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.

-------------------------------------------

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