Vicarious Voyage post - India

Hello Room 16!

Vanakam (greetings in Tamil)! How are you all doing? I just came back from my experience in India, and I definitely had a really intense, rich cultural experience in all those 6 days! Unlike many of my friends that went to the Taj Mahal and other places in the northern part of India, I decided to stay in South India, near to where our ship was docked in Chennai.
On the first day, I participated in a yoga demonstration on the ship. It was interesting to see how much yoga played not only a physical part but also had many connections with the spiritual and religious part of the culture. After that, I went with a group of students and my Languistics professor on a trip to visit an Indian school called Sri Sai Vivekanandha Vidyalaya.
As we got off the ship and on the bus, I felt the intense heat, dust, humidity, and the unforgettable, distinct smell that I came to associate only with the smell of India, which is quite indescribable. Being on the bus, people on the streets would stare intently at us and try to get our attention and wave at us. On the streets, there were many people on motorcycles, bikes and autorickshaws. Autorickshaws are these scooter looking mini cars that one can take to get around the city instead of an actual taxi. This is a picture of an autorickshaw:


Other things that I noticed as my first impressions in India while looking out through the window of the bus was that many women wore traditional dresses called sarees - they aren’t technically dresses, but they are long pieces of fabric that are wrapped around your body multiple times in a certain way, and they are very cool. I also saw a lot of pollution unfortunately - there was a lot of trash everywhere. I wonder how they have been dealing with environmental awareness. There were also many animals on the streets - cows, bulls, dogs, goats… they were everywhere.
When we got to the school, we were welcomed with the school’s band and we each received a flower. I felt so welcomed! They also painted a vertical line on our forehead as we came in. It was traditional that we remove our shoes before entering a classroom. One thing that confused me a bit was that people in India usually do a weird bobble-like head shake when they mean “yes” or “ok”, when for us Westerners it may look like a “no”. We learned that English was compulsory at the school, and other languages that were taught included Tamil (the main language in Chennai), Hindi and Sanskrit. They told us that English was very important to learn to get good jobs in India. The students there stay in school for 10 to 12 hours a day, which sounds like a very long time! After a brief introduction we got to walk around the classrooms, to teach and play with the kids. They were so much fun! They kept asking us questions about the United States and how different the schools are over there. Here’s a picture of a classroom:

They all wore uniforms - the boys wore ties and the girls wore skirts. There was at least one girl and one boy in each classroom that wore a white uniform, to indicate that they were the classroom’s prefects. The teachers told us that the prefects were selected based on academics and they looked over the class and assisted the teacher in any assignments.Later a few girls performed a traditional dance and we returned to the bus back to the ship.
Then some of us went to a welcome reception at night, were we got to eat some Indian food. I’m not a big fan of spicy foods so I didn’t eat much, but many of my friends really enjoyed it. We watched a traditional dance form called Bharata Natyam, which some people compare it to ballet in terms of the amount of practice it requires to master it. It has a very spiritual meaning, and the dance also includes a sign language which is used to communicate with the gods. It is usually danced to carnatic music, which is also traditional of South India.
On the next days me and my friends met a really cool autorickshaw driver named Rama that took us around all of Chennai and also to Mamallapuram, which is where we saw some carvings and temples made on stones that were made over thousands of years ago. Rama was very nice, so much that he invited us to his home and his wife taught us how to make some traditional bread called “puree”. His wife also gave us sarees too! Here’s a picture of us with his family:

And here’s a funny picture of me in Mamallapuram wearing a saree:

I also did a service project on the 5th day there in India. We went to a disabled children’s home. First we got to tour the facilities, and I felt a bit sad because I couldn’t really communicate with the kids since they mostly knew Tamil. Then, our project was to dust away the classrooms and the lunch rooms. It felt really nice, because even though we were just scratching the surface in terms of how much we could clean with the resources and time we had, I could feel that they were so grateful for our presence and I felt connected. We later got to play with the kids, and they loved taking many pictures!
I can say that I will definitely miss India very much. I learned so much about the people, the culture, their beliefs, and it was definitely a very rich place in terms of culture and history which I hope to one day revisit and learn more about. Now it’s time for Malaysia! Until next time, Nandri! (“thank you” in Tamil)

-Tessy

Vicarious Voyage post - Mauritius

Hello Room 16!

I just came back from a wonderful time in Mauritius! Where’s Mauritius, you say? Well, it’s this really tiny island that’s a bit close to Madagascar… and it’s right in the middle of our journey between South Africa and India. We only had a total of 12 hours in Mauritius, which was quite a pity, because we didn’t get to explore much… but it was still a lot of fun.
After the ship docked in Port Louis, my friends and I all decided to get some cabs and go all the way to this beach called Flic en Flac. We all got there around 8am and it was very peaceful. However, we were really hungry because we didn’t eat breakfast. We took out some Mauritian Rupees. Currently, one Dollar is equivalent to 29 Mauritian Rupees. We then went out to eat, and we went back to the beach. Here’s a picture of me at the beach:

The day was very beautiful, and the water was very clear. I’d never seen water that clear! I wish I could have had some snorkeling gear so I could see everything while swimming underwater. On the sands we saw many dead corals, which hurt my feet a bit. I think that the coral reefs there might be affected by our pollution.
After a while of playing in the beach, we met a native Mauritian guy and he taught us some Mauritian French Creole. To understand what a Creole language is, you need to understand what a Pidgin language is first… Pidgin language is a type of “band-aid” language that is created spontaneously when people don’t have a common language, and it is usually based on a European language. Creole is when a Pidgin language can be acquired as a first language. I don’t really remember much of the Mauritian French Creole, except that instead of “bonjour” for good morning in French, they say “bonzour” in French Creole. According to BBC news, “Mauritius was uninhabited when the Dutch took possession in 1598. Abandoned in 1710, it was taken over by the French in 1715 and seized by the British in 1810.” So we were still able to get through the day with speaking mostly English, but the people we encountered spoke mostly Creole or French fluently.
After a good relaxing day, we headed back to the beach. On our way back, we saw a lot of sugar cane plantations:

Sugar is a big product of exportation in Mauritius, so it wasn’t a surprise to see a lot of sugar cane. Our taxi driver told us that sugar exportation is not very high anymore, so there are talks about using the sugar cane to export ethanol (as an alternative to petroleum, used as fuel).
Sadly, we didn’t get to see any Dodo birds! They were actually hunted to extinction in the 17th century, but they are still the national symbol of Mauritius.
When we got back to the ship, we got to see the beauty of the volcanoes and mountains that can be found in this little island:

So I definitely had a great time! It was a nice break from studies on the ship. The next day we had the Sea Olympic games, where different parts of the decks competed against each other in many events, such as trivia, extreme musical chairs, the human knot and tug-o-war. Needless to say, I’m very tired and I have many exams to study for before we get to India! Wish me luck!

I feel awful awful awful

I haven’t updated in like FOREVER!!!! AHHHH this sucks -

South Africa and the spirit of Ubuntu.

Oh man, 6 days to write about. This is tough! Here is a reference guide: -Day 1- Robben Island and Fiddler on the Roof. -Day 2- Bus ride, bungy jumped, party time. -Day 3- Bus ride, shark dove, party time. -Day 4- Hiked Table Mountain, Township homestay in Gugulethu. -Day 5- Got back from homestay, visited Langa which was another township, party time. -Day 6- Woke up late, District 6 museum, wandered around, Desmond Tutu. Now here it is… Woke up early to see the sun rise… it was quite chilly and windy and the ship was moving quite a lot, like it has been the last few days. The waterfront was BEAUTIFUL! First day of Spring, in the southern hemisphere! It was so weird going from super hot and humid to *oops, where’s my jacket?*. I got a bit worried because people were saying that last year the water was so rough they were circling Cape Town for a full day, not being able to dock. But we did! Ryan let me play around with his SLR after my camera failed on me and I was too lazy to get batteries. As soon as we docked and we got our passports stamped, I darted to catch my 11am Robben Island ferry which was really close. I had booked it online, and people hadn’t really booked it at the same time I did so I just went off on my own. Felt pretty good to finally do something in port by myself though, sometimes being around people too much can be a bit restraining. The ride to the island was fun, whenever the boat would move too much everybody would freak out and I would laugh. The lady sitting next to me was a teacher leading a big group of students going to Robben Island… we didn’t really talk much because she wasn’t very fluent in English and I had a hard time understanding her. When we got there, the bus tour of the island was quite informative. I was afraid that they were going to speak Afrikaans though! I breathed a sigh of relief when our guide started speaking English. I got many notes from the day… about how Robben Island has been used as a prison for over 400 years, and how now it is an island of reconciliation. The guide, Elen, told us about how people with leprosy were put there to be isolated from the population… they also used Robben Island to put away people in asylums, and it was also used as a naval base… Robben Island was a bunch of everything it seems. He told us how the political prisoners were kept far away from the convict/medium security prisoners, and showed us Sobukwe’s prison too. Sad stories. We learned a lot about Mandela, saw where he worked in the lime quarry and they told us that Mandela doesn’t have tears because of the lime. Then we had a tour of the political prison, lead by the ex-prisoner Jama. What really struck me was how “Coloureds” had different diets from the “Bantu” (or black). We got to see Mandela’s cell too. All the talk was very inspiring, to know that there was such violence and injustice and South Africa is now moving on from that, it’s quite amazing. We didn’t really have time to go see the penguins in the island because we were a bit late for the ferry back, and I was starving so I didn’t want to wait for the next one. We did get to see a Springbok, South Africa’s national animal, which was pretty chill. On the ride back, I was trying to film everybody’s reactions to the boat jumping with the waves, and I didn’t even realize that the old lady sitting next to me was having a panic attack! When I finally realized I felt so embarrassed! It was a bit funny, I have to admit, but everybody kind of came together and tried to calm her down, I gave her some bullshit about how me holding on to her pressure points on her wrist would calm her down when it really only works for seasickness (supposedly… I never wear those seabands anyways). She was finally able to calm down and was a bit embarrassed, which was kinda cute. I head my way back to the ship and I bump into Hannah and… ugh I forgot her name again… but she shaved her head too. I want to say her name has a “v” in the middle of it. Anyways, fail… so I bump into them and we walk around the waterfront and had some Hake fish and chips, which were delicious! We then got some postcards and shopped around… the waterfront is so convenient, and so catered to tourists, one could easily just spend their entire time there and not even see much of what Cape Town is about at all. So we all head back to the ship and I get ready to watch Fiddler on the Roof at the Artscape. We got a tour of the stages, and saw how cool their sets were. Then we had some wine and food, which was yummy. I sat in the same row as Ryan, Emily and Kim. The show was nice… but I mean, not very “South African” at all, if you know what I mean. I liked the songs and stuff… haha I’ll probably need to be a bit more elaborate on describing the show when I have to write a review for it for my class -

“It’s Ghana be alright!” (repost!)

“It’s Ghana be alright!” Wow. Ghana was a completely different experience for me! Powerful, happy, friendly, sad, insightful, embarrassing, fun, heartbreaking are just a few words that begin to describe some of what I went through. Day 1 I decided NOT to wake up to see the ship coming in to port this time…! I wanted to stay awake and ready for some Drumming and Dancing. I did wake up a bit late, had breakfast and missed out on most of the diplomatic debrief. I got ready and hung out on Tymitz square waiting for our group to be called so we could get our passports. It definitely took a while, but I was fine hanging out with my friends, many of whom were going to go to a village and staying there for 2 or 3 days. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty jealous because I still want a true homestay cultural immersion experience. I get my passport and head out to the bus. I actually knew many people that were going… some from my classes, and others like hallmate Kelsey M, Darrell from our Morocco experience, Ally from when we first saw the ship docked in Montreal, among other peeps. I felt pretty good about the experience already. As soon as our bus got moving, all the Ghanaian workers at the port were staring at us, and when we looked they all would give us a huge smile and start waving. Immediately I felt a bit more welcomed here in Ghana. As we drove into Tema it kept on going, and it was quite fun. We had a tour guide on the bus from Land Tours giving us some info on Ghana… He called out “A go?” and we had to reply with “Ameh!”, and he said that if someone says “Ago” and you don’t reply, that means you are telling that person to shut up! Here are some snippets off of my notebook of what he told us on the bus: Ghana gained its independence in 1957 and was a republic in 1960. Tema is around the Greenwich meridian and it is considered the heart of industry and one of the 2 port cities (the other being Takoradi, the one we were originally going to first). Tema is Accra’s twin city. He also told us about the currency: 100 pasewas make up 1 cedi, and currently the rate is about 1.48 cedi to 1 dollar. In those terms, looks like cedis are stronger than the Brazilian real (which is around 1.70 to the dollar)? Uhhh I don’t understand economics. Anyways, cedis come from the name for cowry shells, which used to be used as currency way back when. The Ghanaian flag is red for the blood that was shed for Ghana’s independence, yellow for gold and wealth (like the Brazilian flag), and green for the forests (also like the Brazilian flag). The black star in the middle of the flag is to symbolize how Ghanaians perceive themselves as the stars, the leaders of Black Africa in freedom, to which they are very proud. We then went to this place called Ave Maria, and we hung out there for the rest of the day. We were a pretty large group, and I sat in a weird corner where it was hard to see the drummers. The intro performance was neat but pretty short, and we went straight on to our dancing workshop… which was just all of us under the scorching sun (yes, I got a horrendous farmer’s tan) trying to learn this dance called “tiriba”. It was very fun, but kind of awkward since I was wearing jean shorts (yes, I don’t think before going on a dancing workshop) and tennis shoes. I was exhausted ans suuuper dehydrated really fast… that’s what I get for being out of shape. The dance moves were movements that I’ve never really done but I really liked it, it felt really natural but still challenging. After that we all broke off and interacted with the drummers before lunch. I was kind of shy with approaching them but one guy actually saw me looking around and introduced himself as Robert the Flash (because he is a fast drummer). Kelsey eventually joined us and started chatting too. He showed me his hands, which looked completely calloused… drumming is hardcore stuff! His friend, I think his name was Kumbasa, joined in and we talked about how the day of the week you are born in determines your name… I forgot what mine was for being born on a Wednesday, but I think it was something like Akui? Robert then proceeded to show me the various Ghanaian handshake (all of them very very cool!) and to ask me if I had space where I was living in the US so that he could move in with me! Haha! That’s actually one thing I really enjoyed about the Ghanaians I interacted with… as soon as you start talking with them, you are best friends and emails are exchanged and the joking around is so lighthearted. They loved talking about where they come from and teaching you about their culture, something that I really had to search for in Morocco when I just got that handed to me in Ghana. They were so open! It was great. Me and Kelsey realized that our group disappeared and they told us that everybody was at lunch… we bolted because we were so hungry! When we got there there was barely any food left and they only had spoons… awkward. The beef was pretty good, but I forgot they recommended us not to eat salads at our logistical preport and I got salad, but this girl reminded me not to eat it and I felt bad wasting it (especially since my plate was half salad) so I was still a bit hungry after lunch. We all then went back and sat down and watched the performance. It was great! This guy talked in between dances and presentations and he would share some poems with us, some were very deep but I didn’t really understand much with his accent. Some poems included “anansi” stories (stories about the spider, animal that symbolizes greedy selfish people) that definitely had a lot of moral values behind them, helping people recognize and give back to the community and we are all dependent on each other. We heard different music and styles from different regions… and I didn’t even know that the group I watched is famous all over the world and they’ve toured even in Brazil! Anyways… some dances we saw were: Ajbeko the warrior dance, Kete from the ashanti, Bamaya from the north of Ghana, and Seeteh. All were very powerful, and I enjoyed how much energy was involved both from the drumming and the dancers. They all really made eye contact during their dancing, which made it feel very personal. After the performance we all had a couple hours of down time with the performers, so I talked a bit more with the Flash and he invited me and Moneé to learn some drumming. Definitely a great highlight, but my hands were very tired so after a while I joined the people dancing. I got caught up chatting with them again and me and another girl were taking pictures and almost missed the people leaving for the bus. The Flash was very cute, he just held my hand and then he ran with me towards the bus. It was very sad to say goodbye! On the bus again going back to the ship, our tour guide (I think?) told us that “a dead animal is more useful than a life animal” because for society, because the dead animal’s parts are used to make the instruments such as the drums, which promote their culture and brings them together. He also told us that there are around 76 ethnic groups and around 45 languages spoken in Ghana. So we get back to the ship and I run to the shower. Ghana is sooooo humid, and I was constantly sweating the entire time I was there. After the shower I met up with Kelsey for dinner and others joined up and we decided on getting the 9pm shuttle to Accra to party. Our shuttle had a police escort and we were stuck in traffic, and our bus did a complete 180 and went over the median… it was pretty wild. When we got to Accra we just got ambushed by the “hawkers” that wanted to sell us bracelets and paintings and stuff, it was very overwhelming. I got a bit scared and sketched out because the literally latched on to us, we were 8 girls and we all had one guy each trying to convince us to buy their stuff. They would start off with the handshaking and telling their stories and I was very uncomfortable. We went to the ATM, where they watched us at a distance and spread out their paintings and such. Tequilla then decided for us to get some ice cream to try to lose them but that didn’t work at all. Then we went to an internet cafe, which also didn’t work… they waited for us the entire time. By then everybody decided that we would be hanging out with them and we all went to a local bar with them. I was definitely the only person still feeling sketched out at that point, which kind of sucked. Everybody started to have a great time with these guys, and I was extremely conflicted! I felt that at any time they would take us to some random place and take advantage of us or something. While at the bar, James (my assigned guy or whatever) was just telling me about his life story, how he wanted to go to university, about his siblings and his family problems, about how his boss takes advantage of him and that’s why he was trying to sell his paintings on the streets, and so on. Still I don’t know if all his stories are true or not, but I just decided to sit and listen at that point. I saw all the girls getting a bit too close with their guys, but I was glad that James wasn’t that invasive. He then started to play music on his phone and he shared his earphones with me so I could listen to Ghanaian music, and that’s what I did for the rest of the night with him. He also wanted to sell me a painting, but because I was so skeptical I only gave him 2 cedis from my change for the ice cream. He then bought me a coke for 2 cedis that night, and told me that he was giving it back to me that way. Finally the girls decided on getting back to the ship in Tema and the guys called a cab for us. The cab ride was a bit scary because most of the time the roads weren’t really well paved (if at all) so I got worried that our Mr. Raspberry was taking us to some sketch place again… but we arrived on the ship, safe and sound. As I got back, I felt very weird about that night… the entire time I felt so sketched out, but when you get past them trying to sell you stuff they were actually really nice and were really being friendly and trying to connect with us. Day 2 Woke up to meet up with Kaleigh, Amanda, Sarah T, Aubree and Eva to go to Cape Coast Castle. We took the shuttle there and had fun with the selection of slow romantic music from our cab driver. We still got ambushed by those guys selling stuff as we got off the shuttle, so we chilled at this Citizen Kofi bar as we arranged with Land Tours for a van. We thought it would be pretty cheap, splitting it up and paying around 30 cedis for the drive up there, which was around 3 hours each way. We had a good bonding time on our way there, but it definitely took way too long. As we got there we took a tour of the slave dungeons, which was a very powerful and sad experience to think that my ancestors could have possibly been there. To imagine that they were chained and stuck up to above their knees in their excrements, hundreds there left in the dark wailing, many left to die… it was very deep and moving. I still find it hard to come to terms with it, and a part of me still feels bad that I don’t know much about my roots and stories about where I come from. There was definitely heaviness in my heart and an overwhelming sadness as I stared up into the darkness in the dungeons. After that we went to eat at the restaurant and I tried some Red Red, which was delicious but I definitely felt it later that day, if you know what I mean. On our drive back to the ship me, Eva and Aubree had some pretty intense conversations about our values and beliefs about love, religion, God, and so on. I’m so happy to be able to discuss things like that in such a deeper level without being afraid of offending their religions, but more on like comparing our experiences with our own western cultural biases and with what we’ve been taught. Went straight to bed after dinner on the ship. Day 3 This day we just went to Accra to explore and do some shopping. We got a bit held up by the hawkers again, and the girls were very anxious and were trying to lose sight of them (this was a different group of girls from the ones I hung out with on the first night). I saw that James was there and he was trying to say hi and was talking to me and I felt really bad that this time I was with a group that was trying to run away from them. I don’t blame them at all, especially since that’s how I was feeling on that first night in Accra, but it’s mostly because I had created that personal connection with some of them was that made things so weird to me. We then all went to the Mercola market, where all the Ghanaians shop, and I got a little book for educators teaching social studies in Ghana, which I thought was really neat and I will soon take a look. Walking around in the open market was quite an adventure, just trying to pass through the people and sticking out like a sore thumb, but we weren’t being harassed or anything, it was just people going by their daily activities. The girls got some fabric, but I refrained. I got a coconut, finally, which made me very happy and made me miss Brazil so much! As I was getting some coconut water this lady came up to me and told me I had fun hair and wanted to touch it, it was very cute. We decided to go back to where we were in Accra initially and we got ambushed again. We went to a bar to get some cokes to try to lose sight of the guys, but I felt bad about turning James away so I got him a coke and told him about how I felt that night when he got me a coke. He then talked to me some more and gave me his necklace he was wearing, which is a face carved off of a palm nut or something? Anyways, I’ve been wearing it ever since to sort of remind me of how I shouldn’t always be sketched out and thinking that people are trying to take advantage of me on this trip; there are actually people out there that just want to make a connection and to try to be open to new unexpected experiences where you might find that moment. I then told James that my friends were feeling really uncomfortable with all his friends trying to follow us, and how this was a different set of friends that I was hanging out with this time, and he understood. We left the bar and went to the beach, where we saw some girls (one 9, one 10) washing some clothes and we gave them some candy and stickers… but it broke my heart when we were walking back when one of the girls came up to me and asked if I had any shoes for her. It was sad, I really just wanted to run back to the markets, buy her a pair of shoes, and come back to give it to her… but I didn’t. Yes, we could have maybe missed the shuttle back. Or we wouldn’t have. I don’t know. As we got on to the shuttle, I saw James again for the last time and he was telling me how he was going to make me a CD with some Ghanaian music and he was going to give it to me tomorrow, but I never told him that that was probably going to be the last day I would be in Accra. Our shuttle bus got stuck in traffic for 3 hours when it normally takes 1 hour to get from Accra to Tema. It was a looooong bus ride. When we got back on the ship, people were getting ready to go to a party in Citizen Kofi that was reserved for SAS people, which I missed out because the last shuttle going to Accra was the same bus we got off. Me, Kaleigh and Tequilla met up at dinner and decided to go out in Tema. Our taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong bar where there was a bunch of SAS kids but there were still many locals there so we hung out there and I had the time of my life! The locals were really awesome, I loved seeing how they danced among each other and they loved that I was so into trying to learn their moves. I then showed them a little samba and forró, which was quite hilarious. The music was great, and I regret that I didn’t end up getting any Ghanaian music at all in the end. Kristin was back from her Senase homestay when I got back to the ship, which was quite the journey (her bus broke down and it took them 20 hours just to get to the village… no showering was involved… but according to her she had a great experience in the end). Day 4 I had signed up for an FDP for women and childbirth practices in Ghana. We got to visit the Tema general hospital. We were greeted by dr. Sylvia Deganus, and it was a pretty intense lecture. I learned about how one of the millennium goals is to reduce maternal mortality rate by 75%, and it seems that Ghana is a bit far from that goal. We discussed how port partum hemorrhages, obstructive labor, sepsis and unsafe abortions are some of the top reasons that lead to maternal mortality. The total fertility rate in Ghana is a 4.2 average of child per family. The socio-cultural diversity in Ghana with almost over 100 linguistic/ethnic groups can definitely be a big barrier. Adult females are expected to marry. Premarital sex is frowned upon but not condoned, and polygyny is accepted. Women, as always, have many responsibilities in and outside the home, they have to do all the chores and need to obey the men. That’s also a major issue because many times in terms of family planning and pregnancy issues, many women will wait for their husbands to decide for them on what they should do. Female circumcision is more prevalent in regions such as the Upper West, but not much in the south. The HIV rates aren’t as high as some other countries in Africa, but it’s still high at 2% in pregnant women and 1.5% national prevalence. Many Ghanaian women know about modern methods of contraception, but the use is extremely low, and the main reasons are of the fear of the side effects in hormone intake. Some women also choose not to tell others when their pregnant in fear that witched might take their baby away, but that also prevents them from getting antenatal care. Many women go to get antenatal care but in the end they end up not going to the hospital for childbirth. Three major causes of maternal deaths are delays in decision to seek care, delays in transportation to healthcare facility, and delays in receiving appropriate care. She mentioned that religion can make a woman decide that she doesn’t need a c-section because “God will deliver your baby”. Transportation is also an issue in Tema specifically because all the blood banks are centralized in Accra and often times with the traffic jams it’s just too late to get the blood transfusions, especially for the hemorrhages, which are the top cause of maternal death. Some other causes for why they don’t go to hospitals are money for treatment, concerns about distance to facility and if there are any female doctors. In that specific hospital, there were only 2 ob/gyns working now when there used to be 7, which has caused a great amount of stress. They also only have 5 trained midwives, and 72 maternity beds. They get around 250 clients per day and 7704 deliveries per year, according to my notes. The major challenges so far are their staffing shortage and the blood availability. We then got to tour the facilities, but it was the most awkward, embarrassing, claustrophobic, I-don’t-even-know situation I’ve ever been in. We were a group of about 40 trying to squeeze into the hospital hallways, everybody was just staring at us and we were all in the way while pregnant women were trying to pass through us. Many of the people in our group were being really rude and insensitive with taking pictures of EVERYTHING and filming too, which just felt wrong. I just wanted to get out and hide somewhere because I was so uncomfortable being in that group. One thing that was mentioned was that in the waiting room they usually watch regular television, but the doctor said that she was hoping to one day get a DVD with some informative videos on pregnancy to try to educate them when they don’t really have the time to do so. She also told us that the women give birth and usually go home with the baby within 6 hours after delivery. We went into every room and saw the ladies that had just given birth, or where about to give birth, and it felt extremely out of place for me. I’m still trying to make sense of that experience. I could have easily been a baby that was born in that hospital, however I was born to a family that was able to educate me and raise me to be the person I am today and to have this opportunity. I’m still trying to reflect on all that I saw without thinking of it in terms of pity, but in terms of what can I do in my life with this knowledge now. I got dropped off at the post office and bought some postcards, then me and Tequilla went to the internet café and I got a little taste of some facebooking and stuff. I spent my last few cedis at the markets near the ship and returned to my shiplife. Overall, Ghana was definitely the type of experience I was looking forward to, where I got to make a connection with people but it still made me question so much about my life and myself. I can definitely say that I’m Ghana miss Ghana!

I’m alive!

Just letting some of you know. South Africa has been pretty amazing. If you want postcards, email me your address!!

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I got some emails saying my Ghana posts haven’t been going through. I tried it a second time and I don’t think it worked either… so if you are reading this and you want to see my Ghana post, email me at tckaufmann@semesteratsea.net and I will try to email it to you personally… if I don’t respond to you in 2 days, try emailing me again… Getting and sending emails through this account has been a bit of a hassle, if I don’t reply to an email immediately assume I didn’t get it and resend… or I’m at port and will respond soon.

Neptune DAY!

So today (well, the 17th) was Neptune day! At around 8ish we woke up to the sound of the crew banging on our doors and making a lot of noise. We all had breakfast and congregated on the 7th deck around the pool. I kind of knew what to expect a bit since I had heard about it so much from people that have done SAS before. Neptune day is a tradition where when you pass the equator (or is it passing @ 0 degrees?) you get to have fish guts poured on you, you jump on the pool, kiss a fish, bow to the king and kiss his ring so that you can become a shellback (I think?). Anyways. Then you have the option to shave your head too. Some of you know that I contemplated on shaving it, and well… I did it! It was pretty cool. My friend Kelsey P had super long hair and she donated it and shaved it all off and I was so proud of her that I figured that there’s no real reason why I shouldn’t. Aubree, Kim, Steph are a few of my other friends that did it. Ryan and Nate also did it but since they are guys, I guess the experience for them is not as emotional as it is for us girls. We all had a big dance party after and then I took a nap, only to have a dream that I would look in the mirror and I still had hair but when I touched my head I was bold… needless to say I sort of freaked out when I woke up to feel my shaved head! People so far have told me that I look really good with my hair shaved off, but that they miss my curls, which I definitely do too! But it’s definitely been a metaphorical meaning for me behind all of this where I’m embarking on this adventure where my culture, world views and personal perspectives are all being challenged, and to try to make myself bare from all of that and to start again, to allow myself to regrow on this journey with my “new” hair. I am getting all these new sensations on my head! It’s definitely very cold, and so soft feeling the itty bits that weren’t shaved off. I get to feel every drop in the shower, and the sun shining on it and the breeze blowing through it… I feel sort of like when I cut my hair from when I had it chemically straightened and decided to go for my natural short hair, where I didn’t know if I had made the right decision but it took some getting used to and eventually began to love. However, it quickly became such a strong external characteristic of myself that I was very proud of and very strongly attached to, which was great to really be able to let go of that on this trip. I’m bald!!! AHHHH!