forgot to turn in my passport. After they called my name over the loud speaker 50 times my roommate finally woke me up, and for turning it in late, I received 6 hours of dock time. When I was released from Dock Time I went to the town, found my friends and a restaurant bar where we stayed until we had to board the ship again. Mauritius from what I could see was GORGEOUS. I’m bummed I missed the beaches, but at least I woke up for the sunrise and watched the ship pull into port. The Island of Mauritius resembles Hawaii with the volcano mountains and green water.
Between the Mauritius and India, we had the Sea Olympics. On the ship, each hallway is divided into a different Sea. My sea is called the Adreatic sea, or the Pink sea. The winner sea gets to disembark the ship first in Florida…and! WE WON!!! YAYAYAYAAYA. Although I did not participate in any of the activities (thank you play rehearsal for making me miss my meeting) I was THE BEST cheerleader for my team. I provided extra pink clothes for those boys and girls who didn’t have pink, we painted our faces, we cheered and attended most events that day. It was a lot of fun for my sea to win.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Cape Town--Safari
The first day I also went to see a play called “Freak Country”. The title is supposed to be a pun on “free country” and it’s about Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has a lot of issues right now with, hyperinflation, Mugabe and the newly appointed Prime Minister. It was a comedy-tragedy type of play. It was about how an actor who lives in South Africa, born in Zimbabwe was traveling to his film shoot and had a connecting flight in Zimbabwe and got held at immigration. The head of customs wanted to kill him, but he found a way to escape. It was funny but the situation is serious, and I’m not South African, so it was hard to connect with the jokes.
(Genvieve and me with Table Mountain in the background)
The next day I woke up at 6:00 am to go on my Safari in Pilanesburg, South Africa. We flew to Johannesburg and then drove 2.5 hours to Pilanesburg where we had “high tea” and went on our first game drive in the safari. Our itinerary for 3 days was sleep-eat-safari. Within the first 3 minutes we saw so many zebra, and antelope type animals. Within the first 25 minutes we saw a huge pod of elephants. An entire family! They were so cute. Our guide was a little frightened though and had to maneuver the jeep in a position that he could take off if a mommy elephant charged…b/c they do that especially when there are many babies around. We were thinking that the safari would get boring because of all the animals we saw shortly into the first drive…but that wasn’t the case, we didn’t see another group like that. We did see one elephant at night, which was eating in his sleep. I spoke to a man who worked at the Athlete’s Foot in South Africa who said he was a park ranger and he lived close to Pilanesburg, and that his town tribe follows the elephant. There are tribes that identify themselves with game animals, and his is elephant because they like the way an elephant lives and they think elephants rule the land. Elephants sleep for 5 hours a day and eat ALL day…I see why one could idolize elephants. Not to mention a bull can weigh up to 4 tons—they are so strong too.That night toward the end of our night-drive when we were 3 minutes from the gate to the park the two boys on either side of me, who some refer to as “the lumberjacks” were being brave and hanging out of the side of the jeep…All of the sudden we see King of the African Land Male Lion. Our driver reverses the vehicle, the boys jumped inside the car, and they even shrieked. The lion was soooo awesome at a distance, until it started approaching our jeep. Reed was on my right, where the Lion was approaching, and he grabs onto me, and us three cram to the left side of the jeep away from the vehicle, the boys put their feet up to block the window so the lion couldn’t jump in. I am the one getting smashed in the middle of this chaos, but I try to take pictures even though our guide was telling us not to make a move or a sound…then the lion came ONE foot close to our window and just walked around back into the bush. It was sooooo scary! The guide was saying that it was a rare occurrence for the lion to come right up to the car like that…I think the lion was teasing us. It was scary to even look into his eyes. The funniest part about this was when we went back to the lodge to tell the other group about our stories, the boys made it seem like they were ready to tackle the lion…but everyone in our vehicle had to remind them that they both grabbed onto the smallest girl (me) on the trip to protect them. Of course they said they were ready to wrestle the lion…but we all know what really happened when Simba came close.
That night we enjoyed a barbeque at the lodge and went to bed early to get up for our 5am drive. They told us they’d give us wake up calls, but my roommate and I did not get one. Thank god she set her phone too, but all the groups left without us. She and I ended up going with some German tourists until we found another SAS group. They weren’t too happy that they had to come back for two American girls…oh well. This was by far the best drive though so it was hard to complain. We saw 2 sets of mating lions. This was remarkable—straight up National Geographic style. I have documentation…we were about 30 feet from the first “honeymoon couple” and we could see and hear the action. The second set of lions was even closer…about 10 feet away from our vehicle. The male lion got up and approached the jeep and roared a little, marked his territory a little and went back to his girly lion. We got back to the lodge at about 9am for breakfast and we had until 4:30 to relax by the pool and have lunch…by far one of the hardest school days in my life! We swam, worked on our tans, maybe enjoyed some mimosas and daiquiris, took a nap, showered and went back out on the Safari.The 2nd night drive we found sooooo many giraffe’s, which were really the one thing I hadn’t seen (other than Leopard, but no one expected to see them). We also saw a pregnant Giraffe who wandered by herself because she was due any day. The Giraffe’s are fascinating. We also got pretty close them—in fact we got really close to all the animals we saw. And it’s not off-roading because they are national parks that need to be preserved—there are pathways for cars paved, or dirt roads that animals hang out on. That night we watched a little bit of Rugby with some locals at the lodge. We met some businessmen who wanted to talk about Obama. Obama was EVERYWHERE in Africa. People either loved him or didn’t. Unfortunately because of Apartheid there is still so much racism and they don’t hold back and some people love him and worship him, and some think he’s a joke. I guess they were being disrespectful towards us, and were shamelessly bashing American Politics, and even though I don’t agree with most things they said, it was interesting to hear a different perspective. That’s one thing I’ve learned to be flexible with—we’re visitors in these countries and politics regarding foreign affairs has been a sensitive topic everywhere.
That night before bed, I suffered a traumatizing experience. I was getting ready for bed and putting my clothes on, and I was standing right next to the door, so I thought it would be a good idea to double check that it was locked. When out of the periphery of my eye I spot a HUGE shiny black scorpion. This thing was at least 6 inches long, with a spiny poison tail, and it was AN INCH away from my foot. If I stepped anywhere, a scorpion as big as a 3-pound Maine Lobster would’ve attacked me. Instinctively I started screaming, skipping, waving my arms—a serious freak out. My roommate was in the shower, and she comes out and I am standing on the furniture naked, shaking, pale as a ghost, my heart racing…my legs kept doing this weird jumpy, hop and kicking thing…I lost control. It’s hysterically funny to me now, but it was a scary situation then because all I could think about was the possibility of more Scorpions waiting to attack me in our room. Well the good news is I scared the scorpy out of the room and he crawled under the door--I don’t know how he even fit under there. When I called housekeeping, they sent Mona up with a dust brush and Raid to kill the “insects”. She had no idea what we called about because she didn’t understand, so then we decided to put a towel under the door and we all looked in the curtains, our shoes, under the beds for more. I felt like a little kid proofing my room of monsters. I took motion-sickness pill to help me fall asleep (b/c they make me drowsy) so that I could sleep without fearing the scorpions. And I didn’t have any scary dreams, and I woke up and went on a Safari game-drive.
The next early morning drive we didn’t see many animals at all. They knew it was Saturday so they all went into hiding from the tourists. Oh well. I still saw all the hippos, rhinos, elephants, LIONS, 3 sets of MATING LIONS, giraffes, pumba’s, buffalo, etc. I also cannot forget to mention that when we returned for breakfast, a Bull Elephant wandered into the Lodge grounds to take a mud bath. So from my breakfast table, right where I was sun-tanning the day before was a huge bull elephant playing in the mud. The rangers said they do that every once in a while because they have a little pond in the middle of the Lodge area. The elephants step right over the electrical fences to get in!
When we got back to Cape Town, I had dinner with Annie and Ashley from Fairfield, CT who went to Kruger national park. We exchanged Safari stories, and then went out to some local places after eating an authentic African dinner. I couldn’t even tell you what we ate…but the meats were Springbock, Kudu, Ostrich, and Beef (all animals I saw). We socialized with locals, girls and guys, and they loved us Americans. They told us where to go and what to eat. We went to this club called Tiger Tiger. They played a lot of cheesy American Music earlier in the night because they knew we were there, and the later it got they played the Euro techno-house music that I love to dance to. What I love about the culture is that their fashion is very similar to ours, the people were so nice, and the city is so YOUNG. It kind of reminds me of Boston and how everyone is my age. Even though the drinking age is 18, you still have to be 21 to get into clubs on weekends…guys had to be 23. They were also building the World Cup Futbol stadium for 2010 next year, so the town was buzzing with futbol excitement.The weather is perfect, the landscape and oceans is BEAUTIFUL and 20 minutes outside of Cape Town is the beginning of the wine regions.
The next morning we went on a wine tour through the Stellenbosch region. I organized a trip for 6 of my friends before we went back on the ship. Natasha, Gillian, Genvieve, Jessica, Annie and I went to three wineries and we learned techniques for wine tasting, how to select wines with meals, and we got to spend time with each other in the country side learning about country life. Our tour guide, Pim, was so funny, but I think we entertained him mostly. We went to Blaauwlippen Vineyard, Avontuur Estate, and Hazendal Vineyard. They all export to the U.S. so I look forward to seeing some of them at home.
Right now, I am sitting in Mauritius writing this. It is a beautiful volcanic island off of Africa, East of Madagascar. It is a vacation spot for Australian’s and Africans, and the island is about 40ft long. I woke up at 6:30am to watch us pull into port. Volcanic mountains are gorgeous, and the sunset behind them was one of the most stunning sunsets I’ve ever seen in my life.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Namibia!
February 14th-Happy Valentine’s Day, Namibia!
Early in the morning we had some U.S. Embassy people board the ship to talk to us about Namibia. They shared some personal stories and gave us some advice about getting around and safety. They told us that 51% of the population dies from AIDS, which explains why Namibia is such a “young country”. The average age is 42 years old. This information may be shocking and you can only imagine what my first impression of Namibia was like after hearing about it from American’s. But Namibia is a beautiful country, and incredibly rich in culture even though the official country is only 17 years old (it used to be inhabited by South Africa and lately Germany).
My friend Ashley and I went on a City Orientation Trip to a town called Swakopmund—it used to be a German colony, and it’s a beach vacation type of town for Europeans and especially South Africans. There are about 30,000 residence in the town which is just about the size of Boston University. The German influence in the town is apparent in the architecture: buildings and hotels look like Disney-World, cute and fun colored. First we visited a Namibian Weavery called Karakula. They have a website too, but they have their own wool farm, they spin the wool and dye it there and there are 14 specialty weavers. They distribute mostly to Europe and make custom carpeting and tapestries. For example we saw a photo of a newborn, and they made it into a rug. Their signature pictures are African Animals—the most popular one is an elephant rug, which I custom ordered to be sent home, you know I love ellies. I got to meet the lady who is weaving it, I picked the colors, and I picked the size. I really enjoyed talking to the people in the weavery, the owners are two German men, one spoke English, the other didn’t, but we all had a conversation about the culture of their business. I was also ecstatic to have my own Namibian tapestry made and sent home. It should take at most 3 months to make and send.
Then we went to a crystal factory. I learned about the native gems and precious stones. I found the gift shop so fascinating because I bead with a lot of the same stones at home, and for a while I thought that the gift shop was what they took us to see because it was so incredible. Haha my friend Ashley goes “Katie did you see the museum!” and then that’s when I realized there was more to see than the gift shop haha but in my defense the gift shop housed huge rocks of crystals with signs saying ”Do not touch” with information cards=very museum-ish. Pietersite is unique to Namibia and is only found in Namibia. There was a rock of Pietersite, which was 85 USD and it was about 2 inches in diameter and circumference—so it’s expensive, but the ball looked like a globe from a satellite captured picture—that’s the best way I can describe it! I learned how they made the jewelry and how they shaped the stones in their workshops.
Then I went to a craft fair in the center of town. I did more talking to the craftsmen than buying their items, but I was surprised how they approached us. Not in a threatening way like I felt in Morocco, but in a way that they wanted to know where we’re from, what we’re studying, what our name is, where we are studying at Semester at Sea, and most of all they wanted to shake my hand. I met one guy named Elia who crafts masks and buffalo bone among other things with his father. He hadn’t sold anything in 4 days, but he still was out there every day spreading out his crafts to sell to people to support his family. Of course there are lots of guys concentrated in one area, only a few women who all shared a similar lifestyle of collecting their resources and crafting them. I haggled with him for this amazing African Mask, he said it’s his very special design, and truly incomparable to any other masks I’d seen that day. He wanted to sell it to me for 1200Rand ($120 USD) and I got it for 300Rand (30 dollars). So I did a great job bargaining. I also learned a lot about the culture behind their craftwork. In general talking to locals is something I would like to do more because I’ve met such interesting people—interesting in that they have very different lives than I.
Ashley and I climbing Dune 7!I also climbed Dune 7—the largest sand dune in Africa and The best workout in 15 minutes! Our tour guide said if we climbed the dune in 7 minutes he’d buy us a drink. Well, it didn’t look so hard, but once you start climbing it you have to keep going or else you sink into the sand. And the sand is piping hot so it burns your ankles as your feet sink down. Not to mention by the end I was sweating bullets and covered in sand because it was so hot and so hard to climb—really unlike any Stairmaster level I’ve ever experienced. The sand dunes are so gorgeous though, they look fake.
Rachel and I during the sunset at the condo, night one.For dinner, Ashley, Molly and I enjoyed a romantic dinner at a restaurant that specializes in Ostrich. We started off with Ostrich Carpaccio (even though they advised us NOT to eat anything uncooked) It was the most DELICIOUS meat I’ve ever tasted—low in fat, high in protein. A local also told us where to eat and what to eat, so we had some guidance. That night I checked into our rental condo in Swakopmund—some very IRRESPONSIBLE boy was in charge of 35 people, so I didn’t even have the address of where our place was I just knew it was by the “Rafter’s Bar.” So we walk into the bar with our big weekend bags, and the bouncer was like, “you can’t come in here with that bag” so I got even more irritated, but he was kidding, so I went in and then was basically swarmed by locals asking me if I was “checking into the bar” and cracking similar jokes at the two little American girls walking into the locals bar with our huge bags. To my dismay we found that all of our friends already left. So Ashley and I awkwardly stood in the middle of the bar and waited for our friends to come and show us where our condo was located. I roomed with 9 of my girlfriends in a place with 4 beds, and then the rest of the group were all dispersed among 4 condos—which we never saw and I’ll explain why. That night I hung out with my roommates and went to some local places.
Dinner at The Lighthouse Restaurant, sunset, night 2. (From Top: Annie, Gillian, Rachel, Rachel, Me, Ashley)The next morning (Feb 15) at about 8:30am the landlady comes in and says we have to move out by 11am—yes we were EVICTED. BUT it was NOT the girls fault, we’re 9 girls, how loud could we be? TWO of the four condos had serious noise complaints, and obviously it was the boy’s condo’s that got EVERYONE kicked out of our houses. It’s funny because even before we arrived in Swak, we agreed that we were never letting boys plan anything ever, EVER again. I don’t know why the landlady’s would rent family-style condo’s to a massive group of American college kids either.
Natasha, Gillian, and me revving our engines. day 3.February 15th
It worked out very nicely after we got kicked out though. We split from the huge group into many smaller groups. We found a great bed and breakfast hotel next to the beach called, “A La Mer” with 24hour security. The guy who owns it really was so generous and tolerant of us. He planned Desert Adventures for us, and told us where to eat game and dinner. Annie and I shared a room and then Molly and Ashley came banging on our door at 5am because they were locked out of their condo down the street. But during the day we walked around Swak, talked to locals, enjoyed the beach and some local places.
February 16th
When we woke up we ate breakfast that they prepared for us and we went ATV-ing and Sandboarding in the desert. We had such a blast in the desert, and it was so beautiful. Sandboarding is literally sitting on a cardboard sliding down the dunes. It was such a thrill, and we even made a chain of people sliding down the dune too. I posted a video to show. But I would love to go back to Namibia for a few days again. I know we all had a great time together and it exceeded all of our expectations!
Well after one day of classes we’ll be in South Africa tomorrow! Can’t wait!
xoxo
Reed, Ryan, Kat, Molly, Me, Gillian, Bobby
sand-sled team.
Monday, February 9, 2009
(this picture is deck 7 where I can be found before/between/and after class every day)Crossing the Line, or Neptune Day, is an initiation rite celebrated in many navies. It commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator. The rite was intended originally as a test of new shipmates by seasoned sailors. The tradition dates back to the 16th century, and in the old days, the ship heaved to (that is, it set its sails so as to remain stationary) and the pollywogs were hoisted on the mainyard and dunked into the ocean 40 feet below; afterwards, shaving and other forms of blood letting took place.
The initiation first started with an oath.
Then experienced equator crossers poured green fish guts (I think it was slime) on me.
Next I kissed a fish…on the lips.
Then I kissed King Neptune’s ring, and the Queen.
Then I jumped into the water (it was freezing and I was laughing at all of the faces people were making when they surfaced—and then I made the same face and realized why they were making those faces)Then I was knighted by a Sea Lord.
And now I am Initiated!
(and then…people went to get their heads shaved, yes girls too)
This went on for a few hours, and the rest of the afternoon we had off from class and hung out in the sun and caught up on some homework.--great day. I asked Captain Jeremy, aka King Neptune Rex who was driving the ship. He replied, "I don't know." So then I asked if it was on Auto-Pilot, and he replied "I'm not sure."
Hopefully we'll arrive at Namibia in a few days!
xoxo
Neptune Day--The Preface
This is an email sent to everyone on the ship last night. Classes were canceled in honor of King Neptune.
SUBPOENA to all POLLYWOGS,
You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS, because it has been brought to the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS, that the good ship M/V EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of the RULER OF THE DEEP.
THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that The Royal, King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will, with his Secretary and Royal Court, meet in full session on board the offending ship M.V. EXPLORER on the 9th day of February, A.D. 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 aft, to hear your defense.
Regards,
-King Neptune and His Royal Court
In addition: All pollywogs with hair longer than 8 inches who wish to donate their hair to a worthwhile charity, should do so BEFORE undergoing the initiation ceremony, as only clean hair is able to be donated.
If there are any pollywogs who have brought hair clippers on board, your services are hereby solicited by King Neptune and his Royal Barber. You may help by bringing your clippers to DECK 7 aft, tomorrow morning.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Morocco! 3-days, 2-nights!
So after recovering from the traumatic turbulent waves and writing in my journal, I can now sit down and tell you about my trip.
First thing in the morning I departed for the countryside to where the camels were waiting for me. I slept the whole way there on the bus, but don’t worry on the way back I wasn’t able to sleep so I saw 3.5 hours worth of green farmlands.
This picture is from lunch, which I actually ate even though I was prepared with 5 balance bars to avoid getting traveler’s sickness from the food. They warned us not to eat anything that wasn’t piping hot. I’m not sure if you can see the steam in the picture, but it was hot and spicy and DELICIOUS. The spices are key to Moroccan food. Then after lunch we rode the camels. When we got to Marrakesh we went to the Palm Groves to a village inhabited by Berber’s. Berber’s are North Americans who settled in Morocco about 5,000 years ago, they are mostly populated in the Atlas Mountains (which I wish I had time to explore).
This is me about to kiss Omal (my camel) and I don’t know why they put these blue bandanas on our heads but I instantly felt transformed into a Moroccan. The guide told me that I was “trop petite” and that I wasn’t allowed to ride this camel (b/c it was the biggest one), so I said “It’s okay, my friend will come with me” so Ashley and I mounted our camel, but we were thrown forward because when camels stand up they do their hind legs first, and then we lead the rest of the camel squad through a village. Of course we tried to make him start galloping and veering away from the other camels, but there were dogs and guides following to make sure we wouldn’t run off into the Atlas Mountains.
But camel riding was fun, and we went through a very desolate Berber village where little boys ran up to us asking for money, or tried to sell us things. A girl from another group supposedly tried to high-five one of them, and he attempted to physically harm her. This seemed to be the general attitude of Moroccans towards Americans. The middle of the city is definitely a very threatening area for girls to be, and we didn’t know that women are forbidden to enter liquor stores, bars, banks, so we kind of unintentionally brought the attention to ourselves…oops.
The next day we spent in Marrakesh sightseeing. We saw tombs, a mosque, and a palace ( A picture of Ashley and I in the palace courtyard). We also went to the Square of Death, also known as the souks, also known as the market place. There were snake charmers, monkey handlers, henna tattoo artists, vendors selling all handcrafted goods. When we got there, we were listening to Nigid, our tour guide, and a bunch of girls in our group start screaming because a snake charmer came right up to one of them and threw a snake around his neck then asked for money to take a picture. (Moroccans request money in exchange for taking pictures of them…actually they ask for money for almost any reason). One of my friends ended up paying a snake charmer to just keep the snake away. We had a lot of laughs. 
This picture is from the best spice market in Marrakesh, where there were tons of shelves with jars of spices everywhere. We learned about some of the important spices in their culture like aphrodisiac spices and stress relieving spices. They wanted us to buy some—however, a former LAPD sheriff was on our trip with us and advised us that the ship security would probably confiscate anything that looked “blunt-able”. What do you know? At the security door on the ship there was a pile of plastic baggies that looked like the very saffron and nutmeg spices that the spice ladies tried to sell to us.
My French helped me in Morocco. I think it’s so cool that Morocco is bi-tri-lingual. They speak Arabic, French, Spanish, and the Berber’s have their own dialect, and I know one phrase in Arabic, “Bahebic Shamutas,” which I learned from a cab driver in Boston. But French helped me with bargaining especially--I was able to purchase some hand-made pashminas and pottery. We also learned that the weather we had was abnormal and occurred once very 30 years—50 degree weather and raining, and everything to do in Morocco is outside, but at least we had the only nice day for camel riding.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Code Blue!
Today we left Morocco. It was an extremely rough departure out of the harbor, rougher than on the way in. (on the way in, I was on the 7th deck hanging out, and in the room next to us in the salon, hair products fell to the floor and exploded everywhere, the "unshatterable"glass table shattered everywhere, we were cracking up b/c there was nothing anyone could do about it but watch--unless they wanted to get injured cleaning it up in the middle of the rough patch and we were laughing WITH the beauticians, otherwise it wouldn't have been funny if they didn't think so too).
And today everyone was excited for the 20 minutes of rough waves that the captain warned us about on the way out of the sound. We all put sweatpants on and found the biggest wooden or tile floors to sit on to slide across the floor. It was all fun and games and I was crying from laughing so hard, UNTIL someone got hurt. There was ONE wave that brought the side of the ship supposedly almost touching the water on the top deck. Everyone, and EVERYTHING went to the starboard side. So some boys that thought they were being funny running with the current were very badly injured. People rolled backwards into poles, and chairs, and tables--followed by everything on the opposite side of the room. I hit the center podium in the Student Union and I have the battle scars to prove it. We were all pretty shaken despite the fun we were previously having. After propping myself against the podium so nothing could hit me again, I realized my knee was bleeding--all the way down my leg. So now I have my first battleshipwound and I expect a gigantic bruise in the morning. Luckily, I'm okay. Unluckily for the stupid boys who thought it was a good idea to stand up and run, well, one broke his wrist, the other very badly busted his leg bleeding in several places, and one went through a wall in the Union. 10 minutes later we hear "Code Blue, room 5###". By this point I washed my leg and bandaged myself up and sat in the hallway until I could get up and move around again. But then I went back upstairs to look for my scattered belongings, when the man from room 5### came down the stairs holding a bloody rag to his head with the medical staff helping him. I think he is a professor, or a life long learner, but his head was in bad shape. These casualties affected those just trying to have fun by obeying the captains orders and sitting on the floor, and those who innocently wanted to sleep. Even though this sounds dangerous, this is a highlight of the voyage so far--and a thrill for most, no need to lecture, we were in the safest place on the ship that we could be, and still people managed to get hurt.
The best part is reviewing the videos people took before it got so rough.
Morocco was great! I'll write about it tomorrow!
xoxo
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Espana No Mas
But I had the best time in Spain! We arrived in port Cadiz, pronounced CAdith (with a lisp). We took pictures of our first time getting off the ship since Bahamas, and then set foot on land. At the time, we had a hard time adjusting to land, and as soon as someone started complaining about the swaying we all felt motion sickness, especially during the first two days in Spain.
In Cadiz we went to a little café for breakfast/lunch, but we ordered what we knew how to ask for: toast, eggs, coffee. Then we walked through Cadiz, stumbled upon Cathedrals, and monuments, and shopping of course. I signed up for a SAS city orientation, where a great tour guide got us VIP into the Town Hall, the Cathedral for a tour, told us about the local libations, vina y sangria. A wine called Sherry is the regional specialty. It tasted like prune juice, spiked with whiskey…sooo gross but at least we tried it and swallowed it politely. I went to a Flamenco dance and Bull Fight that night too. I was a little disappointed because they tease the bull and torture the trisage horses while the horses dance with the Flamenco dancers. I guess it’s a staple of their culture, and we have to respect that. Then we went out at night to a local bar where there were mostly SAS kids and some locals. One of the locals was a great dancer and lead a group dance very similar to the Cha Cha slide all night long. Obviously my feet were killing me, so I walked barefoot through the streets of Cadiz back to the ship. Good thing I got those Tetanus shots, but at least I can say I really got a good feel for Cadiz.
The next morning I woke up very early to catch a train to Sevilla, a bigger city than Cadiz. Tall orange trees are a staple of Sevilla, which we admired all throughout Sevilla. We checked into the hostel, Triana Backpackers. It was nice, but had a funky smell despite the fact that people were cleaning from the moment we got there to the time we left. Then we went out to a little hole-in-the-wall tapas restaurant for some breakfast/lunch at 3pm. After that we purchased tickets to the Futbol (soccer) game: Sevilla vs. Valencia. We had a great time at the game, Sevilla won, so the town was going crazy that night.
Spain is known for their nightlife and bars don’t get busy until 1:30-2:00 am in the morning. That night we went to Buddha Bar nightclub where we ran into so many SAS people. We danced all night—again, but I kept my shoes on this time. The next morning/day we spent sightseeing in Sevilla. Alcazar was a palace that was built in the 13th century with beautiful gardens, Islamic/Moroccan Influence/massive collection of handcrafted fans and tile.
Right across from the Alcazar is the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world: Cathedral de Sevilla. Christopher Columbus’ tomb is in the middle of the Cathedral right next to the massive, gold altar. The Cathedral was so lush. Then we hiked 40 floors up to the top of the Giralda tower for a panoramic view of Sevilla. I was mostly surprised with the amount of cranes hanging over the city—everything is under restoration. The city is very Romanesque in that each building is older than the next.
That night we went to a locals Flamenco night…we had to stick together because us American’s stick out like soar thumbs. I was wearing flip-flops to walk around the city that night, and some Spaniard who I stopped for directions asked me if I was going to the pool. Generally Spaniards feel contempt for Americans since the beginning of our involvement with Iraq. Nonetheless, I had an awesome experience with all of my new friends in Spain.Morocco tomorrow! I miss you all!
xoxo
1st: picture of me on a vehicle in Cadiz, breaking the SAS rules
2nd: picture of "the posse" in front of Cathedral de Sevilla
3rd: picture me and Natasha at the Futbol game
4th: picture of me from a tower at Alcazar Palace
5th: picture of posse before Flamenco night at dinner
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Day 4 of the Voyage
I made it!!!
The first day entailed waiting on a Bahamian Customs line for an hour and a half. I passed inspection! I toured the boat with a few people who I met on line, and we tried to find our way, got lost a whole lot, and then I started to unpack.
My room is cozy to my surprise. It's hard to go from sleeping in my own room with a Queen sized bed to an economy bed in a 8x12ft. room shared between two people on beds that fit toddlers (which is how small I am anyway). I thought I would feel really stuffy but I never spend time in my room, other than to shower and sleep.
At 17hundred hours we departed the Bahamas and all 750 of us watched the land disappear before our eyes from the aft of the ship.
The first night we had an orientation lecture about the "F" word (flexibility) and rules/regulations--all business and redundant boring stuff, but the best part was meeting all these new people. 73% of the ship is girls which makes it feel a little like a sorority...I've met some great faculty and staff also.
Today is Day 4...I am over my sea-sickness and queezy feeling, but I am not over the instant change in balance. It's kind of funny to watch everyone walking down the hallways because we all crash into the sides and not to mention each other. It's like learning how to walk for the first time!
Today I spent the day in class for 4.5 hours, and then another 3-4 hours suntanning on the deck in my bathing suit doing my homework...I can't believe I am getting credit for this! There's not much to do in my room so I try to spend as much time in the fresh air as I can. Most of us are anticipating our arrival in Cadiz, Spain!!! I cannot wait to touch land and find STILLNESS and ground myself. Supposedly when we get there it will be Carnival weekend, which is the Spanish Mardi Gras and the entire country goes down to Cadiz to celebrate! I am also looking forward to visiting Sevilla, Grenada, and Cadiz on trips directed with the faculty. The great thing about living with your professors is that they are very approachable, and encourage conversation over any meal. They also do not spend much time in their rooms so everyone shares the same hangouts.
Anyways other than engaging in two days of classes, there is not much to do when the sun goes down--except have do homework, have dinner and maybe go to "Pub Night." We are setting the clock forward an hour each night until we reach Spain. We're about 1/3 of the way there!!!
I miss everyone! And if you want to contact me, my email at SAS is the BEST way. And please DO NOT leave voicemails...most likely it's free for you to call me because my number is the same, but it's expensive for me to call voicemail, not to mention use the internet (other than emailing), call people, and text. BBM is still good and free, so you can ping me if I have your pin.
xoxo
kc
kaclark@semesteratsea.NET
