Malls…and malls…and more malls

That’s basically Singapore in a nutshell. We get off our ship, we enter a mall and then we walk through a passageway and there’s another part of the mall. It’s crazy how big this mall was. In the morning we had another diplomatic briefing and then for class I stayed after the briefing where we had a sort of Q&A session with them.  It was cool b/c it was an open forum where we could pretty much ask anything. It’s normally hard to do this during diplomatic briefings simply b/c everyone there is antsy and just wants to leave and get out and explore the port. There were only about 20 people so we were actually able to ask questions and they could take some time answering them and didn’t feel a lot of pressure to answer quickly.

 

After the briefing, my friend Kirsten and I walked around the first mall b/c we were meeting friends at about 12 to go out and explore a little bit. First we walked through a forest thing which was weird but we left there and went to Orchard Street…which was another mall. Except this one was even bigger than the first. It was 4 maybe 5 floors and had 3 or 4 basement floors.  It was never ending, which of course meant we had to go up every lever. We didn’t go down all the levels, but it was still amazing to see all the floors. The intent was to get ice cream too…which was on the top floor. It was a good adventure though. We had to come back to the ship b/c Kirsten and Wes were going on the Night Safari and had to be back to meet up with the trip and I also had to get ready to go out to meet up with Mr. and Mrs. Golon and Chris.

Meeting up with them was wonderful.  We’re getting to the point on the voyage where everyone is getting sick of each other somewhat and people need space and are hitting that slump where they miss home.  Having the chance to see some people from home, especially a little over exactly halfway through was amazing.  It’s funny in a way b/c you don’t realize how much you miss home until the little things happen.  It was nice to get to go to dinner with them and completely let my guard down.  I’m not sure if I’ve relaxed like that in a long time. Other than dinner with Chloe in South Africa, it can prove to be a challenge to completely open up.  It’s a lot different being with people you’ve known all your life and people that you’ve known just over two months.  Getting to go to dinner and then dessert somewhere else was a perfect remedy.  After dessert, Chris and I wandered around Clarke Quay for a few hours which was really good. I was able to talk and not worry about watching what I said b/c someone on the ship might find out.  It was also funny seeing people from the ship and having them do a double take b/c they were really confused seeing as they had never seen Chris on the ship before and didn’t quite get why he had an American accent at first.  It was equally as nice to be able to end the conversation and just walk away and not feel obligated to have a full on conversation with them. It was a few easy but also hard hours.  Letting my guard down and just being myself was just what I needed to feel sane again. On the flipside, knowing that I was only going to be able to spend a few hours was hard.  I don’t know if I ever consciously thought about not being at home for so long until now.  The other part was that came on to the ship not knowing anyone which was a little different since Chris is there with a best friend.  And yet, all that taken into consideration, I have no regrets.  I am happy with everything I’ve done and ok with not doing some other things.  It was nice to be able to see home in a sense and also to get to be re-energized and ready for the other half. I’m more excited than ever for the rest of Asia and all that is to come.

People…everywhere!!!

Between the sights, the cars, the smells and the people, india has been a conundrum in and of itself. It’s hard to react to a country that you don’t know how to react to. Walking down the streets there were literally houses in several different countries. There were cars that held two seat cars, auto rickshaws that “seated” 2 but in reality we were putting between four and 8 people in them. There were buildings that were made out of brick, and houses made out of straw. There was construction on a HUGE dome that looked as though it was going to be a tough undertaking and would take several years from there. And then right next to it was a building that was falling down. Driving down a road you would look to your left and see a beautiful beach and then turning to the right see dilapidated shacks that were people’s homes. There is literally no way to describe my first 12 hours in India. It was frustrating at first because we saw all the immigration officials which was fine, and then handed back our passports. We were told that we only needed a copy of our passports and our customs forms…until of course students tried leaving the ports and they wouldn’t let them leave unless they had their passports with them. This meant mass chaos at the pursers desk because most people didn’t have their passports or customs forms yet and the passports weren’t in order yet from the morning. It was ridiculous and I felt fairly awful for the peoples at the Purser’s desk because of the mob of people that were rushing them.

 

*side note! Not sure if I’ve talked about them before but the crew on here is amazing!!!! They take the best care of us and it’s going to be really sad when a lot of them leave which will be in Hong Kong. It’s not hard to get close to them and really love all they do for us.  From Don, who’s my cabin steward and is absolutely amazing and keeps our room looking pristine and has helped me make sense of the chaos that can be my room, to Perry and everyone who works in the dining halls taking care of us, getting us juice and taking our plates, to Denise who works at the Purser’s Desk and is awesome and really cool to talk to, to EVERYONE that works so hard to keep our ship running.  It’s wonderful the way they treat us and you can tell that they really love being here and being with us. it’s crazy to think how many people are necessary to keep our ship running and getting perfect scores on random inspections. In every port that has nice weather, some part of the ship is being painted and repaired.  Everyone that works on the ship is absolutely fantastic and I will really miss all of them come December!!!*

**side note…to side note, the other day marked the halfway point…we’re on the second half of the journey and we still have four countries to go after india, talk about incredible**

So yea, after a while I was finally able to get my passport and customs paper and went to get ready for my trip to the Dalit Village. The Dalit Village is home to the lowest in the caste system and yet they are the example of how this world is changing. There was a parade for us when we got off the bus and we received necklaces of jasmine and other flowers.  We also were a part of a procession through the town and then went to a ceremony where we were introduced and there were several people of importance, including a member of parliament and the directors of the project we were working on.  While there, we pained the Community Center.  It was wild because there were newspaper reporters EVERYWHERE. They were doing interviews and asking for pictures and making us stand this way and that way.  It was weird b/c here we were serving the community and we were being treated like celebrities.  This trip was good b/c it really gave us a perspective on what people thought of what we were doing and it showed how a little bit, such as painting can go a long way. Visiting Dalit was an eye-opening experience as well as a story of hope.  We heard stories from and saw people that had worked their way up to parliament or high positions which would never have been possible if the caste system were still in place.  We were also given a lesson in how important we were to them through several speeches as well as through music and dance.