"I wanna go home"

One day,... I promise I'll finish this post. But for now, I give you these lyrics to wrap up my feelings towards the end of the voyage.

"Home"

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
'Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

Gosh I just don't know where to begin, but hopefully I'll take care of this later on today.... Love you all!

~Jennifer

Qindao Pictures

Here is Qindao, not too exciting, more of an Industrial Port so there aren't many "pretty" pictures, mainly just steal, coal and rock piles everywhere...

Communist Military Guards

Tower in Qindao

Sunrise on way to Qindao China

Beer Bench

One of the Students at Children's Palace

Practicing Karate

Practicing Ballet at Children's Palace

Hong Kong Pictures

Bridesmaids of a wedding posing for a picture
Ship/ Hong Kong Skyline!

Gross fruit!- but isn't it interesting?
The market- yep thats right, veggies or underware- which will they choose?
Lester and his empty cup of Birds nest soup- not to my liking, very coconuty.
Natural Medicine Shop
One of the 5 wedding pictures we saw taken on our way to lunch

Hong Kong Skyline
More Hong Kong landscape
Better Hong Kong Skyline
Cultural Building? I'm not sure but it was neat
And because I'm a techie dork- the awesome moving light that is a part of the nightly light show!

Vietnam Pictures

As with the Malaysia photos, here is the Vietnam! Now get off my back ;) Love you all and see you soon!

opera house at night
the girls and mom
mekong delta ride
mom and the disabled
Chris @ the disabled home
Me and my eccentric post card selling friend
History museum. Notice all of the wires- this looks tame
Jenn and Mom!

Workers in the rice paddies
At the temple
Cho Chi Tunnel
Can you find the air holes?
Mom and Chris going down the tunnel.

Vietnam Boat!
Beautiful morning pulling into Vietnam
Small boat in Vietnam

Can you find my mom and Chris??

Malaysia Pictures

Alright, to make up for my... lack of blogging of my last 3 weeks on the ship. I decided to hide this by posting lots of pictures.. I might miss a country or two.. but for now here is Malaysia!

The Ship in Malaysia from the top of the mountain

Gorgeous Sky on our first night there

Cool Fountain in Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia.) Its a war memorial for 3 of their wars

Supreme Court building through a tinted window.

The triangle building is the Parliment building

Christina, Myself and Katie at the Multi-Cultural dinner

Our shadow!

The three of us on the monorail!

Penang, Malaysia

The really cool street lights in Malaysia

Hong Kong and China

well this brings my total up to two posts- so make sure you check them both out! Hopefully one more later on today! Love you all!

NEXT POSTING

First I just want to say this day is just not getting any better for me. I just did my nails and right after posting the Vietnam stuff, what do I do? Break a nail. Not just break, slaughter, right down to the skin. So now my nails and finger in general KILL and now my nail is ugly so now I’m mad at myself. I felt so pretty the past couple of days and now I’m back to being a ragamuffin. I just hate how much of a clutz I am. Arg. I’m annoyed. God it hurts so freakin much! Anyways, on with my tale…

So Day 1 at sea Pre-Hong Kong- KATIE’S 24th BIRTHDAY!
Directing was more showings which ended up ending early because the second scene didn’t show up which gave us all an extra 40 minutes to study for the 3rd Global Studies exam. As always, I was seasick while taking the exam and of course it was extremely difficult. I was not very happy with my exam after I took it, but I don’t know if studying more would have made it any better. After the exam I finished Critical Issues paper on Wild Swans. At class we handed them in and then discussed the book. At the end of class, I wanted to know if he thought the author’s next book would be available in Hong Kong and he basically said your guess is as good as mine. I think he was thrilled that I was asking… though I don’t think that helped my shots at a better grade.. oh well! After class I met Katie downstairs in my room for her clue. So a little while ago Christina and I thought up this brilliant idea to send Katie on a scavenger hunt for her birthday. So several times throughout the day she had to meet up with another friend to get another clue which would eventually send her to her party. It was so much fun. And then her gift was a tea set (her party was a tea party complete with pb&J triangle sandwiches and tea!). After her clue I took a shower and got ready. After the tea party we moved down to the 5th floor for dinner and then Alex joined us for cake. After her dinner, I met with my actor’s for my scene. Its going well J And then to reward myself I watched Sisterhood Of Traveling Pants and now I REALLY want to read all of the books now. And then my sea social was going on so I paused the movie, forgot my bracelet downstairs so I went back down to the room finished the movie and went back upstairs for the last few songs. At the end I went outside and spent some “jenn” time on the deck looking out on the water. Missing home, missing my friends, missing a lot of things. After I had a sufficient amount of time of thinking I went to bed. I was disappointed because I had been looking forward to the sea social and then because it was a passive kind of day, I wasn’t really in the mood to tolerate drunk people and wild dancing, so I didn’t really enjoy myself. I’m glad I went because I would have regretted it if I didn’t, but I just wish I had been in a better mood.

Day 2 on the Ship- DAY B

I woke up just in time for Global Studies and learned about ‘today’s china’. It was an alright class but my homesickness got the best of me. So after class I ran to the room, grabbed my computer and tried to get online to download some emails so I could at least hear about something and all I could get was Chris’s email telling me about my mom which just upset me even more and then the internet basically stopped functioning and I went to my room and just sobbed because all I wanted was to hear about what was going on back home. After I shook off my home sickness, I started studying for Energy exam which was going to be later on. I cried several times while taking the test that afternoon because I was just soo frustrated with the exam. I felt like I was taking the global exam all over again and was just not happy. After the exam I went back to the room to cry some more. One of my friends received a letter at lunch from their ‘extended families” written by a student and delivered to every faculty’s mailbox anonymously. It was interesting because it talked about being lost and afraid and feeling like the faculty doesn’t really care to know our names, which I can partially understand. Don’t get me wrong this trip has been amazing and faculty has been the crème of the crop especially compared to back at home university. But I know most of the faculty has no idea who I am and even the 3 of the 4 professors I have recognize me by face only and probably couldn’t tell you which class I am a part of. After reading and crying some more, my friends and I went to dinner and then I headed for another Family Party where we continued to discuss the letter in greater depth. At 8pm we had pre-port which was nothing too exciting with the promise that Japan would be 20 times better. Rumors flew that evening on the perks of staying behind. After a boring pre-port I soaked my toe which Chris called in the middle of to make sure that I got the email and then after that I continued to work on my outline for eventually typing this up until I went to bed.

DAY 1 in HONG KONG
At arrival, Christina and I woke up, she went to breakfast, I took a shower. An announcement went throughout the ship about the tragedy of Virgina Tech and that it would be discussed immediately in the union. So everyone gathered for and Marvel discussed the press releases made by the New York Times and then the Arch Bishop spoke about it and then there was a moment of silence. Also due to the tragedy our diplomatic briefing was cancelled. After the ship was cleared, Liz and I left to go get our rail passes, the process took too long (we went to the travel agency, then to the atm and then back) and so Liz ended up missing out on her trip, so we went to Starbucks for some lunch, crossed to Hong Kong and were interviewed by students. I was a little speechless because they were asking questions about their economy. We got a picture with him which is a neat scrapbook photo. After walking around and getting lost we found a bookstore that had Mao’s Biography which I was really excited about but I decided to wait to the end before purchasing (I didn’t end up finding it on the last day). After our brief stop at the book store, liz and I went on a bus search, when we finally found the right bus we headed to Stanley Market. Bought a few too many things and headed over a little later then originally planned, but it turned out to be okay. We met up with Juli and Christina in the room, liz quickly got ready while Christina jumped on the phone. In the mall area right outside of the Hong Kong port, we ran into Caitlyn who was sobbing because distant family member sort of lives near Virginia Tech and therefore she is directly connected to the situation back home and couldn’t stand hearing about any of it and didn’t know to know any of the updates from back home and ended up running away from Katie. Since Caitlyn (miss New York city girl) couldn’t cross the river and look for Katie by herself, Juli agreed to go over with her while Liz, Christina and I continued shopping. I bought some neat tea cups so I can make the tea that I bought in Mauritius. After making my purchases our group headed over to watch the light show. After the sweet light show, we decided to do some more shopping. I went to go take some more money to find out only that I don’t have my debit card. So I went back to the ship by myself (I wasn’t about to ruin anyone else’s night just because I’m an idiot) and unfortunately no luck. Though Dean Larry said he would stop at the travel agency to see if I left it there. So I scrapped my money together and spent the last of it on a phone card praying that it would allow me to get through to USAA. Called USAA, straightened out my internet card and recreated a new pin number for the internet for my cards. After they told me it was solved I went to go try my luck at the internet in the mall area and it unfortunately still didn’t work so I called USAA again and then tried the ATM and finally got my money situation all taken care of which made my night. I managed to move my money over and get more out and bought another phone card to call home. I downloaded all of my emails and got back on the ship to get ready for bed. When Christina got on we had a short story time before I passed out.

Day 2 in HONG KONG
I woke up extremely early (5 am) to call Deb to wish Madison a HAPPY Birthday, since it would have been 5pm back home on Madison’s b-day! And I called my house to talk to my dad and made a few other favorable phone calls that made my day followed by longer conversations on the internet in the mall area. After my computer died, I went back to the ship to take a shower, eat breakfast and go to Healthy Living Hong Kong Style. After our group met, we walked out to the Cultural Center a few blocks away which is right on the coast. On the Promenade we had a lesson in Qi Dong, the breathing exercises they do that are similar to yoga. It was really awesome. After a bathroom stop in the Art Museum (which was currently featuring Chinglish which is a mix of China and English art work combined). Then we had a city tour and stopped at a local Market. We saw ever food imaginable in its original form. Beef blood covered the side streets, fruits and vegetable covered the tables. It was unbelievable. After an explanation of what everyone was selling and doing, we went to the Jade Market and then to the bus. The tour continued to the “Bird’s Nest Soup” shop and we tried a healthy desert. It was an odd mixture of taste. It was a soup with a glass noodles that tasted like coconut. Then our tour headed to the medicinal shop where we were able to see all of the spices and concoctions that are natural ways of solving sickness. The bus brought us back to a restaurant on the Cultural building’s property. When we got off the bus though there were several wedding photos getting taken, it was pretty neat because I got to see all of their gorgeous dresses. Our meal was another interesting array of food. I didn’t eat a whole lot, but I tried everything they put in front of me. It just was too different for my taste buds. Leslie and I headed back to the ship together. Juli had left to go to the market with a friend and said she would be back around 3, seeing how I had a half hour I ran out to the travel agency to see if they had my debit card and thankfully they did so I that was a nice weight off of my shoulders. I headed back to the ship and got there at exactly 3pm. I fell asleep for a short nap until Juli finally showed up. The three of us headed out and Juli and I split off to find stamps, food, the bookstore to see if I could get Mao’s biography (which they didn’t have a nice copy of it so I was disappointed). With the extra money I went to starbucks and then called everyone back home again to say goodbye and love and miss them and went back on the ship. On the ship I went through all of my souvenirs. Juli and I took pictures of the city and then had dinner which had delicious apple crisp. In the middle of our dinner however we were interrupted by the muster call so the ship could find out how many people were joining us for the ship ride to Qindao. After they had a head count, the light show started and on the aft of the deck we were able to watch the show which was pretty awesome the second time around as well. We continued to take pictures of the scenery and then we went to bed.

DAY 1 on the SHIP
Juli and I decided to wake up at 8am, went to breakfast and then exchanged, went through all of our pictures. At which point I was going to settle down to write this blog when we put in Two can Play it that game and I was sucked into the movie. After the movie we went to lunch, but at our return Hector was cleaning my cabin so we went to Juli’s and went through all of her souvenirs. After about an hour and a half we went back to my room and watched Take the Lead and the Last Holiday. At which point we started to get ready for our sit-down dinner. I wore my cute sparkly dress from home and dinner was amazing. The food was actually good and nicely decorated and accessorized. We had a million pieces of silverware and everything it was really awesome. At the end of our meal one of the professors who stayed on sang a song and that was followed by a few crewmen. Overall it was pretty awesome night. After we were done with dinner I tried writing some more in this blog and stopped somewhere in Vietnam to go on the internet. After I got all my emails we watched Save the Last Dance until we fell asleep. Extremely relaxing day if you ask me J

Day 2 on the SHIP
Again we woke up at 8am to go to breakfast and after breakfast we tried to get onto the internet again and lost signal and thus wasted several minutes. The internet would remain off for the remainder of our private voyage which I was extremely angry about because here we finally had the opportunity to use fast internet and it wasn’t going to work. I was not a happy camper. After that we watched the Wedding Date, lunch followed by Dirty Dancing and Step Up. Again we got all dressed up, this time in Sarees and had another nice sit-down dancing complete with more sing-a-longs. It was another fantastic night. We got into comfy clothes, tried the internet and then watched another movie to go to bed to. Another relaxing day J

DAY 1 in QINDAO CHINA
At 8am we had breakfast and got ready to check out all that Qindao has to offer, which by the way is very little. We ported in an industrial port which was covered with steal and coal. It was all dirty and just extremely industrial. It took about 15 min to get to the outside of the port area and then a cab ride to get to the city part. We were dropped off at the Brewery but since Juli didn’t feel well we decided to walk around. The huge excitement was a huge shopping complex that was a full road of shops and malls which was pretty cool. I dropped a lot more money then I thought I would there. Despite spending more then I budgeted I was disappointed that it wasn’t very culturally significant in the sense there were no museums to be found or anything along those lines. We had a Chinese lunch which was alright though again very different from what we were expecting. I had to use the ladies room at Micky D’s which was a disappointing experience since we had our first lesson in Chinese etiquette- they don’t wait in lines. After our bathroom excursion, we continued shopping and made more purchases. For dinner we had Pizza Hut and then took a cab back to the ship. By then most of our friends had come back from Beijing so we showed them our purchases and let them know that Qindao was pretty lame though Chinese etiquette was pretty obvious everywhere you went. Children would pee in the middle of the street. Just the craziest things ever. Spitting- god it was like a communal thing where one person spits everyone else with in 50 feet has to do the same thing. It was astounding! Let me tell you, there may not have been any museums, but there CERTAINLY was educational phenomena’s to be found within the behavior of the people. After showing off, I went to bed ready for another day!

DAY 2 in CHINA
In the morning we headed to the Children’s palace where we all hoped we would be able to interact with the students. To our severe disappointment however we were only able to observe the classes going on and it was not quite as hands on as much as we all wished and hoped would be. After a brief tour of the outside, we went into the building to observe classes, it was a Sunday and therefore there were classes going on. We saw a karate performance as well as Ping Pong tournaments, ballet and more martial arts. We moved through a few of the buildings and even walked down to the nearby park to watch the classes. Overall it was an interesting trip and definitely worth wild. We headed back to the ship where we met up with everyone else and stopped to eat lunch since we wanted to save our money. Our first stop was at the bank where everyone took our more money. We headed to Wal-mart (I know I’m a disgrace but stuff was cheap!) I bought decorations for the Ambassador’s ball. After wal-mart we headed to the market where we split up. I bought a lot more things here. And after spending most of my money I yet again had dinner at Pizza Hut before buying a last minute jacket and the taxis ride back home. I tried out my new gel so I can actually have cute hair and then went to bed. Over all it was an Okay day that could have been better or worse with a lot of purchases that I’m excited about.

Alright more later :)

Vietnam.. I know late.

Wow… it has been quite a while since I ended that last blog- WOW! You’ll have to bear with me because I don’t know if I’ll really be able to remember most of the griddy details. Its been CRAZY on this ship with very little time to do school work never mind working through all of the events we witness in each port. I hope some of you managed to catch up with my blog in the past few weeks, though I’m sorry to say this is another long one- it might just be easier to copy and paste into a word document J Overall I’m having a great time. I’m sure my family has been worried about me since I’m no longer on top of things, but life happens on this ship and things like school work unfortunately have top priority. Alright on with the griddy details.

Day B @ SEA – April 7th

Global Studies was mainly geered towards the business majors and discussed the different policies and other information for those that are interested in starting a partnership in Vietnam in the future. Kinda boring for those that are like myself, and are not focusing on business, though it was an educational experience as always. The rest of the day was pretty usual. I’m sure I napped and read more of Wild Swans. I don’t remember too much more about that day, but hopefully some stuff will come back to me

DAY A @ SEA/ EASTER SUNDAY!

So Christina and I woke up for Easter Sunday Mass in the Union with Archbishop presiding over the mass. It was an awesome (see Coreen- I can try to change up my vocab) and on a scale of 1-5 I mean it was about a 4 on the awesome rector scale. It would have been a 5 had most of the non-christian people not been there (they were a little disrespectful at times) and the words were posted a little better. Only the first few rows could actually see all of the words to the songs and everything so I missed out on a lot. I did however surprise myself with the amount that I actually remembered about Mass and all of the prayers since I was able to recite most of them pretty well. The mass was more of an Episcopalian than a Roman Catholic because it was modern day language instead of with all the thee’s and thou’s. Overall though I really enjoyed the mass and I was really glad that I was able to partake in it. After the mass they invited everyone to take a red carnation and follow the procession to the 4th aft deck to throw the flower into the water. It was another unbelievable experience. After throwing my flower in, I said goodbye to my friends and headed to class. Yes that’s right I had class on Easter. I guess we all have to make sacrifices and having class on my religious holiday is one of them. Then again its not like I had to go visit family. Directing was the first set of 2nd showings. It was a little nerve racking because it was quite good and definitely raised the bar for my actors. Global Studies was alright, lectured on Vietnam and current issues in Vietnam. Then I continued reading Wild Swans which has proven to be an eye opening book. I loved reading it and analyzing it. But anyways, In critical Issues we had a Q&A with the guest Lecturer for Vietnam. I was able to hear his stories about how the “American War” ruined his family since they were on both sides (much like our civil war). And his opinions on Mao and how no one talks bad about him, how the books that give any indication to a negative viewpoint is banned. It was just incredible to hear about his life growing up in this “Socialist” world. Again- incredible. After the Q & A I read more of Wild Swans which again is phenomenal and I recommend to anyone who wants to actually learn about the Culture Revolution and Communist China in general. After dinner was Ambassador’s ball meeting, which yet again no one bought anything new. So now we are running out of ports to buy things and not even the heads of the committee are leading by example. It makes me sad to know that this is supposed to be our “prom” and yet nothing is really organized. I mean I’m sure it will come out great, but the process to get to greatness is anything but organized. A few select people will rise above and actually make the ambassador’s ball a fun thing, or at least one can hope. More on this later on in the blog however… After the meeting we had Pre-Port both cultural and logistical for Vietnam. It was interesting.. if I remember correctly a few students stood up and did raps in order to tell us everything we needed to know. It was neat, a nice change and parts were pretty amusing. Of course the entire time I was just thinking about how in 12 hours I would be seeing Christine and my Mom and how I just couldn’t wait at all for it. After Pre-port, my “parents” had an egg hunt for all us kids. I only found 3 of the 29 eggs, but I didn’t mind because it was more the sport of it then anything- I knew my mom and sister were bringing me my own batch of easter candy and couldn’t wait! After my “brothers and sisters” left, I told my parents I would be right back with all my sleeping stuff. A while back they offered to let us sleep on their deck at night and I was taking advantage of it because I knew I wouldn’t get up in time if I wasn’t outside or at least in atmosphere where I can’t deny it. So Christina and I grabbed our blankets and headed upstairs and went to sleep outside, I was exhausted so I went right out but I kept waking up every hour because I was so anxious about seeing my family! (Awww I know…)

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!
My “parents” woke me up at 6:30 to watch the view. It was gorgeous, there were tons of these small boats that I would have sworn were seconds away from capsizing because they were a little too close to us. But thankfully nothing happened to any of them. I took tons of pictures of the rice paddies and all of the scenery. It was just like all of the Vietnam movies- very surreal and very nerve wracking for someone who was trying to be patient! After taking tons of pictures and the view not looking like it would change anytime soon, Christina and I grabbed out overnight stuff and went back to the room. We met Katie for breakfast and towards the end of breakfast we noticed the scenery was starting to change. So I went down to my room showered and got all ready for the day and then bolted upstairs where I was able to see the beginnings of Ho Chi Minh city come into view. It was again surreally beautiful, as if I stepped out onto a movie set. Much like every other port before it and like every port after it, it took my breath away. I waited patiently for the piers to appear and then I held my breath at every turn of the river in hopes that I would see the pier with all the “Americans” on it. And sure enough, since there were only a handful of us in the front, I was the first to see the “American” pier with a crowd of parents complete with tour busses. The busses really tipped us off and then with the zoom action of a friend’s camera we received confirmation that these people were indeed not a part of the indigenous people. Then came the search, as soon as the camera was able to start to distinguish people I went on a search to see if I could see my mom and Chris. One swipe through the crowd- no luck. I was ready to cry because I assumed they missed the bus (you know.. worse case scenario and really I wouldn’t have put it past them… the two of them together is usually a negative sign if you need them to be somewhere. Two words: New Haven. And if you don’t remember that- Yale. Bloomer. Newspaper. Getting lost for 4 hours on our way home- it was still in our state!) So either way, before I managed to lose it I convinced myself that I didn’t look hard enough and to try again. Sure enough, I had a glimpse of Christine. But I couldn’t figure out if it was just my mind wanting to see her or if it really was here. I took another look and decided it was definitely her and found my mom nearby. I was so excited. They found me and started waving and jumping up and down and that was when I lost it! I was so excited to see them, plus the emotion of this voyage in general, and then of course knowing that I was still going to be on this ship for another month without them just caught me off guard. The ship started to turn and so I ran over to the other side. My “auntie erin” was “saving my spot for me.” And I showed her where my family was waiting on the dock. My “parents” came over and with their binoculars I also pointed them out. My parents informed me they were extremely excited to meet my real mom and sister. I waited FOREVER on the deck until finally all of the parents were going back onto the buses (something about heat exhaustion, fainting, previous semester…) So I went back inside to wait to go through the line for my passport. Finally the Mediterrean Sea was called and I got in line. As always the 600 + line took forever to go through and in the midst of waiting in line they made another announcement about the parents, unfortunately I was surrounded by yelling and screaming, all from excitement, and didn’t catch the bulk of the message so I was really worried that I was going to miss out on something big. As soon as I was certified and Vietnam authority knew that I was in fact me and okay to get off in Vietnam I ran back out on to the 7th deck to see if my mom and sister were still there. They were and in fact they were just starting to formally get in line to board the ship. I waited for them to get into the gangway and ran down to the second deck (As I said, I was a little excited and filled with immense anticipation and joy). When they walked through the door I gave them both big hugs and then dragged them up to the 5th deck dining hall to make sure they didn’t need any other information. My “parents” were there so they were briefly able to meet each other. Christine and my mom of course kept introducing me to all of their new friends and their children (of which most I had never met and even now the only one I talk to is Logan and only when we get the chance!) Anyways, we sat down and had some lunch. It was probably in that moment that I realized how much I really wanted them both to be there and how much I really appreciated their efforts in getting there. And I also realized of course, how much I miss home. Not that I don’t LOVE it here, because this trip has been everything I wanted and so much more. I just wish that I could take a few breaks from ship life because life on here is very overwhelming ever minute of the day. Its non-stop and much more exhausting then my usual semester of 2 jobs, school full-time and stage managing. And I thought I didn’t have “me and relaxation time then”, pffft now is nothing. I don’t have privacy never mind “me time”. And gain. Not that I mind, this is an amazing sacrifice and privacy is a small price to pay but I can never really come to grips with anything that I’m doing or seeing because I don’t have any uninterrupted time to just sit, vedge, and think or write or even read.

Later on: It would be unfair to my writing to even attempt to figure out what wave length I was on, so now that at least a week has passed since I wrote in this thing, I thought I would start fresh since the last few sentences wasn’t actually referring to Vietnam in the least. After lunch, I gave the tour of the ship to my sister and my mom and the entire time all I could think was “Wow this is so cool that I get to show them the exact lifestyle I’ve been living in the past month and a half. And not just the ship, but also to experience Vietnam with them! And really when it comes down to it, I’m just SO glad to see them”. So we started the tour on the 7th deck, explored the pool area and then the dining areas, the pool bar and of course the classrooms. We ended in the my cabin room which was “not as small as we thought” which was exactly how I felt when I first saw my cabin and still feel that way today- 2 days before I actually get off this ship. I gave them their gifts that I had acquired thus far, my sister her necklace and my mom got her mug to take to work and all her Christmas ornaments. I hope they actually like them! I tried really hard to get things that they would like and enjoy… After awhile my mom informed us that she was going to fall asleep if she didn’t get some coffee so we trooped back to the dining hall to get some coffee, they had already closed up shop so we had to go up to the 7th deck, and then my mom wanted ice so I had to go up to the 6th deck and after getting her caffeine she was ready to go explore Vietnam. The entire day was pretty surreal because here I had my sister and my mom WITH me in a foreign country. This trip in general was pretty wild to think about, to see ocean on all four sides with no sign of land or life anywhere other than the people who are sharing this journey with me and the occasional dolphin or whales (yep that’s right!) So we took the shuttle out to town and after getting dropped off tried to find an atm, found one and after taking out some money started walking around Vietnam. We basically started wondering, telling stories, asking questions and pretty much meandering. I was HAPPY! I was so much in my glory, I can’t even tell you. It was so nice to have family there and it was just so nice to be able to share this with someone back home. We ended up stumbling on the Rex hotel which was where the American Military was located to strategize during the Vietnam War. The desk inside informed us that we had to go “out side” which later we realized she meant “other side” but because of the accent we didn’t get it. So we walked away disappointed and decided to look for some tailors. We walked a few blocks and saw a bunch but didn’t really go in but ended up at the big market so we went and walked around. The women working in the market were pretty rude and I’ve heard from a lot of my friends that they would scream “too big” to them and scare them off. Well when they said that to my mom I just about lost it. All I wanted to do was cry and sob and as funny as it sounds protect here. Here I had dragged my mother half way across the world just to see me and they were telling her that she was too big. She already doesn’t know, understand nor can she really fathom how SPECIAL she is and to just get all of this negative feedback from the twig people of Vietnam just got me so angry. And here a month and a half later I already have tears in my eyes just thinking about EXACTLY how I felt that day. I just wanted to yell at them so much! I just can’t even explain how much it hurt me to watch them hurt me. And I really think it was in that moment that I realized how much more I appreciate the kindness this world has to offer and how much I hate the people that try to bring down everyone else. After walking around the market we decided to head back to the shuttle which would hopefully take us back to the hotel, which as it turned out only returned to the ship. So since we now had a half hour to kill before the shuttle went back out, I ran inside and dropped off a few things and bought a few bottles of water since we all were dehydrated at this point. After getting dropped back off in the center of town we decided to find someplace to eat dinner and followed our map to get to the Lemongrass Restaurant where we ordered a bottle of wine to celebrate my big 21st birthday! The food was amazing, the wine was even better, overall a lovely experience which I am quite happy to say I was able to share with my family! After our awesome meal (on a scale of 1-10 it would be an awesome 9 by the way) we walked back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and Chris and I decided to go walk around some more while my mom went to go listen to the band in the lobby. It was especially nice to spend some alone time with my sister, I was really excited about this since we don’t usually get a chance to chat since she is Guam and I live in CT, so overall I was happy. We checked a few of the tailors to find out if I could get capris made out of the material and then asked about dresses. On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at the Rex for some food. I had mac and cheese and it was SOOO freakin good. Gosh I can’t wait to go back to the states for some food! TO make my own meal at this point would be glorious. After hanging out at the rex for a while we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next morning, my sister and mom had breakfast in the lobby and stole a few treats for me to enjoy on the bus ride to get back to the ship to collect the students for the day’s trip. At the ship I got off to find out if I needed to do anything special and waited in the union for an answer and basically didn’t get one. So That moment just reassured the fact that the field office really doesn’t know anything more then they do and that their sole purpose is to keep things moving on port days. I rejoined my family on the “party bus” as it was fondly nicknamed by one of the other crazy parents on the trip. The drive to go visit the temple was an extremely long one, with lots of photo moments. Overall I just enjoyed the comforts of family the entire time, shared more stories, took a few naps, and overall was quite content. At the temple we walked through and then went to the second floor so the contingents could begin the service. A lot of people took pictures of the building and the people and I have to admit I felt really bad about participating, afterall these people are in their religious place trying to connect with their higher power and there are hundreds of people taking tons of pictures of them praying. After thinking about it I realized that this takes place everywhere you go. I still feel guilty about interrupting such a religious pastime, but now I take it with a grain of salt. After all how many of entered and watched a service in New York’s cathedral (St pats?) and lets face it I’m sure photography is second nature in the Vatican! So it made me feel a little better knowing that all religious sects were getting the same tourist attraction. I more so felt bad for the participants then the church itself. I don’t know how I would feel if someone was taking pictures of me in the middle of a mass. I don’t think I would be very happy or comfortable for that matter! It was interesting though to see the temple and the lunch that followed it wasn’t half bad either. Watermelon (if I remember correctly) was the desert and it was quite delicious. Not nearly as good of a meal as Lemongrass, but still a pretty good meal. After lunch we headed back to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Here it was amazing (probably an 8 on the scale of things, though more so a 9 for the historical importance) place. We watched an English version of a video that basically condemned the American Army for killing, abusing and torturing its civilians and soldiers and called their own army heroes. I found this extremely interesting since here in the U.S. we are guilty of the same propaganda. It was definitely one of those eye opening moments where you just can’t help but be amazed. After the video we started crawling down the tunnels which was also pretty interesting. The entire time, all I could think about was how these were real tunnels, once used in war to kill our uncles, fathers, their friends and cousins are now tourist attractions. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, after all the main way of showing and telling people of an important historical moment is showing them exactly where it happened. The preservation of places like Auschwitz is why people can’t deny the holocaust, and here is another historical lesson in the process of prevention. Guerilla Warfare isn’t pretty, but neither is entering a war that isn’t yours to fight. The tour took us through several tunnels and rooms as well as showing us certain key factors- the tiny air holes in rocks to allow them to breathe or the traps that were created to kill even more American soldiers. After the tour we walked to the monument that holds all of the names of the people who were killed during the Vietnam War. The pictures that decorated the outside were also eye opening because they were graphic pictures of American soldiers killing, torturing, abusing civilians and soldiers alike. Or they painted heroes defeating the enemy soldiers. After our return to the city, I unfortunately don’t remember too much. I believe the basics of it was going to the ship to pick up the souvenirs that I had laid aside for my mom to bring back to the states and then walking back to the hotel and passing out. This also may have been the night my sister and I headed out to find the tailor, but again its been a month so you will have to forgive me, the main ideas and most profound events I promise are included here in this blog J.

A leisurely breakfast was the main goal of the morning and we slowly made our way out the door around 11am. We had just enough time to make it to the Tailor of our choice. I explained my capris and then my sister and I ordered a similar dress in different colors and my sister also had one? Other dress made ( I don’t remember if it was one or two). After the tailor we went back to the ship for lunch (nothing like a free meal) And met up with the rest of the parents and students for the School for the deaf and handicap orphanage. We received little gifts to give out to the kids while we were at each destination and then headed to the busses to leave. First was the school for the deaf was a pretty neat place. We were split up into a bunch of different groups and then we had the ability to go play and chat with the kids. My family and I had a group of older children, around 12, I believe because I remember thinking “wow this around my niece’s age” which was something I found most striking because Jessica was much more… mature? Serious? Seemed older? Then these kids to. In fact this is a trait I found across the board in most of the countries we have been to which is another fascinating fact for me to delve into at my return to the states. The students sat giggling and whispering, they seemed vulnerable while asking us our ages, addresses and names. Explaining who we were “sister” “Mother” “friend”. It was another incredible experience that I would never have had. The school also makes tons of cards that they sell in order to have some sort of income to help with financial aid for students to come to their school. After the school of the deaf we went to an orphanage for the physically and mentally handicapped. This was heartbreaking. As we walked through the building into the rooms where 18 year old children have been bed ridden their whole lives, and then crossed into the rooms where there are more active children that occasionally can be removed from their crib-like beds. And continued on to the active children that can run and jump and sort of interact with people, it was heartbreaking to not know if grasping or stroking a child’s hand in hope of some response would make a difference. To look and them and seem so helpless. By all means I know that the U.S. has the exact same problems but if this just opens a few more eyes then just maybe a positive solution can evolve. And I don’t mean send all of your extra wages there in hopes of improving the situation, I mean other alternatives. Educating the masses, that sort of thing. After donating a few more items, we trooped back onto the bus to head out to the ship and then to the hotel. I believe we stopped at the hotel before heading over to the Vietnamese House for dinner which was another phenomenal meal (though I personally enjoyed the Lemongrass more…) Another bottle of wine later and the three of us left giggling to head back to the hotel. In my outline of this trip I have that Chris and I head back out, and I think this time we just walked a little ways around the area to look at a few shops and of course more conversation. We headed back to the hotel and got lost, though eventually found the hotel. Once at the hotel we checked out the pool which was the perfect oasis! It was beautiful though minutes away from closing. When we returned to the room my mom was passed out. So we showered and went to bed!

Thursday Morning
Another leisurely breakfast was in store for us as well as a day of shopping! We headed back towards the market and that’s where we spent most of our time (and money!). I checked out a lot of the prices of the things that I wanted. Towards the end of our time at the market, a man was selling postcards. He was the cutest thing ever and had the jolliest personality so we bought some postcards and got a picture with him which I’m really excited about! He was just, a fine example of a happy person which is always an uplifting moment. Then we headed over to the history museum- damn what a WALK! My legs were KILLING me and I was hot. Chris and I had to keep slowing down because my mom kept stopping to drink her water (she was a bit dehydrated). When we finally got to the history museum, we had about twenty minutes to kill before the next show so we checked out the exhibits. They were pretty neat, one room held a coffin and a dead preserved body in a glass case. And there were tons of Buddha’s and other religious artifacts. One room even specialized in Buddhism in several nearby countries and the history of Buddhism. We managed to make our way through the entire museum and then took a seat for the water puppet show which was REALLY neat. I know I definitely enjoyed it. There were some crazy things that the actors could do. The cat was able to jump really high and I at least didn’t notice any other noticeable ways of controlling the puppet aside from the pole. At the end of the show they all came out and bowed a few times and left. Unfortunately one of the puppets broke during our performance so I only hope they checked it and found the missing piece. After leaving we were debating on if we should check out the huge zoo that was next door or head back to town. We ended up taking a taxis to the Notre Dame cathedral took some quick pictures of inside- they had neon Mother Mary’s it was pretty cool. Another example of taking pictures in a religious place. I bought my postage from Vietnam (wow it was EXPENSIVE!) and then we took a few pictures of the statue in front of the Notre Dame as well as the school kids playing cricket- another really neat thing to see! We walked to the Rex Hotel and we found the right way to go in and had a few snacks on the top floor. It was gorgeous though pricier then the places below. We headed back to the hotel after we chatted and finished our snacks to shower and get ready for dinner. We stopped by the tailor shop only to find that my capris weren’t lined in the inside, so after arguing with them that they had said that it would be lined and I would not pay more money, they gave in and send my capris back upstairs informing us several times that they would see us the next day with our dresses and finished capris. I was extremely disappointed though thankful that I had another day for them to perfect my capris. We headed to the ship to meet up with my friends only to find none of them there. I can’t tell you how angry I was. I guess angry is the wrong way but it’s the easiest way to explain. I mean I had made these plans with them and they weren’t there. I loved having my family there but another important part for me was them meeting the friends that I had acquired on this trip. As it turned out, Caitlin had to bring her parents to the airport, Katie was too tired from Cambodia (understandable), Liz had just gotten back from her trip and Julie and Christina were stuck outside in a gigantic line. So around 8:45 we finally headed out after mass chaos of trying to figure everything out. I left feeling much better, (my first thought was my friends were blowing me off- I know pessimist in me, but I had made these friends sound great and now they didn’t show up—what was I to think?) and we headed to the Lemongrass since their food was awesome. Unfortunately they were too slammed and their kitchen was about to close. So we headed to the Vietnamese House which was open and willing to have us. We ordered tons of meals to share and at first it was kind of awkward but got dramatically better as the night went on. After dinner we decided to get massages, but the only place that was open was a foot massage and as it turns out my foot still wasn’t (isn’t) healed and I wasn’t about to openly allow pain on poor toe! I told them I wouldn’t mind hanging out while they got it done but the only packages the place ordered was for an hour and wouldn’t make it shorter. So we left and stood outside talked for a really long time. My friends were going to go head over to the night market. I felt bad but I was exhausted. I wanted my sister to go, but I kind of figured she wouldn’t go without me and that just made me feel worse. As it turned out they walked over just in time for the night market to close so they didn’t get to do much shopping. After splitting, chris, my mom and I headed to the hotel, showered and went to bed- It had been a LONG day!

Friday- D-Day L (departure….)
Early breakfast, it was pretty good, though I thought we were going to miss the bus, I was scared. As it turned out there was a second bus gathering parents and we made that one. So we headed to the ship to pick up more students to go to the Mekong Delta for the day. It was a long drive over to the first temple which was a much smaller version of the one we saw on the way to the Cho Chi Tunnels. And then we went to the market where we made the smartest purchase ever- rice hats! Although we didn’t get a great deal on them… they were worth it because they really kept the sun off on the water. Our bus continued on the way to the Mekong Delta. We boarded these boats and headed to one island were we disembarked. After a short walk we were entertained by live music while enjoying fresh fruits. My mom bought a clapper which was pretty neat, I can’t wait to remember all of our purchases, mainly because they have SO many memories attached to them. Then we got into canoes and two natives paddled us a really long time through the canals to meet back up into our boats. It was crazy on the canoes because it looked JUST like the movies. Brown water, the water plants surrounding you, the curves. The smell the look, it was overwhelming. This was the first of many that about all I can say is rent a movie- its exactly what it looks like. So after boarding another boat we headed to another island where we had tea which was excellent and had samples of coconut taffy which my mom bought a lot of. I also convinced her to buy banana chips which I can’t wait to eat when I get back to the states. Another boat ride brought us to our lunch. Lunch was pretty insane- fish- still on the bone in its COMPLETE form (including the head, scales, everything) on a stick was one of our first courses. And how could we forget the octopus soup- yep octopus in its entirety these tiny legs sprouting everywhere. Lol gosh what a great time. On the walk to lunch I realized there was a fork in the road- one led to this nice paved bridge, and another was filled with rocks and pumps. Dirt and overall looking pretty shabby. I really hope that it came out because it has potential to be really cool. After lunch we took the boats back to the busses and headed back to the ship. We arrived late which I was really disappointed about. We headed straight to the market to get last minute items. I got all my souvenirs (umbrellas and fans for the kids, my two Vietnamese oufits, etc. ) and then headed over to the Tailor to take a look at the capris and dresses. My capris were ready and were excellent. I was extremely excited. By the way I have had TONS of compliments for them since then while wearing them on the ship and can’t wait to have the most original capris ever. And our dresses weren’t even started. Yep that’s right. No dress for Jenn. I was livid. I was so upset because I really wanted a dress. I know that I had acted like it was no big deal at the beginning but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it was something that I really wanted. After demanding my money back and finalizing my sisters plans to get the dresses EARLY the next morning, we headed to the hotel to pick up my stuff to head to the ship. We stopped at Gloria Jeans for coffee and cheesecake which was amazing after having such a letdown. And then we headed to the ship to start saying goodbyes. The entire time I was in line, slowly inching myself closer to the ship and farther from my family the more I could feel the lump in my throat grow and the tears inch closer to crawling down my cheeks. I was heartbroken. I had just enjoyed this awesome week and wasn’t ready to say goodbye again. Add on severe disappointment, I wasn’t doing so well. At this point all I could think I have another month and half to go to see my mom which is long enough, but who knows when I’ll see my sister again. I was so upset. I just enjoyed having family with me and to now have them ripped once again away from me I just didn’t know what to do. I ran to my room, lost it, and when Christina came in I grabbed my landing card to go to pursers desk to drop it off and headed to the 7th deck. I stood there for a really long time, I tried to yell a few times, but my voice was pretty shot since at that point I was basically sobbing. I watched my family board the shuttle to head back to the city and I was just heartbroken wishing they would just look up and see me waving like crazy trying to get there attention, alas no luck. So I continued to stand at the railing for at least another 10 minutes until I got it through my head that they were not actually coming back for one more goodbye and they considered me gone. And then I sank down on the deck and just cried for another half hour or so because again I was quite upset of having my family leave. I just wanted to continue the trip and have them come along. After I managed to calm down, I headed back to my room and chatted with Christina for a little while and then passed out.

Saturday Morning
Since the parents were in Vietnam, the authorities decided we would stay until 9am before leaving so then the parents could say goodbye to us. At 8am I woke up and I could just not go back to sleep. So I finally decided to get ready for global studies. I put on my new capris and washed my face. I figured I would go up to the 7th deck to go and watch the other students say goodbye to the parents that actually showed up, knowing that my mom and my sister had joined the group going to the War Remnants museum. Well, at about the time I was about to grab my key card, the phone rang- it was Logan calling to say my family was waiting for me outside, they decided not to go out with the group because they were going to where we had gone on Thursday. The dresses my sister got fit like a glove and they had mine finished for half the price and were going to pick it up later on in the day. At 9:10am they started to pull the ship away and I pretty much got one more “I love you” “can’t wait to see you again” before they were a little too far away to hear. Thankfully it was just in time for Global Studies, otherwise I probably would have been glued to that pole for the rest of the day crying again, and instead had something to concentrate on which was an intro to china including communism and the Tiananmen Square Riots and a short clip from the movie “tank man”. After a profound Global Studies I returned to my room where I continued reading Wild Swans and began writing my paper. I couldn’t concentrate at all during Energy Technology and Society which we were informed there is a test next class. Quite disappointing! After class I began studying for Global Studies which was NOT fun at all. And then I eventually fell asleep while studying.

My reflection on Vietnam: It was amazing to see my family in another port. I think for the most part my reflections have been mixed in here, or at least my emotions should be pretty obvious at this point, so I won’t dwell too much on it. Needless to say though a few days later I wasted a lot of internet minutes trying to get online only to find out that my mom was robbed the night we said goodbye the first time. She is fine, but had to stay in Vietnam another 4 days in order to get a new passport and exit visa. This news of course just upset me even more then I already was about leaving home though I’m glad that I did hear about it because in Hong Kong I was confronted by a few other parent trip students to make sure my mom was doing okay and made it home alright. As for the culture, astounding, as with each port, I really will never be the same again, here it was for the historic value. A place where the Vietnam War was a crucial part of while our country once again finds itself in a war that shouldn’t have ever happened. More on my feelings of Iraq however when I get to Japan which would be one of the more amazing ports I have visited. Vietnam is definitely a place I would want to bring my children some day. Hopefully when peace has finally taken hold in our country. Well I guess I will post this entry for now. You will get more tomorrow afternoon when I wake up (Its about 2am here…) All I have left to do pack my last minute clothes and my computer and I am all set to go home! Plan for tomorrow- continue writing this blog, layout?, continue writing this blog, picture slideshow of entire trip and lastly bed. J 70 hours and I will be in SAN DIEGO! Amazing…

Also, I hope you can see that this entry was a little difficult to write, afterall my heart is pretty much poured out here, which is another reason why it took so long for me to post this. I hope you enjoyed it. I also think part of me wanted to deny that it already happened cuz then i didn't have too much to look forward to until my "reentry" to the states. Well hope life is great be home soon and this time i'll update sooner! Love you all

update...?

Hey everyone, just letting you know i'm alive, its been crazy on this ship!

I'll hopefully update later this week!

Love you all and see you soon!

Miss you,

Jennifer

Malaysia and a HAPPY B-DAY to ME!

April 6, 2007

FIRST OFF: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I’m 21 EVERYONE! And CAN NOT WAIT to be home with ALL of you to CELEBRATE!

Malaysia was amazing... strangely enough definitely the country I would love to go back to LIVE in (not necessarily just to visit but to live!) at least so far it is on the top of my list. Although so much of the country especially the city is by definition “Westernized”. In Kuala Lumpur three Starbucks were on the main road within one of the shopping districts, and yet there was so much culture, merging cultures even.

Alright before I go into what happened this past week or so, let me first share a small secret with you, though if you took a close look at the top picture in the last picture blog you may have seen it. I am hoping and praying to god my sister didn’t tell my mother because that was the whole point- to shock my mom! Lol and my dad, but my mom will tell my dad and he will be oblivious to it for a few months like he was with my belly ring J Anyways, during my last day in Mauritius, Juli, Liz and I went on a mission since we weren’t going to go to the beach and go snorkeling and so we went hunting for a place to get my nose pierced. Yes that’s right, pierced. Well we were told to try the local jewelry stores, which makes sense though I can’t imagine an upright jewelry store would pierce a nose in the middle of the states. Well we found this really really nice one and I made sure they sterilized everything. They used a regular earring gun on my nose and it hurt like you would not believe. My eyes naturally filled with tears and I was completely blown away that I had actually just did that (which by the way would be the daring thing I did while in Mauritius). After we walked around for awhile more we sat at the table and when we finally met up with the rest of our group it took the rest of the group and hour and a half to notice, and the only reason they did notice was because someone asked if anyone needed anything and I said rubbing alcohol. After the confused stares I explained that I got my nose pierced and then everyone broke out saying oh my god I didn’t notice it looks so good…. Etc. It was really funny. Most people haven’t actually noticed and only when prompted or told and everyone has pretty much agreed that it looked naturally despite the fact that the original stud was HUGE and was glittering right in everyone’s face. So while I was in India, everyone kept asking if I was married which I thought was really weird, so when I went to my home stay I asked if the nose piercing meant a girl was married and the reply was no, that usually a newborn baby girl gets her ears and nose pierced and her head is shaved. So we came to the conclusion that the people of Chennai that asked me if I was married assumed that I had chosen to be “reborn” in a sense as an Indian woman- shaved head, nose and ears pierced. I thought it was an incredibly funny and interesting and I was and still am incredibly amused by this. Alright… now my secret is out. I just hope I still get a surprise out of my mother!

So after I finished writing the last blog, I finally went to sleep really early in the morning. I chose to opt out of waking up really early to go and watch the ship pull into the port in order to catch up on the sleep that I lost copying my emails and uploading my blog. I slept until about 9am and by then Christina had left, ate breakfast and was on her way back. She soon left to go on her trip and then I soaked my toe and got ready for the day, I went to get my passport from the Faculty lounge. I ran into Kara who said that if I wanted to I could join her group of friends for the day so I ran to my room and showered and got all ready and then waited around for a really long time for them to get ready to go. By the time that they were ready half the day had passed which was a little disappointing because I really wanted to get going somewhat early since I had slept in, but I don’t feel like I really missed out on seeing anything. The point is that even though I was a little disappointed in the moment, now looking back I wouldn’t change a thing. Anyways, when we finally were all ready to leave we were tendered to the shore- for those of you unfamiliar with the term (which I was prior to this journey…) means that we take tiny boats (which ended up being our lifeboats) from the gangway and a floating walkway to the actual dock because the water is to shallow for the ship to make it to land. After our very exciting lifeboat ride we took a taxis to this food market which turned out to be closed, which was another disappointment. So we went to a seafood restaurant instead. I ordered some seafood noodle meal that I can’t pronounce, it wasn’t too bad! I ate with chopsticks and I must admit I think I just might be improving- I might be a “natural” by the time that I get back! After the amazing Chinese food our group decided to go to Penang Hill and take the Cable car to the top to walk around and check out the temple. The cable car ride was pretty slow and pretty freaky because there were times when it was pretty much going straight up. At the top the view was amazing, lots of pictures to show everyone back home! The temple was also pretty neat though it was pretty typical of the hindu temples we saw during our stay in India, though still really cool. On the ride back down I ended up in the same car as a group from the UK and they were asking general questions about the trip- what I was doing, why I was on this trip, where I was going, etc. and then we got on the subject of politics in the US and the conversation got increasingly interesting. They couldn’t wait to find out if “we” (the US) was going to vote for “the black guy” or the “white woman” and how Hilary Clinton knows more about the presidency and how she would do a hell of a job because she is already so equipped intellectually and how the other guy is really young but could be extremely promising. And then they started to let me know that Bill Clinton is one of the best leaders we have had in quite a few years and how all that business with his personal life was completely uncalled for. And then we naturally got onto the topic of George Bush and his policies and naturally the war on Iraq and how we don’t belong there. They naturally wanted to know what party I was a part of which was really interesting because in the US it is so “inappropriate” to discuss what party you are really from. And I said you can’t tell from my disgust about George Bush? I’m a democrat and also not a huge fan of the man. I’m from CT and we are a pretty blue state. One of the men laughed and said what are you talking about I love George Bush and proceeded to say how he loved him and should stay in office (I didn’t catch the sarcasm until the end!). One of the other ladies in the group said… yea love george bush… he is great entertainment, at least watching him attempt to make a speech is entertaining. I like to put him on the telly just to get a good laugh. Lol It made me laugh because it was so easy to talk to them about politics which is not such and easy thing to do in the states and when you do strike up a conversation about politics in the states, I usually get confused within two seconds because of the language used to describe the situation and thus makes the experience terrible. After we descended from the mountain and waved goodbye, the group of us took a taxis back to the ship where they dropped me off and then the proceeded to the airport to go to Borneo for a few days independently. I attempted to get on a tender so I could go back to the room and change but the trip leader wouldn’t let me and so I had to sit outside on land side waiting for an hour before the first tender made it over. I was not happy because I definitely could have gone over and changed completely and been much more comfortable than I was. Thankfully there was one other girl who had happened to have bought a pair of the tie pants and agreed to let me use them. I thanked her soo much because the skirt that I was wearing I continued to trip on and I was sweating to death in. After the first group crossed over, I had to wait for the second group to come over because the person that was supposed to have my ticket to go on the trip didn’t and I had to wait for the next trip leader to find out what to do. So at 8pm (2 hours after I was told I wasn’t allowed to cross back to the ship) our busses finally left the compound to go to the Welcome Reception. The shadow Puppet show was pretty neat though a little disappointing because they started integrating English words into the performance and changed it from the original folktale to explaining their college. It just really wasn’t what I thought it would be, though I commend the college students who put on the show since they were not the ones that were originally schedule to perform for us and were last minute replacements since their mentor, a genius at shadow puppetry got tremendously sick and was unable to make it. After the performance we were allowed to go on stage and check out the puppets and the musical instruments used to make the performance happen. It was really neat and I got lots of pictures of backstage. I was such a dork though because I kept checking out the lights and trying to figure out what they were (we- Lindsey another theatre geek and I, decided they were probably really really really really old zooms). After the show and Meet & greet we were invited outside for some traditional foods. Unfortunately my stomach was feeling quite delicate and it was all spicy foods so I didn’t end up eating too much. On the walk back to the bus afterwards I ended up falling into a hole. Well sort of – one of my feet fell into a hole and my leg immediately started bleeding and hurt like crazy. It also hurt my toe a million times more then it already was. So as soon as we finally got back to the ship Judy (directing professor) ran to get the nurse on duty. Brenda fixed up my leg and told me that I had to clean it and re-bandage it twice a day and that I was lucky I didn’t twist my ankle. She also let me know that I should be very careful in Kuala Lumpur and that I was lucky because she was actually going on the trip so if anything took a turn for the worse that I should immediately find her. She also took one look at my toe and told me that it looked absolutely terrible and that I should have come to visit much sooner and that she might have to poke and prod in order to attempt to get some of the pressure out of underneath my toe nail. So she gave me lots of medication that is supposed to help both my leg and my toe defeat all infections. I’m sure that will cost me an arm and a leg and I am only way too excited to find out how much that bill was. I heard it was somewhere between 5 and 10 dollars a pill and she prescribed 20 pills to me… that’s a lot of money. I had doctors orders that I had to come down at 7am the next morning so she could take a better look at my toe after the medication got a chance to get in my system and that I should ice my leg otherwise I would bruise. Lindsey offered to run and get me ice and Judy walked me back to the room and I got nice and comfy with my book and ice. That is until Juli walked in and she naturally wanted to talk and all I really wanted to do was read, but again one of those things that you just have to do. It was a nice conversation and definitely don’t regret it, it just wouldn’t be my first choice when I’m in a lot of pain or sickness. I finally kicked them out of my room at 12:30am because I needed to get some rest. I finished packing with Christina and we went to bed.

DAY 2 in PENANG to KL

At 7am I woke up and went down the hospital, Judy was waiting for me to hold me hand or whatever I needed to do which I thought was incredibly sweet of her. Brenda the nurse from the night before took a look at it and said it looked much better (I don’t quite understand that, but I nodded my head). Dr. Matt came in to take a look and said in nicer words that I needed to suck it up and soak my toe twice a day to get it better. I was a little annoyed though because Brenda had made such a big deal about it the night before and I kept saying that Dr. Matt had already said there was nothing he could do and that I just needed to soak it. So after that I went to take a shower and got ready for KL. Christina and I had breakfast, grabbed our things and went up to meet Katie in the Union. It was quite exciting- Katie managed to switch into our bus, though that meant that we had to share our twin beds with her since her room was in the other hotel and not really near our hotel. But we didn’t mind. After the 6 hour bus ride of movies, reading, music and naps, we finally arrived in the beautiful city of Kuala Lumpur. It was amazing and definitely hands down a city I could live in. We went to our room, squeezed the beds together to make one big one and then took a tour of our hotel. Not too much to look at but it was raining and we didn’t really want to head out in the rain. So we checked out the internet room (though it was about the same as the ship so I said forget it!) and enjoyed the view around us. At 7:30pm we met our group and left for the reception dinner. The dinner was… interesting. It was a wide variety of food and most of which I think is an “acquired” taste though I did manage to find enough food that I could fill my stomach. I also tried all sorts of Malaysian desserts which again were interesting in texture and taste. At the start of the show we were invited to go upstage and bless the new “couple”. I went up and as a parting gift I received a gold bag with a hard boiled egg. The egg is supposed to symbolize high levels of fertility in hopes of conceiving. (I also learned later on that Malaysian villages feel that if a woman has her left nostril pierced also has high levels of fertility) not that conception will even be a part of my near future, but I guess in 10 years it is good to know that I have high levels of fertility and will have no problem conceiving a child according to Malaysian tradition! They performed a variety of dances all of which were beautiful. At the end we were given the opportunity to take pictures with the dancers, which we did! By the time we reached the hotel, the three of us (Christina, Katie and myself) were so exhausted we barely made it under the covers before passing out.

DAY 3 in KUALA LUMPUR

I had to wake up bright and early to redress my wounds and soak my toe which was fun and then I woke up my “KL Roomies” and we got ready for the day. Breakfast was “normal” foods that we recognized. They gave us two options one buffet line of traditional food and one of waffles, omelets, cereals, etc. I opted for the omelets because I haven’t had them in a really long time and they were quite delicious. I was impressed. After breakfast we took a tour around the city. We stopped at the King’s Palace. The King is elected every 5 years and the current one was a Sultan of another part of Malaysia. The palace was huge though you couldn’t see too much. I’m sure its similar to going to the UK and trying to look at the palace from the outer gates. Then we drove by the Parliament building which is this triangular shaped building pretty cool I must say on our way to the Garden Lakes which had several monuments and statues. One monument to commemorate WW I and another was WWII and the last was for a war against communism. Malaysia is currently celebrating its 50th year as an independent country this year and there were signs everywhere hyping up the celebration. Then we drove by the biggest Mausk and the Islamic Art museum before stopping right outside of the Supreme Court building (which was gorgeous with its round staircases and towers) and stopped into the National Natural History Museum which explained the natural history of Malaysia starting in the Paleolithic Age. And we briefly looked in the KL Art Museum and then headed back to the bus. The green that was right outside our bus is used for drag queen performances and gatherings which was quite interesting. The KL Tower was next on our list. Built in order to get better telephone and satellite connection, the KL Tower was the tallest building for quite a while but now is beat by a few others. We had 45 minutes to get up to the top, use the computer to take a tour around the top and get down to go to the bus, which was nearly impossible. I was able to take my time and listen to the first 3 of 12 windows and then stopped because I knew I was going to run out of time. After taking the pictures I wanted and looking for interesting buildings Christina and I ran to the bus. We were the last ones to reach our bus but thankfully the other busses had quite a few stranglers. Then we headed to Chinatown for lunch which was superb. The food was amazing. And it was a Taiwanese Man’s birthday and so they sang to him in their language which was awesome to witness. He blew out his candles and made a short speech. It was cute. The best part was the ice cream we had for dessert. It was also amazing, though I think more from my self-deprivation of ice cream since I don’t want to spend money on the ships ice cream and instead would prefer to eat off the ship while I’m in port. It’s a gamble I guess! After lunch we dropped a few students off at the “twin towers” which is actually a huge shopping mall and headed back to the hotel. The girls and I had found an ad for this pewter museum that we really wanted to go to. It gives the history of pewter, you get to watch it being made and then you get to try it yourself. The museum part was free and making a bowl was pretty inexpensive. Unfortunately our tour guides wouldn’t help us try to make reservations, promising we would end up going. At the end they told us that it was impossible and not enough people wanted to go (they didn’t ask anyone else… so of course no one wanted to go). We ended up getting the front desk in our hotel to help us out. After finding out the free shuttle doesn’t leave until 10am and we needed to be back to the hotel for 11am, we decided to make reservations for 9am as soon as they opened and take a taxis for a slight charge. Brenda the nurse wanted to join us and so we made plans for the 4 of us to go in the morning. After solidifying our plans for the morning we headed out to do some shopping- and boy did we do damage to our wallets! I found a bunch of t-shirts that are really comfy and bought 5 – one in each color- because I haven’t managed to find shirts like these anywhere. Plus they are supposed to wisk away any sweat- pretty sweet huh? I also bought a scratch and sniff t-shirt that smells like strawberries. I did all of my shopping and nothing too exciting, well aside from me dancing to My Girl, the “shut up” song (you know “shut up, just shut up shut up” and Achy Breaky Heart in the middle of the mall. All of the locals were cracking up and watching me. Some of them joined me in dancing around. It was amazing. Katie and Christina kept looking at me like I was a psycho. Again- great time. After we burned big holes in our pockets we took the monorail to the Hard Rock Café- Another amazing experience. When we arrived there were some skanky girls barely dressed dancing around and trying to promote some beer. They kept playing games like ring toss (real ring toss ;) ) in order to win beer. At dinner we all ordered drinks in order to commemorate my 21st birthday since we all knew I wouldn’t have the opportunity the first day. I had a Pickled Tink which was amazing and the other two had Strawberry Daiquiris which were also amazing. After dinner we got back on the monorail where this guy was talking to us and asking us where we were from. One of the other people on the monorail turned out to be from Jersey which was kind of neat, though it was our stop and we needed to get off the monorail. I felt bad the entire day and especially at this point because there were so many stairs. My legs were incredibly sensitive the entire stay in KL and when going up and down stairs I have to take one stair at a time and that significantly slowed the group. But I think we did all the shopping we wanted to even though we didn’t have nearly enough time to go to the craft market, spend some actually open time in Chinatown and go to Starbucks. But its alright. At the hotel we dropped off all the bags and things we bought and headed out to Chinatown. 20 min and 3 direction stops later, we managed to make it- by then it was about 12:15 and Christina and Katie officially wished me a Happy Birthday! Chinatown was unfortunately closed and we were able to watch them clean up the streets- but it was nice to say we saw what it looked like. Later on we heard it wasn’t that impressive- a lot of knockoffs and not too much cultural stuff, at least not at prices that we can get during our stay in Hong Kong. After Chinatown we walked back to the hotel, showered and packed and went to bed. When I climbed into bed, I had a surprise- three packs of cinnamon gum and a b-day card from Christina (isn’t she so sweet!)!

DAY 4 in KL – Also known as my 21 ST BIRTHDAY!

At 7:30am I woke up and tended to my toe and bruises and went back to bed for a little bit because I got done much faster then I thought I would. Though I had another surprise- Christina had written down 21 reasons why she loved having me as a roommate and put it in my pile of clothes for the next day so when I got dressed, I found it and it made me tear up a little because she is just so sweet. At 8am I rolled out of bed and grabbed my bag for the day and with Christina and Katie headed to breakfast. We ate fast and met Brenda, grabbed a taxis and headed to the Pewter Factory. Pewter is made of Lots of Tin plus Copper and something else. Another fact- the Academy Awards are made of gold plated pewter! We were able to see the process, how most things are put into a mold and then they are shined and stained and battered and everything. It was the coolest thing every. After we talked to the guide about our reservations and we headed to the workshop. We were able to engrave stuff on our bowl- mine says “Happy 21 in Malaysia” in the center and on the outside rim reads “Semester – at – sea – MV – Explorer – 4/5/2007 – “ and the center bottom has my name. After we imprinted our message on the flat sheet of pewter we had to shape our bowl. We used a shallower bowl shape first to get the movement down and then we moved to a deeper one in order to finish shaping it. Overall they were amazing to come out. I took a catalog with all of the pieces and we were given brochures, the aprons we used when making it and certificates to say we “graduated” from our “apprenticeship”. It was really cute and really made my birthday- or at least it was a great start to a great birthday. After the other three made purchases we headed to the taxis and headed back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff, checked out and went on to the bus. We started our 6 hour journey back home, stopping twice- once for lunch at another mall- it was alright food, and then once for the bathroom. At our arrival, the line for tendering back to the ship was already really long. Christina and Katie offered to go and get the flowers to give to marvel to get on to the ship and I agreed to watch the luggage since my leg was killing me from the walking of the day before. Our group, had we stayed in line, the wait was about an hour to get on the tender, and another half hour before getting onto the boat and clocking in. As soon as the two got back we jumped in line. It took us from 7:15pm until 8:45 to get tendered, swiped in and handed our passports in. It was pretty nuts. When I reached my cabin- my door was decorated with more cinnamon gum and streamers with a big sign that said happy 21st! Again- made my night. Then at about 9:30, my “parents” stopped by and wished me a Happy Birthday- they checked out the room since they haven’t seen a student room on this ship before. They agreed that the room wasn’t too bad and definitely festive. I continued to organize my stuff and then Christina came in and said that she wanted to treat me to some ice cream so as soon as I could take a break she wanted to get up there. So I finished downloading my pictures and organizing my souvenirs and putting all my clothes away- meanwhile Christina is like “can’t you do that later”. We left the room and she told me she wanted to take the elevator which I thought was REALLY strange and that tipped me off that she was acting weird. So we walked through the 7th deck, ran into Dean Mike who wished me a happy B-day J and then headed out to the aft deck when Christina said, oh I think they are on the 6th deck. And so we headed down the stairs and lo and behold a party was waiting for me. Lol I was bright red and I had at least 15 people there including my “parents” and Judy which is was really sweet of them both to come. They sang happy birthday and I blew out my candle. I cut the cake and then the adults said they were going to pass on the cake and they had a meeting to go to so they left, but at least they were there for a little bit J After we finished eating the cake we gave a few pieces out to some passerbyers and started playing a game- guess Jen’s favorite. So that unleashed an interesting conversation of all of Jenn’s deepest secrets- the embarrassing moment with the Archbishop, Christina’s jump in the middle of the storm before Mauritius, favorite food, the movie Jenn watched 5 times in a row on this ship (Bend it Like Beckham), etc. lol it was quite the conversation and then everyone started to leave. We cleaned up and ran into Kara who I chatted with in the hallway for a little while. By the time I got back to the room, my friends had beat me there and decorated my walls with big bright letters that say Happy Birthday Jen! And then the proceeded to show me a DVD they had created for me with our favorite memories, messages to me and tons of pictures. If there was a time I was most likely to cry- it was in that moment. It was an unbelievable day and I couldn’t have found a better group of friends on this ship. They really made it so that I wasn’t painfully yearning to be home- taking my first shot with my mom and Melanie, wishing ryan was there to drink with on our special day. They made it possible to forget that I was half way around the world, away from everyone that I originally thought I would be celebrating that special day with. They also pulled out some sparkling grape juice since we aren’t allowed to bring alcohol on the ship and because we are in port- no pub-night so no alcohol for Jenn on her 21st b-day. But they helped make it so it didn’t matter and that it didn’t hurt as much to not have my best friend there or anyone from home for that matter. I mean, I still teared up a few times that day, don’t get me wrong. It just wasn’t nearly as painful as it could have or should have been. Again- I have an amazing group of friends and my only hope is that each and everyone of you can meet this awesome group of people. After everyone started going to bed, Christina and Juli surprised me with a gift- a nalgene filled with candy and stickers. It was again amazing- I can’t wait to use it. After the gift, I went to bed, exhausted from such an exciting day!
DAY A @ SEA

Today was an alright day, our first day of second showings. Boy have they risen the bar. I’m excited to work with my actors but I’m soo nervous. I need to work on my directing journal, maybe that will be my goal for tomorrow. On top of writing all of my letters for Vietnam and finishing the letters I owe my mom and Melanie… oh and updating Jeffery/Lester’s journal and making a cd of pictures that I wasn’t able to capture on the two disposables. Global Studies was pretty intense- History of Vietnam War starting with WW II and ending with the war followed by the American war veteran perspective and then a Vietnamese Perspective. The Interport Lecturer made it very clear that the people of Vietnam are still not comfortable with discussing the war. After global studies I went to my room and organized all of my souvenirs and grabbed some more things to pack away. Now all that is left to pack in the luggage for my mom to take is the doll collection, everything else I will be shipping home at the end of the voyage. I also changed my nose stud from the earring to the actual nose post- so now its much smaller, less noticeable and much prettier. Which by the way taking the earring out was a pain because of that ridge that all earrings have – not fun at all, but now it was worth it because I look cute, though I almost miss the big stud. I also took a shower, soaked my toe and re-bandaged my leg. At noon I had lunch with Christina and headed back to my room where I continued organizing and striking things off my to-do list. At 2:15 I headed to my class. I barely had the energy to focus- it was pretty bad! After class I stopped at the school store to see if I could get something for my dad but they didn’t have any non-hooded sweatshirts, so tomorrow I’m going back to look at the T-shirts. But I don’t know if I want to try to get him a medium and pray he fits or go for the extra-large which will definitely be to big because they don’t have larges and their sizes are kind of funny. It’s a hat and shirt combo. I wish I could talk to my mom, but alas she is Thailand having a ball with my sister! Gosh I can’t even tell you how much I can’t wait to see them. The day crawled by knowing that it would bring me one day closer to seeing them! I continued reading Wild Swans and then fell asleep until 6:15pm. Christina, Liz and I went to dinner- pasta with weak tomato sauce. At 6:40pm I ran to my “parents” room for my family party. I stayed there until about 9:40pm tonight and had an amazing conversation ranging from changing my nose ring, to Malaysia, to the atmosphere on the ship, our expectations of our journey in comparison to how we feel now, etc. Overall good company. We decided that we need to have a game night, A sleepover on the deck and family photos for the Ambassadors Ball. I’m very excited, as soon as my mom and sister are on board and see my room, I’m introducing them to the family, or at least my “parent’s” on board that are taking care of me and standing in for my family. After the party I started writing this blog, Katie and Juli came over and exchanged a few pictures and now Christina and I are working on our blogs and are about to fix the Easter decorations in preparation for Easter and my family!

Well I should probably go to bed considering its almost 2:30am here. I will probably post this at about 5:30/6am in the morning and I hope you all enjoy this. I love and miss each and every one of you!

Sorry no new pictures- the server is being really slow lately. I’m hoping there will be a quick stop in an internet café so I can upload my pictures and check out my banking and registration! So maybe next time!