A Week in South Africa!!!!!

AJ, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and I

80's night

















Well we now have survived one full night of Cape Town!!! We have had a great time thus far but I don’t believe that we have slept at all since we arrived here. We ended up walking around long street after we left the internet café (long street is the main strip with all the shops restaurants and bars on it downtown). We stopped in and talked to one of the tour agents for a while where there was a group of friends from the ship that were about to leave on a bungee jumping adventure. They will drive about 8 hours out of town to a bridge and do the jump from there I forget how far of a drop it is but it seemed like it was a mile up in the air or something crazy like that. But it is the tallest bunngee jumping site in the world. I also had some friends go sky diving yesterday that said that they had a blast. They said that they showed up and the guy grabbed two of them put them in the plane and went over just a couple of minutes of instructions then threw them out of the plane. They said that it was pretty crazy. Anyways we arranged for a 16 passenger van for Thursday to take us around the wine county all day so will be nice. He also talked about a tour that would take us down to cape point which is the most south western part of south Africa that on the way you stop at one of their famous beaches with the penguins on it.

To answer the question that you are all waiting for, I just thought about it. We found out late last night when we got back onto the ship after exploring Long Street. That we will end up staying in Cape Town for a week which is two days longer than originally planned. Then after some time at sea we will stop at a small set of islands called the Maldives which is East of Madagascar. We stopped at a travel agent who had some brochures on it; it is supposedly really beautiful, with a strong attraction for the Europeans. We will spend three days there and then be on our way as previously scheduled to India if everything goes as planned. At first I had the attitude that it really didn’t matter where we went because it was not our choice and there was nothing that I could do about it. But the more I thought about it I really am sad that we are not going to get to do a Safari, maybe I will have to save that big game hunt for later. On our way into Cape Town AJ and I were talking to one of his business professors and he said that so far his wife has one elephant down and he has gotten four. Pretty crazy!!

So last night we drive all over town trying to find something to eat for some of the people in our group but all of the restaurants were closing because it was getting pretty late. It was pretty obnoxious, an entourage of taxis driving from place to place. We ended up going to this night spot Cool Runnings it is like a Ragea Bob Marley hang out. It was lots of fun, half of it was inside and half of it was outside. We made a good observation that these days when we are in port you order food thinking you know what you are ordering. But truly every time the food comes out you are always surprised. There was a group of 15 or so of us, and after a while we got to know the owner that for some reason felt compelled to take care of some of the drinks for us so that was nice.
But 5:30 am came way to early this morning!!! We were supposed to be down at the bottom of the pier at 5:30 but the buses didn’t end up leaving to go shark diving until around 6am. It is about a 2 hour drive that we slept on and off most of the way. It was nice to see different parts of South Africa when we would wake up from time to time. It is very rocky and very mountainous. We drove by several of the townships (which is what they call the scauter shanty towns in Africa) they were similar to those that I have told you about in the past in Brazil and Venezuela but seemed to be much poorer looking. The main difference was that they were built outside of town on flat land where the other ports the people built them on the sides of the mountains right next to town. It is just like in the commercials on TV. If there is one definite thing that I will have learned from the trip it is that how fortunate we all are back in the states. We take having so much for granted, it’s unbelievable. God has been so good to all us. Giving us food, a place to eat, family, and friends and something a simple as work or a job. Something so basic that many around the world can’t claim to have, not because they are lazy rather that there is just no work.
After arriving at the dive site we had a lit breakfast and sat around for nearly two hours until they told us that the waters were too rough to take us out plus it would make the visibility really bad. So we could either loose our deposit or reschedule many rescheduled by AJ and I decided that we didn’t want to. And if we do decide to do it later in the trip if it gets warmer that we can arrange in it town for even cheaper.
Well I better run I hope that you enjoy the photos and there are more posted on the other web shots web site. Here is the link again if you need it. http://community.webshots.com/user/chadgriggs God Bless!!!!
Chad

We are in South Africa!!!!!!!!

We are here!!!! As we pulled into South Africa the captain decided to take off the stabilizers which made the ship sway back and forth back and forth. Pretty interesting watching the food and glassware on the table go from one side to the other, and at times falling off. It was really cold at first when we pulled into port so much so that it was almost uncomfortable to be outside but after a while you get oust to it. We had two really cool things happened though. First during breakfast as we looked out the window we had two different occasions where there were whales following along and playing with the ship. They would jump up and out of the water it was almost like they were putting on a show for us. Then later we went up on the top deck forward to get the best view and there really weren’t a lot of people out there. Where you could see the amazing view of the city it is not huge but pretty big with the famous table mountain in the background. And who do I see to my right Archbishop Desmond Tutu maybe one of the highlights on the crossing. I mean there are probably 20 people on this forward deck when we are pulling into Cape Town South Africa and I get to enjoy this experience and talk about anything with the Archbishop one of the main people responsible for the freedom of so many people. AJ and I got a really cool photo with him that I will try to post later that turned out really nice.
The port area is really really nice, probably the nicest harbour area that I have ever been to. With a large hotel and several different shopping malls with very nice things all around. Live bands playing all along the streets as we stroll down. Then finally we got into the main city area by foot not too far from where the ship is docked first thing you see is the convention centre which is very nice and new. It took us a while till we found an STA Travel agency (which is a world wide student travel agency). It is interesting and sad at the same time because all of the doors to the shops and restaurants have either a door that you have to be bussed in at or a small gate that they have to do the same thing. I am not quit sure yet weather it is to keep out the non-white residents or for what purpose that it serves. Because there are police everywhere and it seems to be very safe. And there are non-whites working in the stores when I find this out I will let you know I know that there are signs outside shops that say we reserve the right to refuse admission to anyone. And I am sad to say that I think that my assumptions are correct.
The weather is cool then comfortable here depending on if there is a breeze or not. But the sun is out. I can only imagine how cold it is going to be tomorrow going great white shark diving. Oh yeah I don’t know if I told you all or not that I am going great white shark diving tomorrow can you believe that. It is probably one of the craziest things that I have ever done. We are going to go out on a boat at 5:30 am and but a bunch of bloody food in the water and then drop a cage in. And jump in, sounds like fun right. It will be a great group going with us. All the people from Mexico and other friends from the states. I will try to post photos of the trip when we return if we can find a computer that will let me, this one is really acting up when I try to download photos for some reason and I am really not sure why. Well all for now we are going to go out and explore the city. It was funny you think after 8 days at sea I would have been a little stir crazy but I was fine could have spent another 8 on I think.
There is still no word on where the next port is going to be, since it was the weekend everything was closed down. You could imagine calling up and saying we have a ship full of international passengers especially a bunch of Americans who are coming from South Africa and will be going to India who would like to stop in your country or island for 5 days in a week. Sound good?

God bless.
Chad

ps _I don't know if I had told you about the guy who comes out on deck and plays the bag pipes everytime we come into port or leave port. But here is a photo or me with Archbishop Desmond Tutu enjoying the sounds as we arive!!!

No more Kenya!!

September 24, 2005

Today we were told that there had been another warning put out by the US State Department on September 23rd warning against all travel to East Africa especially Kenya. And something new that was in it was that it especially warned against maritime travel to this region because of terrorist pirates. Because of this there was even a US Navy ship that was suppose to dock there around the same time we were but said that they would no longer be going to Kenya. This was something that I had always been surprised that we were still going to go, because there was a similar warning sometime in late June or July. But I know that this will make my Mom happy knowing that I will be safe and not in Kenya. The down side to it is that there were several people who had arranged for independent safaris (like me) who had put deposits down on these trips. Although I was lucky because our company that I had arranged for us to all go with said that there was no need for a deposit which is a really good thing! Dean Timitiz who told the ship this said that they were not sure where we would end up going but we were defiantly still going to India, and that he hopes to let us know where we will be going instead of Kenya tomorrow. The problem is if you look at a map there is not a lot between South Africa and India besides East Africa. Personally I am hoping that we will go to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (although that would be a much further journey than originally planned so I doubt that would happen). The next might be Madagascar (which the Presidents son and 12 students attend ACU) but I believe that is still too close for comfort close to East Africa. So the bets right now are either Seychelles Islands (which are know for the plant life I believe) or Sri Lanka which I have heard about and is right next to India but I don’t have a clue anything about it. Either way after leaving South Africa we were supposed to have 6 sea days be in port in Kenya for 5 then have another 7 sea days until we arrive in India so this could be a very long voyage if we don’t get another port until India (but I am sure we will)!

So last night, was probably the most fun that I have had while on board. We had three things going on: first our Yellow Sea was having our party night with the faculty and officers up in the faculty lounge (which was formerly the disco/night club when this was a cruise ship), then there was a pub night (that takes place in the garden lounge and outside on deck 6), and then there was the first dance which had an eighties theme. And all of these were to take place from 9 til 11pm with a pre-party get together before all of this. So you might ask what does one wear for an eighties them party? Of course it is easy for the girls to cut up some shirts and put their hair to one side. The funny thing is I remember Heathers outfits in the eighties vaguely and I got a good laugh at it. So the girls said to wear tight jeans and go for either the Zach Morris look or something like that. So I put on some of the tightest jeans I could find, got the pearl snap shirt (that was my dads that I got from Papas house) with only a couple of snaps down so my lack of chest hair was hanging out, my big belt buckle, boots, and my cowboy hat and the large gold nugget ring I got for Christmas a couple of years ago. So I kind of went for the eighties Cowboy look which turned out pretty well I must say. AJ I am sure will talk about his getup in his post but just think of Panch from the old motorcycle cop shop with the rayban glasses and everything. The hole night was lots of fun, we went to the Yellow Sea social first which was slow, but when we came back at the end of the night it was lots of fun. Plus it was Karen our RDs birthday so we celebrated. Then we went to pub night which I think everyone on the ship was at. And then people came running up to me saying that we had to go to the union for the eighties dance. And it turned out to be hilarious and fun. There were probably 200 people crammed on the little dance floor shoulder to shoulder dancing to some of the funniest eighties music alive. And you mix this with the giant waves (the largest we have encountered yet) everyone is bumping in to one another trying to dance and swaying with the ship it was a lot of fun.
Today we had the honor of hearing Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak, it was a roundtable discussion where students and faculty asked pre-planned questions that he answered thoroughly. During this I felt like I was being a part of something historic, something I know that will impact me for the rest of my life and something that I know I will never forget. If you remember me talking about it, he was asked by Nelson Mandela to head up the TRC that was to hear the tales of the people who were abused by the apartheid as well as hear those stories of those who did the bad things. The following were some quotes or ideas that he shared during this time that I thought were interesting:
“I am sorry, you were right, please forgive me. Are some of the smallest words but at the same time some of the hardest to say at times” – “It would be nice for in the future we could each walk in a world where we could hold our heads high” – “God had no religion! Christianity has only been around for 2000 years. What was God before that? Waiting for Christianity?” – He talks about friends like the Dali Lama and Gandhi “And what God would say you are such good and cool people that have such courageous and awesome things but your not a Christian” – “Try to export your generosity not your bombs” -- I would like to comment on the second to last quote about the Dali Lama and Gandhi ---- at this time I would not say that in any way I am questioning my faith! That’s not what I would call it, I think he brought up an interesting point though. And as I sit here at the computer I can’t really put my thoughts or feelings on this quote into words. I know one thing is for sure, in this world of non-believers I am just thankful that there are people who do believe, that there are people who may not be religious that are genuinely good people just because they know they should be and want to be! As this voyage continues I hope that I can hold strong to my convictions and that God will help me open my eyes to the great things that he has created and to show respect and love to those who need it. Instead of judging and thinking that I or my faith are the only ones….God bless my family friends and the US!

Chad

September 25, 2005

It is now around 2pm and I am officially done with classes for five and a half days which is nice although I will have some papers that will need to be written and a group presentation to prep for before we return to classes.
So I know after reading the above you are wondering what is going on and where we will end up going. Well we just got back from a very interesting lunch with Captain Jeremy in the main dining room. My opinion on him has now changed and he seems to be pretty interesting we sat there for well over an hour probably talking about cruising, his job, and where we are not going and what the rest of the voyage will behold. His said because of fuel restraints Australia and Dubai are definitely out of the picture. As well as Madagascar and Seychelles Islands because of the possible threats that were warned about in the US States Department warning. He said at t his time he had not been told where the Semester At Sea office wants to go, but that he imagined that it would probably be a small island somewhere that is safe, safe being the key word in this region. We were expecting the Dean to come on and announce it at the beginning of our 8am class this morning then at the global studies class later in the morning, but no luck. I guess we will find out more in the mandatory pre-port security meeting tonight if it will be known today.
We have definitely got into the rougher seas starting last night, I forget exactly how high they said they were but I think it was around 7 meters I will get back to you on the wave height. It was kind of funny because last night we had some friends over in the suite for a get together and it was a little unnerving for some since we are at the very front of the ship it causes first a really big bang every time we hit an oversized wave then you get the after shock of the movement. Lastly it was interesting sleeping in the large bed ( I don’t know if I told you that AJ and I were finally able to persuade our cabin steward to move the two beds in each of our two rooms together thus making two twins into a queen for each of us) that way we both have a queen bed in our separate rooms instead of having an extra bed in each that is not being used. Anyways, trying to sleep in these large beds with the waves as big as they are is kind of fun, rolling around back and forth. For those of you that have gone to bed on a ship with the peaceful almost unnoticeable swaying of the ship. This I would say is much different it is almost like I hired someone to stand next to my bed and rock me to sleep all night and occasionally bang something on the wall for the sound effects of the waves. Well I guess that is all for now, I have to email the Safari company and tell them that we are a no go, I would have done it last night but the internet was down. I also need to email the guy from the vineyards in south Africa, my boss from Reata has a couple of wineries just outside of Cape town that we are going to visit. Although it is getting a little obnoxious because there are now 14 people in our group going. And the winemaker insists on sending a car to take us to and from to the wine country. I told him that he didn’t have to do anything considering the size of the group, but it sounds like it should be a fun time for all. Talk to you soon.

Chad
PS – something I forgot to say the it is really cold outside, I would say probably 60 or less, it is supposed to be a high of 92 in Cape town so I hope that it will warm up when we arrive tomorrow.

Daily Life and Archbishop Tutu

Hello all,

I want to start off with a special note to Aunt Jane, Shelly, Mama Horst, and Jana for there great emails and cards!!!! Keep them coming they are great to get at sea, while at times it seems as if we are in a surreal bubble that the notes from home bring us back to the things we love and care about.
In regards to last nights posts it is great to see so many of you are already thinking and talking about the issues that were raised. I know that I am not even close to having all the answers, nor I am sure did I get all the facts correct. And just maybe will I grow to enjoy going to completely history sites while on vacation LH J.
I have been asked by some to explain maybe a daily routine and what ship life is like in particular by a friend that I made through cruising. First I must say that this is not a cruise, we have had it told to us time and time again we are on “A Voyage of Discovery”! And that it definetly is, I am not sure if I posted it hear or told my parents in an email after the first week and a half I had even if the ship didn’t go to any ports of call I would have already learned more than I probably would in a semester at school from all of the interesting kids from around the country and the world. To give you an idea of what I am talking about I will name off so schools that are represented here: first and formost Abilene Christian University, Princton, Yale, Cornell, Stanford, Tulane, SMU, almost every major University/State school across the nation. How about countries: USA, Mexico, Peru, Columbia, India, Norway, Sweeden, South Africa, Canada, England, China, Japan, and Venezuela to name a few. So now I bet you can imagine the great diversity that is shared just in the student body. How about the staff and faculty. Starting at the Resident Directors (generally called RA’s at most school) have a minimum of a masters degree, with all professors having a PHD with tons of international experience. My main business professor wrote out 800 page Strategic management book and is originally from London and has lived in Aulstralia for the past 20 something years.
Back to daily life. I know this sounds weird but for the past three weeks and until we return home there has been no concept of days of the week and it is sometimes hard to keep up with even the date (to keep up with birthdates and such) instead there are port days generally 5 in a row and then when on the ship there are A days and B days. Today was a B day which meant that I had Strategic management at 8am then at 9:20am I had global studies (which is the class that brings up port to port issues such as the one I talked about in yesterdays post) then at 10:40 I have conservation Biology (which the professor is the director of the national conservation society of some sort for the hole central US who knows more than anyone would ever want to know about every single species in the world you should of heard the exciting j/k lecture on sand cranes today). Then on A days I have International Business Economic Rise of Asia at 8am then global studies at 9:20 am (which as you can tell by now it is held every day). We are in class almost everyday at sea besides I think three sea days.
Every morning I get up around 7:15am or so to get ready and have breakfast either in the fancy dinning room or in the upstairs bistro which has al fresco dinning (which I did this morning it was a great way to start your day). Breakfast is usually good with almost anything you could ever want besides the Salmon eggs you got to watch out for the Salmon eggs AJ and I learned about that first hand the morning we pulled into Venezuela we were excited and were really paying attention to what we were putting on our plate. Then on A days I usually have a nap before lunch until AJ gets out of class or on B days we are both out by 12. We generally have most meals in the nice restaurant. Lunch is pretty good usually with a salad bar, meat, fish, and pasta with lots of vegetables, soup, chesses and dessert.
Then I try to work out around 3:30 or 4pm in the gym which is in high demand so you have to sign up for a 30 minute time slot the day before. The gym is in the spa where they have all the hair, nail, and massage/aroma therapy you could ever want. I have not yet indulged in this yet but I wouldn’t mind having a massage sometime in the voyage which are all reasonably priced comparable what you would pay in the states. Either before or after my work out I will sit out on Deck by the pool weather permitting and on the other end study or read for class or vis versa. We usually try to eat around 7 or 7:30 so we aren’t hungry late although dinner is from 17:30 to 19:30pm (5:30pm to 7:30pm everything is on military time) and if we get hungry there is a 10pm snack in the upstairs dinning room. Which is a lot like cruise room service food although edible at times it seems like they make it bad so you won’t order it.
Then every night they have what is called community college which is at 8 in three different rooms all on different topics or themes some faculty and some student lead. They are generally pretty good. And then there is always a group of people playing Texas hold Em around 9 or 10 in one of the lounges and other board games. I know I know I really made you work to find out about the alchohol which I am sure some of you are wondering because I know some of you think it is just a booze crusise since there are 683 college students on board. Well for example on this eight night crossing from Brazil to South Africa there there will only be two pub nights (or nights where both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks will be sold). On these nights you must go to the pursers desk and stand in line sometimes they get pretty ridiculous and they are only sold for an hour and a half. Draft beer is $2 and other beer and wine is $2.50 with a limit at 4 from 9 to 11 and 2 for the sunset time from 5 to 6. And no alchohol is aloud to be brought on board. So there it is now you know the story.
We are looking forward to tomorrow night because our yellow sea (which there are all kinds of different seas it is a title that helps divide the ship into sections). Anyways we are having a social in the faculty staff lounge which was formally the ships disco and it happens to be our Yellow seas RDs Karens birthday so we all pitched in to order a cake from the kitchen and a card.
I know a bunch of you if you are still reading to this point are wondering about the Archbishop Desmond Tutu well we finally got to go to the meet and greet which turned out to be more of a small Q and A. Where anyone could come up and ask a question to the Archbishop or his wife. They are great and had some amazing perspectives AJ and I got front row seats. I took lots of photos and videos with sound and I will try to post those later in S. Africa if any of you are interested in getting a copy of some of the videos email me and I will try my best to figure that out in South Africa if I can send those over the interenet. Although we weren’t able to get a picture with him, we are going to watch for him on the ship to try and take one with him.
OK I think I have typed as much as I can. I hope I have answered some of your questions and if you have something else you want me to write about let me know. Talk to you all soon and thanks for reading this far.

Chad

HAPPY B-DAY AMBER!!!!

Let me first start off by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER AMBER!!!!!! I MISS YOU!!!! And if you have time now or later I hope you may consider reading the following that I hope you will find intellectually stimulating or atleast I did. I want to warn you that this is a long 1st draft and that I didn’t read over this after I typed it. If there are any corrections or errors in facts that I stated please note them as a side note. Thanks. Chad
This post may be found boring to some, but after class and consideration all day I thought that wanted to share the knowledge that I gained today. With hopes that it might spark some interest in you to do your own research on this area and come up with maybe a more educated view on the issue. Ok with that said let me try to define this complex issue that has been of importance and of great discussion for hundreds of years throughout USA, North and South America, Africa and around the world. I guess the underlying issue is Racism, or maybe the idea that (and these aren’t necessarily my views but views of people that I have come into contact with) the hole affirmative action is overplayed. That people of color who had ancestors who everyone will admit had terrible things happen to them, but that maybe it has been long enough and that the generational thing has played its course and that at this point everyone should be on a level playing field.
With these two views brought to the surface I now do not want to chose a side on what is right or wrong rather I would like to look at the aspect of why this had to be an issue in the first place. I would like to go deeper than this, deeper than the terrible things that happened in the USA and in other places with the slavery (not to belittle this, but rather to look at another situation that I believe greatly affected the people of color or Africans in particular that is a part of their heritage that I for one knew little or nothing about).
First lets look at 1899 to 1902 the Afrikaners (or Boers who were white Dutch settlers who were at first just supposed to be there for the ships and stay out of trouble but ended up making their way into the outskirts of the coast) were in a fight against the British. In this war 500 Afrikaners killed 12,000 of the British. Giving the Afrikaners a feeling at the time that they were in some way chosen by God to lead Africa. There had been unrest all the way to 1948 when the Nationalist Party comes to power on an apartheid platform (which is what Archbishop Desmond Tutu who is onboard spent his whole life fighting for equal rights for all). During this time until 1994 the white South Africans were in charge of the nation. Which to me is very interesting because they made up only 14% of the population. 14%, as our professor asked well how were they able to do this and in that sense do the offal things to the colored people for all of this time. He then pointed us back to the notion that the Afrikaners (the whites) believed for a very long time and were determined that they were somehow Gods chosen people to rule South Africa (Note: In no way am I supporting this notion rather pointing out a previous idea that was brought up).
During this time they told all people of color that they had to live in certain territories called “homelands” according to their ethnicity chosen by the government. This area given to the colored people who made up the other 86% (some state at least 70%) of the population were only aloud to reside in 13% of the land of the entire nation the rest was designated white only. Now with that said it would be 14% of the population being white taking up 87% of the land!
Well what about the non-whites traveling outside of their homelands, they had to be pre-approved and must carry with them pass books. These passbooks must be kept current, they must be surrendered to the proper authorities whenever asked to, and finally they were only aloud in the white only city for up to 72 hours.
So what happened a group formed called the ANC (African National Congress) and others first tried to get equal rights and stop the apartheid through non-violence protests following Gandhi in India. And in 1960 the Sharpeville Massacre occurred where police fired on demonstrators which resulted in 60 deaths and more than 170 wounded non-whites all shot in the back. This was a turning point and an end to the non-violent protests. Later Nelson Mandela who was a leader for the equal rights, was imprisoned for alleged terrorists activities. He spent many years in jail and was once given the opportunity to get out but he would not until there was equal rights given. Eventually he was released and was elected President and for once the black majority was able to be truly represented. I do not say this because Nelson Mandela from was black but because my research leads me to believe that he represented and stood for what the majority of South Africans wanted.
I type all of this to say, that I challenge you to do your own research and come up with an educated opinion for yourself not just an opinion. I challenge you to question with weather people of color many of whom came from South Africa to serve others around the world under horrible conditions for years had trouble at home as well. And even now with the AIDS the way they are today did they ever or to this day get a fair shake. Well I know that life isn’t fair, and I know there are many “people of color” who are now Americans first, or South Americans first not South Africans. But I know for me it definitely but things in a different perspective.
And at the very least made me appreciate my homeland and think of how lucky we are to be Americans. How much God has blessed us to have and to be able to do the things that we do on a daily basis. Especially considering what others our age our color, people of different ages and colors are going through today, went through yesterday, and have gone through in the past.
In closing God Bless America, God Bless my friends and family, and I challenge you to try to strive to have educated opinions and opinions of your own in the future and not just go along with the status quo.

God Bless.

Chad

Neptune Day!!!!

We are now getting pretty close to the middle of the Atlantic ocean with fairly calms seas tonight, although I can’t say the same thing for yesterday. Although yesterday was a lot of fun because we were able to do a pretty cool bridge tour. It was conducted by 2nd officer Louis who had just join the MV Explorer two weeks ago. Some of the highlights were when we showed us all of the radar equipment and how it can become more or less sensitive even to the point to where it picks us large ocean swells. And then he took the ship off of autopilot which is what it is usually on while at sea. When you take it off of autopilot you have the option of standing up and steering it with a half steering wheel or you can sit in one of the two captains chairs and drive it with a joy stick just like a video game. He then put the ship back on autopilot and showed us how that worked. With one round knob you could change the degrees from smaller and lower by turning it the pushing it in lightly which changed the coordinates. You could then watch on the above monitor and see the coordinates gradually changing as well as slowly watching it change directions visually. With that said he stated that it would take at least ten minutes to change the course of the ship to miss another ship at the usual speed at which we were going at 20 knots. The Explorer is only around 25,000 tons so it would be even longer for the larger cruise ships. After showing us even more cool gadgets and letting us play with even more buttons he got out two of the captains official hats and let us take photos with them which was a lot of fun. When we are in Cape Town and in an internet Café I will post these photos.

Then today was the big exciting Neptune’s Day which is the celebration of crossing the equator and changing us from pollywogs (those who had not crossed the equator and gone through the rituals) to Shellbacks (those who had). This event started bright and early with tons of the Philippineo crew members dressed like Roman Knights with aluminum hats going around with drums and banging on the doors and screaming chants. This happened several more times til finally I decided to go up on deck to have breakfast, sadly it was past 8:30 so I was lucky enough to get a cup of coffee. It had just rained so there was the best rainbow just perfectly aligned with the back of the ship I had ever seen. We sat out on deck until the announced that we would probably want to go and put on a bathing suit to prepare for the arrival of King and Queen Neptune and his guards. So I ran down stairs where AJ was finally up and by the time we got back out onto deck King Neptune (Captain Jeremy) who was dressed in a white sheet and covered in green paint was seated at his thrown with his guards and bride at his side. The pool was surrounded by millions of students and the Dean Timitz announced that anyone who wished to go from pollywog statues to shellback statues needed to line up and prepaire to pay the price. So we made our way through the line where when it was our time we stood in the kiddy wading pool next to the main pool and first had what was said to be fish guts (but was really soured milk littlie sprinkled with oat meal) poured on the top of our heads then we had to jump into the main pool which had a line of about ten kids in it. Which was some of the coldest waters I had ever been in (although I didn’t see them do it but it felt as if they had put I in it) then before we could climb out of the pool we had to kiss two dead rather large salmons. After climbing out we had to pay our respects to the queen and finally get down and kiss a gaudy ring on the finger of the Bright Green King Neptune (AKA Captain Jeremy). Those who tried to get by the king without paying proper respects were pushed into the water by his highness. In one occasion the queen went to push someone back into the pool and she got dragged in with, which was pretty amusing. Many faculty members such as my business professor that is from Aulstralia who decided to wear a spedo as well as the Academic Dean participated in this event.

Afterwords everyone was given the opportunity to shave their heads and the girls could donate their hair to locks of love which makes them into wigs and gives them to cancer patients. One whole family did this which was one of AJs Economics professor did this as well. Overall it was a fun and very eventful day. It was the first free day on the ship so we were able to catch up on school work and much needed rest. The one photo that I am going to try to attach is one of us in Rio on Cococabana beach the last evening. Talk to you all soon we don’t arrive in S. Africa for about six more days I don’t think. It has been very interesting getting to interact with such a distinguished person as Archbishop Desmond Tutu he is very nice and we look forward to hearing him speak as we make our way towards Cape Town.

Chow!!!

Rio De Janero

welcome to Salvador, Brazil!!!


Dont forget there are more new photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/chadgriggs!!

Rio!!!!!!!!!

Well we are finally back in Salvador after a great time in Rio. After my last post we hired a driver for the half day to show us around the city. We first went to the Christ Statue on top of the Mountain that divides the city. Half way up the mountain the driver stopped at a look out point half way up the mountain to look out over the entire city that was pretty cool. After that we made our way up through the clouds and rain to the top, where you have to get in an elevator to make the other four or five stories up. Once there on this day that it was so cloudy you could not see down the mountain and only a dazed view of the statue. The Christ statue is unbeleivably huge. It seemed to be much larger than the statue of Liberty to me.


After that he took us back into an internet cafe and then onto the local market in Cococabana to get local trinkets it was kind of funny because they had stuffed piranas there. Then off to our final meal at a Brazilian steak house. It was again very good but we found it hard to even come close to eating as much as we had the night before because of all of the red meat kind of plaid a number on our stomachs. Although AJ did get around to eating some chicken hearts that were on one of the skewers. It took him about three minutes to actually get it down and the cab driver who was sitting at our table with us found it to be very amusing. Aparently it was really chewy and bloody tasteing who would have thought. Then finally he took us to the airport where he tried to play the game of the price just went up although I had confirmed with him like four times throughout the course of 2 days the price. It is funny how no matter where you travel without a meter it always seems to happen. But we ended up giving him what we had previously discussed and got checked in. After the plane was 20 minutes late from the time we were supposed to leave we were finally able to board the plane. Then after about thirty minutes of not understanding portugese somone came up to us and told us in English that the reason why we were over an hour late leaving rio was becuase the federal police in Salvador where we were headed were on strike. We finally arived at our ship around 3:30 that morning.

After lunch and beginning to explore the city of Salvador we found out from ceveral SAS kids that the city of Salvador where the ship is docked that it really isn~t safe. There had been about 5 different times that SAS kids had gotten mugged while in port. It made us apreciate being in Rio that seemed to be so safe. Although we have learned to always only carry very little cash, no jewelry and to always atleast look like you know where you are going. As we explored the city of Salvador we have seen some interesting things. First the city is built on two parts, to get to the upper part you must buy a token to ride the elevator about three stories up the mountain to the upper area which is much nicer than the lower. There are many stores and tons of vendors on the streets selling anything from tamales to calculators which I purchased to make the transactions a little bit easier. We are now in the main shopping mall at an internet cafe that is really nice. We have to be back on board the ship about 9pm tonight so I am sure we will use the rest of the day soaking up culture and having dinner.

Before I go I want to wish Amber a happy birthday since I will be on the ship while it occurs. I love and miss you all very much.

Chow!!!
Chad

Rio De Janero and the Samba!!!!!!!

Rio!!!!!!!! Hello everyone, so much has happened since we have arived here in Brazil. First off we never booked airfare to Rio just the hotel becuase the prices just kept going up. So we decided to just go to the airport in Salvador where the ship docked, and we ended getting air for 263 US which I was hoping we could get it for 200 but. So we had about three hours til our flight so we sat at the snack bar in the airport and we ended up meeting this American that ended up being head of all the security and marines at the Consulate in Rio. He was really cool and gave us all of his #s like his cell and stuff and said if we had any questions or needed anything while in Rio to let him know. The flight was about 2 hours and when we arived it was about 8:15pm and raining hard. We had aranged for some friends to meet us at the hotel to go to dinner that night and to go to the club. We drove for about 30 minutes to Impenema which is the other big beach next to Cococabana. The menu was in Portugess so it was hard to understand what we ordered. The food was great and then we went to club NUTH which is one that Victor the interport student recomended. It was having a private party but as usual they saw Americans and loved us and invited us in. It was funny because it turned out to be a party for this famous actress that had a comedy weekly show in Brazil that was featured on the cover of this Brazilian magazine. It was one of the coolest clubs, and we were able to meet some beatiful Brazilians that spoke some english who took us and introduced us to Lousiana. Who was very nice and we took a photo with her (which I will post later).
Anyways yesterday we woke up and the rain cleared for enough time for us to explore the city. We went up to the Le Meridian to the 37th floor to see the city which is huge like 8 million people and just barley did the clouds clear away for us to see the famous statue of Jesus on the Mountain that stands so beautifully over the city. After that we went exploreing the shops and got invited to go the the H. Stern Jewerly factory. Which I had heard and seen these stoned jewelery but didn~t realize that it was all from Brazil it was really cool seeing first hand how they had each piece by hand and came around with drinks like coconut milk. Amber (a friend) who was with us got a necklace and the we explored the area around the factory that has all the exspensive store like LV and Cartier. Oh and lunch I got to tell you about lunch we went to a Churscaria like Texas De Brazil which is a Brazilian Steak house that was excelent all the filet migion and salad bar and everything you want for $8 US Texas de Brazil at home is like $35 so we couldn~t believe it. Then last night we went to this Pizza place that the guy in the hotel recomended, but it was similiar in the fact that it was a set price all you can eat and they came around just like the Brazilian Steakhouses with the pizzas and it also had an awsome salad bar but not just salad shrimp steak everything that you wanted.
Then last night we meet up with some more friends and went to the disco Barnetti in Impenema that Victor the interport student said that he was going to meet us all at. Which was lots of fun, again the American thing came out and they let us up into the VIP room that overlooked the stage and dance floor but with lots of couches and extra space it was very chic. Anyways they had a rap star supposedly the best in Brazil that sang. The one interesting thing about this club was that all of the people there were 18 to 24 it was just interesting because most places there is such a mixture of people and age rainges. Somthing that they do here in Brazil thats interesting is that in restaurants and the clubs they give you what looks like a credit card and you have to spend a certain amount in the club which they tell you ahead of time what it is and then whenever you want somthing to drink you give it to them and that way you don~t have to worry about tipping or having to keep up with cash. You just pay at the end and there are no worries.
As far as today we got up early again and went downstairs to have breakfast and then since it was sunny we went and spent the morning on Cocobana beach. The hotel not only gave us towels but Umbrellas too which is nice. From the beach you can see alot of the city as well as the statue of Jesus. For this afternoon I am sure we will go back to the beach and we are supposed to meet lots of people out tonight. Our flight leaves late tomorow night back to Salvador. Then we will have all day Saturday to explore Salvador the third largest city in Brazil where the ship is docked.
For final thoughts I want to wish my Aunt Ann a happy Birthday ( I miss you) !!!!!!!!! and concerning Rio de Janero it is somthing that I have wanted to see all of my life and it is all and more than I expected. As I told you about Caracas there is so much passion, Rio I would say the main thing is their Brazilian Steak houses and other food is absolutely unbeleavable as well as the people being very friendly. All for now I love and miss all of you very much!!!!!!!!

Posts while at Sea

September 8, 2005
Well we have now completed two days worth of classes since we left Venezuela. Sailing away from the port of La Gauria, Venezuela was bitter sweet because we were leaving such an exciting and interesting place but we knew that we had Brazil to look forward to. It was interesting because when we looked ahead of us it was one of the darkest dark I had ever seen then when we looked back towards Venezuela all of the Shanty towns that looked so bad during the day were so beautiful watching the night lights dace up the mountain. We were also able to enjoy one of the traditions of semester at sea, they have someone onboard that plays the bag pipes as we leave the port. Which he doesn’t stop when the ship lets off the three loud blows, rather he just keeps playing on. In a way it almost seems kind of patriotic in the sense that our journey must go on regardless of the good or bad that we may be leaving in our wake. That same evening I had the pleasure to get to know my Strategic management/International Business professor and his wife in a more personal way outside of the classroom because they joined us out on deck for the sail away.
Then yesterday the first day back at sea was pretty interesting all of the non-cruizy connoisseurs who still didn’t have their sea legs started to get sick again. But even those of us who do had to readjust to the constant rocking kept almost all of us tired. It seemed like it took everything I had yesterday to stay away through my two classes. Although I did do some productive things yesterday such as working out as well as I did some laundry in the shower. I know your laughing at this but they only do laundry on certain days and we hadn’t had one yet. As you can see in the photo AJ and I are lucky to have the extra room in the Suite to hang things up. Later in the day while I was sitting out by the pool we passed really close by Trinidad and Tobago islands which are pretty close to Venezuela. Then later on last night we had an activities far where you could sign up for a number of different things. We signed up for the student Ambassadors program (or at least we are applying for it) there are several different things that this group does but the part that I am most interested is getting to meet and greet dignitaries at the airport and at the pier such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu which will be coming onboard in Brazil. We are also in charge of the Ambassadors Ball which is at the end of the voyage which is like Prom on the high seas.
Well I am going to finish a paper and then go sit out by the pool to work on finally being tan instead of that bright red color that I get at home. Tonight they are having a "sunset at sea party" with drinks and then tonight is pub night from 9 til 11 (or as they say on ship 21:00 to 23:00 hour) so that should be promising. Hope all is well at home I sure did enjoy reading the emails that were sent while I was in port keep them coming.
PS – and now that we have mastered the Salsa (yea right) the next one is the Samba in Brazil.
September 9, 2005
The past couple of days have been pretty interesting for me. Yesterday we passed around 2pm where the mouth of the Amazon river feeds into the ocean, we wondered if the waters would be darker from the silt in the river. But no the ocean water stayed as crystal clear blue as ever. Then tonight at around 5pm we passed the international date line which will be pretty cool. Usually they take the day off and do a bunch of celebrations, but they said because of needing to get things done for class we will have the festivities on the 20th so I will post more on that later. Although we did have a pretty cool outside barbeque out on the pool deck. It was setup buffet style with all the carvings and stuff so that was pretty cool.
The seas got pretty interesting starting late last night. Since our cabin is in the front of the ship we feel the motion a lot more, every thirty minutes or so I would flop up into the air when we would hit a huge wave and then when we would fall back down it would wake me up like someone was shaking me or something. The seas have been this way all day and have been making people who get sea sick feeling pretty sick. But I haven’t had that problem I figure if it is this way on the Atlantic oceans coast there is no telling what it will feel like in between Brazil and South Africa. On that note we have two more days of class until we arrive in Brazil the second of which I have a presentation to make, a quiz and a test so I should be pretty busy.
Oh, and AJ and I had lunch at the Captains table with the Captain and the Safety Officer. They had both come from the Luxury Radisson Seven Seas Cruise line before joining the semester at sea ship. The Captain really didn’t have much of a personality but the safety officer was pretty funny. All for now, I have to get ready we have a Ambassadors Intercultural Committee meeting tonight at nine then a pub night after that so it should be a lot of fun as usual. Talk to you guys later.
September 1, 2005
Well we have had a pretty interesting past couple of days. First the other night that I told you we were going to have the barbeque out on deck we did and it was so much fun. They had decorated it all up with all the fruit and vegetable sculptures like on regular cruise buffets and everyone was there. Then the next night AJ and I had the Ambassadors Intercultural Committee meeting that I had talked about earlier. Which we were both accepted to, AJ will greet the Embassy official when we arrive in Brazil tomorrow. And I chose to meet the Embassy officials from Hong Kong when they come on the ship later on in the voyage. And on an exciting note on our last day in Brazil Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu will come onboard and sail with us all the way to South Africa. I am hoping to pick up a book in Brazil to have him sign for a souvenir which would be pretty cool. Then tonight we had a pretty exciting poker game up on the 6th deck that got pretty interesting and I am proud to say I won it all. Well I am going to run, I know all this didn’t seem that interesting but I know I will have some good stories when I get back from Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.
Chow!!!!!!!!!

Photos Finally!!!!

at the waterfalls
The funniest photo. the Venezuelan store owner was so cheap he inisted that he didn´t need a wine opener he just used a knife to force the cork through gently as you can see.

Hey guys the rest of my photos can be viewed at the following link you also might want to save it like you did this page so you can come back to it to see updated photos of my journey! http://community.webshots.com/user/chadgriggs

Labor Day Fun!!!!!!!!!
My bed with pictures of family and friends.

The Suite


This is the Water slids that take you in the glass tube through shark aquairum

At the Atlantis Royal Towers Hello everyone! It is our last day in Venezuela and as excited as I am about Brazil it is sad to think of leaving such a great country. I guess I should start off by telling you a little about yesterday. We arranged with some friends that we had meet in port to go on the adventure jeep tour that so many of the other kids were signed up for through the ship but we did it idependently saving us half off. We started driving for about thirty minutes and we stopped at a little town so some of the girls in the first jeep could go to the bathroom ( I guess I should go ahead and tell you now that the members of the trip included 11 participants AJ and I the ships photographer and 8 girls which is funny but it just has to do with the guy to girl ratio) any how Nelson our tour guide ended up seeing an old friend who invited us into his back yard and showed us through his open air kitchen as well as his inn that he rented rooms out to visitors. I meet several towns children and an old man that spoke a little english. After that we drove some more to a beautiful beach that we swam at for about an hour. Where it seemed like we were almost doing a SAS photo shoot because the photographer wanted to get some shots of all of us at the beach. Then we loaded back up into the jeeps and came to another small town where they had aranged for lunch for us. Again when we got into town everyone is just sitting down hanging out becuase there is no work. So we went into this really cool tall ceiling room that was almost like somthing like a great hall where knights would eat or somthing. The Chef Pedro cooked fresh red snapper with the usual fried plantains and a avacado and tomoato salad that was excelent. The guide sat and had lunch with us the rest of the guys the two drivers who were very good to lock all of the windows and doors when we were away from the jeeps to make sure none of our bags were stolen and the security guard that were with us were all very nice although they spoke very little to no english at all. Then we went to a beach that was in this city where tons of local children were out swimming in the ocean (I have a photo of this). (Another side not to the guys you know there was definetly some champezy keepin the tradition alive). After the beach I got to do somthing that I have wanted to do for a long time we got to go swim in the water falls in the jungle which were a lot like the ones in Jamaca if you have ever seen them. This was so awesome (although some of the girls got scared because the kids that were there had caught two eals that were in the pool of water under the waterfall the guide asured us that they didn´t bit and weren´t dangerous. It was kind of funny for those family members reading this it reminded me a lot when I saw the families there on vacation camping of good memories when we went to the river and camped when I was younger where we caught the crawdads. After that we took the hour and a half drive back towards the boat getting to watch another amazing sunset along the way. Also once you get out of the port city you start to see all the hills of dirt that weren´t cleaned up from the terible mud slide in 1999. You know you hear about things like that and you may even see photos but you truly don´t understand or feel the pain until you see it. Which I know is a lot like what is going on in New Orleans. Later that night we meet up with some people to go back to the same restaurant as the night before we had the traditional empinadas that were excelent which are like hot pockets but with a latin America flair. Then I had the Filet Mignon which was excelt and huge for 7.50 US. After dinner we went and got changed ( you have to get dressed up it is what the people do when they are going out at night) and we wanted to go back to the same salsa bar we had gone to the night before in stead of going into Caracas on the thirty minute and some time dangerous a night road. So we got into two cabs and had the cab drivers drive around forever trying to find a disco that was open on a Monday night. But we failed there were none to be had, besides the one across the street from the ship. We walked in and all the crew was there, but also were all of the local hookers that got up as soon as they saw AJ and Icome in never mind the fact that we had a ton of girls with us. After seeing this we emideatly turned around and walked out. Ending up in the customs area/terminal where there were about 100 SAS kids we new enjoying just being together and having fun. It was quit somthing to be seen when I went back on the ship at around 2:30 they were all still going strong. This was probably the best thing considering that it was so safe there. As far as today we are going to hang out here at the town of La Guaria where the ship is. On final notes of my time here in Laguaria, Caracas, and Venezuela one funny thing I noticed was all the picnic table stands everywhere along the streets. Selling local goods to the locals but several of them were somthing funny they were stands with about three cell phones where locals could rent them while standing there to make phone calls in stead of pay phones. Lastly the Venezuela people have such great passion. Passion for life, love, friends, family and food. Somthing that I think that Americans in general are kind of lacking or just don´t show it. I mean where else could you stop in a city have people welcome you into their home to show you around and let you use the restroom wanting nothing in return. I know you couldn´t do that in most US towns. You would open the door and look at them as if they were crazy. Oh yeah one more thing it is funny walking around AJ and I have had atleast three ocasions where people stopped and wanted to take there photo with us like we are celebrities or somthing. I know what you are thinking that they are trying to pick pocket us, which we watched them and our wallets very closely. But I think it is because they are wanting the tourists back before 2001 they were getting over 100 cruise ships every six months and in the last year including us there were two both SAS ships. Ok I am going to run I hope you enjoy the photos that I have been promising. Chow! And God Bless!!! Chad

Another day in this Amazing City!!!!!!!

Holla!!!!!

We spent the day hiking up the Mt. Avila that I spoke about earlier. It was an extremely long hike witch finished at one of the top lockout points. We also went back to the top of the mountain via the gondolas on this tour. We learned a lot more about the city today including that they shut down the main highway around town on the weekends from dawn until 1:00pm which is pretty interesting considering. What I first noticed was a table set up in middle of the highway selling the usual sodas and fresh juices. Then after taking a second look we saw people riding there bikes as well as people walking their dogs and just generally enjoying the outdoors. You would not believe how many people were out hiking the trail with us hundreds. And then when they got to the top they had either brought a picnic lunch or a newspaper many of whom seemed to be alone and enjoying a day out on the beautiful town.
Well we did end up going salsa dancing which I got to admit I am not very good at compared to the locals but I figure if you keep moving your feet you will be ok. We meet Christian at the mall with about 30 other SAS students and he informed me if we wanted to get into a disco that I needed to wear pants that I didn’t have. So I went into the mall the first store I went into was Timberline and there as well as the next two stores wanted around 300 US for a pair of blue jeans. I guess you can now tell how up scale this place was so then I found a store that had reasonably priced jeans considering. It was pretty funny trying to tell the attendant that not only did I want to buy the jeans I also wanted to cut off the tags and wear them out of the store. Once they realized exactly what I wanted them for they got a good laugh out of that.
The first place that we went to had a cover of five dollars which had drinks included weather you wanted them or not. It was kind of like a sports bar but it was funny because they would not let the guys wear our hats inside. There were probably 20 locals watching the Venezuela soccer team play a game and they were going crazy almost the whole night. We then went to the disco and it was very funny looking at the expressions on the faces of the guys and others in the disco after they realized that AJ and I had brought about 20 girls with us. They really didn’t know what to think.
As I said earlier we had planned on going to Margarita Island with Alberto and friends but found out that the ferry left at three thirty today and would return tomorrow instead of Tuesday when we wanted it to at 8am. So we decided to arrange a tour for tomorrow with some friends. We are going to go on one of those jeep tours to two beaches, a banana plantation as well as a waterfall all day so that should be fun.
Something that I have not talked about that I am sure is just going to get worse is the fact that there is no concept of days of the week on the ship. I was just thinking of this and it took me a minute to figure out exactly what day it is. Because we run on a A and B day schedule for school and then port days so in that case it is almost irrelevant what day it is beside for church on Sundays.
Another interesting thing that I am learning about is some of the different religions in particular the Jewish faith. Which is kind of funny because I really haven’t known any in Texas that I know of. And Eric and several other friends here on the ship are. They were telling me about the Jewish New Year that is about to come up. As well as I get to hear about Eric’s stories trying to find a good Jewish girlfriend on the ship. Lots of fun as you can tell. Well I better run I will talk to you all soon.

PS Photos are coming as soon as I can find an interent shop where I can download from my casio until then sorry.

Chow!!!!

Chad

Holla from Caracas!!!!!!!!!!!

Holla!!!

Let me Start off by saying how sad all of us are for the tragedy that has occured in New Orleans. We are experiencing it first hand here on the ship because those students who had to fly home to be with their families must of which their homes are destroyed, plus the emails from Billy, and we are also able to read a news paper called the international Herald for free on the ship.
I am curently in a really cool computer shop/houseware store/internet cafe in Caracas, Venezuela. We got up early this morning to begin with a breafing by the US Embassy members here in Caracas. Then we began our “Grand Caracas City Tour” which started out at a catholic church where a man named Bolivar is buried from the 1800s everything of any importance is named after him. Our ship actually docked in the port city of La Gauria which has Mount Avila inbetween it and the city of Caracas. The mountain is covered with “Shantis” which you wouldn”t believe made out of cement and mortar blocks all over the mountain that rises around 7,000 feet. After that we went to the gondalas that took us up to the top of the mountain, whith a view of the city you wouldn´t believe. I knew that the city was huge but, the view put it really into perspective it reminded me of Mexico City but with sky scrappers disperesed throughout. With a population of between 3 and 4 million people it would be the second largest city in the States behind NYC.
Speaking of being on top of the moutain it is funny how much the Venezuelan women love the American men and I am not talking about prostitutes but classy afluent women. AJ and I got asked twice by two group of women for a photo with them. Anyways after that we went to a restaurant called “Rucio Moro” I just looked it up on yahoo.com and it has a site if you want to see it. It is really cool and made the city tour worthwile. It is almost like Texas de Brazil but they only have one steak and theey come around with a flaming bowl and serve it to you, the rest of the stuff is served on the table with a avacodo, chese, tomatoes, etc. Salad, huge slabs of white chese, fried plantains stuffed with corn mash, and potato pancakes. All of this with a live band made it lots of fun the locals that were in there didn´t know what to think with about 200 gringos walking in. After that we went to a muesem that was an old coffee bean hacidea.
Venezuela is going to turn out quit fun I had my doubts at first with all the instability with Chaves and the US. But we have been learning so much Chaves is actually hated by the wealthy and loved by the masses they all say he is one of them. He states that he wants and will be in office til 2030 and the ship was originally trying to get him onboard to speak to us but somthing came up. Curently the people are happy with him gas prices are at around 2 or three US dollars to fill up a tank. I thought even with the shipping charges it would still be cheaper to airmail gas to you but know that is highly ilegal so I will not.
Anyways back to Venezuela we are going to stay here tonight and go out to an area that we are in called Las Mercedes. Before each port they bring on what are called inter port lecturers and students that will be from the port that we are going to. Anyhow Christian who was the interport student is going to meet us at the shopping mall (a big group of us) and take us around this tourist area. Alberto and George (horhey) has a friend that has a house near by that we might stay the night at or we might all get a hotel we are just playing it by ear. Anyways, then we will go back to the ship for a tour that will be hiking mount Avila ( I know what your thinking why in the world would Chad do somthing like that but we need to do it for my Biology class, which by the way has floor to ceiling windows that look out to the ocean talk about being distracted). Then We will go with Alberto (from Mexico city) and some friend (from Monterry Mexico) and others on the ferry to Margarita Island origially if you book it through Semester at sea it is really exspensive but through this the ferry is only 35 US roundtrip. With all of them from Mexico to translate it is sure to be a good time. Then we will return to the city and try to pick up a few things like a memory stick, ice chest, cokes etc. For our room. We tried to get cokes in Nassau but to give you an example of how exspensive it is a 24 pack of canned cokes was $10.80 US. Unbelievable.
As far as the ship we had our first pub night two nights ago which was a lot of fun, everyone got dressed up and were out on deck. After that closed down we had an after party in the Suite which was a blast, it turns out that we are only one of four suites that we given to students now that some good Carma on my part enough to make up for AJ (the guys know what I mean). And last night we went Salsa dancing in the lounge where two of my classes are held. Suprisingly I am pretty good, you just have to keep moving your feet and act like you know what you are doing. We will see how I do tonight when we go out. I still can´t get over all the people that we are meeting so nice and from everywhere today we still meet people from Norway and India. It is very interesting just sitting out on deck (trying to study) by the pool and talking to people about where they come from and what there background and views on life are. Even if we didn´t go to any other place besides the states I will still have learned a lot.
But it is so amazing every couple of hours either AJ, or I, or somone makes the comment that we cann´t believe we have been blessed with the oportunity to be a part of this. I know somthing I have not talked much about are my professors I will not go on for long but my business professor who teaches both is from Aulstralia who was head of the MBA program and is taking a cibatical. Who has studied and taught in hundreds of different places, he also wrote the 850 page strategic management book that we are studying from.
Next week when we get back on the ship we will start to join the different clubs that will be available like the Student Ambasadors which our Resident Director Karen is in charge of. If selected it will be our job to host all dignitaries onboard such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a few weeks, as well as plan the Ambasadors Ball towards the end of the trip.


OK, I cann´t beleive that I have written this much and you don´t have to read all of this but I guess if you have gotten this far it is because you are concerned and care ---- I hope everything is going well for you inlight of what has happened in New Orleans, and that those of you in school are studying and having a great time, and for those of you that are traveling will remain safe. For those of you in school (college I have heard it a million times but am just now truly realizing that College is going to be one of the best times and to live it to the fullest. I love you guys, the bellow post is new as of today I wrote it on the ship but as the internet is so slow I just saved it on a floppy and posted it today. Oh yeah, the ships phone is only 1.50 US to call out so if somthing does happen that we need to get ahold of you then I will for sure get in touch with you, I think it is like at least 4 dollars for you to call us. And so I leave you not with adios, but as the locals say.

Chow!!!!!!!!!!!!


PS – You know how bad my spelling is so I was trying to go fast and all of this computer is in spanish sorry.

1st Day of classes!!!!

September 1, 2005

Well I have finished my first day of classes today and just got back from lunch. The food on the ship is really good, there are two dinning rooms one formal and one that has inside and outside dinning on the back of the ship. There is also a snack bar by the pool, and all the bars serve like popcorn and candy. The food is really good (which we were all pretty surprised about for example last night they had a full salad bar and then for dinner there was steak cooked medium, grilled Mahi Mahi potatoes wedged steamed broccoli and cauliflower, greens beans, fresh breads, cheeses, and fresh like grapes and bananas and chocolate cake.
As far as my schedule on A days I have class from 8 to 10:45 am and on B days I have class from 8 to 12:00. It is funny because today both of my classes were held in the show room/lounge. Both professors are very interesting my business teacher is originally from London and went to school at Cambridge and has lived mainly in Australia for the past several years. I am actually already learning a lot. One such topic that we have learned is the concept of a main principal that Americans hold so dear to them being Equality. But we were asked well what exactly is it, and which particular one is the one you wish for your home land. Although there are several different types we came to the conclusion there were two main ones: Equality opportunity and Equality outcome. Personally I think Opportunity is the best and something truly America is doing really well. Now this can get pretty touchy but think of with the student loans available a lot of students are able to chose (in some cases bring on debt) weather or not to work or study or do both. Anyways.
Back to the trip, I am meeting amazing people from all over the place a kid that lives down the hall is from New Delhi, India who has been giving us a lot of advice on the India adventure we have planned. As well as people from China, Venezuela, Mexico City, Monterrey Mexico and California, Peru etc. etc. and all over the US ranging from schools from Yale MIT, etc. etc. Overall there are 683 students 66% female and 34% male with about 6 people so far that are from Texas.
Oh and having the Suite 3001 has been so awesome it makes traveling the world so awesome. There is so much room, closet space, desk space, two TVs/phone etc. It is pretty cool on deck at night as well because until really late we left at around 11:30pm last night and the people were still a ton of people out on deck and socializing. The only problem is that there are so many people that want to work out that you have to sign up for the machines early so I have a treadmill reserved today at 3:00 and you have to sign up at least 24 hours in advance to get one. It is pretty funny because they have a full spa available onboard with massages, sauna, and all the salon services at pretty reasonable prices. I did my first batch of in room washing yesterday witch was pretty interesting I had a close line run all over the room. Well today is Thursday and we get into Venezuela on Saturday not too long yet. Tonight we have our first pub night so that should be fun. The cabin Stewart just came in to clean the room so I am going to run, talk to you all soon miss you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!