Life

Life's short, even if its long enough, and why take the chance?

Was just thinking about why the thought that its so important to let the people you love know you love them kept running through my head last night….

I'm thankful for SAS. There's so much good and I really want this program to be around for a long time to come.

shoutout

To the best husband/friend in the world haha the wonderful Michelle who booked 2 plane tickets, 3 train tickets and a bus ticket for me. Hello!

I don't think I've ever mentioned that despite this blessed, removed life, one of the easiest joys on SAS is the notification of new email, from people back home. It's really nice to be kept checked in about people you care about as we sail on this intense, all-consuming journey, to be reminded that life is being run on parallel planes to yours, and to look forward to having your planes intersect again sometime in the future.

And as Jivas was commenting that day, we've all been 'cured' from Facebook and other social media sites. There's no real desire to be bombarded with a stream from everyone you know, when you are given the privilege of the consideration and time that goes into constructing an email, and its easy again to sieve out the important ones.

It's something I hope to continue when back in 'real life', although to be very honest I know it'll be way easier to revert to the distractions of before.

Back to the mountain of work and end of voyage angst…. booze cruise my ass haha the count stands at an attempted all-nighter and a full out one in the past 3 days.

Decisions

Literally teared up reading the Reed Spring 2013 course catalog…… we can take max 4 classes each semester, and there are literally 4 Econ classes I am dying to take. Pretty much reached a whole new level of dorkiness wtf.

So tempted to go back now, although I still also want to learn Portuguese/Spanish somewhere…. don't think I can get an internship though since its so impossible to apply for anything on this ship zz.

Been quite troubled about what's up with my life next spring but I also realized last night that either of the 4 paths I choose, it's gonna be an awesome one?? Its hard to have faith that things will work out in the long run, but this is definitely a happy problem to have, I guess.

In terms of right now, WE ARE GOING TO BE IN THE RAINFOREST IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!!!!!!!

SAS life

A million things on my mind right now… Papers for every class, an extended research paper to write without internet access or any legit books in the library, a video for global studies to make, what I'm doing with my life after SAS to worry about and limited time with my family on the ship.

Doesn't help that we have spent 10 hours in the last 4 days on Bollywood practice for the talent show.

But we had the US ambassador to Brazil talk to us in class today and we are sailing down the Amazon River - it is the most surreal thing ever, to see lush rainforest on both sides of the murky greenish brown water instead of an endless expanse of clear blue sea. And we will actually get to be AMONG those trees in 48 hours. I just want to do some crazy shit and hopefully with peace of mind that I've settled everything by then!!!

Crunchtime

Its ridiculous how quickly this semester has flown past, and of course work is piling up since its nearing the end. As much as we want to spend time with everyone, its getting apparent that its going to be a toss up, and I've learnt that for me, the few gems always outshine the crystals. I'm lucky to have found them. And no matter how much we profess or actually do not care about a grade or a class, people like Steph and I cannot turn in shitty, half-baked work even if it means having to do a lot more.

Hoping for these last 3 weeks to go smoothly and for our memories to make for some lasting relationships! Cannot believe we will be in the Amazon in 24 hours, and Manaus in 3 days.

Hola! Favorito comer muy bien?

The 5 most important Spanish words to know and use. In the land of Dulce de Leche, that was the go to line when we got into cabs - directly translated, atrocious grammar and all, as hello! Favorite eat very good? Accompanied with the hand signal for money and waving your palm around to indicate an average price, it worked wonders, and we were driven to a spectrum of a fancy, award winning restaurant but that didn't rip us off (and here the taxi driver chops his neck to indicate that it was reasonable), and the neighborhood family grill where the owner was the chef and didn't speak a word of English.

It was almost surreal, to be in South America, a continent I had wanted to visit for so long. It felt so markedly different from everywhere else we had been, which sounds like a silly statement, but this is considering that Ghana and South Africa actually had similar vibes to places in Asia. Argentina and Uruguay made me so determined to learn Spanish, and then we hit Brazil and of course now I know I need to learn Portuguese. This is a disastrous situation, considering the limits of time constraint and personal discipline, and ironic, considering that many of the nicest, most memorable moments were borne out of serendipity and the vulnerability that arises out of a language barrier. Someone needs to stage an intervention and cure me of this travel bug.

I'd like to do a detailed post of my thoughts regarding my experiences in each country, but for now I'll just say that while riding around the Montevideo promenade, it was crazy to think of how we had travelled by ship, train, taxi, bus, buggy (as in golf cart), bike, horse, ferry and car in just 5 days. The car is significant because it has been ages since we have actually been in someone's personal car instead of just a taxi, and if we had extended the time to Rio, I would have added in cable car. The varied experiences we can fit into a mere 3 or 4 days in port still astounds me. Time warps, with things that happened a few days back feeling like a generation ago, while things that happened months ago feeling like just yesterday.

23 days left. Time to make the best of our time on SAS.

Waka Waka

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." G. K. Chesterton

How are we already done with Europe and Africa? We are making quick headway into South America, and it'll be back to real life before we know it.

Cape Town was a city of contrasts. My days were packed with learning about its history, issues and development in the day, as Bob and Alice planned a wonderful itinerary for us, while we packed as much as we could into our free time, at night. I officially got 8 hours of sleep over the 4 nights we had, but it was worth it for a city I definitely need to go back to.

Going into the township on the first day, I was struck by how terribly the conditions were painted, and I say that because to me, they were no better or worse than the 'sampa' in Sabah (the farmhouse my mum grew up in, and we used to visit as kids), apart from the lack of land surrounding them, and the stark contrast with which they stood in relation to the urban buildings around. I had been expecting worse - something like the slums in India, and was met with slight bemusement as we saw the modern technology like televisions and speakers in the houses we went into. I realized that we are invariably influenced by the lens through which we are told to look, but who are we to say what is 'poor' or conversely 'wealthy' enough, in deciding where to allocate resources? The townships still do not have running water, six to eight households share an external shack as a toilet, and there are severe economic and social conditions that cannot be seen merely from a guided walk through them. As the pastor of JL Zwane, who does amazing work connected to HIV/Aids prevention and help explained, some people who can afford to move out of the townships even stay, to help the rest of the community move up, as that is sometimes their only connection to the outside world. While some of us felt uncomfortable just waltzing into the area and into people's houses, we later learnt that they did it just for themselves as much as for us, as the adults in the community wanted to expose their children (everyone in the township is usually black) to the fact that people of other colors can exist, to prepare them for going out to work in Cape Town when they are of age. It was a sobering moment when he told us to think about the kids we met at the primary school (who were really some of the friendliest, most adorable ones I've met recently) - 15% of them are orphans, 10% of them are living with HIV/Aids, 15% of them have single parent homes, and 15% of them have parents living with HIV/Aids. It was intense.

There are many times during travel where I have been grateful for my background. While I am in no way 'at home' in rural landscapes, and will admit am very much a spoilt prissy city girl sometimes, I have just come to realize its the exposure i had to the sampa and other less 'clean' environments as a kid that might have prepared me somewhat for Cambodia, India, and everywhere in between thus far. I guess I should remind myself how things can come to make sense years after, as everything invariably affects your life in little ways.

Over the next few days, we visited parliament, spoke to a cool young MP who told me to email him for places to go at night, who I later find out is mandela's grandson, making it less cool when everyone freaks out about it,  met Mary Burton who was one of the original six protestors and part of the Truth and Reconciliation council, saw how upper-middle class blacks live, met Craig Arendse, a very skilled mediator who's cases we role-played in class, visited the District 6 museum, the actual District 6 and drove out to the Cape of Good Hope.

I was struck by issues of inequality and racism, but also recovery and hope. Is it possible for a country to truly move on from such a recent, horrific past, when they are still staring at the issues right in front of their face? Talking to Storm, my couch surf host, who was white, he explained how it still always boils down to issues of race, with failures in education or economics blamed on apartheid. And this might rightly be so, but apartheid ended 20 years ago, with 1/3 of the current population having grown up under new policies of equality, at least officially. 

This was what I wrote for the explorer seminar I put together for people to hear the different perspectives of those of us who got to do the workshop (and it was amazing how I just asked everyone to share what touched them the most, and everyone literally had a different focus and we covered all the grounds collectively):

" The thing I've been thinking about most from our workshop with Bob and Alice is how one of the first steps to conflict mediation is finding common ground. And there always seems to be a common ground – even if it is not immediately apparent, or the common ground itself serves as the catalyst for conflict. Going into Cape Town, I felt that despite it still being a very polarized society of extremes, the common sentiment was for recovery and progress. But I wonder if it is possible to pursue both at once, or if the focus on one will lead more naturally to the other, because as we all noticed, there are still many cracks under the surface.

  Going into communities like the township, a question that always weighs on my mind is potential sustainability of service. I believe in doing service abroad, but only if it is done right. The pastor explained to us that he would like volunteers for a longer term of a few months to a year who would effect systemic change, although he would still welcome short term volunteers for things like painting houses. I wondered then, about whether a culture of local community service existed, given the hugely visible discrepancy and the public sentiment of apology for grievances commited in the past. When I asked the pastor if private schools  come to volunteer in the township, he told me "Yes, of course! In fact a team from Canada is coming for a few days from tomorrow." I had to repeat local private schools three times before he understood, and then he looked surprised and said "no, no they don't come." So, I've been thinking about the possibility of having overseas volunteers focus on working with advantaged kids from local private schools, teaching the service learning cycle and instilling community spirit instead of working directly with the township. It would be helping the country help themselves, and maybe serve as a way to reconcile the goals of recovery and progress. The nature of overseas volunteer work however, is that it eventually has to come to and end, and people want to see their results. It is harder to work for the big picture than to rely on emotion. It might also be hard if both sides are still heavily preoccupied with race. Walking through the township, everyone was welcoming to us foreigners, but I was caught in the middle of a very uncomfortable situation with our white tour guide, who was greeted by a black woman in her African language, took a little too long to answer, and was accused of 'being hypocritical and fake' 'Why should I have to learn your language when you don't care about mine', she said. It revealed the deep divide or sore emotions that still exist. As one of the white locals I was speaking to said 'If they make it all about race, or use it as a fallback when the education or economy sucks, it will always be all about race, and we can never truly develop.

 Honestly, the biggest thing I got out of our course, and this is going to be terribly cheesy, is that while I still don't know what path life will take me or even what I want to do for sure, I know who I want to be. I want to be touching lives, making a difference, still travelling, working in a team and still scuba diving when I'm 73, or basically, Alice."

Bob and Alice were really so, so sweet. And yet they revealed that they almost didn't make it through their first year of marriage, despite now nearing their 50th. I guess nothing's perfect, and you just gotta be able to feel what's worth it?

It wasn't all societal issues and exposure. I didn't get to do things like a Big 5 safari, shark cave diving or the highest commercial bungee, but I did catch some pretty good views of penguins and whales and visited a Hindu temple on a whim where we danced at a religious festival, sticking out like sore thumbs. It was a different kind of dance on Long Street, where we paid full homage to our motto 'Sleep is for the Ship'. I never fail to be amazed by the ability of people to let themselves…. go, since I like retaining control of what i'm doing, lol. Might have done some silly things the night I ran on 0 hours though, or the reason why I had 0 hours…. The Cape of Good Hope was STUNNING, I love being reminded of the beauty of the world.

Keep catching viruses from my roommate. Coughing like a dog now it sucks hope I get better asap :(((