I know I've been WAY slacking on my blog- but I have a ton of work to be getting done right now. This is a travel writing piece I did on India- I figure I'll let you at least have a taste of my India experience! I plan on doing one big blog post about everything once my work is done. Everything is due within the next 4 days, so it will come soon! Until then:
Lilly Sutherland
India piece.
Prior to reaching India, the tour company that I was traveling with emailed our entire group. They told us all the details of our upcoming trip. The email said, “The overnight train will take some tough skin and will not be your most comfortable night of sleep in your life. The train will be full and some of you may be sleeping close to locals you don’t know. Watch out for each other and your belongings and those of you who are brave please step up and sleep on the outsides of the group closest to strangers.” After reading this, I was pretty scared.
Fear was a common feeling for me before reaching India. All my professors were using the same words: hot, smelly, crowded, sad, dangerous, and many more words, none being positive. I tried to erase all the preconceived notions from my mind, as I had attempted with all our other ports, but it wasn’t working for India. The train was just one more reason for me to fret.
The typical trip for Semester at Sea students to do while in India was Delhi, Agra, and Varanasi. I fell into this trap as well, but did it a bit differently. Instead of flying from Delhi to Varanasi, we took a thirteen-hour train ride. There were 38 of us, and none of us knew what to expect. We had all received the same email about having ‘tough skin’ so I think the general feeling was nervousness.
On the bus ride to the train station, our tour guide Joseph stopped the bus. “You all have five minutes… that’s 300 seconds… to buy whatever liquor you want here.” For some reason, every time Joseph gave us a time limit, he broke it down into seconds. We were already cutting it close to our departure time and I knew this was a bad idea. Half the group seemed to agree with me, while the other half was running to the liquor store. We had all just had a little wine with dinner and some people were already a bit tipsy, including our tour guide. Even though I’m sure a few more drinks would have calmed my nerves quite a bit, I also knew that the sleeper train was something I wanted to be fully aware for.
At about 11:15pm, we got to the train station. None of us had our tickets or knew where we were sitting. Joseph called us all together and called out our names with our seat numbers and told us to get on the train. After about 10 names, he started yelling names that none of us had ever heard before. We realized that the rest of the names did not belong to anyone in the group. Joseph just told us to pretend, and sit in the seats anyway. After about ten minutes of the confusion, the train car was completely filled up. The last twelve of us were still standing on the platform with Joseph. The train was going to leave in five minutes and we were not on it. Joseph ran us back about ten cars, and told us to hop on and just find a place. There were only four empty beds, but he told us to just stay there. We all stood in the doorway while Joseph was outside trying to see if there were any more empty cars. The doorway was next to the bathroom, or hole in the floor that people used as a bathroom, and it smelled so incredibly awful. It was like rotten tuna fish, only worse. We were all sort of uncomfortably laughing, not really sure what was going on, and what he had just gotten ourselves into.
All of a sudden the train started moving, and Joseph was nowhere to be found. The twelve of us were standing in the doorway in silence wondering what just happened until someone said “Well, we’re on the train, I guess that’s all that matters!” We all headed back down the narrow dirty isle to where the four empty beds were and claimed a spot. We decided that we could do two to a bed, so the other five people went to find another car. I shared a bed with my friend Ian. I was lucky to have a close friend in the group of people that got left behind, this would have been a pretty awkward night if I was with someone I didn’t know.
Now that we were all as settled as we could be, I had time to take in my surroundings. The ‘bed’ that we were on was no more than two feet wide and filthy. The compartment had six beds, three stacked up on each wall. There were two shorter beds stacked up against the long wall of the train. On that bed, my friend Jamie and another semester at sea girl slept sitting up the entire night. Above them was an Indian man. Ian and I were on the middle bed on the left side. Above us was one semester at sea girl sleeping with all our bags. Below us were two more semester at sea people. Two more girls slept on the top bed across from us, and the two bottom beds were taken up by a young Indian family.
The smell of the train was the most awful smell. We were close to the bathroom again, so the smell of urine was very present. The bathroom itself was just a hole in the floor of the train leading to the train tracks. I hoped so badly that I didn’t have to use it at all that night, but that was just not realistic. I had to hold my breath when I was in there, and I still gagged.
I tried to get some sleep because I knew I had two long days in Varanasi coming up, but sleep did not come easily. The smell was hard to stop thinking about, and the chains holding the bed up were digging into my side, so Ian and I switched who was on the outside every once in a while. The train stopped a number of times throughout the night, and I woke up every time. A lot of the stops were very noisy. I wished that I was close to a window so that I could see what all the commotion was about outside, but getting down to look would have just take too much effort. One stop sounded like an all out war. Partly due to our delusional sleep deprived state, we all woke up and thought we were hearing gun shots. Ian even put his shoes back on “just incase I have to make a run for it,” he explained. In the morning, we realized that it was probably just a construction site. Whenever the train stopped moving, I always wanted it to start again because the movement and sound helped me sleep a little. I probably got a collective total of four hours of sleep. I woke up when the sun started shining, but it was only 6:00. We were only half way done with our train ride. Ian woke up too, and soon after the rest of our friends did too. The woman and young son across from us woke up, and then her husband and another man traveling with them came from another part of the train to join them. Ian had coloring pages and crayons with him, so he gave them to the little boy. He said thank you, and colored away.
All the negative things that came with the dark went away as the sun came up. The train was waking up and I could see everyone around me better. There were a lot of interesting people around. People selling chai started walking through the train, making it more lively. The family sitting with us started to talk to us, and they were so nice. I overheard the man talking to the woman, and learned that her name was Esme. She was wearing a red sari, and had a bindi on her head. The man was dressed in jeans and a sweater, as was their son. They were a very goodlooking family, and they all smiled often. The boy was four years old, but wise beyond his years. He practiced his English, and tried to teach us Hindi. I couldn’t see out the windows from where I was sitting, but he would always point out the window and say “In English… cow. In Hindi… “ and then the hindi word for cow, or whatever it was he was pointing to. He would say it and then tell us to repeat. His voice would always rise at the end of his sentences. It made us all laugh. Whenever the train would stop and go again, he would say “My train is going slow now. Now my train is going fast!” His voice rose, almost like a question, after every two words. His mom and dad laughed, and praised him for his correct English.
The mom and dad asked us questions like “Who is your favorite American leader?” “Do you like Obama?” “Who are your favorite actors and actresses?” “Do you know any Indian actors or actresses?” They knew a few of the people we knew, and we knew a few of the people they knew. Their favorite was Shakira. The women started singing a Shakira song and everyone laughed. Ian played them a few songs on his ipod, and they loved them.
While talking to the Indian family, I noticed another white man sitting a few seats over from me. He was sitting next to the window, so the light was coming right in on him. He had blonde hair and a full beard. He was probably about 30 years old. He was handsome, in a scraggly looking way. He was reading a book about Hinduism in Spanish. When I see interesting people like this, I make up stories about them in my head. He looked broken to me. His eyes were heavy and his face looked tired. Not the kind of tired you feel from not getting a good nights sleep, but the kind of tired that you feel when you have seen too much. He looked like he was missing something. I decided that he was traveling India trying to find whatever it was that was missing in his life. I think I made this up because he looked like a blonde Christopher McCandless.
The man was sitting alone for about an hour, and then a girl joined him. Someone in my group started talking to them. It turned out that they were from Argentina, on vacation for two weeks. This ruined everything that I had made up before, he was so much more interesting as a broken man.
There were other interesting characters on the train as well. There was a man on the top bed in the compartment next to us that just stared the entire time. He was very skinny. It looked like he hadn’t eaten in months. He had very long, messy grey dread locks tied on top of his head with a few hanging down in his face. His clothes had a lot of orange in them, and just sort of hung off him. It looked like he had paint on his face a month ago, and never washed it off. He sat cross-legged on his bung but bent over so he could see all of us. He never spoke, and didn’t take his eyes off us… even when we stared back.
I got up every once in a while and walked to the door of the car where I could see outside. The countryside was beautiful. It was a nice change from the cities we had been in the whole time. There were little huts everywhere made out of what looked like cow dung patties. There were stacks of these things everywhere. They were the size of a Frisbee and made out of cow dung. The Indian family told us they were used for fuel, but I’m not sure they were clear on what we were talking about. It was quite the process of drawing pictures and sign language to try and ask what they were. They spoke good English, they just weren’t understanding this one question.
After a while, I realized that without our tour guide, we had no idea when to get off. The stations were not announced. At about 12:30 in the afternoon, the nice Indian family told us that the next stop was Varanasi. We were so thankful to have them there to help us through out the trip. They translated when we needed it, and just made the train more fun and the time pass faster. The train stopped, we said our goodbyes, got off and found the rest of the group. They all had a wonderful nights sleep. They had their own beds and air conditioning. My smaller group just laughed and kept moving. We had just survived an extremely uncomfortable night on a sleeper train in India together, and none of us will ever forget that.
Monday, April 11, 2011
A bit of India
Monday, March 21, 2011
Photo update- South Africa
Photo update- Valentines Day
Me and Jamie at sunset
Me and Adi
The girls and our South African interport student.
The boys
Ben, Jojo, and Will.Photo update- Ghana
My four little girls that stuck with me. Patience is second in on the left.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Little updates!
Hey all! I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog recently, it's pretty hectic on the ship right now. I have to write about India, Mauritius, and Singapore, and to be quite honest I'm a bit sick of writing about India right now! I'll get to it eventually though! So with all the things going on in Japan right now, they have decided to take us to Taiwan instead. I would have loved to go to Japan and do some relief work, but with the nuclear power plants, it's just too dangerous. We have three more ports before reaching the states! Vietnam tomorrow, China next, and then Taiwan. I'm meeting a friend in each of these places, and I'm SO excited! I'll write about India soon, and then a short bit about Mauritius and Singapore (we were only in each place for about 8 hours). Thanks for being so patient!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
South Africa, February 21/22, Day 4/5.
Today, Jamie, Kayla, and I went to the aquarium at the waterfront. It was pretty much like any other aquarium, with a few different species. I don’t know anything about fish, so it’s not like I could tell the difference between an African fish and an American fish! They had these GIANT crabs though, and I have never been so freaked out in my life. I don’t get grossed out or freaked out by things like that, but for some reason I saw these things and my heart dropped. I looked for one split second and then couldn’t look again. They were so huge that they stood more than a foot off the ground. I’m getting chills thinking about them. I’m not a squeamish girl, but these things were insane.
After the aquarium, the three of us headed to the Market. I felt like I was back in Ghana with all the bargaining I had to do! I found a few gifts for my friends and family, as did Jamie and Kayla. We had lunch at a little restaurant near the market, and then headed back to the waterfront. I had a ticket to go to Robben Island at 3, so I caught the ferry as soon as we got back. I met up with my friends Greg, Gabby, and Erin on the ferry, so I wasn’t alone! When we got to Robben Island, we were put onto busses and met our tour guide Craig. I had heard from previous students that he was the best one, and to request him if we could. He was probably about 25, and very well spoken. When you visit Robben Island, you have two tour guides: One on the bus, and one in the actual prison. Craig told us a lot of amazing stuff, and I have a lot of is on video.
He told us that the greatest weapon of apartheid wasn’t bullets, but propaganda. They taught children at a young age to think negative things about the other race. These kids have grown up with the wrong idea about other races, and even taught their kids that way. It is passed down from generation to generation. “What will happen in that society, is that it will happen for so long that the people of that nation won’t even realize that it’s there any longer. It’s the norm, it’s the way of life for those people.” He say’s that even 17 years after apartheid ended, they still do racists things. He tells us a few stories giving examples of this. He tells us a story about how whenever he walks into a store, being a colored man, the security guard will follow him until he leaves. He says that rather than getting angry (because then he’d be angry ALL the time) he pretends that the security guard is his secret admirer and gets on with his life. He also says that racism isn’t just one race vs. another. It happens within racial categories as well. He tells a story about going to a party where everyone is white except for himself and another colored man. When his cell phone goes missing, he automatically assumes that the other colored man stole it. He says that now, racism is a subconscious thing that Apartheid instilled in all South African citizens. It is amazing how far this country has come… but they still have a long way to go.
Craig dropped us off at the prison, where we met our second tour guide. This tour guide was a former prisoner on Robben Island. He was there for 5 years, arrested when he was only 18. He showed us the room that he was held in, and then took us to Nelson Mandela’s cell. (Random fun fact: There is a guy in one of my classes named Mandela. What a sick name! haha) Nelson Mandela’s cell was a lot smaller than the normal cells, because they kept the leaders and important people separate from everyone else.
The tour guide told us an awesome story. Someone asked him if he ever met up with any of the guards when he was released and Apartheid ended, and he said yes. A few of them apologized, but a few just don’t really care. He said that two of the guards actually work there now, which is really cool. The best story though, was of a very young guard. He was 18, and had no idea what was going on in the world… he was just doing his job. He made a connection with Nelson Mandela though, like a father son type bond. Mandel was this older wise man that would advise him about education, sports, and life in general. So one day, the young guard had the task of driving Mandela to a hospital. It was just Mandela and the guard in the van, and the guard decided he wanted to introduce him to his parents! He didn’t even think that this was a bad idea… taking a prisoner to his home. Of course Mandela did nothing bad, but his parents were so freaked out! The guard didn’t get in a lot of trouble (I don’t think) because it was really out of sheer ignorance. He just wasn’t thinking. Mandela and that guard are still close today!
After Robben Island, I headed back to the ship and got ready. Jojo and I went to a sushi place to get dinner, and then met up with all our other friends. This was our last night in Cape Town, and everyone was super sad! We all went to this club called Mercury, and danced to dubstep all night. I have never been to a dubstep club… it was SO much fun! Some people hated it, but most people loved it. Depends on your taste in music, I guess! We got back to the ship early in the morning, and I got to sleep in until about 10 (Luxury!)
When I woke up, I got ready and went to meet Gabby and Elias… we were going skydiving! Gabby had set up this trip before, so we had a driver waiting for us and took us (and a few other people) to the drop zone. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous at all! When we got there, they had us sign a paper and then strapped harnesses on us. They didn’t give us any instruction or safety talks, just strapped us up, walked us to the plane, and flew away. We flew up for about 25 minutes in the tiniest, ricketiest plane I’ve ever seen. Still though, I wasn’t nervous. About 23 minutes into the flight, the guys we were jumping with strapped themselves onto us, and opened the side of the plane. I still wasn’t nervous. (I was getting worried that I wasn’t getting worried… I felt like I should be SO scared! Hahah) Elias went first… he just scooted to the edge of the plane… and then he was gone. Ok, now I was getting a bit nervous. Something clicked when Elias jumped out… he was just… GONE. Gabby was next, and then Jessie (the guy I was jumping with) and I scooted to the edge of the plane and OUT we went! It was the most amazing feeling in the world! For the first few seconds, I had no idea which was up or which way down. We were free falling for about 30 seconds because Jessie pulled the shoot. He then said “You’re going to feel a click, but don’t worry” and then he detached the bottom part of our harnesses! I was only attached to him from the shoulders! He let me steer the parachute for a while, before he took over for the landing. The view of Cape Town was spectacular! I was in the air for probably three or four minutes, and it was incredible! The landing was a lot easier than I thought, Jessie steered us straight for the sand and then I just put my feet down!
A little backstory here: Before SAS, I planned this big trip in South Africa with a man named Gav to go bungee jumping and shark cage diving. A lot of SAS kids have gone through him before, so I knew his business was pretty reputable. When I got on the ship, I was told that planning such trips was not aloud, and I would not be allowed to go. A lot of people still went, but I had already found other things to do. So when Gav found out I was skydiving, (all the extreme sports in Cape Town pretty much go through Gav’s company… so they are all his drivers and everything) he was on the phone with the driver that took us to the drop zone, and asked to speak to me. He thanked me for planning such an awesome trip, and said that he was on a film shoot all day but maybe he’d stop by the drop zone to say hello in person. So when I landed from skydiving, Gav was there! It was so nice of him to come say hello and thank you! I put a lot of effort into planning that trip, only to en up not even going! This is just one example of how amazing and kind South African people are. Seriously, the people are a huge part of why I fell so in love with that country.
After skydiving, we had to go right back and get to the ship for on-ship time. Leaving Cape Town was extremely emotional for me. I felt embaressed until I looked around and noticed that I wasn’t the only one tearing up. In fact, there were quite a few people. Something about that city captured my heart and I can’t WAIT to go back. Later that night, Gina and I were in our room talking and sharing pictures/videos when Idin came in. He said he had a present for us! He took out two jars of nutella, each with our names on it. He said “Remember when you girls told me that when a girl breaks up with her boyfriend and their heart is hurting so they just sit infront of the tv with chocolate all day? Well this is because you both left a piece of your heart in South Africa.” Hahahah most thoughtful gift ever! Of course, nutella is a luxury on this ship, so the whole world found out we had it and it’s pretty much gone now!
We’re on to Mauritius for a day- we’re calling it “Spring Break.” I’ll update you all after!!
South Africa, February 20, Day 3.
Today, I slept in for a little while (only until about 9am, but that’s considered sleeping in while in port!) and Kayla and I went to the mall to find some internet. We sat outside and got online for a while, and decided what we were going to do that day. I got to skype with my dad for a few minutes (and then my computer died! Sad.) which was nice! It was only 4am at home, but he works super early, so I can always catch him up! After about an hour, Kayla and I decided that we were going to hike Table Mountain. I am not an avid hiker, but I can always be up for a challenge. Our friends did it the day before and said it was hard, but so worth it, so we decided “why not?”
We took a cab to the second starting point. There are two points you can start from. One is the “4 hour hike” and one is the “2 hour hike.” Naturally, we chose the easy one. We started in, and after about 15 minutes stopped for a break and looked down. “Oh we have hike a pretty long ways! Maybe this will be easy after all!” ….YEAH RIGHT. After about another 20 minutes, we stopped and talked to this American guy who asked us how far until he got to the bottom. We said about 30 minutes if you don’t stop, but that was just to the road. He said he didn’t care where it went, he just wanted to get a cab and go to sleep. He was hurting! So that scared us a bit… we had no idea what was to come. After that, this man in a big white hat passed us going pretty fast. We lost site of him after a few minutes, but went the way we thought he went. We got to a point where the ground leveled off, it didn’t really go up or down. After about 15 minutes of walking along that trail, we starting questioning whether or not we were going the right way. We decided that it didn’t matter… either way we would get somewhere, whether it be to the cable car and then we would take that up instead of hike… or maybe we were going the right way and we’d make it to the top, we didn’t care. 15 more minutes went by when we met this two guys our age. They asked us if we were going up or down, and we said up. They said “Well… then turn around. You are going the wrong way.” It turns out we had just hiked all the way back to the first starting point! Of course we didn’t want to seem like wimps in front of these guys (Sebastian and Felix, who happen to live very near to my sister in Germany, small world!) so we decided to hike up with them.
After traveling with them for about an hour, Kayla and I decided to tell them to go ahead of us and we’d meet them at the top. We knew we were going to be stopping about every 10 seconds, so we didn’t want to hold them up! Haha The hike got harder and steeper, and we only brought one water bottle for the both of us, so we were struggling! After hiking for about 2.5 hours, we reached this point that looked like the stairway to heaven. The top of the mountain was finally in our reach! Now, I know you are all thinking I’m crazy for dying on a 2.5 hour hike, but let me tell you… it was pretty treacherous (but I still suggest you add it to your bucketlist!). We finally made it to the top, went straight for the little restaurant and bought water and strawberry slushies! I felt like I just conquered the world. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking. You can see all of Cape Town! We could even see our ship! We met up with Sebastian and Felix again, and got our amazing pictures. I brought up a huge South African flag to take pictures with, so we all took turns standing out on a ledge taking amazing photos overlooking Cape Town. It was like we were on top of the world.
Something pretty funny happened next. Kayla, Sebastian, Felix and I were getting ready to say goodbye and exchanging contact info, when this blonde lady yelled something to us in German. Now, German sounds angry to me all the time, so I couldn’t tell if she was mad or if she was just speaking German. Felix looked shocked, and then yelled back “Say it in English so they can understand you!” but the lady just kept yelling. He kept telling her to “say it in English” but she just kept yelling at him. The husband or boyfriend of the women then yelled over “We just want you guys to be quiet. This is a nice viewing place and we are having a moment!” Felix then started saying something back at them in German, and Sebastian chimed in. I know a few German swears, and I heard them a few times. This was not a nice conversation! I was embarrassed and confused, but it was also quite comical. Finally they stopped, and Felix and Sebastian contemplated whether or not they should tell us what the women had said. They finally told us: “Tell your fat American girls to shut up, this place is too beautiful for loud voices.” (mind you, were speaking in regular voice, not loud ones.) Kayla goes “FAT? And WHO just climbed this mountain?!” hahahaha
Kayla and I took in the view for a while longer, then headed down the mountain on the cable car. Hiking down not only seemed to be too strenuous after the hike up, but it looked way too scary! It’s a steep hike and a long way to tumble if you fall! At the bottom of the mountain, we got a cab to the huge mall called Century City. We wanted to get some shopping done and grab a bite to eat. I bought my roommate a pillow pet, because she left hers at home and says how much she misses it all the time! I couldn’t pass up buying one when I saw it! I got a few dresses and shoes at this store called Mr. Price (pretty much like Kohl’s only cheaper). I love what I bought, and I love that I can say I bought it in South Africa! When we went to the food court, I got California rolls. If you know me at all, you know that I’m addicted. It’s been tough not having them, and I was SO excited to see them in the mall! I could have had 50, but sadly settled for 8. Hahah
We got a cab back to the waterfront, got ready really quickly (I got REALLY good at getting ready to go out in under 20 minutes, let me tell you!) and met up with all our other friends at Mitchell’s. We hung out there for a while, and then got a cab to Camps Bay. Camps Bay is this strip a long the coast with beautiful beaches and awesome nightlife. The place to be that night was St. Eves, but when we got there, there was a 100 rand cover charge and we didn’t feel like paying it. We went tot his cute beach bar called Sapphire instead. It was a ton of fun, and there were still a ton of SAS kids there! After a few hours, we headed back to the ship and called it a night!
South Africa, February 19, Day 2.
Today was our wine tasting day! There were 6 of us: Kayla, Jojo, Katelyn, Melissa, Roland, and myself. Kayla studied abroad in Cape Town before, so she had a contact that was going to meet us and drive us around for the day. His name was Al, and he had a friend named Mike with him. They were both older men that lived in a colored township. I loved talking to them about growing up in district 6, and being forced to leave. District 6 was a township that the government (during apartheid) pretty much bulldozed in order to build a white neighborhood. They never actually got around to building, so they destroyed thousands of homes for nothing. Today, the government is re-building houses and allowing the people that lived there before to move back, but Al and Mike both said that a lot of people won’t go back. “Too much hurt,” they said. I got a lot of our talk on video, and I still get chills when I watch it.
We drove for about an hour to our first winery, Neethlingshof. We sat inside and tasted 6 different wines. I didn’t know anything about wine, and I still don’t. I do know, however, that I do not like red wine! Not a fan at all. My favorite wine was the first one we tried. It was fruity and nice. After we tasted all our wines, we went out and had a little photo shoot with the beautiful mountains in the back. The Stellenbosch area that we were in was absolutely beautiful. Our drivers then took us to the next place, Asara. We only had an hour because we wanted to get to the third place before it closed, so we felt a bit rushed. This place was SO beautiful! The mountains in the back and the lake and the green grass… everything about this place was amazing. We tasted only three wines here because of time, but I loved all three. We bought some chocolates here too.
Finally we made our way to the last place, where we planned on eating dinner. Our driver told us that they had an animal park here, and we could pet cheetahs! Of course we jumped on this opportunity! We got there and immediately headed to the Cheetah park. We paid a small fee and got to meet a Cheetah named Chobe (Cho-bee). He was the youngest in the park, but the largest. He was so calm, and purred when we pet him. We got some amazing pictures of us petting Chobe, then made our way over to the restaurant. On the walk over, there were these little stands selling handmade crafts. A lot of the stuff was really cool! I bought a gift for my mom (sorry mom, can’t tell you what it is yet! Hahah) that I think she will LOVE. We stopped every two seconds to take pictures… the beauty of this place is incredible.
When we finally got to the restaurant, we decided it was too expensive, so we had Al and Mike take us to this place that Kayla knew called The Africa Café. This place reminded me a little of this place that my mom and I eat at at home, called the Gypsy Café… only on a bigger scale. It had a small feel to it, but it was three stories high. It was decorated in beautiful art made with all recycled materials. The windows were just open windows that they rolled plastic canvases over when it got too windy (which it does SO often in Cape Town!) It was beautiful and nice, but in a rustic kind of way. The menu had about 15 things on it, but you didn’t order. They just brought you everything on the menu, asked what you liked, and then brought you more. We were there for probably two or three hours, trying all the food and talking about how perfect our day had been.
We finally decided it was time to walk back to the ship. We had no idea how far it was or where we were going, but we really didn’t care. It was a beautiful night, windy and a little chilly, and we were all in dresses, so the walk back was so fun. We went the wrong way for a while, took a lot of wrong turns, walked with our hands pressed to our sides so that our dresses didn’t fly away, and laughed the entire way back. There is a huge Ferris wheel at the waterfront, so we kept walking until we could see it, then turned to walk in that direction. After about an hour, we finally found the ship, got ready really fast, and headed back out to meet up with other friends. There is a bar at the end of the waterfront that was pretty popular with SAS kids called Mitchell’s. This was usually the meeting point, where everyone met and hung out and then got cabs to whatever club was popular for that night. I was exhausted though, and just went back to the ship after hanging out at Mitchell’s for a while. This was the most perfect day, and only further confirmed the fact that I was falling in love with South Africa.
South Africa, February 18, Day 1.
We finally made it into port! It was the most beautiful day, and the port was FINALLY an amazing port! The last beautiful port we had was Dominica… so this was a nice change! We docked at about 11 am, but then had to wait for immigration to come on board. This time they needed to see us all face to face and stamp our passports. Thankfully, my sea was called first! I got off the ship around 12, and headed for the mall with Kayla and Mel. We had planned for our first day (the one that we missed) to be our relax/shop/internet/beach day, but that didn’t quite work out. I didn’t have any set plans for the second day, which was now our first, so I made that into my shopping/internet/food day. Not much to report on the first day, other than how incredible even just the waterfront was! I felt 100% safe walking around alone, and it was so refreshing not having to worry about being a girl walking around alone. The waterfront had a huge mall, lot’s of stores and restaurants, live music a lot of the time, and even a ferris wheel. The weather was absolutely perfect! Everything was perfect. My friend Will and I ate dinner on the ship and then went and got delicious strawberry daiquiris at this restaurant at the waterfront. Later that night, my entire group of friends walked to Long Street. This is the street with all the bars and clubs, and I’ve heard it is incredibly scary and dangerous at night, but I felt safe the entire time. I probably wouldn’t have walked around alone at night, but I was in a big group so we were all fine! We all got used to going to clubs in places like Dominica or Manaus, so we didn’t even think to bring our ID’s. A lot of the clubs were carding, so none of us could get in, even though we were of age! We walked around for probably an hour before we found a place that we could get into, and it wasn’t really a club. It was so much fun though! It had a balcony over looking Long Street, and it was a beautiful night, so I spent most of the time outside. I met a few South African’s, and had great conversations. It was nice to finally be able to interact with people in the country without them asking for something of you. I got a cab back to the ship with a few friends, and went straight to sleep. We had to wake up for wine tasting the next day!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Patience is a Virtue.
*This is a piece I wrote for my Travel Writing class. It is a first draft, and has yet to be critiqued by my class and professor. Take it easy on me! haha*
I had no idea what to expect as we drove an hour and a half to the Ghanaian village of Atonkwa, and I liked it that way. The last time I did a service visit to a ‘village’ was in Nicaragua, five years ago. I learned my lesson about expectations then. No, the village I was staying in was not comprised of small grass huts, but rather a town on the outskirts of the city, complete with paved roads and tin houses. I knew Atonkwa wasn’t going to be like Nicaragua, but I also knew not to draw up a preconception in my head because I would not see it come to life.
Our bus pulled up to the village center, and thirty-one American college students stepped off. We were greeted by Nana, the chief of the village, about six African drummers, and extreme heat. On the bus ride there, we all signed up for the area of the village we wanted to spend time in. I signed up for a third grade class in the elementary school, with one other guy, Joe. We were told we were just going to observe. When we got there, the teacher Mr. Francis handed the class over to us… completely. I have no teaching experience what-so-ever, so I was at a complete loss. I let Joe take over most of the time, and I jumped in whenever I could.
There were four girls sitting on a bench for two in the front row, to my right. “Madame Lilly” they whispered every two minutes, “come help us.” The first few times I would slowly sneak over to them and see if I could help, only to be pelted with quiet questions: “Where are you from?” “How is your mother?” “Your father?” I thought it was adorable that they were so curious, but I told them to find me after school and I’d tell them everything.
Finally it was time for the kids to go home. I figured they would all rush back to their houses for a meal or to get out of their crisp green uniforms, but they were much more interested in us: American college students who, for some reason, decided to visit their village. My four girls immediately latched onto my arms, and about five others tried to latch on as well, grabbing any piece of me they could. My pinky, my thumb, my shirt, my leg, my elbow… I have never felt more like a jerk for itching my nose! It meant I had to tug my arm away from at least 4 kids, and who knew if they would get their spot back?
On the walk back from the school to the center of the village, I started to notice one girl. She was smaller than the rest, and didn’t speak much. All the others were still asking me questions, rubbing my arms, telling me how beautiful I was, fighting for my attention. This small girl just held my hand and walked in silence. At this point, I had stopped asking the kids for their names. Not only could I not understand most of them, but a lot of the faces blended together for me. They were all wearing the same clothes, same shaved head, and about the same height. I couldn’t remember if I had asked this girl her name before or not, so I didn’t bother.
When we got back to the village center, I took my camera out and asked the kids if I could take their picture. They all loved seeing their faces on the screen, but after a while they got a little too grabby. They all wanted to use my camera, and take pictures for themselves. This camera cost me half the amount of my car, so I was very hesitant. I let a few kids take a few pictures, but then more kids started running towards me wanting to do the same. The small girl pushed her way through the crowed, smiled at me, turned towards the kid’s and said “NO!” She took my camera from one of the kids and handed it back to me. From then on, every time someone asked for my camera, she told them “No” and created almost a barrier with her tiny body.
The small girl did other things as well. Whenever someone asked me my name, she answered before I could open my mouth. “She is Madame Lilly,” And they all took turns practicing my name. She would correct most of them until they got it right. I insisted that they just call me Lilly, I didn’t want the powerful title of ‘Madame,’ but they wouldn’t stop. She also made sure that there weren’t too many people fighting for my arms. One time, a little girl bit another so that she had to drop her hand and she could take her place. The small girl calmly removed the biter’s hand, and put the other girl’s back on. I let them figure it out on their own, I didn’t want to be the mean older white woman that decided who was better than the other.
We walked to a soccer field, and watched some of the older kids play. The small girl could tell that I was tired and overwhelmed, so she asked me if I wanted to walk back with her and have a seat. After a while we (the small girl and the three others from the school) walked back. By this time, the small girl’s even smaller sister had found us. On the walk back, the small girl made her sister hold my hand, and didn’t let anyone push her away. I found myself always looking back to see if she was still close, and she always was.
When we got back, it was dinner time. I told my new friends that I’d be back in a while, and went into the community center with the rest of the group and ate and talked for a while. After about two hours, I came back out. The small girl was there with her sister, both in nice clean dresses, while the rest of the kids were wearing old torn apart shirts and shorts. She calmly made her way over to me, put her little sister’s hand in one of my hands, and she took the other.
We walked around and played with all the other kids for a while before bed time. I told the small girl that I had to go to another school the next day, but I’d see her when I got back. I spent at a special needs school the next day. I had an amazing time, but I found myself missing my own little bodyguard. I couldn’t wait to get back to the village and see if she would be there waiting for me.
When we finally got back, she came running over to me “Sister, sister, you’re really back!” This was the most excitement I had seen out of her! For the first time, not only did she not call me ‘Madame Lilly,’ but she called me ‘Sister.’ Our almost silent connection made the day before felt like it had been created over months. We spent the next hour together, again she fended off the camera hungry kids, and made sure they all knew my name.
When it was time to go, I looked around and realized that all the students in my group had made their own connections with a small group of children. The original four girls all said their goodbyes to me, but the small girl just stood silently holding my hand. She didn’t smile or try to hold me back, like the other girls, she just stood there. I realized that I didn’t know her name. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to pronounce it, so I decided that I shouldn’t ask. I didn’t want to disappoint her by not being able to say it. I got down on my knees and hugged her. By this time, all the kids were standing by the bus windows, jumping up and down, yelling their goodbyes. After hugging the small girl, I threw my previous decision out the window. “Forgive me,” I said to her, “But I can’t remember your name.” I needed a name so that I could stop thinking of her as the small girl who became my sister. She answered in a very small voice: “Patience.” She hugged me one more time, turned and walked away.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Ghana- Day 4/5, February 9/10, 2011.
We woke up early, and got ready real fast. We had no idea if we would stay the night or not, and I had no idea what I would even need if we did. All I took was my toothbrush, pajamas, and a towel. Kelly, Jojo, Rolando, Ben, Eric, Rachel, Lillie, and Hannah, and I took a cab to the tro-tro station, and got one to take us to Busua Beach. We told the driver to drop us off at the Busua Beach Resort, where we thought we would try to spend the night. The rooms were about $170 USD for one night. The place was really nice, but we kind of felt out of place. We went to lunch there and talked about what we wanted to do. We waited over an hour for our food to come, and meanwhile decided that we’d walk down the beach after lunch and see if there was a better place to stay. For lunch, I had pizza with bacon on it. Wait, let me rephrase that: I had bacon with some pizza underneath it. I never thought I’d ever say this, but there was way too much bacon!
After lunch, we walked down the beach, and found this place called “The Alaska.” No words that I write will ever do this place justice. It was amazing, in an incredibly strange way. We got a bungalow for 5 of us, and only paid 10 cedi (Ghana currency) each. When you walked into the bungalow, it smelled like a grandmothers basement. It had concrete sandy floors and two beds. They threw a mattress on the floor too. These weren’t nice beds, by the way, just beds. We all decided that we felt like we were in the middle of a very strange movie. We were so glad that we happened upon this place, instead of the luxurious place down the beach.
There were about 20 or 30 other SAS kids there, but most of them had spent the night before there, so they just hung out for the day and left by dinner time. There was also a group of people a little older than us from Germany hanging around. We spent the day hanging out on the beach and in the ocean. Later in the afternoon, some local kids showed up on the beach so we hung out with them until it got dark. I was with three brothers most of the time, John, Jacob, and Joseph. We danced with the kids to the music that was coming from the “bar.” Teaching them silly American dance moves while they taught us how they dance in Ghana. For the most part though, we just danced like fools and laughed with the kids. We spent a lot of time in the ocean too. The water was so warm, but so refreshing! Every once in a while, someone would snap our attention to the fact that we were in AFRICA. It was an awesome feeling.
Some people in our group decided to rent surfboards from a local surf shop and spend a few hours trying to catch some waves. Kelly and I had never surfed before, so we didn’t want to spend money when we probably would never even be able to stand up. Instead, we noticed a Ghanaian boy out in the water surfing on his own board. We decided we were going to get him to teach us. We made a plan: We were going to go over and ask him what he was doing. We would pretend that we had no idea what the big white thing he was riding on was even called! We carried out our plan, and he thought we were crazy. “You don’t know surfboards? Here, let me teach you!” Our plan worked! We spent the next hour or so trying to learn to surf on a beaten up board made of styrofoam and plastic. It looked like a shark took a chunk out of the front. Kelly went first, and eventually stood up and rode a wave all the way in to shore! It was my turn next, and I had a harder time. Frank, the boy, told Kelly “I think she has a hard time because she is… big,” pointing to his chest. Thanks Frank. Hahaha I did stand up once though! We said goodbye and thank you, and headed in to rinse off under the outdoor shower and try to get dry.
We hung out and relaxed and then had dinner. Jojo and I shared chicken stir-fry, and it was delicious. Some people had lobster, and I tried it and immediately regretted that I didn’t get one myself. I had to teach Ben how to eat one… his excuse: “I’m from Montana. Do you think I’ve ever eaten a lobster before??” Jojo and a few other people left after dinner because they had an 8am FDP in the morning, and the rest of us went back in the ocean. We had no concept of time through out the day, which was very refreshing. It had been dark for a few hours, and we were all getting pretty tired so we headed back to our bungalow to try and dry off and change. On our way back though, a tro-tro pulled up and Francisco, Travis, Will, Kristin, and Michelle got out! We were SO excited that they finally made it and found us, so we all pulled them to the ocean and jumped in again! We stayed out there for a few hours and came back to the beach to be greeted by a bonfire that Zach (the guy running the place) has started for us! We all sat around the bonfire talking, telling stories of our past few days in Ghana. Brian and Max showed up and sat with us, they were staying a place down the beach with a few other people. Slowly a bigger group of people came together and went swimming again. We could not stay out of the ocean!
I’m guessing it was 2 or 3 in the morning by the time we went to bed. Some people slept in hammocks, some slept on the beach, and some of us slept in the bungalow. At 6:30 in the morning, Ray (Rachel) came in and woke us up saying that there was a tro-tro waiting for us, and we could get our stuff together now or struggle later trying to find one to take us back. It was thunder and lightning, so we decided to just go. (The tro-tro was there because another sas kid, Michael had called them the night before because he had an 8am FDP.) We got our stuff together, and got into the tro-tro. I had no idea that there were still this many people left at the Alaska… but we managed to pack 18 kids into this thing. They fit 11, but 8 comfortably. EIGHTEEN KIDS and all our stuff in this tro-tro! I was sitting on something that was NOT a seat in the front-ish, and Michael was pretty much on top of me. This should have been about a 40 minute ride, but it turned into about 2 hours. We got stopped by the police, our driver was smacked around a bit, and we had to pay the police off. Then we ran out of gas on some sketchy back road, and our driver had to find someone to get us gas. He didn’t really speak English, so when we ran out of gas, he just stopped… got out of the car, and ran. We all sat in silence until someone said “What…?” We were pretty scared but it was all part of the adventure!
We finally made it back, at about 8:15am. It was my our last day in Ghana, so we went to find an internet café so we could skype and upload pictures and whatnot. I got to skype with my Mom, which was really good. I don’t get homesick like I thought I would, but it is really nice to be able to talk to my family and friends once in a while!
Ghana, you were too good to me. On to South Africa!
Ghana- Day 3, February 8, 2011.
We finally all got up at about 6:30 and got ready for breakfast. We ate in the same place that we had eaten the night before, and then went out to see the kids go to school. Some of our group went with them, but I had signed up for the special needs school, so 9 of us walked about 20 minutes to this little community in between our village and another. This is a community that a nun, Sister Patricia started building 30 years ago. It is a place for people with leprosy to come and live. In Ghana, people with leprosy are just dead to their families, communities, everything. I think this mentality is changing now, but it is because of people like Sister Pat. The community also has a school for kids with special needs. Some of them live on the premises, or they live in the surrounding villages and take a bus to school everyday.
When we got to the school, we were given a choice of what classroom we wanted to sit in and help out in. I chose the “babies” room, and was the only one of us in there. There was a girl named Lucy in there, from London. She was doing a gap year before University and living in Ghana for 6 months. She had been there for a month already. It was really fun talking to her, and she seemed to appreciate it too! There were three little boys, Michael, George, and Junior. Junior slept pretty much the whole time, so I didn’t get to interact with him much, but I fell in love with George and Michael. Michael was about 4 or 5, and George was 7. They both couldn’t speak, or even really move on their own. Very limited motor skills. Auntie B was the women that was in charge of their room. She was so lovely and so kind. She let me try to feed Michael right away, but he was a little unsure of my new face.
After a half hour or so of being in the classroom, the boys warmed up to me. We took their play mat outside and brought the boys outside to play. I played with Michael on a big yoga ball for a while, he loved laying on his stomach being rolled back and forth. He laughed and laughed. He had the greatest laugh I think I have ever heard. I video taped him laughing later on, and ever since then, when ever I am in a not so great mood, I watch the video and it makes me so happy. Good Idea on my part! Hahah
I held George, who had pretty severe cerebral palsy for pretty much the rest of the day. I figured out that he loved to hit things because it made a sound. He would swing his arm around hoping to make contact with something that made a sound…sometimes that was my face. I found this toy that was a ring, and had little balls inside, so when you shook it, it made a lot of noise. I put it around his arm, and he just shook and shook and shook, laughing the entire time. These boys, along with my friend Patience, definitely have been the highlight of my trip so far.
We had to leave to head back to the ship, so we went back down to the village to say goodbye to all the kids there. My four girls ran to me as I was walking down the hill and clung on. I could always count on them to find me wherever I was. We said our goodbyes, and headed to lunch. After lunch, we made our way back to the ship. The first thing that I did was shower and nap. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally. I went out that night with some friends to a local bar, and made plans to go to the beach the next day.
Ghana- Day 2, February 7, 2011.
I had an FDP service trip for my Altruism and Social Justice class. We were going to this village called Atonkwa for an overnight. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, or even what we would be doing there. When we got on the bus, Jeffrey (my professor) told us that there were three different things we could sign up for, and we could sign up for something different both days. We could go visit an elementary school, a special needs school, or go on house visits with some nurses. The first day, I signed up for visiting a third grade class at the school with a guy named Joe. The second day, I signed up to visit the special needs school. I still had no idea what to expect.
After about an hour and a half drive, all 31 of us arrived in Atonkwa. We were greeted by the chief and a few drummers. When we got off the bus, we shook hands with the Chief, Nana. We then went to our respective places. The village is on a very gradual incline, so there were irrigation ditches everywhere in order to try and keep the water running down contained. The colors were very brown and tan everywhere you looked. The houses were mostly made of mud or clay. There were little goats and chickens running around everywhere. When we got up to the school, all the kids were hanging out of their classroom windows trying to get us to come say hi to them. We were led to the classrooms that we signed up for, and handed over to the teacher. Joe and I were in the 3rd grade class, with Mr. Francis. When we got there, we expected to just observe the class or something… but Mr. Francis expected us to teach his entire class… all day. He gave us an English book, and a Science book. Joe and I have never had any kind of teaching experience, so we were pretty lost… but we pulled through. The kids had a bit of a hard time understanding our “accents” and our fast speaking, so we had to slow it down a lot and go to Mr. Francis for help translating in Fanti for them.
Eventually, they got to go on recess. They said their prayers and sang a song before they were allowed to go out. We went out to play with them, and this group of three or four girls told me they wanted me to come dance with them. We ran back down to the center of the village, where the drummers were still drumming. We danced and laughed for about half an hour, when it was time to go back up to the school. The same group of girls held my hands/arms while we were walking back up. They called me Madam Lilly, even when I insisted that I was just Lilly. I didn’t want them to think of me as someone that had power over them… and I felt that “Madam” made it seem that way, but they just wouldn’t stop.
When we got back to the classroom, the girls wanted me to take pictures of them so they could see. They loved posing for me! Slowly, more students started filing in, and of course they all wanted pictures as well. I LOVE photographing children, so I was just as happy as they were. One of the little girls in that original group of our was named Patience. I have a travel-writing piece to write within the next few days, and I’m writing about her… so I’ll spare the details here and post my finished piece about her later. Just know that she was special.
After break, Joe and I continued with our lessons, and then Jeffrey came to get us because our group was leaving for lunch. We ate at this beautiful beach resort about 20 minutes away from the village. It was amazing and delicious, but it felt a little strange that we left the village to go to this luxurious place, and then we had to go back to questions of “did you bring me food?” When we got back, the kids were SO excited to see us. They were all out of their uniforms and playing football. They ran to the bus and my 4 little girls found me immediately and clung on. It seems as though everyone had their solid group of children that loved them. We played with them for the afternoon, playing football (soccer), dancing, singing, anything to keep us entertained.
At one point, all the kids started pulling us down this path in the woods behind the village. We had no idea where we were going, and every time I asked “where are you taking me?” they just said “Yes!” I went with it though! When we got to our destination, all the kids threw their clothes on the ground and jumped into this… watering hole. It looked like a scene straight out of National Geographic. Amazing. I had stopped carrying my camera around with me by now, but I wish I had it then! After playing with the kids all afternoon, we had dinner in the village at the community center, and then got to meet with the Chief, Nana. We all sat in a big circle and talked to him. I wish we had more time with him, but Jeffrey wanted us to talk about the day with just our group before bed so that we had time to process everything we were feeling.
Overall, it was an incredibly overwhelming and amazing day. During the day, I was so overwhelmed and didn’t know how to handle all the emotions and feelings I was having that I wasn’t sure I was enjoying it. But that night, when we got to reflect on everything, everyone was pretty much feeling the same way, and I decided that what I was feeling was only natural, and I got over it. We all went to sleep on little mats on a hot concrete floor of the top floor in the community center. At about 4am, we were woken up by the villages Imam reciting the Muslim prayer over a loud speaker… repeatedly until 6:30 am. AWESOME. (sarcasm) I actually thought it was cool the first time, to hear something like that… but when it didn’t stop and all I wanted to do was sleep, It got really annoying.
Ghana- Day 1, February 6, 2011.
We arrived in Takoradi, Ghana early in the morning. So far, no port has been as beautiful as Dominica, but this was pretty rough looking. We were in an industrial port, so there was no need for it to look special. I had an FDP this day, so I had to wake up extra early to get ready and head out by 8. My trip was to the castles and slave dungeons. We rode on a bus for about an hour and a half, while our tour guide talked the ENTIRE time. It wouldn’t have been as bad if the microphone he was using actually worked properly. It sounded like one of those little kid toys that just makes you echo really loudly. He was pretty interesting though. I was in and out of sleep the entire ride, so I don’t remember much of what he was saying, but I do remember that he was acting out bits and pieces of Ghana’s history. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but it was pretty funny. We passed a few fishing villages, they are very interesting. Lee (our tour guide) told us that the sea is a “she” and her day of rest is Tuesday. Fishing is not allowed on Tuesdays. I thought that was interesting.
We finally got to Cape Coast, where the first castle was. These castles held and “exported” 25% of the world’s slaves. This is where they waited to be shipped out to whatever country had bought them. Brazil had the largest amount of slaves. It was strange, because we just took the exact route that the majority of slaves took when we crossed from Brazil to Ghana… only backwards. There were all these dungeons that we walked through. Each dungeon held about 200 slaves. They were dark and extremely hot. Even with 30 of us in there for 5 minutes, we were miserable. The guide showed us the line on the wall that looked like a line we would draw on a building to show how far the water came up during a flood or something… only this was a line to show how far up human waste had piled up and solidified. The ground that we were standing on, he told us, was still covered in solidified human waste.
After the first castle, we went to eat lunch and move on to Elmina, where the second castle was. We got a tour, and it was pretty much the same story with a different lay out. We headed back to the chip, and I slept most of the way home. That night was my relaxing night, because I knew the next few days were going to be a whole lot of action and not enough sleep. It was Superbowl Sunday, so a lot of SAS kids were out watching it at the duty free shop (that we pretty much turned into a bar) right next to the ship. I stayed in and went to sleep, so that I could be well rested for my village trip the next day!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Sea Olympics- Feb 3, 2011.
There were a lot of really clever chants, and a few that were seriously lacking. One of the favorites was the “Sea Salt’s” chant. The Sea Salts are the life long learners, and their color is white. The joke that had been passed around the ship all day about them being called “The Dead Sea” was put to shame when they got up and danced to Thriller, the oldest man being Michael Jackson with his silver glove! They followed their chant with their banner that said “Age ain’t nothing but a number, kiddo!” After the opening ceremonies and the normal nightly festivities, Gina, Idin and I came back and watched a few episodes of Entourage before bed. (This has become a nightly habit for the three of us. Something doesn’t feel right if we miss a night! hahah)
Because there were no classes the next day, Gina and I slept in until about 11:30. When we woke up, we got some last minute homework done, put on our colors, and went up to the 7th deck to watch the first event of the day: synchronized swimming. We got up there a bit early, so we had front row seats on the pool deck. I took some awesome photographs and videos of each team. Everyone was really good and funny, but I have to say my favorite was the Baltic Sea. This is Idin’s hall, and of course he was on the swimming team! It was Idin and 5 other guys, all in extremely tight spandex or leggings. One of the guys was wearing a long black wig with cheetah print leggings, two of the guys were wearing very… interesting leggings, one guy was wearing my spandex shorts, a girls sweater, and a headband, and Idin was wearing tight denim looking leggings. They “danced” to songs such as “Baby I like it,” that Brian McKnight song that goes “one… you’re like a dream come true, two… just wanna be with you” etc. and the Lion King songs. They were absolutely hilarious, everyone’s favorite for sure. Unfortunately, they went over the allotted time so they were disqualified.
After the synchronized swimming, I walked around with some friends watching some of the other competitions going on, before I had to compete in a relay race. Sadly, my team lost the race. We were really good, but the other team was REALLY fast! Unfortunately, I had to take about an hour break from all the fun because I still had to fill out all my immigration forms. They gave us two days to do it, but of course I left it until the last minute and it took forever! As the day wound down, we had a barbeque on the 6th and 7th deck outside, and talked for a few hours until it got dark. Finally, at 9:00, we had closing ceremonies. The Red Sea ended up winning, followed by the Agean and the Baltic. The Carribbean (my sea) came in 4th my one point! The winner’s not only get to brag for the rest of the voyage, but they will be the first sea let off the ship in San Diego! The rest of us have to wait. I’m actually kind of glad we didn’t win. I mean, it would have been amazing to win! But now I get more time to spend on the ship with my friends! After a long day of sun and fun, I watched some Entourage and went to bed! Three more days at sea until Ghana!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Last Day in Brazil
Day Five (last day in Brazil):
Gina and I discovered that we had black out shades the night before, and we didn’t set an alarm, so we woke up to phone call from Idin at noon! The three of us got ready really fast and went out to explore the city one last time before leaving Brazil. I bought the one thing I am attempting to collect, a flag. We went grocery shopping as well, trying to stock up on snacks because we have 9 days at sea and who knows what kind of food they will have in Ghana! On ship time was 3:00pm, so we got back to the ship at 2 and shared stories and pictures with all our friends for the rest of the day.
Brazil is an amazing country. Completely different worlds between Manaus and Sao Paulo, and it was fun to experience a little of both! This is not the last time I will see Brazil, but maybe for a few years! It was a tearful goodbye, as I suspect it will be with every port.
Now that I’ve bored you to death, go enjoy the snow for me! It’s hot out here in the middle of the ocean!
Day three and four.
Day three/four:
We woke up around 1:00 and got ready for the day. Caue’s mom, Solange, made us Brazil’s typical dish: Feijoada. We ate a ton of it, and relaxed for a little while. It rained for most of the afternoon, so we stayed in with Caue and his family. Luma, his sister, taught us how to make brigadeiro… the most delicious chocolate desert. Later, Luma and her boyfriend Renato took us to eat ice cream. We tried some strange flavors. Alexa had corn flavored… that was the most interesting! On our way back to Caue’s, this guy heard us speaking English and was like “Americans?!?!” His name was Brent and he was studying abroad in Sao Paulo. He happened to live right next door to Caue, so we made plans to meet up at the Pub on their street a little later. We ended up hanging out with him that night and the whole next day.
That night, we got all dressed up and went to this amazing place called Skye Bar. It is a rooftop bar with a 360 degree view of the city. It was very “posh” as Renata says. (yes, by now you’ve realized that there are a million Renato’s and one Renata, it’s hard to keep up, I know! Hahah) So we were up there, drinking our $26R coctails, pretending to have money, when we heard and saw two American guys. One of them looked a little familiar, but I always see people that I think look like someone else so I didn’t think anything of it. I was having a conversation with someone else at the time, So Alexa went up and started talking to them. About 10 minutes later, I went over and introduced myself. Rian and Alex were their names, and they were from Baltimore. We talked for a while when I asked what they were doing in Brazil. They said they were in a band playing a few shows in Sao Paulo. “Anyone I would know?” I asked. “Uhm… maybe…” Rian said. “Well what’s your name?” “All Time Low.”
Let’s just say that I kept my cool on the outside, but was FREAKING out on the inside. Caue and I had just been listening to them before going out that night! What are the chances! I have loved them for a while… and to meet them randomly on a rooftop in Brazil… CRAZY. So we hung out with them for a while, and a few more of the band members came up and introduced themselves. Later on, we went back to our group and silently freaked out. After about 5 minutes, I realized that the lead singer, Alex Gaskarth (whom I’ve been in love with for years. I’m determined to marry him… I promise haha) was sitting directly across from me. He was talking to people, so I didn’t want to bother him. Brent finally talked me into going up to him at the end of the night, and I had an awesome conversation with him! He was really interested in SAS and just really sweet overall. He kissed me on the cheek twice (we were in Brazil, that’s what you do! Haha) and we said our goodbyes!
So overall, it was an amazing amazing night! We headed back at around 2, and just talked for a few hours before going to sleep. The next morning, Babi (another Brazilian friend) was going to take us around the city because Caue had to work again. So we said our goodbye’s to Caue, which is always really hard for me, and then explored the city with Babi and Brent. We shopped around, got lunch at the city market, and then headed back to pack up and get to the airport.
Interesting fun fact about Sau Paulo: Not everyone can drive every day. If your lisence plate ends with a certain number, you can’t drive past a certain time on a certain day. This day happened to be the day that Solange (Caue’s mom) couldn’t drive. So we said our goodbyes at the apartment and took a very expensive cab ride all the way to the airport. We met a few other SAS kids coming back from Rio at the airport, so one of the guys, Adam, got a cab back to the ship with us so we weren’t two girls traveling alone at night through Manaus! It helped with the cab cost too! Alexa and I scratched the idea of going out with everyone on the last night in Manaus because we were so exhausted and it was pretty late. I went back to the cabin and waited for Gina to get back from Rio to hear all her stories, and then we went to sleep finally!
Sao Paulo and Manaus, Brazil. January 23- 27. DAY ONE and TWO.
I’ve been getting all kinds of emails from home telling me to write more on my blog. Keeping up a blog is a lot harder than I thought! I have to balance my journal, blog, and emails (all very repetitive) with school work (lots of it) and having a social life! You’d think this would be easy… I live on a ship, what else is there to do? But no, it’s a huge challenge! I’ll write all about Brazil in one huge post, so get ready to spend some time reading!
Day one/two (they blend… no sleep):
After 1000 miles and three days on the Amazon River, we finally reached Manaus, Brazil! Once again, I was woken up by an earthquake in my cabin. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the feeling and sound of the engine turning on and off. Good thing it only happens when we pull into or away from port! The talk around the ship is that SAS has us port on Sunday’s for a reason. So far, the first day in every port (all two… hahah) is a Sunday, so nothing is ever open when we arrive! People say that it’s because they don’t want us going wild the first night, which makes sense… but so far the club owners have opened up especially for us.
I was only in Manaus for that first day, so I didn’t do much research on it. For all I knew it could have been a little grass hut village in the middle of the rainforest. To my surprise, it was a pretty decent city. Like I said before, everything was closed, so there wasn’t much to do. A group of about 15 of us planned to just explore for the day. The one thing we all really wanted to see was the meeting of the waters. We found a man that would take us there, so we piled into three cabs and headed out to the waterfront. Manaus was a bit difficult to get around because very few people speak English. We managed though, it’s amazing how much you can accomplish even with the language barrier. We got to the waterfront and paid 40 real to take a boat out to the meeting of the waters. It was interesting, but I’m not sure I would go see it again. We made our way back to land and found three cabs to bring us back to the center of the city. Rolando, Jojo, Idin and I decided to break away from the group because it was getting too complicated to make sure all 15 of us were still there. Everyone started splitting off after that too. We found a street that had been turned into a giant market. Finally, something that wasn’t shut down! We walked around looking at everything and finally came across a stand that had food. We were so hungry, and ate so much. It was 8 real for all the food you could fit on your plate. It was probably the best lunch I have ever had. Rice, black beans, beef, sausage, and fresh fruit juice.
After lunch and walking around a bit more, we ran into a few Brazilian guys on the side of the street making hand made crafts. One of them made me a beautiful blue wire ring. He put it on my finger and said “Aceito” (marry me) I laughed and kindly declined (but kept the ring! Haha). We stayed and talked to a few of them for a little while, and they were happy to practice their English! After a while, we headed back towards the ship. On the way back, we saw the most beautiful little girl waving to us. We went to say hi to her and her mother, and her mother saw that we had cameras and told us it was ok to take her picture. The little girl posed with her hands on her hips and smiled for us all. She wanted to take a picture with Idin, so I got one of the two of them, and she smiled so big when she saw it. When I showed pictures of her to friends on the ship, they fell in love immediately!
That night, Alexa and I made our way to the airport… we had a flight to Sao Paulo! Our plane was delayed and didn’t take off until around 12:30 or 1:00, and we were so exhausted. Thankfully, the plane was not full so we could have whole rows to ourselves to lie down and sleep. We made a friend on the plane, Renam. He was so cute, giggling every time he spoke English because he wasn’t sure if he was right. He was going to Rio to study for his master’s degree. When we got off the plane at about 6 am, we said goodbye to Renam and wished him luck, and then met Caue and his mom! Caue is one of my best friends, and is from Sau Paulo, so we were going to stay with him for a few days.
When we got to Caue’s house, we took a nap while he went to work. We slept for a few hours, and then Renato and Lilian came to pick us up! I met them the last time I was in Brazil, they are two of Caue’s good friends that I have since become friends with. They took us around the city, first to buy Havaianas! We walked around for a while and then went to Renato’s place, so we could see the view from his 19th floor balcony. I had only seen it at night time, so this was a cool new view for me as well as Alexa! We then went to a really nice outdoor restaurant to eat Acai! This stuff is sooooo delicious. We then went to Ibirapuera Park, the cities biggest and nicest park. We walked around and took some pictures there before heading back to Caue’s apartment. Caue got home soon after and we had dinner and drank Caue’s dad’s caipirinhas. He makes the best. Caue had a bunch of friends come over to hang out, and we eventually made our way to a club called Clash and danced the night away. We came back at about 5 in the morning and slept well into the next day!