At Sea to Malaysia
March 16 to March 18, 2008

March 16, 2008

No CLASS DAY!! What a relief!! India has really made most of our students very tired, exhausted and they really needed a break. A lot of them traveled to Delhi, Agra, and so on to see the Taj Mahal. But these trips were very travel intensive for them as they were on buses and trains for anywhere from 6 8 hours a day for three days. Waking up at 4 AM each morning to get to their next destination to see the Taj and experience Northern India was a real exhausted experience for them. Many of the students were happy to see the Taj, but many were not as happy on the amount of time they spent traveling in a bus or train. So next time I come back to India, I want to do the Northern part, but on my schedule and itinerary. Delhi belly started today some of the students have gotten sick from the food, or mistakenly drinking the water and some of them dont look so good, but they will be fine. It is all part of the experience!!

I was able to sleep in to about 11 today, which felt great, even with advancing our clocks 1.5 hours last night. We left India early, which was great. We were able to get all of the students cleared for immigration as they went met with someone from India to hand over their customs cards and had their passports stamped right in front of them. My passport is looking pretty cool right now with all of the stamps. The only country so far, that did not stamp was South Africa, but so far they have been stamping all of the passports, which will be another great souvenir at the end.

Tonight, we had our post port reflection open mic night, something we usually do after each port of visit. A large amount of students attended the program which was great and the ones who spoke and reflected on their experience in India did a great job doing so. From sharing their concern with the poverty, seeing the people, to how they felt about the experience to what they saw, to how they were treated to what they learned, didnt learn or are still learning, the students were all indeed touched by their experience in India by some way shape or form.

March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patricks Day!! What a way to spend it, at sea in the middle of the ocean, sailing to Malaysia. We did not get any corn beef or cabbage for our meals, but oh well, I guess I will get it when I get back home. Back to classes and I guess back to work today, but in two days we will be in Malaysia, so no big deal. This was a fast turnaround to get ready for a port and to keep on moving along with the voyage.

Today I finalized one of my projects which was to conduct a raffle with our students. For those of you who dont know, semester at sea is very big in raising money for charities. During each voyage, many raffles and auctions take place to try to raise money for the international charities that the students have voted on. My raffle project was to sell tickets to see who would win a 10 minute time period with the captain to steer the ship. Yep, steer the ship. One winner though, so it should be interested. After calculating the money, the students help raised $615 just for these tickets. They are doing great with all of the raffles and other items they are donating towards charity.

Tonight we had our crew talent show. The crew does such a great job on the ship and they deserve their time to have fun in front of the students. The union was packed for this event, and students got here at 5pm, right after class, to get good seats to see them perform. It was nice to actually applaud the crew for their awesome personal talents and for their awesome professional talents they perform on the ship for us. It was fun to watch them sing, dance, play their music and do the things we normally dont see them do on their everyday lives. They too are human, have lives and take care of themselves, but live on the ship all year round and only get vacations on a cycle. They are just the kindest staff members that would go above and beyond to do anything for us on the ship and that shows how much they care about their jobs. Seeing them work and do their above and beyond work makes me think why others in America cannot perform their jobs or I guess, just do their jobs!!

March 18, 2008

An interesting day today looking at the sea. Today is the first day that I have seen the water so calm. I mean, very, very, very calm. There are no small waves, no small swells either. It is like sailing on a pond or some sort. Very interesting!! While looking outside this afternoon, we could see DOLPHINS jumping in and out of the water from a distance. How cool is that dolphins swimming in near our ship!! It really makes you wonder how short life is, how delicate life is and how we sometimes dont take the time to sit back and watch the water or life right in front of us. We get so busy with work and other nonsense, but not living in the present of life can really hurt someone. I now know what is means to take it easy, watch the water and go with the flow. So many things have been hitting me during this voyage that really you dont get a chance to explore at home.

Today we are now getting ready for our arrival for Malaysia. From getting in contact with the Deans about our clearance, passports and tendering out to the port, Malaysia is going to be an interesting port to visit, which I am very excited about. We learned last night at our cultural awareness for Malaysia that they are known for their great food experience!! From food on the street, to the authentic food at the restaurants, it is going to be a fun time to eat some good food in Malaysia. Eating the food is something that I really enjoy while visiting the countries.

I have no expectations for my visit to Malaysia, so whatever happens is going to be a cultural awareness, a learning experience and just something new to learn for the next 5 days!! What the hell I know nothing.

Tonight I am packing for my trip. I am flying to Kuala Lampur, which is the capital city of Malaysia. A few of the RDs and I are heading out there to go on our own visiting and seeing the city by ourselves. We get back very, very late on Friday night and then on Saturday afternoon, I am on the trip leader for the Taiping Zoon and Night Safari tripe, which is going to be very cool. Stay tuned for pictures and updates on the Malaysia experience. Each country just keeps getting better and better in learning, in awareness in site seeing, and so on.

Fun times still await us!!! The world is still here and the world just seems to be coming at me faster and faster!!!

Woooo for Semester at SEA!! LOVE IT, love it, love it!!!