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