Oh, India. Those campaigns that say “Incredible India” sure did get that first word wrong. It really should be “Indescribable India,” because I can assure you that this is one place that has left me without words.
People from America say they know poverty. They say they know sadness. They say they know dirty. They claim to know and have been thorough hard times. They declare they know overcrowded places, and can name a few instances or locations off the top of their heads. But, no. They do not know. They can’t even start to know; they don’t even understand the beginning. The homeless in the streets of the U.S. may as well be in a three-star hotel that provides a continental breakfast compared to those who are homeless in India. Americans turn their eyes from the beggars holding up signs on the street corners, while their hand quickly locks their car door. Indian beggars are so in need that they come up right to you with tears in their eyes smudging away the dirt from their face. Their hands, layered in dirt and dust with stained fingernails, grip your shirt with a grasp that not only claws at your shirt, but wrenches your heart as well. Their clothes are ripped and scraps of potato bags cover their swollen stomachs. No, you cannot understand pain, poverty, hunger, needs, or sadness until you have looked into a begging six year old Indian child’s eyes, because those big brown marbles give away everything. And it doesn’t go into your mind; it painfully stabs your heart.
India is hard to talk about. And I’ve had several days to discuss and process what I witnessed and experienced in the country, but I am still clouded by it all, and it even affects my mood. For you all, I will do a quick run-down of my five days there so you are in the loop of what I did there.
The first day, I stayed on the ship to watch a yoga demonstration that was required of me for my psychology of stress course. It was barely an hour long and we saw Indian yoga students perform a lot of positions that I couldn’t even dream of contorting my body into. They also did several breathing exercises and taught us some positions to try to feel more rested. Next, I quickly packed and crammed on a bus for a service project. First, they took us to an Engineering College where we were given dots on our foreheads, a free drink and some Indian cookies before heading off with students from the school to go to a local elementary school in the slums. We walked through a gateway and could hear children screaming in joy that we had arrived. They were still in class and weren’t allowed to come out and greet us. While they were in the rooms, we painted the walls in other class rooms with the other students from the Engineering College. We talked to them and asked them questions about India, while they asked us questions about the United States. Indian students are so much more educated than those in the US! They know five languages and learn things that I haven’t even heard of. Soon, the children were released and they bombarded us! We played and laughed with them, and most of the girls brought out their notebooks so for us to sign with our names. I was surrounded by kids shoving scraps of paper and hands out at me for me to sign. They sang an Indian song for us and we left after two hours of spending time with them.
The next day, Caitlin (my room mate) and I got up early and caught the bus to go to Kancheepuram and Mamalapuram. The day was filled with Hindu temple after Hindu temple and intermixed with monuments built by people way before Jesus. It was really a good learning experience, and the religion is such a beautiful one. They believe in one god, named Ohm, and he has several different personalities and those are all known by different names. Ganesh is an elephant deity that represents peace and good luck (obviously my favorite), then Vishnu is the highest and most important deity of preserving and maintaining , and then another is Shiva destroys and transforms. There are tons of them, but those are the three that are most widely represented throughout India. During the day, we went to a silk factory and watched a man make a silk saree (piece of 6 meter long cloth that all Indian women wear) and how difficult and time consuming the process is. It takes 2 weeks to make one saree. We all bought vibrantly colored scarves there and they are currently hanging up in my room.
The next day, I woke myself up at 3:00am and met with some girls (Marisa, Dana, and Jess) and took a flight to Delhi. The plane was nice with comfortable seats and personal TVs for us to watch for the duration of our 2 ½ hour plane ride. I slept almost the entire way. Once there, we looked for a sign and found our names on a piece of paper held by a man in a grey uniform. He asked us to come with him and he drove us to our hotel: The Radison New Delhi. Beautiful place with fountains and nice plush couches and everyone spoke English and it was extremely elegant. We hurried and changed for our day tour of India with our own personal diver for 8 hours (only $20!). After eating some lamb in spicy sauce at one of the hotels restaurants, we headed out and saw the sights of New Delhi. New Delhi and Delhi are the same place, except New Delhi is just a newer part of the city. After seeing the Lotus Temple, a tomb that looked like the Taj (but way smaller), and a few more monuments, we stopped and went shopping at a market. There, I bought two skirts, a purse, a statue of Ganesh, a silk shirt, three silk scarves, and a dress all for less than $50 US. It was definitely a steal! Bartering should be my second major. For dinner we went to a traditional Indian restaurant and got skewered chicken and lamb with lentils and flat bread, and it was SO good! They tied aprons around us before we ate and we drank out of copper goblets. After eating, they brought us finger bowls for us to wash our hands in, and then a tray of three plates. The first had anise seeds, the next had coconut powder, and the third contained rock sugar. The host described that we were to mix them together in our right hand (the left hand is the “unclean” one) and the anise stood for long life, the coconut for health, and the sugar for overall success. It was a sweet way to end our meal, and to clear our palettes from the strong flavors of the meal. Once back to our hotel, we received a free drink and went to sleep.
The next day, we woke ourselves up early, had a delicious continental breakfast made up of freshly squeezed fruits, handmade sugar doughnuts, apple crepes, and decadent pastries. It was the best I’ve ever had! The girls and I paid a driver through our hotel to drive us to Agra to see the Taj, be our chauffeur for the day there, and then drive us back that night. It takes four hours driving from New Delhi to Agra one way, so you can imagine the job. We were also given a government qualified tour guide for the Taj Mahal, all this for only $80 US. Quite the deal and completely worth it, let me tell you! Once arriving in Agra, we had lunch a small restaurant and had some Indian and Chinese food (Chinese food is very popular and delicious in India, so we had our fair share. We then went to some textile stores, handmade paper and tea shops to see the handmade goods and tasted the cloves and spices of Indian tea. It was delicious, and tasted very similar to Moroccan tea. It started to get later so we decided to head to the Taj. Our tour guide was required to take us to a marble shop where we learn about how the Taj Mahal was made. It’s really fascinating! They had to hand carve every little piece of the flowers (if you didn’t know, there are flowers made out of rubies and emeralds and sapphires inlaid in the marble of the Taj) and then lay them into the white marble. We got to see a man working on a table carry out the procedure, and it’s incredible how much patience these people had. Especially with the Taj being a perfectly symmetrical building, can you imagine how much time that took? Well, it took only 8 years actually with 20,000 workers, all of which who got their hands cut off after it was completed so they could not duplicate it. I’m not sure how you would go about cutting off that many people’s hands. I mean did they line up single-file for this? Anyway, I digress. Finally we got to the Taj Mahal at the perfect time. We walked with our heads down like our tour guide told us until we reached a place where we could see it in all of its glory, and take it in all at once. He told us all to open our eyes, and I looked up. There it was; the Taj Mahal. And not only that, but the Taj at sunset. What a spectacular structure! It was enormous, and so bold and prominent but yet the most gentle and stunning thing I have ever seen. Chills ran down my arms – I was there. The orange beams from the sunlight bounced off of the white marble and shone through women’s hair and tanned their faces. It was astounding. We all took off our shoes and walked inside, feeling the cool marble on our bare feet.
After spending plenty of time there, we left after the sun went down and found ourselves bartering with street salesman once more. I bought three pairs of shoes for $6 US. I am getting really good at this bartering thing, let me tell you! Then found our driver and took off to go back to New Delhi and sleep.
The next morning was a blur of waking up too late, rushing around the airport, and barely making it to our flight in time. We were so glad that we were all women because women don’t have to wait in line with men; we can just cut right into the security check and go on our way. “Ladies first” came to life right then and there. Maybe they should implement that in America? We took off and found ourselves back in Chennai and walked through oil that splashed up onto my purse and my skirt and it coated my feet quite nicely. Finally we were back to the port, and decided to call it good. India had been experienced to its fullest extent, and we were all very happy for the experience. However, that is one place that I wouldn’t consider living. :)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Mauritius!
We started the morning off right by pulling into this heaven of an island right as the sun was coming up over its hills. The greens from the jungles mixed well with the pinkish orange rays that bounced off the clouds and into our eyes. We were all in awe of its undeniable beauty. Unfortunately, my camera was in my cabin, so the images for the entire day are all in my mind. (I will do my best to paint pictures with my words!) I did steal a photo from my room mate though, and you will see it below!
Caitlin, McKendree, Laura, and I all met in shorts and swim suits and disembarked the ship around 9:30am. It was incredibly hot outside, and muggy. We made our way down the scorching asphalt to the end of the dock where water taxis came and went. Paying $2 US, we climbed down an awkward metal ladder and into an old wooden boat that took us across the bay and into the heart of Port Louis, Mauritius. We walked around, searching for an ATM and found one inside of an abandoned shopping center. The city was sleepy still, and not much was going on. White Americans and desperate taxi drivers were the only ones about. We found a map and planned our day. Gran Belle was the beach we would venture to, and found a cab driver that would take us there for a decent price. On the way, the scenery turned into pure sugar cane plants on both sides of us, with the green hills in contrast. After stopping for directions two or three times, we finally made it to the beach. The water was clearer than glass, and pure turquoise in color with sand as white as snow. It was small, and very secluded. We later found out that the beach we came to was a beach only for a local resort, but since there were no tourists around, we got the entire thing to ourselves, including our own day planner! A man from the resort came up to us and asked us what we wanted to do for the day. We told him that we would love to go sea kayaking and snorkeling. He left us and came back ten minutes later with our agenda: sea kayaking first and for however long we wanted to go, and then snorkeling at 3pm.
We all grabbed an oar, and sat in the kayaks ready to go. The men pushed us out in the water, and it was the most peaceful and relaxing kayaking I have ever done! The water was so calm, and the kayaks were very stable. We paddled until our arms were sore, and had a great time with one another. One of the best times I’ve had with these girls since the trip began. Soon, we grew hungry and paddled in. We were told to go to a small stand that served oriental noodles and the locals told us what to order. It was basically chow mein noodles with chicken and sauce. So delicious! Mauritius is a hodge-podge of a country and culture. The island was taken over by several different countries including the Dutch, Portuguese, French, and British as well as some Asian countries.
When we made it back to the beach after eating, it was just time for us to leave for snorkeling. A small boat pulled up and we hopped on and left. The driver stopped, and we got our gear and jumped out. No one else on that boat spoke anything but French, so I was happy that we knew what we were doing! We got into the warm water and were instantly surrounded by hundreds of softball-sized black and white striped fish. They were running into our hands and legs and stomachs, and we were all giggling like little school girls. Then we set off on our own terms to discover the reef. Most of the fishes in that particular area weren’t of radiant colors, but there were several of them that I had never seen before, and discovering the reef on your own is such an awesome feeling. It’s just like spying on a whole different world! We all agreed that we want to go snorkeling in Hawaii to compare. I know it’s going to be so much better there! But regardless, I had an awesome time swimming with the fish.
Our cab driver picked us up at 4:15pm and drove us back to the waterfront. We took our time and had chips (French fries) and a couple of beers before slowly making our way back to the water taxi area and brought back to the ship. Dinner on the ship was a barbeque where people discussed stories of their days, and talked about how much we would like to stay for longer. Mauritius was the perfect vacation from, well, my semester-long vacation!
Caitlin, McKendree, Laura, and I all met in shorts and swim suits and disembarked the ship around 9:30am. It was incredibly hot outside, and muggy. We made our way down the scorching asphalt to the end of the dock where water taxis came and went. Paying $2 US, we climbed down an awkward metal ladder and into an old wooden boat that took us across the bay and into the heart of Port Louis, Mauritius. We walked around, searching for an ATM and found one inside of an abandoned shopping center. The city was sleepy still, and not much was going on. White Americans and desperate taxi drivers were the only ones about. We found a map and planned our day. Gran Belle was the beach we would venture to, and found a cab driver that would take us there for a decent price. On the way, the scenery turned into pure sugar cane plants on both sides of us, with the green hills in contrast. After stopping for directions two or three times, we finally made it to the beach. The water was clearer than glass, and pure turquoise in color with sand as white as snow. It was small, and very secluded. We later found out that the beach we came to was a beach only for a local resort, but since there were no tourists around, we got the entire thing to ourselves, including our own day planner! A man from the resort came up to us and asked us what we wanted to do for the day. We told him that we would love to go sea kayaking and snorkeling. He left us and came back ten minutes later with our agenda: sea kayaking first and for however long we wanted to go, and then snorkeling at 3pm.
We all grabbed an oar, and sat in the kayaks ready to go. The men pushed us out in the water, and it was the most peaceful and relaxing kayaking I have ever done! The water was so calm, and the kayaks were very stable. We paddled until our arms were sore, and had a great time with one another. One of the best times I’ve had with these girls since the trip began. Soon, we grew hungry and paddled in. We were told to go to a small stand that served oriental noodles and the locals told us what to order. It was basically chow mein noodles with chicken and sauce. So delicious! Mauritius is a hodge-podge of a country and culture. The island was taken over by several different countries including the Dutch, Portuguese, French, and British as well as some Asian countries.
When we made it back to the beach after eating, it was just time for us to leave for snorkeling. A small boat pulled up and we hopped on and left. The driver stopped, and we got our gear and jumped out. No one else on that boat spoke anything but French, so I was happy that we knew what we were doing! We got into the warm water and were instantly surrounded by hundreds of softball-sized black and white striped fish. They were running into our hands and legs and stomachs, and we were all giggling like little school girls. Then we set off on our own terms to discover the reef. Most of the fishes in that particular area weren’t of radiant colors, but there were several of them that I had never seen before, and discovering the reef on your own is such an awesome feeling. It’s just like spying on a whole different world! We all agreed that we want to go snorkeling in Hawaii to compare. I know it’s going to be so much better there! But regardless, I had an awesome time swimming with the fish.
Our cab driver picked us up at 4:15pm and drove us back to the waterfront. We took our time and had chips (French fries) and a couple of beers before slowly making our way back to the water taxi area and brought back to the ship. Dinner on the ship was a barbeque where people discussed stories of their days, and talked about how much we would like to stay for longer. Mauritius was the perfect vacation from, well, my semester-long vacation!
South Africa!
We pulled into the port later than expected because of the dense fog, but once we pulled in, all we could see was city. Looking outside of my window, the first thing I noticed was the new soccer stadium under construction for the World Cup. It really is wonderful how passionate everyone is about soccer (excuse me, futbol or football) around the world, and how disconnected we are from it as a country.
I met with a couple, Cara and her new boyfriend Andrew, who I had never hung out with before, as well as two girls that I had hung out with once, Marisa and Dana, to go wine tasting at a small town outside of Cape Town called Stellenbosch. Against all Semester at Sea advice, we took the train there since it only cost us R$25 (or about $2.50 US- $10.10 Rand = $1US) for a round trip. While waiting for the train, we got some sort of hand made Hot Pocket. I got the one labeled Salami and Cheese, and it was very delicious! Once we got on the train, we noticed that it was a little dodgy (South African slang for ‘sketchy’), but we made it there, and back for that matter, very safely. The wine lands were beautiful with vineyards as far as the eye could see and little cottage-like houses where the winemakers lived.
Once getting to Stellenbosch, we walked down the road to the first winery we stumbled upon, which happened to be Bergkelder Wine Centre. We walked down a paved way, under relaxed trees and beside a clear water stream to the entrance of the wine center. The tour had just begun and we were a little late to catch it, so we decided on tasting for awhile and then moving onto the next winery. The tasting was R$15 (again, less than $1.50) and included tastes of three reds, two whites, and a desert. After ordering a cheese platter, we tried Fleur Du Cap’s (that’s the brand name) Merlot, Pinotage, and a Shiraz, and we quickly made friends with the tasting room host and he let us all try a Cabernet as well. The Pinotage was absolutely incredible. It was really fun to discuss wines, and thank you Powers, to ask questions about how the wines were aged and in what type of barrel and all that. I really enjoyed myself and felt so educated! Everyone else really liked it as well. Next was the whites. We were given three of them, instead of the quoted two, and tried the desert wine as well as a South African specialty drink called Amarula. It’s the color and consistency of Baileys Irish Crème, but has an amaretto flavor with a hint of orange. It was way too sweet for me, but everyone else seemed to like it.
Next we took a taxi up the hill to another winery called Spier, because that’s the one that is most famous (apparently). First we had a little something to eat and went in for more tastings. The wines here were definitely not as good as the first place, but it was a fun environment to be in. After the tastings, we went to the small craft fair outside of the winery. There were all kinds of handmade beaded bracelets and shark-tooth necklaces and anklets and pretty much anything you could imagine. At other stands were crafts that are found all over South Africa – wire creations. An artist picks and animal or a person and bends the wire, sometimes beads it, to make it look like what they had in mind. They were very cute, and interesting at the intricateness of each one. I bought myself a wooden bowl there.
Soon after, we found ourselves inside a store/restaurant called Moyo. There were all sorts of African crafts and CD’s and art. And once through the store was a restaurant with South African drums that drew us in. A woman with paint in her hand offered to paint our faces with traditional tribal markings (I doubt traditional, but cute nonetheless!) All the girls except Cara did it, and it was “free” with a tip. So we handed over a few Rands and called it good. We found some couches to enjoy each others company and to waste some time before the train, and I wandered around the interesting area and snapped some photos of the place and of the intricate fountain in the middle. Soon it was time to leave, and we got to walk by all the grapes dangling on their leaves and watch the sun set over the hills.
After an hour of dozing in and out on the train, we were finally back at the station and in desperate desire for a meal. We were told to go to Mama Africa’s on Long Street which is a restaurant bar with live bands playing so we caught a cab there and sat in the bar and watched the band with some more people from SAS. The place was beautiful with the bar painted in a giraffe skin-like design with neon colors, lanterns all over the tables, beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, and African paintings covering the walls.
After waiting for entirely too long, we were finally seated and I ordered a platter with all the types of meat from South Africa. I tried crocodile, kudu, springbok, Oryx, ostrich, and zebra. Out of them all, I thought that the springbok was the best! I’m sad that I have to go back home to eat cows. After dinner (12:30am), the girls and I headed back to the ship for some sleep since I had to be up and ready for my safari by 4:15am.
Sooner than expected, the dreadful time rolled around and I fumbled to get my things together and met in the Union with other sleepy-eyed students. We piled into the busses and got to the Cape Town Airport within about twenty minutes and received our boarding passes and quickly boarded. The flight to Durban only lasted about two hours, but I only remember about ten minutes of it. I even slept through take off! After making our way out of the terminal, we were all met by a bus and were told we would have three hours to sleep until we got to our campsite at Kwazulu-Natal. I took the opportunity, and woke up once we were at the reserve. Stepping off the bus was miserable. The air was extremely humid and were told that the temperate was already at 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) and it was only 10:30am. Luckily, we were greeted with delicious guava juice to cool down a little, and then rode safari vehicles to our campsite. The wind on our faces felt like heat from a toaster. Once there, it had reached over 40 degrees and let me tell you, I have never been that hot in my life. My whole body was soaked with sweat, and I would bend over to tie my shoe and could feel and see the drops of it pouring off of my face. Taking off my shirt, it felt as though I had just jumped into a pool. So I put my bathing suit on, and some light cotton shorts with a loose fitting tank top, and went to sit in the shade until lunch. I drank four bottles of water in about an hour, and only had to urinate once.
For lunch, they provided us with chicken nuggets with mayo, meatballs with Mrs. Balls Chutney (which is a delicious sauce that tastes like a mix between barbeque sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and salsa), fruit, sandwiches, and soda. We scarfed the food down within five minutes, and were off for our first game drive. Our safari guide’s name was Kaz, and we quickly learned that she was the best leader to go with. She was in love with her job, loved to joke around, and genuinely wanted to know us all. The other guides didn’t even readily share their names with their group.
The clouds rolled overhead and it cooled down to a very comfortable and tolerable temperature. We entered between brick walls and after a metal gate was pushed back for us and passed the guards with guns, and nothing has ever felt more like Jurassic Park than that moment. First, we came upon a family of warthogs right inside the gate. Then, not more than five minutes down the path, we spotted impalas and then zebras and rhinos. After that sparked our animal interest, we were on the search for elephants. Kaz was able to look at trees and the ground and smell the air and tell us if there had been elephants there recently and if so, which way they were headed, and soon enough we can across an elephant that was pretty far away, but still incredible. Soon, Kaz got word on the radio of elephants down in a valley so we headed in that direction, going faster than I thought possible down such narrow roads and swerving around corners like crazy. And just before we knew it, we ran into zabras in the middle of the road. They were so close that I could have reached my hand out and touched the beautiful horses. I got some great photos of them. Then, we came across three rhinos and got several pictures of them before we heard an elephant “distress” call that spooked the rhinos and they went running down the road, which reminded me of Jumanji.
Next we stopped at a park to look at some of the trees and birds. We learned about this one tree that the bark is so poisonous that if you light it on fire and then put it in a basket under water, fish that swim over it will die and float to the top. Apparently, South Africans would do this instead of fishing because it was such a fool-proof way to obtain food. Also, the leaves on that same tree have a paste inside of them that if you touch and touch your eye, it will yield you blind for the rest of your life, and if you eat the leaves, they will make you “run to the bathroom for several days”. Apparently if giraffes are a little irregular, they eat a few leaves off the tree and it makes them feel better. It is pretty incredible how the vegetation can do so much for animals. And that was only one tree!
Soon we came upon the clearing with the elephants where we were allowed to leave the safari vehicle and walk around a bit since the animals were so far away. There were a good thirty elephants in the pack, and we learned that they can have up to 150 in one. After everyone left the area, Kaz told us some of her scariest stories working as a guide for 6 years. One of them was about her walking around a corner and into three female lions and being lurched at three times by an injured one (apparently, if a lion is hurt they are 10x more dangerous because they have to defend their territory and are that much more vulnerable). Another story was about an elephant coming up to her and touching the end of his trunk all over her face with his tusks only a foot and a half away from her eyes. And another one was about an elephant trying to rip her from the car by her shirt so she had to smack its trunk really hard and luckily it ran away. Then we asked her about things that had happened to guests to the park and she told us that in the 1970s, some guy got out of the vehicle after a couple of lions had just made a kill fifty feet away and left his wife and daughter in the car so that he could get them eating the animal on film. Then another lion came up and pounced on the man and ended up being eaten alive by the lions right in front of his family. Another guest videotaped it and now its on youtube. I wouldn’t want to watch something like that.
It was getting darker and so we started heading back and on the way, we saw a dung beetle pushing yes, a piece of dung, with his female mate nestled in the top of it. It was the root of a lot of jokes, and gave us all a good laugh. I’m sure some of you can imagine the nature of them. We saw more zebras, some with babies, on the way back to camp.
Once we were back, we all sat around the fire for a bit and were picked up for a traditional South African barbeque. We were given assortments of cheeses, salads, beans and rice, and salad for starters and then they had all kinds of meat for us to have on South Africa’s version of cous cous (I can’t read Afrikaans or Arabian so my spelling may be wrong) and rice with some kind of spicy tomato sauce. For desert there were all kinds of pastries and cookies with ice cream and chocolate pudding. A lot of people had Crème Brule, but you all know my hatred of that texture, so I chose to pass. Everyone got very tired very quickly since it was such a long day for all of us, and we headed back to camp. As we fell asleep, we were serenaded by the sounds of the African wilderness including monkeys, birds, and grapefruit-sized moths landing on our mosquito net all night.
Waking with the sun, we were taken to the restaurant for a breakfast consisting of yogurt, croissants with jam, cereal, sausage, coffee and tea. We loaded ourselves up with water and met up with Kaz for another day of searching for animals. Not more than a half hour into the drive, we saw elephants on our right coming through the trees and heading straight across the road. We reversed in our vehicle so we could watch them. There were several baby elephants along with more women elephants, the last of which felt extremely threatened by us (Kaz explained elephant body language to us) and even started to charge at us! Kaz threw the Jeep in reverse and quickly got us out of the way, but still in sight. The elephant screamed and began to run into the trees with the other elephants. All of our hearts were pounding, and we were all giddy and laughing about what just happened. After lunch, we set out to find some lions and/or leopards and found a lone male elephant walking straight down the path toward our car. Apparently he was calm and curious about us, but Kaz was still being careful not to upset him or let him get too close to us. It would start running harder toward us and then stop, as if it wasn’t sure if we were worth the effort to go after. We drove in reverse while the animal walked toward us for over 2 kilometers. It was a great day for elephants! We later saw several giraffes, more buffalo, monkeys, a crocodile chilling on a rock, and zebras, but we never saw any wild cats. “The Big 5” is a term that the hunters made up to signify the most dangerous animals to hunt, and they include elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, lions, and leopards. Seeing three of the big five is just fine with me!
Before dinner, we all went and jumped into the pool provided by the campground and then got ready and left to go eat. We had the same food that we had the night before, and I welcomed it since I loved it all so much. Soon, it was time to go back to the campground, or so we thought, so we all piled into an open widow safari vehicle, and the next thing we know is that we are at the pool area! One of the safari drivers thought that we would enjoy going for a swim, which we all welcomed. We jumped in the pool and everyone had a really good time. Later, a lot of people played a game and some of us just sat around the campfire and had a nice time chatting about life.
We left before sun-up the next morning, and made it safely back to the ship by 2:00pm. I was exhausted, so I napped until dinner, and ate on the ship. That night I walked around and found a payphone to call home and talk to my parents for a bit which was much needed. It was great to hear their voices!
I awoke on my last day and got with some girls and made a plan of action. We ate breakfast and then found a cab that would take us to Table Mountain. After waiting in line for ten minutes, we bought our tickets for the cable car up and got in the elevator to take us to the platform. I would have loved to hike the way up, but with so little time in Cape Town, we decided to go the fast way. The cable car was pleasant, with the floor spinning slowly in a circle to give everyone an equal view. Once at the top, we unloaded and saw the majestic beauty of South Africa from the highest point. We could see our ship, as well as Cape Point off to the east. I took several pictures there but they really don’t capture the magnificence (as is most thing). It was incredibly windy and freezing though! We each had a coffee at the top, looked in the store, and headed down. At the bottom of the mountain was a small store where each of us bought a souvenir and I bought some much needed sunglasses. Next we headed to the waterfront to do a little shopping.
First we stopped for lunch at a small outdoor café next to the clock tower. There we had turkey and pineapple wraps and bottled water for under $5 US each. Soon we headed into the craft market and were pleasantly overwhelmed with all of the handmade crafts and trinkets of South Africa. I bought one thing there, and I love it. I’ll show everyone when I get back! (You all love the suspense, right?) After spending a quick two hours there, it was time to head back. I really wanted to purchase a painted and polished ostrich egg in South Africa, but it would have been incredibly hard to get back to the states because of how breakable they are. I walked back to the ship wishing we could have spent another three or four days in Cape Town. There is so much to do there, and so much culture! Musicians play their instruments in the streets and locals come and dance together. That’s something you would rarely see in the states. I loved South Africa, and hope to come back for the World Cup in 2010!
I met with a couple, Cara and her new boyfriend Andrew, who I had never hung out with before, as well as two girls that I had hung out with once, Marisa and Dana, to go wine tasting at a small town outside of Cape Town called Stellenbosch. Against all Semester at Sea advice, we took the train there since it only cost us R$25 (or about $2.50 US- $10.10 Rand = $1US) for a round trip. While waiting for the train, we got some sort of hand made Hot Pocket. I got the one labeled Salami and Cheese, and it was very delicious! Once we got on the train, we noticed that it was a little dodgy (South African slang for ‘sketchy’), but we made it there, and back for that matter, very safely. The wine lands were beautiful with vineyards as far as the eye could see and little cottage-like houses where the winemakers lived.
Once getting to Stellenbosch, we walked down the road to the first winery we stumbled upon, which happened to be Bergkelder Wine Centre. We walked down a paved way, under relaxed trees and beside a clear water stream to the entrance of the wine center. The tour had just begun and we were a little late to catch it, so we decided on tasting for awhile and then moving onto the next winery. The tasting was R$15 (again, less than $1.50) and included tastes of three reds, two whites, and a desert. After ordering a cheese platter, we tried Fleur Du Cap’s (that’s the brand name) Merlot, Pinotage, and a Shiraz, and we quickly made friends with the tasting room host and he let us all try a Cabernet as well. The Pinotage was absolutely incredible. It was really fun to discuss wines, and thank you Powers, to ask questions about how the wines were aged and in what type of barrel and all that. I really enjoyed myself and felt so educated! Everyone else really liked it as well. Next was the whites. We were given three of them, instead of the quoted two, and tried the desert wine as well as a South African specialty drink called Amarula. It’s the color and consistency of Baileys Irish Crème, but has an amaretto flavor with a hint of orange. It was way too sweet for me, but everyone else seemed to like it.
Next we took a taxi up the hill to another winery called Spier, because that’s the one that is most famous (apparently). First we had a little something to eat and went in for more tastings. The wines here were definitely not as good as the first place, but it was a fun environment to be in. After the tastings, we went to the small craft fair outside of the winery. There were all kinds of handmade beaded bracelets and shark-tooth necklaces and anklets and pretty much anything you could imagine. At other stands were crafts that are found all over South Africa – wire creations. An artist picks and animal or a person and bends the wire, sometimes beads it, to make it look like what they had in mind. They were very cute, and interesting at the intricateness of each one. I bought myself a wooden bowl there.
Soon after, we found ourselves inside a store/restaurant called Moyo. There were all sorts of African crafts and CD’s and art. And once through the store was a restaurant with South African drums that drew us in. A woman with paint in her hand offered to paint our faces with traditional tribal markings (I doubt traditional, but cute nonetheless!) All the girls except Cara did it, and it was “free” with a tip. So we handed over a few Rands and called it good. We found some couches to enjoy each others company and to waste some time before the train, and I wandered around the interesting area and snapped some photos of the place and of the intricate fountain in the middle. Soon it was time to leave, and we got to walk by all the grapes dangling on their leaves and watch the sun set over the hills.
After an hour of dozing in and out on the train, we were finally back at the station and in desperate desire for a meal. We were told to go to Mama Africa’s on Long Street which is a restaurant bar with live bands playing so we caught a cab there and sat in the bar and watched the band with some more people from SAS. The place was beautiful with the bar painted in a giraffe skin-like design with neon colors, lanterns all over the tables, beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, and African paintings covering the walls.
After waiting for entirely too long, we were finally seated and I ordered a platter with all the types of meat from South Africa. I tried crocodile, kudu, springbok, Oryx, ostrich, and zebra. Out of them all, I thought that the springbok was the best! I’m sad that I have to go back home to eat cows. After dinner (12:30am), the girls and I headed back to the ship for some sleep since I had to be up and ready for my safari by 4:15am.
Sooner than expected, the dreadful time rolled around and I fumbled to get my things together and met in the Union with other sleepy-eyed students. We piled into the busses and got to the Cape Town Airport within about twenty minutes and received our boarding passes and quickly boarded. The flight to Durban only lasted about two hours, but I only remember about ten minutes of it. I even slept through take off! After making our way out of the terminal, we were all met by a bus and were told we would have three hours to sleep until we got to our campsite at Kwazulu-Natal. I took the opportunity, and woke up once we were at the reserve. Stepping off the bus was miserable. The air was extremely humid and were told that the temperate was already at 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) and it was only 10:30am. Luckily, we were greeted with delicious guava juice to cool down a little, and then rode safari vehicles to our campsite. The wind on our faces felt like heat from a toaster. Once there, it had reached over 40 degrees and let me tell you, I have never been that hot in my life. My whole body was soaked with sweat, and I would bend over to tie my shoe and could feel and see the drops of it pouring off of my face. Taking off my shirt, it felt as though I had just jumped into a pool. So I put my bathing suit on, and some light cotton shorts with a loose fitting tank top, and went to sit in the shade until lunch. I drank four bottles of water in about an hour, and only had to urinate once.
For lunch, they provided us with chicken nuggets with mayo, meatballs with Mrs. Balls Chutney (which is a delicious sauce that tastes like a mix between barbeque sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and salsa), fruit, sandwiches, and soda. We scarfed the food down within five minutes, and were off for our first game drive. Our safari guide’s name was Kaz, and we quickly learned that she was the best leader to go with. She was in love with her job, loved to joke around, and genuinely wanted to know us all. The other guides didn’t even readily share their names with their group.
The clouds rolled overhead and it cooled down to a very comfortable and tolerable temperature. We entered between brick walls and after a metal gate was pushed back for us and passed the guards with guns, and nothing has ever felt more like Jurassic Park than that moment. First, we came upon a family of warthogs right inside the gate. Then, not more than five minutes down the path, we spotted impalas and then zebras and rhinos. After that sparked our animal interest, we were on the search for elephants. Kaz was able to look at trees and the ground and smell the air and tell us if there had been elephants there recently and if so, which way they were headed, and soon enough we can across an elephant that was pretty far away, but still incredible. Soon, Kaz got word on the radio of elephants down in a valley so we headed in that direction, going faster than I thought possible down such narrow roads and swerving around corners like crazy. And just before we knew it, we ran into zabras in the middle of the road. They were so close that I could have reached my hand out and touched the beautiful horses. I got some great photos of them. Then, we came across three rhinos and got several pictures of them before we heard an elephant “distress” call that spooked the rhinos and they went running down the road, which reminded me of Jumanji.
Next we stopped at a park to look at some of the trees and birds. We learned about this one tree that the bark is so poisonous that if you light it on fire and then put it in a basket under water, fish that swim over it will die and float to the top. Apparently, South Africans would do this instead of fishing because it was such a fool-proof way to obtain food. Also, the leaves on that same tree have a paste inside of them that if you touch and touch your eye, it will yield you blind for the rest of your life, and if you eat the leaves, they will make you “run to the bathroom for several days”. Apparently if giraffes are a little irregular, they eat a few leaves off the tree and it makes them feel better. It is pretty incredible how the vegetation can do so much for animals. And that was only one tree!
Soon we came upon the clearing with the elephants where we were allowed to leave the safari vehicle and walk around a bit since the animals were so far away. There were a good thirty elephants in the pack, and we learned that they can have up to 150 in one. After everyone left the area, Kaz told us some of her scariest stories working as a guide for 6 years. One of them was about her walking around a corner and into three female lions and being lurched at three times by an injured one (apparently, if a lion is hurt they are 10x more dangerous because they have to defend their territory and are that much more vulnerable). Another story was about an elephant coming up to her and touching the end of his trunk all over her face with his tusks only a foot and a half away from her eyes. And another one was about an elephant trying to rip her from the car by her shirt so she had to smack its trunk really hard and luckily it ran away. Then we asked her about things that had happened to guests to the park and she told us that in the 1970s, some guy got out of the vehicle after a couple of lions had just made a kill fifty feet away and left his wife and daughter in the car so that he could get them eating the animal on film. Then another lion came up and pounced on the man and ended up being eaten alive by the lions right in front of his family. Another guest videotaped it and now its on youtube. I wouldn’t want to watch something like that.
It was getting darker and so we started heading back and on the way, we saw a dung beetle pushing yes, a piece of dung, with his female mate nestled in the top of it. It was the root of a lot of jokes, and gave us all a good laugh. I’m sure some of you can imagine the nature of them. We saw more zebras, some with babies, on the way back to camp.
Once we were back, we all sat around the fire for a bit and were picked up for a traditional South African barbeque. We were given assortments of cheeses, salads, beans and rice, and salad for starters and then they had all kinds of meat for us to have on South Africa’s version of cous cous (I can’t read Afrikaans or Arabian so my spelling may be wrong) and rice with some kind of spicy tomato sauce. For desert there were all kinds of pastries and cookies with ice cream and chocolate pudding. A lot of people had Crème Brule, but you all know my hatred of that texture, so I chose to pass. Everyone got very tired very quickly since it was such a long day for all of us, and we headed back to camp. As we fell asleep, we were serenaded by the sounds of the African wilderness including monkeys, birds, and grapefruit-sized moths landing on our mosquito net all night.
Waking with the sun, we were taken to the restaurant for a breakfast consisting of yogurt, croissants with jam, cereal, sausage, coffee and tea. We loaded ourselves up with water and met up with Kaz for another day of searching for animals. Not more than a half hour into the drive, we saw elephants on our right coming through the trees and heading straight across the road. We reversed in our vehicle so we could watch them. There were several baby elephants along with more women elephants, the last of which felt extremely threatened by us (Kaz explained elephant body language to us) and even started to charge at us! Kaz threw the Jeep in reverse and quickly got us out of the way, but still in sight. The elephant screamed and began to run into the trees with the other elephants. All of our hearts were pounding, and we were all giddy and laughing about what just happened. After lunch, we set out to find some lions and/or leopards and found a lone male elephant walking straight down the path toward our car. Apparently he was calm and curious about us, but Kaz was still being careful not to upset him or let him get too close to us. It would start running harder toward us and then stop, as if it wasn’t sure if we were worth the effort to go after. We drove in reverse while the animal walked toward us for over 2 kilometers. It was a great day for elephants! We later saw several giraffes, more buffalo, monkeys, a crocodile chilling on a rock, and zebras, but we never saw any wild cats. “The Big 5” is a term that the hunters made up to signify the most dangerous animals to hunt, and they include elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, lions, and leopards. Seeing three of the big five is just fine with me!
Before dinner, we all went and jumped into the pool provided by the campground and then got ready and left to go eat. We had the same food that we had the night before, and I welcomed it since I loved it all so much. Soon, it was time to go back to the campground, or so we thought, so we all piled into an open widow safari vehicle, and the next thing we know is that we are at the pool area! One of the safari drivers thought that we would enjoy going for a swim, which we all welcomed. We jumped in the pool and everyone had a really good time. Later, a lot of people played a game and some of us just sat around the campfire and had a nice time chatting about life.
We left before sun-up the next morning, and made it safely back to the ship by 2:00pm. I was exhausted, so I napped until dinner, and ate on the ship. That night I walked around and found a payphone to call home and talk to my parents for a bit which was much needed. It was great to hear their voices!
I awoke on my last day and got with some girls and made a plan of action. We ate breakfast and then found a cab that would take us to Table Mountain. After waiting in line for ten minutes, we bought our tickets for the cable car up and got in the elevator to take us to the platform. I would have loved to hike the way up, but with so little time in Cape Town, we decided to go the fast way. The cable car was pleasant, with the floor spinning slowly in a circle to give everyone an equal view. Once at the top, we unloaded and saw the majestic beauty of South Africa from the highest point. We could see our ship, as well as Cape Point off to the east. I took several pictures there but they really don’t capture the magnificence (as is most thing). It was incredibly windy and freezing though! We each had a coffee at the top, looked in the store, and headed down. At the bottom of the mountain was a small store where each of us bought a souvenir and I bought some much needed sunglasses. Next we headed to the waterfront to do a little shopping.
First we stopped for lunch at a small outdoor café next to the clock tower. There we had turkey and pineapple wraps and bottled water for under $5 US each. Soon we headed into the craft market and were pleasantly overwhelmed with all of the handmade crafts and trinkets of South Africa. I bought one thing there, and I love it. I’ll show everyone when I get back! (You all love the suspense, right?) After spending a quick two hours there, it was time to head back. I really wanted to purchase a painted and polished ostrich egg in South Africa, but it would have been incredibly hard to get back to the states because of how breakable they are. I walked back to the ship wishing we could have spent another three or four days in Cape Town. There is so much to do there, and so much culture! Musicians play their instruments in the streets and locals come and dance together. That’s something you would rarely see in the states. I loved South Africa, and hope to come back for the World Cup in 2010!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Namibia!
Namibia began with little African girls singing to us all. They were wearing little dresses that all matched, and some had bright green shoes. We watched them dance from the seventh deck, and once the ship was cleared (meaning we were allowed to leave), we rushed down and were greeted by them with hugs and huge toothy smiles. After two minutes of being outside, the heat really hit us all pretty hard. We were glad to have water with us, as well as sunscreen. It’s difficult to explain the extremes of going from northern Africa to southern. They are very different, not only climate-wise but also culture, people, language, currency, and acceptance of westernized civilization (like clothing styles and such). Namibians are made up of approximately 90% blacks, 6% whites, and the leftover 4% is a mixture. The country is very literate, women included, reaching up to 85% of the population that can read and write. The main spoken language is English, but people also use German and Afrikaans (pronounced Africons). Windhoek is the capital city, and they brew a nice lager there. People only live to an average of 50 years old, and just under 20% of the population has AIDS, which is the first place I’ve been to in the world that is that high. Its one thing to hear the number, and another to walk and talk with the locals and have it in your mind that one out of the five people standing in front of you has the disease, including the dancing and singing girls. You just really can’t say you know and understand the African AIDS epidemic until you come here and truly wrap your mind around that fact. The country was freed from South African hold in 1990 – so the country is vey very young, including its people. And like I mentioned, everyone dresses pretty much like Americans and it was nice to not have to worry about how I was dressed as to not offend, which gave me a possibly false sense of comfort.
After finding an ATM and receiving Namibian dollars ($9.90 Namibian = $1 US), we caught a cab and soon found ourselves in the sleepy German town of Swakopmund (correctly pronounced schwa-kop-mundt). After walking around the hot town, we started hearing drums and found ourselves heading towards it. Luckily, it was a café right outside of the tourism centre, and we obtained a map and directions to the best local restaurant on the beach. There we had some drinks and food – most of which was American-like. (Unfortunately, they did not serve zebra there, and I was disappointed that I could not find it during my entire stay. I’m hoping to get some in South Africa though!) We walked around and found the Crystal Gallery museum and decided to go inside. In there, we walked through a man-made cave with quartz specimens that grew on the rocks and then at the end, were able to touch (as well as get a photo with) the largest quartz sample in the world. And let me tell you, it was HUGE! Namibia harvests several unique stones which is why the gallery was so interesting. That, and I’m a geek when it comes to rocks! We shopped around in the store there, and bought some very cool souvenirs.
We then all went to a park where there was maybe fifty vendors trying to sell us traditional African things like wooden bowls, carved animals, bracelets and rings made out of horn, necklaces made from ostrich eggs, carved plaques, and so many other things. Everything there was something that I was interested in, and it was completely overwhelming to have the vendors pick up things and tell you how much you wanted it for, even if you didn’t want it at all! I ended up getting quite a bit there, and was very satisfied with how much I paid for it all. All the vendors (who were very dark black) would yell out “Sister, sister!” to get our attention. It was pretty funny. Around the area there were also people from the Ovahimba Tribe who were in traditional dress. They paint their skin a burnt red color and the women don’t wear any tops. It is the customary dress of people from thousands of years ago when people first inhabited Namibia, and there are still hundreds that follow the tribal customs to this day. Talk about dedication to your history! We weren’t allowed to take pictures without giving them money, so I’ll need to steal some from my roommate.
Soon after, we wandered down the beach and got some photos of locals flipping off old docks and spent some time at the end of the bay. It was a beautiful area with the waves splashing up on the rocks. Then we went to a bar called Rafters Action where there was a rugby game just starting! We got some drinks and met a few locals who were incredibly fun to chat with. They were just like Americans – but they spoke German. We spent a good hour or so there and then decided to catch a cab back to the ship.
That night, we got directions from a security guard outside of our pier telling us directions to the nearest bar. When we got there, we saw that it had three rooms all decorated in Valentines Day attire and in the back was a beer garden. After more locals showed up, everyone was dancing and we joined in with them, and it was so much fun! The DJ gave a shout-out to all of us saying that we are the best American customers they have had in a long time. It is always great to hear that, especially with how much of a bad reputation Americans have.
The next morning, I walked around with my new friend Megan Veloz and we saw more of Walvis Bay and got some soda from a grocery store. The cans of coke were larger than regular, and called Afri-cans. Vey clever! Then we went back to the ship for some lunch, and that’s when I met up with my camping and stargazing group. We got together in the Union and waited for directions before getting in 4x4 vehicles and driving out past Dune 7 (a huge sand dune in the Namib Desert, but by far not the largest), and then into an area called The Moonlands. They are strange rock structures that look so strange that the only way to describe them is that everyone kept saying, “Now I know where they filmed Star Wars.” The Moonlands changed so suddenly from a dry and rocky area to a green tropical-like setting with water flowing, and then back into rocky desert. It’s strange how fast it went from one to the other. We finally got to camp and were let loose to discover the area. We climbed up tall mountains with tons of fracture shale which made it hard to climb because when you step on it, it breaks off and slides right out from under you. But of course, that didn’t deter any of us from climbing as high as we possibly could and seeing incredible sights! Throughout the hike, I kept thinking “I could possibly be the only person to ever step foot right here.” The desert is so vast, just like the oceans. Its curious how such opposite things (ocean and desert) could be so eerily similar. After climbing back down the mountains, we walked along the driest riverbed I have ever seen. The clay was cracked and curled like dried rose petals and when you walked on them, you could feel them fracturing below your shoes. It was just as pleasing as popping packaging bubbles! We went a little further and saw a few beetles that we had learned about in global studies. To get water, they climb to the highest point they can find on the desert floor and stick their butts high up in the air and sit like that all night. And when the fog comes down at night, the moisture collects on their bodies and drips to their mouths. Pretty clever buggers if you ask me.
A Namibian band came and played music for us at camp before and while we were eating. For dinner they provided us with slow cooked lamb (still on the bone), beans, rice, bread, and Namibian tea. It was all really good, and of course I had seconds. For dessert, they made us African Pudding which really isn’t pudding at all. It’s more of a soggy brownie-like cake that tastes like cinnamon and you pour warm buttermilk over the top of it. That was really tasty as well.
During dinner though, it rained. And it rained hard. Everyone made a mad dash to close up the tent windows and while they were doing that, I stopped and let myself get soaked in African rain. It was so refreshing after such a hot day full of exercise and 90+ temperatures. Within five minutes, the rain had stopped and I was soaked, as well as my bed. But, the good news was that the clouds had moved, and were given a good twenty minutes of star-gazing. Our guide walked us out away from the campfires so we could see the night sky properly. With some strange green laser, she pointed out Saturn and Venus, the Southern Cross, Orion and Betelgeuse, and Sirius and its Canus Major constellation. The Milky Way Galaxy wasn’t easy to spot with the patchy cloud cover, but the sky was still really beautiful. We headed back when no more stars were visible, and sat around the fire enjoying Savanna Dry’s (a South African cider beer) and deep conversation before going to bed.
The next morning we awoke around 6am (yes, I easily get up early now!) and had tea with fruit and granola. I started playing with the white embers from the fire from last night and was challenged to make it into a new one. So, I took it upon myself to find kindling and paper, and was able to birth new flames to the campsite. A lot of people were pretty impressed with me, as was I. :) Upon hearing that we weren’t going to be picked up until 11am, a few of us head out for another walk in the desert. But this time, it was different. We walked back to the dry river bed, and saw that it was a little damper than the day before. We walked across it and noticed a small trickle of water beginning as we were walking but thought nothing of it. After crossing more of the desert, we found a rushing river that we hung out by for ten minutes or so. It was chocolate brown and going very, very fast. Then walking back, we noticed that the river bed that we crossed was now moving faster than the one we had just been at, and we were literally trapped between two rivers and in order to get back, we had to wade across which was a lot more difficult than it sounds. Since the water moved so fast into this river bed, it didn’t have enough time to really soak into the ground so it just made the clay on top of it extremely slick, and sticky. We had to take baby steps to get anywhere, and had to fight the strong current. We all made it across and back to camp with our legs covered with mud. After talking to the guide, we discovered that the riverbed hasn’t had water in it since 1989! And I got to walk through it. Very exciting stuff!
I attempted washing my legs off and climbed into the 4x4 to go back to the ship. Our vehicle was forced to go through the rushing water, which was very fun and very muddy. At one point we were nervous that we wouldn’t make it across because the car started to turn, but we did and made it to the ship safely. I showered and slept until the ship disembarked, and spent the next day catching up on sleep and writing the blog.
After finding an ATM and receiving Namibian dollars ($9.90 Namibian = $1 US), we caught a cab and soon found ourselves in the sleepy German town of Swakopmund (correctly pronounced schwa-kop-mundt). After walking around the hot town, we started hearing drums and found ourselves heading towards it. Luckily, it was a café right outside of the tourism centre, and we obtained a map and directions to the best local restaurant on the beach. There we had some drinks and food – most of which was American-like. (Unfortunately, they did not serve zebra there, and I was disappointed that I could not find it during my entire stay. I’m hoping to get some in South Africa though!) We walked around and found the Crystal Gallery museum and decided to go inside. In there, we walked through a man-made cave with quartz specimens that grew on the rocks and then at the end, were able to touch (as well as get a photo with) the largest quartz sample in the world. And let me tell you, it was HUGE! Namibia harvests several unique stones which is why the gallery was so interesting. That, and I’m a geek when it comes to rocks! We shopped around in the store there, and bought some very cool souvenirs.
We then all went to a park where there was maybe fifty vendors trying to sell us traditional African things like wooden bowls, carved animals, bracelets and rings made out of horn, necklaces made from ostrich eggs, carved plaques, and so many other things. Everything there was something that I was interested in, and it was completely overwhelming to have the vendors pick up things and tell you how much you wanted it for, even if you didn’t want it at all! I ended up getting quite a bit there, and was very satisfied with how much I paid for it all. All the vendors (who were very dark black) would yell out “Sister, sister!” to get our attention. It was pretty funny. Around the area there were also people from the Ovahimba Tribe who were in traditional dress. They paint their skin a burnt red color and the women don’t wear any tops. It is the customary dress of people from thousands of years ago when people first inhabited Namibia, and there are still hundreds that follow the tribal customs to this day. Talk about dedication to your history! We weren’t allowed to take pictures without giving them money, so I’ll need to steal some from my roommate.
Soon after, we wandered down the beach and got some photos of locals flipping off old docks and spent some time at the end of the bay. It was a beautiful area with the waves splashing up on the rocks. Then we went to a bar called Rafters Action where there was a rugby game just starting! We got some drinks and met a few locals who were incredibly fun to chat with. They were just like Americans – but they spoke German. We spent a good hour or so there and then decided to catch a cab back to the ship.
That night, we got directions from a security guard outside of our pier telling us directions to the nearest bar. When we got there, we saw that it had three rooms all decorated in Valentines Day attire and in the back was a beer garden. After more locals showed up, everyone was dancing and we joined in with them, and it was so much fun! The DJ gave a shout-out to all of us saying that we are the best American customers they have had in a long time. It is always great to hear that, especially with how much of a bad reputation Americans have.
The next morning, I walked around with my new friend Megan Veloz and we saw more of Walvis Bay and got some soda from a grocery store. The cans of coke were larger than regular, and called Afri-cans. Vey clever! Then we went back to the ship for some lunch, and that’s when I met up with my camping and stargazing group. We got together in the Union and waited for directions before getting in 4x4 vehicles and driving out past Dune 7 (a huge sand dune in the Namib Desert, but by far not the largest), and then into an area called The Moonlands. They are strange rock structures that look so strange that the only way to describe them is that everyone kept saying, “Now I know where they filmed Star Wars.” The Moonlands changed so suddenly from a dry and rocky area to a green tropical-like setting with water flowing, and then back into rocky desert. It’s strange how fast it went from one to the other. We finally got to camp and were let loose to discover the area. We climbed up tall mountains with tons of fracture shale which made it hard to climb because when you step on it, it breaks off and slides right out from under you. But of course, that didn’t deter any of us from climbing as high as we possibly could and seeing incredible sights! Throughout the hike, I kept thinking “I could possibly be the only person to ever step foot right here.” The desert is so vast, just like the oceans. Its curious how such opposite things (ocean and desert) could be so eerily similar. After climbing back down the mountains, we walked along the driest riverbed I have ever seen. The clay was cracked and curled like dried rose petals and when you walked on them, you could feel them fracturing below your shoes. It was just as pleasing as popping packaging bubbles! We went a little further and saw a few beetles that we had learned about in global studies. To get water, they climb to the highest point they can find on the desert floor and stick their butts high up in the air and sit like that all night. And when the fog comes down at night, the moisture collects on their bodies and drips to their mouths. Pretty clever buggers if you ask me.
A Namibian band came and played music for us at camp before and while we were eating. For dinner they provided us with slow cooked lamb (still on the bone), beans, rice, bread, and Namibian tea. It was all really good, and of course I had seconds. For dessert, they made us African Pudding which really isn’t pudding at all. It’s more of a soggy brownie-like cake that tastes like cinnamon and you pour warm buttermilk over the top of it. That was really tasty as well.
During dinner though, it rained. And it rained hard. Everyone made a mad dash to close up the tent windows and while they were doing that, I stopped and let myself get soaked in African rain. It was so refreshing after such a hot day full of exercise and 90+ temperatures. Within five minutes, the rain had stopped and I was soaked, as well as my bed. But, the good news was that the clouds had moved, and were given a good twenty minutes of star-gazing. Our guide walked us out away from the campfires so we could see the night sky properly. With some strange green laser, she pointed out Saturn and Venus, the Southern Cross, Orion and Betelgeuse, and Sirius and its Canus Major constellation. The Milky Way Galaxy wasn’t easy to spot with the patchy cloud cover, but the sky was still really beautiful. We headed back when no more stars were visible, and sat around the fire enjoying Savanna Dry’s (a South African cider beer) and deep conversation before going to bed.
The next morning we awoke around 6am (yes, I easily get up early now!) and had tea with fruit and granola. I started playing with the white embers from the fire from last night and was challenged to make it into a new one. So, I took it upon myself to find kindling and paper, and was able to birth new flames to the campsite. A lot of people were pretty impressed with me, as was I. :) Upon hearing that we weren’t going to be picked up until 11am, a few of us head out for another walk in the desert. But this time, it was different. We walked back to the dry river bed, and saw that it was a little damper than the day before. We walked across it and noticed a small trickle of water beginning as we were walking but thought nothing of it. After crossing more of the desert, we found a rushing river that we hung out by for ten minutes or so. It was chocolate brown and going very, very fast. Then walking back, we noticed that the river bed that we crossed was now moving faster than the one we had just been at, and we were literally trapped between two rivers and in order to get back, we had to wade across which was a lot more difficult than it sounds. Since the water moved so fast into this river bed, it didn’t have enough time to really soak into the ground so it just made the clay on top of it extremely slick, and sticky. We had to take baby steps to get anywhere, and had to fight the strong current. We all made it across and back to camp with our legs covered with mud. After talking to the guide, we discovered that the riverbed hasn’t had water in it since 1989! And I got to walk through it. Very exciting stuff!
I attempted washing my legs off and climbed into the 4x4 to go back to the ship. Our vehicle was forced to go through the rushing water, which was very fun and very muddy. At one point we were nervous that we wouldn’t make it across because the car started to turn, but we did and made it to the ship safely. I showered and slept until the ship disembarked, and spent the next day catching up on sleep and writing the blog.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Marrakesh, Morocco!
After sitting in the pre-port lecture and learning that women should wear looser fitting clothing, pull their hair back or cover it in some way, and not look men in the eyes, I was curious what I was getting myself into. “The culture must just be different there.” But that thought is stronger than the words sound.
As we got ourselves fixed on the busses in the early morning of that first day, it still had not set in that I was in Morocco – in Africa. My feet had officially touched the rough concrete and my nose was tickled with the strong scent of fish and gasoline. This pier looked like a construction zone, with bent and rusted rebar poking out of the ground as well as cranes swinging far above my head. I searched for the comfort of a seatbelt on the automobile, but there was none. Safety is such a requirement in America where the rest of the world sees it as a hassle (although, I do tend to agree with them).
The tour guide whose name was never pronounceable for me or anyone else on the bus was dressed in typical Berber clothing which apparently looks like a dress with a KKK-pointy type hood made out of thick insulated brown canvas. Looking out the windows, it was somewhat barren. The ground was flat with spurts of green grassland that met with dust. Sheep were scattered about, and small boys who must have been shepherds waved towards the tour bus. Before drifting off to sleep, I learned that kus-kus is only served on Fridays or Saturdays as a special occasion ending the week. We however, were going to be lucky enough to have it prepared for us that afternoon. In addition to speaking Arabian, Moroccans speak perfect French. They must go to school and perfect it, and if they make a mistake during their final examination, they must take the language all over again until they get it right.
We stopped at a small café halfway to Marrakesh to stretch our legs, and that is where I got my first taste of the Arabian language. It sounds partly like a backwards song, and partly like they are trying to clear something from the back of their throat without coughing. It is definitely something I have never heard before, and I was wide-eyed when thinking of how I was going to get around in this place without speaking or understanding a lick of it.
For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant that had typical Moroccan food. First we were served a large platter of several small portions. There were lentils, sweet potatoes, spiced cauliflower, some sort of orange kidney bean, sliced potatoes, tomato salsa, and bread. Naturally, everyone was very skeptical of what we were about to eat. I dug in first to start it all off, and to not be rude to our hosts. All the flavors were things that I had tasted before, so it was not too much of a surprise. Then, we were served some sort of eggroll-taquito type food (I’m sure the Moroccans would hate me for comparing their delicacies to Asian food!) They were rolled up vegetables and meat with rice with a crispy buttery breading on the outside, and they were DELICIOUS! Then, for the main course we had beef or lamb still on the bone, with kus-kus and steamed potatoes and carrots. The meat was outrageously tender, as if they had been cooking it slowly all night long! Then for dessert, we were given a heaping plate full of oranges and mint-green tea. The oranges were huge, but super flavorful and juicy with no seeds, and the tea was a murky yellow color, but definitely had a hint of mint in it. It was the perfect way to end the meal.
Next, we stopped at an area of Morocco called Palm Groves to ride camels! Half of my group rode camels while the other half sat down to olives, more of the delicious mint-green tea, and consumed some sort of flatbread with honey while listening to three men play drums and guitar-like instruments while singing together. (Nope dad, no dates.) The floor was covered in cushions and pillows like something you would see straight out of Indiana Jones. After relaxing with the snacks, we had a local tie turbans on our heads (I watched and learned how to do it!) and set off to the camels.
My camel’s name was Victoria. And I’m not sure where people get this idea that camels spit all the time, because I didn’t see a single one spit. If anything, they growl – and like to go on their own paths. Quite independent creatures, really – somewhat like cats. Anyway, getting on the camel was fun because when they stand up, they shoot you forward at a steep angle and if you aren’t holding on, you will fall right off the front. Then they even themselves out, and before you know it, you are six feet up on a one-humped mammal. Luckily, they have a padded seat for you to sit (although my tailbone still didn’t feel all that wonderful the next day).
Our camels were tied together in groups of four or five, and strolled around an area that was very humbling. It was some sort of neighborhood where the locals carried out their daily lives. Men were working, and many women were washing clothing or simply standing in their doorway holding onto a child. Small kids would smile and wave, delighted to get the same in return. It was a dry area, and the homes were made out of red clay, with no front yards. There were palm trees scattered about the area, but they did not seem to fit in. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photos atop the camel to show you how poor the people that live here must have been.
After leaving Palm Groves, we got to our hotel to settle in. Dinner was served shortly after with the same type of foods that we had for lunch. For dessert, we were served an array of chocolate cream creations which were welcomed since finding chocolate on the ship has proven nearly impossible. We went to bed fairly early that night. Ghost Ship (of all movies) was playing on the TV on the only English-speaking network they provided to our hotel, so a few girls and I watched it and called it a night.
Breakfast was served in sticky bun and pastry form, along with an orange juice substitute. We set out in the rain to an Arabian palace where I got a lot of gorgeous pictures of the intricate architecture and hand carved walls. The tile work in Morocco is magnificent, and you can tell how much they care about how their structures look. A kitty found me in the third wives room in the palace (Arabian kings were allowed up to eight wives, as long as each wife granted him permission to marry another), and soon after that I began noticing cats all around Morocco. Seems to me that cats in Marrakesh are like birds in Spokane. Next we went to the Arabian Kings Tombs and then found ourselves in the medina (city center) where the maze of markets are located, and this (of all places) is where we were allowed free time.
Shops in the medina had everything from tea pots to jewelry, to shoes and steak. And if you let the sellers see your eyes wander onto something in their shop, they will grab you by the arm and literally pull you inside, which was an awakening thing to a blond haired girl like me in a continent full of brunettes. Getting more comfortable with being around aggressive men, I bought a few nice things and was proud of myself. At the end of the day, we were walking out of the medina and into the main square (where they have monkeys that jump onto you and snake charmers that place snakes around your neck with no warning at all), I kept hearing men offer 10 to 1000 camels for girls in our group. Next thing I know, there are Arabian men offering me 10,000 camels, and apparently my new name to them was Shakira! What a day in Marrakesh! Soon it was time to go back, and after one last dinner, I let myself relax and drift off to sleep with my thoughts of Morocco.
As we got ourselves fixed on the busses in the early morning of that first day, it still had not set in that I was in Morocco – in Africa. My feet had officially touched the rough concrete and my nose was tickled with the strong scent of fish and gasoline. This pier looked like a construction zone, with bent and rusted rebar poking out of the ground as well as cranes swinging far above my head. I searched for the comfort of a seatbelt on the automobile, but there was none. Safety is such a requirement in America where the rest of the world sees it as a hassle (although, I do tend to agree with them).
The tour guide whose name was never pronounceable for me or anyone else on the bus was dressed in typical Berber clothing which apparently looks like a dress with a KKK-pointy type hood made out of thick insulated brown canvas. Looking out the windows, it was somewhat barren. The ground was flat with spurts of green grassland that met with dust. Sheep were scattered about, and small boys who must have been shepherds waved towards the tour bus. Before drifting off to sleep, I learned that kus-kus is only served on Fridays or Saturdays as a special occasion ending the week. We however, were going to be lucky enough to have it prepared for us that afternoon. In addition to speaking Arabian, Moroccans speak perfect French. They must go to school and perfect it, and if they make a mistake during their final examination, they must take the language all over again until they get it right.
We stopped at a small café halfway to Marrakesh to stretch our legs, and that is where I got my first taste of the Arabian language. It sounds partly like a backwards song, and partly like they are trying to clear something from the back of their throat without coughing. It is definitely something I have never heard before, and I was wide-eyed when thinking of how I was going to get around in this place without speaking or understanding a lick of it.
For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant that had typical Moroccan food. First we were served a large platter of several small portions. There were lentils, sweet potatoes, spiced cauliflower, some sort of orange kidney bean, sliced potatoes, tomato salsa, and bread. Naturally, everyone was very skeptical of what we were about to eat. I dug in first to start it all off, and to not be rude to our hosts. All the flavors were things that I had tasted before, so it was not too much of a surprise. Then, we were served some sort of eggroll-taquito type food (I’m sure the Moroccans would hate me for comparing their delicacies to Asian food!) They were rolled up vegetables and meat with rice with a crispy buttery breading on the outside, and they were DELICIOUS! Then, for the main course we had beef or lamb still on the bone, with kus-kus and steamed potatoes and carrots. The meat was outrageously tender, as if they had been cooking it slowly all night long! Then for dessert, we were given a heaping plate full of oranges and mint-green tea. The oranges were huge, but super flavorful and juicy with no seeds, and the tea was a murky yellow color, but definitely had a hint of mint in it. It was the perfect way to end the meal.
Next, we stopped at an area of Morocco called Palm Groves to ride camels! Half of my group rode camels while the other half sat down to olives, more of the delicious mint-green tea, and consumed some sort of flatbread with honey while listening to three men play drums and guitar-like instruments while singing together. (Nope dad, no dates.) The floor was covered in cushions and pillows like something you would see straight out of Indiana Jones. After relaxing with the snacks, we had a local tie turbans on our heads (I watched and learned how to do it!) and set off to the camels.
My camel’s name was Victoria. And I’m not sure where people get this idea that camels spit all the time, because I didn’t see a single one spit. If anything, they growl – and like to go on their own paths. Quite independent creatures, really – somewhat like cats. Anyway, getting on the camel was fun because when they stand up, they shoot you forward at a steep angle and if you aren’t holding on, you will fall right off the front. Then they even themselves out, and before you know it, you are six feet up on a one-humped mammal. Luckily, they have a padded seat for you to sit (although my tailbone still didn’t feel all that wonderful the next day).
Our camels were tied together in groups of four or five, and strolled around an area that was very humbling. It was some sort of neighborhood where the locals carried out their daily lives. Men were working, and many women were washing clothing or simply standing in their doorway holding onto a child. Small kids would smile and wave, delighted to get the same in return. It was a dry area, and the homes were made out of red clay, with no front yards. There were palm trees scattered about the area, but they did not seem to fit in. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photos atop the camel to show you how poor the people that live here must have been.
After leaving Palm Groves, we got to our hotel to settle in. Dinner was served shortly after with the same type of foods that we had for lunch. For dessert, we were served an array of chocolate cream creations which were welcomed since finding chocolate on the ship has proven nearly impossible. We went to bed fairly early that night. Ghost Ship (of all movies) was playing on the TV on the only English-speaking network they provided to our hotel, so a few girls and I watched it and called it a night.
Breakfast was served in sticky bun and pastry form, along with an orange juice substitute. We set out in the rain to an Arabian palace where I got a lot of gorgeous pictures of the intricate architecture and hand carved walls. The tile work in Morocco is magnificent, and you can tell how much they care about how their structures look. A kitty found me in the third wives room in the palace (Arabian kings were allowed up to eight wives, as long as each wife granted him permission to marry another), and soon after that I began noticing cats all around Morocco. Seems to me that cats in Marrakesh are like birds in Spokane. Next we went to the Arabian Kings Tombs and then found ourselves in the medina (city center) where the maze of markets are located, and this (of all places) is where we were allowed free time.
Shops in the medina had everything from tea pots to jewelry, to shoes and steak. And if you let the sellers see your eyes wander onto something in their shop, they will grab you by the arm and literally pull you inside, which was an awakening thing to a blond haired girl like me in a continent full of brunettes. Getting more comfortable with being around aggressive men, I bought a few nice things and was proud of myself. At the end of the day, we were walking out of the medina and into the main square (where they have monkeys that jump onto you and snake charmers that place snakes around your neck with no warning at all), I kept hearing men offer 10 to 1000 camels for girls in our group. Next thing I know, there are Arabian men offering me 10,000 camels, and apparently my new name to them was Shakira! What a day in Marrakesh! Soon it was time to go back, and after one last dinner, I let myself relax and drift off to sleep with my thoughts of Morocco.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Spain!
Right now I can see Gibraltar from my window. The word literally means mountain, and mountain is it. We are fueling up here. I got back on the ship yesterday afternoon and we left around 8pm. We've been going super super super slow so that we have this whole day to learn up on Morocco, and also since Morocco is only about 200 miles from Cadiz. And when I say slow, I mean 2 knots. I think we're going to go the fastest tonight. Last night it was really rocky and everything from the tables in our room fell on the floor and all of our drawers kept opening and slamming shut with every wave which startled us, as I bet you can imagine. Rumor has it that it will be just as rocky tonight.
Spain was incredible! And I surprised myself on how quickly I remembered, as well as picked up on the Spanish language. In my group of seven, I was the one who translated what locals were saying. I am also hearing the Rosetta Stone’s from school call my name.
The first day we got to Cadiz (pronounced kah-dith), we went and bought train tickets to get from Cadiz to Sevilla (pronounced suh-vee-ya) and then got to Sevilla around 2:30. Then we took buses and walked around for about three hours trying to find hostels that had enough room for everyone and finally found one for 20 euro a night right in el centro (the center of town). We had tinto (red wine) and tapas (snacks) at a bar (bars are family places to eat opposed to places just to drink in Spain) which was delicious as well as relaxing after the long day of travel on train and by foot. We went to dinner at 9 or 10 that night (meals are different here and are at different times. Breakfast is served at 7am-8am, lunch is at 1:30-2:30pm, tapas at 4-8pm, and dinner at 10pm-12pm), and then retired to our beds around 1am. Spanish wine is SO good, and averages 1.50 euro for a generous glass.
In the photo: Bubber, Caitlin, and Me
The next day was filled with walking around Sevilla and lots of cafe con leche (coffee with hot milk) which is deliciously creamy and incredibly delicious. We also went to the main cathedral in town, but didn't go in because of the time. We shopped for awhile, and then went to a futbol (soccer) game! It was the most truly cultural thing I have ever done! The game was Sevilla vs. Vallencia, with Sevilla scoring the winning goal with 40 seconds to go! Everyone went crazy and were singing, and we made some amigos locales (local friends) while having a Spanish cervesa (their most popular beer is called Cruzcampo) after to celebrate.
The next day was filled with walking around and then a train back to Cadiz where we showered and ate on the boat to save some money. Then we went out and looked at the local shops and went to an Irish pub called O'Connels where a lot of locals hang out as well. We made friends with the bartender Franco, who gave us free tinto solo en una copa (red wine by itself in a glass), and red bull to stay awake and took us at 4am to a secret discoteca (place of dancing) and didn't get back to the ship until 7am! Ahh the life in Spain!
Then yesterday was filled with toasted croissants and cafe con leche and finding food in markets. Then it was back to the ship to sleep!
I really really enjoyed Spain to its fullest potential and hope to do the same in all my other places. Today in global studies we discussed how women should always wear sleeves and long shorts or pants and cover their hips and either cover our hair or put it up. I guess long wavy curly hair like mine is seen as a sexual thing, as well as looking men in the eyes. So I'm going to have to cover up the ol' hair and try to train myself not to look at men in the eyes when I'm talking to them. Also, it is considered rude to eat with your left hand because it is the 'dirty hang' where the right hand is the clean one. I'm just glad I'm not left handed. I can't wait for the food! Tomorrow I have an FDP (faculty directed program) for Marketing where we go to a coke factory, and then the next day I head by bus to a place outside of Morocco and go camel riding and get a tour of the city. I'm happy that I will be in a large group this time because it sounds like Marrakesh can be a very dangerous area for women to roam alone.
Tonight we gain an hour by moving our clocks back, which is a much welcomed change from the 23 hour days we lived on the way across the Atlantic. The first port is over, which leaves everyone with a bitter sweet point. But we have so much to look forward to!
Spain was incredible! And I surprised myself on how quickly I remembered, as well as picked up on the Spanish language. In my group of seven, I was the one who translated what locals were saying. I am also hearing the Rosetta Stone’s from school call my name.
The first day we got to Cadiz (pronounced kah-dith), we went and bought train tickets to get from Cadiz to Sevilla (pronounced suh-vee-ya) and then got to Sevilla around 2:30. Then we took buses and walked around for about three hours trying to find hostels that had enough room for everyone and finally found one for 20 euro a night right in el centro (the center of town). We had tinto (red wine) and tapas (snacks) at a bar (bars are family places to eat opposed to places just to drink in Spain) which was delicious as well as relaxing after the long day of travel on train and by foot. We went to dinner at 9 or 10 that night (meals are different here and are at different times. Breakfast is served at 7am-8am, lunch is at 1:30-2:30pm, tapas at 4-8pm, and dinner at 10pm-12pm), and then retired to our beds around 1am. Spanish wine is SO good, and averages 1.50 euro for a generous glass.
The next day was filled with walking around Sevilla and lots of cafe con leche (coffee with hot milk) which is deliciously creamy and incredibly delicious. We also went to the main cathedral in town, but didn't go in because of the time. We shopped for awhile, and then went to a futbol (soccer) game! It was the most truly cultural thing I have ever done! The game was Sevilla vs. Vallencia, with Sevilla scoring the winning goal with 40 seconds to go! Everyone went crazy and were singing, and we made some amigos locales (local friends) while having a Spanish cervesa (their most popular beer is called Cruzcampo) after to celebrate.
The next day was filled with walking around and then a train back to Cadiz where we showered and ate on the boat to save some money. Then we went out and looked at the local shops and went to an Irish pub called O'Connels where a lot of locals hang out as well. We made friends with the bartender Franco, who gave us free tinto solo en una copa (red wine by itself in a glass), and red bull to stay awake and took us at 4am to a secret discoteca (place of dancing) and didn't get back to the ship until 7am! Ahh the life in Spain!
Then yesterday was filled with toasted croissants and cafe con leche and finding food in markets. Then it was back to the ship to sleep!
I really really enjoyed Spain to its fullest potential and hope to do the same in all my other places. Today in global studies we discussed how women should always wear sleeves and long shorts or pants and cover their hips and either cover our hair or put it up. I guess long wavy curly hair like mine is seen as a sexual thing, as well as looking men in the eyes. So I'm going to have to cover up the ol' hair and try to train myself not to look at men in the eyes when I'm talking to them. Also, it is considered rude to eat with your left hand because it is the 'dirty hang' where the right hand is the clean one. I'm just glad I'm not left handed. I can't wait for the food! Tomorrow I have an FDP (faculty directed program) for Marketing where we go to a coke factory, and then the next day I head by bus to a place outside of Morocco and go camel riding and get a tour of the city. I'm happy that I will be in a large group this time because it sounds like Marrakesh can be a very dangerous area for women to roam alone.
Tonight we gain an hour by moving our clocks back, which is a much welcomed change from the 23 hour days we lived on the way across the Atlantic. The first port is over, which leaves everyone with a bitter sweet point. But we have so much to look forward to!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Typical Days at Sea!
Even though I am sure that you all enjoy my blogs, I can bet that many of you would like to know more about my day to day living habits and how my days go.
The days alternate from being ‘A’ days and ‘B’ days. On our schedule, we have a code (A or B) next to it to tell us which day we have that course. It’s very simple. And every day that we are at sea we have a class called Global Studies that every student and faculty member is required to attend. We learn about prevailing winds and how the Earth moves causing different climates and types of regions in different parts of the world. Soon, we will start learning about what to expect in Spain, which is what everyone is excited about. Everything shuts down during that time including the store, computer lab, and snack bar. And if you are caught roaming the halls, you receive a gentle reminder to attend. We can, however, watch this class through our television in the cabin, but Caitlin (my awesome room mate) and I know we will fall asleep (especially with experiencing how un-eventful the class can be, not to mention the rocking of the boat simulates a baby cradle) so we attend it in the Union (the 500-seat classroom at the front of the ship) or in another classroom where it is projected onto a screen. A lot of people feel the most seasick at the front, so a lot of them opt to watch it in another class. I myself haven’t gotten seasick, besides the fatigue which we are told is a sign of seasickness. Anyway, Global Studies begins every day at 9:20am and before that we have breakfast from 7:00-8:30. We usually make it upstairs by 7:30, and I’m not having too much trouble with getting up earlier than I am used to. Breakfast is always the best meal of the day, so getting there early is beneficial. They usually serve pancakes or French toast with bacon or sausage, some kind of egg fixation that I avoid, and lots of juices and coffees and breads.
After Global Studies on ‘A’ days, I have Principals of Marketing in the Union from 10:45 until 1200. The professor in that course is a woman by the name of Dee Bird. She is a very interesting older white woman, and was born and raised in Zimbabwe. The way she talks can be perfectly described as cute. There are about thirty to forty students in that class, and so far the class seems to be a little bit of review but I’m sure it’ll progress onto things that I am less familiar with.
Right after marketing, is lunch time for me. It starts at 11:30 and goes until 1:30. Lunch varies in what they offer. We always have salad with two choices of dressings, bread rolls, pasta or rice, one to two meat choices (like pork chops or chicken wings) and soup. The variety is refreshing, although when I am in the mood for a light lunch, a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich seems to do the trick. I usually eat on the deck outside with some friends, or with total strangers. Everyone is so kind here. The crew comes by and clears the table for us, and I am always grateful and impressed with their balancing skills of plates and cups. Promptly at noon every day, an announcement is made telling us if we are to move our clocks forward before bed, our exact longitudes and latitudes, the water and air temperature, and that nights activities.
After lunch is my second and final class for the day (not to mention my favorite on the ship): Intro to Poetry. The class runs from 13:35 until 14:50 and is more of learning how to read and analyze poems instead of writing them. But we are given several opportunities to write poems and get credit for them, which you can all count on me doing and posting! The professor for this class is very animated and can recite poem after poem after poem, which I find to be rather entertaining. It also astounds me how similar his voice is to that of Kevin Spacey, and yes, I have gotten agreements on this opinion.
After my classes, I usually bring a book up to the top deck and sit out under the last hours of sunlight before dinner at 5:30. Dinner is just like lunch, except more meat is usually offered. Talking to several students, it seems to us that the vegetables and salads always look better than the meats. A lot of them are wondering if they are going to walk off the ship vegetarians, but I love my meat so don’t you worry about that!
After watching the sunset on the deck, it gets cold very fast so everyone usually heads to their cabins or to the piano lounge to study. Movies are played on four stations of the television, so when I don’t have homework to do, I watch one of them. It is quietest on the ship from 7:00pm until 9:00pm. Then almost every night at 9:00, there is a movie played in the Union, or some kind of event. Tonight was open Microphone Night and there are several talented musicians on the ship! Almost everyone comes to these kinds of gatherings. Bed is around 11:00, after writing emails to friends and family!
On ‘B’ Days, everything is nearly the same except I have only one additional course to Global Studies instead of two. That class is Psychology of Stress in the Workplace, and goes from 2:55 until 4:10. The class is going to be interesting, but the professor is (not to be rude) outrageously dull. But I’m not complaining! Between Global Studies and Psych, I lay out in the sun with some friends or catch up on reading, or whatever. It’s nice to have a few hours of my own then.
In Spain, a group of us girls are going to a place called “White City” where the buildings and houses are all white. Then we are taking a trip to little cities called Saville and Granada to see the sights and go wine tasting. Caitlin and I are both very interested in wine and photography (and love The Beatles!) so it is surely a good situation for the both of us.
I got a tour of the bridge today (basically the cockpit of the ship) and I got to shake the hand of Captain Kingston. Funny British guy that has an interesting sense of humor. We got to ask all the questions we wanted. There won’t be sea life sightings until South Africa, is what he told me. Whales are seen occasionally, and he will announce them as he sees them. Boats are also few and far between. We are nearing the middle of the Atlantic and I have only seen one boat since leaving the Bahamas.
Morning yoga has yet to start, but I have been working out at the fitness center three times a week. It sure is hard to run on a treadmill while the ship is rocking side to side! Additionally, I signed up to be a psychology tutor, and applied to work on the student yearbook. We should find out soon who is going to be working on that.
It’s time for bed, but I thought you might be curious what I am doing with my time on the seas! I am loving it here!
The days alternate from being ‘A’ days and ‘B’ days. On our schedule, we have a code (A or B) next to it to tell us which day we have that course. It’s very simple. And every day that we are at sea we have a class called Global Studies that every student and faculty member is required to attend. We learn about prevailing winds and how the Earth moves causing different climates and types of regions in different parts of the world. Soon, we will start learning about what to expect in Spain, which is what everyone is excited about. Everything shuts down during that time including the store, computer lab, and snack bar. And if you are caught roaming the halls, you receive a gentle reminder to attend. We can, however, watch this class through our television in the cabin, but Caitlin (my awesome room mate) and I know we will fall asleep (especially with experiencing how un-eventful the class can be, not to mention the rocking of the boat simulates a baby cradle) so we attend it in the Union (the 500-seat classroom at the front of the ship) or in another classroom where it is projected onto a screen. A lot of people feel the most seasick at the front, so a lot of them opt to watch it in another class. I myself haven’t gotten seasick, besides the fatigue which we are told is a sign of seasickness. Anyway, Global Studies begins every day at 9:20am and before that we have breakfast from 7:00-8:30. We usually make it upstairs by 7:30, and I’m not having too much trouble with getting up earlier than I am used to. Breakfast is always the best meal of the day, so getting there early is beneficial. They usually serve pancakes or French toast with bacon or sausage, some kind of egg fixation that I avoid, and lots of juices and coffees and breads.
After Global Studies on ‘A’ days, I have Principals of Marketing in the Union from 10:45 until 1200. The professor in that course is a woman by the name of Dee Bird. She is a very interesting older white woman, and was born and raised in Zimbabwe. The way she talks can be perfectly described as cute. There are about thirty to forty students in that class, and so far the class seems to be a little bit of review but I’m sure it’ll progress onto things that I am less familiar with.
Right after marketing, is lunch time for me. It starts at 11:30 and goes until 1:30. Lunch varies in what they offer. We always have salad with two choices of dressings, bread rolls, pasta or rice, one to two meat choices (like pork chops or chicken wings) and soup. The variety is refreshing, although when I am in the mood for a light lunch, a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich seems to do the trick. I usually eat on the deck outside with some friends, or with total strangers. Everyone is so kind here. The crew comes by and clears the table for us, and I am always grateful and impressed with their balancing skills of plates and cups. Promptly at noon every day, an announcement is made telling us if we are to move our clocks forward before bed, our exact longitudes and latitudes, the water and air temperature, and that nights activities.
After lunch is my second and final class for the day (not to mention my favorite on the ship): Intro to Poetry. The class runs from 13:35 until 14:50 and is more of learning how to read and analyze poems instead of writing them. But we are given several opportunities to write poems and get credit for them, which you can all count on me doing and posting! The professor for this class is very animated and can recite poem after poem after poem, which I find to be rather entertaining. It also astounds me how similar his voice is to that of Kevin Spacey, and yes, I have gotten agreements on this opinion.
After my classes, I usually bring a book up to the top deck and sit out under the last hours of sunlight before dinner at 5:30. Dinner is just like lunch, except more meat is usually offered. Talking to several students, it seems to us that the vegetables and salads always look better than the meats. A lot of them are wondering if they are going to walk off the ship vegetarians, but I love my meat so don’t you worry about that!
After watching the sunset on the deck, it gets cold very fast so everyone usually heads to their cabins or to the piano lounge to study. Movies are played on four stations of the television, so when I don’t have homework to do, I watch one of them. It is quietest on the ship from 7:00pm until 9:00pm. Then almost every night at 9:00, there is a movie played in the Union, or some kind of event. Tonight was open Microphone Night and there are several talented musicians on the ship! Almost everyone comes to these kinds of gatherings. Bed is around 11:00, after writing emails to friends and family!
On ‘B’ Days, everything is nearly the same except I have only one additional course to Global Studies instead of two. That class is Psychology of Stress in the Workplace, and goes from 2:55 until 4:10. The class is going to be interesting, but the professor is (not to be rude) outrageously dull. But I’m not complaining! Between Global Studies and Psych, I lay out in the sun with some friends or catch up on reading, or whatever. It’s nice to have a few hours of my own then.
In Spain, a group of us girls are going to a place called “White City” where the buildings and houses are all white. Then we are taking a trip to little cities called Saville and Granada to see the sights and go wine tasting. Caitlin and I are both very interested in wine and photography (and love The Beatles!) so it is surely a good situation for the both of us.
I got a tour of the bridge today (basically the cockpit of the ship) and I got to shake the hand of Captain Kingston. Funny British guy that has an interesting sense of humor. We got to ask all the questions we wanted. There won’t be sea life sightings until South Africa, is what he told me. Whales are seen occasionally, and he will announce them as he sees them. Boats are also few and far between. We are nearing the middle of the Atlantic and I have only seen one boat since leaving the Bahamas.
Morning yoga has yet to start, but I have been working out at the fitness center three times a week. It sure is hard to run on a treadmill while the ship is rocking side to side! Additionally, I signed up to be a psychology tutor, and applied to work on the student yearbook. We should find out soon who is going to be working on that.
It’s time for bed, but I thought you might be curious what I am doing with my time on the seas! I am loving it here!
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