Saturday, April 21, 2007
Vietnam- So Vietnam was nothing I’d thought it would be. It was so much better. It is weird thinking that it was only in 1991 that Americans were allowed to start visiting Vietnam, and only in 1995 that we started improving relations with them. I know people who were in the war, and even some of my professors were in involved in it. Just think of our involvement in Iraq…its sort of a similar situation. Can you imagine my kids going Iraq just to visit?? That won’t ever happen, or will it? Well, my first day out in Vietnam, like most other ports, was just a day of roaming around and getting to know the area. We shopped, of course!! Lots of cheap things (and fake things) to buy!! So we hit up the markets, internet café, and just explored. That night my friends and I along with lots of other SAS students went out to Apocalypse Now which was a pretty cool bar. NOTE: Mom, this is where you should stop reading. Haha. I know you won’t, so I apologize in advance. Sooo that night was my first motorcycle experience. The place was full of bikes!! There were 100 bikes (motorcycles, mopeds, etc) to every 1 car! And the few cars on the road were usually taxis. For the most part, we took motorcycles instead of a taxi cab. It cost a dollar and they took you wherever you wanted to go. My friends and I loved it! But I know my mommy hates motorcycles…but I am safe and that’s all that matters! It is just funny that my dad has had a motorcycle for like the last 6 years and I have yet to ride on it with him. I am sure he won’t be happy either that my first ride was not with him, but with a complete stranger haha. I will not describe my everyday in detail because I shopped A LOT of the time. What I will describe to you is what it was like there. Like I said, everything was cheap!! They sold polos for $3, dvds for $1, cheap north face book bags, and the list goes on. I bought about 30 dvds!! They also had cheap tailors and cheap massages!! I took advantage of both. I got lots of clothes there…wahooo! Other than it being cheap, it was beautiful!! I really loved Ho Chi Minh City. Lots to do and see. And a millliioon bikes everywhere. We were warned about crossing the street and warned about exhaust burns. Let me just tell you about crossing the street…looking both ways does nothing. You just pretty much have to cross even though there are bikes coming at you. Just set your eyes on your target and walk at a slow but steady pace. Seriously!! They just steer around you! Stoplights and stop signs didn’t exist. Welllll, very few. It was pointless to even wait for a clearing, you just had to walk slowly so they can judge where you are going then steer around you. There is more of a chance that you will get hit if you run. So scary!! I am going to be a pro at crossing the street. I didn’t believe anyone on the ship when they told us about crossing. I thought it was an exaggeration. Nope!! Also, motorcycle exhaust burns were not an exaggeration either. I didn’t get one but such a large number of students did. Actually, so many students were going to the ship health clinic (which is very small),that they had to have an exhaust burn gathering in the student union so they could all be taken care of! It seems like the new (and painful) trend…walking around with your calf bandaged up.Everyone was SO nice in Vietnam. So far, I would say they have the friendliest people. They were so amazingly nice and helpful. One lady even took my hand to help me cross the street…just things like that made me feel so welcomed.Day number three in Vietnam was my 21st birthday!! Wahooo! In celebration, Whitney, Savannah and I went for a spa day. They give very cheap massages everywhere, but we chose a place that was a little pricier. In comparison to the U.S. (or the ship’s spa), it wasn’t pricey at all!! But this spa was FABULOUS. They treated us like three princesses. Let me just brag for a moment. The package we bought cost $75 per person. When we first came in, they gave us tea and let us relax. Next, we got to go into the steam room and take a shower. The whole time they were there catering to us with water, towels, and anything we needed! We were the only ones there at first, so we got way more attention than we would back at home. We then had a 75 minute full body massage and a 60 minute facial. All three beds were in the same room, so we were together. Then, we went and got an hour long foot massages as they served us a light meal. The meal included tea, fresh squeezed lemonade, chicken and rice. Once again, we were all three together getting our foot massages. Lastly, we got a manicure and a pedicure. So in the end, 5 hours at the spa for $75 was an amazing deal! Especially since the spa was beautiful, not just some hole in the wall. And let me just tell you what my favorite part was…when we were getting our massages and looking down through the little hole in the table, they had a glass bowl of water with fresh flowers floating in it. Then I get back on the ship and pay $60 for a 60minute massage and have to stare at the ugly floor. I loved Vietnam.And since I am on the massage kick, let me just add a funny comparison between massages in the U.S. and Vietnam. Ok, well first of all my 5 girlfriends and I went and got a massage in some hotel two days later also. Both of these massages I got were not normal massages. They stand there and watch you get undressed and dressed. And just remember, I was in the room with my friends and their masseuses too. Definitely not normal in the U.S. When they begin to massage, they get on the table with you. Haha you know…like when I massage my sister or something I straddle her. Well, that’s what they do!! They hop up on the table and sit on your butt to massage you. Oh, and they massage your butt too. They do a lot of weird things when they massage you. One of them even got up and walked on my back and dug her toes into it. Then (at the hotel, not the nice spa), the lady watched me get dressed then asked me for her tip. Many people would do this. Not nicely ask, but demand a tip. And god forbid your friend give more than you, because then they get really mad at you. Well, this lady actually opened my bag to look inside and see how much money I had because she didn’t think I gave her enough! We would give them anywhere from 50-100% of a tip too (since they only cost like $7-10). Other than the spa on my b-day, we went out to eat and did some karaoke!! So much fun! Don’t worry, I had a good night. I didn’t get too crazy because I had plans for the next day!!On the last day in Vietnam I went on the Mekong Delta trip. We got in little boats and canoes and visited villages and the floating market. We got to try some different fruits and foods. I also stuck my finger in a honeycomb with bees all over it and ate some honey out of it! So yummy. But the markets were interesting…lots of nasty raw meat everywhere. Even wild dog!! Yeah...they eat wild dog there and sell it at the market. Doesn’t that sound delicious?? But that’s about it. Shopping, spa days, eating, lots of motorcycle rides, and exploring—that was Vietnam!! P.S. Now I want my own moped!! Seriously!! I hear they can be pretty cheap!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Malaysia
Ok, so here I am in Hong Kong!! Let me just give a quick overview of Malaysia first. I didn't do all that much there. Malaysia the only predominately Mulism country on our itinerary. It was a mix of Indians, Chinese and Malays. It was a pretty place...clean too. Some of my friends and I went north on the island of Penang to spend our few days on the beach. There were night markets and stuff there. It was a fun time!! The beach was great. We stayed at a place called "Baba's Guest House." The family actually lived there and it was kind of like a hotel/motel mix haha if that makes sense. But the main lobby part was their living room. It was cute. You had to take off your shoes to go in like you would in the homes of many Asians. And they were soooo nice to us. They gave us safety tips and just told us everything we needed to know. We ended up making them a fruit basket at the end. :) One of the days on the beach we went on the Banana boat...wahoo lots of fun. It is just like this big blown-up banana looking thing you sit on while being pulled by a boat. It was fun and we fell off lots of times. One of the times I ended up messing up my toes. It was sooo painful. I don't think it is broke, but there is something wrong with it. It was swollen and bruised. I could barely walk on it. That was like 2-3weeks ago and it is still sooo swollen and hurts. It wouldn't be that bad if I didn't have to walk around on it while in port. But what can you really do for a toe?? It is seriously huge...and sometimes I look down and its purple. Like it never gets enough blood or something. Cool, huh? haha. But I can't complain!! I am traveling around the world!! Malaysia is like a vacation spot. Nothing signifigant happened there.
Ok, so here I am in Hong Kong!! Let me just give a quick overview of Malaysia first. I didn't do all that much there. Malaysia the only predominately Mulism country on our itinerary. It was a mix of Indians, Chinese and Malays. It was a pretty place...clean too. Some of my friends and I went north on the island of Penang to spend our few days on the beach. There were night markets and stuff there. It was a fun time!! The beach was great. We stayed at a place called "Baba's Guest House." The family actually lived there and it was kind of like a hotel/motel mix haha if that makes sense. But the main lobby part was their living room. It was cute. You had to take off your shoes to go in like you would in the homes of many Asians. And they were soooo nice to us. They gave us safety tips and just told us everything we needed to know. We ended up making them a fruit basket at the end. :) One of the days on the beach we went on the Banana boat...wahoo lots of fun. It is just like this big blown-up banana looking thing you sit on while being pulled by a boat. It was fun and we fell off lots of times. One of the times I ended up messing up my toes. It was sooo painful. I don't think it is broke, but there is something wrong with it. It was swollen and bruised. I could barely walk on it. That was like 2-3weeks ago and it is still sooo swollen and hurts. It wouldn't be that bad if I didn't have to walk around on it while in port. But what can you really do for a toe?? It is seriously huge...and sometimes I look down and its purple. Like it never gets enough blood or something. Cool, huh? haha. But I can't complain!! I am traveling around the world!! Malaysia is like a vacation spot. Nothing signifigant happened there.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Well…here I am..behind again!! I seriously just have soo much to do!!
It is hard to try to study for classes, get papers done, etc in
between ports. If I don't, I will be writing papers and studying
while in port (yeah, right)!! My classes are stressing me out—well
one of them more than the others. But now for what has been happening
on and off the ship. It is another long one, so I will break it up a
bit for ya!!
OK, so between Mauritius and India were the Sea Olympics. We did not
have class that day…it was a day of games!! Each hall is broken up
into seas. There are like 9 of them or something?? The lifelong
learners, children, faculty/staff even had a sea. We competed in
things such as tug of war, juice pong, flip cup, relay races,
basketball tournaments, synchronized swimming, lip synch, etc. So
much fun!! The grand prize at the end is getting off the ship first
in San Diego. Getting off the ship in any port is a long process. We
usually port between 7-8am and don't end up getting off the ship until
sometime between 10-12, depending on the countries policies.
Sometimes every single person on this ship has to meet with an
immigration official face-to-face and get their passport stamped,
other times the officials are more lenient. In India we had to carry
around immigration papers to get checked every time we went into the
harbor and left the harbor. They are pretty gnarly there.
Annnyyywayyysss…we are going to have to go through customs in San
Diego…all 1,000+ people on this ship. Ugh. It is going to be a long
day!!! So the winners of the sea Olympics get off the ship first.
Good deal. Our sea came in 3rd. Yay, go Baltic!!
India—where to begin. India was an interesting experience to say the
least. I don't even know how to describe India to you. I need to
explain a few things first just to paint the picture for you before I
tell you what I did there.
Atmosphere
It was filthy and smelly just as I heard, but worse than I had ever
imagined. EVERY WHERE. I visited 3cities and they were all terrible.
It is so sad that people actually have to live in that filth.
Garbage is just thrown on the street. I looked for trash cans…I swear
they don't exist!! No lie...garbage all over the sidewalks and street.
Sometimes it is swept into a neat pile in middle of the sidewalk.
And there is just so much pollution in the air. I am not exaggerating
at all when I tell you this next part. It is kind of gross, but you
need to understand India. I would come inside and wipe off my face
with face wipes. I had no make-up on, yet my face was covered. My
wipes would seriously be black. I would just walk around the city and
my face would get dirty. Needless to say we all broke out in India!!
Now for the gross parts…ears and nose! We would clean out of ears
everyday and our q-tips would be sooo dirty. Inner and outer ear!!
And then we would blow our noses…just as bad!! The day after India I
blew my nose and it was the worst. Completely black. No joke. I
didn't know that could even happen. I had huge black boogers! Haha. I
don't even wanna know what my lungs look like after that. Yuck. Can
you imagine living there?? Our clothes were filthy and smelled so
bad. And it was so hot to add to it!
Poverty
EVERYONE WAS POOR. I thought maybe it would be like South Africa—rich
areas and poor areas. NO. And poverty was way worse in India than I
saw in South Africa. I could not believe the number of homeless I
saw. They would line the sidewalks at night. It was unreal. Yeah,
there were homeless people in South Africa, but not like I saw in
India. The homes I saw (from a distance) in India were worse than
what I saw in South Africa too. There were just rows and rows of
homeless on the sidewalks. Some people naked. It was just unreal.
All three cities I visited were just the same.
Beggars
Beggars were everywhere asking us for money as you could imagine with
the amount of poverty and homelessness. We were obviously targets.
Esp. since one of the vans I rode in had "tourist" written on the
side. We got mobbed. Now only would they come up to us while we were
walking, but in traffic also. They just knocked on our van windows!!
We did give children all the power-bars and crackers we had. We
actually had a lot of them since we were scared of India food (b/c of
the spice and diarrhea). So we fed many children with them. Couple
funny stories about people knocking on our windows. First of all, our
driver kept getting out of the van for some reason. Once, we were in
traffic and saw monkeys on leashes! So of course we started taking
pictures and the guy brings them over and we roll down the window and
they start doing tricks. We are taking videos and pictures and we
know he is going to want money. So after all the cool monkey tricks
he brings the money to the window and the monkey climbed part way in
(I got videos of it!!) and some people started touching it (big no-no
because they have rabies) and the guy asked us for 100 rupees each.
There were 9 of us so he wanted 900 rupees for doing monkey tricks.
LOL. The conversion rate was only like 45:1 but still that's like
$20! Haha we gave him a few rupees…like $1 worth. He kept begging for
more and wouldn't go away. We tried putting the window up in him
haha. We were nice at first then we just had to tell him to go away.
Finally, he asked us where we were from and my roomie said Canada He
just said oh ok ok and walked away. haha Canada!! It works every
time!! If you tell people you are from Canada they are more likely to
leave you alone. It worked every time!!!
Rickshaws
Rickshaws are the means of transportation in India. Little motorized
vehicles that carry 2-3 people in them (or 7 like the Indians like to
do…handing on the back, etc) They had tops on them but were
completely open on the sides. This is how we got everywhere. They
were loud and weaved in and out of traffic. Ohhhh the traffic in
India. There were no lanes and bikes, motorcycles, and rickshaws just
weaved in and out…went on the other side of the road or shoulder if
necessary. They use their horns every 5 seconds. It is sooo loud and
annoying. There are many different uses for the horn. They beep the
horn EVERYTIME they pass someone, which is so often. So its constant
horns. The horn means: "Hey, I am coming up on your side," "You are
going to slow, speed up or let me pass you," or they use when they are
mad at someone…kinda like we do!! It is insanely annoying. There is
so much traffic but it isn't stop and go it is GOOOOOO traffic.
Rickshaws are nuts!! Like steer with a bar not a wheel…they are just
nuts. Now motorcycles are used as cars in India…we saw up to 4people
on one motorcycle. Every where they had 2-4 people on them. The guy
would drive and the lady would sit sideways. Ladies would ride on the
back sitting sideways holding a baby in her arms. Or a couple would
have 2 children on with them. No helmets of course and in the
weirdest position.
Oh—did I mention the greatest part of the rickshaws…how they take you
every where you DON'T wanna go because they get commission. Yeah—you
will say I wanna go to the market or to the grocery store and they
will take you to some store you didn't wanna go to. Then they lie to
you and tell you things like "market is closed today—holy day!!" and
you just have to say things like "I am not getting out and if you
don't take me now I won't pay you." Usually, they will just leave and
take you to another place you don't want to go. I had about 8
rickshaw rides and with the exception of the ones to the airport and
back, every one took me somewhere I didn't want to go. One driver
even admitted to us he got free uniforms when we went there. He said
"Pllleeasee just two more!" All the shops they take you to are the
same and waste your time so you have to be firm with them.
Animals
There were random animals everywhere. Of course my favorites were the
cows that walk down the street. Yes, just walk down the street. They
walk in the road and everything. Cows are sacred there so they don't
eat them…they just let them roam. Let me just name some of the other
animals I saw. And when I saw I saw them I mean these are the animals
I saw just walking down the road or on the side of the road. Not in a
farm, not in a cage, but all of these I saw just running around like
we would have wild cats or dogs running around. So I saw dogs, cats,
cows, goats, pigs, chicken, camels (most had people riding on them),
monkeys (lots of them—ones that were trained and wild ones too),
donkeys and horses. All just roaming around like India is a huge
farm.
Toilets
My favorite!! India's toilets (or lack of)! Let me just give you a
little lesson on toilets! Some places did have regular toilets. Some
had European toilets. Most had Indian squatters. I wish I could show
you my pics of squatters…you will see my pics soon enough!! Squatters
are pretty much holes in the ground. When I heard this, I didn't
think I would actually have to go to the bathroom in a hole in the
ground…if I was even that lucky!! If they are nice squatters they are
porcelain holes in the ground. Some nice squatters even flush!! Some
squatters don't flush. Just imagine how hard it is to squat down that
low and aim…especially in the Indian clothes I had on!! My shirt was
to my knees and my pants were very baggy. I was trying to hold my
pants up so they wouldn't touch the nasty ground and also hold my
shirt up too. I had to do all of this while trying to keep my balance
and aim in the hole and not on my clothes. I am a pro-squatter now!!
Oh—and squatters don't have toilet paper!! If they are nice squatters,
they have a hose to wash off with. If not they just have a bucket of
water…like to just rinse your hand in! ew!! I went to the nastiest
squatter…I mean it was like a hole in the mud with a bucket of water
they clean with. Don't worry!! We carried toilet paper with us at all
times. Sometimes we even had to just go on the side of the road like
behind bushes or something. Oh, and by the way, they don't have
toilet paper because they either use the hose thing (I forget what it
is called) or their hand. Yeah, it is true. Anyways, as we would be
driving down the road we saw people just going to the bathroom in
middle of the sidewalks. Men just stop wherever they want to take a
pee…or more!! We saw guys just taking a crap where we could see them.
That's how dirty India was. And this leads me to one more thing…
Table Etiquette
They eat with their hands!! How fun!! And difficult. They also would
give us silverware in nice restaurants, but not everywhere I went!!
It is not easy to always use your hand…especially with rice. Oh—and
you can only use your RIGHT hand because the left hand is used for the
bathroom!!! How gross. Usually there is a bowl of food you share
with the entire table and your right hand is considered clean. But I
highly doubt their right hands are even clean. But they know for sure
that their left hand was used in the bathroom. Ew. I think I will
stick with silverware. But I have to admit it was definitely fun
being able to eat with my hands (after washing them with soap and
using hand sanitizer). Oh—and just like many other countries we
couldn't drink the water there or eat anything that was washed in
water. And no ice. No pork. And lots of other things!! This would
cause diarrhea. Too bad everyone got it anyways.
So Day 1—Chennai (Madras), India
-Whit and I woke up and ate on the ship then went out to buy some
Indian clothes!! We found a rickshaw that of course took us places we
did not want to go but we did each buy an outfit. Mine is SOOO cute!!
The tops are all long and I think I am going to get mine made into a
dress when I get home…its that cute. Next, we went to the grocery
store. We like to buy snacks for the ship, gum, any toiletries we are
out of, etc. So we told our driver grocery store, but he didn't
understand. We tried sooo hard. I mean we were trying everything we
could imagine to get him to understand. We said food store and he
took us to a restaurant. I tried saying things like cereal, fruit,
food shopping, soap…everything. Haha it was so funny. Finally, he
stops and talks to a lady in Indian. They she says "Where do you
wanna go??" and we tell her "grocery store." So she speaks to him in
their tongue and then the driver shouts of "SUPERMARKET!!!" and we are
shouting back "YYEAHH! SUPERMARKET!!" HAHA Maybe you had to be there
but we were trying so hard to explain grocery store to him and he just
couldn't get it…and we never once thought to say supermarket. DUH.
That night we went to the Welcome Reception at a local university. It
was nice. They put the dots on our foreheads as we walked in and
everything. They also gave us henna tattoos and we got to try Indian
foods. They also had an Indian dancer perform. Pretty cool!
Day 2: My friends and I met at 6:15 to leave for the airport. We
arrived in Delhi at 12:30 and went to our hotel to check in. The
hotel was a 3star hotel and it was pretty nice. The bathrooms were
interesting though. We had a toilet!!! We also had the hose next to
the toilet to clean ourselves. But they gave us toilet paper too!!
Now the showers were interesting. They were pretty much just a
showerhead on the wall in middle of our bathroom. The drain was on
the other side of the bathroom. There was a bucket with a little
bucket inside underneath the showerhead. Apparently this is because
many Indians like to shower by bucket?? Maybe they don't like to, but
have to. Anyways, I showered normal—kind of. If showering in middle
of your open bathroom is normal then yeah. But it wasn't bad!! Thank
god we had a shower!! Some places didn't. Our bathroom got entirely
soaked. It kind of sucked because then the bathroom floor was soaking
wet the rest of the night. But what does that matter? I was lucky to
have a shower! After check in, we went to an Indian restaurant and
shopping. Of course the rickshaw drivers took us everywhere we didn't
want to go and we fought with them, but we got there! There were 9 of
us—7 girls and 2 guys. We got to go to the street market at night.
It was a fun time. We went to McDonalds that night for some fries and
ice cream!! Haha! Gotta love having McDonalds and Pizza Hut in every
freakin country. I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing.
Day 3: We woke up bright and early and headed to the Taj. We had a
3hr drive from Dehli to Agra ahead of us…in a 7 passenger van.
Yeah...we had to squeeze 9 of us in there! It was not comfy. 4
people across in a seat that was even tight for 3 people. We were all
on top of each other for hours. We left at 630am and it was hard to
sleep in these conditions. But I saw so many sites on the way.
Beautiful scenery and many many interesting sites on the way. This is
also when we got a flat tire in middle of the road and where the
monkey situation happened. It was an interesting ride that ended up
taking us about 5hrs. So, we saw the Taj Mahal!! Beautiful!! And we
had a guide that taught us all about it. Pretty much a king built it
for his 3rd wife and his true-love. She was dying and she told him
not to remarry and to build a memorial to remember their love and he
built the Taj!! We went in our Indian outfits and Indian people kept
taking pictures with and of us. We got to go inside the Taj and enjoy
it for awhile outside on the lawn and taking pictures, then shop a
little, see the Agra fort, then 3hrs back to Delhi for the night.
Day 4: We set out again in the tiny van and got to do some site
seeing. I wanted to see where Gandhi was creamated. The place is
called the rahjhat ?? Something like that. But it was closed. We
also got to see the red fort and lotus temple. Both pretty cool. The
Lotus Temple is where the Baha i faith worships. This is a faith that
brings all religions together. It was beautiful and once again so
intriguing. They believe in: abandonment of all prejudices, the
agreement of science and religion, promotion of universal education,
elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty, independent
investigation of truth, equality of men and women, oneness of
humanity, oneness of religion, and the oneness of God. I thought it
was pretty cool that anyone could worship there and there is actually
a faith that brings all religions together. Because like I said in my
South African blog…who is to say we are right and someone else is
wrong when it comes to religion, ya know?? Everyone should be able to
worship however they want and Baha i is all about freedoms. Wow, the
things I am learning!! Ok, so then we headed back to the airport and
back to Chennai!
Day 5: The last day in India I went to a disabled children's home.
First, I toured the home. They have all ages learning there. They
also have an Orthopedic Center and Rehab place and take outpatients.
So, the older students there (15-22) went to like vo-tech as we know
it, and the younger children were learning normal subjects like we do.
Many of the patients were physically disabled. Some mentally. Most
of their leg's were immobilized. Much of this was due to polio. It
is hard to believe so many children still have polio. We get a polio
vaccination when we are babies and never have to worry about it again,
ya know?? So anyways, I saw some older girls doing things such as
sewing. This is a good thing!! They learn how to sew and can make a
career out of it, and sell their products to raise money for the
school. Most live at the school, some go home. Another example are
the mentally disabled who live there. They make cups!! Like paper
Dixie cups and sell them. It was cute. They had like an assembly
line thing going and some had the job of like flicking the bottom at
the end to make sure they were OK before packaging. I saw other
students learning how to use computers. There were like middle school
aged children and they made us a cute little welcome power-point.
Then it was on to the rehabilitation part. They had things like a
little old trampoline for the kids to strengthen their legs.
Everything was so old and out of date. It made me sad and happy at
the same time. Sad that everything was so old. I have things in my
home that were better than what they were using to rehabilitate these
kids. But it made me happy that someone cares about them enough (150
of them) to try and enhance their lives. After the tour, we did
service projects. Some painted and others did garden work. I got
down and dirty baby! So dirty and sweaty. I had to rake leaves…tons
of leaves…with a broom. Not even an ordinary broom. I saw these
brooms used by ladies sweeping dirt on the streets. I also so ladies
using them in the yard. I thought they were funny looking and
useless. They were about 3ft long and pretty much branches all
bunches together. I saw them everywhere, but didn't think I would be
using them!! They were sooooo hard to rake with and my back was sore
after!! 3ft long means lots of bending over!! After, we ate
lunch…with our hands. Our plate was a leaf. That's what many Indians
use for plates. Giant leaves. Haha. Then we got to play with the
kids for a few hours. That was fun. They are so amazing the way they
get around. They are so independent. Many don't have wheelchairs and
have to crawl around. I also saw this on the streets. Grown men
crawling…it was weird/creepy at first. Its not even a crawl…its like
a monkey walk. Imagine grown men walking like monkies down the
street. I didn't really get it until I went to the home and realized
that it is from polio and other diseases. They just can't afford
wheelchairs or braces or anything!! Other children scooted around on
little skateboards and stuff. Very few had wheelchairs. They didn't
even have an elevator and these children would scoot on their butts up
the steps!! After, we got to take 12 children back to the ship with
us. What a challenge. Our ship is not handicap accessible!! The
gangway was on the 5th floor…about 50 STEEP steps. Some of the
children refused help and got up by themselves. Others we had to
carry. But we got them all on and took them around. They were SO
amazed. Hell, I was amazed by our ship so I can't even imagine how
they felt!! OK OK, so that was India in a nutshell!!!
So since India I have also gone to Malaysia…which I am not going to
update now although I don't have all that much to say about it. Since
then I have been busy with tests, winning singled-out: shipmate style
(a dating game haha), and stuff like that!! We are currently in a
pirate danger zone and have been for a little while, so out ship is
going pretty fast haha. We are actually the fastest ship in the
world!! That is no joke!! We can go up to 30knots!! I think we have
like a sister ship or somethign that can do the same but no passenger
ship can go over 30. Also, today is Easter!! I got up and went to the
sunrise service given by Archbishop Desmond TuTu! Cool, huh?? Then we
all threw carnations into the ocean. It was a good morning. Butttt
we still have classes today. Bummer. Tomorrow I will be in Vietnam!!
And I will be 21 in 3 days!! Yay!! Happy Easter!!
It is hard to try to study for classes, get papers done, etc in
between ports. If I don't, I will be writing papers and studying
while in port (yeah, right)!! My classes are stressing me out—well
one of them more than the others. But now for what has been happening
on and off the ship. It is another long one, so I will break it up a
bit for ya!!
OK, so between Mauritius and India were the Sea Olympics. We did not
have class that day…it was a day of games!! Each hall is broken up
into seas. There are like 9 of them or something?? The lifelong
learners, children, faculty/staff even had a sea. We competed in
things such as tug of war, juice pong, flip cup, relay races,
basketball tournaments, synchronized swimming, lip synch, etc. So
much fun!! The grand prize at the end is getting off the ship first
in San Diego. Getting off the ship in any port is a long process. We
usually port between 7-8am and don't end up getting off the ship until
sometime between 10-12, depending on the countries policies.
Sometimes every single person on this ship has to meet with an
immigration official face-to-face and get their passport stamped,
other times the officials are more lenient. In India we had to carry
around immigration papers to get checked every time we went into the
harbor and left the harbor. They are pretty gnarly there.
Annnyyywayyysss…we are going to have to go through customs in San
Diego…all 1,000+ people on this ship. Ugh. It is going to be a long
day!!! So the winners of the sea Olympics get off the ship first.
Good deal. Our sea came in 3rd. Yay, go Baltic!!
India—where to begin. India was an interesting experience to say the
least. I don't even know how to describe India to you. I need to
explain a few things first just to paint the picture for you before I
tell you what I did there.
Atmosphere
It was filthy and smelly just as I heard, but worse than I had ever
imagined. EVERY WHERE. I visited 3cities and they were all terrible.
It is so sad that people actually have to live in that filth.
Garbage is just thrown on the street. I looked for trash cans…I swear
they don't exist!! No lie...garbage all over the sidewalks and street.
Sometimes it is swept into a neat pile in middle of the sidewalk.
And there is just so much pollution in the air. I am not exaggerating
at all when I tell you this next part. It is kind of gross, but you
need to understand India. I would come inside and wipe off my face
with face wipes. I had no make-up on, yet my face was covered. My
wipes would seriously be black. I would just walk around the city and
my face would get dirty. Needless to say we all broke out in India!!
Now for the gross parts…ears and nose! We would clean out of ears
everyday and our q-tips would be sooo dirty. Inner and outer ear!!
And then we would blow our noses…just as bad!! The day after India I
blew my nose and it was the worst. Completely black. No joke. I
didn't know that could even happen. I had huge black boogers! Haha. I
don't even wanna know what my lungs look like after that. Yuck. Can
you imagine living there?? Our clothes were filthy and smelled so
bad. And it was so hot to add to it!
Poverty
EVERYONE WAS POOR. I thought maybe it would be like South Africa—rich
areas and poor areas. NO. And poverty was way worse in India than I
saw in South Africa. I could not believe the number of homeless I
saw. They would line the sidewalks at night. It was unreal. Yeah,
there were homeless people in South Africa, but not like I saw in
India. The homes I saw (from a distance) in India were worse than
what I saw in South Africa too. There were just rows and rows of
homeless on the sidewalks. Some people naked. It was just unreal.
All three cities I visited were just the same.
Beggars
Beggars were everywhere asking us for money as you could imagine with
the amount of poverty and homelessness. We were obviously targets.
Esp. since one of the vans I rode in had "tourist" written on the
side. We got mobbed. Now only would they come up to us while we were
walking, but in traffic also. They just knocked on our van windows!!
We did give children all the power-bars and crackers we had. We
actually had a lot of them since we were scared of India food (b/c of
the spice and diarrhea). So we fed many children with them. Couple
funny stories about people knocking on our windows. First of all, our
driver kept getting out of the van for some reason. Once, we were in
traffic and saw monkeys on leashes! So of course we started taking
pictures and the guy brings them over and we roll down the window and
they start doing tricks. We are taking videos and pictures and we
know he is going to want money. So after all the cool monkey tricks
he brings the money to the window and the monkey climbed part way in
(I got videos of it!!) and some people started touching it (big no-no
because they have rabies) and the guy asked us for 100 rupees each.
There were 9 of us so he wanted 900 rupees for doing monkey tricks.
LOL. The conversion rate was only like 45:1 but still that's like
$20! Haha we gave him a few rupees…like $1 worth. He kept begging for
more and wouldn't go away. We tried putting the window up in him
haha. We were nice at first then we just had to tell him to go away.
Finally, he asked us where we were from and my roomie said Canada He
just said oh ok ok and walked away. haha Canada!! It works every
time!! If you tell people you are from Canada they are more likely to
leave you alone. It worked every time!!!
Rickshaws
Rickshaws are the means of transportation in India. Little motorized
vehicles that carry 2-3 people in them (or 7 like the Indians like to
do…handing on the back, etc) They had tops on them but were
completely open on the sides. This is how we got everywhere. They
were loud and weaved in and out of traffic. Ohhhh the traffic in
India. There were no lanes and bikes, motorcycles, and rickshaws just
weaved in and out…went on the other side of the road or shoulder if
necessary. They use their horns every 5 seconds. It is sooo loud and
annoying. There are many different uses for the horn. They beep the
horn EVERYTIME they pass someone, which is so often. So its constant
horns. The horn means: "Hey, I am coming up on your side," "You are
going to slow, speed up or let me pass you," or they use when they are
mad at someone…kinda like we do!! It is insanely annoying. There is
so much traffic but it isn't stop and go it is GOOOOOO traffic.
Rickshaws are nuts!! Like steer with a bar not a wheel…they are just
nuts. Now motorcycles are used as cars in India…we saw up to 4people
on one motorcycle. Every where they had 2-4 people on them. The guy
would drive and the lady would sit sideways. Ladies would ride on the
back sitting sideways holding a baby in her arms. Or a couple would
have 2 children on with them. No helmets of course and in the
weirdest position.
Oh—did I mention the greatest part of the rickshaws…how they take you
every where you DON'T wanna go because they get commission. Yeah—you
will say I wanna go to the market or to the grocery store and they
will take you to some store you didn't wanna go to. Then they lie to
you and tell you things like "market is closed today—holy day!!" and
you just have to say things like "I am not getting out and if you
don't take me now I won't pay you." Usually, they will just leave and
take you to another place you don't want to go. I had about 8
rickshaw rides and with the exception of the ones to the airport and
back, every one took me somewhere I didn't want to go. One driver
even admitted to us he got free uniforms when we went there. He said
"Pllleeasee just two more!" All the shops they take you to are the
same and waste your time so you have to be firm with them.
Animals
There were random animals everywhere. Of course my favorites were the
cows that walk down the street. Yes, just walk down the street. They
walk in the road and everything. Cows are sacred there so they don't
eat them…they just let them roam. Let me just name some of the other
animals I saw. And when I saw I saw them I mean these are the animals
I saw just walking down the road or on the side of the road. Not in a
farm, not in a cage, but all of these I saw just running around like
we would have wild cats or dogs running around. So I saw dogs, cats,
cows, goats, pigs, chicken, camels (most had people riding on them),
monkeys (lots of them—ones that were trained and wild ones too),
donkeys and horses. All just roaming around like India is a huge
farm.
Toilets
My favorite!! India's toilets (or lack of)! Let me just give you a
little lesson on toilets! Some places did have regular toilets. Some
had European toilets. Most had Indian squatters. I wish I could show
you my pics of squatters…you will see my pics soon enough!! Squatters
are pretty much holes in the ground. When I heard this, I didn't
think I would actually have to go to the bathroom in a hole in the
ground…if I was even that lucky!! If they are nice squatters they are
porcelain holes in the ground. Some nice squatters even flush!! Some
squatters don't flush. Just imagine how hard it is to squat down that
low and aim…especially in the Indian clothes I had on!! My shirt was
to my knees and my pants were very baggy. I was trying to hold my
pants up so they wouldn't touch the nasty ground and also hold my
shirt up too. I had to do all of this while trying to keep my balance
and aim in the hole and not on my clothes. I am a pro-squatter now!!
Oh—and squatters don't have toilet paper!! If they are nice squatters,
they have a hose to wash off with. If not they just have a bucket of
water…like to just rinse your hand in! ew!! I went to the nastiest
squatter…I mean it was like a hole in the mud with a bucket of water
they clean with. Don't worry!! We carried toilet paper with us at all
times. Sometimes we even had to just go on the side of the road like
behind bushes or something. Oh, and by the way, they don't have
toilet paper because they either use the hose thing (I forget what it
is called) or their hand. Yeah, it is true. Anyways, as we would be
driving down the road we saw people just going to the bathroom in
middle of the sidewalks. Men just stop wherever they want to take a
pee…or more!! We saw guys just taking a crap where we could see them.
That's how dirty India was. And this leads me to one more thing…
Table Etiquette
They eat with their hands!! How fun!! And difficult. They also would
give us silverware in nice restaurants, but not everywhere I went!!
It is not easy to always use your hand…especially with rice. Oh—and
you can only use your RIGHT hand because the left hand is used for the
bathroom!!! How gross. Usually there is a bowl of food you share
with the entire table and your right hand is considered clean. But I
highly doubt their right hands are even clean. But they know for sure
that their left hand was used in the bathroom. Ew. I think I will
stick with silverware. But I have to admit it was definitely fun
being able to eat with my hands (after washing them with soap and
using hand sanitizer). Oh—and just like many other countries we
couldn't drink the water there or eat anything that was washed in
water. And no ice. No pork. And lots of other things!! This would
cause diarrhea. Too bad everyone got it anyways.
So Day 1—Chennai (Madras), India
-Whit and I woke up and ate on the ship then went out to buy some
Indian clothes!! We found a rickshaw that of course took us places we
did not want to go but we did each buy an outfit. Mine is SOOO cute!!
The tops are all long and I think I am going to get mine made into a
dress when I get home…its that cute. Next, we went to the grocery
store. We like to buy snacks for the ship, gum, any toiletries we are
out of, etc. So we told our driver grocery store, but he didn't
understand. We tried sooo hard. I mean we were trying everything we
could imagine to get him to understand. We said food store and he
took us to a restaurant. I tried saying things like cereal, fruit,
food shopping, soap…everything. Haha it was so funny. Finally, he
stops and talks to a lady in Indian. They she says "Where do you
wanna go??" and we tell her "grocery store." So she speaks to him in
their tongue and then the driver shouts of "SUPERMARKET!!!" and we are
shouting back "YYEAHH! SUPERMARKET!!" HAHA Maybe you had to be there
but we were trying so hard to explain grocery store to him and he just
couldn't get it…and we never once thought to say supermarket. DUH.
That night we went to the Welcome Reception at a local university. It
was nice. They put the dots on our foreheads as we walked in and
everything. They also gave us henna tattoos and we got to try Indian
foods. They also had an Indian dancer perform. Pretty cool!
Day 2: My friends and I met at 6:15 to leave for the airport. We
arrived in Delhi at 12:30 and went to our hotel to check in. The
hotel was a 3star hotel and it was pretty nice. The bathrooms were
interesting though. We had a toilet!!! We also had the hose next to
the toilet to clean ourselves. But they gave us toilet paper too!!
Now the showers were interesting. They were pretty much just a
showerhead on the wall in middle of our bathroom. The drain was on
the other side of the bathroom. There was a bucket with a little
bucket inside underneath the showerhead. Apparently this is because
many Indians like to shower by bucket?? Maybe they don't like to, but
have to. Anyways, I showered normal—kind of. If showering in middle
of your open bathroom is normal then yeah. But it wasn't bad!! Thank
god we had a shower!! Some places didn't. Our bathroom got entirely
soaked. It kind of sucked because then the bathroom floor was soaking
wet the rest of the night. But what does that matter? I was lucky to
have a shower! After check in, we went to an Indian restaurant and
shopping. Of course the rickshaw drivers took us everywhere we didn't
want to go and we fought with them, but we got there! There were 9 of
us—7 girls and 2 guys. We got to go to the street market at night.
It was a fun time. We went to McDonalds that night for some fries and
ice cream!! Haha! Gotta love having McDonalds and Pizza Hut in every
freakin country. I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing.
Day 3: We woke up bright and early and headed to the Taj. We had a
3hr drive from Dehli to Agra ahead of us…in a 7 passenger van.
Yeah...we had to squeeze 9 of us in there! It was not comfy. 4
people across in a seat that was even tight for 3 people. We were all
on top of each other for hours. We left at 630am and it was hard to
sleep in these conditions. But I saw so many sites on the way.
Beautiful scenery and many many interesting sites on the way. This is
also when we got a flat tire in middle of the road and where the
monkey situation happened. It was an interesting ride that ended up
taking us about 5hrs. So, we saw the Taj Mahal!! Beautiful!! And we
had a guide that taught us all about it. Pretty much a king built it
for his 3rd wife and his true-love. She was dying and she told him
not to remarry and to build a memorial to remember their love and he
built the Taj!! We went in our Indian outfits and Indian people kept
taking pictures with and of us. We got to go inside the Taj and enjoy
it for awhile outside on the lawn and taking pictures, then shop a
little, see the Agra fort, then 3hrs back to Delhi for the night.
Day 4: We set out again in the tiny van and got to do some site
seeing. I wanted to see where Gandhi was creamated. The place is
called the rahjhat ?? Something like that. But it was closed. We
also got to see the red fort and lotus temple. Both pretty cool. The
Lotus Temple is where the Baha i faith worships. This is a faith that
brings all religions together. It was beautiful and once again so
intriguing. They believe in: abandonment of all prejudices, the
agreement of science and religion, promotion of universal education,
elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty, independent
investigation of truth, equality of men and women, oneness of
humanity, oneness of religion, and the oneness of God. I thought it
was pretty cool that anyone could worship there and there is actually
a faith that brings all religions together. Because like I said in my
South African blog…who is to say we are right and someone else is
wrong when it comes to religion, ya know?? Everyone should be able to
worship however they want and Baha i is all about freedoms. Wow, the
things I am learning!! Ok, so then we headed back to the airport and
back to Chennai!
Day 5: The last day in India I went to a disabled children's home.
First, I toured the home. They have all ages learning there. They
also have an Orthopedic Center and Rehab place and take outpatients.
So, the older students there (15-22) went to like vo-tech as we know
it, and the younger children were learning normal subjects like we do.
Many of the patients were physically disabled. Some mentally. Most
of their leg's were immobilized. Much of this was due to polio. It
is hard to believe so many children still have polio. We get a polio
vaccination when we are babies and never have to worry about it again,
ya know?? So anyways, I saw some older girls doing things such as
sewing. This is a good thing!! They learn how to sew and can make a
career out of it, and sell their products to raise money for the
school. Most live at the school, some go home. Another example are
the mentally disabled who live there. They make cups!! Like paper
Dixie cups and sell them. It was cute. They had like an assembly
line thing going and some had the job of like flicking the bottom at
the end to make sure they were OK before packaging. I saw other
students learning how to use computers. There were like middle school
aged children and they made us a cute little welcome power-point.
Then it was on to the rehabilitation part. They had things like a
little old trampoline for the kids to strengthen their legs.
Everything was so old and out of date. It made me sad and happy at
the same time. Sad that everything was so old. I have things in my
home that were better than what they were using to rehabilitate these
kids. But it made me happy that someone cares about them enough (150
of them) to try and enhance their lives. After the tour, we did
service projects. Some painted and others did garden work. I got
down and dirty baby! So dirty and sweaty. I had to rake leaves…tons
of leaves…with a broom. Not even an ordinary broom. I saw these
brooms used by ladies sweeping dirt on the streets. I also so ladies
using them in the yard. I thought they were funny looking and
useless. They were about 3ft long and pretty much branches all
bunches together. I saw them everywhere, but didn't think I would be
using them!! They were sooooo hard to rake with and my back was sore
after!! 3ft long means lots of bending over!! After, we ate
lunch…with our hands. Our plate was a leaf. That's what many Indians
use for plates. Giant leaves. Haha. Then we got to play with the
kids for a few hours. That was fun. They are so amazing the way they
get around. They are so independent. Many don't have wheelchairs and
have to crawl around. I also saw this on the streets. Grown men
crawling…it was weird/creepy at first. Its not even a crawl…its like
a monkey walk. Imagine grown men walking like monkies down the
street. I didn't really get it until I went to the home and realized
that it is from polio and other diseases. They just can't afford
wheelchairs or braces or anything!! Other children scooted around on
little skateboards and stuff. Very few had wheelchairs. They didn't
even have an elevator and these children would scoot on their butts up
the steps!! After, we got to take 12 children back to the ship with
us. What a challenge. Our ship is not handicap accessible!! The
gangway was on the 5th floor…about 50 STEEP steps. Some of the
children refused help and got up by themselves. Others we had to
carry. But we got them all on and took them around. They were SO
amazed. Hell, I was amazed by our ship so I can't even imagine how
they felt!! OK OK, so that was India in a nutshell!!!
So since India I have also gone to Malaysia…which I am not going to
update now although I don't have all that much to say about it. Since
then I have been busy with tests, winning singled-out: shipmate style
(a dating game haha), and stuff like that!! We are currently in a
pirate danger zone and have been for a little while, so out ship is
going pretty fast haha. We are actually the fastest ship in the
world!! That is no joke!! We can go up to 30knots!! I think we have
like a sister ship or somethign that can do the same but no passenger
ship can go over 30. Also, today is Easter!! I got up and went to the
sunrise service given by Archbishop Desmond TuTu! Cool, huh?? Then we
all threw carnations into the ocean. It was a good morning. Butttt
we still have classes today. Bummer. Tomorrow I will be in Vietnam!!
And I will be 21 in 3 days!! Yay!! Happy Easter!!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Heya!! I should be studying but I am updating ya’ll instead! There is something wrong with the satellite and the internet has been painfully slow…as if it wasn’t slow already!! Ok ok, so let me start with South Africa!! It has been a few weeks so everything is going to be pretty random. Well, I did lots of shopping. Opps. I spent just a little too much in South Africa haha. I love it there!!! I love their art work and paintings and everything else I saw (and bought) at the market. Amazing. We were there for a week so I did lots!! I also got to see Robben Island. It was very interesting and I am so glad I went. For those of you who don’t know what Robben Island is (I didn’t until we learned about it), it is where the political prisoners were placed during the South African Apartheid. It would be where Nelson Mandela was held for 18years!! We got to see Nelson’s cell and our tour guides were all former prisoners with incredible stories to tell. I also went to Table Mountain, which is exactly as it sounds. It is a large mountain, flat on top like a table that overlooks Cape Town. What a spectacular view!!
I was feeling pretty adventurous in Cape Town so I went Skydiving and cage diving with sharks!! Skydiving was AWESOME!!! I want to do it again! (Sorry Mom). The scariest part was the tiny little airplane we went up 9,000ft in!!! Holy cow!! The wind was blowing the plane around and it BARELY fit 6ppl. There were no seats we had to (LITERALLY) sit on top of our guides. I went with two of my good friends and we were actually really calm. I was going to be the first one out so I was shoved up against the “door.” It wasn’t a real door! It was a peace of clear PLASTIC that pulled down so that we could easily jump. I was leaning against it the whole way up and I could see straight down. So freaky. I held on to my friend Lauren the whole time. When it was time to go my instructor pretty much just pushed me out. Oh, he apparently is a world-renowned skydiver!!! A lady who was there told us if they ranked the top 5 jumpers in the world, he would probably be one of them. And he was cute too!! I actually picked him because he was cute and I found that out later. Haha. When I finally jumped, I did a free-fall for about 30seconds. It seemed so much longer!! After that, the fall was about 5mins. I got a great view of Table Mountain, Robben Island, and all of Cape Town!!!
Now for the Shark Diving…omg!! It wasn’t as scary as Skydiving but it was still intense!! We saw lots of Great Whites. Some of them are HUUGGEEE. You actually get a better view from the boat, but I got to go in the cage too. Yep, I went in the nasty fish water!! Fish swam in and out of the cage with me and not to mention the bloody nasty fish guts that were in the water with me to attract the sharks. YUCK!! But sharks did get up close and personal with us!! Fun times!!
What else did I do in South Africa?? Hmmm. Well, I am saving the best for last!! But I will get there in a second. I shopped a lot like I already said. I bought a really cute moonstone necklace and ring. They had some nice gems there. We also went out to eat at some really cool restaurants. Our ship was docked at the waterfront with lots of nice places to eat and shop!! We also went out a few times at night. Cape Town has nice night life too!
OOhh and I forgot my market story. Silly me!! It is getting late. (P.S. I am now 12.5hrs ahead of the west coast and 9.5 hrs ahead of the east coast. Yeah—we had to advance a half hour for India’s time zone…how weird is that???) Ok, my story!! Well, the market was amazing. I think I already said how much I love African art. Well, I got to talking to some of the people who work there. It is so interesting to converse with locals. We also have to ask locals questions for classes, but I ask them other questions too! It was interesting how much some of them knew about the U.S. and our president. Ok, but I will skip all the political talks. Very intriguing though!! It was just interesting to hear where everyone was from. Most people working in the market weren’t from South Africa. I had a great convo with a guy from Zimbabwe. But, my most interesting finding was that so many of them were refugees from Sudan. Whoa. It was surreal. Standing in front of me where victims of genocide. Friends, family murdered. They were fleeing their country and now here they are talking to me. One was even a doctor in Sudan…now working in the market. It just put so much into perspective. It just didn’t seem real. It almost made me feel bad to bargain with them!! But, they would sell me anything unless they were making a profit off of it. I just have to remember that.
So as we were leaving the market we got hit up by so many children begging for coins. Of course we say sorry we don’t have any. But one child kept following us saying “are you from the big blue and white student ship??” and we told him yes but he kept begging for money and asking us questions. We just kept saying sorry but he wouldn’t stop!! To make a long story short, we just started asking him questions too. All about his family and school, etc. It was interesting to us. He and his sister lived with his aunt in a township. He was in 8th grade. Eventually he started begging us for food. At this point I started to feel really bad. After he walked 15mins with us back to the ship, my friend Walter and I decided to buy him food. It is one thing to beg for money, but food? How sad. I mean, what was I doing in 8th grade?? Chasing boys, playing sports, etc. NOT begging for food. We took him to KFC, but he was too ashamed to even go in. It was so sad. Then, he wouldn’t even eat with us. He said thank you, shook our hands, and left.
Ok so I left the best for last—Operation Hunger. On the last day I did a service visit. First, we went to a daycare center. The kids were soooo cute. They were fixated on our cameras!! They didn’t really speak English but they kept grabbing our cameras (they were from like 2-5years old). We would take pics of them and show them afterwards. They thought it was the most amazing thing ever!! I mean, it kind of is!! If you took out your camera, you had like 5983543 kids diving on each other to be in the picture. So cute. I also took stickers and toys for the kids. I couldn’t give out toys because I didn’t have enough for everyone. There were about 200kids!! But I did give out stickers. They were mobbing me to get one!! Other people also had stickers so we were able to give them lots of stickers!! They wanted them all over their faces haha. We got to play with the children and eat a snack with them. They had cake!! They only get cake about four times a year. They had so much cake and the workers wanted us to have some. We were in a township and on operation hunger so everyone was obviously poor. So we all said no thanks, but they insisted!! It was like an insult to them if we didn’t eat any cake. I love cake!! Anyways, they sang to us and played with us and we had a great time!! Next—we went to a school. The students ranged from kindergarten up to high school. This was an interesting experience. We walked in like the lobby area to find AIDS prevention stuff all over the wall, which was a good thing!! They had poems written, little stories, pictures and even condoms hanging up on the wall. I wasn’t surprised, and it is a good thing they are learning these things! Buuttt I was kind of at a loss for words. I mean what are we teaching our children at this age?? Definitely not AIDS prevention!! I mean, once you get to middle school/high school you have health class and we may learn a little bit about STDs and AIDS and prevention, but we don’t have condoms hanging on the walls!! There always was a huge poster on the wall that they had drawn. It had condoms drawn all over it saying “SAFE SEX” and “ALWAYS BE SAFE.” Stuff like that. Annndd there was also a condom man!! It was kind of funny. It was a condom with feet and a face saying protect yourself from AIDS! What do you say about that?? AIDS is a problem (I have heard everything from 1/5 to 1/9 people have AIDS in South Africa…holy cow!) and it is a good thing they are teaching prevention young! But it was just weird to see condoms hanging on the walls. In fact, a lot of places in South Africa had free condoms in the bathrooms!! Not even single condoms…whole packs!! You just take a pack!! It is a great thing, but at the same time it is so sad that it has to be like that. Anyways!! At the school they sang for us and played drums and did chants and dances…so cool!! We loved it!!! They also loved our cameras!!! Good experience.
Lastly, we visited a Rastafarian township. If you know anything about this type of community you know they smoke a lot of marijuana!! That’s about all I knew. Bob Marley and marijuana is what would come to my mind. This is true, but there is more to it. When we arrived, a guy in the township greeted us and gave us some of their history. First off, let me explain the townships to you!! They are the poor areas of South Africa. The houses there are one room and made out of cardboard, tin, anything they can get. No joke. Some are waterproofed with garbage bags. It is so sad. They look like they would just blow over!!! So anyways, MANY MANY people live in these areas. I know that one of the biggest townships has over a million people living in it!! They are so sad. I can’t even describe. So we went into the Rastafarian township with Operation Hunger. You can probably figure out why we were there. Many of their children are malnourished. So back to the history of the township!! This speaker, one of the community leaders, was awesome. He explained to us that they follow the Bible…whhattt? They smoke weed all day long!! But really, they do!! According to their interpretation of the Bible it is OK to smoke marijuana (it’s a natural plant!) and it is wrong to eat meat. He then told us how they believe in peace and love and happiness. He told us he was happy. They were happy there. He said he would rather be poor but happy than have many material things and be sad. So true. Then, I didn’t feel so bad. It is true. They were all so happy and proud!! It was touching. Their situation is unfortunate, but they do make the best of it. Heck, they were reluctant to have Operation Hunger in their community. I guess it was kind of a pride issue…but they realized that some of their children were suffering from malnutrition so they accepted.
So as we started touring the community, the kids were all over us. They wanted to hold our hands and play with us. One girl walked up to me and said “Can I be your friend?” and of course I accepted. She grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go!! I started talking to her and she spoke perfect English. I was impressed. Her name is Diana and she is 10yrs old. She speaks Afrikaans (the most common? lang in S.Africa), Xhosa (a clicking language) and English all fluently. Impressive!! Other kids there only spoke Xhosa. She actually helped us translate. She told me that she was next starting to learn Portuguese!! Wow! She and I talked for like an hour…she is soooo freakin smart!! I couldn’t get over her. She took me to see her house. She was so excited to show me but she first said “it is not a pretty house.” So sad. After that we were walking on stones and glass and I asked her about her shoes. I already knew the answer. She didn’t have any. Most of the children didn’t. I wanted to cry. Her feet were smaller than mine but she could definitely wear a pair of my flip flops!! Too bad I had on my sneakers. I was tempted to give them to her!! If I had on flip flops I definitely would have went back to the ship in bare feet. At the end I have her some special toys I had. She was the sweetest thing ever. At the end the little girls did a dance for us that they had been working on. Diana was one of the dancers. I definitely teared up. I was so proud of her. I just wish she had all of the opportunities I have. When she found out I was from America her face lit up and she didn’t wanna let me go. She said to me “they promised me I can go there one day.” I didn’t even ask who..her parents?? Her school?? I don’t know. All I know is she is such a smart girl, but will never even get 1/100 of the opportunities I do. She didn’t even get to go to school that day. It is too far and they don’t get to go everyday. That little girl seriously inspired me so much!! I can’t even explain.
What also puzzled me about South Africa is the distribution of wealth. It definitely is not what I expected. Racism and discrimination still exists. It was so crazy seeing a township then across the street seeing big fancy houses. Or seeing a township so close to a well established area. How can you have amazing shopping malls and restaurants, but yet right around the corner is a township of 1million poor starving people?? What???
That is about it for South Africa. I am posting a few pics…only a few. I didn’t upload mine yet but I stole a few from my friend who had them up online. Hehe
Mauritius!!! Ok I don’t have much to say about it. It was a beautiful place…once you found the beach!! There was NOTHING to do in the area we ported. We had to travel 30mins either north of south to find nice beaches or clubs or anything. We didn’t do much. Ummmm shopped a little, ate a little, drank a lot and slept a little. The first night we stayed in villas along with about 250 other semester at sea students. No lie. We took over flic en flac. Things were kind of out of control…don’t know if I should be saying this but whatever. Just speaking the truth!! Don’t be scared mommy!! We didn’t go back there the second night…too crazy. That first night in flic en flac was rough. Too many drunken college students in one place…and that place also happened to be a foreign country…not a good situation. We were annoyed/embarrassed/etc. Too much drama, which is why we didn’t go back the next night!! I did have fun that night though!! The next day, some students there had their stuff stolen by some locals or people who worked there or something. In another villa right around the corner where some of the students stayed a SAS student got raped. My roomie was actually going to stay there that night but I went back with her to get her stuff and thank god she didn’t. Pretty scary situation. They caught the guy and it was on the news there and stuff. I probably shouldn’t even be saying all this cause I know I only worry my mommy…and probably everyone else for that matter. My friends and I are smart and stick together—with big strong guys!! But things happen. Bad things happens in the US too. Remember, there are over 700students!! Bad stuff is going to happen to some of us. So far it has been 1 or 2 bad incidents in every port. There are soo many of us though so don’t be alarmed. 1 or 2 bad things would probably happen in the US too!! But Mauritius was the worst. I had a great time, but it is not somewhere I want to re-visit!! Now South Africa is another story. I love that place and can’t wait to go back!! I would seriously live there. I love Cape Town!!
I was feeling pretty adventurous in Cape Town so I went Skydiving and cage diving with sharks!! Skydiving was AWESOME!!! I want to do it again! (Sorry Mom). The scariest part was the tiny little airplane we went up 9,000ft in!!! Holy cow!! The wind was blowing the plane around and it BARELY fit 6ppl. There were no seats we had to (LITERALLY) sit on top of our guides. I went with two of my good friends and we were actually really calm. I was going to be the first one out so I was shoved up against the “door.” It wasn’t a real door! It was a peace of clear PLASTIC that pulled down so that we could easily jump. I was leaning against it the whole way up and I could see straight down. So freaky. I held on to my friend Lauren the whole time. When it was time to go my instructor pretty much just pushed me out. Oh, he apparently is a world-renowned skydiver!!! A lady who was there told us if they ranked the top 5 jumpers in the world, he would probably be one of them. And he was cute too!! I actually picked him because he was cute and I found that out later. Haha. When I finally jumped, I did a free-fall for about 30seconds. It seemed so much longer!! After that, the fall was about 5mins. I got a great view of Table Mountain, Robben Island, and all of Cape Town!!!
Now for the Shark Diving…omg!! It wasn’t as scary as Skydiving but it was still intense!! We saw lots of Great Whites. Some of them are HUUGGEEE. You actually get a better view from the boat, but I got to go in the cage too. Yep, I went in the nasty fish water!! Fish swam in and out of the cage with me and not to mention the bloody nasty fish guts that were in the water with me to attract the sharks. YUCK!! But sharks did get up close and personal with us!! Fun times!!
What else did I do in South Africa?? Hmmm. Well, I am saving the best for last!! But I will get there in a second. I shopped a lot like I already said. I bought a really cute moonstone necklace and ring. They had some nice gems there. We also went out to eat at some really cool restaurants. Our ship was docked at the waterfront with lots of nice places to eat and shop!! We also went out a few times at night. Cape Town has nice night life too!
OOhh and I forgot my market story. Silly me!! It is getting late. (P.S. I am now 12.5hrs ahead of the west coast and 9.5 hrs ahead of the east coast. Yeah—we had to advance a half hour for India’s time zone…how weird is that???) Ok, my story!! Well, the market was amazing. I think I already said how much I love African art. Well, I got to talking to some of the people who work there. It is so interesting to converse with locals. We also have to ask locals questions for classes, but I ask them other questions too! It was interesting how much some of them knew about the U.S. and our president. Ok, but I will skip all the political talks. Very intriguing though!! It was just interesting to hear where everyone was from. Most people working in the market weren’t from South Africa. I had a great convo with a guy from Zimbabwe. But, my most interesting finding was that so many of them were refugees from Sudan. Whoa. It was surreal. Standing in front of me where victims of genocide. Friends, family murdered. They were fleeing their country and now here they are talking to me. One was even a doctor in Sudan…now working in the market. It just put so much into perspective. It just didn’t seem real. It almost made me feel bad to bargain with them!! But, they would sell me anything unless they were making a profit off of it. I just have to remember that.
So as we were leaving the market we got hit up by so many children begging for coins. Of course we say sorry we don’t have any. But one child kept following us saying “are you from the big blue and white student ship??” and we told him yes but he kept begging for money and asking us questions. We just kept saying sorry but he wouldn’t stop!! To make a long story short, we just started asking him questions too. All about his family and school, etc. It was interesting to us. He and his sister lived with his aunt in a township. He was in 8th grade. Eventually he started begging us for food. At this point I started to feel really bad. After he walked 15mins with us back to the ship, my friend Walter and I decided to buy him food. It is one thing to beg for money, but food? How sad. I mean, what was I doing in 8th grade?? Chasing boys, playing sports, etc. NOT begging for food. We took him to KFC, but he was too ashamed to even go in. It was so sad. Then, he wouldn’t even eat with us. He said thank you, shook our hands, and left.
Ok so I left the best for last—Operation Hunger. On the last day I did a service visit. First, we went to a daycare center. The kids were soooo cute. They were fixated on our cameras!! They didn’t really speak English but they kept grabbing our cameras (they were from like 2-5years old). We would take pics of them and show them afterwards. They thought it was the most amazing thing ever!! I mean, it kind of is!! If you took out your camera, you had like 5983543 kids diving on each other to be in the picture. So cute. I also took stickers and toys for the kids. I couldn’t give out toys because I didn’t have enough for everyone. There were about 200kids!! But I did give out stickers. They were mobbing me to get one!! Other people also had stickers so we were able to give them lots of stickers!! They wanted them all over their faces haha. We got to play with the children and eat a snack with them. They had cake!! They only get cake about four times a year. They had so much cake and the workers wanted us to have some. We were in a township and on operation hunger so everyone was obviously poor. So we all said no thanks, but they insisted!! It was like an insult to them if we didn’t eat any cake. I love cake!! Anyways, they sang to us and played with us and we had a great time!! Next—we went to a school. The students ranged from kindergarten up to high school. This was an interesting experience. We walked in like the lobby area to find AIDS prevention stuff all over the wall, which was a good thing!! They had poems written, little stories, pictures and even condoms hanging up on the wall. I wasn’t surprised, and it is a good thing they are learning these things! Buuttt I was kind of at a loss for words. I mean what are we teaching our children at this age?? Definitely not AIDS prevention!! I mean, once you get to middle school/high school you have health class and we may learn a little bit about STDs and AIDS and prevention, but we don’t have condoms hanging on the walls!! There always was a huge poster on the wall that they had drawn. It had condoms drawn all over it saying “SAFE SEX” and “ALWAYS BE SAFE.” Stuff like that. Annndd there was also a condom man!! It was kind of funny. It was a condom with feet and a face saying protect yourself from AIDS! What do you say about that?? AIDS is a problem (I have heard everything from 1/5 to 1/9 people have AIDS in South Africa…holy cow!) and it is a good thing they are teaching prevention young! But it was just weird to see condoms hanging on the walls. In fact, a lot of places in South Africa had free condoms in the bathrooms!! Not even single condoms…whole packs!! You just take a pack!! It is a great thing, but at the same time it is so sad that it has to be like that. Anyways!! At the school they sang for us and played drums and did chants and dances…so cool!! We loved it!!! They also loved our cameras!!! Good experience.
Lastly, we visited a Rastafarian township. If you know anything about this type of community you know they smoke a lot of marijuana!! That’s about all I knew. Bob Marley and marijuana is what would come to my mind. This is true, but there is more to it. When we arrived, a guy in the township greeted us and gave us some of their history. First off, let me explain the townships to you!! They are the poor areas of South Africa. The houses there are one room and made out of cardboard, tin, anything they can get. No joke. Some are waterproofed with garbage bags. It is so sad. They look like they would just blow over!!! So anyways, MANY MANY people live in these areas. I know that one of the biggest townships has over a million people living in it!! They are so sad. I can’t even describe. So we went into the Rastafarian township with Operation Hunger. You can probably figure out why we were there. Many of their children are malnourished. So back to the history of the township!! This speaker, one of the community leaders, was awesome. He explained to us that they follow the Bible…whhattt? They smoke weed all day long!! But really, they do!! According to their interpretation of the Bible it is OK to smoke marijuana (it’s a natural plant!) and it is wrong to eat meat. He then told us how they believe in peace and love and happiness. He told us he was happy. They were happy there. He said he would rather be poor but happy than have many material things and be sad. So true. Then, I didn’t feel so bad. It is true. They were all so happy and proud!! It was touching. Their situation is unfortunate, but they do make the best of it. Heck, they were reluctant to have Operation Hunger in their community. I guess it was kind of a pride issue…but they realized that some of their children were suffering from malnutrition so they accepted.
So as we started touring the community, the kids were all over us. They wanted to hold our hands and play with us. One girl walked up to me and said “Can I be your friend?” and of course I accepted. She grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go!! I started talking to her and she spoke perfect English. I was impressed. Her name is Diana and she is 10yrs old. She speaks Afrikaans (the most common? lang in S.Africa), Xhosa (a clicking language) and English all fluently. Impressive!! Other kids there only spoke Xhosa. She actually helped us translate. She told me that she was next starting to learn Portuguese!! Wow! She and I talked for like an hour…she is soooo freakin smart!! I couldn’t get over her. She took me to see her house. She was so excited to show me but she first said “it is not a pretty house.” So sad. After that we were walking on stones and glass and I asked her about her shoes. I already knew the answer. She didn’t have any. Most of the children didn’t. I wanted to cry. Her feet were smaller than mine but she could definitely wear a pair of my flip flops!! Too bad I had on my sneakers. I was tempted to give them to her!! If I had on flip flops I definitely would have went back to the ship in bare feet. At the end I have her some special toys I had. She was the sweetest thing ever. At the end the little girls did a dance for us that they had been working on. Diana was one of the dancers. I definitely teared up. I was so proud of her. I just wish she had all of the opportunities I have. When she found out I was from America her face lit up and she didn’t wanna let me go. She said to me “they promised me I can go there one day.” I didn’t even ask who..her parents?? Her school?? I don’t know. All I know is she is such a smart girl, but will never even get 1/100 of the opportunities I do. She didn’t even get to go to school that day. It is too far and they don’t get to go everyday. That little girl seriously inspired me so much!! I can’t even explain.
What also puzzled me about South Africa is the distribution of wealth. It definitely is not what I expected. Racism and discrimination still exists. It was so crazy seeing a township then across the street seeing big fancy houses. Or seeing a township so close to a well established area. How can you have amazing shopping malls and restaurants, but yet right around the corner is a township of 1million poor starving people?? What???
That is about it for South Africa. I am posting a few pics…only a few. I didn’t upload mine yet but I stole a few from my friend who had them up online. Hehe
Mauritius!!! Ok I don’t have much to say about it. It was a beautiful place…once you found the beach!! There was NOTHING to do in the area we ported. We had to travel 30mins either north of south to find nice beaches or clubs or anything. We didn’t do much. Ummmm shopped a little, ate a little, drank a lot and slept a little. The first night we stayed in villas along with about 250 other semester at sea students. No lie. We took over flic en flac. Things were kind of out of control…don’t know if I should be saying this but whatever. Just speaking the truth!! Don’t be scared mommy!! We didn’t go back there the second night…too crazy. That first night in flic en flac was rough. Too many drunken college students in one place…and that place also happened to be a foreign country…not a good situation. We were annoyed/embarrassed/etc. Too much drama, which is why we didn’t go back the next night!! I did have fun that night though!! The next day, some students there had their stuff stolen by some locals or people who worked there or something. In another villa right around the corner where some of the students stayed a SAS student got raped. My roomie was actually going to stay there that night but I went back with her to get her stuff and thank god she didn’t. Pretty scary situation. They caught the guy and it was on the news there and stuff. I probably shouldn’t even be saying all this cause I know I only worry my mommy…and probably everyone else for that matter. My friends and I are smart and stick together—with big strong guys!! But things happen. Bad things happens in the US too. Remember, there are over 700students!! Bad stuff is going to happen to some of us. So far it has been 1 or 2 bad incidents in every port. There are soo many of us though so don’t be alarmed. 1 or 2 bad things would probably happen in the US too!! But Mauritius was the worst. I had a great time, but it is not somewhere I want to re-visit!! Now South Africa is another story. I love that place and can’t wait to go back!! I would seriously live there. I love Cape Town!!
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Heyyy!! Just wanted to update before South Africa!! I can’t sleep because I slept all day today. I am a little bit sick so I slept ALLLL day. Now it is like 3:48am and I am wide awake!! Partly because I slept all day and partly because I am soo excited for South Africa!! So just wanted to say how much fun I am having J I have great friends and we definitely have a good time. Buuuttt I can’t wait to get off this darn ship!! It has been 8days. It gets a little old after awhile. Only so many places you can go, ya know!? When we get bored we just watch lots of Grey’s Anatomy. We= me, Whitney (my roomie), Lauren and Savanna. Lauren and Savanna are from Texas and go to school in Arkansas, so they have some strong southern accents!! But those are my bestest friends on the ship that I hang out with everydayJ
Anyways, Desmond has taught our Global Studies class for the last two days. Very inspirational! That guy is awesome!! We have been learning all about South Africa and the Apartheid. I never learned about it before. Never. And it was so recent!! The Apartheid just ended in 1994. I never learned about Desmond either, so I am assuming my friends don’t know anything about him either!! But it is so amazing to be here with him. A Nobel Peace Prize winner on our ship!! Like I said, the ship is only so big, so I see him all the time!! He just hangs out with us, and is a big goofball! He is like everyone’s grandpa!! He is soo freakin hilarious!! His wife is getting on the ship in South Africa…she was supposed to be on the whole time but recently had knee surgery.
Tonight, at our pre-port meeting, he did a little song and dance. Our doctor on the ship always makes up a song for us to tell us how to be safe. The song is always funny and includes stuff like take pepto and lets us know whether or not we can drink the water. Just a cute little thing they make up. But anyways, today they got good old Desmond to sing the first verse. He was dancing and singing and giggling. Sooooo funny. If only you could see this Archbishop…like 78yrs old?....dancing and singing this funny little song. I wish I had it on video!! And his laugh is hysterical. He does this high-pitched little giggle that makes us all chuckle every time we hear it!
After learning about the Apartheid in South Africa, and Desmond’s involvement in the peace efforts, I feel so honored to have him on our ship!! He speaks very highly of our generation. He is always buttering us up!! And he always says “I want to clap you” meaning he wants to clap for us. And he will clap to us. It is so cute.
Now I am going to try and get a few hours of shut eye!! I am going to get up in like 4.5hrs to see the sunrise as we pull into Cape Town!!
P.S. Did you know Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived on the same street just diagonal from each other?? Amazing!!
Anyways, Desmond has taught our Global Studies class for the last two days. Very inspirational! That guy is awesome!! We have been learning all about South Africa and the Apartheid. I never learned about it before. Never. And it was so recent!! The Apartheid just ended in 1994. I never learned about Desmond either, so I am assuming my friends don’t know anything about him either!! But it is so amazing to be here with him. A Nobel Peace Prize winner on our ship!! Like I said, the ship is only so big, so I see him all the time!! He just hangs out with us, and is a big goofball! He is like everyone’s grandpa!! He is soo freakin hilarious!! His wife is getting on the ship in South Africa…she was supposed to be on the whole time but recently had knee surgery.
Tonight, at our pre-port meeting, he did a little song and dance. Our doctor on the ship always makes up a song for us to tell us how to be safe. The song is always funny and includes stuff like take pepto and lets us know whether or not we can drink the water. Just a cute little thing they make up. But anyways, today they got good old Desmond to sing the first verse. He was dancing and singing and giggling. Sooooo funny. If only you could see this Archbishop…like 78yrs old?....dancing and singing this funny little song. I wish I had it on video!! And his laugh is hysterical. He does this high-pitched little giggle that makes us all chuckle every time we hear it!
After learning about the Apartheid in South Africa, and Desmond’s involvement in the peace efforts, I feel so honored to have him on our ship!! He speaks very highly of our generation. He is always buttering us up!! And he always says “I want to clap you” meaning he wants to clap for us. And he will clap to us. It is so cute.
Now I am going to try and get a few hours of shut eye!! I am going to get up in like 4.5hrs to see the sunrise as we pull into Cape Town!!
P.S. Did you know Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived on the same street just diagonal from each other?? Amazing!!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors—I don’t really have the time or patience to read over it once I type these haha.
And sorry its so long…get a coffee and some snacks!! Lol but I had quiet an experience in Brazil!!
Ok—I finally posted pics of Puerto Rico and a few of the ship! None of Brazil yet. I will tell you all about Brazil now so you can make mental pictures in your head until then J Ok, Ok this is going to be long but I will try to keep it as brief as possible and still tell ya all the good stuff! soooo I got into Salvador, but couldn’t really go out with my friends because I was leaving for the Amazon in a few hours and didn’t want to have to come back to the ship myself, soooo I found some girls I didn’t know that were going to the Amazon also. We got a cab to try and find some restaurant but remember, they speak Portugese!! The language barrier sucks. Well, we have a sheet of paper that helps us say what we want and we showed him and pointed to it. He was nice and took us into town. He stopped by police officers and started talking to them about us. All the police have big guns they carry. Its cool. There were extra since we arrived during Carnaval!!! So the police officers signaled us to follow them, sooo we did. We were kind of wondering what the hell was going on, but it was cool that we had a police escort into town. Then, we realized that they were escorting us to the police station!! Haha we walked in with them like omg what did we do. Well, they talked about us some more and the sergeant came up to us and spoke English!! Yay!! He told us the good places to eat and told us where to go, etc etc. He knew we were from semester at sea and he knew someone who was getting on the ship. It was fun. He gave us his number and told us to call him or come back if we needed anything. So we ate, drank a beer (I just had to since I am legal!!! And I have been trying local beer from every place I go!), then headed back to the ship, then to the airport!!
We got to Manaus and had to stay overnight in a hotel and would be leaving the next morning. OMG this hotel was shhaadddyy. Our air conditioner didn’t work right and we were SO hot. And there were aunts in our beds!! Yeah---gross. The next morning we got on our little boat and headed off J There were 15 of us in the group and our two guides were awesome. The guide I was with most of the time, Edson, was 25years old and grew up in the jungle!! He left when he was 15 for Manaus and lives in the city now. But, his dad and some siblings still live in the Amazon. In fact, his dad is a medicine doctor and makes all kind of cool natural medicines for the jungle people. And that’s exactly what he refers to them as---jungle people. He said he lived 25k into the amazon! Ok, so first we went to the meeting of the waters. This is where the Rio Negro nd the Solomons (I think???) river come together to make the Amazonian. Its awesome because the Negro and the Solomons are two completely different colors and they run side-by-side for 7km without mixing! It looks like peanut butter and jelly. Blackish water and light brown muddy water just running side by side making a perfect line between them. Its because one run at 9km/hr while the other only runs at 2km/hr.
Ah—I am just going to list the rest of the stuff I did. I went to a floating restaurant and market. We went into the forest (saw monkeys on the way) to this spot where you can see these giant lily pads. So cool. That is where we first saw the alligators (caiman) and also a big iguana. Every night I slept on this little riverboat in a hammock. All 15 of us pretty much slept on top of each other in this little area. I slept surprisingly well. I fell asleep to the sounds of the Amazon…how amazing. It was all open so we of course had to wear lots of DEET (bug spray) to sleep. We also fell asleep to the sounds of jungle people…no joke. We would hear chanting and drums at night. We also went Piranha fishing! Wahooo! I caught a Piranha!! Did not touch it of course and I definitely screamed like the whole time lol. But it was awesome. I bet you never caught a Piranha! Haha. What else---hmm so we floated around a lot on little motorized canoes. Went to some waterfalls and stuff. We floated in flooded waters since it is a rainy season. Trees and plants just grow under water. So cool. We in middle of the forest except in a canoe because it was flooded!! We also went alligator (caiman) spotting one night. It was scary being on this little motorized canoe in the pitch black in middle of the Amazon. Our tour guide was awesome. He got in the water and caught a baby alligator. We thought he was nuts. He put it back, then caught an even bigger one!! It was only about 3feet long. Not a baby, but not a full-sized one either. Annndddd I got to hold it!! I wasn’t scared until it was actually in my hands and he said “if it starts to move don’t let go.” At that point, I had flashbacks from the Iguana in Puerto Rico lol. It started to move in my hands and I let go right away!! Thank god someone caught it again real quick or the other people waiting to hold it would have been pissed at me!! Haha so all I could think was I am going to drop this alligator and it is going to attack everyone around me. Haha. It was good thought and didn’t squirm. Well, we also got to do a little jungle trekking. Our tour guide showed us all kind of things. Like what kind of plants they use to cure what. They have a cure for EVERYTHING with the plants and trees! I mean vaginitis, erectile dysfunction, you name it!! Did I mention that we were being led on this hike by an Indigenous person (an Indian!) He did not speak English, but my tour guide grew up speaking the same language, so he asked him to show us around the forest. He was a pure 100% Indian. Face painted and all. He lived in a little community where there was a lot of incest. They don’t have children outside their race. We also got to chill on some nice beaches and swim in the Negro. I walked in a little…saw all the fish…and got back out. Haha. It was sooo dirty and polluted anyways!! On our last day we visited more jungle people. They were not pure Indian, but it was amazing. People still live in the jungle. It is sooo hard to imagine!! We hear/read about them but I actually experienced them. They hunt their own food, bath in the river, drink from the river, and wash their clothes in the river. They grow crops and do everything a wild jungle person would do!! Their lives seem so simple! And they chose to live this way!! They could get in their little canoes and go to the city if they wanted. In fact, some of them do!! But so many are still living in the Amazon. My guide left for the city to go to school, but most of his family stayed.
So let me tell you my opinion of the Amazon. Of course it was amazing. A little different than I thought. Def not as colorful as I thought. On TV you see so many bright colors, but it was all green. There were some colorful plants here and there. Just not as many as I had thought. BUT IT WAS STILL SO BEAUTIFUL!! I saw mokeys, iguanas, alligators, sloths, snakes, birds, and dolphins. Yes, dolphins! LOTS OF THEM!! Pink and grey freshwater dolphins everywhere!!!
After the Amazon, we arrived back in Manaus for the evening. Our flight wasn’t until 2am, so we walked around carnival a little bit. As soon as we started walking, we were being gawked at, starred down, make fun of, etc. It was horribly awkward. We only stayed around for a few minutes because so many people were uncomfortable. We were definitely the only Americans around. It is not a big place for carnaval or tourists. When we got back to Salvador the next day, I got to walk around all day and go to the market and out to eat and stuff. It was cool. But mom and dad, be glad I wasn’t in Salvador for carnaval!!
Salvador is where carnaval originated. Huge party and very dangerous. There are 700+ students and most were ok, but there were a few incidents. We were told beforehand to be careful and not to flaunt our assets—whatever they might be. Don’t take cameras, and don’t put money in your pockets. Some people don’t listen and 3 girls got robbed at knifepoint for their cameras. (that was in rio, I think?) In Salvador there were also incidents. One kid I know got hit in the head with a gun and knocked unconscious and robbed. A few other guys got held at knifepoint. Not a safe place to be during carnaval. SOOO many people. My roomie was OK, but freaked out by the fact that she saw a dead homeless guy. He was alive next to her a few minutes before and just croaked.
Ok, so be glad I wasn’t in Salvador and I was safe!! I am done--going to bed now!! Those were my amazing adventures in Brazil. I love you all and miss you so much!! Check out my new pics!! J
Next stop---South Africa!! Wahooooo. And while I am waiting for the internet to work I will tell you that I talked to Desmond Tutu today and he is just soooo cute. He Like a little teddy bear and I just want to hug and squeeze him. He took his hat off and bowed to me and a couple other people sitting at our table. We were just minding our own business and he came up to us. I was looking up info for my South Africa report at the time and his name is on every website I visited!! And here he is…living on a ship with me for three months. Amazing.
And sorry its so long…get a coffee and some snacks!! Lol but I had quiet an experience in Brazil!!
Ok—I finally posted pics of Puerto Rico and a few of the ship! None of Brazil yet. I will tell you all about Brazil now so you can make mental pictures in your head until then J Ok, Ok this is going to be long but I will try to keep it as brief as possible and still tell ya all the good stuff! soooo I got into Salvador, but couldn’t really go out with my friends because I was leaving for the Amazon in a few hours and didn’t want to have to come back to the ship myself, soooo I found some girls I didn’t know that were going to the Amazon also. We got a cab to try and find some restaurant but remember, they speak Portugese!! The language barrier sucks. Well, we have a sheet of paper that helps us say what we want and we showed him and pointed to it. He was nice and took us into town. He stopped by police officers and started talking to them about us. All the police have big guns they carry. Its cool. There were extra since we arrived during Carnaval!!! So the police officers signaled us to follow them, sooo we did. We were kind of wondering what the hell was going on, but it was cool that we had a police escort into town. Then, we realized that they were escorting us to the police station!! Haha we walked in with them like omg what did we do. Well, they talked about us some more and the sergeant came up to us and spoke English!! Yay!! He told us the good places to eat and told us where to go, etc etc. He knew we were from semester at sea and he knew someone who was getting on the ship. It was fun. He gave us his number and told us to call him or come back if we needed anything. So we ate, drank a beer (I just had to since I am legal!!! And I have been trying local beer from every place I go!), then headed back to the ship, then to the airport!!
We got to Manaus and had to stay overnight in a hotel and would be leaving the next morning. OMG this hotel was shhaadddyy. Our air conditioner didn’t work right and we were SO hot. And there were aunts in our beds!! Yeah---gross. The next morning we got on our little boat and headed off J There were 15 of us in the group and our two guides were awesome. The guide I was with most of the time, Edson, was 25years old and grew up in the jungle!! He left when he was 15 for Manaus and lives in the city now. But, his dad and some siblings still live in the Amazon. In fact, his dad is a medicine doctor and makes all kind of cool natural medicines for the jungle people. And that’s exactly what he refers to them as---jungle people. He said he lived 25k into the amazon! Ok, so first we went to the meeting of the waters. This is where the Rio Negro nd the Solomons (I think???) river come together to make the Amazonian. Its awesome because the Negro and the Solomons are two completely different colors and they run side-by-side for 7km without mixing! It looks like peanut butter and jelly. Blackish water and light brown muddy water just running side by side making a perfect line between them. Its because one run at 9km/hr while the other only runs at 2km/hr.
Ah—I am just going to list the rest of the stuff I did. I went to a floating restaurant and market. We went into the forest (saw monkeys on the way) to this spot where you can see these giant lily pads. So cool. That is where we first saw the alligators (caiman) and also a big iguana. Every night I slept on this little riverboat in a hammock. All 15 of us pretty much slept on top of each other in this little area. I slept surprisingly well. I fell asleep to the sounds of the Amazon…how amazing. It was all open so we of course had to wear lots of DEET (bug spray) to sleep. We also fell asleep to the sounds of jungle people…no joke. We would hear chanting and drums at night. We also went Piranha fishing! Wahooo! I caught a Piranha!! Did not touch it of course and I definitely screamed like the whole time lol. But it was awesome. I bet you never caught a Piranha! Haha. What else---hmm so we floated around a lot on little motorized canoes. Went to some waterfalls and stuff. We floated in flooded waters since it is a rainy season. Trees and plants just grow under water. So cool. We in middle of the forest except in a canoe because it was flooded!! We also went alligator (caiman) spotting one night. It was scary being on this little motorized canoe in the pitch black in middle of the Amazon. Our tour guide was awesome. He got in the water and caught a baby alligator. We thought he was nuts. He put it back, then caught an even bigger one!! It was only about 3feet long. Not a baby, but not a full-sized one either. Annndddd I got to hold it!! I wasn’t scared until it was actually in my hands and he said “if it starts to move don’t let go.” At that point, I had flashbacks from the Iguana in Puerto Rico lol. It started to move in my hands and I let go right away!! Thank god someone caught it again real quick or the other people waiting to hold it would have been pissed at me!! Haha so all I could think was I am going to drop this alligator and it is going to attack everyone around me. Haha. It was good thought and didn’t squirm. Well, we also got to do a little jungle trekking. Our tour guide showed us all kind of things. Like what kind of plants they use to cure what. They have a cure for EVERYTHING with the plants and trees! I mean vaginitis, erectile dysfunction, you name it!! Did I mention that we were being led on this hike by an Indigenous person (an Indian!) He did not speak English, but my tour guide grew up speaking the same language, so he asked him to show us around the forest. He was a pure 100% Indian. Face painted and all. He lived in a little community where there was a lot of incest. They don’t have children outside their race. We also got to chill on some nice beaches and swim in the Negro. I walked in a little…saw all the fish…and got back out. Haha. It was sooo dirty and polluted anyways!! On our last day we visited more jungle people. They were not pure Indian, but it was amazing. People still live in the jungle. It is sooo hard to imagine!! We hear/read about them but I actually experienced them. They hunt their own food, bath in the river, drink from the river, and wash their clothes in the river. They grow crops and do everything a wild jungle person would do!! Their lives seem so simple! And they chose to live this way!! They could get in their little canoes and go to the city if they wanted. In fact, some of them do!! But so many are still living in the Amazon. My guide left for the city to go to school, but most of his family stayed.
So let me tell you my opinion of the Amazon. Of course it was amazing. A little different than I thought. Def not as colorful as I thought. On TV you see so many bright colors, but it was all green. There were some colorful plants here and there. Just not as many as I had thought. BUT IT WAS STILL SO BEAUTIFUL!! I saw mokeys, iguanas, alligators, sloths, snakes, birds, and dolphins. Yes, dolphins! LOTS OF THEM!! Pink and grey freshwater dolphins everywhere!!!
After the Amazon, we arrived back in Manaus for the evening. Our flight wasn’t until 2am, so we walked around carnival a little bit. As soon as we started walking, we were being gawked at, starred down, make fun of, etc. It was horribly awkward. We only stayed around for a few minutes because so many people were uncomfortable. We were definitely the only Americans around. It is not a big place for carnaval or tourists. When we got back to Salvador the next day, I got to walk around all day and go to the market and out to eat and stuff. It was cool. But mom and dad, be glad I wasn’t in Salvador for carnaval!!
Salvador is where carnaval originated. Huge party and very dangerous. There are 700+ students and most were ok, but there were a few incidents. We were told beforehand to be careful and not to flaunt our assets—whatever they might be. Don’t take cameras, and don’t put money in your pockets. Some people don’t listen and 3 girls got robbed at knifepoint for their cameras. (that was in rio, I think?) In Salvador there were also incidents. One kid I know got hit in the head with a gun and knocked unconscious and robbed. A few other guys got held at knifepoint. Not a safe place to be during carnaval. SOOO many people. My roomie was OK, but freaked out by the fact that she saw a dead homeless guy. He was alive next to her a few minutes before and just croaked.
Ok, so be glad I wasn’t in Salvador and I was safe!! I am done--going to bed now!! Those were my amazing adventures in Brazil. I love you all and miss you so much!! Check out my new pics!! J
Next stop---South Africa!! Wahooooo. And while I am waiting for the internet to work I will tell you that I talked to Desmond Tutu today and he is just soooo cute. He Like a little teddy bear and I just want to hug and squeeze him. He took his hat off and bowed to me and a couple other people sitting at our table. We were just minding our own business and he came up to us. I was looking up info for my South Africa report at the time and his name is on every website I visited!! And here he is…living on a ship with me for three months. Amazing.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Puerto Rico was awesome! I don’t even know where to begin. We arrived on the 6th at about 8am. The governor of Puerto Rico came to our ship to talk to us. Then, we had to go through immigrations. Once we were cleared for boarding, we just walked around for a bit. I walked around Old San Juan with my roomie, Whitney, and some of our guy friends. It is funny how the girl to guy ratio is 2:1, and we are still hang out with all guys. We ate lunch at Senor Frogs and had a few drinks. It was a blast. We danced and they held drinking contests. It was only like 2 in the afternoon haha. Our friend Walter won the beer chugging contest, so all of us got a few shot of Tequilla. Gross. Then, we walked around some more and went to the beach. I love the beach, but hate having sand stuck all over myself and everything. Ugh. After getting all sandy, we showered and got ready for a Welcome Reception. We went to the University of Puerto Rico and met up with some of the students. It was a good time. Afterwards, we all went back to Senor Frogs. I also hit up the casino and lost a few bucks. So I was at the casino with my friend Andrew and a few others. They were on the roulette table, but I wanted to play the slots. OK, so a creepy story….Soooo I am sitting on this slot machine and some guy sits next to me and asks if I am with Semester at Sea. Everyone knows what Semester at Sea is here. It is not everyday that over 700 American students arrive in your city. The guy continued to ask me questions about the program and about myself. This is normal. Many people here are very interested in the program and ask us lots of questions. The guy also told me a little about himself. He is from Turkey and came to Puerto Rico to open a restaurant. He asked me if I wanted to go to his restaurant. I am like “yeah, maybe we will stop by.” Actually, I am thinking “yeah right,” but I didn’t want to be rude. He kept asking me if I would go to his restaurant and I am like yeah yeah. Then, he says “OK, let’s go…its just around the corner.” I was like “now?” and he said “yes.” At this point I realized he wanted me to leave my slot at 1am and go to his “restaurant.” I was creeped out and told him no and told him that I was with my friends. He then offered to give me money to leave with him!! Omg I told him no and I said again I was with my friends and was not leaving and I pointed to them so he knew they could see me. I got up and went over to my friend Andrew and told him. I stood next to him and watched him play and next this I know, this guy is standing behind me looking over my shoulder. At that point, Andrew put his arm around me so the guy knew I was with him. We decided to leave and as we walked out, the guy followed. He walked into an apartment building next to Senor Frogs. We went back into Senor Frogs and a few minutes later I saw the guy! He followed us into Senor Frogs too. He was standing there by himself looking at me. Ew. We left right after that. Thank god I hang out with guys. It makes me feel much much safer.
Anyways, the second day was just as fun. I went horse back riding and met the love of my life, Peterson. He was a dirty white/grey colored horse. It was a blast. The scenery was amazing, and we saw a few giant Iguanas in the trees. Our guide caught a small Iguana and I got to hold it. I will be posting pictures sometime soon. After that, we hung out at the beach again and went out to some local bars that night. The locals are pretty nice. They were fun to talk to. The next day, a group of my friends did a rainforest hike in el Yunque. It was beautiful! We also swam in a freezing cold waterfall. Fun times. After, we went to Walgreens to get a few things we needed. We ate, and headed back to the ship. We left port at 11pm.
So, let me just tell you what I learned in Puerto Rico! It is way more Americanized than I thought it would be. Yes, I know it is an American territory, but they have their own culture. They carry US Passports and use US passports, but I still thought it would be different. Everyone knows English. So many signs, billboards, etc around the city were written in English. It was about half English/ half Spanish--way more than I expected. A few students told me that all of their college textbooks are written in English, but their classes are taught in Spanish. I thought that was very interesting. I told her I did not think Puerto Rico would be so Americanized, and she told me anyone who was somebody speaks English. She said if you don’t want to learn English, you don’t want to be a somebody. Their economy is supported by the US, but they are not a state. So, I asked a few people my age if they thought that PR should become a state. None of them really had an opinion. They liked it just the way it was. They consider themselves Puerto Ricans, not Puerto Rican Americans and have their own culture. There are three different political parties in PR: Statehood, Commonwealth, and independent. They are pretty self-explanatory. The two students I asked were independent and wanted to remain the way they were. One said she wanted to live in the US.
Ok, I am done. Just thought I would include that its not all fun and games, I am learning too! Classes are a lot of work. We have to stay on top of things. We can’t procrastinate because we don’t have the weekends to catch up! We go to class even on the weekends, but don’t have class while in the countries. We have to stop on top of things so we don’t have work to do when we are in port. We have to keep journals for every class and have required places to visit. We call this Field Practica. We have a list of options to choose from in every class. I still have tests to take and papers to write! They have actually make things harder because this trip was getting a “party ship” type of imagine. Definitely not! I have classes just like everyone else…everyday. We have no days to catch-up if we are behind, and we also have to plan what we will be doing in ports. In conclusion, Puerto Rico was amazing, but there is lots of work to be done. So be jealous, but realize that even though we have maid services and I am having a blast, I still have lots of work to do. :)
Anyways, the second day was just as fun. I went horse back riding and met the love of my life, Peterson. He was a dirty white/grey colored horse. It was a blast. The scenery was amazing, and we saw a few giant Iguanas in the trees. Our guide caught a small Iguana and I got to hold it. I will be posting pictures sometime soon. After that, we hung out at the beach again and went out to some local bars that night. The locals are pretty nice. They were fun to talk to. The next day, a group of my friends did a rainforest hike in el Yunque. It was beautiful! We also swam in a freezing cold waterfall. Fun times. After, we went to Walgreens to get a few things we needed. We ate, and headed back to the ship. We left port at 11pm.
So, let me just tell you what I learned in Puerto Rico! It is way more Americanized than I thought it would be. Yes, I know it is an American territory, but they have their own culture. They carry US Passports and use US passports, but I still thought it would be different. Everyone knows English. So many signs, billboards, etc around the city were written in English. It was about half English/ half Spanish--way more than I expected. A few students told me that all of their college textbooks are written in English, but their classes are taught in Spanish. I thought that was very interesting. I told her I did not think Puerto Rico would be so Americanized, and she told me anyone who was somebody speaks English. She said if you don’t want to learn English, you don’t want to be a somebody. Their economy is supported by the US, but they are not a state. So, I asked a few people my age if they thought that PR should become a state. None of them really had an opinion. They liked it just the way it was. They consider themselves Puerto Ricans, not Puerto Rican Americans and have their own culture. There are three different political parties in PR: Statehood, Commonwealth, and independent. They are pretty self-explanatory. The two students I asked were independent and wanted to remain the way they were. One said she wanted to live in the US.
Ok, I am done. Just thought I would include that its not all fun and games, I am learning too! Classes are a lot of work. We have to stay on top of things. We can’t procrastinate because we don’t have the weekends to catch up! We go to class even on the weekends, but don’t have class while in the countries. We have to stop on top of things so we don’t have work to do when we are in port. We have to keep journals for every class and have required places to visit. We call this Field Practica. We have a list of options to choose from in every class. I still have tests to take and papers to write! They have actually make things harder because this trip was getting a “party ship” type of imagine. Definitely not! I have classes just like everyone else…everyday. We have no days to catch-up if we are behind, and we also have to plan what we will be doing in ports. In conclusion, Puerto Rico was amazing, but there is lots of work to be done. So be jealous, but realize that even though we have maid services and I am having a blast, I still have lots of work to do. :)
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