Chute happens, Live with it!

This is what one of my newest t-shirts states, but first I should cover some shipboard life since I was on the sea for 9 days in between Japan and Hawaii. There was a great deal of work to do during this time, including the second of our three Global exams and my final quiz in World Dance. Both went pretty well but I'm definitely glad that they are done with. My roommates and our friend Scott decided we should celebrate Easter somehow and ordered ourselves an entire platter of cookies to split which led to many leftovers. It was worth it but we had to step up our exercising afterwards. We started a Shipboard drive to fund different scholarships on the ship and such through raffle tickets, an auction, and donations. The auction was really fun but intense how much people are willing to spend on certain things. I did not win anything although I did buy some raffle tickets. I signed up for the Talent Show on the ship and they had so many people sign up that they held auditions. At the time I didn't think I had done that well but apparently it was fine because they let me perform! The show was really fun although it is really difficult to dance on the ship. I forgot my dance halfway through so I just improvised for most of it but I still had a good time. Almost every single act was amazing which is kind of intense considering there were around 30 acts. I did another dance a couple of days later when we had a logistical pre-port for Hawaii. Our World Dance professor had some of us do a hula which was actually really fun. I'm starting to get pretty good at this hula business!

Now onto Hawaii! The first day our ship cleared pretty quickly so we asked some people at the hospitality desk where to find a good beach. We took a quick bus to Ala Moana mall which we had to go through to get to the Ala Moana beach. It was right next to Waikiki beach but less populated, mainly just with some smaller families. We hung out there for a couple of hours finally getting to use our cell phones until around lunch time. We then headed back to the mall to pick up some cheese fries and smoothies which we had been craving. I then had to take the bus back to the ship to meet up with hula FDP for World Dance class. We actually had a few of my professors and Life Long Learners on the trip which was pretty fun. They took us to a hula shop that sold different items involved in hula and also had a cleared area for the lesson. Our kumu, or teacher, was "Auntie" Germaine and she was pretty intense and worked us very hard. I felt like I was back in a strict ballet class again! After learning quite a bit we had a break so we went and got drinks down the street before our instrumental lesson. Mike Kop then explained all of the different major instruments associated with the hula and how they were made, he even let us try out quite a few of them. He also answered a lot of our questions on Hawaiian culture before Aniseh, our World Dance professor, invited us to her family's cookout for MICE which is a computerized musical group her husband puts together on the ship. We walked down Waikiki beach until we reached Kalakaua Park along the beach and listened to them play and had a good amount of food. We also did some of our hulas that we learned in class in the ocean together which was pretty fun. After that I met up with my roommate, Megan, and our friend, Scott. They were hungry so we went to Jimmy Buffet's and got a quesadilla, exactly what I needed after the cookout! They had a live band playing which was really neat too. After that we just sat along the beach until really late and took the bus back to the ship because we had to wake up really early the next morning.

We had to wake up very early to get breakfast before catching a van to the North shore for SKY DIVING!!!!!!!! It took around 45 minutes to get there and once we got there we had to sign waivers so we wouldn't sue them later on. After that we met with our tandem diving partner, mine was a huge guy name "Papa Dop". Before I knew it I was harnessed in and we were walking out to the plane. Megan and I were on the same plan along with 3 other SAS girls and their tandem partners. We got up to 12,000 feet and they just opened the door and went for it. There was almost no warning before we were going down. The funny part is that my partner actually had us go out backwards and do some flips before starting our free fall. We fell for about a minute through a set of clouds before pulling the parachute. We then went around in circles are the airfield for around 2 to 3 minutes. It was really fun but I did get a little nauseous when we had our chute pulled going in circles. It definitely was a rush. I still can't decide whether I enjoyed bungeeing more or not because they were so different. After a little wait the van took us back to Honolulu and we decided to go to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. The only thing we saw there was the USS Arizona exhibit but it was really cool. They showed us a 30 minute movie for background on what actually happened that day, and then took us on a boat to the actual memorial which is located on top of the remains of the ship where it sank. It was really beautiful and interesting that the actual ship is still there under the water that the memorial is located. The USS Missouri was right next to the memorial as well but we didn't have enough time to do both. After that we took a taxi to a Wahoo's to get some enchiladas before walking to the mall again for the post office. We walked around Ala Moana some more before making the long trek on foot back to the ship which took about an hour but we were definitely hurting by the end of it. Hawaii was fun as a two day stop but I kind of feel that it is inevitable that I will return so I wasn't looking forward to it as much of some of our other ports. I did quite a bit in those two days and had a great time, but it was more of a teaser to return than anything else. Now its back to the work for seven days before we arrive in Guatemala!

I've now decided to become a dancer for the Yokohama Bay Stars

Another scare for the parents, but I definitely enjoy Japanese baseball games. Save that for later let's start with Kobe. First of all I'd like to note how archaic the Japanese immigration was with a face to face meeting with all of us. This definitely cut into our time the first day by a long shot. My friend, Elle, and myself took the train to Sannomiya so I could pick up my Japan Rail Pass. This took another hour out of my day but I saved around $200 by getting it so it was definitely worth it! We then took the subway to Harborland which was recommended by our interport students, which was fun, but we felt a little old for that amusement park. We did ride the overpriced ferris wheel to see all of Kobe which was really pretty, but that was about all we did there. We then found the Mintagawa shrine which was literally tucked underneath a freeway. This is the most interesting part of Japan, that a lot of the monuments are right next to their skyscrapers and are integrated into their regular life so easily. It was very cute shrine still though and had the first cherry blossoms that we experienced there. After that we went back to the ship for dinner and met up with our friends to get all dressed up and go dancing which was very fun.

Claudia and I woke up fairly early to catch a train to Tokyo. When we were at the subway station trying to get to Shin-Kobe we were helped by some college aged girls to find our next station. The interesting part is that they literally walked us to our station and made sure we got the correct tickets before going on their way. This is not the only time this happened. Most of the Japanese people I met spoke impeccable English and were so willing to help us almost anywhere we went. We then took the bullet train to Tokyo for a couple hours and decided to then find a place to stay, what a novel idea! We finally found a hotel in a fun district so we got it even though it was a step higher than our usual hostel stays. The place was the cheapest hotel in the district but still very nice, called “The B”. It was nice to just sit down for a little bit because we had been searching and all we found were expensive malls way beyond our price range. We had to also get some internet to book our hostel for the next night to save money and also get in contact with Toshie to meet up with her in Kyoto. After that we found a sushi bar for dinner to try some legit Japanese sushi for the first time. They actually put a little wasabi in the rolls which made them a little bit more spicy than I am used to, but still amazing. Mom will be glad to know I was very adventurous and tried some of the fish styles while there which was definitely really good. After sushi we found a duty free store that was more like a mall because it was actually 6 floors of all sorts of random items from groceries to shoes. This was actually good though because I needed to pick up a gift for my host family. After that we headed back to the hotel for a little to hang out and watch some news to get caught up, which we are definitely behind on everything for! After that we just went out dancing again which was really fun.

We slept through breakfast at our hotel but made it in time to check out. After that we took the train to Takeshita-Dori which is a decently priced shopping district with all sorts of crazy Japanese clothing. This would be right next to one of the important points of Tokyo I wanted to hit, HARAJUKU st. For those of you that do not know I am mildly obsessed with No Doubt and Gwen Stefani, thus Harajuku St. with the crazy Japanese style, which is almost like a baby doll dress. We in fact saw an older woman dressed up like it too which was rare considering most of the older women dressed in suits of some sort. We didn't buy anything but did end up going to a club that opened during the day as a buffet. The food was really and good and it was reasonably priced, but it was just so cool that they had a DJ booth at the same time playing hip hop music and crazy lights going on, very funny. We then found our hostel, Anne Hostel Asakusabashi, which was in the traditional Japanese style of mats on the floor. From what I have heard it is built after the ryokans but is a cheaper version of them. I then took the long train ride to Kyoto to meet up with TOSHIE!!!!!! For those that do not know Toshie was one of my suitemates last semester who graduated after the fall and now works in her home town in Japan. We decided to meet in the middle at Kyoto for dinner because she has a crazy work schedule now with training for her new big person job. Traveling there was pretty neat because I actually met her there by myself which is the first time I have ever traveled by myself which was a really big feat for me. I took the bullet train and arrived a little early so I walked to Gion which is where there are a bunch of geisha shows and beautiful cherry blossoms. I actually saw a woman on the subway back to the Kyoto station taking off the make-up from all of the geisha regalia which was really neat. After that I met up with Toshie for a quick sandwich and I was just so excited to see someone from home that I was besides myself. Unfortunately we almost missed the last train back to Tokyo that night so we had to run across most of the Kyoto station just to make it with a minute to spare. I was very sad to wave goodbye to her but it just felt very comforting to see someone familiar in a non-familiar place. That night I just went back to my hostel ASAP because they shut the doors at midnight and I didn't want to get locked out. IT was a very long day but definitely comforting.

I had to wake up crazy early the next morning to catch the train to Yokohama for my home visit. The train was pretty packed because it was rush hour there, which is definitely an experience in itself. After riding trains all morning I was definitely relieved to see the ship even though I did get lost in the terminal trying to get to the gangway. I quickly got my gift together and went back out to the terminal to meet my host family. The woman who met us was called Miyako Hitomi and she got to hang out with  her sister-in-law Yamatcha along with some of their other friends. They were a fairly young family and Miyako's family didn't have any children, Yamatcha had one son named Yushi. She took us on several trains before we arrived at her suburb of Yokohama, called Zushi, which reminded me a little more of home and was beautiful with all of the cherry blossoms in bloom. She showed us the fish market with all sorts of different fish, most of them were basically whole which was kinda gross but I'm a wimp with fish anyways. We then went to Yamatcha's house for a traditional Japanese meal where we learned how to make sushi ourselves! Yamatcha was hilarious and kept on making silly jokes the whole time. I can't remember them all but if you want to hear some just email me and I'll send a couple good ones. After that we had a great dessert with strawberry tea, fruit and these neat sweet bean paste things. They also had one of the really nice heated seat toilets in their house, I realize this might not seem important to those of you at home but they had some crazy buttons on their toilets to do all sorts of crazy things like play music among other things. Yamatcha then offered us some of the antiques that her husband sold which were so nice and she also drew pictures of what she thought we would like which were hilarious in itself. Apparently I have very voluptuous lips in her mind's eye of me before she met me? Yamatcha then drove us, in her Mercedes so I definitely didn't want to touch anything, to the beach where we walked along the coats until we got to her friend's Antique store. There we had some green tea and more bean paste desserts that were actually wrapped in cherry blossom leaves. Her friends show us how to  weave place mats out of old kimonos on this neat machine and she let us all try it. We then had run out of time and had to head to the train station to get back to the ship. I met Claudia and we got tickets along with some other girls to go see the Yokohama Bay Stars versus the Tokyo Giants in a baseball game. This was so crazy with massive amounts of cheering, they actually have cheerleaders that performed a kick line at the routine. The pitchers were brought out on sports cars to the mound! My friends actually tackled around 5 Japanese children just to get a ball, very funny at the time.

I got to sleep in a little bit before Elle called to about heading to Tokyo again for some shopping to use up some yen. I took them back to Harajuku and Takeshita-Dori and we actually bought a couple cute things there for pretty cheap, at least cheaper than the States. I also took them back to the Hip hop cafe from but it was harder for Elle because she is a vegetarian so there weren't too many options. We then walked to the Meiji Jingu shrine which was absolutely huge. They were definitely the largest toriis I have every seen and the park you had to walk through was incredibly beautiful. The temples differ from the other ones I have been to because normally they are incredibly intricate whereas the Japanese ones are simple but still just as beautiful if not more. They had huge vats that used to be filled with sake decorated with different characters. There were different plants decorating the sides of the shrine that were very beautiful too. We had to watch our hands and mouth before entering and then we couldn't even take pictures of the shrine from straight on. It was definitely great to see that shrine though. We actually saw a little girl dressed in a full kimono which made her look so beautiful even though she was probably only about 7 or 8 years old. After that we took the trains sluggishly back to the ship and then go through more of the crazy immigration lines before we left. Yokohama actually had some beautiful skylines as we pulled away, almost as good as the huge cities in China but on a smaller scale. Now I must start recovering from Asia before I get to Hawaii. Also, we have a ton of work to do because this is one of the last chunks of ship time and school that we have. Hopefully I survive it because I'm really excited for what I have planned for Hawaii!!!!

China sure has one great wall

China was the longest port yet and we are definitely feeling it right now as we are leaving Shanghai. The first city we were in was Hong Kong, which was absolutely amazing. One of the first buildings I saw when I looked outside was the skyscraper from the newest Batman movie, Dark Knight, CRAZY! We were actually in a port with a really expensive mall, where I definitely did not buy anything, so we had to walk through it to find out taxi to get to the Stanley Market on Hong Kong Island. This market was nice but seemed expensive to us, especially in comparison with a lot of the other port markets we had been to. The waterfront area was really swank so we avoided that as soon as we got there. We got lunch at a little local cafe on a side street which was OK in general but not amazing. Both my roommate Megan and myself were instructed on how to hold our chopsticks correctly, apparently we needed more leverage. We picked up just a few souvenirs and then caught another taxi to Victoria's Peak, but we slept through most of the ride there because we were so exhausted from Vietnam just 2 days prior. Once we got there we ran into some friends and realized that our taxi driver had taken us all the way to the top and not just to where we picked up the trolley. At the top there was actually another mall, something I've found in Asia is that there are malls everywhere, and one could go outside to see the views of the city. It was really neat but it was a little cloudy so we couldn't see everything. We took the tram down and saw a lot more, but it was pretty scary because we had to stand and the trolley was nearly going at a 45 degree angle down the hill! We gradually walked through the main area until we reached the Star Ferry which took us across to Kowloon where our ship was docked. On the way we actually ran into a protest for Nepalese rights, apparently protests are really common in Hong Kong and basically illegal on the main land. For dinner we did get some Italian at a Spaghetti house but we had to run back to the shore so we could see the skyline light show at night. It was alright but it was more impressive just seeing the whole skyline lit up than anything else. The rugby worlds' last game was going on that day so afterwards there were a ton of crazy, loud and huge guys running around so needless to say Hong Kong was pretty crazy later on but we had a good time.

Megan and I had to catch a quick breakfast the next morning before leaving for our University stays in Beijing via SAS. Security in the airports took forever and we were really hungry once we got through so I picked up some decent dumplings before boarding. I really didn't need to though because they fed us a full meal on the plane, including Haagen Daz (sp?)! Once in Beijing we had to wait a while for our Bus because we weren't sure if everyone had made it but they took us straight to a Peking Duck dinner which was pretty good but the start to our 3 square meals a day of Chinese food. We checked into the guest which actually wasn't at Tsinghua University, where we were supposed to be, but at the Beijing School of Technology and Engineering's guest house. This was definitely different from my other SAS trips because it wasn't nearly as swank, but it was definitely something I would be used to if I had done the trip on my own! Some friends and I were really hungry still so we went to go find some desert, but when we finally found a restaurant they couldn't understand just wanting desert and the items weren't exactly what we were looking for. Not to mention the fact that in Hong Kong almost everyone spoke English and on the mainland we found that it was rare that people recognized a lot of American culture and definitely did not speak any English, even at the hotels. They closed while we were still there so we walked down the street and some of us picked up fruit there. We got directions to a coffee shop and got some, which we didn't need that late, but it was delicious and almost completely empty because it was a Monday night. We had difficulty finding much to do in Beijing at night so I hung out in the room watching "Something's Gotta Give" with my roommate that night.

We woke up for breakfast which was strange because they served us regular Chinese food, like pot stickers and fried rice for breakfast with no other breakfast foods. We drove an hour before arriving at the GREAT WALL which was sweet. We hiked all the way to the top on the stairs, but unfortunately they didn't have the slide things that we saw on the Olympics from the summer at our point of the wall. The funny thing was that there were probably 80 year old women smoking and still making it up the hike for the wall which was astounding. They even had tourist shops for souvenirs at the breaks in the wall. We did a circle down around and through the rest of the souvenir mart before we finally found our bus. Lunch was actually very good, better than the duck I though, because of all of the different chicken dishes. The afternoon stop was the Summer Palace where we had 2 guides but their microphones were really scratchy so it was hard to hear if you were far away. We saw a lot of gardens which were mainly dedicated to the Emperor's mother and got to walk down this neat covered path around a lake. Almost all of the Chinese architecture that I experienced had been rebuilt after fires several times. This is because they are made out of wood and then painted and carved intricately, but they definitely do not last as long. I decided to hike up the hill to see the actual temple on the top of the hill overlooking the lake and see the huge golden Buddha but I got lost from my group that I went with so I had a minor freakout when no one was at the gate we were supposed to meet at at the correct time. They had gotten lost and gone to the wrong gate and I was definitely very nervous until I found some SASers that I recognized. Probably one of the scarier moments of the trip for me, but I was fine overall. That night we finally got to go see Tsinghua University for a tour and hung out with some of the students as they gave us a tour of their buildings and some of the dorm rooms. We got to eat a meal in their canteen which was probably my favorite meal of the entire trip. This is really funny because it was also probably the cheapest at around 10 Yuan, for a conversion that is a little over $1.50 for a buffet dinner that was really good. The students were really sweet but we didn't get to spend too much time with them, they are definitely bright. Most of them are science or engineering majors of some form and a lot of them plan on doing their Masters at American schools like MIT, pretty smart! They took us to their gift shop for sweatshirts that were the same number price as they would be in the States, but instead of dollars it was yuan making it dirt cheap for University gear. They didn't have too many options though. We went back to the hotel after that and got changed before heading out to find some internet. I wanted to check my registration after Dane had done it earlier so I finished it all on the internet cafes, but I will say that I have never seen so much World of Warcraft or other games in one internet cafe before! We were once again exhausted after climbing the wall that day so we just watched the second Zorro movie and then passed out.

Breakfast was the same thing the next day so we ran to a KFC, which I saw more often around the world than any McDonald's, to get some hot chocolate before seeing Tienanmen Square. They were obviously hawkers spellings things there but we just walked through it to get to the Forbidden City because we didn't really spend too much time there. The Forbidden City just kept going and going, but we unfortunately did not have guides with us which was a major letdown for this sight. We just read the English signs and wandered around it. It was similar architecture as the Summer Palace, at least in my mind, and I couldn't tell any major differences. We then got another Chinese lunch at a place where they wore traditional dress for tourists basically. Fairly tasty, but still not as good as Tsinghua's food. In the afternoon we visited the Temple of Heaven which started off with a white platform structure and then continued onto the famous actual temple of Heaven and the Temple for Good Harvest. We wandered for a bi with some direction from our guides who were from the University before being taken to a Pearl Market. This did not just sell Pearls but all the fake purses and other items you could imagine. I picked up a couple items there, but I did not enjoy how mean they were to a lot of people. They were very rude by American standards but I guess it is different in other cultures. There is basically no personal space and touching and pulling is completely allowed. I got very upset with one woman who was trying to rip my friend off and wouldn't leave me alone after I tried to help, long story short I did not enjoy this market very much. We got to go to the Acrobatic show after that which was amazing. It was very similar to the Cirque de Soliel shows I had seen in Vegas while I competed with IAD in high school in its degree of difficulty, awesome presence and overall skill. After this we were told to get something to eat on our own so we got Subway, we've been craving, trust me, and then went shopping at the second market called the Silk Market. The people were much friendlier and did not invade your personal space as much as the previous market. After being all shopped out we definitely just relaxed for a bit.

I had lost my last breakfast card so Rachel stole me a couple of dumplings before we checked out and headed off for our last couple of sites in Beijing. The first stop was the Beijing Zoo to see the Giant Pandas, which I obviously loved. We didn't get to see too much else of the zoo but it was still neat, I got to see a peacock as well! Lunch was alright but at this point we were starting to tire of the Chinese food for most of our meals. In the afternoon they took us to the Olympic center to see the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. The Bird's Nest actually seemed smaller to me than the Carrier Dome for SU but I honestly wouldn't know the exact different. It was still really neat, but very touristy now, no athletes actually competing or even practicing there now. We explored the Bird's Nest for a while before trying to get tickets to see the inside of the Watter Cube. In both of these buildings they were showing highlights from the games which was really neat. I bet we probably could've just watched those videos for hours. It was really neat to actually be in all of these places for competition and I was definitely excited, although we almost were late getting back so we had to run a good portion of the way back. We went to one last market before catching our plane to Shanghai to meet up with the ship that had gone from Hong Kong to Shanghai. I actually got to grab some Coldstone ice cream before we left too which was definitely awesome. On the way back we flew in the largest airplane I have ever been on with 1 seats across, double decker and 3 long rows of seats. We didn't get back to the ship until midnight so we just unpacked showered and went to bed to wake up early the next morning to go explore Shanghai.

I got breakfast on the ship with Megan and Scott and had the longest line I have ever seen there wrapping around almost the whole dining area. It was really good to get normal breakfast foods though. We decided to try to find a large hotel that could direct us and write directions in Chinese for a taxi cab driver for our various stops for the day. Once there we found a Starbucks where you can normally count on someone speaking English. They gave us directions to the Ritz Carlton where they got us a taxi so that I could pick up my Japan Rail Pass. We managed to find some other SAS girls to split the cab there as well because they needed the same thing, seeing as how it was the last day in port before we actually arrive in Japan. After the Rail pass we used our Chinese directions for a taxi to take us to the Old Town Market. Here our friend Scott finally got his Chinese checker board and I picked up stamps to send my postcards and letters. I promise you Dad that I looked for music to do Tai Chi to, but most of the time when I asked them they just laughed at me so I was definitely not successful. Sorry again, I swear I tried! We got a taxi back to the ship so I could send off my mail quickly. We then caught the SAS trip to the Children's Palace in Shanghai, for free I will add. Our guide explained a lot of the different areas of Shanghai as we drove through them, like the Bund and the People's Square. Once we got there we had a tour of the different classrooms for piano, violin and other instruments, art and of course the dance studio. The Children's Palace is an after school program provided by the government for children age 4 or 5 through high school to develop certain skills every day. It is basically all the lessons you ever had as a child in one after school enrichment like program. These kids were seriously talented too! We saw a lot of their artwork and ever saw a musical performance one two different Chinese instruments that looked incredibly difficult to play. They also performed a dance for us in their ballet attire that was similar to all of the younger child dances they perform for competitions at IAD with 8 year olds. Very cute! At the end they tried selling their artwork to us which was a little frustrating that they were still trying to have us spend money, but it was definitely some nice stuff. We got dinner back on the ship and watched the skyline of Shanghai, which was also beautiful, as we pulled away later that night. China was definitely beautiful but a very exhausting experience. Many people were tired of the culture, I enjoyed it because although it was very different, and often the people would be considered rude in the U.S, there are extraneous situations that we do not understand about their culture and the way things are there. We are definitely not the ones to judge! Only one more stop before the big crossing of the Pacific so here's to Japan and seeing Toshie!