So, on Sunday the 27th we were in Mauritius. Sadly it was only a quick stop for fuel, so we only had about 10 hours on the island. As soon as we all got off, we all headed for a little marina about 40 mins away, to get to the Catamarans. There were about 6 Catamarans all together, each with at least 25 people on them. All of the Catamarans were headed for a little island (made of rock/cliff) where we tied them all together and went snorkeling. It was a really fun day- lots of craziness, and lots of bad sunburns for most of us. Overall, I would definitely need to come back again to really give Mauritius the time it deserves. It was a beautiful place, and the water was as blue as blue gets.

February 26, 2011

Okay- so yesterday was my 20th Birthday! woo hoo. Thanks to all of you for all of the bday wishes and emails. The past two nights have been horrible, with the huge waves outside the ship... i haven’t slept a wink. Anyway it was really nice to get up to a handful of emails from my family and friends. After my workout Maggi and Colleen brought me breakfast from the pool deck (which is better than normal breakfast for those of you not on the ship). Throughout the day the two of them actually handed me “Why we love Keira” slips every hour on the dot. They had 20 reasons all together- most of which were hilarious. At one I got to have an hour long massage, compliments of my momma (thanks kath), which was really relaxing. I returned to my room to find a giant bday card from Kristin and Meghan, and my room completely covered in toilet paper thanks to Maggi and Colleen. We all hung out on the pool deck for a while (oh, we had the day off of classes) before I went and took a nap. The nap only lasted about 30 mins before Maggi walked in... and freaked out because she found a huge beetle on her backpack. We spent about 30 mins trying to capture and flush the beetle down the toilet...after many failed attempts.
        For dinner, all my friends and I had food up at the pool deck... which is the new special occasion dining area. We then head down to deck 6 to have birthday cake (again, thanks mom). It was a massive cake, so all of the people sitting around up lucked out because I ended up handing pieces to everyone in the room practically. After cake, we headed to deck 5 for some dinner wine before we all went to Kristin and Laurel’s room to hang out.  There was no pub night last night, but instead we had square dancing on the pool deck... which was hysterical. Just imagine people trying to square and line dance on a moving ship. Anyway... we had to move the clocks ahead, again! so I went to bed earlier than normal in attempts to sleep.
Sadly it was a huge fail... I slept all of about 1 hour last night.  I think I might go invest in some earplugs if the store sells them... I’m in desperate need of sleep. 

I’ll put up bday pictures soon. 

Again, Thanks everyone!

winelands

skydiving!
meghan, me, colleen

Map of our 24 hour detour off of cape town

February 20, 2011

So today is day 3 in Cape Town.  It really should be day 4, but unfortunately we had to wait over 24 hours to dock here because of the weather and the huge waves. Because of the weather we had to cancel our shark diving trip for friday because the boat wouldn't take us out. But thinks worked out anyway.  Colleen, Meghan and I got off the boat around noon to meet up with Meghan's mom who was visiting. Once we met her, we were trying to figure out something to do, when we walked past a tourist center. He asked us what we wanted to do and Meghan suggested we skydive, and just our luck... there was a group leaving 20 mins from then to go. We went to an ATM right away and met the group to go skydiving. The jump zone was only 35 mins away... so the whole process was only a few hours.  Neither Colleen, myself or mrs. Hines really wanted to spend 700R on a videographer, so we all went up together. The plane was super tiny... and it was definitely a struggle fitting all 6 of us (with our tandem jumpers). Mrs. Hines was the most terrified, so she jumped first, and only 3 seconds later... I was out, followed by Colleen.  Honestly one of the coolest feelings ever... nothing can compare to the view of Cape Town by free fall. They actually let me take my own camera up with me so I have a cool video of me falling in the sky. After we all jumped... we headed back to the waterfront (which is what they call the area around our ship). We decided to wait before getting back on the boat and instead went to the mall for a little shopping and dinner.  After, we head back to the ship and got ready for the night.  Maggi, Colleen and I went to the bar down the street called Mitchell's which was a cool little pub across from the ferris wheel.  After an hour we headed over to Long street in search of a bar that we didn't really know the name of. All in all... we got pretty lost, and ended up having two locals help us find the place.  Once we got there none of us were really feeling it so we walked back to the ship... which we could see in the distance.
     We had an early wake up call on Saturday for our Winelands  tour.  Colleen, Meghan, Kyle, Malachi, Mrs. Hines, and I were all going together with Cape Zebra Tours (who were awesome). We went to 4 different wine estates and did around 30 tastings. It was a really fun experience learning about wines, and being in the countryside. We got back around 6 or so... and we all got ready before heading out again for Mitchell's (which had turned into the SAS spot).  Maggi came out with Colleen and I, and we met up with Duncan, Maggi's tour guide from earlier that day. He was really cool- took us to a bar on long street called "The Waiting Room". Eventually we ended up at the hotel next to the ship where we searched for free wifi... which never worked out. But I did learn how to say a few things in Africans (language in S Africa)- courtesy of the bell man. After, Colleen went back to the ship and Maggi and I went back to Mitchells. I met up with Laurel and we stayed their until the bar closed. There was an American flag hanging from the ceiling, and they let us sign it- which was neat.   After (circa 330 am) we went back to the boat... and decided it would be a brilliant idea to change into pants and sweatshirts and come back out to watch the seals on the dock. It actually ended up being really cool because the security gaurds let us go down the ramp and be within feet of the seals.  Anyway eventually I went to bed.... but only to get like 1 hour of sleep before our 630 am wake up for the safari.
        The safari was this morning... we had to meet at 7am so it was a little brutal. The ride to park we were going to was about 3 hours. While there we (meghan, colleen, maggi, lily, lauren, and I) saw water buffalo, lion, zebra, springbach, hippo, giraffe, and chettah. We never found the rhino... so hopefully that can be my excuse to go on another safari. It was really neat, and although it was rough without any sleep... I loved seeing the animals. 
After we got back... maggi, colleen, myself and maggis friend duncan grabbed dinner at some seafood restaurant. I tried my first prawn... which was delicious (not as good as shrimp though). After we found some wifi... cool that no one at home answered their phones btw.  
        I decided im going to stay in tonight... for recovery purposes.  I need to be well rested for my day full of exploring tomorrow.

ANYWAY---- to all of you who have no idea where to study abroad. GO TO CAPE TOWN!
its unreal.

Crossing the Prime Meridian and Equator

Habitat for Humanity house

outside castles

inside slave dungeon @ Cape Coast Castle

THUMBS UP FOR CROSSING THE ATLANTIC!

THUMBS UP FOR CROSSING THE ATLANTIC! - my new favorite picture

@ Krazy Coconut in Dominica (Laurel, Meghan, Me, Colleen)

Cab Ride in Dominica  (Me, Colleen, Meghan, Kyle)

February 10, 2011 2:53 GMT

Hey Everyone!
So, today is our last day in Ghana. We are departing for South Africa in a few hours... and should get there in 6 days. I am sad to say good bye to this amazing country, and will miss the people here very much. Since my last post I have been pretty busy exploring Ghana. On tuesday, Meghan and I were signed up for Habitat for Humanity, which was amazing. I am so glad I signed up for this trip because it was a really great experience to be able to compare the two habitat projects from the US- which i've done previously and now Ghana.  We woke up for the 7am trip time and had about a 3 hour trip to the little town we were working in. The traveling, although long, was not too painful; somehow Meghan and I were able to sleep through the majority of the drive.  Once we got to the site, we were split into four groups.  My group actually got the most excited job...in my opinion I guess. We spackled a cement/mortar/mudlike substance on the interior walls of a house. It was not as easy as it sounded, because it was very hard to get the mud to stay on the wall- you had to throw the mud stuff at the wall really fast in order for it to stay. For some reason (maybe because construction and house work runs in my blood) I picked it up really fast and my wall looked pretty good- Mom and Griffin, you'd be proud. After about 2 and a half hours of work... and being covered in dirt and mud we took a break for lunch and bought the cool Ghana Habitat shirts. It ended up being pretty late before we finished lunch, so we weren't able to help out anymore... so we ended up walking back to the bus. Although, I think it was the hottest day I've ever experienced outside... I couldn't have been happier to have helped out that day. We took the bus back and 3 hours later arrived back at the ship. Luckily- we were able to take showers right before the shut off the water for 24 hours (a lot of people who didn't make it back from their trips on time... couldn't shower- ship was a gross mess of sweaty people). That night, we went to the little bar across from the ship and I went with a bunch of people later to a local bar in town called Ocean Bar. It was an interesting place to say the least. I'm pretty sure it is the local's whore house or something because their were some real interestingly dressed women and some old white men... yaaa. odd.  
        Anyway that night ended shortly because I still hadn't exchanged my money (this is day 3 in ghana- I know... fail) and they wouldnt take my american cash.  I went back with a few people pretty early which was probably for the best. On wednesday- yesterday me and meghan went into the town with a few other girls to explore and shop a bit. We bought some stamps at the post office and finally exchange our money. The currency here is about 1: 1.4 (CDs or Cities- something along those lines). We went to the circle market in the center of town because the other girls wanted to buy fabric to have dresses made.  I bought a bible off a street vender- because I wanted one with gold pages. Anyway in the circle market... i thought i was going to have an anxiety attack because litterally everyone yells at you to buy their bracelets and worse- bush meat. It smelled soooooo horrible too and I have a dog like sense of smell so I thought I was going to get sick... and then some women takes her bush meat (which i believe was a smoked squirel) and she hits me on the arm with it and i think I just about lost it. So I had to get out of their ASAP.  We finally decided it wasn't the place for us tourists and we decided to go find some kind of craft market.  We met this guy named Cofi and he showed us where to go.  He told me something really interesting about the names of people in Ghana.  People are named based on what day they are born. Sooo all people born on a Friday are named Cofi... and each day of the week is different. I asked him what his teachers called him in school and he told me all the teachers use their last names as well.
        We departed Cofi and Meghan and I walked back to the ship. We did a little shopping at the market outside of the ship and I bought a few wooden carvings and some tshirts.  We then went back to the boat for lunch and met up people and decided to check out the beach. We went to the beach called Africa- which was perfect. The water was amazing and the weather was perfect. After a few hours 3 of us went to the hotel next to the beach and used their wifi to get on the internet. We then head back to the ship for dinner and took naps before we headed next door again to hang out for a little.  Maggi came back around 1am from her trip... so after she got back I fell asleep.
        Today I haven't done very much.  Pretty much just shopped for more nick nacks and now I'm journaling and about to take another nap before we depart.  I know lame last day.... but i needed a day.

Anyway thats all for now.  Hope you are all doing well as always

Miss you all... and hope winter isn't gettiing the best of you

Ciao....
Keira

Memorial plaque at Cape Coast Castle

Picture of the Slave Dungeons at Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast with Lily, Me and Meghan

Lifejacket safety drill- Day 1

Me with Caiman in the Amazon

February 7th, 2011  (7:48 pm- GMT)

OKAYYY- so Africa is amazing. It is my second day here, and so far I love it. It is definitely a change of environment from the states/brazil. Our ship is docked in Takoradi, and the town is not very westernized by any means. The ship didn't clear customs until around 9:30 am, which an hour and a half later than it should've been. Anyway, Meghan and I had an SAS trip yesterday morning, so we were scheduled to leave around 10- so we had to rush in line to get off the ship in time. We had a 2 hour bus ride to Cape Coast, where we saw the Cape Coast Castle. It was really interesting and literally unbelievable. If you have never heard of the cape coast castle, it is where the slave dungeons were located, right on the coast, and where they held the slaves, before taking them through the middle passage to the Americas. It was really intense seeing the conditions that the slaves had been held... and really made me wonder how it could ever have happened.  Our tour guide was really amazing and helped us all to understand the whole concept of the castles. After Cape Coast we went to a little beach resort and had lunch, which was actually really good. After lunch we went to another slave castle, called Elmina Castle.. which was actually beautiful, until you heard the stories and saw the dungeons. Elmina was where they had all the slaves that eventually went over to Brazil.
        We got back from the castles around 5pm, and I took a nap before a few of us went over the the little bar across from the ship where everyone was drinking before the superbowl game.  I only stayed there until around 11, when the game started and then head over to the ship with a few people where we watched the game in the union (somehow the ship managed to broadcast the game over the internet).  I was cheering for the steelers, because as a bears fan... no chance I wanted to Packers to win. But, I only made it through half time before I went to bed (around 1 am our time).  
        This morning Maggi and Collen left for their homestay at 4am and Laurel and I had our FDP today at 7:30. We went with our Human Origin class to the Kakum National Park where we went on a Canopy walk (which was very high up in the trees!), but it was a blast.  We then went to lunch at some restaurant which was pretty good, and then went out to see a bamboo orchestra and dance. It was really fun... although we were all dying in the humidity, but we got to dance with the performers which was a lot of fun.  
        We just got back to the ship around 5 or so... and then we had some dinner and are trying to plan out our next few days.   Meghan and I, and a guy we just met named Dan are all getting up at 7am to go on a Habitat for Humanity trip, all day. We think we might head out to Accra tomorrow night (but its 4 hours away). Or we might wait it out until Wed. and spend the day at the beach instead.  I guess it will be a last minute call, but either way it should be fun.

Okay- going to the gym before they shut off the water (which apparently we have to do from 10pm-6am every night in Ghana to preserve water).

Hope everyone is doing great back in the US.  Congrats kinda to all my friends who are packers fans... and I hope you all had fun celebrating.   

Hopefully I'll get real internet on Wed and be able to call some of you.  MISSS YOU ALLLLL

peace.

February 2, 2011

Hey Everyone,
Happy February, and Happy Snow Day for everyone in Madtown, and whoever else is really lucky right now. Although I am jealous I'm missing out, we have like 10 "Reading Days" throughout the semester which are basically snow days but without the snow, and instead with really great weather... so, sorry.  Haha, anyway the main purpose of my blog today is to convince you all to support a non-profit that one of my teachers on ship had started a few years back. It is called Empower Nepali Girls, and it basically gives scholarships to young girls in Nepali, so that they can afford the costs necessary to go to school each year and to prevent them from being sold into the sex slave market. It was a really moving presentation that we heard on one of the first days of class and has really stuck with me ever since. I encourage any and all of you to look into this organization and to donate if you feel compelled. I promise this org is legit and you will help save a girls life with every penny. Another thing, which encouraged me to write this blog was something I leaned in my Global Ethics class yesterday. We learned about world poverty and read a chapter form Singer's One World book called One Community which discussed the necessary means for our world to eliminate poverty.  We learned that in order for this to happen, the world's richest nations need to give 0.7% of the GNP to countries of need. We also learned that the United States only gives .1%, and this only increases to .14% if we were to include private donations. We learned that the richest 225 people in the world have more money than 48% of the entire world, and that 4% of their assets could pay for basic medical needs and education for EVERY single person on Earth. That is really something.  But what really motivated me was the facts that all we really need is for every person to just donate 1 cent for every dollar that they make... that is .1% of your yearly income. So I encourage you to do this for one year, and see how it makes you feel knowing that you could save multiple children's lives (costs ~ $200 to save a child's life).

Here are some places that I know could use your help

Empower Nepali Girls (empowernepaligirls.org)
 Ghimire Foundation/ 220 9th Street/ Huntington Beach, CA/ 92648
 Questions: jkottler@fullerton.edu (my professor)

UNICEF (don't have contact info without internet)



Just remember, we have a lot more than we need to survive, and many children all over the world don't even have clean water, or education... SO donate!!


Thanks. Keira