Neptune Day aka the whole ship pulled a Brittney Spears! Haha

This day has been a tradition of Semester at Sea for many years and I am honestly unsure of the history. It is the day we cross the equator. ☺ The day begins with them waking us up by a band going up and down the halls playing instruments and knocking all of our doors. Many of the faulty is dressed up as “sea gods.” The whole point is to be to be accepted into their kingdom on the ocean. In order for you to be accepted is to get “fish guts” poured over your head and then you have to kiss a fish.   
This semester we had about 50 or so people shave or cut there hair for locks of love. I SHAVED my head! I had one of my friends cut it short for locks of love and then a few other people that I knew cut or shave there head with me as well. I was a bit nervous yet at the same time very excited. As she cut off my braided ponytail and handed it to me she said “ this is going to make a little girl happy,” and with that I got tears in my eyes. However, after that I couldn’t stop and decided I had to go on and shave it off. Ha It was the weirdest feeling ever! I couldn’t believe what I was actually doing! Everyone is around and starring and cheering it was awesome. VERY surreal. Now having it been a few days it feels great! I actually don’t hate myself with no hair. The weirdest thing is showering, but its great cause it dry’s in a few minutes and takes me no time at all to get ready!  I also really like the feeling because its super soft while its also really weird to have to put sunscreen on my head too! I have truly learned that my hair does not define me and I feel more confident and free! The thing that is going to be the most fun is all the different stages as it continues to grow back. I still catch myself doing weird things cause I forget that my hair is gone. It will take awhile for me to remember that MY HAIR IS GONE!!! The day was a great as we hung out by the pool listening to music, having a BBQ and then ended with a talent show. I still can’t believe that I actually did it. I am sorry I am also not going to post any pictures because I would like to be there and see everyone reaction! ☺

India!

“True contentment is a real, even an active virtue—not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it.”  - Chesterter

Our first port was Chennai, which is in the southern end on the Bay of Bengal. I fell in love with this country.  I am honestly unsure why or how because by the end of the week my feet clearly looked as though I was a different race, due to the amount of dirt on them. The first day, I did an overnight trip, for a class, to child labor bridge school. It was about two hours outside of the city of Chennai. About 40% of the children in India are in child labor, making about 2$ a month and start work at the age 4.  This was a school that was working on trying to get kids out of the work force. We were able to play with the kids most of the day and singsongs together. They were adorable. Most of the kids we saw had just gotten off work from the rock query and there hands showed it. Most of them were extremely cut up and some even missing parts of their fingers. The program is called RIDE if you would like to look up more information.
        We also went to a village called Kancheepuram. I have never seen a village that was more excited to see and greet us by their warmth and compassion. It was overwhelming, but they instantly made me feel welcome. We were able to walk around the town by ourselves just trying to communicate with the people. One woman grabbed my arm and pretty much dragged me into her home. She was ecstatic because she had a TV. (Which was a huge deal.) The only English she knew was “TV” and she kept repeating it over and over. I have never seen a women more proud of her belongings. At their local school we were able to play with the children some more. Most of the children in India spoke better English than the adults so we were able to sing songs with them. They loved practicing their English and showing us how the could count to ten. We stayed the night there and they were so gracious with the amount of food and everything they did for us.
    The next day, we headed back to the ship and this is when the true adventure begins. My friends and I had made no plans at all. We tried to book a bus or a train ticket to anywhere in Southern India, but they were all booked. All we knew was that in three days we had to be all the way across to the other side of India, in Cochin. We started by getting in a rickshaw (three wheeled motor car thingy.) The driving in India is crazy! No one follows the lines at all and everyone honks at each other. Often there is even a cow in the middle of the road and you can be waiting their for quite some time waiting for it to cross. At times I literally could reach out and touch a bus cause we were so close. We were headed to a bus station and ended up getting into an accident! Our driver got out, looked and kept going, literally nothing else. The other driver didn’t even look until a few blocks down the road. It was crazy. We found an overnight bus to Madurai. We hardly knew anything about this town except that is was often called “temple city.” The bus was scheduled to leave around 10:30 and get in around 6.  The bus was very interesting, all of us luckily got to be in the way back crammed together. I have never gotten more looks in my life as we were the only white people to be seen. The entire ten-hour ride there was a loud bally-wood movie playing, while half of the speakers were blown out, but that didn’t stop them. We decided to take the AC bus thinking since it was so hot that it would be worth it. It only cost a little more the total of this bus was about 6 American dollars.  The entire night it would go from extremely hot, like sweat dripping down your face, to extremely cold that you need a blanket. The seats in this semi-sleeper bus went extremely far back and I felt like I had the Indian man’s head in my lap. No joke. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep. I also woke up to the biggest bump on my head, most likely from bobbing my head so hard into the seat next to me. Haha
        Once we arrived in Madurai it was about 8:30 am. We were excited because we had all day to explore. We randomly picked a place to get off the bus and decided to get some breakfast and figure out our day. We ended up walking around the streets for a few hours. This may have been my favorite day, so far on the entire voyage. We walked all through the backstreets and alleys. I happened to bring with my some stickers that I began slowly handing out to the kids we passed.  Once it started we slowly began getting crowds of people wanting to see what we were giving out. I have never seen women, some as old as 60, so excited to receive a sticker. I almost felt like a celebrity walking around their streets.  They welcomed us into their homes, wanted us to eat with them, and offered us tea. Simply looking in their eyes truly told a story. I think that being in the slums made these people even more beautiful because they were full of joy. Many didn’t even know what a camera was and was so happy to get there pictures taken.  Smiling is truly the universal language. It can open up anyone’s heart to feel comfortable and warmth.
We left this afternoon and took a car about 4 hours to a town called Kumily. The drive was extremely mountainous as we drove through jungles. During the ride, we saw wild monkeys  just hanging out on the side of the road and the rural side of southern India. It was beautiful.  Our driver and his girlfriend were extremely friendly and would randomly makes stops throughout the trip and we are a bit unsure why.  When we arrived we had no hotel or any expectations of this town. We began walking around and finally met our new friend, Charlie.  He ended us spending the next two days with us and taking us all over this little town while eating just about every meal with us. The hotel we ended up staying at was called the Rainbow hotel. Our rooms were electric colors of pink and blue. Its was crazy!
      In the morning we took us to ride the ELEPHANTS!!!!!! ITS WAS AWESOME!!!! It honestly could not have been better. It was such a blast. After the elephant junction, he took us on a jungle hike. It was like a walking safari and were hunting for all different wild animals.  They have an extreme amount of wild spices such a coffee, pepper, and fruit everywhere. He would point them all out and made us try just about everything.  We spent the whole day and evening with him as he took as to all his favorite restaurants for lunch and dinner. By the end, I was becoming his sponsor to get a visa, with him trying to get a job at the Broadmoor. ☺ I have noticed that the best part about this voyage is the people and friends you met all over the world! 
We then took a bus at 3:35 A.M in the morning to our next port city Cochin. It may have been one of the scariest bus rides I have ever experienced. The bus did not have any windows and at one point we were going about 60mph on switchbacks through the jungle. I think we literally got air since the roads aren’t the best paved roads. No joke. Not to mention that it was also extremely crowded this entire time!!! I don’t think they could have fit one more person on that bus. The bus wouldn’t even stop to pick people up they would hop on as it was moving. It was quite an experience.
     We finally arrived at 9:00 a.m. We were extremely surprised we had made it all the way across southern India with little problems. The rest of the time in India I went to an SOS children Village for a project for another class I am taking. We played and hung out with the kids most of the day.
If one were to ask me how I felt right now about India I would have a hard time answering. Throughout the entire time I felt so many different emotions from pain, to sorrow, helplessness, and pure joy.  Yet at the same time, I had true sense of peace. No words can ever describe the true India, you have to experience it yourself to truly understand.  There is so much more detail that I did not expand on due to the fact that it would not give it enough justice. I can’t explain it through this setting without sounding that all there is to India is poverty or dirt. There is an immense more to India once you look past that and see the people.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content."  Philippians 4: 11-12

(Guess what? I can sit Indian Style for the first time in 4 years!!!! Pretty sweet huh?)
NOW: Neptune Day! To shave or not to shave my head that is the question.

A few boys in India

India

RIDING AN ELEPHANT in India!!!

Just another day on the Mekong Delta

Vietnam

Strangely Beautiful and Strikingly Unique

This country truly put many aspects of my life in perspective. I was truly able to grasp the effects of war, communism, poverty, yet the simple pleasure and joy the Vietnamese people possessed.  When comparing countries honestly, China to me was a depressing poverty where I felt the government was not taking care of their people, while also showing a bit of animosity towards Americans.  On the other hand, Vietnam was one of the most welcoming towards Americans and truly content with their lifestyle. (their happiness level is higher than China…statistically)  They seemed to never be striving for any better and although they had very little their faces where full of joy. I have never been in a cultural where I would only simply smile and say hello and feel the warmth and true love of the people.  Their warmth opened up a new world of compassion and understanding in my heart. They had their family, food, and a roof and were extremely happy. The one thing that I have realized is seeing past the poverty and looking at the people and countries for how they are. Throughout this entire journey, I have experienced the entire spectrum from human evil and the awful treatment that occurs all over the word as well as the amount of joy humans can express. I have really loved seeing the richness of each country, for instance, Vietnam has 54 languages so it’s extremely diverse and unique, while majority in Vietnam live on about 40$ a month, so obviously a developing country. The thing I think I loved about this country is the drastic difference in their way of life and mine.

        Prior to arriving we had many lectures on Vietnam and the war and I began to have new understanding of the magnitude of the devastation of the war between the US and Vietnam. I am very young and because of that I feel I never truly learned much about it or heard much of it. However, I now feel that experiencing and seeing firsthand the landscape, museums, and people I have begun to understand a bit of the pain and hurt that happened during that time. When walking around the first day in HCMC I saw roughly thirty people affected by, what many professors I have talked to is the aftermath of Agent Orange. Many were as young as five with deformed, shriveled body parts, filled with calluses, blisters, and what looked like leprosy. I wont get into more details, but I had no idea how much was still effecting this entire culture. It was extremely difficult to see the effects of that other humans can do towards others.  The Vietnamese population is 75% are below 35 so many of the people in Vietnam have truly moved on from the war, as many did not experience it, but was their parents and grandparents that lived through that time, however, I feel that America is just the opposite.
Well anyways enough about that… The first day we arrived to in Ho Chi Minh City and of course I woke up for the sunrise. It was one of the best yet!! The rice fields were surrounding our boat and little wooden boats surrendered us with men rowing themselves by sticks or bamboo.  It was beautiful and seemed a bit surreal. The weather was even hotter and humid, very drastic change from china only to days prior.  This is February the 26th and I had no set plans for the day. I walked around the city with five of my friends. We literally just began walking and ran across markets selling everything from pretty much chicken heads to clothing, shoes, DVDs and jewelry. I had never been to a market that was so large. We came across the Notre Dame Cathedral, the City Hall, and the Presidential Palace.  The Palace remains the same as April 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese military tanks crashed through the front gates and over through the South. The traffic here is NOTHING to what I have ever seen before! There are thousands of motorbikes and they do not stop at cross walks, they run red lights, and drive on the other side of the road. I have never been so afraid to cross a street. The best way to describe it is by I felt like I was in a video game trying to dodge things in the way, except its my life I was worried about it. I will never be afraid to cross the street again!! There would be a family of four on one bike as well as I often saw an entire ladder with the man holding a bucket of paint or a door in the middle of two people or the two year old would be in-between the two parents just standing up.. Literally, you look around asking if this is truly happening.
My friends and I tried coconut on the street and also tried the famous pho for lunch.  In the afternoon, we came across I tailor and I designed my own dress. No going to lie it was more difficult than anyone would think. They literally have books where you pick the style you want, everything from the latest dresses or shirts, stars are wearing, even wedding dresses. Then you go pick your fabric from thousands of different colors and patters, from silk to cotton. It was so much fun! The people working were so sweet and really helpful! (ill tell you a story more about when I picked it up haha) We ran across DVD’s and TV shows that were 50 cents apiece. Everything in American money was extremely cheap for us. At night one of my friends mom was doing the SAS parent trip so we went out to dinner with her. It was great to meet one of my good friends mom and have dinner with her!! ? After dinner we walked around more and went into the night markets. The in order to get back home we decided to take what are called cyclos. Kinda difficult to describe, but its like a three-wheeled bike where you are sitting on what to me seems like a chariot it was AWESOME!! So much fun!!
February 26th
I left early in the morning and headed to the Mekong Delta. A few facts about the Delta that I found interesting…
18 million people live in the Delta
2nd largest river in South East Asia and the 13th largest in the world
2nd largest exporter of rice
The bus ride to the delta took about tow hours and I love the saying I heard,  “you don’t know all the colors of green until you see rice patties.“

We first arrived on the delta and got on the boat. We first stopped at a village called Kai Be where we I ran into women making rice net for spring roles. Some of the girls were even as young as 11. In the same village we saw rice paper, fish sauce (which has one of the most disgusting smells I have ever experienced!! It tastes very bitter  and I personally did not like it), we also saw coconut candy made, (I am completely obsessed with it!! SOO GOOD), saw the real way rice crispies are made. While I also tried snake wine, where I had to dip my glass into the bottle where the snake was dead, and even had a scorpion in his mouth in order to get a cup full.  It tasted like a really bad shot of something. Very interesting. From this village we took a boat ride to a different side. We then took about a 30 min walk to the Bonzai garden. The walk was incredible. The Mekong Delta is filled with fruit trees!! Naturally they are everywhere we literally would pick the fruit off the tree. It has all different types that I had never heard or seen before, my favorite was the milky apples. ? The river is one of the most peaceful place I have ever been before. It is extremely lush. I could have walked around for hours talking to the people, and embracing the sound of the birds, children laughing, and the water moving. If anyone has read Siddartha I truly felt a connection to the river, It may sound crazy if you haven’t read to book, but the people on the river I believe are truly happier because they have learned from the river. I was only on it for two days and it will forever change me.  The colors in the Delta are beautiful many of the houses are on stilts, with their clothes hanging out front, while some people live on their boats. Although the people have very little and it seems that they have nothing they are truly filled with a spirit of compassion. It is truly strikingly beautiful.  We took a ride on a smaller boat, which was one of my favorite on this entire trip!!! As we were riding no one spoke a word for about 30 min or so just trying to soak in everything we were seeing. We saw little kids laughing and playing in the water and a woman washing her clothes in the water.  It’s a true sense of silence, tranquility, and calm on the river. We then started heading to our home stay. They house we stayed at was on stilts and we slept on cot with the mosquito nets over them. The house was entirely open and was broken up into sections. For example, the kitchen was not connected to the “living room.” They did have a TV and for couches they have hammocks.  The fruit trees where surrounding the back yard and we would go all night and pick fruit that I had never even seen before. The best thing I did was I went on a walk around the house and ran into these little boys who were making a boat out of the leaves. I began to try and communicate with them and they were so filled with laughter. I almost even missed them because the trees were so thick. It was surreal. Before dinner we even jumped into the Delta! Yes, I got to swim in the Mekong Delta. I didn’t bring my suit so I swam in my clothes! We were told over and over again not to swim, so it was actually a really freeing experience! Haha Its was awesome!!! They made us a dinner and it literally was a whole fried fish. They entire thing was on the plate. Its was interesting. Then they gave us a performance at night. The people in the Mekong Delta are some of the happiest people I have ever seen and I think it is because of their relaxed nature. It was an amazing experience. This was probably the highlight of all of Vietnam. We spent the rest of the evening talking and hanging out. The most peaceful place I think I have ever been too.

February 27th

We woke up in the morning at around 5am due to the roosters and birds. I LOVED it though. We first went to this live market. Every single animals possible from pigs, snakes, rooster, chicken, fish and they would literally chop up the animal in front of you. The noise and smell of the entire market really affected me. I have never seen animals getting a bit tortured for food. The hearts of the fish were still beating as the chopped it up. It was awful… I am officially I full vegetarian! Not a joke. It was really difficult for me to see I have noticed in most of Asia that the people do not see animals as animals until they are eating them. We also went to a brick making factory on the delta, where the make everything possible out of clay.
We then went to two different pagodas in a different town called Can Tho. The first one was a more modern pagoda where they have renovated their religion.  It was a old warehouse building that they had completely filled statues and was filed color possible. To me it looked like a circus. They love incense throughout entire Asia and this pagoda was filled with people lighting and worshiping large and small Buddha’s and statues of animals.
We then went to a more ancient pagoda, which was entirely different. It was much more officially with gates surrounding it and only one larger Buddha. At this pagoda we came across I live funeral where they were cremating the body as we happened to be there. A very unique experience.  So here is a funny story in the hotel we were staying at we could get and hour massage for about 8 dollars.  So first off they spoke no English whatsoever so it was hilarious because they were laughing at us an we were laughing at them cause we had not idea what to do. Let me tell you about the ambience of the place: I had space ship wallpaper mixed with bamboo while the music was a mix between elevator and jazz. It first started off great we got into two different types of saunas. Then I went into the room and she literally jumped on top of me. At one point she was even standing on top of me since they have bars above the bed in order to get her full body into my back.  She would crack my entire body from my shoulders, neck and even my toes (hahah funny huh? mom) At one point she had a wooden stick that she was pressing into the pressure points all around my foot. The next morning I woke up with bruises up and down my legs. I am glad I did it but I would never do it again. It was so painful.

February 28th
We woke up early and went to the floating market, which was he largest in the Delta. Every single boat had something different from watermelon, to pineapple, and even a coffee shop on one of the boats.   It is constantly moving and floating around as you swift through all the different boast. There were easily about 40-50 different boats.  We tried a pineapple form one of the boats and they had the tree branch on the boat and picked the one we wanted. The cut it up so we were eating it like a popsicle. It was probably the freshest fruit I will ever have.  We spent the rest of the trying getting back to HCMC as it took about four hours because of the ferry’s. At night a bunch of us went out to dinner and the out to a few different clubs and bars. They were very different as we were the only white people in them. The music was extremely loud I could hardly even think. I have grown really used to being starred out and being the ones that don’t seem to belong. I honestly, kinda enjoy it. Before dinner I went and tried on my dress and it was the wrong color, style and everything! I had to design a completely new dress and they were going to have it ready the next day… they had it down and it fits great!! Yahoo.


March 1st
Today we woke up early to meet with Fawn’s Cousin. Fawn lives in the States and does our manicure and pedicures at home she set me up to hang out with her cousin.  I was really fortunate that we were able to connect with her for the day, which to me explains a lot of how the people are in Vietnam. All I had was an address of where we were planning on meeting her. We took a one of the motorbikes as a taxi to try and find her. As you know the motor bikes are extremely scary but really fun!! We finally found her and she was taking us to to the Chu Chi tunnels. It is about 2 hours outside of the city.  The tunnels were hot, small, and extremely hidden. I have never seen anything like them. Its really hard to describe what I was feeling because it was uncomfortable being in a place where so many Americans and people have died. Our tour guide was often laughing when describing the traps where people had died, which was obviously completely awful. The forest near the tunnels is so thick and you could hardly see past a few yards. I can’t expand now because I need to process everything first before I tell everyone about it. It was a hard thing for me to see.
After the tunnels we went out to lunch with her, Hoa. I loved meeting her and talking with her. She was very nice and explained a lot of the history, people, and about her family. She took us to a market after lunch and helped us try and bargain. However, most of the time she would laugh at us. I am extremely thankful for meeting us and hanging out with us the entire day. She even gave us a ride on her motorbike! Ha As we were trying t find our way back to the ship we ran into a Tutti Frutti!!! Ha It was great!  We left Vietnam that night.

When the tag on my shirt says Vietnam I will never look at it the same because know I now I know how the people live and what they are experiencing. Its having an appreciation of the local and globalization haha.
Now on for India… and I get to look at Singapore but do not get to get off the ship…