Another day, almost to Mauritius

After Macroecon, Global Studies (Professor Ringrose lectured today), and catching up a bit on journaling, I had another lunch. Recently at least, I have never been feeling fully satisfied with the food. I need good food, it’s kind of difficult to be a vegetarian on this ship, especially when you have to eat pasta and potatoes and bread everyday and can’t eat dessert. I met with Sneha, a Indian student from Singapore also on SAS, and who was also doing the Indian preport. We talked about topics we were going to discuss at preport, and after that we had a long conversation with Aaron, Tesia, and Nathalie. I chilled with Nick on deck 6 (who I ran into randomly later), where we saw some whales quite close to ship. Again, I don’t understand why I have been seeing so many whales recently on the open ocean. It’s nevertheless truly wonderful to see these majestic animals in the middle of the ocean, especially since they are not common to see. We went back to Nick’s room and watched some How I Met Your Mother. Dino and I have converted so many people on this ship to watch this show, after all its quite an amazing show. At dinner, the okra was pretty good, but I still did not feel completely full after eating. We had Dino’s pre-birthday cake, before I headed back to my room and chilled. At 8, I went to cultural and logistical pre-port for Mauritius. This Island, which is literally unknown in most of the world, especially back home, seems very beautiful and I can’t wait to see a country outside India dominated by Indian people (they were brought there as indentured servants by the Dutch, French, and English. We went to Kathleen’s room to make plans. I really want to go see the waterfall there and jump off of it. However, the others were determined to go to the beach the first day, celebrate Dino’s birthday that night, and maybe go to the waterfall the next day. I was kind of iffy on this since I knew that they would be drinking, but they would not listen to me, so put some faith in them. Dino, Nick, Michaella, and I went to classroom 1 where we started watching Band of Bothers from the beginning. I better finish it this time. This will be the third time I started watching this show and I’ve only got up to episode 8 out of 10 the last two times. At 12, I was the first one to wish Jacob for his birthday. He is now no longer a teenager. I remember my birthday and the feeling of no longer being a teenager, it was weird. I am excited for Mauritius since it will likely be a relaxing trip. It will be nowhere as hectic as the last stops… or at least I hope.
-Nimish
October 13, 2010

A Simple Day

I woke up early again, to tutor Aldin and Genavieve again. These kids are really something: they are excited to learn and adorable, but maybe a little too energetic. Sometimes it seemed a little difficult to hold their attention (there’s only so far the black key notes can interest little kids) since they are so energetic, but it will make me more patient and understand more what its like to teach and deal with kids. After comedy and history, I had a delightful lunch of mashed potatoes. It’s interesting how a little change can taste that different (“mashed” potatoes) even though I am already so fed up of potatoes. At 2 I went down to tutor Kelly. There I found out that Kelly’s mother wanted to take over in tutoring her, so I was off the hook for that. Since I was now free early and had nothing else to do, I went back to my room and spent more time alone, watching tv shows. I’ve been feeling really uninterested in things recently, like I’m burned out or something like that. And we are not even halfway done yet.. I hope this is something that won’t last because we still have so many amazing things to experience and places to see. Dinner was simple and today was when it hit me how much I miss home food. I cannot wait to get good food in India. Afterwards, I spent a little more alone time before going out and going Zombie Hunting with Ben, Howard, and Megan. In the garden lounge, we found Dino, Aaron, and Nick sitting. After some conversation, we somehow ended up dancing (Aaron teaching us the moves) to Thriller, the Cha Cha, Tunak Tunak (by Daler Mendhi), and a random middle eastern song that Aaron loved. It was quite random, but that’s what I love so much about this voyage, the number of random things that happen. We went to the Open Mic Night, where we witnessed some great performance of music, poetry, and even short stories: one girl shared with us the story of her suicide attempt which was very saddening and intense. After it was over, I felt really inspired and I really wanted to play the piano. However I had no sheet music. I could find some, but with the way my days have been rolling out, I would not have time to do this anyway sadly. As I was walking back to my room, I ran into Jenn and other making signs for Kate for her birthday. I joined them, and at 12 we went to her room and surprised her (funny part, I don’t even know her that well). After the ensuing conversations, I called it a night around 1. Another simple day.
-Nimish
October 12, 2010

A Me Day

Today was a “me” day. Our macroeconomics presentation went well, and in Global Studies we had a guest speaker who worked in Sudan where she had lost her leg when I supply crate fell on it. She was very knowledgeable and taught us a great deal about the conflicts going on in Sudan. After a quick Lunch, I went to Dean David’s office where he requested me to do the preport for India and explained how to go about this and what I should talk about. I am going to talk about “Dos and Dont's” in India and I’m always glad to spread my knowledge (I know a lot of people are going to ask me many questions anyway. I then went to Ben’s art class (I’m not actually in it, but he invited me to be a guest since I enjoy art so much). It was a fun time, but I must say that I would not want to take art as a academic class; it would ruin art for me if I was graded for it. I then went back to the Garden Lounge and had lunch again. I went back to my room and had some alone time, since I kind of wanted to get away from people for a little bit. I watched a movie, and enjoyed my time with myself. Today was Canadian Thanksgiving so we had a special dinner, after which I hung out with Jason before my group history project at 9. No one showed up to it, so I went back and hung out with Jason for longer in his room for a little while, before we headed up to the Union to participate in the Drumming Circle event. My Ghanaian drum is definitely out of tune, and I need to figure out how to tune it, but it was still a lot of fun I really enjoyed the different beats and rhythms. I went back to my room until I went to sleep. Today was a “me” day.
-Nimish
October 11, 2010

A Shocking Day and Night

Today is 10/10/10. That doesn’t happen everyday. I woke up early, even though it was a b-day and I start at 10:45, because I was teaching piano to two kids at 8:30. I was introduced to my victims: Aldin and Genavieve Smith. Their mother, Amy Smith, was very nice and understanding. The kids took turns, I taught one while the other did work with Amy. Within the next hour we were done, and the family made their way to deck 5 for the kid’s school time. This was truly a great experience. It was the first time I was endowing my knowledge about piano upon someone else. Alvin and Genavieve were very playful so it was sometimes difficult to hold their attention. However they were very energetic and excited to learn piano. I had to learn how to keep their interest: “Do you want to learn the black notes? Well first we need to learn the white notes.” I spent today just teaching them the notes and making sure that they knew the location of the notes relative to one another. In short, I am really looking forward to teaching these kids. It makes me better appreciate Vira aunti’s hard work to teach me piano. I went to classes, which went as normal: comedy a lot of fun, history uninteresting. I kept getting hit by socks of humans, which was really annoying, because I pretty much never got a chance to tag anyone. I made an interesting observation: It was like we (the zombies) were being hunted instead of us hunting them (the humans). At 2, I went down to tutor Kelly. She was shy again, and I had to help her memorize the periodic table (wow, at this age?) and do math. It really is not a lot of fun to tutor someone who is not very engaging or seemingly interested. I later went to Ben’s room, where we were bored and started a Planet Earth episode. David Attenborough is so awesome and his voice is the animal show equivalent of Morgan Freeman’s voice for Hollywood movies. Halfway through, Megan and her friends came by to attack Ben (and me since I was there anyway). After an insane fiasco, involving me taking the hits for Ben (since I answered the door and got hit first), and Megan stealing Ben’s laptop to draw him out, we were stunned. Around 6, I got ready for my Family Dinner, and headed to Classroom 9 for Extended Family Dinner at 6:45. The food was a great change: amazing tomato soup, salad, ice cream, and a main dish which I don’t really remember but was good. Pat introduced us to a friend of hers, Karen, and we all talked about our experiences since last meeting and our life goals. Pat is a great person and she is very thoughtful, nice, and caring. At the end of the dinner, she gave us letter openers, mine having a zebra top and design (apparently every time she has seen me I have been wearing something colorful with a nice design, so this seemed appropriate for me). At 8, I had to leave dinner early to go to my Macroecon group’s project meeting with Allard. She cleared a lot of questions we had, and everything was made a lot simpler than we had imagined it to be (didn’t actually have to turn in a written report till end of classes). After we dispersed, I joined Alan, Amy, Bria, and Hannah and tried to draw. Of course this failed because Drew came by. Although he had been converted to a zombie, he was till pelting us with socks just for fun. Drew is such a playful guy. I later headed back to my room with Aaron to watch a movie together. We settled upon Wall-E and were about to begin it when we noticed flashes outside my window. Lightning! We immediately left for the 7th deck where we found a huge number of people (including Jacob and everyone) out in the rain enjoying the storm. This was by far one of the most ridiculous and insane lightning storms I have ever experienced. The lighting was going off every 10-15 seconds all around us, forcing us to keep our heads moving in all directions. At first the storm was really cool, but after a short while, it just became insane. There was lighting going on at very close proximity to the ship. There were a number of lightning bolts that were so close to the ship that we actually could see the bolt forming striking the water a short distance away, and dissipating. And the thunder after these bolts was absolutely mind-blasting. We enjoyed the storm for around 20 minutes, everyone screaming and cheering to the views and sounds of the lightning, it was a unbelievable experience. Eventually, once the lightning started getting really close, the LLC’s had to force us inside, or at least under the cover of the 7th deck pool. At this point the storm began to ironically calm down, the lighting was still frequent, but not as much as before. And the storm seemed to be moving on towards a different direction. After waiting another 30 minutes or so, I headed back to my room again. There I began watching “The Hurt Locker” with Nick before falling asleep halfway. Today was quite a sizzling day.
-Nimish
October 10, 2010

From the Atlantic to the Indian

I woke up at 11. That is over 12 hours of sleep. I don’t think I have ever done that before. I can only imagine how tired I must have been. I made my way up for lunch which was eventful for the following reasons: first of all I saw a number of whales in the distance (first noticed by the puff of smoke made by their blow holes). Its interesting to think that I had not seen any whales in the open ocean, and after seeing them from 20 feet away in South Africa, I see some on the open ocean the very next day. Second, they announced that we had crossed the Cape of Agulhas (the southern most tip of Africa) at 3:57am last night, officially making our transition from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. And thirdly, Global Studies for B day tomorrow, will be canceled for tomorrow and replaced with our favorite, the lifeboat drill. I went to Deck 5 to read for classes. The day had very misty and yet sunny weather, with very wispy clouds. In the distance, I could see the African mainland, which was teasing us since we had just left Africa yesterday. I must say, I don’t think I have ever been this interested in reading for classes since middle school. Reading for Comedy and Global Studies were actually quite interesting: the comedy books were of course entertaining while Global Studies was eye opening and informative. During dinner I ate a lot of toast. I don’t know what is up with me recently but I have been craving toast recently and have been eating around 2-4 pieces each meal. It is just such a nice change from the usual pasta, potatoes, and random vegetarian dish. I am already getting a bit bored of the food now, and we are not even halfway through the voyage yet. I signed up for trips for the second half of the voyage, met my Macroecon group at 7:30, went to the Zombies game meeting at 9, and hung out with Ben and Howard till after snack time. I made my way back to my room and found the Drew group (Amy, Jenn, Drew, Kevin, Dennis, Katie, etc) getting ready to watch Ratatouille, so I joined them. Before the clock struck 12, I got ready for zombies and got my sock weapon to protect myself from the zombies. I was sitting along the side of the “cubby spot” in the hallway near the stairs, and I suddenly felt a pat on my head. It was Aaron standing on one of the top stairs as he was coming down. “What’s up Aaron?” “I got you.” “What?” It turns out that Aaron is zombie #0…. And I was his first victim. That’s right, from everyone playing the game on the entire ship, I am the first one to be tagged. I lasted 5 minutes in the game. As “angry-like” I was, I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation and the coincidence. And Aaron and I were then immediately pegged by a sock by the others, knocking us out for the next hour. Aaron then left for his room to email the Zombie leader to claim me as his victim. We continued the movie, and eventually Ben came along and touched me too. “What?” “I am zombie #0, and you are my first victim.” This was confusing because we were told that there was only one Zombie #0, so we went to Aaron and talked to him and emailed the leader, later to find out that they made three Zombie #0’s just to speed up the game. So I was once again laughing at this fact which was even more ridiculous: I was tagged first by two of the three Zombie #0’s. The mere probability of that happening is so small, and yet it did. I finished the rest of the movie with the group, as they were constant on edge and freaking out to keep themselves safe. As soon as the movie was over, I took off to my room to sleep, still amazing at what just happened. It is what it is.
-Nimish
October 9, 2010

A Day in Cape Town

I woke up early, once again, and quite sleep deprived, again (only 3 hours). After a quick breakfast with Howard, we went to the Field Desk, and tried to figure out to do Cape Point or Cape Town. Seeing that Cape Point would be a longish trip, and just not that practical to visit, we decided to just roam around Cape Town. We exited the ship, walked through the V&A, and entered the city. Actually getting to the main part of the city took about 20 minutes to walk to. Once we entered the city, many of the preconceived notions I had of it were shattered. Before coming to Cape Town, we heard that the city, and South Africa as a whole, was a very dangerous place where basically anything could go wrong at any moment. The Diplomat at the Diplomatic meeting on the first day particularly scared me. However after just 10 minutes in the city I realized how wrong these people were. I’m not saying that Cape Town is not dangerous (because I’m sure it is at night), but during the day at least it was a big city with a small city-like atmosphere. It was quite pleasant, probably helped by the fact that the weather was great, and people seemed to be happy. We wandered down random streets, taking in the environment, getting some soveigners along the way. Behind the skyline, Table Mountain shined and shimmered, as always covered by clouds/mist. Today seemed a bit like rain at first, but eventually became a splendid and sunny day. We crossed a bridge, went left and right down streets, stop at markets we ran into, Howard made a phone call to his dad, and we wandered some more. After around 1.5 hours of walking around, we finally hit up a market that was much larger than the others. We were there for about 5 minutes before Howard had to leave for an SAS trip. Now I was on my own, this was the first time during the trip that I was legitimately wandering on my own anywhere with no knowledge of where exactly I was going. It was a great feeling actually: I really liked it because it had this liberating feeling to it (I don’t have to worry about other people and their needs and desires). I strolled the street of the market looking at shops, enjoying the atmosphere of the shoppers interacting with store-clerks, people talking at a restaurant, and just the whole mood of the place. I had to be careful which stores I looked at: if I even showed some interest in the items, the clerks would latch on and not let me go. I met one clerk who was really cool: Mohammad Ali, a doctor-in-training doing his masters and giving me good suggestions of other sellers and things to do. After 2 hours of traveling on my own, I decided to make my way back to the ship and see what others were up to and drop my stuff off. Walking back, I traveled down streets I ran down with Howard, not knowing how and amazing at the fact that I had found my way back to these streets after wandering the city for around 4 hours. As I got back to the V&A (more musicians and performers) I ran into Amy and Jenn who were going out to Green Market, which I had been looking for before but couldn’t find. They told me to come with them, and so I decided to do just that. After getting some money from the ATM, I headed by taxi back into the city. Green Market was basically a square of a large number of vendors (mostly of crafts and arts) cramped into tiny make-shift stores. As Amy and Jenn did their girl shopping I did my own thing. I thought that the sellers at the other market were clingy; the sellers here at Green Market put those sellers to shame in terms of clinginess. They were absolutely ridiculous. If I even approached their shop (which was impossible to avoid since all the shops were so close together) they would jump on me and start making ridiculous claims and deals, even if I was completely uninterested in what they were selling. At first I was fine, but after a number of such sellers, I did not like it because I felt really bad for them since they were trying so hard but I wasn’t buying. I got the things I needed, and after about 30-40 minutes, I left with this fiasco with the other two. A nice police officer helped direct us to a place to find taxis, and we were soon on our way to the port again. Back at the mall, I bid good bye to Amy and Jenn, and headed to the craft market and various other stores to get the last few things a needed before heading back to the ship. On the ship I wrote my postcards and turned them in with plenty of time to spare before dock time. So I decided to head back into the mall and get some last minute internet time and spend my last few Rand. In the mall, I went back to the same spot I had last gotten internet the other day, which was in front of a cell phone and internet store called “CellC.” As I tried connecting to the frustrating V&A free internet connection, one of the store clerks came out and saw me. He then invited me into the store and use their internet. He even offered me coffee and tea, even though he knew I would not be buying anything. It was really nice of him. And since I was having difficulty connecting to even their internet, the guy gave me one of their internet USB cards, which gave me super fast connection. After skyping my parents, I headed to a grocery store to use my last Rand. I had a difficult time finding something I wanted for 13Rand or less, but I finally settled on a bag of kettle chips. With the time I had remaining, I reconnected to the free internet, quickly skyped Yash for the first time (he was quite angry at me :) and then left for the ship. I got back later than my usual: 5:30, but I was still able to get on in time. Going to dinner, I ran into Mezrim who told me what a great guy I was, which was a great self-confidence booster :). I had dinner outside with Johnny and Michaella, who I hadn’t seen all the time in port since Table Mountain, since she was on her safari trip. Inside again, I sat with a few kids and their mother and talked about things. I found out that Professor Sanchez would be returning to the ship at Mauritius and not teaching Global Studies until after India. Apparently one of his eyes had a detached retina during our South African stay, and so he had to get surgery and needed a good amount of time to recover from it. Later on during the night, I watched us leave. It felt like we had been here for such a long time, and it was only 6 days. It probably was because I had done so many amazing things in such a short amount of time. During this stay, I hiked table mountain, went on a safari, cage-dove with Great White Sharks, visited a South African Township, saw one of the World Cup Stadiums, had a long night out with friends, wandered the streets of Cape Town, and had three experiences next to something that could have killed me. It was a great port. Ghana was an amazing port in terms of culture and opening my eyes. South Africa also opened my eyes (the township visit), but was mostly an amazing port in terms of doing crazy things. I reflected on my experience for some time before going to my post-port reflection group meeting. After the usual “what did you do, what did you like/not-like, how did it affect you,” we were done around 10. And I called it a night early. By 10:15 I was in bed and within 5 minutes, I was gone. I am so happy that we have a reading day the next day. That gives me plenty of time to sleep and recover from my sleep deprived last 6 days.
-Nimish
October 8, 2010

Another Long yet Rewarding Day

Again, the day started early, this time 7am, not as early as other days actually, but I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep. After breakfast, I headed down the gangway to meet the rest of the group for the “Township by Bike and Interactive Soccer” SAS trip. Once it was time to leave (Howard and Krystal were also on the trip with me), we boarded the bus and made our way to the township. Once outside, we were introduced to our bikes, made our choices (a few people got ones that were too tall for them, like Krystal), and began the tour. Biking through the township was a lot of fun, especially watching many of the other students who haven’t traveled on a bicycle in a long time (they were wobbling a lot and falling off a number of times). One thing I definitely feel is that traveling through an area on a bicycle is by far one of the best ways of doing so. You are going faster than walking (allowing you to see more), but you are also going slower than a car and in the open air (allowing you to experience more of the sights and smells of the region). And like walking, you can stop whenever you want. The township itself did not seem as bad as I thought (at least yet). I was expecting to see slums, dirt, and broken-make-shift buildings, however there were relatively good roads, the buildings were well walled and roofed, and it was not really that dirty. This is probably because the guides were not taking us to the bad parts, for reasons such as safety. Our first stop was a children’s facility. There was a basketball court and sports facility/gym, which were recently built to provide the children with a clean and safe environment, and a place to escape the turmoils of their world and develop away from those problems. Also there was a “Life Centre” which treated the kids of sickness and illness, but also was there to help treat kids that had acquired AIDS/HIV from birth, blood transfusions, etc. This made me sad, that children had to suffer from such ailments and lose their childhood and innocence due to the problems they were facing, which were mostly aftermaths of apartheid and discrimination that the local Africans had faced on the past few centuries. Then I saw a sign: a gun symbol, red cross-out mark over it, and said “This is a Gun-Free Zone.” This really made me realize the horrible situation that these residents were living in, that even in a children’s facility, they have to put up such a specific sign to help keep the violence away from these kids. At the same time, I also felt pity for the people who committed such acts. As I learned from our guide later, these “criminals” were often victims of disturbing backgrounds, psychological diseases, poverty, etc: again, many problems that were results of past discrimination and apartheid. Next we stopped at a new train station under construction. As the guide explained the situation of local transport and other such issues, I noticed something behind us: a restaurant in a shipping-container. That’s when I realized that there were a number of other restaurants, stores, and even homes that were located in such containers, breaking the perception I had that this township was not “that bad.” We then made our way to local residence buildings, where we stopped by a tiny building with a flimsy tin garage door. Opening it we saw the entire walls of the building covered in painted hand prints of children, the children living in the nearby buildings. This was one of the “dance studios” for “Happy Feet,” an organization that taught children, from a very young age, a type of African dance with clapping hands, stomping feet, and clapping feet. This was also a way to “distract” children from the troubled world that surrounded them and give them something to enjoy. After looking at the insides of the building, and learning a short dance routine, we made our way to the school. First arriving at the school, it seemed relatively nice, but I was not going to let the looks deceive me. We entered a preschooler classroom, where we were greeted by the kids there singing a number of songs including the South African national anthem: they sounded adorable. We gave the class some art supplies that we had brought with us, and then went to the main square of the school where we were treated to the school’s gospel choir and happy feet dance troupe. The gospel choir had beautiful rhythm, pitch, and voices, and the dance troupe consisted of highly talented dancers ranging from preschooler to middle schooler (it was great to see a 6 year old go to the front of the group and lead them on a sequence). It was then our turn to show the dance group and the school our dancing skills, and we proceeded to embarrass ourselves (we failed for lack of a better word). Then, the entire school and we made our way for the soccer field. The school’s soccer team was already practicing on the field in their uniforms and proper soccer equipment. We thought that we were going to get destroyed, until we started playing. It’s not like the players were not skilled, I felt that they didn’t really know how to play as a team. Although the game went into penalty shootouts, we pretty much owned them, which made me feel bad. I feel like we should have let them won, but I wasn’t playing during the shootouts. It was then time for us to take our leave. We got back onto our bikes and exited the premises. We stopped at the shipping container shop of a local medicinal man. This was a very interesting experience, as we got to see all sorts of traditional medicines used by such medicinal people, many of which were bones and skins of animals. We took turns entering the shop in groups of four, talked to him for a short while, and then were blessed by him. Our next stop was a place of many variations. First of all we saw some pretty intense slums, like the ones I was expecting to see, with walls made out of scraps and garbage, like the ones I’ve seen in India. Then there was an entire group of very new houses that even had solar panels to provide their own electricity. The only problem with these houses is that there wasn’t really any occupying them, since most people who had to money to afford them would just leave the township all together. We stopped at a local restaurant that was actually officially recognized by FIFA during the recent World Cup. Inside we enjoyed some African bread and fresh orange juice before leaving. On our way to the buses we stopped in a more town-like area of the township with stores. There a man approached all of us with some drugs and an alcohol-smelling breath. Immediately our guide and a number of locals began yelling at him for making a bad impression on us and shooed him off. After that fiasco, we reached the buses and left for the ship. When we got back, Krystal went off with some friends leaving me and Howard alone. Neither of us had been to the FIFA Stadium in Cape Town yet, so we got directions for it on the ship and headed back out. We got there within 15 minutes, and boy was it big. I actually had to sweep my head a little bit just to be able to see the whole thing. We found the entrance and got tickets for the next tour. Inside the grounds, we first entered the reception hall and waited for the guide. The stadium was really cool looking, but not as amazing as I thought it would be. It was definitely spectacular, but the entire stadium was built mostly of just concrete (even the wakeways outside and fence), and the outside was covered by a cloth like material. As soon as our guide arrived, we started out tour of the 7 levels of the stadium. As soon as we got inside, I was taken aback by the sheer size of the grounds and stadium seating area. I could not imagine that only 3 months before, 75-80,000 people were flooding this stadium and world-famous soccer players were fighting it off. We started on the second floor, then third floor, all the way to the sixth floor, where we enjoyed a view from the top in a box seat. Then we went downstairs to the first floor and visited the locker rooms (which was amazing) and the stadiums jail.... that’s right, the stadium had its own JAIL for rowdy spectators or other such police reasons. Then we were allowed onto the main field. Although we were not allowed to actually stand on the field, we were able to touch the grass (wow, I know right) and standing down there, where the players sat on the side and coach barked on the ones on the field, really made me feel like I was kind of there (I could actually picture the roar of the crowd). Our tour was then over, so Howard and I headed back to the ship (right after going to the bathroom and using a sink faucet that shot out water like a rocket, and made a quick stop by the nearby McDonalds [of course there is one right outside the stadium] to see what it was like). After getting a little bit more internet time in the mall, and dinner on the ship, I was invited out by Drew. So Drew, Bria, Lorlei, Amy, Jenn, Veronica, Kevin, and I headed out to first the Green Dolphin, then Mitchell’s, then Long Street, then the Green Turtle Karaoke Lounge (where I engaged in karaoke for the first time ever; I sang Billie Jean by Michael Jackson with Drew), and Dublienese (where we got to see a live band play some popular teen music from the back in the states. By that time it was late, and yet the others still wanted to go out. However when it began raining, and we began being followed by some homeless people who were probably trans-gender and trying to help but just be really creepy at the same time, we decided it was time to head back. Once back to the ship, we checked to make sure the other taxi made it back alright, which they did, and then called it a night. It was late, and today was an intense day: township by bike, soccer with kids, FIFA stadium, and a fun night out with my friends. It was a good day
-Nimish
October 7, 2010

A Close Encounter with Great Whites

The day started off very early with morning call at 4:30am. I got ready and made my way outside. At the entrance to the port, we grouped up and met some of the others joining us on the trip, and waited for the shark-dive company to pick us up. By the time they got there, we got into the van, and left it was 5:45. There were 12 of us on a 2 hour drive, most of which we slept. For the short time towards the end that I was awake for, it was beautiful as we passed over roads adjacent to the ocean and green cliffs to our left, and through beach towns of newly painted buildings. We arrived at Gansbaai, the great white capital of the world, around 8. At the main building I enjoyed a breakfast of delicious granola while we waited for the Barracuda, the ship we would be traveling in, to return to the dock. We were told that it apparently had 6 great whites circling it at the time… AWESOME. We waited outside for a short while, enjoying the beautiful weather and beach, and as soon as the boat returned, we made our way to the dock. The Barracuda was a small vessel, two-floored, and seemingly new. It was definitely weird to be on such a small sea vessel, especially after our month on the MV Explorer. This was the first time since the 9th grade that I was on a small boat. Leaving the dock, we sailed out about 10 minutes, braving waves and water swells. This boat definitely would be destroyed by some of the swells the Explorer experiences on the open ocean. Reaching our “spot” we laid anchor, noticing another boat already there. Our leader, who was the brother of the founder of the shark diving company who was one of the leading shark experts in the world, began talking and instructing us about safety, what we were going to do, and other instructions. “Blah blah blah... oh look a shark.” He said it so casually, but the moment he said it all of our heads just snapped in the direction and peered over the side of the boat. There swimming only 5 feet from the Barracuda was a Great White Shark..... SWEET!!! We all got changed into our wet suits, and the first group (Ben, Nick, Kathleen, Megan, Howard, and another guy) made their way into the cage. The workers threw a lure into the water with bait at the end of it, and then we waited. Within a minute or two, we had a shark sighting. Let the fun begin!!! After that we saw a number of normal sized sharks. Normal meaning 2-3 m. This was exciting enough until we spotted a big guy. This one was around 4-5 m in length (around 15 feet). It was so awesome to watch this, and I hadn’t enough gotten into the water yet. We were actually getting lucky, the other two boats (one more had anchored shortly after us) were not getting much attention from the sharks. After 30 minutes, we switched group and I got my turn to experience the awesomeness. The water was actually not too cold (I’m sure the wet suit was helping a lot). And there comes our first shark... DIVE!!! Getting into the water and seeing the sharks in their natural habitat was an experience that cannot be put into words. In the water it was completely silent, providing this eerie feeling that was just not the same as being on the boat. I saw the shark, a beautiful monster, as it lurched for the bait, missed, turned and dove out of sight. It was like being in one of those animal documentaries (like Planet Earth or Blue Planet). I could hear David Attenborough’s voice in the back of my head, and imagined him describing the situation to me in his awesome voice. I got out of the water out of breath, and astounded by what had just experienced. This was by far one of the coolest things I have ever done (tied with ATVing at Aquila). But no time to think, the next shark was on its way... DIVE!!! My group was luckier than the first one, and we got much more sightings. Being in the cage was weird because we were constantly looking forward, and not looking at our back... we were constantly worried about a backside attack or from beneath. But thankfully we had the cage of course to protect us (although there were scratch marks on parts of the cage from shark bites). Our time was up, and we switched with the first group again. It felt nice to be out of the water, but after a while I started feeling really cold. There were seagulls trying to get their share on scraps from the bait, and we were joking about a shark possibly taking one of them out. When the group’s turn was up, my group got back in, for the second and last time. This time it was more calm than our first time. Not that many sightings at first, but we were in for a treat. The big guy paid us a visit, and stayed with us for the first 15 minutes of our dive, and would give us some of the coolest sightings we had seen yet. Towards the end of his period of visiting, we saw the coolest thing ever. The shark came right at us (since the bait was right in front of me, a few feet away). When he missed the bait, he came straight at me. At the last second, before hitting the cage itself, he turns to my right. The was a brief moment, in slow motion, when his eyes met mine. In that 1.5 second period of time at point blank range, I felt a connection to him, as if he was staring into my soul. A truly creepy yet deep feeling welled up inside of me. As the shark turned and left, he left us a go away gift: he slammed the side of the cage, a foot away from my face, with his tail twice and then disappeared into the murkiness of the water. As we came out of the water, we were greeted by the screams of the first group, and then we began screaming ourselves. Did that really just happen? That was unbelievable! That was my third experience in South Africa where I was close to danger and something that could have easily killed me (the other two being the rock on Table Mountain, and the water buffalo at Aquila). At that moment when our eyes met, I was so tempted to touch the shark, I mean he was RIGHT THERE only 5 inches away from my face. But self-preservation got the better of me... thankfully; who knows what may have happened if I had touched him. After that we saw no more of the big guy; his slap to the cage really was like a go-away gift. However, we were soon joined by another shark. This guy was smaller, but he was also more curious as he was staying in relatively closeness to the cage for longer, and forcing us to stay underwater for longer. This was difficult because we could of course only hold our breath for so long, but yet we felt compelled to stay underwater and watch the shark for as long as we could. Towards the end of our diving time, we saw the shark swallow a small piece of the bait and for a moment he seemed to be choking on it as he started shaking his front body a lot. Then he suddenly stopped shaking, dived, and disappeared beneath us. After a few more passes from a third shark, our time was up. We got out of the water, changed, and had a snack from the food reserves on the boat. At this point I became really cold and so put on the jacket the company provided, and my own jacket. The Barracuda then raised its anchor, and we made our way for Seal Island. On the way, we ran into two right whales: a mother and her calf. These whales were huge, even the calf, and were easily the size of the Barracuda. When they got within 20 feet of the boat, they surfaced for a long time, giving us the opportunity to view their entire top for a good amount of time: such serene and powerful creatures. They then dove under the boat, and we did not see them after that. Soon after that we arrived to the island. And oh boy, there were A LOT of seals. No joke, there were probably around 4,000 on them on and in the water near the island, which was no more than a ½ square mile. One of the largest concentrations of seals in the world. It was quite a sight. And of course, since there were so many of them, the experience was accompanied by other seal characteristics. For one, the island stank: it was one of the strongest and most poop-like smells I have ever inhaled through my nostrils. Another was the din. The seals were barking like dogs, but the sound they were making sounded a lot like sheep. The ones in the water, were playing, would surface, look around (especially at us, then flip over and dive back in, only to surface again shortly after. We marveled at this island for about 10 minutes, sailing slowly from one end of the island to the other, and then took our leave and started back to the docks. We got back to land around 1, and made our way back to the main building. There were enjoyed some delicious and warm vegetable soup for lunch, which was much needed after our chilling experience in the water. While eating, we watched our dive video and then a documentary about the plight of the sharks. Apparently there are only 1,000 or so great whites left in the wild, and from the looks of it our leader said that it was likely that our children  will never be able to see them (Great Whites cannot be kept in aquariums because for some reason not that have been in captivity have survived for long). This is really sad because many sharks are killed a year only for their fatty fins (the rest of the carcass being thrown back into the water) or just because of people afraid of them (thanks “Jaws”). The funny part about that is that more people are killed a year by coconuts than sharks, and more people are killed by shark soup than sharks. After that eye-opening video, we got thanked the leaders, got into the van and started back to the ship. I stayed awake in the front and kept our cool driver company while everyone else passed out. The scenery was so beautiful, and our driver was offering to drive us to hermanus (the land-based whale watching capital of the world) for no extra charge. However since everyone else was sleeping, I could not make a decision for them (especially since I didn’t know half of them). So instead he stopped at the top of the hill 30 minutes away from Cape Town. There we enjoyed a stunning view of the low-lying land in front of us, the mountains and cliffs to our right, the ocean to our left, and Cape Town in the distance. When we got back to the ship, the others went to their rooms to do their own thing (shower, sleep, etc), and so I decided to go back out and get some more internet time to skype. At Timytz I ran into Amy, who joined me, and so we both headed into the V&A mall. There I skyped my mom for the first time since the middle of Spain; it was great to see her again. After talking for some time, and a number of disconnections due to bad free-internet connection, my battery was dying, so I had to make my departure. Back on the ship, I got dinner with Alyssa Rizzo (my extended family sister) and talked to her about her experience in a local Human Rights program. There she had a conversation with the killer of Amy Bell (the girl whose death started the program), who was working at the place out of sorrow for what he had unknowingly done. I decided to wander the mall for a little while, before running into Teisha, Alyssa, and one of their friends Emily. I joined them as they went into the mall to get internet. After leaving them some time after, I met Nick and joined him to find Ben. We found him with Megan, Nathalie, and Howard, and we then chilled the mall for some time. I left and for the ship an hour or two later, and began working on my blog. Apparently people are actually reading it, which makes me feel good. So I have to keep the quality up.
-Nimish
October 6, 2010

An Awesome Safari Experience

Eyes open. Alarm going off. Get out of bed. Wake the others up. It was around 5 am, but after sleeping in that marvelous bed, I felt out of this world. Outside, the rise had began its creeping into the sky. We made our way for the back of our room where there was a playground. Climbing on top of it, we watched the sky change in colors from a greyish blue into a reds, oranges, yellows, and brighter blues. The color change was great, however the actual sunrise was not necessarily that amazing because the sun was blocked by a hill during its initial rise. Nevertheless the situation was not one I would want to miss, as there also were bird chirping their morning song in the distance. We went back into our room and fell back asleep until it was time to ATV. I was so excited for this. Before going though, I quickly got a glass of orange juice to fuel my body. An Apple a day may keep the doctor away, but there’s nothing like freshly squeezed OJ in the morning. Outside we were introduced to our ATVs, taught how to run it properly, mounted them, and began our journey. This was so cool. The first time I’ve ever ATV’d and I was doing it in a safari; like killing two birds with one stone. When I reved that engine for the first time, I felt a shiver run through my hands (partly due to excitement and partly because the ATV was shaking so much) as I was now in control of such a powerful machine (I know I may be overreacting, but it was really cool). This time when we entered the safari, it just felt different, in a great way. The air blowing past us, the shaking of the ATV, and the tension in my body just created a different aura and was very exhilarating. The ATV had great acceleration, breaking, and durability. The shock system was outstanding, which was absolutely necessary since the road had a bunch of pits and bumps. Every time I hit one, I had to counter it by leaning in the opposite direction (inertia for all you physics geeks). There were so many things I had to pay attention to at once, but it was so much fun. We pretty much took the same route we took yesterday in the jeep, so our first stop was the waterhole again. It was the same as yesterday except for one thing... the hippos were out of the water. Or at least some of them. One of the mothers and two kids were strolling along the sides, while big papa stayed in the water. Even from a distance I could tell how large these animals are, especially their jaws. Oh my, they were large. I’m pretty sure their mouths could open wide enough to swallow a young child whole. As we continued on, we passed by the spot where the water buffalo were the day before, but they were not there today, which is a good thing because I’m pretty sure our ranger would not have allowed us to drive past that spot if it insinuated driving on an ATV past water buffalo 5 feet away. We next came upon the first dirt round about, where we ran into the rhinos again. Except this time we were on ATVs, and only 30 feet away from them. We were really putting ourselves out there, being that close to such a powerful animal with no protection. Of course we could always book it on our ATVs, but these animals were not slow (especially the hippo, which can actually hit 30-40kmh). Nevertheless, the fact of us doing such a thing made it that much more fun and cooler. We were only looking at the rhinos for a short while before they started walking in our direction. At first I thought this was so cool, until our guide told us to move (and he was very serious when saying this); that’s when I realized how close I really was to a wild rhinoceros. We only drove for a short while before we came upon a tree patch. And standing within this patch were more rhinos walking towards us. Ok... time to turn around, and head back in the same direction as the other rhinos that were walking towards us. Fortunately the first group had moved on so we were able to cross the roundabout safely and peacefully. Along the road the ranger suddenly stopped to point something out to us. In the distance on a far hill were two silhouettes.... Big 5 animal #4: Elephants. Oh even from so far away they looked so cool, I want a closer look but we have to stick to our route. But our guide told us that we would be going there later. I turn, and right behind us was a group of zebras and wildebeest on a close hill slope. They were just chilling there, all staring at us, as if prepared to run. We left them in peace and continued on our way. Soon enough, we came upon a treacherous hill. Not only was it relatively steep, but the road was also completely rocky and coarse with lots of ditches and holes. Making my way up quite slowly, my hands were shaking, my shoulders were tense, and my whole body was just bouncing a lot. Once we got to the top, my hands continued shaking for quite some time after wards. I look behind me to see Mary struggling with her ATV upwards, and Lorlei stuck behind her. I turn back around, look up and see them: two fully grown African Elephants within 20-30 feet of us. Seeing this so many things popped into my head: “Oh my God... ELEPHANTS,” “I Love this Safari,” “ATVing and going on a safari is so much fun,” “Nick will be so jealous.” SO we just stayed and marveled at these elephants for like 10 minutes. The elephants thankfully looked quite relaxed and at ease and continued in their activities (eating, throwing dirt on their backs with their trunks, etc) not paying attention to us. Seeing these elephants is when the magnitude of my situation really hit me: on an ATV in a South African safari, about 30 feet away from African Elephants, during a time when I should be in college studying.... SO COOL!!! Finally it was time to leave the elephants, and we made our way back to the park entrance. On the way we passed by a group of springbok naturally running away from us. These are really timid creatures, but they have to be since they are so small (relatively). One our way out, I saw the dirt roundabout again and saw all 6 rhinos there, along with a tree full to the branch with cranes and other birds. Now we hit a straightway with minimal obstacles, so I decided to punch it. I accelerated the ATV to its limit (I had been taking my time before on purpose, because now I had a big gap between me and the next person). As the speed on the speedometer climbed, the ATV began shaking powerfully until it hit 41 km/h, at which point it stopped accelerating, and so I slowed it down. As we exited the park for the last time, I thought about what I had just done. This ATV experience was much more real and exhilarating that the experience yesterday in the Jeep. I mean I didn’t see as many animals as yesterday, but it was more than worth it and provided me with a different experience in the park you just couldn’t get in the 4x4. Back at the main building, we went to the dining hall and feasted on breakfast and reflected on our experiences, while the other half of our group took their turn to ATV. Our number one reflection was: “Did we really just do that.... did that really just happen?” We could get over the fact of what we had just done and experienced. When we got outside we made our way back to our room and pack up. Me and Lander stayed out and saw a very large group of ostriches. There were only 3 or 4 males, and the rest (around 10-15) were female. The females are so much uglier than the males ;). As they moved on, I peered into the vast open space of the safari in front of us, until I my eyes reached the pond right next to the buildings. There among the reeds were 3 water buffalo, probably the same 3 from yesterday. As Lander and I observed them from the fence, they began walking in our direction. I should have remembered all the times in the safari: whenever an animal began walking our direction, we got out of the way. But for some reason Lander and I did not remember this. We moved to a brick enclave to get a better view and Lander even stood up on the wall of it. The buffalo just kept coming closer, and when they were within 15 feet of us and the fence, I thought, “Ok, probably time to get out of here.” As I began moving away, one of the waiters from the dining hall, began yelling at me and Lander to get away from the fence. Immediately the safari guides came pelting from the back of the park, and towards the fence. As soon as everyone was a good distance away from the fence, one of the guides crossed over the fence some distance away from the buffalo and began drawing them away from the fence. Almost like pet, the buffalo responded and began walking towards him. As soon as they were gone, a guide and few other people came to us and talked to us about what just happened. Apparently these three buffalo were very dangerous as just a few months before they had broken through the fence and killed 3 visitors. They were talking to us as if we were children, which is understandable given what just happened, but they also did not see that we were just watching the buffalo (the 3 visitors who were killed were apparently mocking the buffalo). Nevertheless, we probably should have moved away earlier. Soon after that chaotic experience, the second group returned from their ATVing, not knowing what they missed. We then got into the jeeps again and headed across the road where we came to some cages that the park owned. In these cages were a number of animals that were recently obtained from the park and came from traumatic backgrounds, so they were separated to allow them time to recover. The animals here included three lions, crocodiles, warthogs, baboons, and two of my favorite animals: two cheetahs that had a large cage and were hiding under a tree in the grass (so we only could see their heads), and Big 5 animal #5 (the last one): the Leopard (which was by itself in a smaller cage since it was brand new and still beginning to recover). We were not there for long, before we had to return to the main building. There we threw our bags into the vans, and left. We left around 12:30, 2.5 hours later than we should have left (I’m perfectly fine with that). That was the end to one of the greatest experiences of my life, as it has significantly affected me. The landscape on the way back was awe-striking. There were mountains everywhere, with light bouncing off of them beautifully. We then hit a tunnel, and when we got back out, the scenery was completely different with more open space instead of mountains (still gorgeous though). We reached the ship around 2:30, and relaxed while unpacking. As I could not really find anyone to do stuff with, I decided to get on the internet at the V&A. Once outside, I ran into Mezrim, who had just gotten back from a trip to the Archbishop’s house. He looked so different in a Hawaiian shirt and jeans, and just looked that much more carefree and happy. After walking with him for a little while, we parted as he continued on his own and I went to surf the internet for the first time since Spain. I had over 200 unread messages, so I had a lot to catch up on. After wards, I headed back to the ship, with the intent to go out for Thai food (I saw a flier in the ship at the Field Office). I found Kathleen and Chris, who were interested in joining me and so we headed out to Wang Thai. After getting the food (which took a while to order, since the waiters seem to have a laid back personality here) and diving, I was quite full after wards. The food was really good, but I had a feeling that my being fed up with the ship food contributed to the tastiness of the meal. After a thorough conversation with the two, and enjoying a pleasant sunset, we met up with Crystal and Nick and went to the Jazz Restaurant “The Green Dolphin.” It was a lot of fun to just chill there and enjoy the music. While the others conversed, I let it soak in what I had done today. Around 12, I decided to call it a night. I have to wake up early tomorrow (5:45am) to go shark diving. I am so stocked for that, and the post in the garden lounge bulletin board about a poacher who was killed by a great white near cape town just a few days before made me that much more excited. Tomorrow will be sick!!!
-Nimish
October 5, 2010

Go On South African Safari ... Check!!!

I awoke early again, so that I could catch breakfast. Who knows when I'll get food again. We are planning on leaving for the safari at 10, and its a 2-3 hour drive. After splurging on more cereal, I checked my packing, to make sure I had everything I needed for this trip. I'm really excited for this trip, because for all I know, it might change my career interests. I've always had a love for animals and nature, and maybe this safari will cause that interest to bloom. I made sure that I understood that Aquila (the Game Reserve we were going to) was no Kruger (one of the largest and most famous of safaris in all of Africa), so that I would not be disappointed. I got off the ship around 9:50 to meet the group. There were about 12 of us, including the entire Davidson family (Mary, the mother, and Jim, the father, are the secret service agents), which is a good size for a trip. Not too few, not too many. Before leaving, we seperated into two vans, loaded our luggage, strapped in and headed off. For the first half of the trip I passed out, as did almost everyone else in the van... except Lorelei and Lander (they were literally talking the entire drive). When I did wake up, I looked outside to witness some gorgeous scenery. It was this interesting combination of mountains and farms (most likely wineries), and made this interesting assortment of colors. At one point, the driver stopped suddenly on the side of the road. We looked outside to see a clan of baboons crossing the road and off the side, back into the wilderness. That was definitely interesting. Our first encounter with animals in South Africa was in a car, not even to the safari yet, and they were monkeys (random thought: is it possible to say the word monkey seriously?). After that event, we continued on, passing by more farms and houses, an ostrich farm, and more hills/mountains. After about 2 hours, we reached Aquila Private Game Reserve (it was about 12:30). The entrance was nothing that great, regular wooden archway that you see at almost every national park, camp grounds, etc. However once we got inside, it was a different matter. The park's facilities were suprisingly fancy, and very well kept. Its not like I was expecting a dump, you know; I mean I knew that they would probably be nice since its a safari park, but I had no idea they would be this nice. After a welcoming of a glass of champagne (I respectively declined), we entered, signed in, and awaited lunch to be served. The park's buildings were in excellent condition, with a miniature "tropical" pool in the side of the main building, and a larger "fancy" pool in front of the building with seating areas surrounding it. To the left side were a number of cabins where we would be staying for the night, and off to the right were some more cabins (isolated because they were probably bigger and fancier than ours). And surrounding all of this was a wooden fence seperating the residence area from the park... the border betwen our world and the animals' world. It was very interesting looking into that vast expanse, knowing that somewhere in there are a number of different species living the closest thing they can get to a normal life in this human-dominated planet. Also, funny thing, there was a pet ostrich roaming around the facilities. Lunch was served, and I must say I was very happy. There were a large number of choices of foods, even for a vegetarian like me. There were pastas, very fresh salads, cheeses, fresh vegetables (different from the ones on the ship), stews, soups, freshly baked breads, and more. I ate to my hearts content and felt  great afterwards. We were also given the choices to either go ATVing or horeseback riding the next morning. Coming into the trip, I definitely wanted to go on ATV, but there I heard that on horseback you can get much closer to the animals. So I was having a difficult time deciding, but the park rangers told me that ATV would be much more fun and even though you can get closer on horseback, by ATV you can still get within a 100 meters of the animals, which is not far at all. So decision made... ATV it is. At 2, we were shown to our rooms. I was staying with Dan, Lander, and Lorelei. Our rooms were cottage like and very homely, and they had two floors. The bathroom was exquisite and had an outside shower. The roof (as was all the roofs of all the buildings) was made of nothing but reeds. I called one of the upstairs beds which was right under the roof, which was pretty cool. After setting our stuff up, and taking in how amazing this place was, we went back out to chill by the pool. I went up to the fence to take some pictures of the safari area, which was really serene. I noticed a hump in proximity of the fence, and looked long and hard at it. It was a Giraffe! We hadn't even gone into the actual park yet, and we had already seen an animal. And not any old animal.... a freaking GIRAFFE!!! It was so tall and such a beauty to watch. We observed it eating and strolling around the edge of the park for some time, marveling at its elegance. After a bit, it started wandering farther from the edge, towards the inner part of the reserve, so we stopped watching and sat around and talked for a while longer. Come 3:30, and we began getting ready for our safari ride. I got my camera, jacket, and excitment from the room and headed off to the entrance. We were so excited for this. The group was seperated among two 4x4 safari trucks which were a bit taller than normal cars, and completely open. Some other guys, who were from Cape Town, joined my group in our car. At 4, we headed off. The entrance was a short distance from the residence area in the back, and once we went through those doors, I got this very surreal feeling. I was finally in a safari park (one of my lifetime dreams). This is what South Africa is all about. Our first stop was next to a water hole. At first it looked like any other water hole: small and big birds walking along the sides, some floating in the middle, water as still as still as glass, and the sun reflecting off the top. Then, I noticed a few humped shadows in the water, which turned out to be the first big animals we saw in the park: hippos. Of course they did not look like much while in the water, but I know that they can be really big, and really dangerous. Our ranger told us that hippos are probably the most dangerous animals in the park, which is only expected given the sheer size of their jaws. There were at least 4 hippos in the water, all about the same size, except for one that had a noticeably larger head: the alpha male. There was a baby or two in the pack, otherwise the others were mothers. After a sharp turn on the road (these jeeps have monstrous power), we headed along the left side of the “pond” and ran into the first sighting of one of the Big 5 animals: the Water buffalo. From a distance, they did not look that intimidating. However once we got within 10 feet of them, I saw why they were one of the “BIG” 5. These animals were huge. Their heads alone were the size of my upper body (from waist to neck) and their horns were as long as my leg and nothing but pure bone. We were able to get really close to them because the three of them were laying down and chewing on some food, but our ranger remained vigilant, ready to drive off if they made any sudden moves. Basically, the water buffalo was like a normal cow times two. After marveling at them for a little while longer, we continued on. Ahead we passed by a group of springbuck (while are like a small deer like animal with twisted horns and a tan & white coat. They were fairly timid and kept a slight distance away from us, probably because they are so small they have to be very careful: survival of the fittest. We next hit up a group of zebra, also known as a dazzle of zebra. Our ranger told us how you could tell how old the zebra is based on how distinct its stripes are. One with more greyish colors in the white stripes were younger. A short while from this dazzle, we ran into another dazzle. Here, we learned about the difference between a male and female.... males apparently only turn clockwise and females only turn counterclockwise (or something about turning). The safari turned for the even better after we stopped at dirt roundabout. Here we saw Big 5 animal #2: the rhino. These animals looked truly epic: body was shaped as if they had a body of armor on them, a pike of a horn on their head, and their head always down as if ready to charge (like a jousting knight). Along with these three rhinos (we later saw another group of 4) there was also a group of ostrich, and soon joined by another dazzle of zebra, and a herd of wildebeest. The wildebeests were cool, but they looked so awkward: had hair on their back like a horse, had a hump like a camel, horns like a cow, and thin. Of course seeing one of the great wildebeest herds would be awesome, but in Aquila there were only maybe 30-50 of them. After these herds made their way on (the ostrich remained there, standing looking confused), we did too and continued till we hit another dirt space, which was next to a mini waterhole. Here we all disembarked our jeeps an enjoyed a snack of fruit, juice, and some dried fruit snacks. This is when I was really able to take in the atmosphere, the beautiful scenery, and the serene yet unreal feeling of being on a safari in the middle of South Africa. This was so cool. After finishing up the snacks, we loaded back into the jeeps and made our way to see the one and only Big 5 animal #3: the African Lion. The lions were being kept in a preserve, separate from the rest of the park because Aquila does not have enough animals to sustain a natural environment. This definitely takes a little away from the authenticity of the experience, but I can’t ask for much from such a small safari park. Upon arriving to the preserve gates, the ranger got out, turned off the electrical gate fence, opened it, drove us in, closed the gate, and turned it back on again. We were now in lion territory. We were told to keep quiet as to not excite or invigorate the lions. It was not long before we came across the lion pride. There were 4 females feasting on a carcass, just tearing it apart in turns. A little bit away, I noticed another female or two, and then two males, one old the other young (mufasa and simba :). We drove upto 5 feet away from the resting and eating lions, and marveled in silence of the situation. One of the females, then got up and started moving towards us. She got really close, probably within a foot or two at one point. The Ranger kept backing us up in bursts, to make sure she did not get close enough to be able to jump into the jeep. She stopped following us and plopped back down to rest. As we were taking pictures, one of the Cape Town visitors was so happy that he accidently clapped. The second his hands touched and made that noise, every single lion stopped what it was doing and snapped its head in our direction. This was a very tense moment, but the lions eventually resumed their activities. After that fiasco, we drove down a little to look at the males. They were so much hairier than the females (of course because of the mane) and also looked more lazy. It was interesting to see the two males, old and young, sitting next to each other: one the boss, the other the future boss. It was then time to leave. After leaving the preserve in the same process that we entered, we made our way back to the main building. Once back outside, we went to dinner which was spectacular. For once, I found a dinner dessert that I could actually eat. It was like a peanut butter cream crumble, and after the meal I was full for the first time since leaving home. As the group dispersed, most went to the safari’s bar to have some drinks. Lorlei, Lander, Dan, and I on the other hand went to the fire pit and made a bonfire. This was a much better way to enjoy the safari, and we talked for an hour or two about the trip, interests back, home, etc. I went back in to get more dessert. Around 11, we decided to call it a night. We wanted to get up early tomorrow to watch the sunrise. The beds were amazingly comfortable, like I was floating on a cloud. Eventually, my eyes closed, and I dozed off. Today was a stunning experience.
-Nimish
October 4, 2010

A City on the Cape among a Mountain

Woke up at 4:30. Three cheers for 3.5 hours of sleep!!! I think I might die today. Getting into the port early is not easy on me, especially since I am crazy and have to watch us pilot and then dock. But it was totally worth it because how many times in you life do you get to watch yourself dock at Cape Town on Semester at Sea..... only ONCE!!! We piloted around 5 am and docked at 6. The entrance to the dock was quite small and we barely made it through. The dock was so much closer to the city than the last two ports (Casablanca and Takoradi). And the best part, the entire port is like a huge mall: V&A Waterfront. The sunrise was also outstanding, as we saw the colors explode and Table Mountain go from a large dark object to an awe-striking body of rock and stone. The city looked so nice and I was ready to get out and experience South Africa. Breakfast consisted of cereal as per usual (4 boxes), and some juice from Mezrim. I was really tired, and I did not know how I would survive the day (the Table Mountain hike). So many people were up early, many of whom had to leave immediately for multiple-day safaris. Before we could get our passports and be able to leave the ship, we had to have a mini interview from South African immigration staff who got on the ship. The interview itself was pretty simple; it was just a nusance to have to get it done. I was able to beat the crowd, because when I left, the line went from the Faculty Lounge on Deck 7, down the stairs to Timytz Square on Deck 5. We then had a diplomatic briefing, where one of the diplomats talked about safety in South Africa in such a way that it freaked us all out and made South Africa sound like a violence zone. I mean I heard that South Africa was dangerous, but this guy made it sound really bad (as if it was hell for safety). Once we all had our passports, we made a rally point and time and got ready. Our hiking group consisted of me, Ben, Nick, Dino, Chris, Natalie, Michaella, Jenn, and Krystal. We got off the ship and were welcomed to some beautiful weather and a gorgeous port/mall. The V&A was big and packed with tourists/travelers and locals (some shopping [the more rich], others performing [the not-so-rich]). There was this vibe to the atmosphere, it really reminded me of shopping malls back in California (except for the singing and instrument playing performers). The entrance to the mall was only a 5 minute walk from our dock, which felt good after the 20 minute walking in Casablanca's port and 10-15 minute walking in Takoradi's port. At the entrance, we met two guards who helped us get some taxis to Table Mountain and gave us some tips about travel and safety in Cape Town. Table Mountain was about a 10 minute drive from the V&A. The city itself was quite beautiful, and I could not believe that such a city was so dangerous. After leaving the taxis at the base of the mountain, we had to hike some 20 minutes on the road to reach the base of the easy-hike trail. During this time, we saw an Audi R8 (it was pretty sweet) and I was hit (lightly) by the mirror of a passing car. When we reached the trail, we saw a sign that said the hike was 1.5 miles or so, and that it would take 2.5 hours to hike. I was taken aback by this, because of all the hiking I did in the Himalayas during the summer, and highly doubted it would take that long since it was the easy hike. Of course I did not take into account that some of the others in the group were not so physically fit, and after we started the hike we realized that this so-called "easy" trail was not so easy at all; it was actually quite difficult and strenuous. It was alright, but two of the others were having a tough time, and we kept pushing them on, and taking a bunch of breaks so that they could catch their breath. Nevertheless, the view from the hike was stupendous, and as we got higher it just got better and better. In the beginning of the hike, we were the only SAS people on the trail. However after some time, there were a lot of other SASers. The weather was also quite pleasant: not hot but not too chilly at the same time. Natalie and Crystal started loosing motivation as they got more burned out. Natalie eventually went back down and just took the cable car, but the others kept pushing Krystal on. This meant that we were going very slowly, which I was perfectly ok with. It allowed me to enjoy the serenity and beauty of the environment and view. Chris and Michaella, however, went on at their own pace. After some 1.5-2 hours, we reached the end of the trail, were it just zig-zagged up (like crooked street in San Francisco). At this point we were hiking in clouds (at least whenever they rolled in over the mountain like a white blanket). And this is when a thrilling thing happened. We were about to reach a turn when there was a crack, then a loud thud sound, and then someone yelled, "WATCH OUT!" I looked up the trail and saw a boulder falling down the trail straight towards us. You know how people say that when you feel like your life is being threatened, that everything suddenly seems to go in slow motion. They are completely RIGHT! When I saw that rock crashing down, I immediately felt tunnel-visions as things went slow. Since I already had momentum going forward (to the right), I stuck with my path toward the turn even though the rock was on course in front of me. Right as it almost reached me, it hit a rock in the ground and bounced to the left, missing me by about half a foot. I felt relieved, but then looked back and tensed up again. Nick (who was behind me) was moving towards the left since the rock had been heading more in my direction. He was walking slowly, but when the boulder hit that rock right before me, it change course directly to him. Seeing this he immediately freaked and floored it at sprinting pace, and the rock missed him by like 3 inches (no joke). And still I was not relaxed. Dino and Krystal were still behind Nick. They had enough time to try to hide behind a outcropping in the cliff side. The boulder fell and stopped not an inch or two from Dinos feet. We all then looked at each other, our faces in dumbstruck fear, and then started yelling. Did that really just happen? I could not believe it. We looked up the trail where the rock came from and saw a few SASers, who had apparently sat on the rock (which was not on the trail at all) and caused it to come loose. We could not believe them (and they didn't even say sorry), and spent some time reflecting on what just happened, took some pictures with the rock that could have killed us, and continued on our way up the trail. We finally reached the top. After 2.5 hours of hiking, we were tired, but awestruck and stupefied by what we saw up there. The view was absolutely stunning. We could see the entire city all the way to the horizon. We climbed to some rocks (at least the guys did) and got a bunch of pictures of the view and ourselves near the side of the cliff (don't worry, we left a good 3 feet between us and the edge). The best parts is when the clouds would roll in and cover everything. They moved really fast. You could look at the city, turn around in a circle, have the view covered by clouds, turn around again, and have everything clear again. We were starving at that point, so we got some lunch at the restaurant up there. I was excited for the pizza, but it was satisfactory; but at least my stomach was full. We took the cable car down. The ride was quite cool, as the cable car actually rotated so you could get a 360 degree view of everything as it descended. My ears popped a lot during that descent, and we got to the bottom within 3 minutes, which made our hike up seem pathetically long. When we got back to the V&A, Ben, Jenn and I wandered around for a little bit. The Waterfront is a very nice, clean, and lively which is a nice change from the last two ports (Casablanca and Takoradi). However, it also has a very touristy feel to it, which I kind of did not like. I do really like the break from a typical port (the others, with trucks and shipments, etc), but since we are on SAS and should be experiencing the real atmosphere, I didn't appreciate the facade that the waterfront made in front of "real" South Africa. Ben and I wandered around the area and found a crafts center, a bunch of restaurants and stores, a group of statues of famous South African (such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu), and a giant man statue made out of Coca-Cola bottle containers. Once back on the ship, I quickly changed into nicer clothes, and rushed back out again to attend my SAS FDP Trip: "WOZA! A Night of Theater in District Six." When we got to District Six, however, the place did not look as bad as I had expected. There were kind-of-well-kept houses, and most of the buildings were in decent condition. From what I heard, though, the district was much worse a number of years ago, until the city demolished it and rebuilt it for people who were better-off. I don't know if this is true, but as they taught us in elementary school, "Don't judge a book by its cover." The food was simple, but fresh and enjoyable. Before the play began, one of the workers taught us some basic dance moves being employed in the play. It was pretty interesting teaching about 25-30 students how to do a "clap dance" as I call it.After that interesting experience, the show began. The performance was quite entertaining. It was much better and fun to watch than I was expecting. All the performers were young adults or teenagers, who I think came from difficult backgrounds and given a chance to "live" through this theater show. The play was about issues facing South Africans: safety issues, problems and difficulties children faced, family problems, etc. One interesting thing I noticed is that the male performers played the part of the characters who had the bad experiences, while the girls mostly sung and performed dances to portray the emotions that these characters were feeling. The play was not necessarily well-done, as there were a number of times when a “mistake” was obvious. But we (or at least I) did not care, as we were enjoying the play and appreciating the work these performers had put in. When the play was finished, we all gave the performers a standing ovations. When we got back to the ship, I went back out to a local restaurant with some friends from the performance. There, I met up with Dino, and the group. I have certainly noticed that... SASers always find some way to always take over a local bar/restaurant, especially if it’s near the ship (duh!). Of course this kills your ability to meet locals at this place, and sometimes even places around it since SASers are so loud and occasionally obnoxious. After hanging out there for a few hours, I decided to call it a night around 12. I have to get up early tomorrow for my safari trip, for which I am super excited. The first day in South Africa was quite fun and am looking forward to more great experiences. I don't know how I survived today on just 3.5 hours of sleep.... but I did.
-Nimish
October 3, 2010

A Child of God

Early morning, breakfast, and classes. Sounds all normal right? WRONG!!! Today in Global Studies we had a special guest lecturer: Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He lectured all of class, and even went over by 15 minutes. His lecture was nothing short of awe inspiring. Arch has a way with words that is so mind provoking. He talked about the history of Apartheid in South Africa, things that led to its creation, its continuation, and destruction. Also there was a discussion of the current problems and info we should know of South Africa. Some inspiring quotes he told were:
"When you can make a child of God doubt he is a Child of God, that system is diabolical."
"Apartheid was just a refinement of something that was there from the beginning"
"Hey.... Wake Up..... God has got no one except you"
"Continue to be idealistic.... Dream, dream, dream the craziest dreams"
And my favorite (because of how ironic it was and how perfectly he placed it in his lecture): "Did you know, you are all Africans?"
At the end, he took some questions from students, some of whom asked the most ridiculous of questions. One of them asked, "what's your stance on the new US medical plan?" I mean, why would  you asked Arch something like that? People ask such weird questions some time. After one of the most memorable classes I've ever had, I went to the Garden Lounge to get some work done. Then I saw them getting food ready for lunch: It was Taco Day today! They always know how to plan Taco Day on good days. However, Ben came by and invited me to his art class, one of the classes I've wanted to "sit in" on but couldn't since it was so full. I snatched the opportunity and attended it, and I intend to attend more in the future. After getting some chips and salsa, I went to the library and field office to finalize plans for South Africa. Now that we r getting closer to it, I've more and more wanted to go on a safari since South Africa is world known for its safaris. And it just happened that I ran into my RA who told me that she had organized an independent safari trip and it fit perfectly into my schedule. So I might do that. Feeling better, I decided to go on the fifth deck and get some work done before 6 days of amazing fun. Then came dinner, our logistical preport and bed time. We are getting into Cape Town at 6am, so i have to wake up super early to watch us dock. I'm so excited for South Africa: Table Mountain, Theater Performance in District Six, Safari (possibly), Shark Cage Diving, Township tour by bike followed by soccer with locals, and then just roaming around Cape Town. So much to do! So little to do! LETS DO THIS..... LEEROY JENKINS!!!!
-Nimish
October 2, 2010

Karaoke Night

Wake up at 7. I'm still tired. Screw breakfast. I'm sleeping in till 9. So I started my day out a little later than usual, and then went to classes and got lunch. The day played out to the usual trends on the ship. Nothing out of the ordinary until the evening and nighttime. At 2:30, I went down to the main dining hall, where I participated in tutoring some of the children on the ship. My tutoree is Kelly, and I helped her in the periodic table today. It was a good experience, and kind of gave me some insight on how our elementary teachers felt while teaching us. We had our cultural pre-port at 8 in the union. This consisted of our interport student, Candance Chetty, giving us a presentation on things we could do, common phrases in South African vernacular, how to stay safe, and some miscellaneous knowledge. I must say, she has one of the most interesting accents ever: it's like a mixture between British, Australian, Indian, and American. It was like she was using a different accent for different words. Quite the cacophony of sounds. After her, we had presentations from Louis Patler (interport lecturer), and two shipboard students who had spent time in South Africa. One of them had studied for a few months in Kruger, one of the best safari parks in the world and her presentation made me really want to do a safari. But safaris are really time consuming and I don't know if I'll have time to do one. Oh yeah and one more thing, we were given the good news that Dean David's daughter had a baby early today. Needless to say, the Dean was beaming throughout the pre-port, and afterwards I congratulated him. The pre-port was followed by karaoke night. I was looking forward to this because Dino was going to be singing "I Will Survive" (I couldn't wait). A lot more people showed up to the night than I expected. The Union was completely full (250+ people) with some people sitting on the ground. The crowd enthusiasm contributed to the energy and entertainment of the night, and the event was a lot of fun. I was going to sign up for a group song with some of the others, however right before I was going to sign up, the organizers announced that they were all full with requests already. Oh well, I'm sure they'll have another Karaoke night during the voyage. Next time, I'll be prepared. But now.... sleepy time.
-Nimish
October 1, 2010

Work Hard, Achieve Much, Be Happy

Early start to the day again. 8am class. I sometimes wish I could get just one extra hour of sleep, but at the same time I enjoy getting done with my classes early (on A days I'm done by 10:30). I went to the cafeteria to read for Comedy class. We are reading a book called "Truth in Comedy" which is apparently one of the best manuals for improvisation, and I find it quite an interesting read. Mezrim (one of the waiters in the Garden Lounge), came by and I asked him, "How are you doing Mezrim?" Mezrim is an amazing person and everyday he tells me the same thing but in a different way, and its just so genius. His reply, in short, was, "I'm doing good man. I'm just so happy, never felt so good in my life. And do you know why I'm so happy? It's because I've worked hard at a young age and achieved a lot. So you do the same thing now, and in the future you'll be a happy man." I know it sounds kind of lame, but Mezrim just has a certain aura behind him, and everything he says just comes from his heart and sounds so touching. And what he said today, really hit me. Lunch was a simple matter, and I did not really eat much. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm losing my appetite, and I had such a small one to begin with too. I always feel hungry before a meal. But recently, once I start eating I get full quite quickly. Maybe I'm just getting sick of ship food and want some Indian food really badly (mind you the ship food really isn't that bad, its actually quite good; I just want a change). The rest of the day went on normally, talking with friends here, getting a little bit of work done there, and playing games everywhere. At night, there was an explorer seminar where the inter-port lecturer for South Africa, Louis, was talking about South Africa and debunking some myths about it. It was an interesting presentation, and I'm looking forward to Cape Town. I have to finalize plans in South Africa tomorrow. I kind of know what I'm doing, just need to make a decision now.
-Nimish
September 30, 2010

Nothing to do Finally

Woke up. Went to classes, did well on my reading quiz, turned in my history essay, and found out I killed that Global Studies test. BOOYAH!!! I spent the rest of the day relaxing and not doing work. This was the first time in a week or so that I have had no plans or nothing specific that I had to do, so that was nice. It was also interesting to walk around the ship and observe all the people who got their head's shaved. I think at least 50% or more of the ship did get their head shaved. I was a bit bored sometime in the day because I had nothing to do, but everyone else seemed like they did have work to do. I hate whenever that happens: when you are free, no one else seems to be free. Nothing really happened until 8 when there was a seminar where Desmond Tutu and our Inter-port lecturer sat down to answer questions about South Africa. In reality, Dean David asked most/all the questions, but the topics were interesting as Tutu talked about apartheid and how South Africa is a very varied country of highs and lows. Random note: Archbishop Tutu has one of the cutest laughs ever. At the end of the seminar, they played a video of a man who went to numerous places in the world, and at each place he did a certain dance while locals joined him. It was quite an awesome video. Afterwards, one of the clubs was holding a dance party in the Union at 10, which was actually kind of fun but just for a short bit since the music was not that great and it was kind of hard dancing on a rocking ship. I went back and watched a movie with some friends. Come 1am, we stopped and went to bed. I was tired and wanted my beauty sleep .
-Nimish
September 29, 2010

Neptune Day: Fish and Hair

Eyes open, 6am, it's quiet. Did they already wake everyone up? Did I sleep through the wake up call. Roommate still in bed, but he does not wake up easily anyway. Open our room door, it's quiet outside. Maybe it hasn't started yet. Continue with my daily morning activities (brush teen, take shower, etc). It's 8am. As soon as I get out of bathroom..... BANG BANG BANG. I hear a man whistling, another clashing cymbals, and a few others playing snare drums. Immediately I hear commotion outside; other students waking up, my roommate confused since he did not know it was Neptune Day, or what it even was. I go up to the Garden Lounge to get some breakfast. But first, I make a stop at the Medical Clinic, where I get a seasickness-preventing patch (I have a test later tonight in the Union, so I'm not taking a risk) and some saltine crackers (the salt helps a lot). At breakfast, people were excited, energetic, and some making last minute decisions to either get their head shaved or not. To those of you who do not know what Neptune Day is, it is basically a ceremony/celebration of having crossed the equator. There are some ceremonial speeches from faculty, followed by people getting soaked in water full of fish guts, then jumping in the pool, kissing a fish, and then getting knighted by the Neptune day King. After that, there was hair shaving, where a lot of people got their heads shaved (a lot of girls actually did so). It was a great time, and we even got to see Archbishop Tutu get his head shaved. I was actually strongly considering getting my hair cut/buzzed. However after seeing everyone getting dunked in fish guts and then getting their fish-gut-covered hair cut by the same razors, I decided to pass. Dino got his head shaved... that was exciting. I've never seen him with short hair, so that was quite a sight to see. One of the first things he said afterwards, "My head feels cold." After lunch, it was time to get some essay writing and last minute studying done. It was pretty interesting seeing 600 students studying for the same test that they will be taking at the same time. I would have loved to walk around the ship during the test, just to see what the ship feels like when there are no students walking around. The test went very well. It was pretty ridiculously easy (aside from a few questions that required specific knowledge from the slides). I felt good afterwards, but had to finish my history essay due tomorrow. I also had a book to read for comedy that we were having a quiz on the next day, so that was fun. I was able to get all the work done by 1, and so went to bed. We were also losing an hour of sleep tonight so I wanted to get as much sleep as I could.
-Nimish
September 28, 2010

Work Work

The seas seem as, if not more, unfriendly today as yesterday. Waking up was not easy, but I had to get up early so that I could study, in order to make up for the time I lost yesterday when I went to sleep early. I got through Macroecon just fine, but I couldn't make it through Global Studies. The Union is a deal-breaker for me, especially on rocking days. I made my way for the aft of the ship, since it does not rock as much there, and since I could sit outside (the fresh air helps me a lot). After lunch, Dino, Natalie, and I went down to the fifth deck outside, and studied for Global Studies. Dino actually took a nap, while I studied Global and wrote my essay. The sun also came out for the first time in a while. which made my day much more joyful and pleasant. I was out there for 4 or more hours, enjoying the sun while studying, and then went in again for dinner. I actually read the Global Studies book, which I found quite interesting. I decided that I would read it from now on. After dinner, we continued studying until about 12 when I called it a night. The day was not memorable, but every day cannot be memorable. Because if it were so, what would a special day be? Tomorrow is the Global Studies test at night, and Neptune Day in the morning. I heard rumors that they would be waking us up at 5am for it, which I was really hoping they would not. We will see in the morning.
-Nimish
September 27, 2010

The Equator and Prime Meridian

I woke up to wild waves throwing our ship around. It was not so bad at first, so I was able to get through Comedy class in the Union. I really do not like the Union, since it's at the front of the ship and rocks the most of any classroom. In class, we started doing some improv scenarios in which I felt like I did a decent job (I played a bird who got hit by a car). After that I had a short 15 minute break, just enough time to do nothing, before my history class. I always have to rush to lunch on B-days, since I never have enough time in between classes to get lunch, and my last class ends at the time lunch ends. Wonderful. I was not looking forward to history class that day, and little did I know that I was in for a treat. After beeing in class for 10 minutes, one of the captain's assistance announced that we would be crossing the Equator and Prime Meridian at exactly the same time in 5 minutes. Since this was such a momentous event, professor Ringrose decided to just cancel class, and we all made our way for the 7th deck. This was an exciting event because something like this will never happen again in my life. As one of the crew told us, almost nobody ever crosses both the equator and prime meridian at the same time, since there are not shipping lanes or flight paths that lead through it. In fact, our captain actually veered us off course so that we could have this experience. At 12:30pm on September 26, 2010, the horn of the ship blasted, the signal that we passed through the point. For a fraction of a moment in my life, I was in the northern, southern, western, and eastern hemispheres all at once! Simply amazing! I heard a little kid ask her mother, "where is the line mommy? I only see water." After that, our ship stayed on the meridian for a while, so I walked in the center of the ship, knowing that I was walking in the western and eastern hemispheres simultaneously! Again, so cool! I was able to get more than one serving of lunch on a B-day, since I actually had to time to do so today. However after eating, I hit the books since I got an upcoming test and essay due. The rolling ship was not helping, and towards the end of the day I became quite seasick and was forced to call it a night early. I don't understand how I always feel seasick the day after we leave a port. Hopefully this trend does not continue. Also Chris told me that the African waters are probably the roughest that we will experience, so that's a good thing. But for now, these waves are killing me.
-Nimish
September 26, 2010

Medasi Ghana

Last day in Ghana. So gotta start the day early. I woke up at 7 again to get some breakfast. I waited for the others until 9, so that we could go to Sekondi. However, I doubted that they would get up any time early since they had a long night yesterday. I saw Cooper who told me that he was going to an orphanage at 9:15 with a number of others to play with the kids there and donate some things. I felt like I should wait for Ben, Nick, and the others to wake up, however again I didn't think that they would get up soon, so I decided to join Cooper at the orphanage. There were about 20 of us and the orphanage was about a 20 minute taxi ride away (5 of us in one taxi). We got there while it was raining (as if the weather was symbolizing the pain these kids have felt). It was in the middle of nowhere within lush vegetation, and was a relatively small place. We all gathered inside the main room, where all the kids sat with us, and then we got out lots of paper and crayons and gave the orphanage two soccer balls that were made of some material that made them almost indestructible (and also relatively heavy for a soccer ball). For the next 2 hours we played soccer with the children, did art with them, blew balloon toys for them, and talked with them. It was quite an exhilarating experience. The kids were surprisingly good at soccer; kids 12 and younger were schooling me with some insane dribbling and juggling skills for someone their age). At the elementary school on the first day I had a fun time, but here at orphanage I felt like I was actually making a difference and affecting someone's life in a beneficial way. There was one child in particular, James, who was just so adorable and clung on to me for a long time. We did some art for a while, and then blew up a few balloons and played with them. His joy and satisfaction from the simplest of things made me jealous and reminded me of the beauty and innocence of a child's mind. The orphanage had some African drums, and one of the taxi drivers was really good at playing them. He taught one of the students a beat, and then the two of them and one of the older kids played the drums while we all danced for the longest of times. It was all good fun, and it was an amazing feeling to see the all the smiles and fun times we gave to this kids. Even  if it was only for a few hours, I'm sure we affected these kids for a lifetime. I know that this experience definitely affected me for a lifetime. Towards the end of our stay, one of the lady heads of the orphanage took us to the local church and village. The church was simple, old, and small, and yet had a certain beauty to it. When we came back out we met a lady who knew one of the orphans with us (Cecilia). Her name was Mary and from the conversation we guessed that she was her aunt. Like the kids, she was full and joy and energy and thanked us from her heart for helping out these kids and bringing some light into their lives. It was now time to leave (at least for me and by 4 other taxi buddies), as we had to get back to Takoradi to do some last minute shopping. We headed back to the city's market, where I was able to find a Ghanaian flag. When I got back to the ship, I only had three hours left before on-ship time and I still had to get soveigners and stamps. When I got back out the ship to the soveigner shops set up right next to our dock, I asked Samuel if he knew where I could find stamps. He said that unfortunately the post office was closed on Saturdays, something that I didn't take into account. I was let down because I wanted a Ghanaian stamp on my postcards (I could still send them from South Africa, but it wouldn't be the same as having a Ghanaian stamp on them), however Samuel promised me that he would buy some stamps for me on Monday when the post office opened again and send them to my home. This is what I love most about Ghanaians, they are always willing to help. With that stress off of my mind, I started my shopping. During this time, I met another one of the sellers whose name was Felix and was quite an amazing and friendly and understanding fellow. He described to me in particular detail the meaning of all of the things I bought, including the significance of the bead patterns on some masks I got. Around 5:30, it was time to get back on the ship. I bid farewell to Samuel, Kojo, Felix, and Ghana, and re-boarded the ship. This was in short, an experience of a lifetime, and I plan to come back to Ghana at some point in my life (maybe more than once). On the ship I got dinner and caught up with friends and shared experiences. When time came for our ship to leave, we all went out to the outside decks to wave goodbye to Takoradi. All of the shop people came our of the stores (which they were packing up to go back home) with their drums and instruments and performed drumming and dancing for us. I wish every port would bid us goodbye in this manner. Many people were yelling, "We love you Ghana" (I was among these people) and as our ship detached from port and headed out of port, we continued waving to every last Ghanaian we saw. I stayed out on deck for a bit longer, although the others went back in, and I reflected on my experiences and thought about upcoming events. I went back in when it was time for our post-port meetings. Afterwards, I went to Ben's room and watched Mulan (for the first time in years). After the movie, I was feeling quite time and I had things to do tomorrow. I decided to call it a night early so that I could recover from little sleep over the last few days. I will miss Ghana, but there are more countries to experience, and amazing locals to meet. We will see where this path takes me now. Medasi Ghana. Thank you for a great time.
-Nimish
September 25, 2010