A walk in the gardens

Today was very chill. I went with some friends to the botanical gardens, South Africa’s famous floral kingdom. We found a really nice taxi driver who took us there for a great price and talked to us the whole way there. He really liked SAS and told us we should come there more often. It was really nice to hear that the program makes a nice impression on the community (I’m sure this is somewhat based on the substantial monetary investment, but he also said he really enjoys the conversations he has with us and I think that’s really cool). Once we arrived at the gardens, we tried to figure out where we wanted to go – there were so many sections to explore. The first place we went to was their touch/smell garden. It was cool, but nowhere near as delineated as the one in Montreal. It was very hard to tell which was the proper plant and what you were supposed to do to experience its sensual qualities. Some we figured out, but many we just had no idea. After that, we went to the ‘useful plants’ garden. These plants were used for things ranging from medicinal to dyes and beyond. It was cool but again the plants weren’t labeled very well. Then we went to two adjacent gardens full of colors. They were very pretty and had flowers with neon petals. There were some large grassy areas right nearby, so we took some silly pictures there – one guy was trying to create ridiculous pictures by doing cartwheels and leapfrogging – it was pretty funny. After, we climbed to the back edge of the garden to see some of the protazoas – they were very interesting flowers and had quite a wide range of colors. Then we went to the area that had plants from before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. They were all large ferns and palm trees. I’m not sure how they got ahold of these plants but it certainly felt like you were in Jurassic Park. Once we’d finished walking to all the places we were interested in, we went to a tea place near the entrance. Now, the muffins in the shops in South Africa have been amazing so far (from what I and some others have tasted) – somehow very crisp on the outside while light and fluffy on the inside. So I wanted to get a muffin, but I saw they had tea scones. My friend and I split them and they were good, but their idea of scones are actually biscuits so I was a bit disappointed. My drink did not disappoint though. I was sleepy because I took a Benadryl (kind of upset that I seem to have allergies in S. Africa because I really like this country) so I wanted some caffeine. I decided to try a French hot chocolate because it was supposed to be creamy. Was it ever! It was basically the consistency Hershey’s chocolate syrup but much better tasting! I don’t know how anyone could drink that! It was soo thick and filling! I had to get help to finish it and afterwards it felt like my stomach was coated in chocolate – not exactly what I intended to do but very delicious. The very nice cab driver came to pick us up (we’d arranged for him to pick us up) and brought us back to the ship.

I found a different friend on the ship who wanted to go shopping with me and we went to the mall (conveniently located right near our ship) as we had some things we needed to get. This mall was built the year before the world cup and is humongous! It has so many shops and kiosks, it’s a bit overwhelming. I was kind of disappointed they were playing American music though (the bad kind like Katy Perry) instead of S. African pop or something else – they always seem to play the stupid stuff. Anyways, it was very low key and fun to just walk around and see the different kinds of things. After feeling like I’ve been going non-stop, it was nice to just mosey around and enjoy Cape Town.

Into the Jungle

            Actually, it was a game reserve. That’s right, I went to a game reserve today and drove around in one of those humvee things with open areas to look through. We saw many kinds of animals including zebras, rhinos, brierbuck, antelope (means large glossy eyes in Swahili), elephants, leopards, crocodiles, hippos, warthogs, and some other animals I can’t remember right now. For the most part, we just drove around, sighted some animals, and then drove up extremely close to take pictures while our tour guide told us cool facts about the animals. When we went to see the lions, we had to enter a special area and we ended driving up about 3.5 feet away from these lions – without any fences or anything between us. It was so cool! They have terrifying stares though, so it was a bit creepy, but it was definitely awesome. We saw four of the big 5 (elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo), only missing the Cape buffalo because they were hiding. After we saw the animals, we went to a buffet lunch. It was pretty good food.

March of the Penguins

           Today I went to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. We travelled along the coast, driving along a road carved into the side of mostly sheer cliff, hovering above the ocean. In a really large tour bus. On a twisty road with some very tight turns. Oh and there was a bike race so we had to avoid cyclists. That’s right, it was so awesome but really scary. I also didn’t know what to look at because there were gorgeous mountains to my left and was gorgeous ocean to my right. Once we got closer to the Cape of Good Hope, we entered a floral reserve. There we saw some ostriches (including babies!), baboons, and these tiny little bright green birds.

The Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point, but where you start travelling more east than south around Africa. That is because Cape Point is one of the two most southerly points (the currents fluctuate between this point and another one depending on the winds). The Cape of Good Hope was quite windy and cold, but apparently that was “not windy” so I guess it must be extremely windy normally. It was still beautiful though, with very clear water. Then we went to Cape Point and climbed up a small hill to get to the lighthouse and see from the highest point. It was also so beautiful, but less windy which was very nice. It had a cool pole with street signs indicating the directions of the world’s most famous cities (NYC, London. Beijing, etc). It was such a cool idea.

Once we’d seen the two Capes, we went to Boulder beach where there’s a penguin colony. They were so adorable! we walked out on a board-walk-esque structure and the penguins were sitting all around it. Most of them were either sunbathing or molting. We couldn’t pet them as they would bite you but it was still cool to be so close to a penguin without a glass wall or wires between us. The beach there was also absolutely gorgeous, with such clear water and pretty rocks all along. After we saw the penguins, we went to a restaurant famous for its seafood. They served us some sort of fish which was good, but there was something funky about it. They also had more kalamari, which was breaded, and I liked that one a bit better. This was also good food, but I liked the food from Spier better.

When I got back, some friends wanted to go on a sunset cruise. So we went on a small boat with a cool guy from Australia and went out into the ocean to see the sun set. It was quite beautiful, but there was a large wall of cloud hovering on the horizon so we never actually saw it set on the ocean. Nevertheless, it was beautiful, though the sunrise was much prettier.

Spier

             There is a quaint little town, a little ways away from Cape Town, named Spier. It is absolutely gorgeous and completely awesome!! So today I went with a family (a teacher, wife and his two sons), a brother and sister, and a feisty, but very nice old lady to go see Spier. We had a bit of money trouble at the beginning because several people’s cards weren’t working at the atms, but we eventually got it sorted out. Once we arrived at Sprier, the first thing we did was go to the cheetah reserve. They rescue cheetahs from farmers who try to kill them out of the belief that the cheetahs are killing their livestock. Although it’s true that the cheetahs kill some of the livestock, the majority are killed by jackals. They also save other wildlife, like servals (that are often mistaken for cheetahs), caracals and bat-eared foxes that are killed by the non-discriminate poison set out for the cheetahs. They were very cute animals and I’d never seen a caracal before. They also had wild sheep just grazing and some meerkats that they saved as well. After we saw the different animals, we paid to pet a cheetah. It was lying down with one of the trainers near its head, comforting it while strangers stroked its back. We had to approach it slowly from the back, could only stroke the side of its stomach with a closed palm going the direction of the fur, and had to be on one knee so as to jump back quickly if the cheetah became upset. It was very soft and very muscular. It was a very cool experience and I’m glad I got to do it.

            After the cheetah reserve, we went to get lunch. The original plan was to find somewhere cheap to eat for lunch, but there wasn’t anywhere nearby on the cheap side. So we went to this restaurant called “8” and it was the most delicious food I’ve had thus far on the trip. They have a buffet because the menu changes daily as it is only what was fresh that morning. They had honey-roasted sweet potato slices, some pesto on pasta that was scrumptious (maybe it had really fresh oregano – we couldn’t identify what was so tasty) and just so many other things I can’t really remember. It was really an excellent restaurant. Once we’d eaten, we went to the falconry area. We arrived just as they were about to start a demo, so we went to go see that. They brought out several birds, showed some of their special characteristics, and provided hand gloves so that they could land on our hands for a time. It was really awesome. There was a falcon, then a barn owl, then a snowy owl, then a vulture, and finally some large white vultures. The last ones were almost as large as I am! After this demo, they had one to show the unique secretary bird. This bird is quite large, with long thin legs and what looks like a headdress of feathers on its head. It eats snakes by delivering powerful kick to the face with its talons. The demo man used a rubber snake with meat attached to its head to show its attack style. It was quite impressive. It even does this to cobras – the man used his hand to imitate the swaying motion and he got bruises from the kicks. It is such a cool bird. There were also many other birds sitting around for you to see and some owls to pet. They are actually very soft, which helps muffle the sound of their wings so you can’t hear them when they fly. I really enjoyed this entire area.

            After this, we decided to go to the wine tasting area. I don’t drink and have never had wine, but as the teacher and his wife are very knowledgeable about wine, I decided it would be worth it to learn from their experience. One of the boys (not the sons of the parents, the other one) had the same thought process, so we decided to do the tasting together. So, Mr. B told us what kind of wine to get (i.e pale white first) and to bring it back and he would tell us how to drink it. So we did this for the wines, trying two white, two red and a dessert wine. The only one we liked was the dessert wine. This meant that we were making ridiculous faces and wrenching from the alcohol kicks. It was quite hilarious, but I’m glad he did it with me as it was much more fun than if I’d done it alone (the sons also tried the wines, but they didn’t have any reactions so they just laughed at us). I’m glad I tried it in a controlled setting and at least have some know-how about wine now – I certainly had no idea going in. After we all finished, we went to the little park right nearby to enjoy the scenery and then dinner. We went to Moyo, the restaurant native Cape Townians recommended for authentic South African food. It was also very delicious (I liked 8 better) and a buffet. They had kalamari, and some other exotic meats that I didn’t try – I did try a bit of the kalamari and didn’t like it. Either way, it was also a very good meal and I definitely ate too much food that day. I really enjoyed Spier and it was one of the best days I’ve had in a port so far.

“….It’s time for Africa!!!!!!!

As I had neither seen a sunrise nor seen us enter port yet, I decided to wake up before the crack of dawn to witness our epic arrival to Cape Town, and it was certainly that. Cape Town is a city on the edge of the ocean at the bottom of some magnificent mountain, towering in the background with very steep cliffs and flat tops. In fact, the main mountain is called Table Mountain because it looks like a large table and when the clouds form along its upper ridge, it looks like there is a tablecloth on it. At about 0630, the sun began to rise and it rose in the perfect spot – right at the top of a small mountain so that it appeared that it was coming out of a volcano or something like that. It was quite spectacular! There was a flash of green light apparently, but I looked down at my camera at that moment so I missed it L. Later on, there was a rainbow that appeared as well as some seals sporadically appearing on the surface. To enter the port, we had to go through a very tight entrance, which was very cool to witness – two tugboats maneuvering us through the opening. What a first impression.

            Customs required face-to-face verification to clear the ship so we all had to meet the customs officers to get our stamps. After that was done, I went on one of the first trips to go to a Township (equivalent of a ghetto) to learn traditional Xhosa (pronounced Kosa with a click at the beginning). We had two tour guides, Michael (white) and Mizura (black) and a cool bus driver (colored). In S. Africa, they are not as offended by race identification as we are in the States and actually mentioned this distinction when they introduced themselves. The City of Cape Town is gorgeous and the weather is wonderful, but when you go to the outskirts you come across the Townships. Some of them look pretty nice from the outside, but some of them look like the shacks from Ghana were transported and just dumped there. They certainly did not fit in with everything else. We went to one more towards the upper middle in this scale to learn from our “cooking mamas”. Lucky me, I was in the group with my professor and the Mama who started the trip (this was the first time SAS has done this trip); thus, I got to help cook a chicken from scratch. That’s right, she’d bought two live chickens the day before and had trapped them in her bathroom in preparation for our arrival. So, once everyone was split into their groups and the others left to go with their mamas, we went out back with the chickens. She took a long knife, much like a bread knife but not serrated, held the chicken down by stepping on its feet and proceeded to cut off its neck. Then, she wanted one of us to try but only one of us would go near and she volunteered to help hold the chicken. The only problem was that she cut the second one’s neck higher up than the first; thus, the vocal cords were still attached and it continued to cluck for several minutes while its body convulsed and gushed blood onto the dirt. It was gross. Then she brought it into the kitchen, dumped it into the sink, poured hot water on it and began to pluck some of the feathers off of it. Once she’d showed us how to do it, she left the extremely smelly task for us to do. Surprisingly, most of the feathers came out easily. We were taking way too long though, so she recruited the help of a neighbor to pluck the other bird while she showed my professor how to prepare the vegetables (chopped cabbage, butternut squash and hominy). Once the chickens were plucked, we cut one open to disembowel it – found an egg, several premature eggs, and many nasty organs I was glad we weren’t going to eat (they put them aside to eat later). We put the cut up pieces in water and cooked it for an hour. We ate the food once it was ready and it actually tasted pretty good. I don’t know if I ever want to kill a chicken again but I guess that is certainly an experience I won’t forget easily.

            While we were waiting for the food to cook, we talked to Mama Noks (pronounced Knox) about her life. She told us how her husband had died several years ago and so she had to find another job to support her two children. She began working at a bead store but didn’t like something about it (I forgot the exact reason – I think it was the hours) and so she told her boss she was going to leave to start her own store and he told her good luck. So she quit that job and started making her own designs for beads. At first, she wasn’t making much money and was living in a tiny shack. Then some nice people talked to her one day and paid for her current house to be built. She didn’t know them or realize what they did until after the fact, but they gave her the start she needed to grow. Then, at church she met Michael and he helped her expand her clientele. After that proved successful, he helped her start a catering business. Then, he helped her open her house to homestay students. Finally, he arranged the FDP with her as the head ‘mama’. She employs some of her fellow ‘mama’ neighbors in her jewelry business and also helps them sign up for homestay arrangements. For a poor, single, black woman in post-apartheid conditions, this is quite impressive. It is certainly a great example of God’s providence. Even though her conditions weren’t the best, you could tell that she was proud of her home (which originally was one room for everything and now has a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and a bath – the original toilet was a hole in the floor). She was a very pleasant and inspiring woman and I’m glad I got to meet her through the FDP.

            Later that night, I went with some friends on a different trip to go see “Fiddler on the Roof”. As the drama teacher on the trip is from the Cape Town Opera, he arranged a backstage pass to see the stages in one of the theatres where he often has his shows. It was very cool as we got to see how they do some of the effects. The stage has a revolving section in the middle and has three equal-sized stages on either side. The coolest part is the ending of the play when Tevye and his family walk off into the distance, which literally looks like that as the open up the back stage and actually double the distance to create this effect. We also saw the machine they used to move Lazar Wolf’s wife’s ghost around during the show. The play was very well done and the actors were amateurs (aka weren’t getting paid for performing) but they had wonderful voices. It was extremely well done.

            What an excellent first impression of South Africa.

Neptune Day!!!

       The day after Ghana, we crossed the equator. We had already crossed the Prime Meridian as it runs straight through Tema (our port in Ghana). So that morning, I had already been up as I was planning to do some work for our first day off on the ship. As I was about to leave, I heard this weird, really loud kind of sound and I thought it might have been a distress signal or something. So I opened the door to find the crew parading down the hall in ridiculous outfits, banging on Ghanaian drums and cymbals. Some of them had items made out of cardboard and tinfoil, like helmets, shields, tridents, and swords. They also had on white outfits, possibly made out of sheets cut into toga-like attire, with seahorses drawn onto them. It was quite absurd, but really funny. This was at 0730 and they gave us about a half hour to wake up and get ready. Around 0800, they called all ‘participants’ to the 7^th deck, where the pool is located. As we gathered there, the parading crew came up with huge fanfare announcing the arrival of the royal party. Some of the teachers were dressed up and one announced the members of the royal party as they took their perches on the edge of the pool. There was the royal executioner, the page (maybe?), Queen Minerva, and of course, King Neptune. Our Executive Dean was Minerva and our Captain was Neptune. He wore a towel-like loin cloth-esque thing around his waist, a headdress with flowers and flowing white locks, and was covered in greed dye. This image plus his terse but awesome British accent made him hysterical. The first people to go through the initiation process were the highest ups, including the Asst. Exec. Dean (Laurie Casteen – I work in her office and she’s from UVA). The pool is set up with a deep square center and two shallow semi-circles on either side. They had to stand in one of the shallow areas, let the crew dump some sort of nasty green, slimy goop stuff on their heads and jump over the barrier between sections into the center pool. Then, they had to kiss a fish once they’d climbed out, bow to Minerva and kiss Neptune’s ring. If you didn’t kiss the ring or if you were just lucky, Neptune would kick you back into the pool. That’s what he did to Ms. Casteen, the first to go through (he’s always joking her so that’s why). I had to go change into my swimsuit because I didn’t know what to wear for the ceremony, so I went and changed before going through the ceremony myself. My supervisor ended up holding one of the fish (there were two) when I went through so I kissed the fish she held. I thought the Captain might kick me in because he jokes with my supervisor, but he didn’t. If you wanted to shave your head (giving the ultimate sacrifice to appease King Neptune) you could. Surprisingly, many people (including a large number of girls and some Lifelong Learners) did. All in all, it was pretty fun and now I am officially a shellback!

Call me Elinam

Today was my last day in Ghana and I went to the village of Torgorme, a small village near one of Ghana’s two dams. We went through some savannah-esque areas with baboons and sacred rock structures until we passed the dam to reach the village. When we pulled in, we were greeted by hundreds of smiling children’s faces (about 450) and waving hands. Getting off was hard because they swarmed us and made a pathway where they just tried to touch our hands as we made our way to the community center. It was kind of like being a movie star, with the people reaching from the back row just to touch you, and several clinging to your hands. It was very cute. One little girl, probably around 2 years old, got ahold of my pinky and wasn’t about to let go. I was the last one and had to shake hands with all the Chiefs (they were in a row on side of the rectangle with the women on the next side) so I just guided her along while I shook their hands. It was pretty funny and I think I entertained them. When we sat down, I placed her in my lap and within 5 minutes she had passed out. It was pretty cute while it lasted as her mom (maybe older sister?) came by 15 minutes later and just took her. While this was happening, there was a group prayer and a performance from the children to show their dance. The moves were much simpler than the ones I’ve seen the past few days but you could tell they were really putting their hearts into their performance. Then the naming ceremony began. They made it clear that they welcomed us into their community, which meant that they would love for us to come back and that we could be buried there if we ever wanted to be. It felt very forward to me but a Ghanaian student who sailed with us from Morocco informed us that Ghanaians are very welcoming and mean it fully. So I guess this wasn’t out of place for them but I certainly couldn’t see this happening in the States. Anyway, it was still very cool to go through the ceremony. They called us up in groups of five and then started by telling us our names. The first one is based on which day of the week you are born on and your gender. They told me I was born on a Thursday, but I know I was born on a Sunday so I guess that wasn’t the right name. Either way, I don’t really remember that one and they didn’t give us a written copy of it so I can’t tell you what it should have been. My official African name is Elinam, meaning “God is for you”. I think that’s a pretty sweet name and really like the meaning so I was very pleased with it. I think most of them were religious but I only found out some of the other names (their sound system was hard to understand). One girl got “Savior” which intimidated her and someone else got “The Savior has come”. After they told us our name and the meaning, they tied a hand-made beaded bracelet on our hand (I think it means that you’ve been blessed but I’m really not sure) and a mini pot that they made with our real name and African name on it. It was really quite generous of them to gift us like that, but they will certainly make wonderful mementos.

After we finished, we danced with the children and then went to see more of the village. I couldn’t even leave the dance before I had two children on one hand and another on the other hand. So I was escorted to the village to see how they make the pots and their kitchens, but I was in the back of the group again so I couldn’t see too well. It was ok because I ended up trying to talk to the children and found out some of their names. As only the older ones understand English (English is the official language of Ghana but they learn their traditional languages first and then English) and some of the little ones were too young to talk, I only found out three names: Believe, Patience, and Pray For. I find it very cool how openly religious many Ghanaians are, even though there is no official national religion (64% Christian, then next largest group is Muslim). It’s quite funny to go by stores called “God’s groceries” or see “God willing” on taxis or the best one “Thank God Metal Works” for a metalwork store.

After the village, we stopped at some hidden resort where we ate lunch. Then we went back to the ship. All in all, it was an awesome day and I very much like Ghana. The Ghanaian people are very friendly, for the most part, and despite their poverty, they are making improvements. As one of the guides pointed out, “just look at the cars people are driving, they’re middle class cars so people are starting to enter that part of society.”  Ghana is proud to be Africa’s leader for independence (the first African nation to gain independence) and center for hope (it’s one Africa’s model democracies) so they have much optimism for the future. That is very reassuring to see that they have made progress in certain areas and are full speed ahead. I hope they can continue to keep up the good work!

Kakum National Park

Today I went to the Kakum National Park (basically a tropical forest) for an awesome canopy walk and bamboo orchestra performance. It was a 4 hr bus ride to get to the national park, but once we got there it was definitely worth it. It was quite muggy and I was wearing long pants and long sleeves because I was sure mosquitoes would attack me. Fortunately, I wasn’t bitten by any bugs. I There were many animals that live in the forest, such as snakes, monkeys, leopards, and elephants but we didn’t see any (I saw a monkey far away in a tree but that doesn’t really count). We trekked through the forest for a little bit, saw this really cool ant “highway”, and eventually ended up at the canopy tour. This was by far the coolest thing ever. Imagine 2x4s attached by metal pins going through them horizontally as a walkway with a mesh net encircling it for you to walk through about 30 feet above the tree tops. From that view, it looked like the ground was only 30 feet below because the treetops just looked like bushes, but it was actually probably 100 feet high. This contraption was pretty shaky, especially when several people were on it at the same time; nevertheless, it was so cool to look over the trees and see more trees on the mountains in the distance. After we finished the canopy tour, we went to a bamboo lodge for lunch. What I thought was an oddly shaped piece of fried chicken turned out to be a fish head, so I tried to eat some of that. None of us were sure how to get at the meat, so we kind of just pulled some of it out from the neck. The only problem was that there really isn’t much meat there and it had many little bones. Most of the meals here seem to center around rice and plantains, so I stuck to those because I was afraid the other meat was spicy (it was a bright red color).

            After lunch, they had a group of performers play bamboo pieces and dance. It was pretty cool because the bamboo pieces were cut at one end so that the horizontal piece at each knot made the bottom while the top was hollow. They used these pieces, each a different size, to bang on a wooden block and either close or open the opening to change the tone. They also banged some together as well to add some variety, but most of the beat came from the different rhythms like it did at the other performance. The dancers were young teens who weren’t professional like the first day, but they were still very good. The first dance was very funny, telling a story of three women out washing clothes while three boys tried to woo them. They kept turning down the boys who kept switching which girl they wooed to improve their luck until the girls decided which boy they wanted. Then they danced together until it finished. As is tradition, they grabbed everyone to go dance and we basically made a conga line doing some African moves. It was pretty fun and even the lifelong learners joined in so that cool to see. After, they taught us how to do some of the rhythms on the bamboo pieces which is harder than it looks, especially when everyone else is doing different rhythms.

            We had a 5 hr bus ride back, sometimes switching into oncoming traffic to skip slow people, attempting to meet our police escort (he went to the wrong place unfortunately) and got stuck in traffic for an hour. It was certainly a fun day!

Habitat for Humanity

Today, I went on a 3 hr bus ride to a small village to help out with Habitat for Humanity. What they do is partner with people who need homes and help them build it. The people in need can take out a subsidized loan through Habitat for Humanity for their house and pay it back in small chunks. They must also put in the required “sweat hours,” so many hours of physical labor on a house before they start on their own, on their own house, and on a house after theirs is finished. This way, they get help in creating a home, but they aren’t getting it for free either. Additionally, volunteers help with the construction so they can build it in a reasonable amount of time. We had a pretty large group today on the trip and were split into 4 groups of 10. My group was working at the foundation part of the house, digging up dirt to fill in the floor. It was hard work because the ground was almost the consistency of baked clay and riddled with large, dense rocks. That meant we had to use a pick-axe first to break up the ground before we could try shoveling any of it to dump it into the foundation. I think we made some fair progress, but it was hard to tell because the house was large and we were just dumping it in large squares so it didn’t actually look like we’d finished anything. We also didn’t have enough tools for everyone and only had one shovel that had a handle, so that also made the process take longer. I did quite a bit of all three jobs and fortunately managed to not get blisters (which I’m very grateful for because some of the other people did). We had interesting box lunches from the ship (salami, ham, cheese sandwich, hard boiled egg, chicken leg, orange, banana bread, oreos, drink – and ketchup for some reason?) that we tried to keep away from the stray dogs. Many of the houses have stray chickens and goats just roaming around which feels so unnatural to me but I guess is convenient for them. It was definitely a good experience, if nothing else than to have a better appreciation for hard labor. Also, the overseer told us that our entire group’s efforts were about a quarter of the house complete, so that was pretty cool.

Welcome to Ghana!

       

            We arrived in Ghana and I was on one of the first trips to leave the ship. We went to a spa near the shoreline where some Ghanaian drummers and dancers were waiting to perform for us and teach us some of their dance. For those not familiar with African music (I’m no expert but am learning most of what I’m telling you from my music class), it is polyrhythmic and uses call and response. What polyrhythm means is that there are simple rhythm played by individuals that leaves spaces for the others in the group to be heard, so that together it makes the whole song. It is actually quite hard (we tried some in class) because it’s so easy to lose your rhythm if you aren’t very focused. Call and response occurs when one person says or plays something and then the rest of the group responds. So, the performers were playing drums with a bell and maraca-ish things (which keeps the beat because they cut through the drumming) and singing that featured some call and response. After the first performance, one of the men there was a dance teacher and taught us a traditional dance. Kind of hard to explain but it was very fast paced and had some jumping. The cool part was that after, we all circled up and went out in groups to the middle to do some improv dancing. I think this is the best experience so far to understand the mindset of collectivist cultures. If you think about a performance in the states, you would have a lead and/or soloist, sometimes featuring some of the instruments in the band through very small solos, and maybe involving the audience (depending on the type of music). Here, although they may be hard to distinguish from each other, you are certainly hearing what each individual is playing, they tend to give everyone a solo, and they expect all the audience members to participate (i.e. singing, dancing, playing music). I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a better format, but it was very fun to participate rather than just spectate.

            We had a Ghanaian lunch – I can’t really tell you what the parts were called but it was pretty good. There were two different kinds of rice (I avoided the spicey one) with what one friend pretty accurately described as burrito filling (the sliced peppers and onions), and some sort of smoked chicken. It was pretty good but almost everything they eat here is spicey so that will definitely be a problem for me. The weather was not as bad as I thought, meaning it wasn’t as muggy but still hot. Fortunately, it turns out that the mosquitoes (don’t forget they carry malaria, dengue, yellow fever, etc) aren’t really out during the day, and also aren’t in full swing yet because the dry season is ending, so I haven’t been swarmed yet. Haha, of course I wasn’t taking chances so I was wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt while I’m bouncing around in the hot sun, but it is worth not contracting any undesirable diseases. The Ghanaian people are very friendly for the most part and the traffic is not as crazy as in Morocco. No, they still kind of weave in and out of traffic, but they aren’t in a hurry like the Moroccans, honk their horns more and also manage to get traffic jams (which didn’t seem to happen in Morocco). There are women who walk around with platters on their heads (they have a scarf thing that sits atop their head to make a flat surface so that they can balance their items better) with what looks like up to 40lbs of food or sales items! And they walk around as if there was nothing on their heads! I think my neck would be in a lot of pain if I had to do that. Their venders are more aggressive that the Moroccans (who do a better job of making you feel like they aren’t pressuring you). Some Ghanaians are so friendly they want to marry you (so they can get to the US) before you’ve even said anything. I didn’t get a marriage proposal but I did try to talk to one of the drummers and the first thing he told me was that he loved me. That was awkward.

            Much of their culture is encapsulated in their music; for example, there are several “talking drums” which make sounds reminiscent of some of their languages, one of which the pitch is altered by squeezing the strings on the outside of the drum while holding it under your arm. Pretty cool! Contrary to popular belief, they only have these kinds of large musical gatherings when something special (i.e. weddings, initiations, funerals – yes, they celebrate the life of the one who died by partying, kind of like the Irish I guess) happens and on a frequent basis, such as the impression I had before coming here. So all in all it was a good day and great way to be introduced to the culture.

"Wish I could be...part of your world”

So I decided that you might want to know what a typical day is like aboard the MV Explorer for me. I wake up pretty early (like 0620) to get ready and eat breakfast before reporting to work at 0730. Since I’m in the inside row of cabins, we don’t have a window. This means that your cabin is basically a pitch-black cave. So no matter what time you go to bed or wake up, you have absolutely no concept of time (which honestly you already lose that on the ship because everything is thought of in relation to A or B day classes and how close it is to the next port – that’s right, class on weekends). Anyways, it can be dangerous if you want to nap because the sun won’t wake you up.

Breakfast is pretty nice because there aren’t too many people; in fact, there are mostly Life Long Learners there (I’m there at 0700) and they are very cool people and have great stories. Since the MV Explorer prides itself in its cleanliness standards and excellent service, there are several kitchen staff/waiters who will just walk around, whisk your finished plates from the table (if you’re not fast enough to bring them to the plate return), ask you if you want a drink (and bring it to you if you ask) and just any other awesome thing you could think of. It’s so nice to be served but also makes you feel bad because they don’t really need to do that. So then sometimes it becomes a competition as to whether you can beat them to turning your stuff in. Either way, they are very sweet people and try to get to know you and memorize your names. Oh, and you can eat outside on the back patios if you want and watch the waves go by.

For work, I replace the Dean’s Memo (our way of telling everyone what is scheduled for that day since everything changes so frequently) on all of the bulletin boards throughout the ship. I then do whatever admin stuff needs to be done. Classes are generally small, except for the one that everyone has to take. There are only so many classes throughout the ship and most aren’t set-up as traditional classes; for example, two are rooms that would be reserved for special dinners, so they have round dinner tables, several others are rooms that are lounging space they can close off, so they have cool, wavy couches against the walls and cushion chairs to sit at. Anyways, after classes (which end by 1700) there’s dinner and activities. They have Explorer Seminars, mini lectures on topics that might interest you (i.e. how to take professional photos or something related to the next port). These and whatever clubs are meeting go from 7-10pm. So many people go to these and then a lot of people go to the 7^th deck (the highest one) because there’s a bar. Apparently, the age limit for alcohol doesn’t apply in international waters (or isn’t the same in many of the countries we’re going to) so they issue cards for anyone who wants them. I think that’s kind of stupid but naturally it will attract about half the student body up there. (there is also a pool, a ping pong table, the gym, weightlifting machines, and a spa up on the 7^th deck). There’s a study area on the 6^th deck with a piano bar (essentially a piano that anyone can play anytime they want). That’s pretty nice because there are quite a few talented pianists aboard, so they serenade us with gorgeous music.

After you acquire your sea legs, you may stop feeling the ship swaying from side to side, but you won’t be so oblivious to the up and down motion, especially when walking up the stairs. It’s pretty funny, you walk up and it will be strenuous for a couple moments when your legs feel unusually heavy and then suddenly they will be light and you will fly up the stairs. The rooms range in size (according to price), but they all have cabinets for your stuff, a desk and your own bathroom. As I mentioned earlier, the crew pride themselves on their sanity standards. This means that your room is cleaned every other day. Which is kind of crazy and nice at the same time. My cabin steward is amazing. He changes the sheets (which I feel is a bit unnecessary so frequently), makes your bed, cleans the bathroom, and if you leave clothes out (like you woke up late and had to change quickly and didn’t have time to put it away) he’ll fold them and leave them on your bed. Again, makes you feel bad because that’s more work for him and I could just as easily do that, but it is really nice to come in to a beautiful room. *By the way, they try to keep everything this clean because if more than 2% of our community is sick (they said more than 4 people but I don’t think that’s the right percentage) then we can’t dock at a port (unless we lie and say we’re all healthy). Other countries don’t want you bringing sickness to their country (although they don’t care if you get it from them) and that would jeopardize our ability to see the port. So that’s why they do all these things which is reminiscent of some several thousand dollar hotel in NYC. 

Each room has a tv with channels playing updates (our coordinates, other important info), documentaries/educational programs, and some movies. They will NOT play Titanic or hear anything referring to it (they wouldn’t let someone play “my heart will go on” in the piano bar).

Let me take you on a magic carpet ride… to Fes!

            This was my first independent trip and I went in a group of six friends (3 guys, 3 girls) to Fes, the oldest Moroccan city. We had to take 2 taxis to the train station and the one I was in ripped us off when we were paying him so that wasn’t pleasant. We waited for the train, which came late, to get on and find now seats available. For the first hour of 4.5, we stood near the bathroom because that was the only place free. Fortunately, we eventually got seats all kind of near each other. I sat with one of the girls and we were near a family with a cute little boy. He wouldn’t look at me directly and was uncomfortable near me, I guess because I’m a girl. In Moroccan culture, men don’t speak directly to women, especially if there is a male escort with the woman (there is usually but I didn’t observe any). I guess this little boy was already exhibiting those behaviors. Although, the men will stare at you (thinking they are sly) but this little boy wouldn’t look at me. Anyways, this guy motioned that he liked my sunglasses, asked me if I was American, to which I said yes, and introduced me to his friend, Mohammed. Mohammed knew one of our friends on the ship and talked to us for a while. Then he helped us get a student guide and a taxi so that we could navigate Fes (it is literally a maze) and see the cool shops. The first stop was the leather tannery. They gave us mint as we entered because it smelt pretty bad (they use ammonia from bird poop in the process of making the leather soft, but that step would be in the next few days) and we got to see from above how they make all the items. Then we went to a place where they make many things like scarves from scratch. We got to see the loom and all the beautiful things they make. After, we went to a Moroccan restaurant, which I feel was more accurate because we sat around large round tables rather than the impersonal sectioned tables you find in our restaurants (and in the one in Rabat). The food was very good and I really enjoyed it. Then we went to a rug place, met one of the old ladies who makes the rugs, and tried some amazing green mint tea. Our final stop was Mohammed’s father’s shop, a spice shop. It had very cool things, including a Moroccan spice blend and all these perfume extracts. It was a very fun experience.

            The only problems arose when we were trying to get home. The train schedule had said there was a train at 850, but there wasn’t one. In fact, the next train wasn’t until 2am if it was on time (don’t forget about the 4.5 hr ride). One of the other girls and I didn’t want to stay in some sketch train station for several hours to ride the train back in the middle of the night, so we all agreed to take the taxi back (it was a van taxi so we all fit and it was a fixed price). The driver had his son drive, who promptly went to gas up and then make a quick stop at his house. I thought he needed to tell his wife or something about his being gone for basically 8 hrs. Nope, he and his riding companion brought out a huge bag of weed. Naturally, we started flipping out: “Is that Marajuana?” driver: “Of course!” (there’s a huge drug trade in morocco and there’s a huge mountain near Fes where they grow it). Since we’d already paid, we made it absolutely clear there was to be no smoking while we were in the car to which they complied, so it turned out fine but it was sketch. They dropped us at the gate to the port and we walked back to end our very interesting journey to Fes.

            The last day I spent doing hw and today we are in route to Ghana. I won’t post until at least a week from now, but I hope you all are doing well! Please keep praying that God will go ahead an make a path (he certainly did here) and keep us out of harm’s way! I appreciate all your thoughts!

p.s. pics just don’t work with my limited internet, so sorry it’s not as enthralling as my Montreal posts

Rabat

The next day I went with SAS to Rabat, the capital city! We rode a nice air conditioned bus for 1.5 hrs to the city and stopped at the royal palace first. Actually, we parked in front of a mosque right next to the palace to use the bathroom, which had neither toilet paper nor soap. Good thing I brought Kleenex and hand sanitizer. The palace looked pretty cool from the outside but no one is allowed inside (even Moroccans) so they have very limited info on what is actually inside. Then we went to a roman ruin nearby, which had this huge original wall closing it off. It had two parts inside, one roman and one muslim. There were some gardens and even a sacred pool where the used to store sacred eels to cure infertility (I think that was it, it was for women). Then we went to lunch and I tried a traditional Moroccan meal called tangine, where you have a bowl with a pointed cover over it and you cook all the food you want inside it. It was excellent! Afterwards we went to the mausoleum housing the coffins of Hussein II, his father and brother. It was also very ornate like the mosque, but on a much smaller scale (the mosque is 2x as tall as anything on the Casablanca skyline). There was also an unfinished mosque nearby, the architect died before completing it and the blueprints were destroyed so they couldn’t finish it. Then we went through an old part of the city and stopped in the square to use the bathroom. Not a good idea, all the girls were attacked by women doodling henna on their hands and arms – even pulling a Lifelong learner’s sleeve up (they’re older students) and doodling on a guy’s arm! Once we finally got away from them, it was time to go back to the ship.

Casablanca

 We arrived in Casablanca and it was very exciting! The ship was cleared in the morning and I went on my first trip off the boat for my architecture class, Sacred Places. We went to an old, abandoned church first. It had extremely high ceilings and there was cool stained glass above the alter area portraying the different flags of members who had been in the congregation. It was pretty, but melancholy too to see it so empty and without the usual furnishings (i.e. pews. any furniture really). Then we went to the Hussein II Mosque (recently built in 2008 after the former King of Morocco) which was mind-bogglingly detailed and amazing in general. Every square inch was handmade and the ornamentaion was really over-whelming. The cool part was that parts of it were high-tech, like they hid the speakers in the ornamentation, the main (bronze?) door weighs several tons and is on a computer system to open, the ceiling opens to provide ventilation, and there is a waterworks part that lets water flow down the middle of the building (Mosques are generally over water b/c God hovered over the water when He created the earth). Underneath were water fountain areas for Muslims to wash certain parts of their bodies and some pool for healing. I don’t agree with Islam, but it is truly breath-taking to see what the mind can conceive and create. Finally, we went to a Jewish temple (we couldn’t take pictures there) which was also very pretty. It had interesting stained glass art (as my teacher accurately described, very Picasso-esque) symbolizing the 12 tribes (2 tribes shared 2 pics though). Oh yes, before we got to the Temple, we took a stroll through a stree-long market place which was cool but we didn’t have any time to investigate. It ended with a huge square full of many times of olives (20+), which I honestly didn’t realize there were so many kinds of olives! Then our guide pulled some strings and got the armed guards to let us go into the plaza before the royal palace (all the cities have royal residences in case the king wants to go there for a while) to see it from the front. Finally we got back to the ship. I do have to say – thir driving is pretty crazy, but they are probably some of the best drivers – constantly aware of their surroundings, able to weave in and out of traffic and account for cars coming at them from 4 different places at the same time – I know I couldn’t do that!

In the evening, I went with some friends to Rick’s Café – that’s right, they only built it a few years ago but now there’s a Rick’s café! It was kind of pricey but had excellent food and portions (so much I couldn’t finish it)! It was trying to be very high class and had waiters standing awkwardly near our table – kind of annoying more that helpful, honestly. Then, one of the guys in my group wanted to find an internet café, so we tried to find one. We walked all over the place and eventually found one. The streets at night are not that safe for women unless you have some guys to protect you – we had 3 guys and 2 girls so the multitude of Moroccan men on the street left us alone. There really weren’t too many women out, it was kind of weird. There was also a dinner happening at 11pm when we were on our way back to the ship. All in all, it was a fun day.

Here We Go!!! Off to Neverland!

 So I realize it’s been a while and I decided I would tell you some about my first week aboard the MV Explorer! Being a workstudy, I got to board a day early than everyone else. When I first boarded the ship, I was greeted by an older woman who took my picture and told me that we would meet again sometime later, but that there wasn’t time at that point (I eventually met her and she is nice but it was a bit weird). The ship is huge and there are many parts specifically reserved for the crew. Of course, being on the second deck means that most stairwells lead to off-limit territory and I accidentally began to go down one when I was promptly corrected. I was glad I got to find my mom and brother at the parent reception, which honestly felt more like a promotional kind of event than a “you-child-is-about-to-leave” event. The next day I got to help the rest of the students board the ship by filing their passports once they handed them over to the purser’s crew. It was pretty fun because the crew have a great sense of humor and were telling us about the secret defenses the ship has were pirates to board (supposedly underwater flamethrowers – haha sure). It was a really long day but it was very cool to see more of Montreal once we embarked, I could see the biodome farther down the river!

            The next day was an unnecessarily and painfully long orientation with classes the day after. I thought I was doing pretty well so far, having been on the ship for a day at sea, but that was because we were in calm waters. The first day of class, I just barely made it through the first class before I was sick. Since I couldn’t go to work after, I laid down for a bit, got sick again, finally felt better, went to work and got sick right after again. I was kind of worried how I would ever be able to manage and make it through my next and last class but I did. It was a pretty rough day though. Throughout the rest of the week, I slowly stopped weaving through the halls until I barely felt the ship moving. It’s pretty funny actually, I think this is basically a simulation of what it would feel like to be drunk. The best part is watching several people walking and all drift over in zigzags like balls bouncing off the walls. We also lost an hour every other day, so that plus hw, plus work, plus something amazing happening every night in 23 hr days was stressful. Work is fun and right up my alley, I really enjoy administrative work. I am copying, replacing the Dean’s memo (our way of telling you what’s happening each day) on the bulletin boards, etc. I had been worried but God is good and I couldn’t have asked for a better first job.

            My roommate is very nice, she actually reminds me so much of my other roommate, Ashleigh, from the French house that I called her that the morning we landed in Casablanca accidentally. Whoops. But she is a very funny and kind person so I am also very blessed that we are compatible thus far.

            That’s all I remember from the first week, it went so fast it is kind of a blur! I will try to put some photos for Morocco but don’t hold your breath!