Tristan and I on the bus to KL

Today was my last day in Malaysia. I slept in a little, had a quick lunch on the ship, and headed off into town to explore before my FDP left at 2pm. We took a short bus ride over to St. Joseph’s Orphanage, the oldest orphanage in Malaysia. There are just over 40 children, ages 3-17. They were so cute…we got to color with them, play with bubbles, and toss balls. I gave out all kinds of stickers and a few bracelets and necklaces to the little girls. The first table I went over to there were 3 little boys sitting there. Two of them looked very sad and would not say one word. I took out my drawing pad and pens and stickers and started putting them on the little boys. We eventually got them to smile and tell us their names and talk to us a little. It was really a lot of fun. The boys are part of the indigenous Malaysian population, from the Cameron Highlands, where the people there are said to be the earliest known settlers. That particular area and these little boys were Christian so I was very excited and gave them a bunch of cross and angel stickers. One little boy pointed to a cross on his hand and said “Jesus”. It was very cute. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them today and it was nice to see smiles on their faces. I had a great day and a great trip and can’t believe I’m already leaving Malaysia. A couple of my roommates didn’t have the greatest experiences, but that is another story…I have learned it’s nice to have friends supporting you when you’re having a rough time. I love my roommates and feel very lucky to have gotten three I like so much! Off to Vietnam, we will be arriving Thursday morning…:)

Also I meant to add, today marked the beginning of Deepavali. Walking around Penang, we saw it being celebrated throughout little India. "Deep/dip means "light of the dharma", and avali means "a continuous line". The more literal translation is a very good festival or "rows of clay lamps". Deepavali, or Divali, is a major Indian festival, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Lights,"where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being."It was very cool because there were lights everywhere and music and people celebrating. Weird going to little India in Malaysia!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It is Saturday evening and I am back in Penang after a few days in Kuala Lumpur, which I am told means Muddy River, though I can’t exactly remember why. I had a great time and have really enjoyed Malaysia. The first day (Thursday) we left the ship by tender around 10am for a five hour drive to Kuala Lumpur. En route we stopped at a Thai restaurant for a delicious meal of chicken, prawns, and what I was told was ostrich (looked and tasted like beef!). That was probably my favorite meal here. After that we continued on to the Swiss Garden Hotel where we stayed. It was very nice and comfortable. We had a chance to shower and get ready, and then we left to go to a restaurant with a beautiful view of the Petronas Towers and Kuala Lumpur Menara Tower lit up at night. We enjoyed a traditional Malaysian dinner and a cultural show filled with music, dancing, and different extravagant and colorful outfits. For dessert, they had some kind of ice slushy where you add various ingredients like strange colored jelly/gelatin and beans. I stuck to just the slushy but it wasn’t what you would expect. That seems to be a trend on this trip! About ¾ of the Semester at Sea group went out after but I was feeling tired after a long day so I was happy to head to bed early.

The next morning we woke up sometime around 7 or 8 I think and got breakfast in the hotel lobby. After that, we visited the King’s Palace which was beautiful and exciting. We got to see the changing of the guards, and saw two uniformed men on horses protecting the palace. The flag was up which means the King was on the grounds. After that we went to Muzium Negara which had historic articles from wars and houses, and then we went to a few temples and mosques, including the National Mosque. It’s interesting who certain places are targeted to, as many places use English as the main language, rather than Malay or Chinese. I can’t remember if I have said this already, but there is a 60% Chinese population in Malaysia. My friend Tristan and I stopped at a little chocolate boutique after going to a memorial site, and I got this little local chocolate called an almond cup which was really good. Later in the day we visited the Kuala Lumpur Menara Tower and headed up to the observatory. It is over 420 meters high and said to be the fourth largest building in the world. The Petronas Towers once were the largest, and may still be, but there is a lot of controversy surrounding that, as buildings are always trying to claim that by measuring from different areas. The Malaysian flag is absolutely everywhere. I have never seen a flag more proudly displayed; more so that the United States. It is interesting because of first glance the flag actually looks similar to the US, with red and white stripes, and a blue square in the top left hand corner –however their flag has a star and moon in the blue patch. After this, we had the choice to either end our day with the tour guide, or to continue on for the firefly viewing as planned. Only 15 out of 65 people decided to continue on, and happily I was one of them. We spent the next two hours driving to Kuala Selangor where we stopped at a local restaurant for dinner. It was kind of a shack but very good food. We had shrimp, crab, chicken, vegetables, rice, and calamari all fresh from the area. We had to wait there until it got dark, and then we left to go to the firefly site. We had been worried we might not get to see any fireflies because they are not out when it rains, but luckily we only got a light rain and it was gone in time. We took a little boat ride down the river where we could see fireflies blinking in all directions. It was very cool and they looked like they were lighting up a Christmas tree. The blinking is some kind of chemical reaction and is used to attract mates. From Wikipedia, my only internet source, “Tropical fireflies, particularly in Southeast Asia, routinely synchronise their flashes among large groups, an example of biological synchronicity. In some fields, this phenomenon is explained as phase synchronization and spontaneous order. At night along river banks in the Malaysian jungles, fireflies (kelip-kelip in Bahasa Malaysia), synchronise their light emissions precisely. Current hypotheses about the causes of this behavior involve diet, social interaction, and altitude.”Interesting…After that we headed back on the two hour drive to our hotel, and overall I think it was well worth the trip :)

The next day, today, I got up at about 8am and met the girls for breakfast so we could explore the city a little bit. We planned on going shopping a little bit but it turns out most of the shops don’t open until 10am so we walked around in search of some place to go. Tristan and I ended up going to a massage place called Best Friends. Tristan got a reflexology foot massage and I got a body massage. Mine only cost $10 American dollars for about 45 minutes, it was great. That was my first real massage so it was definitely an experience having it in Malaysia. After that we left the hotel to have lunch at an Indian restaurant (I only ate rice and nan –kind of like a pita –because I had gotten sick after India). It’s weird getting India food when I was just there. After that we had a very long drive, where we arrived back at about 6:30pm. Oh I also tried this chocolate on the way which had a fruit called duran on the inside. It was awful. I should also add, most of the toilets in India and Malaysia are squat toilets (which are not fun at all and make me really appreciate the states) and no toilet paper but sometimes we can find western style. I found one today in the mall where the Indian restaurant was, and I thought the thing I was pressing was the handle to flush, however I was wrong and sprayed water everywhere like a shower would. I left a little wet and had a good laugh about how unfamiliar I am with foreign places. So anyways, after the long drive we were happy to get back to ship and after eating dinner here quick, we went out to walk around and find an internet café. I got an hour for only 3 ringgit (which is less than one American dollar). Now I am back on the ship and going to bed soon, because tomorrow I want to walk around town and I am going to a local orphanage tomorrow afternoon.

Hope all is well back home and it is not getting too cold yet! Here is a little poem I wrote on the bus ride back to Penang, which I am submitting to our voyager’s book we receive at the end of the trip…

We’re traveling the seas
The world is ours today
We’ll visit ten countries
There’s so much we could say

We meet the friendly and the poor
With every place we go
These places we adore
How they change the things we know

Every face is so unique
Yet we are all the same
All we find and what we seek
Will tell what we became

We’ve seen the world from all sides now
Nothing’s out of reach
So lucky and we wonder how
As we learn and grow and teach

We appreciate the life we live
Living in another view
We’re inspired to give
And let go of all we knew

We live on the ocean
With a stranger, now a friend
Our lives in constant motion
Wishing it would never end

Look how little I look!

Kek Lok Si Temple (under construction)
The top level encompasses a gold, silver, and diamond Buddha statue which is being protected and is not available for public viewing

Turtle pond symbolizing long life!

One more thing, today I was in my room with Rebecca and we got a knock at the door. When we opened, we found our interport student from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who just arrived today. Her named is Phup ...I can't really pronounce it, but I think one of the p's sounds like an f. She was really nice and Rebecca and her made plans for tomorrow (I will be leaving for KL). It's so cool we get people from around the world traveling with us and teaching us about their lives and cultures. ...Alright, time for a few pictures!

I am just about to post a few pictures and I have noticed something interesting in both India and Malaysia, and will find it in the coming Asian countries as well. The swastika, widely known as the German Nazi symbol, carries an extremely negative stigma, while around the world - is connected to peace and religion. It is found on clothing garments, jewelry, and temples. "The symbol as it is used in Buddhist art and scripture is known in Japanese as a manji (literally, "the character for eternality", and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji. Balanced manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures (outside India). Because of the association of the right-facing swastika with Nazism, Buddhist manji (outside India only) after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing. In Hinduism, the two symbols represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma: facing right it represents the evolution of the universe, facing left it represents the involution of the universe. It is also seen as pointing in all four directions (north, east, south and west) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. Its use as a sun symbol can first be seen in its representation of the god Surya. The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus, and is regularly used to decorate items related to Hindu culture."I find it interesting that something that hurts so many, is seen as peace and harmony for the rest of the world.

Penang, Malaysia

Today is my first day in Malaysia. At about 9am we were allowed to get off the ship, only this time, we aren't docked at land. We have to take something called a tender boat, which can hold about 100 people but is surprisingly small. It is very rocky near the ship, so it is a little difficult getting on and off and I found myself feeling nauseous on the short ride over. Luckily it is just that...short. ...About a 10 minute ride. This morning I had an FDP (field directed practica) for my drawing class to the Kek Lok Si Temple. It is a Chinese name and means Temple of Paradise. It was beautiful there, with the architecture influence by the Burmese, Thai, and Chinese. It was so peaceful and relaxing. It started raining pretty hard, but it actually made it that much more relaxing. After visiting the temple and climbing to the top, I found a little store with souvenirs. I saw this little spinner toy that reminded me of my cat Teddybear, because when he was little we had one and we used to throw it in the air and he would catch it and bring it back to us. We lost the disk that flew, so when I saw this, I had to get it for him :) I also found a magnet of the temple (I collect them from each country).

Tomorrow I am leaving in the morning to go to Kuala Lumpur, home of the world's tallest tower (Petronas) for 2 nights and 3 days. The last day I am going to an orphanage in Penang. I'm excited, and still trying to kick this bug, so staying in tonight trying to feel better.

So let's see, the only thing new on the ship is that yesterday was an A day for classes, and I had Philosophy in the morning. The last A day I was sick and didn't make it, so when I went in yesterday I planned on getting notes and catching up. I was just in the middle of getting someone's notes, when our professor tells us to put notes away. He began passing out papers, which I soon realized was an exam. It turns out we had an exam that day and I had absolutely no idea. In all my years of going to school that has never happened to me. It's not like it was a pop quiz we didn't know about - we knew, and I completely forgot, being sick and missing the class before. Luckily he is a really nice professor so I explained the situation and he gave me the option of either taking the exam his next class period about 3 hours later, or we had had the option to write a 6 page research paper (again I guess I did not realize what day this was). I chose this as I was not prepared to take the exam in the slightest, and spent the afternoon writing a six page paper. Funny how your day changes just like that. That's about it for me, but...

Today is Founder's Day! On this day in 1963, "the first voyage, the University of Seven Seas, sailed out of New York City."If you go to: http://www.semesteratsea.org/alumni-and-friends/overview/founder-s-day.php - you can see a picture of the shipboard community. Kind of small so I doubt you will find me...I am on the level closest to the eye, third row, behind the Y and the F in Happy Founder's. If you look really close you will see I have a white headband on and a maroon sweatshirt. Ha good luck!

I am enjoying myself very much and can't believe the trip is more than half over. Malaysia here I come!

I will leave you with Semester at Sea's Alma Mater...
Composed in honor of Max Brandt. Words &music by John M. Rosenberg (Spring 2000)

As we sail from this harbor
Off to see the world
As we sail from port - to starboard
All our flags unfurled

We remember many new faces
And the friends we've come to know
And the memories of new places
Remind us of how we've grown

Raise our voices high
Open wide our eyes
Open up the world to me
On a voyage of discovery

Across the oceans wide
Where the waves uncurl
Life will never be the same -
Now that I have seen the world...

Me on the left on the elephant!

My Oriental Rug from Jaipur, India :)

Petting my elephant!

Taj Mahal

Snake Charmers

Me in front of the Taj Mahal

Chennai, India

I arrived in Chennai, India on Tuesday of this past week. We stepped off the boat sometime after 9am and made our way into town. We walked a couple kilometers (the unit of measure here) and then took an auto rickshaw to the city. An auto rickshaw is a 3-wheeled vehicle with a bench seat in the back for maximum of 3 people (very squished!). There is a bench seat in the front for the driver as well. The rickshaw is half covered, no doors, and has a very small engine. Let me just say that I have never seen traffic like that of India. It is not just that there are a lot of vehicles on the road, like you’d find in the us, but rather, people DO NOT use lanes. There are auto rickshaws, rickshaws (without the motor, pulled by a man on a bicycle), motorcycles, and cars weaving out of each other and close enough that if I stuck only my hand out the window I could touch. No turn signals ever, and stop signs are not recognized. It was chaos. I would have a heart attack if I had to drive there. Not only are there all these types of animals, but during the course of my stay, I saw elephants, camels, dogs, monkeys, donkeys, and cows everywhere. Can you imagine driving down the road and oh look, there’s an elephant 2 feet away from you?

So we made it to the camera shop…not the camera shop that Matt found for me I don’t think, but it did repairs. It was kind of a sketchy area, mostly because it was dirty and dark, but that was true for quite a few places in India. It is very, very hard to explain things to some people in India. Although many speak English, their accents are very thick and difficult to understand. Also they do this head bob thing…like one of those bobble dolls. You can’t tell if it’s a yes or a no…and really it’s neither. It’s their way of not really answering the question. Very confusing. So anyways, I dropped off my camera and tried to explain I needed the gears fixed and also a spot on the sensor or lens cleaned. I left feeling very unsure that they knew what I needed. I was hopeful I would get my camera back at all to be honest but I have learned to try to think the best of people. After that, Kedren (a friend of Savannah’s) and I made our way back because she was on the same overnight trip as me. I hurried to get all my things together, exchange money on the ship, and made a PB&J…as always. They had orange sherbet for the first time that day! I was in a rush so I asked for a really small scoop and ate it while my bread was toasting for my sandwich.

We took a bus to the Chennai airport, with a short layover in Mumbai, and then continued to Delhi. Natasha, Jesse, I were in a row together and played hangman and the dot game which made the flights pass more quickly. We traveled for quite awhile and didn’t arrive to the hotel until about 9pm I think. We met our guide, Davinder Singh, or D, and he was a lot of fun! He showed us pictures of his wife and 2 daughters which was really cool. The hotel we stayed at was 5 star, the Intercontinental, and was the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen. When we arrived, we were given long necklaces made out of what looked like orange marigold flowers. We hadn’t eaten in awhile so dinner was waiting for us when we arrived. I have never seen a food layout like this. The first station had appetizers, like marinated mushrooms and peppers, crackers, all kinds of cheeses…after that we found sushi, large shrimp, fresh roasted turkey and chicken…I can’t even remember everything but I will post pictures of the delicious food. …Even better than the main course was the dessert. There was a long table filled with about 15 different desserts…it was amazing and I am craving it now. They also had all kinds of fruit, including more common ones like kiwi and pineapple, also a strange one that looked like a cross between a kiwi and a watermelon that was pink and white. I will post pictures of those too. After that I took a bubble bath in the nice tub which was really relaxing. I went to bed about 2am that night and had to wake up at 3:45am to leave. We had a light breakfast before we left and then we had to go to the train station to take a train to Agra. It was crazy because it was still dark, people were everywhere, and I was exhausted. We had to sprint across the streets to avoid traffic which was a little scary. After arriving in Agra, we ate breakfast at a local hotel, and then made our way to Agra Fort. Wikipedia has an excellent history of it. We have gotten used to using that site since it is one of the only free sites we have. After that we visited the Taj Mahal! The history of it is that Emperor Shah Jahan’s wife Mumtaz Mahal died during the birth of their fourteenth child. His wife had 2 wishes before she died: 1, for the emperor to not marry again, and 2, for him to build a remembrance of true love. And thus, the Taj Mahal was built, and took 22 years to complete. His wife was buried in the center (the Taj is perfectly symmetrical). The Emperor was later imprisoned by his son in nearby Agra Fort, and when he died, he was buried next to his wife, now making him the only aspect of the Taj Mahal that is not symmetrical. At one time, visitors could visit the actual graves, but now there are fake graves put on top of the real ones to protect them. Taj means crown, and Mahal means palace, and that is exactly what this monument looks like. Shah Jahan’s wife died at 36 years old, after being married since we was 18. There are one million semi-precious stones in the Taj Mahal, and it is over 250 feet tall. Our next stop was to get lunch, and then we began a 6 six hour drive to Jaipur (pronounced Ji –per), the pink city. It is named this because everything is built from sandstone. We then visited Fatehpur Sikri, once built by emperor and mogul Akbar in 1572. He walked over 40 miles to arrive at this place. He did not have any sons, and after moving here he was blessed with two. He also had three wives: Muslim, Hindu, and Christian. Due to heat (115 degrees Fahrenheit in June!) and lack of drinking water, he had to move to Agra Fort.

When we arrived at Hotel Mansingh in Jaipur the next night it was late in the evening. I had dinner and went to bed early to catch up on sleep from the night before. The next morning we woke up very early again, 4:30 or 5, and had breakfast before proceeding to the base of Amber Fort. From here we rode elephants to the top! It was so much fun and little scary because we sat in these boxes that were kind of wobbly as went up the large hill. I was so excited that I got to ride one and got a few pictures. We went to many other places during the day including City Palace, Hawa Mahal, and an Observatory known as Jantar Mantar, which contains elaborate sundial structures. It was built in 1728 and has 12 sundials, including the biggest sundial in India. We also went to a local carpet making place. We got to see the steps as a man was hand-knotting a carpet. There are about 475 knots per square inch! We also saw them singe the back to keep it together after it is finished, and hand cut the top with scissors to get rid of excess material. It was really amazing, and although I did not plan on it, I bought a rug! It is an oriental Indian rug and very beautiful. It took over 2 weeks to make! I will try to post a picture of that too. There are two qualities, single knot and double knot. Double knot is obviously made with two knots, and is the second best quality as it takes less time to make because each knot takes up more room and is not as durable. I bought a single knot which is the best you can get it. I still can’t believe I got it, but I figured it would look nice in my home someday and was handmade in India! One of the guys also threw a carpet across the room, and called it the “flying carpet”like Aladdin, because it flew through the air. It was pretty funny. At night we had dinner at a local Haveli, which seemed like a restaurant to me. It was a guy in our group’s 21st birthday so they had a cake for him and we all celebrated.

The last day of the overnight trip, Friday, was the most interesting I would say. We woke up early to leave for Delhi, another 6 hour drive. We were all exhausted, so we slept pretty much the entire way. However, after arriving on the outskirts of Delhi, we had a very unfortunate incident. Our driver went through the tollbooth and needed a receipt to give to the business he worked for. The tollbooth driver said the printer was not working. They went back and forth a little bit and then the tollbooth driver got aggressive. He began hitting our driver with a broomstick. Somehow our driver and the man ended up outside of our bus and the tollbooth. The tollbooth driver picked up our guide, turned him completely upside down, and dropped him on his face. Our driver was then bleeding profusely all over the road. It was really scary. We had to wait for an ambulance to come, which unlike the US where it only takes 30 seconds, we were waiting 10-15 minutes. I still do not know if our driver is okay, but he was in rough condition when he left. Our guide told us things like this happen every single day, and many die from being dropped like that. While I tell this story and I know it is very scary (and I know my parents are going to be worried after reading this) …India is also an amazing place. Yes there can be a lot of violence, but most people are very friendly. So yes this was the big event of our day, as we were stuck in the middle of the highway waiting for a new driver to come. We were supposed to have a tour of Old and New Delhi as was as visit another fort and a tomb, but we did not have time. Instead we only were able to make a visit to Qutub Minar, built in 1192. We left Delhi in the early afternoon for a direct flight back to Chennai, and again played hangman and 20 questions with Jesse and Alex. We arrived back at about 8pm I would guess, and watched Indian music videos on the bus ride home. When we got back on the ship, I started feeling really sick (stomach, head, very cold and dizzy), perhaps because of some kind of Indian bacteria in me. The food is known to make foreigners ill. So I have been sick since then…I guess not a 24 hour bug. Hopefully it will be gone by the time we reach Malaysia.

The next day, and last day in Chennai, Tori and I headed into town to pick up my camera. When we got there they were closed for lunch, so our rickshaw drivers took us to a shop (where he gets commission from) and we hung out there for awhile and Tori bought a few things. When we came back, it looked like they were just starting to work on my camera…even though I dropped it off on Tuesday. I saw the guy working on it and was kind of nervous, but somehow I think he combined part of my camera with another Nikon Coolpix’s insides. This is just speculation but it works just fine now and I am very excited. Both the gears and whatever was inside the lens causing a spot are fixed. I am going to be very careful in the future because it has been a big pain. After picking it up, we took the same auto rickshaw back as they had been waiting for us. About a mile from port they wanted us to pay them and charged us $30 American dollars. That is very expensive. At least ten times what we should have paid. They would not back down and said that they had to wait for us (they were with us for 4 hours) and had to feed their families. Also we got tricked because there was a driver and a guide for some reason so we had to pay $15 each. Being in another country there is not much we could do, but it shows you have to be careful. They were so friendly before and talking to us about everything, but knew all along they were going to basically screw us. Oh well, it’s expensive in the country, but for the United States I suppose that’s pretty normal. We came back and that’s when my real sickness set in. I did not get up for the rest of the night except to drop off my forms and to eat a PB&J, which was the only thing I ate for 24 hours. It is the next day, and I am beginning to feel a little bit better than yesterday, but still not good. I can’t believe we only have 2 more days after this on the ship and we will be in another country!

So I made notes in a small journal I had, so now I am going to go back through and add random things and facts. We also went to a place called Ghost City built in 1582 and made out of all sandstone. It has been deserted for centuries. This may also be the place built by Akbar but my notes aren’t too clear. The lotus flower is on many buildings and is a symbol of the Hindu religion. The ohm is a symbol of peace. One place we went, built in 1580, was inhabited by Mansingh the first, and he had 12 wives and a floor of concubines. Very strange how cultures vary. Sikh is the religion my guide Davinder is. It is only found in India and is a branch of Hinduism. There are only 20 million in India, which sounds like a lot, but really isn’t much since there is a total population of over a billion. The religion is just over 300 years old, has only one god (God?) and is based on music. A funny story my guide was telling us is when he went to America. He has been twice for 9 months total. He went to New York (which he says is his favorite place in the states) and bought a Yankees hat. Then he went to Maryland and was wearing his Yankees hat and was asked why he was wearing it. He was made to buy an Orioles hat, and was surprised because he didn’t realize people were so passionate about baseball. It was pretty funny how he told it. We also got to see a few snake charmers which were cool. One cobra was pretty big. Cows were parked in between motorcycles which was really weird to see. When we were riding in the bus, we saw at least 10 monkeys on a wall, one with a baby attached under the stomach. Arranged marriages are very popular in India. Families are matched up based on religion, status, etc., rather than love. Interesting concept compared to America, although we pick matches ourselves somewhat based on these things, which we discussed as a topic in my philosophy class. …Even though I saw many poor people in Brazil, and both countries in Africa, it was nothing compared to India. Not only were there people not wearing shoes, but there were people without arms and legs crawling around on the ground. Everyone tried to get us to buy things and kept bargaining with us even when we didn’t want what they were selling. We had to ignore them and not even look at them, which was really hard for me because I would prefer to say no thank you. It was really sad, but strange because a place with the most severe poverty had some of the most friendly people.

Alright well now I am waiting for my psychology class to start. Thanks for all the e-mails sent while I was gone. Miss you all and hope you are all doing well back home!

Day before India!

I haven’t written lately so let me see if I can catch up on the few things that have been going... First of all, and most importantly, I am arriving in my third continent tomorrow...Asia! I will be docking in India less than 8 hours from now. We are now 9 ½ hours ahead EST. I leave tomorrow to fly to Delhi, Agra (to visit the Taj Mahal!), and Jaipur! I’m very excited. I’m all packed and just hanging out with the girls right now. We will be waking up very early to watch the sunrise coming into port...as we do in every country we visit :)

My leaving tomorrow moved ahead 3 hours which I am very happy about as well, because I have been stressing about how to bring my camera to the repair shop. My wonderful boyfriend has confirmed that the place is licensed to repair Nikon cameras - I’m hopeful it will be back to new condition when I pick it up on Saturday.

We had the Sea Olympics on Thursday which was so much fun. I didn’t win the spelling bee...but it was kinda weird how it was set up. Instead of having a separate list for each round so each people got the same level of the word, it was one big list found online. It’s okay, I know I’m still a good speller :) The Yellow Sea won!!! That’s my sea if you were wondering... We were decked out in all yellow and made yellow capes...they’re pretty cool. I also went to gods and goddesses dance that night which was fun but felt kinda like middle school.

 
I’ve had a few exams in the last couple of days which have all gone ok. Kind of hard and of course I haven’t kept up super well with class readings (I’m traveling the world!)...but I did fine. I’ve gone through a couple depressing days...but I’m doing better now that I am about to get off the ship. I know I have a pretty easy life now but it does get a little lonely sometimes and it makes us feel crazy not being able to go anywhere. Some of the sunsets have been so beautiful though! About a week ago we saw a red ball of fire in the sky. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

Well I think that’s it... I will update with my trip in India when I return. E-mails are appreciated and very welcome! E-mail if you’ve forgotten: LDPromise@semesteratsea.net ...I love coming back to e-mails after my trips :) Love and miss you guys and hope all is well!

Lonely at Sea

It's almost midnight here...we lose another hour making us 8 ahead now...almost 4pm on the east coast. All of you are either at work or school and I am sitting in bed listening to music, all my roommates sleeping. I'm getting homesick these last couple of days. I don't even know if homesick is the world but lonely and disconnected from everything. The US economy is tanking, Bentley College just changed to a University a few days ago...who knows what else is going on. I look out the window and all I sea is ocean. The ship rocks constantly and tomorrow is supposed to be a particularly stormy day.

On a funny note, we have sea olympics on Thursday and have events ranging from a relay, volleyball, hot dog eating contest, pizza making and mine...spelling bee. Last night at 11:30pm I get a call in my room to come to a room to do a spell-off. Yes that's right. I have to go against this kid to spell words to see who should compete for our sea/team. We both got them all right and he's in 2 other events, so they deemed me worthy. I'm a little nervous now cause what if I get out and he knew how to spell it ...haha I am such a dork

Alright well time for more music, and hopefully bed sometime...

Every wave, another day
My thoughts consume my mind
All that came and all that may
Could never tell what I will find
I try to guess my future
I marvel in my past
Seems that is life’s allure
Never knowing what comes last
Another day at sea
And as the song will sing
The best is yet to be
What will tomorrow bring

View from Table Mountain

Tired at Sea

We lose another hour tonight so we will be behind 7 hours EST now. I'm getting ready to go to bed soon but I figured I would type a quick post. It's hard to get anything done around here. Between the time changes and the rocking ship I don't do a whole lot. I didn't really do much today besides class, and made a pretty cool drawing in my art class that has an ostrich in it. I saw whales and a dolphin today! I was pretty excited. I tried taking apart my camera a little more since I have been having trouble with it too. I am still hopeful I can make it brand new again. I didn't get shocked this time at least. Oh I forgot I didn't mention that...I got electrocuted from my camera a couple days ago. It was pretty crazy, I've never gotten shocked like that, but I'm alive and well and my camera still works. I am in the process of making some repairs... (Yeah like I know how to do that)

They replayed Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech on our closed circuit TV today ...here's a quote I took from it, from what I was talking about yesterday...

"There is something that is very beautiful about human beings ...there are some awful awful things about them but that is not the most important thing ...you are in fact a God carrier ...did you know that? Did you know that you are of infinite worth? Because you're a God carrier ....you are a stand in for God ...if we had the right kind of eyes and we looked at each other, we would be dazzled by what we saw."

Kiarra and I

Table Mountain

Giraffes!!

Sun rising over the Sontuli camp

Sunrise ..cool picture

Kobus and I, and my new picture

Male Impala

Nala and Mufasa

hahahaha Matt tell Mike this one is for him

Wine tasting

Petting the ostrich

laughing :)

The guide moving the ostrich neck near me..I was scared!

Baby seals sleeping next to our ship

Rhinoceros

Wildebeest

Impala

zebra!

Brit, Rebecca, Tori, Me, Savannah ..sorry so small!

Me, Tori, Rebecca, Savannah

another dolphin! - Namibia

Dolphin - Catamaran Cruise, Namibia

Rebecca and I in the Namib Desert

Guys at the market with their topper cookies!

Sand dunes in the Namib Desert!

Going down a sand dune in Namibia

Quadding in Namibia

My Week in South Africa

We are leaving South Africa right now after spending a week in this amazing country. I’m pretty sad about it, but actually at the moment I am overwhelmed with feeling nauseous as we round the cape towards India. We were just told to secure our belongings

...Just after I finished that sentence I had to get up to be sick...it is now about 20 hours later, and I am just starting to recover from the medication I took from the ship. It is known to make you sleep 12 hours or more. I woke up feeling very groggy and weak and am now just beginning my day at about 5pm. So anyways...back to my story telling...

My first day in South Africa was last Friday. I got off the ship with my friends and we walked around Cape Town for a little while, and I got some kind of delicious steak wrap for lunch. I had to be back around 1 for my Ostrich Ranch and Wine Tasting trip so I didn’t stay out for long. The Ostrich Ranch was so much fun! I saw emus, tortoises, ostriches and baby ostriches, peacocks, and some other colorful bird. I even got to sit on the ostrich! Some funny pictures will be posted soon. After we left the ranch, we headed to a winery nearby called Durbanville Hills. It was beautiful there. From there we could see the wine fields as well as a spectacular view of Table Mountain. After being given a view of the processing plant, we got the chance to taste 8 different wines. They were all very distinctive tasting...I tend to prefer a lighter, fruitier flavor. There was one particular chardonnay that had a nutty aftertaste which I must say was not my favorite. It was a lot of fun though, and I wish I were able to bring a bottle back home, but SAS unfortunately will not store it nor allow it onboard. In order to send any back to the states, you must get a minimum of 12 bottles and pay excessive shipping and handling per bottle. Oh well, I will be back to Africa again. After we came back from this fun field trip, I went out to dinner with my friends at this restaurant called Quay Four right near the dock on the waterfront. There was a live band playing and we saw a lot of SAS people there as well. I split 2 meals with Tori. One was 28 prawns for 99Rand (about $12 US!) which was delicious and huge so we split that and got a steak sandwich to split as well. Both were very good...we’re getting spoiled with this in-port food. I got a mixed drink named “Call Me a Taxi” which was kind of interesting ...some banana strawberry sort of mix I think. I split something called a jug with Savannah and Tori and we had ordered some kind of fruity concoction but ended up with something else... I came back from the bathroom to find this brownish mixture with cucumbers floating in it. It was made with soda water/gingerale, some kind of local alcohol called Pims, and the cucumbers. It wasn’t horrible, but definitely not what we were expecting... We had a lot of fun but I had to leave for my safari by six the next morning so I came back by about 11pm.

The next day, Saturday morning, I woke up early to meet in the Union for my safari. It was a sight I will not soon forget. Multiple very drunk individuals stumbled in, either only holding their passport, passed out on one of the benches, or one, not even making our flight at all. The funny thing is, the guy who missed our flight ended up seeing 5 lions hunting as he came to the reserve at dusk. We were all pretty jealous...it’s funny how things work out. The flight to Durban was about 2 hours, and the drive there was about 4. It made for a long day. We met our guide at the airport...Kobus is his name, though he told us we could call him Stephen because it’s easier to remember. I came to know him fondly as Kobus (Quibbis is how you pronounce it). He is a strange and crazy man and I had the time of my life. On the way into the park there were elephants on the side of the road, yet somehow I think I missed it. That was a mistake on my part because we didn’t see elephants again! That’s the thing about the wild...it’s really a toss-up where, when, and if you will see these animals. When we went it happened to be particularly cold, and even rainy. I wouldn’t change my experience for anything though, not even to go to Kruger where they saw many lions. I don’t think it’s the same experience...staying in a 5-star hotel 45 minutes from the game reserve, or in a tent in the middle of a lion pride hearing hyenas around the campfire at night. Something I can’t even begin to explain... On the first day we were given eggs and our objective was to  not let them break. We all had to give the egg a name and a face, so of course I thought of the Lion King movie. I was going to name mine Simba, but seeing as I’m a girl I decided to go with Nala (Simba’s lioness in the movie) ...I should’ve known at least one of the guys would name his Simba. So we had to go around the circle telling the egg’s name, and as soon as Kobus found out there was a Simba and Nala, he made us be a family and have a baby egg. I named him Mufasa. Yes I’m very original I know. Somehow things progressed and we ended up with a total of 8 eggs between the two of us. For some reason I had to carry all of them except Chris’ (Simba). I don’t know how it happened because everyone else only had one egg, two at the most. I ran out of Lion King names once I used Nala, Mufasa, Pumba, Timon, and Zazu. Then I moved onto Aladdin and named the last two Iago and Abu. We were competing to try to get a photograph taken by Kobus. One was of the typical savanna tree in front of a sunset and the other was half of a young male lion’s face, taken without zoom. Kobus took it under his truck only a few feet away from the lion.

So the next morning we woke up at about 5am, had biscuits and coffee and went out for a morning game drive. After that we had breakfast, talked for awhile about all kinds of things including our guide’s crazy experiences. We had a few more game drives that day and I got to see so many animals! Zebra, kudu, impala, nyala, black and white rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, warthog, monkey, baboon, vulture... It was so much fun and we had a lot of cool people on our trip. Amy (or Pippy) was our leader or (psychologist on the ship)...Yellow, Huene (wrong spelling but green in Afrikaan), Smokey, Splat, Touchy 1&2...all the many nicknames, and mom as I ended up being called. It’s hard to explain the whole experience. Especially that night around the campfire... let’s just say it involved a lot of broken eggs and spitting “grass” across the fire. As much as this is a note letting you all know what I’ve been up to, it’s also a memoir for myself so I can look back and laugh someday. I hope I remember the smell of the fire, the awful taste of those marshmallows, the lasagna in the dark made by Mama Cook, the sound of the hyena howling through our camp, the sound of the Velcro of our tent coming up and waking up to make sure there were no animals or spiders inside, the many jokes of Kobus, the bungee jumping giraffe, the list could go on. It was truly memorable and I wish I could have a video of it in my mind forever. I hope someday I can go to the Serengeti with our guide and relive the experience again.

As always, I am sure I am forgetting a lot but I hope my pictures will serve as a memory jogger. The next day we mostly spent traveling and talking for hours on the long bus ride. While we were standing on the deck watching the sunrise, the Circle of Life and Africa played and it really was a kind of surreal experience. I felt like I was in the Lion King, and ...”I felt the rain down in Africa” ...I really did ? So right before we were going to leave, Kobus was ready to give out the pictures. He had our group nominate 6 people who we thought stood out the most. Five other people and myself were nominated, and we had to narrow that down to two people. Nathan and I were the two left standing. He was the person who missed his flight, and Kobus’ company had to go about 2 hrs to pick him up and 2 hours to bring him back. So the two of us were left, and we were told one of us would have to forfeit everything. I had no idea what that meant, but our guide told the other guy that because he was late and his company lost money, he would not get anything because he had to learn life wasn’t fair. So I was the only one left and I got to choose between the two pictures. For some reason I had a really hard time, but I chose the lion face, partly because I was the lion family for the trip, and also because it was a picture you wouldn’t see everyday...it’s very different looking, and I didn’t get to see a lion so I got to take one with me! We spent most of this day traveling as well, and I was sad to leave but I am hopeful to come back for a safari again.

In the remaining time I had left in Cape Town, one day I spent hiking Table Mountain. Look up pictures online - it is so beautiful and my pictures really don’t even do it justice. There were waterfalls and various plants and flowers and the view all the way up was spectacular. I made a short video as I was hiking up and I am quoted as saying “this is the hardest and most strenuous thing I have ever done” ...which it was. We took the most difficult path on the mountain and it was like taking three stairs at a time for an hour and a half. There was this little dog that was cruising up too, he must have been an avid hiker. I was TIRED! The top was so rewarding though. I heard this trail had the most amazing view so it made it all worth it. My lungs felt like they had doubled in size after that hike.

I was able to call home one day and speak to my mom, my dad, and Matt and it was great getting to talk to all of them. It’s weird being away from everyone and only having e-mail to communicate so it’s nice hearing people’s voices from the states. I went shopping a little bit for souvenirs for people, and also got an ostrich egg for myself! It is really awesome looking. It’s like a shimmery black and gold color with a map of Africa painted on one side and the big 5 animals painted on the other. The big 5 if you are wondering are named that because they are the most dangerous animals to hunt ...they include lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo.

The last day...yesterday...we did Operation Hunger. This was such an amazing experience and unlike anything I had ever seen. In the morning we went to a school where children are sent when their parents can’t afford to send them anywhere else. They are there from 6 in the morning til 5 in the late afternoon. They spend more time here than at home. Everyone was so excited to see us and adults and children alike wanted to shake our hands. The kids just wanted their pictures taken and to take pictures of everything. They were so friendly and so full of life. They had stickers that were given out to them and something that really amazed me is when one of the children split their sticker in half to give the other half to another child. I thought, wow they have so little and still they share. A few minutes later I saw them taking stickers off each other too, but I still saw that one moment and it was really cool to see. We had to do their heights, weights, and arm circumferences to see if they were malnourished. The ones that were too small to stand we either held them and stood on the scale, and subtracted our weight out, or we sat them on the scale cross-legged. One little girl was about 2 years old...her name was Kiarra. She couldn’t walk or stand or talk. The woman who worked there said she never smiled. I held her for an hour and she fell asleep in my arms. She was so pretty and such a cute baby but nothing could make her smile. The little kids were so excited to play with us. As I was getting ready to leave one little boy gave me a kiss on the cheek at least 15 times! They performed shows for us that they had been working on as well...anything from songs to group dances, to even ballroom dancing. It was so adorable. We were all really sad to leave. In between that and the next activity we had time to stop at a gas station to get snacks. We were given box lunches from the ship (which none of us particularly enjoy), and we got them ready to give to the children at the soup kitchen of the next place we were going. At the gas station, I bought bread, apples, bananas, cereal, and others got snacks and milk and other things as well that we brought to the soup kitchen. You should have seen the table of food after we brought everything. It was amazing. Kids were walking away with bananas, sandwiches, and eggs in their hands, when they are used to bread dipped in tea for every meal, if they are lucky. I had gotten a bag of jelly beans and walked over to a little boy to offer them. He reached in and took one and said thank you. I said no not just one, take a whole handful! He reached in and grabbed the biggest handful he could take after that, it was so cute. After leaving that place, called Capricorn, I regretted any food I had left on my plate on the ship. I told myself I would only take a small amount of food if I wasn’t sure I would like it and could always go get more. You realize that your scraps or your trash, to someone else could be a meal. No matter if you have $1 to your name, we all (you and I) have a bed to sleep in every night, a roof covering our head, food to eat, clothing to wear, shoes on our feet, running water to shower with...I am trying to appreciate my many blessings as we have more than we can count. Bad things happen all the time, but overall we truly are so lucky. If you saw a place like this you would wish you could adopt all of these people and make their lives better. So enough about that, but if there’s two things you take from this blog, one would be see the world as much as possible because it is a beautiful and amazing place, and two, take nothing for granted and share whatever you can because it has to start somewhere.

On that note, the night before that, Archbishop Desmond Tutu came on the ship to speak to us. He had actually been a guest on the ship a few years earlier as a passenger for almost 4 months. While I cannot remember exactly what I said, what I do remember is that the point he emphasized is that we are God carriers. What he meant by this is that each and every one of us is made by our Creator in His image and that doing wrong to anyone is like doing wrong to God Himself. And by supporting others, you are supporting Him who created us. We were told that we are the stand in for God, meaning we need to treat others how God would treat us. That means forgiving, accepting, and not judging, just as how we have been treated. He told us many times that we all have infinite worth and I believe it. Not every person has the same talents, or smarts, or beauty, or athletic inclination, but every person can choose to be kind to others and every person is equal and every person is special in their own way. ...And along with people coming on the ship, last night a South African choir came on the ship and it was amazing. Their voices were incredible. I hope I can find a video of it from somewhere. The last song they sang was God Bless Africa which was really great.

Overall Cape Town was an amazing city and port to dock in. As was Namibia and Africa as a whole. I did not want to leave but am confident I will come back to this continent. The city of Cape Town has a lot of contrasts, as most of the city is so beautiful and clean. There was a huge hotel right next to where we were docked and they were filming a movie called the Chairman I believe. I heard Dave Chappelle was in port while we were here also. The outer city however, away from our eye, was stricken with poverty. I’m sorry if some of my blogs come across as preachy or like I think I know so much. I do not and my eyes have only been opened through these experiences. I know I have an awesome opportunity in front of me and I am trying to appreciate and take in every moment I can. Someday these blogs and my pictures will be my only memory of this trip. I can’t believe I am going to be on this ship for another 10 days before India! I know it may not seem like much in numbers but it sure seems like a lot when you’re on it! So I think that’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my travels in South Africa. I had so much fun and am glad to be feeling better after last night! I miss you all and hope everything is going well back home!

27 Days at Sea

Back on the ship again... The coasts from Namibia to South Africa are known for being rocky, and I got to experience that this afternoon. I started feeling very nauseous and took medicine right away. And then we had a last minute lifeboat drill at 5 so I was not feeling too great on deck. Luckily I feel better now and had a delicious dinner. Yes I said my dinner on the ship was delicious. I had some sort of seafood thing with shrimp, mussels, fish, maybe crab meat and a creamy sauce...and it was actually very good. And I also had cheesecake with strawberry jam! It's probably the best dinner on the ship so far. We have cultural pre-port tonight which is very strange because we just left Namibia yesterday and now we are preparing for our next country. Oh I meant to add in the pictures I posted, the here I am wearing a white fleece, the seal's name is Spotty and Fluffy is the other one where it is showing just my head. So time to go work on my drawings for my art class...it's still early back home so hope you all are having a good day at work or school! :)