Indian Ocean Crossing

Just one of the many sunsets at sea
In the captain's chair with his hat on in the Bridge

Me carrying 80 kilos at the Sugar Plantation Museum
Liz and I with the men at the market that sold us pretty fabric
The view after walking past all the coast guard and military boats
Liz and I dressed up in our new indian outfits :)
The view outside my window from the crossing to India

Lip Synching @ the Sea Olympics :) - If you zoom in you might find a surprise :)
Cape Winelands in South Africa- This is just one of the many gorgeous pictures
the goat tower at one of the winelands. Yes that is a real goat and yes it is supposed to be there.
Jenn all prepped up and ready to go skydiving with dive partner Mary

Cape Point or somewhere near that, taken from my cabin porthole after departing Cape Town!

Hello everyone!

Hope life in CT is great. Oh FYI! For those of you who choose to send me mail- please put on my room number 3024- It will make it easier for the mail people and therefore I will get my mail faster

Well this week has been much better health wise than last crossing, so that makes me feel much better, though I’m afraid emotional I think I may be getting even more vulnerable.

Monday didn’t start off so well- I felt like I was going to faint so I didn’t go to directing or Global Studies. So I missed three of my fellow director’s performances L and in Global studies I missed the Introduction to India which included the intro to the Indian Family we have on board during our stay. They also discussed how out of all the ports we visit, India is the one that effects the students the most. They read a portion of a former students blog that described how when he went through India he watched his fellow students complain about the dirt and the standard of living and how although he enjoyed himself for the most part, India didn’t truly affect him until 3 months after ending his term on Semester At Sea. So basically- watch out my next few blogs might be on the emotional side. Hell… this one will be… but first my week. I dragged myself up for lunch which was alright and Critical Issues which again- could have been better. Steffel is starting to remind me of my dad more and more with each time I see him. And then that just makes me want to cry in the middle of class because I miss my dad. A lot. Certainly much more then I would have even expected. And I hope if there is one thing that this trip could for me, it would be to let him know that. I mean of course I miss my mom, its my mom, my best friend in her own little way, but when I start to miss my mom I can think of her meeting me in Vietnam and how its not all that far away. But my dad… I still have quite a few weeks before I see him. The point, though, is that Steffel’s class is becoming more bearable because he reminds me of my dad. In the evening I met with my actors again and overall it went well. We started moving around and discussing the significance in the realm of the play.

Tuesday morning I went on the internet and posted the last blog. The internet is getting extremely slow. Rumor is this is the worst leg of the journey for internet. Plus with new technology a lot of students are using the internet as a phone, but it takes up a lot of bandwidth and since we don’t have a whole lot to begin with we aren’t able to use the internet. But after a extremely frustrating hour, I managed to get most of my emails off-line, post my blog and send out a few emails- though not nearly as many as I wanted to. Then I went back to my room and read half of my emails, had breakfast and read the other half. It made me miss home and yearn for my friends and family even more. However this was also even more eye awakening but I will get to that soon enough. Global Studies was a continuation of Indian history and lifestyle. It’s the largest democracy in the world (by the way!) and is the 3rd strongest economy and rising. After Global I took a beautiful nap and read Wild Swan on the 7th deck. Wild Swan is the newest book required for Steffel’s class. The book is quite amazing. I just can’t seem to put it down. And if it wasn’t for the fact that I want to post tomorrow morning and probably wont have time later on in the day to write this- I would probably continue reading it. The book takes place in Manchuria which is now a part of China. The premise is how 3 generations can create a completely different lifestyle. The Grandmother is part of the generation where girls feet are broken and wrapped in order to create the image of small feet. She is an incredibly attractive woman and at age 15 she becomes a concubine to a great general. Within a few days of their “marriage” ceremony he takes off and disappears for 6 years. He shows up for another week and leaves again. This time she ends up pregnant. She writes to him to let him know and he insists that she comes to him. She doesn’t really want to because if she goes that means she will become his wife’s property as well and basically will be treated as a lesser person. He ends up with a terminal illness and she visits. The wife takes the child and tells her she won’t ever see the child again. In the middle of the night she steals the child and goes back to her home. On the way she writes that the child has died (though not really) and the family stops bothering her. At his death within the year the wife kicks her out of the house. Eventually the grandmother remarries the town doctor but that in a sense disgraces his family and there is a big feud. After a lot of drama they move to another town to raise the mother. The mother is also a beautiful girl and continues to get proposals but the family life is slowly become more liberal- she actually has a choice in if the individual is the one she wants to marry. Meanwhile politically the war between the Japanese and Chang Kai-shek is raging and after the end of WWII the communists start fighting the Chinese Government. The mother ends up joining the Communist party and she meets and marries the father of the narrator. I’m at the point where the mother is starting to rethink the idea of communism. She isn’t really free. Everything she sees and hears she must report to the party. If she wants to take any action at all she has to write a request to the party. Everything is controlled and everything is monitored. She isn’t allowed to sleep with her husband and instead has to remain in the female quarters and is only allowed to see him at certain times of day. The PARTY comes before the individual so it’s a collectivist society. And that naturally got me thinking and I played right into the narrator’s story. Life was terrible in the society before and now it turned a complete 180 and is just as bad but in different ways. I’m anxious to read more- I’ve got plenty to go another 300 or so pages. (It’s a thick book). Anyways.. I got off subject. Tuesday after reading for awhile, I had my Energy class where we discussed the fundamentals- What IS energy? And approached it with a physics eye. After class I had a really long conversation with Juli- the girl from Mauritius- and we discovered we have similar families. It was a nice conversation. I also had a conversation with Christina and Liz involving our return home but I will get to that at the end of my week. Tuesday I met with my actors again after dinner. We discussed purpose and everything that sort of related. It was a great time and I felt extremely confident about the Weds morning performance.

Wednesday, I woke up fairly early and extremely excited about the performance. I was the 3rd and final scene of the day to go. The performance went well and then I got in the hot seat after my actors left. From then on I was near tears. Not that they bashed the performance or even my work, it just felt as if I was getting attacked. It was in that moment that I decided that Stage Managing was definitely the way I would want to go because I couldn’t stand being drilled about my work. After I was put on the spot and incorrectly or at least unclearly, answered, I started to quiet down and she yelled at me to be louder. I told her that its easier when I’m stage managing, which then led to what a stage manager does and whether or not I enjoy it. My response? Well Its more of a love and hate relationship. I love it when I’m not doing it. I miss it like crazy and wish I was doing it. But when I’m actually sitting at all the rehearsals? I hate it. And then she let me know that I need to journal about it. So before I put any conclusions about that discussion, I guess I should follow her advice and write it in my Director’s notebook. I’ll be sure to get back to you though J Global Studies was more India- environmental Issues, mainly. I’m pretty sure I did even more reading in Wild Swan on Weds to until I had my Critical Issues class. We watched a movie on Freedom in India- breaking from the major powers and fighting for freedom and equality. So naturally the main part was geared towards Gandhi and Nehru the pair that fought most prominently for India’s freedom. I don’t remember too much about the afternoon. I guess I should start carrying a notebook with me so I can write everything I do down. I know that at 7pm I had Ambassador’s Ball meeting and that left me angry. This is the moment where we all dress up in the dresses we had made in Vietnam and put on those strappy shoes and get all gussied up, basically our version of prom and they want to decorate the place with Construction Paper. It just makes me so mad. I really hope it turns alright, but I guess we will have to see. Juli came over to visit and we watched Monsoon Wedding (an Indian Film) while doing homework. It was a lot of fun. Katie and Caitlyn came to visit at some point, I feel like Christina and I have the party room, I feel so special J

Yesterday, Thursday was an alright day as well. I basically got nothing done, but aside from that it was good. Global Studies was interesting we discussed banking, primarily Mohammed Yunez. I wrote about him awhile ago, basically he is the guy that set up this big bank in Bangladesh and other poor countries in order to give poor women a chance. They give out loans. 99% of all loans are paid back with the year. And many of these women are given a fighting chance at surviving. The Movie was actually a clip of 60 Minutes and that made me sad because it reminded me of my parents. After the movie we discussed how this bank hasn’t solved all of their problems. Husbands have managed to manipulate the service by forcing their wives to get loans, the men spend it on whatever and the women are left trying to deal with the pressure of paying it back. After global, Christina and I went shopping at the school store. I bought a few more shirts- I probably shouldn’t have but I needed another long sleeve and my Polynesian Culture Center trip was cancelled because their wasn’t enough interest. I also bought some stickers for my scrapbook and I bought my mom a travel mug so she could have something semester at sea-ish to show off at work and I don’t know one’s sizes so I can’t buy anyone shirts or sweatshirts. I’m hoping my mom will help me pick something out for my dad. I was thinking a hat but I don’t know if he will wear it- plus he has so many! I’ll think about it. Anyways after getting all that I went to the pursers desk to find out if I could get on the Arizona Memorial Trip, so we will see if that goes through. Hopefully I’ll find out either later tonight or tomorrow. Then I took the most glorious shower ever. Starting 1pm yesterday we were given the official “okay we have to conserve water” and how “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down” It was very girl-scouty and again made me smile and laugh. At Lunch after my last semi-long (15min) shower for the next week, I actually started telling stories about girl scouts and my gold award and all that stuff. I had to tell the story of my first campout with the terrible babysitters who through gorp at our tent and told us scary stories. I still remember my mom and Lou’s face when we peaked out of our tent- Those girls got a rashing! Onwards.. After Lunch Christina and I checked out if there were any more bridge tours. There were 3 more and two of which we had class during and the final one that gave us just enough time to run down to our rooms drop off our bags and grab our cameras. The Bridge tour was pretty cool. Fun facts for all of you to know: Our ship can go as fast as 29 knots which is approximately 30 miles per hour. Though we average about 20 knots, except when we have exceeded the half way point when they slow down to give us time to do our school work and we average 11 knots. It is also the fastest passenger ship of its size, with only its sister ship the MV Voyager as competition. They have 4 radio systems and one table that is devoted to safety. They have a wall of pictures with little lite-up bulbs so the captain can immediately see where there is a fire or the fire doors have been closed or to see what outdoor lights are on and everything. It was crazy. They also have a computer screen that shows the map of where we are and it is electronically programmed to follow the course. The ship is also maneuvered into port by one of the two side compartments. If you look back on one of my first blogs you will see the captain and a few crewman who were in a dock area that came out from the side of the ship. Well, that has a computer area where the ship can be directed and then there is one identical on the other side. There are also emergency systems on both sides that don’t require any electricity just in case the system fails and we need to figure out where to go. The captain’s favorite port is Hong Kong which is where he met his 3rd wife whom he married 6 months ago. She is about our age and is a model. She is incredibly sea sick and this is the first time she has been on a ship of this size. His least favorite port is Egypt though he didn’t get into too many details. His least favorite of our trip is India because it is so incredibly dirty. We also have to conserve water when we go to India because water is incredibly expensive because we have to buy mineral water from a nearby plant. The water is also supposed to be incredibly polluted by the shore. (Its against Maritime law to take in or get rid of water within 12 miles of any port) So most of the time they buy some water while we are in port but it is very expensive in India so we are conserving our water big time. When we are at sea we have our own water purifying system in order to create gray water. According to the captain the only port we will need to be tenured to the dock will be Malaysia (though I guess this is still debatable because the guy at the Field office said Vietnam… but more on that in a minute) Tenured basically means we take the lifeboats too and from the dock because the water is either too shallow or dock is too full. We also begin the voyage with the majority of the food supply that will be needed, with the exception of produce. After lots of pictures and questions I had to go to Energy Technology where we continued discussing the physics aspect of energy. 5:30pm Juli and I went to dinner- it was a bar-b-que and was DELICIOUS, what a nice change!! I was so excited. And we were also treated with ice cream which is another rare occasion and was even more so exciting! After that I had a family B-day party! My “mom” had her birthday and so we had chocolate cake which was delicious and then we sat around talking for awhile. I went back to my room to start my Critical Issues Paper on a few articles from Global Issues and one by one all of my friends came to our room. And they stayed until about 12:30am. Lol so much for doing homework last night. It was a nice conversation though and after all those will be the moments that I remember long after this trip is done.

Today I had directing, the last two directors presented and then we watched a short film created by the Brown Paper Studio in Cape Town. It was pretty good at least I was impressed. Global Studies was about Conflict and Peace. Rocky started the discussion though by talking about he was feeling a lot by visiting all of these countries and about how each one of us needs to start thinking about and answering the “what’s Next” question. Do you ignore what is going on around the world? Do you donate all of your money to one of these countries? Do you change your major to make life more “fulfilling” what can one do to help our fellow human beings? It was quite moving and I was tearing up by the end because naturally I already asked all of these questions to you back home. By the way- I still haven’t answered them. After Global Studies I worked on my paper for Critical Issues, around 1pm I helped a fellow theatre friend out by reading the stage directions in her play for her read-through and then finished my paper just in time for class. Desmond Tutu joined our Critical Issues class and he spoke about War and peace and different methods to achieving peace. It was quite interesting. After class I stopped by Field Office Desk to ask them a few questions and they knew nothing and couldn’t help me out at all and that just frustrated and pissed me off some more. So I decided to use my emotion to write this blog and let you know what was going on in my life.

Now some more Pennies for Thought:

Poverty and emotion. India. So from what I hear, this is the most drastic wake-up call if God ever created one. Its funny to think about how much knowledge and experience I’ve already gained and we have gone to some pretty tame environments. My “family” was telling me about their last trip and how there was a person who was hours from death who was purposely placed outside of restaurant to get tourists to give this person money. Though in reality the money wouldn’t have been used to pay for whatever care this person needed but instead put into someone else’s pocket. So much of me doesn’t want to think about any of this. I don’t want to think about how many people I am going to see who are near starving. I don’t want to think about how dirty it is going to be from the moment I arrive in India. But I know eventually I am going to have to think about it and I am going to have to accept it. I also know that I will probably want to do something about it, but what? It comes down to the age old question- what can one person possibly do? I don’t want to talk to much more about it because I don’t want to create this idea of what India is going to be like until I get there, just be prepared because the next blog might contain a whole lot of feedback on the world that I just stepped out of in order to step into a world that is so very different from my own.

Next I just want to elaborate on this Field Office. I can’t tell you how unhappy I am with them. So in the Dean’s memo it advertises a Cambodian Orphanage that is coming to dance for us. The cost is 10 dollars and it is supposed to happen prior to disembarkation in Vietnam. So naturally I have a ton of questions- is my family going to be allowed to come on to the ship for the show? Or do I have to wait around until after this show is finished before I can see my family? Or am I going to be able to leave right away from the ship? Well the guy doesn’t know has no idea and can’t answer anything. About all he can tell me is everything that is already on the dean’s memo. That’s not a help at all. Why would I buy a ticket that would prevent me from seeing my family right away? But if they are allowed to come on the ship will it be included for them? So I am extremely frustrated! Now just to make this worse, there is another sheet that is filled out for Parents that need to get on the ship. Basically it asks for information like passport number and all of this elaborate information- none of which I want to be seen through email which means there is no way for me to get anything. But if Chris and my mom got on this trip they needed to send in all of that information, so you would think access would be immediately granted. Nope. I have to fill it all out and write on it “parent Trip”. In addition I asked if other students were getting notified and his response is “Didn’t you get a paper with all the information as to what you need to do?.” I was like uhh NO! Obviously I didn’t otherwise I wouldn’t be asking all of these questions. So now I’m really irritated because he treated me like an idiot, he didn’t know anything and he couldn’t answer any of my questions or help me in any way shape or form and basically said come ask your questions in another week. So yet again college offices SUCK!

And my last point that I would like to make might hurt a few of you, and some may not understand it. But I’m half way through this trip; I’m half way around the world and I miss my home more than anything in the world and I can’t wait to see each and every one of you back home. But I’m not going to be the same person that stepped on that airport and headed on the journey of a lifetime. I was talking with some of my friends on here and I am starting to get to the point where I can’t imagine waking up and not having Christina lying on the other bed across from me. I can’t imagine not seeing all of these people that I have relied on and have seen everyday and I have spent countless hours with them in every port and in and out of classes. I realized the other night while talking to Christina and Liz that none of you will know these people that I have spent sooo much time with and each of us has changed, but we have changed together. We discussed the importance of physical change. Cassie said that I seemed to have “jumped off the deep end” because of how much I have changed in just what she has seen. And yet, I have not changed nearly as much as she has. At the beginning of this journey Cassie would sit with us and we would discuss politics, women’s rights- things that mattered. Things that we should feel passionate about since afterall we are traveling around the world. Well now when she sits with us, we listen to how fat she is and about how she needs to tan and workout some more so she can be “prettier”. This girl has been planning this trip since she was a freshman in high school and now that she is here she has lost sight of what this trip is all about. It just makes me so sad that when I see her she feels proud to let me know that she is “fasting” in order to lose weight and not for some religious purpose. And yet when you look at the two of us, it would be me who would be labeled as the one that changed the most- just because my change was physical and therefore more obvious. That in turn led to the discussion that many of us will return home and although the people waiting for us may expect change they probably won’t expect as big of a change as what has taken place. “she looks the same, so she must not have changed all that much” and I guess now I have even more appreciation to my new look because no matter what- I have changed. What breaks my heart the most though, is that I’ll go back home and although you may recognize the name, you won’t recognize the face nor will you recognize the impact that each of my friends here on this ship have made on me. I was telling Liz- I’m going to go back home and I know I’ll be in the middle of a story about her and someone will say “oh is that your roommate” and I will have to respond with no, that’s Christina. So Liz was who? The girl who lived down the hall.” I can’t imagine saying Goodbye these people in a little over a month. I know we have already made plans- and you all will have the opportunity to meet them, provided that my sister’s don’t mind helping me out a bit. Liz really wants to go to Boston so I figured, what the hell they can fly into Boston and we can tour Boston the rest of the day, stay at Patti’s overnight, spend another day in Boston and then go to Deb’s the 2nd night. Drive to Willimantic for a quick tour of Eastern before heading to my house to visit the awesome that is Mohegan Sun, spend a night there and then fly back home on the 4th day. Now the aim for this is the beginning of August so they wouldn’t be able to meet anyone from school L or at least not really at school. But at least we have an idea in our head. I also have to beg and plead with Patti or my parents to front the money to buy Boston-Yankees tickets (if that is still possible) for August. Or at least some baseball tickets- and naturally anyone who wants to join that party may do so J. And then the aim is to visit Christina in Georgia in the fall to go to one of her legendary football games, and then Liz in Chicago around Christmas time. Of course this is all provided that we manage to earn enough money to go to these places- though all of their behinds are making it to CT. I’m just glad to see there are hopes of future visits since all of these people are incredibly important to me!

Well I guess I should go eat dinner at this point- Working with my actors again at 7pm and then Cultural Pre-Port at 8pm and Wedding Crashers at 9pm. Then maybe a updating if anything exciting happens tonight at pre-port J

Dinner was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, yum. Worked with my actors for a little while. We went with the broad prospective of what the ultimate goal of the scenes were. It was interesting. We will have to see what happens. We will be meeting every B day from now until April 30th which is the date of our second performance.

After that was the cultural pre-port which was quite interesting, a LOT of Indian dancing which was awesome. I LOVE the dancing its amazing. And they gave us the location of the big shopping area called “Fab India”. They also did a skit on the “attack” of the taxi/rickshaw people. Afterwards I talked to Lindsey for a little while and now I’m watching Wedding Crashers in the union and it is amazing. I love this movie.

“true love is your souls recognition of its counterpoint in another”

Oh a few last minute notes I am now 10 and a half hours ahead of Eastern Time. Yes that’s right- half hour. India has decided that it wanted to create its own time zone so the entire country is in the same time zone.

Also we have had our third leak- that’s right three leaks, in our cabin which was utterly amazing. That was sarcasm. The first was in Brazil when our cabin light started leaking. The second was in South Africa when in the middle of the night I got a wonderful leak ON MY HEAD and then this past week we got another leak at the foot of my bed which quickly spread to the rest of the room. Again- it was amazing.


Love and miss you all and thank you for listening to me

~Jennifer XOXOXOXO

P.S. India = Welcome Reception Sunday

4 day trip to Erode for a homestay including a sleeper train!!

and LOTS of shopping :)

South Africa, Mauritius and crossings

Well, It has been QUITE the week… more like a week of hell then anything else! But first I guess I should elaborate a little on what happened in my last few days of Cape Town, and I would like to apologize for the rushed entry. I can’t remember too well what I wrote in it and unfortunately I didn’t actually save it into a my word document so I can’t even reference it! So I’m just going to guess and as always- if there are any questions or you want more griddy details about anything let me know! J

Brown Paper Studio- Judy Alabili, who is also my directing professor, started this program in Cape Town at the University of Western Cape in order to encourage students to get involved with something other then drugs and crime. The students started working together, playing theatre games and activities and then they started playwriting, directing and acting. At the end of the semester they did a performance that they had written about the aftermath of apartheid. Well the next step was starting the program at high school level. So in Martin Plains (one of the most segregated and poor areas even today) they started this program and the college students occasionally help out. And this past year Brown Paper Studio joined Azod Youth Center, which is the only remaining building from District 6, in their program to give the public more choices. The point of the program the center puts on is to educate its members in hopes of future employment. Basically it’s a bridge to link the unemployed with the skills they need to become the employed so they offer cooking, metal work, now theatre and a ton of other programs. We visited these places backwards starting with the newest. It was really neat to talk to everyone and to find out their feelings and thoughts about Brown Paper Studio.

Skydiving- the part everyone has been waiting for J I met a group of SAS’ers at the Aquarium where we took a van to the launch site. I partnered up with a girl named Mary and when it was our turn they suited us up and then we headed to the tiny airplane. We flew up to 9000 feet and jumped Tandem. An older gentleman joined our flight and jumped out first- he was on vacation and I guess this is his little tradition to continually sky dive. Then Mary and her Tandem went out and I have a brief clip of that. And then My tandem and I move over to the door and jumped. It was CRAZY! The video clip is at first the scenery from my viewpoint so we were turning and upside down and it was just nuts- what a rush! And then at 4000 feet up he pulled the shute out and we started to gracefully descend at which point he gave me the layout of the land. And then Mary started to do her decline and land- she put her feet out and landed on her stomach. (if you listen to my video he tells me like 8 times that I need to keep my feet up and he will do the landing J) and then comes my descend so I didn’t get to fully capture her landing since I started my own. It was crazy! But such a good time and definitely a future must!

Alright so now onto the week from hell. After I ate my last minute sushi in Capetown and got back on the ship I tried to look for Marvel but unfortunately couldn’t find her for quite a while. I chatted with her for awhile when I finally found her. And then went to bed. We were detained at Cape Town for quite awhile, though when we woke up in the morning we were at the oil tanker refilling our tanks which means we had moved in the middle of the night. Around 5pm we finally left Cape Town and headed on our way. Now keep in mind this was my week of midterms so I had a test and a journal due Sunday, another test on Tuesday and a test on Wednesday. Plus all of the usual readings and everything. Now just to add on top of that we kept hitting rough seas- so I was sick the entire time and the Dramamine wasn’t helping or working. I couldn’t concentrate or focus on everything and spent most of this past week either struggling not to throw up or sleeping. So basically this week wasn’t a good week. Saturday we did have a day off from classes which was nice but again I spend most of it on my bed. My tests went alright. I had my history exam which was a written essay, I think I did okay on it but again wasn’t feeling well so I don’t know for sure and probably won’t until Monday. My Global Studies exam was TERRIBLE. I have to take my test in the Union which again is one of the worst places to try to do anything in because of the rocking. I somehow muddled through trying to focus and then passed out afterwards on the 7^th deck with the fresh air. I’m guessing that I got an 80 because they posted the answers and so I tried to remember what I had put. I’m quite disappointed because I know that I could have done so much better if I wasn’t focusing on not getting sea sick the whole time. And then my third test was Rocky’s Energy, Technology and Society which was okay. I got in there though and everything I had studied and reviewed went out of my brain, I was not a happy camper. So I also don’t think that I did well on that one either. I’ve decided that tests and I are just not going to agree with each other until I’ve hit solid land while taking it. Oh and on Monday I was supposed to give me scene presentation but on Sunday afternoon I received two phone calls from my actors both saying they had doctor’s orders- one not to talk and the other not to get out of bed! What a mess! But I managed to get a hold of my professor and we moved the date back to next Wednesday. So that relieved some of the stress of the week. And now we are currently docked at Port Louis, Mauritius and are patiently waiting to be told that the ship is cleared and we can get off!

The Cultural Pre-port was fun for this port; it was a lot of music and our inter-port lecturer’s top 7 locations on the island. The most excited thing that happened was Dean Mike- who is crazy to begin with- kept jumping with the rolling of the ship. It was one of those you had to be there or would need to see a video of it but he is a pretty eccentric individual. Logistical Pre-Port however was hysterical, and was able to be humorous only because Mauritius is such a touristy area and there were not nearly as many things to watch out for while in port. So First Doctor Matt came out and told us about the health concerns- no eating fresh foods or salads and don’t drink the water and then the children of the ship took over the Pre-port. That’s right we were educated about Mauritius by 9-16 year olds but even better- they all dressed up and mimicked the adults who usually do the pre-port. So we had a “Dean Larry”, “Dr. Matt”, “Dean Mike”, “The Voice”, “Beth” and “Field Office” as well as a few others. Everyone nearly pissed their pants. Each one is of course unique in their own ways and talks with a certain pace and inflection and these kids perfected making fun of them. It was Amazing. That’s the only way to put it and I can only HOPE that they got video footage of that because that would be AMAZING to watch when I got back home and got lonely for this trip. At the end of the skit that told us everything we need to know about Mauritius, They all came back out for a finale with the real Dr. Matt’s help and we received our 3^rd performance/song/remix on health concerns; the main one of course being Alcohol. After the pre-port my group met for our Lip-synching contest to decide what song and the dance moves. It was pretty interesting (we are doing Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend from Moulin Rouge), quite corny but I think we might be able to pull it off. The preparation is for the Sea Olympics which will take place the day after Mauritius.

It’s a bit of a disappointment though, we were supposed to arrive at 8am this morning and here is it almost 1pm and we are waiting to be cleared. Because of the crappy seas we were delayed. A lot of the morning trips were cancelled- fortunately I only have 2 trips this port- one tonight the Multi-cultural Dinner so it’s a gourmet mixed cuisine and the sugar plantation tomorrow which is an FDP (Faculty directed practica) for Steffel- the history teacher.

Continued:

In case you can’t guess, I stopped writing and now I’m picking it up again, however now its March 18^th and most of this news is now getting old. Mauritius was pretty cool though definitely not my favorite. The first day Christina, Katie, Caitlin, Liz and myself headed out to check out the scene and maybe go shopping, but Christina and Katie had to be back for 4pm and I had to be back for 7pm. So Christina and Katie hung out with us for a little while but then left because they wanted a chance to see everyone and we were pretty much stuck at the phones. Caitlin had to call her bank and try to get money because they were closing her account because someone in brazil was taking money from her account. And that took forever. And it was hot and everyone was tired and irritated because we hadn’t gotten off the ship until 2pm in the first place. After she sorted that out we went to McDonalds- I know I’m ashamed, but I was with Caitlin who has been sick in bed the past week and Liz who is a diabetic and none of us had really ate anything all day so we needed to get some sugar so milkshakes it was. After we finished we took a cab to Chinatown- which was disgustingly close and tried to find a restaurant but by that point it was 4:30pm and nothing was really open because it was no longer lunch and dinner hadn’t started yet. We finally found this place willing to serve us and we ordered. The food was delicious – Chinese of course. And then we headed back the ship when we were done because it was almost 6ish. We got back on the boat and tried to get on the “free” internet and it didn’t work. So I used the rest of my minutes given to me by the ship and unfortunately didn’t have time to post the above. Then I changed for the Multi-Cultural Evening and at 8pm we left. The Dinner was amazing. We got off the bus and were served Fruit Cocktails and spinach balls and chicken fritters while three dancers and three musicians performed Sega. After the performance we went inside where we had starters- salads of all sorts and rolls. The first performance during starters was more Sega (I think). Then the main course which was tons of meats and kabobs- again awesome food accompanied with African and then Indian. Dessert was Fruit Tarts, Coconut cake and caramel flan with Chinese dancing and then finally it was the Finale which segued into us dancing. (They pulled us all up and danced a song with us and then left us dancing to “our” music. Then we continued to dance for the next 2 hours or so. My only disappointment was that we kept doing that high school thing- you know when you get into a circle so the cool kids can do tricks to show off to everyone else while the other kids just stand and watch. Yep kept happening. If I’m “dancing”, I don’t want to watch other people dance and I definitely don’t want others to watch me. I don’t know just a minor annoyance with the whole ordeal but everything else was Amazing and well worth going to. By the time we got back it was about midnight and then Christina and I stayed up talking most of the night!

Friday was pretty crazy, Christina and I woke up really early to try and make phone calls and find internet access- neither was very successful. The free internet is still in the works and trial runs so it isn’t actually true and at the moment is just an aspiration. After being disappointed I got ready for Sugar Adventure which turned out to be really interesting and Steffel was actually cool to hang around with. Basically we went to an old mill that had been turned into a museum that still has the original parts of the process so I got to see how they make sugar and separate it from the Molasses which eventually is added to rum. What I thought was even more impressive was that the plant actually regenerated its own power because of the fact that when they crush the cane to get the juice, the left over material that is clearly not juice is then burned and turned into steam which then runs the entire plantation. And then when they strain the juice before it becomes a syrup the scum is used as fertilizer. After a walkthrough we were able to try 10 different sugars and a rum. They were amazing.. so I bought a thing of sugar which comes with a recipe book for Melanie and for myself (since Mel is a chef I thought she would appreciate it- though that means you own me some excellent desserts!) and a thing of sugar for my parents and tea and honey for myself. So I was VERY happy about those purchases. I was able to hang out with Liz the whole day and that was a lot of fun. After the trip the two of us headed back to the city part to do our shopping and what excitement that was- seriously!! But first I have to eat lunch so more this afternoon!

Alright- Lunch was alright- more on that later. So After the Sugar Plantation Liz and I headed to town, first to the post office for stamps to send a few more letters- I’ve sent the bulk of my mail at this point so I’m really excited because I’ve heard mail gets extremely slow from Mauritius to Vietnam. In the past mail that was sent from Japan was received before mail from India- Crazy huh? Then I ran errands for a few people- they also need stamps and phone cards and didn’t think they would have time to do it and since I’m a nice person I did it for them. Liz and I had lunch at this café and had some delicious food- I had a Panini and it was amazing. We headed over to this fabric store and we were the only white people there (later on we figured out we went shopping with the locals and that tourists don’t usually get things there because they go to the marketplace which is extremely expensive.) I bought my material for my quilt which was basically a sarong and one of those outfits- long shirts with no sleeves, pants and a scarf. Really really cute and pretty good price- I was very excited. The man that helped us LOVED talking to us and spent about an hour with us showing us fabric and everything. After we paid for our purchases he brought us to the market where he dressed us in sarees and took pictures. He gave us his card- he wants us to send him the picture. He also put bindi’s on our foreheads. We ended up walking around the market for a little while- I spent WAY too much on a doll and then we headed to the small shopping center at the crossing. We walked through the shops for awhile and made a few other purchases before heading back to the ship to meet up with the rest of our friends for dinner and internet. In order to get to the ship we either had to take the water taxi, walk a half hour or take an expensive regular taxi. We continued to opt for the water taxi though to be honest it was pretty sketchy. One of the boats we took over used a plastic soda bottle to boil some of its liquid- have no worries I have lots of pictures. It was pretty crazy! For dinner we went to a Chinese Restaurant, my meal was terrible, mainly because the chicken wasn’t really “Chinese” it was basically honey chicken complete with bones. So I think I’ll have to keep that in mind in case all Chinese turns out to be like that- though if it is, then I would be very disappointed because it was very American in taste. After dinner I attempted to get online, unfortunately the “free” internet wouldn’t let me get onto any websites so I spent an hour chatting on yahoo before my battery died. After my friends finished eating ice cream we headed back to the ship and Christina and I again stayed up quite late talking.

On Saturday we all woke up early to go over to the city do some last minute shopping, head to the beach and then eat dinner- at least that was the plan. Christina and Katie were not actually there when we arrived so we walked in and out of the shops there for awhile hoping they would come, after they didn’t at 10:30am we decided to get going on our day. Stopped at the post office again and then headed to a few other shops. After Liz and Julie were done with a few shops we headed back to the fabric store. Liz and I stopped to get some beads before that- I thought Jessica would appreciate some new beads for her collection- there aren’t too many but I wasn’t sure if she was still interested in it. At the fabric store I bought two sarees that are beautiful, and now I really can’t wait for India to come because I’m going to be able to get a whole bunch of them J! We continued shopping around and stopped at an Indian restaurant and the food was delicious- very exciting! After lunch we headed to the Waterfront area to do some more browsing and we spent quite a bit of time there before heading back to the crossing area to do more shopping and a snack. We sat at one of the outdoor cafes until 7 when we were supposed to meet Christina and Katie and Caitlin for dinner. We had pizza- I know kind of lame but considering the fact that I haven’t had pizza since way before I left- I enjoyed a little normalcy in my diet for once. Then we rushed to the water taxi and got back to the ship. Last night was pretty much recounting the past few days with everyone. All the crazy water taxi stories- like when I scrapped my leg because they docked next to a 3 foot wall that we had to climb onto, etc.

Today is the Sea Olympics- How exciting. So the morning started with a clip of the torch getting passed from sea to sea and then finally ending with it getting passed to Des. Tutu to finish it up. “Let the Games Begin” First we had the cheer contest, followed by Photo- scavenger hunt (they have to take pictures of things around the ship and are due by 6pm), Tug of War, Dodgeball, Slippery Twister, Juice Pong. I took a break from the festivities and wrote the first part of this entry and then lunch. After lunch was the Relay Races which were amazing- start with Flip Cup on the 4^th deck, then they tagged their team member for Water balloon tossing- here is the catch they had to toss from the 4^th to the 5^th, 5^th to the 6^th, 6^th to the 7^th! It was amazing. If the balloon popped though they had to walk quickly up the stairs to tag their partner. Then the balloon person on the top deck had to tag the starter of the orange pass- these members had to pass the orange using only their necks- no hands. After they circled the pool with the orange they had to drop the orange in a box and tag the another person in the basketball area. The last step was a free throw- as soon as they got it in they stop watch was stopped. Now this all might seem like its not that bad at all- but you have to think about the waves- and we have had some mighty big ones so everything is rocking back and forth and makes everything much more difficult and thus more amusing. After the relay was “synchronized swimming”- I put it in quotes because it wasn’t actually in the pool. Because the waves were too big (you thought I was kidding- shame on you!) we haven’t been allowed to have the pool at our disposal, and so they swimming performance was moved to the union. That was also amazing. I can’t remember all the songs but they were along these lines: Under the Sea, One in a million (yea the one from Miss Congeniality), a few remixes of like a Virgin, Sexy Back, Red Scare, Yellow something or other, Slow Boat to China was the lifetime learners and I’m coming out was the Kids. It was QUITE amusing- definitely a good laugh. I’m currently watching the Trivia show though I think as soon as I finish this I’m going to go practice for my event- Lip Synching!! Very exciting. Which reminds me, Christine- I was just reminded of you, the question was… don don don… Who discovered DNA? And in my head I said “I know, I know- My sister met him!! J Thought that would give you a smile. After Trivia is “Dean Mike Says” and the Limbo. Then dinner and at 6pm my group is practicing together, our music also has to be in by then. At 7pm we start the Lip Synching performance and we are the third to go. It will be very exciting and interesting.

Well my battery is about to die, but I hope to actually post this sometime soon for all of you at home, but like I said I’m trying to hold off until mid-week to do so. I love and miss you all- hope life is great. This week we are off to India! Though it is 7 days in the middle of the Indian Ocean and it isn’t going to be nearly as nice as it has been. I’m afraid it is going to be just as bed at the cross from Cape Town to Mauritius. I can’t wait for Vietnam though because my mom is meeting up with me- which reminds me that I need to continue on that to bring with her list so that I can no longer be deprived of things like M&M’s and granola bars. (If anyone wants to add to my collection with letters or other food-drop it off to my house!)

Alright Slight continuation of the blog: After the Trivia, Christina and I checked out the Ping Pong finals and Dean Mike Says and then I had dinner with my singing group. After that I handed my ipod in to the sound people to get the music and we used one of the other girl’s laptops to practice in the union. We decided to change a few things so we went down to the 3^rd deck in a small open area and worked on our dance a few times and then we changed into out “outfits” of all black, got make-up on and headed up to the Union for the show. Most of the groups did a mix of songs with a “theme” of sorts to it. One group did a bunch of songs that related to Sugar/candy. Another did 80’s, there was a lot hip hop and a lot of removing of men’s shirts. Our group went 3^rd and we were told we were excellent by our peers- we are all very supportive when the event is going on J. After all 10 seas performed we had a few minutes before the results were announced. And the Mediterranean (us) received 1^ST PLACE in Lip-Synching J So we were all thrilled and our sea screamed for about 10 min. This was one of 2 events that we actually placed, the other being Dean Mike Says and it was 2^nd place. So everyone was thrilled that we placed in SOMETHING! Afterwards my RD came up to me and she let me know that she was sooo proud of us and we did sooo good and that she was sooo excited for us and how everyone was screaming at the end when they announced it and everything. At which point Drew, another RD and one of the judges for the competition came up and let me know that the three judges went in the back and they were like okay so Med. Sea gets 1^st hands down, now with that out of the way lets talk about 2^nd and 3^rd. So that made my day even better because after all we were actually lip-synching and clearly knew the words for our entire song instead of dancing or miming most of it. Again- amazing experience and definitely a lot of fun. After the festivities of chatting with my group and watching one of the videos I went back to my cabin where I prepped for tomorrow and then at 9:30pm I met with my actors for my scene for directing. I’m really excited and definitely think things are going well. It was a nice first meeting we did a slight warm-up and then we talked about the play a little bit and then we read through the scene 4 or 5 times. Tomorrow we meet again at 8pm and then again the next night and then Wednesday is the performance at 8:50am in the morning. I’m just going to pray to god that we don’t have a time change!

Well now I’m going to go off and write some late emails and finish my sweet tooth list for my mother before heading to bed. I hope to wake up bright and early tomorrow to post this and hopefully with some pictures- Sorry that I haven’t put any up I seem to continue to get crappy internet service that goes extremely slow but hopefully 6am will be an alright time to go on and post. Love and miss you all dearly!

~Jennifer xoxoxo

P.S. Sorry no new pictures- Internet is getting even slower! Miss you all

Cape Town- Skydiving :)

I WENT SKY DIVING!! IT WAS AMAZING.

Hi everyone, I don't have very long, but I wanted to let you get a brief insight to my week in capetown. I think i left off with Saturday but I can't really remember... So I guess I will start with Sunday.. and hopefully remember it all. I don't know if my pictures will actually end up working out, but I'm trying to upload them at the moment. If not you will have to wait for next time I have better internet access and more time.

Alright so Sunday: I woke up early if I remember correctly and walked around a bit, I was going to try to go to Robben Island but that didn't work out so I walked around the market some more and gave the tour to all of my friends at one point or another. I believe I stopped at the internet cafe a few times but overall it was a pretty relaxed day.

Monday was the Cape Winelands which were amazing. If I didn't have a budget for this trip and wasn't gongho about sticking to it I would have bought a bunch of bottles of wine and sent it home to be waiting for me when I get back. But just so you know J.C. LeRouix has AMAZING sparkling wine and goodness, we were all laughing by the end of it. And we had lunch which was bits of cheese, quiche and a salad and it was delicous! The wine had a strong taste and was very vibrant. It was also excellent, but i still like the sparkling wine better. We stopped at the African Language Museum and then to a Brandy and Chocolate tasting. I can say for sure now that I am NOT a brandy person though it was an excellent opportunity. That night I believe I gave a few tours around the market again.

Tuesday was Brown Paper Studio- that was a long and tiring day yet oddly amazing. We were able to work with other brown paper studio students and we had a great time watching performances playing theatre games, it was just excellent and it was nice to see that this program was helping all of the students in many different ways. That night I was pretty exhausted and I think again stayed around. We went to the Mexican place for a fish bowl and that was alright, nothing like the one from the first day though!

Wednesday was Tabletop Mountain with the mayor which we were unable to climb the mountain but we went around it instead and ended up in the Botanical Gardens which were gorgeous I wish I had more time to look at the flowers and everything! That night we went to the Green Mermaid for cheesecake which was SOOO good, I just can't even tell you I wish that I could have that everyday it was just amazing! I got to see Christina too so that was a nice surprise when I got back to my cabin. And then it was off to bed

This morning I woke up bright and early to talk to the doctor who told me I had to start stretching so I could start soaking my toes- amazing :) lol and then I walked around while Caitlin did her shopping and then went back to the ship to go sky diving. thats right SKY DIVING. and it was amazing SOO much fun- I got video footage off Caitlin's video camera so I just have to download it here and I have it to show everyone when I get home. :) :) :) Then we started out last minute shopping and I'm ultra excited got everything I needed and as soon as I finish this I go for sushi and then back to the ship and we are off!

Well its shorter in comparison but could be much longer. I'll go into greater detail later but for now this will have to do!

I love and miss you all back home!

The Sea, Pre-Cape Town and some of Cape Town

**** A Team, I need someone's mailing address, please email me it jjsears_4@hotmail.com ASAP - preferably before Thurs


South Africa at 6am :)
Me on the deck with Tabletop Mountain behind me
One of the many seals that chill at our "jetty" They are one of the first things you see when you get off the boat.
Castle of Good Hope

The Advertisement that I saw that made me think of all of you
A big bowl of alcohol. literally. Its called the gulf of mexico and it has about 4 or 5 different types and a bit of juice. It was amazing. Though more then 3 definitely need to drink it

March 1^st

Goodness, things just get crazy on this ship! So I’m doing alright with the hair. I’m really glad that I did it, I won’t ever regret it, I just won’t be doing it ever again. I enjoy have something to clip up and I enjoy the pretty smell of my hair when I let it down. Its amazing though, how much you appreciate something you take for granted… like hair. Well I don’t know if I’ll change my ways and start spending 10 hours making it look perfect every day but I can at least say that when this head of hair grows back I will love it 10 time more then I did!

So hopefully by the time this gets posted, or not posted depending on my fate, I will have done what few dare to do: skydive. I’m really really nervous, but I figure- if not now then when? If not here then where? Its about 235 US dollars which is going over my allotted budget for south Africa, good thing I got a beautiful deposit since I’ve been on this ship. My reasoning: it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to skydive in South Africa. Not to mention I believe saying “go big or go home” was going to be my motto for this trip. So I’m going big by going skydiving! I’m also hoping to get the video that goes along with it so then I can share this memorable experience with all of those individuals who have issues with height and therefore won’t go themselves OR those of you who don’t believe me (though I don’t see that happening!- but you may want proof ;) ) But before I get into my big plans for South Africa, Let me tell you about my week!

Sunday: Day A

Nothing too exciting happened. I was planning on posting… but sleep was too tempting and I kept hitting the snooze button. Until suddenly it was time for classes J In directing we chose our scenes for the final project. And then Global Studies After writing my Critical Issues Journal (which was not fun) I met with Judy (my directing teacher) because she wants to keep in touch, make sure I’m doing alright all that. So we talked about a lot of stuff and towards the end I stared out into the ocean. It was so peacefully and nice. Other then just classes and hanging out on the 7^th deck which again, was beautiful. The water was so calm, other then the waves created by our ship, the water looked like it was virtually not moving. Oh gosh… I just wish I could have snapped a picture! But I’m a loser and didn’t! Again, the rest of the day was pretty boring

Monday Day B

Another typical day at sea, I woke up really early to post all of those beautiful photos and my last blog (hope you liked it!) and then went to bed for a little while before Global Studies- we discussed Aids, watched a few videos. It was a little scary and really sad L. Primarily focusing in on South Africa and Africa in general. We discussed how former President Mandela put Mbeki in charge of solving the Aid’s question. And then when Mbeki took over, aids continued to be under his watchful eye. However he denied the connection between HIV and AIDS and therefore refused to allow HIV treatment to individuals who had AIDS. He banned the medication in the hospitals and at the time condoms and other preventatives was not popular among the masses and so HIV continued to spread. A convention for AIDS was even held in South Africa and Mbeki continued to deny the connection. As you can see, this was an extremely powerful class. The end result was that the people sued the government for not giving them the choice if they wanted health care regarding AIDS and the people won. I took a nap during the day and did more homework. At night Christina and I watched the Constant Gardener. Damn. Now THAT was intense. I was on the edge of my bed the whole time. (the premise is this couple lives in Africa and the wife worked to discredit and make changes in the townships. Well she found out that the people were being used as guinea pigs for brand new drugs never before tested on people and hundreds were dying because of it. Well in order to quiet her, the government has her killed and so then her husband gets involved. Now her husband didn’t know what she did for a living and so he started investigating, at first he thought she was cheating on him and then he realized what she was really doing and so he kept hunting for why she was going where she went when she was killed. – still following? – Anyway, the whole point is the thing that she was protecting was then revealed to the public and so the public ended up finding out about the dirty dealing) I was freaked out!! But overall amazing movie. Again I cried throughout a lot of it. But more on that later.

Tuesday- Day A and Apartheid Day

So we moved our clocks forward one hour and I barely got up in time for my 8 am class! After Global Studies, which was a intro class on Apartheid and announcement was made throughout the entire ship that we were doing a simulation. Everyone who had shaved their heads would be a part of the privileged class and would be free to continue as we usually do in addition to using the Faculty and Staff lounge with the exception of the Aquamarine Dining Room (where I usually eat). Everyone else was not allowed on the 7^th Deck and they weren’t allowed to eat in the Garden Lounge (where I was forced to eat). Since I don’t usually see my friends on A day with the exception of Lunch time and a few spare moments between classes, I did my own thing anyways. Basically read my book in the Garden Lounge while I ate. One of the waiters dropped off a napkin that had the following quote written on it. “ Labour for learning before you grow old because learning is better than silver and gold. Silver and gold will vanish away but a good education will never decay. – Clive” It was a really sweet gesture, it just made me feel even worse about not having friends for the day- which he informed me that if they had hair they were my enemies for the day not my friends. Which naturally I understand (the ENTIRE ship board community was on boat for this simulation). And again although I hated it – I enjoyed the education aspect from it. I just felt extremely isolated because none of my friends were shaved heads and all of the shaved heads wanted to brag to all those who were not privileged and rub it in their faces which again was childish. Today (Thursday) we had a discussion in my directing class and I heard that a few years ago when they attempted to do this all of the privileged class gave up all their rights as a group as well and the simulation didn’t work. Interesting huh? After dinner (which there was a sit-in just before I went so I missed all the action) I had my first actor’s studio to find actors for my play. And then we had a gathering in my room- Christina, myself and liz and Katie stopped by for some good ole venting. I went up to the 7^th deck to get popcorn for them since I was the only “privileged one”. I also had my first alcoholic drink since getting on the boat. Usually the line is terrible and I don’t even want to waste my time in the line. But because all the frat and sorority girls weren’t allowed up because they didn’t shave their heads, there was no line and so I got myself a wine cooler which was quite good, though I had to drink it fast because I’m not allowed downstairs with drinks. And then I rejoined the party, and again not too much to tell just talked and went to bed.

Wednesday Day B

Global Studies was a nice treat- the Archbishop finally decided to get up in front of us and give a little bit of a speech. I have to admit he is the cutest old man ever. He was just so passionate and excited and emotional about everything he had to say and most of all he seemed happy- rejoiceful, that apartheid had come to an end instead of being bitter that it even occurred at all. It was quite the speech. This is one of my few encounters with him. He usually takes his meal in the Garden Lounge, and I usually eat in the Aquamarine. He isn’t as approachable or as out and about as all of the press and publications made it seem like. Anytime that I have seen him dining he is surrounded with members of the older community and he tends to shy away from talking to long with any group of students. I mean he will say hi and everything he just keeps himself at a distance. His wife will be joining us in South Africa and I hope that encourages him to reach out more because with all the fuss they made- I’m not going to lie- I’m REALLY disappointed. It took 3 days before I even saw him on the ship…. And the ship really isn’t THAT big! Anyways, day two of my actor studio, not really all that exciting. No one showed though I checked my email- sorry no update. I thought I would give you some time to recover from that last one. At 8pm we had our Cultural Pre-port meeting where we learned about South African music and the night life we should expect – things we should go see and things we should know. For example- Toasted Cheese is a grilled cheese sandwich. And that giving the peace sign backwards so your palm faces you is a VERY bad cuss word (in Brazil the okay sign with your fingers meant a really bad word too). Things like that, that just might be useful. After pre-port I went back to my room where I continued to read King Leopold’s Ghost and then watched Hotel Rwanda, Good Will Hunting and select scenes from Narnia. (All available on the campus network!) Hotel Rwanda made me cry. That was REALLY intense. The beginning and middle was phenomenal though the ending was very movie like. And because of Hotel Rwanda I have been on a on again/off again cry fits. But more on that later. I finally went to bed at 4am (we added another hour) after watching some happy things to clear my mind from Hotel Rwanda so I didn’t have bad dreams.

Thursday Day A

Directing was also VERY difficult to wake up for this morning. It was pretty harsh. We discussed the Apartheid and the Archbishop’s speech. It was a pretty good class. And in Global Studies we had a question/answer session with Desmond. But the questions were pre-chosen so the class could move quicker. Some questions were pretty good, others were less so. After Global Studies I finished King Leopold’s Ghost and again cried for a half hour, more on that below, I started my paper for it, had lunch and then finished my paper in time for class. Critical Issues was alright, a discussion about the book, but he gave us terrible news. The first A day after South Africa we had a major exam on everything and our journals are due and they are expected to be much better. I’m a little bitter, but I guess it’s to be expected. After class I wrote my South Africa letters to be sent out on the 7^th deck. It was nice and peaceful for the most part. Then dinner which was terrible followed by Logistical Pre-port. Now for Brazil’s logistics, the MD on board sang a song in order to teach us about the precautions of Brazil (see below). When Christina and I went to visit him we told him he needed to do an even better one. Well his wife and daughter came through and tonight’s was hysterical. Add on the fact that Desmond got really into and sang the first part and then danced the rest. Oh god it was great! Amazing even. Rocky my Energy professor was the other major singer with a group of background singers! Oh and tonight we received an important message that we need to tie everything down tonight because it is supposed to get REALLY rocky while we are getting into port. (all of the currents are converging right where we are porting J ) Oh and the fact that we got the okay sign to eat lettuce and veggies here in port. (Brazil we were not allowed to, well we could but the we would suffer from diarrhea!) Other then that pretty uneventful meeting. Afterwards Christina and I watched Breakfast Club while I started writing this. And now we have “Freedom of Resistance” on because Christina needs to watch it for a class. And soon we are off to bed.

MY REFLECTIONS

So the only thing that I really want to reflect upon all goes under the same theme- our (at an international level) inability to get along and live peacefully is quite… ignorant. First let it be said that my thoughts are stemming from a variety of resources, Hotel Rwanda, the AID’s Discussion, Constant Gardener and last but probably most important King Leopold’s Ghost. I guess I should start there. King Leopold’s Ghost isn’t a novel but it isn’t your typical non-fiction book. The premise of the book is Leopold II, King of Belgium and his need to conquer and obtain a colony. He is sly and corrupt and manages to make himself look angelic in everyone else’s eyes while in reality he is a hypocrite. After trying to buy a colony he decides to invest in the Congo. Well his representative starts using the natives as forced labor and this practice unfortunately continues for hundreds of years. The major points are basically they are known for their brutality. The soldiers capture other natives so they can join the work force. These natives are forced to collect rubber from the vines and if they don’t collect enough then they are beaten with a hippo skinned whip- by the sound of it MUCH worse then a whip you and I would think of) Thousands are murdered or worked to death and obviously rebellions start to crop up. With every person (man woman or child) that they kill they cut off the right arm to prove they have used the bullet to kill someone. By 1924, (so maybe 30 years) they downsized the native population by half. The woman were raped and taken as hostage and naturally other terrible things would happen none of which I really want to go into detail about. Well finally some journalist breaks through and convinces the dominant powers of the day that this is bad and so there is a wave of reform movements, though in reality nothing is done to stop or change the system in place. Not to mention this all occurring around the same time that the United States is causing bloodshed in the Philippines and Britain has South Africa. So I’ve been a little bit emotionally tender because I just don’t understand why no one does anything. But I guess that is phrased wrong, because after all its easier to criticize everyone else and not actually change the problem or act like you are completely oblivious. Well I won’t bore you with the details, just know that the combination of it all disturbed me to no end and I’m hoping to find some comfort at my arrival in Cape Town.

SCHEDULE for CAPE TOWN

Friday: Port at 6am. Skydiving at 2pm, Theatre (Everyone else is ****ing perfect) from 6pm-11:30pm and then SLEEP because I’ll be exhausted.

Saturday: Shopping and walking around downtown, hopefully lots of internet usage and hopefully when this will be posted online. And then out at night with Laura!

Sunday: Same as Saturday

Monday: Cape Wineland trip to 4 winelands and then out

Tuesday: Brown Paper Studio (theatre FDP) and then out

Wednesday: Hiking up Tabletop Mountain with Former Mayor and then out?

Thursday: Last minute shopping and internet. On ship by 8:30pm for the South African Chorus and departing at 11:30 for the fuel station where we will dock for the night and continue on our way to Mauritius!

This is turning into QUITE the trip! I hope everyone is enjoying hearing about it! I love and miss you all.

For my Mohegan Sunners out there. If you even managed to make it down to the end of this it will be a miracle. But Can someone leave some sort of mailing address that I could possibly send a postcard or other too? Thanks guys- I miss you and I hope your having a great time without me!

And LASTLY: The Brazilian Health Song- ENJOY!

Salvador Pre-Port Health Briefing – by Dr Matt et al

Listen along with the podcast thats in the folder. To share it with folks back home you can send them to the podcast section of my web/blogs at:

http://web.mac.com/matthandley/iWeb/Handleys%20go%20Global/Podcasts/Podcasts.html

Somewhere deep in the jungle

Mosquitoes fly

Those malaria carriers

Think you’re their blood supply

DEET – we recommend DEET

Malarone, Larium and doxy

Thwart those bugs defeat their Moxy

D-E-E-T combined with meds

No bug bites

All through lovely Brazil

There’s food to try

But danger lurks in the lettuce

Ice cubes and fruit you buy

Pepto – we’re talkin’ about Pepto

No diarrhea problems there

Nor Upset stomachs in despair

That’s P-E-P-T-O Bismol

Pepto bis-mol

In Rio De Janeiro town when carnival is allllll around you

The drinking dancing never stops

and sexual inhibition drops

But STDs surround you

Condoms, let talk about condoms

No unprotected sex out there No STDs for you to share

That’s C-O-N-D-O-M-S

That’s Con-doms

If you’re out in the sunshine

Or at the beach

And you’re under-protected

Blisters and burns compete

Sunscreen – Its all about sunscreen

Its slippery slimy goopy gunk

That helps avoid the post burn funk

That S-P-F more than 15

That’s Sun-screen

Friday March 2, 2007

Okay so, Here is the continuation of this blog. I unfortunately was unable to go skydiving today- I know VERY disappointing. But I will be going on Thursday morning instead- the deposit has been made and everything. I’m very excited about going- though to be honest I’m scared out of my mind- Overall though I think it will be an amazing experience.

Cape Town is Amazing. There is no other way to put it. Although I’ve mainly spent my time in the tourist and downtown area it was still amazing. Today Laura, Julie, Leslie and I went to the ATM and to the Robben Island Museum so they could be tickets for Weds. I Leslie and I stopped at this really cute store that has these ostrich egg look a likes that have cut outs of various images out of them with a light on the bottom and a stand for it. I fell in love with it, so provided that I don’t go too over my budget this week – at the end that will be a keepsake for me because it’s beautiful even though its 60 us dollars. Anyways, after the letdown about skydiving (the guy didn’t reserve us spots and sold them to someone else without telling us- we thought we were all set) we decided to make arrangements for later on in the week and then we started walking around. We took a mini-bus (cab) to the bus depot downtown and went to the Castle of hope or something along those lines. Not quite a castle a lot smaller than I would have thought but it was still really pretty. And then Julie, Laura and I went to the District 6 Museum. Basically during Apartheid the government suddenly decided that they wanted District 6 to be an all-white residential area so they cleared out all the old tenants (they were moved to extremely poor townships with less than habitual housing arrangements), knocked it down and then rebuilt the entire section of town for white or colored families. It was really sad, and yet the entire community is working to overcome all of the bitter memories in order to create a world that is a beautiful place for their children. It really was inspirational. After spending quite a bit of time there we walked through downtown, stopped at a grocery store for Julie to get supplies and then continued on our way to Long St (rumored to be the street that has the awesome clubs and pubs) for a drink and appetizers. Well we wanted to walk towards the waterfront so I’m pretty sure all the good places were farther up the street, oh well. We then decided to continue down to the waterfront because that had a lot of restaurants as well and ended up stopping at a Mexican restaurant. I had calamari and Julie got wings. The three of us split the Gulf of Mexico- that would be the picture of the punch bowl picture. It was really good and I was feeling great- it had been an overall nice relaxed afternoon and I was about to go to my favorite trip of the week: A Night of Theatre: Everybody else is ****ing Perfect. Unfortunately there was a bit of a line to get back into the ship. When I finally got to my room- my key wasn’t working so I had to go to the Purser’s desk to have it recoded. I get into my room threw on a change of clothes suitable for the theatre and ran out of the door up to the union. Then I realized I didn’t have my key- I let the trip leader know and ran back to Purser’s desk which had an extremely long line and I had to wait forever for it, got charged for needing to be let into my room and get into my room and grab my card. By the time that I get back outside my trip had left and I was out 55 dollars. I was very angry. The security guards for the docks were trying to figure out what theatre it might be at and were trying to be as helpful as possible, but unfortunately no luck. So I went back to my room and I just lost it. I was so angry about not being able to go on that trip and I know the field office won’t refund me because they had to pay for the ticket anyway and its my responsibility to be there on time which just makes it a million times worse. So after that, Leslie ended up finding me and we encouraged Kiera to come with us into the Waterfront to check out the night life. We ended up stopping to get some ice cream and walked around the mall and shop area. Then walked back to the ship at about 10:30ish. Christina finally came back around 11:30 and her day was just as disappointing as mine was, so we vented for awhile outside while she waited for her mom to get there. At around 12:30 we decided to go in and give her dad a call to find out what was going on. Her flight had been delayed by 3 hours from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Christina went back outside and I cleaned and prepped for tomorrow and then I started writing this. Christina’s mom finally got here a little after 1:30am and they stayed for about a half hour and then left to go to their hotel. So I watched a part of Wimbledon- the romance movie with Kirsten Dunst and fell asleep.

Saturday March 3, 2007

Day 2 of CAPE TOWN

I woke up and had breakfast with my friends around 8am. Then at 10 am we left to go to Robben Island to see about tickets. Today and tomorrow is sold out so I can’t do it which again I’m disappointed but I’m alright. I went shopping instead by myself around the Waterfront. I bought lots of cool stuff and actually buying the other half tomorrow. I also spent a good deal at an Internet café in the midst of the day and now I’m back finishing up the minutes that I bought. I’ll probably be back tomorrow too because all of my stuff is Mon, Tues and Weds. I feel pretty relaxed and pretty good. As soon as I’m done with this entry and my other internet things I’m going to be getting an ice cream and heading back to the ship for the night. So in case you didn’t notice the above plan is wrong, but not wanting to change the original works, I’m just going to readjust it below:

Fri- Walked around the Water Front, Castle of Good Hope, District 6 Museum, Tequilla Catina for Drinks, Ship, Walked around the market areas.

Sat- Shopping and internet all day

Sun- More Shopping and internet, possibly stopping at the Robben Island museum where the tickets are sold.

Mon- Cape Winelands, sundowners and then out?

Tues- Brown Paper Studio, Around town

Weds- Tabletop Mountain- Staying close to the ship because I’m going to be EXHAUSTED!

Thurs- Skydiving, and last minute shopping.

I still have to buy my doll and quilt material, but I fell in love with this ostrich egg that is sketched with the world on it. It doubles as a lamp- It is the coolest and most beautiful thing ever, But it’s a bit expensive. About 75 US dollars. I don’t know, we will see what I decide.

The culture here is amazing. You can really feel the community. In many of the stores the products they sold are made by people that are in the townships. I know they probably aren’t getting much for them, but at least their work is getting sold. A few stores even posted signs saying they wouldn’t bargain because the money goes to the individuals. The tags have the names of the township or at least the location of where they are created. There were these tin can angels. I think that might be my trinket for the kids from south Africa, the money goes to Aids campaign. I like contributing money to good causes. The local students made them too so it will be a neat little thing to have. And even if all you parents hate it then you can throw it out and it won’t hurt too many of my feelings- but I think its adorable.

Alright, well I guess that’s it for the day. I might try to squeeze a little bit of internet time in on my last day here so I can update you on the rest of Cape Town Trips. Well I hope you all are having a great time at home!

Love, Jennifer