Dean's Memo

Every night, the ISE staff sends us the Deans' Memo. It includes information on seminars, office hours, television programing and anything else going on around the ship.

Here is todays:

Deans’ Memo

Sunday April 1, 2012	Issue # 69
Sunday, April 1 Agenda 1900-2000 – Meet the Stow Away Students! Does it seem like there are a ton of new people you don’t recognize? After spending the last 9 weeks dodging the security team, our interport stow aways are coming out of their life boat hiding places and will share their impressions of our community as overheard from hiding. ·         2000-2100 – Explorer Seminar: Ineffective Birth Control Options. Farrell Saunders. Although many people think spending time with the dependent children is the best form of birth control, Farrell will dispel that rumor and share other sure ways to end up with 4 kids. (Union) ·         1900-2000 – Career Spotlight: Exotic Pole-Dancing. Considering a career in pole-dancing? Come this evening to talk with professionals in the field and get a strategy to map out your career path. We’ve gotten special permission to hold this seminar in the Glazer Lounge due to the number of poles and the adult content (Glazer Lounge) ·         1900-2000 – Engine Room & Galley Tour! You’ve asked for it and now you get it. Get a guided tour of the engine room and help change the ship’s oil and top off the antifreeze. Then head to the galley and see how all the food is made. While you are there, slice some potatoes for dinner tonight. (Glazer Lounge) ·         1900-2000 – Flip Flop Club. Do you love your flip flops? Come share your best bonding moments from your voyage around the world with your favorite flip flops. (Pool Deck) ·         2100-2200 –Sick People: A Photographic Journey. Dr. Bill Yeaton will present a photography based travelogue on being a doctor and will show pictures of some of the nastiest things he has seen during his time as a doctor. (Union) ·         2100-2200 – Photo Club! Please bring your 3 best photos of sunsets, your friends doing peace signs, and puppies on a flash drive to share for a photo critique. (Classroom 3)   ·         Tonight’s time changes: Deck 2 Back 1 hour Deck 3 Ahead 1 hour Deck 4 Ahead 3 hours Deck 5 No change Deck 7 Ahead 17 minutes Anyone late to class will get dock time. Announcements Want Credit for Your FDPs? All records of FDP participation have been accidentally erased. Students are requested to write a 1-page synopsis for each FDP they have participated in to verify their attendance. Please stop by the Field Office to submit your FDP credit requests or no credit will be given. Pool Bar Closure. Due to the abundance of left over pork, pasta, and potatoes, the Deck 7 Pool Bar will be closed for the remainder of the voyage. All meals will be served in the Decks 5 & 6 dining rooms. Fresh Water Consumption. We are low on our water consumption. Please take longer showers, do more laundry, and join our community wide squirt gun fight tomorrow on the Pool Deck. Reinventing the Wheel Competition. Come cheer your favorite staff members on as they compete in the reinvent the wheel competition. Watch as they are given conflicting information and limited supplies and are asked to figure out how to pull this off for the 108th time. Wellness Center Sale! 50% off all spray tanning and manscaping services. Let’s Water Ski! The Captain has agreed to one day of water skiing off the back of the ship. Sign-ups at the Activities Desk in Tymitz Square. Sick of Those Tan Lines? The 8th Deck will be open for nude tanning for the remainder of the voyage. Information from the Captain and Crew We are sick of cleaning up after you. From now on you have to make your own bed.	Today’s Quote “Man up” – Lynette Cook-Francis Laundry Service April 1: Do your own laundry. Happy Un-Birthday! To everyone who’s birthday is from May 2 to January 18. Question of the Day Are we there yet? Yesterday's question: What color are the Captains red glasses? Answer: Blue Television Programming Ch. 2: Documentary about evil corporations (2004, 96min, PG-13) Ch. 3: Documentary about greedy corporations (2007, 45min, NR) Ch. 5: Foreign documentary about evil and greedy corporations, with subtitles (1995, 179min, PG) Ch. 6: Titanic (1998) Other field office hours – tymitz sq. CLOSED Dining Hours Breakfast 0700 – 0830 Lunch        1130 – 1330        Dinner      1730 – 1930 Medical Clinic – Deck 2 Hours: Sick from food poisoning: 0800-0900 Sick from rocking ship: 1630-1730 Sick of your roommate: 1730-1930 Counseling Center – Deck 2 Hours: See Quote of the Day Dependent Children’s Program– Main Dining Room Hours: 0845-1145  Home Schooling 1345-1545  Children’s production of Lord of the Flies exerpts from the noon bridge report (as of April 1) Latitude: Dunno Longitude: Not sure Sea Depth: Very deep Distance to nearest land: We have no idea, but we can’t see it from here.
APRIL FOOLS!

 

Wave Day?

We are currently at sea, and the sky is pitch black. It is pouring and
the waves are rocking. We are heading right towards a monsoon on our way
from Vietnam, which we left 8 hours ago, and Hong Kong. Rumor has it
this is just the beginning, and tomorrow is going to be declared a "wave
day" (which is a ships version of a snow day) because chairs in the
classrooms will probably be flying and people will non-stop puking.

It is crazy to think that a monsoon is about to touch land in a place
that we left just 8 hours ago, but we are still going to feel the
effects. Of course I pray that it misses Vietnam entirely, but I'd be
lying if I said I wasn't pretty excited to see how insane things get in
the coming 30 hours.

India

India is going to be a little bit different for me. I'm not going to
write what I did and when I did it. Sure, I'll include some of my
itinerary, but overall this is going to a more random, and probably very
long, entry, encompassing what I did, what I saw, fun facts, random
moments, and a whole lot more. Why is that, you ask? Well, there's a few
reasons:
1*There was a whole lot of travel involved. In six days I went to:
Cochin-->Delhi-->Agra-->Jaipur-->Delhi-->Cochin-->Chamalagan-->Cochin.
2*I don't actually know a lot of what I saw. A lot of the tours I went
on during my SAS trip were so time crunched that our guides literally
just told us the name of the place, gave us 10 minutes to take pictures,
and then re-assembled us on the bus. We were given no other information
and I have no recollection of the names of a lot of places.
3*I learned more in India than I have in any other port. Gender plays
such a huge role in this society and I just have never seen anything
like it. I am so intrigued, and so interested, and I'm not sure how to
phrase a lot of what ran through, and continues to run through, my head
but I'm sure going to try to explain it.

Warning: If you don't like random, scattered thoughts, you should
probably stop reading now. The following will consist of some
chronology, some random bullet points, some random phrases, some
thoughts that probably don't make a whole lot of sense, and a whole lot
more of fun-filled writing. So this is your warning. So if your lame and
don't like wicked cool all-over-the-place thoughts, bye bye.

Because I made such a big deal of the randomness of this entry, I'm
going to start with a discussion on toilets. Yup, you read correctly,
toilets. Toilets are nice, right? Some are comfortable, many are clean,
and there's often a feeling of relief coming with a trip to one. But
sometimes we find ourselves in toilets that more or less make us want to
puke. While in America, this image is traditionally identified with a
roadside gas station. For many people on my trip (and my previous trips
in other countries), I have found this to be quite true. I have seen
people turn away because a toilet was too gross, or smelled too bad, or
didn't flush or lacked toilet paper. In India, I saw people wait in line
for 20 minutes to use the one Western-style toilet when there are 5 open
stalls with Indian-style bathrooms (google it). Honestly, a month ago I
would have done the exact same thing, but Ghana showed me the value of
any bathroom. I was the one who bypassed the line of western waiters and
pulled out my charmin to go for the Indian experience. Yes, the toilets
are disgusting, but the fact that they exist isn't something I forget.
The people of Senase live without this luxury, and even the dirtiest one
is a reminder of a small blessing. Of course, I much prefer the MV
Explorer for those more intimate bathroom moments, but toilets have
really come to be the defining factor of poverty for me. It's easy to
think of poor as no roads and no educations...but a toilet is a small
luxury I have realized is often entirely overlooked in dealing with
poverty. I'll use that Indian toilet, and I'll be thankful for it. The
people of Senase would be.

My big trip in India was a trip with Semester at Sea titled Agra and
Jaipur. While this mostly consisted of traveling, we did get some
site-seeing in. Here are some of the highlights:
-Gandhi's Tomb. This was SO, so cool to see. It is inside of this
massive park that is just filled with memorials and flower gardens and
important buildings. We didn't see too much of this stuff since we had
very little time, but the tomb itself is the highlight anyway. There are
two ways to see the tomb, from ground level or from above. For the
ground level, you have to take off your shoes before you can walk in.
Thankfully, I wore sneakers that day so I went to sock-mode and went in
with Dain and Kelsey. All of the edges are marked with scriptures in a
bunch of different languages that talk of Gandhi's amazing work and some
of his speeches. In the center is his tomb with a simple candle on top.
There were about 70 people there at the time, and even though it was
just a tomb it was a very awe-inspiring moment. The serenity of it all
mixed with the perfect, sunshine-filled weather and it took us a minute
before we even realized we were standing on hot cement. We ended up not
being able to go the upstairs part because we spent all our of time down
below, but it was worth every second. I know I didn't do it justice in
this description, but it's kind of a feeling I can't even attempt to
describe. Here is my apology now: there's a lot of this in India.
-A whole bunch of forts I don't know the name of. The highlights of
these were mostly bathroom experiences, Dain getting yelled at for his
tripod (see below) and sunburns.
-ELEPHANTS. This was technically Amber Fort, which is in Jaipur, but
I'll be honest, the highlight was riding an elephant to the top. I also
got to pet an elephant on the side of the road. India has a lot of
animals just roaming. Cows cross the street, goats are everywhere (like
we see cats and dogs), camels are a mode of transport and dogs are
watchguards. But riding the elephant was definitely the coolest animal
experience so far this voyage. And way cooler than the actual fort.
-McDonalds. McDonalds, a site to see, whaaa? But wait just a minute, in
India cows are sacred. So what does McDonalds actually serve? I had to
find out! The menu had a few chicken sandwiches, but also sold a bunch
of veggie products I had never seen at a McDonalds before! It was so
different!
-The Taj Mahal. That's a pretty big staple of India and I don't think a
visit to India is complete without it. And i'm pretty sure that's the
first "site-seeing" most of you thought of when I said India. So that's
why it's in the middle of this list, because I promised spontaneity and
it just wouldn't fit to put it first. The security at this sacred and
historic building is so intense that literally only five items are
allowed in - cell phones and personal cameras being two of them, but
extra batteries and memory cards were not allowed, along with pens,
notebooks, any cosmetics, and pretty much anything else. Standing in
front of the Taj was simply unreal. Here is this image we have seen on
TV and in books for years and years, and there I was, standing in front
of it. Hands down this was one of the most out-of-body experiences to
date. I couldn't believe I was walking the path I had watched people
walk on a screen time and time again. It's a beautiful building and a
world-renowned site. And there I was, standing in front of it. I'm still
in awe.

TRIPODS. I promised that tripods would be below, so here it is.
Basically, for some reason I still have yet to figure out why tripods
are banned almost everywhere in India. Of course, Dain doesn't just take
that lightly and tried to pull it out to take group pictures at more
than one place. He got yelled at more than once and forced to put it
away at each location. Still, for anyone that knows Dain, it won't
surprise you at all that his "putting it away" was picking it up and
taking the camera off, promising to do it while walking and setting it
up in the next spot. At the Taj, security was so strict that it wasn't
even allowed in, but everywhere else had just told him he couldn't use
it when entering. At one location, the security guards told him more
than once to put it away so he broke it into the three pieces and asked
me to hold the tripod and the stand. Legitimately, we weren't going to
use it but we were already quite a bit behind our group and in a rush to
catch them that we just figured we would disassemble it on the bus. So
the security guard followed me for the next few minutes, just continuing
to walk around me and stare at me while Dain ran off through various
rooms taking pictures. I knew he was watching me, but I just figured it
was to make sure I didn't use it since I did have my canon around the
neck. However, when I walked up to Dain the guard suddenly came over and
started yelling to put it away now. The answer of we weren't using it
wasn't going to work again and he stood there until we put it away. This
was extra interesting because of the gender-definition of it. I was
watched, but not spoken to, because I am a female. India has A LOT of
gender dividing lines and discrimination, and it's quite funny how I
could carry a tripod but he couldn't.

DISNEY. Of course, nothing in my life would be complete if Disney wasn't
a part of it. In addition to taking pictures of Mickey's that I see
around (which I do in every port, here I even saw an article on tourism
to Orlando with a picture of main street in a magazine!), India was
extra special in Disney-terms for two reasons:
1*Dain and I are pretty much Semester at Sea DCP Campus Reps without the
perks, and convince people to participate in the future left and right.
We even convinced our friend Michael to apply in Ghana and interview in
South Africa. And in India, he found out he was accepted! He got his
first choice role of Bell-hop too which is a pretty small role so we
were so happy for him! He is unfortunately starting after Dain and I
leave for the summer, but hopefully we will have more fall trips there!

Some pretty common things of India:
-The India "smell." A few ports thus far have had a very particular
smell, a smell that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life and
think of with similar scents. One of these countries was Ghana. Another
was India. I can't really describe what it smelt like because it was
quite different, but I know most of us have an idea of the "smell" of an
Indian person in America, so try to multiply that times 1.2 billion
people plus the other cultural factors at work. All of the clothes that
I wore and everything that I brought has this distinct scent. And, no,
it wasn't all that pleasant but it was more bearable than Ghana's. I
never realized how blessed I was to live in country that smells pretty
and clean.
-Haggling. Haggling has been pretty common in the journey thus far. It
happened in Dominica, Manaus (in Brazil, but it didn't happen in Rio)
Ghana, Mauritius and now India. When I say haggling I don't mean like an
American flea market where someone says twenty and you say fifteen and
then it's a deal, I mean vendors grabbing you left and right and yelling
in your face, shoving products in front of you and causing a 5-10 minute
process just to buy something. Half the time I have left stuff I
probably would have bought otherwise because I didn't want to deal with
the process to buy one thing. For example, we went to a local bazaar in
India, and Dain and I (and by that I mean Dain while I sat and tried to
contain my uncomfortable awkwardness) spent literally almost 20 minutes
negotiating the price of some pants, a purse, and 2 shirts. I'm not
comfortable with arguing back and forth, and to be honest, I'm not very
good at it. I'd prefer a standard price, even if it's a little higher,
but alas, that's not how these countries work. It's crazy to think about
having to go day-to-day constantly negotiating prices, and probably
paying a different price all the time. I'm ready to just see a price tag
and know that is what I am paying. Though in India the vendors weren't
as aggressive as in Ghana (where we were literally getting pulled in
every direction), it was still quite extreme and I'm pretty thankful
that Vietnam will probably be the last port where this is such a big deal.
-Jewish stars. There were stars of David on a lot of religious
buildings. I don't understand the significance as this is a Hindu and
Muslim country, but if someone reading this wants to google it I'd
really love it:).

Walking through the Delhi airport, I couldn't help but hate it. It's
gorgeous, probably the most beautiful airport I have ever seen. But why
is that necessary? Here is a country that is starving and then an
airport that has clearly cost billions. Couldn't a run-down airport
sufice and those billions be put towards stopping the killings of
females or ending dowry?

-Gender. Gender is a serious problem in India. In this paternal society,
a woman is completely dominated by their father/husband/brother. When
entering buildings, we had to use separate entrances than men. There
were certain things that men couldn't say to us, and had to ask one of
the men in the group to pass a message on. Women are not allowed to wear
jeans, and instead must conform to the Sari or long skirts (tourists
wont be turned away if they have jeans, but they will be stared at), but
men can wear whatever they want. Women often are not educated, and
instead of little girls getting to play, they have to stay home while
their brothers get to run around. Women are forced to do the housework,
and are slaves to their husbands families until they produce a boy. For
families, a girl is considered a loss while a boy is the prize. The
girls family must pay a dowry (a female to male version of a brideprice
- high ticket gifts often costing up to 5 years salary that must be paid
from a woman's family to the man's upon marriage), and then their
daughter will leave them for their husband. Meanwhile, a boy receives
the dowry for his family and will stay at home when he gets married.
Therefore, female feticide (the aborting of a baby very late into the
pregnancy due to finding out the fetus is a girl) and infant killing is
far too common. Currently, the overall ratio in India is 125 males for
every 100 females, but in a country of 1.2 billion people, these numbers
are clearly very skewed in some areas. For example, in our port of
Kerola, the literacy rate is very high and the ratio of male to female
is 1 to 1. This is the most equal state in the country, and although
extremely impressive, it's important to realize that if the overall
country has a rate of 125:100, and this state has a ratio of 1:1, that
means its very, very worse in other parts.
As we were driving the streets in Northern India, I could see this
differences. I saw men everywhere, but women really were rare. I seemed
to grab more attention than Dain in public, and I often felt
uncomfortable with the men who approached me. When I did see women, it
was in inferior roles. For example, they were hosts at restaurants, but
the men were waiters; they were working the check in booth at the
airport but not security; and they stood behind the desk while the men
did the selling in stores. I saw a billboard in Delhi that was trying to
discourage female feticide. And although the government made Dowry
illegal in 1961, they still do nothing to stop it and females seem to
live in fear of paying for their daughters payment.
Oftentimes, if the dowry isn't paid the wives will be burned to
death in "accidental kitchen fires" and there is absolutely nothing to
be done about it. Fathers have been known to sell their kidneys or other
organs for dowry money, and yet the Indians that I talked to didn't seem
to think dowry was at all a problem. Our tour guide told us that dowry
was "a gift" and there was nothing wrong with it. Of course, he was a
male and his family would therefore be on the receiving end. I wish I
could have asked a female this question, but they are so secluded and
sheltered by their male superiors that they couldn't even speak to us.
Driving through India, I was consumed by the idea that if I was
born into this country, there are pretty high odds that I would have
been killed before I reached two (if I made it out of the womb at all).
We heard a story of a doctor that was just convicted after police found
7 full wells of female fetuses in his year. It reminded me of what it
may have been like to be a black person in the American South, where
entrances were different and inferior, treatment was worse and lynching
was completely acceptable.
Of course, the lack of women in India is causing a major
disruption. Because of the ratio of men to women, in some places where
hte ratio is highest the rape rate skyrocketing and the cosumption of
alcohol is a major problem. But the system of dowry is so large that it
honestly doesn't look like it is going to change. If the current
generation is 125:100, I can't imagine what it will be like 50 years
from now. And if the repression of women is this bad now, I can't
imagine what it will be like with an even higher number of males over
females.

India was the most educational experience I have had thus far. Of
course, I learned so much about poverty and living with nothing in
Ghana, but seeing the way the males dominate this world was seriously
enriching. By the time I got back to Cochin, I had a whirlwind of
emotions. For me, this trip had nothing to do with the siteseeing. I
learned more from driving the back roads than the Taj Mahal could have
ever taught me. Of course, I'm glad I went to this amazing world
landmark, but truthfully, I am no longer a tourist. I am a traveler, and
India defined this for me.

Sea Olympics Updates

Today is the Sea Olympics. I'm intending to write more about that later,
but we all know it probably won't happen until after Japan. But let's
just say it's midway through the day and the lifelong learners sea just
passed mine and officially put us in last. This does nothing to surprise
me, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kind of okay with that. As much
as I'd like to get off the ship first in San Diego, I'd like to see the
group of annoying hall-hogging, unmoving folk who call themselves "Da
Crew" cry more. I'm willing to sacrifice team spirit for this. Go last
place!

And I promise, I do really like most of the people on this ship. I just
sort of bash people I don't a whole lot more than I praise people I like.

Mauritius

Mauritius was a hot mess from the beginning. First we weren't going,
then we were, but only for 4 hours! All the FDPs were cancelled, and we
were all in rush mode. We would be starting the immigration process
around 7am and as soon as everyone went through we could get off the
ship. So Becca, Michael, Lexi, Kevin, Dain and I were outside of the
Glaceier Lounge waiting for the customs officials to come on board at
6:50 so we could clear immigration and get in line at the gangway to be
one of the first ones off. So there were about 20 people ahead of us at
that point, but we were pretty lucky because within 10 minutes there
were at least 100 more. Once we cleared immigration Lexi and Becca went
to claim a spot at the gangway while Michael, Dain, Kevin and I went to
scarf breakfast real quick. Turns out, breakfast turned out to be super
scarfed since about 2 minutes in Becca ran up to tell us how long the
line was getting at the gangway. So I pretty much ate 2 boxes of cocoa
pebbles at lightspeed and was in line with them by 7:10. Everyone else
got there soonafter and we were ready to go. While in line we made a
scavenger hunt list of what everyone needed to get (flags, postcards,
stamps, ect) to make our mission and go. We cleared customs around 8 and
by this point there was a line from Deck 2 up to Deck 4 at the gangway
and we were in the first 10 so that was fantastic. So we ran outside and
just started walking, quickly realizing that just because we knew where
wanted to go didn't mean we knew how to get there. So we ran back to ask
one of the customs officials and once we got directions we ran for it.
We hauled it into town and took some pictures at the beautiful
waterfront. One was a jump picture off a fountain, and of course, since
I was wearing white shorts, I fell in the puddle. But when Dain yelled
"no one fall" I knew he and I both saw that coming. But oh well, you
stop getting embarrassed after a while when you fall as often as I do.
Anyway, after going to an ATM, quickly realized that nothing was even
open. So we walked further and further, and nothing in Port Louis opened
until 10, which sucked since we had to be on the ship by 12 but were
aiming for 11 since we knew this would be a big dock time port. About an
hour in there was an abundance of SAS kids just roaming the streets
looking for open places but it didn't seem that anyone was having any
luck (although plenty of people managed to find beers...but more on that
later). Kevin, Dain, Michael and I decided to hop in a cab to the
nearest beach since that's what Mauritius is famous for and we had
nothing else to do anyway. Initially that wasn't part of our plan since
it's a bit of a drive, but we figured we would go check it out for a few
minutes. Our cab driver told us it would be 15 minutes, but it ended up
being 40. So we stayed at the beach for 20 minutes just to take pictures
and say we went, and then went back. There ended up being A LOT of
traffic on the way back and we started to get really worried. We made it
back to the waterfront, about a half hour walk from the ship, at 10:50,
and pretty much put ourselves on overdrive mode. We ran into the
mall-thing and all went our separate ways on a mission. Dain and I went
into a souvenir store and I'm still not sure how many magnets and
postcards we bought, but we definitely found them. Actually, come to
think of it, I'm not quite sure what else we bought either since we kind
of just threw a bunch of random stuff on the counter and went. Michael
then came in and found us and yelled that he found somewhere that sold
stamps, so next we ran to that store to get stamps but on the way I saw
a flag in a window! So Dain grabbed the flag right from the window, paid
for it and within a minute we were frantically buying stamps. 11:05 we
were all assembled in the lobby and ready to go. A cab driver outside
offered us a really good price for the rush we were in so we hopped in
it and went to the pier. We made it there around 11:20 and the line was
pretty short. So after we got on the ship we sat down and wrote a few
postcards each and then went to Deck 5 to stand outside and watch the
late, and probably drunk, (Mauritius is known as THE party port and
despite us needing to be on the ship by noon, we knew there would be
quite a few drunkies) people rushing in at the last minute. Our
suspicions prevailed and we saw quite a few people being taken away by
the RDs/Deans/Staff to the Drunk Tank and by 11:45 the line was longer
than I have ever seen it. Security started hauling us and the line was
actually clear by 12:05, which annoyed me since I don't think people
should be rewarded for coming late by having security hurry up and be
less thorough, but it was still fun to watch the dumbasses. After that
we went to have lunch and set sail for India!
Alcohol rant:
It's completely obnoxious that so many people disrespected the country
of Mauritius and the reputation of SAS by intentionally getting
completely obliterated. They have 4 hours in this country, and it's
spent getting trashed. There were so many people sentenced to drunk tank
that overflow rooms were being used, and the amount of people that were
drunk, but not as drunk so they got by, was ridiculous. As we were
discussing at lunch, we couldn't find a single place open, so we don't
know how these people even got alcohol but it was clearly made their
mission of the day. Most of the shipboard community was disgusted, from
students to faculty, and more than one discussion was given to the
entire ship on poor behavior. This disgracement lasted for a few days,
and I am still trying to comprehend why anyone would go into a port with
the intention of spending the next 4 hours doing nothing but drinking. I
had a great time for my 4 hours in a country I'll probably never be back
to, do they even remember it?
As Dr. Bill put in pre-port "If you need consume alcoholic beverages
before noon, that's a sign of alcoholism."
Gluten Free: I have no idea. I'd imagine it's fruity.
Safety: No idea, but I'd gather it would be pretty dumb to leave your
bags unattended at a beach.

Taco Day!

This is a blog dedicated to the amazingness that is Taco Day.

Almost every lunch and dinner on the ship consists of basically the same
things:
-Iceburg lettuce
-Pieces of Cheese
-Raw Broccoli
-Pasta with a varying sauce
-Potatoes, usually just cut up and fried
-Various steamed veggies
-Rolls
-Toast with Peanut Butter and Jelly

While eating this twice a day for 60 something days may sound rather
repetitive, what I receive because of my food allergies is even more
limited. My meals consist of:
-Fish or Chicken (I don't even like fish)
-Steam cauliflower (which I also do not like)
-Fried Potatoes (which I used to like but now the mere sight of causes
gagging)

Therefore, anything outside of this is pretty much a blessing. Today was
our second Taco Day. And unlike some other special event days (I
couldn't have the stuff from the one BBQ we have), I get to eat it! Word
spreads like wildfire around the ship when it is taco day, and the
arguments that ensue in line can get pretty intense (taco day is not the
day to try jumping in line with a friend). By the way we react, an
outsider would think we all find out our $30,000 tuition would somehow
all be reimbursed.

So, here I am, half an hour and 5 tacos later, writing a blog dedicated
to a few tacos. I can't really move, and I know how ridiculous it must
seem that my first "at sea" entry in quite some time is about hardened
corn goodness, but that was the best half an hour on this ship in a
month and I'm not afraid to show it.

Thank you, Taco Gods. Please return to us soon.

South Africa - Days 4.5 and 6

The next morning I woke up early to try to make the medical clinic
before my Habitat for Humanity FDP. I managed to be second in line, but
unfortunately the person in front of me was in there for a while and I
didn't have time. I asked if I could just leave a note and the
receptionist told me yes. So I left a note explaining the situation and
headed for habitat for humanity. Our habitat project was in a township
called Mfuleni, and I was so excited to see a township, especially after
staying in Senase.
When we got there we saw that the site of our home was in a neighborhood
where each house maybe had 3 rooms. They were made of stone and were as
close together as homes could ever be without actually caving into each
other. The house that we were building had running water (that was even
clean enough to drink!) and a toilet. The roads were paved and the kids
had a bus to school. Even though this standard of living is still not
acceptable, I couldn't help but continue to think to myself how this
standard of poverty in Cape Town is a dream life for the people of Senase.
Our job for the day was to put the first coat of paint on the house and
all the beams. It didn't take us more than an hour or two to do the
first coat, and while it dried we (well, everyone except me) was treated
to donuts. After that we started putting the second coat of paint on. We
were then taken on a rather long walk of the township and we were shown
the different areas. There were 3 different sections of this township -
poverty, poor and upper poor. The home we were working on was in the
middle section. The poverty section reminded me more of Senase, as the
roads turned into dirt and the cement houses became straw and wood. Our
guide also told us they often do not have plumbing in the poorest areas.
It wasn't as dirty as Senase, but that probably has to do with the trash
disposal of the rest of Mufuleni and the availability of clean water.
The upper poor homes looked like they 5 or 6 rooms, ample lighting,
laundry lines and larger yards. What surprised me the most through this
whole tour though was that in the middle of Mfleuni is a shopping center
with a post office, a grocery store and some clothing shops. I was
shocked at how different the level of poverty was here than in Senase.
In Senase, the closest place to buy something that isn't off of a tent
is hours away, but in Mfuleni you can walk. In the poorest of areas
there were still people selling things off of tents, but there were
alternative options. There was also a gas station and a convenience
store in Mfuleni. It is still crazy to be thinking about how a life of
poverty in this township is a life of luxury for Senase. Neither
standard of living is acceptable, and the people of Mfuleni live so much
worse than the people in Cape Town (South Africa has the worlds largest
gap between rich and poor), but I think that Senase just impacted me so
much that I definitely have a bias towards them.
After we took our tour we went back to finish up painting and then went
back to the ship. I was a little disappointed with the project simply
because the majority of our time was spent doing nothing and I felt that
the hands of 20 laborers could have been put to a lot more use than
painting and moving rocks. But I still enjoyed it and I'm glad I got to
experience the townships.
After Habitat we went to get another bread for me since the one from
before was moldy from being in the sun and Rufus took it away AGAIN
despite the doctor telling me he sent up a note and having left a note
for the nurse that morning. Completely infuriated, I made it my mission
to win this battle.
That night, Dain and I were both so exhausted that we ended up falling
asleep at like 8:30, but oh well.
The next morning at breakfast Michael told us about this amazing mall he
found outside of the touristy area called Canal Walk. Apparently it is
super huge and a hell of a lot cheaper than the one at V+A. I had an FDP
at 1, but we still had the morning so Dain and I got a cab and went
there first thing and even got there before it opened. We ended up
having an amazing cab driver named Sydney who gave us a wicked good
price AND arranged for someone to come pick us up and bring us back for
the same price. It was good to know that not all the cab drivers in the
touristy part are jerks like soccer-game man. Being on a mission, we
walked around the mall and found our plans of attack. Dain wanted a
safari shirt and a tripod, and I wanted gluten free stuff. So we found
our stores and once the mall opened we went right into a clothing store
called Mr. Price. Not only did Dain find his safari shirt, but he also
found pants and a bunch of other clothes. We ended up getting 13 (i
think?) articles of clothing for only 1200R, which is only around 160 in
US dollars. It was crazy because a few days before I had spent 500R on
TWO tee shirts.
After Mr. Price we went to the three camera stores to try to find Dain a
tripod. Even though he already has two, Mr. Cameraman wasn't content and
needed a new one. So we found one in the Kodak store and grabbed it. We
also went the grocery store and the pharmacy to get some GF snacks. No
bread, so my battle with Rufus would have to wait, but I did get some
really good cookies. Our next stop was the post office to get some
stamps and then we found Dain a flag (which wasn't even planned, but we
saw it in the window and were like YES) and a cool store called Out of
Africa which reminded us of Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We headed outside to meet our taxi driver and got back to the ship
around 11:30. The security guards (Rufus wasn't there) were pretty
impressed at how much we managed to buy in 2 hours (it was kind of a
lot...). We went to eat lunch next and afterwards I had an FDP for my
media class.
For my FDP we went to the only community radio station in South Africa.
It is called CapeTV, or CTV, and we got a tour of the facility, learned
about its history and got to go inside the school, called AFDA, that the
station works with to make its original programing. The FDP was a lot
more enjoyable than my history one from a few days ago and it was so
cool to be talking with the founder, a white woman who played a major
role in anti-apartheid movement. It was crazy to hear about all of her
stories and see how much she did for equality when she was benefiting so
well from the Apartheid system. I also loved how integrated the station
was. There were whites, coloureds, indians and blacks working there.
Despite segregation being illegal, it is really still pretty common in a
lot of S.A so I enjoyed seeing the mix at CTV. CTV has a very low range
of viewership. As one of the faculty members at AFDA told us, "if you
can't see the transmitter, you can't get the station." I thought that
was kind of crazy but also amazing how despite the low radius the
station still averages 1.5 million viewers. The station plays original
programming, as well as free programming they find to use. The station
struggles for funds and has been shut down twice, but it seems like
everyone is really determined. I really enjoyed this FDP.
We got back from the FDP and ate dinner and showered. Around 9 Michael
came to my door and asked if Dain and I still wanted to go out. Dain
didn't, but I wasn't giving him a choice since he hadn't wanted to any
night and this was our last one. We were joined by two others, Kathy and
someone's name who I don't remember oops, and first went to this pub
type place. Lucky for me, the bartender didn't charge me for my
strawberry juice so it was free too :) (not that it cost very much
anyway, yay non drinkers!). After the pub we walked down to a place
called Crew. Crew is a gay club that Michael had gone to a few nights
ago and really enjoyed. Dain was pretty hesitant about it, but I didn't
really give him a choice and he ended up being glad I made him go
because he really enjoyed it. We ran into one other group of SAS kids
there, which included my R.D and some of the group that call themselves
"da crew" (a sealife post with an included rant on this group is
forthcoming). I don't really like anyone in that group so I tried to
just keep my distance, but it was a small place so I was forced to
pretend just a little.
We had a really good time at the club and I'm glad we ended up there
rather than the place that all the SAS kids were at. It was nice to be
at more a locals place than a Semester at Sea takeover place.
We got back to the ship around 4am, and had alarms set for 7 the next
morning for our FDPs.
The next morning, I was outside of the health clinic 10 minutes before
it opened ready for a note in hand to bring down Rufus. As it turns out,
two notes had already been sent and the head of security already
approved it and Rufus was just a tool. So I got a copy of the note and
got rather excited to win when I brought the bread later.
My FDP for the last day was for my sociology of marriage and family
class where we visited a place called the Triangle Project. The Triangle
Project is a counseling, support and testing center for the LGBTQQI
community. It started out as a safe-house for middle-class gay white
men, but boomed when Apartheid ended. As our host Mallow was telling us,
the South African Constitution has one of, if not the, most progressive
Constitutions in the world. It allows gays to marry, adopt and share
benefits, all of which can occur in a much quicker process than in other
countries. Mallow and his husband had recently adopted their first child
and he talked about their wedding and their lives. In Cape Town, being
gay is pretty accepted, but in the townships it definitely is not and
gays often suffer physical abuse. We also learned about HIV/AIDS and
what the project does to try to prevent its spread. For me, the Triangle
Project was a really cool learning experience and I really enjoyed this
visit. I love that this place exists to help people who are struggling
with themselves. They have a cost flow chart based upon income so anyone
can afford it, and they will even go and pick you up to bring you to the
center if need be. They seem to do a lot of good things and it makes me
sad to think about how hard it is for gays to live in America.
After my FDP I ate lunch on the ship and then met up with Dain after he
get back from his art museum FDP. We went to the V+A mall with Michael
to get some wifi, a safari hat for Dain and some GF bread. We had about
2 hours there and managed to get it all accomplished, including some skype.
When we got back to the ship I luckily got Rufus as my bag-inspector and
once again he tried to take away my bread. I told him it was okay with
the doctor AND his boss and he looked up at me, seemed to remember me,
grunted and shoved my bag at me. He then tried to smile at me, but I
wasn't having that shit. I almost wish he refused my bread though just
so I could make his boss embarrass him in front of everyone. But I guess
there is always next time. :).
We left South Africa a few hours late due to windstorms, and entered the
rough seems. It is now 3 days later, and the waves have gotten
progressively worse. We are currently going at 10Knotts, which is about
half the speed we normally do, and people are still sick everywhere.
There are two tropical storms we are getting the outskirts of though,
and I am sure that has a lot to do with it. Also, we are rerouting a
long way around and, as I posted early, are loosing Mauritius because of
this. I guess something has to happen on every SAS voyage to make it
unique, but I still kind of hope we get caught in a wicked awesome storm
story.
So now we are at sea for another 8 days until India. But hopefully we
can escape these waves soon!

South Africa - Day 3

Day 3 was the only day that both Dain and I had absolutely no FDPs.
There was a lot of things we wanted to do that day, but it turned out to
be Sunday which meant that almost nothing was opened. I really wanted to
go to Cape Point, but Michael and Becca didn't and Dain didn't feel
comfortable with just the two of us so I had to cave. Instead, we went
to the V+A Waterfront and just went shopping for the morning. I ended up
finding GF bread in two different places and got some new clothes. On
the way back from the mall the douche security guard gave me problems
about my bread and took it away, despite the fact that it is on my
medical records and registered with the dining facilities. So he took it
and wrote my name on it and then put it in the direct sunlight until I
got a note from the doctor (keep in mind that the clinic is only open to
do this from 730-8 in the morning, so it was going to have sit out there
and mold for the next 14+ hours). Well, I was pretty pissed about that,
and I went to see if I could just maybe "run into" Dr. Bill. I didn't,
but I was hopeful that he would actually check with the Dr. to make sure
it was okay and give it back to me that night.
That night, Dain, Becca, Michael, Lexi, Cameron and I went to the top of
table mountain for sunset. There are two ways to get up there - by
hiking or by cable car - but since we were already pushing time, and it
is half price at sunset, we took the cars up. We made it just in time
and were able to see the entire city fall into night. Best of all, Becca
wanted to play with my camera so now I had Dain taking pictures on one
end for me and Becca on the other while I just got to do whatever :). We
took like 600 pictures combined, and a lot of them are really, really
good. The city looked absolutely beautiful from above and if the cable
cars ran past 8:30 I could have stayed up there a lot longer.
When we got back to the ship I asked the security guard I went to (the
one next to Rufus) and asked about my bread. Instead of letting the
security guard answer, Rufus stopped searching the bag of the person
next to me to get in my face and yell at me. I was completely furious at
this (and so was Dain) especially since I wasn't even talking to him,
and went inside to the purser's desk to see who I could talk to about
this crap. As luck would have it, Dr. Bill was standing right there! So
I asked him and he told me that he couldn't find my name in the system.
"Alisa Rachel right?" So fucking idiot Rufus apparently can't read
either because clearly my ID says Alisa Kashdan, not Rachel. Our next
step was to go the R.A on Duty and tell her the whole story. We were
telling Taishia my whole list of allergies, and that Dr. Bill and the
dining staff know, and I'm not upset at Rufus doing his job, I am upset
at the way he is doing it and all that. And guess what? Half an hour
later I have my bread and it has been approved that I can bring more on
by the security chief. But my battle with Rufus wasn't over yet...

Mauritius!

AHHH!!

The ship JUST informed us that we will be getting to Mauritius around
10pm tonight and starting tomorrow on 8am we will have about 3 hours to
get off the ship! It's not much, but at least we get to go!

South Africa - Day 2

Initially, we were supposed to leave for shark diving at 4:30am, but it
got changed last minute to 6:00. I met Quincy, Christina and a few
others in Tyminz Square at that time and we got on a van with another
group of SAS kids for the 2 hour drive to the location. I tried to stay
awake to see the scenery on the way, but that lasted about 10 minutes
and before I knew it we were there! I'm not 100% where there actually
was, other than quite a bit South of Cape Town, but regardless it was
quite beautiful.
The place we were diving at was called Cape Town Shark Cage Diving
(creative, I know) and when we got there they had a breakfast spread put
out for us. The only thing I could have was yogurt, but that's okay.
They collected all of our fees and then we were just hanging around
until the 4:30 group got back so we could go out. Thankfully, the place
had wifi so almost all of us were just soaking it up.
Finally, around 10 we were given our safety briefing and then loaded
onto the ship. We got onto the ship and drove about 20 minutes deep into
the water to where the cage was. We were all give wetsuits to put on and
divided into 3 groups of divers. The first group had 6 people and the
other two groups had 3. Basically, one group would go into the cage at a
time and whenever there was a shark the instructors would tell us to
hold ourselves under so we could see (our heads were above water most of
the time). On my first dive there wasn't really a ton of sharks to see.
We were told to go under 3 times but I only saw one shark. It was still
petrifying though. I was shocked at home open the cages are because it
definitely looks like someone could get hurt pretty easily. Also, there
is no wall between you and the shark, so if you accidentally put your
foot on the wrong bar (instead of the resting one), it can easily be
chomped off. Despite the fear though it was really really exciting.
On our second dive we saw a lot more sharks. Not only did we see 5 of
them, but two of them literally tried to attack our cage! I was so
scared it was ridiculous, but now I have an amazing story of how I was
hit, just barely, with a shark fin! I think I would have wet myself if I
was on the end the shark was trying to attack, but thankfully I was one
person in this time (I was on the end on dive #1).
After our second dives we were brought back to shore and shown the video
that the instructor had been taking during the morning. Then we were put
back on a van to go back to Cape Town. I still couldn't stay awake for
most of the trip back, but did manage to get up for the last half hour.
I was staring out the window as we were going between beautiful Cape
Town-looking cities and townships. Townships are basically the very poor
neighborhoods of South Africa where the blacks and maybe coloureds lived
during the Apartheid system. Many still do live here. The houses looked
like they were maybe 1 room and were literally sitting on top of each
other. A yard was a foreign concept. Some of the houses were made of a
reliable stone, but others were just of wood! I was suddenly pretty
excited to venture into one in just a few days.

After getting back to the ship and showering, I went upstairs for dinner
and then to get ready for the soccer game. First, Dain, Allison, Rui and
myself walked to the V+A mall to buy tickets and then we walked to the
stadium. It was held where the World Cup was and the stadium was
literally amazingly beautiful. The game itself was pretty empty, which I
thought was weird, but maybe people were watching on TV? I also thought
it was weird that some of the South Africans were actually calling it
soccer! Others still said football, though. In addition to soccer, rugby
is the other big sport, but I didn't get a chance to go to a rugby game.
The game ended up being a tie and afterwards the four of us plus
Brittany (who had found us at the game) tried to get a cab back to the
ship. It wasn't really working so we ended up walking to the V+A
waterfront to try there. It wasn't like either place was far from the
ship, but it was pretty late so we really didn't want to take any safety
chances, especially knowing how high the theft and rape rates are late
at night. The taxi we ended up getting was driven by some disrespecting
asshole who made up a story about a police blockaid and told us he had
to take the "long way" around. When we asked him if it was going to
affect the price, 40-50R, he said it would probably be double. Nope. Not
happening. And, at that point, Brittany leaned over and saw on his phone
he was texting his friends about "this is an opportunity, take it." So
basically Brittany (bad-ass) went ape-shit on this guy and he brought us
back to the waterfront. We ended up giving him 30R just so he wouldn't
freaking punch us, but we got our revenge in warning the taxi service
and the people waiting for cabs not to ride with him.
So instead we ended up waiting for the SAS shuttle back, and what should
have been a 10 minute drive from the stadium actually turned into a 2+
hour journey.
South Africa sure was unpredictable so far.

South Africa - day 1

Per usual, I woke up at 5 to go outside and watch us pull into Cape
Town. I had heard about how beautiful Cape Town is, but the descriptions
really can't do it justice. It was already hard to think that this place
is in the same category of countries as Ghana. Cape Town looked like
home...just with a huge mountain that looks like a table in the skyline.
The buildings are tall, the roads are cleaned and the temperature isn't
too extreme.

This first day I had an FDP for one of my classes at 1:00 so I didn't
have much time to plan anything, but thankfully my roommate Robin had an
FDP at the same time so we decided to walk around Cape Town for a few
hours first. So after breakfast, Robin, Kathryn and I walked into Cape
Town and first found a bank. 1 US dollar is equivalent to 7RAN, but
because of inflation the prices are pretty similar. What I mean by that
is that a magnet costs about 40R and a tee might cost 250R. When
translated into American dollars that's $6 for a magnet and about 35 for
a shirt. So when we went to the bank we ended having to take a good
amount out since the price were so high, but the machine we went to paid
in all 10s! It was ridiculous to have to fit 180 bills somewhere without
it being completely obvious. And I'm still probably going to find some
in random places over the next few months.

Anyway, after the bank we did a little bit of shopping and went to a
grocery store to get nutella before heading back to the ship. My FDP was
for History of Modern China and although I had little clue as to why a
class on China has required trips in Singapore and South Africa I can
safety say that after the FDP I have even less of an idea. We walked
around Cape Town and heard 5 hours worth of stories about the British.
In a far-far stretch, I guess the British were a main imperialist force
against China, but turning this FDP into something relevant is quite a
challenge. And, the FDP ran an hour and a half late because when we
stopped for a refreshment at a little place 5 people decided to order
food and held us all up, grrrrr.

So we got back to the ship around 6:30 instead of the intended 5, and
after dinner Dain, Becca, Michael, Jacob, Kevin and I went to the V+A
Waterfront. The V+A waterfront is the major port that is about 10
minutes walking distance from where we were docked. The area is
astoundingly beautiful. Though a lot of SAS kids were going to a
district called Long Street to go out and party, we decided we REALLY
wanted to see Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D and that was clearly more
important than being drunk. Unfortunately, star wars was only playing
during the day and nothing else seemed appealing. So we hung around the
area and still had a blast. There were live musicians and other
performance acts, we went on the ferris wheel, walked around the mall
and got gelato.

Dain and I came back to the ship around 11 because I was going cage
diving the next morning!

So far, South Africa seemed beautiful and I could not believe it was
really part of Africa. However, I knew that outside of Cape Town all the
dilemmas of Apartheid could not have been changed yet, and I was curious
to see what was outside all of this wealth.

Mauritius?

Before I get to an update on South Africa, a quick note about being at
sea right now.

For the past few days the waves have been REALLY rocky. There have also
been two cyclones in the surrounding oceans, one of which our intended
course would have gone right through. So we re-routed, but because we
are getting outskirts winds from both cyclones we have had to slow down
a rediculous amount. Because of this, we are no longer docking in
Maurituis. We will be stopping for an hour or two to refuel (when no one
can leave the ship) and then continue on to India. So basically, we can
stare at Mauritius but not step foot on it. The whole shipboard
community is pretty upset over this, including myself, but life is
unpredictable sometimes. And let's be honest, every semester at sea
voyage has to change up the plans with SOMETHING.

The waves are only supposed to get worse, so I'm gonna pretty curious as
to how the next few days play out.

Onward to India!

Ghana - Days 4 and 5

We woke up around 6am on our last morning in Senase. After brushing our
teeth and packing up our bags, we went outside to give our family the
second half of our gift. We had bought Semester at Sea picture frames
and were going to take some family photos with my Polaroid camera to
give them. It turns out that they absolutely loved it! Everyone wanted
multiple pictures of themselves and with other people. We must have
taken like 30 pictures, and if I had brought more film, we would have
kept going. It was so amazing to see the joy that a simple photograph
brought to them. Here I am, complaining about having broken my Sony
point and shoot and being stuck with my "crappy" kodak, when at the end
of the day that crappy kodak is better than anything they could have
ever imagined. Our family wanted to take some pictures with us too, and
the dad told us that we are his son and daughter now, and asked for our
phone numbers to keep in touch. I'm not sure if he realized the concept
that we don't currently have phones, but I hope that he wont give up and
will try again once we do. We ended up staying so long that one of
Fred's brothers had to come and get us because we were the last ones. I
had bought that new Polaroid (actually made by Fuji) solely for this
homestay trip, and these photographs were literally the best gift I
could have ever given them. It's so, so fulfilling to think that Dain
and I literally just gave this family the only photographs that they
will ever have. And the fact that they wanted Dain and I to be in their
photos that they will treasure for ever means more than words could ever
express. I didn't want to leave...
But we had too..
So we said our goodbyes and gave our handshakes (hugs and kisses aren't
part of the culture) and walked with Fred's brother. After breakfast at
Fred's, we got on a bus to a school for our performance of the routine
we had learned the day before. The past 2 Senase trips have performed
for the village, but since the kids have always been in school Fred
thought it would be cool to re-visit one of the schools from the day
before to show the children. The school we went to was a boarding
school. It was a lot nicer than the school I had visited the day before,
but that doesn't mean it was at all adequate. Being a boarding school,
parents had to pay to send their children there, and you could
definitely see the difference in wealth among the two schools. But that
difference in wealth doesn't mean that this school is rich, because it
is still quite a mess. There are still no toilets and no showers, and
the buildings are still falling apart. We didn't see what the dorm rooms
look like, but if the classrooms were an indication they need some work.
Before our performance we were taken to an office to change into our
African-wear and meet the headmaster. The headmaster was dressed in a
head-to-toe suit, which gave the impression that this was the Ghanaian
version of a rich school.
Once we were dressed we went outside and lined up to do our performance.
The kids were released from class and surrounded us as the drummers
started. We were nowhere close to good at this routine, but we all had a
complete blast and the kids enjoyed it. When we were finished, the kids
just started swarming us. Even though this wasn't anything new, it still
was awesome. The headmaster asked if we would like to sit in on a class
or join the students for lunch, but Fred told us we didn't have time. So
unfortunately after taking a few pictures we went to use the wall and
then left.
About 3 hours into our bus ride we stopped at a gas station store to buy
some food since we weren't stopping for lunch. There was nothing for me
to eat, but I did find some necessary female products I was out of (Side
note: dealing with that time with no toilets is not fun, and I have so
much respect for these women that do it their whole lives), and I still
had a bit of rice chex I had to finish anyway (you cant bring open
things back on the ship). So after that we drove for another 2 hours or
so until we got to Kumasi to go shopping. In a bit of a time crunch, we
only had 45 minutes, so everyone was really running in different
directions. Dain and I ended up not finding a ton, but we were hoping
the next day would be better.
So we continued on back to Tema. Five hours into our drive, we were told
we had 4 more. But three hours later, we were updated with having 3 more
hours to go. So we stopped at "public toilets" on the side of the road.
They costs .10 cedis for a wall or .20 cedis for a port-a-potty type
toilet. And neither had a sink or toilet paper.
The rest of the bus ride home was when the experience really started to
hit everyone. We had slept at the beginning, but now as we were starting
to see signs for Accra we started to realize everything that had just
happened to us. Some of us started crying, others were so proud you
could see it from a mile away. None of us wanted to come back yet. We
were staring out the windows and having new appreciation for life and
the world around us. Suddenly, everything seemed more real. Everything
in our lives seemed more privileged. The fact that someone had to sit on
a stool in the middle of the bus because we were 1 person overbooked now
seemed like a luxury rather than a problem. Senase changed all of our
lives. And we couldn't stop talking about how nothing else on Semester
at Sea will ever compare. I would venture to say that the 31 of us had
by far the most enriching, rewarding, memorable experience on the Spring
2012 voyage of Semester at Sea. My climax has been reached. My life has
been changed.
Due to the most rocky and trafficked road I have ever been on (I will
never complain about Boston potholes or traffic again) it ended up
taking us another 5 hours to get to Tema. When we got back we all gave
Fred the biggest hug and tried to emphasize how much this really changed
all of our lives. Fred had told us that he really wants to finish his
studies in Turkey (he came back just for this trip for us) and may not
run this again. I hope more than anything that someone can take over if
he can't do it. Semester at Sea students have been so enriched by this.
Nothing else we could ever see or do on this voyage could mean this
much. I hope and I hope that I will see Can Do Land Tours offering this
for the Spring 2013 voyage.
Once we got back to the ship I went to my room to drop down all of my
stuff and immediately ran up to deck 6 to go to the bathroom (TMI
warning!...
I pretty much had held it for 4 days because of lack of a toilet, so I
sprinted to Deck 6..mostly because I felt too dirty to use my own
toilet) then back down to my room to shower. Now, I've said before that
I am going to take the longest shower of my life, but I'll go out on a
rim here and say this was the time that I actually meant it. After
showing, I went upstairs and bought a burger from the pool bar, my first
real meal and days. Some people from our trip were going out, but I
wasn't really up for it, so a handful of us just hung out on the pool
deck. Before bed, I took yet another shower, and went through all the
clothes I had worn these past 4 days to shove them into a bag not to be
reopened until after they had gone through the laundry. In the morning,
I took yet a third shower. During my three showers, I could not stop
thinking about how lucky I am. I just took 3 showers in 12 hours. That's
more than people in Senase have in their lives. Every thing I did that
next morning and day reminded me of Senase. And everyday since I haven't
gone an hour without thinking about it.
Rant time:
Notice above that I said 31 of us students had the amazing life-changing
experience of Senase. There were actually 34 people on our trip. Three,
in my opinion as well as pretty much everyone else's, completely wasted
this chance.
1-In Ghanaian culture it is offensive to wear shorts that come above
your knees. While the majority of the girls wore jeans or longer skirts,
2 girls wore short shorts anyway (the third of this trio was a guy) Not
only did they wear short shorts, but on the very last day, when we were
on a bus for 13 hours, they wore leggings! Clearly they had clothes that
covered their knees, but instead they choose not to wear them and rather
to offend people who had generously opened up their homes to them.
2-The first night at dinner they ordered bottle service. This little
restaurant didn't even know what bottle service was and it ended up
being that the bartender drove INTO town, which wasn't close, to get
them alcohol.
3-When we all made a brief stop at the pay-toilets, we ended up waiting
for an extra half hour because these three felt it necessary to buy
beers at the stand next door.
4-Though I will give it to the guy that he was interacting quite nicely
with the kids, the two girls were not at all.
5-They complained about the long walks and the dirt everywhere.
6-The reason we had a stool in the bus is because one of the girls
begged Fred to let her best friend come despite the fact that it was
full. Do you think any of the three of them even took a turn in the
stool? Nope.
7-Fred had asked us from the beginning to have the money to pay him for
the trip when we saw him on Day 1. Somehow, by the time we had arrived
in Tema on the last day, one of them still hadn't paid and kept asking
Fred to stop at an ATM before we got to the port. Fred had given us ATM
opportunities twice during the trip, including earlier that particular
day, but they chose to spend the time buying alcohol instead and now
wanted all of us to wait for them now.
This trip filled SO quickly. So many SAS students would have loved to
gotten a place on it, and instead 3 people got it that completely wasted
it. While 31 of us have a new found respect and appreciation and a new
world understanding, nothing seems to have come of this for 3 of them. I
really hope I am wrong, but it sure didn't seem that way.
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On day 5 we woke up early to head out to explore Tema with Robin,
Christina and Kathryn. Our plan was to find the Prime Meridian, which
runs right through Tema, but it didn't seem to be a big deal and no one
knew where it was. Eventually, we drew our own line in the sand and
pretend that it was right there. We wanted to do a bit of shopping but
there didn't seem to be much, so we ended up going back to the ship for
lunch. But, before we did, I got my first FanIce! FanIce is the ice
cream of Ghana and its sold in little sippy-type packs on the street. I
didn't eat any on the trip so far because of the lack of toilet
situation, but I was going for it today. THE VANILLA WAS LIKE HEAVEN IN
A TUBE. I wanted 20 of them.
Before going back on the ship for lunch Robin and I shopped for a few at
the market outside of our dock. I found a few cool things, but I am
still not comfortable with the pushiness of it all and didn't stay long.
After lunch, Kathryn, Robin, Dain and I went to the postoffice to get
postcards and stamps and to get more FanIce! I got strawberry this time,
which was no where near as good. We then walked around trying to find
the church that the prime meridian runs through (after having asked the
reception desk on the ship) but we couldn't so we just started to walk
back to the ship. All in all day 5 wasn't that exciting, but my other 4
days in Ghana made up for all of it.
Ghana changed my life more than I could ever explain. Nothing else in
the world will ever mean so much to me.
Other notes about Ghana:
-Ghanaians LOVE Obama. He's everywhere.
-You can buy ANYTHING on the street or from your car - ice cream,
chocolate, microwaves, water, bras, flags, toilet paper...literally
anything.
-One of the students on the Senase trip actually had his DSLR camera
stolen the very first night. We all immediately felt so welcome and
comfortable that I think we all let down our guard. That could have
happened to any of us, and it was quite sad to be woken up to the
reality of it all within the first hour. But thankfully, the person who
it happened to had an amazing attitude about it and didn't let it bring
him down. Fred was also quite distraught and thought it was going to
ruin his reputation, and tried the best he could to find it before we
left. He wasn't able to, but the person who it happened to still said
this was the best experience of his life. I loved that attitude, but it
was still quite a wake up call.
-We listened to Shakira's "Waka Waka" so much on this trip. I never
really liked that song before, but it was kind of amazing now. Being in
Africa puts an entirely different spin on the words.
-People in Ghana have weird bellybuttons. I can best describe it as
looking like a ping pong ball was inside. Not that there is anything
wrong with that, its just an observation I realized and I wonder what
kind of evolution brought us different bellybuttons.

Safety: I have felt safer in Ghana than anywhere else. Of course, petty
theft and pickpockets can occur, but that can happen anywhere. I would
have felt completely safe from physical harm walking around by myself
anywhere in Ghana. The people might have nothing, but that does not mean
that they are harmful.
Gluten Free: To be honest, there was a good amount of foods in Ghana
that looked pretty safe. I decided not to try anything because I didn't
want to waste my days in Senase being sick, but had I just stayed in
town I would have tried some. Regardless, even if nothing else was
gluten free, I could have eaten only Vanilla FanIce and been happy as
can be.
I'd say "Next Stop: South Africa" but at the time of writing this I've
already been to South Africa, so instead, I will say: Coming at you from
the outskirts of a tropical storm off the coast of Madagascar! Chairs
are flying, people are swaying and books are falling. Oh the life of a
shelback.