Sunday, October 19, 2008
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!
Monday, October 13, 2008
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!
Monday, October 6, 2008
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
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
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."
Friday, October 3, 2008
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!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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! :)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Unknown Country of Namibia
Like many of you, I knew little if anything about Namibia before I found it on my Semester at Sea itinerary. Namibia has only become more popular in recent years because of the birth of Angelina and Brad's daughter here, but if that's all you know it for, research it a little and see what it has to offer. It is truly an amazing country. The people here are the friendliest and kindest people, and all were so happy we chose to dock in Namibia. In Semester at Sea's 97 voyages, this is the first time that the ship has docked in Walvis Bay (pronounced differently by many, but generally Walfish Bay.) Everyone I spoke to said that they know so much about America and are happy that people are coming to their country. They were very proud and everyone was very happy to have us. If I did not mention it, the exchange rate here is about 8 to 1 (7.92 Namibian dollars/South African Rand to one American dollar). That equals very inexpensive for an American. I have had some great meals since I have been here. The prawns were delicious at The Raft the first night here, as was my steak sandwich at a local cafe in Swakopmund (pronounced Swock-o-moond). Last night we went to a restaurant in town and I ordered seafood pizza. It had calamari, prawn, and mussels on it...a good sized pizza for about 8 or 9 American dollars. We found it funny when Brittney ordered her chicken pizza, that it cost the same amount. That is because seafood is very easy to come by here as the coastal waters are filled with both fish and shellfish.
Yesterday Rebecca and I left the ship at about 8am to make our way into town so we could catch a taxi to Swakopmund. We found it very difficult to find one. One driver told us 300 Rand, which is equivalent to 15 times the amount we were told we should pay! We decided to go to one of the banks in town because there are usually taxi drivers waiting there, and happened to find a tour guide van for SAS students doing sky diving with the company. The driver offered to take us for free since he already had 8 students to bring. It ended up working really well because it turned out his company specialized in quadding and he dropped us off there to rent an ATV. After a 1 minute briefing about the vehicles, we followed our tour guide Michael to the dunes. Let me just say, it was the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. You would think it is just mounds of sand, but the way the light hits the various sides and angles is extraordinary. There are various elements that make up the dunes, other than sand of course, and our guide showed us the magnetism of mica. While having this great adventure, all I could think was what an opportunity I had been given and I really felt like one of the luckiest people in the world. America is beautiful in its own right, but traveling around the world, with different culture, strange settings, various languages and native tongues...it is such a gratifying experience. And what makes me so lucky besides just studying abroad? I am visiting a new place every week or two all around the world. I really can’t explain it, but Africa is beautiful.
So anyways, after that we got dropped off at the booking agency for the catamaran cruise. After deciding on one we liked, we inquired about camel riding. Later in the day we called, and they were all booked for the day ? I didn’t get to go camel riding...I was very sad. Next we went to the market because I wanted to get souvenirs. Usually there are about 50 people out selling their things, but that day there were only 4. As we were walking over, they started jumping down and dancing...they were so excited! I bought things from 3 of them, and Rebecca bought something from the one I didn’t. I did great bargaining through the first two, and then I got to the last one. I had put a certain amount of money in my pockets ahead of time so I didn’t have to dig through my stuff, and I was left with 200 Rand (about $25 American). I only had it in 2 100 Rand bills, and they don’t like to give back change. I found 4 things as souvenirs for my family, and started the bargaining. I am generally a very friendly person, and my roommates insist that they all loved me and I flirted with them. I don’t think that’s true, I thought I was just being nice to these people, but who knows...I get good deals. So the last guy’s name was Kevin, and I told him I was looking for a souvenir for my sister and her husband, whose name is Kevin, and he was so excited. He told me it was a connection. Of course he liked me after that, but he still did not want to take my 200 Rand for what I picked out. I told him I was giving the things to my family and he softened a little but he wanted more. He asked me for something from America. Well I went through my bag and had very little in it. Laughing, I offered him a pack of tissues I had. He didn’t want that. I kept digging and I came up with a pen. Just an ordinary pen...not one of those cheap bic ones, but nothing special. He was like let me see that, and kept it...it was really funny. We had been chatting a lot at this point and he said, okay you can have them but bring us something sweet...and then he packed the things up in my bag. When I left I’m sure they didn’t think I was coming back, nor did Rebecca, but I marched straight to the grocery store and got 3 packs of these topper cookies we really love. These cookies are very good, especially custard. I was back to see them about 10 minutes later. They started dancing again and had Rebecca take like 3 pictures of us together on my disposable camera I got for the dunes (so sand didn’t get in my real camera). They were very nice and we all had a good laugh. I had thought about buying things in some of the African stores, but to me if they can afford the store, they can’t be that bad off. These men were so proud of their things and so happy to sell them. To me, not only was I receiving some cool things, but I was helping them as well. It was a good day and when Rebecca and I got back, we enjoyed dinner with Brittney and Tori. Brittney bought this horrendous looking figure we named Zulu to give to her best friend. She knows her friend is going to hate it, but she is going to make her hang it on her wall!
Today Rebecca and I woke up early to meet at the Walvis Bay Yacht Club to go on our dolphin and seal cruise. It was SO COLD! I was wearing long sleeves, a sweatshirt, and a fleece, and was still freezing. I found out that apparently you can still get sunburned in weather this cold...I’d like to say lesson learned but we shall see. We met a really nice older German man who was telling us about the history of the country and was the guide for the other catamaran. Our guide was so friendly and asking us all kinds of questions about the ship and about home. Within the first few minutes, the fun already began. I saw so many seals! There were seals everywhere...seal islands! We had seals jump on our boat! I will post the pictures of me with Fluffy and the one with Spotty. Spotty had been in a fight so he was a little banged up. They lived in the ocean but our guides know some of the seals so they jumped right up and we got to pet them and play with them. It was so much fun! And I saw so many dolphins too! I was so excited. I love animals more than anything so I was really in my element. I even saw 2 African penguins too! I also saw huge pelicans...one of them posed in front of a pelican tour boat, accidently of course ? The guides gave us a shot of sherry that was made by them and apparently combats seasickness pretty funny. They also gave us mimosas and sparkling wine. All before noon... The food was delicious! There were shrimp and some kind of fish rings and potato patties...a bunch of things I can’t even remember. And there were raw oysters! Oysters are famous here as there are oyster farms all over the place. I figured I had to try locally grown oysters... The first one I had without anything on it...it was very slimy and tasted like the sea. I did not enjoy it. I didn’t want to have another, but a Belgium man recommended I put lemon juice, pepper, and a drop of tabasco sauce on it. I tried it...and although it was better, I have learned that I do not like raw oysters. I prefer cooked seafood, although I do enjoy sushi in the fish category such as tuna ? It was so much fun today, I really loved it. I wanted to go camel riding when I got back but people were worried that we would get back too late and I couldn’t go alone... I am hoping to go in South Africa.
I am sure I am missing things I did, as always. I need to video camera my day to keep track of everything. It has been such an experience so far. I will be in South Africa in just 2 days! We arrive on Friday in the morning and I will be leaving for my safari this weekend!!! The world is a great gift to us and gives experiences we could only receive by traveling. After visiting only my third country, I am eager to see what else awaits. Alright well leave me questions you might have! Until later, I hope you all are doing well and thanks for reading!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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