Cape town to India

Hello there, remember this old thing?

Please allow me to preface this with my sincerest apologizes for sucking at updating this thing. It's not that I forgot about it or didn't want to, but rather the fact that it is so difficult for me to find time to update this and feel like I did a decent update instead of a half-assed one. As I type this I am a day away from Vietnam and I am very excited. I don't have anything planned which makes me even more excited because it will end up being an adventure all the way around... but I don't want to get ahead of myself, so I'll get into that later and dive right into my past ports and fabulous experiences.

If I remember correctly and without using the remaining 29 minutes of slow free Internet for the remainder of the voyage, I left you alive from a potentially scary situation with a front- toothless man named Tony Montana and pleading for Drew to e-mail me.. am I right? Anyway I am hoping that's the case and if not please bear with me.

SO much has happened and I am going to attempt to fill you in as much as possible without boring you or using the words seriously and totally, as those tend to be my staples. So here we go, Cape Town, South Africa: Love it! This port was phenomenal, our ship was berthed right on the waterfront that resembles San Diego’s Embarcadero and we seemed to have this city at our fingertips. I had a lot of fun being in what seemed to be a civilized town with streetlights, actual roads, air conditioning and all the other important essentials. Now, I don't mean to sound like a priss but this voyage has proved to me what I like, and that is to be civilized! In my six days in Cape Town, I had almost too much fun. One of the days I went great white shark diving, another I went to the Cape of Good Hope and saw where the Indian and Pacific oceans collide. Another day I visited the smallest aquarium I have ever seen and every night I visited the nightlife.. Karaoke night being my favorite. The shark diving was quite uneventful considering my sisters experience but it was crazy to be inches away from the oceans largest predator and oh my gosh, the water.. I don't think I have ever been colder. We were given wet suits but going budget gives you what you pay for- holes. So needless to say, there were some places that were colder than others and we looked like we had already been victims of a shark attack. My friend bought an underwater camera so hopefully those pictures turned out?

On the last day a group of nine of us paid a man to drive us down to Cape Point to see the Cape of Good Hope. The view by the lighthouse has to be tied with Iguaçu as the prettiest places I have ever seen. The blues and greens were lovely and it was such a beautiful day! I traveled with a good group (before all this drama happened) and we really enjoyed seeing the Baboons on the side of the road, the wild ostriches and the Southern Right whales.. It felt like my own personal safari. Many SASers went on Safaris and I am totally fine with my choice not to, I had a wonderful time without seeing what I could see at the zoo. That may be lame to think that way but that’s what most people said it felt like.. So I'm cool. One place that I know really felt a boost in the funds from the arrival of our ship was a brewery called 'Mitchell's'. It was a really fun place right off the waterfront that had fun activities every night. They were also famous for a beer called the 'wobbly'... can you guess why? It's 11% alcohol and does just that to your ability to walk. I have decided to save my Karaoke singing for Japan… I just have to come up with a great song, maybe a rendition of ‘Don’t Stop till You get Enough’ like Chris Tucker in Rush Hour? It was sad to say goodbye to Cape Town. I had meet amazing locals and other foreigners that I learned so much from, like the effects of the apartheid (which are still very apparent), how sail boat races work( and how it takes thirty days to sail from Cape Town to Perth, Austrailia) and some great foods to try. I know I want to return to Cape Town in the future, it's awesome!

After leaving Cape Town, it was onto Mauritius after spending six days at sea. In the beginning I loathed spending time at sea with a 'get me there now' type of attitude. However, now I LOVE spending days at sea because that seems to be when I really connect with people. My group of friends changed after one night in Cape Town where all this bitching surfaced and I was not about to get involved in any of that, but that has proved to be for the better. Actually things with my roommate have been much more pleasant and I find myself not avoiding my cabin as much. Anyways, Mauritius was great. I had booked a villa with ten other friends about an hour from where the boat was berthed. Unfortunately, I had to back out... but for good reason because I got Scuba certified. My three days on the island felt so productive compared to my peers who were drunk and sun burnt the whole time. I did get my fair share of one but I must admit, I am Nebraska white right now.. It’s awful. I got certified at a hotel that offers it to their guests for a reasonable price and it is a PADI course, so it was even better. I got to go on 4 ocean dives in the two days it took to complete the course. One dive was particularly scary considering I ran out of air and had to do an emergency ascend... that my friends would be the only time I have been afraid in the water! Luckily I paid attention to that part of the class and did not cause any damage to my body. Ever since my diving in Mauritius, I have been having some slight discomfort in my sinus cavity and I think that has to do with the troubles from my wisdom teeth removal this summer but it's worth it.

My buddies and I made showing at night and that was the only Mauritian culture I really came in contact with because I was under the water longer than I was out of the water. From what I saw, Mauritians party just like us and from the music played in the taxi, they LOVE the cranberries.. every taxi driver played that. There was also a Hindi holiday the day we left called Devali. It is the festival of lights and little did I know, that would cause all the shops to be closed on our last day there.. the only day I left to be dry and actually able to shop. So all I have to show for my trip besides my certification is a deck of cards with the Dodo bird on them. They are obsessed with that bird even though it's extinct, kinda funny. The day after Mauritius, we had Sea Olympics, which was really fun. My team the best team, the purple team, the Arabian Sea held up the rear of the games. We placed 9th out of nine following behind the Life Long Learners who are in their 60's.. Quite an achievement if I say so myself! To our defense, not every game was physical but also mental.. maybe that does not help my argument but just know we got first in the 'Don't Forget the Lyrics' game:)

We had a long time at sea in between Mauritius... well, six days again but it felt like months because I was rocked with all of these tests and papers. This is also known as midterms. It was an awful week with schoolwork and I did not perform as well as I would have liked but as long as I pass my two awful classes I think I will be okay. My other two classes that I really enjoy should be 'A's' but International law with my Spanglish teacher (from Spain) may be the opposite. I mean I think if I wrote my essay in Spanish I would have scored higher! Other than those classes things are going well.

I was very apprehensive for India, I didn't know if I could handle the smells that I had imagined to come from 'Slumdog'. To my surprise, I loved India! I was there for five days and for three of them I was on a SAS trip to see the Taj Mahal. Seeing the Taj is person was radical, I obviously had only ever seen it in pictures and in person blows those images out of the water! It was majestic and I can only hope my husband decides to build something like that for me in my life:) I saw it at sunrise and sunset; the colors that came out of that white building are magical.. That’s the only way I can explain it. We also saw lots of other forts that looked alike and ate some legit Indian food. It was the best SAS trip I have ever been on especially since we stayed in the NICEST hotel I have ever stayed in one night, it was such a nice change from the streets of India. There were disgusting rats at the train station and I was not a fan of that but they way people put up with that astonished me.. It made me so thankful for rattraps.

India in general made me so grateful for what I have, What I have been given and thankful for my country. One thing among many that I will take with me from the Indian people is there ability to seize the day (carpe diem). they live every day to the fullest and I did not see one unlit candle. They use everything because like I asked my tour guide Mr. Sing (who is a sic and 81) he said.. Well what’s the point in saving them? I hope that I can embrace each day with the mindset of the Indian people.. I will however wear shoes unlike many of them. I was also preparing myself to handle the raunchy B.O smells that I am accustomed to from the States. I don't know what it is but the Indian people for the most part were clean smelling opposed to their expatriates in the states.. maybe the lack of spices in the states makes the smells stand out more I'm not sure but I was pleasantly surprised.

To my dismay, I had a rough week this past week after India just like before arriving in Chennai. I had papers, presentations and tests galore. I did well on them, which is good, but school is getting so damn old. I think its fair to say that it is hindering my fun and I am sick of it! Oh well, at least I get to Vietnam tomorrow! Thinking about Vietnam makes me want to listen to CCR and watch Forrest Gump so hopefully I can accomplish that.

Well I have to get going to pre-port to learn how to cross the streets and other important things. I hope that this didn't bore you and I will try to get better at updating this. I also hope you all are doing well. I think about home often but I still have yet to feel homesick. I think going to Nebraska and the fact that this is going so quickly are really helping.

Happy November Everyone!