Friday, August 31, 2007
life at sea....
August 30, 2007
SAS Blog
At Sea (between Ensenada, Mexico and Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)
At Sea
What do I do when I am sea? Well, I finally have what I believe is a schedule. I am missing “the finch” who usually handles that but I do have Jennifer who is very helpful. I told hter that I will do my best to handle my own schedule but she is definitely back up. Funny thing is that like the staff on land at UCI, the shipboard staff already told me the other day that they need a GPS tracker to find me…Apparently I move around a lot! In any case, my days at sea is as follows:
0615 teach either TKB or Weights
0700 shower, get ready
0730 breakfast
0800 student life team meeting
0925 global studies (formerly known as core)
1050 break
1100 A-Team meeting
1200 Lunch (usually outside where it is nice, sunny, relaxing!)
1320 anna’s office hours (one on ones, conduct officer, etc.) at the faculty staff lounge
(aka 7/Fore)…no students are allowed there. I also walk around and visit the
dependent children “school” etc.
1600 work on UCI stuff
1800 dinner or special event
1930 break, work on dissertation, go to community college (1 hour seminars, workshops)
2100 Walk around, go to duty desk, go to AFTer hours, go to 7/Fore
2300 Write (dissertation, blog, letters, journal)
2400 lights out!
After reading this schedule, I realized that nothing changed much from land to sea in my life. Today was a big day for Jessica and Paul (two RDs, yes, the Jessica C. from UCI). They had an amazing scavenger hunt – too fun – and had over 140 students participate. I really had a great time watching students be engaged with the activity. They were able to meet new people, became more familiar with the ship, and had fun chasing faculty, administrators, and staff all over. Some even got a hold of the captain to take a picture. Tomorrow night will be the cultural pre-port, AFTer hours (alcoholic beverage service in a specific location on the ship), and games and guitar night….The students are also becoming even more engaged in their classes and are busy reading, doing homework, etc. They too are getting used to their schedules. It is funny that we have been one community for only about 4 days…it feels as if we have all already bonded, gotten into a routine, and are quite familiar with one another. There are plenty of conversations, jokes, etc.
Finally, I just have to say that I really like the crew and officers on the ship. I am getting a lot of practice with my Tagalog (teaching staff and students as well) and also finding that the officers on this voyage are quite professional and nice. We had chicken adobo today and friend rice – Pilipino style…yummy!!!! I am however missing my Mexican food already….yes, those arriba tacos, all rice, no beans, with pico de gallo….aaargh, my stomach is growling.
Until the next blog –
SAS Blog
At Sea (between Ensenada, Mexico and Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)
At Sea
What do I do when I am sea? Well, I finally have what I believe is a schedule. I am missing “the finch” who usually handles that but I do have Jennifer who is very helpful. I told hter that I will do my best to handle my own schedule but she is definitely back up. Funny thing is that like the staff on land at UCI, the shipboard staff already told me the other day that they need a GPS tracker to find me…Apparently I move around a lot! In any case, my days at sea is as follows:
0615 teach either TKB or Weights
0700 shower, get ready
0730 breakfast
0800 student life team meeting
0925 global studies (formerly known as core)
1050 break
1100 A-Team meeting
1200 Lunch (usually outside where it is nice, sunny, relaxing!)
1320 anna’s office hours (one on ones, conduct officer, etc.) at the faculty staff lounge
(aka 7/Fore)…no students are allowed there. I also walk around and visit the
dependent children “school” etc.
1600 work on UCI stuff
1800 dinner or special event
1930 break, work on dissertation, go to community college (1 hour seminars, workshops)
2100 Walk around, go to duty desk, go to AFTer hours, go to 7/Fore
2300 Write (dissertation, blog, letters, journal)
2400 lights out!
After reading this schedule, I realized that nothing changed much from land to sea in my life. Today was a big day for Jessica and Paul (two RDs, yes, the Jessica C. from UCI). They had an amazing scavenger hunt – too fun – and had over 140 students participate. I really had a great time watching students be engaged with the activity. They were able to meet new people, became more familiar with the ship, and had fun chasing faculty, administrators, and staff all over. Some even got a hold of the captain to take a picture. Tomorrow night will be the cultural pre-port, AFTer hours (alcoholic beverage service in a specific location on the ship), and games and guitar night….The students are also becoming even more engaged in their classes and are busy reading, doing homework, etc. They too are getting used to their schedules. It is funny that we have been one community for only about 4 days…it feels as if we have all already bonded, gotten into a routine, and are quite familiar with one another. There are plenty of conversations, jokes, etc.
Finally, I just have to say that I really like the crew and officers on the ship. I am getting a lot of practice with my Tagalog (teaching staff and students as well) and also finding that the officers on this voyage are quite professional and nice. We had chicken adobo today and friend rice – Pilipino style…yummy!!!! I am however missing my Mexican food already….yes, those arriba tacos, all rice, no beans, with pico de gallo….aaargh, my stomach is growling.
Until the next blog –
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Ensenada, Mexico
We finally have set sail and arrived in Ensenada, Mexico. It is A1 (first day of class) and I honestly do not know what the date or day is in real world time. The student life staff rocks and we are having a great time getting to know faculty and the other staff members. We love the captain, officers and the crew. The students for the most part are so positive and excited to be here. I have had a very emotional bon voyage - in part because of the family and friends who were able to see me off in San Diego. August and I miss everyone and at the same time are having a wonderful time making new friends. Two things that I have told the staff is to not say "on my campus" and "on my last voyage"....although i often think of my campus and my past voyage (shout outs to UCI and SAS Summer 01 voyage whoo whoo!). We had such a unique experience of participating in a shipboard event to celebrate the contributions of both Max and John during our orientation. What an amazing day and night of partying that turned out to be!
The first night when we left Ensenada was quite eventful. The students were excited, asking me if they could change rooms, looking at the picture boards, and trying to find their friends they "met" on facebook. It was quite fun for all for the most part. They all wanted to get into their internet right away so the questions about games and movies was quite minimal. The seas seemed rought that night so we had quite a few people quite sick, including me. I was told that I looked green (my favorite color!). I recovered nicely and so far have had no more incidents. The captain is pretty fun - I have to say that he really liked the brown polka dot floppy hat and wants me to wear it during boat drill...thanks y'all.
So as we travel through the Pacific Ocean (it's weird and calming at the same time to not see land or any ships), my hope is to be able to create positive experiences for the students and the rest of the shipboard community during this voyage. I think what is hard is to have them realize that seeing the world as half full rather than half empty is easier than one thinks. Hopefully, they will all come around. I have met 3 of the 6 anteaters on board and all three have been very positively engaged. I am excited to see Honolulu mostly because of the friends I have there! Shout outs by the way to all the folks who visited during our stay in SD. Shout outs also to those of you who I had lunch, dinner, happy hour with the week before I left - it was all appreciated!!!
more to come later...
anna
The first night when we left Ensenada was quite eventful. The students were excited, asking me if they could change rooms, looking at the picture boards, and trying to find their friends they "met" on facebook. It was quite fun for all for the most part. They all wanted to get into their internet right away so the questions about games and movies was quite minimal. The seas seemed rought that night so we had quite a few people quite sick, including me. I was told that I looked green (my favorite color!). I recovered nicely and so far have had no more incidents. The captain is pretty fun - I have to say that he really liked the brown polka dot floppy hat and wants me to wear it during boat drill...thanks y'all.
So as we travel through the Pacific Ocean (it's weird and calming at the same time to not see land or any ships), my hope is to be able to create positive experiences for the students and the rest of the shipboard community during this voyage. I think what is hard is to have them realize that seeing the world as half full rather than half empty is easier than one thinks. Hopefully, they will all come around. I have met 3 of the 6 anteaters on board and all three have been very positively engaged. I am excited to see Honolulu mostly because of the friends I have there! Shout outs by the way to all the folks who visited during our stay in SD. Shout outs also to those of you who I had lunch, dinner, happy hour with the week before I left - it was all appreciated!!!
more to come later...
anna
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)