June 13, 2007

We’ve been in Kenya for just about two weeks now. Our first week of work was a little hard to get use to, but now we’re in the swing of things and understand how the people work over here. We went to work Monday and Margaret was actually in Rongai for the day, so we didn’t have too many duties to tend to. There also weren’t as many children that morning as they’re usually are, so it was an easier day. We stopped at the Boma on our way home as we usually do, and James, the young man who works in the orphanage office, was there. He was very kind and at first I didn’t recognize him, but finally Will told me who he was. We were just heading out the door when he tried to stop us (we told him we had a curfew) because apparently he’d ordered a t-bone steak from the mystery kitchen in the bar and wanted us all to try it. We had no time to chow down on the beef, but the boys tried it and then kindly told James that we’d have to do that for real sometime.

On Tuesdays and Saturdays in Nairobi there is a large Market. From traveling abroad with Semester at Sea, I got use to the whole ‘market’ extravaganza and figured there wouldn’t be anything that interesting there. So we went to Nairobi on Tuesday, got some more Shillings, paid for our Mt. Kenya trip (hiking adventure in 9 days!) and had a delicious meal at Trattoria, the nicest looking restaurant in the city. We’ve been eating African food for a while, so we treated ourselves to some spaghetti, delicious pizzas and tasty bruschetta. Then we headed to the Market and it was pretty much what I expected. Lots of stuff that people really don’t need, and a lot of vendors pretending to be your best friend and offering you ‘good price’ because you’re a student or because you’re a special person. I bought three bracelets for 200 shillings (he wanted 500) and Will bought a Djembe for…too much. I got upset with him because he’s not good at bargaining and just too nice of a guy to haggle with the vendors. He needs some lessons I think.

Although Nairobi is only about 30 minutes away, we were coming home during ‘rush hour’ and I was a bit nervous about getting home on time. I didn’t want to upset Esther again, so I was a little tense on our way back. We didn’t leave Nairobi until about 5 PM, and we had to catch a Mutatu to get home. Mutatu’s are vans that run back and forth from the cities and they’re basically like a very fast and crazy carpool adventure. You just pick random people up at different stops, and each van only holds 14 passengers. Will, Wendy and I had to catch one just as it started to rain and as everyone was rushing home. It’s a tough process, but kind of fun because you gotta be aggressive so people know not to push you out of the way. It took a few minutes, but we finally found a van and were able to get on. Fortunately, we got to Rongai around 6 PM and walked back home from there, beating sunset by almost an hour.

Week Two Complete

June 10, 2007

We finally hit the weekend yesterday. Our first week was tiring, but we got through it and we learned a lot about how people work here. We’re spending a lot of time at the orphanage and I think it’s taking up a lot of our energy.

Friday was exciting because we knew the weekend was so close. We just had a little bit of laundry to do in the morning, but while we were working on that a few white people came to visit. Muzungos (White people)! It was very odd to see Americans after only interacting with Africans the past 10 days and the four of us were taken by surprise. Note: Dave, our New Zealand volunteer, is homesick and went to Nairobi for the weekend. Today is his birthday, but we’ll be interested to see if he actually comes back or stays his whole 3 weeks. But we were just sitting and washing when we see an older man walk into our orphanage with his video camera and big photo camera, and immediately we didn’t like what he was doing. A younger man also came by with his camera just to take pictures of the place, and the four of us just kind of felt like they weren’t doing anything beneficial to the orphanage. They didn’t stay long and we were happy about that. A young American girl who goes to school at a local University came by and introduced herself because she apparently comes by once or twice a week. She didn’t have a big camera, so we were OK with her. After they left and we finished laundry, we started a little arts and crafts project which was nice because we’d just been doing a lot of manual labor à Thursday we spent a lot of time planting carrot seeds (just one seed per hole!) and we’ve been taking care of them and watering them since then. Gardening is hard work, especially in a very disorganized orphanage that has a garden full of weeds. Will and I will be here two months, so hopefully something will have grown by then and we can see the results of our hard work.

We left Friday and headed to the Boma, the little bar right at the end of our street. We get sodas there during our break every day, but we figured our first Friday deserved some Tusker beers. Margaret, the woman in charge of our orphanage, has three daughters (19, 23, 24) and we just hung out with them for a while and they told us some things about the orphanage and Africa that we didn’t know. We’ve been told a couple times that it’s not safe to stay out past dark, but we just weren’t ready to go home as the sun was setting. We stayed at the bar until about 7:40 and got home at 8, and that was just too late. Esther, our mom, was worried and we all felt really bad about it because she’s the nicest lady and only has our best intentions in her heart. So we figured out quickly that we won’t be having any late nights anywhere, and that we’ve gotta be home by sundown so we don’t worry Esther and Manasseh.

Saturday came and we’re not required to work 6 days a week, but Margaret thought we were coming and I guess she was planning on it, so we figured we’d stop by the orphanage for a couple hours. Well, two hours turned into 4 ½ and I figured out we’ve gotta be a little more upfront about our decisions and how we feel about our Saturdays. After we left the orphanage (she made us eat lunch because there was plenty for everyone) we headed to Rongai, where we stopped by the internet café and the grocery store. We got back an hour or so before sundown, and just hung out and watched the huge rainstorm that we had last night. It was awesome- the lightning was so bright and the rain was so hard. It lasted throughout the night, and its always wonderful to sleep while its raining. I told everyone that I was going to run to the nearest field and just sit under a big tree during a thunderstorm sometime because I think it would be so peaceful and just awesome. It’s my African dream, and I have to fulfill it sometime. How often we get to shower also depends on how often it rains, so we usually bath the day after because we know there’s enough water for everyone and what needs to be done around the farm.

Now it’s Sunday and we’re all just being lazy and its wonderful. We woke up for breakfast, Wendy and I did all the dishes in the kitchen, we all took showers, and now we’re just enjoying the day. Will’s allergies are bothering him a lot and I feel very bad because there’s really nothing he can do. I’m just hoping he can adjust soon or else it’s going to be very difficult for him.

I also forgot to mention that Toto’s “Africa” was playing as we walked into our host family’s house on our first day. It was a remix of it, but still very funny because any song could have been played at that moment, but it was the one about ‘blessing the rains down in Africa’ that made the cut.

First Week in Rongai

June 4, 2007

Today is day three with our host family. I know I jumped ahead quickly, so let me recap what has happened since Saturday.

We had to pack up all of our stuff that morning because we were moving to our host families that afternoon. We spent the afternoon in Nairobi taking care of business such as buying cell phones, SIM cards, using internet café’s and whatever else we needed. We had lunch in the city at a place called Gawa Restaurant or just Gawa something and it was interesting. They had chicken, beef and fish on the menu, but they were all out of chicken and only had one kind of fish…and it was still on the bone. About 64 of their shillings equals one of our dollars, so with a drink, lunch would only cost about 100 shillings- very cheap.

Before we departed, we all just lounged around a parking lot with all of our bags and awaited departure. After an hour or so, we all piled in our designated vans and began dropping people off, one by one, two by two, to their host families. The day before, Will and I found out we were going to work in a rural slum area, so we knew we wouldn’t be very close to the city. It took a couple hours, but we eventually made it to Rongai, the town where our host family and St. Paul’s Orphanage are located. As we’re driving up the road, the mountains of the country came into view and they were gorgeous. It was so exciting to know we wouldn’t be in the city and that we’d have a great view for two months. Eventually we found the house, pulled up to the gate right off the dirt road, and immediately you see a long driveway and lots of pink and purple flowers. We got inside and saw the dogs, cows, crops and large area of land and immediately knew we’d be spending our time on a Kenyan farm. The place we’re staying at is run by a family. An older man named Samuel lives in the main house, and we’re staying with his son, Manasseh, and his wife Esther, their daughter, Naomi (who’s either 1 ½ or 3, apparently her parents don’t agree on the age), and Esther’s sister, Therea, in the house that Manasseh made on his father’s land. They are very kind people and very welcoming. Their house consists of a large living room with many couches that form a square, perfect for company and conversation, a kitchen and two bedrooms. When we first arrived they referred to Will and I as “the couple” which was kind of silly, then they gave us our own room, but with two twin beds of course. Later, Esther was asking me how long I’ve been married and I was just like “uhhh…I’m not married.” “engaged?” “no, he’s my boyfriend.” She didn’t mind that we weren’t married, but when I told her that I was only 21 she was like “oh that’s the right age to get married,” and I did my best to explain that in the United States, we get married much later.

We had a great dinner our first night (Esther is a professional chef). I’m assuming they took one of their chickens and created our feast. They always serve us rice with lunch and dinner because it goes so far. We just hung out our first night- there wasn’t anything for us to do so we just lounged and eventually went to bed around 10:30. There is no electricity in the house, except what is provided by the generator that runs when the sun goes down. But they do have TV and a DVD player for evening time. And our bathroom facilities consist of an outhouse and another outhouse attached, but without the hole in the ground for showering. I just took my first shower this evening and it was wonderful. I got to wash my hair and I think it was much appreciated by my follicles.

Sunday Will, Ryan and I went to church, but we woke up to a fantastic breakfast first…fresh eggs! We hit the 10:30 service (note, nothing in Africa starts on time so never arrive early or, on time) but it didn’t start until probably 11. It consisted of a lot of dancing and singing, but they did their best to include us so we wouldn’t feel so awkward. They introduced us as one point (Samuel is the preacher) and welcomed us all. I think they’re very happy to have visitors and I know their children are because they never stop looking at us. Service ended around 1 PM and we just went back, had some lunch and hung out until Manasseh took us into town (over the river and through the woods, literally) and we got some snacks and jugs of water so we’d have that when we needed it. It took probably 2 hours to walk into town and get our things and come back. We were all pretty tired, but dinner wasn’t for a couple more hours, so we headed down the dirt road into an area where there are stores on the side of the road (3-5 maybe) and walked into a bar. It was one of those experiences that you’ll never forget. You pull back the sheet that represents the front door, and you’re in a very small room with lots of young African men, a bright glaring sun, and a woman behind a caged area no larger than a Port-O-Potty who is serving the (warm) beers. They were excited to see us and I think we spiced up their evening a bit. We got a couple beers and just hung out, watched them dance and tried our best to talk to them. David, or Davi, the young man I was sitting next to, was 22 and was asking me if I knew how he could sell a golden egg he had. I wasn’t sure if it was actually golden, or if he had a very golden colored egg that he was nervous to eat. We finished our beers and wanted to get home before the sun set, but it got dark on our way home. Oh, I forgot to say that we got another girl in our group, Wendy, who apparently got left behind while we were getting our bags together and departing. So the five of us walked back, had dinner, and just about passed out after that because we were so exhausted. I was so, so tired and it was wonderful. We had a busy day and it was great.

Monday was our first day of work. We had spoken to Margaret, the woman who runs the orphanage, on Sunday and she told us that we should just come when we finished breakfast. So we headed over around 9 AM (Manasseh gave us a ride on his way to town) and soon arrived to the orphanage. The town we are staying in is very poor, but I wasn’t expecting what I saw. The orphanage is hardly a building. It’s a large shack that consists of a few rooms—a TV/Eating room, boys sleeping room, girls sleeping room and a storage area. There’s also an office, a kitchen that is under construction, another kitchen (basically a wooden shack that has a place to boil water) and an office, which is the cleanest place on the property. We spent the morning trying to find our place and did what we could to let the children become more comfortable around us. The boys helped with a lot of manual labor, while Wendy and I tried to get to know the children. They were a little hard to break in at first, but eventually you start doing puzzles with them and asking them questions and they become more comfortable, or at least I hope they did. We also sifted a lot of corn and deciphered between good and bad beans (hand-picking from a bag of thousands) that they would later use as food. So we did some labor for a while, but then we found some jump ropes, had lunch and then the five of us went up the street for an hour or so to get some Coke’s and just hang out for a while. After our break, the afternoon was much easier. We came back and many of the children, who were at school in the morning, were now at the orphanage. So we had a lot of playing to do (Will got to play soccer with his African boys, very excited about that). Wendy and I did a lot of jump-roping—the kids are actually very impressive, they were doing some tricky moves, and we just played other games that we could think of. I played catch with a girl named Lucy, five years old, and she could throw better than anyone at that orphanage I think. It was great because she was wearing a very foofy dress, but could throw and catch like a champ. We stayed there until about 5:30 and then it was time to go home. Margaret wants us gone by 5 every day (or so, I guess) because the sun sets and it’s not very safe for us to be wandering around in the dark. When we’re all together though, we’re fine. So we got back and I took my first shower/wash down since arriving. It was a little difficult, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I got to wash my hair and that was exciting. After that, Ryan, David and I washed some of our clothes (by hand, of course) and I learned to appreciate the washing machine so much. I offered to wash some of Will’s things, but after doing my own I figured he’d appreciate it much more if he had to do it himself. So now I’m here, after having finished dinner, and we’re just sitting in the living room watching a little TV… “The Unit” specifically, which I don’t think is even on in the states anymore, and I’m sure we’ll go to bed early tonight because we had such a long day.

Kenya Summer 2007!

June 1, 2007

It’s Friday now and I started my journey to East Africa on Tuesday the 29^th. My parents packed Will and I into the Land Cruiser and brought us to Dulles Airport. We didn’t have any problems getting our tickets or getting through security (took less than 5 minutes) so that was wonderful. There’s always a risk of long lines and possibilities when traveling through Dulles. We got to our terminal and had about an hour and 20 minutes to spare, so we parked ourselves in a bar (Moe’s) very close to our gate and had a couple beers and a snack. We ended up talking to a very nice man from Vermont who was once a chef but had to turn to designing kitchens because of an unfortunate elbow accident. We got to talking about our plans for the summer and he was very excited for us. Usually when we talk to older men and women about our Africa plans, they emphasize how they wish they did something like that when they were younger and had the time. It makes me feel pretty good about taking advantage of the opportunity. So we chatted with him (never actually exchanged names) but as he was leaving he was very sneaky and paid for our bill as well as his own. A very nice move. He said that it was the least he could do for the things we were about to do.

Our place took off on time (6:55) or close enough and we headed to London. Will and I were sitting in between two very nice older women, one from Gainesville, VA headed to Athens and the other from London, heading back home. They were very entertaining and interesting. The one from Gainesville had an Italian lover she was telling me all about and the British woman loved her wine and suggested we accept as much as we liked because it was all free (thank you British Air). The flight was roughly 6 hours, but it wasn’t bad at all. We slept for a while and arrived in London around 7:15 AM. Our next flight was to Nairobi. We took off around 10:45 (a little later than planned) and made it to Kenya in 8 hours. We managed to get seats next to each other so that was nice, and we sat next to an older woman who reminded us of our grandmothers (Harry Potter is witchcraft and ungodly). My friend from Semester at Sea, Perry, was also on our flight. The three of us got picked up from the airport by a VICDA representative (an African man named Joseph, and a man of little words) and from there he took us to our home stays. We dropped Perry off and then Will and I were dropped off in an area called “Garra,” in the city. Currently, we’re staying with two sisters, Judy and Deborah, and their brother George, who actually lived in New Jersey for three years. They live in a small apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, kitchen, and area to hang dry clothes. They have running water and hot showers which is wonderful, but Will and I are staying in a bunk-bed room right now with some dusty beds and no pillows, so I’m hoping our permanent home will have something soft for me to lay my head on. Our first night there, Judy made us some supper which consisted of rice and cooked vegetables and then we headed to sleep. She told us that orientation would start tomorrow and that we’d be picked up by 8:30, so we got to bed around 12:30 our first night.

We woke up the next morning and got some breakfast (hot cocoa, two small pieces of watermelon and two slices of bread…I miss bacon and eggs already) and we got ourselves dressed and ready for the day. 8:30 came and no pick-up had come yet. Then 9:30…10:30…and soon enough it was the afternoon and Deborah came home and told us today was a free day and that orientation didn’t start until tomorrow. Whoops! So Will and I spent a lot of the day inside, making lists of our Top 10 favorite songs, reading some Harry Potter, playing a little Game Boy and just hanging out. We got outside for about 30 minutes and grabbed a coke, but we were told we shouldn’t be wandering around by ourselves because we obviously stand out very much and we were in an unfamiliar area. If I was alone it would have been a very, very boring day, so it’s great that Will and I are together. So the afternoon came and went. I had a nap which was wonderful and then we just had some supper and went to bed around midnight. Pick up would be by 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Orientation Day:

We went to bed excited that we weren’t going to the spend next day inside and all alone. Because we went to bed earlier than usual and didn’t do anything the day before, we both woke up really early (roughly 5:30) and did our best to fall back asleep, but it took a little while. I figured we’d just wake up with the sun in a few hours, ready to take on the day, but at 10:40, when I finally woke up, I shot out of bed, woke Will up and we both were very confused. Someone was supposed to have come and gotten us 2 hours ago…

We got up and asked Judy what was going on and she said that today was a working holiday, so not many people were working so we just had another day off. I knew that couldn’t be right, so we borrowed Judy’s ‘pay-as-you-go’ cell phone and made a call…they had forgotten us! There are roughly 40 volunteers starting on June 1 (twice as many as usual) and they had just forgotten to pick us up. Within 10 minutes, our driver was here and Will and I were off to orientation. Luckily, we didn’t miss much. Anything that was mentioned could be covered in a few questions. So it was actually nice- we got to sleep in and didn’t have to worry about missing information. As for the people volunteering, we have a lot of Americans, Canadians, UKians, a couple Aussies and Kiwis and I believe one Japanese girl. We all had a late lunch that afternoon and it was great to meet a lot of the people, but it’s sad because we only get to spend one more day together before we all get split up into our assigned areas. I only just met these people, but I liked a lot of them very much and would like to get to know them better. Everyone had some interesting and funny stories to tell.

As for placement, Will and I, a Canadian girl named Wendy and a young man from New Zealand named David are working together at St. John’s orphanage in a ‘rural slum’ area. We’re all living together too (we’ll move in tomorrow afternoon/night) so it’ll be interesting to see what our accommodations are like. Tomorrow will be a busy day; I’m excited to go out and see more of the city and spend some more time with the people I met today.

May 3, 2007

This is the start of Day 5 before Hawaii. And it’s been a tough week for sleep and other things. We’ve had to turn our clocks ahead an hour every night except one, so I’ve been losing an hour of sleep every night for four nights. My body and mind can’t seem to agree on a proper time to be tired, so once night time hits, my body is a little ready to go to bed, while my mind continues to stir and think of things, keeping me awake up until 3-4 AM. This sucks because I have class at 8 AM one day, and then our mandatory Global Studies every day at 9:20. Once that alarm goes off, I’m usually confused and angry because my body and mind are both deep in sleep, and not ready to get up. So then I take a nap in the afternoon because 1. I can’t function, so I might as well just sleep and not function and 2. there’s nothing to do on the ship.-- It’s time to get off. We’re all ready, lets just skip the last days of classes and finals and speed ourselves home. The boat is rocking so much also, the most it has the entire voyage. We have swells of 2.5 meters, which is pretty big compared to what we’re use to. We’re a passenger liner, and the fastest in the world at that, but we do not handle waves like big cruise ships do. So many people are sea-sick and can’t make it to class- teachers included. It’s pretty entertaining to just watch people walk down around the ship, because we’re all falling. If you can walk a straight line for 10 steps, you should be treated to a fine bottle of wine. It’s impossible. And, it’s cold outside so every girl on the ship is basically freaking out because she can’t work on her tan, and we’ve still got 4 days until Hawaii.

Every student on the ship has to take Global Studies 101. We have 4 exams and that’s all our grade is. We take a multiple choice exam that tests our knowledge of what we paid attention to at 9:20 every day while at sea. People don’t do very well on these tests, and there’s not much motivation. Not everyone goes because its so boring. They can’t fit everyone is one classroom obviously, so we have satellite rooms all over the shit, and you watch it on a screen. We also have it every day and am still getting the same amount of credit as our other classes, and the tests are not easy. It’s a 101 course, and as a whole, our ship is majority Juniors and Seniors. We should all be getting As! Dan Christie, our ‘professor’ for this course is a Psychologist and really doesn’t know how to teach to 702 students from satellite classrooms. It’s very difficult to keep us all engaged, but they need to think of a new tactic. Now, as our fourth and final exam approaches, they had to figure out a way to give us something to boost our grades. So they created this ‘UVA Honor’ thing, and for 6 days you can either go to class or not, but for every day that you do, you get 10 points added to your exam. The thing with this is that you just fill out a paper you have and check ‘present,’ and write a sentence about the days class. It’s a guaranteed 60%. I’m psyched about it because I haven’t been doing well in the class, but it’s just a way for them to make our grades higher and make them look a little more in control. If they had half the students with Cs and Ds, that would look a little sour.

We’ve also been breaking up into groups to discuss what lies ahead for us at home. A lot of people are concerned, including myself, about the transition that we face. I didn’t realize how big of an affect this trip was going to have on me and everyone on the ship, but it definitely changes you. I don’t think its one of those things you’ll be able to see until you’re put in a position to discuss it or question it, but we’re all feeling strange about going back. Many people are concerned about their old friends and old habits, and if they’ll still have anything in common with them. We’ve seen a lot as a community, and we’re all very close, so going home and not having anyone to relate your feelings and experiences with is going to be hard. I know everyone will get sick of my stories, but it’s been my life for the past 3 ½ months and transition is never easy. I’m thankful that I’ll be in Africa this summer, so I’ll be able to share that with Will instead of sitting at home working at the golf course and not enjoying myself. I’m very excited to be doing that.

I took a nap today and am not sure how tonight is going to work out. I’m sure I’ll be up late, doing nothing, but soon I’ll be in Hawaii and I can’t wait for that one day of relaxation off the ship. I haven’t even been outside for more than 60 seconds in the past 4 days. It should be nice. And I could use a good cheeseburger. We’ve got the Ambassador’s Ball tomorrow which will be great- I’ve got a steak dinner coming my way. Ohhhh, yeah! Party!

May 2, 2007

JAPAN!!

We arrived in Japan on April 23 and what a great port to finish on. South Africa, Vietnam and Japan were the ports I was most excited about and they turned out to be my favorite places. This is probably because I was very optimistic upon entering the cities, but still, I loved them. We ported in Kobe and, unlike a few of our port cities, it offered a lot just in that city as well as around it. There’s about 1.5 million people there so it’s a busy area with a lot going on. There are A LOT of people in Japan- 174 million and it’s only a little bigger than California, who has 35 million residents. Every crosswalk is always full, the metro and subway are always busy, and the strips are always full of wanderers.

I spent my first day in Kobe. I didn’t know what was available for us in port and neither did anyone else, so we just found a map, picked a couple places to go, and we left. The trouble with traveling is that a lot of people like to travel in groups, and that never works. You’re never going to find 8 people who want to do the same thing, so after about an hour and a half we had some people at internet cafes, a couple at the ATM, and then Jenny and I who were just waiting for everyone to finish up. We got tired of waiting, so we just headed out and figured we’d explore the city ourselves. I have no sense of direction and apparently Jenny doesn’t either, so we never made it to the shrine we were hoping to see, but just spent the day traveling around the city and finding a lot of cool and random stuff. It’s always exciting to be in a new, bustling place because it gets you pumped about what you could see. We wandered for a few hours and came upon another shrine, walked through a park that we designated as the nicest homeless man’s park ever (we walked up some steps and found guys sleeping in the park, with clothes hanging everywhere, but it was so pretty), found a residential area of Kobe and checked out the living facilities, and walked through a busy restaurant area where we met an Italian chef that spoke perfect Japanese and English. We were looking for Tempura, so he took us around the corner to another restaurant to introduce us to the employees. They didn’t have tempura unfortunately, but the restaurant across the street did. The Italian man was very funny – he was like “They should have tempura, but I’m sorry, I don’t know them. I can’t introduce you.” It was really funny because we weren’t expecting to meet any restaurant employees, but he was so kind about it. After we didn’t find tempura, we headed back to the ship and had some dinner there. I was leaving for Hiroshima at 6 AM the next morning, so we opted for an easier evening. Jenny and I decided to travel to Mt. Rocco and take the cable car up so we could see the Osaka skyline at night. I was so excited- we’d be able to see Kobe, Osaka and Osaka Bay all lit up. But being in a new city and having no idea where to go, we managed to take the longest and most expensive route there and arrived about 2 minutes after the last cable car went up. We looked at the Japanese conductors (psh, cable-car conductors) and gave this look of ‘please, can we go up?’ and apparently in Japan when they mean no, they cross their arms in front of their chest and make a big ‘X,’ meaning, NO. That was sad. Luckily there was a bus stop right in front of the little area and we managed to get back to Sannomiya, our major station in Kobe. We were a little upset so we treated ourselves to some Haagen-Dazs, watched some Japanese street performers, and headed back.

Day two started around 5:15 when my alarm went off. I was headed to Hiroshima on a Semester at Sea trip because I waited all semester to write this paper for my psych class, and I needed to go to Hiroshima to do it. We left at 6 AM and traveled for about 5 hours. I brought my pillow with me and James and I headed to the back of the bus so we could sprawl out and just sleep, and that’s exactly what we did. You know you’re tired when you make drool spots on your pillow. We got to Hiroshima and the city is very calm and simple. It’s a more industrial area, so people go there to work and travel. The area that we were in was not meant for night life or city life, but perhaps good for an afternoon stroll. It was an absolutely beautiful day—the weather in Japan was just fantastic all week. We spent a couple hours in the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which was great. If you had any questions about the A-Bomb attack, it could be answered in the museum. So we did the museum and then headed over to this Peace Garden, which was my first garden visit since being in Japan. It was so pretty and I want a Japanese Garden in my backyard…or I just want a house in Japan that I can travel to for a month out of the year when I need to relax and just enjoy nature. Yeah, that sounds nice. So we did those two things and then headed back. We stopped at a place and got dinner off the highway. And basically what you do is go up to a vending machine, put in your money, and choose what meal you want. Then they give you a ticket, you wait in line, and they conjure up this delicious meal that cost you roughly $5. The American dollar is worth about 118 Yen, so, finally, calculating the price of things was pretty simple. I didn’t have to divide by 43 like in India, or 14,000 like in Vietnam. Everyone was traveling a lot in Japan so we didn’t get to see our friends every night on the ship. People were doing home-stays, traveling to Tokyo, traveling to Nagano to go skiing and basically just doing whatever was possible and enjoyable for those few days. So my nights never consisted of much, except dinner and exploring the city, but that’s always fun. James and I checked out some arcades after spending the day in Hiroshima, but wow, you’re money just kind of disappears in Japan. I know that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, but is Japan the most expensive country? We’d spent a couple dollars here and a couple there just to get around, but before you knew it, you had to head back to the bank. And there are no ATMs that take American cards. Citibank was the only available place, and then the post office in Kyoto, which I was at twice. I’m hoping I spent less than I think. I didn’t even buy souvenirs, but just used money for food and travel. Oh Japan. I think we were just spoiled by our previous countries. I was thinking about the States and spending $7 at my sandwich place at home…that just sounds ridiculous!

My third day was spent in Osaka. It was one of those things where we planned to wake up early and get going, but we didn’t actually leave Kobe until about 12-12:30, after stopping at McDonald’s to see what the Japanese version was like. It’s very similar to ours. Actually, it’s the same. Except they have Teriyaki chicken burgers, which were pretty scrumptious. We stopped at the JR (Japanese Railway), got tickets for Osaka and headed out. It only took about 15 minutes to get there. We (James and I) headed to this large business building that advertises a ‘floating garden.’ The architecture of the building is very cool so that was neat to see, and at the base of the building there’s a little garden to just hang out in and relax, but we wanted to get to the top. So we got tickets and flew about 35 stories in the elevator and were then able to see the entire city. It’s one of those things that would have been awesome at night with the city all lit up, but it was still cool to see the whole city. AND, there was no floating garden. I don’t know what they were talking about, because the garden at the base of the building was not floating. It was a little confusing, but so is listening to a Japanese person who can’t speak English very well, so I didn’t want to ask what happened to the floating garden. After that, we took a walk back to the train station, grabbed drinks out of the random vending machines that are everywhere, and decided to go see the Osaka Castle Museum. The thing about the vending machines though is that their in the most random areas because people get thirsty at the most random times. So even when you’re walking by a flower shop or a bicycle rental place, you’ll be able to grab a drink as well. And the bottles they come in are cooler than in America. But anyways, we went Castle and it’s so cool how they create a city around something so historical. While they have the bustling city around it, they have this very large and impressive castle that just represents the culture of Japan. I’m sure it’s a great tourist attraction too (obviously, because I went there) but it’s just very cool to have that there. And as we walked around it, we noticed elementary and junior high students everywhere. Then we saw the schools right across the street from the castle…could you imagine looking out your window every day and see the Osaka castle during pre-algebra? They were having gym class about the time we were there, and that basically consisted of running laps around the property of the castle, which is also pretty sweet. The little Japanese students look so cute in their uniforms. They wear their blazers and the little boys wear the shortest shorts with their high white socks. It’s very cute and always fun to see when they travel in groups.

We came back that night and met up for dinner. Caitlin, Sarah, Jenny and I went to this little carnival thing that was in Harborland, an area only 2-metro stops away. It was a funny situation because the place was pretty much abandoned except for the 4 American students and 4 Japanese girls. We got our picture taken with them because they were very excited to do that. We also spent 8 Yen to go up the slowest Ferris Wheel in the world, but we were able to see the whole area that we were staying in from a pretty sweet view. After our Ferris Wheel adventure, we went on the little rollercoaster and wow, six flags has nothing on Harborland. Ok, I’m totally lying. But we just spent the night walking around and hanging out. Port time takes a lot out of us because we spend so much time walking during the day, so usually when 10 PM hits your body is screaming at you to just stop.

Day four was spent in Kyoto, my favorite place we visited in Japan. Marlaena, Caitlin, James and Nick headed out—earlier than we did for Osaka—and traveled the 45 minutes to Kyoto. The city is so cute, with lots of shrines and temples, and not as many people as the bigger cities, or so it seemed. We arrived at the train station, and it had to be the most impressive metro stop I’ve ever seen. It was huge and clean and very accessible to foreigners such as ourselves. I also got to exchange some of my Chinese Yuan ($11!) so that was great. Always good to know that I’m not throwing away money. But we got to Kyoto around noon and immediately the rain clouds began to gather. I’m in a skirt and was concerned that I’d be spending the day shivering and regretful, but after our bus ride and some rain, we got out at the Kinkakuji temple, which is also known as the Golden Palace. It was very pretty, but apparently an angry monk burned down the original and the new one was constructed 50 years ago. It was still very cool to see, even if its not that ancient. After that we traveled to the Ryoanji temple which was my favorite of the two. All these places are beautiful with large gardens and lakes surrounding beautiful temples. It’s so calming and peaceful, and you can’t not enjoy it. I really wanted to make it to the Heian shrine, but we ran out of time and the buses are a little slow in getting around during rush hour. Oh well, it gives me a reason to head back. I’m so happy we were able to go to Japan during April versus February. It’s really perfect how we hit all of these places at just the right time of the year so the weather would be ideal. Japan was cool, but all you’d need to do was grab a sweatshirt at night and you’d be good to go.

Early on in the voyage you realize that it doesn’t matter what you wear. You see the same people every day and wearing pajamas all day is fine, because its so much nicer to be comfortable vs. trying to impress people. I think my roommate actually wears the same sweatshirt and pajama pants every day, and its great. She doesn’t care at all as long as she’s comfortable.

But anyways, Kyoto was fantastic. We came back that night and tried to go out to a Jazz Club that our Academic Dean, Mike Maniates told us about, but it didn’t work out. He gave us crappy directions. But we ventured out – in the cold and in a dress might I add—and journeyed through ShinKobe, never finding the club. We did find a ‘Queen Hotel,’ though. We ventured in to see if they’d be able to give us directions to a jazz club (by the way, we didn’t even know the name of the place) and instead of a concierge, we saw what seemed to be a vending wall, where you could put in money, press a button and pick a room to stay in for the night. Sketchy? A little bit. We figured there was some irregular activity going on in the building, so we got out of there. So that was my last night in the city.

Day Five was spent in Kobe. I hadn’t had a day to myself in such a long time, so I made a sweet playlist on my ipod and headed out. I brought my computer with me just in case I found a place with free wifi, and sure enough, after walking around for a while I found a Starbucks and tried to find some sort of free networking. I think I managed to just ‘borrow’ someone’s internet that was living nearby, because the Starbucks itself didn’t have a free wifi connection. But it was so great and I was able to do a lot of stuff online that I hadn’t been able to do in a while. Japan doesn’t allow for foreign connections to enter the country because it interferes with their advanced technology. Our cell phones didn’t work and our ship wasn’t able to connect or have satellite while we were ported in Kobe. But it’s all good. It was good to stay away from the computer for 5 days, even though my email in box was overloaded with junk-mail and all sorts of random stuff. I did get to download a new song off of itunes- and it’s the first new song I’ve heard in 3 ½ months. Timberland and Justin Timberlake’s “Release.” I heard it at Tower Records and thought it was very catchy.

I spent the rest of the day wandering and doing a little shopping. I went back to Harborland during the day and instead of taking the Metro, which I found to be too confusing, I decided to walk and get lots of exercise. It turned out to be a great decision because it was so beautiful out and I got to see a part of the city that I hadn’t before. So I found a mall and did some shopping, and I found a pair of green converse for only 2000 Yen, which is a little less than $20. In the states, they’re $40 or so. I was pretty excited. I got back to the ship around 5 and then James had about 4000 Yen left over, so we went to this amazing little dumpling place we had eaten at before. We walk in and there’s a lot of HELLO!!!! And yelling in Japanese. The people are so friendly and so nice, and anything you order something they go, ‘OK! Very good!’ and start cooking. We ate a lot and were very satisfied with our last meal in Japan. It’s the kind of place you’re happy is far away, but if it were closer you’d end up spending all your money there. Japanese dumplings, I’ve found, are quite delicious and I personally think they’re tastier than Chinese dumplings. But that’s my Japanese adventure. It’s hard to get it all down in writing, but I did the best I could. It’s one of those places you need to experience on your own so you can really see what its like. I loved it and am so excited to go back someday.

china!!

April 24, 2007

Tuesday morning we arrived in Hong Kong. I didn’t get up for the sunrise, but did make it up just in time for breakfast around 8:30. I dragged myself half-asleep to the dining hall, had my cheerios and then on my way back to my room I hear over the announcements that the diplomatic briefing will be starting soon and that the Virginia Tech shootings will also be discussed. I’ve been awake about 10 minutes and this is the first I’ve heard about the incident. Tired, confused and very awkwardly, I raced to the computer lab to try and get on my e-mail and CNN.com to see what in the world had happened. I’m thinking about my friends and wondering if they’re OK and about a million other things. And then I remember my boyfriend went to go visit his boys and that he was at Tech this weekend. The one weekend in the semester he chooses to go. So I basically just start freaking out and buy a phone card ($20 for 13 minutes, sorry parents, emergency) and call Will and thank God, he’d gotten home a few hours earlier. And then I called my Dad because I needed someone from home to talk to. Racing around the world tires you out and you don’t realize how exhausted you are until your emotions start flying around and you can’t really think. It was great to talk to my Dad and it made me miss home a lot. The next couple days were difficult because I’m obviously not home and I don’t have my Virginia people and close friends to talk to. Everyone on the ship is sympathetic and very upset with the attack, but its different being from Virginia and having friends live at the school.

We arrived in Hong Kong on the 17th, I believe, and just went out into the city. I didn’t know that Hong Kong is split up into islands, and Hong Kong city itself is its own little island, appropriately named Hong Kong Island. We were ported in Kowloon and if we wanted to go to the island, we had to take a ferry over. Our first day we just explored our port area and the city on that side and it was very cool. Hong Kong is very wealthy. Our dock was connected to a mall, which lead to a bigger mall. They’ve got Gucci, Chanel, Burberry and every other expensive store right off the port and, just as in the states, those are the most deserted parts of the city. It’s all too expensive to shop in so none of the students bother to even check out those stores.

You know what Chinatown looks like? Well that’s what Hong Kong is. Signs written in Chinese characters, weird things being sold on the side of the street, lots of random stuff you don’t need, and of course, Starbucks. In the states you can go to any Starbucks and get free WiFi for at least 15-20 minutes before having to pay, but not in H.K. We tried finding a place with free WiFi but this Chinese-looking woman, who sounded exactly like an American, informed me that there isn’t free internet anywhere and kind of gave a chuckle as if to say, “H K is expensive, watch out.”…so we walked around the city, found an internet café, and then met up with Mia and Jenny for lunch. As we were walking around the city, this woman was just standing outside, tossed us a menu, and because we were hungry we just went for it. She took us inside and we had to take an elevator into the restaurant because it was a little hidden. When we got up there we realized that we were at a very nice restaurant that only the business men and women of Hong Kong knew about. The food was so delicious. We got noodles, chicken with vegetables and peanuts, shrimp dumplings, lots of fried rice and tea. After a lunch like that, you’ve gotta do something or else you’re body might throw a fit. We were so stuffed, but wanted to see the city so we walked around and eventually got to the Ladies’ Market where they had lots of cheap t-shirts, watches, knock-off purses, belt buckles and everything you can imagine. I picked up a couple of Football (or soccer) patches and am excited about them, but still not sure where I want to put them yet. I started to feel a little uneasy, so I headed back early and rested until we went out that night. We all put on our cutest and most handsome outfits and headed to the Hard Rock Café, for the third time this trip, and ate our nachos, salads and cheeseburgers. This is the first time that the 10 of us were able to go out all together. Port life is busy, so we finally all got together. But the Hard Rock, as usual, was very pleasing and I enjoyed my meal. De-lish. I love being in port -the food is always great wherever you go because its NOT ship food.

After dinner we went out. Alcohol is very expensive at bars and restaurants, but luckily there are 7-11s on every street corner and you can just pop in there, buy a very large Tsing Tao beer for 14 Yuan (>$2) and carry it around with you on the streets. It’s so cheap and easy, and the only place you can’t drink it is on the train. I’m sure everyone was looking at us as tacky-Americans, but it was a funny experience and definitely cheaper. We took the train to Hong Kong island (yes, we made it to the city!) and went to the bar street where we just wandered, hung out, had a good time and saw about 500 Semester at Sea students. When there’s only one main strip for bars, you can guarantee the bulk of the students will be there, many of them making fools of themselves. We hung out for a while, but headed out around 12:30 because we all had to wake up around 6 AM for our trips into the main land.

Through the semester, I went on 6 overnight SAS trips. That’s a lot. China was my final run with the team. We flew out of Hong Kong airport (which is huge) and into Beijing. We saw everything.
The Great Wall was amazing and beautiful. Caitlin and I decided to hike up versus riding the lift up. It was a little tiring and difficult, but didn’t take too long. We got really lucky with the weather because if it had been any hotter we would’ve been sweaty and gross, and if it was colder it just wouldn’t have been as enjoyable and provided such a great view. It was really incredible and it’s hard to believe that men created such a thing. It’s 6,000 miles long and took 2,000 years to actually complete. Amazing! Some people chose to spend an extra $150 to camp out on the wall overnight. That’s something I’d like to do next time. I can’t even imagine the view you’d get. We were fortunate enough to climb the wall in a place that let’s you take a Toboggan down. So after we did our walk and saw what we needed to, we headed for our ride. You get on this little seat and basically luge down a metal route that brings you to the base of the fort. It was awesome and you can only do that in certain parts of the Wall. I heard that kids on a different trip went to a place where you got to zip-line down, also very cool.
T’ien-en-men Square. We actually went out to dinner the night before and on our cab ride back, we drove through the square and it looks very, very cool at night. And it was deserted so it’s always neat to see a place when there isn’t anyone else around. The next day we actually traveled to the area and took our tour. It’s a very impressive area and basically, a huge square. There are a lot of political buildings that you can’t go in, but can see framing the area. They had Mao’s body on display in the building appropriately named, Maoseum, or something like that. Unfortunately, that was closed so we didn’t get to see his body. They sell his little red book and Mao watches everywhere. Caitlin bought 2 on the Great Wall. After we viewed the square we headed to…
The Imperial Palace or Forbidden City. When we arrived everyone was talking about Mulan and how this is where it took place. That’s my favorite Disney movie ever, so it was very exciting, but the city wasn’t as impressive as I’d hoped. There were thousands of people there, including a majority of Chinese tourists, so it kind of took away from the whole ‘incredible city’ feel. It was great to see, but not my favorite place visited. It’s a large area and if I were an emperor, I’d be OK with living there, but there was nothing that really made it stand out and get my attention except the fact that it was large. A lot of the best and most impressive buildings were under construction because of Beijing 2008, the summer Olympics. China’s gotta look good for the people of the world.
We also went to the Lama Palace. I have no idea what it is, but it was very pretty upon entering with lots of nice trees and flowers. The reason its so renowned is because it is home to the largest Buddha in the world. You can’t take any pictures to prove it, but he’s probably 4 stories tall. He’s a big guy.
The Temple of Heaven was my second favorite part of the trip. The temple was neat, but it looked just like the other places we’d been already. The surrounding park and garden was gorgeous. There were many Chinese men and women practicing Tai Chi, doing ribbon dancing, doing group exercises, singing, and there was also a young couple making out under a coat. There were little purple flowers everywhere and it was a large area, so you could look around and not see anything but trees and flowers and it was just beautiful. As we started to leave the park, you could see a playground off in the distance. James and I decided to check it out, and once we got closer we realized it wasn’t a playground, but an outdoor gym for older Chinese men and women. They had so many funny machines, but they were all in great shape! They had leg press machines, monkey bars, weird cardio/aerobic machines- basically everything you need to keep your body in shape at a tender age. It was so cool and even cooler to see.
Our last night we went to an acrobatic show. It was only about an hour and fifteen minutes, but these people were amazing. We had women contorting their bodies in all directions and holding themselves up by their teeth. They also somehow managed to stack 12 women on a bicycle, while one was still riding it around in a circle. She must have strong legs. The men were so strong. I can’t even describe what they could do with their bodies…it’s just something you have to see. I’m pretty sure they could’ve balanced me on their toe and walked down a set of stairs on their hands. Yes, they’re that good.
One evening we got to experience Peking Duck and it was sooo good. They give you a lot of food and you’re like ‘ok this is good, this is yummy,’ but then they bring you the duck and teach you how to fix it up and wow, its delicious. They gave us some special sauce and well, I ate a lot. I’ll definitely be going back. We have a lot of high-maintenance girls on this trip. Many of them are too scared to eat anything and complain and ask a lot of questions. A lot of the time you just want to slap them and ask them why they’re even here, but this one girl in particular was just annoying. She goes off about how she’s a vegetarian so she’s asking everyone what’s on the table and if its meat and blah blah. Then the duck comes out and she’s like ‘well I guess I’ll try it,’ and its just one of those things where you’re like WAIT…you’re a vegetarian. You’re not allowed to eat animals, that’s your whole deal. So basically I think there are a lot of girls here who just aren’t adventurous enough so they say they’re a vegetarian because they’re scared they’re going to get the bird flu or some other extremely rare disease.
We spent an afternoon at the crazy markets where you can buy lots of things for a cheap price (“pretty lady, pretty lady, for you special price! Come here!”) This is where the fake vegetarian girls thrive. I think they all came on Semester at Sea to just buy cheap things and take them home. Seriously. I spent probably $28 total. High five!

One of my favorites things about China was the availability of ice cream. They sell Drumsticks and Magnum bars on every corner and they only cost about 5-7 Yuan. Yippee. Walking all day makes you crave some delicious chocolate, especially when you don’t get served dessert at any of the meals you receive. I love ice cream and I miss it. It’s so easy and delicious, so it was fun to eat lots of it while riding around Beijing.
Beijing is huge! Nowhere in America (that I know of) can you drive for 2 hours and still be in the same city. We traveled for 2 hours to get to the Great Wall, and when I got there, we were still in Beijing. Very funny. Oh Chinese people.

More to come! I’ve just entered Kobe, Japan and will have one more port to write about.