I'm Home...Kind of...

I have officially fallen in love with a country…I have to admit that Malaysia felt more like home than anywhere else that I have been within my time spent abroad. I felt completely comfortable with my surroundings as soon as I got off the ship well…off the tender anyway. 

My first jaunt into Penang was an exciting one as my friend Stella (she’s from Seoul!) showed me around town. She had studied at the international American high school in the center of the city and lived there for three years so in essence a local showed me Penang, which was pretty cool. We actually went and met up with her boyfriend Patrick (aka Utim…also from Seoul) for lunch. I had my first Korean meal since I left home a month and a half ago. I can’t even tell you all how much I missed it!! I had rice…actual white rice with kimchi and meat and tofu and stew. Oh my…I have never appreciated a meal that much in my life! After ward we walked around the fabulous mall where I bought more J. Crew T-shirts than I ever thought that I would own. I haven’t had laundry in awhile so I have resorted to buying clothes to make up for my lack of clean ones.

Later that night another group of friends and I went out for dinner at a local Chinese seafood restaurant. I had scallops and broccoli, rice and a coconut (a literal coconut cut open) to drink. (As you all can see, food was my primary concern while I was here…I ate A LOT!)

The following day I left for the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The bus ride there was filled with the usual life stories from my newfound traveling confidante Evan. We have randomly been on three trips consecutively and he keeps me occupied on long bus, train and plane rides. Unfortunately my friend Christina was not on this trip so it was not nearly as eventful as our adventure in the Indian train system.

The five-hour bus ride ended up being longer than expected due to our lunch stop at a Chinese Malay restaurant…again the food was AWESOME! I was actually impressed by people and their ability to use chopsticks. Mostly everyone ate successfully with them. Later that night all of us on the trip went to a dinner and a show and I actually got pulled up on stage to dance with the performers. My friends got video of me…it was a fun time; I was cracking up the entire time.

After dinner my friend Sam and I got cleaned up and headed out for a night on the town. We met up with some friends at one of the most posh bars in the city that overlooked down town KL and the Petronas Twin Towers. I suggest that you all Google image the towers because they are amazing! (Especially at night.) We literally were out until the sun came up. That was a new experience for me. Watching the sunrise over the skyscrapers is something that everyone should do at least once in their life.

After an hour of sleep we loaded back on the buses and went on a tour of the city. Penang was a beautiful mixture of the old and the new. I even got to see the tallest flagpole in the world.

The Malaysian flag is actually fashioned after the US flag with a yellow star and a crescent in place of our 50.

More so than South Africa, I could live in Malaysia for the rest of my life and never have to leave. My last night in Malaysia was spent back in Penang walking around the city and getting caught in the culture and the people. My new group of friends and I went and had dinner at a local outdoor market that we literally stumbled upon, some of the best food to date. I think that I ate my weight in Star Fruit that night. Now I think that I have an official love affair with food I hope that my waistline doesn’t start expanding.

Next stop is Vietnam and Cambodia. I’m very much looking forward to Cambodia and have been most excited to visit the small country stuck in between giants on the Southeast peninsula of Asia. I hope that I’m not just getting my hopes up. Angkor Wat here I come!

I went sky diving, Table Mountain climbing, I went 10.7 minutes in the ocean with great white sharks!!

Well everyone, I know that it has been awhile since I last updated you all, but midterms have been taking up most of my free time. So many things have happened since my last blog I don’t even know where to start.

South Africa was the first port that I had trouble leaving. I absolutely loved it there and I cannot wait to go back. Cape Town reminds me of San Francisco on a smaller scale with the same type of atmosphere and weather. The wharf was a fun place to hang out at night with pubs, restaurants and little cafés sprinkled along the waterfront. Behind the hustle and bustle of the city, Table Mountain shoots straight above the skyline slightly resembling Diamond Head on Oahu. By far this was the prettiest port that we had pulled into so far.

The morning of our arrival was spent on Long Street with friends shopping and interacting with the locals. I was excited to see there were surf shops everywhere! I almost felt like I was at home with the familiar logos of Quicksilver, Roxy and O’Neill blaring from storefronts, but as we walked past a side street I was surprised to find a mosque with mats laid out and men praying in the middle of downtown Cape Town. I was not prepared to see such a heavy Muslim population in South Africa, and the mass of people out in the street praying provided a much needed culture shock. Dumbfounded and entranced by the prayers being projected through the loud speakers around us I observed something that most of us had only experienced watching on television. The CNN version seemed to be a far cry from what was being portrayed on this small side street a world away.

My friends pretty much told me to snap out of it and we went on our merry way to conquer some type of food. I had my first Asian meal since I left the states for lunch and I cannot even explain how happy it made me! After lunch we began to walk toward the outskirts of downtown and stumbled upon a Harley Davidson dealership. Immediately, I felt a pang in my heart from memories flooding into my mind about my Aunt Judy, and the sight of the store made me miss her more than usual.

Later that day my friends and I climbed Table Mountain, which was no easy feat. It was a straight incline for an hour and a half with rocks stacked like stairs all the way to the top. I can now say that I climbed it, but at the time I can tell you that I was less than excited to be doing so. In other words…it kicked my butt.

The next day a group of us set out to the town of Gainsbai (pronounced hansbye), about two and a half hours up the coast from Cape Town, to go cage diving with great white sharks. A dive boat toted us out into the bay with four crewmembers: the captain, a deck hand, our videographer and one of the premier researchers on great whites in the area. While we hopped along the tops of the wakes I attempted to wrap my mind around the fact that I was about to get into the water with nine-foot sharks. Not until after we were finished would I begin to comprehend what I had done.

The captain dropped anchor and the deck hands began chumming the waters. It wasn’t long before the videographer (an American who came to South Africa for two months and stayed for five years) spotted some great whites off in the distance. Before we knew it the eight of us were being shouted at to put our wet suits on and get into the cage. Meanwhile, two female great whites began circling the boat. There were four people in the cage at a time watching as the sharks made passes in front of the cage. You would think that you would be panicking in the cage as these massive bodies equipped with several rows of teeth swim only a foot away from you, but this strange calm comes over you as you watch these beautiful creatures maneuver through the water. However, there was a moment that made my heart skip a beat. My first turn I was on the outside left of the cage, in the meantime the sharks are circling the boat clockwise, naturally I was the first person that came into contact with the shark as it made a pass. All of the sudden I look to my left and made eye contact with the shark as it grated its teeth against the cage. The adrenaline was defiantly pumping in my body in over time after that moment. Looking back I can’t believe that I actually went through with it. We all found out later that there was a total of eight different sharks total circling the boat…all female. If any of them really wanted to eat us, that cage was not going to stop them by any means.

Shark diving was not the last extreme sport that I participated in while I was in South Africa. The following day the same group of friends and I went sky diving over the south end of Cape Town. Yes…I jumped out of a perfectly good plane and video taped it all myself! It was such a liberating experience and the view was absolutely to die for, between the beach, the mountains and the ocean I can’t say that I can complain about my first jump. I was the first one in my group in the plane that jumped and I have to say that your heart doesn’t really start to race until they open the door. Sitting on the edge of the doorway waiting to drop out seems like it takes a lifetime but before you know it you are back on the ground ready to do it again. I may even do it in Hawai’i just to have the bragging rights, but we’ll have to see!

South Africa Part II: Lions, rhinos and elephants oh my!

Safari…safari…safari.
From the time we left the ship, it was a rollercoaster of events and people. We left at about 04:00 and didn’t get to our camp until about 18:30. I didn’t really know anyone on my trip very well, but it worked out for the best because I met some really great people who are good friends now. Isn’t it funny how those things work out? Any who, I know that you all probably want to know about the animals…Well the biggest animal of all was our guide. He was absolutely nuts! Corbus (Aka Stephan…I have no idea what the connection is) was brilliant I’ll give him that, but he was a little off of his rocker. He told us that he would rather shoot a human than an animal if he were to choose; we all looked at one another and then nervously chuckled. None of us knew how serous he was.
I saw three out of Africa’s ‘Big 5’, which consists of the rhino, elephant, lion, leopard and the water buffalo. I saw both white and black rhinos, elephants and water buffalo. Some others in the group caught a glimpse of a lion, but the rest of us defiantly heard them later that night. The Kwazulu Natal game reserve is part of Zulu territory. Our game drivers in our open vehicles were from the Zulu nation. (“Tribe”is considered to be derogatory in South Africa, taken from the apartheid days.) They gave us a great insight to the cultural side of South Africa and provided us with a multitude of answers about their own lives and of the animals.

I have to say that elephants chasing our cars were my greatest moments on the safari. The first time we were riding around in an enclosed van watching a pack of elephants dig holes in the river bed to get water and all of the sudden they started moving up the embankment. All of us were shocked at the magnitude of these animals and the numbers. As they came over the ridge our driver became frightened and drove away as fast as he could. Apparently, he knew what the elephants could do to a vehicle our size and wanted to make sure that we weren’t used as a football (soccer ball).

Later that afternoon around sunset we were on another game drive and I turned to a friend of mine and said that I hoped to get closer to some elephants. Not 15 minutes later and we turned a corner to find an older male elephant feeding in the middle of the road. According to our guide he was about 50 years old! We couldn’t pass him so we just sat there watching him eat. He was magnificent! The shear size of an African elephant is overwhelming and when they are that close…all you can do is whisper. Soon he began to move toward us and our driver laughed as he threw the vehicle in reverse as the giant mammal picked up the pace. In all reality he wasn’t threatened by our presence, he just wanted to go and eat another plant where we just happened to park in front of. We ended up attempting to pass him but stopped about 20 feet from him. I have never been so close to one before. It was amazing! I have some great video and pictures to show when I get home.

There are a billion other stories that will have to wait until I get back. We’re about half way done with the semester. I can’t believe how everything is flying by!

Bum bum bee dum bum Namibia!

All of the days here seem to mesh together into one long memory.

Southern Africa is nothing like you would expect it to be.  Although it is spring here the weather is cold, you end up wearing a sweatshirt more often then not. I definitely felt safer here than I did in Brazil. People are not begging for money at every turn and the population is not as dense. There are only two million people in the entire country of Namibia. Walvis Bay is very small and there isn’t a whole lot of activity to be quite honest. The local people are extremely hospitable, everyone says hello as they walk down the street and consider it rude if you do not do the same.

American sentiment has been surprising. During our first jaunt into town, we were stopped by some of the dockworkers to ask us where we were from. Once they heard all of us shout the U.S. their faces lit up. Again, surprising.

I had not planned anything while in this specific port.  I figured that I would just go where the wind took me and hopefully it would be blowing in the right direction.

The first day was spent meandering around the town looking for grocery stores and such. It is always nice to have a chance to get your bearings in the first few hours of the day...especially if there is a language barrier.  Luckily, there was none to really speak of. The national language of Namibia is English, but Afrikaans is spoken throughout most of the population along with the other 22 plus languages spoken around the country. 

That night, 13 of us went up to the next town about 30 minutes away. Swakopmund was an interesting experience. I stayed in my first hostel for $3 USD a night. When I walked in I felt like breaking into song and singing the score from Annie. Let me tell you it was a “hard knock life”. 

I was one of the late groups into town, as the first group went up earlier that day to figure out a place to stay.  The first group ended up meeting a school choir that was singing at a local competition and invited us to come along. They even set up transportation free of charge.  I have never seen so much talent before. There were choirs from all over the country that sang and danced but I believe the liveliest person in the group was the host school’s principal. He shook all of our hands and introduced himself and began conversations of various topics with us.

Naturally, American politics came up in the conversation. When all of the sudden the principal turns to us and says, “and then George Bush ‘messed’ up your country.”  You can imagine that he might have used a more colorful word there. All of us looked at one another and couldn’t help but laugh from the shock of the punch line. The rest of the night was spent at one of the local German restaurant’s, Kuckies, and later on at a pub. I had an ostrich steak for dinner and I think that I’ve been converted. It is leaner than beef, but has an incredible flavor. 

We shopped all of the next day and spent some time walking around the town. We had breakfast/lunch at a local spot. I cannot express how much I truly enjoyed the food. All of us were exhausted from the sleepless night in the hostel, so after a bit of meandering we went back to the boat.

My friend Marissa and I went sand boarding the next day on Dune 7 with a group of girls. It made me miss the snow. Sand boarding is basically snow boarding...on sand. Instead of taking a lift, you hopped onto the back of quads. We got in five or six runs. I can’t say that it was all that easy even for the most experienced boarders because the sand was so fine. If you didn’t wax the board enough you just sank. Pretty incredible views from the top of the dunes though, I have to keep reminding myself that this is my life and it is all about living for the moment.

The last few days flew past me, we partied and ate and had a blast just being with one another.  I bought quite a few mementos from a lady named Kathy right outside the port gate. She drove a hard bargain and I think that I totally got ripped off, but I just didn’t have the heart to haggle with her anymore. What she was selling was her livelihood. I would rather give my money to someone that it directly affects than a commercial business.

My scariest story so far on this trip occurred here. I was going to the bank with friends and there was a guy that had just used the ATM. He came out of the vestibule and I proceeded to the machine. Before I even took out my card my friend Juliana yelled at me to not do it. I hadn’t realized that the same guy was right behind me in the vestibule. It scared me so much that I almost swung at the guy. Luckily, everything turned out all right and I walked away.  Another one of our friends broke the tension afterward by stating that if a New Yorker, Juliana, got scared about a situation then you know it’s not good.  We all laughed, but I am defiantly counting my blessings.

Namibia was an extraordinary place that will always have a place in my heart. The people were beautiful, the country was beautiful and the experiences are things that I will never forget.

Salvador - Bahia

Sorry that this is so late but this past week has been an absolute whirl-wind of inside jokes, new experiences, food and friends.

There are so many stories I can’t pick just one to tell, but for the sake of time I’ll try my best to condense all of them into an all-inclusive compilation of my adventures in Brazil.

Salvador was a perfect port for us to get our feet wet as world travelers. I believe that some regarded Brazil as a good “starter” country due to the native tongue, Portuguese, being a romance language. This provided an accessible resource for those who spoke Spanish as they could mostly communicate with the locals.

My approach to the language barrier included graceful pantomiming and pointing to things in my Brazilian Portuguese dictionary. To be honest my life-savors during my stay in Salvador were my friends Juliana and Duncan. Without them who knows what sorts of trouble we could have gotten into. Duncan, our fearless leader on our first day in port, carried around a travel guide to Brazil and acted as our main communicator.

Our first day in port was defiantly one of unexpected ignorance. The poverty stricken area that we encountered immediately following our embarkation from the ship caught me slightly off guard. Although it could have been worse in hindsight, it was shocking to watch yourself neglecting to give money to begging street children. The thought of the world still being on this level is disheartening. On the other hand, it was amazing to see how happy most people were.

In contrast, our touristy persona in port entertained the local Salvadorians, as our awkward faces and gestures said it all...we had NO idea what we were doing. Sunday was Brazil’s independence day, when we initially got off the boat there was no one on the streets. It was a little bit eerie how quiet the city was. A group of ten, including myself, went out to explore the city of Salvador; there are two levels of the city known as the lower and the upper cities. The upper city was filled with street vendors and groups performing Capoiera, Brazilian dance fighting. All of the buildings were painted in bright hues as the remnants of colonial Portugal stared at us from tiled roofs and Baroque columns.

The first conquest of the day was to find food. We hadn’t gotten very far into the upper city when we found a local place serving rice, yellow corn mush, chicken and assorted fresh veggies that I stayed away from for fear of malaria. The boys were excited to finally get their hands on some local beer. (This played a common theme during most of our days spent in the city.) We continued into square after square of activity. One of the squares that we had wandered into had churches at either end of the square. These were only the first few that I would see during my stay. Catholicism plays a huge role here. Crosses are everywhere around the area. I think that I could do an entire photo essay on crosses alone.

Eventually we stopped for these amazing drinks called caipirinhas. In essence, the drink was a mojito made with the local sugarcane liquor. They were incredibly sweet and packed a punch.

That same night a HUGE group of us went out to dinner at a chuhascarria, a Brazilian barbeque. I have fallen in love with Brazilian food all over again. I’ve had this type of food back in the States, but there is nothing like eating food where it originated. Needless to say it was amazing and incredibly fulfilling after living off of the same ship food for a week.

The next day was spent mostly on the boat because I had signed up for a visit to one of the local family planning centers. This particular center had a free clinic dedicated to reproductive health in men and women. Although, the majority of the services provided there were geared toward Brazilian young women. One of the center’s doctors was kind enough to have a Q&A session with us. I think that I learned more from that discussion than in the entire time spent reading on the boat and tour of the institute combined. The statistics of young mothers in Brazil are astounding. Most girls become sexually active around the age 13-14 and the average age of first time grandmothers is 37.

As a Catholic nation, Brazil does not allow abortions or sexual education in schools. There is a slow movement currently trying to get education into schools but the congress has a tight hold on the issue. The private institution/clinic that I toured provides educational lectures for the community as well as reproductive health care Monday-Friday from 8:00-1:00 pm. I could go on forever about all that I had learned there. It is hard to sit here as an American woman and to think that most of the rights that we have are privileges in other countries. I can already tell that these experiences are beginning to change me and this was only the first port.

On a lighter note, the following day I went and joined the circus. I have video of me on the silk rope spinning 15 feet in the air. I was actually kind of good at it! I have a nice bout of rope burn as a result, but how often can you say that you actually ran away to the circus? Along with the rope, we also learned skills in juggling, tightrope, flying trapeze, tumbling and how to ride the unicycle. The unicycle was defiantly my worst event. My little legs didn’t quite reach the pedals. Oh well! ?

Our main instructor was only 22 and had been training for 13 years. The Brazilian circus is actually a service project geared for the Salvadorian slums known as favellas. The project was started for street children beginning with boys and expanding to girls later on. Our instructor was a direct product of this program. Along with their circus studies, the students also go to school to learn arithmetic, history and other mainstream subjects. Many of these students make it into major circuses around the world. Without programs like this one, young boys are only projected to live until age 15.

Although it seems like there is such disparity in the area that I had experienced the city of Salvador ‘s mix of Afro-Brazilian culture, food, music and life all culminated into a beautiful experience.

All Hail Neptune Day: My Friend Shaved Her Head!

The story actually began last night. The MV Explorer crossed the equator at approximately 2030 with 600 something college kids screaming and hollering at the top of their lungs. (Yes, some of them were intoxicated.) Today was our first day of classes off so the most of us made last night something fun. We had a dance party in one of the classrooms after my friend Katy taught a hip-hop class and after that I sat and listened to a jam session that my neighbors across the hall were having. 

Semester at Sea tradition ensued today as the Neptune Day ceremony took place. It’s a tradition to have fish juice poured over your head, jump into a pool of seawater which is all followed by kissing a fish. Or the alternative is to shave your head, hence my friend shaving her head.

The day began with a 0520 sunrise, which on the equator happens pretty rapidly.
Two hours later we all were rudely awakened by a group of the crew playing flutes and banging on who-knows-what to ring in the new day on the southern hemisphere.

I am proud to say that I have officially been inducted into the sea fairing world from a meager beginning as a pollywog to a seasoned shellback in a matter of minutes. I opted to have the fish juice poured over my head rather than shaving all of my hair off. Proceeding the lip lock with the fish I was then knighted by Neptune himself! Ok ok...it was one of our professors, but still.  It was an eventful day to say the least, and this was all before 1200.

Another day of classes are tomorrow and the morning after is our first day in port. Whoot whoot for Salvador!
Much love and sunshine!

The Brazillian Coast

Sorry that I haven’t had the chance to update you all, the passed couple of days have been a little crazy due to classes. I don’t think that I have ever had so much reading to do in my entire scholastic career. If I add all of the pages up in one night of reading I believe the total would be about 250 pages give or take a night. Needless to say I am still exhausted.

Two of my classes are absolutely amazing. The same professor is teaching them and her style of teaching is more discussion than anything, which I prefer. On the other hand my other two classes are history and international relations. The latter of the two is excruciating. It may be because I am already familiar with the material being presented. The only way I feel challenged in the class is with the reading. I am hoping that the progression of the semester will allow for some growth and interest.

Other than school, I am getting involved in an on-ship dance program and teaching a lyrical and hip-hop class twice a week or so. We just had our first meeting tonight so we’ll see how that goes.

Neptune day is on Friday, apparently the tradition/ritual is to a) shave your head or b) get fish guts thrown on you. Personally I am picking option b. There’s no way that I am shaving my head. I don’t think that would go over well during interviews in the spring.

Seasickness is still haunting me, but it is beginning to subside. We’ll be in country (Brazil) on Sunday morning. We have already lost an hour of time and I just found out today that we are repeating November 22. In essence I will have two November 22nds, kind of cool. Ta ta for now.

P.s.
Amy I hope that you had a great first day of high school!

Fueling Up: Puerto Rico Harbor

I think that the seasickness has mostly subsided. The majority of the queasiness was finished yesterday morning after a dose of Dramamine. Getting used to being on the boat is a bit of a struggle between gaining sea legs and meeting new people. I never thought that it would be so daunting. There are so many people from California on the boat. It feels like Californians make up at least 1/3 of the ship’s population.

Last night we deviated from our original chartered course by 75 miles to avoid a tropical storm. I believe that we were going 26 knots. The boat was rocking and rolling everywhere. You all should have seen people walking up the stairs. It was hysterical we all looked like we had too much to drink.

The first day of class was today. They are split up between A days and B days. Since today was an A day I only had one class scheduled. The bulk of my classes are on my B days starting at 8:00 am and finishing around 2:15. I’m only taking 12 units this semester so it’s a nice break from the 18-19 that I usually take.

I’ve been meeting really great people. Every meal that I’ve had since I’ve been onboard has been with a different group. I can’t say that all of their names are sticking quite yet but for the most part I’m on top of it.

We have free e-mail access on the ship so if you can e-mail me at rlmccarroll@semesteratsea.net

Not feeling home sick yet, but I’m defiantly tired. And yes Mom I’m staying out of the sun.