Saturday March 10, 2007 11:27
I know I have not posted in a long time, I am sorry!! I am so busy on this boat that it is ridiculous. Trying to keep up on all the work and get my senior project finished is overload. Not to mention never having weekends to get caught up! We just left Cape Town yesterday and everyone was so SO sad. Although it is only our 3rd port (4th if you include the Bahamas) I think it is going to be my favorite, but before I get to S.A. I need to talk about Brazil.
Before we got to Brazil, on Valentines Day, we crossed the equator. We did not have time to stop and do Neptune day because we needed to get to Brazil. Brazil was really, really pretty as we pulled into the port with the sun shining on the beautiful downtown. Then as you got closer you could see the hills were lined we tons and tons of shacks. Immediately we could already get a feeling of the poverty that we were about to see. The first day (Feb. 17th) I went on a walking tour to see the city and get oriented to where we could and could not go. We went to some places that are considered a no go, but we had a few police officers with us so we were fine. After the tour Ana, Meesh and I decided to stay and shop around in the upper part of the city. It was safe for the most part, but there were a few times I felt sketched out. We headed back to the boat as it grew close to sunset because after dark it is not good for girls to be out alone. Upon arriving back to the boat we learned that many people had already experienced thefts and robberies. A group of 3 girls was robbed at knife point with the cops standing only at the other end of the block. Tons of people watched but did not do anything. One of the girls is my friend and she reported that some of the women comforted her after the fact, but did nothing to try and stop it~ I think that is totally crazy. Later that night we had a dinner with a SAS trip called Bahia by Night with Solar Do Unhao. It was a blast the food was really good and the performance was awesome. They do a dance called Capo-eira and it is amazing!! There was even a guy who danced with bowls of fire. He swung them around while dancing, waving his arms over the fire. He even put his feet in the fire and danced around with them clearly still burning. It was extreme. A few of my friends wanted to leave and go out from there but I wanted to stay in for the first night. I was really scared about going out and both of my friends had really low cut shirts on which is a big NO NO there. I decided it would be best to wait and see what everyone’s night consisted of before I decided to go subject myself to the craziness of Carnival. The next day (Feb. 18th) we did a Bahia’s north coast. We had a long drive to an animal reserve, Parque Sauipe. We unfortunately were not there at the right time to see the animals feeding but we did get to see monkeys, which is what I really wanted to see the most. They were little monkeys called White Tufted Eared Marmosets. I got some good pictures of them. They just opened the park up to the public so we were the first big group to come thru it~ lucky us! Then we headed to a hotel/ restaurant and beach for lunch and some water time. When we got to the restaurant they said they did not know we were coming despite the fact that we had reservations. So instead of eating like we all wanted to, we headed to the water to play. It took over 1.5 hours for them to get food prepared for our group. Meanwhile other tables, of locals, had come, ordered, eaten, paid and left. I really felt some bad vibes from the staff there. Once they did get the food out they started serving everyone a bowl until the realized they had not made enough. And they went and grabbed bowls of food others had been eating on and passed them out to other tables. They did not even serve 2 tables, mine and another table. So we waited even more. They brought out 3 bowls of food for our table- 2 big guys and 3 girls, all of whom are starving. The bad part is they did not even serve the last table. They last table just got everyone left-overs. It was ridiculous. Just to give them a bunch of bad advertising because the place was HORRIBLE, the name is Hotel Canto Do Mar. After leaving there we headed back to the ship, got cleaned up and headed out for the night. We ended up with a group of 16, 10 girls and 6 guys. It was crazy. Not going to go into much detail but the party was out of control. I took my disposable camera so that I would not be afraid of getting it stolen. Only a few hours into the night, pushing thru the crowd some guy reached into my pants where I had it tucked and grabbed it. I was sad but happy it was not my real camera. The night continued for hours. I made it safely home with my guy friend Ryan. Anna, Meesh and I had to get up early so we went back before everyone else. It was just the 4 of us walking back and there were definitely times that I was a little bit scared. Once we got on to the main street the boat was on I felt safe. Morning came (Feb. 19th) really early and I went to “A Day at the Circus”. Needless to say I was not feeling that great. I thought we were going to go watch people perform for us and we would get to try a few of the activities but that was not the case. We were the performers and there were no kids to put on a show. They talked about how they recruit kids of the streets, and then it was our turn to try everything. There was a unicycle, a trampoline, a trapeze, tight ropes, juggling, rope you climb and then get spun around. I spent a lot of time watching but I did try the unicycle, trapeze, and the tight ropes. I was glad to get back on the bus when it was over. We went back to the ship and I passed out for the rest of the day. I got up that evening took a shower and got ready to go out. We were going out with a SAS group with a bloco (one of the floats- basically a decorated 18 wheeler) called Cortejo Afro. We all had really cool outfits to show that we were allowed inside the ropes around the float. Some people brought the cameras and I wish I had, but I did not. One of our friends Jen brought hers and I took a disposable so I should be fine. Again the party was crazy but I felt much safer behind the ropes with security holding the ropes. Regular people were not allowed inside the ropes, but we could leave the ropes. We meet all sorts of people dancing in the ropes. The night was only supposed to last until 3 AM, which was still going to be rough because I had to be up at 8 for a trip to Itaparica Island. Turns out that we were only a little over ½ way at 3 AM. I wanted to go home but there was no way to get a cab unless you walked a few blocks thru a mob of people, so I just kept going. I alternated Red Bull and water to keep myself alive. We finally got to the end and we learned we still had a bit of a walk to get to the bus. Once I had the bus in sight I walked as fast as I could to the bus. Took off my costume and passed out. (I have to shorten these up or I will never tell you about it all.) The next day (Feb. 20th) I had a really hard time getting up but I did and went on a boat to Itaparica Island. We were on a 1.5 hour boat ride that saved me. I got to sleep, so when we got to the first small island I was fine. We swam in all Saints Bay and lay in the beautiful sun. Got back on the boat and went to the big island. We had a wonderful lunch. It was so good chicken, beef, lasagna, meatballs- AWESOME compared to the food on the boat. We walked around a bit; I bought a really cute pink Brazilian swim suit. Got back on the boat and went back. The view of the city was so beautiful as we were heading back to the port. Got back on the ship got a shower and then went to a Brazilian steak house and it was awesome. I tried everything they brought by the table that was not bloody, including chicken hearts. They were a little chewy but good. I also enjoyed the sushi for the first time, and I tried an octopus that still looked like an octopus leg, still had the little suction cups~ weird. I went there with a big group but ran into three girls that were there eating with 2 older guys they had met in Brazil. They were having a way better time than my table so after dinner I joined them. Instead of going out and enjoying my last night in the dangerous streets, we decided to go to a really nice bar and be safe. The bar was beautiful. It was on a peer surrounded by water. I was tired and wanted to go back so my friend Josh and I made the really bad decision to walk back to the boat. We should have known when we walked by a police officer with a semi-automatic weapon that we were not in a good part of town. And on top of that I am sure it was obvious we had been drinking, so needless to say we were an obvious target. Somehow we both made it back to the boat in one piece, unrobed. Went back to the room and passed out. Got up in the morning (Feb. 21st) and went shopping all day. I bought so much stuff. I had been shopping in my head the whole trip so I saved the last day to actually go out and buy things. I bought a lot of cool stuff but I can not talk about any of it because a lot of it is gifts. What I will say is everything in every store was negotiable. It was really fun to negotiate what I thought was a fair price for an item. I shopped all day long. We left the boat at noon and did not get back until about 8pm. We had to be back on the boat at 9. I did not drink that night, so it was very fun to watch all the other people who got wasted before getting back on the boat. We pulled out of port about 11 and it was really beautiful to see the city lights as we pulled away. Unfortunately we had to go back to school the next day.
School is going okay but I think it is a lot harder than school at Stephens. I think mainly it is so hard because we have no weekends. We have something to do everyday; we are either in port or in classes. It’s really hard to balance your time in addition to all the extra curricular stuff that is offered every night. But basically school is school and it sucks. One thing I can say is that I am worried I will not get straight A’s and I am going to mess up my GPA, but at this point I am really not to concerned about it. I am going to give it my best shot and if I don’t get straight A’s I’m not going to kill myself. This is the opportunity of a life time and I really don’t want to spend the whole time studying. And in addition to all my work on the boat I am trying to finish my senior project……argh!
I was sick after Brazil from the lack of sleep and excess of partying, and lots of people were getting strep so I went to the doctor and got a test, but I was fine. Lots of hot tea, cough drops and Dayquil, glad I came prepared!!
Anyway on the 22nd we did an activity called Rock the Hawk, which entailed a lot of people donating hair to locks of love and shaving Mohawks. That night 16 girls donated more than 10 inches of hair. It was crazy to see all these chicks chop off tons of hair. It was like a plague. One second a girl was like that is crazy, the next second she was in the chair getting her hair chopped off. I was really worried because I was thinking…trip of a lifetime…why not. But I decided against it because I would look in the mirror and cry everyday. Some of the chicks looked really good with a Mohawk, to my surprise.
The night before Neptune day they were selling tickets to raise money for charity, to shave teacher’s heads. I bought $20 worth of tickets to shave my business teacher’s head, since he said we could shave it in fashion that we wanted. Right before bed I got a note on my door saying I won. I was so excited. Whitney had no idea what he was in for.
On the 24th we stopped the boat to do Neptune day and give recognition to King Neptune (who coincidentally looked a lot like Captain Jeremy but painted green)~LOL!!! We got waken up by the crew banging pots and pans in the hallway at 7:45 AM. I went directly back to sleep until the voice (what we call the guy on the PA system) woke us up at 8:30 as the festivities began. Everyone swarmed to the pool deck where they did a cool little ceremony introducing everyone and had us chanting that we are worthy. King Neptune said we needed to prove our worth, which included having fish guts poured on our heads, and then jumping into the pool, climb up the stairs, kiss two (guttedJ) fish, and then kiss King Jeremy’s ring of the sea. Some people tried just to kiss his check and he threw them back in the pool and they had to kiss the fish and the ring again. Afterwards I went directly to take a shower, since it was a little chilly and I still was a little sick. We all lay out and soaked up some sun. This was the first day I really got some serious color. I think it helped me feel better too! Anyway time came after lunch to shave the teachers head. I recruited on of my business project partners to help me out. All I can say is the feeling was unreal. I felt like I should be getting in big trouble, like something evil you would do to one of your friends after they passed out at a party. In addition to that feeling it was a teacher!!! We decided to create a really awesome creative haircut. People said it looked the fryers from Robin Hood, but we left a small little poof on the top. (I have not figured out how to post photos or I would definitely take the time to post one.) His hair cut was amazing; he was such a good sport. We took lots of pictures and so did his wife. He promised he would leave it for 2 days so that everyone in his A classes and B classes could see his hair. The next day in class he gave us a collage his wife had created, it was really cute. Even thought I worried he might be mad at us, but I really feel like it made it closer. He will never forget the day his students shaved his head!!!
The next day (Feb, 25th) was horrible. We usually travel at about 20 knots an hour, but we were ahead of schedule so we had to slow down to like 10 knots and hour. It was horrible!!! The boat was rocking and rolling. When you sat in the cafeteria, looking out the window on one side, you would see all ocean and then you would see all sky. It was like that for a day and a half. There were lots of people really, really sea sick. Luckily I was fine. The drawers in my room were another subject. I had to use my pink duct tape to keep them from flying open and shut, open and shut. I was glad when I heard that we were racing a cruise ship for the ‘good spot’ in port and we had to pick the pace back up. The movement was fine as soon as we went pack to our regular speed.
The 27th we did a very interesting and controversial simulation. They made an announcement right after global studies that the boat would be segregated for 24 hours. All the people who saved their heads were the privileged ones and those who did not were the outcasts. That meant that only the privileged could use the elevator, the public bathroom, the 6th dining hall, attend pub night, and they had the right to push anyone off the weight machines or the computers if they needed to. Lunch was a mess; probably about 100 people shaved their heads, which meant that everyone else had to eat in the 5th floor dining hall. They were running out of food and plates and everything. The line was out of the dining hall, people were pissed. Almost immediately people started planning a peaceful protest for dinner time. I was one of the first to be there and we sat in front of the main entrance to the 6th dining hall and filled up the back entrances as we gained more people. Even teachers joined in the protest to end the ‘apartheid’. We had a stand in, in their line making it difficult for them to get to their plates. Then one of the privileged came in to hand out plates to only those with shaved heads. We were given plates by a shaved head, because she wanted to give us food. Another girl got really mad because she was supporting our protest. Some people got really pissy saying that we would not be just walking into their dining hall if we were going to get shot. I think some people just took the simulation a little too extreme. No one was going to die, no one was going to loosing serious rights or privileges, it was just a simulation and they wanted everyone to see the actual effects of the apartheid, as real as they could make it. Because even though we lost stupid privileges, not being able to use the bathrooms during class, having to walk all the way to your room just to go pee and not being able to drink SUCKED. I think it was very educational and the controversial discussions that were sparked were also part of the learning experience.
Desmond Tutu spoke in global studies on the 28th and the 1st. It was amazing he is the most humble, fascinating man I have ever met in my life. I was really impressed. I will try and attach the transcripts of his speeches for those who are interested.
So I am at least caught up to arriving in Cape Town, which I will just briefly mention that I am dead serious about moving to Cape Town. I absolutely love it there. I feel there is a lot to do and I would have a lot to offer some of the places I visited!!I have 3 tests in the next 2 days so I need to go study… so I can try and keep up my GPA. But I will try and make another posting about my fun in Cape Town before we get to Mauritius in a couple of days, on Thursday the 15th!
I know I have not posted in a long time, I am sorry!! I am so busy on this boat that it is ridiculous. Trying to keep up on all the work and get my senior project finished is overload. Not to mention never having weekends to get caught up! We just left Cape Town yesterday and everyone was so SO sad. Although it is only our 3rd port (4th if you include the Bahamas) I think it is going to be my favorite, but before I get to S.A. I need to talk about Brazil.
Before we got to Brazil, on Valentines Day, we crossed the equator. We did not have time to stop and do Neptune day because we needed to get to Brazil. Brazil was really, really pretty as we pulled into the port with the sun shining on the beautiful downtown. Then as you got closer you could see the hills were lined we tons and tons of shacks. Immediately we could already get a feeling of the poverty that we were about to see. The first day (Feb. 17th) I went on a walking tour to see the city and get oriented to where we could and could not go. We went to some places that are considered a no go, but we had a few police officers with us so we were fine. After the tour Ana, Meesh and I decided to stay and shop around in the upper part of the city. It was safe for the most part, but there were a few times I felt sketched out. We headed back to the boat as it grew close to sunset because after dark it is not good for girls to be out alone. Upon arriving back to the boat we learned that many people had already experienced thefts and robberies. A group of 3 girls was robbed at knife point with the cops standing only at the other end of the block. Tons of people watched but did not do anything. One of the girls is my friend and she reported that some of the women comforted her after the fact, but did nothing to try and stop it~ I think that is totally crazy. Later that night we had a dinner with a SAS trip called Bahia by Night with Solar Do Unhao. It was a blast the food was really good and the performance was awesome. They do a dance called Capo-eira and it is amazing!! There was even a guy who danced with bowls of fire. He swung them around while dancing, waving his arms over the fire. He even put his feet in the fire and danced around with them clearly still burning. It was extreme. A few of my friends wanted to leave and go out from there but I wanted to stay in for the first night. I was really scared about going out and both of my friends had really low cut shirts on which is a big NO NO there. I decided it would be best to wait and see what everyone’s night consisted of before I decided to go subject myself to the craziness of Carnival. The next day (Feb. 18th) we did a Bahia’s north coast. We had a long drive to an animal reserve, Parque Sauipe. We unfortunately were not there at the right time to see the animals feeding but we did get to see monkeys, which is what I really wanted to see the most. They were little monkeys called White Tufted Eared Marmosets. I got some good pictures of them. They just opened the park up to the public so we were the first big group to come thru it~ lucky us! Then we headed to a hotel/ restaurant and beach for lunch and some water time. When we got to the restaurant they said they did not know we were coming despite the fact that we had reservations. So instead of eating like we all wanted to, we headed to the water to play. It took over 1.5 hours for them to get food prepared for our group. Meanwhile other tables, of locals, had come, ordered, eaten, paid and left. I really felt some bad vibes from the staff there. Once they did get the food out they started serving everyone a bowl until the realized they had not made enough. And they went and grabbed bowls of food others had been eating on and passed them out to other tables. They did not even serve 2 tables, mine and another table. So we waited even more. They brought out 3 bowls of food for our table- 2 big guys and 3 girls, all of whom are starving. The bad part is they did not even serve the last table. They last table just got everyone left-overs. It was ridiculous. Just to give them a bunch of bad advertising because the place was HORRIBLE, the name is Hotel Canto Do Mar. After leaving there we headed back to the ship, got cleaned up and headed out for the night. We ended up with a group of 16, 10 girls and 6 guys. It was crazy. Not going to go into much detail but the party was out of control. I took my disposable camera so that I would not be afraid of getting it stolen. Only a few hours into the night, pushing thru the crowd some guy reached into my pants where I had it tucked and grabbed it. I was sad but happy it was not my real camera. The night continued for hours. I made it safely home with my guy friend Ryan. Anna, Meesh and I had to get up early so we went back before everyone else. It was just the 4 of us walking back and there were definitely times that I was a little bit scared. Once we got on to the main street the boat was on I felt safe. Morning came (Feb. 19th) really early and I went to “A Day at the Circus”. Needless to say I was not feeling that great. I thought we were going to go watch people perform for us and we would get to try a few of the activities but that was not the case. We were the performers and there were no kids to put on a show. They talked about how they recruit kids of the streets, and then it was our turn to try everything. There was a unicycle, a trampoline, a trapeze, tight ropes, juggling, rope you climb and then get spun around. I spent a lot of time watching but I did try the unicycle, trapeze, and the tight ropes. I was glad to get back on the bus when it was over. We went back to the ship and I passed out for the rest of the day. I got up that evening took a shower and got ready to go out. We were going out with a SAS group with a bloco (one of the floats- basically a decorated 18 wheeler) called Cortejo Afro. We all had really cool outfits to show that we were allowed inside the ropes around the float. Some people brought the cameras and I wish I had, but I did not. One of our friends Jen brought hers and I took a disposable so I should be fine. Again the party was crazy but I felt much safer behind the ropes with security holding the ropes. Regular people were not allowed inside the ropes, but we could leave the ropes. We meet all sorts of people dancing in the ropes. The night was only supposed to last until 3 AM, which was still going to be rough because I had to be up at 8 for a trip to Itaparica Island. Turns out that we were only a little over ½ way at 3 AM. I wanted to go home but there was no way to get a cab unless you walked a few blocks thru a mob of people, so I just kept going. I alternated Red Bull and water to keep myself alive. We finally got to the end and we learned we still had a bit of a walk to get to the bus. Once I had the bus in sight I walked as fast as I could to the bus. Took off my costume and passed out. (I have to shorten these up or I will never tell you about it all.) The next day (Feb. 20th) I had a really hard time getting up but I did and went on a boat to Itaparica Island. We were on a 1.5 hour boat ride that saved me. I got to sleep, so when we got to the first small island I was fine. We swam in all Saints Bay and lay in the beautiful sun. Got back on the boat and went to the big island. We had a wonderful lunch. It was so good chicken, beef, lasagna, meatballs- AWESOME compared to the food on the boat. We walked around a bit; I bought a really cute pink Brazilian swim suit. Got back on the boat and went back. The view of the city was so beautiful as we were heading back to the port. Got back on the ship got a shower and then went to a Brazilian steak house and it was awesome. I tried everything they brought by the table that was not bloody, including chicken hearts. They were a little chewy but good. I also enjoyed the sushi for the first time, and I tried an octopus that still looked like an octopus leg, still had the little suction cups~ weird. I went there with a big group but ran into three girls that were there eating with 2 older guys they had met in Brazil. They were having a way better time than my table so after dinner I joined them. Instead of going out and enjoying my last night in the dangerous streets, we decided to go to a really nice bar and be safe. The bar was beautiful. It was on a peer surrounded by water. I was tired and wanted to go back so my friend Josh and I made the really bad decision to walk back to the boat. We should have known when we walked by a police officer with a semi-automatic weapon that we were not in a good part of town. And on top of that I am sure it was obvious we had been drinking, so needless to say we were an obvious target. Somehow we both made it back to the boat in one piece, unrobed. Went back to the room and passed out. Got up in the morning (Feb. 21st) and went shopping all day. I bought so much stuff. I had been shopping in my head the whole trip so I saved the last day to actually go out and buy things. I bought a lot of cool stuff but I can not talk about any of it because a lot of it is gifts. What I will say is everything in every store was negotiable. It was really fun to negotiate what I thought was a fair price for an item. I shopped all day long. We left the boat at noon and did not get back until about 8pm. We had to be back on the boat at 9. I did not drink that night, so it was very fun to watch all the other people who got wasted before getting back on the boat. We pulled out of port about 11 and it was really beautiful to see the city lights as we pulled away. Unfortunately we had to go back to school the next day.
School is going okay but I think it is a lot harder than school at Stephens. I think mainly it is so hard because we have no weekends. We have something to do everyday; we are either in port or in classes. It’s really hard to balance your time in addition to all the extra curricular stuff that is offered every night. But basically school is school and it sucks. One thing I can say is that I am worried I will not get straight A’s and I am going to mess up my GPA, but at this point I am really not to concerned about it. I am going to give it my best shot and if I don’t get straight A’s I’m not going to kill myself. This is the opportunity of a life time and I really don’t want to spend the whole time studying. And in addition to all my work on the boat I am trying to finish my senior project……argh!
I was sick after Brazil from the lack of sleep and excess of partying, and lots of people were getting strep so I went to the doctor and got a test, but I was fine. Lots of hot tea, cough drops and Dayquil, glad I came prepared!!
Anyway on the 22nd we did an activity called Rock the Hawk, which entailed a lot of people donating hair to locks of love and shaving Mohawks. That night 16 girls donated more than 10 inches of hair. It was crazy to see all these chicks chop off tons of hair. It was like a plague. One second a girl was like that is crazy, the next second she was in the chair getting her hair chopped off. I was really worried because I was thinking…trip of a lifetime…why not. But I decided against it because I would look in the mirror and cry everyday. Some of the chicks looked really good with a Mohawk, to my surprise.
The night before Neptune day they were selling tickets to raise money for charity, to shave teacher’s heads. I bought $20 worth of tickets to shave my business teacher’s head, since he said we could shave it in fashion that we wanted. Right before bed I got a note on my door saying I won. I was so excited. Whitney had no idea what he was in for.
On the 24th we stopped the boat to do Neptune day and give recognition to King Neptune (who coincidentally looked a lot like Captain Jeremy but painted green)~LOL!!! We got waken up by the crew banging pots and pans in the hallway at 7:45 AM. I went directly back to sleep until the voice (what we call the guy on the PA system) woke us up at 8:30 as the festivities began. Everyone swarmed to the pool deck where they did a cool little ceremony introducing everyone and had us chanting that we are worthy. King Neptune said we needed to prove our worth, which included having fish guts poured on our heads, and then jumping into the pool, climb up the stairs, kiss two (guttedJ) fish, and then kiss King Jeremy’s ring of the sea. Some people tried just to kiss his check and he threw them back in the pool and they had to kiss the fish and the ring again. Afterwards I went directly to take a shower, since it was a little chilly and I still was a little sick. We all lay out and soaked up some sun. This was the first day I really got some serious color. I think it helped me feel better too! Anyway time came after lunch to shave the teachers head. I recruited on of my business project partners to help me out. All I can say is the feeling was unreal. I felt like I should be getting in big trouble, like something evil you would do to one of your friends after they passed out at a party. In addition to that feeling it was a teacher!!! We decided to create a really awesome creative haircut. People said it looked the fryers from Robin Hood, but we left a small little poof on the top. (I have not figured out how to post photos or I would definitely take the time to post one.) His hair cut was amazing; he was such a good sport. We took lots of pictures and so did his wife. He promised he would leave it for 2 days so that everyone in his A classes and B classes could see his hair. The next day in class he gave us a collage his wife had created, it was really cute. Even thought I worried he might be mad at us, but I really feel like it made it closer. He will never forget the day his students shaved his head!!!
The next day (Feb, 25th) was horrible. We usually travel at about 20 knots an hour, but we were ahead of schedule so we had to slow down to like 10 knots and hour. It was horrible!!! The boat was rocking and rolling. When you sat in the cafeteria, looking out the window on one side, you would see all ocean and then you would see all sky. It was like that for a day and a half. There were lots of people really, really sea sick. Luckily I was fine. The drawers in my room were another subject. I had to use my pink duct tape to keep them from flying open and shut, open and shut. I was glad when I heard that we were racing a cruise ship for the ‘good spot’ in port and we had to pick the pace back up. The movement was fine as soon as we went pack to our regular speed.
The 27th we did a very interesting and controversial simulation. They made an announcement right after global studies that the boat would be segregated for 24 hours. All the people who saved their heads were the privileged ones and those who did not were the outcasts. That meant that only the privileged could use the elevator, the public bathroom, the 6th dining hall, attend pub night, and they had the right to push anyone off the weight machines or the computers if they needed to. Lunch was a mess; probably about 100 people shaved their heads, which meant that everyone else had to eat in the 5th floor dining hall. They were running out of food and plates and everything. The line was out of the dining hall, people were pissed. Almost immediately people started planning a peaceful protest for dinner time. I was one of the first to be there and we sat in front of the main entrance to the 6th dining hall and filled up the back entrances as we gained more people. Even teachers joined in the protest to end the ‘apartheid’. We had a stand in, in their line making it difficult for them to get to their plates. Then one of the privileged came in to hand out plates to only those with shaved heads. We were given plates by a shaved head, because she wanted to give us food. Another girl got really mad because she was supporting our protest. Some people got really pissy saying that we would not be just walking into their dining hall if we were going to get shot. I think some people just took the simulation a little too extreme. No one was going to die, no one was going to loosing serious rights or privileges, it was just a simulation and they wanted everyone to see the actual effects of the apartheid, as real as they could make it. Because even though we lost stupid privileges, not being able to use the bathrooms during class, having to walk all the way to your room just to go pee and not being able to drink SUCKED. I think it was very educational and the controversial discussions that were sparked were also part of the learning experience.
Desmond Tutu spoke in global studies on the 28th and the 1st. It was amazing he is the most humble, fascinating man I have ever met in my life. I was really impressed. I will try and attach the transcripts of his speeches for those who are interested.
So I am at least caught up to arriving in Cape Town, which I will just briefly mention that I am dead serious about moving to Cape Town. I absolutely love it there. I feel there is a lot to do and I would have a lot to offer some of the places I visited!!I have 3 tests in the next 2 days so I need to go study… so I can try and keep up my GPA. But I will try and make another posting about my fun in Cape Town before we get to Mauritius in a couple of days, on Thursday the 15th!
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