Saturday, September 27 ("4:30am, really?"/ Durban): Yesterday Mervyn picked me up to take me to the airport. After seeing John in Brazil, it was nice to see another familiar face. On the way to the airport, Mervyn shared his perspective on the whole Mbeki/ Zuma political scene. South Africa has been a democratic society since 1994, which isn't a particularly long time. The ruling political body, ANC, "recalled" Mbeki for questionable behavior....

Thursday, September 25 ("Feeling the Crunch"/ sailing to Cape Town): Feeling a little stressed today and wondering what have I gotten myself into?! Prepping for NASDEV & Residence Committee Leadership Workshop. Lots to accomplish. Ah! Friday, September 26 ("Six Degrees of Seperation"/ Cape Town): We're here! This is the first port that I've been awake to see from the distance. As I got dressed, I could see clouds hovering above Table To...

Friday, September 19 ("Port Duty"/ Namibia): AMAZING! I'm in Africa, again. Namibia was once colonized by the Germans, then by South Africa; this country has only been liberated from apartheid for 18 years. During the diplomatic briefing I learned that Namibia exports a tremendous amount of seafood because the country rests next to the Atlantic Ocean. (sidenote: Also, for those who follow pop culture, Brad & Angelina Jolie vacation in Namibia and re...

Thursday, September 18 ("The Middle Passage"/ sailing to Namibia): Late in the evening on September 16, Success at Sea presented: Traveling as a Person of Color at Sea. The session was intended to provide an academic context for race relations around the world AND prepare students of color for issues they may encounter outside the U.S. Additionally, I hoped allies could learn about challenges students of color may experience while traveling. I asked SAS...

Friday, September 12 ("Success at Sea Series"/ sailing to Namibia):Things are quiet…first day back at sea…six days until Namibia. My collateral assignment, Academic & Learning Skills, has not been well defined; this collateral assignment was recently established, so there a few expectations in place. On one hand it's great to create something from scratch, but-on the other hand- it can be challenging to create something from scratch. In past voy...