APRIL IV
CHEAPER THAN THE BOYS April 28th, 2006
Tonight was an auction to raise money for the Sana project, which is a project to supply Palestinian refugee camps with much-needed supplies such as electricity and furniture etc… The GET teachers auctioned off a date. The guys group got about 130 dollars for their date, the girls only got 110 dollars – even though we promised to drink beer and talk about sports. What gives?!
April 27th, 2006
On the boat you may wonder what in the world people do every day, especially if they are not studying English nor working like me. Any passenger is able to hold what they call jishu kikaku in Japanese, which means “self-planned event.” There is actually Peaceboat staff members who are in charge of organizing the rooms and PA for anyone who requests to hold their own event. Self-planned events range from studious and informative such as “Let’s talk about Ainu (aboriginal peoples of Japan) rights” to “Drinking get together for people who like cheese.” My boss Audrey once held a self-planned event on spooning, no kidding. There are so many self-planned events along with Peaceboat arranged events to keep people pretty busy each day. Tonight was my first self-planned event called “Let’s talk about diving.” I’m always afraid no one will show up, but I got about 15 people including two other teachers to come and have a chat on scuba. I was looking for people who had some experience to share their favorite places and such, but almost everyone that came had never dived before. Most of them were interested in hearing my story and to arrange an experience dive at one of the ports of call on Peaceboat Because no one had the experience, we ran out of things to talk about after about 40 minutes – but it still turned out to be a nice discussion. I semi-promised to find out about diving for beginners in Mexico, so we’ll see what happens. Many people thanked me for the info afterwards and that made me feel happy.
SECURITY FENCE EQUALS BIG BAD WALL April 26th, 2006
Up bright and early today at 8:30am, with hangover and all. Nothing a few Tylenol can’t fix. I totally forgot that we had a meeting with the International guest students on board the boat at 9am. It’s a good thing all my roomies had to be there who were kind enough to wake me up. There is currently one student from Israel and one student from Palestine on Peaceboat to talk about the conflict between their nations with passengers on board the ship. Peaceboat is always inviting different lecturers and students to talk about a whole range of global issues. It was nice having a private session with the two students, to hear their personal stories and opinions on the current state of the two nations. We discussed issues relating to Hamas, the so-called “security fence”, Israeli army, occupation, Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, etc… Afterwards another guest on board the ship from Jordan met with the teachers to talk about his NGO work with Palestinian refugees inside of Jordan. All stories were realistic on a personal level and informative, unlike any news received from a mainstream media source. What captivated me most was the spirit of the girl from Israel. When she spoke of her hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians I could see a small tear start to form in the corner of her eye. It made me teary- eyed in return. Even with the headache it was an extremely moving day.
A LITTLE SAUCED April 25th, 2006
Tomorrow is a scheduled break from classes for the GET teachers, which means I could stay up late with no consequences! Actually, there was summer festival and techno party on the outside deck for all passengers that most of us teachers attended. I ended up doing a few shots of vodka with the teachers which led to dancing until pretty late. I snuck away to the front deck before heading to bed to catch a glimpse of the stars. For some reason the front deck is the best place to do star gazing – probably because there are no lights around. There were sooooooooooo many stars out tonight. The only constellation I could make out though was the big dipper. I’m thinking I’ll have to study some star chart for next time.
INDIAN NIGHT April 24th, 2006
Did I mention that I have four roommates in a very small cabin and that they all brought at least 2 suitcases that are to big to fit under the bunk bed which means that they take up space and make me feel extremely claustrophobic every time I step into my room? One of my roomies is a Japanese girl who used to belong to the circus (seriously) and most recently a belly dancer in NYC. She has brought almost her entire wardrobe plus a little extra including rollerskates (em… he
llo?) and much of it is permanently stored on her bed and the floor. Another one of my roomies is Japanese but grew up in Jamaica because her missionary parents moved there to teach many years back and have never left. Both Japanese girls are volunteer interpreters on the boat. My third roomie is a GET teacher and is from Vancouver, Canada. She is of Indian descent, and from the stories she tells me her life was a little like that of the Indian girl in that movie “Bend it Like Beckem.” Anyways, she organized an Indian night for tonight, with Indian dancing, sari fashion show, henna painting and Indian curry etc… all on the outside deck of the ship. I borrowed her pink sari and joined in the fashion show – my first sari wearing experience. My Indian roommate performed an Indian dance which by the way was kick-ass! I was truly impressed with her dancing skills. All in all it was a good night. My only regret was that I didn’t try the food, still too full from the dinner I had that evening.
IRUKA! April 23rd, 2006
First sighting of iruka, or dolphins, for me was today – woo hoo! Besides that nothing else exciting really happened. I did do a load of wash today, and a few of my came out with red splotches on them, including the lovely WWPD t-shirt that my sister gave me - screw!! I wonder if it’d be possible for her to make me a new one?!?!
I AM SAM April 22,2006
Today is a day after port, which means a day off of work for GET teachers. I just finished up having lunch with Sam, a guest teacher from Kenya who has been invited on the ship by the GET program to help out with classes for one week until we arrive in Jordan. Although I don’t have the whole story yet, I do know that Sam’s family has a few years of history with Peaceboat. When the ship travels to Kenya on any voyage, Sam and his family help out with local tours and such. Sam’s father is Peter, the man who was killed along with a Peaceboat staff member last month while that staff member was visiting Kenya to learn more about African drumming. Sam has been invited on the ship to continue the relationship with Peaceboat and to in a way keep his father’s spirit alive. He is so extremely happy to be on board even if only for a week – all smiles and optimism! Today we ate Korean food and Sam used chopsticks for the first time. We took a picture. I told him about the pool and Jacuzzi on the outside deck. He told me he has never been in a Jacuzzi before. There are so many things for Sam to discover on this cruise, and its so much fun being a part of it. I am sure there will be more blogging of Sam to come...
AYUBOAN! April 20-21st, 2006
Ayuboan (hello / welcome / etc… in Sinhalese) to all of you! There were a number of different experiences for peaceboat passengers in Sri Lanka, including visiting areas affected b
y the tsunami, exploring ancient ruins, snorkeling and surfing, and a trip to an elephant orphanage. My short time in Sri Lanka was mostly about meeting many great people and eating lots of traditional Sri Lankan foods in the main city of Colombo. I currently have a Sri Lankan food baby, thanks to my wonderful host parents who had prepared (well, their maids anyways) enough food for an army for every meal. About eight of us GET teachers participated in the homestay program, and we all stayed with the same family. As you probably already figured out by the number of teachers they accommodated, my homestay fam is a (non-typical) well-to-do family with two huge adjoining houses, several servants, a nice car, and children living in all parts of the world. The host father used to be the police chief before retiring, and the host mother does volunteer
work for a Sri Lankan women’s empowerment NGO. They were both extremely hospitable, serving us various Sri Lankan foods and drinks. My ultimate favorite during our stay was the Ceylon tea with milk, Ceylon being one of the most famous commodities of the country. I must have had at least 10 cups throughout the two days. Host family day was spent walking around the local market and Buddhist temple, followed by informative conversations regarding the Tamil rebels over a glass of Carlsberg in the outside garden that evening. At the market I saw a few fruits/vegetables I had never seen before – wood apple and long white yam to name some. And the papayas were humongous!
The next day I was a leader in the cultural exchange program between our Japanese GET students and Sri Lankan university students. About 80 Sri Lankan students showed up to talk and eat curry with the GET students. I kind of wished I had the day free to do my own thing since this exchange closely resembled the homestay program, but it went well and turned out to be sort of fun. The Sri Lankan students were extremely bright and all had huge smiles. I’ll always remember Sri Lanka as the land of smiles, and home of the (one of the) greatest cup of tea (with milk, please!) in the world.
ALMOST TO COLOMBO April 19th, 2006
I will be joining a homestay and also a cultural exchange program while in Sri Lanka (from tomorrow.) I did a homestay on my last Peaceboat voyage in India, and it was super fun. Cannot wait to eat spicy curry again for breakie, lunch and dinner! I am actually one of the teachers in charge of the cultural exchange program, and have been helping the students learn enough English to introduce some Japanese customs to Sri Lankan students, such as yukata, bon-odori, origami, tea ceremony etc… I will write all about my experiences and post them as soon as I can, but that may not be until I get to Jordan. The internet on the ship is expensioso and too damn slow!
KOH TAO FINAL CONCERT April 18th, 2006
Tonight was the last concert of Koh Tao, before they get off the boat in Sri Lanka. I have been attending the calimba workshop for the past few days, learning how to play specific rhythms for this concert. About 30 calimba players including myself got on stage for the first song to play what we learned. I screwed up a number of times, but it was fun being musical.
LET THE CLASSES BEGIN! April 17th, 2006
Today was the first day of English classes. My schedule is pretty nice for the first term, with one class from 9:30 to 11:00 and another class from 12:30 to 2:00. Too bad the term will switch after only nine days of classes, making my first class move to 8 in the morning (no more sleeping in – boo hoo!) My first class of the day has seven rather young and lively girls. The later class consists of six older adults who are also pretty open, not too shy. I think I lucked out with my two groups. It definitely sucks when you have a class of very shy, non-respondent individuals, which often happens with Japanese students. Pics of my two classes are below.
Tonight was an auction to raise money for the Sana project, which is a project to supply Palestinian refugee camps with much-needed supplies such as electricity and furniture etc… The GET teachers auctioned off a date. The guys group got about 130 dollars for their date, the girls only got 110 dollars – even though we promised to drink beer and talk about sports. What gives?!
April 27th, 2006
On the boat you may wonder what in the world people do every day, especially if they are not studying English nor working like me. Any passenger is able to hold what they call jishu kikaku in Japanese, which means “self-planned event.” There is actually Peaceboat staff members who are in charge of organizing the rooms and PA for anyone who requests to hold their own event. Self-planned events range from studious and informative such as “Let’s talk about Ainu (aboriginal peoples of Japan) rights” to “Drinking get together for people who like cheese.” My boss Audrey once held a self-planned event on spooning, no kidding. There are so many self-planned events along with Peaceboat arranged events to keep people pretty busy each day. Tonight was my first self-planned event called “Let’s talk about diving.” I’m always afraid no one will show up, but I got about 15 people including two other teachers to come and have a chat on scuba. I was looking for people who had some experience to share their favorite places and such, but almost everyone that came had never dived before. Most of them were interested in hearing my story and to arrange an experience dive at one of the ports of call on Peaceboat Because no one had the experience, we ran out of things to talk about after about 40 minutes – but it still turned out to be a nice discussion. I semi-promised to find out about diving for beginners in Mexico, so we’ll see what happens. Many people thanked me for the info afterwards and that made me feel happy.
SECURITY FENCE EQUALS BIG BAD WALL April 26th, 2006
Up bright and early today at 8:30am, with hangover and all. Nothing a few Tylenol can’t fix. I totally forgot that we had a meeting with the International guest students on board the boat at 9am. It’s a good thing all my roomies had to be there who were kind enough to wake me up. There is currently one student from Israel and one student from Palestine on Peaceboat to talk about the conflict between their nations with passengers on board the ship. Peaceboat is always inviting different lecturers and students to talk about a whole range of global issues. It was nice having a private session with the two students, to hear their personal stories and opinions on the current state of the two nations. We discussed issues relating to Hamas, the so-called “security fence”, Israeli army, occupation, Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, etc… Afterwards another guest on board the ship from Jordan met with the teachers to talk about his NGO work with Palestinian refugees inside of Jordan. All stories were realistic on a personal level and informative, unlike any news received from a mainstream media source. What captivated me most was the spirit of the girl from Israel. When she spoke of her hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians I could see a small tear start to form in the corner of her eye. It made me teary- eyed in return. Even with the headache it was an extremely moving day.
A LITTLE SAUCED April 25th, 2006
Tomorrow is a scheduled break from classes for the GET teachers, which means I could stay up late with no consequences! Actually, there was summer festival and techno party on the outside deck for all passengers that most of us teachers attended. I ended up doing a few shots of vodka with the teachers which led to dancing until pretty late. I snuck away to the front deck before heading to bed to catch a glimpse of the stars. For some reason the front deck is the best place to do star gazing – probably because there are no lights around. There were sooooooooooo many stars out tonight. The only constellation I could make out though was the big dipper. I’m thinking I’ll have to study some star chart for next time.
INDIAN NIGHT April 24th, 2006
Did I mention that I have four roommates in a very small cabin and that they all brought at least 2 suitcases that are to big to fit under the bunk bed which means that they take up space and make me feel extremely claustrophobic every time I step into my room? One of my roomies is a Japanese girl who used to belong to the circus (seriously) and most recently a belly dancer in NYC. She has brought almost her entire wardrobe plus a little extra including rollerskates (em… he
llo?) and much of it is permanently stored on her bed and the floor. Another one of my roomies is Japanese but grew up in Jamaica because her missionary parents moved there to teach many years back and have never left. Both Japanese girls are volunteer interpreters on the boat. My third roomie is a GET teacher and is from Vancouver, Canada. She is of Indian descent, and from the stories she tells me her life was a little like that of the Indian girl in that movie “Bend it Like Beckem.” Anyways, she organized an Indian night for tonight, with Indian dancing, sari fashion show, henna painting and Indian curry etc… all on the outside deck of the ship. I borrowed her pink sari and joined in the fashion show – my first sari wearing experience. My Indian roommate performed an Indian dance which by the way was kick-ass! I was truly impressed with her dancing skills. All in all it was a good night. My only regret was that I didn’t try the food, still too full from the dinner I had that evening.IRUKA! April 23rd, 2006
First sighting of iruka, or dolphins, for me was today – woo hoo! Besides that nothing else exciting really happened. I did do a load of wash today, and a few of my came out with red splotches on them, including the lovely WWPD t-shirt that my sister gave me - screw!! I wonder if it’d be possible for her to make me a new one?!?!
I AM SAM April 22,2006
Today is a day after port, which means a day off of work for GET teachers. I just finished up having lunch with Sam, a guest teacher from Kenya who has been invited on the ship by the GET program to help out with classes for one week until we arrive in Jordan. Although I don’t have the whole story yet, I do know that Sam’s family has a few years of history with Peaceboat. When the ship travels to Kenya on any voyage, Sam and his family help out with local tours and such. Sam’s father is Peter, the man who was killed along with a Peaceboat staff member last month while that staff member was visiting Kenya to learn more about African drumming. Sam has been invited on the ship to continue the relationship with Peaceboat and to in a way keep his father’s spirit alive. He is so extremely happy to be on board even if only for a week – all smiles and optimism! Today we ate Korean food and Sam used chopsticks for the first time. We took a picture. I told him about the pool and Jacuzzi on the outside deck. He told me he has never been in a Jacuzzi before. There are so many things for Sam to discover on this cruise, and its so much fun being a part of it. I am sure there will be more blogging of Sam to come...
AYUBOAN! April 20-21st, 2006
Ayuboan (hello / welcome / etc… in Sinhalese) to all of you! There were a number of different experiences for peaceboat passengers in Sri Lanka, including visiting areas affected b
y the tsunami, exploring ancient ruins, snorkeling and surfing, and a trip to an elephant orphanage. My short time in Sri Lanka was mostly about meeting many great people and eating lots of traditional Sri Lankan foods in the main city of Colombo. I currently have a Sri Lankan food baby, thanks to my wonderful host parents who had prepared (well, their maids anyways) enough food for an army for every meal. About eight of us GET teachers participated in the homestay program, and we all stayed with the same family. As you probably already figured out by the number of teachers they accommodated, my homestay fam is a (non-typical) well-to-do family with two huge adjoining houses, several servants, a nice car, and children living in all parts of the world. The host father used to be the police chief before retiring, and the host mother does volunteer
work for a Sri Lankan women’s empowerment NGO. They were both extremely hospitable, serving us various Sri Lankan foods and drinks. My ultimate favorite during our stay was the Ceylon tea with milk, Ceylon being one of the most famous commodities of the country. I must have had at least 10 cups throughout the two days. Host family day was spent walking around the local market and Buddhist temple, followed by informative conversations regarding the Tamil rebels over a glass of Carlsberg in the outside garden that evening. At the market I saw a few fruits/vegetables I had never seen before – wood apple and long white yam to name some. And the papayas were humongous!The next day I was a leader in the cultural exchange program between our Japanese GET students and Sri Lankan university students. About 80 Sri Lankan students showed up to talk and eat curry with the GET students. I kind of wished I had the day free to do my own thing since this exchange closely resembled the homestay program, but it went well and turned out to be sort of fun. The Sri Lankan students were extremely bright and all had huge smiles. I’ll always remember Sri Lanka as the land of smiles, and home of the (one of the) greatest cup of tea (with milk, please!) in the world.
ALMOST TO COLOMBO April 19th, 2006
I will be joining a homestay and also a cultural exchange program while in Sri Lanka (from tomorrow.) I did a homestay on my last Peaceboat voyage in India, and it was super fun. Cannot wait to eat spicy curry again for breakie, lunch and dinner! I am actually one of the teachers in charge of the cultural exchange program, and have been helping the students learn enough English to introduce some Japanese customs to Sri Lankan students, such as yukata, bon-odori, origami, tea ceremony etc… I will write all about my experiences and post them as soon as I can, but that may not be until I get to Jordan. The internet on the ship is expensioso and too damn slow!
KOH TAO FINAL CONCERT April 18th, 2006
Tonight was the last concert of Koh Tao, before they get off the boat in Sri Lanka. I have been attending the calimba workshop for the past few days, learning how to play specific rhythms for this concert. About 30 calimba players including myself got on stage for the first song to play what we learned. I screwed up a number of times, but it was fun being musical.
LET THE CLASSES BEGIN! April 17th, 2006
Today was the first day of English classes. My schedule is pretty nice for the first term, with one class from 9:30 to 11:00 and another class from 12:30 to 2:00. Too bad the term will switch after only nine days of classes, making my first class move to 8 in the morning (no more sleeping in – boo hoo!) My first class of the day has seven rather young and lively girls. The later class consists of six older adults who are also pretty open, not too shy. I think I lucked out with my two groups. It definitely sucks when you have a class of very shy, non-respondent individuals, which often happens with Japanese students. Pics of my two classes are below.
posted by meribon @ 4:46 AM
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