In Remembrance of Professor Lancaster

Tonight I attended Professor Wade Lancaster Memorial service on the ship. Professor Lancaster passed away in Shanghai due to natural causes. His wife Janet Lancaster was also a professor on the ship. She left to go back to the states to lay him to rest and then returned in Singapore to carry out the rest of the voyage. I unfortunately never had him as a professor nor got the chance to meet him but he sounded like a wonderful man. The memorial service was one that I will never forget. Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke during the service which touched my heart. I was honored to see the Archbishop at what he does best. He said how on January 9 when we started this voyage many of us didn't know each other any better than a bar of soap(The Archbishop has quite a sense of humor). But that today we have become a family. I have never been so moved by the way Desmond Tutu spoke. He looked at Mrs. Lancaster and whispers the words of god telling her that he says "i love you" repetitively in a soft whisper. There were so many students who attended the service, many who did not have the opportunity to meat the professor and even haven't met his wife but showed their support for someone who we lost, a shipboard family member. After the service everyone walked out of the union silently to the back of the ship and one by one took a rose and tossed it into the water as the MV Explorer made a figure 8 to represent eternal and infinite life and remembrance of the professor. As you walked outside, the water was calm, and the sun was setting which turned to a bright beautiful pink in the distance. I felt at peace, humbled, and honored to be part of the ceremony and to help remember the life of a wonderful man that I never had the opportunity to meet.

More Picture of Vietnam

Pictures from Vietnam

Random Act of Kindness

As I am studying for my exam in the dining hall, with only a few students studying and the workers cleaning up from dinner, there are two students that come in and sing happy birthday to one of the workers. They got him a little present  from the countries we have visited so far and made him a card but took the time out of their day to celebrate this mans birthday. Every meal he sings songs while he works and always has such an amazingly positive attitude as he provides for his family back home in the Caribbean. You can over hear him while he is working praying to God for strength and love to those who surround him and to his family. He shares his love by always saying "one love" and that he opens his heart to everyone. It was one of the most touching things I have ever seen and actually brought me to tears of joy. Witnessing this moment inspires me to care and pay attention to those who are in the background that may not get the appreciation for their hard work that they deserve. All of the ship's crew is from all over the world, here to provide for their family who they go without seeing for 6 or more months at a time and we get to interact with them everyday and get to know a little about their lives. I now greatly appreciate their work and am inspired to learn more.

Pictures From China

Shanghai

My first purchase at the Market, using my haggling skills

Hiked the Great Wall of China

The Forbidden City

The best meal I had, Hot Pot dinner!!

Sneak Peak Pictures from Japan

Center of Tokyo


Japanese Lunch which was delicious
Sushi bar meal
  Japanese Photobooths that change our looks!
 yummy sushi dinner:)

China Adventure!

Shanghai to Beijing to Hong Kong

 

            China was a great experience, my second foreign country and I am starting to get the hang of things. I spent one day in Shanghai where a few girls and I just roamed around the city and starting our knock off brand shopping adventure of the trip. This was my first time really bartering with people but by the end of my trip in China I definitely got the hang of it. After Shanghai I started my Great Wall adventure!

            I took a 5 hour express train from Shanghai to Beijing and than another 2 hour trip to a small farm village where a group of about 40 people and I stayed for the night. It was called the Fan long di yi jia Folk Inn but was more of a hostel set up. They served us an authentic Chinese dinner, which was surprisingly very good! There was lamb; chicken, pork and noodle dishes served family style.

            After the long day of traveling, people had the opportunity to actually go up and sleep on the Great Wall in 10-degree weather! I opted out of doing that but there were 18 people who chose to do it and they all looked frozen when we met them in the morning.  I fell asleep to wake up at 6am to start my hike to the Great Wall at 630 am before the sun rose! Now I didn't know what to exactly expect going to the Great Wall but we all see these beautiful pictures of the wall looking brand new, but this was not the part of the wall that I saw. I visited Gu Bei Kou, which is a section of the wall, which was a gateway for the Mongolians to get to Beijing. The wall was very old and not renovated because it was a part that tourists do not go to. It was an absolutely beautiful site to see because I felt like I got to see the part of the wall that not many people get to see, plus I felt that I was on top of the world. Everywhere I looked I saw huge mountains and the continuation of the 20,000-kilometer Great Wall. A little interesting fact I learned about the Great Wall is that it is also referred to as the longest cemetery because when it was being built when people died they supposedly buried them into the wall. 

I was able to hike the wall for about 1-½ hours and then we headed back to our Inn and headed back to downtown Beijing. We then visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, saw an acrobat show, visited some more markets and had a Pecking Duck lunch! I have never had duck before but it is very common dish in China. The chef brought the cook duck out and carved it right in front of our eyes and then we ate it on what they call a pancake but were more like a Chinese tortilla with a unique sauce and wrap it up like a little burrito. It was very good! I highly enjoyed it. There were also more chicken, pork, noodle and rice dishes, which were all very good as well.

We spent the night at the Beijing Traditional View Hotel, which was a nice change to your typical Hilton type hotel. The next morning we woke up for breakfast but the breakfast wasn't very appetizing because it was rice and noodles and some stale toast but it was different. We then were suppose to take a Hutong Tour which was a rickshaw cycle ride through a traditional Chinese living area and visit the Drum Tower but unfortunately people went out the night before and we were suppose to leave at 8 but had to wait for them until 9 so we had to reschedule that part until the next day. So we went to the Summer Palace and then to another authentic Chinese lunch. The food ended up being very similar each time but with just a little different taste to it.

            Once lunch was over part of the group chose to go skiing and the other part, which I was included in, went to a resort spa for the rest of the day. The spa was amazing! We enjoyed different flavor scented hot springs like chocolate, lavender and papaya and then went to the sauna and steam room and took naps on heated rock benches and then repeated. It was so nice to relax and rejuvenate and treat my self a bit.

            After my rejuvenation both groups met up at my favorite meal of the trip the Chinese Hot Pot dinner. Each person got their own little pot of water with a burner underneath that boils the water in front of you. You then take all different foods like noodles, vegetables, slices of pork, chicken or lamb, seafood balls and egg and you cook them in the boiling water. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! My favorite was cracking the egg in the boiling water and letting it cook and then taking the egg and putting it in my rice and then mixing the two together YUM!!! There was nothing I didn't like about that meal.

            The last day in Beijing I went to another market to get some last minute items and then finally went on the Hutong Tour where I rode the rickshaw and visited a local family home and met the owner and then saw an authentic drum show in the Drum Tower that was over looking the Hutong area.

            We then took the bus to the airport and I hopped on my very first International flight from Beijing to Hong Kong!! It was a 3-hour flight, the biggest plane I have ever been on and they fed us a delicious meal and we got free movies and TV shows to watch! I watched Wreck It Ralph and my favorite show the Big Bang theory while writing post cardsJ don't forget if you want me to mail you a postcard please email me your address to Samantha.sojka.sp13@semesteratsea.org!!!

I didn't get into Hong Kong until 12 am and went straight to the ship and fell asleep. Unfortunately I only had the day to spend in Hong Kong but I would love to come back another time in my life to really explore the amazing city! It kind of reminded me of Japan. I absolutely loved it. I took a little boat tour around the harbor and went to a delicious lunch that had a buffet appetizer and I had a chicken open-faced sandwich.

            I then relaxed back on the ship waited to leave Hong Kong. There was an amazing Symphony of Lights show that took place on the buildings in Hong Kong. It was the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. I was truly in awe.

             I can't believe that I am now on my way to Vietnam and will be there in just 3 days!

Leaving Hong Kong

The amazing lights of the city of Hong Kong! I can't believe we are leaving already

Japan Day 2!

Tokyo day 2

            Originally our must do in Tokyo was to go to the fish market which you have to get there before 5am to get in line and then you must be the first 125 people to get there in order to watch the fish auction. Unfortunately due to the extreme late nights we never made it to the fish market but I heard it was pretty cool to see.

            In the morning we got up and found a Starbucks for a quick breakfast and made our way to the Imperial Palace. I know what your thinking, Starbucks? Well with a group of 7 girls who all have different tastes for food and we needed something quick, Starbucks was the solution. Plus many Japanese people don't have our kind of breakfast; like cereal, pancakes, eggs, they tend to have foods like sushi and the miso soup for breakfast.

            So we hopped on the subway to the Imperial Palace, which we didn't know exactly what to expect but you cant go in the Palace but you are allowed to see it from a far. While we were walking up towards the Palace we saw many police bikes and black cars with flags coming from the Imperial Palace so we might have seen someone important leave the Palace but we have no idea who. It was still cool though. The Imperial Palace is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan and is surrounded by a moat. The palace is closed to the public except for each New Year on January 2 and for the Emperors Birthday

            After seeing the Imperial Palace we went to find lunch. We were in more of the business area of Tokyo so there weren't many attractions but we found this sushi restaurant that was probably one of my favorite places I ate in Japan. You walk in and it is very small, it is like a bar set up, mainly because there aren't many people who eat in groups so they make a lot of space for individuals to eat. So all 7 of us girls were able to fit, pretty much taking over the little restaurant. We had no idea what to expect because we just sat down but there was no menu. What ended up happening was that it was a 8 or 9 course meal that everyone gets and is made literally right in front of your eyes. Our chief was very nice and understanding that we didn't know Japanese and that this was so new to us. It started out with this little cup of soup which smelt really strange but tasted so good! I have no idea what it was but I really liked it. Then we got about 7 or 8 single pieces of shashimi that were all different given to us one by one. He would make one piece, put it on this little plate, we would eat it and then a few minutes later we would get another piece. I tried everything, there were a few thigns that were new like sea eurchin, which I did not like and neither did anyone else and I had a fish liver which almost tasted like a muscle. One of the girls Kelly put the sea eurchin in her mouth and just couldn't swallow it so she just held it in her mouth not knowing what to do for a good 5 minutes and the guy saw what she was doing and was so nice to get her a towel to spit it out. It was hilarious, even the guy laughed with us. At the end of our meal we got a little square of a cake/dessert and then 3 strawberries, which were delicious. Strawberries were in season at this time so they were so good! Afterwards we so absolutely stuffed and hopped back on the subway to the Harajuku district.

            Harajuku was much more of a shopping area but there wasn't a whole lot of exciting things because it was pretty mainstream. I went to forever 21 to get a few things that I had forgot. What I did find cool was that they were having the LAFORET GRAND BAZAR which was a shopping building filled with little boutiques and it was like our Black Friday where things were 40-70% off and their were people with mega phones trying to get people to come into their store and some even you had to wait to get in because they had a limit of the amount of people who could be in so they used a large fishing net to block the opening of the store. It was pretty fascinating because the Japanese people I had encountered were very quiet but here they were very loud.

            After we got our things at Forever 21 many of the girls were exhausted so we made our way back to the hotel so everyone could just relax for an hour. Once we were hungry again many of the girls just wanted something a little more familiar to them so we found this cute little Italian place where we feasted on about 5 pizzas and so much pasta. Japanese food is really good but sushi doesn't necessarily fill you up and keep you full for the day. Once we finished dinner we went back to the hotel where everyone got ready to go out to the clubs and bars but I decided the stay in for the night and watch a movie because going out and getting wasted with people who I am still getting to know just isn't my thing. Unfortunately though I was woken up every other hour when people stumbled back in so my plan of getting some sleep still didn't work.

            Once we all woke up again we packed up our things, made our last minute phone calls through viber, which works with wifi and then we made our way to my favorite city, Kyoto.

Japan

Japan!!!

            First day of Japan I left the ship in Yokohama with a group of 9 girls to make our way to Tokyo. We all took the train to Tokyo but it definitely wasn't easy. All of the stops and machines are in Japanese so our first challenge was to find people who could speak some English and help us out. Once you get your ticket you then have to figure out which train to take and these stations are huge, you walk down the stairs of the station and there are hundreds of stores; clothing and food which amazed me because you never had to leave the station, everything was there.

            Once we made it to Tokyo station one of the girls left her cell phone on the train so we had to go through the process of seeing if anyone turned it in and surprisingly after a day in Tokyo her phone was turned in! The people in Japan are the nicest people I have ever met.

            We probably didn't get to our hotel until later in the afternoon but that didn't stop us from getting onto the subway and setting forth towards Harajuku district but once we got off the station we found this really cute street that had such pretty lights, it was almost out of the movie. It was so quiet and there weren't many people but we ended up finding this restaurant that was basically under the ground where we had our first sushi meal in Japan! We all got the sushi dinner, which had about 9 pieces of sashimi as well as miso soup. I also tried hot sake for the first time and a sabarro beer; some of the girls attempted a sake bomb even though I am sure that isn't custom in Japan. In Tokyo people are very quiet and their normal voices are like our whispering voices and so we were very loud compared to them. Plus the girls I was with are abnormally loud to begin with.

            After our delicious sushi dinner a few of the girls who weren't extreme sushi lovers like myself were still hungry so we stopped by Shakeys, a pizza joint, for some pizza. I was full but they all had pizza and they said it was really good. Once everyone was full we made our way back to our hotel to wait for the rest of the people who had field labs (basically mandatory class trip).

            Since this was our first port and one of the safest places to be, everyone was going crazy with excitement about going out to bars and clubs. Me, I'm not really that person but I tagged along for a little and made my way back to the hotel to get some sleep, well I thought. But the hotels in Japan only give you one key per room and so I took the key and then every 30 minutes until probably 5 am I had to let people in. So in Tokyo I didn't get much sleep at all.

            I wanted to give you a sneak peak of my adventure in Japan and will be posting about my other four days ASAP