The Things I Learned (poem)

I carried my luggage into my house, for the first time in months I walked up the brick steps to my front door.

A Ghanaian drum, a Vietnamese rice hat, clothing from India, Chinese chopsticks, and a thousand new memories loaded in my arms.

The floor of my Dad’s truck is still littered with Japanese candy wrappers and a half eaten bag of macadamia nuts.

I have been around the world and now I am home.

I can now recognize the difference between Yen and Yuan, the Hong Kong dollar and the Singapore dollar, Real and Rand, a Dong and a Rupee

And yet I still tried to pay for my Chai at Starbucks with a handful of Cedi I found still in my 

wallet.

I have seen and done more than most people will in their entire lives.

I know how to deal with both stressful situations and heartbreaking moments.

I know how to test to locks on a cab’s doors to avoid getting locked in and forced to pay more money,

And I know how to destroy the cab if the driver succeeds in locking me in.

I know how to take on another’s culture, though I am still not sure how to let go.

I have seen monkeys, deadly spiders, caiman, and giant lily pads in the Amazon,

I have seen the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, Ha Long Bay, Table Mountain, and thousands of other hidden treasures of the world

I have formed bonds around the planet and made friends that I will keep forever.

I have journeyed around the world, but there is far more for me to learn.

I have learned how to cry for someone else’s pain and to praise the Lord even in the middle of the ocean.

I have learned to see the world through my own eyes instead of through a camera lens and that getting lost can sometimes be the best way to explore a new place.

I have learned how to be a world traveler and I have a passport full of stamps to prove it.

Time to Process

I have no idea how to end my final blog post.  I don’t think it’s possible to sum up my entire semester in just a few paragraphs.  I just finished circumnavigating the globe and seeing things and places that many people never will get the chance to see. 

It has been a long journey, I have been through a lot, and I have met a ton of amazing people.  It was difficult to say goodbye to them all and I didn’t get to see a lot of people on the last day since we were all preoccupied with packing our bags and making sure we didn’t forget anything.  I at least got to say ‘goodbye’ to all of the members of the Officer’s club.  We went out for lunch together with our families before we went our separate ways.  I miss them already, especially my sbffl (ship best friend for life), Liz K.  After being around her nearly 24/7, it’s weird that she suddenly isn’t here anymore.  She promised to come visit me this summer, though, so I am sure I will see her soon.

I am not quite home yet.  My mom and I decided to take a road trip to the Grand Canyon on the way home, so I won’t be home until tomorrow or the day after.  I am honestly a little afraid to go home and face all of the questions people are going to ask me…  “Was it fun?” “What was your favorite port?” “What challenged you the most?”  I don’t know how to answer any of these questions.  Yes, it was fun at times, but it was also insane at times, or scary or heartbreaking.  When I saw children begging on a train in India I felt as if my heart was going to tear apart because I could do nothing to help them.  It was always challenging.  There is no wa to answer these questions with a few simple sentences.  I know there are some people who, even now, will say I was simply on a cruise around the world.

On this voyage, I saw beggars in India and thieves in South Africa, I saw the Amazon rainforest and the Great Wall of China.  I saw cherry blossoms in bloom in Japan and the Taj Mahal.  I have seen proof that there is pain all over the world, but also beauty.  There is poverty and suffering, but also joy and people who love their lives.  I have seen how different cultures live and I understand how they can be happy even though they have very little.  I have seen different forms of exploitation around the world, but also hundreds of acts of kindness.

I have learned how to say ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’ in many different languages and how important it is to smile.  I have learned how to walk fast and to haggle merchandise to half the price. At the moment I feel as if I don’t fit in, though I know the feeling will begin to fade over time.  I need time to process what I have seen.  Whether is simply takes me a few weeks or several months to figure out what all I have seen means, I don’t know.

On my journey I have found friends that I know I will keep for the rest of my life and memories that I will never forget.  I learned a lot from the voyage, though I don’t know how I have changed through the experience, or even if I have changed at all, I feel like I have gained a new kind of cultural understanding that I didn’t have before.  For years I have thought that I wanted to spend my life traveling and writing and this journey has reinforced that desire.  I don’t know how to explain the things that I have seen or even what I think of them, but I know I have a lot more exploring to do.  Someday I will be able to look back and how this voyage has changed me and affected my life, but for now I need time to process.

Almost Home

The hall outside my room is covered in maps.  People have been using magnets to hang their maps outside so people can sign them, or carrying the maps around the catch people as they walk.  Everyone is saying their goodbyes and getting sentimental.  It’s been a long voyage, but it seems like it has gone by really fast.  The day after tomorrow we will be docking in San Diego and all heading home.  Today I went to two different workshops about dealing with being back home and reverse culture shock.  They both made me really sad.  I don’t think I am going to have too many problems, but I will definitely miss having my friends knock on my door at random times of the day to ask if I want to watch the Office or to just sit in my cabin and talk about random life issues.

            Anyway, the last few days we have had a couple of things going on.  The last worship service was a couple of nights ago.  It went really well.  We all signed a map with our prayers, which we are hoping to leave for the next group to sign it as well.  We ended the last service with the song ‘He Reigns’ by the Newsboys.  That song has been one of my favorites to play during the voyage because the lyrics mention all of the places we have been.

            Last night was the alumni ball.  It was kind of weird to get dressed up after not even wearing makeup for the past three months.  We had a special dinner where Liz K, Liz O, Paige, Matt, Caitlin, and I all sat together.  After that we watched a video and a slideshow, one made by the student alumni council and the other made by the ship’s photographer.  That was followed by the dessert bar, during which I ate way too many sugary things (I know because I had a terrible dream that I got really sick from eating so much).  Then there was dancing.  I only stayed for about an hour because it was crowded and people kept running into me.  Despite that, it was a pretty fun night.

            I am excited to get home and start my next adventure, but I am dreading having to say goodbye to my friends.  After getting used to seeing them nearly 24/7, it will be a strange adjustment to going back to our different parts of the world and only being able to talk on phone or Skype.  I don’t really want to think about that too much right now, though.  We just have one more full day on the ship and most of my things are already packed.  Anyway, I should get to bed now since we have our last time change tonight and I want to get to breakfast tomorrow.

Hilo

            We didn’t have to go through immigration when we reached Hilo because we had already gone through it in Honolulu, even though we weren’t allowed off of the ship.  It saved a lot of time in clearing the ship and getting us off.  Liz, Matt, and I planned to visit a beach and possibly do a hike, but Matt had a phone interview in the morning so Liz and I went out for a walk while he was talking.  Since I had phone service I was able to talk to my Mom in the morning, who happened to be in a book store and could read a Hawaii guide book for me and tell me what would be fun to do while we waited.  We decided to walk to Liliuokalani Gardens.  A woman in the welcome center gave us directions and told us the walk was less than two miles long, so we started on our way.

            Hawaii is the kind place where you smell flowers as soon as you step onto the island…  Except when you are in a port, because then it still smells like a port.  Once we got to the gardens it smelled like flowers, though.  We walked along the roadside passing little shops and restaurants before turning onto Lihiwai St. (we were supposed to take Banyan Dr., but we missed the turn).  The garden had a bunch of giant banyan trees and Japanese style bridges, but not many flowers.  We walked along the water next to the garden and through several different paths before realizing we should get back to the ship to meet Matt.

            It had been a nice, sunny day and Liz had just gotten off the phone with Matt after telling him that he would not need boots, a jacket, or long pants when the pouring rain started.  We met Matt just outside the port, where he promptly began to complain about the misinformation we had given him regarding clothing choices.  Then we headed to lunch.  We stopped at an outdoor restaurant called “Verna’s” that one of the Hawaiian students on board had mentioned.  It was still raining, but there were some picnic tables with an overhang where we could sit and eat.  I ordered some meal called Kolohe.  I don’t know what it was, but there was fried shrimp, breaded pork and some other kind of meat with rice.  It was really good!  I just wish I could have found a place with taco poki (octopus salad) to eat, but it wasn’t on the menu.

            At lunch we decided not to go for a hike or visit the beach since it was rainy and the beach was pretty far away.  Instead, we headed down Banyan Dr. (which we found on the first try this time).  We stopped by the beach so that Liz and Matt could jump off of a ledge and taking pictures while in mid jump.  The people driving by started looking at them weirdly, so it was slightly embarrassing.  Liz landed on a piece of glass and sliced her foot open (it sounds bad, but it was only a small cut really).  The rain had slowed down a little, but it started to pour really hard while Liz and I tried to fix her toe.  Matt had run away to hide under a tree from the rain.  Eventually we ended up wrapping Liz’s toe completely with tape so that a wet band aid could stay and she would be able to walk.  Then we went to hide under the tree with Matt.  We spent the next hour ‘Banyan tree hopping,’ which I thought was really fun, but I may have been the only one.

The rain slowed just as we reached Liliuokalani Gardens for the second time.  Matt had called his friend who was from Hilo and asked her what we should do and she suggested going to the farmer’s market in downtown Hilo, so that’s where we headed next.  The walk was pretty long, but the rain had stopped completely by this time and we got to walk near the water so it was a nice view.

We reached downtown Hilo around 2pm and got some shave ice.  I got the small size (which was huge) flavored with strawberry and banana.  It was awesome!  Then we visited the farmer’s market just to walk around.  I bought a pound of macadamia nuts, which I am afraid I may end up eating before I get home, but I am going to try and save them.  We wanted to see if there were any interesting fruits that we hadn’t seen before…  Then we remembered that we had just circumnavigated the globe and had already seen the fruits that grew in Hawaii.

Matt’s friend had also told him to try some spam or chicken musubi, so we found a shop that sold some and ate it as we walked back to the ship.  It was just rice and chicken/spam wrapped in seaweed, but it tasted pretty good.

It was about 5pm when we reached the ship (on ship time was 6pm) and we stepped onto the gangway for the last time.  I wish we had more time in Hawaii, but I am still grateful for the extra two hours of time we were given (originally on ship time was 4pm).  Even though we didn’t end up doing too much, it was still fun to get to walk around the island and eat the food.

There was a BBQ that night, so we had ribs for dinner and it was a friend’s birthday so she let us have some of her cake.  The Global Studies final exam was the next day so we stayed up alternating between watching the Office and studying.

Sort of in Hawaii?

We are currently docked in Honolulu, but we aren’t allowed off the ship.  This is a temporary refueling stop before we head to Hilo for tomorrow.  So what have I not mentioned that has happened in the last few days?  Not a lot.  One night there was an auction (both silent and live).  It was kind of insane because people were paying the same amount for a trip to Disneyland as they were for someone to pack their cabin for them.  There were some interesting things up for auction, though.  You could bid on a bath in the Dean’s bathtub, for one (or more) of the RDs to serve you milk and cookies in your cabin, or for a homestay in Switzerland.  I bid on a few things in the silent auction, but I didn’t end up getting anything.  I think my suitcases are going to be a little too heavy anyway.

I only have two exams left for the semester!  Also, since they are on A days, I will have two extra days of free time while everyone is studying for their B day exams.  My last couple of Drama class took place on the Dean’s balcony.  That was fun.  My teacher is married to the academic dean and she suddenly decided she wanted to have class outside, so that’s what we did.  By the end of the second class I felt like I had Dragon Ball Z hair because the wind had been blowing so hard.  Then I didn’t really try to fix my hair again, so it was pretty messed up all day.

I have cell on my phone now that we are back in the US.  It is sort of funny because nearly everyone I have seen around the ship is on their phone.  I haven’t used mine for anything except my alarm clock (I broke my real alarm clock the first week of the voyage) since India, so it is really weird to try and text people.  I keep wanting to text random people on the ship, but I don’t have anyone’s phone number.

Today is just a study day.  They probably figured we wouldn’t do any schoolwork while we had phone reception.  Tonight is the 120-hour film contest screening!  I got to see one of the films already…  But I am not supposed to talk about it…  Tonight we get to watch all of the films that the students made over the past week and see which one wins!  So that should be exciting.

            Anyway, I should go back to studying/calling/texting people!

Time Travel

I am officially a time traveler. Today is the second 4/20, so this year
I will have 367 days due to it being a leap year. On the first 4/20
they played the song in Groundhog Day when Bill Murray wakes up and "I
Got You Babe" is always on the radio.
I can now cross "become a time traveling awesome person" off of my
bucket list.

I FIGURED IT OUT!!!

The name of the food I ate on the fourth day was 'Okonomiyaki'
It was delicious!

Ship Update 4/19

            Tomorrow will happen twice.  We are going to cross the International Dateline, so we will have one extra day.  That should probably be pretty interesting.  I wish I could think of a good enough prank for such an occasion, but I don’t think I can…

            Anyway, since leaving Japan I have been swamped with homework, which is why it has taken me so long to post updates about Japan.  The night before last there was a crew talent show where some of the crew members performed songs and dances.  It was really cool.  I think people cheered a lot more for the crew than they had for the students during our talent show.  It was pretty cool.  We have some pretty awesome crew members on the ship.

            Last night the Aegean Sea had a party/ice cream social in the Glazier Lounge for winning the Sea Olympics.  Usually the Glazier Lounge is forbidden and only faculty and lifelong learners are allowed inside, so it was interesting to get to go inside.  There was a dance floor, and one member of our sea acted as a DJ.  It was really fun, even if you, like me, how no idea how to dance.

            Also, the waves are insane once again.  In one of the first nights back on the ship Adrianna and I woke up twice in the middle of the night as all of our things slid off of our nightstand and crashed to the floor.  In the morning everything was on the floor.  I still haven’t bothered to put my things back where they belong since the waves have not calmed down enough quite yet.

            I am not sure if there is anything else I need to mention about the last few days, but I should really get back to schoolwork now!