Cape Town, South Africa Day 1 to 3

Well I didn't do anything completely special for the first day but I have some awesome pictures that I took when we came into port. They were just so spectacular and amazing that I had to take them.

 I spent most of the day just shopping at the Victoria Waterfront mall with friends and taking in the feeling that is South Africa. South Africa, especially Cape Town is very European.

This mall had just about every western store that was European and American not to mention McDonalds which I will eat at tomorrow and probably some Gelatto. Tonight I also went the theatre house located next the University of Cape Town and I am thrilled to have been able to go there and have a blast. I have to admit that the actors there were extremely hot sexy guys! (There was no denying it) That was some serious eye candy to watch while we were watching a formerly banned play from the 1980s about the Apartheid in South Africa and what it did to many white who were forced in the army and the blacks in the communities. It was a very powerful story and completely live as I did get ill after the performance from all the cigarettes that were used by the actors in the play. This play however is not for little kids whatsoever but I would recommend it for those who want to really get a good feel for what the Apartheid was like. Cameras were not really allowed in the theatre area but I also had forgotten my camera because a certain individual called my room to tell me that my bus was about to leave without me (which was never the case. I actually had 20 minutes because the bus hadn't shown up) moving on, a few friends of mine are going to give me some of their pictures to share with you later. I will put a new post up later with the pictures.

The second and third day were spent at the water front doing somemore shopping for food and basic supplies for my cabin while getting to meet some local people which was more amazing than going out to see anything because I got a sense of how other visitors from European countries and even those who lived in the area think. I met a couple of guys from Estonia who joined me on my amazing helicopter ride around cape town area. (videos will be posted in May)

They talked about how expensive Cape Town is and how they think Cape Town has changed and from the conversation that I got, they seemed to have liked the changes that taken place since the apartheid and think that South Africa is truly amazing to visit. Some of the locals have a little bit of a different point of view in that they think that the government could have done more to make the economic gap smaller and done  something about the townships to make them more incorporated into the city life. Most of them however were Caucasian so I decided to pursue some other points of view and got one actually on the fourth day from the school principal in the townships who told us that the current government is not exactly always literate in the fields that they try to work in because many who are voted in often times to keep the diversity may not always know what they are doing and he said that over time as the blacks get more educated and people in the government become smarter at what they are doing then they will be able to do more. Anyways, I meant to mention that on the second day I went star gazing until around midnight at this hotel with SAS and it was amazing. We actually saw Andromeda and it was so spectacular. Just wow! Hoping to get the pictures from Brian soon so I can post them up. (He took all the night pictures with a special camera) I managed to make 4 wishes on 4 shooting stars that night and had a blast with my friends. I also had a lot of time to reflect while lost in the stars and I discovered that this was the most amount of peace I felt in one night because I just had my thoughts only to myself a beautiful view to really get lost in.

The third day was crazy with me deciding to go to a few places. First off was the ferris wheel where I got some really nice pictures and the helicopter ride which I mentioned above.

 I also went to the aquarium and got to watch the shark feeding and look at all the fishes. It was an awesome day and I relaxed so much just from this. I always had SAS trips planned in the three days that took up the entire day but it felt so nice to have just evening SAS trips that weren't stressful and then the entire day to myself to do whatever I wanted to do in Cape Town. It gave me some time to go out with friends and have a couple drinks together or to have dinner with a group or even for that point shopping but I also got to do my own thing and meet people from around the world. I met quite a few Chinese as well as a couple from India. It was interesting just to have a small conversation with them about just how the day was going and how they were enjoying their vacations.

Happy Birthday to My Dad

I know my dad is not around for his birthday but I wanted to give him a shout out for his birthday on my blogs while I am around the world since I will be missing a milestone on his birthday!

A message for my father:

While I have no idea if you got my card from mom who was supposed to give it to you in my place, I wanted to wish you a big happy birthday from on board the MV Explorer. Since I have no gift to offer for your milestone year, I figure my whole trip will be the gift that you receive from me and my experiences abroad. I wish you a safe and relaxing cruise! I miss you but the picture of you pointing at me has been officially framed in my room. When I get home we'll celebrate around my 21^st birthday for one crazy start to a year! Oh and you are getting old! Ha ha just joking dad!

Leave comments on this page wishing my dad an awesome Birthday! Cape Town here I come! J Oh one last thing….THIS!

HAPPY 50^th BIRTHDAY!

Next Stop South Africa!

Hello everyone!

My next port of call after 6 days at sea will be at Cape Town, South Africa. I am really excited to be able to go there. The official language in South Africa is English. It used to be a british colony a long time ago. (I will post a whole history on it later as I read and learn more.) Here is the official flag of South Africa.

Here is the map. I will be docking at the Port of Cape Town. (bottom left corner near Cape of Good Hope)

Ghana Day 5

Today was pleasant and more relaxing as I was winding up my final day in Ghana. I went on a trip to Global Mamas. Global Mamas is this little shop in Accra where single mothers that are skilled but have no work can be able to start a business or work with the organization to sell their items in the Global Mamas shop. Their micro-lending is a bit different from other micro-lending NGOs where they help supply the single women with supplies for their shop. There is a process though that the women have to go through to be a part of Global Mamas. The women have to be skilled workers in some sort of process whether it is beading, seamstress work or other crafts. Global Mamas then sends people out to see their homes or business where they produce the work and if they like it then they want to see samples of the work. If the samples are well made then Global Mamas will do business with them and they supply the materials needed to make the end product. The items were just really nice and I bought a bit to bring back to the states.

Website is: www.globalmamas.org if you are interested in looking at the products that they sell.

Ghana Day 4

For the 4^th day in Ghana, I spent it at the City of Hope and Refuge which is a place where they house orphaned, trafficked and abused Ghanaian children from a fishing village in the north called Volta. What happens Is single mothers from other villages in Ghana can't afford to feed their kids and so they sell them off to these fishermen for money and these kids are then forced to fish in this man-made lake. The boys are often put to work for very long hours and intense labor and some of them even drown at some points as they are setting the nets up to fish in the lake. The girls become servants and can be sexually abused. Some get pregnant as young as 12 years old. The owners of the City of Hope and Refuge are John and Tracy who started the program in 2006 and have so far saved 23 children and managed to adopt one out to a couple in the United States. They are actually planning to do a bigger rescue in May to save an additional 18 children from the same village. They house and feed the children as well as give these children an education. They are also working on a project to eventually teach the children some vocational trading so that they can be successful whether they go to a university or not. This couple that runs the place are so amazing. John is from Nigeria and Tracy is from the United States and to see them do the amazing things that they do are simply phenomenal. I learned very much about the troubles of starting a non-profit organization in another country and having to work with the government along with getting the funding needed to sustain it and getting donors to sponsor the children. There were various projects to do on the grounds such as painting the sheds, marking the soccer field (they call it football field because in most other countries football =soccer and American football is American football.) I helped with two others with the teacher to prepare the exams for the next week since on average it normally takes her 18 hours to do all the exams from grades Preschool to sixth grade and a couple of Jr. High students who also attend  but have separate classes. The exams were a bit hilarious to make because typing them up on a computer and having to add in the figures and the formatting was very time consuming not to mention that the children would swarm around us at different points. It was such a pleasant experience to be able to do the trip and I wouldn't have it any other way. On Day 5, I will be doing global mamas and I will explain what it is then. I miss all my family, my vicarious kids and my best buddies at home. My shout out goes to USD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PARTICULARLY THE ACCOUNTING STUDENTS!

Ghana Day 2 & 3

After the longest two days ever and more than 12 hours spent in a small cramped bus and some entertainment, the Kumasi Trip ended. The first day was spent going out about 5 to 6 hours to the city of Kumasi in the region known as the Ashanti Region named for the Ashanti Empire that ruled in Ghana before it was colonized. Kumasi was the Ashanti Empire capital and still remains as the capital of the Ashanti Region. It is the only region that still retains some of its power to a king. The Ghanaian government cannot make any improvements, projects or changes in the Ashanti region without the king and the queen mother's permission.  We had lunch at a local restaurant and to be frankly honest, I did not experiment too much with the food because I was afraid I would have the same issues that I had in Brazil (I got sick on the last day in Manaus Brazil and it took me 4 days to eat regular food again). We also headed to the cultural center where they spoke a lot about the succession of the kings and the matrilineal system that is practiced. When the king dies, his sons will never be able to become king because in the matrilineal system, the queen mother (She can be anything but the king's wife & daughters which includes his mother, sisters, nieces, aunts etc.) nominates an individual from her side of the family that is a male and they go through an entire system of checks and balances before the individual is allowed to rule the Ashanti region. That night we stayed at the hotel and had some dinner and I had a few sips of some hard cider before checking in for the night. The second day started about 7am and we checked out at 8am then went 2 hours out to artisan villages where I had to actually bargain for the first time and I can say one thing. OH MY GOD this is worse than the BAHAMAS! These people are so pushy and they swarm you like crazy! Then when you try to bargain with them, they jack up the price super high. It's ridiculous! I paid like 40 cedi and one of my SAS shirts for an antique cloth that I plan to give to the teacher for my vicarious voyage class. It does have an amazing history though so I bought it. I was irritated for a while though but I got over it and just moved on but note to all: You best be a good bargain hunter in Ghana, say no and be firm and also walk away if the deal sucks.

 It was an experience. That's all I have got to say about it. Moving on from that, I went to the palace of the very first king of the Ashanti Empire (no photographs were allowed at the museums so no pictures of the inside. Sorry!)

 I picked up some snacks though which they were pretty cheap. It was around 2-3 cedi and 5 cedi for the larger ones so a few US dollars at most. I bought Ghanaian chocolate!!! J Pretty much from that point we were practically taking so much time to get to places. Traffic really is not that great in Ghana and everything is so spread out that it takes us like an hour to get to places!

Ghana Day 1

So today was an experience to remember but a few cultural things to keep in mind as I continue to discuss this is that the left hand in Ghana is considered an insult because in Ghanaian culture, the left hand is impure so when you shake hands or wave, always use the right hand. The currency in Ghana is called Cedi and generally is 1.6 cedi to the US dollar. So our first experience happened in the morning when we were coming into port and saw the tug boats coming in. Ghanaians are very welcoming people and they will honk horns and wave to greet the incoming ships especially tourist ships.

When we got to port, we got there around 7:30am and didn't get off until 10am because of Ghanaian customs. During that time, we got to talk with the US embassy from Ghana who came on board to meet everyone and got a special performance that was just on the dock. I have the video on this but I will post it when I have better internet but these were the drummers and dancers for the performance which was really awesome.

When we got off the port, I didn't have cedi at the time because the ship hadn't gotten the order of cedi for exchanging yet so I went on the tour without cedi which was actually more fun to watch. Street vendors are everywhere in Ghana. It was more prevalent in Ghana than they were in Brazil! Many of the Ghanaians carried a lot of the merchandise on their heads. The reason this happens is because Ghanaians have amazingly good posture to the point that they never suffer from any back aches at all. Women could carry entire large metal buckets of water that can be up to twice their weight and they can handle it quite well. A really big thing about Ghana is their pride and their history. A really important figure is Kwame Nkrumah who essentially won Ghana's independence from Great Britain in 1957 making it the first African country that was decolonized. Nkrumah was elected as Ghana's first prime minister and was very educated as an individual. During the cold war he had sided with China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union (USSR) which at the time were deemed the communist countries and were enemies to the Western and democratic nations for a long time. Despite all that, Nkrumah not only brought independence but also brought many freedoms for Ghanaians as a whole to trade openly with other nations. He passed away in 1972 and here is where he is buried today. He is well regarded as the hero of the Ghanaian people.

This is the place of which he declared independence (below)

The first US president to visit Ghana after the Cold War was President Clinton! (Yes we love the Clinton Administration! Ha ha just joking) An important figure also came about to make Ghanaian history is W.E.B Dubois. He was an African American who brought about the idea and concept for Pan-Africanism which became an important landmark in history where he advanced the ideas of Africans coming together as one and he pushed to have all the nations in Africa united as one. He went to Ghana in 1961 at the ripe old age of 91 years old to help write the history of Ghana that was not Eurocentric. During his time in Ghana, he was honored by China, USSR and Czechoslovakia for his work for the colored peoples. He died in 1963 just shortly after his 93^rd birthday.

The biggest highlights of my tour that I thought were very awesome was that we had a police escort for our entire tour only for the purpose of not getting stuck in traffic J (Traffic can get so bad in Ghana sometimes that you could potentially be stuck in it for 4 hours. Not fun at all). The second one was GHANAIAN CHOCOLATE!!! YES! I know chocolate can be bad for you but Ghanaian chocolate is made from the cocoa right there in Ghana and the chocolate bar itself tastes fluffy and light as well as it tastes better than hersheys chocolate or any other US or Brazilian chocolates ever made. (Oh and it doesn't give you heart burn like US chocolates) Oh yes did I mention that Valentine's Day is February 14th and oh yeah Ghanaians celebrate Valentine's Day as National Chocolate Day! The United States should borrow this sometime!

Ghana!

So the next stop is Ghana! I am excited about going there and learning about the culture and doing a number of service activities in the country. I have several service trips that I am going to be a part of and am excited to do another overnight in this country. I am looking forward to being able to learn more on my journey around the world. Below is the official flag of Ghana.

Here is a map of Ghana and the port that we are stopping at is Tema which is at the lower end (right side).

I hope that I will be able to see some of the presentations that the special students from Mrs. Hagan's third grade class. It will be fun to see them. My father's birthday will be just after Ghana but he will be on a cruise so since I can't post any videos for his birthday unfortunately or if I do then I am good but happy early 50^th dad!

Manaus Day 2 and 3

Day 2: We went to the rubber Museum about an hour's boat ride from the ship and it was rather nice to have the air go past us keeping us cool. The rubber plantation was really something different as they told us what the people there experienced under the owners. Most suffered from malnutrition and disease because they were required to make a large amount in order to just feed themselves properly for the week which was not always the case. They had to carve into the trees to get the rubber sap from there and then work in the huts to create the rubber for hours on end.

From there we headed to the eco resort where we were given our rooms and lunch. It was very nice and pleasant. We even had a nice greeter. (Not a person by the way. It was this special bird)

Yes the parrot! Colorful and red isn't he?

This was a bit of what the area was like. The cabins have three beds, two on the bottom and on in an attic area which is where I was sleeping at.

This is a cayman! Yes he lives in the waters that you see the cabins above bordering. We weren't allowed in the water that they lived in but these cayman all live here. I saw seven at one time while I was here and that was when they were feeding them.

I went fishing with the group later on for guess which native fish? The piranha! The bait we used was raw pork to try to catch them. I was successful in catching one but in my attempts to get him aboard the boat were kind of funny because I yanked a little hard and he flew on the roof of the boat and got loose of the hook but one of the guys got him before he could get back in and showed me. So I didn't a picture with him but here is the one I caught.

It was still an awesome experience to be able to fish for piranha. On the way back to the resort, we actually managed to find a cayman during the night and it was so awesome for them not only catch one unharmed but be able to show us without harming the cayman.

Day 3: After a nice night, I relaxed in the morning before we checked out of the resort but not before scaring one of my roommates with this in her bed. (So bad I know but it was so funny!)

We soon left and went to a restaurant on the water to eat before taking us to see the lily pads which were a sight to see in the amazon.

From there we were taken to the meeting of the two rivers. The amazon and rio negro rivers meet up in a spot that looks like this.

The Rio Negro is on the left (Amazon is the darker color water on the right) and looks completely light brown like it has been polluted but that is not the case. The river itself is very acidic naturally and not very many known species are found in there which is around 700 species found in the Rio Negro River. The Rio Negro is also less dense than the Amazon River and is 2 degrees Celsius less than the Amazon. Also the Rio Negro current is slower than the Amazon River so there appears to be a solid border keeping the two rivers very noticeably split. The experience of doing this was amazing and I liked it a lot.

I apologize but there is nothing for day 4 in manaus because unfortunately i got very sick the night i got back from this trip from some food so i was bedridden on our last day in Manaus, Brazil so i did not get to do anything or watch our ship leave manaus. :( It was sad for me but i am better and we are heading for Ghana! 10 days till ghana! Email me! miranda.denny.s12@semesteratsea.org

Leave comments on here too!

Manaus Day 1

Day 1:

Today I went on the city orientation tour of Manaus and it was a pleasant tour but the overall weather was very humid so I was uncomfortable part of the time. We went to the Teatro de Amazonas which is the opera house in Manaus. It has an old Portuguese architecture design. Much of the nicer buildings in the area were generally from when the Portuguese colonized Manaus a few hundred years ago. Most of the buildings around the area are just boxes shaped and very boring type buildings however there was a church styled in almost a Victorian style architecture.

It was quite amazing but I have to say that in Manaus, every street is jam packed with vendors and just people selling stuff from fruit to souvenirs and everything in between. We did actually visit a fish market that sold so many different types of fish that I couldn't even count the amount of different types from the Amazon!

The big highlight of everything was the very interesting statue just outside the Teatro which is significant because it reflects the places that actually sailed to and helped shape Manaus to what it currently is today. It was such a fascinating experience to look at this statue and see who traded. (It is Europe, Asia,and America )

Eating the amazon was an amazing experience of being able to cook using the exotic fish of the amazon. I went to a culinary institute called Senac in Manaus. There, I was able to not only observe the making of the dish but also was able to assist in cooking the dish. The fish we cooked was Pirarucu (pronounced Pi-ra-ru-su)

We had this fish three different ways, fried, broiled and soaked in a sauce. We used many different ingredients including a native herb that numbs your tongue from the three different peppers that were being used. In the end I tried a very good extra virgin olive oil that tasted like peppers but it was very good.

As we went through the cooking process we created many dishes from one thing so our finished product looked like this plate below J

Next Stop Brazil (Hagan's Class)

Brazil!

Hello Mrs. Hagan's class!

My next port of call is Brazil and we will be docking in the port of Manaus which is about half way up the amazon river. A few tidbits about the Amazon river. It can actually hold all the water from the rivers in the world such as the Mississippi River, the Yangtze River and even the Nile river and still have extra left over. The Amazon is one very large rainforest that many indigenous peoples in the region depend on for their way of life and support. Here are a couple maps below.

Here is the main map of Brazil:

This is the area we will be at in the northern half of Brazil:

I will have a lot more tidbits and information for you later after I finish the rest of my class on brazil. I will be trying a lot of food while here so I will try to put up what I did for everyday that I am there. I did read the comment about why I took the whale watching trip in Dominica and all I can answer is

1.       The MV Explorer is a ship not a boat

2.       Who wouldn't go whale and dolphin watching in Dominica because the ocean is so blue and awesome!

3.       Though I didn't see any marine life, it was actually fun and I got nice views of the island and the ocean around. Background pictures!

Besides, you will be more excited to know that I will be seeing a lot of animals and will post a blog on that really soon. Enjoy! Keep emailing me and leaving comments. I am excited to see that there are so many views for my blog! I love to hear from the class! Classes are going fine and I since I have limited internet access, I can't put up videos for you all! Sorry! I will try to put up as many pictures as possible. Please email me if the pictures don't show so I can take care of that immediately.  If you have any fun ideas for China and Japan please email them to me as I plan to pretty much travel both of them on my own with a few required FDPs (Faculty Direct Practica) for my classes.

Dominica

January 23, 2012

It was such an exciting day with just coming to the island of Dominica which was a two day ship ride from Nassau, Bahamas. We landed early this morning around 7:30am and it was such a beautiful sight.

Today I went to the markets first thing this morning to shop and then walked around and took in the sights before I went to my first excursion at 1pm. The excursion stopped at the ship's view lookout point. We could see all the cruise ships including our own which made the experience very neat and fun to go to.

I went to the Island hot baths and it was so amazing to be soaking in these baths. They are mineral water baths and are just incredible place to be in. There were so many different pools. There were the hot ones. The one picture that I was in is the warm pool. It was perfect without being too cold.

 

The bus smashed underneath the tree happened during Hurricane David which smashed through Dominica. This particular bus was donated prior to the hurricane by the Canadians and unfortunately was under this particular tree before the tree collapsed during the hurricane and smashed the bus so it's now a mini monument. Needless to say, the Canadians did not donate another bus to Dominica.

January 24, 2012

This morning I had the whale and Dolphin safari and I had hopes of seeing some marine life today but unfortunately I did not get lucky today. I didn't get to see any marine life at all in the ocean. I still had a good time on the boat with everyone and had a wonderful boat ride for the whole time. I did shop and bought some souvenirs and spices to bring back home to cook with. It was a fun experience to be able to go to Dominica and can't wait for Brazil. I had a fun picture with an acquaintance on board though J

Sorry this was late but first few days before dominica

The first couple days getting on the MV Explorer were an experience that I will never forget. 24 individuals did not receive their passports with the Brazil visas which was crucial. It was a trip as we left port around 12pm on January 20^th only to return around 5:30pm to pick up the last of the 10 students who made it in time. We then permanently departed from Nassau Bahamas at 8pm on the same day. The following day started the classes and clubs. Some pictures of my inside room on the 4^th deck. J

The First day of classes was a little boring for me. My Operations management was at 8am and it wasn't that great for me so I hope it will be a little bit better. Art history made it that much harder to focus because for some odd reason that bored me as well so I hope the best will come out of these classes.