I am ready!� And we went. The freefall lasted about 35 seconds, but only felt about 7 seconds long. I was screaming the entire way. It felt like I was floating on a different planet. There are no words to describe what freefalling at that altitude feels like. No words. When the parachute opened, I was grateful, but also a little sad that the freefall was over with. I started screaming nonsense about how amazing it was. Andre was laughing and screaming with me. He said I had a lot of energy (more than most people) when it was time to jump. We talked and he pointed out Table Mountain and Robyn Island. My conscious mind was not really there though, I was basically in shock. Then it struck me that we were suspended in air, about 4,000 feet from the ground!
It was a creepy feeling, but Andre once again took care of me, and we made it safely to the ground. I wish there was a way to better describe what was going on in my head and how the experience felt. But, the truth is is that there is NO WAY to put it into words. It was just simply amazing. There is no comparison, nothing remotely similar to the experience. Nothing else I could do would feel the same as sky diving. I am so glad I did it. I will never forget jumping out of that plane in South Africa"
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Tanzania
hey everyone
i am at an internet cafe in dar es tanzania (for those who do not know that is in south east Africa. we went on a 3 day safari to mikumi national park while we were here and it was absolutely amazing. never have i been so close to animals living exactly how they should with no human confinement or chains enslaving them. it was indescribable..
we had some car troubles both going there and coming back -- as our suv got a flat tire on the way there.. and on the way back, the lug nuts were loose, and the ENTIRE wheel came off the car as we were driving down the "freeway" -- we are so lucky that our driver was skilled and managed to handle the situation - no one was hurt and we got a taxi to get back to the ship. we try to be careful, but these kind of situations are really inevitable when you are traveling abroad like this.
it was all worth it, the safari was beautiful --
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South Africa
I am ready!� And we went. The freefall lasted about 35 seconds, but only felt about 7 seconds long. I was screaming the entire way. It felt like I was floating on a different planet. There are no words to describe what freefalling at that altitude feels like. No words. When the parachute opened, I was grateful, but also a little sad that the freefall was over with. I started screaming nonsense about how amazing it was. Andre was laughing and screaming with me. He said I had a lot of energy (more than most people) when it was time to jump. We talked and he pointed out Table Mountain and Robyn Island. My conscious mind was not really there though, I was basically in shock. Then it struck me that we were suspended in air, about 4,000 feet from the ground!
It was a creepy feeling, but Andre once again took care of me, and we made it safely to the ground. I wish there was a way to better describe what was going on in my head and how the experience felt. But, the truth is is that there is NO WAY to put it into words. It was just simply amazing. There is no comparison, nothing remotely similar to the experience. Nothing else I could do would feel the same as sky diving. I am so glad I did it. I will never forget jumping out of that plane in South Africa"
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Ship Life
Our dean just mentioned today that we have a war, a random sickness, and world terrorism and we (the students on the ship) are complaining about an exam we have in 3 days. He is humored by us, I know it.
�I�m writing you to catch you up on places I�ve been. And you have this letter, probably got excited but there�s nothing else inside it. Didn�t have a camera by my side this time, hoping I would see the world through both my eyes����� (Thanks to John Mayer, who knows what it�s like not to have a camera. I don�t think he lost his though)
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India
Witnessing all of the poverty really makes you question what you should do in such a situation (her dilemma � whether or not to give money to beggars). By giving to the beggars you are only promoting what they are doing and they know that every other tourist will also give to them. We asked our guide about the street children when we were in the train station and he told us that locals bring food with them when they go to the train because they know that the street kids will be there. That really makes you realize that the problem is bigger than people just lining the streets for money because they know they can make a dollar or two. The street children are not given money all they are given is food � the bare minimum for survival. So it all came back to wondering if you were promoting the problem or if you were merely helping someone to make it another day. I still question what the right thing to do is and there is clearly no answer. You realize that India is overpopulated and when you see it you finally realize the majority of those people live in the worst of poverty. My whole life has been filled with classes that mention the idea of poverty in the world and before India my idea was what most US citizens see as poverty � the people sleeping on the streets. If you look at those people�s feet you will notice that the majority of them are wearing shoes. The people of India, even those with shelter, did not even have shoes. Something I take for granted every day is so far from the reach of so many Indians. It�s truly hard to decide what the right thing to do is and I keep jumping back and forth between promoting it and helping someone to eat a meal, right now there is no clear answer as to what the proper thing to do is.
Moving on, but not to a much happier note. In the afternoon Greta and I went to Mother Teresa�s Orphanage. Once again there are no words. I thought the orphanage in Mexico was something but this one does not come close to comparing. Most of the children had disabilities (by most I mean I noticed 2 of the over 50 kids that did not have a disability). One of the kids clung to me for the first 45 minutes that we were there. She was blind and did everything she possibly could to keep in contact with me for the whole time. She loved having her hands held and would just lean against your body to know that someone was there. When she sat on my lap she just leaned back and kept holding my hands. She never spoke but merely clung to me and did everything in her power not to let me get away. One little girl kept jumping from one of us to the other, she was like a little monkey and must have been in, the arms of 10 of us within 5 minutes. All of the semester at sea students were so loving, it was amazing to see how compassionate people can be when there is something to be genuinely compassionate about. One of the girls brought a Polaroid camera and the kids absolutely loved it, they would look at the picture and then point to themselves � they were absolutely amazed at the sight of themselves.
Many of the kids were lying in cribs in deformed positions and making awful groaning sounds. We would rub their backs or touch their heads and some would turn to look at us and others just wouldn�t respond at all. It�s absolutely heart breaking to know that you can be physically touching someone and they can be so far gone that it doesn�t phase them one bit � their eyes didn�t even move, no muscles flinched, there was nothing to show that they had any clue that there was another person in the room. Some of the kids would pat the ground to have you sit down and their attention span was so short that they�d be off on the other side of the room by the time you sat down. The little babies would just rest in your arms and lean on your chest, practically falling asleep. It was sad to learn that there are just not enough volunteers to properly nurture the babies in the way of talking to them and holding them. There is barely enough time in the day to feed all the kids and that leaves no time to play with them and nurture them. It�s ironic because right now I�m listening to a song and the words are �do you even know who you are, a far off dream or a super star, is life good to you or is it bad, do you even know what you have?� It really makes you wonder after an experience like this one. It was hard to leave but after a couple of hours we were mentally drained and just couldn�t do it anymore. Luckily there were a lot of other semester at sea students there when we left so we knew we weren�t the last to say goodbye. The baby Greta was holding began to cry when she tried to pass him off to another student. When we were walking out toward the gate one of the girls ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my legs and didn�t want to let go. It�s so hard to say no and push them away because there is no where for them to go � you are pushing them toward nothing, to a life filled with no hopes or dreams but just the fate of living in a run down building with as much love as the sisters can give them, which is not nearly enough to go around.
Well that was the ending to my India experience and really summed up the poverty of the country. I can�t imagine how bad the country will be if the population ever doubles (which it is supposed to do by 2050). The cities are already packed with way too many people and I really don�t know where the rest of the people would fit. There�s just no room for anymore people. Sorry if it was a little depressing but the whole country was overwhelming both in the spiritual sense and also because all of your senses were overtaken by new and unknown things. India is definitely something you would have to experience first hand if you want to even come close to understanding poverty. And to imagine how bad what I saw was and that I personally am not experiencing the poverty first hand really makes me wonder what it would be like to be in such a position. I have to remember that I did not see all of India and I can�t make a generalization of the whole country on the few places that I visited. But I also know that I have been to 4 Indian cities (one of which was the capital) and all of them were filled the same dirt, poverty and scents that would make your nose want to close off to the world. There is such an extent of poverty that it makes me wonder what help they are receiving. How much are the people of India given and how much of a difference does it make? They always tell you that it will help at least one person and that person will be thankful, but in what way is it helping them? I think I left India with more questions then when I arrived.
What I remember most is that the pollution was awful and the smells, visions and feelings, assaulted my senses in ways in which they have never experienced before. Through all of the dirt, pollution and grime I don�t think my mouth was ever closed. The astonishment my body was experiencing was like nothing I could have ever imagined and because of this my jaw held slack and I felt I did not have the strength or ability to shut it.
My mind is constantly whisked back to the streets of India, to the train station where I used all my emotional strength to hold back the tears that wanted to flow from my eyes as I witnessed the malnourished children begging on the street, to the orphanage and to the people of India whose only hope seemed to lay in our eyes � in the eyes of foreigners where they hoped to merely catch a glimpse of the better life we had at home. The whole time in India I didn�t cry��..
I didn�t cry when their hands were thrust in my face asking only for a bite to eat.
I didn�t cry when the boy with no legs drug himself past me hoping only for a bit of shelter before night fell.
I didn�t cry when I looked into the eyes of the child I was holding who just starred blankly back through mine.
I didn�t cry when I saw the man on the side of the road rummaging through a heap of trash that smelled of urine.
I didn�t cry when the young woman turned her head slightly to look into my eyes, as if searching for some sign of what the United States held.
I didn�t cry as we drove through the streets of the holiest city in India in our air-conditioned bus snapping pictures as Indians woke from their slumber to the sights of a, filthy dirt road piled high with only God knows what.
I didn�t cry when my clothes were being tugged on by a leper, whose face was half covered and eyes looked down because of the shame they held.
I didn�t cry at the end of the day as the Dalits (peasants) lay down on the hard, cold floor and let out a sigh of what to them was the most comfort they would ever know.
But now tears come to my eyes.
Sitting on my bed, with the drone of my music in the background, the air conditioning on, shoes on my feet and clothes on my back, typing on my laptop computer - I begin to cry.
I cried when we pulled away from the dock, as their lonely eyes followed the latest crowd who brought them one meal, or one smile.
I cry when the echoes of miss, madam and the pleas for a bite to eat ring in my ears.
I cry when I look back at the orphanage, when the images of the disabled children�s faces flash in front of my eyes.
But mostly I cry when I know that what I have done has affected one person, for one day but in the back of my mind I know it will never be enough.
We had a meeting today (March 22) to tell us that we would no longer be staying in Ho Chi Minh City or Hong Kong. At first I was disappointed, I had been looking forward to more amazing adventures. Then I read over what I just wrote to you. I realized my visits to these countries could never match what I witnessed in India. I almost felt selfish for being upset by the fact that I would no longer get another amazing experience in these two ports. Then I realized that many people in India won�t even get one hot meal a day � I don�t feel guilt, I won�t let myself. I know that some of us are just born into better lives than others and some of us are doing all we can to assist those in need, even if it means giving one meal. I am disappointed, don�t get me wrong, but now I know that there are much worse things that could happen.
I�ll keep you up to date on the rest of the voyage and hopefully you�ll hear from again after our next port � whatever that may be.
Liese
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