damn we're funny

so, tonight i went shopping with my friend jenny, with whom i've been friends for as long as i can remember. as we were driving, we were laughing so hard at the simplest thing. then we laughed even harder at how we were probably the only people who would find us funny. it was just one of those moments that leaves you smiling for the rest of the evening. and you all know how much i love to laugh...in fact, it's probably one of the reasons each of you is such an important part of my life.

under construction

so i've decided to use my free time to update the look of my blog. exciting, right? and while doing so, it got me thinking...

isn't it funny how self indulgent blogs really are? i mean, who am i to think that enough people out there really care about what i'm doing on a regular basis that i need to keep a public record of it? and this doesn't just go for me, but for the whole blog/live journal phenomenon. it's actually what my biggest hesitation about live journals and blogs has been for a few years now...that and AIM away messages that say, "in the shower" or "eating dinner" or any other trivial task that the rest of the world really doesn't need to know that you are doing because it is likely they are doing it too. at least be clever and cute about it.

but, on the other hand, i do enjoy poking around people's blogs...even people that are only acquaintances. i like to read their thoughts and what they're doing. sometimes i pick up good tips, like great new songs or books. and again, i'm not the only one who likes to peruse other people's sites. so what is it about blogs that keeps us reading?

let's make a deal

so, the other day, my brother's girlfriend and her roommates hosted a purse party (kinda like a tupperware party or an avon party...but not as lame...well, at least not in my opinion). most of you know my love for bags, so you can only imagine how excited i was to rummage through their living room in search of the perfect pocket book. and there it was, across the room, and as i picked it up and turned over the tag to meet its price of $25, my first response was, "i'll give you $15." then i laughed at myself and remembered that i wasn't at the scott market in myanmar, and i don't think bargaining is part of life here in good ol' egg harbor township. just one more small way my adjustment back to "real life" is a bit boggling at times.

sleepless...again...still

good golly miss molly...and all of my other dedicated readers. so, i've been back in jersey for eight days now, and i can officially say that i haven't had one good night of sleep yet. what is wrong with me??

i woke up this morning and felt dizzy with exhaustion. i spent the day laying on the recliner hoping to increase my energy. unfortunately, that never happened, and instead i went to bed early. and guess what??? i fell asleep...oh, but only for a couple of hours. now i'm awake, still dizzy with exhaustion and unable to fall asleep. so, instead of fighting with my own insomnia, i figured i'd give my blog an update. i've decided to keep the blogging going. i admit that my life is not likely to be as exciting now that i'm not sailing the seven seas, but who knows what kind of craziness i can get myself into. so if you're interested in finding out, keep on reading.

okay...it's time to give that sleep thing another try. wish me luck!

sunshine in december

here are some highlights from my time in san diego:

back in august, jenny, my brother and i had made reservations at a hotel in the city and since they weren't flying in until the following day, i had invited karen and yas to stay the night with me. so once i got all of my belongings off of the ship (which turned out to be way more than i thought it was going to be) and said my good byes, it was time to head to the hotel. karen and i had so many bags between the two of us that we needed to take two taxis. once we were there and had thrown all of our belongings into our room, we headed to the hotel's diner with jason (from the bookstore) and rico to enjoy some food. i don't know if it was from exhaustion or just sheer like for each other, but the four of us laughed so hard throughout the entire meal that i think our waiter (moises) thought we were drunk. after lunch, it was definitely time for a nap. just as karen and i were almost asleep, the desk rang to let us know that yas had arrived. she had spent the afternoon with her parents before joining us for the rest of the evening. we all jumped into bed and settled in for what turned out to be an almost three hour nap. and every minute of it was much needed.

that evening, the student life team had planned to get together for a dinner to put some closure to our time together as a staff. because so many of us had family or friends meet us at the dock, it turned out to be more of a student life team and loved ones dinner (including chris plutte). it was really a great time, and i was glad that we had a chance to spend one last evening together before everyone went their separate ways.

the next day, our focus was to sleep in, get karen's rental car and go to krista's barbecue, and that's exactly what we did. krista's brothers live in laguna beach, which is a little over an hour from downtown san diego, so they were kind enough to open their doors to us and host a semester at sea social. it was such a nice way to unwind a bit before having to say goodbye to everyone, but mostly to karen, yas, krista and michael pulju. when robbie (my brother's childhood best friend who lives in the area and was gracious enough to serve as my driver so i could get back from the barbecue to pick phil and jenny up from the airport) arrived, i knew time was short, so i started my rounds of giving hugs. most of you have been in the position of me saying goodbye to you, so you are familiar with the tears, so just imagine me doing it all over again with this group of people with whom i had such an amazing experience. it was rough. and with that barbecue, my official semester at sea experience came to an end. crazy.

the rest of my time in san diego was spent with my brother, jenny, robbie, phil jordan and jon pancoast. we ate a lot of mexican food, visited a number of bars in the gaslamp and pacific beach areas, spent time in the hotel's hot tub, and ate more mexican food. i really loved spending time with such a good group as a way of beginning my transition back to "normal" life. and i also enjoyed taking advantage of all of the great mexican food in the city of san diego.

and let me tell you, spending time in san diego in december also provided me with some more concrete proof as to why i need to move to southern california. wow. even when it's chilly at night, it's beautiful. and when the sun shines during the day, you have to wonder why you would ever put up with ice storms and grey skies.

say cheese!

okay, so there's something to be said about jet lag/ship lag/just plain old having no idea what time or day it is. so, since i can't sleep, i decided to make myself useful. i finally was able to get some pics online from my voyage. if you're interested, head to my pic page (see the side bar for the link cause i surely don't remember the url). it's on the "sas pics" page. i'd love to hear you comments, so feel free to post them back on this site.

also, i'll be back shortly to regale you all with the final leg of my adventures: time spent in san diego. but for now, i'm going to try and get some sleep.

full circle

i'm back in jersey and have fully completed my own circling of the planet. and to use a favorite quote from the voyage, things here are "same, same... but different."

instead of sitting anxiously thinking about what life at sea might be like, i'm sitting anxiously thinking about what life on land will be like.

instead of dreading packing, i'm dreading unpacking.

instead of worrying about making friends on the ship, i'm worrying about when i'll see these friends next.

instead of doing all of this while laying around my parents' house, i'm doing all of this while laying around my brother's house...funny thing is, it's the same house.

so, life here is...well, it's life here.

and what am i going to do with this life? well, wouldn't you like to know?

sleepless

it's somewhere in the six o'clock hour of the morning on december 4.
i am sitting in the staff/faculty lounge, and i've just witnessed the
sun rise over the horizon. as i sit here and watch it get bigger and
bigger, tears are falling down my face. it's unbelievable how it
just pops up so quickly, and if you're not looking, you can miss one
of the most beautiful sights on earth.

this morning, i woke up around six with a pounding headache. despite
a little excedrin and my best efforts, i was unable to fall back
asleep, so instead i got up and came here, hoping to get some quiet
time. i hoped i'd catch the sunrise, but never did i think that it
would have such an impact on me. i am overwhelmed with the experience.

i'm overwhelmed with the number of students up at this hour,
studying, watching the sunrise, spending quality time together in what
little time they have left on this ship...
i'm overwhelmed at how peaceful the sounds of the ship are when most
of the passengers are asleep...
i'm overwhelmed with how amazing it is to watch this group of
students in front of me laughing and snapping pictures and just
taking advantage of every moment...
i'm overwhelmed with how beautiful the sun is and how lucky i am to
be right here...
i'm overwhelmed with how much i love my family and friends and how
unbelievably lucky i am to have each of you in my life...
i'm overwhelmed with how much i can grow to care about a group of
people in 100 days and how sad i'll be when i have to say goodbye...
i'm overwhelmed with how scared i am to return to daily life and not
be able to explain what i'm feeling and thinking to those around me...
i'm overwhelmed with how much i have to pack and do before december 7...
i'm overwhelmed with the vast blank slate ahead of me starting
december 8...
i'm overwhelmed with the fear of possibility that my mom will need
too many hugs from me and that my dad won't get it and that my
brother might not get to see these amazing things one day or that my niece won't want to see these things one day...
i'm overwhelmed with my own honesty in this blog...
but mainly, i'm just overwhelmed...

and after weeks of hiding under a blanket of numbness, protecting me
from the reality of the sun setting one final time on this voyage, i
think the tears that i can't stop right now are a sign that the
blanket is gone. i can feel the sun on my face, and i know that dusk
has arrived.

walking in a winter wonderland

when last we blogged, i was wrapping up a night in hawaii...

well, now i'm two days away from the island and smack in the middle
of typical "end of experience" hell. but before we jump ahead, let
me talk a little bit about my time in the aloha state.

our one and only full day (if you can even call it that) in hawaii
was pretty low key. by the time i dragged myself out of bed and
joined up with karen and yas, we were all pretty hungry. all we
wanted was a big old yummy breakfast, and fortunately, my memory
recalled this place aj took me to the last time we were there, and i
was pretty sure it was fairly close to the port, so off we went in a
taxi to find "eggs & things." this was exactly the breakfast we were
looking for. we had met up with dave and chris (of global nomad
fame) as we were heading toward the taxi, so they joined us as well.
besides the overly yummy pancakes, there was nothing to really report
on about breakfast. once we were finished, it was off to the beach.

eggs & things is located in waikiki, which is where yas and karen
wanted to go to to beach. so we walked the four blocks down to the
hilton hawaiian village and plopped ourselves on the sand. it was
gorgeous!! the sun was hot. the water was warm. and even the
beaches weren't that crowded. we couldn't have asked for anything
better considering we only had one day. our only snafu was that yas
really wanted to snorkel, but unless we wanted to head a bit further
around the island to hanauma bay, there was no good snorkeling to be
found. so we did without the snorkeling and enjoyed the day we had.

in the late afternoon, we headed down the beach to the moana
surfrider hotel, where dan and jill had suggested having drinks,
eating munchies and watching the sun set. a few minutes after we
arrived, beth showed up and joined us. we sat there for hours
enjoying nachos, taking in the view and basking in the live music.
we had the perfect table right next to the beach, and the sun set was
breathtaking. as i was watching it, i thought about all of the money
people spend to do and experience amazing things. it seemed ironic
that this sunset was easily one of the most beautiful things i've
ever seen, and it was completely free. like so many of the other
experiences i've had this semester, it made me wonder how many
opportunities like that i miss out on in daily life. hopefully, i'll
be more cognizant of those things now.

after mother nature's spectacular sunset was complete and as we were
all sitting in silence, i realized that the band was playing
christmas songs. all day long, we had seen christmas trees and
decorations everywhere, and it didn't seem possible that it could be
time for the holidays. but here we were, listening to "walking in a
winter wonderland," and i thought how nice it was to be spending
december in such beautiful weather.

after a jaunt into an abc store, it was time to head back to the ship
for our final embarkation.

aloha

we've arrived in hawaii, and i must say that i'm having a rough time
adjusting to some american customs...mainly cell phones. the minute
we began sailing closer to some of the larger hawaiian islands (we've
been sailing past islands for the past two days, but they are all
smaller islands that just anybody can't visit), everyone whipped out
their cell phones and began to attack the phone lines. it was
overwhelming. and annoying. they've lived without cell phones for
90 days...can't they survive another week? or at least can't they
survive until they get on to land? don't get me wrong, i do love my
cell phone, but i can honestly say that i haven't missed it one bit
the entire time i've been gone. so being reintroduced to a world
where everyone is on their cell phones was a bit depressing, and i
found myself wanting to retreat from the crowds.

once we pulled in to the harbor and docked alongside the famous
aloha tower, the rd's were called to duty to hand out passports for
the final time. within a couple of hours after that, the ship was
cleared and people were running to the gangway to set foot on oahu.
i joined the student life staff, the global nomads and a number of
other staff members to head to dinner. because we were a larger
group and it was already fairly late, we decided to just walk across
the street to the aloha market, where we ended up eating at some
chain restaurant. after dinner, i headed to wal-mart. the last time
i was here, aj insisted that wal-mart hawaii was different than other
wal-marts, which turned out to be true. i needed to pick up a couple
of items, which is why i decided to take a trip to the superstore,
that and the fact that our waitress told us that this new wal-mart is
the largest in the world. crazy!!

anyway, i feel this blog is a little boring and dry, but really,
that's kind of how i'm feeling right now. the last time i was in
hawaii, it was great. i got to see a lot of the island from more of
a local perspective and was able to avoid most of the touristy
places. this time, i'm only here for a matter of hours (about 26 to
be exact) and i'm stuck in tourist hell. so instead of getting to
build off of my previous good time here, i have been stressing out
about figuring out how to make the most of my short time here. i've
already decided that it's not worth me working my way up to the north
shore, so i guess i'm going to find myself a beach in waikiki and
spend the day laying in the sun and playing in the ocean, with
hopefully a bit of snorkeling on the side. and that may not happen
at all if i can't get some guidance from the locals tomorrow.

for now, i'm sitting on this ship - that has been my home for the
past three months - and listening to the silence surrounding me. so
few people are here right now...it's almost kind of nice to have some
time to myself since my time here is coming to a close.

nap time

so, here on the ship, it isn't uncommon among the staff to ask your friends if they'd be willing to guest blog on your blog, so that your loved ones back home can have some spice in their reading lives. my friend jason (the bookstore, not the nomad for those of you who are keeping track out there...which basically only means my mother) is a proud guest blog whore, and therefore was kind enough to write one for me. he's an author by trade (well, maybe not by trade, but close enough), so enjoy the read...oh, and just for the record, i have had a four nap day once.

thoughts by jason:

I used to think that, after the age of about ten and before the age of about 60, there was something a little shameful, a little too lazy, in taking naps. In the heat of a summer afternoon, maybe. After Thanksgiving Dinner, surely. But as a general, day to day affair, they were strictly not allowed. One got as much sleep as one could in the night, and then if it wasn't enough, one just suffered. Where in the busy day could you put a nap anyway?

Semester at Sea has proven me wrong. It's always nap time here. Do you have an extra hour after lunch? Take a nap. Finished with dinner early? The six o clock nap works, as well. Skipping Global Studies? That's an hour and a half of prime nap time. And this can be either instead of regular sleep, or just as often, in addition to.

We greet each other in the halls, looking a little sleepy, and someone will ask, “Did you get a nap?” to which the proudest answer is, “I got three.” Three seems to be both the goal and the limit. I've never heard of a four nap day, though I'm sure they're out there. Someone has surely had that much free time. Total, those naps are probably two hours, maybe three. We're all getting expert at setting alarms for forty five minutes later. We have to change the time so much there's no mystery at all to any of the functions of travel alarms.

And we get all these naps around our schedule. Meetings, work, committees, classes, whatever it may be, nothing can stop the nap. Some days maybe there's no nap, but it doesn't really feel like a day. Even in port there's nap time; a long bus ride, or even a short one, can send people snoring for their forty winks.

I don't know how I'll adjust to the non-nap world now. I suppose it'll be easier in some ways; the ground doesn't rock gently where I normally live, and some of the tiredness comes from mild seasickness. But the naps aren't just about conditions around us. They're a form of freedom that most of us don't have in the real world, a drowsy, dreamy escape from everything, for fifteen minutes or three hours. I'd like to take them with me, pack them up in my bags and sneak them through customs, but I think the agents there are on the alert for nappers, for anyone who might interfere with the go getting American paradigm. Maybe I can claim a few as souvenirs, though. Just a nap here or there. Just a few minutes.

Three times a day, preferably.

november 29

the day that never ends. i woke up this morning, and it was november
29th...again! so, now i am officially five hours behind east coast
time rather than 17 hours ahead, or whatever i was yesterday. and
the question still remains...since my brother's birthday is again
today, does this make him older than 25???

tomorrow we arrive in hawaii. it's exciting to be headed toward
hawaii, but sad that we only get one day. and then it's on to san
diego. i'm definitely living in denial about this coming to an end,
which is why i am unable to offer any final reflections. first i
need to deal with reality.

oh...and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILIP!!

international date line

today is november 29th. so is tomorrow. weird.

the beginning of the end

i'm living in denial and am definitely not ready for this amazing
experience to be over, but unfortunately, it is getting close to the
end. as i mentioned in my last blog, i have spent most of the last
three days sleeping...i'm not sure if it's sea sickness or exhaustion
or both. either way, i'm determined to get myself awake for the
remainder of the voyage. i definitely don't want to miss a thing.

tomorrow night is the ambassador's ball, which is a big end of the
semester event that includes a slide show, a fancy dinner and a
dance. the day after is november 29...in fact, for two days in a row
it will be november 29 because we'll cross the international date
line and live the same day all over again. crazy. it also happens
to be my brother's birthday. happy early birthday phippy!!

okay, for now, it's getting late here on the ship, and i am going to
try and get a full night's sleep and get myself back on track.

kobe, kyoto and karaoke

oh boy. so, for three days, as we've sailed away from japan, i've
tried to get myself to write in my blog. instead, all i've done is
sleep. all day long. all the time. so, now i'm trying to sit out
on the back deck of the ship in the fresh air and make myself recount
my days in japan.

we only had four days in japan, and the overall lesson i learned is
that i wish we had longer. there are a number of things i didn't get
to do, but i definitely enjoyed the time i had.

our first day there, i headed into kobe with karen and yas. we
walked from the terminal port into the center of the city. it was
definitely what we think of as fall weather, and it was beautiful. i
forgot how much i love the fall until i was walking through the
streets of kobe.

so, our first order of business was to find some sushi. you wouldn't
think this would be a hard task in japan, but somehow it turned out
to be. we really just wanted a nice little sushi place, no frills.
the thing about restaurants in japan is that almost all of them have
pictures or displays out front so you can actually see what they
serve. this is very helpful for those of us who don't read japanese,
since that's what all of the menus are written in. so after
wandering for a while and not finding any display case that matched
what we wanted, we finally stumbled into a cute little restaurant
where we had to take off our shoes, and sit on the floor. it was
great! and there was good sushi.

after lunch, we wandered around a bit more. kobe is a small city
that resembles what you would expect of any small city in the us,
with maybe a few more japanese restaurants. there were tons of
stores and restaurants and coffee shops. we were all pretty spent
after a semester worth of sight seeing, so the day was pretty low
key. something that stands out about the cities of japan against
other cities of the world is the amount of karaoke places. they are
everywhere. so in the middle of the day, karen, yas and i wandered
in to see what it was all about. it only took us a minute to realize
that we had to participate, so we booked ourselves a room and in we
went for an hour of karaoke. while waiting for our room, yas made
friends with two women who were also waiting, so they were kind
enough to join us for a few songs at the beginning of our time, and
they taught us how to use the machine. i should back up a little and
give you an overview of the karaoke place. there are tons of
individual rooms that seat from four to 20 people. you pay per
person per 30 minutes, and then you just karaoke away. each room has
a couple of microphones, a tv, a remote control for the karaoke
machine, a couple of big books of songs and some tambourines. we
were there around 3 in the afternoon, and we were shocked at how
crowded it was. there were businessmen and high school aged kids and
groups of friends and couples and tons of other people there to spend
some time singing. it is so unlike anything that we have in the
states that i can't even begin to imagine we americans gathering in
the middle of the day in nyc to karaoke. but that's exactly what
karen, yas and i did. now, most of you know that i am not one to
karaoke, but apparently you put me in a private room around people i
trust, and bam...karaoke queen! i had no idea it could be so much fun.

after a coffee break in the late afternoon, we walked back to the
port just in time to meet up with the rest of the student life team.
we repeated the process of wandering through the streets in search of
someplace to eat. and afterward, we headed to a karaoke place and
spent a couple of more hours singing the night away! it was great.

the next day, after an attempt to sleep in, yas, karen and i dragged
ourselves out of bed, threw some stuff in a bag and headed to the
train station. our plan was to spend the day in kyoto, which we had
heard was a beautiful place in the kansai region, and then head to
osaka for the night. the first thing we did when we got there was to
find a good sushi restaurant. fortunately, this time we got a
recommendation and took a cab straight to the restaurant. we were in
for quite a treat when we got there. the restaurant was a kaitsen
zushi place, which is one of the conveyor belt sushi places. so we
sat down and immediately became entranced with the plates of sushi
passing us by. the food was so good that we ate way more than we
were hungry for and enjoyed every minute of it. yummy!

we wandered around the streets of kyoto after that and slowly made
our way toward the part of the city that is full of parks and
pagodas. on our way, we stopped in to this little tea shop for
something warm to drink. this shop seemed to be someone's living
room turned in to a tea shop. the woman who owned the place was
overjoyed at our presence, as were the three old men who were hanging
out there. we each ordered a drink and she brought us cookies as a
gift. then one of the men sent over green tea. they were so nice
and it was a great place to take a break and experience some japanese
hospitality.

by the time we actually made it to any of the parks or pagodas, it
was pretty dark. what we saw was beautiful, and we slightly kicked
ourselves for not getting there earlier in the day, but the truth is
that we were just pagoda'd out. so what we saw was good, and then we
headed back to the train station. we were due to meet melissa at the
osaka hilton around 7, so we hopped the next train and got there just
in time. well, just in time for 7...it took melissa a little longer,
so we enjoyed a glass of wine in the lounge while we waited. once
she was there, we headed to our hotel (we ran in to some students in
kyoto who told us that it was during the high travel season in japan
and they looked around for a hotel for four hours the day before, so
they highly recommended booking one in advance. so, we utilized the
local tourist help desk and got ourselves a couple of rooms in
osaka.) the hotel was great. it was in a great location and the
rooms were perfect for what we needed (and considering how expensive
everything is in japan, they were fairly reasonable.) after dropping
our belongings off, we headed down the street in search of something
yummy to eat.

as was now tradition, it took us a while of wandering around the
streets staring at the display cases before we decided on a place to
eat. we enjoyed our dinner and then ventured back out on the streets
of osaka. like kobe and kyoto, osaka was a very typical small city,
but the part of the city we were in had a very "summer at the
boardwalk" feel to it. everywhere you looked there were bright
lights and signs. it was almost like being in a small version of
times square. right in the neighborhood, on the canal, is a large
ferris wheel, so we decided to take a spin to get a view of the city
from a different angle. it really was a great view, and when it was
done, we decided to search for a place to have a drink.

well, leave it to us to wander into an americanized bar in japan.
with american celebrities on the wall and american drinks on the menu
(there was no japanese beer to be had), we settled in for a night of
fun. we had no idea what we were in for. after about an hour or so
of sitting and talking, we were approached by a group of japanese
businessmen who had had their fair share to drink. the ring leader,
sagamorro, was performing magic tricks, and his translator (sagamorro
only spoke a little english) told us that he wanted to see if magic
tricks were a good way to pick up women. for well over an hour,
these guys entertained us and made us laugh. we saw many a magic
trick, and sagamorro confessed his love to melissa multiple times.
every time he wanted us to pay attention, he yelled, "breathe!" we
repeated him, and karen continually asked him why he was saying
"breathe"? it took us a while to figure out that he was saying
"please," but by then it was too late and we were hooked on repeating
"breathe." it was a great time, and we laughed the entire way back
to our hotel.

the next day, we wandered around osaka some more. we decided to take
a quick karaoke break in the middle of the afternoon, so we popped in
to a place and did a little singing for thirty minutes (we are
clearly hooked). we also went to a place called spa world, which is
floor after floor of different types of public baths. neither karen
or i were very interested in getting naked and lounging in a bath
with a bunch of other women we didn't know, but yas and melissa were
interested in looking into it. they decided it was a bit too much
money, but we were all kind of take aback at how big and elaborate
this place is. faced with our own tiredness, we jumped on the train
and headed back to kobe.

it was officially our last night in a foreign port, so we decided we
had to do something big. after returning to the ship and getting
cleaned up, we headed out to try some kobe beef for dinner. kobe
beef is very expensive, but very yummy beef that we were told we had
to try. so after some searching, we found a hibachi steak house that
served the beef. unfortunately, it was during this dinner that i
realized that my camera had disappeared somewhere between the subway
and the restaurant, but other than that, it was a great meal. i've
never had such good steak in my life; in fact, i didn't know it could
taste that good. after dinner, we were all sufficiently stuffed, so
we walked around looking for a jazz bar that yas had been
recommended. i only stayed for one drink because i was feeling
pretty bummed out about my camera. i headed back to the ship and
immediately went to bed. i think my body was desperately seeking the
rest.

the next day was our last in japan and our last real port. karen,
melissa and i wandered around, eating and drinking coffee and doing
little else. when we found ourselves standing in front of a movie
theatre, i made a joke that maybe we should just see a movie, and
before i knew it, we were sitting in the theatre waiting for "in her
shoes" to begin. it was a nice taste of home since i hadn't seen a
movie in a theatre since august. it also reminded me of all the
other movies that are probably playing at home right now that i want
to see when i return. when the movie was over, it was time for us to
head back to the ship, so that's what we did.

i really enjoyed my time in japan, but it is a shame that it was the
last port and we had such little time there. i know i didn't give it
my all because i was so tired. but, like almost all of the other
ports, i would really like to go back and see it again sometime. and
it you're ever there, i highly recommend a few sessions of
karaoke...it's a great time for all!

sit down, you're rocking the boat

so, on our three day sail from hong kong to kobe, japan, we hit some
pretty bad weather. the ocean was all riled up, with waves crashing
as high as the seventh deck. on that first day back at sea, i was
only standing up for maybe two hours of the whole day. i spent the
rest of it in bed trying to stabilize my body so i wouldn't get
sick. although these waves were nothing compared to what the ocean
is fully capable of, they still kicked me in the butt. and not just
me...the entire ship was so quiet on the first two days that you
could hear a pin drop. it was almost eery.

the other thing that was eery about this crossing was getting a
glimpse at how wealthy some of the students on this ship are. every
voyage, the students of service organization arranges a charity
auction. all proceeds go to a few charities chosen by the shipboard
community. items for bid include homestays around the world, donated
by passengers on the ship, special meals with the deans and steering
the ship, just to name a few. i hoped to participate by bidding on
some items, telling myself that i could spend up to $150. well, that
was quite the joke. students were bidding between 250 and 600
dollars on most items, with a couple of items going for $1000 or
more. i couldn't believe it. i was stunned. i had such an uneasy
feeling about watching these students spend money on items like a
private movie night on the ship, including candy and popcorn (which,
technically could be done for about $10 if you arranged it yourself,
but the winning bid was $650.) i was dying to ask these students who
was going to pay for these items and if they even had to discuss it
with their parents before committing to such a payment. i'm fairly
certain they didn't, which only made me feel more uneasy because i
can't fathom having that kind of disposable income.

i know i wasn't the only one having these feelings because
afterwards, a number of my residents came up to me to talk about how
crappy they felt about the whole thing. one of them said, "i don't
even have enough money to help the charities because all of the bids
were WAY out of my range!" and i knew exactly how they felt.

so, overall, it was a interesting sailing to japan, and i am really
glad to be here. but more about that later!!

the mainland

even though hong kong is a territory of china, it has definitely
maintained it's autonomy from the bigger country. so i was excited
to spend some time on the mainland and see how it differed.

on day two of this port, karen and i led our group of 75 from the
ship to the airport, where we were bound to beijing. traveling in
large groups is always a challenge, but usually it's groups the size
of six or more that i dread. it's hard for me to think of myself as
old enough to be seen by others as responsible enough to lead such a
large group into a foreign country. but it was my responsibility,
and i had faith that it was going to be a good time.

our first snafu came as we were checking in for our flight. one of
our students had an expired china visa. she wasn't aware of the fact
that her visa was expired and didn't understand how it could be since
she had just gotten it a couple of days before leaving for semester
at sea. the airlines couldn't give her a boarding pass without a
visa. they suggested that she apply for an emergency visa, which
would be ready by 1:30pm the next day, and then fly to beijing to
meet up with the group then. the problem is that she would then have
to purchase herself a ticket there because the airlines wouldn't
switch her current flight. she was worried about money and didn't
know if she could swing that, so we recommended that she go back to
the ship and talk it over with the deans and possibly call her
parents. it was heart breaking to have to leave her at the airport.
she was so upset and was completely unready to have to head back to
the ship. she had no money and no idea how to even catch public
transportation back. i made her take some of my hong kong dollars so
she could catch a cab rather than deal with the bus. karen and i
gave her hugs and told her we hoped we'd see her in beijing the next
day.

other than that little road bump, our departure went smoothly. it is
a three hour direct flight from hong kong to beijing, most of which i
slept. when we arrived, we were met by grace and amy, two women who
work for peking university and were our hosts for the next few days.

our first stop was dinner. we had a very, very traditional chinese
meal with many courses we couldn't identify. all of what i ate
tasted pretty good, for the most part. after dinner, we headed to
the hotel to check in before heading to the university to meet the
chinese students.

the weather in beijing was very cool...end of fall/beginning of
winter cool. so we were all bundled up as we got out of the buses
and into the building where our meeting would take place. once
inside, the two groups of students mingled about before breaking up
into small groups to walk around the campus. i had been talking to a
student whose english name was Joey, and he ended up taking me on a
tour of the campus. walking around peking university made me very
nostalgic for college. i love college campuses in the fall, so the
cool wind on my face and the leaves around my feet and the scarf
around my neck just made me want to pause the moment and take it all
in. call it a professional side effect, but there's just something
about college campuses in the fall that makes me fall in love with
the collegiate experience all over again. i returned back to the
hotel with a smile on my face as i held on to that feeling during my
tour of the campus.

the next day, we visited a jade factory and learned about how jade
jewelry is made and how to tell the difference between real and
fake. it was interesting, but the problem is that once the tour is
over, you are standing in the middle of a jade store with jewelry
counters surrounding you and very little chance of getting out
without glimpsing at some of the merchandise. fortunately, i made it
out with little, if any, damage to my check book, so i feel good
about that.

after lunch, it was time to head to the great wall...that's right THE
great wall. there are many different sections of the great wall that
people can visit, and we ended up at the juyuang passage, which is an
area of the wall closest to beijing. as we were driving closer to
the drop off point, the wall began to emerge from the foliage along
the sides of the mountains. it was unbelievable. when we got there,
we began the long trek up to the top of the wall, which took about an
hour. there were more steps than i could've counted, and the steps
were all uneven in height. it was a rigorous climb. my thighs and
butt were killing me, but i made it to the top! i was so proud of
myself. the view from the top (the highest point of that section of
the wall) was breathtaking. you could see sections of beijing
through the mountains to one side. on the other side, it was nothing
but mountains and sections of the great wall for as far as the eye
can see. stunningly beautiful.

that night, we had dinner with the chinese students before joining
them for a "party." they had arranged a number of ice breakers and
team builders, and though some of the american students were
skeptical at first, everyone had a great time. we laughed a lot and
sang and danced and laughed some more. it was such a good time that
the american students talked about it for the rest of the trip!

day three began with a trip to tian'anmen square. we wandered around
the square for a while, and i purchased a pair of black gloves off of
a street vendor. i was so cold and now i can say these are my china
gloves!! we briefly were able to get over to silk street market,
which might be one of the best markets we've seen around the world,
but unfortunately we did not have a lot of time. after lunch, we
spent a couple of hours walking around the forbidden city before
heading to a restaurant to have a traditional peking duck dinner.

i had never had duck before, and i was pleasantly surprised at how
yummy it was. especially the peking duck. it had a lovely coating
over it. definitely a good meal. after dinner, we attended a
chinese acrobatic show. these acrobats have an amazing ability to
contort their bodies in directions that are clearly not humanly
normal. i don't know how they do it. they also exhibited such
strength in their legs and their arms in order to be able to do some
of those moves. i sat next to karen, and a number of times she said,
"that's just not right. that's not right."

our final day in beijing began by visiting the summer palace, which
is a sight. it was our last stop before heading to the airport to
fly back to hong kong. when we got to the airport, after thanking
grace and amy for an amazing trip to beijing, some minor chaos ensued.

first, the ticket of one of the students was cancelled and changed
into a paper ticket. the airline was insisting that we had to
produce the paper ticket, otherwise she was going to have to purchase
a new flight. we told them over and over again that we didn't have
paper tickets, only e-tickets. they said we'd have to discuss it
with our travel agent, but since we didn't have phones and hong kong
is a long distance number, that was hopeless. after an hour of
arguing with the airline reps, a random woman from the airline came
running up to the counter and produced the ticket out of an
envelope. at that point, we all started laughing (probably from
delirium) and didn't bother to ask who this woman was or why she had
our ticket. we just checked the student in, got her a boarding pass
and went through security. at this point, our flight had been
delayed for two hours, so all of the students were lounging about the
gate waiting area. to increase the chaos, every SAS trip that had
gone to beijing was sitting in the airport because all flights to
hong kong from beijing had to be delayed due to a military flight
exercise taking place. we weren't sure exactly what that meant or if
it had anything to do with former president bush being in town, but
regardless, we were al stuck in the airport. i'm sure the local
travelers were taken aback by 500 american college students and all
of their backpacks laying about the airport. there were so many of
us that we were everywhere. it was actually kind of comical.
eventually our plane got delayed a bit further and we didn't finally
take off until around 4pm.

it was a long day and by the end of it all of the students were
cranky and hungry, which only made me crankier and hungrier. by the
time we arrived to the ship, it was already time to line up to get
back on by on-ship time, which meant no more hong kong for me. i was
kind of bummed because i was looking forward to one more meal off the
ship, but that was just going to have to wait until we arrived in japan.

sit down, you're rocking the boat

so, on our three day sail from hong kong to kobe, japan, we hit some
pretty bad weather. the ocean was all riled up, with waves crashing
as high as the seventh deck. on that first day back at sea, i was
only standing up for maybe two hours of the whole day. i spent the
rest of it in bed trying to stabilize my body so i wouldn't get
sick. although these waves were nothing compared to what the ocean
is fully capable of, they still kicked me in the butt. and not just
me...the entire ship was so quiet on the first two days that you
could hear a pin drop. it was almost eery.

the other thing that was eery about this crossing was getting a
glimpse at how wealthy some of the students on this ship are. every
voyage, the students of service organization arranges a charity
auction. all proceeds go to a few charities chosen by the shipboard
community. items for bid include homestays around the world, donated
by passengers on the ship, special meals with the deans and steering
the ship, just to name a few. i hoped to participate by bidding on
some items, telling myself that i could spend up to $150. well, that
was quite the joke. students were bidding between 250 and 600
dollars on most items, with a couple of items going for $1000 or
more. i couldn't believe it. i was stunned. i had such an uneasy
feeling about watching these students spend money on items like a
private movie night on the ship, including candy and popcorn (which,
technically could be done for about $10 if you arranged it yourself,
but the winning bid was $650.) i was dying to ask these students who
was going to pay for these items and if they even had to discuss it
with their parents before committing to such a payment. i'm fairly
certain they didn't, which only made me feel more uneasy because i
can't fathom having that kind of disposable income.

i know i wasn't the only one having these feelings because
afterwards, a number of my residents came up to me to talk about how
crappy they felt about the whole thing. one of them said, "i don't
even have enough money to help the charities because all of the bids
were WAY out of my range!" and i knew exactly how they felt.

so, overall, it was a interesting sailing to japan, and i am really
glad to be here. but more about that later!!

hong kong

okay, i think i'm ready to get some reflections down about my time in
hong kong and china. as i mentioned in my blog the morning we
arrived to hong kong, first priority was to eat some dim sum for
lunch. so once the ship was cleared, we headed to the gangway and
out into the streets of hong kong.

my first impression of hong kong is that it is a lot like new york
city. the buildings, the lights, the streets, the
people...everything about it made me feel like i was walking through
manhattan...well, except all of the signs in chinese. even the air
had a nyc feel about it. it's the way the wind whips between
buildings and sends a chill through your body the minute it comes
into contact with your cheeks.

it took us a while to get money changed (i hate changing currency at
banks...it is always such a rip off!), so when we finally had cash in
hand, we were pretty hungry. thanks to the concierge of a near by
hotel, we found a dim sum restaurant that is frequented by locals and
not tourists. that was exactly the atmosphere for which we were
looking, so off we went.

at lunch, it occurred to me that i had never been in a room where my
group and i were the only white people. we definitely had a lot of
people staring at us and giggling as we tried to navigate through our
meals with nothing but chopsticks. there were a few items that
needed cutting (or at least we thought they needed cutting), so i'm
sure it was amusing to watch us pulling apart food items without a
knife. the food was mighty yummy, and we definitely left feeling
extremely full!

we jumped on a ferry to take us from kowloon (the area at which the
ship was docked) to hong kong island. after the ferry, we caught the
bus to stanley market. the buses in hong kong are double decker
buses, and it was recommended that we ride on the top level at least
once while we were there. so, we climbed on to the top level (after
i held up the line for what seemed like forever because i was having
currency exchange issues!) and got ready to enjoy the ride.

this ride had an up and a down:
the up side is that hong kong is beautiful. this bustling metropolis
is nestled between the ocean and the mountains, so everywhere you
look there is beautiful scenery. and the buildings are all built on
hills and cliffs. it is definitely one of the most beautiful cities
i've seen.
the down side is that the road to stanley market is extremely
winding, so it didn't take long for me to feel completely motion
sick. i sat with my eyes closed hoping beyond hope that i wasn't
going to throw up. and fortunately i didn't. but, man, did i feel
horrible!

after a couple of hours perusing the shops of the market, it was time
for us to head back toward the ship. we jumped back on the ferry to
cross to kowloon thinking we were going to head to the night market.
instead, as we stepped off of the ferry and saw our ship a few berths
over, we realized we were too hungry and tired to go shopping.
fortunately, the dock is also a huge (and i mean huge) mall with a
variety of food options, so we decided instead of searching the city,
we'd just eat something in the mall. we also decided that since we
had been eating rice and noodles since myanmar, it was okay for us to
enjoy some western food...and you can't get more western than
california pizza kitchen. yes, there is a cpk in the mall in hong
kong. crazy! after enjoying our meals, we called it a night and
headed toward the ship.

i can't say that my day in hong kong was an eye-opening cultural
experience, but it was definitely a good time. i made me miss
cities, and i was somewhat sad that i wouldn't have more time to
spend wandering around.

oh boy

alrighty folks...so i have gotten a lot of mail asking why i haven't posted in a while. well, no worries...i have two posts ready to go about my time in hong kong and beijing. the problem is that they are on my laptop and the internet on the ship is down until we leave japan, so you will all have to wait on the edge of your seats to find out my thoughts about china.

in the mean time, here's a quick update on life:

1. i have made it to japan and am actually on day four of my visit here. today is our last day in an international port, and i am beginning to be really sad about this amazing adventure being over. fortunately, i've decided to live in denial for a while, so we won't talk any more about that for now.

2. i haven't mentioned this yet in my blog because i didn't want you to all worry about me, but i've had some hard times with my sunglasses while on this trip!!!! at one point, i was down to one pair and they were all scratched up. it was hard times, but i've finally acquired a few more pairs in vietnam.

3. i only mention the sunglasses because last night i had another traumatic event happen...i lost my camera!!! after every port, i've downloaded all of my pictures on to my computer before leaving the ship again. well, the waves were so bad over this last crossing that i could barely sit up, so i never did it. and last night, on my last night in japan, my camera has disappeared. i'm not sure if it fell out of my pocket or if it was stolen or what, but the end of the story is that it is gone. so there will be no pictures of me on the great wall or in tian'anmen square or in japan...i'll try to get as many as possible from others, but i'm pretty bummed about the camera loss. you all know how much i love pictures. but i've cried a bit and beaten myself up for not downloading the pictures, and now my goal is to let it go.

so that's really all for me for now. i promise to post those other blogs as soon as i can, and i'll get a japan one written soon as well.

oh, and ps...last night i had a dream that i went back to john adams and none of my favorite RAs were excited to see me, and i burst into tears crying in the lobby. weird, right?! that dream better not be a glimpse of the future!!!!!! ;-)

pps...happy thanksgiving to all!! it's my favorite holiday, so i'm bummed that i'm missing it. but i hope you all know that i'm thankful for all of you!

the mighty sea

so, today is our second day back on the ship after leaving hong
kong. typically i would have already had at least one blog up about
my time in this port, but the minute we left hong kong, we hit some
pretty bad seas, and i spent all of yesterday in bed. that was the
only way i didn't feel ill was if i was laying down. the waves are
only slightly better right now, but i've managed to get myself out of
bed today and be somewhat productive. so, now it's time for me to
buckle down and get some words in writing about hong kong and china,
especially since we will be in japan two days from now. crazy!!

quotable quotes

i woke up this morning to see the lights of another cruise ship in
the pre-dawn sky. i quickly brushed my teeth and dragged myself to
the seventh deck just in time to enjoy an amazing sun rise as we
sailed in to hong kong. yas and i were both pretty awestruck at the
sight of the sun rising over all of the little islands through which
the ship was navigating. i didn't realize that hong kong is
comprised of 236 islands. when i first heard that, i couldn't
imagine how that could be true, but now that i've sailed through,
seeing how small some of the islands are, it makes a bit more sense.
it really was quite the beautiful way to begin the morning.

as we were eating breakfast, i enjoyed watching the islands and
mountains surround us as we pulled into the port. i looked over as
yas and, with a twinkle in her eye, she said, "we're in hong f'ing
kong." it made me laugh, but it did pretty much sum up our experience.

now i'm sitting in the faculty/staff lounge, enjoying the view of the
city and waiting for the ship to be cleared by immigration. karen
and i just got out of a meeting regarding our trip to beijing. get
this...karen and i are in charge of a group of 75 college students
for four days in beijing. what an adventure that will be! our
itinerary is great. our visit is a university hosted trip, so we
will be spending a lot of time with students from peking university.
it's hard for me to grasp that two days from now i will be standing
on the great wall of china. crazy!! but before that, i'm excited
about enjoying a day in hong kong. i wish i'd be here for longer,
but i don't doubt that i'll be back again.

on my agenda for the day is to visit stanley market, which comes
highly recommended by bridgie's dad, who has done a lot of traveling
to hong kong. we are also excited about enjoying some dim sum for
lunch.

folks, i am a lucky girl, and i know it.

good night saigon

my last day in vietnam was spent wandering the streets of ho chi minh
city. i woke up early that morning to shower and catch the shuttle
from the port to the center of town. my first business item was to
get to an internet cafe with phone service. i had been told by many
people that the internet locations also included phone services with
really inexpensive rates. so i paid three dollars for over two hours
of talk time to the united states. this was a perfect opportunity to
call home and spend some time catching up with my parents. i was
able to talk to them for about an hour, and it couldn't have come at
a better time. i was really, really missing home (wherever that is),
friends and family and was glad to have an opportunity to hear my
mom's and dad's voices. the only thing that could have made it
better was getting to talk to my brother and my monster.

after my phone home, i started to wander through the shops and bumped
in to one of my residents, kirstyn. she was headed toward the ben
thanh market, which was one of my destinations as well, so we walked
together. in fact, we ended up spending the entire day together,
shopping and eating and shopping some more. we got some really good
deals and couldn't help ourselves when it came to taking advantage of
them. i didn't feel too guilty about spending the money though
because it was really the first purchases i had made in vietnam.

once kirstyn and i had sufficiently spent all of our money, we headed
back to the shuttle to head back to the ship. before i got on the
bus, i bumped in to krista and beth, who were headed to dinner. with
their word that they'd spot me for food, i headed back into the heart
of the city to enjoy one final meal in vietnam.

i really enjoyed my time here, and i was really sad to have to say
good bye. vietnam is a beautiful country, which i know is a pretty
vague comment that i've used for a lot of countries, but i'm
definitely beginning to run our of adjectives to describe this
experience. here are some of my overall impressions of my time in
vietnam that hopefully will provide a better summary of my time here:

*the vietnamese people are extremely friendly and warm. we were
welcomed with open arms everywhere we went. it was nice to be
greeted with such large smiles from all of the new faces.

*through a lot of my life, i've hear of vietnam referred to as a war
and not a country. surprisingly, we faced no animosity toward us
regarding the war. the vietnamese people do not blame americans or
resent them because of this shared history. unfortunately, i did not
get to see any of the war memorials or sites, so that is definitely
on the top of my list for my next visit.

*one of the things that i found most interesting regarding our post-
war relations with vietnam was thinking about it in a larger
context. my grandparents' generation have a very war-oriented view
of japan and other countries having to do with world war II. and my
parents' generation have very similar views regarding japan. here i
am, in my young adulthood, traveling to both of these places without
a second thought. i feel no danger or resentment while being a guest
in these regions. this makes me hopeful that one day my children,
and hopefully even me, will be able to travel throughout the middle
east with the same ease. this is the part of the world that
throughout my life has been a "no go" zone for americans, and with
any luck, that, too, will become a thing of the past.

*in all of these countries that i've visited, markets seem to be a
key place to visit. it has started me thinking about the importance
of markets in our cultures. even in the US, we go to the mall not
only to shop but as a gathering place with the potential of seeing
others. it's the same way in all of these other countries. markets
are where the communities come together to share and trade goods. no
wonder in junior high school we're all so drawn to spending time
hanging at the mall. it's clearly part of human nature.

*it's an interesting experience to be in these southeast asia
countries and be on the receiving end of being pointed at and giggled
at. i don't think i, as a white american, am used to being the
center of that type of attention. usually i go unnoticed, blending
in with the rest. it felt a bit unnerving to stand out so much, even
if it was in a positive nature.

*conical hats are not just a hollywood prop...the vietnamese wear
them all of the time to shield themselves from the hot sun.

*crossing the street in HCMC is harder than you might imagine. cross
walks are really non-existent and the traffic is never ending. the
only way to cross the street is to step out in the street and walk
across and have faith that the motorbikes and cars and cyclos and
bicycles won't hit you. once you start walking, though, you have to
continue in a straight line...if you stop or move in the opposite
direction, you put yourself in more danger. i found it a bit easier
than some of the others, and i attribute it to all of the jaywalking
in new york city i've done in my life!

*the official name of the country is not vietnam. it is the social
republic of viet nam. why we westerners feel the need to push the
viet and the nam together to make vietnam, i don't know. but now you
know what the real deal is.

<sigh> i'm sure there's more i can babble on about, but i've really
sad most of what i think is important for now. in summary, two
thumbs up to viet nam.

mekong delta

when i asked krista, a previous sas sailer, what i should do in
vietnam, she told me that the mekong delta was not to be missed. so
putting all of my trust into her opinion, i signed up for the three
day mekong delta explorer trip. this trip left on day two of our
time in vietnam and was definitely one of the best trips in which
i've participated.

we left early in the morning and headed about two and a half hours
away to the town of cai be, which is located on the upper delta. on
our way, our guide dzung (pronounced yung) gave us some interesting
facts about the life and culture in vietnam. here are some of those
tidbits:

*vietnamese people do not typically live in apartments because if
they were to live in apartment and were asleep with their mouth open
and the person above them had a bowel movement, then it would be as
if that waste was entering their body. it isn't seen as good for the
being. the majority of apartments in saigon are inhabited by
foreigners or vietnamese who have lived abroad and are now back in
vietnam. (this clearly is not the most eloquent explanation, but i
can't find my notes so i have to use my memory, which is not as good
as it once was.)

*in vietnam, people who are "fat" are seen as healthy, wealthy and
wise, and these people get the best jobs. our tour guide shared with
us a story about how he applied for a job that he didn't get because
the employers told him he needed to go and gain 20 pounds and then
come back for a job. this is clearly a 180 from the culture in the
united states, so it was interesting to hear "fat" spoken about as a
positive thing.

*vietnam is a cash and carry culture. credit and loans really don't
exist. when people buy a home, they pay for it in gold. when people
buy a car, they pay for it in US dollars. and when people pay for
all other items, people pay in vietnamese dong (the official currency).

*women typically wear face masks (similar to medical masks) and arm
coverings. most people assume that this is for pollution purposes,
but it is actually because the women want to preserve the light color
of their skin. it made me wonder when in history light skin became
"so important."

so, those were just a few of the pieces of information that dzung
shared during this ride.

upon arrival to cai be, we met up with a local guide by the name of
phu and jumped on to a couple of boats for our introduction to life
on the delta. there are a number of islands in the delta, some of
which have five thousand residents and some of which have 45 thousand
residents. many people also live right on the river in their boats.
on this first day, we sailed through a floating market and stopped to
wander through a couple of villages. we went to a rice mill and
watched rice paper and coconut candy being made. despite these
places being set up to welcome tourists, it was nice to have an
introduction to local life.

after a village visit, we enjoyed a ride up the river on a small,
river canoe being rowed by a local resident. in the middle of this
ride, it began raining heavily (it apparently is the wet season in
vietnam right now), but that didn't effect how nice it felt to be
riding down the river. we rowed passed many people who were fishing
with their hands. like many of the other small villages i've now
visited around the world, life was very simple and peaceful.

that evening, we arrived to a guest house on the river where we had
dinner and spent the night. the house was a small, traditional home
on stilts that was all open. we slept on cots covered by mosquito
nets in rooms of eight. when we got there, i lounged about on a
hammock reading a book. the breeze off of the river was a welcomed
break from the humidity of the country. it felt so nice to relax and
hang out. among the many courses of the night's dinner was a full
fish, face and all, delivered to the tables. we picked at the fish
with our chopsticks and made our own spring rolls. i have a great
picture of the before and after of the fish!

the next day, after an early wake up and a breakfast of bread and
cheese (kappy - just like our breakfasts in france!), we left the the
home to travel some more through the river. we stopped in thanh duc,
a small pottery village. many of the buildings are cone shaped,
almost like a bee hive. these are the pottery factories. the rice
husks are used to fuel the fires that fire the pottery. we watched
them make bricks and pots, and it was amazing to see how nothing goes
to waste. all parts of all products are used.

after our visit to the pottery village, we went to a floating
market. unlike the day before when the market was almost closed,
this market was in full bustle. as we cruised through the market the
first time, it was so interesting to see all of these boats anchored
in the water selling such a variety of products. each boat has a
bamboo stick on it from which a sample of whatever they are selling
hangs. this is how people know who is selling what. while we were
sailing through, a small motor boat came zooming toward us and pulled
up next to us. this man was selling drinks and clearly knew his
market group well. as his small boat came closer to ours, he turned
off his engine and pulled himself and his boat directly next to us in
order to sell sodas, waters and beer to the group.

as we turned to head back through the market, we were allowed to
stand on top of the boat to get a better view of the market. it was
an amazing feeling to be standing on top of this boat with a bird's
eye view of a floating market on the mekong delta in vietnam with the
sun beaming down on my face. i couldn't help but smile and feel on
top of the world. our boat pulled up next to a boat selling
pineapples. the vendors expertly peeled the fruit and cut it into
beautiful pieces for each of us to eat. more drink boats pulled up
along side of us and everyone was sad when it was time for us to
leave and continue our trip.

we took another stop in a local village to walk through and
experience daily life. unlike the villages from the previous day,
this village was very unaccustomed to tourists, so it was nice to see
how life really took place. we saw blacksmiths and casket-makers and
rice farmers and schools and homes. children smiled and laughed as
we passed through and were thrilled to get a chance to wave and say,
"hello."

after our day on the river, we had another two hour bus ride down to
the middle of the delta to a town called can tho. here we checked in
to our hotel and had some free time before visiting a taoist and
buddhist temple. that night we had dinner in a local restaurant and
enjoyed some more local cuisine.

our last day in the delta was spent visiting a museum (about which i
know nothing because it was all in vietnamese and our guide did
nothing but set us loose while he read the news paper) and visit an
orphanage. the orphanage was a mixed bag for me because while it was
really nice to get to spend some time with the children, it was such
a short visit that i have to wonder what good we do when we sweep in,
play for a short time and sweep out. i played for a while with a
group of kids who were probably around three, and they were so
excited to see us. all of them wanted to shake my hand, which i
thought was funny since that is such a western action. they also
blew me kisses goodbye as i left, which made my heart melt.

after lunch, it was a four hour bus ride back to saigon, most of
which i slept. i really enjoyed my time in the mekong delta and was
so taken aback at how important water is to the life of these
people. the river is the central part of all life and the locals
have such a mastery over the water and the boats. i was so glad that
i had the opportunity to spend a good amount of time there and would
recommend exploring the delta to anyone visiting southeast asia.

once back on the ship, melissa (who was on the mekong trip with me)
and i met up with karen and headed back into the city to have
dinner. as i went to bed that night, i was glad that i still had one
more day in vietnam and couldn't wait for it to begin.

good morning vietnam

so, i promised myself over and over again that i would think of a
more clever title to this blog, but now as i'm sitting in front of
the computer, i am at a loss for creativity. and with my arrival to
hong kong just hours away, i figured i better get writing about
vietnam before it is all a faint memory.

arriving to all of our ports has been a great experience. it is
always a spectacular sight to sail into a new city and watch its
skyline come closer and closer. sailing into vietnam was a bit
different though. around nine in the morning, we approached the
mouth of the saigon river and spent the next three hours sailing up
the twisting waters toward Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). as we rounded
each bend of the river, we saw more and more local villages, full of
people waving from the banks at us. it must have been an interesting
juxtaposition to see this big cruise liner sailing past small, wooden
fishing boats being rowed by a single person. it definitely felt
like an interesting contrast from the decks of the ship. the crew
treated the shipboard community to a great barbecue as we sailed
toward HCMC, and it was really a nice introduction to vietnam.

once visas had been inserted into all of our passports and the ship
had been cleared by immigration, it was time to venture into the
city. HCMC, or saigon as the locals still prefer to call it, is
really a pretty modern city. for me, it had the feel of a mix
between washington, dc and new york city, but a lot of people felt it
also had a parisian feel for it (which isn't too surprising since the
french played a large role in developing the city). one of the
things saigon is known for is tailor-made clothes, so that was on the
top of the agenda for karen, shari, krista and beth. i wandered into
town with these crew and yas, but getting clothes made wasn't in the
cards for me. upon arrival into the center of the city, krista and
beth broke off from the larger group, and shortly afterward, yas and
i broke away from karen and shari. for some reason, we were both
feeling a bit anxious about nothing in particular, so we ended up
just wandering through the streets of district 1 and finally taking a
break to have a glass of wine and chat. we chatted right up until it
was time to meet everyone for dinner, which turned out to be a more
challenging task than expected.

that morning, krista had passed around a name and address of a
restaurant she remembered eating at on her previous voyage and set a
time for all of us to meet. we knew that this place would be
difficult to find because it was a small little joint on a small side
street, but yas and i ended up riding around in a taxi for thirty
minutes or so trying to find the place. what made it even more
difficult is that our taxi driver didn't speak english and we didn't
speak vietnamese. he tried his hardest to find the place though,
stopping on every other corner asking other drivers if they knew
where it was. we finally ended up getting out of the car in the
general neighborhood and walking in stores and hotels until we
finally found the place. when we arrived, a small group of friends
were already there and a few more joined us later.

after dinner, a another glass of wine and a really bad game of pool,
i headed back to the ship. i was leaving the next morning early on a
trip, and i was definitely feeling like i needed some decompression
time...not to mention, i needed to pack.

breakfast in singapore

i woke up this morning in singapore.

today (november 3) we are docked in singapore fueling up. we'll be
here most of the day, and we're close enough to land that immigration
needs to come aboard and stamp passports. so, i find it to be very
funny that i'll have a passport stamp from singapore when i don't
even have passport stamps from all of the other countries we've visited.

but either way, i had breakfast in singapore!

oh, and i have a p.s. for myanmar. there are very few internet cafes
in myanmar, which made internet time at even more of a premium over
the last few weeks. but most interesting about this is that even if
the internet cafes were everywhere and even if they weren't slower
than dial up, there are many websites that we frequently use (like
hotmail, gmail, yahoo mail and google) that are banned, so even if i
wanted to check mail, i couldn't. just another example of how living
under a military regime is extremely different from the life to which
we're accustomed.

more on myanmar

my last three days in myanmar (friday, saturday and sunday) were
leisurely days spent wandering around the city, eating good food,
drinking good coffee, finding good buys and spending time with good
people.

on friday, after starting the day off with a two hour coffee break
with krista, i met up with yas. we spent a couple of hours over in a
beautiful park and enjoyed some sushi, which increased our excitement
about japan. it was a beautiful day out, and it felt good to be on
such a loose schedule. we had a little more coffee before i went off
on a mission to find a gift for my brother that i had seen among
someone else's purchases and had to have. i was successful in my
mission and even picked up a cedar carving of a chinese laughing
buddha for myself.

the following day was again started off with coffee with krista,
followed by a few hours spent wandering around the market. the
bogyoke aung san market (also known as the scott market) is just down
the street from the trader's hotel, which was serving as SAS central
in the city, and is filled with almost everything you can think of,
from clothing to paintings to lacquerware to gems. it's mazes of
hundreds and hundreds of stands that are eager for business,
particularly from an american tourist. as i mentioned in an earlier
blog, everything in myanmar is extremely inexpensive. krista and i
each got a cappuccino and a bowl (and i mean a big bowl) of soup for
three dollars. crazy! so even though scott market is known as the
"expensive market" to the locals, the prices are definitely mind
blowing coming from a crazily expensive country like the USA. and,
like most markets, you have to make good use of your bargaining
skills. there is never anything that doesn't need to be haggled
over, and a lot of times it takes you thanking the vendor and walking
away for them to call you back and agree upon a reasonable price
(relatively speaking). needless to say, i spent a good amount of
time and money in the market securing gifts for loved ones and even a
few for myself.

on saturday evening, we met up with dan, jill and beth for a great
dinner before heading back to the trader's, where krista needed to
get on the bus back to the ship because she had to work in the
morning (krista works in the field office and is responsible for
sending off trips while we are in port.) i was meeting yas, and she
and i were spending the night in the city. we had a lot of fun, and
spent some time with melissa (an RD) and jason (a global nomad), and
in the morning, we started the madness all over again. of course,
while yas and i were sitting at breakfast in our hotel on our last
morning in myanmar, a monk walked by. it's not everyday a monk walks
by my window while i'm enjoying my morning toast!

when we arrived back to the ship, we were sad to be leaving myanmar.
despite all of the controversy over the government, myanmar is a
beautiful country filled with amazingly kind people who have yet to
learn to hate americans, which is always a nice change while
traveling. a plus side of the military government is that yangon is
an extremely safe city and never did we feel in danger as you do in
cities at times.

a few other things to mention about myanmar:
*when i was at the shwedagon pagoda, my tour guide pointed out a
local man who was speaking to some of the sas students who were also
at the pagoda. the tour guide said, "look, there's a negro. do you
want to take a picture?" i was really taken aback by this statement
and question. at that moment i realized that i hadn't seen any black
persons who weren't sas-related since arriving, so it occurred to me
that maybe a man with such dark skin is rare to my tour guide. i
kindly told him that i did not want to take a picture, and he asked
me a couple of more times and assured me it was okay. i again
passed, but was definitely left a little speechless at the tour
guide's reaction.
*men in myanmar wear longyis, which are long skirts that they
partially wrap and tie around their waists. a lot of the men on the
ship bought some and are raving about how comfortable they are to wear.
*in both myanmar and in india, i was able to get by without knowing
any words in their languages because everyone seemed to know enough
english to get through a conversation. it actually made me a bit sad
that i don't have that kind of lingual skill. and i also stopped to
wonder why is it that english is everywhere?

okay, i think that's all of my deep thoughts about myanmar. today is
november 1 (my parent's anniversary), and it is our second day at
sea. two days from now we will be docked in singapore to get fuel,
but we don't get off of the ship. two days after that, we will be in
vietnam. we're already starting to have conversations within our
student life meetings about end of the voyage events, and it's hard
to believe that the end of this journey is coming. i choose not to
dwell on it because i don't want to miss all of the fun in the
meantime, but before i know it, i'll be back in the states figuring
out the next journey in my life.

i'm missing you all lots...probably more than i could ever express.
but not a day goes by that i don't see something or hear something
that makes me think of one of you and each time i feel really lucky
to love so many wonderful people. so give yourselves all big hugs
from me!

bago

let's see if i can pick up where i left off.

on my second day off of the ship in myanmar, i took a day trip to
bago, a smaller town about an hour or two outside of yangon. it's
actually not very far in kilometers, but the roads are in such poor
condition that it takes much longer than we are used to in the states.

our first stop in bago was to the kha khat wain monastery, where we
were able to observe monks during their final meal of the day. monks
only eat two meals a day, and the final meal is around 11:30 in the
morning. it was really interesting to see how ritualistic the meal
seemed. after the chiming of the bells, the monks began to file
toward the dining area in two separate lines from opposite
directions. each monk carried his own bowl, which was filled with
rice upon his arrival at the entrance of the dining area. after
entering the dining area, the monks sat on the ground around these
small tables while eating their meal. as we watched the monks enter
the dining area, i saw surprised at what seemed like the never ending
line of monks coming from each line. our guide sam told me that
there are 1,105 monks currently living at that monastery. it was
also interesting to see that the monks represented a very wide range
of ages, from about six years to 60 years. every myanmar male is
expected to spend at least a portion of their life in the monastery.
it is only required that they stay a minimum of five days or one
week, but because the number nine is a lucky and important number in
the culture, most stay for a minimum of 45 days (9x5). what's also
interesting is that a male can decide to leave the monk-hood but is
still welcome to come back if he so wishes. this really fits into
everything that i learned about buddhism during my visit. buddhism
is a very accepting faith that accepts all people. a kind of
refreshing change from most of the other religions about which i've
ever learned.

after the monastery, we visited the shwemawdaw pagoda. this had some
similarities to the shwedagon paya in yangon, but overall it was
smaller and less impressive. however, the stupa in this paya is
actually taller by approximately 20 meters than the stupa in
shwedagon. the stupa in shwedagon is made of both gold and gold
leaf, but the stupa is shwemawdaw is only gold leaf.

lunch was our next stop, which was a welcomed break. myanmar is an
extremely HOT country, so we were drenched with sweat by this time.
when we arrived at the restaurant, we were glad to be seated on the
second floor, where a nice breeze was whipping through the seating
area. we had traditional burmese food, which consisted of curried
meats (not the same as curry in indian food) and rice. it was all
very, very yummy! the food was good fuel to gear us up for the
afternoon activities.

bago is home to what is reckoned to be the largest reclining buddha
in the world. this was our next stop, and when we walked into the
entrance and began walking toward the center (all of the payas we
visited had very impressive entrances, always being guarded by
dragons or other mythical creatures, followed by a long hallway
leading toward the center. all of the sites were always central to
the larger site), you all of a sudden became aware at what you were
actually looking. at the end of the long hallway, i saw white and
gold, which i assumed what part of the wall. it took me a minute to
realize that this was actually just the hand of the reclining
buddha. this statue is HUGE. i couldn't believe that i was looking
at just the hand! when i got to the end of the hallway and saw the
entire statue, it was really breath taking. just the size of the
statue, not to mention the detail of gold and gem decorations, makes
you stop and take it all in.

before leaving town, we stopped and visited a local market, which was
full of the towns people doing their shopping for food and clothing.
these markets are so similar to what we would think of as a flea
market in the states, and it's interesting to think of how they
compare to our own version of everyday shopping areas like malls and
grocery stores. it's unbelievable how over the top everything we do
in the states is.

on the way home from bago, we stopped at a world war II memorial
cemetery. what most stood out to me about this cemetery was the
engraving on the headstones of the unknown graves. it read: "a
soldier of the 1939-1945 war" i'm not sure why that struck me, but
it did. it was curious to me as to whether that is how the war is
known throughout myanmar, in place of world war II. what also struck
me is how little meaning this cemetery has to me and to the students
around me. world war II is something we learned about in history
classes, and despite our grandparents having fought during this time
and their lives really being formed during this time, i really don't
connect with it personally. however, there was a faculty member on
the trip with me who fought in the war under general patton, so
watching him and his wife walk around the cemetery was actually more
interesting than just walking around myself.

so that was my day in bago. we encountered much more begging in bago
than we had the day before in yangon. it was mostly little kids
trying to sell postcards and watercolor cards, and for some reason,
it seemed more difficult to say no and walk away than it had in
india, though i'm not really sure why.

happy anniversary

today is a special day because it is the 30th wedding anniversary of
my parents. i think this is worthy of public recognition because not
only are my parents amazing individuals, i think they have been a
great team as well. all of my memories, through good and bad,
include my parents working hard to make everything okay always. and
i certainly wouldn't be who i am or where i am without them.

mom and dad...i love you! have a happy day!

me-yen-mar

that is the proper pronunciation of the country in which i currently
am. today is thursday night, and i've now been in myanmar for three
days.

but before i talk about my time in myanmar, let me back up and talk
about my time leading up to this port.

we were only at sea for one day between leaving india and arriving to
myanmar, and in that day, they (being the faculty and administration
of this ship) tried to fit in as much education about this country as
possible. kevin mcgrath, whose full title i'm not quite sure of but
he's some sort of ambassador or diplomat from vietnam who previously
lived and worked for years out of myanmar (which he calls burma), is
our interport lecturer for both myanmar and vietnam. he spoke a lot
about this country, and i wont' bore you with all of the details, but
the things that he said that most stood out to me were:

"as you probably know, the official name of burma was changed to
myanmar in 1989."

and

"i'm sure you all have heard of burma's most famous leader in exile,
aung san suu kyi."

as he was making comments like these, i kept thinking to myself, "no,
i don't know and i haven't heard of." i know that history and
current events were never things that interested me in high school or
college, but good grief did i feel a bit silly to hear about all of
national events that have taken place in this country during my
lifetime that i don't know about (that made me think back to my
conversation with the high school kids in the township in south
africa and how astonished they were to find out that news about
africa was rarely reported in the us daily news, so maybe my
ignorance about myanmar/burma isn't entirely my fault.) regardless,
i learned a good amount of introductory information over that day at
sea.

here are the highlights of the things that i've learned that some of
you (besides my dad, who i would guess knows a good amount of
this...right dad?)
*myanmar has been under civil unrest since approximately 1962
when general ne win took over and began a socialist government.
*in 1989, after ne win had resigned and the formal socialist
government crumbled, elections were held, during which the national
league for democracy party won an overwhelming number of the seats,
much to the dismay of the governing junta, who refused to recognize
the elections. the country since has been ruled under a military
regime.
*around this time, the ruling government officially changed the
name of the country from burma to myanmar because they felt that the
name burma was left over evidence of the time during which burma was
under british colonization.
*aun san suu kyi, daughter of the country's independence hero
and leader of the national league for democracy, lives under house
arrest for most of the time since 1989.
*the US has a gazillion embargoes and sanctions against myanmar,
and most government officials refuse to recognize the name change.
*basic civil rights that we americans take for granted, such as
freedom of press and freedom of association and freedom to assemble,
are prohibited in this country.

interesting facts, eh? i thought so.

so this is where i currently am. myanmar or burma. either way, it's
the same place.

we arrived here on tuesday, a day earlier than originally expected.
we sail up the yangon river to our port in thilawa, which is
approximately a 45 minute drive to downtown yangon. we didn't pull
up to the side of the dock until around 10am, at which point the
customs and immigration officials climbed aboard. we were warned
that this immigration process was going to be one of the longer
ones. it wasn't like brazil, where the officials needed to do a face-
to-face and see every person on the ship, but they did need to
process the visa applications and put the visas in each of the 900 or
so passports. by the time the ship was cleared, it was a little
after 12 noon, and by the time we (my peeps and i) were even close to
ready to get off the ship, we were waiting for the 2pm shuttle
(because of the distance between the port and downtown, the tour
agency has shuttle buses running to and from every two hours). while
standing in line, i realized that all i really wanted to do was sit
around and hang out. fortunately, a number of other staff members
had the same idea, so instead getting off of the ship, we spent our
first day in myanmar resting on the mv explorer. it was glorious!

day two in myanmar was a bit more exciting than the first...at least,
it was a bit more adventurous. karen, chris and i took the shuttle
in to town and began to wander around. before we could walk down the
street, we were approached by a man asking if we wanted to exchange
money. the currency of myanmar is a bit confusing because there are
three official currencies: FECs (federal exchange certificates),
kyat (pronounced "chat") and US dollars (weird, right?) even though
you can use dollars, we had heard that you sometimes get a better
rate if you use kyat, so dave bargained a good exchange rate, and
money exchanged hands. i gave him $50 and he gave me 61,000 kyat!

we first headed to scott market and roamed around. we immediately
learned how crazily inexpensive things are in this country...but more
about that later. after wandering for awhile, we ran into dave,
and the four of us jumped in a taxi and headed to the green elephant,
a traditional burmese restaurant. it was a great restaurant. the
ambiance was very relaxing. though the seats are all outside, there
is a roof over the tables with ceiling fans, so there was a nice
breeze (this is important when you're in myanmar because it is HOT
here.) we had a nice leisurely lunch, and when we were done, chris,
karen and i headed to the shwedagon paya.

shwedagon paya is a buddhist pagoda that is home to more buddhist
statues than i could count. it really is a magnificent sight, and i
really enjoyed the time we spent there. we had a guide, which was
nice because i walked out of there knowing a lot more information
than i would have if we had just wandered around. chris was clearly
getting a bit bored, but i didn't let that deter my learning. while
walking around the pagoda, we saw more monks than i could ever have
imagined. every myanmar male is expected to spend at least part of
his life in the monastery, so it is not uncommon to see monks of all
ages. and it is apparently not uncommon to see them everywhere.

that night, we met up with a small group of other staff members to do
dinner before heading back to the ship. it really was a great day,
and i was really surprised at how few cues i saw around town that
would lead you to believe that this country is being run under
military regime. besides the fact that no one will talk about
politics out of fear of who is listening and what will happen, you
might never even know.

so that was the beginning of my time in myanmar. i've since had two
more days to play here, and i definitely want to share, but since i
have plans early tomorrow morning, i should probably get myself to
sleep.