Just a quick note

The internet has been intermitent we've been in Saigon. That's why there hasn't been any blog updates or email communication from me. It's been up all morning, so maybe I'll be able to catch up this evening. I've been having a great time, this is my favorite port so far. I'm about to go out and try to catch mass at Notre Dame cathedral and then go to the market and shop shop shop. On ship time is late 10pm and we don't actually sail until 6:00am tomorrow. Then it's 6 days until Burma. I'm glad because only having two days between ports is just not enough time.

Saigon River

When the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning and I opened my blinds, what I saw in the mist were the jungly banks of the Saigon river. The pilot was on board around 4:00 this morning for the 4 hour ride up the river. Fishing villages line the waters edge, and fishing boats and trawlers were out barely avoiding getting swamped by our wake. We're about 10 minutes away from port side, now.










Out my porthole at blog's writing.

Healthy Living Hong Kong Style

On my last day in Hong Kong I went on an SAS sponsored trip called "Healthy Living Hong Style." It was a smallish group, 25 people or so. First thing we did was walk to a courtyard near they ship where a master led us in some Qui Gong exercises, this is similar to Tai Chi, but focuses more or the breathing.

After that we went to the Sunday flower market, which was lovely and to the bird market (which is for pet bird hobbyists, not for dinner).




Then it was to a traditional fresh foods market which made a few people a bit ill. Then we had Bird's Nest Soup and a huge traditional Honk Kong lunch featuring jellyfish, BBQ pork, mushrooms and bok choy, and little rabbit shaped marshmallow. If you like to see a picture of me enjoying jellyfish (I was the only one at the table that did-- tastes like seaweed salad) check out Mary and Kelly's entry on the occasion (which is actually much much better than mine).

Sorry for the short blog, I'm not really feeling very well.

How to see Everything in China in 3 days

Group travel, I think, may make you less aware of what you're seeing and doing and less engaged in your experiences. Even though you can see a lot of things with a group, and it's nice not to have to worry about transportation and negotiating tickets, etc. I think I go into sheep mode-- herded around here and there-- given a schedule, given a box lunch, the only thing you have to learn is what your guide tells you. There's definitely something to having to figure it all out on your own, even if that means it takes longer. Bedsides, you'll probably make up that time in not having to wait for 60 people to take a pee or get out of bed.

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After just a few hours in Hong Kong that I spent walking around and shopping a bit (and eating Dim Sum, though there's was no cart you ordered off a menu and an English speaking waiter had to help us, though really we probably could have figured it out ourselves) we were off to Beijing. It's about a three hour flight. We were on Dragon Air. They served us dinner, free beer and wine, and they showed Nacho Libre. It was near midnight when we arrived and were met at the airport by our guides for the trip.


Our first glimpses of China were of the massive construction, done under floodlights, around the airport. Actually, the whole city is under construction in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. We got our room keys at the airport so when we got to the hotel we were able to go right up to our rooms.

I shared a room with Kristin Koptiuch (one of the Anthropology professors and someone I hadn't spent anytime with before, so that was cool). It was very nice and modern, but the beds were probably the hardest I've ever slept on. It was about like lying on a blanket on the floor. I didn't sleep that well, because I couldn't get comfortable. Before we turned out the lights we flipped through channels. There was a very weird movie on that went to commercial soon after we started watching. There were 15 minutes of commercials-- mostly for products we have in the US-- L'Oreal, Mabelline, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola.


Breakfast was at the hotel, a combination Western and Chinese buffet. Our group aside, almost everyone in the dining room was white, other Americans and Brits mostly. I think they were all on tours with the same company we were with. I ate Chinese style breakfast, dumplings, steamed buns, soup.

First stop was Tiananmen Square, the most impressive thing is it's vastness. Enough room for 1,000,000 people. The first site there was Mao's tomb, but our tour guide didn't want us to stop. Turns out we had to march down to the other end for a group photo op in front of Mao's portrait (the first of a few times our tour guides tried to sell us something). I would have rather seen Mao. Then we had 20 minutes to walk around Tiananmen. Everywhere you turned there was someone with postcards, little red books, Mao watches, "Gucci" bags, flags, kites-- trying to hustle you. It was like being spammed in person. I think most people bought something and some of the stuff was cool, but the persistence with which they persue you is exhausting. "Mao watch, Mao Watch, Lady, you like, Lady, Gucci bag, Gucci, bag, postcard, 9 postcard." AAYYYYAAYY!!! I thought I would have a more reverential feeling, but it was too chaotic and kitschy. The other thing that is hard to overcome is the thick smog. It burns your eyes and your throat and makes it so you can barely see from one end of the square to the other. It's incredibly smoggy in Hong Kong too.




Forbidden City was next, mostly under renovation. I didn't realize how huge it would be. I thought it was a palace they called a "city." But it's a city (without quotation marks). We walked almost non-stop for two hours and still didn't see everything. It was amazing, but by the end I was so tired, hungry and parched I could barely take another step.

Tuna salad sandwiches on the way to the Great Wall.




Now, the Great Wall, that was awesome. I really don't know how to describe it. It's as amazing as you imagine. Almost everyone from the group immediately started racing along the wall to the top of a nearby crest. This was a STEEP climb. I asked someone, "Is this the Great Wall that I'm standing on?" I thought maybe the wall somehow started further up FOR REAL. They said, "Yes, Great Wall." And I thought "To hell with the death march." I wandered around the village area near where we stopped and was, for the most part, completely alone. There were amazing views of the wall, and some really peaceful, interesting temples. It was a perfect experience. The group took about an hour and a half to climb to the crest and back down, and they stopped, red faced, at the bottom and bought an "I climbed the Great Wall" T-shirt, and then time to get back on the bus. I asked the climbers what was the best part about it, and none of them really said anything about the wall itself. I'm so glad I didn't do that.

After the wall we went back to Beijing and had Peking Duck Dinner, which was very delicious. Unlimited beer, seemingly limitless duck. I spilled a full glass of sherry on myself. Half the group went to an acrobat show after dinner, I went with the other half and went back to the hotel. All of the grown-ups went to a little outside bar right by our hotel. The beers were 5 yuan, about 40 cents and were probably about 20 oz. There were locals all around playing games and talking and smoking. Very friendly to us, and interested in us. There was a lot of smiling and offering things. We left around 9:00pm and went for a walk around the block. it was mostly normal big city stuff-- barber shops and restaurants-- but then we ducked down a side road into a hutong (traditional Chinese neighborhood). This was probably the best part of the trip. It was lots of friendly neighborhood people sitting outside, playing games, playing with their kids, playing with their pets, talking, eating. The streets are very narrow and the homes are packed in together, kind of ramshackle (but then some of these are hundreds of years old.) It wasn't impoverished or grim, at all though. People were dressed well, and clean and healthy. I can't say how friendly they were to us. They stared a lot, but then were staring some ourselves. We were greeted over and over sometimes with a "Hello!" Especially from the kids. It was a great experience. These hutong villages are disappearing. They're being torn down to build high rise apartments. Kristin told me they're building a lot of gated communities on the outskirts of Beijing filled with condos and tennis courts. I saw some billboards advertising them. They look like they could be on the outskirts of Charlottesville or Denver or Biloxi or anywhere. Very generic. I'm not saying I'd live in a hutong over a condo (no plumbing for one), but it's a shame that such intimate unique places are vanishing. If you don't go to Beijing soon you'll probably miss them. The government considers the residents squatter and can boot them at will. Casualties of the Olympics.

This morning, Sally Kristin, Stephanie and I got up at 4:40am to make it back to Tiananmen Square to see them raise the flag at dawn. The guidebook said this was a must-see. There were a gazillion people there, and we got to experience the Chinese sense of personal space (this was good practice for the airport). I don't know if I was being groped or not, there were so many people squished together. This was Tiananmen Square too, not a small space. We waited for 45 minutes and more and more people kept coming and squishing in and piling up and stacking on top. There were uniformed guards trying to make people sit down and scoot over mostly with no success. Then here's what happened, at sunrise around 30 soldiers marched out, put the flag on the pole, played the recorded anthem over loudspeakers, the marched back, then everyone dispersed. It was 2 minutes tops. It was quite moving, and also a little odd. In the ruckus of the dispersal there were a lot of people taking our pictures and saying "Hello!" "Hello!"

We wanted to try for Mao, but it didn't open until 8:30 and we had to be back at the hotel at 9:45 and we didn't want to spend our last hours standing in line. We decided to look for coffee and breakfast. There was a street vendor selling roasted sweet potatoes, and Kristing stopped to get one. A little while later she realized she didn't have her camera. The strap was on her wrist, but without the camera on the other end. It was pretty evident it had been cut, probably at the sweet potato place. She was so upset. One of the selling-postcards-in-the-square ladies tried to help her, but there wasn't much she could do except shoo away the other street spammers. We were all pretty upset, so we stopped for awhile and kind of regrouped.

Then we started walking back toward the hotel and found another hutong that we strolled through and found a dumpling place. They cook them out on the street but you go inside to eat them. I didn't have any, because my stomach felt a little weird. We got a bit lost, but not bad, and when we asked for directions we were quite close.

Steph and Sally were trip leaders so they went into the hotel to get ready, but Kristin and I walked a little farther and found a market. Produce and live fish mostly. But we bought some buns from a vendor and some treats for the students and walked back to the hotel.

Once we got to the airport it was total chaos. The airport probably wasn't bigger than Dulles but for a city of 15 million people. From immigration through security was one solid mass of people vaguely in lines. It took 9- minutes to get through security, we barely made our flight. Plus it was hot and people were shoving.

It was an Air China flight with a meal, 3 drink services, and a movie. The airport SUCKED but the flight was nice. I thought at first that the person in the seat in front of me stunk, but it turned I was smelling my own feet. At immigration in Hong Kong they give you delicious mints.

Just watched the light show of the Hong Kong skyline from the from the pool deck on the ship, and after I post this I'm going to bed.

Night before Hong Kong

(A note on origin. I wrote this last night thinking I would be able to post it right away, but no such luck.)

This is just a quick blog before China. Due to our heading the past few days we've had almost non-existent internet. It's been very frustrating, especially since the students haven't had classes the past two days. They're a little bored and they're driving me a little nuts. This afternoon a guy walked around the ship in loops with some sort of stereo blaring annoying songs. He was followed by two or three other guys giggling and punching each other in the arm. It's been rainy and cloudy so they can't even get outside. I took half an ativan at lunch and the other half five minutes ago.

Because we weren't able to land in Quindao our Beijing trips have been seriously altered. Instead of two and a half days we're down to more or less one. With 5 or 6 hour plan rides on either end. We leave Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon and get to the hotel in Beijing after midnight. The next morning, breakfast at the hotel and then The Great Wall for two hours, Forbidden City for two hours, Peiking Duck for dinner. Then we see Tienamen Square on the way to the airport the next morning. Not ideal. I seriously considered staying in Hong Kong, but here's what I figure 1) I've already payed for Beijing, and while they did refund half the price it's still a lot of money. 2) Hong Kong is suppose to be more or less a big city, and not that different in feel from Japan, I'm afraid I'd just spend the whole time shopping and eating. Most of the students that are staying are going to Disneyland. 3)I'm still going to get a day and a half in Hong Kong. and 4) If someone walked up to me and handed me an already payed for trip to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tienamen Square, I wouldn't say, "No, thanks, I don't want to spend that long on a plane." I'd say "Heck yes!" I think ISE lost a load of money rebooking more than 400 trips to Beijing and Xian, and refunding us half our fare besides.

The rumor on the ship is that this won't be our last major schedule change, that they won't be sending us to Turkey or Egypt, either. I, of course, want to be safe and wouldn't want to be put into any kind of dubious situation. But I sure hope we get to go to Turkey and Egypt.

I've spent most of the last four days working on rebarcoding the collection. It's tedious and exhausting, but we're making some progress. There's a lot of things we found that weren't in the catalog at all. Though, most people on the ship look at us like we've lost our minds, it's a good project. And I am so grateful to Mary for going along with the somewhat preposterous endeavor.

When I haven't been working I've been napping and reading. I miss TV a little, I have to confess. But one of my students brought season one of "Grey's Anatomy" with her, and I've got the first disc. Tonight after preport I'm coming back to my room and drinking my last Coke Zero and watching an episode. I'm SO excited.

Finding mindless and private ways to relax is a challenge.

If you want to check my position I'm at Lat: 21 degrees 51.0N Long: 117 degrees 48.8E We're traveling at 18.2 knots with a heading of 277 degrees. It's 7:30PM, 12 hours ahead of EDT.

I won't be writing again until after Beijing, likely. Unless I squeeze one in tomorrow morning.


Here's some random pictures to look at:




Grave near a Buddha statue in Kobe





Interesting Statue













Japanese kitty

Shanshan

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T202473.htm

We've been rerouted due to "super typhoon" Shanshan which was barelling down on southern Japan as we were leaving. Seven people have died on Kyushu island in Japan where the storm made landfall.

Instead of going to Quindao we will be heading straight for Hong Kong. We're heading as fast as we can, considering how rought the seas are, around the storm. Right now we're back tracking some eastward.

We will be departing Hong Kong as scheduled for Vietnam.

We're all safe, in good spirits, and enduring the pitching and rocking as best as we can.

Last Day-Japan

Mark and I had talked about going to Osaka today, but since we did that on our first day we decided to try for the sake breweries of Kobe, instead. We left about 9:00, and headed for Sanomiya station. I was prepared to head straight out there, but Mark reminded me that it was 9:00 in the morning and maybe we should do something else first instead. So we bought an all day pass for the trains (I would have never figured this out, but Mark had done it the day before) and headed for China town.

Outside most of the major trains station in Kobe and Osaka (and I would guess all of the cities in Japan) are huge shopping malls. Some of them are underground, but they're all covered in some way or another. These malls have everything from Brooks Brothers to 100 Yen Stores. There's one mall that has 3 or 4 stores dedicated to socks. Socks seem to be a pretty big deal in Japan, and not the after thought they are in the U.S. These stations are also a great place to observe the Japanese implementation on English. Many signs are in English with no Japanese character translations. But the meaning of these signs is virtually incomprehensible. Mark's theory is that there's some sort of Japanese version of English that they can understand but native speakers can't. "Happy Smile for Open Hand Time," for example. Sometimes the signs are just really good descriptions of the store's purpose though, "We Have all kinds of Socks." We walked through one of these great malls on the way to China town and bought some awesome stuff at the 100 Yen stores. I learned how to fold paper cranes on the way to Hiroshima, and I bought a bunch of origami paper so I can keep practicing.

China town wasn't that big, and it was mostly just food booths, but it was colorful.

We tracked down a giant Buddha statue to that was very impressive.

Then we headed down to the Sake Breweries. There were suppose to half a dozen or so all in the same part of town. So we went to the train stop that was suppose to be near them, thinking it would be evident once we were there. But far from it. We walked in the wrong direction in this strange industrial part of town near the dump and warehouses before we finally gave up and went into a tire shop. There were 5 really surprised looking Japanese guys in there behind desks, but we pointed at the map and said "Sake sake sake sake." Until they figured out what we wanted. Finally one of them put us into his car and drove us to one. There was someone else from the ship there and he told us where to go next. The breweries are just like wineries back home, with a little tour and tastings and a shop. They just sample on or two sake's at each one though. I think we were both hoping for a giant line-up, but no such luck.

We went back to the central station area and found a place to eat and shopped a bit more. It was kind of an anti-climatic ending to Japan, but we had to get back to the ship and beat the rush.

Hiroshima

Today was a very sad day. I don't think I can describe what I saw and how I feel, but it was certainly one of the most moving events of my life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial_Park

Japan Day 3

Sally and I made plans to visit an Onsen (Japanese Bath). We were tired from our long day the previous day, so we didn't get a very early start. She wasn't feeling that well either, sort of had the same problem that I had the day before, which makes me think it might have been a bug.

There was a note in my room that said there was a box waiting for me, so I went down to the pursar's desk and lo and behold there was the missing box. Pretty much everything I thought should be in it was in it. I'm glad it came, I suppose, but I was also thinking I might get out of some work if it didn't.

Sally and I left the ship around 10am and walked into Kobe instead of riding the portliner. Right near the port terminal there were several tents pitched, obviously some sort of homeless area. I've seen several people sleeping on park benches as well. I know there are homeless everywhere, but I was surprised to see it. It's not nearly to the extent one sees it in the U.S., but it is present.

It's about 3/4 mile to downtown Kobe, and we walked and explores some. Sort of aimlessly. The towns in Japan I've seen so far are excellent for this sort of meandering. There's a lot to look at almost everywhere you go. We turned a corner near a gas station and were face to face with a shinto shrine, for example.

About noon we found a Starbucks and sat down to rest and look at the map to Arima Onsen. We walked to the station and only having to ask once, we found our first train. It was 900 Yen one way, kind of expensive, but not terrible. We had to change trains 3 or 4 times, but at the end of the line was the lovely town of Arima Onsen (Arima Bath). It was how you would imagine a rustic Japanese village, winding streets with homes and shops dotting the hillsides. It's a tiny town, maybe the size of Gordonsville, VA or Madrid, NM. It was touristy, but catering more to the Japanese tourist, I'd guess.

We found the onsen, not the one we were originally looking for, but whatever onsen will do in a pinch. This is how it works: You go in and put your shoes in a coin locker, then you pay and get a key for another locker. Then you go into the women's locker room (if you're a woman) and get naked. Then you go into the bath area. About midway up long one wall there are maybe a dozen or more shower heads each in front of an overturned bucket. Before you get in the bath itself you sit down on the bucket and give yourself a good wash, there's shampoo and soap provided for this purpose. The first thing I saw when I walked into the bath area was an old Japanese lady scrubbing her crotch. It's a little bit weird, I have to admit. But the general disregard for modesty made me feel less awkward, I think. After you get yourself nice and clean you get in the bath, which is naturally heated mineral water. It's hotter than any hot tub I've ever been in. You can soak for a little while, then get out and cool down then get back in. You can stay as long as you want but we were both getting hungry so we didn't make a day of it.

After we left the onsen we found a good place for lunch and I had beef and rice with a raw egg on it. (The Japanese eat A LOT of eggs). It was very delicious. After lunch we walked around town a bit more, found a shrine and got lost looking for another one. We headed back to the ship about 6:00pm or so, because we were both signed up for the Hiroshima trip the next day, and it leaves at 6:00am.

They had Japanese television on in our rooms and I watched some Japanese "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." The Japanese Regis Philbin seems just as annoying. Then there were sumo highlights. We just so happen to be in Japan during the few times a year that there are tournaments. This year is somewhat controversial as more than half of the wrestlers are non-Japanese. A lot of Mongolians, I guess.

Japan Day Two

I had a group trip to Kyoto. There were two buses with 40 people each for this tour. It was a mixture of students, faculty, staff and senior adult passengers. We set off from Kobe at 8:00 am, for the 90 minute trip. About 10 minutes into it I started feeling really sick. Diarrhea sick and nauseous sick. I did my best to relax and I would start feeling a bit better but then it would come on again worse than before. I finally told Sally who was our bus leader that I really needed to stop and she told the Japanese guide who told the bus driver. They said there was a good place to stop 10 minutes away but we almost immediately hit a traffic snarl, I was pounding down the pepto, but it was touch and go the whole time. About 25 minutes later we got to the rest stop which thankfully had western style toilets. You've got about a 50/50 chance in Japan of getting a western style toilet. The rest are squat toilets which is not at all what you want in the condition I was in. After the bathroom stop though I was much better.

Our first stop was Nijo Castle, this is an early 17th century castle and the country home of the shogun. One of the most interesting things about the castle are the floors. They're wooden planks, but built in such a way that when you step on them they make an unusual chirping sound. This was done intentionally so that assassins couldn't sneak up on the shogun. I think a first rate ninja would have been able to sneak up on the shogun anyway, but I didn't feel broaching the subject of ninjas with the tour guide would have been appropriate. The other very interesting thing about the castle is that there isn't/wasn't any furniture. They sat on mats and slept on futons that they stashed away during the day. It was giant empty room after giant empty room.

Stop two was Kinkaku-ji shrine (golden temple). This is a beautiful temple that's completely gold plated. It was surrounded by gardens and woods and would have been very peaceful if it weren't for all of the annoying American tourists (us).

Stop three was Heian Shrine (Shinto), and then Kiyomizu Temple which is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It was located on the top of a hill overlooking Kyoto and was surrounded by an enormous veranda. The views were spectacular.

This was a very interesting trip, but I didn't like being herded around on a bus all day, getting off taking pictures, getting back on. It would have been very difficult to see everything we saw on my own, but it was difficult to enjoy it fully in such a big group. You know how it's annoying when you're somewhere trying to take in some awe inspiring monument or scenic area and a bus load of Japanese tourists show up and start taking pictures and jostling you around. Well, that was us.

When we got back to the ship I ate a quick bowl of soup and went to my room for a nap, because Marc and Sally and I were planning on going out for some karaoke. I was exhausted and really wanted to cancel. But I drug myself out of bed and got ready. We caught a cab into town and went to a karaoke parlor. We pointed and nodded and shrugged and got a room and 3 gin and tonics. We had to get the waiter to show us how to work the thing, but it wasn't that hard once he showed us. There's just a little wireless box with English directions and you enter a song title or artist name and it shows what songs are available. We sang, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Waterloo," "Light my Fire," "Sweet Caroline," "Suspicious Minds," "Paperback Writer," "For the Longest Time," and finished up with "Like a Rolling Stone." The drinks were really watered down, but sweet and refreshing. We sang for an hour and drank three gin and tonics and then got kicked out. The bathrooms in the karaoke bar were western style, though, and that made the experience truly excellent.

After that we wanted to find a place for a drink and stumbled on an English style pub called "The Hub." It was only Japanese people inside, but a familiar pub type atmosphere and menus that were in English. I had a mojito, Marc had a beer and Sally had a glass of wine. It was very cozy and nice and we chatted for awhile, and then I went to the bathroom. Western style again! Awesome! While I was washing my hands, a Japanese woman came in and asked me if I lived in Kobe. I said, no and didn't try to elaborate because I thought she might not speak good enough English. But she asked me what I was doing, so I told her about the ship and about semester at sea. Turns out, she's the ship's doctor on the ship that's docked right next to ours. She just started that job and had previously been a doctor either at a base or on a ship in Antarctica. She introduced us to her friend who had been in Antarctica with her and was now going to be a pilot in Kobe. The five of us talked for 20 minutes or so and exchanged business cards. (Her English was perfect, by the way).

Japan Day One

I got up about 5:40am to watch the ship come into the port and watch the sunrise (over the land of the rising sun) but it was overcast and not much of a sunrise. It was still very exciting to see Japan, and very reminiscent of Hawaii. I guess that's not a big surprise since they're both volcanic islands. There were just a handful of people up that early, but gradually more and more people started to make their way up to the 7th deck. I waited to watch the pilot come on board at 6:30 and then went down for a quick breakfast, and then back up to the deck to watch the festivities. As we got closer to the port there was a fire boat that pulled along side us and shot water up into the air in celebration, then a band lined up along the port terminal building's deck and played Sousa marches. There was also a guy with an umbrella and a surgical mask dancing around and encouraging us to cheer. This guy must be an indigent self-appointed welcome committee, because I've seen him hanging around the port since then.

They took all of our passports into the terminal to do immigration, we didn't actually have to present them in person. My passport now has some Japanese stuff stamped in it, though. Around 9:30 there was an official ceremony in the student union building. A super goofy guy who was the port agent gave us a greeting speech full of tourism plugs for Kobe and a kind of long talk on a soon to be opened airport in Kobe. There were also several young women in pink hats that must be chamber of commerce there to present gifts to people. Bob Viera the executive dean received a sword and the captain got a vase, the chief engineer, hotel director and staff captain got bottles of sake, and they presented two students with official welcome robes. After this there were three traditional dance performances, one about a samurai who was having a sake drinking contest. Then an American diplomat gave us a diplomatic briefing that freaked everyone out, because he kept telling us we wouldn't be able to get money out of the ATMs and no one would take our credit cards. This isn't really true. I've found at least three international ATMs, and I haven't even been looking that hard. Everyone was so anxious to get off the ship that by the time the diplomat was on, it was very hard to pay attention to him.

At last, though, the ship was cleared and Mary, Kelly, Sally and I set off for Kobe. The port is about a mile from downtown Kobe, but there's a very convenient train that goes right to the downtown station (Sanomiya). Buying tickets for the train is a little intimidating at first, but once you figure it out it's pretty easy to get around. If you look at the map of the trains in the station you can figure out where you are, and the station you want to get to, and there's a number in bold print above the station name, that's how much the fare is one way. Put money in the ticket machine and press the number corresponding to the amount of the fare, a ticket prints out and ta-da. It's no big deal if you mess up and don't get enough money on your ticket, because there are fare adjustment machines at each of the exits and you can put your ticket in and it will tell you how much additional you need to add and give you an adjusted ticket. All of the train maps have roman character names on them in addition to Japanese. The biggest challenge is, if you have to change trains to get to your destination, figuring out which train you need, but you can ask someone just by repeating your destination over and over and over again until you pronounce it well enough that they understand what you said. (This works in general very well for all communication, just keep saying karaoke, karaoke, karaoke, karaoke, until the person says "OHH, karaoke" and then they'll give you good directions.)

We rode the portliner into town and Mary and Kelly took off to go find the public library and Sally and I went to an ATM. There was a huge line of semester at sea people at the international ATM in Sanomiya station, and it was taking a long time since not everyone could figure it out quickly. When Sally and I got up though we didn't have any problems and I told the senior adult passengers who were right behind us is line "Don't worry it's easy." and they all said "Would you help us?" So I stayed in the little booth and the first one up was a lady who is known on the ship as being pretty out of it. (She sat in on a friend of mine's class and when he asked if anyone had any questions at the end of his lecture she raised her hand and said "What time is lunch?") She handed me her card, that was clearly a debit Visa and said "I don't have a checking account so take it out of debit." and I said "What?" and she said "I don't have any money in my checking account, this has to come out of debit." I thought, "Oh no." So then I asked her "How much do you want?" and she said "$200" and I said "Well, 10,000 yen is about $85 dollars, and so 20,000 yen would be $170 or so, and 30,000 yen would be $250." She said, "Oh, ok... uh...uh...uh... let me have $200." The line is getting longer and longer. I put her card in and entered her pin, and tried getting money off of credit, and it spat the card out. I asked her if she was SURE she didn't have a checking account she said she was sure it was debit, so I tried savings and it spat the card out. The line is getting longer and longer. So I thought, "This lady doesn't know what she's talking about," so I put her card in and got 20,000 yen out of her checking account no problem. I figure that her kids probably didn't want her writing checks so they told her she didn't have a checking account and to just use her debit card. The next four seniors had their acts together and I got them in and out of there lickity-split. When I stepped out of the booth, the first lady said "tell me how you did that, because I don't have a checking account, what did you do so I'll know. I don't have a checking account." I said, "I took it out of your debit," and she said "oh, ok."

After that Sally and I wandered around Kobe for a couple of hours, found a place for lunch and ended up with salads because we couldn't figure out how to order anything else. But they were good. We got kicked out of a pachinko parlor for taking pictures and went to a 7-11 and bought some iced tea. I had to get back to the ship to leave for the baseball game. There were four buses to take people to Osaka for the game, and it was about a 30 minute ride. There was a English speaking guide on the bus who taught us a little Japanese and told some funny stories on the way. The stadium in Osaka was huge, I think they said capacity was 65,000 people. We watched the Orix Buffaloes play the Soft Bank Hawks, we were rooting for the Orix Buffaloes which is a Kobe team, but frankly they weren't that good. The fans have elaborate cheers for each of the players and they wave flags and play instruments. It was a lot like a college football game. Marc Peterson and I arranged to leave the game early and explore the nightlife in Osaka. We left after the 4th inning, and spent 30 minutes or so trying to figure out how to get to where the nightlife in Osaka was. We ended up in a very cool part of town that looked like it came straight out of Blade Runner. We wandered around for a long time gaping at things like 5 levels of overhead train lines and neon, looking for a place to eat until we wandered down an alley with a lot of restaurants. Most of them were full of Japanese men in suits. We finally found something I guessed was Shabu Shabu, which I was told by Chris and Rachel was a must do.

The restaurant was very small, a circular bar with a serving area in the middle. The total capacity was 20 people, maybe. The staff seemed pretty nervous about our obvious lack of skills, but we just kept smiling and pointing at things until they brought us beer, iced sake, a bowl of delicious sauce and a plate of vegetables. Each seat has a pot of boiling water in front of it and you take the vegetables and put them in the pot and cook them. Then they bring you a big plate of thinly sliced beef (or pork) and you add this gradually to the pot. As your meat and vegetables cook you dip them out and put them in the sauce and eat them. It's very tasty, and fun, and also dangerous because that pot of boiling water is very very hot and if you don't know what you're doing with chopsticks you're probably going to burn yourself. I did. The fun doesn't end there, though. After you've cooked all of your food and eaten it the waitress uses the broth you've just made to cook noodles. But, you have to get these out of the water yourself which isn't as easy as you might think. We made an enormous mess and were very embarrassing. Then they bring you some cool tea and a tasty scoop of ice cream.

After that we went to a shopping mall that had an giant, red, plastic whale hanging from the ceiling and on top of that mall the 3rd largest ferris wheel in the world. It was the first, but London and Tokyo have beat them out. There were amazing views from the top, though. After the ferris wheel we wandered and wandered like zombies. There are seemingly hundreds of alleys each brightly lit with shops and cafes and nudie bars, and karaoke. We walked until we couldn't stand to take another step and then caught the train back to Kobe.

Hot off the press

Here's a few last minute photos before Japan.



First, a picture from the Captain's dinner. From left: Henry Pontell, Jane Allison, Petar Petrov, Roane Atchurin, Dwight Allison, Tony Gomez, Me and Reta Enders











This is a picture of the library at night, they turn on a blue light in the center of the atrium and little star lights in the ceiling. It's really quite nice.












Here's the union from about an hour ago. People getting settled before the logistical preport. The student with the blue tshirt is actually our interport student from Kobe. I just accidentally caught him.

Captain's Dinner

I just saw Japan. We won't be docking for another 20 hours or so, but we just spotted some of the "outer islands." At least that's what Nurse Deb told me a little while ago. They were a long way away and sort of misty in the distance. People who were trying to take pictures weren't having much luck. I'm ready, and I know all the students are ready, to finally be there. And once we've gotten to Japan we'll have three port stops right in a row. Japan, two days on the ship, China, two days on the ship, then Vietnam. I'm only going to have to work in the library four more days in September. Then I'll get down to the business of "sight-thinking" as they call it on SAS.

We evidently won't have internet while in port in Japan, and I'm not sure how much time I'll have, but I will make every attempt to post a blog or two while we're there. I think I should be able to manage.

I've been meaning to write about the Captain's Dinner for a couple of days and keep putting it off because I don't have any pictures yet. I didn't take my camera, because I didn't want to be the only dork with a camera, so I'm waiting to get pictures from the dorks who did take their cameras. I'll post them as soon as I have some. But before I forget about it, let me tell you. That was probably in the top 5 fanciest meals I've ever had. If you could see how high my pinky is extended right now you would be amazed at the fancy-ness.

We started off at 7:30pm in the faculty staff lounge for cocktails and appetizers. There were about 26 people or so including the officers. It was like mingling around making small talk when there's a rock star in the room (the captain). He was making the rounds though and everyone got to shake his hand and say something stupid to him. I said "Thanks for ordering up such nice weather for the dinner." Lame-o! I had a martini and the appetizers were smoked salmon on toast, pate on toast, blue cheese on toast, etc. After 45 minutes or so of this we went down to the 5th floor dining room, the one that's like the Omni and they had a lovely arrangement of three tables with centerpieces and an elegant jumble of forks and glasses and plates. Each place setting was bread plate/butter knife on the left, 3 forks on the left, main plate, two knives and a soup spoon on the right, three glasses on the top right, and above the main plate a tiny spoon and fork. There were place cards with our names and three servers sat each of us, one to pull out the chair, one to put the napkin in your lap and one to fill up your water glass. The people at my table were Petar Petrov the Chief Engineer, Tony Gomez the Hotel Director, Henry Pontell business prof, Reta Enders Field Office Coordinator, Jane and Dwight Allison adult passengers and Roane Atchurin the Assistant Executive Dean. Pretty much a fun crowd, and since Tony is in charge of all the dining and service on the ship, I think our table got a little something extra.

We started with a really good full bodied white wine. The appetizer was little tiny rosettes of smoked salmon with a creamy dill sauce, no one would start eating because I think we were waiting to see which fork Tony used, before we jumped in (at least I was) but he kept saying "Please, please enjoy yourself." So we all went with the one on the far left, and so did he. Every time I took a sip of wine, someone topped off my glass. Next was a very good cream of spinach soup, then caesar salad with good parmesan. Entrees were a choice of Salmon, Filet Mignon or Tofu, everyone at our table had the filet and it was truly top ass. The conversation was pretty lively, fun, we asked a lot of questions about the ship and Petar and Tony were both happy to share. We talked about our families, and travel and work. While we were waiting for dessert Tony asked me, "Do you like Sambuca?" I said "YEAHHH," and then immediately remembered that it's licorice and I hate licorice. (By the way there was red wine with the filet, so I'd had quite a bit to drink at this point. I asked the steward, "Are you trying to get me drunk?" and he said "Yes.") So Tony whispered to one of the stewards, "psspssspsss," and then they came with enough glasses and Sambuca for just our table. There were coffee beans in the glasses and Tony lit the Sambuca before he served it. Dessert was black forest cake that was about 6 inches tall, and delicious but none of us could finish.

After dinner we all went back to the faculty lounge and I knocked a full glass of wine over.

Yesterday was my day off. Mary and I decided to give each other a break every now and then. Today it's her turn and I'm deadly bored. Yesterday I had every intention of laying out on the deck some, maybe working out. Instead I rinsed out a few things and slept. I didn't even make it to breakfast or lunch. Then, last night I slept a full night too. This is a pretty common phenomenon, many people have reported sleeping much more/much more soundly than usual.

Last night was the cultural preport of Japan, several professors gave talks about Japanese art, music, religion, etc. Tonight is the logistical preport. This is mandatory and will cover things like, how not to get thrown in jail.

Today I'm posting some pictures of the library. It's quite small, but also very popular. A lot of students study in the library and like to meet there and visit with each other. Some profs use the library as an unofficial place to hold office hours. It's in the middle of the ship and is a very pleasant open space.




A view from beind the circulation desk.














A view of the circulation desk














A view of the library from the computer lab.











The door to the circulation desk, from behind the desk. Barbie recommended a swooping move under the counter. My move is more of a hunch 'n' waddle. I have to grab the computer table on the other side to finish pulling myself out and it always startles the students sitting at the computers as I lurch out groaning from underneath there.












Some stacks












More Stacks














Map cases.









Also I'm introducing Sally McBeth. Sally is a professor of Anthroplogy specializing in Native Americans and gender studies. She's originally from Detroit, and was a catholic school girl deep in the heart of most dangerous Detroit back in the day. Now she's on the faculty of University of Northern Colorado. She's got a son and a daughter back home, he son is house sitting for her but is bad and doesn't email her.

Global Studies Test

Yesterday was a grey cloudy day. It rained a lot, and later in the day the ocean was rockier than it's been before. For this reason, I think, the internet wasn't working very well. Everything depends on how clearly the view of the satellite is, and yesterday I think there was too much weather.

Today, however, is gorgeous. Very warm and sunny, the students also had their first exam in global studies, which meant most of the faculty and staff were at their leisure. I took advantage of that and headed out to the pool. I had about 1 peaceful hour before they finished their test and started streaming back out here to the deck. I'm still sitting outside under the shade on the deck while I write this. It is 10:00 AM on Saturday, I think it's 8:00 PM Friday on the East Coast.

The buzz on the ship the last couple of days has been the Global Studies Exam. Several students said they'd never been more nervous about a test ever. I think because the topics covered are so broad, the lead professor is really unpopular, and students like to whine. The students coming out of the test have been saying it wasn't that bad. Some of the questions were out of left field, but in general it wasn't as random as it could have been. Most students are saying they think they got B. If it had been a very hard exam, there would have been mutiny. But it doesn't look like mutiny is afoot out here right now. Everyone is back to cow eyed docility.

Out here on the pool deck with me are all of the RDs, which form sort of the in-crowd among the staff. They were in the pool playing Marco Polo until just a few minutes ago, now I think they're playing dominoes at one of the tables. There's some sun bunny students in the deck chairs reading, I think they wear their swimsuits under their clothes at all times, so after class they can come directly here, strip down and start sunning. There's some adult passengers who are getting ready to do some aqua aerobics. And a few gym rats out here lifting weights and doing pull ups.

There's evidently a bit of drama going on with the RD clique. Several of them bought Japan Rail passes and are planning on pal-ing around together, and traveling around Kyoto/Nara area. One of them invited someone from "outside" and the rest of them were annoyed about it. Now they've made it known that they've closed the doors on their clique, no one else allowed in. And they've been telling other people with rail passes that they can't hang out with them. High School, not even, try Junior High.

My plans for Japan are, Baseball Game with practically the whole ship the night we get there, the next day is a day trip to Kyoto, then a free day, a trip to Hiroshima the next day, and then a free day our last day. I'm going to try to get a group together for Karaoke one night, and take a trip to a bath one day. We're getting into Kobe September 12th in the morning (that's the afternoon of the 11th for most of you). Just a reminder that my full itinerary is posted in my blog as the first entry.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the experience of living in community the way we are. It just really occurred to me the other evening what a very different experience this is than life on a college campus. Living with the students and your colleagues, and sharing every meal with them and their families, and spending every evening socializing with them, is not the same as an evening or two at the faculty club and lunch occasionally at the Pav. Several of the faculty spouses have started a writing clinic. The people with small children pretty much turned them loose after a couple of days, there's someone around every corner to watch out for them and teach them something or play with them. The teaching faculty have been commenting on how much more enthusiastic the students are in class. More engaged, more curious, much livelier discussions. I have to think that the community experience might explain that. I'll need to think about this some more.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Dateline SAS

Today was a great day.

1) We had a good meeting with our work study students, and Mary had cookies brought to our table. We gave them extra hours and they didn't grumble.

2) We got a lot of work done on inventorying and weeding the video collection.

3) I got an invitation to have dinner at the captain's table on Saturday. YES!

4) I learned about Reiki from Amie Chaudoir at the community college tonight.

5) They had a giant barbeque for everyone on the pool deck (I didn't have my camera but I bet I can get some pictures). Some of the officers even came up and ate with us. There was sausage and hamburgers and ribs and suckling pig. The pig heads were part of the decorations (this means there have been whole pigs on the ship with us at least a part of this voyage). Kelly suggested that the reason Dr. Bob's clinic hours are so short is that he's tending a farm somewhere on the ship.

6) We crossed the dateline, today is tomorrow, and we earned the Order of the Golden Dragon. Huh? Look here at Mary and Kelly's awesome blog for the full details.

How to do SAS pt.1

This blog is especially for Erin and Jean, and anyone else who will be going on this trip in the near future. It is a few thoughts I've been collecting. I might pull a few more of these together as things occur to me, especially when I have more in-port experience. I'm writing this now, because eventually all of these things will seem so normal to me that it won't occur to me to mention them.

Most importantly, be very very very careful when you're ducking under the library counter, because when you doink your head on it, it hurts really bad. Trust me.

The ship is cold and dry, it's a lot like the libraries at UVa, but probably drier. I get dehydrated very quickly. It's also a bit of a challenge to stay hydrated. It's not that easy to keep water around in the library, and there aren't drinking fountains around, soon after you get here you need to get a hydration plan and stick to it. There's no soft drinks in the dining rooms: water, juice and sweet ice tea. So take advantage of that and drink up at meal time. I don't know if it's a function of the atmospheric conditions, but I've been having a bit of a dandruff problem. I'm not usually inclined to that, though I've had an outbreak or two in my day. If you've ever had dandruff, bring some head n shoulders.

The coffee mugs in the dining hall are tiny, if you need to tank up in the morning you should bring a hearty size travel mug with you. Don't bring a regular mug, because you'll slosh hot coffee on yourself. The dining room staff don't mind at all if you want to fill up your giant mug. There's equal and sweet n low and sugar, no splenda.

Bring some kind of fiber supplement. Even the vegetables are a little bit greasy, I think a little extra fiber makes the food adjustment easier.

Bring a wine bottle/bottle cap opener for your room.

You'll probably want to have some snacks in your room, especially if you miss a meal here and there. Some nuts, power bars, crackers. If you like an afternoon coke you might want to think about getting a 12 pack. There's a tiny fridge in the cabins, big enough for a six pack, a nalgene on its side, and a glass or two. There are two snack bars, but what they sell is a bit limited, and if you just want to crack open a diet coke every once in awhile it's nice to have some at the ready.

There are some toiletries in the room, specifically shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, lotion, shower cap, soap and sewing kit. Just like in a hotel. You probably won't want to rely on these for the whole trip, but you won't need to bring soap with you just so you can take a shower your first night on the ship. You can expect the same sort of amenities in your cabin as you would in the average Holiday Inn, plus there's generally turn down service but no mint on the pillow. Though I expect if you supplied your own mints your cabin steward would be happy to put one on your pillow. Also, the first night I stayed in my room I left a small pile of dirty clothes on the floor, when I came back to my room after breakfast the next day they were folded neatly and placed in the chair, even my dirty underwear. If you don't want the cabin steward touching your dirty underwear you better put it away when you take it off.

There's plenty of storage in a cabin for one person. For two people it might be a squeeze. You can put things under the bed, like duffle bags, etc. There are five nice deep drawers under a deep shelf that's 18 inches tall. There are two bedside tables with three drawers each. The vanity/desk also has a drawer. There's a nice size closet with hangers (hotel style with the ring that's permanently attached to the rod). There's a shelf above the rod, and two shoe racks. There's also a full size cupboard with shelves and slide out bins (the slide out bins are a good place to put those dirty clothes). There's also a shelf and a cabinet in the bathroom. Plenty of room for storage.

There's also plenty of outlets in the cabins that take an american style plug. Yet, none in the library.

Clothes are tough. Professors dress in everything from sport coats and skirts to polos and shorts. There are dressy occasions every once in awhile, but if you dress about like you would if you were talking at a library town meeting that would be perfect. A little dressier than normal, but not much. It's also nice to have a couple of things that you could wear if you were talking to a professor's class. Mary and I have been dressing pretty casual in the library, but not sweat pants and shorts casual. I wear pajamas to breakfast, and I put on shorts to go to evening meetings. Don't be afraid to wear the same thing over and over again, no one really notices. Bring some febreeze and downy wrinkle releaser and you'll be all set.

Be prepared to handle a lot of non-academic type reference questions. The majority of reference at this point has been questions like "What kind of bird did I see this morning?" "What is that flower that's everywhere in Hawaii?" There's also a fair amount of traffic from the staff and faculty children working on their assignments from home. We've also been called upon to assist with lesson plans for these kids too. If you had a reader's advisory class in library school that will serve you well.

My early advice on field programs is: don't over commit. Definitely sign up for the things that will be hard to manage on your own. If you want to travel a lot outside of the port city, I think the SAS sponsored trips are a good deal. You will find people to pal around with though, and there will be a lot of interesting opportunities beyond SAS. Leave yourself some flexibility.

*********

Thank you for leaving comments on my blog. I read them, and I love them.

My cold is better, though I'm still sort of run down. There's definitely a bug on the ship, lots of people dragging around feeling crappy. I haven't had much of an appetite. I'm not sure how much of that is this cold, and how much is just getting a little tired of the food. It's basically meat in sauce for every meal. Chris said if you ate at the same 5 star restaurant everyday you'd get sick of it eventually, I think he's right. Today for lunch they made grilled cheese sandwiches, I was so happy I thought I might cry. The soup is always really good, and a bowl of soup and a peanut butter sandwich is a really nice change of pace.

I had two meetings today, even at sea you can't escape committees, so don't entertain any romantic notions about that. There was a faculty meeting today that was so angst ridden it made my stomach hurt.

We're gaining another hour tonight, hurrah! We get 3 more hours between here and Japan. We also won't have Thursday this week. We'll go to bed Wednesday night and wake up on Friday. Too bad for Brandon Kidd (student) who would have had a birthday November 7th. Ha Ha

Mostly Hawaii

Porthole 2 Sept 2006




Hawaii was amazing. The only regret was that we just had one day. I hope that I can make it back very soon.

My day started at about 6:00AM. I went up on deck to see the sunrise and watch us come into Hawaii. There were already a lot of people up there. It was strange to see land after so long of nothing but ocean ocean ocean. The faculty and staff were taking tons of pictures and the students all had their cell phone's out. I think most of them had a cell phone glued to their ear the majority of the day. As we got closer to the port the pilot got on board. This entails a speed boat zooming up alongside us and a pilot literally leaping on board. This is evidently the same process used by pirates. The harbor pilot is the one who actually parks the ship, there wasn't a tug boat this time, because the water is deep enough the ship can come in under its own power. A tug boat did pull us out of port at the end of the day and turned the ship part of the way around.

Here's the process they use to clear the ship. Immigration comes on board and has to look at our passports, because we came to Hawaii by way of Mexico. They have a table with all of our passports, a couple of immigration officials and a table to turn in our passports. As they called us up to the faculty/staff lounge in groups they handed us our passport, the official glanced at it, then we handed it back in. The whole process took 20 seconds at most. Very efficient. The ship would have been cleared in 30 minutes if it hadn't been for two students who didn't go through. It took another 15 minutes to get them through. Just as we were getting ready to leave the ship the computer that checks us in and out crashed. We got out as the 4th or 5th person on the manual check-out, but it was evidently 10:30 (2 hours later) before the last people managed to get off. I'm so glad that didn't happen to us, I was already about to have an anxiety attack standing there waiting for the little while we had to. I was able to call Chris while I was waiting, though the reception wasn't great.

Mary, Kelly, Sally and I caught a cab right outside the port and our cab driver, Ted, took us to Enterprise where we had our reservations. We got a Honda CRV and a navigational system and then we were off. Our first stop was the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I'm really glad we went there, because I had a lot of misconceptions about pineapple agriculture that I got cleared up. Plus some very tasty pineapple bread.



Me and a baby pineapple











We then drove up to the North Shore and stopped at Sunset Beach. We stuck our feet in the water and walked on the beach, there were only a couple of families there having picnics and fishing. There were shells and pieces of coral on the beach. I was also introduced to sea glass, and picked up a few pieces that I think I'll give to Sarah for mosaics. It was very peaceful and beautiful. We continued to drive around and stopped for a seafood lunch, we shared fried fish, clams, onion rings and shrimp cocktail in a pineapple boat. Lunch was good but we immediately found two other places we would rather have eaten, but that's always the way. Then Kelly and Mary decided they really wanted to go to Pearl Harbor, so we took a short cut from the Northeastern part of the Island back to Honolulu, through a tunnel that cuts through the mountains. Sally and I dropped them off, then went to Borders where I bought some magazine for the library and a few books for Kelly. Then we went to Walmart, the biggest in the world, and it was BIG and overwhelming and we got out of there as quick as we could. (I HAD to go to Walmart to buy a sleeping bag, by the way, I didn't go to Walmart as a tourist destination. I also got a little vino, and another pillow. Erin, the pillows on the ship are awful! I'll leave you the one I bought in the library. I'll leave you my sleeping back too, it's purple and gold, GEAUX TIGERS!)




Then the day was almost over, but we went to Waikiki where we saw the brightest, fullest rainbow I'd ever seen. Waikiki is usually packed and very touristy. It was late in the day though, and sort of misting-raining, so it wasn't very crowded at all. Beautiful water. We hustled back to the rental car place, and got a lift back to the ship, then ran back out for a quick bite (Tom yum at a Thai place)

I was really glad that we got that GPS, it was so helpful driving around, it was also the best entertainment. The digital voice authoritatively mispronounced the Hawaiian words to comic effect. The best was Kamehaha Highway. I think it's Kah-may-ah-may-ah, right? She said Commie-ah-me-ah-ha. She also combines words in strange ways. Highway 2 East, for instance, Highway TA-WEEST. So that was worth the 7 bucks, right there.

Ok, here's the part that's going to be tough to describe. If you've never been to Hawaii you need to stop what you're doing immediately. Seriously, stop now. Turn off this blog you can read it later, and book yourself the next flight out. This is the greatest place in the United States (except the lawn at UVa, obviously). I have never seen anything more lovely and enchanting. Yeah, yeah, yeah you're thinking, of course Hawaii is beautiful. If you haven't been here, you don't understand. It's GORGEOUS. Every direction you turn there's a view that will knock your socks right off. Dramatic lush mountains, crystal clear ocean that ranges from almost black, to blue, aquamarine and green. Giant, white clouds against, blue grey sky. I had a lump in my throat more than once during the day. It was awful to leave after just one day.



It was way too much for one day, and as a consequence my cold finally caught up with me. I've been a mess all day. Sore throat, runny nose, run down, headache. I slept in, missed breakfast, missed Global Studies (bad girl), went to lunch but just had some soup and half a PB&J, went back to bed and woke up feeling somewhat better. I had to go give a little talk to the senior adult passengers, and then drug myself into work. After dinner (chicken n sauce, green bean casserole, tabouleh) I went to work for a bit, and learned the news about Steve Irwin. No piece of news has caused a stir on the ship like that. I'm back in my room now, watching "Lost in Translation" and working on this. I'll probably go to bed very soon, I think I'm a bit feverish.

I hope to post most of my pictures on Flickr. It's not going to happen tonight, as the internet is very slow. I'll post something as soon as I can manage it.

Hawaii=Awesome

Here's me coming into port in Honolulu this morning about 6:45AM. Seems like a week ago.






Aloha, and a full recounting of the days activities tomorrow.

I love Hawaii.

Countdown Hawaii

Porthole from yeseterday (Sunrise)













Porthole from today








Yesterday was just sort of a long, busy day. That's why there wasn't a blog. It was a good day, but I'm not completely used to my weird schedule yet. I'm thinking after Hawaii I might start staying until 9:00pm and not until 11:00pm. At this point it is a lot of directional questions and reserve circulation. It could get to the point where I would need to be there until 11:00 helping with research, but we're not to that point yet. It's busy at night, pretty steady stream of traffic, but the students are double-staffed and are really excellent.

I've also been feeling a little blah, I think I might be fighting off a little low grade something or other. I have a half-way sore throat and have felt a bit run down. I'm pounding down the airborne and trying to rest as much as I can. I don't think it's going to take hold, but I'm being cautious.

I guess I've gotten my sea legs. I'm not sure how you know when you have them, but I think it's when you don't get sea sick anymore and weaving around while you're walking, and lurching drunkenly from side to side doesn't seem weird. I thought I would get to where I could walk a straight line with the ship at a 45 degree angle, but even the crew weave around while they're walking. Tomorrow we're docking in Hawaii and I'll see if it feels strange to walk around on something that isn't moving.

Yesterday we crossed the Tropic of Cancer, I wouldn't have known that except Kelly has a couple of GPSs with him. That's not as cool as crossing the equator, but that's not too bad. The other big excitement yesterday was Mary and Kelly and I figured out the remainder of our field programs. The way it works is this, before you leave they send you a guide with all of the trips, some of them are marked as pre-sale and you have to buy these before you leave. These are all the trips in Hawaii, all of the major overnight trips through India, and some of the day trips in Japan and China. It's basically the things that require reservations. For instance, I'm going to Beijing and they'll fly us there from our port in Quindao, then back to meet the ship in Hong Kong, and we'll be staying in a hotel. Due on Sunday is all of our day-trips and minor overnights through India and our major overnights through Spain. Then at some later point we'll buy all the rest of the day trips. I already had a pretty good idea of everything I wanted to do, the three of us sat together and matched up some trips too.

Dr. Bob (the real doctor) gave us all a talk on Malaria. I was pretty well informed from the doc at the geographical medicine clinic at UVa, but if anything I feel even more aware of the dangers. I sort of assumed that the malaria medication was precautionary, and that chances of getting malaria probably weren't that high. Au contraire says Dr. Bob. More than 1,000,000 people die from malaria every year, and many people in tropical regions are capable of passing the illness on. I'm taking my malaria drugs no doubt. They're much better than they used to be. A woman who has been on previous voyages said two of the main side effects of earlier versions of the drug were hallucinations and insomnia. Can you imagine being of a ship with 600 sleep-deprived, hallucinating undergrads? Well, probably the Clemons overnight people can. Ba-dum-bump.

I have to say I have been really impressed with the students on the voyage. They seem studious, the library is always packed with them studying and reading. They're signing up for meaningful trips (not just planning drinking binges). They're definitely spoiled, but also polite and cheerful. Most of them act like they know how fortunate they are to be able to do something like this. The parties are sort of wild, but not shockingly so. Probably about what it would be like at UVa. I think I mentioned I was teaching a library instruction session yesterday morning. 8:00AM and they were asking me questions about Historical Abstracts, raising their hands. It was a better group than any I've ever taught. The brats are pretty few and far between.

I picked out the films that are going to be shown through the weekend on our closed circuit network. I think I did pretty darn good job. Yesterday was a good tropical nature documentary, KonTiki, Master and Commander, and The Corporation. A little something for everybody. Tonight it's 20,000 leagues under the sea!!

Yesterday for lunch Taco Bar! Salmon and beef tips for dinner with coconut cake for dessert (I had some of that). We must have eaten up all the leftovers because there hasn't been a stew or a casserole in quite awhile. Over easy eggs this morning were new and there was a lot of new stuff at lunch, chilled berry soup, chicken fricasse, and fresh ripe plums (where is this food coming from?)

Tomorrow is Hawaii, Mary, Kelly, Sally McBeth and I are getting a car and are going to ride around Oahu. Pearl Harbor maybe, Diamond Head, Waikiki, Dole Pineapples and Walmart.

Deej has asked that, in addition to being introduced to people around the ship you get to see some places to, so today is the most important place on the ship... not the library... this is the Garden Lounge Dining Room on deck 6. This is not my new favorite dining room, but my sentimental favorite.







Lunchline when it's short...












Lunchline when it's long... (that's Karen Ryan from Arts and Sciences in the lunch line, peeking around the pole)













Inside Seating














Deck Seating...









This is Alden Jones on her way to the Garden Lounge to get some hot water for her French Press. A lot of people have been complaining about the coffee, but if you can stand Alderman Greenberry's then this stuff is a pleasure. Alden is at Emerson College and teaches creative writing. She has a Sheltie at home that her mom is taking care of. She didn't get any of the trips she wanted in India, so I think we'll both be on the Dalit Village Overnight trip (a recent addition for me, Phil looked a little shocked when he saw that in the field program guide. People have been talking like this is the trip that separates the Girl Scouts from the Brownies.)

We've gained three hours since leaving San Diego. 25 hour days are the best. Hawaii is going to be fun, but you know what, I love being on the ship so much I'm almost a little sorry to be getting off. I'm sure I'll snap right out of that tomorrow morning, though. Maybe no blog tomorrow, but I promise a tropical delight on Sunday.