: ( Last Port : )

It is so frustrating when this happens. Our email system is not very reliable. You get so close to finishing a huge email that you are sending to your blog about your whole trip and it times you out. When you get back on nothing saved and you have to start all over. This time was the worst. I learned my lesson from the times before so I started copying it when I finished. I was just about to finish and copy when it freaked out and logged me out. I lost the whole thing I spent an hour writing.

Anyway…

The trip is almost over. That is good and bad news. As you can tell there are some things (like my email) that I will be ready to get away from but there are many things that I am going to miss. Hawaii was a great last port and I would really like to journal about it (again, but this time in Word processor to save me some frustration).

In Honolulu we went to the Dole Plantation and to the beach. Dole is the major producer of pineapples and they have the world’s largest maze on their grounds in Hawaii. It’s a fun maze. First you get your ticket and they mark the time you start. You have to go through the maze and find all eight secret locations that have boxes on your ticket. When you find each secret location you get the secret code from the booth that is there. It’s cool because it has a slot that lines up perfectly with the corresponding box for the code. Each code was some kind of Hawaiian figure that you stenciled. After you were done you timed out and see if you got done faster than you friends. We finished in thirty-six minutes.
In Hilo we went to the beach again and to the hot ponds. We went to a black sand beach in Hilo. The sand is made from the lava that flowed through there at one time but has been turned into sand from being hit with waves for a long time. At this beach (Richardson’s Beach) we swam with a sea turtle! It was huge but a local saw it and told me it was a medium sized turtle. I was proved wrong but I had never seen a turtle so big.

Later in the day we went to the hot springs. They were natural hot tubs that were the size of ponds. The ground water runs past lava flows and warms the water that dumps into the ocean. They had the area blocked off in a way that channeled cool water in from the ocean and kept most of the hot water in. It was not exactly like a hot tub. It was not as hot. It was so much better. The water was more like a perfect bath. Not too hot and not too cold. We also brought glow sticks because we got there at sunset. By time it got dark the glow sticks added to the atmosphere. The water was so clear and shallow enough that you could put the glow stick in the water and see everything in the water. We all got different colors so all you could see was a bunch of colors in the water.

In Honolulu and Hilo we spent most of the time relaxing. We were either relaxing on the beach or on the “The Bus.” The public transportation was not the best but it was the cheapest way to go. The cabs were ridiculous (ten dollars for two miles in a cab or $2.25 for two rides on “The Bus” that took forever to get anywhere).

Also, we got a surprise day in Honolulu. A storm has been coming from Japan across the Pacific to Hawaii. To avoid it we were rerouted back to Honolulu and got an extra day in Hawaii. Unfortunately, we still have finals tomorrow so all day today, even though we are in Hawaii on a beautiful day, most of us had to study. However, studying on the beach beats being cooped up in your cabin. The storm was not anything to worry about, it just would have made it difficult to take finals. Now we will be behind the storm and will not have to worry about the current being as big.

Well, next stop San Diego. I can’t wait to see everybody. I’ll be home soon!

It's been a while since I have written. The last few weeks have been jammed packed with stuff. We had three days between Vietnam before we got to China. Then, once we left China, we only had another three days before we got to Japan. So much has happened that I am just now getting the chance to sit down and write about it. Along with all the traveling, classes are winding down for the semester so I have a lot of work to do. These next ten days are pretty much like finals week. Plus, there will be another one after Hawaii. However, I'm not complaining. I am still enjoying the traveling.

In China I mostly hiked the Great Wall. The first day the ship made port in Hong Kong. I only had the one day in Hong Kong to travel but luckily I had a connection in Hong Kong that showed us the highlights. It just so happened one of my friends has an uncle living in Hong Kong. We spent the day riding the tram and seeing all the buildings in the city. We also got to have some Dim Sum and see Devil Beaters. Dim Sum is a lot like tapas from Spain. It's basically a bunch of smaller portions of a variety of foods. The restaurant we went to was supposedly famous but is being torn down very soon. After, lunch was the Devil Beaters. They weren't much of a sight but very interesting to see. They are older women who practice voodoo. It's a dying trade in Hong Kong but you can still find a few in one particular area. If you ever need to hex someone you go to the Devil Beaters with something of that person and they will perform a hex. Luckily for all the people I know, I couldn't think of anyone who needed hexed.

The second day in China I left for Beijing. Later that same day the ship left to make port in Shanghai. The ship would take a two day trip to get there and then stay one night in Shanghai. When we left Hong Kong it was near the 80's. It was hot. Just a few hour flight up north to Beijing it was below freezing. They had gotten their second snow a couple days before we got there. That made for a difficult hike on the Great Wall. The Wall is not in the best conditions in some areas so you pretty much had to slide down parts of it. Climbing up was even harder in some areas. Some parts were completely intact, but others hardly had stone in it anymore. Other times we had to completely get off the Wall and walk along it. These were the places where bushes and trees were growing through it. After two days of hiking, I was ready to go to Beijing. It was cold and tiring but very fun. It actually reminded me of Indiana. It had the corn fields and all. Made me miss home.

In Shanghai I mostly shopped. I feel like that's all you can do in most cities. The weather was not all that nice so it was hard convincing yourself to go out anywhere. It was cold and rainy the whole time. We actually had to extend our stay in China by one day to avoid rough seas. We were happy about that because it gave us one last chance to do it right in China.

After a few more days of class it was to Japan. In Japan I was traveling independently. (That is, not on an SAS trip) I did, however, get to do a home-stay. On the first night in Japan I was matched up with a student from Yokohama City University. There was a group of SASers who were escorted to the university by one of the students (Now). Once we got to the university we had a little program and were matched with our student. The student I was matched with was Hiromi. She lives with her older sister Kanae and her mother Emiko. They were extremely nice to me. Hiromi brought me to a Japanese book store because she new I liked to read. It was interesting to see what it was like. She showed me her favorite books which were Harry Potter. Had she not told me what they were I would not have know that they were Harry Potter books. In the States those books have a very distinct look to them. The ones in Japan looked nothing like those books. They seemed skinnier and the covers had a completely different kind of picture on them. It's funny what things can be different.

After the book store we went to Hiromi's home. Her Mom made us dinner which was excellent. It was a salad that had shrimp in it, some breaded sides (one of which was an egg; I loved it), chicken, sushi, and pineapple for dessert. We also sat at a kotatu after dinner. I had no idea what this was. I had never heard about it before but I loved it too. It was basically just a table. Not any table however, it had a blanket that went over it and a table top. Under the table was a little heater. It was low to the ground so you sat on the floor and put your legs under it. It kept you really warm while you conversed with your family/friends. We talked all night about many things. I also got to take a Japanese style bath. In Japan, you take a shower and then relax in a bath of hot water. It's almost like a hot tub but they do it every night. They only use one bath of water for the whole family. Since you have already taken a shower there is no need for soap or bubbles, you just relax. Then the rest of the family does the same thing with the same bath. After that I slept on a Japanese style bed which is a very comfortable mat that lies directly on the floor. The next morning I woke up and Hiromi brought me home. I was on my way to Tokyo Disney Land!

The last days in Japan were spent in Various cities and in Disney Land. Disney was so much like Disney in Florida. The only difference was that everything was in Japanese. They had Space Mountain, It's A Small World, The Tea Cups, The disney parade, and many other Disney favorites. One thing that made it different was the enthusiasm of the workers. They were ten times more excited when they directed you places. It's hard to believe they could be happier then the happiest place on earth but they managed. After Disney, we visited several districts of Tokyo; Shabuya, Nippori, and Asakusa. Then it was off to Kobe to meet the ship and head off to sea again.

Last but not least are my shout outs for Vicarious Voyage. I have been getting all of your emails and enjoyed reading them. I can't wait to get back and talk to all of you when I visit Valley in December. It's coming up!

Ka'de, you were saying that you were interested in knowing more about South Africa and that you are interested in football. Well, football (soccer) as South Africans know it is coming to Cape Town big time. Cape Town is going to host the next big soccer tournament. They have been developing their city and building a new city that you could see from almost everywhere in Cape Town. I hope you are able to catch the big game and relate to it a little after spending some time studying South Africa.

Jarret and Kaitlyn you two both wanted to know more about Hong Kong. I only spent one day there but i did learn a lot from my friends uncle. One cool thing to know is that the city is placed partially on a steep hill. It's so steep that they built and outside escalator that brings you up the street. It is super long too. Another cool thing is that you can take a tram up to the peak in Hong Kong. The tram brings right into a mall at the top of the mountain.

Brianna you wanted to know more about about Japan. You specifically wanted to see it because you haven't seen it before. This is an interesting place to see because it is so clean, organized, and the buildings are very advanced. You could see things like high tech car garages. When you pulled the car into the garage you parked on a large round disk. The disk rotated to get you in the right direction to pull into a spot. Once you pulled into the spot a huge machine lifted it up and out of site so that the next car could park. It was crazy.

Manny and Jordan you guys asked about Mexico and Canada. I wish that I could tell you more but I didn't really get to see much of either of them. In Canada I only stayed for a few hours. I did get to see Halifax which is a very pretty sea side city. As far as Mexico goes, I didn't get to visit it but the Mexico border is very close to San Diego. It's only about an hour drive away. Some people talked about visiting Mexico when we got back but it's not a good idea. Maybe I will get to visit it some other time or maybe you will have to go and tell me about it. I love to hear about peoples travels.

If any of you have any questions let me know. I will be back in the States soon and look forward to it.

Hello Vietnam!!!!!


Vietnam for me was two days of Ho Chi Minh City and three days of Cat Tien National Park. I had a great time and got a lot of shopping done. Also, I got a good amount of exercise out of the hikes in Cat Tein.

The first two days were my shopping and Ho Chi Minh experience. I'm really glad that I got a book about Vietnam on my flight to Halifax (Thanks Rex), though, I haven't been able to finish it yet. The book gave me a fairly accurate precursor to the city and culture. Everyone there rides motorcycles or anything similar to them. Compared to the amount of motorcycles there are very few cars and trucks. The traffic here is crazy. Nobody ever stops unless there is a light telling you to. At intersections that have no lights the crossing roads have traffic that acts like schools of fish. They flow together and apart with minimal bumping and collisions. Crossing streets like this is even more interesting. We had a little demonstration that helped us out before we got there. Basically, you wait for the best time to step out into traffic and once you start you do not stop. At a steady pace you continue through the traffic until you reach the other side. It can be pretty terrifying at times.

We got a good joke out of this situation. We had just gotten to Ho Chi Minh and we were a bit lost. We were more deciding where to go then lost. I was frustrated with our big group and it's indecisiveness. All big groups start out this way. While everyone was deciding, I went ahead and made the decision for myself and crossed the rode. While I was in the middle of the rode one guy asked me where I was going but I kept going. He crossed the road too and asked me, "Why did the Sam cross the rode?" I responded, quickly to my surprise, with, "Because he started and couldn't stop." You have to love the cheesey Vietnam jokes.

Both of the first two days in the city I spent shopping and treating myself to the high life. The high life is pretty inexpensive in Vietnam. The conversion was one U.S. Dollar to 17,586 Vietnam Dong. It was confusing at first because you felt like you were spending a lot of money. After a while we realized that the 40,000 Dong shirt we bought was really about two dollars. I got a lot of stuff here. I even went and got a Vietnamese message. We got one for an hour and thirty minutes and it only cost us thirteen dollars. In the U.S. cheap messages for one hour cost sixty dollars. We got a deal, for sure.

The last three days I was in the rain forest at Cat Tein National Park. The worst part were the leeches! They were everywhere and they were determined to get you. Every hike we went on we had to where leech socks. These are socks that that go up to your knee. You put them on over your socks, in your shoes, and over your pants. At about the shin you rub a special chemical that deters the leeches. When we first got there and saw all this stuff we did not take it all that serious, but after a few minutes on the hike we were thankful for the preparation. Other than the leeches the three days were great. We saw so many creators; spiders, snakes, beetles, frogs, birds, and many other things. The best time to hike was at night though, it was more dangerous. More animals came out at night that you would never see during the day.

After the whole five days I was exhausted once again. Two solid days of hiking was a great exercise, add city mayhem, little sleep, and traveling, we were bound to be tired in the end. Now on to China! I will mostly be hiking the Great Wall. Woot! More exercise.

P.S.
Alex was interested in India and I left him out in the last blog. He was saying that he chose India as his country of interest because they wear different clothes than we do. India does have some very interesting clothes. Many people still wear the traditional clothing but they also wear more western clothes. The western clothes are much like we wear; shirts and jeans. The traditional clothing for women are Saris, which are large pieces of cloth rapped around the body in a specific way. The traditional clothes for men are long shirts that go down to the knee and matching pants. The name of the outfit has slipped my mind. There are also many variations on these clothes, as there are in the west. I was able to buy the males outfit and I plan to wear it when I come to visit Valley Mills so you guys get to have a visual of the clothing.

I know it has been a while since I have written but I have been distracted with school and the aftermath of India. There was a lot to take in while I was there. Most of what I did while I was there was non-stop. The first day was a free day and I have an interesting story about it. For a large part of the time I went on a trip to the Taj Mahal. This was the non-stop part. SAS trips tend to be that way. The last day I took a trip to Mamallapuram and Kancheepuram. The trip was to see all the temples that these two cities are famous for. In the end I had a great time but it was exhausting.

The first day we started by going to the Georgetown Market. It wasn't much. It was mostly just a short street with western clothing for sale and a few local goods. The area also had a hotel with a great restaurant and a Hindu temple. You could find temples anywhere. After doing a little shopping and eating at the restaurant we went to the temple. An older man stopped us just before they were opening the temple back up for the afternoon. He was a nice old man but firm. If we were not supposed to do something, like take pictures of certain things, he would not hold back. He started us off with a crash course in Hinduism. I did not pay attention too much for two reasons. The first reason is following what the Hindus believe is very hard. It is so complex. That is not an excuse for not listening. I wanted to know more about the beliefs but I could not concentrate enough to appreciate it. I was distracted. All I could think about is why his man would just come up to us and be so helpful and informative. In the back of my mind he could not just being doing something to be nice. That was hard for me to understand for some reason. He did everything for us. He told us that we had to take off our shoes before going in and got them in a safe place where they would not be stolen. He showed us around the temple and explained every inch. Then, at the end he wanted money. We had to pay for each camera we used to take picture and we had to pay him. He was a tricky, sweet old man. I knew he wanted more than just to be nice. I think I knew that because it is so common every where in this world. We have to survive some how I suppose.

After the tour of the temple we met another man. We were getting our shoes from the "safe place" and that is when Nagu came up to us. He started talking to us about how he had met other people from SAS from previous voyages. He was also talking about us coming back to his house and meeting his family, which sounded like a bad idea from the start. I would hope that to all people this sounded like a bad idea. He was very informative and nice too. He wanted to help and being tourists with no idea we would take anything we could get. We wanted to go to an internet cafe (so I could get on my blog/facebook/email to talk to you). He wanted to show us. We followed him down a couple streets (well populated, no worries). On the way he bought us chai tea, India is famous for it. Once we got to the cafe he got us cheap prices. Had we gone in alone they would have seen that we were tourists an automatically charged us more like everyone else in India (and other countries for that matter). He got us the Indian man's price. He arranged to come back and meet us so that we could hang out with him. We were glad to get rid of him for a bit to talk it over amongst ourselves.

Our hour at the cafe was up. We had decided that Nagu was not that bad. He had been so nice and so helpful. Plus, we trusted the group we were in and had faith in each other to hold strong. Starting with a little reluctancy the night ended well. We ended up taking a rickshaw to a beautiful catholic church. He showed us around bit then we crammed back into the rickshaw. Then, we went to the beach and met up with some of his family. By time we got to the beach it was dark but that was when everyone relaxed. It was cooler during the night and a good time to wind down. We had Indian food from vendors, we got to see a parrot draw cards for a tarot reading, a friend of mine got to ride a horse along the beach, and sit by the water and talk. (By the way, this beach is one of the worlds longest beaches. It took a long time to walk across the beach to the water.) We also got to play a game. There was a wall of balloons set up. With a BB gun you shot at the balloons to see how many you could shoot. I think I shot the most. The beach was one of my best memories in India.

At this point we had spent a lot of time with Nagu and finally trusted him enough to go to his house (I would never suggest this. Although our experiences ended well). We took the rickshaw there. We met his mother and two kids that belong to his sister who had past away. They all lived in a very small room that was a kitchen. They had room for a sink, fridge, tv, a cabinet, and siting space. It really put things in perspective. In the end, the whole night was amazing. W enjoyed talking to Nagu's family and being with them for a few hours. It had gotten late and we had to get back to the ship. Nagu was nice enough to take us on the train that led us right back to the ship. And i did not mention but he paid for everything the entire night. He refused to let us pay anything but in the end we gave him plenty of money, plus some, for everything that he had done for us.

The rest of my trip did not compare to this day with Nagu. I even got to see the Taj Mahal up close and personal but the first day still trump all. The Taj was beautiful and we saw many other forts and castles that were much like it. In total, for the whole three day Taj Mahal trip I was only able to get about six ours of sleep. We were traveling so much and seeing so much that there was no time for sleep.

The last day I had another trip to see the temples. I was so tired that I struggled to appreciate them. The architecture was amazing, and so was the art. So much went into the temples. It was a fantastic bunch of places to see. The best part of the day was getting back to the ship and being able to sleep. A billion things were seen and done that it would take months to explain it all. I am very satisfied with this part of the trip but I will have to go back. There is so much more that I have to see.

Once again I am getting tired. Sleep is becoming more and more rare. I just don't want to miss anything. Tomorrow we wake up early to travel up river from the ocean to make port in Saigon. More adventures to come!

Memorial


As many of you know I am studying to be a Mortician. As it is part of my career I was able to assist in a beautiful memorial service that we had this morning in honor of a professor's son who died recently. She also invited any and all from the ship board community to take part and honor those they wished too. People honored family members, friends and even pets.

The memorial was a sunrise memorial. Not too long after sunrise at 6:30 a.m. a chaplain, Milton Oris, began the ceremony. These are his notes:

Order of Service – Thursday, Oct. 21, 2009 – MV Explorer

In Memory of Thomas Skokan
And the Lives of Other Loved Ones Now Departed.

1. Welcome to the Service

Thank you all for coming to this very special time on our voyage – to celebrate the life of Thomas Skokan and many, many others whose memories all of us here wish to cherish and honor this morning. I also with to thank a number of people were very helpful in preparing the service today including Ann and Sam, the members of the choir, and to Captain Jeremy for changing the course of the ship in recognition of the service this morning.

2. The Call to Worship

We have come together from different places;
We are at different stages in our journey through life.
Our paths are varied;
We look at life in different ways.

And so we have turned aside from our accustomed ways,
and are gathered here to do honour and praise to the life and memory of so many special people in each of our lives.
We come in sorrow, confronting the fact that life ends.
This is the condition of our birth, that at the end of the road, near or far, stands always our death. The need that is upon us is to accept both the glory and the tragedy of life, its holiness and its limits.

Peace be to this house
And to all who enter herein
We gather in grief, in promise, in love, and in hope
In the midst of sorrow we give thanks for life.

3. A Homily

Today our hearts are feeling the tragedy, the shock, and the sorrow that the death of a loved one brings and in the case of Thomas, sudden and premature. No philosophy or religion ever taught can prevent this wholly natural reaction of the human heart. We grieve over the good times no longer possible; we mourn the stories that might have been told. But we cannot reverse the tide and all answers to the question "Why?" are futile.
So family and friends gather together for many reasons. Life has touched them with a deep grief and they need one another's company for their own comfort. It is right that we should grieve, for grief is part of the healing process. It is also testimony to the worth to us of those for whom we grieve and of our affection for them.
At such a time the various faiths which sustain us separately come together in a harmony which acts across all creeds and assures us of the permanence of goodness and the value of a serviceable life.
Today we shall read poetry, talk about death and life and give thanks that Thomas and all our loved ones lived. There will be a time in the service when anyone here who wishes to honour a memory of a loved one will do so,

4. Readings From Our Faiths

Look to this day:
For it is life, the very life of life,
In its brief course lie all the truths and realities of our existence:
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of beauty;
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope,
Look well, therefore, to this day.
- attributed to Kalidasa, 3rd Century Hindu poet

And from Kahlil Gibran, a Muslim poet, in The Prophet
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Now an Opening Prayer from our Christian faith
Holy Spirit of Life, Source of All Creation, we give thanks this day for the gift of life of all our departed loved ones. We are blessed by the memory of those most dear to us, who have lived their days, and have gone from this earth.
Console us who mourn. Heal the wounds of our mortal loss. Show us courage that against the richness of abundant life, the forces of death shall not prevail. In death, in life, in memory, and in hope, we discover the sacred dimension of all our lives which binds us together as we grieve in love as one. Amen.


5. The Choir – Morning Has Broken



6. The Circle Of Life

To everything there is a season
And a time to every purpose under heaven,
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to harvest,
A time to hurt and a time to heal,
A time to break and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to cast away stones and a time to bring stones together,
A time to embrace and a time to be apart,
A time to get and a time too lose,
A time to keep silence and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate,
A time of war and a time of peace,
We should rejoice in our works for that is our portion.

7. Thomas’ Favourite Poem by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.






8. The Eulogy

Thomas Andrew Skokan, 25, died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, September 12, 2007 He was born in Wheatridge, just outside of Denver, Colorado on July 19, 1982, After attending local schools he went to Metropolitan State College where he obtained his Batchelor’s degree in Science, with a major in chemistry and a minor in math. At the time of his death he was working for Bonfils Blood Center in Denver in tissue matching for transplants and as an IT specialist. He loved drum and bass music and was often a disc jockey at Cosmos, a local club. He was also an excellent chef and loved good wine.

Thomas loved to travel and one of his first major adventures was to be a student on the Semester at Sea voyage of 2002. This was a life changing experience for him. After his return he hung a picture of the deck of the ship and a wall hanging of Shiva that he obtained in India in his bedroom. His last trip a few months before his death was to Prague with Catherine, his frequent travel companion, a favourite city for both of them.

His other loves included snowboarding and his cats Herbie and Alex, who loved him as well for the kind and gentle person he was. Tom was very close to his large extended family including his parents Cathie and Jack, his grandmother, two sisters and two brothers, and many cousins and one nephew. He was also engaged to his soul mate – Ashley.

In the few weeks before his death there were three major and joyous family gatherings that brought them all together - a gift that was very special and for which family were all very grateful.

Thomas’s ashes have remained in the Skokan home since his death waiting for this special time and place for him to be returned to nature. It represents many things – his love of travel, his Semester at Sea voyage, and his very deep love of nature. This is the right time and the right place for him to return to Mother Earth.

9. Placing of the Ashes and Flowers

After Catherine has placed Thomas’ ashes overboard, others will be called to the rail to drop their flowers of remembrance. The names of those taking part in the ceremony, and the names of those they are honouring will be read out.
Dropping of flowers by Milton for all the others whose names are unspoken yet who live in our hearts will complete this part of the service.

10. The Choir – Take Me In



11. A Message to Us All

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep,
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

12. In Loving Memory of Thomas and all the others we honour.

Don’t grieve for me for now I’m free.
I’m following the path God laid for me,
I took his hand when I heard him call,
I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work, or play,
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I found that peace at the close of the day.
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy,
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Oh yes, those things I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life’s been full, I savoured much,
Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,
Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief,
Lift up your heart and share with me,
God wanted me now, he set me free.

13. Closing Comments – I would now ask you all to join hands . . .
To all of you who shared this special and sacred time with Cathie – thank you for being here – and for celebrating the joys and sorrows of your loved ones as well.

Our service is now over – go forth with thanks and gratitude for all we have and for the blessings of this day. Blessed be all of you.

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As the names of all those who honored someone's death were read they threw flowers into the ocean which were taken under immediately by the path our the ship. As they did this, the ship sailed in circle a few times. We were in the middle of the Indiana ocean honoring those we love and remembering them as the sun rose over the calm ocean to begin the day.

Sea Olympics!


Yesterday was a great day. We woke up early to have breakfast and get ready for Sea Olympics. The first thing we noticed when we got to the Garden Lounge to eat was the the stillness of the water. It was erie how calm it was, there was hardly any ripples. We all figured that to be this calm and serene for the whole day there has to be something bad coming like a storm, but sure enough it never came. The water is still glassy and it's the next day. After breakfast, my sea had to collaborate.

The Sea Olympics consisted of 9 groups of people broken into groups named for a sea that we have come or will come close to on our journey. The groups were broken off by halls except or one group that consisted of the Life Long Learners (WOWs- waves of wisdom) and the staff and there families. They named this the "Nearly" Dead Sea. My sea w is one of the biggest groups on the ship because I live in one of the biggest an most used hallways. Our sea is call the Andaman sea which is located off the coast of Myanmar and Thailand. We will be passing through it after India on our way to Vietnam. The size of our group gave us the upper hand and the whole day we were the ones to beat.

The festivities started off in the union. Every sea paraded through the ship chanting and getting pumped for the competition. When we got there we got the rules and basis of the day described to us and then each sea was announced one at a time. This gave each sea a chance to present their torch (which we made and which were judged on for a points which were added to our overall score for the day). It also gave the chance for each sea to show the others what we were all about by sining our sea songs which we put together and were also judged. Our song won the competition and I think it was because it was so epic.

Our song began much like the song from Remember The Titans, "Everywhere we go! People want to know!..." In the end we added our own personal touch to the lyrics pretty much saying that we were going to triumph so beware. It also had some fun moves at the end. We did the roller coaster gig where one person is in front with their hands in the air and screaming. They move to one side as if the roller coaster is changing direction and the whole crowd does the same thing because we are following him. We are all screaming too so it has a good affect. He moves to every side and the very last time the leader has his hands forward and bends down and begins to scream very quietly. As he raises is hands we follow him slowly getting higher and higher and higher, louder and louder until we can't go any further and every one scream, "Andaman!!!" It was a good way to get the spirit going for the day. Like many of the games for the day we rocked this one and got first place.

There were many games and they were all judged. All the games had a first, second, third and fourth place except for the chin-up competition. In the chin-up competition the number of chin-ups achieved were the points you received. For all the other games first place got twenty points, second place got fifteen points, third place got ten points and fourth place got five points. The games included Olympic-esque activities- popcorn eating contest, synchronized swimming, chin-ups, spelling bee, dodge ball, trivia, simon says... (renamed Dean Byron Says... after our dean of students), and many other interesting twists to the olympics.

The day was beautiful throughout. The sun was shining, the temperature was high, the moisture was low, the sky was clear except for punctuating clouds, and everyone was in the spirit of the day. The games ended in time to have a BBQ and we all watched the sun set. I can't count how many times I heard positive comments on the sunset. Most people agreed that they have never seen one so beautiful. I got it on film and took pictures but it hardly justifies what we saw. It was a great day off from classes and to top it off the Andaman Sea got first place!!!! The reward is that our sea gets to be the first off the ship in San Diego. Really, the reward became a double-edged sword because after a day like that with all the people here I don't know that I will be so anxious to leave them when we get to San Diego.

Mauritius is Delicious, Fictious and Malicious


Half way through our journey around the world, five countries down and five countries to go. After visiting Cadiz, Casablanca, Accra, and Cape Town while simultaneously completing half of a semester of classes, Port Louis was a nice break from the chaos. We are constantly moving and doing new things. We are always meeting new people and adjusting to new places. We always come back to the normal stresses of class work and living very closely with one another. The time was right for a vacation and that was Port Louis, Mauritius.

While we were in South Africa many people asked us why we were there, like in all the other countries before it, and we told them the whole shpeel. The next question is always where are you gong next and of course in South Africa our next destination was Mauritius. Almost everyone responded by saying, "oh, vacation island," which was news to us. None of us had any idea what to expect from it. Most of us hadn't even heard of it before we got our itinerary, so we did what any normal person would do and we Google that stuff. Mostly we found tropical looking pictures and a few things about the country, like they speak French, English, and Creole. Aside from the few things we found on Google, Mauritius was fictious as far as we were concerned, that is until we got there.

This little island (you could drive to the other end in an hour and that's with traffic) was practically made for tourists. It seemed like the most popular thing to do here was lay on the beach, and that's just what I did. You could go hiking on the dormant volcano that created the island but we only had one full day to enjoy the beach and you could see the volcano any where you went on the island. Plus, this was the vacation we needed. A few other highlights of the island were Pomplamousse, one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, and Saga Dancing, a traditional dance done by the Mauritians.

Aside from being on the beach the whole time I did visit a Non-Profit organization for children. This particular one is the SOS Children's Village in Beau Bassin. We basically went to hang out with the kids and see what their live were like. There were roughly 19 houses with seven to nine kids in each house. All of them had two care takers, a "mother" and an "auntie." The mother was the head of the house and the auntie helped the mother. Also, because there are two caregivers, one could watch after the kids while the other went home to visit their own families. These are women who don't have children of there own but do have extended family who they try to visit when they can. These women also do all of this for free. They are completely volunteer though I am sure that the housing, food, and other amenities are included.

The children, by the time they get acclimated to the village, have a "normal" life. They sleep in beds in house, go to school, come home and play for a little while before they have to do their homework, then, eat dinner and go to bed. Even though these kids are just "normal" they are the happiest bunch of kids I have ever seen. We got there right before most of them were getting home from school so we were able to learn about the village and ask their families a few questions. Then, the kids got home from school and the energy of the place shot through the roof, in fact, we stayed outside. They were running all directions, playing football (soccer), and imagining all sorts of things to do. Some of the students that I came with also brought stickers. Many of us were told that the kids love getting stickers. You knew when someone pulled stickers out because all the kids would swarm around trying to get there own and before long you saw kids pushing out of the swarm with their faces covered in all sorts of shapes.

The children also loved to help out. When we got there some of them were maintaining a garden. Every house had their own garden that was beautiful. They were well organized, watered, and not one weed existed any any of them. I talked to one of the mothers for a while and she said that they don't usually eat a whole lot of it but they are able to sell it to friends so that they can have a little bit of money for the family. The money could go towards games, clothes or anything else the kids would need at the time. We also saw some kids helping paint the trim of the houses. A few men had come to do the maintenance but sure enough the kids wanted to help. They picked up brushes and paint and joined the painting team. They all worked very hard in school and at home and deserved everything they had and much more.

I wished we could have stayed longer but now we are off again, back on the ocean blue. We are now traveling across the Indian ocean to Chennai (Madras), India. We will be there in four days and I am very excited. I'm starting to think that India is what I need. It's a very spiritual place and every bit of information I hear about it makes me more and more excited to get there. Talk to you soon...

Sam

Title: Adventure Haven

Entry:

How's it?
(Like every South African will ask of the English speaking upon meeting)

South Africa is packed with things to do, places to see, and food to eat.

To start off my Cape Town experience I hiked Table Mountain. Table Mountain is the famous backdrop to Cape Town and it's one of the things that makes it so special. Like the name suggests it is flat like a table on top. There are also surrounding mountains one of which is called Lion's Head, and you guessed it, it kinda looks like a lion's head. To get anywhere in Cape Town you had to take taxi or cab. Yes, there is a difference. The cabs are the bigger, van hired transportation and the taxis are the car-sized hired transportation. It took us about 80 Rand (local currency) to get to the cable car on table mountain. That is a decent amount. It comes out to about ten to eleven U.S. dollars and it's a pretty good distance. Our cab actually had a hard time getting to the top. i think the car was just a little out of shape but when we started to go up hill the driver had to pump the gas to get any movement. After a long putter half way up the stretch of mountain to the cable car another taxi was nice enough to pull over. The second cab driver didn't even ask to be paid. When we got to the cable car we walked up a little further to the first trail that we found. The trail we hiked was called Platteklip Gorge. It was a steep narrow climb to the top. The trail ran along a water that streamed down the mountain. We just took our time going up because that first day was very sunny and hot. Luckily it was clear to because when we made it to the top roughly three hours later the view was perfect. As you walked along the flat top of the mountain you could see the chains of mountains that created a half circle around the city and beach below. The beaches led into the ever extending ocean that met the sky. The timing could not have been more perfect because by time we had cooled down and gotten a bite to eat the sun started going down. There was also a wedding going on near by too, which made for a really special first day. We sat there tired from the hike with full bellies, lounged back in our seats with the string quartet from the wedding playing as we watched the sun begin to settle behind the ocean. It was by far the best day to hike Table Mountain because the rest of the time we were in Cape Town the "table cloth" of clouds covered the table top. We didn't have much time to get down before the park closed at seven so we took the cable car down, which was a fun ride. As you descended, the cable car rotated so that everyone had a chance to catch a view out of the open window. Luckily, the whole thing was surrounded in windows but the best pictures were taken through the open window.

The next day was a much more exciting one. A group of friends and I woke up very early so that we could meet the bus just outside the ship at 5a.m. From there it was a bit of a race for time because in oder to do what we wanted we had to beat the morning tide. After picking up a few other passengers from around Cape Town we headed to Gansbaai for our great white shark dive! It was one of the best experiences I've had. After we got out to our spot nar an island we got our tutorial speech. It was hard to listen because it was very cold and we all had our eyes out for the first shark. As our guide was talking to us the boats crew was already throwing some bate into the water to attract the sharks. Just about the time our guide was finished talking (he's done this a few times before) a shark appears. My friends and I were sitting on the bow of the ship on the port side leaning against the railing to get a good view. Then, really slowly the shark floats out from under us and shows itself. Seeing it for the first time was pretty intimidating because it was much bigger then I expected. Our guide estimated that they were 3 to 4 meters long and they were about as wide as two of me standing next to each other. The best part was getting in the cage to see them up close and personal. The cage was attached to the port side of the boat near the aft. It had floatation devises at the top of the cage so that if it was to come detached we still be reasonably safe. It also had a lid that was barred like the cage itself. The cage was grated so that the spaces were one square foot so you could easily reach out of the cage, which was slightly tempting at times. Tempting only until you realized the huge animal two inches in front of you could take your arm with no struggle. We were only in the cage for about 5 to 10 minutes at a time but you got to go in as many times as you wanted. You would think that people would go in a ton but the water was so cold that most people just went a few times. I managed to go in three times but it was tough. So the way it worked was five people were in the cage at once. Then they rotated you out. The first person would get out then the next person would go in at the end. Then, the second person would get out and the next person would go in, so on and so forth until everybody was done. The boats crew was bating the shark the whole time you were in the cage. They would throw the bate out and slowly pull it in and throw it back out until the shark tried to get it. When the crew saw that the shark was close they would yell "down!" Then, all the five people in the cage would take as deep of a breath as they could and stay under as long as they could. The views were amazing from below the water. You would hook your feet under a bar at the bottom of the cage and watch the shark circle around you eyeing the bate... or you. It was hard to tell sometimes. It turned out to be a great day. After a while, the water got really clear and the sun came out. One time the shark even got a little crazy and popped the floatation devise at the top of the cage. By the way, the floatation devises were inside the cage. The lady that was next to it flipped out, as would I most likely. She saw some pretty intimidating jaws come right for her. But really it was trying to get the bate that was next to the cage. After the shark fun, we drove around and saw some other amazing animals. We saw several whales that were pretty close to the boat. We saw sea lions that did tricks for us and we even saw the penguins that Kyrie told us about! I tried to get a good picture for you guys but you can't really tell what it is because we were kind of far from them.

Day three was pretty uneventful because most of us were pretty tired from the day before. A friend of mine and I decide that we would go to Camp's Bay and have a relaxing day. At Camp's Bay they have a nice beach (The same beach that we saw from the top of Table Mountain). They also have a bunch of restaurants. Even though it was cold we spent the day on the beach and climbing the big rocks that lined part of the shore. We also had a chance to have some sushi at one of the restaurants.

The next day was pretty fun despite a bee sting that I got. We went to the wine lands and went horse back riding. There were three of us. We took a taxi driver for the day. It was also common here for the taxi driver to stay with you all day, just like in Ghana. We had to go pretty far so the only way to have a ride back was for your driver to stay. On the way out there we got pretty lost but we saw a lot of cool things that we wouldn't have scene otherwise. One of the places was a bed and breakfast with the same name as the farm we were headed to. It was kind of a magical place because the path was a narrow rock drive that led through brilliant flowers and trees. The houses on the property look liked little cottages and they ha birds, dogs, and a pig roaming around. We only stopped for a few minutes to figure out where we were but we got out to stretch our legs. Also, my friends wanted to pet the pig. It wa pretty big but when Rebecca went up to it it rolled over just like a dog for her to pet it's stomach. After we finally found our farm we mounted our horses and rode through a bit of the Paarl mountain range for about two hours. On the mountain sides we trotted through grape fields, wooded areas, and protea fields (the national flower of South Africa). This made for another fun but tiring day in South Africa.

The fifth day was the day for my safari! Kyrie and Myleiah, you two would have loved it. You two said you love animals, especially in South Africa. We got to see lions, giraffe, springbok, zebra, water buck, and oryx along with some other interesting animals. I went to a reserve called Inverdoorn where they have large pieces of land fenced off to help rehabilitate game that might eventually be let back into the wild. We spent a few hours in a Jeep-like vehicle that drove all along the property with a guide that informed us all along the way.

On the last day all I had time for was a hop on hop off bus tour of Cape Town. It was a good way to see what you wanted to see in town. They have these kind of tours everywhere like New York. I highly suggest them you are unfamiliar with the area because you can get on and off the bus at your leisure because it makes stops every twenty minutes or so. It was a nice end to my Cape Town experience.

One last thing that I wanted to mention for Jacob Neff was about things they do for fun in South Africa. One big one that everyone pays attention to is football (and I mean soccer). Next year, the world cup will be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa and the town is preparing for the momentous occasion as we speak. While we were there you could see the construction of a brand new stadium that is nearing it's final stages of construction. It's huge! It has great views to because you look one direction and you see Table Mountain and then you look the other direction and you see the ocean. It doesn't get better then that while you are watching an exciting game of football with a crazy crowd.

There was lots of adventure in South Africa. I didn't even get a chance to do all that I wanted in the little time that I had but Mauritius here we come!

Hey Folks!

Just throwing some stuff out there...


A good way to keep up with where our trip is an what we have done is by going to the Semester At Sea website (semesteratsea.org). You just go to the site, select the "voyages" icon at the top of the page and then select "current voyage." You can see the itinerary, our position report, and slideshows. And that is why I am mentioning this. I was pretty excited to see that I finally made it onto a slideshow! You pretty much have to be around the photographer 24/7 to get your picture on there (or bring a lot of attention to yourself which I tend not to do). However, I made it! There is a slideshow for each port and they are named based on the event that the photographer went on. The one that I am in is when we went to Morocco. This was the camel trek program I went on which was really fun. I did all the stuff you see in the slideshow but you don't see me until the very end. We actually aren't even on the camel trek at this point. We aren't even in the Sahara. On the last day in Marrakech, which we passed through to get to the camel trek, we went to the souks (market) to buy a rug. The picture that I am in is at the very end and we are getting a presentation of all the locally made rugs. I'm dong my typical mouth-open stare while trying to concentrate on the speaker. And that's my big moment on the Semester at Sea website! Woot!

Soon, we will be in Cape Town South Africa. We just had our cultural pre-port today and tomorrow we will have our logistical pre-port. Saturday morning we will make port. Can't wait to hear from you.

TTYS
Sam

4TH Grade!

Hey Guys! Just left Ghana a few days ago and had some catching up to do. Aaron was saying that he wanted to know more about Ghana especially for it's name. Something that I looked up after leaving was that Ghana means "warrior king." In medieval Ghana the kings of the land were named Ghana and later the name became the title of the land. It is a very interesting sounding name and it has a pretty interesting past. Jasmine also talked about how Ghana would be an interesting place and yes it is. Ghana was by far the most enjoyable country to visit so far. One trip that I wish I could have gone on was a drumming and dancing trip. I was on the Volta Eco Adventure so I didn't get a chance to go but on the trip they learned how to drum and dance in traditional styles. The music in Ghana means a lot to their culture and plays many roles in their lives. That would be something interesting to check out if you get a chance; Ghanaian drum and dance music.

Another exciting thing that has happened since Ghana is Neptune Day. Neptune Day is the day that we cross over the equator. If you have not crossed the equator by water before you have to be properly inducted as a "Shellback." This is a notice we received from King Neptune himself.

To all Pollywogs (otherwise known as persons who have never crossed the equator
by sea): You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE
REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS. It has been brought to
the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS,
that the good ship MV EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those
waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of
the RULER OF THE DEEP. THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that
The Royal King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will with
his Secretary and Royal Court meet in full session on-board the offending ship M.V.
EXPLORER on the 26th day of September AD 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 Aft to hear
your defense.
Regards,
King Neptune and His Royal Court

It was a pretty fun event. The day of September 26th we were woken up by the "royal court," our crew dressed in toga-like outfits and other crazy garb. They were banging pots, pans, drums and playing horns. They came by our rooms twice. After everyone was woken up we were called to the seventh deck to begin the ceremony. We were out by the pool and two at a time we presented ourselves in front of King Neptune, the Queen, and their royal quart. King Neptune was actually the captain of the Mv Explorer which was pretty funny. He was painted green and had a triton and a royal crown. As we stood in front of them we were christened with the royal waters (colored water and fish trimmings). Then we had to jump into the pool to wash it away. By the time all 500 students and a few crew members all dove into the pool with the royal water on them the pool water had turned black. After the water we kissed a fish and were knighted as shellbacks of the deep. I get a certificate sometime. As one last show of your gratitude to King Neptune people lined up to get their heads shaved by the royal barber (one of the professors aboard). Not everyone did it but quite a few did. There were about 12 girls I would guess and several guys including myself. I am now bald and in debt to King Neptune.

Thanks King Neptune for taking my hair.

Title; Obama's Ghana

Entry:

Ghana was amazing. I had a lot of fun there and hope to go back some day. I would love to go to all these places again but Ghana is first on the list so far. The people were so nice. There are no public jobs so most, if not all of them are venders selling goods to each other and to tourist. So, naturally they all want you to buy whatever they can find and will do anything to get you to buy it. This is pretty typical anywhere we go because most of us stand out as tourist and tourists are there to spend money. But despite them struggling to get anyone to buy something from them they are super friendly. Many people asked for your phone number or email address upon meeting you. They would ask you your name an where you were from and then get your information.

There were also the people who left greater impressions by helping for long periods of time. One girl (Rebecca) I know spent most of a day with her taxi driver. The taxi drivers there all offer to take you around all day. They will drop you off and arrange to meet back with you to take you back or to another destination. In the case of my friend, she went to a theatre because she is studying Drama and Theatre. There wasn't a show going on but they let her go back stage and get a thorough tour. After that, she even went to lunch with her taxi driver. They're just that nice to be with. It's easy to feel safe here but you always keep your guards up.

Also, one of my tour guides left a great impression on me. His name ironically enough was Sam. For most of the time I was in Ghana I was on a trip called Volta Eco Adventure. We toured around the Volta region which is named for Lake Volta, which is one of the largest man made lakes. There was a damn, the Akosombo damn, constructed in 1962 if my memory serves me right (opened in 1965) on the Volta river which created Lake Volta behind it. The damn also serves as the major supply of electricity to Ghana because it is a hydroelectric plant. On the trip we crossed the famous bridge, the Adomi Bridge. It is Ghana's largest suspension bridge. Just past the bridge we visited a small town then moved on to the highest peak in Ghana, Afadjato. After hiking to the top of the peak and back down we left to go to Wli falls in the same day which was not to far from the peak. Wli falls was a nice place to cool off after the intense hike in the heat of Africa. That night, we went to the Chances Hotel in Ho which was nice. It's funny cause the building we stayed in was the Brick House. We couldn't help but sing "She's a brick---HOUSE!"

The next day was the best day by far. When we were on our way to the hike on our first day Sam taught us a traditional song in Ewe (a dialect used in the Volta region). It took us a while to get it down but when we did get it we sang it for the rest of the trip. I still get it stuck in my head. The song came in handy the second day of our trip. We went to a small village to see and feed some monkeys that the locals believe are sacred, Tafi Atome. When we arrived there was a school house of kids just as w got off the bus. We were able to interact with them through the song that Sam taught us. The song is one that all the people in that area know so when we started singing it to them they all came out and started singing with us. It was amazing. The kids all clapped the beat and sang. Some kids even dance a little. I'm so glad Sam taught that to us and he seemed proud of us. He told us at the end that we were his first group to actually learn, sing, and interact in the way that we did. If you ever get a chance or want to go to Ghana I highly recommend going with Sam (elismatoursghana@yahoo.com -ask for Sam).

The monkeys were also pretty darn cool. The guide we were with made a sound kinda like a kiss noise to get the attention of the monkeys. Then we all got a half of a banana to feed to them. You had to hold it firmly in your hand if you wanted them to stick around otherwise they would take of with it. When you held the banana up they would come down to the closest branch and reach out. Then, just like we would peal a banana they would peal down to where your hand stopped the peal and take the small bite and leave. Then you'd get a different grip on the banana and another monkey (or the same one) would come down for another bite. All in all the Volta Eco Adventure was amazing. We even all got a chance to get out of the bus and give it a good shove to get it out of a mud pit we got stuck in.

The last day (and the first day) I shopped around Tema which is where we made port. It was a pretty cool place to be but most people spent most of their time in Accra which is one of the major cities in Ghana.

P.S. The people there loved Obama. They sold shirts with him on it, they made snacks called "Obama biscuits," and there was even and Obama Hotel. So, you can imagine how exciting it was when he came to Ghana recently. I also have some shout outs and another day to talk about (Neptune Day- I shaved my head!) but I am pretty tired and have a bit of a cold. Nothing major but stay tuned!

Title: Center of the World

Entry:

As the Mv Explorer gets closer and closer to Ghana we are becoming closer and closer to the center of the world. In less then a week when we leave Ghana we can actually say that we are at the center of the earth, talking about latitude and longitude of course. The zero degree longitude runs through Ghana near it's east border and zero degrees latitude is roughly seven degrees south of the Ghanaian coast. Which means.....


Neptune Day!


I am that much closer to shaving my head for the Neptune day celebration. Neptune day is the day we cross the equator. To celebrate we get classes off for the day and there are many major events. Most of them are much like the olympics where we compete to win an assortment of games but the one that I am  looking forward to shaving my head. I have been told that when sailors cross the equator they shave their heads as a sacrifice of sorts to Neptune the god of the seas for good passage. However there are a few avid sailors on the ship who have never heard of this but I'm gong to do it anyway. Not that I am superstitious, but I don't want to be the reason why our boat sinks. Not that it would happen anyway.

As of now we are passing Cote D'Ivoire getting ready to make port in Ghana tomorrow. We will be there for four days and then we are back to the sea for seven more days until we get to Cape Town, South Africa.

----------------
An update on my mortuary studies

I haven't even been gone for a month and I have never been more confident about going into my career of choice, Mortuary Science. I had my doubts before, hints the big change call Semester At Sea. I have met many many people that have knowing and unknowingly helped me debate my foggy future. And become comfortable with the fact that it's still pretty darn foggy. I thought that on this trip I would be able to escape the field a bit to get an outside perspective of what I am doing but I never found that escape and I'm fine with it. I ended up delving into the field further. As we go to each port I have been studying the cultures and how they deal with death. I brought the book "Funeral Customs the World Over" by Habenstein and Lamers and have been able to prepare myself slightly for the port of call. When I am in port I have been trying to find out from tour guides or locals a first hand perspective of the customs. Oddly enough, this small bit of research has already made it's self into my poetry class and continues to find it's way in more areas of the shipboard life. I have been asked to help with a memorial service for a student that went on this trip and died some time after. His mother is with us as a professor and I believe the plan is to scatter the ashes in the Indian Ocean. Also, after a discussion with one of the counseling psychologists aboard we plan to start an Explorer Seminar discussing death traditions and culture around the world. So, even though I went on this trip thinking that there would be no mortuary connection, I have found more then I could have ever imagined. So, wish me luck and I hope to be able to explain more later. 

Title: Three months In

Entry:

We are nearly done with three weeks of our trip and I honestly feel like it's been three months. Everyone on the boat agrees too. There are so many deep connections between people as if we've know each other for months. In fact one of my friends (Madison) made the comment that "each day is so concentrated." And she is so right. So, much goes into one day on this trip whether we are at sea in classes or whether we are in port traveling. I can't even imagine how much history I will have with this trip by the end. Heck we still have about eleven weeks left.

So, for this month, well actually week, we were in Morocco. We made port in Casablanca five days ago. As soon as the ship was cleared the students going on the camel trek (including myself) were able to get on the bus and head to Marrakech. It was about a four hour bus ride. Once we got there we went straight to our first meal. Everyone was hungry because it seems like we always get to food later than normal when we are in port. This place was the perfect first stop. We went to a restaurant that was right around the corner from the Souk (market). This is one of the most exciting areas of town with street performers, food, and all kinds of different little shops. The restaurant was Al Baraka. It was so beautiful with precise and detailed decorations. It seemed like everywhere we went after that never failed to impress us with the decor and ambiance. It was built in the typical style of Moroccan homes in that it had an entrance that led to an outdoor court yard which connected to surrounding rooms. We sat at the tables which were always lower than we are used to but had stools and short couches instead of chairs. The tables always had tons of hand painted dishes that were very colorful and all our glasses and silver wear. Most of the time the dinners were brought out in multiple courses. One big platter of each course was put in the middle of the table and we all shared from the one heaping course. I don't think we ever finished a course between the 5-8 that sat at one table. The first course was usually some mix of cooked or raw vegetables, the second and sometimes third course was usually the meats, and the last course was dessert which was always fruit. And a Moroccan meal wouldn't be complete without mint tea at the end. The tea was always amazing! The most unusual but always delicious part was the course with the meat. It was fun to be surprised and try to work together to figure out what it was. Sometimes it wasn't all that hard because it was beef or chicken but we did have some other interesting ones. The first was a meat that looked green but it turns out that it was lamb/veal that had a green sauce. Another was some kind of sausages. There were two different kinds; one was a patty shaped, beef-looking sausage and the other was red mini sausage links. We never knew what they were unless someone asked because it was a prepared set menu. The last interesting meat caught us by surprise. It looked like chicken kabobs so most of us didn't pay any attention but because we were told about it ahead of time one of the more experienced travels asked what it was. Turns out that the chicken kabob wasn't chicken at all, it was pigeon. Apparently it's common ground in Morocco. That's one way to control the pigeon population. I wonder if New York would ever consider it.

Anyway, after our first meal we headed out to the Souks! We walked around for a bit and got some money (Durhams). A tour guide invited us to go with him through the Souks because it can be pretty intimidating with all the people in skinny alleys, all trying to buy and sell all at once. It's a pretty crazy environment. We walked through a few alleys of Souks then we were led to the pharmacy. The pharmacy being a holistic approach to healing. We walked up a stair well that was full of spices. Everywhere you looked there were jars, troughs, and other containers with all sorts of colors of herbs. We were led into a room that had nothing but shelves all over the wall with not one more space for any other jar. It was a very beautiful sight because of all the different colors. A man began to give us a speech about all the herbs and their assorted cures. Some solved dry skin, some got rid of cold sores, some made you go to sleep, and the list went on and on. Meanwhile, a chain of events was about to cause something exciting.

As we had been walking around the Souks we noticed that a storm was coming in. We all enjoyed it because the dark clouds surround the mosque in the background of the Souk made for some very cool pictures. While we were listening to the speech that the man was giving to us to storm broke loose. The wind started to blow pretty hard and we were about to find out. None of us really noticed it but there were windows behind some of the jars that were on the shelves behinds us. One time the wind was just strong enough to suddenly knock a few jars off that nearly drop on a girls head and fell to the floor with a big crash. Naturally, it scared the beejeesus out of us. Luckily the jars missed the girl though and she wasn't hurt. Plus, it made for some more really cool pictures because like I said they were all sorts of colors. For the most part the ones that fell were red so someone made the comment that it looked like a crime scene. They fell in just a perfect way that it made a cool pattern so I have some cool pictures to show you when I can. After that the storm cleared up pretty fast and we set back out for the bus to our hotel.

The next day we left for our seven hour bus ride through the Atlas mountains to the Sahara mountains where we got to ride the camels. It was a pretty touristy trip but I still had a lot of fun. The camels were tied together in links of about five or six and a local nomad led it through the edges of the Sahara. Unfortunately, there weren't enough camels for everyone so we either had to get of and let our partner go or ride together on the camel. The trek only ended up being about an hour and a half one way which wasn't very far at all from our buses. The next day we took the same path back and got about another hour and a half ride.

We did stay the night in a nomad camp though! It was a nomad camp for a king. It had an outdoor WC, three huge dining tents, sleeping tents, and a large common area with a fire pit. Every inch of the camp had Berber carpets covering the ground and they even had blankets that sort of fenced in the camp. They also had electric lighting. So, to say the least, it was still touristy but we had a great time. We had another traditional Moroccan meal in the dining tents and had time to socialize and wonder out into the Sahara. Some friends and I wondered out and layed on the dunes and watched the stars. I have never seen so many bright stars in my life. It was so dark out there in the middle of no where that it seemed like you could see twice as deep into the sky. The Milky Way has never been so clear and we even saw several shooting stars. That night we could sleep anywhere we wanted; out on the dunes, in our sleeping tents, in the dining tents, or even on the carpeted common area by the fire. I chose to sleep in the dining area on the really comfortable couch seating. But at about 3a.m. it was so cold! That was enough to keep you awake.

After the camel trek we had another night in the hotel and another chance to go to the Souk and shop. Then, back to Casablanca!

That brings us to today. I just got back in from watching Casablanca get further and further away. Most people usually go out to the decks to watch the disembarkation. My favorite spot is the observation deck which is at the bow of the ship. We are now out at sea for another seven days of classes. Then, Ghana!

Also, there were a few people from the fourth grade class that I wish I would have mentioned last time. Austin said he wanted to learn Spanish and I can't agree with you more now that I have been to Spain. It would have been really useful and would have made a lot of things easier but you can't learn every language. I really love French and hope to pick it back up when I get to school. So, stick with Spanish Austin. It takes a ton of practice but it will be worth it when you get a chance to travel. I also wanted to tell Jacob that you should try paella. You said you like spanish rice then this is the dish for you. It's rice that is cooked i a big frying pan with different sauces and some kind of meat, usually seafood. If you ever see paella on a menu somewhere I highly recommend it. And if you ever go to Spain you need to seek it out. I also have a little story for Cody. You know I never thought I would say this but here it goes. I had eaten so much Moroccan food which is so delicious and really good for you. But it is so light that it was hard to feel fulfilled for long so the last night I was in Marrakech I had to get some good ol' food from the States. We went to McDonalds which is everywhere. I don't think there will be a place that doesn't have one. When we went I got the best thing on the menu, a Big Mac with fries and a coke. And then I went all out and got ice cream. I figured you would appreciate this Cody since your favorite food was a Big Mac. That should hold me off for a while though.

Well, until next time...

Title: I don't know where to begin

Post:

A couple days ago I went on a hike in some Spanish Mountains. This was in the Grazalema Natural Park which surrounds the White Town of Grazalema. (A "White Town" is a town that is completely white. All the buildings are white washed regularly by the lady of the house. It was/is tradition for the women to take on the huge task because the men were out farming the lands. Our guide mentioned how it sets up the scene in a comical way. She describe how the women are out in there work clothes with brushes attached to very long poles that stretch to the tops of the sometimes 2-4 story buildings. She also said that it's impressive because they take on the task within a day or so.) Anyway, on this hike a few of us that happened to be close to each other started talking about writing in our journals. We all agreed that when you really want to write in your journal about something there is so much going on that you don't have time to write but when you have time to write there is not much going on and it's hard to remember what to write. And I'm pretty sure that most other people on this hike would have agreed but you could only talk to a few people that were close to you because we had to walk single file so that you wouldn't fall off the narrow path. The vertical drop some 200 feet or more would not be pleasant.

So, that's how the story goes, I had so much going on in the last five or six days that it's hard to come up with one chronological story. But I have a few highlights.

The first two are the schedule trips that I signed up for; the churches of Cadiz and the hike at Grazalema. The church tour was pretty interesting because not only did we get to see some beautiful churches we also got a quick tour of the small city. The first thing bout the city that you learn is that it is much like a hand and an arm. If you were to raise your hand in the air your hand would be the old part of Cadiz, Spain and the arm would be the new part. The old part had several cathedrals, a newly discovered Roman Theatre, the old cigarette factory, our port, the train station, and many buildings made of sea rock that was harvested from the shores of Cadiz. The rock was particularly interesting because you could see fossils and shells within these blocks that made up these amazing building. However, it is now illegal to harvest this rock so the new part of cadiz looks much more westernized with cement and metal buildings. Also, because of the destruction of Cadiz in war, the city added a wall and watch towers to protect them. So, the old part of the city and the new part of the city are separated by a grand wall at the "wrist." The other trip was the hike that I was talking about. To my surprise the hike ended up being a pretty vigorous one up a fairly steep mountain during the hottest part of the day. The temperature was near 90 degrees F. but luckily there was a strong breeze. The guides even told us that it would be tough because they usually start the hike early in the morning at about 8am considering the typical hot weather but we were starting it at about 1pm. We took a few short breaks to enjoy the views and they were amazing. Unfortunately, my camera died on the way to the hike. However, there is one picture of me looking out over the land that does exist. It will probably be one I get on facebook though. Once we had hiked about 2 1/2 miles we stopped for lunch in the shade and then hiked the same path back. It was very gratifying.

We also got a chance to eat a ton of Spanish foods. We had Tapas and Paella for the most part which were both excellent. The different atmospheres of each of the places we ate made the food that much better.

There is some more but it so hard to cover it all. However you can email me any time (scperry@semesteratsea.net) to ask me anything. I would especially like to hear from Sarah, Max, Tiffany, Kyrsten and Britni because you guys are the fourth graders that wanted to know more about Spain. Hopefully I can answer some questions for you if you have any. I will answer any emails as soon as I can but tomorrow I leave for a camel trek! So, it might take a little while to get back to you but don't be discouraged.

Here I come Morocco!

Title: A Day Aboard the MV Explorer

Entry:
While we are at sea we are in school mode. We have two different days labeled "A" day and "B" day. I am going to take you through my first "A" day.

The first day of class after advancing our clocks by one hour (which is pretty typical every day as we cross the Atlantic), I woke up to my watch beeping at 5:45 our time. I had slept in my running shorts and shirt so that when I got up all I had to do was put on my hat and running shoes before going to the gym. The gym/spa here aboard the Mv Explorer is up on the seventh floor and I live on the third floor. Once you get up to the gym it's a small room about the size of an average bedroom. They have tredmills, elipticals, stairmasters, and some other equipment of that nature. I prefer just to run. I had to sign up the day before in order to get a thirty minute session. As you can imagine running on a treadmill on a constantly moving ship is very interesting. Your trying to to run a straight path so that you do not fall off but the ship rocks back and forth. I had to catch myself a couple times against the wall so I wouldn't trip and get shot off.

After running, I went back to my room to take a shower. We do have our own bathrooms which I share with my roommate. It's very nice but about the size of an average bathroom stall and has everything we need; toilet, sink, shower, and some room for storage. It's amazing how efficient the little thing is and the water is great! We have very hot water. It's kind of funny to take a shower too. With the rocking of the boat the water in the bottom of the shower sloshes from side to side and sometimes you can lose your balance. We even had to take some of our stuff off the shower rack because it continued to fall off. My roommate told me one time he came in to find his body wash fallen to the floor and the cap had broken which then was all over the floor. So much for trying to conserve soap.

After I had gotten dressed and ready I headed up to one of the two dining areas for breakfast. The one that I prefer to go to (along with most evreyone else) is the Garden Lounge which has an inside dining area and an outside dining are on the deck. I like going outside because you have the endless view of the ocean to stare at. When you get to the dinning all everyone is supposed to sanitize their hands using the automated hand sanitizer at the entrance of the dining hall. This is to help control sicknesses in our small and contained community. Then, you hop in line to grab something from the buffet. On my first day I met two girls in line (pretty common to meet people while waiting for food) and I ended up sitting with them (Emma and her roommate I believe). We, of course, ate outside because it was a very nice day. The food is pretty normal. I think I had yogurt, eggs, and pancakes that day. I have yet to wake up early enough for another breakfast to see if it is any diffe
rent.

When breakfast was over it was to the first class of the day, Global Studies. Everyone has to take Global Studies as part of our trip. It is a class that gives us a heads up so we know what to expect before we get to each country. It also discusses topics such as "the world is flat" meaning the countries of our world are becoming interconnected through the advancements in technology. We even read that a McDonald's in Cape Girardeau (a town about 45 minutes from my college which I have been to a few times) has an interesting way of taking your order. When you go through the drive-thru a person from Colorado Springs, which is more than 900 miles away, is the person that takes your order. This class is in the Union which is the largest class room on the ship. It's much like a lecture hall or auditorium.

From Global Studies I go to a smaller class, Jazz. This class is roughly a 12' x 12' room with a couch that raps around the back and a few small table tops with chairs in the middle. At the from of the class is a screen with a projector and a podium; a typical college classroom except it's got an ocean view blocked by life boats. This class is a jazz music appreciation class. We are starting with the fundamentals of music and I assume we will delve into the history of Jazz.

Then, off to the dining hall again for lunch. Most of the lunches and dinners consist of salad, some kind of pasta, some kind of meat, and any form of potatoes. There is only so much variation possible when you have to store and save food for a week or so at a time. And of course before entering and as you leave you must sanitize your hands.

After lunch I headed out of the dining hall to the deck, where you can also eat. On the deck there are stairs that lead to the seventh floor deck, which is also the pool deck. From there you have the best view of the ocean. Most all of the deck is open except for about a fourth of it which has a canopy cover that shades the snack bar area. You can get almost anything at the snack bar; chips, cookies, drink, and pizza. ( I know Ryan, James, Victor, Kyrsten, Britni, Jordan, and Michael would like that. You guys said pizza was your favorite food.) And as for the pool, ( listen up Jalen and Mackenzie I bet this pool is smaller than yours but at least there is one!) it is probably about 5' x 14' and has shallow areas on either side that allows the water to filter in an out to keep it from sloshing out. I was impressed by this smart design but I was told it is pretty typical on cruise ships.

This was a pretty warm day and I would have liked to get my swim suit on and gone into the pool but I had class soon after. So, instead I read my book under the canopy. As I was reading, one of the crew members yelled out that there was an animal swimming by. We all went to the side and saw a couple dolphins jumping in and out of the water. I suspect they were following the cargo ship that had just past by. They seem to like to follow things. This was a big day for seeing things in the ocean! Hardly ever do you get to see anything. Most of the time it's open water as far as you can see.

After the excitement of spotting other life at the sea, I got a chance to listen to some music with a friend (Didi) on the "chill" dock, meaning it's a nice quite place to be. It's at the bow of the ship. This is my favorite view. It's everything that comes ahead of us... more ocean and pretty soon Spain!

Last but not least I have a poetry class. This class is in a similar classroom as my Jazz class. It's pretty self explanatory; we read poetry and discuss it.

My only other class is Non-Profit Leadership, which is on "B" day. This is a class about organizations that make no profit but raise money to help people in many different ways. Some that you might know are Habitat for Humanity, The Red Cross, and, surprisingly, Semester At Sea.

In the evening after classes there are plenty of things to do. There is dinner and snack time (Yes! snack time late in the evening). But also there are many groups you can join. They could be anything from exercising to spirituality or career help and being adopted by the Lifelong Learners. Lifelong Learners are the older students here that are usually no longer in college. They adopt various students to be their mentors. This has become a very popular part of SAS. Over 400 people applied to be a Lifelong Learner and their are less than 100 aboard. Their ages range anywhere from late twenties to eighties.

Then, at the end of the day, exhausted from all that has been done, I was rocked to sleep like a little baby.


P.S. I just attached my SAS email (scperry@semesteratsea.net) to my blog so that I can update more often. We have limited internet that I have to use sparingly but this email is free to use. So email me anytime at this address. Plus, no I just email my entries to my blog and they should automatically update. We'll see how it works.