My Return to the Western Cape

Cape Town was the first repeat port! It was nice to go to a familiar yet foreign place. I hiked Table Mountain which made the view that much more spectacular and saw lots of wildlife without even going on a safari. I also spent time in a refugee camp where over 20,000 foreigners were relocated during the height of the xenophobic attacks. South Africa is full of so many complex issues that it’s hard to wrap my head around them all, especially in the midst of so much beauty.

The cure all soap

Jon and I set out to film in a Liberian Refugee camp. After hours of travel, we arrived at the camp only to be denied access; our run and gun GNG style failed us. We decided to take it in stride and explore the neighboring area. There we met a group of girls that worked for a medicinal beauty product company called Rexcom. The company pays their rent, provides them with a van and they also earn commissions from sales. They spend their days packaging the products in their own home and take road trips all over Ghana to sell the goods. While the girls worked in their living room feverishly packaging the products their male friends who also live with them, rent free, sat around, unemployed, not even helping. Maybe we came on their day off. It was inspiring to see this group of young females embracing entrepreneurialism, working together and supporting themselves.

Ramadan tastes real good

Is being in Morocco during Ramadan a blessing or a curse? The entire country is fasting so by default I too was fasting...sorta. I felt a sense of guilt as I snacked on a power bar to get me through the day. When the sun went down, the taste of food was legendary. To break the fast we ate dates, a veg soup that was full of chickpeas, hard-boiled eggs and sweet treats. After everyone broke the fast, they would take a nap or socialize with their families and then head out. Stores would open at 8 PM or 10 PM and stay open for a few hours during the late night hours. Everyone would eat a second meal between 12-3AM and that was supper. The whole country was on a very different time table than the rest of the world or the non Muslim world I should say. Sleeping during the day and working at night during the hours that they could eat. Of course there were plenty of people that did not have that luxury and had to work through the day without food or water. Is it cheating if you just shift your daily schedule to accommodate your fast? Does that defeat the purpose?

Where the wild things are…

September 7th, 2009. 10:30 PM- Cadiz, Spain

The summer is coming to an end and kids are getting ready to go back to school. The children are running wild in the streets! While children in the U.S are asleep in their beds, kids in Spain are playing in a concrete jungle gym on the streets of Cadiz.

It's all coming back to me now

I have fallen off the wagon and I don’t feel good about it. In the spirit of micro blogging I am going to shorten my blog entries to short recaps of select moments from my experiences and post pictures. Maybe this new style will keep me more on the regular this time around. Get ready for an explosion of updates!

Poutine not Putin!

People say that you can't find good poutine outside of Quebec but while in Halifax I was determined to find the real deal. I did a quick computer search and jotted down the addresses of a few places I found online. On my first night in town I tried the poutine at a Alexandra's Pizza on Queen St. Instead of using curds they used mozzorella. Um hello those are Disco Fries! It seemed like everywhere I turned were signs that said 'Poutine with "real" curds'....meaning a blend of shredded cheese. On day two I decided to find a place I read about online called Bud the Spud. I found the truck parked in front of the public library. It seemed so promising. But once again no real curds. Across the way was another truck called Billy's.  Billy's had this sign on the truck...

Could it be the real deal? 

I think so. 

Yum. 

If you ever find yourself in Halifax go to Billy's truck on Spring Garden parked outside the library for real Poutine. 

Feels Like Home

On Monday, I headed down to Norfolk, Virginia to board the MV Explorer for the Fall ‘09 Semester At Sea (SAS) voyage. As I entered the ship, I took a deep breath and inhaled the cold, over air-conditioned ship air. It immediately brought back a wave of memories. The last time I sailed with Semester At Sea was in the Spring 2007. I had only been out of college for a little over a year and a half, - not much older than the students onboard. I struggled to distinguish myself from the 702 students on board and to feel confident in my role with GNG. I also didn’t fully grasp to what extent we could be a part of SAS and not just our own autonomous group onboard. But something I never expect to happen, happened when I returned home, I felt like an SAS alum. I felt a part of something above and beyond the work I did with GNG. I all of a sudden cared about what was going on with SAS and where the ship was going next and who the staff and faculty were. I gushed about the program with other alums when I happened to run into them. Some might say SAS Alums are a cult of sorts and it may be true. The most magical part of the experience was when I realized how badly I wanted to get back on the ship and do it all over again.

Now, two and a half years later I am back on the ship and it feels like coming home. I get a big grin on my face when I see crew members that were on my old voyage and they recognize me. I look forward to enjoying my meals on the 6th floor deck. When the snack bar opens I will be gobbling up veggie burgers and fruit shakes. And, when we dock in South Africa, our favorite cab driver will pick us up and help us get to where we need to go. In Ghana, we will get to meet our partners that we have videoconferenced with numerous times but have never met in person. In India, we will have the warmest welcome from the teachers and students and fed more than we could ever possibly eat. The list goes on and on of new places to make new connections and old places where we will return to old friends.

I could not be more excited to be back on the ship and to be a part of such a wonderful and unique program.

We arrive in Halifax, Nova Scotia tomorrow. Land Ho!



12 Pieces of Luggage.

Arriving at the ship.


Virginia is for lovers. The ship before departing Norfolk, VA.


My pimped out cabin. Window, desk, fridge, T.V what else could I need?

My bathroom