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Sunday, October 19 ("Now what?"/sailing to Malaysia): I received snail mail from Vernon and he sent me a few quotes with a nice card. I can't get away from my experiences in India…I've been thinking nonstop about my responsibility as a global citizen. It occurred to me that students may also be struggling to process their experiences just as much as I was, so I decided to write a note to everyone on our trip. I said to students:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." ~ Mark Twain Hello Everyone! Wow, we did it…we made it back safely from India! Although our trip was rigorous, I hope your experience was meaningful in some way. I want to encourage you to take a few moments—ten minutes—to reflect on your experiences in India. The next few ports will happen rather quickly and you don't want to forget the details of one or two images that touched you. Write a few notes in your journal. If you're not a writer, jot down a few words that capture how you might be feeling or thinking at this moment; it will be well worth it later. Personally, I was touched, moved, & inspired by many of the images I saw in India. In fact, I am thinking of ways I can make a contribution to my Indian brothers & sisters. Thus far in our journey we've seen favellas in Brazil, settlements in South Africa, and rampant poverty in India. Many of you know Ghandi's famous quote, "be the change you wish to see in the world." Well, this quote has entirely new meaning now that I've seen India. As we become a more global society, I believe it's critical for me (and you too!)to consider at least one action I can take to improve the human condition.Now that you've seen it, what will you do?Thank you for sharing this experience with me!
Also met with students of color and they all had positive experiences in India. Like me, they wanted to brainstorm what contributions they could make to improve the human condition in India.
Monday, October 20 ("Barack MY vote"/ sailing to Malaysia): I voted this afternoon! Just doing my part to be civically engaged! Yesterday the elections committee sent instructions on how to print absentee ballot information. Once I printed and signed the documents, the elections committee completed all the FedEx paperwork.
Overall, the absentee voting process was really simple and deck 5 was buzzing with excitement. In two weeks students plan to have a mock election on the ship to determine who would win the presidency on SAS. I hate that I'm missing all the elections coverage…I would love to be canvassing in Maryland…encouraging people to vote.
On November 5th, our morning global studies class will be cancelled so the shipboard community can watch live election results stream in from the U.S. during the evening of November 4th.
As a result of traveling abroad, I learned how little the U.S. gives to other nations; the unfortunate reality is America ranks 23rd (out of a list of 23 countries) in terms of aid to foreign affairs. I was disappointed to learn this about our country, especially considering the amount of power and influence we have as a developed country. Anyway, I hope Barack wins the presidential election and leads America towards giving more outside of the U.S.
Tuesday, October 21 ("Does anyone speak Chinese?"/ sailing to Malaysia): A few weeks ago, Curtis, Shalina, and I started discussing the possibility of traveling independently to Beijing, China (because the SAS trip was sold out). We started researching tour agents, plane prices, yadda-yadda-yadda. At some point Shalina opted out, which left me and Curtis, so we agreed to make our travel arrangements before arriving in Malaysia.
Yesterday we were in the computer lab looking at airline prices and found a decent deal through Air China. When we were looking at Air China website, everything was written in English and Chinese, which caused us to feel like we could comfortably book a ticket through the company. After I entered my credit card information, everything popped up in Chinese characters! I then received two confirmation emails in Chinese. This would only happen to me!!
I asked a few of my residents if they knew anyone on the ship who spoke Chinese and might be willing to help me read the emails. My resident had her friend come to my cabin and we hover over my computer reading e-tickets.
Wednesday, October 22 ("A snake on my shoulders & a butterfly on my pants"/ Malaysia): The Captain dropped anchor out in sea, about 10 minutes from the pier, because the MV Explorer is too big/deep to fit in shallow waters. Because we were docked midway from the pier, passengers had to tender. Tendering meant we used small boats to ferry people from the ship to shore as we could not dock at the pier. Essentially, a small landing area floats next to the ship, so you step from the ship to the floating landing to the tender boat. Exhausting! Well, kinda cool, but exhausting because the tendering process created extra steps in planning how/when to embark/disembark the ship. The tender boats were scheduled to shuttle about 100 people every 30 minutes...from ship to pier on the hour…from pier to ship on the 30 minute mark.There were several hundred folks scheduled to go on the first four tender boats so all could board buses and start various trips on time.
Today I served as trip leader for a day long (9am- 4:30pm) island tour of Penang, Malaysia. Georgetown is the capital of the island and state of Penang. In Penang, Malays comprise about 30% of the population. Nearly two thirds of the population of Penang is Chinese, followed by Indian.
The tour showed us the colorful life in and around George Town with as we visited Khoo Kongsi (clan house) and continued to Chor-su Kon Temple (Snake Temple), where poisonous snakes adorn the altars. In Malaysia, people bring eggs to give to the snakes so the gods will look kindly upon you; snakes are highly regarded and associated with religion. When we entered the snake temple, there were five snakes sleeping in an elevated altar. Lawrence, our tour guide, took us next door to hold a vipor or python snake. All the students were holding snakes and taking pictures; at first I was not interested in touching or holding a snake, then I had a moment of the "you only live once" syndrome. So I volunteered to let the snake handler put the python on my shoulders and I was like, "Oh! Oh! Oh!" I thought it would be easy, but it was so weird to me and I was freaking out a little bit (see pics).
After the Snake Temple, we drove through the quaint countryside in Balik Pulau, where spices like cloves and nutmeg are found. We then stopped at the largest Butterfly Farm in the region. There were tons and tons of butterflies fluttering around. I was wearing a red rain jacket, which is the same color as the flowers in the farm, so butterflies kept landing on me. Years ago someone told me that butterflies are a symbol of hope in Native American culture, because they go through many stages to become a beautiful creature; every since then I've loved butterflies. Immediately after the Butterfly Farm, we ate a late lunch at local Chinese restaurant…I tried a few news foods.
It rained on us the entire morning. Prior to being in Malaysia, I thought I would not have to use my lightweight rain jacket this semester—wrong! All day it was hot, hot, hot, and rained from the moment I stepped on the tender boat, until late afternoon. We were in and out of heavy rain all morning, but it finally stopped raining after lunch, which was perfect because the Kek Lok Si Temple is an outdoor place tucked into the mountain side. The Kek Lok Si Temple and Pagoda is devoted to 'Ten Thousand Buddhas'. Yet another beautiful place! A few monks walked around for prayer while we were there. We ended our day with a walk through the Botanical Gardens, where monkeys roam freely.
After such a long day, I returned to the ship for dinner and port duty. I never really caught up on sleep after India, so I fell asleep around 8:30pm. At 2am, I received a duty call about inappropriate student behavior in the tender boat. The issue was resolved rather quickly, but I couldn't not go back to sleep for the life of me!
Thursday, October 23 ("Kampung Homestay"/ Malaysia): I (and 30 other SASers) signed up for a homestay with a local Malaysian family. The purpose of a homestay is to expose one to daily life and culture of local people. I considered doing a homestay in China or Japan, but decided that I would rather travel in those countries and experience a homestay in Malaysia.
At 10am we piled into a bus and drove 45 minutes outside of Penang to Kampung, Malaysia. A welcoming committee greeted us with a song, lunch, and a sign that read "a Kampung experience where the simple pleasure of life matter". We were told about 700 people live in the Kampung Village and several families volunteered to host two guests.
Brittany, the photographer, and I met our "dad," Sanusi, a 60 year old retired man. He drove us home to meet his wife, Kelsom. In the short drive home, I quickly realized Sanusi's English was limited and he told us Kelsom did not speak any English. Sanusi escorted us in and showed us the guest room. Then he drove us around town. We returned home for a quick rest while Kelsom cooked lunch. Like Indians, Malays eat with their fingers. We tried to eat with our fingers, but that's hard without a good technique. We must have looked pitiful because Sanusi gave us forks.
After lunch with our host family, the SAS group came together to watch women make local snacks. They made fresh chips and desserts, then shared local fruits with us. We also walked around the village to see their garden, community center, and played games with a few children.
Sanusi collected Brittany and I about two hours later. We returned home and Sanusi disappeared…Kelsom could not speak English….so Brittany and I talked on the porch. When Sanusi re-emerged, he was wearing formal clothes and waved goodbye to us while he was driving away on his motor-bike…it was the strangest thing! Brittany and I figured out he was going to evening prayer. While Sanusi was gone, Kelsom cooked dinner.
Friday, October 24 ("Rice Patty Fields"/ Malaysia): It was an extremely hot, humid morning. We started early with breakfast and Sanusi pointed us to the kitchen table; he nor Kelsom ate with us. Once we finished breakfast, Sanusi drove us back to the community center to meet the SAS group; we were scheduled to visit a goat farm, rice patty fields, a beach, and a fishing village. I think visiting the rice patty fields was the best part of the day. Allison and I rolled up our pants and walked in the fields. We were fine until someone said leeches were in the water…that freaked us out and we promptly removed ourselves from the muddy field and washed our feet in a creek.
We returned home to collect our baggage. In many Asian cultures, it is customary to present a gift to your host. Brittany and I brought gifts with us and presented a bag to the family. They also gave us a small gift before we departed.
Overall, the homestay pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I think my hosts had the best intentions and I appreciated their generosity, however, I had hoped I would be able to engage in conversation and gain a local's perspective; due to language limitations, that enriching conversation never happened. I asked too many questions of the tour guide and learned that several villagers host people in an effort to make money. This explained why Sanusi and Kelsom were not overly engaging. Although my homestay failed to be what I expected, I still learned about myself in the process. I also valued the time to learn more about Brittany and build a connection with her.
Towards the end of our homestay, I asked our guide, Maria, if she could help me arrange a massage near the ship. Maria arranged massages for me and five other people. When we returned to the pier, everyone had their baggage and decided not the return to the ship because of the tendering process. We loaded our baggage into a minivan, piled in, and went directly to the massage facility. They asked us to go into the room in pairs. I partnered with a young woman who traveled with me in India. She never had a massage so I told her what to expect. We positioned ourselves on the table and two little women came into the room. OMG, it was THE BEST MASSAGE I've ever experienced. The woman managed to work out knots in my shoulders; then she literally hopped on the table and swatted over me to work wonders on my back.
After our massages, we lugged our stuff to dinner and three hours later we lugged our stuff back to the pier. Around 11pm, we loaded our baggage onto the tender and returned to the ship.
Saturday, October 25 ("001 NOT 011"/ Malaysia): Amy was the trip leader for our Kampung homestay. Before she and I left Kampung, we agreed to meet early Saturday morning to explore Penang. So this morning we were on a mission to find cheap phone cards and we spent a majority of the morning not only looking for phone cards, but also looking for yellow phones to use phone cards. Amy purchased a phone card from a local street vendor, but I was hesitant and did not buy one because the vendor did not clearly explain how to make a call.
Amy desperately wanted to call her husband and decided to take a chance with the phone card. Needless to say, we walked half way around the city and dropped buckets of sweat trying to figure out how to use the card. What we eventually figured out was the country code to call the internationally from Malaysia to U.S. was 001…not 011…duh!
Sunday, October 26 ( "Dr. Fish Spa Therapy"/ Malaysia): My last day in Malaysia was surreal. Today I experienced fish spa therapy. What's fish spa therapy? The Dr. Fish species have a unique dietary habit where they would naturally peck away at the dead and diseased skin of bathers. These fish's unique dietary habits were first discovered in the waters of a hot spring near Turkey. From what I understand, Dr. Fish species are successfully bred in Asia, by using one of the breed of Dr. Fish species called Garra Rufa. So these little 'masseurs' nibble away your dead skin and pamper your feet/legs to a micro massage. Today, fish spa treatments can be found in certain parts of Asia like Japan, China, Malaysia.
First, I was instructed to use a special enzyme cleanser to scrub from knees to feet. Then I walked up four steps and place my feet in water with tadpole sized fish. It felt like someone was tickling my feet…but a pleasant sensation. The woman next to me was laughing because of the sensation on her feet. After 10 minutes, I moved to the second tank with slightly bigger fish—think gold fish. A weird sensation Ten minutes later, I moved to the third tank with fish bigger than the last ones—think four gold fish. This was slightly more painful sensation. The fourth, and last, tank—think…well I don't know what to compare it to, but it hurt!
Did the fish smooth my skin? I think so because my crusty big toe was as smooth as could be. Fish nibbling on my feet is something I'll never forget!
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