I haven't done too much today, one class, a few meetings... We realized recently that we are going to lose a full 24 hours before making it back home. Right now we are 15 behind the east coast, and by the time we reach Hawaii, will be 19 hours behind. Hawaii is 5 hours behind the east coast, so when we have 2 November 22nd days, we will still be behind the east coast, and will lose another 5. I don't like thinking of losing 9 more hours!
Tonight was Kurt's memorial service. It turned out really nice. We passed out programs with his picture and biography as well as the events of the meeting. One of the professor's spoke, as well as one of Kurt's friends who did a religious reflection with one of my favorite verses from Ecclesiastes that I recommended (chapter 3), and Kurt's roommate, Vin. There was also a great slide show with pictures and people speaking about Kurt and saying their goodbyes. After, we went to deck 4, where Vin released a bouquet of flowers, and we all had a moment to say our goodbyes. 8/23/87-11/7/08
"To every thing there is a season, a time to every purpose under the heaven."
Thursday, November 20, 2008
84 Days at Sea
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Japan, Part II
Yesterday I arrived in Yokohama, Japan, and we got off the ship about 8am. From there we took many trains to the exciting city of Tokyo. We spent most of the day walking around the various parts of the city and took trains to some of the areas that were further away such as the technology district, or what I believe they call, the electricity city (or something like that). We went to a Thai place for lunch and I got pad thai which was delicious, though I avoided the side dishes of a strange spicy soup and coconut dessert soup. In the afternoon we went to Tokyo Tower (the largest freestanding tall tower in the world) which looks very similar to the Eiffel Tower …except it is orange. There were Christmas lights and a big tree – it was so beautiful. I love lights, I get really excited :) The view from the top was incredible. We went up there right before the sun was setting so we got to see Tokyo from daylight to dark. I’ve found that ferris wheels are really big here, as I have seen huge ones in Kobe, Yokohama, and Tokyo. After the tower, we went to none other than …… Tokyo DISNEYLAND!!!! We got the night pass to go after 6, however we didn’t arrive until closer to 7 and the park closed at 10. I tried to keep spirits high and ended up having the best time. We really had SO much fun. It was Rebecca, Savannah, myself, Tristan, Iman, Katherine, and Tess. Then as we were walking in, Katherine recognized this girl Lauren from class, who as it turns out was supposed to meet her friends and they didn’t come. She had been waiting outside awhile so I was happy she came in with us. We made it onto 5 rides…and the best ones, if I do say so myself. We may not have made it to Fuji, but we saw the 3 mountains… :) Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain, and also It’s A Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. The funny thing is, when I was younger I was terrified of Space and Splash Mountain…my parents can attest to this. I had to leave the line for Space, and my mom tricked me into going on Splash. Let’s be honest, I was still a little scared, but I had to be a trooper. We got our picture taken going down Splash Mountain and we were supposed to make the Home Alone face with our mouths open, hands on our faces. I tried so hard but I was really scared and had to hold on half way through. So 6 of the girls are making the face, and my mouth is just open, looking genuinely terrified. It really is quite funny – it’s hanging on a few of their walls. I will scan it one of these days so you can all get a good laugh. The whole place was decorated for Christmas, I am always so surprised by how much it is celebrated in these countries. There was Christmas music playing too. We saw the parade and also a fireworks show out the windows waiting in line for Thunder Mountain. It was such a great day and by the time we were leaving to get back on the train, we were absolutely exhausted. My feet were killing me and are even more so after today…. I slept well at least.
Today I woke up a few times after 7, and ended up getting up about 9 or so I guess. I decided to explore the city on my own since I needed to get souvenirs, and also just wanted some time for myself. I love traveling with other people, but with so many people, you are always deciding where to go, what to eat, etc. It was relaxing going around though very hard to find things I was looking for. It kind of drives me crazy that so many places have Little (insert country) or (insert country) Town …ex. Little India in Malaysia, China Town….everywhere, and Japan. I’m searching for Japanese things and every store I go to has magnets that say China and pictures of the Great Wall. It became a little frustrating and sure tired my feet out some more. I went to a local coffee shop this morning hoping to find internet, but Japan isn’t big on offering free wireless and brings you to a homepage, and if I wanted to pay, I can’t…because I don’t know Japanese. …For breakfast I ate a pastry. For lunch I ate a pastry. They are so delicious. It was all I ate today until dinner when, get this, I had cauliflower, rice, a few salad leaves, and a banana. I try, I really do.
I absolutely loved Japan. While I could live in other countries we visited, Japan is the first place that I really feel like I could be completely comfortable. I traveled the streets alone today and do not any Japanese to save my life, and I was just fine. A lot of the younger crowds know some English, and those who don’t usually hand motions or one word suffice. It’s a lot like the U.S. really, except cleaner and safer – and a bit more interesting since it was my first time. I have a lot of places to go back to though, as there is something I missed in many countries that I want to see, or just because I liked them so much and want to go again. It really has been an amazing experience and I cannot believe I am on my way back to American soil again. I will be in Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving, November 27th, so until then, I spend the next 9 days at sea…resting, recovering, and maybe (…unfortunately, definitely) doing a bit of work…
Thanks for comments you have left the long way – each one has been read and much appreciated. Please continue until I come home – I’m excited to see all of you! :)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
4 weeks left today...
Today we are on our way to our second port in Japan. I got to sleep in today...we closed the blinds for about the third time on the trip. It shuts out all light so about noon when it was still pitch dark, I decided it was time to get up :) I got my hair done today in the salon - you can see pictures when I post them from Yokohama tomorrow. They also had special dining for us tonight - usually we have buffet style, but tonight it was a 5 course meal that was served to us. There are only about 200 people on the ship so they make dinner nice for us. I've watched a couple movies today and am about to watch Definitely Maybe with the girls right now. We are 14 hours ahead of the east coast so most of you aren't up this early on Sunday morning.. I on the other hand will be going to bed in a couple of hours since it is 9:30pm! Hope you all had a good weekend!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Japan, Part I
We arrived in Kobe, Japan yesterday, Friday morning. We had a strange immigration process to follow, so at exactly 7:45am we had to be read to go to the Faculty Lounge to walk in front of a camera, which supposedly took our temperature and got our face on screen. After all 1,000 of us completed that, we had to go through customs with a face to face inspection and get our passports stamped. After that, we went to a local Japanese restaurant to have noodles. They tasted like they had some sort of barbeque sauce on them which I found strange, but mine was shrimp and was very good. Next a group of us headed on the monorail to the train station, where myself, Tori, Brittney, Rebecca, Savannah, and Lauren left to go to Kyoto. For about 1050 yen ($10.50 American), we took a 50 minute train ride to Kyoto. Because the morning had taken so long to depart from the ship, it was early afternoon by the time we arrived, and most of the temples and sites closed at 5. We did get a chance to go to a temple, where Brit bought birdseed and we got to feed the pigeons. I know most of you are probably saying, pigeons, gross! But the pigeons in Japan are very clean and they were beautiful. When we put birdseed in our hands they would hop up so I have pictures of them fluttering on my hands eating. Hopefully we don’t have bird flu. Just kidding…sort of. By the way, that’s why we had to have our temperatures taken before Japan, to make sure we didn’t have bird flu. I ordered an iced white chocolate mocha from Starbucks (my favorite drink), which is very popular in many of the countries we are going to, and very nice in Japan. In fact the toilets have heated seats. The leaves have been absolutely beautiful. I think I have taken autumn for granted in the Northeast, but missing it this year, and then seeing it hear in Japan, I appreciate it on a whole new level. It has been breathtaking here – I don’t know if it’s because it is brighter and more vibrant or because well, I am in Japan – I think a little mixture of both. So at this point it already started getting dark so we decided to get some dinner. From across a small bridge we saw a red sign and lights and thought it looked like a cute place to eat. When we walk in, it is absolutely deserted, but looks nice enough so we have a seat. When we look at the menu, everything is very cheap. About 250 yen for most things. Well, it turns out there are very few normal things on the menu, and most are chicken hearts, livers, stomachs, etc. I got a rice ball with cheese. Literally a ball of rice with cheese on top. It was actually really good and the only thing I thought would sit well with me. The funny thing is, a few of my friends ordered chicken on sticks, and while it was very good, they got one stick. That is why it was so cheap, because it was like 3 pieces of chicken. It was really hilarious, you had to be there, but we were really getting a kick out of the whole thing. I also had soybeans for the first time, which I didn’t realize the outsides were hairy. I am using chopsticks at every meal these days, and only see forks when I am on the ship. I enjoy using them for rice – sticky rice. There are Christmas decorations everywhere. It’s so weird because in the states they come up after Thanksgiving, but here they don’t have Thanksgiving so they are up months before. We walk through the streets hearing Christmas music and see Christmas trees all lit up. It really is a lot of fun :)
So after that we headed back to the ship to get ready for the night. When we had first gotten off the ship in the morning for customs, we had been given little fliers specially made for SAS students, with open bar and DJ for 1500 yen for girls and 2000 yen for guys. We had planned on going there for the night, but as always, things change… I wouldn’t have it any other way. We go out, eight of us – myself, Rebecca, Savannah, Tori, Tess, Iman, Katherine, and Lauren, on our way to this club. We have a small map from the flier but we find it is somewhat useless, and spend a good hour and a half looking for it, when it was really about 15 minutes walking from the ship. Before that we asked a few Japanese people at little food marts, and it is very interesting trying to communicate when neither know each other’s languages. We run into other students at the end and they say the place isn’t that good and is packed with lines. We decided to look for another place and stop at a family mart to get a few drinks. I got an apple cocktail…one of the girly, fruity drinks…and we walk around outside. Well long story short, we never make it anywhere and spend the evening walking the streets of Kobe. It was so much fun, I can’t even explain. It was so much better than going anywhere and we got to meet so many people. Tori and Lauren went home, leaving 6 of us so it was still really safe. We met Japanese guys and some people from Israel I think who live in Japan, and ran into a lot of people from SAS doing the same thing we were. It turned out to be a really amazing night and much better than going to some club. 2 of my favorite things of the night – fruity punkin pie and charred cinnamon over an open Christmas fire …and Bec eating her custard…and mickey d’s. haha That is how the night ended, with a line of SASer’s at McDonald’s. I hadn’t really had dinner (besides the rice ball!) so I got a cheeseburger and was so happy about it. I don’t really eat fast food at home (except Wendy’s occasionally with Matt!) but it is really nice to have American food sometimes. We got home pretty late, after figuring out how to tell the taxi driver where our port was. Japan is known as a very safe country, safer than the U.S., and we all stuck together so it really turned out to be a good evening. I also turned out to be very tired when I had to get up today…
This morning I skipped breakfast because I wanted a half hour extra sleep. We left the ship around 9:30am I guess to take the monorail to the train station again. We went to mickey d’s (again) and I got a mcgriddle, which was delicious. After we all ate our breakfasts, we spent some time figuring out the trains to get to Mt. Rokko. It’s about 30 mins. from Kobe center. When we got there we had all kinds of plans of going to a cheese castle, seeing goats and sheep, rowing on a lake…the list goes on. …But with our on-ship time at 6pm this evening so we could leave the port, we weren’t left with much time. The afternoon turned out to be one of exploration and it was fabulous. There were 8 of us again today: Britt, Tess, Savannah, Tori, Tristan, Lauren, Christy, and myself. After many buses and trains throughout the day, and a really fun cable car ride to the top, we decided to just walk around the area and enjoy the fall weather and the beautiful scenery. Oh, before this we went to lunch and I got french fries. Only french fries, and luckily for that, because I guess the noodles my friends got were terrible. So anyways, after lunch, we went exploring and stumbled upon a cliff covered with beautiful red, yellow, orange, and green trees, and rocks and ledges. It was gorgeous and we got so many fun pictures up there. We also saw two Japanese men rock climbing which looked pretty cool (and scary). We left Mt. Rokko at about 3pm to make it back to the ship, and boarded the numerous (5 and counting…bus, cable car, bus, train, monorail) modes of transportation to get back. The way it works here is that we get a ticket we put through a machine before we get on, and then we put that same ticket through after the ride. Well, after about 10 successful so far, I lost my ticket. The man at the counter only spoke Japanese so I ended up just purchasing another ticket – glad it was only 180 yen mistake instead of some of our $10+ rides. When we got back 3 of the girls decided to get an early dinner, and 5 of us went to get some delicious pastries, which I guess they are known for over here, and are so good. Japan hasn’t been as expensive as I thought it would be, as it is supposed to be more than the U.S. right now. That’s what I’ve been up to the last 2 days. I have really loved Japan and have had some of my most fun times yet here. We will be at sea tomorrow, and arriving in Yokohama about 8am on Sunday. Our tentative plan is a train ride to Tokyo on Sunday, and Mt. Fuji on Monday. We shall see… 4 weeks left from tomorrow! :/ :) :( ?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hi Anonymous, I would like to ask your name because I have seen various comments from you, and I would like to know who is sharing this information. Thank you!
P.S. - I hope everyone is having a good day.. The ship is very rocky right now so I am going to bed early and hoping for calmer waters in the morning...
76 Days at Sea
Only about 4 1/2 weeks left of my trip, and Japan on Friday. The last couple of weeks have become harder than I expected, though my trips in port have still been amazing. There are a lot of emotions from a mix of things - that the trip is almost over, that I will be leaving my friends, that I will be seeing my family and friends back home again, that I graduate in less than 6 months, that I need a job and an apartment ...just trying to figure out overall what I want, and what I want to come back to - and then the sudden event of Kurt's death. Although we were not good friends, he was on the Intercultural Committee with me and I can't get it out of my head. I tend to take things personally even when they don't happen to me, because I can't help but think how I would feel if they did, or worry that they could. Some people know this as one of my flaws because I become too concerned about what is going on in other people's lives and it affects me far more than it should. I cannot help but think about Kurt's family, and wonder, how could this happen? We are so close to being home, how could he not make it? His parents were waiting for him to come home, as were his friends, and his twin brother. It's just such a shock - it could really happen to anyone. I want to cherish each day and make the most of it but I just feel depressed right now and can't get out of this funk. This trip has made me realize the importance of some things, and the unimportance of others. Seeing someone so young, my age, pass away so unexpectedly, really added another aspect on an already confusing time. I am finding myself unable to deal with all of the changes now and that will come. It really makes me question, what is important to me and how do I want my life to be?
