Me steering the boat! just kidding...
me looking cute with my hair the morning of!
another last minute hair photo
the pony tail removed
And lastly, My hair getting removed! yea 10 inches!
The final result :) Its growing on me... not that I have a choice
February 23rd
Day 5 in SALVADOR continued…
Well I woke up bright and early for breakfast with Leslie and Emily and when we looked outside the window it was downpouring. Our hopes of last minute shopping were slightly dashed, so we agreed to regroup at 9:30 and see how the weather was at that point. Still raining. 10am- still raining. 10:30 raining and the crew was in the middle of drills in case of emergencies, so we weren’t allowed to leave. So finally at 11am we decided to get off the ship no matter what (as long as the crew was free to check us off the ship). Thankfully we were, and thankfully it stopped pouring and was only sprinkling. We hung out at the Mercado for a little while and then took the elevator to the upper level of the city (we weren’t allowed to walk up it because it is the 1st place robbers go to attack you) not that we would have wanted to- it was a very long walk! And the elevator makes you sick because it goes up really fast and then suddenly breaks and does the same thing when you go down. So its kind of like that ride at Six Flags, but less interesting and more grungy. Anyway, we walked over to Pelourhino Square to find an internet café and since almost all of the computers were in use we decided to split, Emily and I were going to shopping and Julie and Leslie were going to stay and use the internet. Emily and I left and did our shopping- I’ve been looking for Christmas Ornaments everywhere and despite the fact that Brazil is Christian, I guess they don’t manufacture ornaments because the closest thing I found was in Rio and I couldn’t find them ANYWHERE in Salvador and I was pissed. So At the last few moments I caved and bought “brazil” earrings that is a shell with the Brazilian flag and “brazil” painted on them. Very cheap and very disappointing I had my mind set on the ones I saw before. I bought Patti her Brazilian coffee (which smells amazing!) and I bought a dress to cut up and use for my quilt. I also bought my doll/statue which is also gorgeous and I love it, it has taken the place of the Puerto Rican doll on my night stand and now the PR doll is on the window shelf we have. We ate pizza for lunch and I went onto the internet to post my blog, I hoped to post pictures but if you couldn’t figure it out it didn’t work! The internet is slow so I’m going to hope for better luck at 4 am on the ship when this will hopefully be posted or South Africa. So after checking my email and getting more bad news I was ready to just go back to the ship where I could have my privacy. But first we stopped at the Mercado for Leslie and Emily and I ran into Christina who I was SOO happy to see. We only were able to talk for a few minutes (I was officially broke having used the rest of my money on my souvenirs and she was going to dinner at Pelourhino on the second level of the city.) So I went back to the ship with Leslie, Emily and Julie. I basically hung out in my room until dinner at 6:30pm and wrote in my directing journal. When I got done with my meal I happened to see my professor for directing and asked if I could meet to talk to her after she was done with her meal, she agreed to meet me. So I met with her for about 45 min and discussed everything- family, stage managing, the class, my other classes, the ports, everything that I’ve learned, how I’ve changed so far and I can’t even begin to fathom how much I’m going to continue to change during this journey… that sort of thing. When I returned to my cabin, Christina started to cry and told me that she was so sorry about everything going on with my family but that she was SOO happy to see me because she was so scared that I was going to leave and go back home and how she didn’t know what she was going to do for the rest of the trip without me. And one by one our friends joined in our room- I guess we have the party room because everyone comes to visit us here. Its kind of neat. So we had a big ole party in our room and just talked endlessly and then one by one they all left to do last minute homework and then we started talking and fell asleep.
A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
I figured, since I’ve broken down my days in port pretty specifically instead of doing an overall reflection of my trip which could be slightly more interesting, I would take the time to reflect on my experiences in both Salvador and Rio. As I’m really beginning to learn, I really am a part of a privileged society, and I hate to say it but I feel guilty for it. I feel guilty because I am having the time of my life visiting country after country. I think what makes it a million times worse is that instead of acting like adults and making our own beds, cleaning up after ourselves, we have housekeepers and waiters to take our plates when we are done. And then add on the fact that EVERY SINGLE one of them is minority and this ship contains primarily Upper Middle Class white people- it is just really starting to make me sick. Here we sit every single day in a classroom where they preach about how our society is stratified by race and wealth and yet they don’t answer the main question: How can we change it? Nor do they set an example by changing it on this boat- by forcing us as adults to clean up after ourselves- where is the empowerment and the responsibility on our parts? Especially if as a cumulative group we really are the future of our country, how can we find ways to get rid of this stratification, to improve our economy while saving our environment, while improving the nations around us and improving education systems everywhere? Since everything on this ship is playing right into the hierarchy our social system has set up and had for hundreds of years.
Plus, another pretty big issue- we as citizens of the US consistently complain about how if you are coming to live in our country- then YOU should learn OUR language. And even I must admit that I’ve thought it and probably said it at least a half dozen times, but now that I’ve experienced not understanding an entire country- it dawned on me. That is our ignorance getting in the way. I sat next to that French man on the plan and we both tried so hard to communicate on that ride down in hopes of making it go a little faster, but there is only so much one can do. He knew Portuguese, French, and English. And what did I have to bring to the table? Common Spanish words and English, in Europe and most other educated societies; their students are required to learn several languages at the exact same time. They aren’t ignorant to say if you want to do business with me then learn my language. By bowing down a little by learning another language won’t hurt you- you’ll have so many more networks, opportunities open up to you. It’s just aggravating to know that all around the world people are more educated then I am by the simple premise that they know and understand another language other then their native tongue.
And today in class we discussed a noble prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, started setting up organizations to help the poor. There was this woman with a new born begging in the streets in hopes of getting her next meal. He agreed to loan her some money on one condition- she had to use the money to buy something that she could sell on the streets and she had to attend a weekly support group meeting and she would need to pay him back. She agreed and bought some bangles and sold them on the streets. She considered not going to the meeting but figured why not. At the support group they taught her how to handle her money, about health care, they educated her and made her literate. Soon she decided to buy more bangles and go door to door. At one of the homes a women invited her in for tea and showed her the collection of bangles she already had. Well this woman traveled all the way to see this man speak and tugged on his shirt until finally she got his attention. “My son is at the university” He didn’t understand, so she tugged some more and said “My son is at the university. As a begger you passed by me and you made me agree to a few conditions and I want you to know that the baby in my arms who didn’t look like he would make it through the night, made it. And now he has a scholarship to the university.” And of course the man tells the story at almost every conference he goes to in order to strengthen his argument that in order to solve this global issue of “poverty” we need to money, education and birth control. I don’t really know how much I buy into being able to rely on the poor for empowering their own success, but I do think his strategies and theories have a point. In order for any government to be able to help the poor- there needs to be a diverse amount of approaches and a variety of ways to get them on their own feet. Not just throwing money at them or providing certain housing. I know there are several conditions to live in shelters here in the U.S. but what about everywhere else? I don’t know- just another thought to put out there, maybe one day we will get a solution or an answer to the problem. On another note- while driving to and from the airport in Rio, we drove by the favelas, basically the shacks- the thrown together at the last minute hope to last through the night kind of homes. And it was so disgusting to watch how they live. The upper levels barely had full ceilings or walls. Everything was rags and it was just terrible. Not that the US doesn’t have its own set of problems, its just even more shocking to see it in another country- a little more eye opening because you become numb to it in your own country.
Well, I’m sure there will be more of that to come, just thought I would break up the boring verbatim story of what I do all day with my thoughts and reflections on this trip. Hope you enjoyed my thoughts J
The STORIES
So not to scare you all, but 85% of the ships population is rumored to have had some degree of robbery of theft while in Salvador. Within 20 min of us porting in Salvador- one group of girls (there were 3 of them) one of the young ladies was held at rusty knife point for her video camera. Fortunately nothing permanent happened- just the loss of a camera, but scary nevertheless. And while I was in Rio, a few other groups of both men and women were also held up a few times. Fortunately there were zero events that occurred in Rio and I was again fortunately not one of the individuals who were robbed. My only loss was my night guard for grinding my teeth- I have a feeling that is going to be difficult to find too, oh well…! Also fortunately, Salvador is supposed to be the most dangerous of all of the ports, but we will have to see. Rio was definitely amazing and I would love to go back.
BACK ON THE SHIP
So I’ve had 2 days of classes, my first was an A day- Elements of Directing at 8am which was interesting. We did our fun-filled warm-ups today. At least I’ll be comfortable with doing them for when and if I decide to stage manage (or at least we can hope that all of this being wild and silly will help me get comfortable with it) and then we viewed the final 4 projects. That was interesting though- nothing too crazy that you would care about, but interesting nevertheless. Global Studies was alright. I had to run back to my room to take my sea sickness and a Brazilian breakfast bar thing. More lectures on Brazil and the stratification of wealth- the richest 20% have 62% of the national income whereas the poorest 20% have 3% of the income. And this 20% rich is mostly white and the 20% poor is mostly African descendents. Right before Brazil our professor ended a lecture with a crass comment “If you took out all of the African Americans in the USA data for the HDI (Human Development Index) the USA would rank # 1 instead of #8, which means if we get rid of all the blacks we will be number 1” and so most (including myself) took it very offensively as if he was agreeing that blacks were in fact inertly inferior. Yesterday he explained that he had adopted a black child and now he has beautiful grandchildren and all this other stuff and that all he was trying to do was prove to us that even the USA is stratified in how the wealth is distributed according to race. Though not quite apologetically, more matter of factly. I don’t think he personally regretted what he said or that he said it or even the manner that he said it. I think the response from the audience, the students, was exactly was he was looking and going for. I took a nap in between Global Studies and Critical Issues. Critical Issues wasn’t too exciting either. I went back to my room and tried reading for the class. Dinner at 6:30 with “the gang” and at 7 we headed up to the 7th deck where they were doing “rock the hawk” and a bunch of people were pre-shaving their head so they had Mohawks. I decided to wait until St. Neptune Day which would be tomorrow. We actually crossed the Equator last week on Valentine’s day and so because we didn’t “stop to pay homage to him, we will be paying for it tomorrow- so make sure you get plenty of rest”. In other words they will be taking pots and pans and clanging them up and down the hallways at 6 am (supposedly!). Anyways, back to the topic at hand- after watching the Mohawks for a little while I went back to my room and tried to read King Leopold’s Ghost for my Critical Issues class. I put on Casablanca (it was the adult entertainment movie of the night- on the ship we had 6 channels- one that posts and automatically updates our changing position latitude/longitude, one that contains our Dean’s Memo of the day which includes the events and meetings of the day as well as special information. And the other 4 are used starting at 6pm they show 4 movies- two are educational, one is adult entertainment and then one is family entertainment (since the professors brought their families with them) Usually the educational ones are about the places we are going to or coming from. Last night was a movie on Mandela the former president of South Africa. Tonight Beethoven is on the Kids channel. Tomorrow night “around the world in 80 days” is on the adult channel. Anyways.. yea, I ended up passing out during the second showing of Casablanca.
DAY B on the Ship
Today was an alright day. I a lot of interesting stories I guess. Slept in and then started reading for Global Studies. Global Studies was alright, we discussed as I said above the Noble Peace winner and poverty and then the Savanna Desert Climate. This much older lady came over to Christina and I and wanted to know if we already had extended families because we looked like smart girls and she wanted to adopt us if we hadn’t. We told her that we actually already did and then she talked our ears off anyways. She was the cutest thing ever though and we both left with big smiles on our faces. I showered and took some last minute pictures of the hair. Then we had lunch with the group and then headed to the 7th deck to do homework and I started to write this blog but my battery died so I had to plug it in my cabin. I had Energy Technology and Society and it was a pretty interesting class, we played this game “win as much as you can” and there were 4 groups with one spokesman and we had to try to win as much as we could. Well our girl didn’t listen to us at all and made every move in order to screw over all of the other groups instead of working together as a team so we all could win. At the end of the demonstration, the professor let us know that he had planted her and had told her to always do the opposite so not everyone could get points. So the girl and essentially our group looked like the United States and everyone else was the poor countries- neat huh? After class I headed to my room and cleaned up my stuff while chatting with Liz and Christina. I checked at the Shrink’s office to see if she was there, she takes the morning shift though and because of St. Neptune’s Day the other shrink didn’t know if the hours would be the same. Then I stopped at the Purser’s Desk to find out about Locks of Love. The general feeling is that I might be able to do it- but that means I have to do it in the early morning. So I told all my friends- 8am for breakfast, 8:30 I’ll shave my head. Don’t worry lots of pictures, since I’ll probably be posting this after the fact. So I’m very excited. There has also been talk of sleeping out on the deck tonight- we will have to see! Oh and today I booked my hostiles for Japan- I’m being Daring and doing Japan indie (independently) with a huge group of people. I know 8 people already going and I heard there is another 12 that are also doing it- I just don’t actually know them. But basically we arrive in Kobe Japan and go to Hiroshima for a day and a night and then to Nara for the day and Kyoto for two nights and two days and late on the last night we take the bullet train back to Kobe and our last day in port is in Kobe. I’m very excited. And instead of paying 200 dollars for a 10 hour bus ride (5 each way) to Hiroshima and another couple hours to Kyoto, I’m spending about 300 for 3 overnights and a bullet train pass. Not bad right? As I said- uber excited!
Well I’m sure I’ll update more of this tomorrow after St. Neptune’s Day and try to post all of the pictures at 5 am when no one is actually using the internet. Well I love and miss you all. Hope life back home is great/getting better! I think about you all back home all the time!
PART II
ST NEPTUNE’S DAY on the Ship!
Wow… Its 1pm here on the ship and its about 9am back at home! I can’t even believe it! And tonight we move our clocks forward ANOTHER hour and we still have 2 more to go before we hit South Africa! Last night was interesting. Liz called right as I was finishing yesterday and told me to get over to Kaitlyn and Katie’s room, we listened to music from our childhood- and I ended up falling asleep on one of the beds for a little while before finally going to bed. Christina and I talked when we got into our room and then a note was slipped under the door- Deb was trying to contact me, so I went to the purser’s desk and bought a phone card and gave her a call. It was nice to hear her voice, though it just makes me miss home even more. I love being here, but I miss everything that was familiar to me! So I guess you don’t have any worries about whether or not I’m coming home! At 3:30am Christina and I finally fell asleep. My alarm went off at 7am, though I didn’t get out of bed until quarter of. We made our way to breakfast and everyone took last minute pictures of me with my hair. It was crazy. Some boys Leslie and Laura knew didn’t believe I was really going to do it. Well, my head is successfully shaven so I guess they were wrong. I made sure to leave a little bit of fuzz because I wouldn’t want to get sunburned there! There are actually quite a few other ladies that shaved as well, some decided on my final length and others went hardcore bald. I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love- VERY Exciting J So not only did I do what no one thought I would do, but I helped other people in the process J After donating my clean hair I had fish guts dumped on my head and then I had to wade through a very salty pool to kiss two fish and then finally kiss the ring of King Neptune (the captain of the ship). It was a lot of fun, then there were lots of pictures and finally I got in line to get the rest of my hair not donated cut off and finally shaved. I’ve been told it looks pretty good, at the moment its just really weird. I took a beautiful shower and that made my hair feel even weirder because I’ve always had longish hair. Though the towel dry and its ready to go was kind of nice J Christina and I were hoping to each lunch with the gang, but by the time we got there they were finishing up and we were asked to join the Captain instead. So that was pretty cool. And now I’m lounging on the end of the 4th deck, Christina is reading and Liz, Cassie and Kaitlin are sun bathing. I’m in the shade of course J complete with a long sleeve shirt J Well I should get going again. Maybe I’ll write a footnote of the rest of the day. I’m hoping to go online at 4am to post all my pictures and this blog J I hope life at home is improving or is great! I miss and love you all!
~Jennifer
P.S. Everyone who sent me mail in Brazil- because of Carnival, the post office was closed until our day of departure. Rumor has it the person to go get the mail was “too lazy” but either way we didn’t get our mail. They claim they are going to ship it to South Africa so we will get twice as much mail there! So just to let you know in case any of you were wondering if I got your mail- unfortunately it will have to wait until South Africa! But that’s okay because then I’ll have lots to read on my 8 days in Cape Town since I’m not going on a safari.
Day 5 in SALVADOR continued…
Well I woke up bright and early for breakfast with Leslie and Emily and when we looked outside the window it was downpouring. Our hopes of last minute shopping were slightly dashed, so we agreed to regroup at 9:30 and see how the weather was at that point. Still raining. 10am- still raining. 10:30 raining and the crew was in the middle of drills in case of emergencies, so we weren’t allowed to leave. So finally at 11am we decided to get off the ship no matter what (as long as the crew was free to check us off the ship). Thankfully we were, and thankfully it stopped pouring and was only sprinkling. We hung out at the Mercado for a little while and then took the elevator to the upper level of the city (we weren’t allowed to walk up it because it is the 1st place robbers go to attack you) not that we would have wanted to- it was a very long walk! And the elevator makes you sick because it goes up really fast and then suddenly breaks and does the same thing when you go down. So its kind of like that ride at Six Flags, but less interesting and more grungy. Anyway, we walked over to Pelourhino Square to find an internet café and since almost all of the computers were in use we decided to split, Emily and I were going to shopping and Julie and Leslie were going to stay and use the internet. Emily and I left and did our shopping- I’ve been looking for Christmas Ornaments everywhere and despite the fact that Brazil is Christian, I guess they don’t manufacture ornaments because the closest thing I found was in Rio and I couldn’t find them ANYWHERE in Salvador and I was pissed. So At the last few moments I caved and bought “brazil” earrings that is a shell with the Brazilian flag and “brazil” painted on them. Very cheap and very disappointing I had my mind set on the ones I saw before. I bought Patti her Brazilian coffee (which smells amazing!) and I bought a dress to cut up and use for my quilt. I also bought my doll/statue which is also gorgeous and I love it, it has taken the place of the Puerto Rican doll on my night stand and now the PR doll is on the window shelf we have. We ate pizza for lunch and I went onto the internet to post my blog, I hoped to post pictures but if you couldn’t figure it out it didn’t work! The internet is slow so I’m going to hope for better luck at 4 am on the ship when this will hopefully be posted or South Africa. So after checking my email and getting more bad news I was ready to just go back to the ship where I could have my privacy. But first we stopped at the Mercado for Leslie and Emily and I ran into Christina who I was SOO happy to see. We only were able to talk for a few minutes (I was officially broke having used the rest of my money on my souvenirs and she was going to dinner at Pelourhino on the second level of the city.) So I went back to the ship with Leslie, Emily and Julie. I basically hung out in my room until dinner at 6:30pm and wrote in my directing journal. When I got done with my meal I happened to see my professor for directing and asked if I could meet to talk to her after she was done with her meal, she agreed to meet me. So I met with her for about 45 min and discussed everything- family, stage managing, the class, my other classes, the ports, everything that I’ve learned, how I’ve changed so far and I can’t even begin to fathom how much I’m going to continue to change during this journey… that sort of thing. When I returned to my cabin, Christina started to cry and told me that she was so sorry about everything going on with my family but that she was SOO happy to see me because she was so scared that I was going to leave and go back home and how she didn’t know what she was going to do for the rest of the trip without me. And one by one our friends joined in our room- I guess we have the party room because everyone comes to visit us here. Its kind of neat. So we had a big ole party in our room and just talked endlessly and then one by one they all left to do last minute homework and then we started talking and fell asleep.
A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
I figured, since I’ve broken down my days in port pretty specifically instead of doing an overall reflection of my trip which could be slightly more interesting, I would take the time to reflect on my experiences in both Salvador and Rio. As I’m really beginning to learn, I really am a part of a privileged society, and I hate to say it but I feel guilty for it. I feel guilty because I am having the time of my life visiting country after country. I think what makes it a million times worse is that instead of acting like adults and making our own beds, cleaning up after ourselves, we have housekeepers and waiters to take our plates when we are done. And then add on the fact that EVERY SINGLE one of them is minority and this ship contains primarily Upper Middle Class white people- it is just really starting to make me sick. Here we sit every single day in a classroom where they preach about how our society is stratified by race and wealth and yet they don’t answer the main question: How can we change it? Nor do they set an example by changing it on this boat- by forcing us as adults to clean up after ourselves- where is the empowerment and the responsibility on our parts? Especially if as a cumulative group we really are the future of our country, how can we find ways to get rid of this stratification, to improve our economy while saving our environment, while improving the nations around us and improving education systems everywhere? Since everything on this ship is playing right into the hierarchy our social system has set up and had for hundreds of years.
Plus, another pretty big issue- we as citizens of the US consistently complain about how if you are coming to live in our country- then YOU should learn OUR language. And even I must admit that I’ve thought it and probably said it at least a half dozen times, but now that I’ve experienced not understanding an entire country- it dawned on me. That is our ignorance getting in the way. I sat next to that French man on the plan and we both tried so hard to communicate on that ride down in hopes of making it go a little faster, but there is only so much one can do. He knew Portuguese, French, and English. And what did I have to bring to the table? Common Spanish words and English, in Europe and most other educated societies; their students are required to learn several languages at the exact same time. They aren’t ignorant to say if you want to do business with me then learn my language. By bowing down a little by learning another language won’t hurt you- you’ll have so many more networks, opportunities open up to you. It’s just aggravating to know that all around the world people are more educated then I am by the simple premise that they know and understand another language other then their native tongue.
And today in class we discussed a noble prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, started setting up organizations to help the poor. There was this woman with a new born begging in the streets in hopes of getting her next meal. He agreed to loan her some money on one condition- she had to use the money to buy something that she could sell on the streets and she had to attend a weekly support group meeting and she would need to pay him back. She agreed and bought some bangles and sold them on the streets. She considered not going to the meeting but figured why not. At the support group they taught her how to handle her money, about health care, they educated her and made her literate. Soon she decided to buy more bangles and go door to door. At one of the homes a women invited her in for tea and showed her the collection of bangles she already had. Well this woman traveled all the way to see this man speak and tugged on his shirt until finally she got his attention. “My son is at the university” He didn’t understand, so she tugged some more and said “My son is at the university. As a begger you passed by me and you made me agree to a few conditions and I want you to know that the baby in my arms who didn’t look like he would make it through the night, made it. And now he has a scholarship to the university.” And of course the man tells the story at almost every conference he goes to in order to strengthen his argument that in order to solve this global issue of “poverty” we need to money, education and birth control. I don’t really know how much I buy into being able to rely on the poor for empowering their own success, but I do think his strategies and theories have a point. In order for any government to be able to help the poor- there needs to be a diverse amount of approaches and a variety of ways to get them on their own feet. Not just throwing money at them or providing certain housing. I know there are several conditions to live in shelters here in the U.S. but what about everywhere else? I don’t know- just another thought to put out there, maybe one day we will get a solution or an answer to the problem. On another note- while driving to and from the airport in Rio, we drove by the favelas, basically the shacks- the thrown together at the last minute hope to last through the night kind of homes. And it was so disgusting to watch how they live. The upper levels barely had full ceilings or walls. Everything was rags and it was just terrible. Not that the US doesn’t have its own set of problems, its just even more shocking to see it in another country- a little more eye opening because you become numb to it in your own country.
Well, I’m sure there will be more of that to come, just thought I would break up the boring verbatim story of what I do all day with my thoughts and reflections on this trip. Hope you enjoyed my thoughts J
The STORIES
So not to scare you all, but 85% of the ships population is rumored to have had some degree of robbery of theft while in Salvador. Within 20 min of us porting in Salvador- one group of girls (there were 3 of them) one of the young ladies was held at rusty knife point for her video camera. Fortunately nothing permanent happened- just the loss of a camera, but scary nevertheless. And while I was in Rio, a few other groups of both men and women were also held up a few times. Fortunately there were zero events that occurred in Rio and I was again fortunately not one of the individuals who were robbed. My only loss was my night guard for grinding my teeth- I have a feeling that is going to be difficult to find too, oh well…! Also fortunately, Salvador is supposed to be the most dangerous of all of the ports, but we will have to see. Rio was definitely amazing and I would love to go back.
BACK ON THE SHIP
So I’ve had 2 days of classes, my first was an A day- Elements of Directing at 8am which was interesting. We did our fun-filled warm-ups today. At least I’ll be comfortable with doing them for when and if I decide to stage manage (or at least we can hope that all of this being wild and silly will help me get comfortable with it) and then we viewed the final 4 projects. That was interesting though- nothing too crazy that you would care about, but interesting nevertheless. Global Studies was alright. I had to run back to my room to take my sea sickness and a Brazilian breakfast bar thing. More lectures on Brazil and the stratification of wealth- the richest 20% have 62% of the national income whereas the poorest 20% have 3% of the income. And this 20% rich is mostly white and the 20% poor is mostly African descendents. Right before Brazil our professor ended a lecture with a crass comment “If you took out all of the African Americans in the USA data for the HDI (Human Development Index) the USA would rank # 1 instead of #8, which means if we get rid of all the blacks we will be number 1” and so most (including myself) took it very offensively as if he was agreeing that blacks were in fact inertly inferior. Yesterday he explained that he had adopted a black child and now he has beautiful grandchildren and all this other stuff and that all he was trying to do was prove to us that even the USA is stratified in how the wealth is distributed according to race. Though not quite apologetically, more matter of factly. I don’t think he personally regretted what he said or that he said it or even the manner that he said it. I think the response from the audience, the students, was exactly was he was looking and going for. I took a nap in between Global Studies and Critical Issues. Critical Issues wasn’t too exciting either. I went back to my room and tried reading for the class. Dinner at 6:30 with “the gang” and at 7 we headed up to the 7th deck where they were doing “rock the hawk” and a bunch of people were pre-shaving their head so they had Mohawks. I decided to wait until St. Neptune Day which would be tomorrow. We actually crossed the Equator last week on Valentine’s day and so because we didn’t “stop to pay homage to him, we will be paying for it tomorrow- so make sure you get plenty of rest”. In other words they will be taking pots and pans and clanging them up and down the hallways at 6 am (supposedly!). Anyways, back to the topic at hand- after watching the Mohawks for a little while I went back to my room and tried to read King Leopold’s Ghost for my Critical Issues class. I put on Casablanca (it was the adult entertainment movie of the night- on the ship we had 6 channels- one that posts and automatically updates our changing position latitude/longitude, one that contains our Dean’s Memo of the day which includes the events and meetings of the day as well as special information. And the other 4 are used starting at 6pm they show 4 movies- two are educational, one is adult entertainment and then one is family entertainment (since the professors brought their families with them) Usually the educational ones are about the places we are going to or coming from. Last night was a movie on Mandela the former president of South Africa. Tonight Beethoven is on the Kids channel. Tomorrow night “around the world in 80 days” is on the adult channel. Anyways.. yea, I ended up passing out during the second showing of Casablanca.
DAY B on the Ship
Today was an alright day. I a lot of interesting stories I guess. Slept in and then started reading for Global Studies. Global Studies was alright, we discussed as I said above the Noble Peace winner and poverty and then the Savanna Desert Climate. This much older lady came over to Christina and I and wanted to know if we already had extended families because we looked like smart girls and she wanted to adopt us if we hadn’t. We told her that we actually already did and then she talked our ears off anyways. She was the cutest thing ever though and we both left with big smiles on our faces. I showered and took some last minute pictures of the hair. Then we had lunch with the group and then headed to the 7th deck to do homework and I started to write this blog but my battery died so I had to plug it in my cabin. I had Energy Technology and Society and it was a pretty interesting class, we played this game “win as much as you can” and there were 4 groups with one spokesman and we had to try to win as much as we could. Well our girl didn’t listen to us at all and made every move in order to screw over all of the other groups instead of working together as a team so we all could win. At the end of the demonstration, the professor let us know that he had planted her and had told her to always do the opposite so not everyone could get points. So the girl and essentially our group looked like the United States and everyone else was the poor countries- neat huh? After class I headed to my room and cleaned up my stuff while chatting with Liz and Christina. I checked at the Shrink’s office to see if she was there, she takes the morning shift though and because of St. Neptune’s Day the other shrink didn’t know if the hours would be the same. Then I stopped at the Purser’s Desk to find out about Locks of Love. The general feeling is that I might be able to do it- but that means I have to do it in the early morning. So I told all my friends- 8am for breakfast, 8:30 I’ll shave my head. Don’t worry lots of pictures, since I’ll probably be posting this after the fact. So I’m very excited. There has also been talk of sleeping out on the deck tonight- we will have to see! Oh and today I booked my hostiles for Japan- I’m being Daring and doing Japan indie (independently) with a huge group of people. I know 8 people already going and I heard there is another 12 that are also doing it- I just don’t actually know them. But basically we arrive in Kobe Japan and go to Hiroshima for a day and a night and then to Nara for the day and Kyoto for two nights and two days and late on the last night we take the bullet train back to Kobe and our last day in port is in Kobe. I’m very excited. And instead of paying 200 dollars for a 10 hour bus ride (5 each way) to Hiroshima and another couple hours to Kyoto, I’m spending about 300 for 3 overnights and a bullet train pass. Not bad right? As I said- uber excited!
Well I’m sure I’ll update more of this tomorrow after St. Neptune’s Day and try to post all of the pictures at 5 am when no one is actually using the internet. Well I love and miss you all. Hope life back home is great/getting better! I think about you all back home all the time!
PART II
ST NEPTUNE’S DAY on the Ship!
Wow… Its 1pm here on the ship and its about 9am back at home! I can’t even believe it! And tonight we move our clocks forward ANOTHER hour and we still have 2 more to go before we hit South Africa! Last night was interesting. Liz called right as I was finishing yesterday and told me to get over to Kaitlyn and Katie’s room, we listened to music from our childhood- and I ended up falling asleep on one of the beds for a little while before finally going to bed. Christina and I talked when we got into our room and then a note was slipped under the door- Deb was trying to contact me, so I went to the purser’s desk and bought a phone card and gave her a call. It was nice to hear her voice, though it just makes me miss home even more. I love being here, but I miss everything that was familiar to me! So I guess you don’t have any worries about whether or not I’m coming home! At 3:30am Christina and I finally fell asleep. My alarm went off at 7am, though I didn’t get out of bed until quarter of. We made our way to breakfast and everyone took last minute pictures of me with my hair. It was crazy. Some boys Leslie and Laura knew didn’t believe I was really going to do it. Well, my head is successfully shaven so I guess they were wrong. I made sure to leave a little bit of fuzz because I wouldn’t want to get sunburned there! There are actually quite a few other ladies that shaved as well, some decided on my final length and others went hardcore bald. I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love- VERY Exciting J So not only did I do what no one thought I would do, but I helped other people in the process J After donating my clean hair I had fish guts dumped on my head and then I had to wade through a very salty pool to kiss two fish and then finally kiss the ring of King Neptune (the captain of the ship). It was a lot of fun, then there were lots of pictures and finally I got in line to get the rest of my hair not donated cut off and finally shaved. I’ve been told it looks pretty good, at the moment its just really weird. I took a beautiful shower and that made my hair feel even weirder because I’ve always had longish hair. Though the towel dry and its ready to go was kind of nice J Christina and I were hoping to each lunch with the gang, but by the time we got there they were finishing up and we were asked to join the Captain instead. So that was pretty cool. And now I’m lounging on the end of the 4th deck, Christina is reading and Liz, Cassie and Kaitlin are sun bathing. I’m in the shade of course J complete with a long sleeve shirt J Well I should get going again. Maybe I’ll write a footnote of the rest of the day. I’m hoping to go online at 4am to post all my pictures and this blog J I hope life at home is improving or is great! I miss and love you all!
~Jennifer
P.S. Everyone who sent me mail in Brazil- because of Carnival, the post office was closed until our day of departure. Rumor has it the person to go get the mail was “too lazy” but either way we didn’t get our mail. They claim they are going to ship it to South Africa so we will get twice as much mail there! So just to let you know in case any of you were wondering if I got your mail- unfortunately it will have to wait until South Africa! But that’s okay because then I’ll have lots to read on my 8 days in Cape Town since I’m not going on a safari.
2 comments:
Hi Jen-
Things are going great at home. Snow Day TODAY!! The kids are going to LOVE it!! They are still sleeping in. Deb was very excited about your phone call. I will have to make sure she gets online to see the photos. Do not worry about us here- Have lots of fun (like you are)
Hi Jen: Chris is here with me guiding me in the process of blogging. Love reading you notes. Love your hair...Good for you...
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