Dubrovnik!

November 18, 2007
This city is incredibly beautiful. The entire time we were here, I kept thinking of the horrors of war they had recently. As much as I appreciated the beauty of this place, I am always reminded of the losses that result from nationalism and ethnic genocide. I think that Rick Steves said it best when he wrote that no one is innocent in the war. I also could not help but think of the history of colonialism and that this must be an exciting time for Croatians as they now have the ability to chart their own course and rule for themselves. We were freezing though and there was quite a bit of rain the first couple of days. But we braved the cold and on the second day, walked all over the city and climbed the famed city walls.

Inside the city walls

Our friends Paul and Alexis braved another excursion with us and it was so much fun. We ate the yummiest pasta, pizza, and salad at Spaghetteria Toni (thank you R.Steves), had ice cream at Dolce Vita and hot chocolate (their version is basically melted chocolate and that’s it). We had dinner later on with the Taylors and had some of the best tasting lightly breaded fried calamari, red wine, pizza, and salad. I ended up meeting friends at my favorite bar in Dubrovnik – the Arsenal wine bar and kept going back there every night until we left.

August was armed with the Rick Steves’ guidebook and the top ten things to do in Dubrovnik and led us on a tour…we were quite a challenging group as we kept veering off from his path and taking random pictures, eating food from time to time, petting dogs and cats, and pretty much foolin’ around. WE did learn a lot though and were thankful (and mighty tired) at the end. At the end of our stay, we were treated to a citywide festival of lights which commemorated the victims of the war. As we went from the old city walls to the port, we saw candles in colored glass containers throughout the sidewalks. We hope to come to this port on warmer days to do some water sports, hiking, and more museum visits.

Gobble Gobble – It’s time for Turkey!

November 17, 2007

Turkey is definitely on my top five favorite countries list. I loved it the first time and even more so the second time I visited. We stayed in Istanbul for the 5 days we were there and found that we could have stayed in that city for a month and not seen enough. Here are my thoughts about our magical stay at Istanbul. We had such a great time with friends, colleagues, and students. Our student life dinner occurred then as well and that was a blast. Beyond the things below, what I most treasure about my time in Turkey is feeling of wonder at everything I saw and the good times I had with friends. It was also so neat to see the students being fairly independent as they took charge of their days and evenings and explored the sites on their own. We spent mornings having coffee or hot cocoa, bread, and contemplating life while we looking at the beautiful views of the Bosphorous and the Golata Bridge. This picture is taken from the Topkaki Palace.

Yummy bread!

The people: We found people there to be welcoming, nice, fun loving, and politically engaged. Just an fyi, we did not find a single person there who liked GW Bush or Texas. The people we met had a great sense of humor - some favorites include Mustafa, my favorite bowl vendor, the owners of our favorite restaurant Nev – Alem, Hussein, Martin, and our Kurdish waiter at Omar’s, and the policeman who liked to walk arm in arm with August when we walked out from the port because August was so warm. I will also miss the many cafes and bakeries we stopped at and the old man I befriended who sold the round bagel / pretzel like bread and said hello to me every morning as I took out my 75 cents to buy my early morning treat.

The sites: I can’t even tell you all about how beautiful the city of Istanbul is. We went to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Topkaki Palace, was at the Golden Horn, Suleyman Mosque, Fatih Mosque, Istanbul University, the old city walls, the Jewish quarters, the Greek quarters, The Bosphorous, the men fishing on the bridges everyday, the sunset while we had drinks at the 5th floor of a restaurant right outside the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya, the Church of St. Saviour in Chora (one of my favorite places and days in Istanbul – thank you August, Samantha, Jordan, and Scott). I learned there that it was because of the Muslims that the Icons on the walls were saved for us to now view since the Christians were at that time trying to destroy icons from their churches. We saw the cartoon museum which is located inside a former medrese from the 17th century. We also saw so many of the mosques built by Sinan – I call him the Gaudi of Istanbul with regards to the fact that he built so many of the mosques in the great city like Gaudi built so many of the famous architecture in Barcelona. We also had a glorious day going to the third sacred place in Islam – the Eyup Mosque. We missed going to the Pierre Loti café this time but we did learn so much about Eyup – the companion and standard bearer of the Prophet Mohamed. Walking around the city allowed us to make new discoveries and long to stay for just a few months more. I can’t honestly tell you if I prefer seeing a famous site or just looking out at the Golata Bridge or watching the men cast their fishing lines and show off their catch of the day to those of us passing by. The fat cats were some of favorites sites by the way. I loved the way the locals just kept feeding them and cuddling with them. We did too as well – hopefully, none of us got cat rabies!

The food: I gained whatever weight I lost on the voyage back in Istanbul! The breads and pastries were incredible. I had chicken doners salad with olive oil and lemon, Ottoman feasts which included chicken and rice baked in a phylo coating, fresh fish, thick lentil soup, corn on the cob with lemon, chili pepper, and salt, and this pasta with meat inside served with a white thick garlic sauce and red marinara on top. The hot chocolate was the best – it reminded me of the ones I had on Bavarian trains as we whizzed by forests.

August, Jordan, Scott, & Samantha at St. Savior in Chora

Other experiences: I went back to my favorite hamam – Cemberlitas. I was scrubbed, cleaned, slapped around a little, and in the end, my skin was so soft and smooth. Really, the pain is worth the results. The port felt so safe and the students I saw had such a good time. The shopping for many was incredible – Taksim Square was the place to be. And the transportation system – loved the trams and buses – made everything run smoothly. One of the funniest memories I had was when 8 of us had to get into the tram which was more crowded than a Tokyo train during Friday, rush hour. I don’t know how we did it but we just made our way and ended up squashed in, some of us in uncomfortable positions. Finally, I was moved by the spirituality of the people we saw in Istanbul. The call to prayer sounded beautiful – some of them were haunting and melodic. The way in which the mosques would fill up 5 times a day as a normal part of their everyday life looked so powerful. From a distance, I saw men performing their ablutions (washing of the feet, hands, face) as part of the preparation to pray. It was quite an experience to be there and be allowed to share in their sacred space.

Turkey was a great place to visit. We hope to go again and visit other cities as well. There is so much to see and do there and not enough time. My only regret is to my inability to engage the political situation in that country during my visit. I have mixed emotions being there and thinking of their lack of acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide. I also have mixed emotions about what is happening to the Kurdish population. It amazes me how we can be on this voyage, learn so much about the places we are visiting, and yet sometimes, hardly be able to learn or engage anything at all.

Egypt posts - how to read them

Hi Folks -


The way I posted these things...you should read the Egypt (the older post first) and then read Egypt II. Sorry for the confusion.
anna

More Egypt pictures

Egypt Part II

From August:
On the second day we flew in the early morning from Cairo to Sharm El Sheik at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. While most of Egypt is in the African continent, the Sinai is in the Asian continent. Anna flew by herself from Alexandria to Sharm El Sheik and we were reunited at the Sharm airport. What followed was an incredible off-roading experience, as we took 4-wheel drives through rough valleys and canyons at speeds of 80 kilometers per hour. After a half an hour drive, we entered a Bedouin community, and the young people were waiting for us with camels. We went on a camel caravan through a “wadi” (a dry bed that becomes a watercourse during the rainy season). It was like a scene from “Lawrence of Arabia.” I can’t describe to you the incredible feeling of being in this desert landscape flanked on each side by gorgeous stone mountains and the wide blue sky above.

On the third day, we went snorkeling at Ras Mohammed (“Head of Mohammed) National Park. The park was like no park that I have ever visited. There were remnants of lookouts, tanks, and trenches from the Egypt-Israel War of the early 1970s, and areas that were off-limits due to the presence of Israeli-planted land mines. The highlight of the visit was the beautiful inlets, meeting points between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. We stopped by a peaceful bay called “Baraka” (“Blessing”), off limits because the coral was being allowed to grow, a place called the “Magic Lake,” and then snorkeling in the coral reefs of Ras Mohammed. I got tired from following the long snorkeling route. I felt my life pass before me, but luckily one of the students was a great swimmer and helped me get back to shore. I was so enthralled by the motley goldfish and the thick coral that I had lost track of how far I had swam.

On the fourth day, we took a three-hour drive through the Sinai desert to St. Katherine’s Monastery, on the foot of Gebel Musa (“Moses’ Mountain,” or more commonly known as “Mt. Sinai”). The last remaining Byzantine-era icons of Jesus, St. Peter, and Mary were there – the rest had been destroyed by one of the popes because he feared that they had become objects of worship in themselves. We visited a spot known as Jethro’s Well, Jethro being Moses’ eventual father-in-law. Near it was the “Burning Bush,” where Moses was supposed to have spoken to God. We took pictures of Mt. Sinai, at the top of which there is a marker where tradition has indicated that Moses received the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. We also stopped by a natural stone structure where Moses was supposed to have found the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf and in anger had hurled it at the mountain – today this structure resembles that of a calf.

From Anna:
St. Katherine’s also held a great surprise for us. We were the only group to be allowed to go to the monastery’s monks quarters and into the library. The library houses the largest collections of religious works (in latin and greek I believe) outside of the Vatican. The head librarian who is one of the 25 monks at the monastery is from Texas. He was so great! We hope to keep in touch with him. The semester at sea participants just loved this part of the trip. We then went to a wonderful place (another resort time town) for lunch..it was just as beautiful as Sharm and we hope to visit there again on a next Egypt visit. That hotel had the best food and awesome never ending pools surrounding wrapped around it. It was also famous for windsurfing as well and the hotel itself was about 5 minutes walk to the sea. After that, we had free time (again) yay! And we once again went around Sharm.

On a final note – evenings at Sharm were so much fun! We walked all over the place..it was kinda weird…something like being in Nice or even Laguna Beach but people just had a little bit more clothes on…One of the restaurants I loved was called Ali Baba’s Oriental Seafood (my favorite!). It was affordable, yummy, and offered the best views. Students were cracking me up because they kept ordering McDonalds to the hotel just to say that they had it delivered to them from pedi-cabs….I took a picture with a delivery person but did not buy anything…I figured eating at Ali Baba’s was enough for you all to judge me. Sharm itself was a playground for the rich and the tourists. Except for the workers, there were hardly any “everyday” Egyptians there. It was relaxing and magical for us. More importantly, we really enjoyed spending time with our bus – bus 11 rocks! Our habibis and pharaohs bonded. We also really enjoyed our wonderful “mom” – guide. The students and I keep seeing each other on the ship and greet each other either hey bus 11 or habibi habibi. It really was the best sas trip ever J.

August of Arabia

Egypt!

Egypt – with excerpts from guest writer Augusto Espiritu Ph.D. J
November 15, 2007
From Anna;
My favorite country during my first voyage was Egypt – and I must say this holds true for this one as well. I think it is a semester at sea cardinal sin to say that you have a favorite country but I will break that time and time again for Egypt. Where do I even begin? Oh – before I do, friends – take your honeymoon here, take your family vacations here, celebrate your birthday here, go to Egypt!

From Augusto:
Egypt was unforgettable. I shed invisible tears as we sailed from the port of Alexandria. It seemed unreal to have visited the land of the Pharaohs, one of the two vital centers of Islam, and part of the Holy Land.

On the first day, I lead students and lifelong learners on a trip to Cairo and Sharm El Sheik. I had to do this by myself because Anna had to stay behind in Alexandria to take care of important matters. We drove three hours from Alexandria to Giza, through desert and fertile lands.

It was mystical to see the famed Pyramids of Giza. I rode on a two-humped camel from pyramid to pyramid and for some time took over the reins while it went into a nice gallop. The camel driver was a crook and managed to squeeze ten Egyptian pounds (2 US dollars) from me, but the “baksheesh” (or “tip” in Arabic) was well worth it. At the Pyramid of Khefren, I paid 25 Egyptian pounds (5 dollars) to walk on a crouch through the tunnel about 200 feet inside the pyramid leading to an old sarcophagus. It was dark and steamy inside but there were a lot of us and we had a lot of fun.

Trick or Treat

Mahabalarpuram and Chennai

India Pictures

Suez Canal

October 30, 2007

This is an amazing day! (how many times do I say that word – amazing – on this blog?). We are traveling slowly on the Suez canal with Egypt to the left and right of us. The day started off with the Sea Olympics where the Dead Sea (that is our team – faculty, staff, Life long learners) get out in our grey colored shirts, pants, etc. and our awesome banner (hanks Paul and team) and chanting “not dead yet1”. The other seas were pretty good – scary good – and this was happening all at 9 am. We ended up placing 1st in this competition which was great and gave us a boost of confidence. Not sure we will actually win the entire thing but as I told the entire team, the goal is to not finish dead last.
It was surreal to have all of us running around, chanting, competing, etc. as we sail through this historic canal and really the country known as the cradle of civilization. At different points of the day, in the midst of meetings and competition, we heard the call to prayer coming from various mosques and loudspeakers. I saw a soldier at one point had his gun turned to us and in the next minute, put his gun down and faced Mecca, began the ritual of washing his face. I ran to the AFT of the ship to see if he was praying and when I got there, he was indeed. We saw old cannons that must have been built for the wars fought around the Suez, little boats driven by young and old men, and women covered from head to toe going about their daily lives. I had to laugh as students, some clad in bathing suits, shorts, tanks,, complain to me that they keep waving at the people but there are so few that wave back. I replied that with what we are all wearing (we had a big hair contest and toilet paper fashion contest ok?), it’s a miracle they haven’t shot at us yet so no, I don’t think we’ll be waved at much. All of us continue to marvel at where we are traveling through as we gaze out at the dessert, see camels walking with their jockeys along side them, watch small towns and cities at different points, and wonder at how lucky we all are to be here. It hurts my heart looking at the magnificent beauty around me and I know that I did not describe this experience well enough. And while the sunset will I am sure be great, I don’t want it to happen just yet because that would mean an end to another very special sea day.

Namaste - India!

October 27, 2007

Before you read about India, I would like to say that many view this country as poverty stricken. People felt sad and helpless at the level of poverty and inhumane conditions they saw people live in. So many were depraved of clean potable water, shelter, food, medicine. There is an India that is not much discussed in the face of this heart-wrenching poverty. There is an India which impacts the price of gold worldwide because of the heavy demand for it during their wedding season. There is the India that lives in the bollywood of their (and our) fantasies – upper and upper middle class living in luxury, with new imported cars, mansions, and beautiful clothes. There are the rich in India who thank their gods for their wealth and give money and jewelry to their Brahmins but not to give funds that will enable the creation of a better social welfare system that will truly break down class and caste barriers. There are those who think and write about poverty and how to end it as they sit in their offices not having to worry about hunger pains and lack of medical care for themselves. I wonder if perhaps countries should be discussed not in whether one is third or first world but rather the division between the worlds within one nation and how that great divide looks like. I don’t know how the problem of poverty can be solved but I hope that those who are not impoverished work on solving this issue rather than just wish it away.

We loved India! I think that I say that about every country we visited by the way J. Using a John Denver phrase (and by the way, the voyage is making me into a John Denver fan so watch out) India filled up my senses. I was told that best way to experience India is to take it in slowly and then it becomes something wonderful (thanks Sally!). I decided to do just that by not going to the whirlwind India tour in 4 1/2 days. This meant that I did not go to the Taj, Varanassi, etc. – places that you would more likely associated India with and see on tv and movies. We stayed within 2 hours of the ship most of the time (I was also duty dean for 3 days so actually 1 hour of the ship) in the province of Tamil Nadu where the city of Chennai is located.

For the first two days, we went to Mamallapuram or Mahabalapuram as many people kept telling us (t was two places next to each other by the way). We hired a driver who August and I hope to keep in touch with – Mr. Tulasiram. He was a nice guy and we actually ended up hiring him for 4 days. He did not attempt to take us to any shops, etc. He knew what we wanted and gave us a great tour. The four of us (Paul, Eric, August, and myself) rented 2 rooms at the Ideal Beach Resort. It was so great. We had our own entrance to the beach, the resort was nice and clean, and the food at breakfast so good. Our room was the deluxe and it had its own veranda and very large bathroom. On the first night, we had dinner by the beach at a restaurant called Luna Magica. Funny story – we went out to the town and they had a blackout. Mr. Tulasiram said that this was normal – it could last an hour or half a day depending. It was pitch black in many areas save for the candles you saw lit up from time to time. Our way to the restaurant was scary, funny, and quite an adventure – seriously I am ready for Amazing Race! Mr. T. dropped us off near the beach and said just walk down the narrow street (the car can’t go in) and you will find the restaurant at the end. We got out of the car and started walking. Thank goodness August had the flashlight he bought from REI (I initially gave him a hard time for getting this saying, we can get that in China – thank goodness because all we got in Qingdao is buckets of rain on our heads) and he kept telling this story as he led the way. I decided not to argue for fear that he may just turn off the light. Anyway, we all kept saying this is crazy, I think I hear dogs nearby, don’t stop over this or that, and we would discover people laying out and hanging out on the street saying hello hello or just observing our crew walk tentatively through their neighborhood. We dd find the restaurant at the end of the street and walked up 3 flights of steps. With our deet on, listening to the waves, drinking our Kingfisher beer, and laughing about our misadventures thus far, we ate some of the best seafood ever. Large freshly caught prawns, tuna, curry, rice, garlic naan with butter! We sat there for hours! The lights in the town did get turned on so we found Mr. Tulasiram and headed off to the hotel. At the hotel, we all walked along the beach and watched the moon.

The next day at 5:30 am, all four of us went to the beach and watched the sunrise. The scene was my perfect India – herds of cows strolling amongst us, vendors coming up to try to sell us something, Europeans in linen and cotton blends meditating and doing yoga on the sand, dogs eyeing us, little rafts and boats coming in with fresh seafood and goods, and us listening to the waves as we watched the sun rise. The water was warm although we did not really swim as the currents were pretty wild. After hours in this atmosphere, we had breakfast and went off to explore the temples in the two cities. The temples were GREAT! Many of them were carved out of one big stone and the designs were beautiful. For august and myself, this completed (well, going to Bagan would have also been really important but we did not go there due to the Human Rights abuse going on) our goal to see first hand the religious, cultural, and architectural relationship between Cambodia, Thailand, and India. I can’t even describe to you all that we saw but what amazed me is the reverence and faith people have to build these shrines, temples, monuments to express their feelings for and about their gods. Our final temple (this one was an active temple where the Brahmin priests feed the eagle like birds midday and pray for us) made us walk over 500 steps each way in the hot sun, barefoot! No shoes allowed in temples. We loved it even though I was upset at the way people were “charging’ us falsely at the bottom. Our lunch that day was also yummy – Eric liked that the best. We had grilled fish, more curry, rice with chicken, cooked veggies, and piles of garlic butter naan. We made our way back to Chennai tired, exhausted, but feeling so great to be in India.

Over the next three days, we went out and toured Chennai. We walked on the beach and found out that Chennai’s beach is the second longest coastline in the world, second only to Miami’s. We went to the museum, saw the various parts of the city including Mylapore which is one of the city’s oldest area. We went inside the temple (no shoes again, barefoot, oh so hot) and we were welcomed into various areas. There was a festival going on when we were there so we saw Hindu priests give blessing to the faithful. Some were eating on banana leaves with rice and curried vegetables on top. We saw the Baliwood / Bollywood? Studios / Sets, various universities (Madras was my favorite), the high court (it looked like the Kremlin), St. Thomas Cathedral and found out that only black and dark brown cows get turned into leather goods / materials. The white ones survive and are never bothered. Racism even with the cows – go figure.

Thinking of India overwhelms me and re-reading this entry make me realize that I can’t put into words all that I saw. India was sad, joyful, brilliant colors, laughter, friends, tears, hunger, unlimited food, giving, taking,. I don’t know which story I can say is my favorite about our journey through India. It could be the Semester at Sea student who saved the life of a child she cared for in one of Mother Theresa’s orphanages (She went there everyday on her own to spend entire days with the children). It could be the student who went to do a spiritual pilgrimage and visit specific temples that represent enlightenment (he went to 3 of the 4 because he got tired and they “all looked the same.”) Or it could be the students who finally allowed themselves to let go of their Western values and embrace a culture different from theirs. Or maybe it was the memory of students hugging their new friends from India, their tuk tuk (ok, they call them motor taxis) drivers, or their homes stay families tearfully saying goodbyes and saying that they wished they could stay longer. So I leave India overwhelmed and yet at peace. Surrounded by the Hindu religion with sprinkling of Islam at different moments, this was the country that brought out the Catholic in me. We walked into St. Thomas’ Cathedral which we found out was only one of three cathedrals that an apostle was buried under. In the small chapel where his body / relic was kept, there was a service in Hindu or Tamil. August and I knew exactly what to do and the response, even though we could not really “understand” the language. We were foreign and yet felt at home. Maybe it was that memory that I will take back with me from India. In a land of mostly Hindus, the Catholic in me stepped out and grabbed hold, and I felt strangely at home.