Vietnam!

Vietnam was amazing! I will do my best to recap everything I did over my 5 days in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day One: Laurel, Kristin and I somehow were the first ones off the boat so we got a head start to our day. We started by grabbing some lunch at the sushi restaurant right outside the boat... which was delicious. After lunch we head to the Bến Thành Market, which was crazy busy. Our goal was to buy some fabrics because we wanted to have dresses made. So we did that, and after about an hour of shopping and looking for Kristin who somehow got lost in the market we found some tailors to make our dresses. At that point I had a really weird allergic reaction to something in the market and my hands swelled up like balloons. Luckily, “The Voice”(lady who makes all the announcements on the boat) walked into the tailor and had some benadryl. So we grabbed some food and drinks over the next hour while I was really out of it from the benadryl... kinda funny for laurel and kristin. We then discovered a spa and decided massages would be a great idea. I was just excited because I was drowsy and wanted to fall asleep on the massage table.  Little did I know... this massage was more like a torture. The massuse was practically a chiropractor and I thought I was going to cry. So anyway... i didn’t sleep a wink, but was definitely not drowsy anymore. After our massages we headed to this really neat bbq garden down the street. It was beautiful and have hundreds of christmas lights hanging from the treetops. We then head to the Rex hotel to meet Colleen and Maggi. We then went back to the boat to get rid of all of our shopping bags and get ready to go out for the night. We then all met up and went to a real cool live music bar called Acoustic Bar. It was seriously one of the coolest experiences ever. They were playing all American music but changed the words every once in a while to Vietnameese. It was just so exciting with all of the energy and all of the locals loved that we were there, so we were kinda bummed that we had to leave, but Kristin wasn’t feeling well. Anyway we then made our journey to the grand hotel where 2 fellow SASers were hosting some “wedding” and we wanted to crash the reception. We got there right as people were all leaving so instead we went with them to a club called Apocalypse Now. Again- lots of fun, and after a lot of dancing we head back to the ship to call it a night.

Day Two: On the second day Kristin and I left the ship with Maggi and Colleen but were hungry so we ended up spliting up right away. Kristin and I had some pizza at a little almost pizza hut like place on some random street in Siagon. After we went shopping for about 2 hours before meeting up with Maggi and Colleen again. They sat and had lunch while we browsed the internet, then they took us to this little DVD shop. We all went wild buying so many movies and tv show series. I got the Disney Classic collection (every disney movie ever!) and one tree hill, band of brothers and about 10 other dvds. We then split up again and we went towards the market for a little. we then decided to head back to the ship to take a nap before going out to dinner. We all got dressed up and head to the New York Steakhouse which was absolutely delicious. we got to choose our own knife and have like 3 courses, it was so yummy. After that we went to the backpackers district to meet people at a hookah bar called crazy buffalo. there were little kids everywhere all trying to sell us books and flowers. Laurel bought all the girls flowers... really cute of her. But we only stayed for another hour before we got too tired and head back to the ship.

Day Three: The third day had a little bit slow of a start. We didn’t end up leaving the ship until around noon. Brandon, Kristin, and I all ran around Siagon to check up on things (mainly at all the different tailors between the 3 of us). We went to a few stores on the backpackers district as well. It was really just another day of shopping as usual. It started to downpour rain on our way back, so we decided to wait till we were closer to the ship to grab dinner. Krisitn and I wanted sushi, so we went back to the Sushiya restaurant right outside the boat. Laurel came out and met us, she was on the boat all day catching up on hw. We were planning on going to see a water puppet show... but somehow we all decided that sleeping would be a better plan. So I went and worked out in the very unusually empty gym for about an hour and then decided to watch a movie before getting to bed.

Day Four: On the forth day of Vietnam I woke up at 7:15am with Maggi for our Chu Chi tunnels sas trip. We all piled on to a bus around 8am and set off on the longest day ever. Our first stop was about 2.5 hours away, the Cai Dao Temple. It was absolutely gorgeous and one of a kind. We actually got to witness a ceremony while we were there too, which was very unusual. People we dressed in either white, blue, yellow, or red according to their religion and they all chanted and bowed together throughout the whole service. After about an hour we head back to our bus which was thankfully heavily air conditioned (it could have been 95 degrees that day). Then we had about 2 more hours in the bus before we stopped at a shooting range. It was wild, we all bought sets of bullets and got to shoot them out of huge guns. I choose the AK47 which was soooo loud... i have no idea how soldier didn;t lose their hearing while shooting those bad boys. After we all had our fun we continued on until we finally reached the Chu Chi Tunnels. They were absolutely amazing. I could not believe the pure genius that was put in to making these elaborate underground living systems. It was actually really scary going through the tunnels, so I only went through 2 of the smaller ones. People were screaming about bats and manicans... two things that make me freak out, so i tried to avoid them. I actually got brave again after skipping 2 of them, only to have a bat fly at my face when a girl took a picture of it. I bolted out through the tunnels and that was the last of my attempts. I actually learned a lot about the war just going through the tunnels and looking around the forest. You could see bomb craters everywhere, it was crazy.  So by the time we left it was about 5pm, so we then head straight back to the ship. We got there at about 7:15 so I quickly showered and mags and i head to dinner. After dinner we got ready and then decided to head to the bar across the street to wait for everyone else. We had a few drinks and then the locals at the table next to us invited us to join them for a drinking game, how could we refuse? it was actually really fun, they loved us. Turned out they were actually the bar owners and managers so it was really fun to be treated like royalty by the staff. Kristin and Laurel ended up staying in so maggi and I left anyway. We went to a bar called LUSH where all of the SAS people we headed. I rode my first mototaxi there... it was crazy. Lush was pretty cool, everyone was there. After a while, Maggi got tired so my friend Jessie and I went back to the ship to take mags back, then we returned to lush for a little before heading back to the club Apocalypse Now, same as our first night.  It was a blast, and we stayed until bar close and then head back to the ship on our mototaxis.

Day Five: AHHH last day in ‘nam. I decided to take the last day to myself, and just kinda do whatever I wanted to do. So I started my day my taking another mototaxi (i got addicted to the adrenaline) to the War reminants museum. It was unreal, and made me feel so disgusted to be an American. The pictures and stories of all of the protests, and worse, of the war, had my stomach in knots. The saddest exhibit was the agent orange exhibit, which showed hundreds of pictures of babies born defected from the chemical. It was so sad... but really helped me to understnad the war better from the vietnamese perspective. Anyway after the museum I really didn’t want to deal with taxis anymore so I decided to walk. I grabbed a map from the first hotel I could find and then just walked around. I saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, and went back to the dvd place to return maggis dvds. then I bought some Tiger Beer tshirts and some other gifts for people. Eventually I ended up at a place where i grabbed lunch and used their wifi to call my mom at 1am chicago time (glad she was up). Kristin sent me a text too, so i was able to meet up with her after as well. I first went to check on my dresses to make sure they’d be ready to go before on ship time. Kristin and I spent the rest of the day making last minute purchases with the rest of our Dong(vietnamese currency). Then a few hours later I went and picked up my dresses and with an hour left, we went and got manicures and pedicures for less than 10 bucks... what a steal.   Then we head back to the ship and waved good bye to vietnam.

LOVED VIETNAM... DEFINITELY MY FAVORITE PORT SO FAR.

Getting to CHina today though... so hopefully it beats our vietnam

Wow- so even though we only spent about 10 hours in Singapore, I had a blast and want to go back for sure. Singapore reminded me a lot of Chicago. Its very clean, has lots of trees, is located right on the water, and has a river running through it.  
   I started my day with a Semester at Sea field trip. I went on the Historical Churches, Temples, and Mosque tour. It was really neat, we saw a lot of the city, and so much more. I've never been in a mosque, so it was pretty neat to get to go inside of one. After the mosque we stopped at a Catholic Chuch, finally! first one I got to go in since being away.  We actually caught the tail end of the mass, but even though it was in Filipino I could kind of follow along.  After the Catholic church we went to a beautiful Anglican Cathedral. It was all white with plenty of huge stained glass windows. We then head to a really neat Chinese Temple, which I fount fascinating. The architecture was really amazing, and the entire temple was so decorated. They had a huge bookshelf of free chinese books, so I grabbed a bunch of them for my little brother who takes Chinese (tuck get excited).  Anyway, at that point Maggi, Colleen and I signed out of the trip so we could travel on our own.  We decided we had to go get the famous "Singapore Sling" at the Raffles Hotel.  We bought some tshirts as mementos, and went to Long Bar to try the drink. Although horrifically expensive ($25) we each got a drink, and they were pretty tasty, but we were glad free peanuts came with the table. 
   After our Raffles adventure, we went to Clarke Quay to meet up with Kristin and Laurel. We meet a bunch of our other friends there too, and decided going to the Singapore Hooters would be a grand idea for lunch. It really was a ton of fun, so I back up our choices. (Don't worry brothers, I got you both tshirts). After Hooters, we walked around the river front area and stopped at a little restaurant to have a few drinks. They played all of my favorite music, and I decided right then that I was really having the best day ever... like of my life maybe. Singapore just brought me to peace, maybe because of its beauty, but also maybe because it was such a refresher after India.  Either way, I loved it.  The restaurant we were at was set up next to this really cool slingshot swing thing that a few of our friends did, it was pretty neat.  After that we went to get some ice cream and met up with some different Semester At Sea-ers... and we went to this really weird bar called the clinic. We sat in gold wheel chairs and were served drinks out of IVs... really odd, but an interesting memory. After we wrote our postcards and rushed back to the ship.  We got there with minutes to spare, but a lot of people were late, so we're not sure if dock time will be given to them, but it was really unfair, because immigration took forever.

Anyway- one more day of class, then off to VIETNAM!  I'm really excited for Nam, and have nothing planned yet, but hope to see a lot of things.  After nam we have China and then TAIWAN! I'm a little bummed Japan is now officially off our itinerary, but Taiwan might be pretty cool... no it will be.

Anyway... HAPPY ST. PATTY's DAY!

love you all, and miss you dearly

k

March 15, 2011,

OKay- so we are not going to Japan anymore. It has officially been announced. Kind of a bummer since I was really looking forward to going there, but better safe than sorry. They are going to announce the new itinerary plans within the next day or two. If you want to find out before we do, your best bet is to look on the semester at sea website, because ISE updates it in U.S. time and we don't hear about it until the next day. Hoping for some extra time in Hawaii or i'm still banking on Australia...which would be super sick.
Ill update next time I know.

Me and maggi riding elephant!

Elephant hug or pickpocket?

March 11, 2011

Okay! I have a lot to write about right now.  So today is the last day in India. It has been an amazing 6 days experiencing a brand new culture. I will admit, India has been a huge adjustment, but it has really helped me to understand more about myself, at to appreciate all that I have, especially being an American.
        While in India... I feel that I really got a great taste of the country. I spent the first day with Colleen and Kristin out around the city of Chennai. First off- it smells like rotten hard boiled eggs and curry everywhere in India, so that was an interesting first adjustment, also... its absolutely dirty everywhere. The government does not look much into public sanitation, and does not provide many, if any public garbage cans, so there is trash everywhere. Anyway, we took the shuttle to the port gate where we hoped in our first Auto- rickshaw... which ended up being quite the adventure. Our drivers name was Raja, and he was pretty great... and knew english pretty well also which was a major plus.  We had him take us first off to an Indian clothing store, so I could pick out some modest indian clothes for Maggi and I (who needed them for our orphanage visit the next day). The first place was pretty expensive, but since I didn’t know any better I bought two dresses for both myself and maggi... which cost about $25 US each... which is wayyy overpriced.  The next place was much better, almost half the price so I got another dress and pants for both of us.  Lots of Semester at Sea people were at that store, and almost every girl was trying on a saree. Kristin ended up buying one there and colleen bought some dresses as well. Our next stop was lunch. Kristin thought it would be a brilliant idea to ask for the restaurant where only locals go... not tourists, because she wanted real Indian food, but in retrospect... prob not the greatest plan for a first meal in India. We had no idea what to order, so we guessed, and it didn’t turn out too bad, but it was way too spicy for Colleen and I. The hardest part for me was watching their table manors, which are very, very different from what I was used to. Our driver ate with his hands, chewed with his mouth open, reached across the table, had his arms completely on the table, and burped really loudly. It was difficult for me to watch, but I eventually got over it. Anyway after lunch our driver took us around to like 4 different shops that he told us would give his children free tshirts if we went in and looked around for a while... so we did that for him.  One of the shops was a jewelry store, so Kristin had the guy show her all of the loose stones, something that I had no idea about before then.  I ended up buying a necklace, and then we drove around a little more before heading back to the ship.  I didn’t do much else that night, just went to bed early because Maggi and I had a very early flight to catch.
        We woke up at 5:30 am, got ready and headed for the airport. It was an hour drive, but somehow our crazy cab driver got us there in only 30 mins. We ended up being at the airport for the next 4 hours, because on top of being early, our flight got delayed. Finally though, around 1 we landed in Kerala, and met Sunni who was there waiting for us with a sign that read “Maggi”. So Sunni took us to Malayarla (the town of the Mercy Home) and we stopped to get some groceries and head to the mercy home. The mercy home was actually really nice, compared to most of the buildings in India.  Sunni introduced us to the three women who worked at the orphanage, who didn’t speak any english- but ended up being the three sweetest ladies ever.  He showed us our room, which was really nice. Two twin beds, and our own sink and bathroom.  We took a nap until around 6, where we ended up going on a spider killing rampage... litterally 6 within an hour- which lead to ants marching throughout the room eating all the dead spiders... really gross. This particular mercy home had  27 boys age 5-14 who lived all lived together in a big room with a ton of bunk beds.  To make this blog a little more brief, instead of a journal i’ll try to just get to the gist of things.  So everyday the boys woke up at 5:30 am (which Maggi and I decided we would be a part of as well). They woke up for a devotion, which we ended up being a huge part of for the 2 mornings we were there. During the morning devotional, along with the night time devotional Maggi and I had to lead a sermon for the boys, about the bible, which Sunni and Das (the manager of that particular home) would translate for us.  So this was easily right up Maggi’s alley (she loves talking about the bible) but it was even new for her to whip up some kind of bible teaching. FOR ME... wow, not my thing. For those who don’t know me... I was raised Catholic, and have never really been big into reading much of the bible, or praying outloud... so this was very new to me.  I had to pretend like I was some born again Christian, bible reading... something- which im not.  But because I do pray and go to church, i’m sure it could have been much worse if I was someone else.  Overall, it really was a rewarding experience being around something completely different from what I am used to. Other exciting things that happened while we were there... we took a day trip to see the backwaters, we rode ELEPHANTS!!!! (sooo cool), we drank wayyy too much coconut water (with huge smiles on our faces... but would dump it out when no one was watching), we ate local food(which came in a variety of yumminess.... really grosss eggs to really good chicken). Back to the elephants... so cool, we danced with them, they put their trunks on our heads... then we rode one of them. On our last day, Sunni and the boys presented each of us with beautiful wooden rosemary elephants... which was a great gift, being an elephant collector myself... something ill keep forever
        The last 24 hours, we spent at Sunni’s home, with his family.  It was probably my favorite day of all of them, because his wife and daughter were absolutely fantastic. His 6 year old daughter, Linda, spoke better English than most of the adults in India, and she was just adorable. She was very talkative, and so friendly. She spent about 2 hours playing with my hair because she isn’t aloud to have long hair herself. We played with her kitchen set and she told me all about her friends and family. His wife, Minni... was fantastic. She told maggi and I all about being a women in India and I was amazed and learned so much from her. She told us how the women have no freedom and her opinion doesn’t matter to anyone. She cooks 4 meals a day, no matter if she is ill, or tired. She is the most patient and kind person ever. The day we left, we stopped at a park and then went to the beach with them. I played in the waves with Linda, and spent time talking with Minnie about Indian life. She truly helped me to appreciate how amazing it is to be a women from America. I really wish I could have taken her with us on the boat, and back to the US.
        Finally, we left Kerela for Chennai again, and back to the boat...after a 2.5 hour hell cab ride back. It was really nice to get back to the boat and take a real shower.  We had been doing the bucket bath thing for the 4 days before. Suprisingly... bucket bathing (big bucket with little bucket) is really efficient, and refreshing...so maybe ill switch methods back in the states. I passed out from being sooo tired, but we woke up really early for our last day in India.
        Colleen, Maggi and I woke up for 8am breakfast... then head out to go spend the rest of our rupees. We ended up being out wayy too early before the shops even opened... so we walked around Chennai for a little before heading to the shops. We bought some scarves, henna, and some cool pants- most of which are gifts for people. We decided to head back to the ship after that to get back early so we could avoid the lines, and get back for lunch.

UPDATE: We got back to the ship and we heard of the Japan earthquake and tsunami warnings. So the whole night we have been broadcasting the news over the televisions. Its really sad to hear about the devastation going on... so we are all hoping it isn’t too horrible. As of now... we don’t know if we will be able to get to Japan, or even across the Pacific. Our journey won’t be affected through Singapore and Vietnam... but China, Japan, and Hawaii are still up in the air.  I’ll update as soon as I can. But we are safe... India is farther away from Japan than the US- so we are safe for now.

India reflection:  Great experience- because it contrasts so much from America.  Its absolutely filthy, its smelly, the food is yukky, and the manors are poor, the traffic is horrendous and the air is polluted. The people are beautiful, the environment is like a gift from God (so many beautiful trees, and the beaches were gorgeous), the people were very friendly, and so eager to learn from us Americans. I do plan to return someday to maybe see the taj, go to mumbai, or see more of the north.


MISS YOU ALL MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. SEND ME MORE EMAILS!!!!!
love,
keira

PS. HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAREST SISTER MCCALL. WISH I COULD BE THERE TO CELEBRATE, BUT I’M STUCK ON A BOAT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN.  HAVE FUN, LOVE YOU!

ALSO, someone tell ANNIE McCarthy I wish her a happy 20th as well!

kristin, laurel, me  at sunset on ship

Cheers to America (red/blue drink)

me and maggi on safari in South Africa

group bday picture-   thanks for the cake!

Thanks Mom!

March 3, 2011

So it’s been another stretch of class before we get to India on Sunday. Not much has really been going on over here (ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!). We are actually exactly half way through our journey... and are literally half way around the world.  We just changed our clocks yet again today and are currently 11:30 hours ahead of Central time! Ya, there was an announcement over the PA today letting us know that we were part of a very small portion of the worlds population who have been at 0° Longitude and 0° Latitude at the same time, AND changed their clocks only 30 mins for a time zone. But besides that exciting news... its test taking time. Everyone is studying again, and the ship gets pretty quiet when its test time. I’m currently working overtime on our Global Studies powerpoint presentation which is due the day after India- so I can’t wait to have that over with. On a more exciting note... we’ve had a few fun things going on on the ship... well for one thing, our water currently tastes like the oceans, maggi and I spotted a bunch of dolphins swimming alongside our ship today (as we were supposed to be paying attention in World Religions class), last night we had “The Ultimate SASer” competition which was pretty hilarious, and today we had star gazing. The captain shut off all of the ship lights, and we were able to see the most gorgeous night sky- second best I’ve ever seen in my life (best was when I went crocodile hunting on the Amazon).

I guess that is my update for now.  I might be missing a bunch of stuff, but I can’t remember when I last updated... so ill check and get back to whoever still reads this.

Also- seriously, those of you who still write me emails... you are great, so THANKS!

peace out

Keira