More South Africa pictures...

The pictures in this group are from my day in Groot Constantia, our sunrise view of Table Mountain as we neared our destination (we woke up at 5:30)on the first day, and Margs Linley. I'm going to try and post all of my pictures but there probably wont be enough time to have a description for all of them. I am uploading them at my Indian family's house during my Rotarian homestay, which was been a great experience. I never realized how wonderful Indian food could be, and the people are so kind and welcoming. There is a huge culture shock but one that can be adjusted to simply if you let go of all cultural customs from home. And Inida is very, very, hot. My family said it was probably 95 yesterday, and that was not an extremely hot day. It has been an experience to say the least, but my experienes here, after spending time with the people, my opinion of India has definitely changed. As someone once said about India, all preconceptions you have about India will be changed when you visit, I agree. There is so much to say about India, it cannot be done in the little time that I have, hopefully I will be able to publish an entry before we reach Malaysia. I hope everyone enjoys these pictures, and keep in touch, I miss you all!!

South Africa...a bit late

It has been over 2 weeks since we left Cape Town and yet South Africa never leaves my mind. The seven days we spent there were absolutely wonderful, and the memories made there are ones I will always treasure. The highlights of the trip, if I am able to upload all of them to this blog will be shown in picture form in the blog. The day we visited the townships was an eye opening experience, and the children we met did not let their spirits dampen with the poverty we saw around them. They were all smiles and loved getting the chance to dance around with us as we meandered through their neighborhood. Many things are being done to alleviate some of the dangerous issues that arise with township living, such as fires because of shared electricity. But it was definitely a growing experience, and one that I'm glad I decided to do apart from Semester at Sea, our tour group was only 5 people. Sadly I don't have any pictures of that day because I didn't bring my camera but we were on the tour with a lovely German women who promised to send us the pictures she took within the next few months.

The day I will never forget was Sunday, the day that Lindsay and I spent in the company of the Margs and Pete Linley and their four sons: Oliver, Max, Joe, and Will. A day in the life both Lindsay and I hope we can someday live. The day began with an early visit to their church, a member of the Vineyard Churches which Margs said originated in California. It was a wonderful quaint church, held in a school which reminded me of our days in Clear River. The people were so kind and welcoming, and it functioned as a great start to our day. We then went back to the Linleys home which was spectacular to say the least. The interior decorator, or Margs herself, should be praised. We had a delicious lunch, one that Lindsay and I still recount today. Roasted Chicken, potatoes, fresh salad (which we are not used to on the ship), squash and great wine. Still thinking of it today makes me miss them, not just the meal but the kind hospitality that was extended towards us. The boys were so polite, so intelligent, and yearning to play tag. So we went outside to take part in different relay races with them, after which Will (the youngest) was ready to continue for the rest of the afternoon, but we felt like that was the biggest workout we had gotten in a long time. In the afternoon, we took a walk into the Cecilia Forest, on the back of Table Mountain with their three German Shepards. After a relaxing walk, and a detailed play by play account of cricket by Joe, very little of which I understood though still enjoyed his attempt, we were dropped off at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens to take in the Sunday Afternoon Summer Concert. Margs had packed a wonderful picnic, and Lindsay and I snacked away during the concert. We had also bought a small bottle of sparkling wine from the Gerneral store at Kirstenbosch, and sipped on that. I dont think my words and descriptions can do this day justice! I truly had a wonderful time, and it wouldn't have been possible without the gernerosity and kindness of the Linleys. I only hope that some day I can return to Cape Town and spend more time with them. Gin, if you are reading this, thank you for making the connection, I couldn't have imagined my Cape Town visit without them.

On Monday Lindsay and I decided to go to Groot Constantia, a small vineyard in the Constantia region of Cape Town. We had wanted to go to Table Mountain, but a thick tablecloth covered the mountain all of Monday. OUr taxi driver, Allen who were lucky enough to make a connection with in the subsequent days in Cape Town suggested Groot Constantia as a great place to take a relaxing walk up the mountain and then have a simple lunch. We loved it. Walking up through the Vineyards reminded me of my time in Tuscany, though I have to say, South Africa's Winelands were very comparable to Tuscany. The views at the top of the mountain, the meal we enjoyed at the little Bistro, amazing. We still talk about the salad, as you can see we loved having salad, and the wine. The day fit all of our criteria, good food, great sights, and physical activity! It was only made better by Margs picking us up, and we got the chance to race again with Joe and Will, loving every minute of it. And being a little more prepared since we were wearing tennis shoes this time from our walk. Though when Oliver decided to join the race we were all left in the dust. Overall, the two best days!

quick update while in Mauritius../

I'm sitting in an internet cafe on the beautiful island of Mauritius after spending a relaxing day in the sun, with few little sunburn, I'm very proud. We were unsure of how great our hotel would be after booking it on Expedia, but it couldn't have turned out better! Small, family oriented hotel right on the beach with a great pool and free meals! Life is wonderful. Plus it feels great being on the ship for a little while, even though we encounter Semester at Sea people everywhere we go, I'm still having a great time. And South Africa, for the record, was absolutely amazing, I should really devote some time to compiling an adequate blog post of my experiences. All I can say is I have to return. The sights, the people, the history, can't ignore the shopping, everything about it I love. I loved every minute of it. I am attempting to upload pictures of my time there, but it isn't working, so I apologize to anyone who reads this blog (mom, you already have moved on to bigger, better blogs, which I understand) and if you are reading this blog, yay! I will try to write more if I know people are reading because I really would love everyone to know how wonderful an experience this is. Better than I could ever have imagined. My eyes are opened each days to things that I was blind to before, if that makes sense. I really am loving every minute of it, and to think that this is only my fourth port in mind boggling! There is so much more to see, many more people to meet, and most importantly more cultures to experience! I only hope that at the end of these three months all of you will be able to put up with my stories!! And just in case you want to hear more about other peoples semester at sea experiences, look at my friend allie's blog, she has uploaded a lot of pictures, and we have been together in many of the recent ports! her blog address is: alliecatlx.blogspot.com! It will probably give you more of an idea of the trip so far.

Here are the remaining addresses to send me letters!! And remember you send me a letter YOU GET A GIFT!!


Currently the U.S. Post Office recommends sending international mail at least two weeks in advance. Please keep in mind that mail service in other countries may vary. Letters should be sent Airmail only. Please do not send any mail to the Institute for Shipboard Education or to the University of Virginia to be forwarded. Do not enclose currency in the mail.

Please do not send packages to the ship - Excessive duty is charged in some countries. In many instances, packages are not delivered to the ship. Packages may be held in customs, or at a local post office, and the recipient aboard ship is never notified. If you send packages, you do so at your own risk.

India: AIRMAIL no later than MAR 11th
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives March 25, 2007
J.M. Baxi & CO
52 Rajaji Salai
Chennai-600 001, INDIA

Malaysia: AIRMAIL no later than MAR 19th
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives April 2, 2007
Inchcape Shipping Services SDN
4th Floor Unit 4B
Wisma Saw Chong Thuah
39-c, Pengkalan Weld
10300 Penang, MALAYSIA

Vietnam: AIRMAIL no later than MAR 26th
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives April 9, 2007
General Forwarding & Agency
5th Floor Osic Building
8 Nguyen Hue Avenue
D. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM

Hong Kong: AIRMAIL no later than APR 3rd
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives April 17, 2007
Inchcape Shipping Services (HK) Ltd.
Units 1802-1805, 18th Floor
No 3 Lockhart Road
Wanchai, HONG KONG- CHINA

China: AIRMAIL no later than APR 7th
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives April 21, 2007
Penavico Qingdao
21 Wuxia Road
Quingdao, 266002, P.R. CHINA

Japan: AIRMAIL no later than APR 11th
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives April 25, 2007
Inchcape Shipping Services
Kenryu Bldg II, Room 303
6, Kaigan-dori, Chu-ku
Kobe-shi, Hyogo-Ken 650-0024, JAPAN

Hawaii: AIRMAIL no later than APR 23rd
Margaret Hannan
Cabin 4051
C/O: MV Explorer
Arrives May 7, 2007
Inchcape Shipping Services
Gentry Pacific Center
260 North Numitz Hwy, Suite 103
HONOLULU, Hawaii 96817, USA

Neptune Day...

So updates…the second day back from Brasil was Neptune Day, which meant no classes! Except we thought we would have a morning to sleep in, but nooo. A little before 8 we heard drumming, yelling, and people pounding on our doors, we had to wake up, get breakfast, and go up to the Pool Deck to see King Neptune (for he was very upset with us because we did not pay our respects to him when we crossed the Equator). But it was fine waking up early I’m almost used to it, except for the fact that we have pushed out clocks ahead 1 hour the last three nights. We are now 5 hours ahead of VA. So moving on.. ate breakfast, walked upstairs to the pool deck. Soon the Captain ( remember he is the British Guy) walked up with his whole brigade, he was painted green all over, with a green hula skirt as a wig, a hula skirt as pants, and a huge crown, and all the others were dressed in white sheets with tin foil hats and shoes, and Christmas bows all over them, I guess they made use with what they had. They did a pretty great job, and everyone was very into it. Now because it was our first time crossing the equator we were all paddlewacks ( I think that’s how you spell it) and we had to become shellbacks (people who had crossed the equator). To accomplish this task or to become “worthy” as the King Neptune called it… a frothy white mixture (later found out to be stale milk and flour, though many believed it to be fish guts as it was in the past) would be dumped over our heads and then we would jump into the pool, get out to kiss two dead fish, kiss King Neptunes Rings, and be knighted as Shell Backs. Although I was pressured I did not partake in the festivities, though I did take great pictures of the event. By the time I really thinking about going, the pool was a foggy white, the whole deck smelled, and I convinced myself I was pretty much a Shellback since I had been splashed numerous times. So I changed into a bathing suit, bathed myself in Sunscreen, laid out til Lunch, took a three hour nap, showered, and went up to the Pool Deck again for a Sunset Barbeque!! It was a wonderful, relaxing day.

I must mention one more thing…another tradition of Neptune Day is to shave heads. Well I thought most of the guys would, maybe a few girls, but it turned into a head shaving extravaganza. Guys and Girls, young and old, it didn’t matter, I would say at least 1/3 of the ship now has a shaved head. I heard that when we dock in South Africa, we are known as “the ship of Cancer Paitents”, oh man. And I have to say, some do look a little sad. Some look great though. For a lot of the girls it really brings out their beautiful faces, but it will be interesting to see how the hair grows out. If I had done it, I would most definitely have a very long boy stage of curly brown hair sitting on my head, glad I didn’t do it! I’m thinking I would look something like Justin Guarini of American Idol fame, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

As we have moved into the Horse Latitudes, the water has become smooth and glassy, and the sunsets are beautiful! But since our ship is the fastest passenger ship ever made, we’ve had to slow down a bit in order to hold off our arrival in South Africa another few days. So the past few days the ship has been rocking a lot back and forth slowly, I feel like we are a little sailboat. But it has been beautiful weather, and the rocking is very nice to fall asleep to. Though it does make it a little hard to stay awake in class! Well that’s all for now, I promise I will write more about Brasil before I get to South Africa, only two more days!!

I’ve been on the ship for a little over a week now, and everything is going great! Since we left Puerto Rico the waves have gotten bigger, the ships been rocking more, and I’ve never read more for my classes in my life! But its all been lots of fun, and you most definitely can’t beat reading the books for classes while laying outside surrounded by the ocean. So since I’ve been so busy and haven’t had a chance to write on this blog at all here is a recap of my favorite times in Puerto Rico…

Day 1: We had the amazing opportunity to have the Governor of Puerto Rico speak to us before we got off the ship. There was a huge press crew there but I’m guessing it was mostly because of Desmond Tutu. The Governor spoke of the Puerto Ricans pride in their cultural heritage and while they appreciated the aid the United States gave them, they proudly viewed themselves as Puerto Ricans, rather than Puerto Rican Americans. That theme continued throughout our many encounters with Puerto Ricans.

Old San Juan: After we went through immigration me, Lindsay, and this guy Mike (from Wisconsin) took a taxi to the fort El Morro. El Morro was an ancient fort built in the 15th century I believe, and it was gorgeous! We left and started to find a place for lunch. The streets of Old San Juan were much cleaner than I had expected. The little apartments reminded me of my favorite Alexandria townhouses, only painted in Bahamian Blue, Pink and Yellow. The second floor apartment balconies had overflowing flower boxes, they were beautiful, Lindsay and I found a small quaint restaurant for lunch. We sampled the local beer, Medalla Light, ate fried plantains (fried bananas) and listened to the resident musician strum away on his “Quatro” (a mix between a guitar and a mandolin).

The Welcome Reception: About 80 of us took a chartered bus to Caribbean University, a private university in Puerto Rico. As we pulled into the driveway we were greeted with the whole university singing, dancing and playing African drums for us. We watched a short video describing the University’s purpose, and then walked outside to enjoy the festivities. They had truly prepared a party for us. We were treated to a sampling of great Puerto Rican food, traditional dances, and AMAZING music. If you were caught standing still, the students would quickly pull you into the middle of the dancing, and make sure that you danced the whole night. I of course am not a huge dancer, but I loved it, and the music was great. It seemed like the whole community made a showing at the reception, kids of all ages were dancing, along with all of the teachers and even the security guards. After the Welcome reception I wanted to live in Puerto Rico, the people have such an amazing passion for life, always happy and so in love with their homeland.

Even though we were so tired from the Welcome Reception we went out to a small Salsa Bar and danced some more. It was a long night, but a great start to my Semester at Sea.

Day 2: We spent the day at a quaint beach lined with palm trees. We swam in the crystal clear water, and watched the surfers ride the ginormous waves. It was a great relaxing day.

At night I went on a SAS Sponsored trip to the Bioluminescent Bay. We went through a Eco Tour Company that is doing everything they can to preserve the Bioluminescence of the Bay. There are only four Bioluminescent places in the world, three are in Puerto Rico. Though one of the ones in Puerto Rico has already been destroyed because of visiting motor boats to the area.

Day 3: I had signed up for a Rainforest Hike followed by a trip to ‘Luquillo Beach” in pre-sale and I am so glad I did. We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch, and the food was the best authentic Puerto Rican food I’d had yet. They gave us heaping spoonfuls of yellow rice, beans, chicken, and amazing fried plantains, and I easily swiped by plate clean. The beach was beautiful, in the distance you could see the mountains of ‘El Yunque’ (the rainforest).


Shipboard Life: Today (February 14) we crossed the equator!! And I got sunburned. Again. Joy. I’m staying out of the sun for a few days. We are three days away from Brazil, and I’m getting pretty excited. I keep on renting the Lonely Planet Brazil book from the library trying to figure out everything I can about Salvador. City of God is playing tonight, I’m gonna try and watch it. I am learning about all different aspects of Brazilian culture and history in my classes. I really like how the system is structured so that we enter the port with a strong understanding of the challenges they are facing economically, culturally, environmentally and politically. It’s very interesting. Well I have a meeting for the environmental group at 7 (now we are 3 hours ahead of Va) and then a Valentines Day Dance at 9. But I will try to write more often so everyone can hear how I’m doing! I miss you all, and when I logged onto the Virginia Tech website I saw the campus covered in snow…beautiful!