Vietnam tomorrow, Vietnam tomorrow, Vietnam tomorrow!

Hi everyone~
It is amazing that 2 days have gone by in this fast pace environment called shiplife! With only 2 days in between port, barely gives you enough time to do laundry, unpack, answer emails and get your job done to prepare for the next port!
So, I thought I would send a few pics from the last day in Hong Kong, some pics from the muster drill tonight(these pics did not turn out,so will have to wait until the next one in 30 days) and also a few more photos of new friends on board ship! Something that I look forward to on pre-port night is getting together with the small girls group that has formed for ST. whoever's watch on this night-tonight is St. Debbie's~although we see each other around, it is nice to have exclusive time with these few gals! Life get pretty hectic & overwhelming sometimes in larger groups, so the intimacy of this sacred group has really given me something to look forward to.

So, here is the rest of Hong Kong-I slept in the morning after getting in so late from Guilin, so by the time I decided what I wanted to do, it was 1030 and off I went on my own to go where the wind would take me...I was either going to go up the escalators to the top of the peak or off to Stanley market area to do some shopping-it has been quite a few years since I have been here-WAIT , the mere fact that I have been here ever at all is amazing...anyway, when I got to the other side to what is called Central, it started pouring rain-of course to me the skies just looked smoggy and I was not prepared...so my decision was quick to head to Stanley market...and whala there were 2 RD's on the bus, Steph and Jenny...so, this is how SAS works, you see someone and they are doing what you want to do and whala instant travel buddies...so off we went on this crazy bus on this winding crazy road-clearly the driver had done this several times before so it was no big deal to him...of course more like an e-ride for the 3 of us, especially because we were on the top deck in the very front! Very fun...the rain did not let up, but fortunately Stanley market is pretty much covered bazaar inside...so, we set our watches for 2 hours and headed out...quickly I got into shopping mode and thought about gifts I might want to get and did a pretty darn good job of finding what I considered deals! Of course, I was probably getting ripped off in Hong Kong standards, but hey, anything under $5 is a deal to me! We met up at 2pm and headed for a hole in the wall on the outer skirts of the market. There were several she-she la-la restaurants obviously designed for the tourist, but we found the great hole in the wall around the corner with the locals. Then we decided to head back into town, drop off our stuff and decide to go from there...on the way back in all of the corriders and covered spots, one will find thousands of mostly philipino women who gather on Sundays to meet and enjoy each other~take a look- the numbers and areas were staggering...at that point we split up and I decided to stay on this side of town, as I had to be on the ship within 2 hours. All went as planned, I went back to the same restaurant that we had found on the first day and had a delicious dinner...headed to the ship to find out that we were to have rough seas...but they never panned out!







Saigon in the background with river in view!


2 days have passed now and unfortunately, we had no internet access as we pulled into Vietnam, so not able to complete this...so for those worried with your notes that I have not posted, I am ok and actually now in Cambodia! YES, my world is in the whirwind mode...unfortunately for you I just had an hour massage and it is now 11:30pm and I need to get some beauty rest before starting up again-I promise to write more when I get to a real computer and connection...we see the killing fields tomorrow and head to Angkor Wat tomorrow night-a couple of very intense and I know for me emotional days here! AND we had a first wonderful day here in Cambodia-flew in this morning....it is actually very very beautiful here~ not sure what I expected, but so far it has exceeded my unknown expectations! We are staying at a beautiful hotel across the street from the US embassy called the Sunway Hotel-not bad digs...Amie and I have an incredible suite-will add pictures when I am able-OH MY GOD!!!
So more soon, ok?
Later gators!
Love, ro

Guilin, China

Hi everyone~
Just got back last night at around7pm from Guilin China-clearly an amazing place in the world to see! But, we were on a mission of speed and agility and did not have one moment to write from there...being our trip got cut almost in half, they attempted to squeeze as much in as possible and still let us sleep for 6 hours a night! So, needless to say, when I rolled over at 0830 this morning, I did not leap out of bed! Heading out to experience Hong Kong for the day and we leave tonight at 11pm. Just got word that the seas will be VERY rough tonight as we head out, so will probably not write again tonight!
So Guilin...we arrived there late in the evening about 2330pm, enough time to have dinner and check into our rooms. We were up the next morning @ 0600 to begin our day down the Li River...which was definitely the highlight of the trip. Of course my picture of what this was going to look like were these small river boats running on a single engine and just with our group of 30...then reality of commercialism hit when we hit the shore and found hundreds of others thinking the same thing..they "herded" us on large houseboats, settled into a bottom level with seats in groups of 8 and headed down the river. Now, with that said, within minutes we realized that each group was pretty much on one of 3 levels and the remaineder of trip was fabulous, after a few laughs about our imaginations!
then these mountains...they were everywhere! One of the sad lessons though is that China is just beginning to discover is that using coal and driving excess amounts of cars is creating a level of pollution that is taking over many of the bigger cities...so when you look at these pictures, the haze is smog, not overcast skies...again, taking that out of the equation, these mountains close up are just astounding! We cruised down the river until about 1:30pm, having had lunch on the ship, which was a typical Chinese meal for just about every meal we had there. I included some pictures from postcards so you can also see the "natural beauty" without the smog~i even did a night one so you know I am not messing with ya...at least I am telling you I did not cheat because the difference is amazing... and then, as we are headed down the river, we see a bunch of guys on these bamboo rafts that at first seem like they are just hanging out. As they get closer to boat, it looks like they are going to run into the boat by accident and oh no, we are going to hit them...but NO. they pull up alongside of us and whala, instant chatke shopping opportunity...the most hilarious part was seeing one of these guys screaming on his cell phone to his distributor about getting more goods! (just made that part up-I must say, consumerism is working in all corners of the earth!) And then there is Judy-we got to be on this trip together and I just love this woman-her story telling capabilities are magical-she's trying to teach me, but I think it is a lost artform! We had fun together on this trip and I am sure there will be many more in the years to come~a kick in the pants!
The day went on then to climb one of these mountain peaks-but at 95 degrees, many of us decided to stay back after hearing it was 950 steps-although I had been doing my 8-10,000 steps, these ones were straight up-no one came back without their legs vibrating and sweating at 20! Not that I could not keep up with the best of them, it was a choice to stay back with the other half and hang out and have a beer in the shade! And finally the day was topped off by seeing the 2500 year old banyon tree-
I have never seen anything as big other than the heighth of a sequoia! Dinner then and a couple of students and I decided to venture out into the city square area to walk around-it was Friday night and everyone was out on the town-families, teens and the whole city it seemed. There were street vendors that were selling chatskis and of course, we were the only 3 blondes in the whole area~we went to bed then only to have a morning wake up call at 0600 to get up to do ti chi with a master teacher...well obviously beginners, we learned the first part of the ever so complicated and long series...I plan to take the class taught on board though by a faculty members wife when we start having days at sea again! Here we are in our carefully constructed poses... The day was then spent going to a silk factory to see how silk is made, a Art University where we were taught how to use ink and brushes to do chinese character writing as well as a zoo where the giant panda was located~the zoo was the least favorite as the panda looked somewhat drugged up sitting in his little corner zoning-BUT, the gift was meeting this elder and helping her smash aluminum cans-surely a highlight to connect with an elder for me!AND there's more, but I gotta start prepping for the on-ship time festivities of announcements and more annoucements! As I said, the ship will be rockin and rollin tonight and I have never been sea sick nor taken any drugs...but everyone is saying that if we want any sleep tonight to do so...so, we will see~will let you know tomorrow what the verdict was...and stay tuned for info on the caves, pics from the silk factory and my day in Hong Kong!!!
love for now~
ro
p.s. mom, I bought a Marjan set today-so you're gonna have to start teaching me to play!

Hong Kong today, CHINA tomorrow!

Hi everyone~
We just arrived in Hong Kong this morning at 8am to a beautiful sunrise and then you see Hong Kong in the distance the other direction and WOW take a look at these amazing skyscrapers-more than mars scrapers! I cannot believe how amazing this city is to sail into-it almost is sureal! But, we cleared the ship pretty quickly and was able to be off by 10:30am...cruised around town a bit, some dim sum and hot and sour soup at a local hang out on this side street we found and some coffee at a local coffee shop~I am committed to not drinking from a starbucks on this entire trip-THEY ARE EVERYWHERE~just like in the states~SUPPORT LOCAL COFFEE SHOPS CAMPAIGN! Afterwards, Amie and I took a stroll through Kowloon Park-this beautiful oasis in the middle of this crazy bustling city-you can see the contrast in this picture as folks sat & ate their lunch & visions in the background of the old high rise buildings downtownAlso got some postcards to send out and I came back to the ship for a little R&R before we take off herein an hour.

Anyway, did not finish my packing for my trip to Guilin so better get hoppin' to my room-I think I mentioned that they have carry-on baggage restrictions-so, one way or another Anne, they are going to teach us to pack light~inside funny as Anne and I pretty much had EVERYTHING one could think of having on our trip in 2000...I have gotten a little better, but not by much!

So, here are a couple of shots of Hong Kong...but I will be back in town on Saturday and we leave Sunday-going to head to a monastary for a 24 hour silent meditation on Lantau Island(?) with Amie who has done Vapassana mediation in India and Thailand ...then some power shopping on Sunday...you see, all in "balance"...until then~
love, ro

Hong Kong tomorrow, Hong Kong tomorrow, Hong Kong tomorrow

Well as you can see, we are almost in Hong Kong~the seas have calmed down, the community has begun to form and life is finally settling in as much as it can on a ship going around the world. I have had some up days and down days in the past 4 since Kobe and mostly up...it just amazes me how I can get thrown off by one little incident versus trying to always keep the larger picture in my minds eye...and yet, I am at ease most of the time, enjoying the students, staff, adult passengers and especially the crew! Clearly the gift of this tough job is the connection to the crew and of course mostly the Captain and his officers...but I have grown to be close to our Chief Purser, Anna Maria, and her assistant Anna who are both sweethearts...here they are... they live across the purser's square from me in our mutual offices...
Last night we had cultural preports and we are fortunate to have an interport student from Hong Kong who got on board in Kobe and will leave in Hong Kong as well as an International student from mainland China who is sailing the full 100 days. They did an interview type format about their lives and the contrasts of 2 women's lives in different parts of China was fascinating! Here is a picture of Lin Wing Lok and Inga being interviewed by the Academic Dean~and Fil is another one-so hilarious and just catches you off guard most of the time with his humor and questions... oooh, a little dark, but ya get the idea... and finally another introduction to someone you have already met, but have not met her significant other, JB-they just got married days before the trip started-a great story in and of itself-they have known & been together for over 7 years...these 2 are a hoot and have clearly becomeand will be close friends on the ship and beyond...here is series at dinner that will give you an idea of how things go around here...T is crazy and JB just goes along for the ride-of course, this was after JB stole a huge piece of ice cream cake from some birthday party at another table and T ate most of it...and then Kate who ended up getting the last piece and being very happy about it~take a look...Tonight is logistical pre ports and it looks like I get the afternoon off~although cloudy out, I think I will go and get some fresh air and then I need to pack for Guilin, as we leave tomorrow after the ship clears for a 3 day whirlwind (it has been reduced from the 5 day trip. I must say, it was nice to have the extra 2 days at sea to get ready to go again!)...see ya in China!!!
love, ro

p.s. Tim just walked in with an apology letter from a student who told me it was "fuckin ridiculous" that he could not drink his beer as he was coming up the gangway as we were trying to get everyone on board to leave early to avoid the typhoon...of course in my "not so calm" way, I told him that he needed to think again about what he said and then he said it again...ah, yes, those teachable moments sometime are fleeting...but 3 days later is not bad to get it after you meet with Assistant Director of Student Life and get disciplined for it I suppose...trying to keep my expectations in check at all times!

Good day maties!

Japan and beyond

Hi everyone~
I finally got to see my aunt and uncle on Thursday~ Rakibe Apa took me around town to some of her favorite shops for okaki (japanese crackers) and japanese tea and we also stopped and had coffee at her favorite coffee place, which had been there since the 1950's. We then took the train out to Rocco area, where they live and met up with Ferid Abe and had dinner at one of their local favorite spots-clearly the sake speciality place as seen here and we enjoyed each others company and got to catch up a bit...another wonderful meal to boot-thank you Rakibe Apa and Ferit Abe-I really enjoyed spending the day with you!

And the ending day in Japan was fabulous...I did not have duty the last day and contemplated about just hanging out close to the ship, partly because it was raining, partly because I was just plain tired! And then the morning presented itself with Tim Trevan coming to Purser's square and joyfully talking about heading out to Osaka for the Danjin festival. A professor had put up information about this annual festival and how cool it was, so whala, I threw my sneakers and slicker on and found Debbie and Andy the videographer and off we went...we must have changed 4 trains at 5 different stations, got a little turned around at a few but ended up in the little outskirt suburb of Osaka where clearly the entire town as well as many visitors from all over Japan gathered for this festival...not really sure as to what it was, we found ourselves there early...we proceeded to find a lunch place,and of course to my likings, found a yaki soba and place-my fellow neopytes of Japanese food went along with the choices and we had a filling lunch with beers. We then headed down to the main street to wait the beginning of these races around the city. there were many people who were dressed in these hapi coats but again not being sure what was about to happen, we hung out and tried to get more information...all of a sudden we heard all this rumbling and right down the street we saw this line up of people holding these ropes attached to these huge wooden structures that were pulled around the corners at warp speed, shouting and chanting what sounded like "toga, toga"~but clearly something else. We did find out that each represented a different war and family groups-where kids as small as 6 were part of the pulling teams~riding on the wooden structures were the elders.

We came back and headed one more time to the 100 yen store, where we found lots of students buying last minutes dollar gifts and then headed back to the ship for an early on-ship time...

Because earlier that morning, the Captain met with Bob and I to share with us that we would be diverted to Hong Kong and miss our stop in Quindao due to a HUGE typhoon that was headed toward Japan. So, he wanted to get out of dodge as quickly as possible and headed straight south to avoid even the tail of this typhoon! We got off right at 8pm or 2020 and headed for the seas...we had an all ship meeting to let folks know what was going on~and had the Captain explain the course of action to avoid rough seas! Although I must say, we still hit rough seas all night last night and most of us did not sleep very well, being woken up by things flying off the shelves and rockin and rollin happening all night long-the swells increased most of the day and most folks are looking a little tired and wiped out today! Because we will now be on the ship for the next 5 days, we will be having 2 days of no classes along with 2 days of actual class days...I think this will be best in terms of folks needing a little rest before heading to China. Our trips in China are obviously be diverted by Semester At Sea while we are at sea and we will have 1 1/2 less days on our trips to China...but all of this said, I am feeling much better about this than being anywhere near a typhoon!

Ok, we are really rockin and rollin right now-just about fell out of my chair in the office writing this~ I am heading to bed early tonight so I can hopefully catch up on some sleep! It really is a different feeling when the ship is really moving, trying to do anything with 'normalsy', but surely all part of the adventure...until tomorrow then~
love, ro

picture on first day w/Kobe tower in background...

Reflections of day 1 to day 18

fireboat into kobe

I decided to place my reflections here instead of email-less complicated at these internet cafes...

Dear friends & family~

We arrived in Kobe yesterday and 0800 and by the time all of the festivities were completed, my friend Debbie and I were able to get off the ship and head into downtown for a bit of getting away from it all, getting our feet on the ground and making our first trip to find money, stamps and a place to eat!

During this time and in the past 24 hours, I have begun my decompression process of the first 19 days on the ship from Ensenada, Mexico to Kobe, Japan. Although we had a day in Hawaii, it really has been as if I have been on a campus with 800 people, closed in together with no escape or downtime to think through, process and re-group again…that is both the beauty of Semester At Sea and sometimes the crazy intensity of the voyage of discovery. In the long run, this is what makes Semester At Sea and this journey so darn memorable…and the memories have already begun!

I hope many of you have been following and enjoying my blog, as this has been the place for me to highlight the happenings on the ship. I hope to also keep my travel journal going similarly on there, although this may be a bit more challenging as we start popping in and out of countries here in the next couple of weeks. My next few trips will be incredible-we leave Japan on Saturday and we are only at sea for 2 days and boom in China the following Tuesday. I am heading up to Guilin for almost the entire time we are in China: we port in Qindao and are only there for 2 days-the ship then sails to Hong Kong for 2 days and then in Hong Kong for an additional 2 days~ during this time, the majority of the ship community will be traveling to all parts of China-clearly most folks will be at the Great Wall., but I will be experiencing a “natural environment” wonderof the world-can’t wait to see this in real person~ I have only seen these gum drop mountains in pictures. We are then on the ship for 3 days and boom in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. There I am headed up to Cambodia for all but 1 day of our stay which is another 6 days…and so the second 17 days of my journey around the world will be gone quickly! We then have a break on the ship of 5 days before we arrive in Myanmar! After 5 days there, we will only have 2 days on the ship and then India. Another long stretch then happens to Adibiya, Egypt…I will stop there, but you see this all adds to the amazing intensity of it all…

So, I have learned to take it day by day, enjoying the gems of folks I am meeting, the amazing moments of learning and connection I am experiencing and being present as much as I can to the fact that I get to do this amazing trip!

We are presently just about to dismiss our first student from this amazing adventure though, which has put a big damper on my day today. He is an amazing human being and although I have only had a brief conversation with him, he brought with him a serious drug addiction issue and did not get himself the proper help prior to putting himself into this somewhat “pressure cooker” environment. The fortunate part is that he was able to share with us his problems early on and had this somewhat safe environment for both us and him to realize that this is just not going to be the best situation for him to be in! He needs to go home, get himself into some rehab and pull his life back together again. His fat
her was notified the day before yesterday and is 10 minutes from the ship now who will escort him home. It really is so sad…and a second student is pretty close to being #2 with a very serious alcohol addiction. The ship is a small picture of what is on every campus across America, but added pressure with the trip and intensity I spoke of earlier, it really brings out these addictions into the limelight~ surely no place to hide here on this small ship! So, we will see…but first things first though~ we need to deal with him tonight and the next fellow later tonight!

Well, enough for today and this leg of the journey. I see my aunt and uncle tomorrow for the day and dinner with them tomorrow night-looking forward to catching up with them. We then climb Mt Roco on Friday, a little Kereoke that evening and who knows what Saturday will bring!

Thank you again to those who have dropped me a line here and there-I cannot tell you how much this keeps me grounded in who I am in the rest of my life-cause things can get pretty skewed out here-love hearing what you are doing day to day at home~ as someone said in a note today, “it just seems so mundane to talk about my measly existence as I read about your worldly travels”…but I gotta tell ya, it helps me “normalize” my mundane crazy world on this ship!
Love you all~ ro

here are some reflective picture from Kobe... fresh tofu at dinner

haruki @ dinner & 1st stop-post office
sake tradition of pouring for others!

temple in kobe

kinkos in japan!

We arrived in \kobe, \japan yesterday morning and by the time the ship was cleared and all, we were off the ship at 1pm-got to ring a few folks with my free cell phone and will call others today-the trick is to figure out what time it is there and not wake you up in the middle of the night with a call!
Today is \wednesday and i am sitting in a kinkos in sannomiya train station-the irony of it all-halfway across the world and i am sitting in a kinkos-forgot to bring my camera holder thing so will put pictures up later today...many things are very very expensive here but was able to score a free all inclusive japanese dinner with the travel agent we work with last night-I WAS IN MY ELEMENT-eating and drinking away while others were looking at everything twice before putting it in their mouths! Mom, you would have dies-all thing foods \i grew up with and they were all there in front of me=right about then, \i was feeling pretty proud of my heritage, my background and all of it all came togehter over the sushi and sake!
I will write more later when \i bring my camera back...going to go the \sogo shopping center right now and buy myself a teapot...cracked the one i bought in 2000 so will try and replace it with a new one!
relaxing port for me as i am the duty dean in this port-will not then have responsibilities until our last port in Spain, so stay tuned for a lot of travel adventures. \i will also be writing a group email and actually placing it i think on here or perhaps through hotmail...we will see how easy it is when i come back later.
until then, siyonara!
love, ro

Dining at the Captain's pleasure~

Well, remembering the Captain's dinner's as a special event on my past voyages was far surpassed last night as were wined and dined for 3.5 hours! It started with a cocktail party in the faculty/staff lounge with open bar and appetizers to die for! (Left: Kate, Deb & I in pursers square showing off out wares, Right: Rita, Judy and I at the reception Below: on our way to dinner)
We then walked down to the dining room, where we sat then for 3 hours to a 5 course meal..

Starting with French wine and the starter of smoked salmon rolade rosettes w/honey mustard dressing. The soup was an amazing cream of spinach soup followed by a caesar salad that was to die for (especially after 14 days of basic lettuce in the cafeteria). The entree was grilled filet mignon, made to our own likings and small petite vegetables surrounding the meat. Of course a red merlot from napa valley was served with the main entree! You know how much I love to cook~so, whoever is up for it, when I get back I will replicate this meal and you too can imagine being in the dining room being wined and dined...sign ups?

Followed finally by this beautiful black forest cake surrounded by a chocolate armour served with heated chocolate liquer served by the Hotel Director who headed our table (and just for our table).

We had an amazing evening~23 people were again blessed to be sailing around the world dining at the Captain's pleasure...the next 23 faculty, staff and adult passengers only have this to look forward to and for us a fond memory to take home with us as a keepsake! What else could be said for today than just this!
love, ro
(our table l to r: Henry Pontel (fac), jane allison (adt pass), Petar (chf eng), moi, dwight allison (adt pass), tony (hotel dtr), Erika Day,(librarian) and Rita (field office)

International Date Line and more...

Well, the last time I wrote, it was the 6th and the next day we woke up on the ship it was the 8th...the bit red line in the ocean distinguishing the International Date Line was beautiful~my favorite color....now, now don't think crazy things like many of the passengers on board...clearly the question of the day around here was-"will we see the date line when we cross it?" Of course by the end of the day, it is much more fun to make things up than actually answer the question with no sarcasm!

Anyway, the day was just like any other day except for the following~
...a little longer on the bike because with all of these time changes, I wake up now around 4:30am...so, instead of lying awake I went down and cycled for a little longer and added some weights to boot...
...a wonderful massage at 6pm with hot rocks and deep tissue...what a treat~Chin, was wonderful...
...of course I was not much use after that, but did have to introduce our Safety officer who did a talk on Safety for 40 minutesfor the shipboard community... and then straight to my room to watch a funky movie and asleep by 10pm!
And today was the first global studies exam...so it was the first day of RD/Staff VACATION by the poolside while the faculty proctored the exam from 9:20-10:35! Here are some fun shots of hanging out in the sun, playing cards and poolside team building! side & below the RD staff~

Tonight though is the Captain's dinner...she she la la, reception, 5 course meal and wine flowing throughout the evening...I will take pics and put them up tomorrow! Long day at the office-heading out now as it is already 4:30 and the gal has to start primping for the evening event! We get to go to this once (sometimes twice) during the voyage-this will be the first one-looking forward to socializing with the Captain's group that I work with everyday!

Later~
love, ro

Cheeseburgers and paradise...

As Jimmy Buffet would say, he likes his with cheese and tomatoes...we had our first bbque outside on the pool deck tonight-pretty fabulous! The CREW IS AMAZING! Take a look at the beautiful decorations and the joy on student's faces...and even played a little Buffet over the loudspeakers to get everyone in the mood!
As you can see, I especially enjoyed the bbque ribs~and so did my pants!

I also wanted you to meet a couple of my already favorite students on the ship-I have been adopted by several who call me "mom"-of course I could be offended, but their mothers are younger that I am, so might as well enjoy having lots of kids! These guys are sweet and make my day (their idea to play a little Buffet-of course they wanted me to sing it over the speakers!)
(ltor: will, steve and chad)

And then 3 of the RD's, who are all doing such a great job and have been troopers, trying to work all the bugs out of the crazy ticket sales debacle and keeping their spirits up when the chips have been down... (l to r) Stephanie, Jennifer and Jenny...
AND...SOOOO...another day in quite a different paradise I am calling home for the next 89 days!

love, ro