The World is Mourning

If you go to the website of any major news organization today, you’ll see headlines about a coordinated attack on Paris, suicide bombings in Beirut and Baghdad, and a retelling of an April massacre at a Kenyan college, among other stories of devastation. With hundreds dead and even more injured, the impact of these tragedies is immeasurable. I am astounded by the hate that drove the assailants to their destructive actions, and I am not alone in my heartbreak. The world mourns tonight.

But as I try to process the events of this weekend, I find myself torn. In one moment, I am wiping tears from my eyes, deeply overwhelmed by my sorrow and fear. And in the next moment, I want to celebrate all of the good things around me. While there is nothing that can justify or rectify the absolute pain from these past days, I don’t think there has ever been a better time to be thankful for the beautiful things that happened at the same time.

This weekend, my Facebook newsfeed showed pictures of weddings, engagements, new babies, and birthdays. Friends were sworn into the Peace Corps, while others continued their work with Teach for America and other ambitious organizations. My brother qualified for his first collegiate national cross-country race and my grandma hiked the Peruvian Andes. Nations stood in solidarity with France by lighting up their buildings in the colors of liberté, égalité, fraternité. A stranger brought us all together with his rendition of “Imagine” played outside the Bataclan this morning. While the world wept this weekend, the outpouring of love was a beautiful thing.

I recognize that my hopeful idealism may be naïve – maybe fear and anger are the appropriate responses to the unconscionable events of these past few days. Nevertheless, I am so incredibly inspired by the beautiful people who are trying to make the world just a little bit better. So while I mourn the hatred and the lives lost, I also want to express my deep gratitude for those who continue to do good work. The task is not easy, and at times success might feel unattainable. But we have to keep moving forward. Personally, I’m thankful for even the smallest bit of light shining through the darkness.

I Want to be a Part of BA

When I was younger and I heard the phrase "cabin fever" I would picture a crazy old man stuck in a tiny cabin out in the middle of nowhere, talking to himself and eating squirrels. Well after two weeks at sea that picture changed...to myself sitting in my cabin watching movies or playing the same card game over and over again. Two weeks is a very long time when there's no land around you and every meal is some form of pasta and potatoes. Don't get me wrong - we still had some fun things going on. There was a talent show, the Sea Olympics (my sea came in fifth place...dead in the middle) and, of course, classes kept us a little busy. But the afternoon when I looked out the window and saw land - REAL developed LAND with BUILDINGS - might have been one of the happiest moments of my life. That happiness might have been elevated by the fact that it was Argentina, land of tango, Evita, and steak.

The first day in Argentina, I had a field lab for my Foreign Policy class. I got up early for breakfast, and then met my class at 9:30 so we could take the shuttle out of the port to the bus. Then we spent an hour driving out into the suburbs of Buenos Aires to the University of Lanus. When we arrived, we met up with a group of Argentinian students for a Harvard negotiation simulation about the Guatemalan civil war. We spent the morning reading the preparation information and getting our assigned roles - I was US ambassador to Guatemala.

After sandwiches for lunch, we split into groups form the simulation. I was nervous about how it would all go, but it was actually a lot of fun. We came up with solutions to several problems that were caused by the civil war. I didn't have to settle for anything that the US didn't want and I didn't give away too much of our money - I consider that a success.

When the simulation was over, we discussed the role the US in international issues. I think we're not really sure where we want to stand, or where the world wants us to stand. Sometimes it seems like the international community gets angry with us for interfering in the problems of other countries, but other times there is frustration with us for not getting involved sooner. We need to find a balance that we're happy with and that the international community accepts.

Day 2 was Evita Day! Eva Peron, or Evita, was the wife of the president of Argentina in the 1940s and 1950s. She was extremely popular, and the Argentine population still loves her. A few days before arriving to Buenos Aires, my friend and I watched the musical Evita and made plans to follow her footsteps in the city. We started at the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, which is the executive mansion and office of the president.

Then we took a taxi to Recoleta. We made a quick stop at Starbucks before walking to the Cementerio de la Recoleta. It was the most impressive cemetery I've ever been to - apparently rich families tried to compete with each other for the biggest and grandest tombs. They're made of marble with giant statues and stained glass windows. We found the Duarte family tomb, where Evita is buried, and then got lost wandering around the cemetery for a while.

After the cemetery, we walked around the Recoleta neighborhood before taking a taxi to El Museo de Evita. It was a small museum, with just a few rooms full of Eva's clothes and artifacts. There was a video of a crowd cheering "Peron" - just like in the movie. But I think my favorite part was the voice recording of Evita turning down the nomination for vice president. It was pretty incredible. After we finished in the exhibits, we met a friend from home for lunch at the museum cafe.

We left the museum around 3, and then took the metro to Ave 9 de Julio, the widest street in Buenos Aires where Evita's face is prominently displayed on a building. Then we took a taxi back to the ship for a light dinner and nap time.

At 9:30 that night we headed back out for a real dinner. We weren't really sure where to go, but a taxi driver took us to a buffet restaurant in Puerto Madero called Siga la Vaca (Follow the Cow). They had every kind of meat imaginable - including lots of Argentinian beef...yum. In true Argentine fashion, we didn't start eating until around 11:15, and we didn't leave the restaurant until after 1 am. Argentina needs healthier sleep habits. 

On Day 3, I met some friends on the ship at 10 to go out for the day. We took the metro to Palermo and then stopped at a chain restaurant called Havanna for lunch and coffee. Once we finished eating, the four of us walked to El Ateneo. It's an old theater that's been made into a bookstore - so gorgeous! I was absolutely in love with it and could have spent all day there. As it was, we only had enough time to buy a few books.

Our group split up after the bookstore – two of us headed to the Museo de Las Artes Bellas. It was a free exhibit and kind of small, but still pretty great. The temporary exhibit was Spanish-language cartoons. The permanent collection includes Degas, Renoir, Monet - all my favorite boys.   

After the museum, we took a taxi back to Plaza de Mayo to see Las Madres. These are women whose children or grandchildren were part of the disappeared during the Argentina Dirty War, when the government was corrupt and kidnapping anybody who spoke out against them. These women still go to protest every Thursday, looking for their relatives. It was definitely a powerful thing to see.   

I didn't head out until 11 on the fourth day. The first stop was the Palacio de Congreso. It was modeled after our Capitol building, and it was weird how familiar it looked.

 

Next I headed to San Telmo for some modern art. The first museum was the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Buenos Aires (MACBA). It had some great colorful pieces by local artists, as well as a temporary exhibit of Italian contemporary art.

 

The second museum was the Musedo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA). It had all kinds of modern art - some cool, some just weird.

The last day in BA, we left the ship at 11:20 and we took the metro to the obelisco (which looks just like the Washington Monument). Then we walked along Florida St. until we found a mall with a food court for lunch. I got a delicious burger (yay for Argentinian beef). Then we did some last minute tourist shopping before heading back to the ship.

Overall, I loved Buenos Aires. I think it's a city I could spend a lot of time in. The history and culture are so fascinating. Hopefully I'll get to go back!

PS - I lost my camera in BA...hence the lack of pictures for this blog. But I'll be stealing some from friends, so check back soon!

A Tribute

While I was in South Africa, I received news from home that my grandpa had passed away. I've always been close with my grandpa, so that was really hard for me to deal with, especially being so far from home. But I'm only where I am today because of the support Grandpa gave to me along the way. He has always encouraged me to go after my dreams and he has always helped me to feel proud about who I am. I was so blessed to be able to build memories with him and grow from his inspiration for 20 years. He was very loved and will be missed.

Thank you to everyone from home and from the ship who reached out in support to my family and me during this difficult time. Your love and kind words helped me tremendously.

At the Tip of Africa

Let me just start by saying OH MY GOODNESS! Cape Town FAR exceeded my expectations. I'm already planning for my family to go back so they can experience how wonderful it is (be ready Mom, Dad, and Ian).

All the greatness had a rough start though. We were told that coming into this port would be beautiful and that we should be outside on the decks at 6 am so that we could watch the sunrise. My roommate and I woke up at 5:30 because we wanted to be ready with our cameras and a cup of tea. So when our alarm went off early in the morning, we sat up in bed ready to go...except the sun was already up and we were already in port. Oops. -10 points to SAS. Oh well. It was still gorgeous.

 

                                                                                                                                                Table Mountain covered by a table cloth of clouds

We started the immigration process at 7, but had to wait for the whole ship to be cleared before we could get off. By the time we got the all-clear at 9:30, we were all anxious to be out in the city. My first stop was the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. I spent the morning walking around the mall and sitting by the water, just people watching. There was a belly dance show going on that was pretty entertaining.

After lunch, we made our way over to Long Street and the Greenmarket Square. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area. We made it back to the ship in time for dinner and an early night in.

  

The next morning we slept in until 10 and then made a stop at a grocery store for some picnic foods. Then we made our way to the Table Mountain hiking path! Table Mountain is a flat-topped, 3,558-ft high mountain just on the edge of Cape Town. It's usually covered by clouds (the "tablecloth"), but the day we went had clear blue skies and the view of the city was absolutely breathtaking. We spent a while walking around before taking the cable car back down to the city.

view before the hike - at the cable car station

half way up!

                                                                                                                                                                    there's the ship                                                                                      the view from the top

 

That night John and I went out to dinner and a movie on the waterfront. We sat outside at an Italian restaurant overlooking the water and drinking South African wine - not too shabby.

We had an early morning the next day - we were picked up at 8:30 by a wine lord from a company called Wine Flies. Our tour for the day took us to 5 different wine estates in different regions, and our group was made up of people from all over the world. The estates we went to were mainly family-owned and most of their farming was natural; one even used ducks to eat the bugs and slugs from the vines rather than use insecticides. I learned a surprising amount about wine throughout the day (my team won the trivia game!). And we tried LOTS of different types - the day started with champagne and ended with port. My favorites were the pinotage and a sweet dessert wine that we tried at the first estate.

                                                                                                                                                                                            our wine lord

When we got back from the tour, we all went to dinner at a restaurant on Long Street where you cook your own meat. I ate ostrich, zebra, warthog, springbok, and kudu. I'm still not sure how I feel about it all...zebras are some of my favorite animals and the warthog just made me think of the Lion King. The ostrich was actually pretty delicious though.

My fourth day in Cape Town was spent on a SAS field program. We spent our morning on a tour of Robben Island. It's a natural island off the coast of Cape Town that served as a prison during the apartheid era. At the maximum security prison, tours are led by men who were imprisoned there. Our guide spent 8 years on the island as a political prisoner after being tortured for a confession and information. He was so inspirational - someone on the tour asked him if he harbored any anger for being treated so poorly just because he was black, and he said that the whole point of his political involvement was to ensure equality between all people so it would be counterproductive to remain angry about it. Our last stop on the island was the cell where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he spent in prison.

  

                                                                                                                                                               our tour guide                          maximum security prison                      Nelson Mandela's cell

Next we took a bus to Langa township - the oldest in Cape Town. It was established in 1927 as a designated area for Black Africans to live before the apartheid era. We went to a restaurant there that a woman runs out of her home. She was one of the best people I've met - so funny and such a happy attitude about life. She talked to us about "time" and how ideas about it differ depending on where you're from. She made fun of us as Americans for living life by the watch and of the Swiss for creating a watch that only counts to 12 when there are 24 hours in a day. Then she served us lunch from a HUGE buffet with all different kinds of food while a band played us some great music. Really an amazing lunch.

When we finally finished eating, our tour guide showed us around Langa. He's lived there his whole life and his love for the community is so evident. The township was not at all what I expected. It looked like what I pictured, but the attitude from people was so different. The community was so strong and everyone looks out for each other. The tour guide told us that the children are allowed to go wherever they want and it's the responsibility of all the adults to look out for them. Everyone is so proud of where they come from and want to work to make it better. They still follow a lot of the traditions form the tribe they came from. Living conditions are crowded and not very sanitary, but the people are so happy. So inspirational.

                                                                                                                                                                                        our township tour guide      cooking "smileys" (lamb's head) - a local delicacy                        

The next morning we woke up and headed out to breakfast around 10. Then we went back to the market so I could get more African art - I might have enough to decorate a whole house now. But shhh no judgment. After I spent most of my remaining rands, we made our way to the waterfront mall to pick up some groceries. Then one last stop for gelato before heading back to the ship for a late lunch.

I have never been so excited to go through ship security in my life...because as soon as I turned the corner, there was Archbishop Desmond Tutu! How cool is that? He talked to the shipboard community about being good people and doing inspirational things. He has a lot of hope for us all and our ability to change the world, so that was pretty uplifting.

 

We are now on Day 2 of 12 of the Atlantic crossing on the way to Buenos Aires...the longest stretch at sea. Wish us luck.

Tro Tros and Fufuo

As anticipated, the 8 days at sea after Morocco brought a lot of drama to everyone cooped up on the ship, so we were all more than ready to debark in Ghana. Our time as tourists was clearly over though - this developing country brought us totally new experiences.

As soon as we got out of the port gates we were swarmed by taxi drivers shouting "Obama! Obama!" They kept grabbing us and trying to get us in their taxi - my friend Biggs was not excited about that. We found a taxi that agreed to take us to an ATM in town. From there, a guide helped us find a "tro tro" headed towards Cape Coast. Tro tros are basically minibus share taxis that leave a station when they're full and then followed a fixed route. They're crowded, hot, and kind of intimidating...but most importantly, they're cheap. We paid the equivalent of $2.50 for an hour long trip to the coastal town of Elmina.

Once we got to Elmina, we made our way to the slave castle. Elmina Castle was built in 1482 by the Portuguese as a trading post, and was the oldest European building below the Sahara. It became an important stop in the Atlantic Slave Trade, which was the focus of our tour that day. The tour guide explained to us that hundreds of slaves were locked into the rooms on the first floor for months at a time, while the governor lived comfortable on the second floor. We stood in some of the rooms where the slaves were kept, and made the walk through the "door of no return" - the door that lead the slaves from the castle to the ships that would take them across the Atlantic. It was an incredibly moving experience.

 

When our tour was over, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant in the castle courtyard. The owner helped us pick out some traditional Ghanaian foods from the menu - banku (cooked corn dough) and fufuo (pounded yam and plantain), served with fish. I didn't ask too many questions about what I was eating, but it was pretty delicious.

We were pretty worn out after our late lunch, so we took a tro tro back to Takoradi and walked around the central market for a while before heading back to the ship for dinner.

The next day we decided to take things easy and had a taxi driver take us to a local beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and the water was perfect. After an hour or so of us having the whole beach to ourselves, some local kids showed up to check out the white people swimming in their backyard. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the beach with them. We taught one of the girls how to swim, and learned that two of them were refugees from the Ivory Coast.

         

That night the ship made its way down the coast of Ghana to Tema, an industrial city. Because there wasn't much for us to do in Tema the ship had a shuttle to take us to Accra, which is one of the largest cities in Ghana. Except there wasn't much to do there either. I spent the morning walking around the business district, and the afternoon doing some shopping in the market.

     

Around 4, John and I took a taxi back to Tema, where we met up with a group of people to go out to celebrate Biggs' 21st birthday. We spent a casual night at a local hotel's bar overlooking the ocean.

My last day in Ghana I had a field lab for my public health class. We took a bus to the medical school in Accra, where we listened to lectures from the professors about the current status of public health in Ghana. Not the most exciting field lab, but I actually really enjoyed learning about it all. The morning sessions were followed by a traditional Ghanaian lunch with rice, chicken, and fried plantains. Then we took a bus tour of the Accra hospital before heading back to the ship.

We've been at sea for about a week now, but tomorrow we get to Cape Town! Also, I currently have straight As in all my classes (even after midterms) so YAY FOR ERIN!!