Extended Family & Week Update

Hello all!

 

The MV Explorer left the Amazon at about 5PM tonight. We are now crossing the Atlantic! It was really neat to watch the water as we entered the Atlantic. It went from a milk chocolate coffee color and then you could see some tints of blue....pretty soon it was mostly blue and we could still see land in the distance. Now we're in the ocean with no land in sight!

 

We are 2 hours ahead of Eastern time so its 8:45 now which means its only 6:45 in Ohio!

 

Today is the second of eight days of classes. I am getting into the groove of things with projects, papers, journals and reading. I am so excited to get to Ghana and travel around Africa!!!!! My friends and I were all sitting in "The Garden Lounge" (The small dining hall) this afternoon talking and attempting to do homework. Next to us, all the life long learners were sitting playing cards, yahtzee, and dominos. We were discussing how awesome it would be to be a life long learner....all they do is sit around and chat and play cards and suntan and plan their trips and sit in on the occasional class. What a vacation!!! (I heard prices now are two for one...someone needs to take advantage of this!) There is the most adorable couple here. The husband is in his 90s and his wife in her mid 80's. They are quite the travelers! The waiters always ask them what they would like to drink. Speaking of waiters....I havent really talked about everything we DONT have to do on this ship. So I wake up in the morning....I don't make my bed and my clothes tend to be scattered...sometimes laying on the floor or on my bed. I go to breakfast (I actually wake up for breakfast!!!) where the table is already set with table cloth, water in a pitcher, silverware and napkins. I eat my breakfast and get up from the table to go to class leaving my empty cereal bowl on the table. I don't clear my plate- that's what the waiters do. As I go to class I see the crew vacumming, polishing the brass handrails, dusting, and organizing the chairs. When I get out of class, I go to my room to drop off my books. My bed is neatly made, my clothes are folded on my bed, the bathroom is cleaned daily, and there are fresh towels every four days, fresh sheets every week. Our steward keeps our room tidy- every single day!....I think I forgot how to make a bed...sorry Mom!

 

The other night, my roommate Yohanna and I did the honors and took our picture off the wall. It is tradition that past SAS students write words of wisdom on the back of the pictures. It was amazing to read all the great advice left for us! Some examples were:

 

Don't live your voyage through your camera

Don't make SAS the last time you travel abroad

Stock up on peanut butter becuase they run out by the end of the voyage

It may feel like we have a long journey ahead of us but it will be over in a flash so live wach day as if it were your last

Our phone number is 3171 (even though our room is 3161) because we are in the little room off of the main room.

*So if you want to call me, tell the receptionist 3171 !

 

There were sooo many more so I took a picture of it right before we hung it back on the wall. It was very fun!

 

Tonight was the first night of the Extended Family program. Over 400 students signed up to be in families! We were given a number and at 5:30 I had to go eat dinner with my mystery family. I sat down with another girl at our table and we patiently waited for our "parents" to arrive as well as the other family members. I am SO SO SO excited because Dr. Bill (The doctor for the health clinic) and his wife, are my "parents"! He is the funniest guy ever and his wife is so nice. We had great conversations about who we are, where we are studying, about our family, etc. We talked about summer camps since a boy in our family has been a counselor for 5 years. It was a great conversation and so much fun to have such random conversations with older adults. We talked about how you can really make your life what you want it to be- how you have a vision of what you want your life to be like and you make the choices you need to in order to get there. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to meet with my "family" again!

 

We also had our group meetings tonight where we reflected on our experiences in Dominica and Manaus. One of the main discussions was "Do you feel bad for being an American in these countries?" For the most part, the general consensus was yes. It's a weird feeling to be in a foreign country and not being able to communicate with them. You get frustrated that they don't understand you, yet then you realize that you are the foreigner and have no right to be frustrated. The locals are the only ones that should be frustrated at us! I think for me, I felt ignorant thinking I could show up in Brazil and tour around their country without any knowledge of their language. I feel like I should have learned more Portugese and it taught me to be more prepared the next time I go into a country where they speak a foreign language. America has this negative meaning to some people and sometimes when I said I was from America, I felt uncomfortable like they were judging me! This is something we will experience in every country but it was an interesting topic to reflect on.

 

Tonight made me really think about who I am and why I am on this voyage and what I want to get out of it. I think I've already learned a lot in such a short amount of time and I can't wait for the next adventure.

 

Next stop, Ghana!