OUR LAST PORT! It is bitter-sweet to write those words. I think most people are feeling the way I do; sad about leaving this wonderful little community we have formed, but excited to see our families and friends and to return to the comfort of our homes. It will be fun to give Christmas gifts from all around the world, and I can't wait to be able to bake in my very own kitchen again!
The initial itinerary had Cuba (with an asterisk behind it) listed as our last port, IF we could get permission from the US Department of State. After that fell through - causing large amounts of disappointment - plan B was to go to Guatemala. Shortly after we had gotten used to that idea, the US government sent out an advisory not to travel to Guatemala due to the increasing levels of crime and violence that are currently an issue there. We were told that trying to find other options in Central America that were not equally worrisome was difficult. That's how we ended up on the resort island of Roatan.
Our first day I was not on call and excited about a lazy day in the sun without the chance of being called back to the ship. We hooked up with some friends (the Baker family from CA has a son Reade's age and a daughter Tate's age, and we've all become great friends) and headed to the beach. We got there in time to have fabulous fish tacos on the beach and catch about one hour worth of sun rays before it started raining. When it rains in Honduras, it POURS! We huddled around a table with a thatched umbrella roof for a couple of hours, hoping the storm would pass. The kids were unfazed by the rain, and ran back and forth between the ocean and the resort pool where we were allowed access. As the rain water flooded the whole resort area and it became clear that we would not be seeing the sun again that day, we packed up our stuff and left. We wasted some time in a gift shop and then had a very early dinner before returning to the ship. We asked our cab driver what the locals do when it rains, and he told us that they just stay home.
I was on-call our second day and we woke to... you guessed it! Rain! Lots of cold rain, this time accompanied by wind. We went back to the same fabulous fish taco restaurant and had more fabulous food for lunch and then wasted more time in touristy gift shops. At about 2:30 pm I got called back to the ship to deal with an injury, but none of us were too sad to have to call it a day and return to our dry ship/home. After a long night working in the clinic, I'm writing this blog as the ship sets sail towards the USA where we will dock in two short days!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
12/10/11 Roatan, Honduras
12/7/11 Panama Canal
Today we sailed through the locks of the Panama Canal. It was very interesting seeing how the brilliant engineers of this canal managed to raise us up 65 feet and then back down 85 feet once we had crossed the land. It takes about 9 hours and we spent much of the day sitting around outside watching the whole process. If you would like to see us going through the canal in about 5 minutes of time-lapse photography, go to Jeff's website at: http://jeffwarnerphoto.blogspot.com and click on the December 7th posting. That's probably the best way to get a feel for how it works. I'm glad I got to experience it.
12/5/11 Costa Rica
Wow! Costa Rica is such a cool place! In addition to being warm, green and gorgeous, Costa Ricans have decided to protect their natural environment by setting aside huge amounts of land as National Parks, thereby protecting their impressive biodiversity. They've also chosen to invest in their people by providing free education to all persons instead of funding a military. As a result, 96% of the population is literate, a much higher rate than is seen in the USA. Unfortunately, poverty does still exist in Costa Rica, but is much less prevalent than in many of it's neighboring Central American nations.
We went to a cloud forest one day, and hiked up to the crater of an active volcano named Poas. Unfortunately, it was raining and very cloudy (duh!), so we were not able to see into the volcano crater. We did see many coffee farms and learned about the arduous process of producing coffee. The scenery that day was just gorgeous. Another day we hired a cab driver to show us around. He took us to the property of a lady who feeds the multitude of monkeys that live on her property. Therefore, they are accustomed to people, and allowed us to hand feed them and touch them. Some had tiny infants on their backs who did not fall off (miraculously) when their mothers abruptly leaped between trees. We bought both cookies and banana slices to give them, and some were picky. Some preferred bananas and would squawk at us impatiently if we tried to feed them crackers, unless crackers were all we had. It was great fun. Then we went to a bridge where we saw about a dozen crocodiles hanging out in the river right below us. They are such freaky, prehistoric looking creatures.
About that time, I got called back to the ship to care for a shipmate who had fallen off a horse and broken her arm. The fracture was of a type that needs surgical fixation, so I went with the patient and her husband to a hospital in San Jose, about 1+ hours away. She had surgery that night. Luckily she was able to return to the ship the next day and did not need to fly home to deal with her situation. I was able to return to the ship as soon as I got her all settled in at the hospital that evening. Costa Rica has become a big medical tourism destination and the health care in San Jose is excellent and much less expensive than in the USA. If you have to have surgery while circling the globe, Costa Rica is a lucky spot to get injured.
My biggest regret about Costa Rica was that we did not have nearly enough time to explore that amazing place. It is on the top of my list of places to which I hope to return.
Monday, November 28, 2011
11/24/11 Thanksgiving Day in Hilo, Hawaii
I was on-call today, so I got up early to provide the early morning in-port clinic. Upon arriving at the clinic I found Dr. Sloane and one of the students already there. The student was experiencing severe abdominal pain and Dr. Sloane had already called the ambulance to take him to the hospital in Hilo. Since I was on-call, it meant that I would be accompanying the student to the emergency room that day instead of hanging out on the beach with my family. Since we only had one day to spend in Hawaii, I was more than a little disappointed. I decided that feeling sorry for myself all day didn't sound like much fun and told myself that this would be a grand adventure in which I got the opportunity to help someone in need.
After getting to the ER, getting the patient settled and the testing started, I got a chance to call one of my friends from back home since our cell phones work in this country. I also got to text friends and check email. It was great! I'd forgotten how much I love my iPhone, since I haven't been able to use it much at all over the last 3 months. My patient was sleeping peacefully in morphine-induced la-la land, so I asked the nurses if there was a place I could get a cup of coffee while I waited for something to happen. One of the ER docs and 2 of the nurses quickly decided I needed to go explore the island rather than sit in the ER all day. They promised to call me right away once they knew something about my patient and then provided me with a list of places I should go and things I should see. Then one of the nurses handed me her car keys and insisted that I use her jeep for the day!!! I tried to protest, but she (Cindy) marched me out to her yellow jeep and sent me on my way. I could not believe it! I called Jeff, picked up him and the boys from the beach, and we all went to a lunch of greasy American food (burgers, fries, onion rings, and the best Mahi Mahi sandwich I've ever had). Then we found a Safeway full of food we recognized (for a change) and stocked up on snacks for our second Pacific Ocean crossing. Upon seeing the macaroni and cheese aisle, Reade exclaimed, "I'm so happy I could cry!" I dropped Jeff, the boys and the snacks back at the ship, and stopped for a quick look at Rainbow Falls (BEAUTIFUL) on my way back to the hospital. I thanked Cindy with a full gas tank and a box of chocolates, and checked in on my patient, who was just receiving the news that all his tests had come back negative and that his pain had not been caused by anything serious. After getting back to the ship, my family and I went for a walk down the coast before I had to be back on the ship for afternoon clinic. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of nurse Cindy, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day that I will never forget. The world is full of amazing people, and for that I am very thankful.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
11/23/11
Today has been a wonderful day. We docked in Honolulu for about 6 hours to get fuel. Even though the powers that be didn't let us get off the ship, the scenery was wonderful and the collective mood was giddy because we knew we only have to wait a few more hours until we can get off in Hilo, Hawaii tomorrow morning. We will only be in Hilo for a day, and it's more of a mental health break than anything. We hope to stock up on snacks for the next leg of our journey across the Pacific Ocean and spend some time at the beach. I'm on call at this port, so I can't go too far away from the ship.
I have a feeling that large numbers of students skipped class today. It is a gorgeous, sunny, warm day, and most of the shipboard community seems to be up here on the pool deck sunning themselves, playing in the pool, or playing ping-pong. A few of the more studious kids look like they are trying to do something productive. I have to leave in a few minutes to go work our afternoon clinic, but after that we will be served a Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room. I found out yesterday that our dependent care coordinator, Kristin Hanna, is Daryl Hannah's sister (yes, of "Splash" fame). We've been invited to a birthday party for Kristin tonight which means birthday cake :). After that party I will teach my Baha'i' Class, and will then end the day with our cultural and logistical pre-port lecture for Hawaii. There is never a dull moment, although some moments are better than others (see my 11/19/11 post).
I got the chance to talk to my parents and both sisters today because I can use my cell phone here without having to take out another mortgage on the house. It's so fun to hear their voices and know that it won't be long before I get to see them again. I'm hoping to catch up with some friends tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope it's a wonderful day.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
11/19/11 November 19th, (the first) 2011
As we circumnavigate the globe on the MV. Explorer, we turn our clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep 24 times in these almost 4 months. That means that at some point we've lost a whole day and need to gain it back. That point is now. So, tomorrow will be November 19th again. Weird, huh?
Today is a low point of this journey for me. The seas are rough, I'm seasick, and we're in the middle of a very long stretch of nothing but ocean. I did not get seasick on my first SAS journey in 1988, so did not really understand what it meant. For me it means nausea, fatigue, headaches, decreased appetite, and bad mood. Doing most anything but sleeping or eating saltine crackers seems to make it worse. I survived my work in the clinic this morning and then went back to sleep for the rest of the morning. The medications for seasickness do help, but they make me more fatigued and zombie-like.
I guess if you never feel bad, you can't appreciate how wonderful it is to feel good.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
11/15/11 Japan
We are just about to set sail from the port of Yokohama, to begin our long journey across the Pacific Ocean. We spent our final 2 days here, after 1 day in transit on the ship, and our first 2 days in the port of Kobe. Over the last 5 days, I've developed very conflicted feelings about Japan:
1) Japan is amazing! It is clean, safe, efficient and very modern. The food is wonderful, and you can find any type of cuisine your taste buds desire. The people are incredibly nice and helpful. If you hold up a map, someone will quickly show up and ask if they can help you. There seems to be zero animosity towards Americans, despite the fact that we decimated huge numbers of their people with our bombs not all that long ago. There is no reason to own a car here. Of the countries I have visited, the public transportation in Japan is unrivaled. If you tried to use the excuse of getting caught in a traffic jam to explain your lateness, you would get laughed out of the room. The parks and monuments are beautiful and well-maintained. And then there are the toilets! I think our best belly-laughs in Japan came after using the bidets and directional sprayers strategically located to clean any part of your bum you would like cleaned. There were also "powerful deodorizer" buttons and seat-warmer buttons. Someone please tell me why we don't use these in the USA?!
2) Japan is oppressive. Things are SOOOO expensive in Japan! A small cup of Starbucks coffee that costs $1.60 in the USA, costs about 320 Yen (~ $4.00) in Japan. A $15 Mac brand lipstick in the USA costs $37 in Japan. We spent $20 on four soft-serve ice cream cones. In general, clothing and food is two-to-three times more costly in Japan than in the USA. We tried to be frugal in Japan, eating only one meal per day off the ship, and doing very little traveling. We still spent much more money than we have spent anywhere else, and for the first time, have nothing to show for it. Japan seems to be one big megalopolis, with each densely populated city running into the next. There are so many buildings and people that it is hard to see the sky. Conformity is valued, and people try to look alike. The business suit industry must do very well here, as that seems to be the uniform for working men. The young men all look totally hip in cool jeans and fancy shoes. The young women wear tights, tall boots, and short skirts or shorts. They can walk miles and miles in very high heels. I could maybe last one block in some of the heels they were wearing before my feet disintegrated or I broke an ankle. The school-age kids wear matching uniforms. There is almost no ethnic diversity in Japan and almost no immigration to Japan. If you are born in Japan but one parent is not Japanese, you are not considered to be Japanese. You may not maintain dual citizenship in Japan and another country; you must choose one or the other. Japan has such a low birth rate currently, that soon they aren't going to have enough young people to support the elderly. We've dealt with that problem in the USA by allowing lots of immigration. Since Japan really doesn't want immigrants, they're finding themselves in a bit of a pickle. In sharp contrast to the rest of the world, the Japanese are actually trying to provide incentives for their women to have more children, but their best efforts are not working very well. The women have discovered that is is very difficult to have a career and children, so are giving up the children. It will be fascinating to see what happens there over the next few decades.
My favorite experience in Japan was the day I traveled from Kobe to the Osaka Castle. I went by myself because I was on-call and could not go as far from the ship as Jeff and the kids were going to be on their pre-scheduled trip to see some wild monkeys. When I got off the train in Osaka, I walked past a beautiful, peaceful, wooded area and towards a hill. As I approached the hill, I got to a huge, tall, stone wall. This wall turned out to be the outer side of a wide moat, which I crossed by bridge. Then there was another huge stone wall encasing another moat, which I again crossed by bridge. On top of the hill was an amazing 16th century castle surrounded by many old out-buildings. Inside the castle was a museum chronicling the history ot the castle. I just loved it and it really got my imagination going.
My grandfather (Donald) just loved the Japanese, and tried to spend as much time there as possible. Although I can certainly see the draw, Japan will likely not make it on my list of places to revisit anytime soon, at least not before I make my first million.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
11/8/11 China
China is a country on the move! I was amazed by how quickly it has developed since I was there 23 years ago. Granted, I only had the opportunity to visit the cities of Hong Kong and Shanghai on this trip, but the changes were immense. One big difference was that in 1988, Hong Kong had not yet returned to being part of China, and was (and still is) much more developed than China. Shanghai is catching up quickly. Instead of people wearing drab gray clothing and riding bicycles everywhere as they did in 1988, they are dressed in business clothing and taking transportation such as the Maglev train that gets them from the airport to downtown Shanghai at a speed of 430 km/hour!!!! In the 5 years since it came to Shanghai, Starbucks has opened 500 restaurants that look exactly like the ones in the USA. Jeff said he saw the most beautiful McDonald's restaurant in the world in Guilin, China. Both Hong Kong and Shanghai have skyscapes like you can't believe, especially at night, when all the skyscrapers are lit up and the cities are putting on their nightly laser light-shows. The view of Hong Kong from the top of Victoria Peak is unreal; it rivals the view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Mt Tamalpias.
The communist government was much more visible to me in China than it was in Vietnam. There were Chinese officials wearing red armbands hanging out in all public places, making sure that people were behaving. Some of my shipmates had trip guides tell them that they could not discuss certain subjects in public places for fear of being reprimanded and having to go through "re-education." I was told that you can not own a home in China. You can lease a home for a maximum of 70 years, at which time the government will reclaim it. The government does compensate people well for the property it retakes, so families have money to re-lease a place to live in the city, or move to the suburbs. Many websites and social media sites are fire-walled by the Chinese government, so we were unable to get on Facebook or Blogspot while we were there.
The healthcare system in China varies wildly. I took an injured student to a dental specialist in a POSH high-rise building in Hong Kong. The office was nicer than any doctor's office I have seen in the USA, and the service was impeccable. We sat down in the waiting room and they served us coffee, found us a hotel for the student to stay in that night, and mailed my postcards for me. Meanwhile, in mainland China, one of the voyagers was pushed over by a motorcycle and taken to a hospital for X-rays due to shoulder pain. That facility was much more primitive, with non-existent privacy and employee's motorcycles parked in the stark waiting room.
I'm sorry to report that the Chinese food in China was not all that great, in my American opinion. The biggest problem was probably that it was tough to figure out what we were ordering, and it wasn't always what we hoped it would be. Also, we again ran into the issue of skin and eyeballs and fat encasing much of the cooked meat and fish that was served. That is hard to get used to when you haven't grown up eating it. The sweets are completely different than anything we have in the USA, and not calorie-worthy (again, in my American opinion). I'd be willing to bet that the Chinese feel the same way about American food when they visit us. I know our friend from Nigeria was none-too-fond of most American food. It's amazing how much your culture of origin influences even your taste buds!
I did not travel inland at these ports, so my experiences were limited to two beautiful cities. Jeff took a trip inland to a place called Guilin. He had an absolutely amazing time, and wishes he could have spent much more time in China. When he gets caught up on his blog posts, you'll be able to visit his blog site to see some amazing pictures of beautiful China.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
10/30/11 Vietnam
We are back on the ship after spending 6 days in the beautiful country of Vietnam. It really is beautiful. It's green, lush, tropical and vibrant. People really do work in the rice paddies with their conical Vietnamese style hats, and the women look elegant in their traditional dress of a fitted floor-length tunic, cut on both sides all the way to their waists, with pants underneath. The people are, almost without exception, small and slender. Their diet consists mostly of rice, fish/seafood, vegetables and fruits. Fruit was the only dessert served to us. The people were very friendly and seemed happy to host our big ship full of Americans.
Ho Chi Menh City (Saigon), is a thriving, modernizing city, where you can find most anything you wish. I was hard-pressed to find anything to remind me that this city exists in a communist country, except I didn't see any homeless people on the streets. I'm told that certain internet sites are blocked or limited by the government, and that government corruption is alive and well here, but the people seem quite content with their lives. I still don't quite understand the arrangement between the government and all the privately-owned businesses here, but I think the limitations on owning a business are mostly related to politics; specifically, not compromising the Communist political party. Vietnam is a 90% cash economy, so what people report to earn in a year is often vastly different than what they actually earn. This county is very tolerant of religious differences. Although the majority of people are Buddhist, it seems that you can find a large number of people who are involved in a large number of different religions. We saw temples of all different faiths in our travels across Vietnam, some of them ancient.
You can not travel to Vietnam without revisiting the horror that was the Vietnam war (or American war, as the Vietnamese, call it). We were reminded, time after time, how there really are no winners in war. The Americans lost about 56,000 soldiers in the war, and then another 60,000 veterans to suicide in the decade that followed. The Vietnamese lost between 5 and 10 MILLION soldiers and civilians in that war, depending on where you get your numbers. The average age of the American soldiers was 19! These boys were asked to hike through jungles that were filled with landmines and the most horrific, violent, spiked traps you can image. We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Vietnamese spent weeks and months, in a 300 mile long tunnel network under the ground, in order to keep from getting killed and to sneak up on the Americans. They buried their dead in the walls of these tunnels, in addition to urinating and deficating in them. The tunnels are small (you have to crawl in most parts of them), dark and hot, and I just simply can not believe that people were able to keep their sanity, having to live in those conditions. One of the worst parts of the whole thing for me, is realizing that we are currently involved in another war, killing more innocent civilians, and losing more of our own young men and women. It's hard for me to believe that humanity has still not been able to declare war obsolete, and find humane ways to deal with our differences. I guess the only person whose attitude we can change is ourselves. I'm reminded of the quote, "be the change you wish to see in the world," and the line in Michael Jackson's song, "I'm looking at the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways, no message could have been any clearer, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change."
On to more pleasant subjects... Ha Long Bay was gorgeous. We boarded a wooden boat that had an open top deck complete with lounge chairs and potted plants, and a window-filled lower deck with tables and benches for eating. We spent the next 4 hours exploring the bay. It is a body of water with wonderful, green rock formations jutting out all over the place. Some of these islands are big and contain huge caves full of stalagtites and stalagmites, which we were able to explore. After this little sunny taste of paradise, we were fed a huge seafood lunch. There were whole shrimp (yes, removing or eating their heads and legs was required), crab cakes served in crab shells, and various types of fish, along with fried squid. Along the way, families who lived on boats on the bay would hop on our boat and try to sell us all kinds of things. Sometimes they would just put their 3 year child on our boat, armed with a bunch of bananas for us to buy. I guess they have figured out that it's harder for us to resist those cute little kids. I couldn't resist, and ended up with more bananas than we could eat.
One of the more unique cultural experiences we had in Ha Noi was seeing the water puppet show. On a stage next to the water sat an orchestra made up of traditional Vietnamese instruments and the narrators. In high-pitched, squeely voices, 2 women provided the voices of the puppets. The puppets were plastic figures of people and dragons and such, and were attached to long sticks controlled by people in tall fishing boots, standing in the waist-deep water behind a back-drop. Although I wouldn't characterize this play as great, it was certainly unique.
I do hope that I can spend more time in this part of the world. It's just a nice place to be, full of nice people. Now on to China...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
10/22/11 Malaysia
We are now half way through our voyage! It's going way too fast, and all of us wish we had more time in all of these ports. I especially wish I had more time in Malaysia because I was on-call for the 3 days we were here. Being on-call means I have to be able to get back to the ship in 1 hour if someone needs me, and that I hold a morning clinic each day. Usually it hasn't been too big of a deal. This port was a little different. I spent one whole night dealing with students who had gotten some severe jellyfish stings and then with a student who had fallen through a second-story roof and gotten pretty scraped up and bruised. Luckily, everyone is ok. It meant I spent much of the following day sleeping while my family was out exploring the National Forest and eating fabulous Malaysian food. I really can't complain though. If it weren't for this job, none of us would be having this amazing experience, and the job is an amazing experience in itself. For example, until now I have never seen first-hand the damage a jellyfish can do! OUCH!!!!
Malaysia is a tropical, lush, green island with nice people and great food. The combined influence of the Indian, Chinese and Malay locals makes for some wonderful cuisine. It would take a long time for me to tire of it, especially the variety of flat breads and curries. The highlight of this country for me was going up Penang Hill on on a tram on rails. The grade was steep and the scenery amazing, with tropical plants all over and homes perched on the side of the hill. At the top we had amazing views of the ocean and of green rolling hills. I was left wishing I had time to do some hiking and exploring on the nice path system they have constructed on the hill. This society is relatively well-to-do compared to the countries we have recently visited, and there are luxuries such as air-conditioned malls and Starbucks coffee houses with free WiFi internet access. Skype is a wonderful thing, and I was able to connect with one of my friends back home. I tried to Skype with my sisters the next day, and the internet connection was down. Oh well, 50% success with my Skype attempts is better than I've had so far on this journey, usually due to my inability to get somewhere with a good internet connection. By the way, if you'd like to leave comments on my blogs, I'd love to hear what you think. The best way to communicate with me while I'm on this journey is to use my Semester at Sea email address which is: hlwarner@semesteratsea.net.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
10/17/11 India
After 6 wonderful days in India, it's time to catch up on my blog. India is a land of excitement and possibility, of extreme poverty and tremendous wealth, of ridiculously delicious food and unbelievable hospitality, of smothering heat and scary pollution. One of our preport lecturers said, "Whatever you say about India, the opposite is also true." In the few days I was there, I certainly had enough experiences and heard enough stories to support that quote. I was taken twice by by auto rickshaw drivers to places I did not want to be (because they would get a cut from the store owner if I bought something) and was lied to about why I was there. Another auto rickshow driver spent 17 hours with a shipmate helping her get through a stressful experience, telling her to "put back her tears," and staying with her until he knew she was ok. When asked what she owed, he told her to pay whatever she thought was fair, if she felt he had treated her with kindness. I saw the slums with people living in "tents" made of pieced-together plastic bags, and stayed with a wealthy business owner and his family in a beautiful home. It is a land of contrasts.
Jeff and the boys stayed with the above-mentioned host family for 2 days prior to me joining them, because I was on-call those first 2 days. I joined them the morning of the 3rd day. The family-hired driver, the son, Madhu, and Jeff picked me up outside the port at about 9 am. Upon getting to the home, I met Rao, the father, and Malathy, his wife. Malathy was very busy in the kitchen cooking a feast for breakfast, which she and her son served to my family and her husband. Since this was my second breakfast of the day, I tried to take it easy with the delicious homemade fried Indian flatbread, curried shrimp, and vegetable side dishes she served. She refused to sit with us out of need to serve us, and absolutely forbade me to help cook or clean. This was all translated through her husband, because she and I did not share a common language.
Jeff and I sat and talked with Rao for the next 2-3 hours about family, social issues (such as the place of women in Indian society), and spirituality. He is Hindu and we asked a lot of questions about that religion. Because they believe that God is present in everything, practicing Hindus are very kind to their fellow humans and to animals. Rao told me that when people act poorly it doesn't make him angry, because to him it just means that they have not yet connected with God. If they knew God, he said, they would be unable to act in a way that was angry or not kind. When I asked him to explain the multiple Gods in the Hindu Faith, he stated, in a nutshell, that he believes there is only one God, and that the different Hindu Gods are all part of that one God. They are a way for humans to connect with, and explain the various attributes of God, and a way to make something that is totally intangible, more "real." It was an exciting conversation and I felt very connected to this spiritual human being.
I was then told that their family has a tradition of giving a saree to all the women guests who stay with them for the first time, on the condition that the guest will wear it that day. Not wanting to upset the apple cart, I gladly picked a beautiful pink and silver saree from a pile of new sarees. Rao's daugher Sujathe, and her husband Kartic, then arrived at the house to go to lunch with us. Sujathe took me to her old bedroom and began the complicated process of dressing me in the saree. After twisting, folding, tucking and pinning me in to yards and yards of material, I felt like a princess. Sujathe and her mother then adorned me with matching jewels; a pink and gray pearl necklace with pink pearl earrings, bright pink bangles for my wrists, anklets, flowers and jewels for my hair, and a pink bindi for my forehead. Now I felt like a queen. We all piled into cars and went to eat at an Indian restaurant, where an amazing South Indian meal was waiting for us. Rao refused to let us pay for any of it. Stuffed full of delicious breads, vegetables and sweets, we got back into the cars and drove to the school where the kids and Jeff were to do their "$100 solution" presentation.
The "$100 Solution" is a project that encourages small donations of $100 to communities to help fund projects that will become part of sustainable solutions to issues of concern for those communities. Reade, Tate and Jeff are leading the Semester at Sea pilot program to see how the concept works with school-age children. If successful, Semester at Sea hopes to make it part of the school age children "curriculum" while at sea. After making their presentation to the school kids, ideas for how best to use that $100 were discussed, and it was decided that they would use it to help fund a "green" project to reduce plastic bag usage by replacing them with reusable canvas bags. Part of the proceeds from each bag sale will go back into the project to fund more bags, thus making it sustainable. The kids and Jeff did a wonderful presentation in a stuffy, VERY hot classroom while I sat proudly and suffered with rivers of sweat running down my saree-clad body. After the presentation, the school fed us again - sweet rice, vegetable filled pockets, and sweet, milky tea. The plan was to go out to dinner a few hours later, but the Warner family was so stuffed full of Indian deliciousness, that we decided to skip that idea, and went back to the host home. Forever the hostess, Malathy and her two servants cooked us an amazing dinner anyway. When it was time to leave, I took off my jewerly to return it to it's rightful owner, and was flatly refused. In fact, the jewerly was taken upstairs, packed up carefully, and given back to me as a gift I "must" take. Then we were given a wood-inlaid "picture" of Ganesh, one of the Hindu Gods. With this gift, Rao said they were hoping we would think of them every day, whenever we saw the picture. Their driver took us back to the ship late that night. We hope they will come visit us in Colorado some day.
From this experience, I was forced to think hard about generosity and hospitality. The small gestures I've made to my guests in the past now seem embarrassingly little, and I hope I will do better in the future. India felt like a very spiritual, hospitable country, and the USA could certainly learn from some of India's cultural attributes.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
10/11/11 Mauritius
It's been a week since we left Mauritius, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.
I was on-call the one day we were in Mauritius, so I had a different experience than many others. I spent the day walking around the port area and seeing the market where the locals shop. That was lots of fun and I ate one of the best veggie samosas I've ever had. Most of the population here is Indian and the food reflects that with lots of curries and naan bread readily available.
The most interesting thing that happened to me in Mauritius was that I ran into an Indian man who wants to imigrate to the USA. He had all kinds of questions for me, many which I couldn't answer. Before we parted ways he insisted I give him my email address so that he could send me a copy of his resume to forward to someone who would hire him. Somehow, I don't think it will be that easy for him. I did email him back with information on how to apply for a job with V-ships, the company that staffs Semester at Sea with it's crew.
As previously mentioned, I was on-call this day. I got back to the ship early for the clinic we hold prior to leaving each port. I was warned that alcohol is a problem in this port because many of the students go out on snorkeling trips that include lots of alcohol along with the lunch barbeque. It didn't take long until some of them started staggering into the clinic, having failed the sobriety test at the gangplank. There were actually only a few very drunk students, which is a big improvement from previous journeys, I'm told. Those that got drunk enough to need babysitting in the medical clinic will start accruing bad-boy (or girl) points that can ultimately get them kicked off the ship. It only takes 10 points to get booted, and a couple kids came quite close to that number for behaving poorly in addition to being drunk enough to require medical attention. We sat there with them for hours until they were able to blow a number that allowed them to leave. Despite that experience, I must say that I haven't seen nearly as many alcohol-related issues as I had expected, and have been VERY impressed with this group of students overall. For the most part, they seem to be a thoughtful, hard-working, friendly group of kids that hope to make a difference in the world.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
9/30/11 The Piano Bar, M.V. Explorer
I'm sitting here in the piano lounge listening to the spouse of one of the professors brilliantly play the piano (he used to be a professional musician). Other people are playing chess, writing in their journals, studying, or chatting with their friends. It is really lovely, to quote one of my new South African friends. I must leave in a few minutes to meet a patient in the clinic who fractured his proximal humerus and dislocated his shoulder in a bicycling accident in South Africa. He was treated by an orthopedist at the hospital in Cape Town, but needs a little help managing the pain, as expected. The clinic has been quite busy recently, mostly with viral upper respiratory illnesses, but a good variety of other minor stuff. The clinic is interesting because it's small, and therefore, we are on top of each other all the time. There is only one room with meds in it, and a different room with the strep tests, etc. If I need something in the room that Dr. Sloane is in, I have to interrupt, and vise versa. Somehow, we manage to make it work. It's been a fun job so far, and I pray it stays that way.
9/29/11 South Africa
We are back on the ship after spending 6 wonderful days in South Africa. Cape Town is a beautiful city that you can't wait to explore once you set eyes on it.
Our first day there, we went on a sunset hike up Lion's Head, a mountain in Cape Town. Our guide warned us that this was a true mountain climbing experience (and may not be a good idea for children under age 12), but I wasn't prepared for the ladders, foot- and hand-holds, and chains we had to use to get up the last part of the climb. The kids scampered up like little mountain goats, making friends with all the college kids and guides on the trip, and proving that kids can not only do this hike, but can beat all the adults and college students up, no problem. The dinner on top was simple, but nice, and the views were spectacular. After sunset, we headed back down in the dark (with headlamps). I was certain that there must be a safer way down, since we were descending in the dark, but that was not the case. I did wonder what kind of a mother I was, exposing my children to possible dangers like falling off cliffs in the dark. All of us made it back to the ship in one piece, I'm happy to report, my motherly reputation intact.
We had lots of memorable experiences in South Africa, including a wonderful, one-day safari, a scenic cable-car trip up to the top of Table Mountain to see the panoramic views, and a fancy dinner in a treehouse. The most memorable day for me though, was the last. We went on an FDP (faculty-directed practicum) to the Amy Biehl Foundation, which provides supplemental and after-school opportunities for children that would never have such opportunities. It also provides a well-balanced meal once per day for the kids in it's program. Amy Biehl was an activist against apartheid, who was stoned to death by 4 kids in a political rally. Her parents, rather than looking for revenge, started a foundation to continue her work and help disadvantaged kids. Two of the young men who killed Amy Biehl now work for her foundation. It is a story of absolute forgiveness and generosity that can't help but amaze anyone who hears it.
We spent a couple of hours driving through the townships that these disadvantaged children come from. Picture hundreds and hundreds of corrugated steel and plywood shacks, all connected to each other, with narrow aisles between them and occasional concrete rectangular boxes that house the toilets. Many of the people leave their doors open, so we could see inside some of the shacks as we drove by. Some were tiny, with a small bed and table and not much else. Others seemed to be bigger, with several connected shacks and a few separate rooms, and some seemed to have some modern appliances and TV's in them. Some were in shambles, and others looked very neat inside. We were told that typically, when one person in the area gets a job and can pay for power, they let their neighbors splice into their power lines, and thus share resources. Unemployment in some of these township is as high as 40%, and HIV rates are as high as 30%!
I was just blown away by the mess that the founders of apartheid made of things. They took housed black people from locations near work opportunities, and pushed them out of their housing without any compensation, away from sources of work, and made them start over with nothing - thus the shanty-towns. The vast consequences of this act were clearly not anticipated, and when apartheid was finally outlawed, the blacks had been reduced to poverty-sticken, uneducated populations. Now the govenment must try to compensate the displaced blacks by providing them with proper housing, which it can only accomplish painfully slowly and with revenue from only 9.1% of the population that makes enough money to be taxed. Public education, although provided by the government, is bare-bones, and many parents still can not pay the school and book fees required. Therefore, many of the children still do not get educated. Of note, I did not see one single white face in the townships we drove through.
Afterwards, our last evening in Cape Town, the staff, faculty and their families got the honor of getting to personally meet Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. If you check out my facebook "wall," you can see a picture of Tate giving a high-five to Desmond Tutu, with the rest of us looking on, behind him. The reception for him was nice, but the speech that he gave to the entire shipboard community afterward was amazing. He is clearly a deeply spiritual man, who recognizes the absurdity in distinctions between humans being based on physical attributes. He made the point that you can not tell anything about a person's generosity of spirit, capacity for forgiveness, or anything else that matters at all, by looking at the color of their skin or size of their nose (yes, Phillips family, he did imply that our large noses do not necessarily make us superior beings :). He was appalled that populations (such as the USA) have spent MILLIONS of dollars in a few seconds, testing nuclear warheads. His words, and I paraphrase, "Do you have ANY IDEA what we could have done with that amount of money to improve the lives of our people????" He then spoke of how none of us (Semester at Sea participants) would come home the same people. We would never again be able to ignore injustice, and we would fight for those less fortunate than us. He used very formative, compelling, inspiring language, and I had to fight back the tears. You can just feel when you are in the presence of someone great.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
9/18/11 Bizarre Life on a Ship
Yesterday was Neptune Day. It is a sea traveller's tradition by where you are turned from a "poly-wog" to a "shell-back" on the day you cross the equator. On Semester at Sea, it is an excuse for silliness and a party. We were all awakened around 7 am with a parade of trident-holding, crown-clad people playing drums, clanging together pot and pan lids, yelling, and banging on our doors. We were told to get up, have breakfast and then report to the pool deck where the ceremonies would begin. King Neptune (the ship Captain) was escorted onto the deck by his Queen (the Executive Dean) and a whole bunch of other dressed up people. The captain had been spray-painted green and was wearing only a white skirt and a crown, and holding a trident. We were all told that if we had never before crossed the equator that we would need to be initiated, in order to please the King. This initiation went as follows: 1) Get "fish guts" (looked like green water to me) dumped on your head, 2) jump into the swimming pool, 3) get out of the pool and kiss a dead fish (REALLY! See Jeff's blog soon for pictures), 4) bow to the Queen, 5) kiss the King's ring, and, 6) have your head shaved (only about 50 people actually did the headshaving part, but many were girls. Apparently Semester at Sea has developed a reputation at some ports as being the cancer-survivor's ship). Reade and Tate went through this initiation 3 times, Jeff just took pictures, and I opted out, having done it in 1988, my first time over the equator. Most of the rest of the shipboard community participated, so it turned into a huge party. Because it was also on my birthday, I adopted it as my birthday party. It will forever be a memorable birthday!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
9/17/11 Thoughts on Ghana
OK. The comments I made about not seeing much overt poverty in Ghana were proven absolutely wrong yesterday. I saw one of the most poverty-stricken communities I've seen in any of my travels. We went on a trip to visit an orphanage yesterday. In addition to housing, feeding and schooling the orphans, this organization has taken on providing some food to the above-mentioned impoverished community. We finished our day handing out boxes of food to this population, mostly to the children. It's very difficult to describe the conditions in which they live, but I will try. For about 7-8 cidi's (~ $5.00 USD) per month, these families (mostly single women with children) can rent a box of a shelter that is made out of cement blocks or plywood left-overs nailed together. These "rooms" are about 12 feet x 12 feet. Some have an uncovered window, some don't. There is no running water, no electricity, no garbage pick-up (it's everywhere, piling up all over the ground), and the floors are dirt. How do they end up here, you may ask? Often a woman will leave her community to follow a man to Tema, get pregnant, get deserted by the man, and find herself destitute, too embarrassed to return to her original community. Many contract HIV along the way. These women then become very vulnerable to the next man that comes into their lives, and the cycle often repeats itself. Because they often end up with more children than they can support, they sometimes sell some of their children into slavery within the fishing industry. The fishermen need labor, the mothers need money, and so the cycle continues. It's terrible for the children. They learn quickly to take care of themselves and usually sleep by themselves in the fishing boats at night. When they grow up, they become the head fishermen (because that is all they know) and they buy more children to help them. The orphanage we visited is trying hard to provide education to all the parties involved on what that cycle ultimately does to their communities, and why they should stop it (never mind the fact that it is illegal). They believe that the only way they can change this practice long-term is to change the cultural perceptions of it, so the communities begin to see it as immoral. They seem to be making progress in that direction, because people will at least try to hide the fact that they are enslaving children now, rather than openly discussing it.
Other Ghana Observations:
1) It is a polygamous society. Many men have only one wife, because they are expected to be able to provide equally for all their wives and children. More wives and children equals more prestige.
2) Trash pickup is not good. There is one garbage company that monopolizes the industry in the area. Suffice it to say that they do not take their job at all seriously. There is garbage all over the place, especially alongside the major roadways.
3) The people are very nice. Everybody smiles and calls you their "friend." Ghana feels safe.
On a totally different subject, I am 44 years old today! I was served a huge birthday cake in the dining room and had 3 separate variations on happy birthday songs sung to me. One was a beautiful serenade sung to me by one of the waiters.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
9/15/11 Ghana
It's been too long since I've updated my blog. I've been a little busier on the medical front. After Morocco, there were lots of cases of traveler's diarrhea. We had to isolate some of the kids to a separate room because of concern of a viral strain spreading like wildfire throughout the shipboard community. That never happened, and the whole traveler's diarrhea thing calmed down quickly. It was replaced by a viral respiratory illness that is interfering with people having the most pleasant time possible. However, it turns out that meaningful travel doesn't necessarily have much to do with pleasant conditions. Unpleasant conditions happen.
Take Ghana for instance. It is actually much more pleasant than I expected, with less overt poverty than I expected (although I'm told it is one of the poorest countries we will visit). It is, however, awfully hot and humid. At times all I can think about is sleeping, or better yet, jumping in the nearest body of water to try to cool off a little. This behaviour is strongly discouraged due to the high prevalence of parasites found in fresh water here. We are advised to wear long pants and sleeves to avoid attracting mosquitos or unwanted attention. This does not help the problem of being too hot. It seems that most of the locals wear long pants, which baffles me, given that they basically live at the equator.
Another test for me is the food here. Our tour guide cab driver took us to a local African food restaurant yesterday. The place was called "Lick the Pot," and was completely empty except for us. The cab driver recommended we try a soup made of tomatoes, spicy red peppers and onions, in which half of a fish is placed, complete with bones and skin attached. We were then given 2 bags each of "banku" which is a cooked, mushy, fermented cornmeal mixture. We were also each given a large bowl of water. In this country it is rude to eat with your left hand, so you must touch your food with your right hand only. You're supposed to take a glump of the banku, dip it in the soup with your hands, and then eat it. Then you should reach back into the bowl with your sticky fingers, grab a clump of fish, and eat it, skin and all. You can use the spoon provided to sip the broth, if you'd like. When you're done, you're supposed to clean your glumpy, gooey hand off in the bowl of water that we're been told not to drink for fear of bacterial contamination. Well, I couldn't quite stomach eating the skin of the fish. I'm sure it was comical (or disgusting, depending on your perspective), watching me try to get the skin and bones off my chunks of fish with my right hand only, while it was submurged in a bowl of red, spicy liquid. The fish was good. The banku is an aquired taste, I'm told, and I won't disagree with that observation. The boys did surprisingly well at navigating their way through the meal and at least trying to look like they were enjoying it. I was very proud of them.
While we're on the topic of food, we learned that the average Ghanaian local has at least 5 parasites living in their GI tract and that personal hygene habits around food are not quite what we're used to in the USA. Therefore, despite lots of warnings against eating food that hasn't been cooked or drinking the local water, I'm expecting lots more traveler's diarrhea after this port. Fun, fun, fun!
Yesterday we got the opportunity to visit a local elementary school where our taxi driver's wife works. We got to speak with the principle, see all the classrooms, and do some interacting with the kids. The conditions are very simple; open-air classrooms, wooden desks, chairs, a chalkboard, pencils, paper and some books. That's it. The kids were all in uniform and were as cute as can be. They seemed to be ahead of our kids in the USA as far as their education is concerned. They were learning French (the official local language is English,which they speak well, but most also speak one of the several African languages of the four main ethnic groups present in this area), and the math seemed a little above par for where our kids are expected to perform at similiar ages. Granted, this was a private school with small class sizes, but I was impressed, none-the-less.
Traffic jams are a real problem in this country, but some Ghanaian higher-up has decided to spare us the pain of waiting in traffic jams. They have actually provided police escorts to make the local traffic move out of the way so that we spoiled visitors don't have to wait. I think they want Semester at Sea to continue coming to Tema and boosting their local economy. They appear to be afraid we'll be scared off by the traffic and choose to go elsewhere. I must say, that although it made me more than a little uncomfortable to think of being treated in such an undeserved VIP fashion, it saved us hours of sitting in traffic. Please read Jeff, Reade or Tate's blog for details of the police escort experience, which was FASCINATING! In the rare times we did have to stop for a few minutes, local street vendors crowded all over the highways, hoping to sell whatever it was they were selling (which could be anything from snacks to clothes irons). It seems there is a demand for this service and that the locals do get some of their shopping done in this way. I would imagine it thins out the population a little too, although our tour guide told us that traffic-related deaths of street vendors are rare.
Here, as in Morocco, the locals shop in markets made up of narrow isles filled with little booths. The vendors sell food, toiletries, clothing, cloth, diapers, appliances, sporting goods, and just about everything else you can imagine. There were tailors all over the place, custom-making clothing on very old, well-used sewing machines. There were also stalls filled with grains that were being ground and made into the piles of mush that would later become banku, or kenkey (sour cornmeal mush). The electronics shops were full of discarded cell phones and computers that were being fixed and reused. People were everywhere, and at this market, were much less aggressive than those in Morocco. The art market was a totally different story though. We stepped off our tour bus into a flood of vendors, literally trying to pull us in 5 different directions to their various shops. It was too much chaos for me and made me really uncomfortable. We did get personal drumming lessons from one vendor and ended up buying 2 of his African drums (for far more than the locals would have spent, we later discovered).
That's all for today. We're going to spend the day at an orphanage tomorrow, so I expect to have much more to report after that.
Monday, September 5, 2011
9/5/11 Morocco
We've been in Morocco for 3 days now and it's been great!. The first day here we spent exploring Casablanca. We saw the 3rd largest mosque in the world. Something like 25,000 people can pray inside at the same time, and over 100,000 if you include the huge areas outside the mosque built for that purpose. This government is a parlimentary monarchy and the mosque was built by the last king, Hassan II, who died in 1999, thereby relinquishing power to his son, Mohammed VI. Mohammed VI's picture is everywhere including on the paper money and most buildings. People generally seem happy with the current king, who recently made some fairly substantial reforms to the government, taking some power away from himself and moving the government closer to the type of setup seen in England.
The most interesting part of Morocco for me was the street market experience. We went to the medinas (old town centers) of both Casablanca and Marrakesh. In both cases there were huge areas of narrow corridors with little shops lining both sides. The corridors weave all over the place, making you feel hopelessly lost when you're in the middle of them without a clue as to where you are. Amazingly, about the time you feel totally lost, some man will show up insisting on taking you to where ever you would like to go. As soon as you buy anything, he will demand money from you for his services (that you never requested) and refuse to leave you alone until he feels sufficiently compensated, giving you stink-eye and following you around until you finally cave in and hand over the cash.
And then there are the monkeys. If you get anywhere in the vicinity of the monkey men, they will immediately place a monkey on your shoulder, encourage the person with you to take a photo, and then demand money. I got the extra bonus of getting peed on by the monkey. One would think this may translate to a free photo, but NO, greenbacks are still expected. After that experience we steered clear of the snake charmers, henna tattoo artists and fortune-tellers. The kids were a little freaked out by all this unwanted attention, although they were equally fascinated by this crush of vendors, all interested in making some money off the unsuspecting tourists.
The Moroccan food is right up my alley; lots of veggies, couscous, fruit, fish, chicken and breads. My belly has been happy since I got here. Islam is by far the most prevalent religion in Morocco and so alcohol is much harder to come by than it is in the states. We saw groups of men hanging out at bars all the time, but they were coffee bars, not booze bars. The interesting thing was that the nightlife seemed every bit as active and social as it is in the USA, if not more so. There were literally thousands of people, including little children, in the center "medina" of Marrakesh at 11:00 pm when we left our dinner restaurant Sunday night. We are told (by our guide, Mohammed) that Sunday night is a "slow" night, compared to Friday and Saturday.
Today we travelled to the Ourika valley in the high Atlas Mountains and visited 2 of the homes of the indiginous "Berber" people. In one home, there was a room especially for the family cow. 23 people also lived in that home, including toothless great-grandma, grandparents, parents and children down to the age of 2. The 2 year old boy, Mohammed (are you noticing any name-theme here?), immediately began leading Reade and Tate around the house by the hand and introduced them to the baby kittens, which delighted them. The homes have multi-use rooms with big covered benches that are used for eating, entertaining and sleeping. The floors are dirt and many of the rooms are open to the elements. Those that aren't are small and dark. The wonderful thing is that the people also have trees drooping with oranges, walnuts, avacados and pomegranates. We were served mint tea and homemade bread with butter, olive oil and honey at one of the homes. The tea is traditionally served by the person in the home that is the most respected, in this case, toothless great-grandma who can poor tea into small cups from about 18 inches above without spilling a drop. Speaking of teeth, it seems that many adults have lost many of their teeth by the time they are in their 30's or 40's. I tried to use this observation to scare my children into wanting to take care of their teeth and gums all on their own, without the constant nagging of their parents.
We have one more day in Morocco, but I need to be back on the ship before 4 pm for our post-post medical clinic. So, we'll stay local tomorrow. Bye for now!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean
Here we are, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. So far the seas have not been terribly rough, although we have had some 8-foot swells. It's funny to watch people trying to walk a straight line down the halls and weaving back and forth or running into walls. No injuries so far. I think more and more people have developed their "sea legs" because I'm seeing fewer people with patches behind their ears. I was very nearly vomitted on once but managed to escape that trauma.
The medical clinic has been fairly uneventful, I'm happy to say. I've seen a couple of unusual things, but mostly it's the standard stuff I'm used to dealing with. Dr. Sloane, the doctor that hired me and is sharing duties with me, is very nice. We have clinic for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon, and then one of us is on call. It seems to work out ok most of the time. Somehow, I continue to have trouble carving out any free time. I've yet to even open the cover on my kindle, but plan to make that happen soon. I've been trying to fit in a workout daily in the small, but adequate workout room, or with the P90X training program I brought. Jeff is in charge of schooling the kids, but I try to be there to help if needed. I've also been sitting in on a comparative religions class (fascinating stuff, in my opinion), and on the mandatory Global Studies class. It's fun to be back in college classes without the stress of needing to complete papers or tests. Tonight I will be speaking to a group of interested students about the Baha'i' Faith. I haven't done many introductory presentations on the Baha'i' Faith and hope I can do justice to this amazing, transforming, emerging global religion.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
8/26/11 Student Embarkation Day
Hello again! 450 college students, mostly from the USA, but from all over the globe boarded the ship today. The doc and I spoke briefly with every single one of them, which took all morning and into the afternoon. There can be up to 700 students on the voyages, so this is a relatively small group. Maybe that will translate to more free time for me??? In the afternoon we had our first clinic. Today it was mostly questions about medications and malaria, but there were a couple of people with unusual conditions that saw us. The clinic has more resources than I expected, although I could not get access to the internet when I needed it. I'm told this is usually not a problem, but the internet is often very slow. "Up-to-date" and "Epocrates" may be harder to use than I expected. Before every voyage sets sail, there is an extensive lifeboat drill. The freaky thing is the amazing number of people that fit into each one of those not-so-big boats. 150, to be exact! It brings to mind the old Volkswagon bug commercials (?) where more and more people keep getting out of the car. Hopefully none of us will get to experience those lifeboats, except to look at them!
At 5 pm we pushed off from Montreal to the cheers of the students and the goodbye wishes of their families and friends on the dock. It was a picture-perfect afteroon with no hint that there is currently a not-so-nice storm named Irene heading our way. We were told by the captain that we will never be within 600 miles of Irene. I was very glad to hear that, having lived though a previous typhoon experience on Semester at Sea in 1988. That is the kind of thing that you never want to experience once, let alone twice. After a nice dinner and some picturesque country-side viewing from the sunny deck, there was an opening presentation where all the staff and faculty were introduced. There is some amazing talent and experience on this voyage, and I hope to take advantage of this opportunity to "sit in" on some of the course offerings. The required "Global Studies" course starts tomorrow and I'm looking forward to participating in that course, and maybe a comparative religions class also. I'm on call tonight and it is late, so I'd better get some sleep while I can.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
On the way to Montreal, 8/22/11
Today was my first official day of training. The entire faculty and staff met in the morning for some general "community building." After lunch I met with the rest of the medical team, the administrative dean, some medical consultants in charge of the ship, and the captain of the ship. We discussed things such as the procedures for handling drunk kids and the responsibilities of each person. It seems that throughout the years many of the kinks have been worked out and that the medical team functions pretty smoothly. I guess I'll find out as soon as I really have to start working.
We left the port in Boston last night at 9 pm. It was so exciting to be tugged out into the ocean to begin our journey. I slept like a baby on the rocking ship and plan to do so again tonight.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Boston
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Packing
Yesterday was my last day of work at Northwest Family Medicine for the next four months. I'm hoping that my PA job on the ship will be less consuming than my regular job and that I'll have lots of time to play with my kids and catch up on my reading. I won't have to cook, clean, shop or do laundry for the entire voyage, which buys me many hours a week.
If you are interested in getting the perspective on the journey from the rest of my family, their blog addresses are:
Friday, August 12, 2011
Our Semester at Sea Voyage
Some time in early 2010 I had a chance conversation at work with a pharmaceutical rep who had just spoken with a local physician assistant who had worked on Semester at Sea the previous Semester. I hadn't realized that Semester at Sea hired PA's (in addition to many other staff), and was thrilled to see job postings on their web site. About one year ago I applied for the Physician Assistant job after making sure my employer was ok with my taking a leave of absence until late December, should I get the job. In the Semester at Sea medical arena, the ship physician is hired first by Semester at Sea staff, and then the physician hires a mid-level. I just happened to be lucky enough to land the job.
That was five months ago. Now we are a week away. Yikes! I've got to get packing!