Part four: The Amazon: "Show me on the doll where the bug landed on you…"

(¯`v´¯)

`*.¸.*´

¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)

(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Bugs! Bats! Hey – is that a slipper?

Right now we are cruising down the Amazon. The water is brown and murky but we can see the rainforest all around us. Last night I saw the most amazing moonrise of my life, it was so bright that I was easily able to photograph it. For the first time bugs are showing up on the ship. We found one on the top deck last night that was the size of my hand. The air is hot and muggy and I can't get over that I am in the Amazon. The current crime rates in Brazil are all anyone else is talking about. We were told to stay in groups of 4 or 5 and always have a male with us. We were told to keep our money in multiple places and carry a wallet with $50 to give up if needed. The boat's movement had ceased temporarily while we are on the river. Thank goodness. 2 days to Brazil!

Today was one of the best days of my life. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I was awake. We are cruising down the Amazon at about 15 miles an hour and we are close enough to one side of the forest to be able to see birds and when it opens up we can see little villages. All of the children from the villages run out to the edge of land and wave at us. Some people jumped into canoes and they rode our wake. The clouds are unlike anything I have ever seen. Its not just one kind of cloud, there are 5 or 6 different kinds all mixed together. I haven’t been able to take my eyes away from them. Some of the clouds are rain clouds and as we pass under them it will rain pretty heavily for a few minutes even though the sun is out all around us. The heat is stifling so the water feels good. People come out of the ship to slosh around on the wet decks. The sun is very strong and it dries the decks in a matter of minutes. The bugs are out of this world. They are EVERYWHERE, inside the ship, every few feet on deck, and we’re not talking little fruit flies. I totally take back all of those times in school when we were learning about all the poisonous things in the Amazon that I didn’t think twice about because they were far away in the jungle and I was safe in my little California suburb. We get to Brazil tomorrow and the people who have signed up to sleep in hammocks along the river are rethinking that choice. Alec from middle school and I lay out in the sun and the rain and discussed how surreal this all feels. It is like we went to bed one night, and woke up in he jungle. Actually – it is literally like that. It’s totally wild to wake up and have to look outs your window to see where you are, and it is drastically different every day. One day, flat, flat, flat blue seas, the next, an exotic country, the next, a different exotic country.

Last night I went to Shabbat dinner. There were a good number of people there and they gave us wine and challah. We also had an open mic night which was extremely well attended, and by that I mean packed all the way to the back of our theatre. My roommate sang, as did a few more of my friends but what was most impressive was a rendition of “Summer Nights” about Semester at Sea called “SAS Nights.” Other highlights were “My Heart will go on” and a show stopping “Bad Romance” in full costume.

The night life on the ship cracks me up. We are allowed to drink, they provide the alcohol, but most people go in to the dining hall late at night with games and sit around the tables and play Mafia and Clue and Uno. It is like walking into free time in a kindergarten classroom full of 20-year olds. Most people go to bed around midnight and get up around 7 or 8.

ship dance

talent show!

welcome to the jungle

This is Semester at Sea’s first trip down the Amazon. We are making history. That means that the captain, the crew, and everyone else on board are all seeing this for the first time. Apparently we barley cleared the entrance. We made it in with just a meter of space from the bottom. The river must be deep, out boat goes down into it 30 feet.

Part Three: Dominica, the REAL virgin island

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

School bus crushed by tree

The night before we reached our first port the doctors put on a skit for us. One of them wrapped the other one up in a patented new product called the “full body condom.” They then gave us a list of “don’ts” that rhymed and were pretty funny. It went something like:

DON’T get BIT
DON’T get HIT
DON’T get LIT
DON’T do IT
DON’T eat SHIT

Meaning, avoid dogs and mosquitoes, cars, drugs, sex, and fresh fruit that we didn’t peal ourselves.

During my photo class last night the women told us to be culturally sensitive while taking photos. In some countries, they think that when Americans take photos of their children, it is because they are going to kidnap and sell them in the US.

Dominica is a strange and beautiful place. It looks very similar to other places I have been: Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, even Nassau. The major difference is the utter and complete lack of tourism. With maybe one or two exceptions, there are no gift shops, or chains, or hotels, or anything. Our tour guide pointed out a Texaco gas station with pride as one way that Dominicans are “modern.” It is the greenest place I have ever seen. they have 356 rivers and are the location of a number of scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean, including my favorite one – the one with Calipso. Dominica is very rich ecologically. Interestingly though, there isn’t a single species of poisonous plant or animal on the whole island. They have boa constrictors, but not so much as a sprig of poison ivy. The whole country is the size of a large University and it shuts down on Sundays for a day of rest. No restaurants or shops were open. As we drove around we could see families resting on the beaches. It reminded me of Shabbat in Israel. Our guide told us that 95% of the country smokes pot and they do not consider stress to be a part of their island lives. Also, drinking while driving is not illegal. Our driver was drinking beer and we navigated the canyon roads. Interestingly, Dominica is known for its longevity. A large percentage of its population is over 100 years old. They attribute it to eating locally grown food that has not been touched by pesticides or preservatives.  After my waterfall hike, river tubing, and snorkeling in Champagne Reef, a girl and I walked around the town near our port. We found a school bus that had been crushed by the trunk of a tree and just left there to decompose. We met a man with only one hand who had lived in the US for a number of years because his “white wife” brought him there. He discovered years later that she also had another husband and so his marriage was illegal and they sent him back to Dominica. What makes Dominica – pronounced Domi-nikka by the way – so beautiful besides all the green are the clouds that cling to the mountains and the colorful houses on the mountainside. None of my photographs really capture the vibrant colors. Sunsets there were out of this world.

the MV Explorer

Part Two: Initial Shipboard life: Hold on to your chairs!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

I am totally off the grid for a while. No Internet, no phone. I know my parents are close by but I have no way of reaching them to tell them that we push off at 8 tonight. As it gets darker, I feel weirder. It was fun walking around the ship and setting up my room with my newest roomie Meghan (my 3rd Meg roommate in three years.) People are all still getting to know each other; most people didn’t know anyone. It’s a little lonely because there are groups of people who stick together and even though we are all in one place everyone is doing their own thing.

We're off!!!!!!!

I am currently wearing my seabands, drinking ginger ale, wearing a patch and I’ve just taking Dramamine. The ship is really rocky. People key hitting the walls. There is no sun out, we are in a tiny little storm – light rain fall, rough waters and everything is gray. People are throwing up left and right and EVERYONE feels ill. Walking around feels like walking around in a plane during turbulence, you’re light on your feet one second, and then the ground is pushing up at you the next. The chairs are sliding around the decks.

First day of classes today. Last night we got a huge game of Scattegories going which was really fun. I had a difficult night sea-sickness wise, but we saw birds for the first time in days which means that we close to land. We docked in Puetro Rico for a few hours to refuel. As soon as the boat got into the harbor and stopped moving, I got “landsick.” I do hope this goes away completely, and soon. We keep seeing rainstorms off in the distance and sometimes we go through them and it pours rain for 20 minutes and flood the decks and then we get out of it. Yesterday we saw something pretty remarkable. It was a huge double rainbow very close to us and because there was no land to get in the way, it’s reflection on the water formed a complete rainbow circle. I’m convinced that if we’d taken a left, we would have sailed through it and entered an alternate universe. It was at the peak of sunset too and so everyone came running out. I hear they let people out of classes if a whale or a school of dolphins are in sight. I have met a bunch of California kids, and also a ton from Mass. We’ve only been out at sea for three days but it feels like a month. The semester is going to zip by but at the same time I know that the experience will age me much more than 3.5 months.

THINGS IVE LEARNED:

The great wall would stretch from Manhattan to Texas
Maps are liars and they give us biases toward other countries who are “below” and appear smaller in size comparatively
We have a deaf student on board with an interpreter
The key to success here is getting up early
Boats stay afloat because they are full of air and therefore are lighter than the water.

One of my professors is so excellent I can’t stand it! He looks like he grew up in Topanga and spent at least half the class teaching us a Tai Chi routine he came up with himself designed for college students with limited physical space.

I’ve finally gotten over my seasickness enough to feel hunger and get work done. It was crazy yesterday. The waves were so big that people as well as furniture were falling over. People kept running out of class to throw up. I wonder how big the waves have to get before they cancel classes. It is such a strange experience to be sitting in class and needing to hold on the table to keep from falling off your chair. The professors can't easily move from the board to the computer, and one professor actually fell over while teaching. Not getting distracted is virtually impossible. Staff members were standing at the back of rooms with airplane vomit bags in their hands to give out. I went to see the doctor the other day because I was hallucinating. She told me that I have been overdosing on seasickness meds. Oops.

Its weird seeing waves that don’t have anything to crash on to. They just kind of slosh around and resemble the insides of my stomach. White tips mean rough seas. We were told that rough seas at this point is unusual, normally its smooth sailing until the atlantic. Lucky us!

There is a girl in one of my classes from China. (There are a bunch of international students here – Ive met people from all over Asia including India and Singapore, as well as from Brail, Venezuela, Canada, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan). Her English is so limited that she carries around a translator. It occurred to me the other day how interesting it is that when we are in port, it doesn’t matter in the slightest. Even though her native language is Mandarin and mine is English, we will both be at a loss to communicate with people from the countries we visit. Her culture may be different from mine, but both of them are different from the ones we will be living in. We are all outsiders here.

The idea of “in the same boat” has really sunk in.  What I like most about it is the way it gets rid of the distinction between “work day” and “after hours.” Instead of writing down phone numbers for group projects, we write down cabin numbers. Every day we are eating breakfast with the professors whose classes we are about to attend and the same is true of lunch and dinner. Even if it is 8 o clock at night I can walk up to the ship's doctor in the piano bar and ask her a medical question. We are all away from our families, we are all feeling the effects of the sea and we are all grateful for the same things. My definition of community is changing. Its not about whose job is what or when they are supposed to it. Students, faculty and staff are all a family here. Office hours are 24/7. If a friend has something to say to you, they knock on your door. There is no texting, all communication is face-to-face.

It is also completely acceptable to sit down at a table with someone you don’t know at dinner and have a conversation. Each meal is like Emerson when its crowded and you awkwardly have to share tables. Minus the awkwardness. Empty space is a rare commodity.

Part One: Embarkation; Paradise, thy name is Nassau

(¯`v´¯)

`*.¸.*´

¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)

(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

Part One: Embarkation 

Here at the airport. We are waiting to see if Dad and Carol have seats on the plane. My stomach is hurting – its all nerves. “This is the hardest part,” I keep telling myself, “Everything will be better when the sun comes up.” Its official, the flight we were on yesterday morning has been canceled. By the grace of Zeus I found out there was going to be bad weather in Georgia and that flights were being canceled left and right so we re-booked ourselves through Florida. Great plan, except everyone else tried the same thing and Delta overbooked themselves. It was really hard to say goodbye to my mom and the boys, especially Rupert, though something tells me he’ll make it through to April okay.  “This is the hardest part.” I just have to keep breathing for a few more days. Once we get to Nassau and I meet some nice people things will get better. Once I see the boat things will get better. Once we are underway and the hard part is truly over, things will get much better. Rachel says that I’ll look back on this part and it will have blended into the whole amazing experience. If history is any indication, a week from today will feel like a month. A month from now will feel like a year. Before I left I sat on my bed and looked around my room. It looked smaller—which was weird because I had just removed the 3 suitcases. 

I keep looking around the airport for college age-looking people. I’m sure there will be a ton in FL, but I can’t shake the feeling that I am also sitting within 100 feet of another SASer right now. Possibly even my roommate, who knows. 

Here at the gate in Florida! The straw in my reusable water bottle set a few security men into a tithy. They tested it at least 8 times, and then decided when they didn’t find anything that they needed to pat me down. We had to check our carry on bags because they were too heavy so now its just me and my backpack (and several of my parents). I expected the sun to rise before the plan landed, but the sky did not begin to lighten until half an hour after. It was eerie and really freaked me out. I keep going through bouts of nerves bordering on nausea. The fact that I haven’t slept yet probably contributes to that. We met Carol’s sister Joy in the airport because she was there dropping off her husband. We had breakfast in Chili’s, which was a new experience for me. I’m sitting at the final gate now and DEFINITELY can pick out at least one or two other SASers. The huge over-stuffed baggage is what gives it away. I’m working up the desire to go over and meet them, cause the more people I know getting on that ship, the easier it will be to do. It won’t feel so much like I am sailing away from everything that I know. 

Paradise, thy name is Nassau. You know when you see those photos of the Caribbean and it looks unreal. Well – its even more gorgeous in person. No photos can really capture the color of the water. I didn’t believe those shades of turquoise and teal really existed in nature, but they do. When we finally arrived yesterday we headed straight for the beach and fell asleep by the water. We woke up to the lifeguards laughing at us. I got to meet a bunch of SASers, most of whom are actually from California or Massachusetts. Remember when I said I didn’t know a soul on this trip? That was a lie. One boy looked particularly familiar. When I found out he was also from LA I asked him where he went to high school “I didn’t go to high school,” he said. It came out that he went to Wildwood elementary and middle school and as soon as he told me his name is realized we were in the same advisory in D2. How weird is that? Everyone I’ve met so far has been extremely nice and my nerves are almost entirely gone. We went down to the docs at night to see the ship, which is pretty big but is dwarfed by the Carnival cruise ships that surround it; its about 1/3 or ¼ of the size.  Today we went to Blue Lagoon to take advantage of our free dolphin encounter. We got to play in the water with dolphins and see sea lions and hang out on this semi-private beach. We managed to buy cheep shampoo and some hangers and the hotel is positively crawling with semester at sea students – all of whose names I have learned and since forgotten. Except one girl - her name is Jenny and she is from California. 

Getting on the ship at 8am. My next post will be when we are underway!