5..4..3..2..1..Bungey

I made my way to the bus at 5am, because it was going to be an 8 hour drive to the highest bungey place in the world. Once we were at the bungy place we got situated in our cabins and by 3:30pm it was my groups turn to walk out onto the bridge.

The music on the bridge was poppin’. It made me so pumped that I wasn’t scared anymore. Then when it was my turn everything was fine until I got to the ledge and then I was scared shitless. Before I knew what was happening the two dudes said 5.4.3.2.1. bungy and for 4 seconds the world stood still and everything was totally quiet. It was an out of body experience. I would totally do it again and afterwards I felt very calm and peaceful and just wanted to go to sleep.(but obviously did not go to sleep.

So I got my video and photos, rested in my cabin then went back to the cliffhangers bar to eat dinner with the rest of my group.  We played some card games and danced a little. They literally played 6 songs over and over and over again. So by 11 after watching the Sevillia-Real Madrid Game I retired for the night ready to risk my life for the second day in a row.

The Wonderful South Africa

There was a consistent theme in South Africa of waking up way before the sun and usually sleeping in a non-horizontal position. But South Africa has been my favorite port by far.  And mommy, beware I did drink a little bit of alcohol in this port, which livened things up a bit, but I was always safe…

So on the first day I woke up for the beautiful sunrise, which rose just North of Table Mountain . It was absolutely stunning. Then we slowly made our way into port seeing the new football stadium that was nearing completion for the World Cup.

We then got off the ship, exchanged some traveller’s cheques that my Grandma Felicia graciously gave to me, went to a gift shop to buy some souveniors at the waterfront. Which by the way is absolutely amazing. I felt back at home on the waterfront, there was a mall and restaurants, it was an extreme contrast to Ghana.

After getting some souvineers, we got a small bite to eat at a pub before my noon FDP. I had French fries (first time in what seems like forever), chicken wings, and the best pint of beer I honestly think I have ever had. It was brewed in South Africa, somewhere near-by possibly on-site and it was called Milk and Honey. As one may have noticed, I stopped talking about alcohol on my blog after Spain, but this beer was just too good, that I just had to mention it.

Plus, at noon I got on the bus to go on my FDP (required field trip) to two wineries to do some wine tasting. We learned the process of making wine, which is way to complex for me to even want to explain, then we got to taste some of the wine. My palate was a very happy camper , so happy that it bought a bottle of wine for 45 Rand. That was like less than $7 for some really good South African red wine. Well, atleast I thought it was really good, especially for $7. We then went to a more environmentally sustainable winery where we tasted some more wine and some brandy. I also know how to taste brandy the professional way. And ya this was basically part of school.

So you take the shot of brandy, but keep it in the front of your mouth, tilt your head forward, literally chew the brandy with your mouth closed so that it does not go out of your mouth. Then swosh it around the middle of your tounge to get the nice, but not too strong aroma and then push it to the back of your mouth with your tounge and swallow.

Wine tasting and looking at sustainable wine productions was the best field trip that I have ever taken for a class. I then went to go see a play called “Careful”. I didn’t really want to go, but since my mom convinced me to pay $50 to go see this thing, I didn’t really have a choise.

So here is a little excerpt from my journal.
“We take the bus to the theatre to have ordourves in the lobby, meanwhile I still have my nalgene bottle filled with wine and it leaks redness every nw and then, especially when I open it up. So I am in a classy theatre, have a stain on my polo and technically smuggling wine right now. Life is great”

Well, life was great I watched the pleasantly comedic play right next to the dean of students and went back to the ship. But on my way back, some of my friends were leaving the ship and they convinced me to go eat dinner with them, especially since I had yet to have anything substantial to eat.
It is now 10pm and I have been off the ship for 12 hours, but anywho we walk to a restaurant on the waterfront and I order a milkshake, cheeseburger and French fries. When my food came out, I literally almost cried, OKOK my eyes were watering. I honestly do not think I had ever been so happy to see a cheeseburger in my life, which a milkshake and French fries.

After the great meal, I went back to the ship for 15 minutes where security took the really cool candle I bought for my mom. I was pissed but I trudged on. I put all of my stuff down, changed my clothes and went back out with some of the people I had dinner with.  It was pretty cool I didn’t really know any of them so I could kind of do whatever I wanted.

The plan was to go to Long Street and go to some of the clubs, but the taxi driver convinced the girls in the first car to that we should go to Tiger Tiger because that’s where all of the local college kids go. Well, the 50 Rand taxi to Long Street turned into a 200 Rand taxi to Tiger Tiger.

So we get to Tiger Tiger and there is a cover charge, and the girls do not want pay for a cover charge, so we go to the club across the street and one of the stupid girls forgets to bring her driver’s licenses or copy of her passport, so even though she is well over 18 years old we can’t all go to that club. So we find this one club that will let us in with only showing our shipboard ID. We get in there and they are playing 90’s music. I was furious, but we obviously weren’t going anywhere else so I made the most of it. We ended up staying at this club dancing the night away well past 3 o’clock. I get back to the ship at 4, giving me enough time to pack for my 5am departure.

NEPTUNE DAY

This day was the first day that it rained on the ship. So Neptune Day is not just a SAS tradition, but it is actually a long standing Maritime tradition, that when it is you first time crossing the equator by sea you get fish guts spilled on you, you kiss a fish and you pay homage to Captain Neptune or something or other.

Well I think I was a Scallywag and now I am something else since I have crossed the equator by sea. (It doesn’t count if you cross it by air or land). It was a fun unproductive day. And o ya a lot of people shaved their heads, that’s the biggest tradition that I tried to forget, but since I have been growing my hair since the 5th grade I was not about to let it go so easily.

Last Day in Ghana

My last Day in Ghana was by far my best day in Ghana. I went to the OSU Childrens Home to do some community service and play with the kids. I had a great time. We painted a wall, and yes dad, I did a good job, since I got to practice on my room back at home.

OSU is an orphanage with about 250 kids from infants to 18 years old. And one of them, named Evon looked me in the eye and told me to take him forever. My whole world just stopped, and my heart truly went out for this wonderful little boy. My time with him will be cherished. (He is now on my facebook profile pic).

We then made a spontaneous side trip, which never happens on SAS sponsored trips and we got 30 minutes to shop for souvenirs. O man that was the most intense 30 minutes, but I ended up getting some pretty cool stuff. But the venders swarmed to me because I was 1. An American which obviously means I have money to spend and 2. I was black so I was their brother and they felt like they could easily approach me.

Ghana ended up being OK. I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t have that full circle feeling with going back to Africa, but I got to experience African poverty first hand and I have no regrets with the decisions I made in Ghana.

Top Experiences in Ghana
1.      Having a Fish head for lunch
2.      Having a lil boy wanting me to adopt him
3.      Going shopping for 30 minutes and being haggled like crazy
4.      Taking a boat ride to and from Ganvie the villag on Stilts

Ghana, Togo, Benin Day 2 and 3

 I woke up at 5am so that I could be in the dinning room at 5:30 and catch my 6am bus going to Benin via Togo. So I got on the bus at 6am, and nobody was really certain of the itinerary, so we made playful bets on how long it was going to take to get to our hotel.  There were some variations but the longest bet was 2 hours. Well, 4 hours later we cross the Ghana-Togo border, 2 hours after that we cross the Togo Benin border. We then spend 15 minutes in the places that made it seem like we were going to spend hours then finally at 8pm we get to our hotel. 14 hours later. I was not a happy camper, but I did get to call my parents on skype, I kinda bitched to them, but I was confined to a small seat all day.

But I did get to go to the Gate of No Return where millions of slaves were transported to America. I attempted to make a documentary on my Return to the Point of No Return, it was going to be a really powerful piece, but that was an epic fail. But I do have to say, we (as a people) have come a long way.

My ancestors crossed the Atlantic sub-human, packed like sardines and I return to Africa on a luxury cruiseliner having the time of my life.

OK that’s all for that day, and also Day 3 was another long day of driving, but we got to go on this village on stilts. That was pretty cool, I have tons of video and pictures so I hope to soon have that all up on facebook.

All in all this trip was really boring, and probably not worth the $350 I paid for it,  but I did get two and half pages worth of stamps on my passport for going into Togo twice and Benin once and back into Ghana.

One thing this trip showed me was the widespread poverty. I was on that bus for 24 hours of that 40 hour trip and an hour never went by where you would see shack after shack with no electricity and probably no running water.

I cannot believe that Ghana is the forefront in development in West Africa because it has so far to go.  There were times when we were traveling on unpaved roads, most of the time at night there was not a light in sight.  I can see the leaps of progression, but Ghana and the rest of west Africa still have a lot of work ahead of them.

GHANA Day 1

Everything is a lot slower in Ghana and nothing, I mean nothing was even close to being on time. There was a lot of things that I wanted to do in Ghana, but getting around was so difficult.

My first day starts with me waking up later then I wanted at around 9:00. The ship is supposed to be cleared by 9:30. I look out the window and I can barely see land. I am like WTF we are never late for getting into port. Well, we were this time. We docked at 10:00 and were not clear to get off until noon. So my field trip to the Botanical Gardens and the Dam was three hours behind schedule.

So there are some problems with this port. We do not dock in Accra, because Accra does not actually have a port so we have to take either a 15 minute shuttle bus to get to Tema or an hour shuttle to get into Accra. Absolutely nothing was in walking distance from the ship like in Spain and Canada.

But interesting Fact: We docked in Tema, which is the closest landmass to the center of the earth (zero degrees longitude and latitude) Also each time we went into Accra we had to pass the Prime Meridian to do so.

So there first day I go to the Botanical Gardens and the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam. My experience with the Dam was pretty cool. I had to do some research on it for one of my classes, then do a presentation based on that research. Then I actually got to go to the Dam and then later on present on what new things I found out. So I now I know a lot about a Dam that’s half way around that world that has affected many people’s lives both positively and negatively.

SO basically the day consisted of a lot of driving, but by far the most memorable event was lunch.
So we had a packed Ghanaian lunch and the options were chicken or fish. I was about half way back on the bus and everybody in front of my got chicken, so there was only fish left. I am not the biggest fish fan, but I can eat it if one does not look like a fish, two does not have visible scales, and three does not have that fishy taste. That’s why I can eat Chicken of the Sea in a sandwich.  So I get my fish in my closed boxed lunch and I am praying that there are no scales. I open it up and was very happy to see no scales.

Then my friend Bert next goes, AAWWWW a head, and I look down and to my horror there is this giant fish head, just the head staring right at me. I am not really sure what I did next, but I made a lot of noise and closed the box and took a few breaths before I opened it again to confirm that I actually saw what I saw.

So we took some pictures with the fish, and I ate all of the side dishes and I took a small bite from my fish head, but it is traumatization like these that make people go vegetarian.  Well, I am not vegetarian, but I prefer to only eat meat that does not resemble the animal it used to be.

An Aside

So life on the ship... It is interesting. We do not go by days of the week there are only three types of days. A day, B day or no class day. We alternate A and B days and have one no class day sometime between each port.

Even though this is a pretty big ship, it constantly is rocking back and forth. It literally never stops. There are weird shakes and sounds that you think you would never want to hear when hundreds of miles away from any help. But we have always been safe and never really been in danger so far.

I am also never fully awake, it is really easy to go to sleep because the boat constantly lulls you to sleep. Also the food is not that great, but you kinda just put it in your mouth and chew and swallow and try not to complain too much.

So I can’t exactly explain a typical day because A, B, and class days tend to be pretty different from each other.

My typical A day

0800    Wake up and eat breakfast before the dining hall closes
        Next finish up school work due today because I have percrastinated for awhile
1000    Do 30 minutes on the elliptical
1030    Do 30 minutes on the bike or stair master
1100    Do 30 minutes of abs, pushups and stretching
1130    Take a shower
1150    Eat Lunch
1220    Go to my Sustainable Development Class (which is usually interesting, but I either am turning in a paper or doing a presentation for this class, so I am usually a little stressed when I come into it)
1350    Documentary Production Class- Everyday I come in worried because I do not have any good footage for a documentary, but I am able to get by OK
1500    I go do work. I am a Program Assistant for the Health Relations Living Learning Coordinator. Its easy and fun and my boss is cool. She’s a Stanford Grad ’01.
1700    I think about doing school work but usually don’t do anything
1800    Eat dinner
And after dinner I usually have some meeting for something or a study group or something. Usually around 2000 I go back to my room and watch a movie or go play a card game. I have gotten very good at Hearts.
I am usually asleep by 2300

My typical B day

0700    I wake up, take a shower go eat breakfast before class
0800    World Cinema class. It’s an hour and fifteen minutes of watching movies from the countries we are about to go to. Its interesting, but its getting kinda boring and the professor is always grumpy. I usually do my homework for this class during this class.
0920    The horrendous Global Studies. This is the class that everyone has to take. It is boring and our professor for some reason does not believe in powerpoint so barely anyone can follow what he is saying. I usually take this time to organize pictures on my computer and check email
1045    I go to work
1200    Eat lunch
1300    Usually fairly productive in getting some work done
1500    Non-profit Leadership – This is my best class, it is interesting and engaging and I enjoy going to it.
1620    I usually watch the kids movie that is on TV. If it is a bad one then I am S.O.L and am then fairly unproductive
1800    Eat Dinner then have various meeting/study groups
After dinner is generally the same. I am usually very unproductive and can get a little restless at this point in time

No Class Days (now called reading days)

These days consist of working out, eating, and sleeping. I then try to do some work but usually end up being unsuccessful. Also special events happen during No Class Day. Like we had Student Orientation between Canada and Spain, Morocco Day during the next stretch, OK I guess nothing between Morocco and Ghana, Neptune Day between Ghana and SA, Midterm Studying between South Africa and Mauritius and Sea Olympics between Mauritius and India.

I will talk about Neptune after my Ghana posts, as that was a pretty eventful day on the ship.

So life on the ship can get kinda old. It is extremely unproductive, but hey I think we are the only school moving between 17 and 25 miles an hour on a consistent basis.

Day 5 Morocco (The Last Day)

I was so glad to be back on the ship. I fell asleep instantly and slept in the next morning for our last day in Morocco. At noon, 5 of us went to the Hamam. The problem was that taxis only took 3-4 people and taxi drivers don’t speak English. So we took two separate taxis and ended up at two different hamams.

So of course I get there, and they do not accept debit cards so Randall and I had to cross this street to get to an ATM. That was a fun mini- adventure.

The Hamam was really nice, I was the only guy in the whole guy’s area. It started with a steam shower/sauna which lasted for about 20 minutes. Then the guy (yes unfortunetly my masseuse was a guy, but Morocco is a very conservative country so I wouldn’t expect it any other way) did this exfoliating rub all over my body and when I say all over, I mean all over.  It took a layer of skin off and it felt really really good.

We then went into another room where he gave me a full body massage. Oh it was so relaxing, especially after 3 days of hiking. So I got all of that for $30 where my mom during Spa week in Phoenix got only a mani/petti for $45. So I beat her this time on the luxuriating battle.

After that Randall and I took a taxi back to the ship. The taxi driver decided that since there is one more spot left open, that he would pick someone else up as well. That was interesting. We then go back to the ship  around 3pm and treat ourselves to my first cheeseburger in about a month.

It was a very relaxing day and a good ending to a good time in Morocco.

Top Experiences in Morocco :
1.      shopping/ getting caught in the rain at the suuks
2.      driving down the mountain after our hike
3.      driving in cabs
4.      having tea at a random bereber house
5.      The Hamam

Morocco Day 4

I am not even going to try to pretend that I am writing this the day of, but I did write in my journal soon after the events of the following posts. Now that midterms, papers, and presentations are over for now I have some time to write in my blog. So, lets take it back about month, and go to a far off distant land called Morocco. And when I say far I mean like 10,000 miles and many experiences away.

So we go back to September 13th this time I am not woken by Big Brother multiple times in the night and instead I wake to some freaken roasters and the smell of fresh manure. I got out of my thing that I slept (it wasn’t a bed and that’s why I am not calling it a bed), then went #1 across the street where they put all of the cow manure.

We then ate breakfast and happily left this gite gladly moving closer to civilization. I am sorry I am not a roughing it type of dude, so this no Western toilet thing for one night was more than enough for me.

The hike was good; it lasted for about an hour and half, ending with a crossing of the river that tested our team working abilities. We all made it across successfully and took a group picture at the end of our hike.

Next we took the best car ride of my life, since I was the biggest person I got to sit in the front seat. And our driver was not scared of driving fast at all. So we were zipping down these curves inches from the side of the mountain (with no guard rail) hopping through berber villages going well over 80 kph down hill.

I was so happy we were going back to civilization and life was moving at a fast pace again. So of course the first thing I do once back in Marraketch is go to the bathroom, then do a little bit of shopping. I am pretty sure that I clogged the drain to the bathroom because I definitely put the toilet paper down the toilet. But oh well, life goes on.

We then race to the train station, where all 30 of us run through the train station like Home Alone style, only this time no one gets left behind in Marraketch. And of course we passed by other SASers.

I then enjoyed my Moroccan boxed lunch on the 4 hour train ride back to Casablanca. I took a well needed nap on the rickety train because the next 6 hours my heart rate was elevated from all of the activity.

So after we get off the train, we get in these small buses to get back to the boat. We get to the boat and there is one hella long line, and to skip the line I proclaim that I have an FDP that leaves in 15 minutes. SO I got to skip the line, I run onto the ship after having my dignity taken away from the security people searching through all of my stuff and touching me all over.

So I run into the union trying to get into the event “Dinner with a Moroccan Family” and nobody is there because guess what, I was early. So I went to my room dropped all of my luggage on the floor took the world’s fastest shower for Marcus. I then got on the waiting list and I ended up being fourth.

I go ahead and sit in a chair where I over hear somebody is really tired and debating not going. So I go up to her and tell her that I would like to go in her place. So I cut in front of the three people ahead of me and was the only one off of the waitlist to have a dinner with a Moroccan Family.

The Dinner was really interesting. Professor Siad gave us a driving tour of Casablanca and of course I got to sit in the front seat. We then broke the fast with his extended family and had a great conversation consisting of 4 languages (English, Arabic, French and Spanish). We had a few fundamental differences on religious views so we kind of glossed over that because the grandpa was getting a little heated.

After breakfast we took a nice walk down the boardwalk and had a cup of coffee before heading to the big Mosque. I think it is the third biggest in the world. He then took us back to the ship where we exchanged email addresses. This was a great day filled with adventure, enlightenment, culture and love. On this day everything just seemed to go right.

Morocco Day 3

Today I woke up at 3, 4 and 5am for different calls of prayer for Ramadan.  I then woke up for the last time at 7. I got some tea and some bread and went to the toilet in a western toilet.  Today there was a lot of walking because it was our major day of trekking.  We made one stop at a random Berber house for some tea, which was nice. But they had satellite TV and the works.

When we finally got to our gite. We took our Moroccan shower, this time with only three people, but there was no western toilet. I had to hold my poop for way too long.  We had to pee where they put the trash and the cow manure.

The dinner was good and I learned how to play a card game called cheat. It’s like B.S. but you can play that same number, a card below or a card above it. I then fell asleep around 11, this time with no paper towel on my pillow.

The Real Morocco (Day 2)

The Real Morocco (Day 2)

So I am also a bad journal writer because I forgot to put this day in my journal. But anywho the next day after a “wonderful” night at Chez Ali, we woke up and had an interesting Moroccan Breakfast and headed to the High Atlas Mountains. So they are call them High Atlas Mountains, but we were not that high at all.

After a pit stop where we got a view of the hydroelectric dam, we put our luggage on the mules and started our trek. Within 5 minutes we hit our first major obstacle.  We were in the desert part of the region and there was this river flowing and there was no way to get around. Some girls jumped on the mules and others like me got on a small ledge and jumped across. It was kinda scary, and yes I did fall and a month later I still have the scraps on my fingers, but it is part of the adventure.

Lunch was really cool, we had it in an Olive Grove. We laid out mats and some cushions down and had salad, rice, fish, tea and something else. We continued our trek walking through some Berber villages seeing some sheep and some graves of dead people along the way.

We eventually got to the gite (basically a larger Berber house meant to accommodate tourist like us). There was one shower and a 5-person Moroccan shower steam room.  We went for the 5-person Moroccan shower steam room and it was an interesting experience. It is a great way to conserve water because there is cold running water that comes out of a faucet and water in a kettle burned by a fire. You get some hot water in a bucket and put cold water in it until it is at a good temperature then you dump it on you or another person in the room. If you want steam you put cold water into the bucket and then pour the cold water into the hot kettle.  We were in there for about 25 minutes and used the equivalent of a one-minute shower for each of us.  I wouldn’t want to do this everyday, but hey when in Morocco, do what the Moroccans do.  Now that I think about it, there is no way I could live like a Moroccan, but I am glad I had that experience.

We then had a nice dinner and the electricity went out so we spent the rest of the night in darkness. We went to sleep on these pads with a blanket and a pillow. I was kind of disgusted so I put a paper towel on the pillow so my face would not be in contact with the pillow. I doubt that did anything, but it made me feel a lot better.

The Craziness We Call Morocco

Morocco Day 1
I did not wake up to see us pull up into the port, which was very beautiful. (NOT) Casablanca has a very commercial/industrial port so we were in the middle of the cranes and gadgets and stuff.  I ate breakfast then packed my backpack for my 4 day High Atlas Mountain trek. My stuff barely fit into my backpack even with the air-tight space saver bags and stuff. I had literally just zipped up my bag when my trip’s group was called up to leave the ship first. My trip was all girls and 2 other guys.  One would think this would be heaven on earth but it really wasn’t, especially when you have no electricity or running water. (but that’s not until later.

So with our lunch in our hands we got off the ship to get a bus to catch the train.  We had to kinda hide our lunch because it was Ramadan and 98% of Moroccans/Muslims do not put anything past their lips including water and gum when the sun is out. I’ll just say Allah bless them.  Once we got on the train, which arrived 20 minutes late, we sat in our first class seats. It was air-conditioned, but that’s about it, the second-class Spain trains were much much better.  Once on-board, we could not eat our lunch because there was a non-SASer in our cabin, so we had to squeeze in another cabin to eat only in the present of SASers to make sure we do not disrespect the people practicing Ramadan.

The train ride took 4 hours (the train was moving hella slow). We got off at the Marrakech Train Station, which was beautiful, complete with a McDonalds and KFC. We took a crazy taxi ride to our hotel 5 minutes away. Our hotel was nice, with a nice view of the pool.

We exchanged some money and I got me some Moroccan dirham (their currency) and got two other people and went to the souks. Now, I thought my last taxi ride was crazy, but this time is another story so I sit down in the front seat, try to put my seatbelt on, but the driver signal to me that it doesn’t work. I was OK, this is interesting. I don’t know how we got there alive, but I have some video of it on my camera. Next task was getting out of the car because my side went out to the street. Which, is a problem, because first rule of Moroccan driving is keep moving forward until you literally have some object in your way preventing you from going further. There is no regard to lines or lights or anything. So after I opened the door to signal little motorcycles that you can’t pass by so close to the cab because I want to get out, I got out of the car and paid the cab driver 15 dirham, which is like $2-3.

Next task was to cross the street. My New Yorker side came out (believe me I didn’t know I had this side) and after standing at the curb for about 30 seconds, I said that’s it, I watched how other Moroccans crossed the street and you just have to start walking and the traffic will find its way around you. So after stopping traffic to let us 8 or so SASers cross the street, we then had to deal with the onslot of these dudes on horse-drawn carriage who wanted to give us a ride around the souks. I said no thank you so many times it was not even funny and I had to make my way through the horse shit at the same time.

If you have not figured out yet, I am experiencing sensory overload and I have not even bought anything yet.  I finally get to the middle of the huge plaza and I can take a breath and look around.

The souks were amazing, there was a huge rainstorm while we were there and we were soaking wet. But I bought some Gucci collogne for $10 and I was able to barter a Moroccan soccer jersey for my brother from 300 D’s to 90 D’s. Those bartering skills were a far cry from my getting golf clubs for $35 at the San Jose Flea Market when the asking price was $40. I would say everything I bought but then that would take the fun out of Kwanzaa/Christmas.

A few highlights of the souks was almost going into a mosque while they were preying, breaking the fast with some of the store keepers, sipping on mint tea and eating some pastries while it was pouring outside, and warding off people who wanted me to spend ALL of my money.  And o ya, I almost forgot, when we were getting a cab to go back to the hotel to change for a fantasia horse show and dinner, we walked up to the street where we saw some cabs. One guy comes up and says 30 dirham, for the three of us, me being as cheap as all get out said thanks but no thanks. Then another taxi driver overhead this and said 25 dirham, and that brought on war. Those two drivers started yelling at each other then 8 others came over and they were all yelling and hitting each other. And I was quite honored that people were fighting over who would want to drive us the few miles back to the hotel. I calmly said, “Excuse me, we are still standing here, and would like to go back to the hotel, we would like to go with the cheapest and most safe driver.” There is no such thing as safe in Morocco, so we went with the 25 dirham person.

(sorry for another long blog, I am a horrible blogger, hey but at least it is now dark outside which means September 10th is almost over, and yes I am almost a month behind, but I have kept a journal so I still remember everything that has happened)

After getting to the hotel we reconvened with the whole group (20 of us) and went to Chez Ali, the biggest touristy thing I have ever seen. It was really depressing, all of the dancers were depressed and things way over done. It was the Moroccan version of Disneyland without the smiling faces and the rides, but it did have a semi-interesting show and pretty good food. After almost getting in a bus accident we made it safely back to our hotel being able to sleep like a baby, after a wonderfully long day.

Day 4- Last day in Spain

Day 4- Last day in Spain

Today I woke up early, (as I woke up a person in my 10 person room one of my roommates was coming in for the night) packed and headed downstairs to the lounge to surf the web for a little bit. I then came up with the best idea.

I went to iTunes.com changed the country I belong to to Spain and then downloaded the top songs from Spain, surprisingly a lot of them were American songs.  This is probably the first time that I have actually bought music on iTunes, but whatever I am on vacation and it’s only money, and when you are on vacation money grows on trees.

So the breakfast they had was atrocious, I had a single piece of bread with some butter on it and was on my way to take two buses to the train station to return to Cadiz via Cordoba and Sevilla.
BTW non-residents pay so much for the public buses. I paid about $4-5 to go about 4-5 miles on public transportation and it was annoying because each bus ride was just a little bit too long to walk.

Also someone told me to get on the wrong bus, so I was a little confused for a little bit, but I met up with someone staying at the hostel and got to the train station with plenty of time to spare.

I went through security, which was a joke because they only check your big bags and do not do anything to you at all, but the train ride to Sevilla was fine (and of course I got discriminated against again, I also got to pass through Cordoba which was another city I wanted to see but just didn’t have enough time for. So after my one hour transfer in Sevilla, I headed back to Cadiz (finally I sat next to a younger person who didn’t mind me at all) arriving at 1400.  I didn’t have to be back on the ship for another 4 hours so I looked around for an Internet café and a place to buy some peanut butter since I bought disgusting organic peanut butter in Nova Scotia.

Well, I was unsuccessful with the peanut butter, but Cadiz has free public Wi-Fi, which is legit, so I sat down, surfed the web, had tuna tapas with a beer and soaked in my last few hours of Spanish sun. I also called home because it was only $1.29 a minute (compared to $5 a minute in other places.) I then headed back to the ship and slept through dinner and went to bed early

So in my last day of Spain, I only had a piece of bread, tuna tapas, water and a beer. I am not sure how I survived that but all in all Spain was fun, a little tamer than I expected, but still fun and adventurous nonetheless.

Spain Day 3 Sevilla-Granada- Alhambra- Malaga

This early morning train ride was much easier getting up for. After I had woken up from my first hostel experience, sleeping with 7 other people thankfully all SAS peeps, I made my way to the Sevilla train station.  I got slightly lost along the way, but made it in plenty of time before my train, and then oh the horror. I realized that there were TWO major train stations in Sevilla (what gall a city of millions have) and I was at the wrong one. Well, I was in luck because the same train went to both stations. But my father would have gotten mad at me that I didn’t pay attention to the details, and my response would be,  “well I still got to Granada anyways”

So, only getting 3.5 hours of sleep I was really hoping to sleep on the train, and I was kinda successful, but at the same time that damn train was so loud.  Also this was the second time I was being quietly discriminated onto/against/(whatever preposition should go there and if my mom were here would correct me on it).  I was kindly sitting in my seat and the guy next to me wanted to move out of his seat so badly. He would go sit in another seat, then someone would claim it, come back to the seat next to me, and would leave when a seat opened up and come back when it was claimed. This cycle happened 3-4 times, but I was really too tired (and didn’t know enough Spanish) to say anything.

I get to Granada and something must have happened on that train because I could not remember any Spanish, I felt really really stupid. But I found my way to the public bus to get downtown and then to take another bus to get to the Alhambra. Man, that Granada bus was an experience. That thing was packed, I was in a foreign country, having no clue if I was going in the right direction, having gone Spanish brain-dead, and being all by myself; it was one of many experiences I have had. So I get to the city center find a Western Union to exchange a traveler’s check and find the tourist office so I can get to the Alhambra.

Probably my favorite part of the trip was walking up to the Alhambra with water trickling down the side of the dirt path, birds chirping and rays of sun blazing through the leaves of tall lush trees. I sat down for a while and took some notes. It was hella relaxing, and I now wish I stayed there longer, but I was unsure how long it was going to take me to walk to the top of the hill where the Alhambra was so I kept on going.

(I am sorry this is a long post, but long day=long post)

I finally got to the top of the hill and tried to get the ticket that I had reserved a month ago, but then I realized I brought the wrong debit card because I have this complex safety system of debit cards and I forgot (or didn’t pay attention to the details) to bring the right one. But of course, I still got my ticket without paying any extra money.

I slowly went through a lot of the Alhambra, but I think I missed a big section of it and took tons of photos and videos and even took some time to sketch in my notebook. I should have gotten an audio tour, because I was basically there looking at buildings not knowing the history of the place at all, and guess what, I still don’t really know the history of the place, but I do know that the people who built it had a lot of money and a lot of time on their hands.

After the Alhambra experience was done (you will see photos and video when I don’t have to pay 40 cents a minute for internet) I took two public buses to the regional bus station at the edge of town and went to Malaga. And of course I got discriminated against again, because there were two seats left on the bus, the one next to me and another one. A woman comes sits down next to me thinking that was the last seat on the bus, looks around, sees the other seat and sits there instead, and then another person came on the bus, stopped at the seat next to me and looked around for anymore options before sitting next to me.

And Mom, I know they were not doing this because I smell, because I showered that morning and put deodorant and smelled nice and fresh, even after a day outside (believe me I checked a whole bunch of times.)
So the bus ride to Malaga was fine I guess, Malaga is a big city with a lot less culture than Cadiz, Sevilla and Granada, but it has the Mediterranean Sea, which I really wanted to touch.  So I get off the bus, looking for the local bus system, but instead find my way to the train station and finally ask some one (in horrible Spanish) how to get to the main local bus terminal.

I took two public buses to my hostel and ended up getting off a stop too early because the driver of the bus told me that was my stop.  I walked the rest of the way, and finally got to my hostel, and was greeted by a beautiful woman SPEAKING ENGLISH. I was instantly in love, not really, but really.

So I settled in my 10 person room (I am being economical) and walked the whopping 30 seconds to the beach (I am being strategic) and took my first steps in the Mediterranean Sea. I was proud of myself for finding a $20 room with a sea view and literally right across the street from it. It looked just like an ocean but whatever.  The great thing about the beach was that I was getting calluses all the walking I had done and after walking on the beach my feet were nice and smooth. After about an hour on the beach (it was way too dark to stay any longer) I went back to the hostel took a shower and then went downstairs.

I ate dinner at the hostel because I was tired for obvious reasons, and for 10 Euros (about $15) I got a sub, a liter of water and a liter of a mojito. Oh man that sub was good, and the water was refreshing, and the mojito was absolutely amazing.  Back at home, I would never pay any where near $15 for that but whatever, I am kinda on vacation.

As I ate dinner, I had a long conversation with this Australian couple travelling the world, and that was just another really awesome experience. But by midnight, I had to call it a night because I had to wake up early again to catch the train to get back to Cadiz before the ship leaves.

This was one great day, full of many mishaps, bountiful beauty, and crazy chaos. Spain is awesome!

Spain Day 2

Cadiz - Sevilla

     I totally understand why Spaniards are the least efficient people in the world. (source unknown) So after going to sleep at 5am (I had to pack) I woke up at 6:45 ate a quick breakfast and I was off to the train station. Don’t worry, I have learned my lesson, late night at a club/bar + early morning train ride = not a happy tummy and head. My train ride to Sevilla was the smoothest thing possible, but my hour and a half of sleep was not enough. And o boy, my Spanish is bad and I was being the forgetful Marcus of my younger years.

     So I got to Sevilla, and I had no idea where my hostel was, and I forgot my reservation sheet on my bed in the ship. The lord loves me though, because the Tourist office just happened to know where the hostel was. It was an interesting 15 minute walk to the hostel. I checked in and got into my 8-person room, where there were some random people sleeping in the beds, and had the beds pushed together.

     5 minutes later about 15 more SAS peep (SAS= Semester at Sea) and so we went out to lunch. BTW Sevilla is dead Sunday morning. Even though they are about 95% Catholic, most do not go to Church, so many shops were not open, but we found a place, and had pretty good lunch.

     After lunch I was ready for my siesta, because I still had a headache. I was mad at myself that I was too tired to go see Sevilla, but O boy after that siesta I was ready to go. So I bumped into some SAS kids on my way out and we just walked around, took some pictures, did some shopping saw some cathedrals. Then we bumped into some more SASers and we followed them to a bullfight. The spontaneity of all of this was really fun. The bullfight was pretty cool and got tons of videos. I feel so bad for the bulls, but it was a good experience. I then had dinner with some other SASers, so that by the end of the day I had probably spent time with about 25 different SASers. All of the bars close by were closed, so it was an early night (I went to bed at 2am) to wake up at 5:30 to head over to Granada.

     Sevilla was fun, I wish I did a little more, but the architecture, and the way of life was nice to see. Goodbye Sevilla and hello to early morning train, Granada and Alhambra and Malaga!!!

Spain Day 1

Marcus’s Blog
Spain Day 1
Old and New Cadiz
     I woke up really early, before sunrise to see us pull into to port. The sunrise was absolutely amazing, and after 8 days at sea, land was finally in sight. So ready or not here I go.

     Getting off the ship was fairly easy, I located the train station, got a map of Cadiz, then took a Churches of Cadiz tour. Cadiz is a town/city that is declining in population but is still hella dense; there are over 110,000 people in a 11km2 area.  So it didn’t take too long to get a full tour of the city. Some highlights were the “new” cathedral and the front gate.

     The “new” cathedral, constructed over 300 years ago, is massive and beautiful. It is not really efficient because its human capacity is fairly small because the walkways are so huge. Our group of 30 people filled up most of the seats in the congregation area. I feel that I was more in a tourist trap than an actual cathedral, but nonetheless that church was amazing.

     I also really liked the front gate to the city. Old Cadiz is a walled city guarded by two brothers (now statues) who were beheaded in the 3rd century for being Christians. The front gate is really beautiful, and expresses the rich history and the different theologies that have resided inside those walls for over a millennia.

     This first night, after having beer, tapas, some rice meal and Sangria we walked over 45 minutes to the clubs. It was fun, but they played bad American music because they saw all of us Americans at the bar. Nonetheless we all had a good time, but I could not handle the Spanish lifestyle, and I had to go back to the ship by 4am.
  
     Cadiz is arguably the oldest city in the Iberian Peninsula, but the stuff built in the 3rd Century has all been lost. It was a nice little town, and my first day and night was really fun and informative but I could not stay there for 4 days, so Sevilla Sevilla here I come.

Spain was Great! Morocco here I come

I know I am a horrible blogger, but Spain was really good, saw some interesting things, but I am about to get off the ship for Morocco, so I will go more indepth about my experiences in Spain and about Berber Villages in the Atlas Mountains when I get back in a few days.

Espana Esta Aqui!!!

We have pulled into port. Waking up before the sun for about the third day in a row. I never thought I would be so surprised to see a string of lights. But as we pulled in Cadiz pronounced kinda like Ka-dith is really beautiful. We took sunrise pics and ate some breakfast. Now I am about to go see some churches, then possibly go to the beach do some shopping, go see some flamenco, bullfighting, and cow spearing(?). Then party the night away.

Once again, I can't believe I am doing this, I can't believe this is actually here. I am trans-Atlantic!!!

Espana esta aqui!!!

So After it All, I STILL Feel Unprepared

So it is kind of weird. I almost don't want to get off the ship, because I know that as soon as I am in Spain, life get's really hectic. Today we had our cultural pre-port presentation and it was actually pretty interesting. But then it hit me that I am going to Spain in 2 days and I have taken over 12 years of Spanish, not only am I not fluent in Spanish but I have forgotten all of the Spanish culture that I have learned. Spain was always a far off distant land and I never paid any mind to, and now it is here. I am just really upset at this moment that I just don't know more. I wish I was more prepared, but for the next 11 days I am going to be in very unfamiliar places and I just do not know how I am going to react.

I do not plan on sleeping much in Spain, since I have early morning trains and parties don't stop until 8 in the morning. And I am doing a three day trek in Morocco so that should be interesting too. Thankfully I finally get to relax from reading hundreds of pages about how we are destroying our world. Basically as some dude said, we are conducting an uncontrolled experiment with the only home we know, so treat your world better.

And talking about the world, I have no idea if I am ready, but ready or not HERE I COME WORLD!!!

The Before of Me

So APON came up with the great idea that I should go through some simple questions and ask myself some before I go and ask them again when I get back and have the answers be one form measurement of growth or change.

Questions:
1.Favorite Color
2.Favorite Song
3.Favorite Book
4.The place I am most excited about
5.What I will miss the most
6.Biggest World Problems
7.Favorite Quote
8.Life Goals
9.Religious Beliefs

Answers:
1.      My favorite color is purple, because it is not found naturally often, but when it is, it is absolutely beautiful

2.      My favorite music  at this moment is the new Black Eyed Peas album. Most of the songs don’t really make sense but they just make me feel good.

3.      My favorite book is Anthem by Ayn Rand mainly because it helped me get into college

4.      There is not a single place that I am more excited than others, but  I am looking forward to South Africa, India, Cambodia/Vietnam, and China

5.      I think that I have done without almost everything at a given time in my life. But I will probably miss free internet and everything that comes with: Pandora, YouTube, internet TV and so on.

6.      The biggest problem the world has is compassion and care for the fellow man. If we cared for others more, there would be less war, less hunger, more collaboration, more advancement

7.      My favorite quote is: “ I I grow up, I want to be a Bus Driver.” – Lafayette. I like this quote because it keeps me grounded. It makes me realize that I am blessed enough not to have a life of uncertainty. It’s the fact that this 10 year old boy knows that might not live to see his 20’s, but he wants o be a bus driver- a person who helps people get from place to place and move people forward.  But even though he wants to propel others he also Is aspiring to a low paying, low satisfaction, not as respected position.

8.      As of now, I want to be a teacher for a few year after college and traveling during the summer. Then go to some graduate school (maybe business?) then hopefully make a lot of money, retire early and teach some more while travelling during the summers and live out my years volunteering for non-profits and doing whatever I want. Nonetheless I looks forward to a happy life with two kids and one wife; in a place where I can live, sleep and be happy, dying with a smile on my face, knowing I have made a difference and the world a better place

9.      My religious beliefs are pretty simple. I believe that there is a higher power, but I am uncertain of how much control they have over us but what I know for sure is that I am here, so I should make the most of it. But also it can’t hurt to pray, just in case that higher being is the father of Jesus.

We're on an Effing Boat!

Saturday:
OK just in case anyone didn't know, I am a Diversity Scholar and a work-study student on the ship. And as a work-study student i got to arrive day early, basically to meat my boss and meet the other people who are doing work-study.

Last night was great, I had martini's with six new friends and went out to a club where everyone was SAS. It was loads of fun and I got to meet new people. I also went to to Costco and Wal-Mart with my dad and got loads of stuff, I also happend to get 4kg of organic peanut butter. But for some reason the label was in French so I did not know it was organic until I opened it a few minutes ago. Needless to say, I am pissed. But its not a big deal I will get peanut butter somewhere else.

Also, I have been given all types of advise and it has all been very helpful, but probably the best advise that I have already used 2-3 times and that is: If you every have to make a decision between doing something, or doing nothing, always go for it and do it!

I won't lie, this is the selfish time in my life, and I plan on taking as much from this voyage as possible. It is so awesome to litteraly say that the whole world awaits me!

MJ

17 flippin days!!!!

Alright so I promised to keep these short and sweet!

As of now I think I have everything I need in my possesion for the semester. I just need an extra battery for the camcorder and a world map.

So I found out what trips I am taking, and I got them all except for a homestay in Tokyo. I have also planned out and paid for spain!

My To-Do List
Pack, exchange for foreign cash, get home, get to Canada, buy a world map, and extra battery

Spain- Cadiz-Seville-Granada-Malaga (churches, bullfights, flamenco dance, river cruise, La Alhambra, Mediterranean Sea, and ATV (super fast trains).

Morocco- Berber Villages and trek through the Atlas Mountains (trying to get a dinner with a Moroccan family, but I'll see you that goes)

Ghana- service, slave ports, village on stilts (should be interesting to see what my ancestors went through)

South Africa- theater, wine production, spiritual diversity, boungey jumping, shark diving, hiking, robben island, townships

Mauritius- Vacation #1

India- Chennai-Delhi-Agra-Varanasi (got my plane info and am ready to go!)

Vietnam- I AM GOING TO CAMBODIA!!! (Angkor Wat- from the Tom Raider movies) also CuChi tunnels and other vietnam exploration

China- Hong Kong-Beijing-Great Wall-Xi'an-Shanghai* (still waiting on ticket confirmation)

Japan- not sure what I am doing the first half but the second half I have a homestay in KOBE

Hawaii- My birthday and vacation #2

San Diego- so I found out that my brother has a national tournament the weekend I get back, so I think I might be coming home to an empty house. (yes i know my place in the family household, I am gone for 4 months and everyone just deserts me.)

Thats all for now, I am still tutoring, handing out keys and selling knives. I hope to be home in a week and a half and be on my way around the world in 2 and half weeks.

Until next time keep it real
Marcus

My Blog

Alight so today, a month before my voyage starts, I have decided to start a blog. I will also try to post pictures and videos on my facebook as much as possible but since internet on the ship is 40 cents a minute or $26 an hour that might only happen a few times.

So everything is going pretty good. All of my major independent trips are paid for and all of the Pre-Sale stuff is too. I have taken my immunization, actually I am in the middle of my week of the Typhoid Oral Immunization. I have a plane ticket to Nova Scotia, and a hotel. Now I just need to make some more money for some wiggle room, transfer some money into foreign currency, and pack.

I have 29 more days until I leave for Nova Scotia, so let me give you a little preview of what I have planned so far, and hopefully I do not get bumped off of any of the trips because of the lottery system thingy.

Nova Scotia- (Wed 8/26) en route from PHX stop in Newark and have dinner with my grandma and grandpa. Then (Thur 8/27) Do whatever I am supposed to do for Work Study, I am getting paid $4000 for this so they can make me do just about anything for this day. I will also go to the party that is in town to meet my fellow SASers and then finally after dreaming about this ever since I saw Road Rules Semester at Sea 10 years ago (Fri 8/28) the actually voyage will start.

Spain- So other than seeing the churches of Cadiz, I don't really have Spain planned out yet. I want to see a Bullfight and a crazy (loco) futbol match, and also hang by the beach. Hopefully in the 8 or so days it takes to get to Spain I can figure all of that out.

Morocco- I signed up for a trek through the Atlas Mountains and spending some time in Marrakech. Also hope to have dinner with a Moroccan family and spend a day in Casablanca.

Ghana- I signed up for the 2 day SAS trip to Benin and see an old slave port and a village in the middle of this one lake. I also want to go up the cape coast and visit some local markets in the Accra area. I am also do a service visit through Habitat for Humanity.

South Africa- I will be watching a play and doing some FDP's but I will also be going shark diving and jumping off of the highest bungey jump in the world (supposedly) also I want to spend some time in the townships and visit Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for a long time.

Mauritius- I dont know what I am doing, maybe snorkeling (but I dont like fish or being around them), but most likly just beach and relaxation

India- I am going to Delhi, Agra, and Varansai to see the Taj Mahal and a whole bunch of other stuff that I will go into further detail later.

Vietnam- Hopefully I am going to Cambodia and visiting Angkor Wat, but if not then I am taking a trip down the Mekong Delta. I am also going to the Cu Chi Tunnels and hopefully buying a cheap suit that I will let my kids wear to their proms when they come to that age.
*And yes I wore my dad's suit/tux from when he went to southeast Asia some 20 years ago.

China- I am super excited for china. I first start off with a day in Hong Kong, then fly to Beijing do some olympic sight seeing there then go to the great wall spend a night on the wall and then a hike and a zipline down then I am going Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors and then I am going to Beijing. Its a lot of traveling for 5 or 6 days but I am so excited for it.

Japan- I have not really organized Japan yet, I think it will be interesting to see Tokyo again. Last time I went when I was around 12 and had McDonalds for just about every meal because I did not like the other food. Hopefully I will get to do some homestays here.

Hawaii- It will be my birthday while I am there so I hope I can have a birthday party but we shall see about that. Other than that I will just try to relax.

And so thats basically it 109 days, potentially up to 14 countries, hitting all but 1 time zone (damn Central Time). So from now on I am to be short and sweat. Hope everyone is enjoying there summers.

Until next time,
Marcus