At Sea to Vietnam

March 24 - March 26, 2008

Back to SEA… our general cycle.. Visit a country for 5 days… see all we can see, do all we can, get exhausted as much as we can, then get back to school, class and work… SEA LIFE!!It is pretty interesting on how we are all on a normal cycle now.Today it was interesting to see the students really buckling down with their school work.Many study groups in the UNION, many students preparing for presentations, mid-terms, etc.These next couple of weeks with only 3 days at sea and 5 days in a country for the next three weeks is really going to be exhausting on everyone.But with some excitement, motivation and curiosity, we all will get through this together.

Last night as we were getting ready to leave Malaysia, we learned that due to the tide, we would not be able to depart until this morning.Oh well, no big deal.We are still going to make it to Vietnam on time and ready for our experience there.As the students were arriving back last night, the unthinkable happened… yep a student lost their passport.Not good!!So immigration would not allow us to have her onboard the ship and she packed some bags and stayed in Malaysia.The port agent, who was so helpful, made many accommodations for her.From the hotel booking in Malaysia, to the car transportation, to the meeting with the US consulate office in Malaysia to get the new passport, to a one on one meeting with the Chinese Embassy (see you need a VISA for China, which was in the passport) to the flight arrangements to Vietnam and so on.But the bad news is.. it is going to cost her an arm and a leg to pay for everything that I just listed to get done.It is part of the process… don't loose your passport when you take it off the ship, or be left behind and figure out the process to get the new one.

This week we are sailing in the Straight of Malacca, one of the world's largest passages way for ships.As we look outside during the day there must be hundreds of passenger, oil and container ships passing us left and right.You see, Singapore has one of the best bunkering areas for ships out here in Asia.We are stopping in Singapore to bunker for a while, which means to get gas, as it is so much cheaper there than anywhere in the world.

From an economic and strategic perspective the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, equal or greater than the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal.The strait is the main shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, linking major Asian economies such as India, China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Over 50,000 vessels pass through the strait per year,[1] carrying about one-quarter of the world's traded goods including oil, Chinese manufactures, and Indonesian coffee.

The other thing about the Straight of Malacca is that it has Pirates!!Well with so many ships passing through in and out and running around, this is a great place to get pirated. Yes, they do exist!!The few things we have going for us not to get pirated are: a great crew looking out for us day and night, we can go as fast as 35 knots, faster than any pirate boat can ever move, and we have full force fire hoses, so if they get on board, we wash them away.. no lie.So we are speeding through the Straight to get our gas and to head back out to sea to reach Vietnam.

Nothing else majoring happening at sea… just working on newsletters, bulletin boards, programming, going to meetings and so on.The general work in a residence hall, just on a ship.

March 25, 2008

Well, we made it to Singapore and we are fueling up, along with hundreds of other ships.We are not moving or sailing today late tonight. So for the night, we will just stay anchored out in the ocean looking at the skyline of Singapore.We are in the middle of running around getting ready for the last portions of the voyage, can you believe it.With the next few countries coming so fast, we need to stay on top of our work and continue to be ready for each country as it arrives now, ahead of time.We actually have the Vietnam immigration staff on our ship already as they are reviewing passports and giving us our VISA's for entry to their country on Thursday.

Otherwise, it has been a busy day of work, meetings and projects around the ship!! Tonight we watched Across the Universe with the residents and had a nice time singing along to some Beatle songs and getting ready for Vietnam!!

March 26, 2008

Well, it was a big day today!!Today I was notified that the counselor and I needed to inform one of my residents about some bad news happening at home.Today, I called in one of my residents to inform him that his father was terminally ill and may not be living too much longer.It was probably the hardest thing ever to do and be in the room to watch my resident receive this news from home and break down.Due to our email and satellite being down all day today, the only news we had was a 12 page letter from the mother that she wrote to the staff and to her son about the situation going on at home.Throughout the day the student took in his news and dealt with it as best as he could.Later in the evening, the satellite was back up and he had a chance to call home and speak to his family, which made things a lot better for him to get closure and find out more information about his dads health from his family.The good news was that he was able to actually speak to his father and say the things he wanted to him last night.My resident decided that he would stay on the voyage and continue on with life here on the ship!!I am sure it is going to be hard for him, but I think he will be able to get through everything.

Life on the ship, things are going to happen at home for some of us.We had many deaths in families happen and situations occur, but everyone is taking care of each other and making things work for everyone!!

Well, Vietnam is here and it will be very emotional for some and others.This is family week and families come to Vietnam to meet their students for a week and go on trips, spend the week on the ship and be with us in the community!Fun times this week!!

Talk to you soon about the experience in Vietnam!!