I have to jump on to see if I have gotten a reply from the teacher that I am doing Vicarious Voyage with so I thought I would drop you a quick e-mail.
Things have been getting a little hectic around here. Higher seas seem to be causing everyone to get a little stressed. We had a dance and a free day on the 14th so it was somewhat of a chance to relax. We dock in South Africa in about 36 hours so that will be another break.
There is a lot of talk about what is going in the world today so some people are really freaking out about that. I'm becoming very nonchalant about it and have come to the conclusion that if something happens it will. There's not much I can do to affect the course of action that this boat is taking. This is probably the reason that I have seemed different when writing. I am getting slightly fed up with the people who every day think that we are going to turn around and aren't listening to the actual news that is out there.
Sooo many people have said to me about everything that you are doing with the SAS parents and website. It seems that the cable modem really seems to be working out nicely. :-). (Thank you for sharing! He went on to say things about not acknowledging what Mom does, etc. It was nice! )
Then he answered some of the questions I have been sending him:
Friends on board are too many to mention. I will try to name a few but there really are a lot and I can't remember all last names. Jen Nitchke, Tine, Kristin, Tara, Mike Darling, Lisa, Liz Cunningham, Nicole Davis: All Philly Area
Stoplight dance I wore a green t-shirt under my blue button-down. Just felt too plain clothes with the t-shirt.
Doing Vicarious Voyage, Photography Stuff, Video, Volunteer at the Un-Olympics, and sorting mail when get to a port
I am soo happy and excited with everything that is going on. Try to relax and understand that I get caught up in the moment of everything that I am doing and it's tough to try to convey all of that.
He concluded by saying that he plans to fill me in on everything when we are on safair in Kenya.
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South Africa
Eric just called from Cape Town! He said everything is "awesome!"
This was his port for "extreme sports" so he went skydiving!!! He said it was an amazing feeling jumping out of the plane and then going through clouds! Wed. evening he went up to Table Mountain. He said the view was incredible. He has a panaramic photo. Some day he might send me some pictures! He kept saying, "I'll show you pictures on the safari!"
Today he went shark diving! Unfortunately it is "off season," so he didn't see any sharks. The skipper felt bad so he asked if they wanted to see Seal Island. Eric said there were about 50,000 seals on the island!!!
Friday he plans to visit Robben Island. Saturday he is going on a township visit.
Eric described the harbor as resembling the Baltimore Inner Harbor. (The kids from CA said it resembled their homes! Everything depends on your perspective!) He said he felt VERY safe. The security was very strong. He said they had 10' seas for the last 2 days before reaching port. He reports the long stretch at sea can be a little boring. I told him I didn't think anyone would have any sympathy!
Again, mail I sent ahead of the deadline hasn't arrived yet! Hopefully it will arrive before he leaves on Saturday. He did get an early birthday card from Cari's mom!
He admitted to being a little inebriated during the call! "Alcohol is so cheap here!"
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Ship Life
Jambo Everyone,
That's hello and how are you in Swahili. In about 36 hours I will be arriving in Dar Es Salam Tanzania and thought that I would drop a little update of this crazy voyage to everyone before I forget.
Starting on the 25th we encountered some rough seas. They started off at about 10-15 feet but over the next day or so were up to 20-25 foot swells.
On the 26th we had our opening ceremonies presented by the young kids on the boat. That night was bar night and a dance which turned out to be pretty interesting in the 15 foot seas. You couldn't tell if people were drunk or just having trouble standing up straight.
On the 27th we had our "un-olympics" in very rough seas. WIth the heavy rocking of the boat it was unsafe to fill the swimming pool so some of the events were cancelled and some were moved indoors such as the synchronized swimming event. Our list of events was as followes:
Guess the Number; Orange Pass; Ping-Pong; Pie Eating (Orange Mango); Strip and Swim (also moved indoors); Tug of War (little unfair with the rocking of the boat); Synchronized Swimming; Lip Sync; Obstacle Course; Make A Swimsuit (No Fabric); Monopoly; Simon Sez (Real World/Road Rules Style); Make Me Laugh; Chocolate Drip and Lick; Name That Tune; World Trivia; Water Balloon Toss; Mashed Potato Sculpting (Have to eat it too); Movie Quotes; Male Bikini Contest.
I did both the Orange Pass and the Make me laugh events. I was a stone face person. We got first in the Orange Pass.
Overall my sea (Ionia) came in Second place which the prize is whatever dinner we want and we have it with the captain. First place would have been getting off the ship first, which I don't mind not getting because I don't leave till the next morning anyway.
It was alot of fun but unfortuantly the next day I had a test so I was beat for that. The test went well and today, March 1st, I had my second CORE/Global Studies/Geography 1000 test. It went ok but it's hard when there are only about 25 questions for two countries entire history in every form.
I'm also sending this e-mail to say that although there have been many things going on in Tanzania and Kenya, where my Safari goes, they have tons of security and contingency plans just for us in case we need to depart early.
The only other update is that I have been asked for some of the photos I have taken to be used in the Yearbook for this voyage. For the ports of Bahamas, Cuba, and Brazil I currently have a total of 3 pictures although that might go up or down by 1.
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Eric
Tanzania
Hey All,
Well as our ship sets sail for Chennai, India I thought I would provide an update on some of the incredible things that have happened during my stay in Tanzania and Kenya.
Got into Tanzania port on March 2nd and that day I went out to the market and to a local shopping center. Most of the shops in the center were closed however though but the market provided a place to pick up some suveniors. That night I chose to stay in as I had to be up very early the next morning. That next morning I started off for my Safari at about 7 in the morning. We went to the local airport and flew to Nairobi, Kenya. We then transferred to a local airport where I ran into my mom (he thought we were meeting at the camp) and got to catch up on a lot of the details that are tough to describe or tell through e-mails. We then took a bumpy flight to Kichwa Tembo Tented Safari Camp in hte Masai Mara area of Kenya. If anyone is interested in the type or camp or lodging that I stayed in and maybe even bored feel free to search that on the web and you should be able to find their web-site.
The next couple days we went on Game Drives out into the Game Reserve, went on a sunrise hot-air balloon ride, and in general saw tons of amazing animals. I saw Lions, Leopards, Cheethahs, Elephants, Giraffe, Zebra, Gazelle, and Hippos. I'm not necissarily talking from a large distance either! We got pretty close many times. I'm sure my mom might even e-mail some of you with pictures to "prove" how close we were. (see pictures on the message board!)A really cool part was that we were in open sided Land Rovers. They had a canvas roof to protect you from the hot sun but the sides were open except for a couple support bars.
The camp we stayed at was incredible. The "tents" had wooden desks, cabinets, personal showers, flush toilets, sinks. The camp actually has an electric fence around it but there are still many animals such as baboons and warthogs that live inside the compound.
The weather wasn't too bad. It got hot during the day but at night it really cooled off to about 50 or so. Since we didn't have the luxury of heating a hot water bottle placed under our heavy sheets had to do.(Also had down comforters!)
Being with my mom was great too. It almost seemed some of the other kids were more enthusiatic in seeing her then I was. She took many of pictures too so if she suddenly starts sending e-mails with attachments don't think I'm home or anything, it's just that cable is much faster then satalitte in our case. And she even did a great job embarrasing me on my birthday with a cake and everything.
I'm sure that I might be leaving out some stuff but up ahead lies 8 days of straight classes with no hope for breaks as they rarely encounter rough seas.
Eric
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Ship Life
Hey Everyone,
Well it's been a week since I left Tanzania and I thought I would drop everyone a quick note before getting to India. In less then 48 hours I will be arriving in Chennai and the following morning leaving towards the Taj Mahal. The entire trip from Tanzania has been very smooth with almost no waves. Today especially the water is almost like glass.
This leg of the journey has been filled with many papers and assignments. It's really scary for me to think that I have just finished all my mid-terms and today is actually the half-way point for the entire journey. I can't believe in another 53 days I will be arriving back in the United States. After India we have one more stretch of 6 days of non-stop classes and after that it is really sporatic. 3 days, 2 days, 2 days, and then one last stretch before finals.
Life onboard has been overall normal with little or no stress. Of course as I say this I am knocking on wood. Tonight we have two crazy things going on. First is that we set our clocks ahead 1.5 hours. Yes, 1.5. The other is that we have an 80's dance tonight. This should be really interesting considering noone knew the theme until now so we can't really go out and buy anything for it.
Heat is probably the worst thing that we have to deal with. Daytime temperatures in the sun are reaching mid-90's and with the heat index it's even higher. The ship is moving fairly slowly too, not that long of a distance so moving slowly to get more classes in, so there is little breeze. At least with the calm seas the pool has been filled almost everyday.
Couple little things about ship life that someone brought up that I never mentioned.
1) We have buffet style for all our meals and each meal is 1.5 hours
2) We have 2 different places to each Hamilton, Main Deck indoor, or Harbour Grill Pool Deck lever Indoor/Outdoor
3) Waiters go crazy in taking plates away as soon as they think you're finished. Key word, think.
4) At our current rates we are using 260 tons of water everyday
5) At our current rate we will run out of paper to print out from the computers.
6) The crew never stops painting something on the ship
Hope everyone is doing well and I'll try to check my e-mail once before I leave for the Taj Mahal. Glad to hear from anyone.
TTYL
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India
I just got off the phone with Eric.( 12:15 AM EST) He said he waited an hour in line! He was great! The SAS people are great! He ate local food and so far doesn't have Delhi belly. He was on CHE16, Group B.He said the train ride was unique - packed in like sardines with locals. He found the second day a little stressful - - people constantly bugging the kids to take them to locations they were told not to go. Hundreds or thousands of more pictures.
Flying back to Chennai, several SAS trips concluded at the same time and they had a plane with 8-across to themselves!
However, he did mention that he has a picture of Lauren Miller and himself (the two from Marist) in front of the Taj Mahal! He hopes to send it to school -- he was wearing a Marist t-shirt.
He said the water supply was left on late last night with so many arriving on the boat at the same time. That was awefully considerate!
As an EMT, he has volunteered to help out on the TBA day, taking blood pressures, pulses, etc
He did say that he thought the policy on board was that someone had to have TD for over a week before Cipro might be given out. Also, he was aware of many kids not reporting to the doctor. If your child has their own supply of Cipro, you might suggest they take it after 2+ days of TD.
He was planning to take it easy this morning - didn't want to risk getting anything on the last day.
He is looking forward to Vietnam.
Everyone is aware of all world news. They should be out to sea around noon - 1 PM EST Wed
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Ship Life
We have just received information about the most likely information regarding our itinerary. The only part of this that is confirmed at this point is up to leaving Busan, South Korea.
April 5th 1800 (6 p.m.) Leave Nagasaki, Japan
April 7th 0800 Busan Korea Dockside
April 11th 2300 (11 p.m) Depart Korea
April 14th Osaka, Japan or POSSIBLY Kobe, Japan
April 18th WE THINK LEAVE Osaka or Kobe
April 30th POSSIBLY ARRIVE SEATTLE
If this is the case I will be able to stay on the ship until the 6th of May. I will try to figure out what the exact information is once I know it.
Any questions from anyone I will be glad to answer them with the information that I know. My e-mail is [email protected]. Again most of this is not confirmed, only up to leaving Busan, South Korea.
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Hello Parents,
This is to inform everyone of information just given to us by the Executive Dean. The program will conclude on May 6th at 0800 as originally scheduled. Here is the newest view on everything.
Everything up to leaving Osaka, Japan is confirmed and will not change. The only possibility is that we might leave a little early.
WE ARE GOING TO ALASKA AND CANADA
18th Probably leave Osaka early
Port in Alaska yet to be determined
April 29th 0600 Arrive
April 30th Depart
Victoria, Canada
May 4th
May 5th leave night
May 6th 0800 Arrive in Seattle
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Hey Everyone,
I was in the crowded Union when I wrote the first e-mail so this one is a little bit more formal. It has been confirmed that we will be visiting two additional ports never listed and never visited by a semester at sea voyage. In Alaska it has yet to be 100% confirmed as to which port. We will arrive early the first morning (April 29) and leaving the following night. Wildlife viewing should be available on the ship as we pull in. We will then arrive in Victoria, Canada on May 4th I believe early in the morning. Once again we will leave the following night, May 5th to arrive in Seattle, Washington on May 6th at 0800 as originally scheduled.
Nagasaki, Alaska, and Victoria, Canada are all ports never visited by a spring voyage so this is quite an experience. In addition I will be spending more money then I ever expected.
Time loss will be 2 two hour jumps and one 4 hour time jump before a TBA (day off from classes) day. There will be more information tomorrow about academic days but I do know that I will be done with classes before reaching Alaska.
This should also make packing very interesting as before they gave us 2 days and now it is a lot less, say one night.
Talk to everyone later,
Eric
The ship's passenger license was extended due to a preliminary survey done while in Nagasaki.
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He (Eric) said they have crossed the International Dateline. So it is 10:00 PM EST April 23 and it is now 1:00 PM April 23 on the ship. He said tonight they jump ahead 2 hours!
He said the seas have calmed to about 15 foot swells now. He has never experienced any seasickness so he was helping out in the computer lab since so many others were seasick.
The Ambassador's ball is tonight.
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