A Piece of Heaven

So here it is quite plain and simply: I LOVE AFRICA. Leaving Africa was just as hard as leaving home, and just as painful to say goodbye to. I am making a vow to myself that I will come back to Cape Town in the next 5 years, and spend a month living there at least. The thing is- once it is in your system, it’s really addictive. The entire ship has a mad love affair with Cape Town. Here is the three step system to falling in love with Africa. Hook. Line. Sinker.

Part 1. Hakuna Matata?

The hook:
We arrived to South Africa to the Victoria Wharf waterfront with the backdrop of Table Mountain. Restaurants and bars with outside patios and strings of lights line one side behind a row of tugboats, and other smaller ships. On the other is an immense mall. A cute yellow hotel with a string of palm trees in front of it is directly in front of our ship. Next to it is Victoria Wharf. There is a four story mall complete with Louis Vuitton to Dior to Build-A-Bear to Pick- n- Pay grocery store. Along the waterfront are more restaurants outside. We headed directly to the airport to head to Durban for our safari. Then we took a three hour bus ride to our game park. Our tents are in the smack dab middle of it. No fence. No guards. Just a line of 5 tents, 3 small huts, and a large deck. Below the deck is a large field with water running through it and eventually a rock that looks a little like Pride Rock (Lion King?). After dinner we were sitting around the campfire and noticed some elephants congregating in that field aforementioned. Well, one mama and two babies turned into, oh, 50 or so. It was great and all until one growled. Haha, when you’re sitting at a campfire in the middle of Animal Planet, and you hear a deep growl coming from what seems two feet behind you, you start to wonder what the hell you thought when you were like ‘Safari, YES PLEASE.’ They piled us all onto the deck and hustled us to bed. The next morning the elephants had plowed down massive trees blocking us in in several places. Very intelligent and powerful creatures. We spent the next day driving, finding animals. An elephant followed us in our car and continued to play next to our car. That night we went out again. A mama rhino and her tw3o month old baby crossed right next to us. The dad was only a couple feet away from us, starting to get mad for shining the light in its eyes. At one point he looked like he was ready to charge. We spent that second night around the campfire with our eggs- don’t ask. Needless to say we almost broke out in a rotten egg fight, but I caught mine. The final day we said goodbye to our campground. On our way out a giraffe- what I wanted to see most- was just moseying in front of our bus. During this entire experience, I couldn’t think anything other than, ‘I am never voluntarily doing this ever again. Ever.’ I mean, at one point my roommate opened our door and a hyena was just looking at her. During take-off, I realized I wasn’t nervous about flying. At all. Things take a little bit more perspective. Maybe I would do a safari again after all.

Part 2. Stop the Police Brutality!

The line:
You know those commercials that have pot-bellied kids staring up at you with wide eyes, asking for money to feed them? Enter Green Park Township preschool children. Through Operation Hunger, we went to a local township where people live in what appears to be forts. Remember when we were kids and we would use blankets and random trinkets for forts? Well, that is what they live in. Some barely have tarp covering them with bricks holding it down. Home sweet home for thousands of people. Our first stop was the preschool. It was a tin hut painted bright yellow with green handprints. There were not windows, but cut outs, and the ceiling was bleak with one doll in the middle of the makeshift rafters. Before we even entered we heard the sound of children singing ever so cute. But when they saw us they became very quiet and some even started crying. Most will only see whites when they are getting their shot, which isn’t done delicately. Point blank: they are terrified of white people. We began to play with the children while others weighed them to see who was malnourished and who was healthy. Play is an overstatement. They stood in a small circle, gripping onto each other avoiding the gringos at all costs. Finally, one child warmed up after 10 helpless minutes and everyone seemed to open up. Before you knew it, kids were swinging on swings, running around, and playing soccer. They came up to you wanting to be held. And pictures. You took a picture and they wanted to see it. They wanted to see what they look like. I have countless pictures of little kids just staring up at me, looking so innocent. While we were leaving, four or five kids who had been sitting in my lap and taking pictures with me all started waving their tiny little hands, and saying ‘bye bye’. Even thinking about it now… Wow. After the preschool, we headed to the high school. They had been preparing for Mr. and Mrs. Valentines Day pageant and we were the lucky ones to go on that particular day. The high school was further into this particular township. On the way there we saw more of the hut-like structures, and one of them stuck out in my mind. Scribbled in paint next to the high school was ‘Stop this police brutality’. The high school was pretty impressive considering. It was maybe the size of your average courtyard with classrooms circling the center. As soon as we entered the gym we were greeted with a mass of loud cheers. I felt like a celebrity. Hell, we were treated like them. We had a special section near the front and everyone was so excited to see us. They had African rap music blasting and students would just jump onto the floor and start dancing. Everyone was singing and dancing in a huge pile next to the stage. There was a minute or two that was slightly awkward. But one person jumped up and started dancing and then everyone did and it was just incredible. They started to cheer and get excited and we all started dancing together. How do you describe a boundary transcended with a gesture so simple? I just remember thinking to myself over and over again- I’m dancing with a bunch of South Africans in a township high school in the middle of South Africa. Like, who the hell gets to do that? So random and yet I don’t remember when I had laughed so hard. After the pageant we headed back to the other side of the township. We had a meeting with the council about the results of the weigh in. You see, a year ago every one of those kids were malnourished. Because of Operation Hunger- and the kind of work we did- only 3 were severely malnourished, while the majority are now normal weight. They were so grateful and tried their best to welcome us warmly. They had made little posters welcoming us and showing our ‘entertainment programme’. The little girls came up and danced for us, a little girl named Isabella sang for us, and they all did another dance. They thanked us immensely and told us how happy they were here. The women in charge told us how she will die there, and that this community means everything to her. After everything was said and done, we gave them boxes of food with bags of apples a couple coloring books and the like. Something to think about the next time we eat out, huh. As we were leaving, some of the girls had brought stickers to give the children. Huge piles of kids crowded the girls and put them on their cheeks and ears and posing for pictures in mass amounts. One mother came up to someone asking her to take a picture with her kids. Two people came up to me asking me to ‘shoot them’. One was surprised when they saw what they looked like and ran away screaming. To peel yourself away from that…As we were walking down the streets people were coming out of their homes waving and smiling. Everywhere. They just emerged with the most heartfelt of smiles just so happy to see us. A row of kids from the preschool were saying goodbye from underneath the tree, waving their little hands. As we got on the bus, they stood around it. One even walked on the bus with his apple, smiling and laughing. These people never asked for anything. They didn’t beg or complain. They were happy, utterly happy with everything as it was. It rubbed off on you. If I should be lucky enough to find success, I know where I want some of that money to go. It was life-changing to meet those people.

Part 3. My Balloon of Happiness is Full.

The sinker:
After my safari, I made it out every night. The first night, after dinner at the wharf, I went to Long Street which is a strip with several bars, clubs, and restaurants. On my way in the taxi, I started to panic that I had been pick-pocketed and removed my camera from my hand. I’m a little bitter about the rest of that story. How about a lot bitter? The second night, after the township, I was feeling exhausted and wanted to go in early. My friends and I still wanted to talk and decided to go to Cantina Tequila which is a Mexican Restaurant and bar next to the ship. On our way out, someone had mentioned the Semester at Sea shirt my friend Mike was wearing. That turned into a whole night affair with 6 South Africans lovingly dubbed Jojo, Babyface, Roachy, B-man, and Buttercup. Don’t ask why I named them that. Anyways, we spent the night talking along the waterfront while other passerbyer’s from SAS would jump in and join us. That’s what I love about us, we’re our own little community here. We planned on meeting them again the next day. After a day of shopping at the Green Market, Valerie and I had lunch at a café on the wharf. A burger! It’s been a while since one of those for me. We went to Cantina Tequila and continued to talk with other SAS people and having drinks. Later, we met up with our friends and had dinner with them. We went to Stones, which is a little club on Long Street. We spent the night on the balcony and dancing inside. South Africans dance very different. Saying goodbye was too hard, so we decided to meet up with them again the next day. Our final day. Buttercup drove us to the flea market where we spent an hour or so. Then we went on Signal Hill which overlooks the city. It was an absolutely perfect day. Then we went to Camps Bay and played in the ocean. We sat and talked on the reefs. Afterwards we went to Cubana, a bar and restaurant, that is gorgeous. If you ever happen to find yourself in South Africa, I highly suggest it. Their sweet chili sauce is bomb. The entire day I couldn’t stop saying how happy I was. If my happiness filled a balloon it would be huge. Haha… Buttercup took us back to the wharf and we spent the rest of the time visiting Roachy, B man, Babyface, and Jojo at work. Saying goodbye to them was so hard. I’m going to miss you guys! But I’ll see you in 5 years. There you have it. Hook, line, and sinker. From the get go I expected Africa to be one of my favorite stops, if not my favorite. The other places have a lot to stand up to. The only complaint I have is that we left too soon. There is so much personality exuding from these people and this place. I still have so much I have to do: shark diving, Robben Island, Boulder Beach, Table Mountain, Stellenbosch, Winelands, etc. I have to say, I think I left a little piece of my heart back in Africa.

Mama AFRICA

'Total amount of times lost: 5
Total amount of items lost/stolen: 2*

• RIP Canon camera with my entire safari and Brazil soccer pictures on it. You served me well during our short time together. I’m sure Sea Bridge Taxi Company Driver will not cause you harm.
Top Ten:
10. Getting on the plane from Durban to Capetown after my safari, realizing after sleeping next to hyenas and elephants, flying didn’t seem like an issue anymore.

9. Meeting the fabulous 6 at Cantina Tequila.

8. The rhino, elephant and giraffe that just happened to walk directly in front of the car. Normal.

7. Dancing with my amazing local South African friends at Stones.

6. Seeing a herd of 50 plus elephants right outside out our deck, waiting to cross through our camp.

5. The initial moment when dancing transcended cultural boundaries and we bonded with those High School kids.

4. Walking into an auditorium full of high school kids cheering to see- for some of them- their first Americans.

3. Playing airplane with little preschool children at a township while they were being weighed for malnourishment.

2. A row of young children at the Green Park’s township waving ‘bye-bye’ to everyone after we had just given their community boxes of food.

1. Standing in Camps Bay beach on the last of 6 amazing days- realizing how blissfully happy I am. Truly. Utterly. Happy.

AEGEAN SEA TO WIN SEA OLYMPICS

So tonight we had our Sea Captain’s Challenge for all the seas. As expected, we dominated, CLEARLY. You see, each floor is divided into Seas. Baltic, Red, Yellow, etc. You get the point. 2nd floor is Aegean. The Aegean Sea has won the past several semesters and has a good track record even though we have far fewer people than any other group. The challenge tonight was to put together a skit or rap and see who had the most spirit. Just check out what Grant wrote out for us. AMAZING.
We’re the Aegean Sea in the place to be,
Gonna rock the decks right of the MV,
Are we the best? (DAMN RIGHT)
Do we rock it? (ALL NIGHT)
And we’re gonna win the ‘lympics cause we’re ziplock tight!
Rap Break Yeah we’re the Aegean,
Ya’ll best go be fleein’,
Cause we’re so scary In yo pants you’ll be peein.
Ya’ll won’t believe in All the things that you’re seein’.
We’re the A-gean sea,
If you know what I mean.
A is for the apples that we eat in the morning, cause while we’re winning games all you suckers are snornin’
E is for everyone get outta my way, when Aegean comes to town everyone’s gonna say,
G I wanna be a part of the Aegean Sea,
if I could be in that posse then I would see victory
E is for energy, charisma, and talent,
A is for awesome man, yeah, we’re on fire plus everybody knows that ladies love green attire,
N is for anybody, answer me please, Best Sea on MV? It’s the Aegean Sea!!

My Fishy Valentines Day Kiss

February 14. For a lot of people, that means romantic dates, roses, and a box of chocolates. For others, it means a bottle or two- or 4- of alcohol watching sappy romance movies wondering where Prince Charming is. For us, it means being drenched in fish guts, kissing fish, and shaving heads. Literally. Welcome to Neptune Day, where you are initiated to the ocean. We woke up to the banning of pots and pans at 7 AM, then went onto the 7th deck to watch the “King” and his guards come in. Then, people line up to get fish guts poured onto them, clothes and all, and jump into the pool. After you get out of the pool, you kiss a fish, kiss the King’s ring, and eventually, people shave their heads. While I would never shave myself bald, I did lather myself in some delicious intestinal yum yum’s from some aquatic lifeform. I think I saw about 20 girls shave their long, gorgeous hair right off. Meanwhile, the meager 18 boys are running around saying how weird it feels to lose an inch of hair. OKAY, boys. You badasses you. It also happens to be our worst day at sea yet. It isn’t out of the ordinary to walk down the hall and watch everyone walk into the wall. At lunch you watch your plates slide across the table. You’ll hear the trays in the kitchen go off the racks one by one, or see a sea of glasses pour all over the deck. So what else is February 14 to me? Well, more exciting than Valentine’s Day or even Neptune Day, is the fact that we’re halfway to Africa. You have NO IDEA how excited I am excited for Africa alone. I’m a little worried for others at Pre-port meeting. They may not know what to do with me and my intense pangs of excitement. I’m spending the first few days on a tented safari, so that pretty much means roughing it with the big 5. For the last couple days I’m looking into shark diving or ostrich riding. Haha, even typing it now… who would have ever imagined being able to say the phrase “I’m four days away from being in Africa” legitimately? Probably the best Valentine’s Day gift ever. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! MUAH ;) lol

6 year old beer vendors= completely normal???

So the rest of my time at Brazil was not nearly as exciting as it could have been. I didn't get lucky enough to go to the Amazon or Rio, but I got to really absorb myself into the culture of Salvador, which is a pretty immense city itself. By the end, I didn’t feel intimidated by the streets anymore and could tell you where everything was. I even got to go to the other side of the city, by the lighthouse. There is a big shopping mall in Barra that had McDonalds- 8 real or 4 US Dollars for a Big Mac hamburger, 16 real or 8 DOLLARS for a meal. Pretty interesting, huh? I myself had my final Subway, which was interesting to order in Non-Portuegese. Now I thought knowing Spanish would have helped me out. No. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Some find it insulting, and don’t understand a word of it. It definitely makes you feel inferior and your main way of speaking is through childlike hand gestures. Hand gesture for peach ice tea anyone? The irony of this expensive shopping mall is that directly across the streets are the favellas. A group of shoeless/shirtless kids were running around only an intersection away. See ‘Carnaval: Putting Mardi Gras to Shame’ for that lovely explanation. Nearby the lighthouse are several beaches. One morning we spent the day at the beach. They have vendors walking around with cheese, which they fry in front of you and put Oregano on, sugar cane, and ice cream. You have to buy a chair. One kid even helped someone pick up the umbrella and expected money. The one we went to though was relatively friendly. There were these adorable little girls in front of us, smiling and looking at us. Someone actually came up to my 6’1 blond friend Ali and told her she looked like a Brazilian singer. Clearly, as you can imagine though, we looked far from Brazilian. We were the only white people on the beach, even as tan as we are. The highlight of my entire trip by far, BY FAR, was a futbol game. We drove an hour into the more rural areas and went to a decent sized soccer game. There were about 300 of us from SAS who piled into this coliseum style stadium. Instead of the usual hot dogs and pop you’d expect, little kids are running around with beer, tee shirts, coconut popcorn (yum!), sugar cane, coconut ice cream and other various items of food. Of course everyone ran to the SKOL stand (beer). The kicker? Being with the locals. I talked with some locals and they taught me some phrases to say to the other team. Now you know I wouldn’t go to a sports game without getting all competitive! It was so much fun! Brazil might have had its ups and downs, but it made a lasting impression. It was hit or miss. Some of those locals might have been dirt poor, threatening, and scary. The streets might have been infested with poverty and seemed of urine. However, there were the little kids who smiled at you and got excited to see you. Not to mention the locals who were so much fun to be around at the game. There is definitely a spirit here. Bon Jia Brasilia!

Carnaval: Putting Mardi Gras To Shame

So my treat to myself the other day was a little expedition onto Facebook, a very rare treat unless you want to overpay for the slowest internet known to man. I didn’t spend much time on it, but I did see that people were posting pictures from Mardi Gras. Now, I didn’t get to Brazil until the last day of Carnaval, a five day celebration before Lent, but apparently that is the craziest day anyways. Imagine Mardi Gras, except with MILLIONS of additional people. Just to give you an idea, in Salvador alone the population is 2 million. The amount on the streets? 3 Million. And that’s not even considering Rio! When we got off the ship, we were greeted by drummers, women handing out religious ribbon bracelets (make a wish for every knot), hundreds of people from other cruiselines dancing shirtless and bedazzled in strings of beads, and several people chattering in Portugese- which is NOTHING like Spanish. My first thought- goodbye America. WHAT THE HELL did I sign up for? It’s 100 degrees and I’m wearing a KNIT CAP. Yes… A KNIT CAP. (Blonde hair only begs for unnecessary attention). The street is lined with hoards of people holding out jewelry, tee shirts, hell, even coconuts looking at you like you are from another planet. That first day, not knowing where you are or what the hell your doing walking the streets with a handful of girls is pretty intimidating. We headed into Old Pelerino, a square about 10 minutes away from the port. It breaks off into several squares and main streets. You have to take an elevator up which meets the beginning of several squares and side streets. There were stages set, music playing, and people setting up and dancing. We had lunch on a side street, and went back pretty early to get ready for the big night. Now, if you have ever seen City Of God (which you absolutely need to), you know Brazil has HORRIBLE crime rates. By this time, people on the ship had already seen someone whip out a machete on a man for stealing right next to the port. GREAT. By this point, I’m mentally preparing for myself to lose a finger. I headed up to Pelerino with a bunch of people dressed in bandanas and tutus. I myself have marker drawn hearts around my eye- because of course, anything goes. Basically the streets have huge floats, blasting music that you follow and dance to down the streets. Depending on the group on the float, you have to buy to be in the line. Shirts cost around 100 up to walk with them, and hundreds upon hundreds will buy one and dance in large mobs. In the beginning, there’s a stage for little kids to dance on, with families and vendors surrounding it. I mean, there are babies and little kids dressed head to toe in “Mardi Gras” type outfits out until the middle of the night, just sleeping in the middle of this. There are several dance acts, capoiera (type of street fighting the slaves learned to do without their hands), and a very scary Brazilian Michael Jackson impression that was the most fun I never want to have again. Of course, this is their job, so if you even stop to look they hound you for money, screaming at you in this completely foreign language. Now, granted this was an amazing party. It should be as it’s known as the biggest party in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. But of course, can’t forget my absolute favorite part of it all. Now let me just give a brief prologue to this lovely segment. These people are dirt poor. Brazil has a very rich economy, it does. But 7% of the wealth is shared by 70% of the population. Their government is corrupt and has little concern over the welfare of the poor. So what you get is some of the worst, unfathomable poverty you can imagine. Add to that no belief in condoms and these poor families have too many kids they can handle. They get kicked out on the streets and you have kids carrying around a piece of glass, telling you he has HIV. True story. The kids are who I was afraid of. My friends had a bunch of 6 foot guys with them who put up a fight. BAD CALL. This group of 12 year olds got him down and dragged him away by his neck, taking everything from him. Several other various students got mugged, held at knifepoint, and had to have stitches. They will cut/rip/tear anything off with no regard what rips with it (like your fingers, anyone?). Luckily, all I got was a very malnourished kid come up to us, shoeless and obviously desperate, begging for a real (currency- 56 cents) and another who started touching my arms and hair. Kids. Little kids. You know? Our in port lecturer was telling us about a little boy who had brought a lap top to a rice and beans stand (1 or 2 real) and asked for a meal in exchange. A Dell thousand dollar laptop. For rice and beans, one measly meal. Another group were sitting at a bar with the obviously more wealthy being seated, and taken care of. Those who could not afford anything sat around the perimeter, waiting like predators for anything they could get their hands on. One had flicked a used cigarette that someone immediately swooped down and finished. Clearly a finished cigarette, that most people just dispose of without a thought before starting another. That woman also finished the froth at the end of their beers, just for a sip. I mean, take it as you will. It’s the reality there. It is without a fact that Carnaval is exponentially larger than any other thing you could imagine- even putting Mardi Gras to shame- with millions lining the streets, dressing in drag and other various outfits, dancing until the very morning 5 days straight. You could still hear music coming into port at 5 am upon our initial arrival. However at what price?

Hello all

Crossed the equator today! Hello hello South Hemisphere! Everyone was laying around the pool tanning and swimming when the ship blew the horn and everyone started cheering and what not. Today is also Stephanie's 21st birthday! We're surprising her with cake at dinner so I'm really really looking forward to that. We are on our way to Brazil for the final day of Carnival, which should be pretty intense. I'm just looking forward to land again. They had club fest the other day and I joined everything, literally. Students of service, Ambassadors Ball committee, Vicarious Voyage (third graders!), Big Sister/Big Brother (I am paired with this adorable 8 yr old boy assistant dean's son), Olympics committee, Programming board, and I think that's it. I would highly recommend it for anyone in the future. Hint hint, wink wink! This year programming board is hosting 2 dances, a non talent show, and a crew talent show. The big one is Mr. SASea, get it? Haha... As far as Olypmics goes.. Aegean Sea! We're green and going to win, making it four semesters in a row ;). That day we're talking about doing mashed potato sculptures, tug of war, scavenger hunt, trivia, dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, relay races, flip cup, big hair contest, etc. Oh and I forgot, I'm on yearbook. Knew there was another one ;). Anyways, I'm off to celebrate her 21st!