Things I did in South Africa

Feb 22.


        So the time has come again where I must figure out a way to communicate the awesome experiences I had in a country.  Describing South Africa will probably be tougher than usual, because I did so many things and everything I did was so breathtakingly gorgeous, adventurous and unforgettable.  I think I last left off just after I finished describing my Habitat build, so that leaves us at Saturday evening:
        Saturday night about 15 students and myself all went out for a farewell dinner for Andrew Briggs and his colleague Lee Gross, who left for their humanitarian work in Uganda this morning (Tuesday). We went to the Green Dolphin, a restaurant on the waterfront with a live jazz stage.  The food, company and atmosphere were absolutely incredible.  I had some of the best fried calamari I have ever had, along with a seafood stew and a local fish called Line Fish.  The whole time a fantastic jazz band entertained us.  Again, it was one of those “is this really my real life” moments where the shear enjoyment and satisfaction of the experience is almost overwhelming.  After a few hours at the Green Dolphin, we all grabbed a cab to go to Long Street, which is the center of nightlife in Cape Town.  With the help of a mutual friend of an SAS student who is spending the semester in Cape Town (and is actually from Annapolis), we were able to find this awesome bar with a live ska/reggae band.  It was great because we were the only SAS kids there, which is normally a rarity when in port, so it was just my friends and I and a bunch of locals enjoying the live music.
        Sunday morning myself and three other friends made our way to Hillsong Church Cape Town for their 9:30am worship service. This is the same Hillsong as the band Hillsong United, and I think there are about 7 different Hillsong churches all over the globe.  The service was really good, but I admit it felt a little strange going to a new church after not having the opportunity to go to any churches since I left home.  However, the message was definitely encouraging, the music was great, and we were able to meet up with some other churchgoers for lunch at a nearby mall.  The church and the mall were located in this new commercial development called Century City, which is super upscale and fancy.  I spent about an hour walking around the canal that runs through Century City (I would guess it’s similar to river walk in San Antonio) by myself, which was really peaceful and gave me some time to think about things like life and God.  After lunch, we spent about an hour trying to find a taxi or a bus, which, considering the usually near riot that the numerous taxi drivers cause right outside of the ship, was a little difficult. It was kinda fun to wander around this fancy development trying to find a taxi, bus, train and even thumbing for some rides while everyone else was driving around in Masseratis and Benzes.
        We finally were able to take a shuttle to a taxi/bus station.  We (I negotiated and talked) were able to hire a driver for the rest of the afternoon.  Our taxi driver, Owen, who lived in Cape Town his whole life, had a lot of trouble taking us to the spots we wanted to go and had to call his boss to get directions to even the most common spots like Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek.  He also talked to me a lot about how great - yes great, he though apartheid was because it gave everyone jobs and there was a lot more “respect,” (some would call it fear) than there is today.  Needless to say Owen, who was colored, was an interesting character, but a really friendly guy.  He also only charged also 100 rand (about $13) each for the entire trip, which lasted about six hours, essentially the cheapest taxi I will ever have. The four of us are all pretty free-spirited/not really concerned about time, which was awesome because we basically just drove along Cape Peninsula, which is one of the most gorgeous drives in the world according to people way more important than me, and would stop and hangout on a beach or hike along an overpass whenever something that looked cool was spotted.  We made it to the penguin colony at Boulder Beach, and checked out a few other beaches and small towns too, all of which were breathtaking.  We had hoped to make it down to Cape Point for the sunset, but got there just after the gates closed, and so instead ended up at this amazing (and fancy) seafood restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean right next to the penguin colony at Boulder Beach.  Once again the food, company, atmosphere and scenery was better than one could imagine and I had a great time getting to know everyone better.  After dinner, we headed back to the waterfront and after dancing to the incredible marimba band street performers we ended up back at the Green Dolphin for some dessert and to enjoy the jazz music.  Relaxing to the live jazz music was a perfect ending to an awesome day.   
        Monday some other friends had planned a shark dive that I had wanted to go on (The SAS staff doesn’t care about shark diving b/c literally everyone did it so I’m allowed to talk about it).  However with the delays in arrival earlier in the week the original plans fell through.  Fortunately we were able to find a company right outside the dock that agreed to take us that day and rush us to the dive site 2 hours away to meet up with a group that had left earlier in the day.  Our taxi was basically a Mazda sports car, and our driver absolutely flew to get us to the dive site in time.  It was a great ride, and the scenery the whole way was breathtaking.  We got to the dive company a little after noon, which was located in a small town near Hermanus, and happens to be the Great White Shark diving capitol of the world. After a safety briefing and some soup, our group of about 25 (mainly SAS kids) boarded a fishing boat and headed out to the coast of Seal Island, about 20 mins from shore where a shark cage was anchored.  The ride was really bumpy and rough, so I enjoyed it a lot, but some guests spent the entire time violently throwing up, which I thought was a little funny because I think the dive master said the vomit helped attract the sharks.  The boat was pretty small, especially considering the 25 passengers and rolled violently the whole time we were at sea. I didn’t get sea sick at all (never have gotten sea sick in smaller boats like that) but the rotten fish oil smell of the chum, which happened to be rotten fish oil, wasn’t the most pleasant thing.  After anchoring and attaching to the cage, the crew baited the water and the great white sharks appeared within minutes.  I was so excited to jump into the cage I barely had finished zipping up my wetsuit and putting on my booties (I was rushing and so had 2 right feet on the whole day) when they asked for the first six volunteers to go into the cage.  To describe the shark cage, which was a lot different than I had expected:
        The cage was about 12 feet long, maybe 2 feet wide and about 9 feet deep.  So it was basically this long narrow cage, not a big square box that I had expected, and six people at a time would slide in through an opening at the top and shuffle down length of the cage, all facing the same direction.  About 1.5 feet of the cage floated above the surface so it wasn’t like we were trapped underwater, which was a good thing because we didn’t have oxygen tanks, but the contraption might have caused some to feel claustrophobic, although those people would probably be more terrified of the sharks or the frigid water that stole your breath when you first get in, or the fact that the waves would cause you to bounce around in the cage, potentially jamming you against the side or causing you to slide a limb outside of the cage.  The cage was basically just crissed crossed metal bars, forming holes a little bigger than the size of my head.  One side of the cage was tied directly to the side of the boat, which made getting in and out really easy, but also made the cage seem deceptively safe (I’ll explain later).  The crew would place fish bait and a foam board that imitated a seal a few feet from the cage.  When the sharks would come by, they would pull the bait towards the cage causing the great whites to charge right at the divers.  Normally, we would have our head above the water and hold onto a bar above our heads, but when a shark came by, we would hold our breaths and pull ourselves down into the cage, holding onto a bar lower in the cage.  During my first dive session, I got into the habit of diving down pretty deep in the cage and resting on my knees while locking my arms out against the bar to overcome the significant buoyancy of the wet suit.  I guess I assumed in my excitement that my feet would be against the underside of the boat, but I later realized that the technique I used left my feet dangling outside of the cage, well underneath the boat’s hull and in range of the sharks.  The relaxed nature of this post should indicate that no sharks tried to eat my feet, but I certainly didn’t press my luck and adopted the crouching technique during my second dive.  Some other kids were too scared to get into the cage, some got into the cage but didn’t dive down and some got in and immediately got out once they felt the freezing salt water.
        During my first dive we saw about 5 or 6 different sharks, which would come by pretty frequently.  At one point there were 3 great whites all within about 20 feet of the cage, which was real intense (awesome) because they all came from different directions.  By the way, when I say great white sharks, I mean great white sharks.  I’m talking Discovery Channel Shark Week, 18 foot, huge teeth, full grown, hungry great white sharks.  It was so crazy being in the water with them.  During my second dive, which only a few of us wanted to do, we used weight belts so we could stay underwater easier and longer.  Sadly, when I was in the water the closest the sharks got to the cage where about 3 feet.  Twice when I was on the deck, the sharks brushed the cage, but I wasn’t lucky enough to be in the water when that happened, otherwise I would have definitely gone to pet the fins, despite the warnings of the crew.  I was probably in the water for about 30-40 minutes total and we were out at sea for about 3 hours.
        The whole experience was absolutely unreal.  This is literally the best place in the world (and one of only two spots on the globe) that great whites can be viewed consistently.  Almost all the footage on TV of great whites comes from the area we were in.  I couldn’t tell one shark apart from another, but the crew said there were at least 9 different sharks that came by for us, an impressive number considering this was the off-season for shark diving.
        After shark diving we took our speed taxi back into Cape Town and decided to take the cable car up Table Mountain to watch the sunset.  I originally didn’t want to go, since I think it was cheating getting to the top via cable car without actually hiking it, but decided I would compromise my integrity to enjoy the sunset, and boy was it worth it.  I’m not even gonna try to describe how incredible the sunset was.  I promise you it was more spectacular than you can imagine.  It was rather crowded at the top, mainly with SAS kids, but I was able to find this awesome boulder to sit on and enjoy the sunset in relative solitude.  For whatever reasons, I have really started to enjoy time alone, especially in South Africa.  I think I have become more confident in my abilities to accomplish and enjoy things by myself.  Also, walking and hiking around alone really gives me some time to think and reflect.  Its not that I don’t like the company of the other SAS, in fact its quite the opposite, but I think I am beginning to realize that introspection and self- growth is more important and valuable in the long run than spending every moment with friends.
        Along this same vein I really wanted to hike Table Mountain by myself.  The hike isn’t that long time wise, but is pretty much all climbing up rock steps with literally no level areas, which makes for an exceedingly strenuous process.  There were a lot of warnings passed along about the dangers of hiking the path: don’t hike it alone, watch out for robbers in the lower portion, don’t hike it in the morning, don’t hike it when its dark, don’t hike it when it’s windy, and don’t hike without a guide or other people on the mountain further ahead.  Being the careful rule follower that I am, I ended up disregarding all of these things and doing a solo hike this morning (Tuesday) before sunrise.  I woke up at 4am, grabbed a taxi (it was awesome watching the drunk SAS kids coming back from the bars as I was leaving), and headed away from the port.  I was at the base of the trail right around 5am.  Obviously it was still dark out, but there was a full moon and tons of starlight, so I rarely had to use my flashlight to navigate the path. About 30mins into the first portion of vertical stairs the path leveled out and started to follow the curve of the mountain without gaining much elevation.  I had heard that there was another trail that didn’t lead to the summit that was an easier hike, but I made certain to shine my flashlight any time the path turned to look for signs, so I didn’t think I had made a wrong turn.  About 35mins into the level hike around the side of the mountain I ran into another SAS kid doing a solo hike, and it didn’t take us long to realize that we had both made a wrong turn and that we needed to double back and find the other trail.  We finally made it back to the steep part and after looking around found a big sign clearly showing the correct path’s direction.  Of course the sign was painted forest green and placed in front of a green bush so it is understandable that we both missed it in the darkness.  Anyways we both were back on the right path after about a 50min detour and headed to the summit.  The other SAS kid was from Colorado and so basically leapt up the steps while I slowly labored behind.  I had planned to be on the summit for sunrise, but after the wrong turn that wasn’t a possibility so instead I took a nice breather on the backside of the mountain and watched the sun coming over the peaks.
After about an hour of continuous vertical rock steps, literally gaining more elevation than horizontal ground, I had finally reached the summit.  I was pretty exhausted the whole way up, and definitely paced it out so I didn’t collapse.  It also didn’t help that the winds were gale force and the clouds I was hiking through made me really cold.  However, as soon as I reached the top, the winds died down and the clouds lifted, revealing the most incredible and well earned view of my life.  It took me about 2 hours and 20mins to reach the top, including the 50 min detour, meaning I spent about 1.5 hours climbing up; not too bad for a big kid considering the estimated hiking time was 2 hours.  I spent a little bit of time hiking some other trails around the top and eventually made my way over to the cable car.  I was the only other person at the top of the mountain, except for the other SAS kid and around 2 park employees.  There was a pay phone there, so I called home and talked to my mom for about 8mins.  It was nice to hear a familiar voice, and also the most remote phone call I will probably ever make in my life.  The park employees couldn’t believe that we had hiked up in the wind, and actually seemed upset that we even attempted it.  The high winds also meant the cable cars weren’t running down the mountain.  Thankfully, and I cant emphasize how thankful we were to not explode our knees on a hike back down, the park people let us take a cable car down with one of them.  After that it was a quick taxi ride back to the ship and a nice hour nap to recharge for the rest of the day.
        I had planned to meet up with some other people and drive down to Cape Point, the place we had attempted to visit the previous day, but those plans fell through.  I was pretty exhausted from lack of sleep and also climbing the mountain so I spent the rest of the day walking around the waterfront, going to the aquarium, playing a round of Cave Golf (putt-putt) and spending about an hour putting some photos on my computer at a coffee shop.  I have really enjoyed the lack of Internet connectivity, so I was only online for the free 15 mins that I got with my smoothie at the coffee shop, and couldn’t justify paying for any more minutes.
       I’m finding these blog posts to be really long and dry, but for the sake of my memories, I want to cover as many details and events as possible.  If you the reader (my mother) are bored by my posts, maybe you should find another world traveler to live vicariously through.  But in all seriousness, I would love to have time to write more creatively and elegantly, but we do so many different things in port that I want to mention all of them, even just briefly.  I keep telling myself that I should post a blog about some of the interesting things I have been learning about the world and myself (and what it’s like being in the male minority with tons of girls – its great btw) but most of that is being allocated to my personal journal, which is simply to profound and earthshattering to post online.  A more reasonable request would be to post some photos and videos, but my Internet time is so limited and I think it’s dumb to waste too much time in a country checking Facebook instead of exploring the world.  I miss everyone back home but am perfectly content to be wherever I happen to be at whatever particular moment.  It’s liberating.

Keep your hands in the cage and don’t hike alone

-Ben

It’s a BEAUTIFUL DAY in Cape Town (stereotypical U2 reference)

Feb. 19

I woke up yesterday (Friday) around 7am hoping the ship would be in port, but sadly we were still out at sea.  The weather seemed perfect for docking; there was hardly any wind and the waves were minimal, but it wouldn’t be until 11am that we finally reached the dock.  I think part (or all) of the delay, at least this morning, was based on the fact that the port officials and pilots, the port people who actually guide the ship in, were not that efficient in boarding the ship and starting the proper procedures.  I could be wrong, but I definitely got the sense that the SAS staff and crew were frustrated by the delays of the South African port officials, especially when the weather was fine.  Anyways, we finally were docked, after about 30 hours of sailing in circles.  The V&A waterfront of Cape Town is by far one of the most beautiful areas I have ever been to.  The weather was fantastic yesterday and today, and everything around the harbor is clean, neat and classy.  There are a lot of waterfront restaurants and shops, as well as a really upscale mall all within feet of our ship.  The sidewalks are nice and wide with tons of plants, sitting areas and performers.  The waterfront also smells great; a nice mix of beachy ocean with just a hint of seafood to remind me of back home.

I was scheduled to leave for a trip to Robben Island, a township and some apartheid related museums yesterday at 8:30am.  Obviously that did not occur, but my group was very fortunate that our trip did not get cancelled completely and we were still able to go to the township and Robben Island.  A lot of the other SAS trips scheduled for Friday (and of course Thursday) were cancelled including a couple overnight safari trips that cost around $2500.  I can'’t remember the exact name of the township we visited, but it is the oldest one in Cape Town and starts with an L, if someone back home wants to look it up.  Because we were so pressed for time, we basically just busted in there and went straight to a family owned restaurant for lunch.  There was an incredible marimba band that performed for us the entire time.  One of its members was a successful opera singer, so they sounded really good.  Some other highlights from lunch were the ostrich meat stew and the fried bread, which I’'m sure, has a specific name.  I also had a glass of a South African merlot.  It was a 2005 from one of the only black owned-vineyards.  It had hints of cherry and a tinge of cedar, but was a little too demanding for the meatiness of ostrich.  Perhaps it would compliment roasted lamb better.  (I actually thought the wine was gross, and had a tiny glass just out of respect to the owners.  I know nothing about wines, so disregard whatever flavor description I gave.  The wine tasted very winey, which leads me to believe it is in fact a real wine, and not the type of wine that comes in a box.)
After my very cultured lunch, we left the township and boarded the high-speed ferry to Robben Island.  Robben Island was a very interesting and enlightening experience.  Our guide was a former prisoner on the island during the apartheid years and provided a very personal description of prison life.  One thing that was special about Robben Island was the model of commonality, or spirit of Ubuntu as Tutu would call it, that all the inmates shared.  Even though inmates were treated differently based on their race (colored, black, etc…) they would all share food, reading materials, and the conversations that were instrumental in the eventual fall of apartheid.  All of the prisoners would go on hunger strikes, forcing the administration to make changes and treat all inmates equally.  Even some of the guards were sympathetic with the prisoners and would provide them with newspapers and uncensored correspondences from the main land.  I saw the cell that Nelson Mandela stayed in for almost 20 years on Robben Island, and couldn'’t help but be amazed how influential he was, even from his 2m by 3m cell.  The people in Cape Town speak of Mandela as if he is the pope, or maybe even God.  If Mandela told South Africans to jump today, in unison they would reply, “"how high?”"


After Robben Island, I had a little bit of a chance to walk through the waterfront on the way to the ship, stopping at an ATM to get some rand.  This happened to be the same night that U2 was preforming a concert at the giant soccer stadium less than a half mile from the ship, so there was a lot of activity and excitement.  I had thought about trying to scalp a ticket to the show, but instead ended up chartering a private catamaran with about 10 other kids.  The stadium is right next to the shore, so we were able to listen to U2 from the water, in our privately chartered sailboat, while only paying about $35. I don'’t want to understate how incredibly classy and sophisticated this experience was:  not many people get to listen to Bono, in a sailboat, in South Africa while he gives a concert.  People may have to start referring to me as sir, or His Majesty.   But in all seriousness it was an absolute blast, one of those experiences where you can'’t possibly imagine that there is another place or time you would rather have.

This morning I had a Habitat for Humanity build in one of the townships.  I thought about skipping out because we were a day short in port, but have felt obligated to at least attempt to give back to the community in each country we visit.  Along with that, I think serving other communities gives me a better idea of what and more importantly where I could potentially serve in a long-term role/career.  I think a part of me is expecting (or wanting) a sort of epiphany on this voyage where I find a community or village and immediately feel called to live there and serve.  It hasn'’t happened yet, and maybe won'’t happen this entire trip, but I still feel that service projects give me a unique opportunity to interact with locals in their communities, not in the commercialized or touristy parts of a country.  The Habitat build went great.  It was much more organized than the one I did in Ghana.  I also felt like we accomplished a lot more in terms of actually constructing the house.  There were a lot of local kids there too, since it was Saturday, so on my break I got to play soccer and rugby with them.  I also showed them the pictures on my camera of the places we had been and some pictures of my family and home.  I have found that cameras are a great way to interact with the kids, because most of them have never seen one before, and all of them are excited to get their picture taken.  I probably have about 30 different photos of little Brazilian, Ghanaian and South African kids climbing all over me and hugging me.  That interaction and loving is a mutually uplifting and encouraging experience. 


After that Habitat build I returned to the ship for a quick shower.  I still hadn'’t found time to just walk around the port and shops, so I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around alone.  It was super relaxing and enjoyable.  I bought a SA rugby shirt that was on sale and had about 15 mins online at an internet café.  Everything in Cape Town is pretty expensive.  It also doesn’t help that the exchange rate is something like 1 dollar = 7.30 rand.  So the price tags on a nice shirt says 200 rand, and I immediately think how ridiculously expensive that is and so I don'’t end up buying anything.  On the other hand, my account balance on the ATM was 7 times larger than I'’m use to, and coupled with the private sailboat cruises, I definitely am a style cat in Cape Town.  Along those lines, I’'m heading off to a fancy beach restaurant for an exquisite dinner tonight.  Maybe I’ll gain some more experience in my wine senses.

You stay classy, America

-His Majesty Ben

Arriving in Cape Town (almost)

Feb 17.

So after our pre-port meeting, and a little bit of reading I decided to go to bed really early last night, around 2200, just so I could be nice and rested for exploring Cape Town.  I woke up today around 7 to go grab some breakfast, and realized that the ship was still moving and had not yet docked.  Oh well, I thought; we were pretty close to the shore, and figured we would be pulling into our berth in the next hour or so.  I thought this until we made a 180-degree turn and started heading away from the waterfront, and back out to sea.  At this point the announcement came on that the winds were too strong to attempt to dock and that we would have to wait a while for calmer seas.  It’s about 1900 right now, and we have basically been sailing in these giant circles all day.  At best we can probably expect to be off the ship early tomorrow morning, but if the winds don’t die down, our arrival could be delayed even more.  I guess that’s the way wind blows (pun definitely intended) so there isn’t much use in complaining.  It was gorgeous outside today, and I spent most of it out on the deck reading, playing cards, and talking to friends.  Unfortunately I slept so well last night that I couldn’t really nap or sleep in, which is what a lot of students did, but at least I’m rested. 
From the water, Cape Town appears absolutely gorgeous.  Table Mountain dominates the landscape, with a permanent hat of these big billowy clouds right at the peak.  Every hour or so, an announcement comes on saying that there is no new information to report and that we will be updated as soon as information is made available.  It stinks missing a day in port, especially Cape Town, but at least I didn’t have any concrete travel plans today (some students missed flights for overnight trips and missed SAS day trips).  I’m not sure what the plan is as far as staying an extra day or anything like that, but logistically I can’t imagine that that would be possible. To keep us from going crazy, they have been showing a lot of movies and have planned an open mic event for tonight, which should be fun.  I am supposed to catch a ferry to Robben Island tomorrow morning around 9, so hopefully that will work out.  Until then, I’ll keep doing my best to stay sane, and probably go play some more cards. 

Cheers from South Africa (or at least the South Atlantic)
-Ben

UPDATE: It’s about 1 in the morning here in S. Africa.  We were told we would arrive between 2300 and 0100 but that obviously hasn’t happened.  I was just on the decks and we still are pretty far offshore (and not heading towards the port), which means that we are looking at at least several more hours before docking, assuming that the conditions are immediately ideal.  Hopefully, I can wake up tomorrow morning and we will be dock, but I think the possibility of another day at sea could be happening.  Today was kind of like a snow day from school, because no one had much to do except relax.  Of course, it wasn’t like a snow day because everyone really, really wanted to be on land.

SAS (South Atlantic Seas)

Feb 16.

Hello America:
It has been almost a week since my last posts, and for that I apologize, but there really isn’t too much exciting news to share.  We have been at sea for almost 6 days now and are set to arrive in Cape Town, South Africa tomorrow morning.  It’s been an uneventful past few days (as uneventful as traveling by boat down the western coast of Africa can be), filled with a little bit of school, a lot of taking naps outside on the deck, some meetings and presentations, and a nice dose of Christian fellowship and worship.  About 36 hours ago, we started hitting the rougher seas of the southern Atlantic, and the ship has been rocking much more substantially than before.  In fact, the whole ocean environment has changed quite a bit from the more northern/equatorial waters we are coming from.  The seas are a lot rougher now, the winds are heavy and causing quite a few whitecaps, and the air temperature is cooler than before.  This morning, during breakfast on the deck, we saw a bunch of albatross(es?) and a couple of seals, which we thought (and hoped) were sharks but oh well.
        I am sooooo excited to be in Cape Town for 6 days.  I really feel like it is going to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  There is tons of stuff to do and places to see around Cape Town, so I thought I would share my plans, as tentative as they are at this point.

Thursday:  Backpack around the city.  Hit up the aquarium, mall, and soccer stadium.  Long St. for dinner.
      
Friday:  SAS trip to Robben Island and some other apartheid related museums.
      
Saturday: Habitat for Humanity build.
      
Sunday: Church in the morning, followed by wine lands tour, ostrich riding (or
more ideally riding an ostrich through the wine lands), penguin beach, and drive
to Cape Peninsula.

Monday:  Dangerous activities that I don’t want my parents to know about.
Let’s just say my friend “Jen” is cage diving with Great White Sharks.

Tuesday:  Botanical gardens to Table Mountain hike back down to Botanical gardens, also followed by other dangerous activities. (Jen might be going skydiving if she finds enough money/courage/diapers for pooping her pants).
      
I hope your next 6 days are as exciting as mine.

Much love,

-Ben

Unimportant Milestones

Feb. 11

    Today we simultaneously crossed the prime meridian and equator at the same time.  I’m not sure why this is a big deal, because the Earth is in a round shape, which means that pretty much any point, anywhere in the world, has just as most claim to be the geographical center (I understand that the equator has some importance, but the prime meridian is completely arbitrary).  However, the British were good at making watches a couple hundred years ago, and therefore decided that they had the right to run the prime meridian right through their backyard in Greenwich.  For those wondering, there is surprisingly no visible line for either the equator or prime meridian, nor was there any discernible bump or bounce when we crossed 0 latitude and 0 longitude.  Also, the toilet water still seems to flush in the same direction.  Actually, the toilets on the ships are vacuum flushed, so there isn’t much of a swirl on the way down to begin with.  But it does make you wonder; in the words of the iconic David J Matthews, “It’s crazy thinking, just knowing that the world is round and here I am dancing on the ground.  Am I right side up or upside down, and is this real or am I dreaming?”


-Ben

T.I.A This Is Africa

Feb. 10

So we are set to leave the port of Takoradi in several hours, and before I catch up on all the sleep I have skipped the past several days, I wanted to tell the blogosphere what I did in Ghana.  Unfortunately, I feel as though the minimal creative narrative skills I have won’t be on display tonight, so I’ll probably just do a chronological account of my travels, with perhaps an occasional display of wisdom and profoundness. 

Monday:
If we want to get technical, Monday started just after 23:59 on Sunday night, which meant it was 6 o clock back in the states, which meant the Super Bowl was just starting.  The ship had turned off everyone’s internet access in order to save enough bandwidth to be able to stream the game live, but I had told myself before that the last thing I wanted to do was watch the Super Bowl on the ship instead of out in the city with the locals.  Of course after a long draining day exploring the slaves dungeons (see prior post), getting a taxi into the city to check out the bar scene and find an internet café, I found myself sitting in the Union with some friends eating popcorn and watching the game on the ship.  After about a month of no TV, and very limited access to US news, especially sports, it was really strange to, in a sense, be thrust back into American culture so rapidly.  I was sitting with a group of about 300 students, eating popcorn, laughing at the commercials and watching the Super Bowl.  Not that unusual until you consider that we were on the Western Coast of Africa, docked in one of the largest cocoa ports in the world, in a country void of almost any western tourists except the SAS kids.  Regardless it was a fun experience and I am proud to say that I watched up into the fourth quarter, until I passed out asleep (I think it was around 3 or 4 in the morning at this point).  I was told the Packers won, but honestly have had no confirmation of this and really don’t know what happened in the game.  Perhaps this is why it was so important for me to go during the spring semester, so I wouldn’t miss any Nebraska games.
        Monday morning, or I should say later Monday morning; I was up at 6 o clock to try to find a spot on the Habitat for Humanity trip.  I hadn’t bought a ticket for the program, but with the hope that some kids wouldn’t show up due to Super Bowl related consumption activities, I decided it might be worth it to show up early and try to get on.  Sure enough there were four open seats on the bus, and three SAS kids, including myself, wanting spots, so everything worked out.  I think it was a three or four hour bus ride to our build location (I honestly don’t have the slightest clue where we were on the map) during which I slept in an awkward and cramped position.  As we got closer to the site, the roads turned into dirt, which turned into narrow paths with tons of holes.  On one particularly tight turn our bus managed to clip the roof of this rural school building.  We didn’t make the turn, and so of course backed up and ran into the school again.  This entire time the bus was literally rocking several feet side to side, and some of the less adventurous students were close to running off the bus out of fear of tipping.  I was absolutely loving it, and thought it was hilarious that we kept backing up and running into this building.  We finally managed to make the turn and everyone started cheering and clapping, until we immediately hit this giant rut and the bus tipped so far to one side that all the bags fell out of the overhead bins and landed on top of people.  No one was hurt, and the school was still standing at the end, so I think I am allowed to remember this experience as being a lot of fun. 
        After a short hike through the jungle (although it wasn’t really a jungle, but for lack of a better word for a hot forest in Africa, I’ll stick with jungle) we arrived at the build site, which consisted of a compound of about half a dozen partially constructed concrete buildings.  Just like my service project in Brazil, the logistics of the trip were not clearly understood by SAS, but instead of waiting around for directions, a group of us just found the closest Ghanaian worker, and started helping him.  I spent the morning basically pick axing, shoveling and then wheel barrow(ing?) about 2 feet of dirt that had accumulated on the floors of one of the buildings.  It was tiring and hot work, and when I went for a lunch break I realized they hadn’t provided enough water, so I immediately had to sit down and cool off before getting dehydrated.  Finally, some water bottles and lunch arrived and I hydrated quickly and went back to work.  In the afternoon, I helped to move cinder blocks from one location to another location about ten feet away.  Now that I think about it, it was actually pretty ridiculous that we spent hours moving these hundreds, perhaps a thousand cinder blocks just a few feet.  I also spent a bit of time perfecting my pick axing and shoveling techniques by helping dig this eight-foot deep hole that was going to serve as a septic system.  I was exhausted at the end of the day, and so covered in sweat and dirt that my clothes were literally stiff when I took them off back at the ship, but it felt great to labor for a cause and help this community.
        We made it back to the ship a little before 2100 and I was probably asleep within the hour.

Tuesday:
        I was up early again Tuesday to leave for the capitol of Ghana, Accra, with a group of students involved with Andrew Briggs’ organization Freedom in Creation.  I think about 30 of us left the ship at around 7:30 to walk to the end of the dock, to take a cab to the bus station, to take a bus to Accra, to take another cab and then another bus to the hotel and then to the school we were going to work at.  I guess I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the harbor in Takoradi is an industrial one, which means that to get to the city you have to walk about 15 minutes past warehouses full of cocoa and other exports, trains, shipping containers, conveyor belts, and a whole host of other machinery (I really wanted to play hide and go seek here) in order to reach the end of the dock, which is really tiny and basically only has taxi drivers yelling at you.  Then you have to take a taxi (or walk for about an hour) to get into the city.  Anyways, the thirty of us managed to all arrange taxis to the bus station and then we somehow were able to essentially charter this really nice bus all the way into the city, for a very reasonable price.  The bus had huge seats and tons of legroom, which meant I was barely awake for any of the 4-maybe 5-hour trip.  The bus also took us right up to our hotel in Accra, which again was somehow arranged by students the day before.   I think it is actually pretty incredible how successful us SAS kids have been in traveling.  We have overcome language barriers, negotiated taxi prices, visited places never seen before, found lodging, stayed healthy (relatively) and all made it back before on ship time the days we leave port.  The hotel was sorta of nice in that it had air conditioning and fancy furniture and not sorta nice in that it didn’t have working showers.  Regardless, we were the only people there, which meant that some of us slept outside, some slept on the roof, and some didn’t sleep at all, and we could be as loud as we wanted.  After dropping our bags off, we boarded another bus, which took us through Accra to one of the few government run schools in the country, a compound with probably around 1,000 students.  When we arrived we were immediately mobbed by the younger students, who were literally climbing over one another just to touch us.  It was fun being with the kids, who were so excited to see white people, and I got some good photos of about a dozen kids climbing all over me. 
After the initial mob, we divided up into 4 groups and helped the kids paint these giant banners, which will travel around the world with us and be enhanced with the artwork of other kids from different countries before being sent to Uganda with Freedom in Creation.  We left the school after a few hours and headed back to the hotel, stopping at an ATM to get some local currency, the cedi, on the way.  Back at the hotel we met up with even more SAS kids who had other travel plans for that day and spent the rest of the night hanging around the hotel and talking to some of the locals.

Wednesday:
        After a pretty solid sleep sharing a bed with my 6’4” friend, I woke up to the drama of trying to locate the students who didn’t return from dinner the night before.  I wasn’t too worried about them because, 1) I knew they weren’t drinking 2) they all had international cell phones and 3) I was slightly envious that they would have a cool story to tell about getting lost for an entire night in a foreign city.  We were somehow able to find them by first calling the ship, which they had contacted, and found out that they had just stayed at another hotel in the city.  At this point it was around 9 and I was restless to get into Accra to explore, so four of us grabbed a taxi and left the hotel.  It was about a 45min ride into central Accra, and we eventually made it to the art center.  The art center is basically this huge area full of vendors and artists selling these beautiful sculptures, fabrics, paintings and other crafts.  Being white (which is like being a celebrity because they think we are all rich, which I guess is true compared to the economic status of most Africans), we were immediately greeted by a large Ghanaian named Jaguar, who took us to his shop and showed us his wares.  After beating him in a game of Mancala, and doing some haggling, I was able to get a medium and small size mask for 20 cedi, or roughly about 14 US.  He also took us to his “brother’s” shop where they were making elephant sculptures.  I told Jaguar that I wanted to make my own elephant, so he brought me an ebony piece of wood roughly shaped into an elephant.  After about 20mins of learning the proper sanding and finishing techniques, I was able to negotiate a pretty reasonable price for the elephant and some sand paper.  It’ll probably take me about 15-20 hours to finish sanding it, and when I get back to the states I’ll have to stain and finish it.  I’m pretty excited to have a project to work on and can’t wait until I finish.  After the sculpture lesson, we went to another one of Jaguar’s “brother’s” shops were we played drums and sang together with the Ghanaian artists.  One of my friends got this awesome beaded mask by trading deodorant, pens, toothpaste and some headphone buds.  I guess its tough to say if we got ripped off or not, but everything we bought was at least 50% below their initial price, and at least we were able to support some really talented crafts people, even if they did start acting a little strange towards the girls near the end. 
        After the art center, we walked around the city for a while and found a local lunch place.  We ate chicken and rice (what else is new) and I was able to get this awesome African soda called Alvaro, which I discovered the night before.  We found a taxi and headed for the school we were set to visit for the day, called Mother’s Nest Montessori School.  We left pretty early for the school, expecting the usual process of getting loss and having to pull over every few blocks to ask the locals for directions, but we were able to spot the sign for the school rather easily and got their about an hour before the rest of the group, so we walked around the neighborhood for a while.  The neighborhood was much more affluent than other parts of Accra, and was located just a block or two from some of the international embassies.  The environment at the Montessori school was completely different than the public school we had visited the other day.  The school was well stocked with supplies and teachers, and all the students were incredibly polite, well behaved, and spoke great English.  Obviously these students came from affluent families, and it was very apparent the difference that money makes in an education, a trend that is just as visible in the US.  We spent a few hours at the school creating more banners and art pieces with the students.  I was very impressed with the way Andrew Briggs interacted with the kids and how passionate he became as soon as he arrived at the school.  I respected him a tremendous amount before, but it was cool to see him in his element.
        We left the school around 1600.  26 SAS students boarded a “troo-troo,” which is basically a public bus designed for about 12 people.  I was fortunate enough to get a taxi with three others, and we headed to the Accra bus station to eventually find our way back to Takoradi.  The traffic in Accra, and all of Ghana for that matter, is literally the worse I have ever seen in my life.  About 70% of the vehicles are taxis or buses, and instead of having designated lanes, it is pretty much just wide roads with constant merges.  This adds up to a lot of honking and angry taxi drivers.  Perhaps even more intense are the thousands of street vendors who weave in and out of the cars selling their wares.  It is fair to say that the streets of Accra are basically a giant Costco store.  Everything from underwear, to watches, to hatchets and axes, to pieces of foam, to Kenny Rodgers CDs where displayed in front of our taxi.  You would think that this would cause a lot of accidents, but it is literally impossible to drive faster than 15mph because you have to stop all the time, so it isn’t as dangerous as it appears.  The bus station at Accra was wild; literally so crowded that you couldn’t move.  After some heated negotiations with the bus driver, we thought we had a bus back to Takoradi to ourselves, but about 4 more people were added, meaning that four of us didn’t have seats.  I volunteered to sit in the staircase with another Ghanaian next to the driver, and two other Ghanaians sat on the floor in the aisle next to us.  It was cramped but I had some great conversations with the Ghanaians, and had about six hours to sand my elephant.  We got back to the ship around 1 Thursday morning, pretty tired and in need of showers.  It was just our luck that the water to the ship had been shut off for conservation purposes so I had to go to sleep dirty, but was up extra early just so I could shower as soon as the water came back on. 

Thursday:
        Today the plan was to hangout on the beach about 40mins away but the weather was rainy this morning.  We headed into the city to an Internet café, where I was able to upload some pictures to Facebook and look into plans for other countries.  It would have been nice to chat with some friends, but it was 5am east coast, and none of my friends were online.  After the Internet, we went to Market Circle, which is a big circular open-air market.  The outer perimeter is surrounded by a road and filled with tiny shacks and small stores, again reinforcing the notion that the streets of Ghana are a big Costco store.  Inside the circle was a completely different experience.  When my friend and I walked in, we were the only white people in eyesight.  The different vendors were crammed together on these convoluted paths that were maybe 2 ft wide, forcing us to shuffle past one another just to make it through to the other side.  The booths were so close together that the roofs almost blocked out the sun.  This market was not at all designed for tourists.  Most of the items were spices, vegetables or meat, and catered exclusively for the local taste buds.  We made the unfortunate decision of walking in the butcher section of Market Circle, where we were confronted with the sights and smells of raw, and possibly rotting bush meat and fish.  It was almost a little nauseating seeing so much meat in this dirty place.  There were whole heads of cows, and live snails and crabs, and meat with fur still on it, and whole fish of every shape and size.  I don’t know if the meat had been smoked or not, but it appeared to be old and decaying and certainly smelled like it was.  My senses were definitely being challenged, and it didn’t help that I had sandals on because of the beach plans, which meant I kept getting sewage water splashed on my exposed feet.   It was a lot of fun though, and I really got a sense of the local culture.  We returned to the ship around 1400, grabbed lunch, and went back out to the street vendors at the end of the dock.  I got some more merchandise (I’ll keep it a surprise so I won’t have to buy anymore xmas gifts for a few years) and practiced my bargaining skills.  We left the dock about 20 mins ago, and tomorrow I’ll again have to adjust to being a student and attending classes. 

        I'm sorry if this post is dry and long, but this is a pretty basic description of what happened in Ghana.  In the next couple of days ill try to find time to blog about some of the things I have learned about traveling so far, and maybe some cool stories about the people I have met.  In the mean time, I need to sand my elephant up on the deck for a bit.

Respect,

-Ben

Slave Castles in Ghana

Feb 6. 

NOTE:  The following is a little more reflective then descriptive, because I had to write about my experiences for a class, and figured I would just post my response here:




“ In everlasting memory
of the anguish of our ancestors
may those who died rest in peace
may those who return find their roots
may humanity never again perpetrate
such injustice against humanity
We the living vow to uphold this.”

        This was the message on the plaque at both of the slave castles and dungeons we visited today.  It was presented several years ago by the different tribal leaders of Western Africa, when the decision was made that the slave castles should stay open instead of being torn down, to serve as a reminder of the evil that occurred there.

        Today wasn’t fun.  It wasn’t enjoyable and it definitely isn’t something that I would want to do again.  The locations we visited were evil, horrific, dark and completely unforgettable.  It didn’t feel right, being there today, snapping pictures and reading the plaques.  Hundreds of thousands; maybe even millions of Africans died in the very dungeons I stood in today.  It was hot, muggy and pitch black, minus a tiny window, and the 20 or so people in my group were only in the small dungeon for maybe 15 minutes at a time.  A few hundred years ago, 1,000 west African men and women would be crammed into the same spaces we occupied today, held anywhere from two weeks to three months.  They were chained together, but it didn’t really matter, there was hardly any room to move.  When the castles were restored, over two feet of human excrement had to be removed from the floor.  They were not allowed to bathe, there were no bathroom facilities, and food and water came in minimal proportions.  Slaves would die by the dozens every day, only to be plucked out and thrown into mass graves.  Of course, this was after the slaves were chained together and forced to march to the coast of Ghana for hundreds of miles, a trip that over half didn’t survive.  If a slave lived through the march and imprisonment, and was deemed fit by a European trader, they would be marched through the Gate of No Return, rowed to waiting ships and literally stacked on top of one another on their trip east, only to arrive and suffer the oppression of being enslaved.  Those who died along the way would be tossed into the ocean.  It is tough to know how many slaves actually were taken from Africa, but estimates range in the 12 millions.  More shocking however are the estimated 60 million individuals who were captured to be slaves and never actually made it to the Americas.   
        Our tour guides at both the Cape Coast Castle and the Elmina castle were absolutely fantastic, and instilled a realistic sense of what occurred centuries ago. We were told that no matter what hardships we faced in our lives, nothing would ever compare to what occurred in these castles centuries ago.  And I believe it.  This experience is one that provides a framework about the blessings I have and how incredibly fortunate I am to be living the life I have.  I know these memories will stick with me forever, and feel incapable of adequately describing the profoundness of the day.  I would imagine visiting sites like Auschwitz or the killing fields in Cambodia would provide a similar experience, but as an American, one with African American friends, and one who lives in an area that was once populated by the very slaves that traveled through these places, the experience was strangely personal.  Not to say that I felt any bit of guilt for being white, but for one of the few times in my life history felt real.  I don’t think I would ever want to go back to these places again, but feel it is almost a necessity to understanding history and the world for individuals to visit them.

In humility,

-Ben

Stuff I did while crossing the Atlantic Ocean

Feb 5

Hello America!
        I guess it has been a little while since I updated my faithful followers (my mom) on my life at SAS.  Honestly, I have no idea what day of the week it is, or what time it is in the US, or when I last posted, or what it is like to sleep for over six hours.  But really, my sense of time is completely off.  The first week or so, I probably didn’t know what day of the week it was, but at least had an idea of what day it felt like.  At this point, I don’t have the slightest guess as to what day of the week it is or what day I think it should be.  It is actually kind of liberating being “lost” in relation to a normal sense of time or succession of days.  In the states, every day of the week has certain tasks, follows an order, and each day is probably pretty similar to the way that day was a week before, or the way that day is going to be a week in the future.  Here however, the word Sunday or Thursday means nothing.  Two weeks ago I was listening to classical music in Manaus on Sunday.  Last Sunday, I had a “regular” day of classes while in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Tomorrow (which I’m pretty sure is Sunday) we will have arrived in Ghana and I will be visiting slave castles.  Next Sunday, I think we will be off the coast of South-Western Africa somewhere on our way to Cape Town.  Along with the confusion of days of the week, we have had 23-hour days, about every other day for a week, which doesn’t help when it comes to sleeping.  I think we are either 4 or five hours ahead of EST, but that will probably change again tonight.  Any way the past few days have been a blast and here’s why:
       
Bridge Tour:
        I signed up (well, actually forgot to sign up and snuck into) a tour of the bridge of the ship, which is basically the cockpit, for those not nautically inclined.  It was really cool to see all the instruments and to interact with the crew who run the ship.  The bridge basically stretches the entire width of the ship and has a bunch of monitors, buttons, graphics, joysticks, throttles and electronics.  However, the area is very neat and orderly, and the steering wheel for the ship fits nicely into the palm of a hand.  I was able to talk with one of the Cadets (officer in training), who are responsible for navigation.  He showed me how the position of the ship, despite the most high tech electronics and GPS available, is still plotted by hand on nautical charts and double checked with a sextant twice a day.  He let me plot our latest position and determine our speed, all done by hand.  I also got to talk to our Captain, Jeremy, for a while, during which he briefed me on the protocol for pirate attacks, massive waves, and hitting a whale, all of which he didn’t seem very concerned about, but it was fun to joke with him and offer my assistance to fight off would be pirates.  I also was able to petition the Captain to have my duck tape returned to me, which apparently is a restricted item and was seized during a search of my room.  We will see what happens. 
       
School Work:
        So here’s the deal:  classes are a complete joke work wise, but I am actually learning stuff.  It’s actually fun to go to class sometimes and interact with the professors.  I think this type of learning, where students actually want to learn stuff, and aren’t treated as idiots or required to memorize random stuff the night before a test, should be tried elsewhere in America.  I think the lack of a good educators and educational philosophy is why so many kids, including myself, really can’t stand going to college.  Of course, the fact that three of my four classes don’t have any tests except a final, and that my only other assignment are open-ended essay questions due once a month makes me like school more.  I think I lucked out in my classes though, because a lot of other people have been studying a lot.        

Sea Olympics: 
        The Sea Olympics are a SAS tradition, where each sea competes against one another for the right to disembark the ship first when we arrive in San Diego and for bragging rights.  The “seas” are basically hallways, or decks on the ship, similar to a college dorm, and there were 10 of them.  They are named Red Sea, Caribbean Sea, Baltic Sea etc… My sea, which is the entirety of deck 2, about 70 students, was the Aegean Sea.  Decks 3 and 4, each have 4 seas (I think) and then there was also the Luna Sea (get it?), which was the faculty, and the Sea Salts (who were the life long learners.)  Each sea had a unique color, and sat in a certain section of the Union, which made for a really neat panoramic shot of all the different colors and students with face paint and head bands and decked out from head to toe in their sea’s colors.  The “Opening Ceremonies,” which took place Tuesday night, consisted of each sea making an entrance and cheering as loudly as possible.  We were then judge on our sea’s banner and our chant. Because I was working in the AV booth, I was able to design a whole music and light show for our sea’s chant, which was pretty cool, and we got second place in the competition.  The next day, Wednesday, everyone pretty much sleepy in till around noon and then woke up for the first events, which started at one (I woke up at eight to study for a test and get breakfast.)  In order to have the requisite energy needed for such a momentous occasion, about a dozen of the guys on my sea all shot gunned a couple red bulls at the pool bar in quick succession.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much that night.
I think that there were around 15 events throughout Wednesday afternoon, ranging from hula-hoop, crab soccer, tug of war, synchronized swimming, trivia and limbo.  The synchronized swimming was one of the more hilarious hours I have ever experienced in my life.  The creativity that was displayed is too funny for words, but ill try to find links to the You Tube videos that will be posted soon.  I competed in the tug of war, in which we placed a respectable third, after stalemating and losing to the eventually champs in an epic minute long battle.  The rest of the day was filled with obnoxiously cheering on my sea mates, running around the ship and generally having a lot of fun.  When the results were in at the end of the day, our sea got second, by less than ten points.  It was actually a really tough loss, because the expectation had been to win since we first boarded the ship, and we came really, really close.  Anyways, I suppose being the second group off of the ship allows me to sleep in a little more, but still be allowed off early in the day, which I’m told is a huge deal.

Weather:
        The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the entire trans Atlantic leg.  The seas have also been incredibly calm.  Partly because I’m used to the rocking, but mainly because the seas are flat, I don’t even notice that we are in a moving boat. The ocean is beautiful, and for me being on the water is a very peaceful and relaxing experience.  In one of my classes, the professor allows us to look out a big window at the ocean during class, and encourages us to interrupt when we see something cool.  It’s pretty interesting when someone yells out “bird!” and the whole class stops and crowds around the window.  It is also difficult to pay attention when it is so easy for me to get lost just staring across the water.

        Tomorrow morning we arrive in Takoradi Ghana, and I will be on a slave castles and dungeons trip for all of Sunday (President Obama took his family here after his inauguration).  I expect it to be a very surreal experience, and hopefully it will be one of those transformational travel moments we all seek.  After that we will try to watch the Super Bowl in the city, but if not, it is supposed to be streamed to the ship.  Monday I have free, but I think I am going to the beach or possibly joining a Habitat build.  Tuesday we are taking the bus to Accra and visiting some schools with Andrew Brigg’s organization.  Ill be in Accra for a night or two and then return to the ship Thursday to start our voyage to South Africa. 

Good Things,

-Ben