Sea Olympics!

Last post until after India:

                This post will about the Sea Olympics. They take place in two days, October 21^st. The Sea Olympics is a long tradition on SAS. Each deck is separated into seas. On deck 3, where I am, there are a total of 4 seas, The Baltic Sea, The Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea and my sea, the Yellow Sea. There are others (the Aegean Sea, the Bering Sea, the Red Sea, and the sea for the Lifelong Learners/Faculty/Staff, the Nomer Sea) around the ship. Now, the Olympics is a competition between all the sea to win bragging rights and to be the first off the ship when we disembark permanently in San Diego. A new prize was introduced this year and that is a party in the faculty lounge, with a bar. Whichever sea wins, wins it all. There are no second place prizes. I am also one of the three captains for the Yellow Sea.

These are all games. I will post up on Oct 21^st to say how we did, and whether or not we are first off or not.

Games that we do are:

1. Hula Hoop

2. Lip Synching

3. SAS Jeopardy

4. Tug of War

5. Synchronized Swimming (which I am participating)

6. Ping Pong

7. Junk Boat Building (which I am participating)

8. Dodgeball

9. Horse

10. Rock, Paper, Scissors

11. Sudoku

12. Crab Soccer

13. Dean David Says (which I am participating)

14. Sustainable Sculpting [build a sculpture out of trash]

15. Ice Pick Race [pick ice cubes with chopsticks and put them in a cup]

16. Limbo

17. Orange Pass Relay [pass an orange neck to neck]

18/19. Sea Cheer and Banner

Ok. There are all my posts, from South Africa to Mauritius. I am all caught up! I will attempt like I said to keep updated while I start my journey through Asia. Hope all is well with you!

Until my next post,

“As long as we’re traveling toward the unknown, we’re on the right track”

-Rory Nugent

Fifth Day South Africa

              I started off the day today doing most of my shopping. I bought some things, but not much for most things were expensive. I bought my mother a gift from here and a few other things. Later in the day today, I went to a village with Joe again to teach kids how to brush their teeth.

                The village I went to, Andre again drove us, was right next to a highway but all by its lonesome. There were no schools nearby, no hospital, no nothing. Nothing except a highway that drive right next to it, yet, there was extreme poverty here. What fascinates me about South Africa is how you can go two minutes outside of an urban city and find some of the worst poverty ever. Here for example, people lived in shacks, smashed together, with a soccer field behind. The goals for the field were made of three wooden posts, nailed together and put into the ground. Very, very primitive for a country that looks at first glance to be a first world country. I played soccer with the kids from the town for over 2 hours. Overall it was a fun day, taught the kids how to brush their teeth, made new friends. I thought the previous day with the kids from the orphanage was better, I guess since there were more kids and less of us. One of the kids who played with us I think, if there was a scout there, would be recruited. He had to be around 12 or 13 and he was an amazing player.

                We got back from the village a little sooner than we had from the orphanage. Soon after arriving back, Jenn and I headed out to the jazz bar in the port. We stayed there until some more friends met us there and we headed out into town for the night. We went to a karaoke bar. Here I sang “It’s Raining Men” and “Billie Jean.” I was finally able to play some billiards with some friends since the bar had a pool table. I had a few drinks, but not a lot. After we spent some time there we headed out to another bar down the street and ended staying there until around 3 AM. We sang, we danced, we drank! It was a great final night in South Africa.

                After leaving the bar we went outside to find a taxi. I found one and sent one half of our group back to the ship. The rest of us started walking around and had some trannies follow us around asking for money. We then found a taxi, with them still trying to ask for money, but we all ignored them and headed to a gas station to get something to eat. I made friends with the taxi driver, as usual, (as my friends on the ship say, I am extremely outgoing with our taxi driver. They always give me shotgun seat because of this.) and I learned that he is a refugee from Rwanda (if you have seen Hotel Rwanda, that is what he was escaping, the conflict between the Tutsies and the Hutus? [correct me if I am wrong]) I bought him something from the shop to be nice. We got back to the ship safely, no one (since some of the people in my group were drunk) got dock time.

                I will go ahead and finish off the sixth day since not much happened this day. I got most of my shopping done, and went to get internet to talk to my mom. In the meantime of doing all of this I met a wonder Lifelong Learner, Angie, who in fact is the head of the Alumni board for SAS. She has become my somewhat “mom” on the ship. Her, my friend Cookie and I have gone out to eat a little on the ship as a “family.” (Here on the ship they have a program called the “Extended Family” program where they pair you up with either faculty or Lifelong Learners and other students who become your brothers, sisters, mom, dad. Angie, Cookie and I made our own “family.”) Sad thing about Angie however is that she leaves in South Africa. So tonight matter of fact I think we are doing our last dinner, otherwise we might do it tomorrow.

                There is my time in South Africa. I had a wonderful time there, and it is another country I would love to go to again. I miss it already and I am a week and a half out from South Africa. On to India!!!! I only have one set plan in India and that is the Art of Living trip planned by SAS. This is what we are doing:

"This program has been recommended highly by past participants. It is a holistic program structured to learn a particular type of yoga, while also providing glimpses of various aspects of India. Thus, it includes visits to an ancient historic monument, a Hindu temple and several heritage buildings. It is an opportunity to see the old-world lifestyle of India. The program starts with a visit to Mamallapuram, one of the most popular tourist attractions near Chennai. Mamallapuram has great architectural and artistic merits including a 1,200-year-old shore temple, many beautiful and ancient sculptures, and an ancient Hindu temple.

The main part of this program is the Art of Living, a self-development program. The emphasis is not on the physical aspect of Yoga, so everyone can attend. Past participants have praised this trip for its self-transformation value. Come prepared to explore your inner self.

The three-day intensive course includes: Yoga, breathing exercises of Pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya, meditation, informative talks and other personal and group processes. These have helped to cure or prevent problems related to stress, depression, and breathing difficulties. Intensive training classes will be held each day for four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening. The course is offered by an organization called Vyakthi Vikas Kendra, which has branches in 140 countries. (Please visit www.artofliving.org for further information.)

Comfortable accommodations with the right ambiance are provided at the popular tourist center, DakshinaChitra, which is a unique center with heritage atmosphere. Here they have recreated 19th-century houses from four southern states of India. Demonstrations of traditional Indian dances, as well as hands-on experience of making arts and crafts, are included in the program. There is an opportunity to shop for Indian clothes and handicrafts in this center. Traditional Indian vegetarian food is served for all meals. "

Fourth Day South Africa

                Today I went with one friend I met during the first week, who is probably one of the nicest guys one could ever meet, Joe, to an orphanage. The orphanage we went to is called an SOS Children’s Village. This place is a collection of abused children in South Africa (and other parts of the world since this orphanage is located all over the world) who live in multiple houses with a single “mother“ who looks after each of the children who are assigned to that house. The house is located within a gated community and all on a single street. These children have been victims of physical abuse, prostitution, begging, living on the street. We left the port area around 2 PM after spending some time in the mall area, scoping out things I could buy. Our driver, Andre, was fabulous. He is another great guy. He drove us through some townships, where I learned some new aspects of the townships. I learned from him about the lamp posts, as stated in the earlier post about townships. Also, how most crime that happens here in the townships is against those who are not from the town area. Everyone in a township knows each other and who does certain acts. They do not normally do bad things onto each other but against others who are not a part of the township.

                After leaving the township we made our way to the Village. We arrived around 4 PM and soon after arriving we began playing with the kids. Another friend of mine, Cody, and I started to play tag. Funny story about that. We went up to the kids, who by the way are between the ages of 3 and 8, and asked if they wanted to play tag. They looked confused, asking what that was. We mimicked it for them and then they got the hang of it. However, later on, this little girl who took a liking to me asked to play “On,” which is what they call tag. Interesting cultural note I thought. Cody, Joe, Dallas (another guy who went), and I horse played with the kids, chasing them around, picking them up, throwing them around, having them ride us like horses. I spent about 30 minutes at the monkey bars holding kids up and bringing them across the bars to one side and the other. The one girl that took a liking to me, Nikita, I brought across multiple times. I ended carrying her and bunch of her friends on my shoulders, two at a time, for awhile. One of the kids took my camera and ended up taking over 200+ pictures on my camera, of me and of everyone.

                After about the 2 hours of horseplay with the kids, the director of the Village took around for a tour of the premises after some of the kids were called back to their homes from their mothers. A cool story. Joe had been here five to six years previous during high school. He had spent a majority of his time with a little kid there and ended up seeing this little kid there as we were on our tour. Not even 30 seconds into our tour, some kids came out to play with us. One kid took my iTouch and wanted to play some of my games. They killed the battery really quick since a lot of them ended up playing with it. There were these two young girls, around 6 or 7 I want to say, who were amazing. They sat on Cody and Dallas’s shoulders and were singing and rockin’ out to Justin Bieiber’s “Baby, Baby, Baby, Ooooh!” It was cool just listening to them. I wish I could back and visit just them, they were great. I had one little kid, his name was Bodi, on my shoulders the entire time. He and I ended up taking some really cool pictures together. What I found amazing is how wonderful these kids were, after everything that has happened to them. Also, how culturally aware they are of other cultures, especially the American culture (which makes it way around the ENTIRE world. Which completely blows my mind as to how much the American culture circulates the world) These kids have experienced some things that most Americans do not even see and yet they are some of the happiest kids alive.

                Close to the finish of our time at the orphanage, we played some games with the kids. One of the counselors put this session on and they were a lot of fun to play with the kids. I wish I was back there for how amazing these kids were and they stole my heart. Another interesting thing about them was they were looking through my camera at pictures I had taken. I had a picture on there of Archbishop Desmond Tutu from Neptune Day. These kids were amazed that I had even been in the presence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This was interesting in the fact that even kids who came from these background, and are as young as they are, know who he is and some Americans do not know who he is.

                After we returned to the port from the orphanage around 7 PM, I went out to a restaurant in downtown Cape Town. Mama Africa is a local restaurant with live music being played by local artists. Eating here I had the Mixed Grill of which I ate Crocodile, Ostrich, Springbok and Steak. A great meal to have while in South Africa. After eating we walked around a bit then headed back into port. I went to the jazz café with a few others for a little bit then went off to bed for the night. That concludes the fourth day in South Africa.

Third Day in South Africa

On to the Third Day in South Africa:

            Today Kevin, Amanda and I headed out to Stellenbosch early. We caught the 8 AM train in 1^st class since it was extremely cheap, 28 Rand round trip (4 USD). The trains in South Africa are nothing like those in the other countries I have been to so far. 1^st class in the train would be 2^nd class in other trains. The 2^nd class are benches like those you would find on subway cars. There was standing room in case the car filled up.

             The train ride to Stellenbosch from Cape Town was a short one. We arrived around 930 AM. We set out from the station to find the hostel we were going to stay at since they were doing guided tours through the wine lands for 300 Rand (43 USD). This included a private bus, a driver, four wineries, lunch and 21 different wines. Pretty good price considering what we did that day.

           We started the day off at one of the first wineries to be built in the region. There are three main wineries in Stellenbosch, and all of South Africa and the one we went to first is one of them, but there are over 150 wineries in the Stellenbosch region. The three main were the ones who started the wineries in the region. This one has been grandfathered in and is currently owned by three brothers, one does the farming, one does the wine making and the other does marketing. We toured the facilities and learned a great deal about mine production and wine itself. (This trip was better than the Sherry Production I did with SAS back in Spain. I learned more here than there) We started the tour off at the farm where all the grapes were growing. We arrived at the beginning of the season so the vines we just starting to grow. Here we learned the history and such of the winery and the grapes that are used were imported from France. After the farm we headed into the distillery. We saw where the grapes were loaded to be pressed. They do not stomp the grapes anymore. Instead they have a machine that has a balloon inside. What happens is they put the grapes inside and inflate the balloon, crushing the grapes to get the juice inside. I learned also that if they are white grapes, they are immediately separated into huge tanks that are cooled and the skins are separated as well. White wines are to be chilled while red wines are normally room temperature. Now, if they are red grapes, they are separated into separate tanks but are kept in there with their skins to create the color of a red wine. Since the juice no matter what when you squeeze it, it will be an almost clear liquid, the outside of a grape is the only part that has any color. For example, if it is a Rosé, since the color is pinkish, it is not kept in its red skins as long as a normal red wine would.

We then headed to a warehouse where they keep the wines in wood barrels. I learned here that when you taste other fruit in a wine, such as if you taste a hint of apple or something else, they DO NOT put apples or that fruit in it. It is actually the grape itself that creates the fruity flavor. By letting the grape ferment it allows that distinct flavor to come forth. I also learned what the difference between a wooded wine and an non-wooded wine. A wooded wine does mean that it as a cork, as what I thought. A wooded wine is a wine that was kept in a wood barrel, and a non-wooded wine is kept in tanks. Red wines are normally wooded and white wines are normally non-wooded. This winery keep their wine in oak barrels. By sitting in the barrel the wine picks up the oaky flavor. I also learned that the reason red wine has the bitter after taste is from it sitting in its skins for a longer period of time than white wine. I do not remember the chemical that is in the skin that gets transferred to red wine but that element is what creates that taste.

             After touring the facilities and learning much about wine, we started our wine tasting for the day. This tour was in fact the only informational part of the entire day, for the rest of the day was just tasting the different wines of the region. Our driver began our tasting for the day by teaching us how to taste wine. “Swirl the glass around to let the wine breath.” “Tilt the glass so the wine is near the edge. Do not be afraid to stick your nose into the glass, and take a deep breath to get a great sense of how the wine smells.” “Next when you take a sip, put it in front of your mouth and breath in so you somewhat gargle it.” “Now, swish the wine around in your mouth so it hits every taste bud in your mouth. You can either swallow the wine or spit it out, but it’s more fun to swallow.” He then recommended to start out with the lighter wines and then head into our darker wines.

              After we tasted all the wines here we headed to my favorite winery of the four we went to. I was going to order some from the first one but I figured there were be others, and this one was the one. I ordered six bottles of red wine to be shipped home. I normally do not like red wine and when I found the red wine here and I liked it, I ordered it. I also figured my mom might like these wines as well since she does not like red wine as well and I thought these were great red wines so I went ahead and ordered them (it is 3 different wines and I ordered 2 bottles of each). It was here that my mouth was in ecstasy as well. One of the dessert wines it said to try with bleu cheese. It so happened that at this winery we also got to sample cheese, and guess what, bleu cheese was one of them. So Kevin, Amanda and I went over to the cheese bar with the dessert wine. We ate the bleu cheese then followed it with the wine. Oh. My. God. My mouth had never experienced anything like that before. Well, until I tried another one of the cheeses. After finishing up our wine here, we went over to the cheese bar again to try to wide assortment of cheeses. One of the cheeses, Havarti, which is a basic cheese, was my favorite. Why? Well they had put a plate of Balsamic glaze next to it for us to dip it. Speechless. The three of us cleared out the entire plate it was so good. Amanda and I even bought two things of the cheese and the Balsamic glaze as well. Mom if you are reading this, I will attempt my hardest to bring all of this back to San Diego (as of right now I am doing well).

             By the end of the end, after tasting 21 different wines, we were feeling pretty well. We made friends with these to Dutch guys and a German. The two Dutch guys bought 2 bottles of wine at the last place we went to and shared them with us. The German bought an entire case and we killed another bottle from his. We were having a lot of fun. We still had to make it back to Cape Town. So we walked, tipsy, to the train station from the hostel since in Stellenbosch, there are no taxis. We made it on the last train for the day, around 4 PM and got back to the ship safely. I went out to dinner with a few friends as well after and then passed out in my bed around 11 PM. (When we are in port, there is hardly any sleeping at all. We are up pretty much the entire time since we do not get much time in the ports. We take advantage on every moment in the ports.)

　

On the way to India...finishin up South Africa

Hey!!!

           Two more days until I am in India!!! This next month is going to go by really fast. Not saying this last month has not went by quick but the next month will move even quicker. For the next month, the majority of the time will be spent in port, with about only six days of class. We are in India for six days (Oct 22 - 27), then a reading day (a day where we are on the ship but have no class whatsoever) and two days of class, then we are in Singapore for two days (Oct 31 - Nov 1), then another reading day and we are in Vietnam for six days (Nov 3 - 8). After Vietnam we have one class day and a reading day then we arrive in China for yet another six days! (Nov 11 - 16 [MY 21^st BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!] ) Two more days of class then we are in Japan for five more days (Nov 19 - 23). After Japan we go to sea for nine days then we arrive in Hawaii for four days (Dec 3 - 6). The next month is going to be a busy one so do not be surprised if I do not get some blog posts up. I will attempt my hardest to post. By the way, I am now twelve, 12, hours ahead of San Diego time. I am half a day of ya’ll over there! (When I am in the time zone of New Zealand, I will be 18 hours ahead…woo….)

I thought I would write about the rest of South Africa.

Second Day South Africa:

           Today I went on an SAS trip, Full Day Township by Bike and Interactive Soccer. My friend Dennis and I went on this together. We started the day off by meeting at 9 AM. We got on a small bus since there were only about 14 of us. It took us about an hour and a half, after a few stops to get money and use bathroom since in the township there were not great facilities to use the bathroom.

           Let me digress and explain what a township is. South Africa experienced an Apartheid regime during the beginnings of the country (slavery) and all the way up to the late 1980s. What the Apartheid regime allowed was the extreme discrimination of Blacks, Indians and colored (half blacks). The whites in power kept these races at the lowest level possible. Archbishop Desmond Tutu talked about what it was like living in the Apartheid regime. He said he had to carry a card on him at all time, even though he was the archbishop. Archbishop Tutu was the very first black archbishop of South Africa in the Anglican Church. Since he was the archbishop for South Africa he had to live in Cape Town but since the Cape Town we visited was reserved for whites, he needed permission to live there so he and his wife were forced to carry around cards with them to live there. Whenever a white police officer asked what he was doing there he was asked to show this card. Another example of how blacks were kept at a low level in society there was a Semester at Sea example. We had an inter-port lecturer who explained what happened when he came on the voyage in the 1980s. They had about 10 black students on the ship. What happened was the South African government declined their entrance into South Africa. They were able to get off in the end after the entire shipboard community decided to not get off the ship if they could not. What happened in order to let the black students off, they had to carry around cards that said “Honorary Whites.”

               Probably the worst example of the Apartheid regime was the townships. These townships are examples of the forced removal of blacks from their homes in towns like Cape Town and Johannesburg. When the government decided to make towns such as Cape Town a white only town, they forced the blacks out, not by just going up to their homes and knocking and telling them to move, no. What the government did was they had bulldozers that would drive directly through the blacks’ houses and force them out by utterly destroying their houses. After this, the government forced the blacks in what are called townships. These township are just metal plates put up in the most primitive way. Dirt floors, dirt roads. The houses are crammed together to fit as many as they can into these designated areas. Whole families and communities were displaced and moved to the worst living conditions. They have barely any running water. They have communal bathing sessions in the middle of the streets in buckets of water. They wash their clothes in either the same buckets or in the river that might run through. What the whites also did was install huge lamp posts with flood lights at the top of the pole. I learned that (and they are still there) these lamp posts were turned on in the middle of the night for raids the police would do upon these communities. Horrible conditions the blacks had during these times, and still exists today. These were also the centers for much protest by the black community.

                 When we visited this township we stopped at a community center. In this community there was a bike shop, an arts and craft center and a playground…all located inside crates (the ones you see on freight ships). These shipping crates were also the locations of many businesses (hair salons, grocery stores). We started the day off by riding bikes all around the township. We visited a local healer who danced for us (if you are thinking why did we go and watch someone dance for amusement, it was not that. The healer dances to get through into the realm of their ancestors. Almost like the dervish who spin around in circles to achieve enlightenment, so does the healer in her dancing) We had little kids from the town follow us the entire time when we were on our bikes. Soon after seeing them follow us, they ended up riding with us on the back of our bikes. So for the entire day, all 14 of us that were on this trip had a little kid on the back of our bike.

               After visiting with her we went to a local house and ate lunch there. She was a mother of two but he eldest son had died due to a very complicated illness. We learned a lot about the township here. I learned that the government is trying to introduce apartment complexes into the township communities. However, the downside to these apartments that people of the township communities do not like is you have to pay for them. At the present time, the township people pay about $500 USD to build their ramshackle of a house, wire up their house to the electricity poles illegally, stealing the power. After all this, they do not have to pay anything, no electricity bills, no water bills and no mortgage or rent. So when they go to their job they make 100% of their income, instead of paying for utilities or taxes. Also the problem of the apartment complexes is that when the government builds them is that someone gets to be the landlord. What the landlord does is he sets his price and then goes and lives in his hut next to the apartment complex. Another problem is these complexes ruin local business since most people run their businesses right out their hut. There are a lot of complicated problems in South Africa at the moment. (Side note: as we were driving to the township we passed by what were set as “white communities.” Passing these communities I felt as if I was in a war zone. They had high, possibly 9 feet, cement walls with barbed wire and sometimes electric wires at the top. They also had, each of them, security systems. These communities I learned were sometimes private in that you either had to be a member there or invited in. I learned most of this on the fourth day which I will get to later but thought I would implement it here)

                After going around the township on a bike, we ended up a soccer field. This soccer field however was all dirt and rock and for goal posts it was three metal poles welded together and places in the ground. We played the local team that practices and plays all their games here. I took off my camelbak to play and the little kids that were there with the entire day asked for some water. I offered some and soon, EVERY kid that followed us swarmed me asking for some and ended up drinking all my water. I played goalkeeper, no surprise. We played for a good 2 hours. I received some scratches from diving on rock and dirt but nothing too serious. Oh, we ended up winning 4-3. I do not know if they let us win or we just did well. Or maybe we had an amazing goalkeeper.

            After finishing up with the game we headed back to the ship. I had plans that night to head out to Stellenbosch and sleep in a hostel with three of my friends (Kevin, Amanda and Jenn). We got back from the Bike and Soccer a little later than I had expected but no sooner had I arrived that we headed out. We got to the train station, Amanda, Kevin and I (Jenn was spending the night on Robben Island. Robben Island was the Alcatraz for South Africa. It was also the home to Nelson Mandela for 27 years. It was also here that the new constitution of South Africa was written. All done in a prison setting) and found out we missed the last train for the day. This was at 4 PM. We found out that trains do not run after dark since it is not very safe. So we decided to just head out early the next day. We got back to ship and headed out to dinner with a few other people and ate at this place called 221.

Good food, good drink. There ends the second day in South Africa.

On our way to India!!!!

Hello from the open sea again!!!!

We are headed to India after only two days in Mauritius. I am actually kind of glad we were in Mauritius for only a day, not because I did not enjoy the island but because of how we the students treated the culture and the facilities of Mauritius.

Day One Mauritius:

                We arrived in Mauritius around 7:30 AM. We had to physically bring our passports to the Mauritian immigration officers so they can do one on one checks with us.  Around 9:00 AM they finally cleared us to get off the ship and start exploring the 40 mile by 30 mile island. One, two, three…ten girls and I headed off to the beach today. We decided to take the water taxi from the ship to downtown Port Louis to catch a taxi. We then caught three taxis to take the eleven of us to a beach that was about a 25 minute drive north from Port Louis. We stopped at a grocery store on the way to pick up some towels for two of the girls and some Mauritian Rupees (not to be mistaken for Indian Rupees). It was here that I heard the Mauritian version of Michael Jackson, who actually sang MJ’s songs.

                We arrived at the beach. The scenery was spectacular. The water was extremely clear, as well as very warm. The beach we went to there were absolutely no other SASers. We were alone for the day. Jenn, Amanda and I headed for a walk down the beach to find a place that served some food and drinks. We found a very nice hotel that provided us with some more fantastic scenery, great food and drinks. We kind of snuck on because they asked us for our room for the food and drinks to be charged to but we said we would pay in cash. I had a Cognac which was a great thing to have at 12 PM. The three of us sat here for a little while then headed back to where everyone else was. Jenn had bought a volleyball so we played with that for awhile. The day was pretty much just swimming and hanging out. Some guy came by and offered to take us tubing for 250 Rupees, or around 5 US Dollars, so Jenn, Veronica and I headed out. It was fun since I am now able to say I went tubing in Mauritius and in the Indian Ocean (I have now been to 3 of the 4 Oceans of the world, the Pacific, the Atlantic and now the Indian. Arctic, here I come!) After we were done tubing Jenn and Amanda went water skiing and wake boarding. I did not go since I did not feel it was the worth the money.

                After some picture taking, we started to make our way back to the ship. I was supposed to head off to a hotel with Katy and Veronica and meet some others there for the night but I did not bring anything with me so I went back to the ship to get dressed for the night. Katy and Veronica decided to walk to the hotel, The Grand Mauritian, since it was walking distance from where we were. This would be the last time I would see them for the rest of the day.

                The nine of us headed back to the ship to take showers and get all prettied up for the night. We met around 7:30 PM and headed out to eat at this Indian restaurant we walked by earlier in the day. (Mauritius’s main ethnicity is Indian due to the indentured servants that were brought here earlier in its history) It was a great meal and makes it that I cannot wait until I arrive in India in another couple of days. I had chicken in peanut sauce with white rice. There were some faculty here and they sent over two bottles of wine for our party of twelve (it seems that I could not resist traveling in large groups, which I do not recommend. Large groups in foreign countries is a horrible idea. No one can agree to anything and when someone comes up with an idea, at least 2 to 3 people disagree. We were lucky in the fact we went here. We even debated for about 15 minutes in front of the restaurant whether we wanted eat here or not) I also had two bottles of the local beer for myself.

                After finishing up our meal, we lost some people in our attempt to head off to the Grand Mauritian. Eight of us headed there in two taxis (Jenn, Amy, Bria, Dennis, Cody, Tucker, Dallas and I [yes, for those of you who know, I have two cousins named Cody and Tucker. Yes, these two guys have their names. The strange thing about them too is that they are roommates and pretend they are cousins. When I met them about a month ago I was flabbergasted. What are the chances?] ). Anyways, upon arriving at the Grand Mauritian was the start of an a) embarrassing b) horrible and c) embarrassing night.

                Let me start off this story with what they said during the “cultural p

re-port” (before every port we have a meeting in the Union, which is the auditorium where the whole ship can meet. This meeting consists of cultural aspects of the country we visit, places to see, food to eat, what the people are like, etc.) The cultural pre-port for Mauritius is as follows:

                                                                “Get ready for Spring Break.”

The minute those five words were spoken I knew that we would have an interesting time in Mauritius. I am not saying that we should not have our fun, but the extent some SAS students act in some of the countries we have been already (on a city bus in Spain, students were getting drunk and were yelling profanities in Spanish, speaking at the loudest they can. The girl who told me this said a local came up to here, knowing she was an SASer [who was not a part of the drunk group], and began to yell at her in Spanish saying that she will never ride a bus again with Americans, and that she hates Americans. Yes, we are college students. Yes, we are away from home. Just because all of these factors are here, we are STILL representatives of the United States, and of ourselves. When you go abroad you can have your fun, but the extent of how people take advantage of this trip sickens me. Back to what happened.)

                We arrived at the Grand Mauritian like I said, but we were greeted by a security guard. He started asking twenty questions. “Why are you here?”  “Who are you here for?”  “What are your plans while you are here?” This was already a sign that we were already in trouble before we arrived. I told him who I was there for, which was very stupid. After a few more exchange of words the general  consensus of the conversation was, “You’re SAS? Well then you can leave.” Earlier that day, two guys from the group I was supposed to be with arrived plastered (all found out later from a few friends that were a part of the group) with bags in hand. The group was about seven strong and we were planning on fitting the seven of us in one room. The hotel manager caught on apparently to our plan and confronted the two hammered guys. The two guys acted as if they were not staying there and started to argue with the hotel manager. They said they were staying next door at the Intercontinental. This entire argument was invalid to begin with since everyone had bags, showed up at the Grand Mauritian with everything as well. So the hotel manager asked “Why are your bags here then?” To which they replied, “Non of your f***ing business.” So they decided to head to the beach which everywhere in Mauritius is public. The hotel manager thinking they were going to head back into the hotel to sneak into the room, stationed security guards at the entrances to the hotel from the beach in case they came on. That was the end of the story since the people I heard the story from left the group for they were thoroughly embarrassed. Had I known this story, I would not have used the name of the girl who was the leader of the group and who the two wasted guys were a part of. I apologized to the hotel director who told me a little bit of this story (at this time not knowing it was my group) and told me he had to change his shoes into running shoes since I guess the two guys decided to come back on the property again. I apologized for the extremely horrible behavior that the SAS people had caused. I was embarrassed beyond belief. I had never been that embarrassed. The hotel director had stereotyped me into what the other SAS people were.

                The hotel director offered to take us to the Intercontinental next door the the Grand Mauritian. One of the security guards took the eight of us over there in a golf cart. I sat right next to him and started to ask him questions about SAS. He said that EVERY SINGLE HOTEL knows about SAS. I jokingly said I want to guess it is a good one. He was a fun guy to talk to and said yes, it is a very good one. SAS people are banned from some of the hotels in Mauritius. It is a sad thing to know this disturbing thought, and after seeing what happened at the Intercontinental I want to assume that we might be banned from there as well.

                So we arrive at the Intercontinental. About 70% of SAS is here. Most, if not all, had been drinking the whole day and we continuing to do so as I arrived. Everyone was at the bar that is located on the beachfront. We walked down for maybe five minutes then headed to the deserted bar upstairs since they had closed the bar on the beach. (After finding out later, they closed the bar because people were throwing glasses at the bartenders) We got to the bar and the bartender thinking we were part of the other group, was being short with us. After one of the girls told him that we were not part of the group downstairs he began to open up and started cracking jokes with us. I asked him if he had anything special he makes. He told me to wait, opened up the refrigerator, stuck his whole arm to get a bottle from the back of it, and brought out one bottle. In this bottle it had kiwis in, what I am guessing, vodka. He had also added some hot peppers in it. I asked him what is in it, and he said it is his secret. I got two. Boy, did they have a kick. After about ten minutes alone with the bartender, getting to warm up to us and teach him that not ALL SAS students act like those downstairs, the other SASers found the bar. The friendly bartender immediately went from being the most interesting, funny guy you could talk to, to a reserved, unfriendly guy. He took his secret concoction and put it in the back of the refrigerator. Someone asked what if they could get what I had since it looked good, and he said no. Side note: this hotel was magnificent. It was one of the most beautiful hotels, resort, that I have ever seen. As it was put by one of the people I was with, “I was waiting for George Clooney to show up.” Now after this side note, some guy came inside, upstairs to this bar, without his shirt and shoes. There were some foreigners up there on their honeymoon, and the one guy asked him if he could kindly put his shirt on, to which he yelled back, “IT’S OK, IT’S MY FIRST TIME DRINKING. I DON’T KNOW WHERE MY SHIRT IS!” The foreigners left soon after. So did we. We left to go outside and go to a spot where we could have drinks by ourselves. There were people walking around half naked, going into the pool area with their clothes on, people having sex on lounge chairs right in front of the hotel in full lighting. We decided to leave soon after going outside. We walked back through the hotel to go out front and hail a taxi. After walking through there were girls sprawled out, passed out, on the fancy couches in the reception area. People had their feet cut up from stepping on the broken glass they had thrown at the bartender and they were bleeding all over the white marble of the reception area, they were also bleeding all over the couches. None of this, is made up. All of this, were seen by my two eyes and those of the group I was with.

                Now, I am not saying I do not like to have fun and I do not wish for others to not have fun. However, there comes a time when events such as this become a supreme gesture of disrespect to the people of an establishment, vacationers, and a proud culture. I was ashamed to be associated with SAS at this point in time. I plan on talking with Dean David, who lectures us about making sure that we are kind to the people of the culture we are visiting. The example that we set forth here on Mauritius, does not put SAS in the best view and more importantly, we as Americans. I cannot put into words of how embarrassed I was for how we acted.

                There was the first day in Mauritius. I did not end up getting to sleep off the ship as I had planned, but alls well that ends well. The second day in Mauritius I went to the market in downtown Port Louis. This area had been untouched by the presence of SASers. This was a pure example of the culture in Mauritius. They sold fresh produce, shirts, model ships (like the one I am working on at home), artwork, and many other artifacts. Dennis, Dan and I decided to hit up the food market first since we were all pretty hungry. Dennis and I had a sandwich in which you tell them what meat you that was sitting in a metal dish. The woman then scoops it into bread. I asked for the hot sauce. It was awesome. The best part? It was only 75 cents in US Dollars. Dennis and I looked at each other and said, if we get Traveler’s Diarrhea, we will get it together (we did not get it by the way). After doing some shopping, the three of us headed back to get some more sandwiches, but the little shop had closed. Heading towards the exit, there was a stand that was selling a drink out of huge plastic containers. Not the best idea as an outsider to do but he offered a free sample. I could not deny it. I drank one sip, looked at the others and said, “We are getting this.” The three of us ordered three glasses, (the three together costing less than 70 Rupees. It is 30 Rupees to 1 USD) I can try to explain this drink. It had the consistency of a milkshake, but it was not a milkshake, although he added a scoop of ice cream after pouring. I have no clue what the taste was, it was a cross between vanilla and other flavors. They also added baby boba in it. It was great. I wish I had some right now. After we finished we headed back to the ship for the barbeque they held for us. Another note: standing in line to get on the ship, about six people as I was there, were so trashed they could not stand up and we escorted back on the ship by staff. (if you are caught drunk, you are disciplined)

That was my time in Mauritius. I know I have not finished South Africa, but I thought I would post this first while it is still fresh in my mind. If anybody who reads this blog and looks to go on this program, if the voyage you set sail goes to Mauritius, make sure to not repeat what happened. Although, I seriously doubt SAS will come here again, even though this has happened in the past as well. Hope all is well to everybody.

Until my next post,

“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world”     

-Scott Cameron

               

Mauritius Tomorrow!!!

Mauritius Tomorrow!!!!

Hey everyone! So we arrive in Mauritius tomorrow, (an island off the eastern coast of Madagascar). I thought I would close myself up in my room today (for it is 3:45PM here and 4:45AM in San Diego) and finish up my blogs for Ghana AND South Africa. Woo….what a task…here it goes….

Last Day in Ghana:

                Not much to write for this day since this day was spent looking for internet to talk to my mom on Skype. Went back to the African Beach Hotel to get internet, but every other SAS student went there so the internet was extremely slow. Walked around for awhile until I found an internet café for 1 Cedis (or 50 cents in American Dollars) an hour. Talked to my mom for about two minutes then my laptop crapped out. Darn you battery power!!!

                After talking with my mom Jason and I headed to the market and walked around. Met a group of women sewing up blankets and we sat around for a bit, danced together and told a little bit of ourselves. After visiting them for a little I headed back to the ship so I would not miss dock time. There was a tiny market right next to the ship that has been there the entire time we were in port and I somewhat made friends with a vendor there. I ended up buying a painting from him and some tiny things. Funny (and maddening story for me haha):

                I wanted to buy this one painting where the colors were green, black, white, grey and some other. What the artist had created was a picture with a group of silhouetted elephants next to a tree. Trust me, it was entrancing. Earlier in the week I had approached him and asked how much. The artist said 300 Cedis (close to $300), I said I did not have that kind of money but all I had on me at the time was 90 Cedis, hoping to bargain with him. He looked at me like I was crazy and HE walked away. This proved to me that he enjoyed this painting as much as I did and did not want to budge on the price. On the last day my friend Dennis went up to him with all he had left, close to 50 Cedis and maybe 40 American Dollars. He went to the guy asking, pleading, begging for this picture at that price. For about thirty minutes the artist did not budge, then another buddy of his got involved and guess what…….Dennis got the stupid painting. Now I have been pleading with Dennis to buy it off of him. I really liked that painting and told Dennis about it. I will update you on whether I get it or not. (which probably will not happen since we are two ports away from Ghana and he still has not budged….but I have not given up yet, I still have two months)

                Overall, my experience in Ghana was the best possible experience anyone could receive in a foreign country. What I enjoyed most about this country was that despite the extreme poverty the people of Ghana lived happy lives, always smiling, always cheerful, always friendly. Ghana stole my heart and I will end up visiting again in the future. So if anyone wants to come with me let me know.

                My mom asked whether I had a favorite port after South Africa, and although I have not written about South Africa, (because my experience here was maybe just as wonderful). I could not answer that question she posed since I feel that if I were to choose my favorite port so far, I would compare the other ports to that one, and not have as great of experience I would have if I did not create that boundary upon my immediate entrance into that country. So as of now, I do not have a favorite. Ask me in two months right after we leave Japan. I will have an answer then.

Anyways, I digress. On to South Africa.

                First day in South Africa. We arrived in port around 0800. I slept through pulling into port, since my alarm clock did not go off. I woke up around 0930 because we had to physically hand our passports to the immigration officers who came on board. A group of about three and I, Kevin, Amy and Jenn, decided to climb Table Mountain within the first hour we arrived. Once we were cleared to disembark from the ship, the four of us began our trek to Table Mountain from the Victoria and Alfred Wharf. My first impression of South Africa, in the port, I thought I was in seaport village in San Diego. It was beautiful walking through the port. There was a gigantic mall right next to the ship and a bunch of restaurants. After exploring for a little, the four of a piled into a taxi. The South African currency is called the Rand and is worth about 7.5 US Dollars. The money is decorated with the Big 5, which are the most famous wild animals of South Africa. I can only remember two of them, the Lion and the Elephant.

                It took us about 100 Rand to get from the port to the bottom of Table Mountain, about $14. We began our trek at the Gorge part, where you walk up a staircase pretty much into a little slit in the mountain that allows access to the top. (Look at my pictures on face book if you can, they are wonderful) From the bottom to the top it took us about two hours. A large group of SAS students also went that day so Table Mountain was packed with SAS students. One of the groups decided to try and rock climb and in doing so, created a small rock slide and almost seriously injured a few other SAS students. Everyone laughed it off, but if they had not yelled, those students would have been in some serious pain. Stupid people these days. Climbing the mountain I felt as if, like I said, walking up a grand staircase. If you want a good leg workout, you should climb Table Mountain everyday.

                Jenn, Kevin and I got up the mountain first. Amy could not handle going up as fast as we climbed it so she joined a group that was climbing at a slow pace. The three of us started to explore a little and took some pictures. We waited about thirty minutes until Amy finally reached us. Us four and a few others, including Katy and Veronica, started to explore the main part of the mountain. When clouds begin to roll over the mountain it is known as the tablecloth and that was what was happening when we were up there. It got cold REAL fast. With the clouds however, came some great picture opportunities. The clouds would come and go, blocking the view completely or when they were not there, giving us fantastic views of Cape Town. One of my favorite paintings that I saw during my AP Art History class back in high school, was Friedrich’s Man Among the Misty Mountains. Since the clouds were rolling over some of the mountains it created an excellent chance to recreate the painting. I did. It is now the profile picture of my face book page if you want to check it out. (Mostly ALL of my pictures have been posted so if you want to check them they are on there)

                After exploring for a little we decided to eat at the restaurant at the top of the mountain. I had a “Lion’s Head” pizza. I have no clue what was on the pizza but it was great. We ate lunch with extraordinary views of the surrounding areas of Cape Town and other parts. (Last night I went to this Mindfulness seminar that the psychologist, Hieu, put on. He one interesting man. Anyways, he talked about how we should live in the moment, learn to forget about the past and not live in the future. For all that has happened will never happen again and does not affect you directly right now, in the moment. Same goes for the future, do not live in the future for you could miss out on what is happening right now, right here in front of you. A very good seminar here on the ship. [There are seminars on everything here on the ship and that is how I spend much of my night time is going to these with friends. Last night there was an open mic right after Hieu’s presentation. Last week there was a panel on the Peace Corps. Sorry mom, I think I might join the Peace Corps. They are great to stimulate your thinking and learn what goes on besides your college life] ) Where I was going with Hieu’s digression, is that being on the top of Table Mountain made you live in the moment, to soak up everything that went on at the top of the mountain. Being with friends, amazing scenery, great food, birds that were braver than seagulls in San Diego in taking you food.  

                After this wonderful start to our day, we decided to take the cable car down. The cable took like five seconds to get off the top of the mountain. After returning to ground level, we headed back to the port. We walked around the area for a little, exploring the stores and such. Headed back to the ship to take a shower after awhile. Katy, another group and I decided to head out to dinner at a place there in the port, Karibu. It was an extremely fancy restaurant. To prove how fancy it was, we had our own wine guy who helped us out in picking our wines. We all had something different to eat. I ordered Springbok, which is a deer like animal in South Africa, which also is the team name of the South African rugby national team. We started the night off with crocodile as well. It tastes exactly like steak. Nothing really special to it. My springbok also tasted like steak as well, but was a but darker. Veronica ordered ostrich. I tried some. One of the best meats I have ever eaten. It taste was unique to itself, it did not taste like chicken but it did not taste like steak either. I ordered it again later in the trip, that for another entry. After finishing up after a few hours at Karibu (what I have learned by traveling around is to take your time to eat, you do not get in and out in twenty minutes like in the USA. People everywhere else take their time, socialize, have a few glasses of wine, and just sit and chill. My friends and I have learned this and we now take our time when we eat.) so after finishing up a couple of the people in the group headed to Mitchell’s, a bar a little way down from Karibu. I headed back, for it was around midnight and I had an SAS trip the next day, Township by Bik and Interactive Soccer.

I will post this and post the others right after I go to dinner. I am starving.  I still five more days to comment on for South Africa, compared to only four days in Ghana, I had six full days in South Africa. Whoo!

Until my next post,

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live”

-Flora Whittemore